The Official
Moosylvania Blog

SXSWi has been enlightening to say the least. From Copywriters to Creative Directors and Marketing and Analytics Specialists, we’ve all learned some pretty amazing stuff along this incredible journey—and we’d like to share those nuggets of knowledge with you. So read on, and find out why huggable things are still awesome, how agencies are evolving and why the future of interactive is going to be seriously off the hook.

(more…)

Another fun-filled day in Austin at SXSW, another set of sessions to make the Moosers staying behind envious. From our copious notes, we recap two of our favorites sessions, plus a bonus photo from the streets of some interesting experiential marketing we noticed.

Tricking People Into Reading Again
With all the content available for readers on the web, it can be tricky to get — and keep — eyeballs on your page. Oren Katzeff and Jack O’Brien of Cracked.com, Joe Randazzo of The Onion, and Chris Monks of McSweeney’s share their top tips to creating captivated readers.

• Titles must be compelling. Seems like a no-brainer, but the title is generally the first thing a potential reader will see.

• Don’t let length catch up writers. People know when and where they want to find long form content. (more…)

As a herd of Moose employees continues on through the SXSW extravaganza, we’ve been taking detailed notes to give you a glimpse into a few of our favorite weekend sessions. From Potterization to gamification, here are a few highlights.

Potterize It! Sharing the Magic of Fan Culture

Harry Potter rocks – we all know this, but what is it that has been keeping fans engaged for over 10 years? Once you know the answer to this question you’ll not only possess the secret to brand loyalty, but complete fandom.

Learn from Fan Fiction
It’s important to understand that with today’s technology, you not only have to connect with your consumers in real life, but you have to create virtual relationships as well – and nurture them!

Turn Passion into Career
Have you heard of mugglenet.com? What once started out as a small website created by a Harry Potter super-fan, eventually created an even larger fan following, but the creator didn’t stop there. He took that same inspiration and created Hypable.

Everyone, take note!
Everyone from libraries and small businesses to non-profit organizations have a lot to gain from these insights. Getting back in touch with your fan base doesn’t mean you have to go to extreme lengths including a large ad spend. Start small. Find an idea that resonates with your audience and you might be surprised to find out how fast word can spread.

Follow the presenters @melissaanelli, @mutabilis, @travelingheidi, @bphuettner and @sims. (more…)

The music, film and interactive extravaganza that is SXSW is opening today, and with a slew of Moose descending upon Austin, we thought we might give you a little glimpse of just some of the sessions we’re looking forward to attending. (more…)

On February 29, Facebook announced their changes to Facebook Pages and Ads. All Facebook Brand Pages will be automatically updated to the new Timeline format on March 30, 2012. What does this mean for your brand?

Facebook’s new Timeline for Brand Pages places more emphasis on quality engagement to gain fans. Before the switch, it is important to understand the role of the new features and how to incorporate them into your social media marketing strategy.
(more…)

As a child, did your parents or teachers ever instruct you to not “judge a book by its cover”? Well forget that, because there are some instances where you may actually pick something based on its looks. Consumers choose products for a variety of reasons – brand loyalty, price, and, in some cases, great package design that lures them in.

Package designs are intended to show all the glory of the product inside them. So, your design needs to be that head cheerleader for the nerd,  the giant wheel of cheese for the mouse, the delicious chocolate chip cookie for the cookie monster, the…well, you get the idea. You need to stand out and make someone pick up your product over the one next to you. Here’s a few tips on how to do just that. (more…)

I am in love with responsive websites. I don’t know if it’s the easygoing attitude on resizing, their ability to beautifully render on multiple form factors or the fact they respond to user behavior seamlessly that is so interesting. Either way, we are going to see more of them as technology’s demands are making responsive websites a necessity. (more…)

Between smartphones and tablets, our society is constantly connected. The cultural impact of mobile technology is evident, and as marketers we need to understand how it is affecting consumer buying decisions.

So we commissioned a study in partnership with First Choice research facilities to find out, and we want to share the results with you.

Our free study on Mobile Usage Trends & the Path to Purchase is now available for download.

(more…)

Hey, all! If you were hanging out in the Twittersphere last night, perhaps you saw my live tweets from the St. Louis ADDY event. If not, well, you missed a good time. But never fear! Since I had the honor of attending the awards at Copia last night with a few fellow Moosers, I’ve got the scoop.

We were super pumped to have several projects honored. We’re proud of the work we create for our clients, and it’s a nice feeling when our peers show that they appreciate our efforts as well. (more…)

Everyone seems to think they know all of the event marketing tips out there…until they try to plan an event. With all the fish, matches, harmony and mingling out there, it seems someone would have figured out by now that event marketers can learn a lot from the modern dating world.

Think about it. There are oodles of similarities between dating, where you’re interacting with a person, and event marketing, where you’re interacting with a brand. For example:

·      It usually starts with some kind of interaction online.

·      The first real-life meeting is pretty darn important.

·      How long the interaction goes on is directly related to how engaged you are.

·      At the end, you have made some sort of decision as to whether or not you enjoyed yourself and want more. (more…)