What is Creative Versioning?

We often get asked, “What is creative versioning?”   Quite simply, creative versioning is the creation of multiple versions of the same marketing piece or advertisement but customized either for media outlet, demographic target or geographic location, to name a few common version types.

While this may not seem to be a big deal, imagine creating hundreds of versions of the same piece, but with slightly different dimensions for multiple newspapers.  This is exactly what happens at most advertising agencies that create advertisements for most clients.  It is very expensive and time consuming because a graphic designer needs to manually create each advertisement for each size.

Creative versioning automation tools end the need for a graphic designer to create multiple versions.  With automated creative versioning tools like LiveAdMaker, one set of rules is established for a piece and then the content follows the rules to stretch and shrink to the desired sizes and selected content.

Using creative versioning tools like LiveAdMaker, companies can execute campaigns faster (because it only takes a few minutes to create a high-resolution piece) and they can have more control over the content that is featured.  For a retailer like Macy’s or Wal-Mart, not all stores will need to feature the same items on sale, therefore traditional manual versioning is inadequate for today’s needs.  With automated creative versioning, retailers, and anyone who needs marketing materials, can finally make on the fly updates to marketing materials, selling the most relevant product at the best price for the local market.

You can learn more about LiveAdMaker at LiveTechnology.com or LiveAdMaker.com

Media Focus: Out-of-Home

A new report out from Aegis Media’s PosterscopeUSA reveals that young adults and the affluent share a common theme: they spend a lot of time outside their homes.  This is great news for marketers who have an out-of-home marketing strategy.  Today, out-of-home is more than just billboards, it’s digital commercials or display ads in movie theaters, digital display boards at malls, gas station pump signs, coffee shop signs, digital jukeboxes at bars and clubs, and many more!

Does this mean that marketers can take their current ads and just resize them for whatever out-of-home outlet they are targeting?  Of course, not!  Young adults are media savvy and respond when the message they see is not only relevant to them, but also matches the media type.  For example, Saturn launched a gas-pump poster campaign recently in California that had messages promoting their hybrid SUVs with  messages related to stopping at gas stations, such as “You better use the restroom, you won’t fill up again in another 450 miles.”

One of the difficulties in executing a campaign like this is the many sizes of gas pump posters that fit the different sized pumps that each station has.  Again, creative versioning is essential, especially with the out-of-home media type to make these campaigns affordable and effective.  With consumers responding to fewer and fewer types of media, it’s critical that marketers use as many types of media as possible and coordinate their messages.  With creative versioning, the same campaign for hybrid SUVs can be tailored for gas stations, movie theaters, coffee shops, clubs, bars, restaurants and rest stops.  You can learn more about creative versioning at AACV.org and learn how companies are implementing creative versioning by visiting LiveTechnology.com

Brands Use More Forms of Media

In an article in the New York Times, brands like Kimberly Clark, Johnson & Johnson and Coca-Cola are reportedly using more than traditional television advertising focusing on 30 second spots.  The brands are being encouraged to use more forms of media such as in-store, online and point-of-sale.

Recent research has shown that most customers are “touched” 6 times by different forms of media before making a purchasing decision.  This means that brands need a coordinated strategy to work across multiple forms of media.  However, national advertisements should be partnered with local advertisments that drive sales.  As Macy’s demonstrates, brands that will survive the current media fragmentation will work across multiple forms of media and have a coordinated national and local strategy.

To view the article, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/business/media/10adco.html?ref=media

Creative Versioning LinkedIn Group Formed

With over 150 members, the creative versioning group is off to a great start as a LinkedIn group. LinkedIn groups give members a forum for finding professionals in related fields and opportunities to network with others in their field. If you’re interested in joining the LinkedIn Creative Versioning Group, go to www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=62106&sharedKey=47AB0F57B8A4