Advertising – Page 2

Full Service Advertising Agencies

Full service advertising agencies have the ultimate intention of influencing the purchasing behavior of consumers, in a way favorable to the advertiser. How do they achieve this end? The first requirement is that the advertisement should capture the attention of its audience. To achieve this, the advertisement has to provide the audience with information that is of interest to them. It may give them new information, or it may support the information they already have, or it may attempt to alter their existing views or beliefs.

Some people like information that is communicated through stories, while others like figures and data. There may be another category who may listen to information that is couched in real experience situations, and there may be others who totally avoid unpleasant information or information that upsets their existing faiths. In any case, the advertising message should interest the audience.

So it is essential that an advertisement provide information that is of interest to the audience. Only then would the audience listen to it. It is also essential that the audiences see the advertisement and interpret it in a way favorable to the advertiser. The same advertising message under a given setting can be perceived and interpreted by different people in different ways. An agency has to ensure that his message is interpreted in the manner intended, in a way favorable to his products/offerings.

It is not enough if the audience listens to the advertisement and interprets it the way the advertiser expects it to be interpreted. It should also appeal to them and influence their attitudes, thought processes and purchasing behaviors in favor of the advertised brand. It is generally agreed that purchases are governed by the attitudes of consumers towards alternative product offers. The full service advertising agencies therefore should know that if attitudes of the target customers can be manipulated and changed, behavior changes on the lines preferred by the advertiser would naturally follow.

Casual Corporate Apparel

Today the casual dress code has been embraced by employees of corporations in the United States. People have begun selecting more comfortable clothes to wear for work and even more comfortable ones for parties and other social occasions. There seems to have been a change in the trend and little appetite for more formal wear in the offices.

The attire of your employees needs to be within the acceptable business standards as well as making them feel motivated to work better. You could also allow your employees to wear casual apparel on one particular day during the week.

Casual corporate apparel has become a fashion statement today and the casual corporate apparel industry is making waves in the corporate market. You could sell corporate apparel to your clients, employees and to people for a nominal price by getting them customized through customization vendors.

Polo sweaters, twill shirts and sports coats, for instance, also make quite presentable casual corporate apparel.

Customization vendors take bulk orders for getting corporate apparel customized and help give them the casual look at a nominal price. While selecting customization vendors, you need to consider the number of years they have been in this business. The more the number of years they have been in business, the better they know their corporate market.

You need to accommodate some casual look in the formal corporate apparel in order to make a transition in the corporate apparel trend. Such a transition would be a transition in the popular image of your company as well as a great resource for the long-run.

Car Show Models

Car companies use the services of models to attract prospective customers to their products. Photographs of cars along with models are taken and used for advertisements in the print media. This has given rise to a whole new genre of modeling, viz. car show modeling. There are several professional car show models who may charge anything up to $500 a day for providing their services.

The majority of these models are female. Since most car buyers are male, good-looking female models are used by car manufacturers to rivet the male attention to their cars. Sports cars are generally advertised with female models cavorting in various poses around them. The model is clothed in attires that accentuate the purpose of the photograph. Usually skimpy summer outfits or denim outfits are preferred as they cater to the sense of adventure of the buyer. These outfits are more common with sports cars. Some sleek cars like sedans use models in leather outfits to increase the daredevil approach of the advertisement. Limousines and such elite cars use sensuous models in formal attire.

Since car show models are used mostly in print, the basic qualification to be one is beauty. Car manufacturers prefer models with curvaceous figures and photogenic faces. Photographers exhort their models to exude sexiness during the shoot. Such pictures of cars with models are used on the cover pages of sports magazines in order to boost their sales. Sometimes, their services are employed live during car shows. Models pose in front of cars that are exhibited during HIN or NOPI car shows.

Some popular car show models today are Francine Dee, KT So, Natasha Yi, Masuimi Max, Tila Nguyen, Sasha Singleton, etc. Quite a few of them have been Playboy models and a few have even had a foray in Hollywood and the music world.

Canadian Store Fixtures

Canadian store fixtures serve the basic function of holding and displaying items in stores. It is an ideal way to attract customers to buy products on display. The fixtures are available in different types, models, sizes, and shapes. You can find them in unique designs and personalized styles. The fixtures can be free standing or fixed. Free standing fixtures are standalone models, and are convenient for stores with less space. Free standing ones come with wheels for easy transportation. Fixed fixtures are placed on walls or floors for permanent use.

Canadian store fixtures are made of different materials; it could be metal, wood or acrylic. Acyclic fixtures are more commonly used because of its durability and ease in handling. Another advantage is that these fixtures are available at reasonable and affordable rates.

Like other store fixtures in the market, the length and breadth of Canadian store fixtures can be adjusted without removing the items on display. There are store fixtures for slate walls and grid walls. The capacities and prices vary with models. Mannequins, gondolas, shelves, racks, easels, display cases, and showcases are some of the commonly used store fixtures.

Canadian store fixtures are custom made according to the specific requirements of individuals. One can design or specify models that match with store furniture, walls, and roof colors. The fixtures are custom made for retail stores, trade shows, and exhibition stalls.

There are a number of manufacturers, retailers, and suppliers of new and used store fixtures throughout Canada. Ontario Store Fixtures in Weston is one of the leading manufacturers of store fixtures in Canada. Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Eddie’s Hang Up Display Ltd is one of the largest fixture distributors in western Canada.

Business Card Software

Small businesses usually have simple needs. They do not need to hire design houses to make their business cards. Instead, they can buy easy-to-use software available for business cards. Here, we look four software programs for creating business cards. All of these are Windows compatible.

Nova Development’s fastest moving software is called Art Explosion Business Card Factory Deluxe. Compatible with Windows 95/NT/98, this CD ROM is available for $35. This software comes with 2,500 ready-to-use business card designs, 30,000 clip art images and photographs, 500 fonts, a built-in address book and numerous custom text effects. The latest version of the software, 2.0, is also available for the same price.

The Print Shop Business Card Creator is another software package with hundreds of templates. It has tutorials to teach you how to design the best possible card, and also includes basic photo editing tools. This package, originally priced at $19.99, is now available for just $9.99. It works on Windows 95/98/2000/XP/Me or Windows NT 4, and seems like the best one for those just starting out.

Business Card Designer Plus is business card software with a wizard that takes you through the designing process. The extras in this software are both sides printing, folded cards and bar codes. It also allows for various graphic effects such as mirror and flip, besides gradient and texture fills. It is available for a $24.95 one-time license fee.

Finally, the Visual Business Cards software is award-winning software with a wizard, preformatted templates, over 500 background images and clip art. The software’s unique feature is that it allows you to add your own logo or clip art to the design. Customers who have used this software say it is indeed one of the easiest they have ever used.

Business Card Printing

Business cards are usually printed on a four-color press. A card is referred to as a ‘four over zero’ when it is a full color in the front, without a back. It is called a ‘four over one’ when it is a full color in the front, with a black and white back, and a ‘four over four’ when it is a full color in the front and the back.

But before you thinking about the printing, you need to determine which aspect of the card is most important to you. Most likely, you will be concerned about the quality of the cards, limited as you might be by a particular model of a printer. So if your card has an image on it, printers say it is best to use glossy paper. On an inkjet printer, this will ensure the print looks as good as the real image. The paper cost is double when compared to ordinary paper, but the quality is superior.

You must, however, remember that inkjets have a strange way of zooming the print output, though only slightly. While this may not affect the clarity of the print, it might cause each of the next rows of cards to be slightly offset. While this does not happen in the case of laser printers, the best way to tackle it is to use the Scale field while setting printer calibration. Also, do not forget to set the desired print quality and color options in the Print dialog.

Textured paper is a good idea if you want to give the card a unique look. It is not something companies use often. One thing to remember, however, is that glossy and textured cards are not compatible with laser printers.

Business Card Design

You might be a small company, but you might have exactly what a Warren Buffet is looking for. How do you think you can make an impression if he does not have the time to meet you? You can send him proposals and fact sheets, but chances are he receives a thousand of them everyday. Is there anything else you can try?

Here’s what you can do. Pay a little more attention to the design of your business card. If you can put in that extra effort and come up with something that is clear and also extraordinary, something that will give him a glimpse into your company by just looking at a card, chances are you might have a meeting.

That’s how important business card design has become today. It’s no more merely a source of important information. It must exude confidence, give the receiver a feel of the company, and evoke a positive emotion in him.

Companies today are going all out to design the best business cards for their employees. Keep a watch and you will see that small companies headed by youngsters have business cards that sport bright colors and, sometimes, different shapes. Larger, well-established companies have a simpler design, perhaps with the company logo providing the color. You will realize it is one heck of a competition out there for eyeballs. The big ones do not have much to fight for, the good small ones need to go all out.

That said, it is important to not get carried away by design alone. The best business cards are those than not only create curiosity, but also clearly communicate with their audience.

Bulk Email Advertising

Email advertising is one of the most commonly used forms of advertising today. Almost every company is using this very fast, cheap and effective way of reaching customers. With strict laws in place, many companies are reaping the benefits from email advertising: cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and the ability to reach the customers who have expressed an interest in the product. Email ads help to improve a company’s brand loyalty, as customers can be kept updated about the latest offerings. They save a lot of time as compared to traditional direct mail advertising. The results are also measurable, as nearly 80% of the responses arrive within the first three days after sending the mail. It is also very easy to track, as bounce-backs, click-through and other responses can be tracked immediately.

Bulk email advertising involves the process of sending emails containing advertisements to millions of customers at the same time. This is very fast, cheap and sure way of reaching the maximum number of people.

There are companies that provide millions of email addresses of customers who have opted to receive emails about the products. These addresses are given to companies that want to send email advertisements but do not have a database of email addresses of opt-in customers. These addresses are sourced from several email address service websites over the Internet. These addresses are priced between 10 cents to 30 cents each. These companies also offer other services, such as designing the advertisements, sending the emails and tracking the responses.

Some companies have special offers, such as sending emails to 50,000 addresses for just $40. All this can be done within just a few hours! There are also special software tools that enable bulk email advertising. Some of the features include contact list management, customization of email messages, validation of the email addresses, processing of incoming messages, embedding of HTML messages, and import of contacts from ADO/ODBC, Microsoft Access databases, Microsoft Excel files, CSV files and other formats. The prices of these packages start from around $30.

Best Neon Signs

Frenchman Georges Claude, an industrial chemist invented neon signs and advertised them at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. They made their way to America in 1923 when Earle C. Anthony paid an exorbitant amount for a pair of neon lights. ‘Neos’ is Greek terminology that means ‘the new gas’. The title is apt considering the fact that these lights made their appearance much later than traditional electric bulbs and other forms of industrial lighting. In its initial stages neon signs were available in hues of red. Gradually the use of other gases such as mercury, krypton, xenon, carbon dioxide, phosphor and helium helped create multi colored neon lights. There are more than 150 colors to choose from today.

For manufacturers who offer a range of high quality neon signs, it is difficult to quote the best price for a product without considering past performances and other market research. This allows them to juggle prices. When discussing best neon signs, the issue can be contentious. This is because, the concept of ‘best’ tends to differ depending upon individual needs. However a few factors remain the same when shopping for neon signs. This includes price factors and the reason they are needed.

Consumers should enquire about types, sizes and know what they want rather than get influenced by the complex offers. It is important to know the available warranty, extended warranties and purchase outlets. This can easily be determined by indulging in comparison-shopping. It allows buyers to compare products, prices and features. Buyers also need to be attentive to size and weight factors. Others may find the best deals through wholesale purchases. The perception of ‘best’ also varies depending upon the business type. This includes neon signs for bar lighting, advertising, displays, payday loan signs, ATM signs and custom neon signs.

Banners

Banners are a great way to get your message across to a lot of people in the cheapest way. Whether you design and print it yourself or have a professional do it for you, banners can add excitement and visual support to your events. This form of advertising has been around for years and years. Today, they are popularly seen at mall events, trade shows, conventions, and parties and on town streets.

It used to be that banners were made from cloth and printing was done through silkscreen. The process was meticulously done by hand. But over the last years, tarpaulin or vinyl has become a popular choice for banners.

Vinyl has allowed machine printing and flexibility for layout artists to add as many details to the design as the client wants. For example, photo quality images in full colors can be printed on the banner.

Have you ever been to a motor cross race and seen a stunt driver break through a banner? Have you wondered how they do it? Well, it used to be that events organizers would use paper for an easy rip. But ingenuous thinking allowed the use of vinyl for that purpose as well. The vinyl banner is made of two pieces, attached in the middle by Velcro. The stunt driver crashes into the banner, and it simply detaches into two. Organizers can re-use the banner for the next stunt t.

Banners come in various shapes and sizes, although practicality and artistic sense have made the square or rectangle the most appropriate shape for most occasions.

Check out various online sites and magazines to get ideas on how to design the layout of your own banners. Templates are also available to suit most of your needs.