The Santy Think Tank

Guess who’s back, back again?

Remember that time when your ‘ex’ showed up at the same bar as you and looked a lot uglier than you remembered?

Well, Myspace is not your ex. Myspace is the kid you liked in middle school, who was a nerd in high school, and then showed up at a bar years later—way hotter. What am I rambling on about!?

Through responsive, sleek, user-friendly interface design, clean and comfortable usability and in-your-face photos, Myspace is getting all up in your space, in the sexiest new light.

As the great David Bowie says, “Ch-ch-channgessss, turn and face the strange.”

But seriously, what is so great about the new Myspace design (aside from Justin Timberlake being all, “Yo, Myspace is where it’s at. Dirty pop your way back here.”)?

Platforms like Pinterest (36,000 sign-ups in its first week), Instagram (two million users in its first six weeks) and Spotify which each reached a remarkable amount of users during the first weeks of launching, taught designers and developers a valuable lesson: users like their content like Ricky Bobby likes his cars—fast and easy.

Myspace’s new design offers a user experience similar to favorite platforms of today, yet challenges the leading competitors of the social space. 

1. Navigation that can easily be accessed in multiple areas of your screen.
2. A multivariable search function that categorizes and aggregates songs, artists, albums  and videos.
3. Real-time interaction and music-mix sharing with friends.
4. Multiple ways to personalize your page using music mixes and large cover photos, so you can show the world, including your favorite artists, what speaks to you.

It’s obvious that design wise, Myspace is just like heaven. However, some may say we have Spotify to listen to music, YouTube to view it and Facebook to blabber on about it (and whatever else we want), so the question design alone can’t answer is, ‘why will people use or return to the new digs?’

Timberlake believes Myspace will be especially useful for it’s music-loving audience. According to JT, artists will discover more about their fans, and in turn, discover more about themselves. This is why he believes the “quality of engagement” will be more rewarding.

Being a music lover myself, I can’t wait to take a break from new- born baby posts, and engagement ring photos on platforms such as Facebook. I don’t mind Myspace coming here, and wasting all my time. In fact, I know I could spend hours creating the perfect music mix, sharing it with my music-loving friends, and reading about my favorite music makers.

Time will tell if this platform will break or bust, but it can’t hurt to give it a try. If Myspace is not something you previously enjoyed, at least give it a chance. If anything, it’s design is worth viewing. Maybe it’s just what you, oh underground-music lover you, needed?

Want to check out my mixes that will contribute to your ‘ear-gasms’ (including the songs mentioned throughout this post)? Well, you have to have a beta account. However, Santy may just be giving a few of those away very soon. Comment if interested!

Cheers,

Joey Brandt - Jr. Digital Art Director

https://new.myspace.com/brohanna

http://vimeo.com/50071857

Sleep is something I did not indulge in last night. While some were adventuring in the Land of Nod, I was restlessly tossing and turning; ruminating about the day to come. I was nervous, but mostly excited about my first day at Santy Integrated.

I have made quite a few observations about Santy in the short amount of time I’ve been here, but there is one thing that impresses me the most: The number of young, successful and talented women employed here. Only three men are employed at Santy, including the president and CEO. The average age of all the women that work here, including myself, is only 27.6 years old. I am incredibly excited to immerse myself in a company run by determined, ambitious, and not to mention, stylish women. Although our lunch hour was dictated by the latest episode of “The Bachelorette” and “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” the minute we all entered our desks, the room was silenced and the only conversation shared was about work.

I am not saying that the men at Santy are any less talented than the women or that I am any less impressed with them. What I am saying is that as a young professional female and recent graduate, I sincerely look up to women around me and am eager to make myself known as one of the many accomplished and driven people on the Santy Team.

Who runs the world? Girls.

Cheers,

Jena

How many of my fellow seventeen year old classmates are at the beach, playing video games or sleeping right now? A lot. How many are sitting in front of a desk at an ad agency entering client and sales data into Microsoft Excel? I’ll have to get back to you with that statistic. If you haven’t guessed yet, I fall into the second demographic mentioned. My name is Jackson Santy; I’m an incoming senior at Brophy College Preparatory and am Santy Integrated’s newest intern. There are many reasons why I’m sitting at this desk right now as opposed to lying on a beach surrounded by friends. One may or may not be the fact that I owe a certain elder member of my family $1200 for a recent trip abroad to El Salvador with my classmates at Brophy. But all kidding aside, I am here on my own free will and not as a victim of indentured servitude. The reason I’m here is because of a word incomprehensible for many teenagers, “proactivity.” Sure I’m not relaxing on an Oceanside paradise right now. Instead I’m building up my resume, preparing for the world of employment and getting a head start on internships before entering college. In my mind that beats getting sun burnt and covered in sand any day…or so my father tells me.

Jackson Santy,

Intern           

Brands will operate in the age of tumultuous opportunity and permanently uncertain times, where chaos is normal. Santy believes one thing is certain, success depends more on what we do today than what the world does to us tomorrow.

We truly could care less about social media, web sites, apps or the declining/changing media landscape individually. What we do care about is making brands relevant to the consumers who can’t wait to buy their stuff. Of course creating this relevancy will integrate some or all of the available platforms above.

Our approach, Activating Brand Communities paired with Santy’s Social Branding model unlocks the brands holy grail, Social Intelligence. We create relevant and compelling programs that get fans/friends/lovers to engage with the brand in exchange for insights, interests and detailed psychographic profiles, along with a plethora of other information about the community. This then becomes the foundation for new strategies and more relevant programs to generate brand preference in real time.

But, brands must have the discipline to simplify engagements, test and measure efficacy, then repeat.

-Dan,

CEO/President

As you may have noticed, a large majority of popular television shows now include a hashtag in the corner of the screen. While this may seem trivial, the results may surprise you. ABC Family’s show “Pretty Little Liars” generated 534,000 tweets during the one-hour season three premiere, including 100,000 tweets during the first five minutes (according to social media tracking site SocialGuide). That’s 333 tweets per second. We’re in a new wave of “the three screens”  - goodbye to the days of multitasking watching television, checking your mobile device and surfing the net - we are now combining and sharing these experiences across all platforms. My friends now know who I think Emily should give the final rose to (#bachelorette pick Sean!!!), discuss the latest episode of Family Guy, and argue about who should have been voted MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew (cough, Mos Wanted Crew). Brands should take note from TV - you will not only gain impression share (Pretty Little Liar’s social engagement catapulted the show to 1.7 million viewers during the season three premiere) but you will also build a strong base of brand advocates. So the next time you’re working on a TV commercial or a digital campaign, ask yourself: #WWTVD?

-Holly,

Account Supervisor

The age-old debate of quantity versus quality definitely rings true in social media. As marketers in a numbers-driven world, you would think that having 75,000 fans or followers would be better than 1,000 fans - but in reality, it’s not just a numbers game.

While it may seem like having a high number of fans is a great strategy, and some brands will even resort for paying for likes, marketers should focus on reaching the right people. Gaining fans on social communities should be about people who are actually interested in a brand and want to engage with them. When you have a loyal fan, that person becomes more likely to share it with his or her network. One of the greatest things about social media is how easy it is for word-of-mouth marketing.

So don’t worry if you don’t have as many fans as someone else. Worry about posting interesting content and engaging with fans. That way, you can turn those people into brand advocates.

Amanda,

Account Coordinator

I was sitting here today doing some typical day-to-day research, when I started thinking about digital and market trending.  I then started pulling some old reports and articles about what was predicted for 2012.  I wanted to take a look at those articles and see if what the “experts” had predicted is what we are actually seeing as trends so far this year. I think to myself “Aren’t some of these things a given?” Such as, “there will be more people on smart phones in 2012”, well no kidding. Not only do they not make as many of the other phones anymore, but smart phones are becoming more affordable for people to buy as well. Is that really an intelligent prediction? These trends and predictions I see are all based on the obvious. There are so many reports and articles that clients/agencies purchase in order to see what will happen in the next year. Well, with new technologies, apps, platforms, etc., changing daily we will never know.

As the Santy motto states…” The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

-Courtney,

Media Buyer

While vacationing in San Diego this weekend the girls and I visited yelp reviews multiple times on our cell phones to help us decide what cool spots we wanted to eat, drink, or shop at. However, the process wasn’t always helpful. There were businesses who didn’t update their addresses on google maps and there were also businesses who didn’t have a mobile site. We cursed out in frustration when we tried to access multiple company sites only to find them completely incompatible with our mobile. Some frustrations included flash sites, print that was too hard to read (especially in a dark bar while drinking), and buttons that weren’t finger friendly. Had their sites been mobile we may have been able to see that their menu was in our price range, that their photos showed off a fun atmosphere and ultimately chosen them as a place to visit (and probably suggested to friends). Instead, we opted out of the business’ experience all together and chose different venues to shimmy at. It boggles my mind that 60% of businesses don’t have a mobile site. By not allowing easy access to telephone numbers, or directions there’s a huge chance you’ll miss out on your biggest spenders. So get with the times people and contact us to build your mobile site.

Joey,

Designer

Gaming has generally been classified as a guy’s thing with popular games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Madden. But with the explosion of social gaming, the playing field (no pun intended) has been leveled. According to a survey conducted by mobile social network MocoSpace, 90.4 percent of women respondents age 30 and over said they played mobile games and 77.7 percent ages12-29 said they played mobile games as well. In fact, 26.7 percent of women respondents age 30 and over played mobile games more than three hours a day, compared to 18.5 percent of men in the same age group. With games such as Words with Friends and Farmville, it’s no wonder. So the next time you’re looking to target the females, be sure to look beyond their shopping and consumptive habits. We like to game too!

-Holly,

Account Supervisor

You know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” And in the past year, images have truly become the center of our digital social lives. The Internet, and more specifically social networks, has become increasingly more visual in their content. Not only are existing platforms like Facebook and Twitter becoming more centered around photos with the Timeline and Twitpic, but photo-sharing apps, like Instagram have become something of a phenomenon among smartphone users. For example, at the beginning of 2011, Instagram had 1 million accounts. Then as of April 2012, the number grew to 40 million users – and as we all know, where users go, brands are quick to follow.

So, what’s with this trend and how can marketers capitalize on it? It’s simple. Images grab people’s attention and when people see something nice, they want to share it with their network. Since storytelling is one of the most effective ways for a brand to connect with its target audience, these platforms offer another quick, easy way to generate and share visual content with existing fans and attract new ones.

Of course, brands should never jump on a social network bandwagon just for the sake of it, but if your brand has photos of any sort to share, Instagram a great place to engage with fans. Just remember, it’s not always about your promoting product. I know that sounds odd, but brands such as Starbucks, Free People, Lululemon, and Whole Foods do a great job of showing off their offices, events, and other images that relate to their brand that capture users attention without only pushing product in your face.

And since a blog about visuals wouldn’t be right without something to look at, here’s an infographic for your viewing pleasure:

-Amanda,

Account Coordinator

As we are finishing up the first half of the year, it is now time to think about 2013. I know it seems a bit early to consider what strategies to use in six months, but for those of you that are media buyers like me, the 2013 planning season is right around the corner. With the economy picking up each year, the amount of advertisers and spending levels are increasing. Below is a link that shares insight by medium, into what type of growth and spending we should expect for 2013.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/global-web-ad-spend-to-rise-31-in-2-yrs-18358/zenith-web-ads-type-july-2011jpg/

-Courtney,

Media Planner/Buyer

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. ~Thomas Edison

The most important part of being a successful advertising agency is following through with make-or-break ideas. Some agencies are so afraid to fail that they wind up creating campaigns that no one talks about. Here at Santy we are encouraged to fail faster and succeed sooner. When the pressure of “getting it right the first time” is taken away, our minds are free to explore the world upside down. The agency enters a realm where the learning never stops and groundbreaking ideas are born. So fail, I dare you.

Joey,

Designer

There has been a huge focus on marketing to Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers. But the problem with that is that they’re getting older. Baby Boomers are retiring and Gen X’ers are spending their hard earned cash on mortgages, children, and everything in between. What about us Millennials? You know, we’re not kids anymore! Only one in ten Millenials is under the age of 18. According to a Media Post Millennial Life Stage Segmentation study, 31 million Millennials are working and even 21 million are parents. We have disposable income and are helping to shape popular culture. We have a large social network footprint and can’t go anywhere without our smartphones. So the next time you’re brainstorming your next marketing campaign, remember us!

-Holly, 

Account Supervisor