It’s only natural. When choosing an interior designer, I look at how the designer dresses. When choosing a web graphic artist, I check out their website. One could clearly develop a case of all the interior designers who create fantastic designs, but don’t dress well themselves, or the web graphic artists who decided not to invest in a fancy website, but draw the most creative logos. That’s not the point. The point is that since most people do work under these impressions and stereotypes, businesses must be aware of their appearance. DDB, a leading advertising agency, understands this concept to the tee.
Businesses that are seeking an advertising agency use the agency’s website to gauge their creativity. DDB’s excellent site illustrates this point throughout their website. I’d like to highlight 3 lessons that we can learn from DDB:
- “Show, don’t tell” – DDB’s largest graphic on their home page follows this lesson that my ninth grade English teacher loved to repeat. Their video describes the evolution of “The Fun Theory,” initiated by Volkswagen as a test of whether people will opt to an environmentally advantageous alternative if it is more “fun.” The video “Piano Stairs” went viral, with over 12 million viewers to date, and if you’ve watched the video you understand why. By showing website visitors one clear example of how DDB completely transformed Volkswagon’s image, DDB gets businesses to think “how could DDB transform my brand?”
- Engage Your Visitors- The home page also contains a play button link next to the phrase “I feel creative” that produces a pop up screen with DDB ads that visitors can rate. The goal of this activity is to encourage visitors to participate in the site and watch their work in an interactive way. For advertising agencies that have used phone voting polls, such as Ifbyphone’s VoteByPhone, a website poll could also be conducted with phone technology so that visitors participate in the same type of poll that they would use in their own advertising.
- Create active links- On DDB’s contact page, every piece of information contains an active link. Clicking on the phone number directly calls the contact via Skype. Clicking on the email directly loads a new message to compose. Clicking on the twitter accounts brings you directly to DDB’s twitter account. These quick links give off a great first impression that DDB follows through on all of the little details. Perhaps even more importantly, by making the contact process so simple, they prevent potential clients from filing the phone call or email to DDB under their list of things to do (a habit that’s all too familiar to many of us). Instead, they invite website visitors to continue their contact with DDB right away.
Check out the DDB website, and other advertising agency websites. What other methods can advertising agencies employ of their websites to create a striking first impression?
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