In a world where consumers are increasingly demanding social responsibility from their chosen brands, it’s imperative that said brands refrain from turning social movements into tropes to be exploited. The consequences, as Pepsi found out last week, can be severe. On Tuesday, the soda brand attempted to capitalize on the perceived Social Justice Warrior generation with an ad disarming a police blockade using a can of… Read more »
Go to any company website or log on to your favorite social platform and poke around for five seconds. I guarantee you will run into at least one branded video. We are seeing more videos than ever, and for good reason. According to Cisco’s VNI Forecast, video will account for 79% of internet traffic by 2020! I’m going to go out on a limb and assume… Read more »
One of the most effective ways of taking existing content and turning it into a more visually engaging piece is through the creation of case studies. That successful project you put your heart, sweat and tears into for three months? Share it with your audience! Why not create a dedicated page on your website, a sales tool or a company brochure? Highlight your stats with colorful… Read more »
I’ve read – and written – plenty of stories and blog posts about how PR is a different gig than it was even 10 years ago. It’s obvious to me because I see what our teams at Matter create, execute and analyze every single day. But today I found an interesting visual snapshot of just how far the PR world has come since we first hung… Read more »
(Image courtesy of DDC) My fellow graphic designer, Gretchen Walker and I were excited to attend a lecture at the Boston University College of Fine Arts by Visiting Designer Aaron James Draplin, a pioneer in the graphic design community. He is known for for his clean, bold stroked logos, an obsession with orange and reinventing antique inspiration into modern works of art. ‘Do good work for good people’, he… Read more »
The statistics are everywhere: people are hungry for online video. Overall, research estimates that the number of video views among Internet users grows north of 25 percent per year. If you think that number is going to recede any time soon, you’re likely also banking on the fax machine as the future of lead generation. So what has this to do with public relations? Here are… Read more »
We are surrounded by brands everyday, from function to indulgence. Some we hardly think about, others we choose to become part of their tribal following, but what sets a brand apart, and makes it a “love” brand? We all have brands that we use because they have a connection to us and reflect who we are or want to be. While some of these brands are just small attributes of… Read more »
Last week, Leo and I attended the quarterly Boston Content meet-up to engage in a discussion about Interactive Content. You’ve likely seen the term on several “trends & predictions” lists for 2016, but what is interactive content, exactly? And how can you use it to support your brand’s content marketing initiatives? Senior Content Marketing Manager at SnapApp, Lena Prickett, was the leader of the discussion and… Read more »
I’m a sucker for good branding. I usually love something slick and polished and neat. In fact, I’m a marketer’s dream. I’ll buy wine just because I like the label or a shampoo because the bottle is a cool shape. Remember when Miller Lite brought back it’s iconic label two years ago? Well, that’s when I stopped packing my beach coolers with Corona and switched to… Read more »
Here we are at the beginning of Q1, which for many PR pros can mean lots of planning meetings – and with that the creation of the ubiquitous PowerPoint deck. As a PR professional, you probably don’t fancy yourself a designer, and you may not have one available to you, so here are a few basics from our designers to help you create a visual presentation… Read more »
Here at Matter Communications – and likely similar to PR agencies globally – all of our PR professionals are busy wrapping up 2016 planning with and for their respective clients. But what separates our group of PR pros from the competition is the fact that they’re able to efficiently and effectively incorporate creative content marketing into said plans because of our in-house creative services, Studio-C by… Read more »
Launched in May 2015, Fontstand created a Mac OS X app geared towards the flexibility of exploring thousands of font options. Developed by independent type designers Peter Bi?ak, Andrej Krátky and Ondrej Jób, the new service allows all users to experiment with fonts for an hour in any application at no charge. Like the font you’re test-driving, there are also options to rent each font for… Read more »
Remember the QR code? These things were going to blow-up, right? QR codes contain enormous potential to bridge the gap between printed material and your mobile screen. I’ve seen some decent examples of their use both in application and design… although the design solution usually involves trying to hide them in cleaver ways. Changing their color to blend in, hiding images within the code or hiding… Read more »
