Marketing Groundwork Assignment

 http://www.behance.net/gallery/Google-Visual-Assets-Guidelines-Part-1/9028077
Here we have the first site given. This explains the importance of shape, color, plane and text in creating a logo that shows what the product being marketed is. It gives specific examples of the ways that Google specifically uses all four of these things. I'm not quite sure whether or not this particular aspect will have a big effect on our marketing program, but we will need a "logo" for STAC to present to the public. And, since Google is one of the most widely used search engines worldwide, they must be doing something right, and if they are, that's something for us to steal...maybe we could use the fonts mentioned in the article, and take tips from them on the plane in which they feature their various logos (head-on, without any three-dimensionality to them).
http://www.brandingserved.com/
This site has a wealth of marketing strategies from many examples, seemingly from around the world. Undoubtedly there are things that we could use from this site, like the tricks that global companies, less notable than Google, have made successful marketing programs. There are seemingly limitless examples shown on this site, farther down than you can scroll (in a reasonable amount of time). Some of the more notable are the following:
http://www.brandingserved.com/gallery/MEIA-PRAIA-Empreendimentos-Imobiliarios/8478039
This is actually a logo for a company in Brazil (I'm not sure what it is precisely, one of the drawbacks of being unable to speak Portuguese). Personally, I like the color scheme, with the dark oranges and reds and the blue-grays of the backgrounds, but that's just me.
http://www.brandingserved.com/gallery/Allsuits-(Branding)/7434631
For this one, I appreciate the color scheme, but I also like the use of both the color and the shapes as well. I'm not saying we have to use shapes in our "logo" - in fact, I can think of a few reasons not to, the foremost being that it may distract the audience - but whether or not shapes would help us out in creating a logo is something I think that we should consider.


http://www.palantir.com/engineering-culture/
This part of this site is interesting in that it directly introduces the reader to the people that are involved in this company, and gives you an insight as to who you are helping and how so. This may be something to consider for commercials - interviews with individual STACies talking about the experience and how receiving donations would make the experience so much better. These three ideas of theirs are interesting as well, as are the quotes that go along with them. Now, these ideas (the best idea wins, nothing is permanent, and keep focused on the mission) may not necessarily be things to use to try to get people to give us money; however, what I think should be done in a commercial would be to have one of the fundamental ideas of STAC come across the screen, directly followed by a quote from a well-known individual, historical or contemporary, that can be directly connected to the idea.
http://www.palantir.com/life-at-palantir/
This part of the site is full of the beneficial things that the people do in this company, and images that convince the reader of the verity of the statements. Perhaps we could include photographs of us at work and having fun at the same time. Having said this, I think that somebody, preferably one of the photography students, should take some pictures at the talent show this Friday, to provide an insight to our audience as to what we actually do, and earn their sympathies in this way.
http://www.palantir.com/what-we-believe/
The use of images in this site is particularly powerful, as is the text over them. The reader's eye automatically jumps to these images, not the written message at the top of the screen. Perhaps, in a commercial, we could do something along these lines, with text over photographs or photographs of the artwork that STACies have done in the past (or in the present, should the perfect opportunity present itself). We would have to select images with the right lighting and color, so as to not completely interfere with the message sent by the text, but this is something to consider.


http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/11-tips-for-crowdfunding-how-to-raise-money-from-strangers/
This site gives out a lot of great tips on how to earn the sympathies of the crowd and get them to give you what you want. The tips on target audience, showing where the money goes, and giving credit are particularly insightful. Knowing the target audience is important for us; our target audience will determine our sales pitch, formatting, choice of music and color scheme entirely. Do we aim for STAC alumni, or Herricks students, or both, or some other group entirely? We need to determine that before we proceed. Showing where the money goes would likely use pictures and videos of previous workshops and trips from years past, which undoubtedly are around. And we could potentially, after the first few donations, add in a special thanks session at the end of a commercial or two to acknowledge those individuals who sent us money, whoever they may be.
http://www.johntunger.com/
It's too bad that this site doesn't have any videos, because this guy looks like he has some great ideas. He's offering a product that's a little out of the ordinary (certainly more so than STAC), but making a very convincing case for it using a simple layout consisting of photographs of the product and a slide show. I'm not the most technologically apt, but if we could make our images in our commercials flow like this, it might be effective, but then again, it might not. Don't quote me on anything pertaining to this particular link - it could potentially go either way. Maybe there's a reason this guy didn't make any videos.
http://www.indiegogo.com/
This site has a lot of great ideas. However, there's one problem I have with it; not many of the videos on the site have any music at all. I feel as though an appropriate soundtrack is vitally important to any sort of film, which is among the reasons why this particular video on the site stood out to me as above and beyond the others:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-last-light
This video stood out to me for being somewhat STACish in the premise (at least in terms of acting and filmmaking). Also, it's one of the only videos I found on this site that actually uses a soundtrack, and it is obviously above most of the rest of the videos. It has a powerful premise as well, with the story that is being produced thanks to these donations. Maybe, if anybody has any definite ideas of what they want to do this year, they could explain it out in detail, and with a bit of effective music in the background, we could make something pretty powerful.


http://www.kickstarter.com/
It's too bad that the requirements for setting up a kickstarter page are a bit high for us high school students to achieve, because a site like this could potentially help us out a lot. This page shows a great deal of information right off the bat, giving links to a multitude of videos, both in the metro New York area and across the country. Clicking on any video will show you how widespread, and in some cases, effective, this site is. However, these two videos stood out to me more than any of the others.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jackcheng/these-days-a-novel
Some of you are probably assuming that I just put this down because it was the first video on the homepage. Well, I can assure you that that isn't the reason. Part of the reason was the topic, which has a bit of appeal to me, as I believe that technology plays too much of a role in society, and this subject is explored in this book. Another part of the reason is that the guy who made this video was very thorough, explaining everything about why he wanted the money and what he would be doing with it in detail. Perhaps this level of detail should not be something for us to ignore when the time comes to start marketing. Thirdly, this guy's campaign was obviously a success, which means there should be stuff for us to steal from him. He has an effective soundtrack and a good setup, explaining what he wants to achieve and then appealing to the audience for help to make it what he believes it could truly be. It obviously worked for him; why not for us?
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1465054380/help-bring-you-and-me-to-europe?ref=home_popular
This video is another popular one. The premise is clearly rather STACish, and it also has a great depth of video clips; the amount of effort that the people put into this video is quite apparent. What makes this one stand out on this site is that, more than any others, the people involved (the marketers) seem very sincere about what they wish to accomplish and establish more of a connection with the audience through politeness and reasoning. These techniques are, in their case, quite effective, and should not be overlooked when we are marketing.


http://www.gofundme.com/
This site immediately provides the reader with various opportunities to search for stories created for different categories, as diverse as you can imagine. They seem to be a successful site, with a link about their different success stories (which is in no way helpful for us). However, some of the arts-related links could very well provide us with a template to base our marketing scheme on. What's interesting about this site is that there aren't any videos attached to it; it's simply pictures and updates, in addition to all of the links present, some of which involve projects similar, in one way or another, to STAC.
http://www.gofundme.com/Creative-Arts-Music-Film/
What's interesting about this site is that it is unique in that it does not utilize videos to get its point across. This is a double-edged sword, if you ask me. On the plus side, it is most likely simpler, and so more readily accessible to the technologically challenged (such as myself), and there's less for you to get wrong, like a soundtrack or backgrounds and transitions. On the other hand, there's a certain amount of emotion and humanity that you can convey through a video that words on a screen can't compete with. I'm not quite sure this is the site to go to to find the perfect examples of what we want to be making when we're marketing.


I apologize for this exceptionally lengthy post; I don't intend to make a habit of doing things this long (that are undoubtedly arduous to read). This one is probably more than two and a half times the length of what will probably be normal for me.