The MediaSphere

Integrated Online and Traditional Media Reference Tool

Brainstorm | For Release January 2011

2011 Edition
An overview of today’s media channel options,
The MediaSphere can help you select components
for your next integrated marketing campaign—
a useful planning tool in your effort to advance
strategic initiatives.
Introduction

The MediaSphere

Thanks for downloading

Brainstorm’s MediaSphere.

This informational document is offered as a

supplemental tool to help you select a media
mix for your integrated marketing campaigns
and ongoing brand differentiation—an
exercise that definitely takes some in-depth
knowledge and finesse.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the
choices, just give us a call. We’d love to get to
know you and talk through the best mix to
meet your goals.

Best Regards,
Ed Illig, CEO

317.558.1800
illig@brainstormbrand.com

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© Copyright 2011 Brainstorm. All rights reserved.
 Contents

” Brainstorm: A new breed of consultant.” The B Series Project: An Overview

–U.S. News & World Report
4
The B Series Project: Awareness Campaign
5
Focal Points for Your Brand
7
Ways to Extend Your Brand
9
The MediaSphere
13
The MediaSphere Glossary
14
Brainstorm Contact
17
The B Series Project: An Overview

Integrated Marketing Test

On the following pages we’ve reprinted a 6-part series
of articles on The B Series Project, an awareness
campaign originally designed, produced, tested and
recorded to benefit Brainstorm’s customers. The
articles document the project from plan through
execution, including strategies, metrics and insights.

The B Series Project incorporated an array of

integrated traditional and digital marketing media
from our MediaSphere tool found on page 13 of
this document.
The B Series
Part 1: Awareness Campaign
Awa Awareness. Interest. Evaluation. Trial. Adoption. What’s in it for Me?

We recently launched an awareness campaign we dubbed “The B Series” Each touchpoint offered strategic informational downloads for the
because the conceptual thread of the multi-part program is built around recipient to use when planning their next integrated marketing effort.
a large graphic “B” from our Brainstorm logotype. We documented the We’ll share these with you in future articles.
process on our .think blog as it unfolded.

The Audience
We selected 200 regionally-based influencers and decision makers
representing industries in which we have demonstrated experience.
Although a recipient could leapfrog directly to interest, evaluation
or even trial at any juncture, our primary objective was to create
awareness about Brainstorm among people we believed would
benefit from our areas of expertise.
The Numbers
In addition to creating awareness, we did small-scale A/B testing which
influenced strategy for our next campaign.
The final piece of the puzzle is metrics—the end results. How did we do?
How do we interpret the data? How do we use it in the future, both to our
benefit and our customers’?

The Campaign

Designed to roll out over 8 weeks, the campaign incorporates variable

data to create personalized communications across a variety of media. All
components were produced in-house; the only vendors engaged were for
printing and fulfillment.

The campaign was designed to culminate in a personal introduction as a

The B Series - An integrated marketing campaign pilot program conducted
and recorded to benefit Brainstorm’s clients. first step to establishing a true relationship and opening dialog to discover
whether our strengths fit their needs—the best way we know of to begin
to move through the next stages toward adoption.

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© Copyright 2011 Brainstorm. All rights reserved.
The B Series
Part 2: Strategic Design & Messaging
The B Series Creative Differentiation: Establishing our strengths in boldly, conceptually
and appropriately differentiating our clients’ brands in the marketplace.
In this installment of our ongoing series on Brainstorm’s awareness
campaign, we’ll explore some of the design and messaging strategies Strategic Influence: Conveying the benefits of our collaborative, intelligent
we considered during development. approach, and thought leadership borne of our knowledge and
experience in both traditional and digital design and branding.
About the B Using the B theme, we framed each statement as a personalized benefit
to the reader, paring each talking point down to a single encapsulating
Multi-part campaigns require an overarching theme and a supporting thought. The three punchy messages we delivered were:
look or graphic to provide a thread of continuity. Each time a simple,
identifiable theme is executed, it builds recognition. We settled on a bold
graphic “B” motif for our theme. B noticed. B bold. B brilliant.

All subsequent awareness messaging supported a relational dialog under

B the Noun the umbrella of these three primary concepts.
The letter B functions as a single identifying element—a symbol recipients
imbue with meaning as elements of Brainstorm are revealed throughout Overt or Covert?
the campaign. The central B element is inextricably linked to our brand
logotype by inference. And, the B serves as both a visual cue, “Ah, the B Each touchpoint offered recipients an informational download. Internal
people,” and a graphic people connect through repetition, “Where have I discussions centered around the merits and drawbacks of leading with
seen that B before?” the offer—straightforward and blatant—or leading with conceptual
messaging which required some involvement from the reader. Should we
be overt or covert?
B the Verb
Themes and concepts are strategic elements. In the end we opted to lead with concept. Why? As a branding and design
We also used the letter B as a phonetic representation of the verb “(to) be” firm, we’re offering relational services, not selling a consumer product.
in headlines and for strategic emphasis in limited usage elsewhere. The downloads were designed to augment our main message—not to
What to Convey be the main message. This was an awareness campaign to introduce our
The B was integrated into a stark black and white op-art, yet classic, capabilities to marketing executives, not a direct sale mechanism.
graphic which became the B upon which all our communications
Getting noticed is a primary goal of direct marketing. A portion of our
were built. Part 2 continues...
campaign was delivered via traditional direct mail, so it was important to
lead with a bold, graphic look and deliver a simple message. We built the
campaign around messaging that conveyed our areas of expertise:

Noteworthy Capability: Demonstrating the depth of the traditional and

digital services which get our clients noticed through visual examples and
positioning text, i.e., from consumer packaging to web initiatives, and
strategic inception to final deliverable.

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 The B Series
Part 2: Strategic Design & Messaging
OUTSIDE THE SPHERE
Other Goals

In addition to frequency and consistency there were other ancillary

An initial wireframe for the customized campaign email template.
benchmarks against which we scrubbed all our communications: 5 Focal Points for Brands
Well-written: Mobile-based Marketing
A direct, understandable message Smartphones are fast becoming the center of consumer experience for work,
home and play. A device capable of connecting people, places and things via text,
written in a personal and engaging voice voice, social networks, apps, tools, email, video, and images is a powerful medium.
And the medium’s delivery mechanism is already in your audience’s hand, on their
belt or in their purse. Smartphones are a direct way to connect with your audience
Well-designed: and influence their behavior each time they use the device.
Graphically intriguing, easily read
Location-based Marketing

Frequency and Consistency
To achieve our overarching objective to generate awareness, we focused
on frequency and consistency, hallmarks of memorable marketing and
brand-building campaigns.
“ Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make
Styling: Aligning cultural trends and consumer behavior with location-based kiosks,
mobile and social apps can elevate your brand from relationship marketing to
Austere, crisp, bold, yet approachable direct sales. Online and mobile apps such as Foursquare combine locale, social
game play and entertainment with information and tangible incentives. Geo-
based marketing can deliver the closest, most highly-rated businesses, directions
Convey Capabilities: to get there and real-time incentives to entice a visit.
Demonstrate through example and execution
Brand Design
Never Condescend: Design continues to differentiate, now more so than ever. In a world deluged with
Our target audience is astute cookie cutter applications and off-the-shelf adornments, consistent, appropriate
and user-centric brand design compels and communicates amid the cacophony
and highly knowledgeable
of visual noise.

it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” Maximize Messaging: Branded Edutainment

—Leo Burnett
Our strategy included multiple touchpoints delivered over two months—
frequent enough to engender memorability, not often enough to
be overwhelming.
We also established design element guidelines to ensure consistency and
recognizability across all component pieces, with the flexibility to allow
for distinctive messaging and styling from one piece to the next.
Make wise use of the database in both
on and off-line communications
Offer Value:
Ensure that recipients’ time is well-spent and
worthwhile for them both tangibly and intangibly
What Does It All Mean?
A multi-tiered marketing campaign may seem simple, but the best formula
for success begins with a strategy that addresses the goals for the overall
172 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in December
2010 for an average of 14.6 hours per viewer and engaged in nearly 5.2 billion
viewing sessions overall, according to a 2011 ComScore press release. With the
proliferation of on-hand, video-ready, mobile devices and a broad array of storage
and sharing sites like Hulu and YouTube, online video is ubiquitous.
Video is a powerful and potentially amplifying medium for your messaging when
produced, integrated and distributed properly. But, it must be engaging, relevant,
interactive, easily-consumed, readily-shareable, educational and/or entertaining
for full effect.
Strategic Integration
There are many ways to reach and influence your audience—perhaps too many.
Just because you have more options to extend your media mix doesn’t mean it
can be less strategic. In fact, to penetrate the noise and stand out, strategy is more
important than ever.

campaign and how they will be achieved. Design and messaging are just a
portion of what goes into a well-formulated integrated marketing plan.
Facebook now has over 600 million subscribers and growing. So what? Citing
large numbers isn’t a strategy. And developing stand-alone initiatives without an
integrated and targeted plan risks losing your message in a sea of irrelevant noise.
Be it a person wearing a sandwich board on the sidewalk or an online video, your
marketing efforts must be strategically integrated, well-planned, consistently
branded, distinctively designed and metrics-driven.

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© Copyright 2011 Brainstorm. All rights reserved.
The B Series
Part 3: The Componentry
Touchpoint #1

“ Brochures rarely lead to a sale. They lead Four-page print piece. Entitled B noticed, the first mailer introduced
to a sales call. So a brochure has to be Brainstorm and set the tone for the rest of the series. B noticed showcased
a variety of our work by medium as well as industry, for clients large and
engaging and hopefully viral.” small, thus establishing our capabilities. The headline, B noticed, implied
—Seth Godin that the reader could benefit from similar efforts.

The call to action drove readers to the web to download a free

informational marketing tool. All touchpoints carried the identifiable look of the campaign.

Maintaining Perspective
To expect to develop a strategic partner relationship from a single
touchpoint would be naive. Therefore, our B Series awareness campaign
included multiple touchpoints in a variety of media to convey distinct
and singular messages about our capabilities to a group of marketing
executives not otherwise familiar with Brainstorm.
The Components
The B Series consisted of seven primary touchpoints: three direct mail
brochures, one HTML email, a personal text-based email, a personal phone
call, and one letter.
The program also contained elements and destination points to
support the primary touchpoints: a web page containing videos, two
downloadable marketing tools, and an online survey about the campaign
with a t-shirt offer and order page.
We selected clear envelopes to maximize visibility for our bold “B” theme
imagery and used a separate address card insert with promotional content
on the back to enable us to use all four pages of the brochure for copy.
25% increase
in direct traffic to BrainstormBrand.com
during the promotion
Touchpoint #2
Four-page print piece. The intent of our second touchpoint, B bold, was
to build brand recognition by carrying through the look, feel and tone of
the first mailer. It was also meant to pique the curiosity of anyone who
hadn’t taken the time to look at the first piece by talking about breaking
norms and placing trust in creative, unique, and innovative solutions.
The call to action invited the reader to go online, where a second
informational marketing download had been added.
Touchpoint #3
HTML email. For our third contact point, B innovative, we utilized the
same basic design elements in a graphic rich email. Using the same
voice but more direct, we referenced past touchpoints, talked about
the marketing tools, and provided contact information and links to the
downloads, our blog series, and the Brainstorm website.
Touchpoint #4
Four-page print piece. We went back to print for the B brilliant mailer,
which spoke to our approach, thinking, and problem-solving skills on
behalf of our clients. The call to action drove readers to our blog and
reminded them again of the marketing tool downloads. The continuity
in look, feel, and name was intended to foster even more familiarity and
positive feelings about the Brainstorm brand.
Part 3 continues...

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The B Series
Part 3: The Componentry
OUTSIDE THE SPHERE
Touchpoint #6

Phone calls. One week after the email, each of the partners called their
respective contacts to follow up. The calls were low key with no hard sell
tactics. Partners asked if the recipient had received the materials and what
they thought of them. The final step was to request a brief meeting simply
for a personal introduction.
Touchpoint #7
10 Ways to Distribute Your
Content and Extend Your Brand
Share everything. Make it easy. A positive experience with your
brand lingers with those who encounter it. It can become part of
their life experience, and people enjoy sharing life experiences.

Monarch letter. This personal letter encouraged the recipient to give

us feedback on our campaign via a brief web survey we developed. We
Multi-Channel Distribution
incentivized them with a B brilliant t-shirt for their participation.
Use multi-channel distribution
mediums like Posterous.com.
And, as with every touchpoint in the campaign, we reminded the reader Posterous allows you to assemble
your content in, and send it via email.
that the downloadable marketing tools were still available to them. Once distributed, users or fans can
easily share your branded content
with others.
Widgets
Flash Drive
Hand a prospect or influential person
your content on a portable device like
a branded flash drive.
Incentivize Others to Share
Create a contest or sweepstakes to
pull people to your content, then
encourage and incentivize them to

B brilliant t-shirt premium

18% of the respondents Use widgets like Share This, Add to
share it with others.

visited the offer site multiple times Any, or Add This to enable single-
click sharing.
Touchpoint #5 Micro-blog
Post short messages with information
Text-based, personal email. We utilized a personal email from one of or links to your content and users can
three Brainstorm partners to convey a personal invitation, custom crafted The Progression re-blog posts of interest.
Think About the Copyright
Use Creative Commons to manage
the proper usage of your shared
content on sites like Flickr; it protects
you, the author, and facilitates liberal
sharing of your content.

for its recipient. We mentioned we would be calling to follow up in a week Share the Responsibility
The B Series advanced from the first mailer with Brainstorm as an iPhone Apps for Content Creation
and offered a direct link to the marketing tools again, if the individual
unknown entity to a phone call and in-person meeting which marked the Aggregate your content from multiple By collaborating from the
had not yet downloaded them. We sacrificed some measurability for a sources into a custom-branded outset to make your content “our
start of a personal relationship with a potential client.
personal connection on this component. iPhone or other Smartphone app. content.” When people share in the
process of content creation they
The B Series represented the first leg of a long-term trust building become invested.
Downloads
communication program.
Give your content away in the form of Branded Watermarks
portable ebooks, white papers, digital
audio and video downloads. Tastefully embed a logo or
other watermark in the corner
of your photos and encourage
users to make them their own
in device backgrounds or other
digital applications.

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© Copyright 2011 Brainstorm. All rights reserved.
The B Series
Part 4: Personalization
“ A person’s name is the sweetest and most
B Series B Bold element
Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Not yet on a first name basis with the 200 individuals we targeted in
our B Series awareness campaign, we wanted to introduce ourselves
strategically and make a tremendous first impression without being
too forward.
Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should
There are a myriad of personalization methods and options available;
however, in business-to-business (B2B) correspondence to C-level
executives, it’s presumptuous to use too friendly an approach.
Personal Touches Whether our deliverable is design, consultation, brand revitalization, a
decision-tree interactive piece, or packaging, our solutions spring from
Using a hand-picked database of individuals within companies we knew individual customer needs and desires. Therefore, each touchpoint
would be a good fit for our experience and capabilities, the campaign contained a succinct message defining ways in which Brainstorm fulfills
tailored written communication to individual readers based on personal our clients’ goals.
attributes, details or actions. We addressed recipients by their first name
or professional title only once in the salutation of each piece. We also
feathered in their company name in customized copy only when and
where it made sense.
important sound in any language.”
—Dale Carnegie
Behind the Scenes
Each outgoing piece invited the recipient to download free marketing Overview of B Series personal touchpoints, destination points and timeline.
materials from a web page accessible via a username and password. This
allowed us to identify individual visitors and greet them online with a
personalized message and in some test cases, a video specifically recorded An Ongoing Effort
for them.
As an awareness campaign, the B Series was simply a request for an initial
Our analytics recorded when a recipient visited the web page and what introduction—a first step in earning the right to address a select group of
they viewed and downloaded while they were there. This information was people by their first names.
then referenced in context in the next piece they received—without being
creepy by calling undue attention to it. Building an introduction into a long-term business relationship takes time
and effort. To that end, just as we did before hand-selecting our list, we
continue to read and follow business news for each company with which
we engaged, commenting and congratulating as appropriate.
Delivery
Voice was a critical aesthetic touch that displayed our company’s Because genuine interest may just be the second sweetest sound in
personality in a tone appropriate to the audience, in a way that made any language.
the technology behind the message disappear. In the B Series, we
communicated in a warm, friendly, personable manner that, by design,
wasn’t too familiar.
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 The B Series
Part 5: Offers and Incentives
“ Knowledge leads to action.
Give them the gift of useful and relevant
knowledge, and in return they will give you
brand loyalty and word-of-mouth.”
— Eran Livneh, Marketingprofs.com
Show and Tell
The B Series awareness campaign was designed to introduce Brainstorm’s
strategic branding, design, and interactive media capabilities to a select
group of marketing executives who were not familiar with our company.
As part of that introduction, we wanted to provide something of value
to the recipients—incentives they might find useful—that would also
demonstrate our expertise.
Three Offers
In our bid to connect with our audience we offered three items: an
informational download about a specific demographic, a digital marketing
reference chart, and a t-shirt.
See the complete The MediaSphere on page 13.
B Relevant
Our first B Series offer was a summary sheet of our popular Web 2.0 and
Generation Me presentation. The paper condenses a 2-hour presentation
into a downloadable 12-page pdf.
Web 2.0 and Generation Me | 524 KB .pdf
Initially developed to assist our higher education clients understand how
current high school and college-aged students think and communicate,
we discovered many of our corporate clients wanted to better understand
this demographic as well.
B Informed
Our second offer, The MediaSphere (page 13), is a tool we created to help
marketers plan and develop an integrated communication strategy. The
MediaSphere is a single source menu and glossary of both traditional and
emerging channel options available to today’s marketers.
Our clients are using it as tool to develop initial marketing mix ideas, as
a learning resource, for war room brainstorming, and even as a way to
mitigate interdepartmental communication barriers.
B Clothed
If useful knowledge-based tools are the new black of incentives and offers,
t-shirts are retro noir. Tactile, fun and useful, we offered a B brilliant t-shirt
for completing a 3-minute post-campaign online survey. In this case, the
rationale behind the offer is clear and straightforward, less trust-building,
more “Thank you!”
The shirt is purposely devoid of urls or any direct promotion of our firm.
This group doesn’t represent existing customers or friends. They know
where they got the shirt and we just want them to enjoy wearing it.
See the shirt design on page 9.
No Hidden Agendas
In B2B communications to C-level executives, it’s important to respect
the recipient’s time and focus on their needs. Dangling incentive
carrots to obtain email opt-ins or artificially inflate response statistics is
counterintuitive and may land you on SPAM blacklists.
Our Web 2.0 and MediaSphere pieces were offered without obligation
simply to demonstrate our capabilities.
The Priority
The primary objective of the B Series was to create awareness. By offering
our audience useful tools, we positioned ourselves as brand strategists
here to serve and support, and established a foundation for trust. If
recipients agreed, they’d opt-in—genuinely. It’s all about creating value,
dialog and trust—not building stats for stats’ sake.
Useful tools and educational materials are a great way to connect and
communicate information about your company. Consider putting your
audience first and they may just reciprocate.
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© Copyright 2011 Brainstorm. All rights reserved.
The B Series
Part 6: The Metrics
Objectives, Then Numbers
The B Series was created as the initial step in an ongoing awareness
campaign targeted to a group of C-level marketing executives and
decision makers with little or no previous knowledge of Brainstorm. Our
goal for the multiple-component B2B campaign was simply to build name
recognition and knowledge of our firm’s capabilities.
All statistics and results were measured with that primary objective in
mind, but we were also interested in how each piece performed. Because
of the nature of the campaign and the protracted sales cycle in our
industry, an accurate ROI measurement isn’t yet feasible; however we
created a unique offer landing page for each recipient and an online tool
to track their individual responses. With a total response rate of 14%,
unique visits to the offer site looked like this:
B Series Response Rates
Personal Email
Survey
Other
Mailer 1
Mailer 3 Mailer 2
Mass Email
What Worked
Our mass HTML email had a 22% open rate and 3% unique click-throughs;
however, the fourth piece in the series, the personal email, was the
most effective with 7.5% of recipients visiting the offer page. This strong
response confirms that multiple touchpoints built name recognition.
After several contacts, recipients felt comfortable opening an email
from someone they didn’t really “know” and clicking through to learn
more about Brainstorm.
Visitor Activity
Once visitors were at the offer site, 29% watched a video, 50%
downloaded the Web 2.0 Summary Sheet and 50% downloaded
the MediaSphere.
Brainstorm created a proprietary online tool to track B Series activity, including offer page
visits, video views, downloads and survey data.
Telling Numbers
In addition to traffic to the offer page, during the three initial mailers
and the mass HTML email, average hits per day on our corporate website
increased 50% over the preceding 15 days. After the personal email,
average hits per day were up 79% over pre-campaign traffic. Across the
two and a half-month promotion, average daily hits increased 39% overall.
What We’d Do Differently
Two weeks at the end of the campaign were reserved for three of
Brainstorm’s principals to make personal follow-up phone calls—not to
hard sell, but to merely introduce themselves. It proved difficult to connect
with a live person. We left a lot of voicemail and spoke to several people,
but the results weren’t worth the effort of calling the entire list. Next time,
we’ll follow up via phone only with individuals who have expressed a tacit
interest by taking specific action while visiting the offer site.
39% increase in average daily hits
on BrainstormBrand.com during the
B Series promotion
Qualitative Metrics
Relying on percentages and numbers alone is ill-advised when measuring
objectives. A myriad of variables affect the success of any consumer or
B2B marketing campaign: need, timing, industry, execution, audience, and
messaging are just a few.
Our initial effort exceeded our expectations by creating awareness and
developing relationships that have resulted in new work and ongoing
discussions with an audience previously unaware of Brainstorm. We will
continue to reach out to these individuals in an attempt to build trust and
relationship equity through various means.
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© Copyright 2011 Brainstorm. All rights reserved.





 

Integrated Online/Traditional Marketing Reference Tool

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© Copyright 2011 Brainstorm. All rights reserved.
Glossary
Traditional Media
Advertising
Billboards
An outdoor sign or poster, or sponsor identification at the
beginning or end of a television show.
Broadcast
Typically a term associated with radio
or television advertising.
Earned Media
Refers to favorable publicity gained through promotional efforts
other than advertising, as opposed to paid media, which refers
to publicity gained through advertising.
Handbills
A loose, printed sheet distributed by hand.
Outdoor
Any outdoor sign that publicly promotes a business, product or
service, such as signage, billboards, movie kiosks, etc.
Print Media
Refers to advertising appearing in magazines, trade journals or
other printed matter.
Public Relations
Managing the outside communication of an organization
or business to create and maintain a positive image. Public
relations involves popularizing successes, downplaying failures,
announcing changes, and many other activities.
Quick Reference Cards
Small, often folded, business card-sized synopsis. Useful for
quickly conveying features or benefits of a product, process
or company.
Transportation (Transit) Graphics
Advertising that appears on public transportation or waiting
areas and bus, subway, or train stops.
Brand
Brand Audit
Any number of means aimed at measuring and defining
a brand’s penetration and effectiveness within its given
market space.
Brand Development
Activities associated with the advancement of a brand into its
target markets.
Collateral
Sales brochures, catalogs, spec sheets, etc., generally delivered
to consumers (or dealers) by a sales person rather than by mass
media. These materials are considered “collateral” to the message
delivered by the sales person.
Employee Coaching
Training or coaching employees on the importance of cohesive
brand messaging at every touchpoint.
Identity (Corporate Identity)
The image a company portrays. A corporate identity is the
“persona” of a corporation which is designed to accord with and
facilitate the attainment of business objectives, and is usually
visibly manifested by way of branding and the use of trademarks.
Standards
A set of guidelines governing brand identity usage.
Stationery
Typically pragmatic printed business materials such as
letterhead, business cards, envelopes, invoices and fax sheets.
Although functional, their frequent usage positions these items
as important identity flag-bearers.
Direct Marketing
3D Mailings
Direct mail typically housing a dimensional item.
Invitation
A printed invite to a special event.
One-to-One Marketing
A customer relationship management (CRM) strategy
emphasizing personalized interactions with customers.
Telemarketing
A method of direct marketing in which a salesperson uses
the telephone to solicit prospective customers to buy products
or services.
Variable Data Printing (VDP)
On-demand printing in which elements such as text, graphics
and images may be changed from one printed piece to the next
using information from a database or external file.
Environmental
Apparel
Uniforms or attire designed to extend a brand’s
aesthetic and/or message.
Displays
In-house or portable cases or areas devoted to communicating
or displaying products, history, benefits or other messaging.
Events
Corporate anniversaries, product unveilings, community
involvement, etc., aimed at strengthening constituent or
stakeholder relations and/or enhancing direct sales.
Experiential
Displays designed to convey a message via interaction, generally
with either emotive or explanatory reasoning.
Signage
Interior or exterior directional, institutional or informational
messaging, logomarks, etc.
Tradeshows
Industry conventions where vendors and buyers display, buy and
sell products or services. Usually involving on-site and near-site
product rooms, booths and events.
Innovation
Guerrilla (Stealth Marketing)
An unconventional way of performing promotional activities,
often on a very low budget. Such promotions are sometimes
designed so that the target audience is left unaware they have
been marketed to.
Industrial Design
An applied art whereby the aesthetics and usability of products
may be improved for marketability and production. The role
of an Industrial Designer is to create and execute design
solutions towards problems of engineering, marketing, brand
development and sales. Although the process of design may be
considered ‘creative’, many analytical processes also take place.
Newsletters
A regularly distributed publication generally about one main
topic of interest to subscribers.
Product Development
Market advancement through new or revised product
enhancements and creation.
Product Placement
Promotional ads using real commercial products and services in
media, where the presence of a particular brand is the result of
an economic exchange. Examples: plays, film, television series,
music videos, video games, or books.
Street Marketing
Groups (typically) dispatched to clubs, movie theaters or other
locations where influential people within an advertiser’s target
market congregate. Example items distributed: flyers, retail
drops, posters and stickers, product samples, music downloads.
Viral Buzz
Use of pre-existing social networks to increase brand awareness
through self-replicating viral processes encouraging voluntary
distribution. Examples: humorous video clips, interactive Flash,
advergames, images, WOM, SMS.
Word of Mouth (WOM)
Passing information via personal recommendations in an
informal manner. Examples: face-to-face dialog, phone
conversations, text messages, SMS, web dialog, profile pages,
blog posts, message board threads, instant messages, or emails.
Packaging
Book Jackets
Detachable covers typically wrapped around hardbound books
and folded into the book’s front and back covers.
Form Factor
The design of a package or product form.
Graphical
The aesthetic, promotional or informational design on a package
or product.
Green
Practices or products that are environmentally sound, renewable,
and/or sustainable.
Point-of-Sale (POS) or Point-of-Purchase (POP)
Typically items or displays located in a retail store (POS) or at
a sales register (POP) used to communicate the features and
benefits of products and/or services.
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Glossary
Digital Media
Conversation
(Social Media)
Blogs
A website where entries are written in chronological order and
displayed in reverse chronological order.
Chat Rooms
A term used primarily by mass media to describe any form of
synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous
conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology ranging
from real-time online chat over instant messaging and online
forums to fully immersive graphical social environments.
Forums
A web application for holding discussions and posting
user-generated content. Internet forums are also commonly
referred to as web forums, message boards, discussion
boards, (electronic) discussion groups, discussion forums
and bulletin boards.
Instant Messaging (IM)
A form of real-time communication between two or more
people based on typed text. The text is conveyed via computers
connected over a network such as the Internet.
Listserv
LISTSERV was the first electronic mailing list software application.
The word “listserv” is now often used as a generic term for any
email-based mailing list application.
Music Sharing
The distribution and access to digital music by way of peer-to-
peer networks and commercial models such as iTunes®, Amazon.
com®, or CD Baby®.
Photo Blogs
A form of photo sharing and publishing in the format of a blog,
but differentiated by the predominant use of and focus on
photographs rather than text.
Vlogs
A video blog, with regular entries typically presented in reverse
chronological order. Vlogs often combine embedded video or a
video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata.
Email
Cards
Like postcards, emailed cards reflecting content
relevant in message or style.
Newsletters
Regularly distributed electronic publication generally revolving
around one main topic of interest to subscribers.
One-to-One (HTML/Text)
A customer relationship management (CRM) strategy
emphasizing personalized interactions with customers via
individually customized email.
Viral Buzz
Distribution of brand information in a self-replicated manner
where constituent groups are encouraged to forward content to
others on a voluntary basis.
Search
Aggregators
A web feed aggregator, also known as a feed reader, is client
software or a web service which aggregates syndicated web
content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a
single location for easy viewing.
Blog Search Engines
A search engine specialized in searching blogs.
Keywords
A keyword or meta tag used in HTML to help
index web pages.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
An advertising model used on websites, advertising networks,
and search engines where advertisers pay when a user clicks on
an ad to visit the advertiser’s website.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The process of improving the volume and quality of traffic
to a website from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or
“algorithmic”) search results.
Shortened Vanity URLs
A technique in which a URL is shortened and customized to
reflect a brand name.
Social Media Optimization (SMO)
A way to optimize websites so they are more easily connected
or interlaced with online communities and community websites,
also called social media sites.
Syndication Websites
Content Partners Education/Edutainment
A form of entertainment designed to educate
Extensible third party content management benefiting two or as well as to amuse.
more parties—typically managed by one RSS administration
source or tool.
Games (Advergaming)
Email Notification The practice of using video games to advertise a product,
organization or viewpoint.
New website content updates sent to subscribers via email.
Microsites
Folksonomy
An individual web page or cluster of pages meant to function
A user-generated taxonomy used to categorize and as an auxiliary to a primary website. Also known as a minisite or
retrieve web content such as web pages, photographs and web weblet, a microsite’s main landing page has its own URL.
links, using open-ended labels called tags. Folksonomic tagging
is intended to make a body of information increasingly easy to
Online Ads
search, discover, and navigate over time.
Online advertising includes search engine, desktop,
online directories, banner ads, networks and opt-in
Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
email advertising.
An RSS document, which is called a “feed,” “web feed,”
or “channel,” containing either a summary of content
from an associated website or the full text. RSS makes Podcasts
it possible for people to keep up with their favorite websites A digital media file or series of such files distributed over the
in an automated manner that’s easier than checking sites Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media
individually.
players and personal computers.
Social Bookmarks PR (Public Relations)
A way for Internet users to store, classify, share and search Managing the outside communication of an organization
Internet bookmarks. or business to create and maintain a positive image. Online
examples: PRWeb.com, blogs.
Tagging
A relevant keyword or term associated with or assigned to Viral
a piece of information (e.g., a picture, article, or video clip) Marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to
describing the item and enabling keyword-based classification produce increases in brand awareness through self-replicating
of information for the purpose of retrieval.
viral processes.
Widgets Web Radio
A small graphical device that does a highly focused, often single, Web radio or Internet radio is an audio broadcasting service
specific task. Web widgets can be embedded in web pages or transmitted via the Internet.
run on PC or Mac desktops.
Webcasts
Wiki
A live media file distributed over the Internet using streaming
A web application designed to allow multiple authors media technology. Essentially, webcasting is broadcasting over
to add, remove, or edit content. The multiple author the Internet.
capability of wikis makes them effective tools for mass
collaborative authoring.
Webinars
A seminar presented over the Internet. The presenter may speak
and point out information being presented on screen, and the
audience can respond verbally or by typing in questions.
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Glossary
Diagnostics and Logistics

Mobile Analytics Diagnostics Logistics

Apps A/B Testing
Task-specific tools or game applications developed specifically A method of testing advertising by which a baseline control
for mobile devices. sample is compared to a variety of single-variable test samples.
A classic direct mail tactic, this method has been adopted within
the interactive space to test tactics such as banner ads, email and
Location-based landing pages.
A location-based service (LBS) allows mobile users access
to relevant information and entertainment based on the Multivariate
user’s location.
A collection of procedures which involve observation and
analysis of more than one statistical variable at a time.
Mobile Ads
Ads within mobile apps that encourage consumers to interact Qualitative Market Research
with or download them.
A set of market research techniques designed to obtain
data from a relatively small group of respondents, analyzed
Short Message Service (SMS) by respondents’ qualitative responses instead of via
The protocol that allows mobile users to communicate via text. statistical techniques.
Short Code SMS allows businesses and advertisers to use shorter
and more memorable numbers in their communication.
Quantitative Market Research
QR Codes The application of quantitative research techniques to the field
of marketing, typically involving a large group of respondents
A matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR providing data for statistical analysis.
scanners, and mobile phone apps.
Web Analytics
Video/Games/Mobile Content
The study of the behavior of website visitors. Data collected may
Any type of media which is viewed or used on mobile phones, include web traffic reports, email response rates, sales and lead
like ringtones, graphics, discount offers, games, movies, and information, user performance data such as click heat mapping,
GPS navigation. or other custom metrics.
Market Research Database Marketing
The systematic process of gathering, recording,
auditing and analyzing data about customers, A form of direct marketing using a database of customers’ or
competitors and the market. potential customers’ information to generate personalized
communications to promote a product or service. The method
Examples: Business-to-business (B2B) market research of communication can be any addressable medium, as in
investigates the markets for products sold by one business direct marketing.
to another, rather than to consumers. Whereas consumer
market research is a form of applied sociology which
concentrates on understanding the behaviors, whims and Strategic Planning
preferences of consumers. Often a subset of a marketing plan, strategic planning at a
logistical stage encompasses activities aimed at establishing and
Marketing Plan aligning next-step actions based on previously gathered data in
diagnostic phases.
A written document outlining strategies and tactics to be utilized
The goal of strategic planning is to concentrate and manage an
to achieve marketing and/or sales goals.
organization’s resources—maximizing opportunities to increase
sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
Marketing Studies and Surveys
Any form of data gathering set on discovering, interpreting,
and revising knowledge on different aspects of a product
or brand. A wide range of methods from extensive clinical
trials to basic focus group events may be employed depending
upon objectives.
Usability Tests
A means for measuring how easily people can use a human-
made object such as a web page, computer interface, document,
or device for its intended purpose.

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Contact
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About
Brainstorm is a strategic concept
development, branding and design
firm specializing in brand strategy
and proven business solutions
through integrated web, print,
and interactive media.