Redesign time
(4 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
Loading ...Most the time I feel that advertising is an exercise in futility. I’ve never had much success with fliers, or posters, or TV commercials. The only advertising that seems to work is word of mouth. I feel that if a company could get people talking about their product they wouldn’t waste their money making a TV spot that looks just like every other TV spot. (I’ve also noticed that TV spots tend to get people talking about the TV spots, and not the product they’re trying to sell. I don’t know who to blame for this, but I’m guessing it has something to do with the bloated advertising agencies that make them.)
This website has been a prime example of the ineffectiveness of old school advertising. I’ve done a few banner campaigns and found the traffic to be minimal at best. Oddly, I found the more I “produced” my banners, the less traffic I attracted. Animations don’t work for banner ads, and neither does being clear. The vaguer I am, the more people I end up attracting. This is all arbitrary because the traffic wasn’t good enough either way.
The only thing that’s worked for me has been connecting with a social network (stumbleupon in this case), and making friends on other blogs. I haven’t spent a dime doing this and my traffic has increased a ridiculous amount. I’ve also noticed that the traffic I’m attracting is a better quality (people stick around, and leave comments).
So here I am working as an ad designer making ads that don’t work, for companies that insist the old ways still work because all the old companies still use them. Meanwhile all the old companies are dumping money into learning about the “Social Intertubes”, and the “Blogospheres”. I’d like to find some clients that don’t immediately look at other companies and ask how to copy them. Actually, I’d rather just work for myself.
I’m on a camping trip today, and hopefully I’m painting (this was written on Friday). If I do get any painting done I’ll post them on here so everyone can critique them (lick the screen). Connecting is fun! (nipples)
Carnival:
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July 15th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Hi there, one of the your readers! I just want to say that I really like the comic, and that I’ve been reading it for quite a while now. I can’t remember exactly how I stumbled upon it, but it was probably one of those link chain things where you don’t remember how you got here. Anyway, I agree that word of mouth is powerful advertising; whenever my friends advise me something I tend to be attracted to a product more, just because the “costumer testimonials” now include someone I know.
But then again maybe TV spots just make it clear that “this company really has the big $$$ right here so probably we make awesome stuff”.
Keep on rocking those silhouettes man!
July 15th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Thanks Niels, Rocking the silhouettes is the easy part.
I may be a little jaded on the whole TV thing after working in it a few years. Plus I have it on good knowledge that money doesn’t mean a company knows what it’s doing. Take our government for instance. Good stuff tends to sell it self after a while.
Tell your friends!
happy Sunday!
July 15th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Guilty, I’ve found you via Stumbleupon. Then I proceeded to spend the better half of my day reading through the whole archive. You’re bookmarked now, so you can bet on me coming back here at least once a day.
And you are quite right, word of mouth is still quite possibly the most powerful tool in advertising. Granted, it does not have the reach nor the immediate exposure effect of other mass marketing tools, but given enough time, a good product, or as in your case, a good comic, will filter down the grapevine.
Cheers and keep up the good work!
August 13th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
If i was the employee in the comic, I’g go back in time to my ancestors, give them the plans for the time machine, and then I’d inherit the wealth. Of course, everyone else would do that too, and in the end the Romans would have had time machines.
But at least there’d be more toga parties
August 19th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
[...] Hitchcock presents Redesign time posted at WTTF: Welcome to the Future, saying, “A funny cartoon about a complete design [...]
August 19th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Thanks for participating in The Designed Web :), - and for having the awesome comic
this week’s edition has been published, be sure to forward any new links to the carnival.
Bryce.
January 21st, 2008 at 2:36 pm
[...] Redesign time [...]