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Playing it Safe: Conservative Web Site Design (Fast Company)
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Posted: 10/08/2009
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There is one critical factor to Web site design that cannot be ignored: the reader rules. Designing Web sites with a conservative approach first addresses readers’ expectations, with just the perfect dose of panache to make your site sizzle. The conservative rule of thumb? Organize your information in a way that flows effectively. Fast moving elements like flash should take center stage while slower moving elements like columns and news bites should flank the outer rails. Smashing Magazine sampled 50 top Web sites to pinpoint the definition of 'readability' and establish some basic guidelines for effective type layout, including font type, font size and link styling. So the next time you try to equate "conservative" with "boring" consider this: sometimes slow and steady really does win the race.
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Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic:
Content Strategy,
Creative & Design,
Experience & Interaction
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business
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Write It. Snap it. Post it. Done. Posterous Launches Mobile App PicPosterous (Fast Company)
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Posted: 09/25/2009
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Touted as the simplest blogging tool to date, Posterous makes it easier for bloggers to post content to multiple accounts with just one step: by emailing post@posterous.com. Anytime users send a document or upload a photo or link, Posterous autoposts the content to any other accounts users specify, including other administered blogs and emailing posts to subscribers. Add the photoblogging app PicPosterous to the mix for yet an even easier way to upload photos and video to your sites quickly. By replacing your built-in camera app and using Apple’s in-app emailing, you snap photos continuously and post them live instead of having to wait until the end of an event. With ease and speed at the forefront of this power-tool app, this may just be the app to woo even non-experts.
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Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic:
Experience & Interaction,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Peer Groups & Communities
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A Sweet Flight: Chocolate Takes to the Sky (Chief Marketer)
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Posted: 09/25/2009
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Sweetriot, a New-York based candy company, will take to the skies this spring to hawk their $3 chocolate bar on Virgin America. “It's a good way to get the chocolate bars into people's hands,” notes Sarah Endline, company mastermind and chief rioter. In addition to being available online at www.sweetriot.com, the new product also has limited distribution at retail stores like Whole Foods. The company participates in sampling events and is cultivating a sweet relationship with its vivacious, well-educated customer base via social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. Endline also contributes to the company’s blog, highlighting consumer events like the Fancy Food Show and engaging customers to vote on artwork that captures the best spirit for the company’s holiday tins.
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Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Retail & Products
Topic:
E-Commerce,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
North America
Audience:
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
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Where Only the Strong Survive: Market Testing on the Social Scene (Chief Marketer)
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Posted: 09/25/2009
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Given the ongoing technology explosion, it’s no surprise that consumers’ collective (and opinionated) voice is growing louder and marketers’ ears bigger, or at least more attune to what they’re hearing via the social web. Tapping in to social networks allows marketers to listen to what consumers are saying to not only drive, but refine market testing and distill the ideas that most deeply resonate with their audiences. Marketers must harness the power of social media by immediately engaging as many consumers as they can from the start. By the time ideas and messaging run through various tiers of sub-panels, what’s left is a virtual survival-of-the-fittest where only the strongest ideas survive and “smartness” is ruled only by the human imagination.
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Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Content Strategy,
Creative & Design,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Peer Groups & Communities
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EZ-Lube Plugs Into Mobile Campaign to Tune-Up Loyalty Program (PromoMagazine)
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Posted: 09/25/2009
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Oil Change specialists EZ-Lube took customer care and loyalty to new heights last spring with a mobile campaign to boost its customer base. With more than 80 stores, the Southern California auto lube chain partnered with mobile marketing and loyalty experts SmartReply to launch a campaign targeted at existing loyalty customers and others who opted in to receive special messaging. 500,000 text messages touting car-care value offers were sent over a six-week period. In addition to boosting its database by 1,700 opt-ins for future promotions and fortifying the company’s competitive advantage, the campaign also garnered a 5% redemption rate among general responders and 15% among the existing loyalty club members at a cost of less than $6 per opt-in.
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Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
North America
Audience:
Business to Consumer
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