So you wanna hire a good creative?

Think of a job posting like an online dating profile – you need to make a good first impression. Cliches like long walks on the beach, and boasting your hilarious sense of humor will only get you so far. Here are some tips on how to not only position yourself and your job opening as an exciting opportunity, but also how to write a posting that will attract the RIGHT candidates.

1.     Write a job title that is truly indicative of the job function: if you have the freedom to stray from company semantics, you should use a title that would attract candidates in the right stage of their career, e.g. junior vs. senior, associate vs. coordinator, manager vs. director.

2.     Sell candidates on your company and the position before going into the details of the job function and requirements. Include links to your website, latest news and press release, and social media presence.

What industry is your company in? Which department does this position fall under? What is your company culture like? What is the most appealing aspect of this position?

Close-knit in-house creative team is seeking a Senior Art Director to be the visionary behind cross-channel web/print campaigns for a Fortune 500 brand.

vs.

Prominent local branding agency is looking for a Senior Art Director to drive web and print creative in a both hands-on and conceptual capacity for a San Diego client.

Both positions are web/print Senior Art Director roles, but would appeal to two very different candidates.

3.     Make sure to list out requirements and state up-front whether they are must haves or nice-to-haves.

All candidates MUST have 3+ years of experience in technology industry

Radian6 experience is a PLUS

If having experience in the industry is a must, but experience with a particular software a nice-to-have, you want to make sure candidates that have experience in the industry are applying, while those with the software experience and no industry background are not.

4.     State upfront what candidates need to submit to be considered. A suggestion would be to specify what the employer will be looking for in a portfolio or resume.

Please include in your portfolio your latest UX project, including preliminary research, wireframes, and user flows.

Or

Send over code samples via live links or HTML files for review.

5.     Request a blurb on why you would be a good fit for the position, or a come up with a creative question that candidates need to answer will also uncover additional details that may not be communicated through the standard resume/cover letter.  If the candidate ignores or half-asses this portion, you can probably assume they are applying in bulk, and may not actually be interested in your position.

Give an example of a time you’ve had to tackle a difficult design challenge. How did you approach it and what was the outcome?

What are the nuances for email marketing to the B2B or B2C audiences? What would you do in each case to cater the messaging, time of day, etc if you had identical campaigns?

Boosting Brand Awareness via Foursquare

In the past, generating brand presence on Foursquare has meant enduring a painstaking process. Particularly for “web brands.” Companies that lacked brick-and-mortar locations were forced to submit an application and, once approved, pay for a custom page to be built. Fortunately, the popular social media platform recently launched a viable alternative – a free, self-service page-creation tool.

In response, we’ve created a step-by-step guide to make the process as simple as possible. Download it now to learn how you can create a page, designate multiple authors, implement banners, create “Tips” and “Check-ins,” and garner followers. The guide also includes a look at three major brands– Lucky Magazine, Walgreen’s, and Mountain Dew – that are maximizing exposure with their own pages.

Ultimately, with Foursquare’s new self-service page-creation tool and our guide for support, you’ll be able to boost brand awareness in three keys ways:

• In their news feed, your followers will see check-ins and receive valuable tips.
• Your followers can interact with your page by commenting on existing tips or providing their own.
• With the option to assign multiple users, your company can aggregate distinct authors/voices to reach different audiences.

Download the Guide to learn more.

15 Tips for Luxury Brands in e-Commerce

1. Your website must be experiential. Luxury stores are built on experiential shopping. Why should luxury websites be any different? Each feature of your website must reflect conscientiousness and pristine artistry to reflect your brand and connect with customers.

2. Non-product content drives qualified traffic to the site. Don’t skimp on editorial resources when developing your website. They build validity and buyer loyalty. Tory Burch is a good example.

3. Maintain exclusivity. Create private sections accessible only to VIP clients and reveal more products as a customer makes purchases to maintain exclusivity. For example, Vertu.com features a Private Gallery of its limited edition mobile devices, which is only accessible through a short sign-up process.

4. Luxury consumers expect the best – even on their mobile devices. Ensure your website’s mobile experience is seamless, quick to load, and on-brand. Additionally, optimize your checkout process for fewer clicks and stress the importance of privacy to your customers.

5. Embrace partnerships with large luxury ecommerce sites. Discount retailers such as BlueFly, Gilt Groupe, and Rue LaLa are wildly successful, boasting a large variety of luxury products, and provide you with another effective marketing channel. In the wake of the recession, even the most iconic brands – Cartier, Hermes, Chanel, Prada – are embracing the worldwide cultural shift to “smart shopping.” Like other consumers, luxury buyers are busy and appreciate the convenience of buying online. Maintain brand equity by partnering with reputable websites, limiting the quantity of products offered, and keeping your discounts conservative.

6. Go international. There are likely untapped markets around the world in search of a convenient way to purchase your luxury products. Ensure you have a thoughtful strategy on the scalability and online experience for global customers. For example, Barneys New York recently expanded their ecommerce and shipping to over 90 countries.

7. Exploit social media for low-ticket items. Social ecommerce should be limited to low-ticket items that appeal to a broader audience. Offer limited edition items to social media followers, rewarding them for their brand loyalty and evangelism. For example, Chanel recently launched a limited edition lipstick available only to fans of their Facebook page.

8. From conversion to receipt. The packaging and delivery of your products are a direct reflection of your brand. Personalize the online shopping experience as much as possible, offering the most up to date technology for convenient tracking. You can also boost your products’ perceived worth with something as simple as ribbon or tissue paper. If you offer an iconic box like Tiffany or Louis Vuitton, make sure you offer it to online customers as well.

9. Implement an “understanding” return policy. Offer customers the opportunity to return their purchases as simply as – or, even simpler than – they would in-store. Today’s consumers enjoy outstanding online customer service from websites like Zappos and Amazon. Your luxury ecommerce website should follow suit.

10. Personalize the shopping experience. Emulate the experience of a personal shopper or sales associate in store by asking questions and customizing recommended products based on customers’ past purchases. For example, Nordstrom.com records previous purchases and recommends similar products when a customer returns to do more online shopping.

11. Strike a balance between personalization and privacy. Repeat shoppers typically appreciate the convenience and personalization of shopping when less personal informational is stored, such as a first and last name. However, ensure more sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, is only accessed via login. Luxury consumers are especially sensitive to the sharing and storage of financial information.

12. Focus on the selling points. List every material. Outline the care policy. Tout limited quantities. Offer a store locator tool on the product page for a customer to find businesses that offer related services.

13. Create a search feature that mimics a sales person. Make it simple to search by designer/artist, size, color, item type, and price. For example, Neiman Marcus offers a comprehensive search tool, which also includes searching by new arrivals and discount percentages.

14. Put your customer service phone number front and center. Your customer service phone number should be positioned prominently throughout your website, particularly during the checkout process. This is especially important for high-ticket items. For example, Gucci.com offers a “contact a personal shopper” link on every product page, which prompts a customer service representative to reply to the customer via email or phone.

15. Be transparent about pricing. Like most consumers today, luxury buyers do their homework and spend time comparison-shopping. List shipping information and other applicable fees before the checkout page so there are no surprises in final costs. Revealing hidden charges late in the shopping process typically spurs cart abandonment.

Do you want to smell like the fast growing viral campaign ever?

http://mashable.com/2010/07/15/old-spice-stats/

The Wieden+Kennedy campaign commonly known as "The Old Spice Man" is the fastest growing viral campaign...EVER (according to Visible Measures). In the first 24 hours alone, the videos on youtube got over 6 million responses, the highest in recent history, beating out competition such as the first black president's victory speech (little under 5million). Even Brit phenomenon Susan Boyl stands no competition at a mere 3 million responses in that time frame.

Marketers around the world as are asking themselves - WHY? How Old Spice capture the attention of millions of social networkers around the world, leading to a 107% increase in sales in a week (according to Mashable).

A friend of mine whom I worked with at SB Media Group was on the Old Spice account at W+K, and gave me an inside look at the creative behind the videos. Like most insanely viral youtube videos, no one had any idea beforehand of the how fast and far these videos would go, landing on celebrity news sites, buzzing through all the marketing community, and as previously mentioned, leading to an increase in sales.

There is certainly no formula for viral videos, anyone who says that they have it, is simply a "social media guru" (most overused untrue self-proclamation of 2009) and has really no idea what they are talking about. One can simply take their knowledge of videos that have gone viral in the past, do their best to emulate and throw it out into the ether, hoping it will catch. Scary, yes. Fail-proof, absolutely not. Can it be effective? As Old Spice has proven, the ROI can make it all worth it in the end, if successful.

How Fashion Got it's Groove Back (or maybe not so much...)

http://mashable.com/2010/07/20/fashion-mags-digital-fall/?utm_source=feedburner

Fashion is going Digital:
1. Interactive Shopping powered by Flash
2. Conde Naste learns new tricks
3. Oh yea, and Twitter

1. Interactive Shopping powered by Flash vs. In-store shopping powered by Starbucks

InStyle magazine is launching Stylefeeder a "personal shopping engine" to boost profits from this years drastic drop in magazine ad sales. Seriously? Seriously! A man must have though of this idea - any self-respecting woman in the fashion industry would KNOW that to women, shopping is a social occasion, a sport, a hunt, anything BUT a fun flashy game online. We like to feel, to try, to scavenge, to bargain, to ask others' opinions...not to skim the 20 items an advertiser has picked for you. Thanks, but no thanks.

2. W magazine launches a WOM campaign and four-square competition

Wow, talk about earth-shattering. NOT. Come on, people, it's not that "cutting edge" to put a bunch of live models in a glass cube and parade them around New York. I doubt this even gets a blink of the eye in such a fab, cutting edge city like NYC. Oh yeah, and to piggy back off of Catch-a-Choo campaign, and many many others (Shaq Attack anyone?), they will also be doing a foursquare competition, in which the first person to show up to where the magazine has checked in gets a prize! yawn.

3. Fashion magazines and luxury clothing brands are upping their social media budgets

(Applause). Now, let's hear about what you are going to do with this added budget? (crickets). Hmmm...

So maybe this wasn't the most insightful article, but hey, at least they're on the right track. A for Effort, fashion mags, A for effort.

Dude, you just got totally iced.

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/business/media/09adco.html?src=busln

Today on Facebook, a friends album popped up on my newsfeed entitled "Iced." Upon further investigation, I found this album contained multiple pictures of some former college fraternity boys down on one knee in various backdrops, chugging a Smirnoff Ice. Strange, I thought. This assesment was made by previous knowledge of fraternity brothers notoriously hating on sugary drinks, including one Smirnoff Ice. I though to myself 'This must be some inside joke, a dare, or perhaps it was simply the only thing that was left in the fridge, so they decided to make the best of it?'

Boy, was I wrong. "Icing" is a cultural phenomenon sweeping the nation, or at least the strapping demographic of men from ages 18-28 who have an inclination for drinking games. The rules are simple: if a "bro" hands you a Smirnoff Ice you must immediately go down on one knee and chug to the finish - unless you already have a Smirnoff Ice in your possession, in which case the challenger must now chug BOTH Smirnoff Ices. Touche.

The whole premise of the game is based on the disliked taste of the beverage. Getting iced is not enjoyable, and therefore many have gone out and bought Smirnoff Ice to simply carry as protection.

According to the NY Times the source of this game is unknown, and Smirnoff is denying any involvement in the binge-drinking endorsing activity. Some marketing experts have backed up their claims, insisting that no company would market a drinking game that admits to bad taste of their product and blatantly goes against their previous campaigning for "Drink Responsibly."

However, Smirnoff has been sitting on the sidelines of this wide-spread pandemic and has yet to speak out against it, save for commenting that such games should be played by those underage. But, who could blame them? Sales of Smirnoff Ice surely have increased tremendously with this stunt that requires people to stock up and drink faster.

But will it last? Will this game become a classic party game/frat boy initation, or will it fade in the abyss as a short-lived fad we will look back upon and chuckle at? Only time will tell. In the meantime, if you have bros, watch out for that ice.

Dreams are Telling

Last night I had a stressful dream. No, this is not new to me, but this one was particularly telling.

I dreamt that I was back in High School, and that a week had passed before I realized I had to go to school everyday and I had not for the past week. I then justified my absence (in my dream) by the fact that I had a full-time job and had to work everyday, so how was I expected to attend my high school classes. Then I thought (again in my dream thought process) that if it was a High School level class, I should be able to take all the tests without attending class. And I think this calmed me enough to move onto my next dream in my sleep.

I woke up promptly at 5:30AM, as I have been since my return from Europe, and decided I should get a jump start on the day, feeling a little on edge, almost as though I'm forgetting something comparable to a week's worth of high school classes (mind you, I never skipped a single class in high school, so this would be something rather large from a moral stance).

Now, what is it?