A Brief History of Digital Advertising

With sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, AdSense, etc. ruling the digital ad world, there has been a lot going on over time. Here is a brief history of digital advertising.

Does your brand want to expand its reach? Then you need advertising and internet marketing work! Talk with Integraphix, a Los Angeles marketing agency with over 20 years of digital marketing and advertising experience. 

How Much Some Iconic Logos Cost to Create

Looking back on the history of some famous brands, we can see their logos from day one until present day. For some, they have changed a lot while others have changed very little. Some logos cost a lot to create while others cost next to nothing. Have you ever wondered how much a logo cost to make? Well, as a Los Angeles logo design agency, we can tell you exactly how much some famous logos were worth at the time of their creation.

Logos that cost a lot:

1. 2012 Summer Olympics-- London Olympics. This logo cost quite a chunk of change. A total of $665,400 for the logo that some describe as Lisa Simpson doing unspeakable things; a less crass description is that it looks like blocks having a seizure. Google it. It was created by Wolff Olins, who believes that it echoes London's qualities of a modern, chic city. 
2. Pepsi logo. This one cost a cool $1M to create. Created in 2008 by a design agency that is unnamed, it was rumored to be an Obama '08 ripoff. Allegedly, the design agency wrote a 27 page document explaining the cost and how the design was of a "breathtaking strategy" and had inspirations from Da Vinci, Yin-Yang, etc. 
3. BBC logo. This one, the simple "BBC" in three blocks, cost a whopping $1.8M to create. 1.8 million dollars for three letters in blocks. They created the new logo in 1997 to sharpen their image and have a logo that looks better on screen using Gill Sans. 

Logos that were free. 

1. Microsoft logo. This one was still a bit expensive but cheap compared to others. In 2012, the tech giant was designed in-house and would have cost between $250k and $500k if a branding firm had recreated it. 
2. Google logo. The original logo, not the one they have now, was actually created by one of the co-founders using GIMP software. Sergey Brin was happy to have been able to use the software. 
3. Coca-Cola. The original logo was created by Frank M. Robinson, the co-founder and bookkeeper of Coke. He liked the way the two C's looked because they would be nice in advertising. 

Logos that were cheap. 

1. Twitter logo. The original Twitter logo was bought from iStockPhoto, designed by Simon Oxley. According to research, the image cost $15. 
2. Nike logo. This one was designed by a graphic design student back in the early 70s that Phil Knight found. The student needed money for oil paints and charged $35 for the logo. Knight actually did not like the logo but hoped it would grow on him. 

However, despite some of the success from logos that were free or cheap, you can never go wrong with a professionally designed logo. As a Los Angeles graphic design agency, we love helping brands establish their identities with a great logo. Need a logo? Then hire Integraphix! 

3 Marketing Lessons to Learn From Horror Movies

The season of costumes, candy, corn mazes, haunted houses, and other things that scare us in the night is upon us. Due to this, our Los Angeles marketing agency thought it'd be fun to think of marketing lessons

from horror movies.

Horror movies go up in popularity this time of year; however, there is more to learn about horror movies other than we make poor decisions when a knife-weilding murderer is chasing us. We can learn about marketing.

So what can we learn? 

1. Begin with a plan. Better yet, plan before you begin. Every good killer in a horror movie comes to the starting gate with a plan; the good ones have a plan that is different than the other killers in the world. In the movie Scream, the killer (actually two of them) go in with their plan that they will call their victims to scare them into submission before entering the house to finish the job. As for going in with a plan that is completely different than his competition, look at Freddy Krueger; his plan was to get teens when they fall asleep. As a LA marketing firm, we can tell you that the ability to plan, and be unique, is going to be huge for you and your chances of being successful. 
2. Don't get yourself stuck in a corner. In every horror movie, we see one of the victims get stuck somewhere with no exit because they ran without thinking. Their panicked state of mind has blinded them and they are now stuck in a trap. Sometimes, we do the same thing with our marketing efforts, we act before thinking; we chose to hide in the closet instead of actually running out of the building that the killer has cleverly booby-trapped. 
3. Don't be afraid to adapt and edit. If you have ever seen the movies I Know What You Did Last Summer then you know all the different ways that guy gets his victims. The man in this movie is not afraid to switch things up to get the job done. The worst way to attempt success is to not be willing to switch things up and adapt to what the landscape demands. 

Now, keep in mind we are not advocating being a murderer but in these movies, these guys have some lessons to teach us about marketing. If you need assistance help with your marketing, then contact Integraphix! 

4 Brands that Saved Themselves from Marketing Doom

A crisis will happen for any business. For some businesses, these are much worse than others. Once a brand is in reputation hell, it requires some serious marketing and public relations to get going on the track to being successful again.

Here are 5 brands that were on the brink of extinction if they hadn't been able to turn their reputations around after some serious disasters.

• Tylenol. The Tylenol brand was in trouble after their scare in 1982. The news was that 7 people in Chicagoland (Chicago and its suburbs) had died suddenly after taking Tylenol. Authorities tested the pills in the area and discovered that eight bottles had high levels of potassium cyanide in them; the bottles came from different production factories and stores, so the contamination was in a dangerous source. Johnson & Johnson, owner of Tylenol, ordered a recall of 31M bottles and did inspections. The conclusion was that someone bought eight bottles, refilled them with the poison, then returned them to the store; who did it? That was never known. Tylenol went back to shelves with tamperproof packaging. What also helped was how swiftly they responded and worked with authorities. 
• Perrier. Back in 1990, the producer of fine water, Perrier, was in serious hot water (pun intended) after it was discovered some of their water contained benzene. Perrier prided itself on being "naturally pure" and now it had been called out for containing a toxic substance. 160M bottles and worked with the FDA. Only 13 bottles were actually contaminated and it was concluded that a worker forgot to change a filter, allowing benzene to slip through. On their own, the brand did not revive itself but after being sold to Nestle in 1992, Nestle was able to bring the brand to celeb status with aggressive marketing campaigns. 
• JetBlue. Back in 2007, the airline that was built on customer service marketing was found to be in violation of customers. A major snowstorm grounded plans on the tarmac for up to 11 hours. This led to a major uproar, naturally. After this, JetBlue shifted how they operate and truly with the consumer at its core by pre-cancelling flights if dangerous weather is imminent. 
• Domino's. In 2009, some of its employees, who were of the immature variety, posted a YouTube video of themselves violating the ingredients. What made matters worse was that it was found that the HQ did not know about the incident until consumers told them about the video. Oops. Domino's set up several social media marketing efforts with Twitter accounts that controlled the issue's complaints, etc. Now they dominate corporate social media. 

Sometimes it takes a major fallout to shake a brand into perfection. Don't let this happen to your brand, get in contact with Integraphix, a marketing agency with over 2 decades experience.