Multi-Channel Advertising and the Consumer Funnel

Enter the Funnel

The world population currently stands at 7.8 billion people — and nearly 630,000 publicly traded companies are vying for their attention every day. So how can your business create messages that cut through the din and turn potential leads into loyal customers? You lure them into the consumer funnel.

Ask a group of advertisers, and they’ll each sketch a different version of the funnel, since it isn’t a sanctioned diagram so much as a representation of the sales cycle that can change according to the marketing strategy applied to any given account. But the classic B2C funnel resembles an inverted pyramid that proceeds top-to-bottom in this order: “Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action.” To really understand the funnel, let’s take a test-run of it ourselves, tumbling from its broadest echelon down to its narrowest point, and touching on the best tactics associated with each stage as we go.

Awareness

When people embark on what’s known as the “customer journey,” they’re often just searching for information about a business or a product. For that reason, the topmost level of the funnel is usually referred to as the “awareness stage.” Consider this the cast-the-net-wide step, in which marketers will advise you to dedicate time to consumer research so you know who your audience is, where to find them, how to appeal to them, and which top-of-the-funnel tactics — such as blogs, webinars, infographics, SEO content, or social media posts, to name a few — you want to push out for the sake of lead generation (that is, stoking interest in people, or gauging how interested they are in continuing on this customer journey with you).

Let’s say your target audience is people who want to sink some money into their house. When they’re at the top of the funnel, they’re probably just Googling, “How much does a home reno cost?” rather than scoping out pictures of herringbone backsplash tile on Pinterest. The ad that a savvy digital marketer should serve them at this juncture needs to communicate that, hi, we’re a construction company, and we can give you an honest quote whenever you need it. ‘How convenient,’ your future clients think, as they click further down the funnel …

Interest

So now you’ve waved your arms around enough that people are taking notice of you. Leads have been generated. Attention has been captured. Next you’ll need to teach the consumers who you lured in your direction about your company or the services you offer. The “interest” phase is where all the leads that you’ve attracted suss out into only the most “qualified leads,” which you should view as prospective customers. That net you cast in the last step has turned into a lasso, and you’re switching from social posts and webinars to blogs and email campaigns tailored to your qualified leads’ interests.

Desire

Even further down the slide we go into the “desire” phase. Before now, you and your qualified leads have been orbiting each other. But the time for coyness has passed and the terms are clear: You want them, they’re considering buying from you, but they’re still reading reviews and comparing products. Nudge them onward with case studies and customer testimonials, and if you’re an online retailer, build in functionality that lets them drop what they want in a virtual shopping cart — anything that’ll push the customer out of their will-I-won’t-I hesitations and into making a purchase.

Action

If all goes well, we will arrive at the terminus of this customer journey once someone makes a purchase, be it a crib from West Elm or the agreement to hire you to do a home renovation. The immediate goal is a sale, true, but the larger objective of a digital marketing strategy is to fatten up that inverted pyramid so that it better resembles a cylinder or an hourglass: Again, the top echelon is the widest, and it tapers to the “action” (sometimes called the “conversion”) phase. Ideally, however, it enlarges once more after that, swelling into a base of retained customers who buy from you again and again, and who advocate for your brand with glowing reviews left on your site. The tactics at this stage? Try referral programs or re-engagement email campaigns to personalize the relationship and encourage repeat purchases.

The (Omni)Channels

The funnel can be flipped upside-down, turned into a figure-eight, swapped around depending on whether it depicts a B2B or B2C play, and so on. Yet despite all the rungs you can layer into it, the premise remains pretty intuitive: Snag your audience’s attention, whet their curiosity, and convert them into a loyal purveyor of your shop. What distinguishes an old-school marketing strategy from a digital marketing strategy, however, is that today the funnel is piped through with a web of channels — so many that the current lingo for our field is “omnichannel” or “multi-channel” advertising.

Those channels might be TV, radio, computers, cell phones, or some combination of all of the above. People are paying attention to different channels at different times throughout the day, so catching their attention becomes more complex if they’re on multiple devices at once. Which means digital marketers need to place their ads on an array of channels to grab consumers’ attention in a way that still encourages the use of multiple devices.

Here’s an example: Imagine that you’re a “Real Housewives of New York City” fanatic. (Or, at least, someone you live with has it on literally all the time.) TV producers realize that when you’re watching that show, you’re probably also scrolling on your phone or your tablet, so they float out overlays of hashtags (#rhony, anyone?) during an episode to get you to post about it. Then, at the end of a season, when Andy Cohen hosts a “reunion” among the housewives, he reads out a lot of those posts. Sure, he’s stoking tempers and digging into old wounds (and making bingeable TV in the process). But he’s also reinforcing the feedback loop between social and TV channels — asking reality stars how they react to criticism from their audience about their outrageous behavior, even though their audience tuned in just to see that outrageous behavior in the first place.

And that is merely one dimension of Bravo’s media plan: Encourage viewers to comment on the show, poke more antics out of the housewives with those comments, and keep driving the meta-cycle that blurs the line between audience and actor.

Building Customer Value

All the channels connect. Run a hashtag campaign on Bravo, and someone might post about it on Twitter. Advertise on YouTube, and someone might search for your product on Google. Once you transpose the channels — which are like on-ramps weaving through the funnel — the picture of an inverted pyramid piped with a cluster of extensions can appear dizzyingly 3D. Tempting as it is to assume that this framework will always entice your customers, this is not necessarily a if-you-build-it-they-will-come situation. Customers click around faster than any marketing team can concoct a media plan, which means your analytics need to track them and your strategy needs to adapt to their interests, not the other way around.

So link up all your channels, but before you hose your audience with content, pinpoint the essential service that you’re giving them: An online selection of tropical plants? A newsletter of haiku and short stories? A minute-by-minute update of stocks that they should invest in? Never forget, their loyalty depends on the value you provide them, which means you need to identify your user personas and hone in on the overlap between what you’re selling and what they’re looking for. Whenever possible, make the consumer journey enjoyable rather than results-obsessed, and you may find that customers are more likely to re-enter the funnel at their next opportunity.

Advertising Trends for 2021

We can all breathe a collective sigh of relief: 2020 is over. About the best thing that can be said for 2020 is that she found her paramour, Satan. That spot, from Match.com, resonated with people because it did seem like a nightmare year and the Dark Lord was taking selfies in front of dumpster-fires while the rest of us huddled in our apartments. The upheavals of 2020 changed digital advertising — and not just in the sense that creative agencies worldwide were all working on the same cliche-of-the-century campaign: “in these uncertain times.”

No, 2020 pushed marketers to find new audiences in virtual channels. Companies reckoned with their intensifying proximity to politics. Consumer habits lurched within an economy that kept start-stopping in response to COVID safety measures. And through the smoldering haze of Lucifer and Lady Apocalypse’s love persisted innovations in digital marketing years in the making, contributing to the forecast that Jacob Tyler is calling here and now for the trends in advertising that lie ahead in 2021.

Thinking Virtual

Advertisers find audiences in their preferred channels, and our preferred channels are now more virtual than ever, since 2020 was the year that reality became virtual reality. Consumers will continue to quarantine through 2021, so they’ll want to go to virtual trade shows and virtual annual events, join online communities and download live streaming services. Yes, we’re all pushing through Zoom fatigue and hoping unmasked human interaction resumes on the sunny side of this century. But already it seems as if the days of the webinar — where the authorities on a subject present to their viewers — are numbered.

In its stead, we’ll see remote events and digital gatherings where hundreds or even thousands of people (or their beaming avatars) meet, network, and Q&A with the experts. The communications ecosystem has been reshaped, and we are interacting from around a globe that seems to have shrunk and also gotten much larger all at once.

Taking a Stand

As you may have noticed, the political climate of the US is (to put it mildly) charged. Similar dynamics are roiling other countries, as well, and since many brands are global, businesses have discovered that their response to polemics worldwide impacts their bottom line. Oatly, HSBC, L’Oreal, Soul Cycle, Jo Malone — these are all brands that, in 2020, consumers #cancelled. That doesn’t mean they’re out of business, but it does mean their business is effectively off-limits to many once-prospective clients because of a bevy of different factors. (According to one study, for instance, 29% of consumers are willing to switch brands if those brands don’t show enough diversity.)

Debate the merits of the cancel all you wish, but the underlying reasons for it trace back to issues once thought more or less outside the bailiwick of advertising: political association, accusations of racism, ties to unsavory businesses. Perhaps never before has PR been such a tightrope act, so it’s no wonder some brands are steering away from controversy altogether. Other brands, however, are embracing the polarization with their own “blanding backlash.” Staking a position amid all the lightning-rod issues, they’re paddling against what sometimes feels like a societal drift toward homogeneity and sameness.

What will prove to be the best crisis comms playbook for the near future? Only 2021 will tell.

Optimizing for People

Even before COVID, isolation was a hallmark feature of 21st century life — partly a result of the sensation a lot of us have that we’re beetling through mazes of automated inauthenticity. As a consequence, what many consumers crave when they interact with a brand is to feel like a human is somewhere on the other side of the digital marketing strategy.

Beyond just embracing the trend toward creating content that sounds relatable, brands will also seek out conversations with followers in 2021, responding to comments on their social channels and adopting a many-to-many model of communication (rather than assuming We the Business are addressing you the consumer). Remember: Isolation. People want to feel courted and listened to. And to that end, we’ll see brands infuse their content with a spirit of cultural inclusivity. The hitch? Because of how siloed consumer segments are today, brands may have to pick which culture(s) they speak to. But that’s a challenge they’ll likely learn to be even savvier about as this year unfolds.

Personalizing the Data Economy

With all that said about people just being people, today’s iteration of the Bernbach-Ogilvy schism in advertising has become a battle waged between those who think you should talk to your audience like humans, and those who think you should talk to your audience like humans … through data insights and algorithm-based feeds.

Here’s the case for the machine learning camp: Sure, personalized content is neighborly and all, but responding to every single comment on a brand’s social media is exhausting, and well nigh impossible. Isn’t it better to at least reach people with email campaigns rather than (metaphorical) notes handwritten on stationery?

Think of an ad for a grill served to your phone right after you’ve texted your partner, “Let’s get a grill this summer.” That may feel invasive to some, but it’ll come across as time-saving to others. And the smarter the AI, the more interactive the content, engaging customers with polls and contests and giveaways. Don’t think of data marketing as a self-checkout kiosk — rather, it’s a series of tools that tailor campaigns to customers based on their preferences.

Or so the argument goes.

Going Green

“Sustainability” transcends simple trendiness because its entire premise is future-oriented, and we’re living through the effects of climate change every day. We did mention firebrand issues, didn’t we? Well, environmentalism is one of the fieriest, with swaths of California and Australia erupting into flames, back-to-back US administrations hopping in and out of the Paris Agreement, and businesses shifting their operations and messaging to address the threats of global warming. With studies showing that 81% of consumers believe companies should do their part in helping the environment, eco-friendly brands will seem even friendlier this year, especially as we navigate the perils of a world where we’ve all but trapped ourselves inside our own carbon emissions.

Forecasting trends in digital advertising is an uncertain science, at best, but it’s also not the same as placing bets or guessing at predictions. Rather, it’s an effort to analyze markets, listen to what customers are saying, and shape tools for businesses that need to anticipate how consumer behavior will pattern itself in coming years. No one can peer into the future — much less know when Satan will find his soulmate — but with some attention to the forces reinventing our culture, you can act on (rather than react to) the changes within your industry.

How Branding Affects Consumer Behavior

Some people believe we’re living in the golden age of branding. But what does that mean? Before “branding” became an industry term, it referred to the process of scorching livestock with a heated poker to identify which animals belonged to which owners. Hence the metaphor: Branding helps companies make their mark in a field already cluttered with competition. Yes, branding is copy and design, but at its core is an emotional appeal — and the more authentic that appeal, the more effective the marketing. So how do companies lay claim to consumers’ attention through their branding? Read on to find out.

Project an Image

Often the decision to make a purchase stems from psychological motivations, rather than a straight X’s-and-O’s calculus. You can get Derrick Rose basketball shoes from Adidas for $120, but if you’re a LeBron James fan, you’ll probably shell out $200 to Nike to don his line of footwear. Why? Because, on some level, you feel like you’re stepping into the King’s shoes whenever you lace up your LeBrons. Brands allow consumers to identify with or suit up as their heroes, and consumers reward those brands richly for that feeling of empowerment.

Establish Familiarity

Research indicates that six out of ten consumers prefer buying products from brands that are familiar to them. Which makes sense: We network through our connections, we buy property in areas we feel safe in, and we buy things from companies who have shown their value to us already. Consider coming across a package of bread on an empty shelf in the store. You’re probably not going to pick it up — who knows why it’s been tossed aside? Now imagine that loaf has the Sara Lee logo on it. You might still inspect it, but at least you know that a multinational company guarantees its quality. For all our carping about corporations, that logo will likely reassure a lot of people that the bread is edible and safe (and only 45 calories). In other words, branding is a seal of approval that we consumers learn to trust.

Instill Loyalty

Even if you trust Sara Lee, you might trust a bevy of other global bread-brands as well. All their brand designs may be distinct, but they need something else to vie for your attention — and that “something” could have nothing to do with the product they’re selling. Instead, they could project a good-guy image because they pay a minimum wage of $70,000. Or, like KFC, they could launch the “I Love You, Colonel Sanders! Dating Simulator,” a campaign intended to inject sex appeal into a brand ambassador who consumers today may have difficulty engaging with, skeptical as we are of any figure that still nods to antebellum plantation motifs.

Too much of a disconnect between what’s sold and what’s said can be fodder for cynicism — and with reason. When Starbucks teams up with the Wounded Warrior Project, you’ve got to wonder: What does this have to do with coffee? Corporate flirtations with social commentary may strike consumers as ploys to grab their attention and empty their pockets, and, as in the case of Starbucks’ anti-racism initiative, face backlash. Yet Ben & Jerry’s earned praise for a similar campaign. How people react to brand positions can sometimes be guesswork, but the more authentic those positions seem to us, the more likely we’ll stay loyal to them.

Brand The Brand

In a way, branding is a feedback loop that influences company decisions nearly as much as it drives consumer behavior. Since what’s said is as important as what’s sold, what’s said about a business can sway its profits. According to the Better Business Bureau, 88% of consumers read up to 10 reviews before they trust a business. So prospective customers are likely to skip on companies with negative reviews and call their competitors whose Yelp! pages gleam with compliments. Similarly, when a CEO makes an inappropriate comment during an internal call, the brand loyalty is compromised and the CEO will probably resign. Whereas titans of industry were once throned at the head of the board, now they, too, are subject to how consumers relate to the brand position they helped forge.

As a brand agency, we get it — all this talk about branding makes it seem like companies should adopt values and bullhorn beliefs just to drum up awareness about themselves. Yet we believe branding is not a gussied-up facsimile of the real thing. Quite the opposite: Branding is the most fundamental insight about your business, the drilled-down core that marks you as you. We could blast on, because we love talking about brands, but let’s cut to the chase: Wanna talk about yours?

Our Agency Uses a Hybrid Staffing Model, and it’s Awesome. Here’s Why.

It’s all about the client.

When we started almost 20 years ago we never thought that we’d get big quickly. But it happened. Through hard work, handshakes, and more coffee and whiskey than one should safely consume we built Jacob Tyler to a big SoCal agency. I personally made the mistake of trying to be everything to everyone and hiring for all types of agency positions. By 2012 we had over 35 employees and clients all over the country. And then, the sh!t hit the fan… we became the agency I really never wanted to be. In fact, I promised myself we would never be. Our work started to suffer because we had the wrong team in place, a couple accounts took their work in-house, and a couple more went with other agencies.

As a result, some employees left (which was in some cases a good thing) and some got laid off. It’s the nature of the advertising/marketing/branding industries (especially with technology changing so fast) but even still, honestly, it completely sucked. You build something special. Your dream. And you watch it become something you didn’t plan for and then fall apart. The worst thing? You put other people’s lives in flux. So, after licking our wounds for a while… okay, more than a while, more like 5 years, I knew that I had to go back to my roots and ask, “Is there a better way? A way that’s more flexible to roll with the punches of this industry? A way to come out on top year in and year out?” Turns out, there was. The answer was a hybrid workforce. And after years of trying it, it’s awesome.

What do we mean by “hybrid workforce”? It’s having a core group of full-time employees to handle the everyday necessities of running a business — new business, project management, client strategy and services, etc. — and a crack team of subject matter specialists that can work nimbly on projects as our needs and our clients’ needs change.

‘I knew that I had to go back to my roots and ask, “Is there a better way? A way that’s more flexible to roll with the punches of this industry? A way to come out on top year in and year out?” Turns out, there was.’

Why We Do It

Scalability – Less overhead for our client to cover our costs.
Increased Expertise – We bring in the best people when we need ‘em and we are not limited by the talent of our internal teams.
Internal Knowledge Building – The more people with diverse experience we’re exposed to, the smarter we all become.

How We Make It Work

Smart Selections – We pick people with a minimum of 10 years of experience and those who are self-defined “organizational freaks” or “self starters” because they have to be more accountable.
Video Conferencing – As we have become a global agency, it has been necessary to adopt technology that lets us communicate with our clients and vendors in an efficient and personable manner. It’s great being face-to-face even though sometimes we’re across town, across the country, or in another continent.
Flexibility – Everyone here is flexible. It’s an old trope that in advertising you’re always working. We don’t play by that but more by… hey we give you the freedom you want, all we ask in return is a bit of flexibility to make things work when the client needs it.

When Jacob Tyler was founded, clients really wanted to make sure we were staffed internally and felt it was important to have that “marble” entryway with someone at a front desk welcoming them and getting coffee while they entered a large conference room and felt important. I have noticed that recently (in the past 2-3 years), meeting requests AT our office have slowly declined. With technology really making it easy to meet “in-person” from a distance and create new efficiencies, our clients have realized that it’s just not as important to be face-to-face. They would rather a smart, nimble, and small team to handle their account. That doesn’t mean we’re not willing to host a meeting in person or travel to a client’s office. We always go above and beyond to help our clients feel comfortable when working with us. But the reality is that if we can use technology to save money, save time, and do better work that gets better results, we’re gonna do it. That’s just how we roll around here.

The Lost Art of Art Books

In our San Diego office, we have about 40 feet of shelves dedicated to showcasing great design, photography, illustration, and marketing books. I decided that we needed some more storage space and since a lot of the books were gathering dust, I would take some time to clean up and organize a bit. Little did I know, that I would end up spending more time looking at the books than actually organizing or “spring cleaning” and consolidating my collection.

I started feeling really nostalgic. Yes… I even got a little emotional. For those young designers aspiring to be great who are in their mid-30’s and younger, you may not realize how important these books were to guys like me. Looking at award winning work and amazing ideas on paper gave me inspiration. Everything I was working on had to be better. I had to be better… like the artists in the books. I wanted to be acknowledged, published, and frankly I wanted to win a LOT of awards. I wanted the public and my peers to revere my work as much as I did others.

When I started my company 18 years ago, I had a computer I purchased from macmall.com on a credit card. It was a Powermac G3 and cost roughly $3,500. It was just me, my computer, and my bedroom. I attended the University of Maryland and had a lot of friends on the East Coast with good jobs that I could call on to try to get jobs. While I was doing a lot of Web design at the time, much of the work I enjoyed were brand and print projects. Logo design was my favorite. At the time, I was charging about $35 per hour and whenever I was lucky enough to get a new design job, I would reward myself. How? I would buy a new hardbound design book. I found it really fun and relaxing to comb the graphic design aisles at Borders and Bookstar looking for the best way to spend $35 to obtain inspiration for my next project. (rationalizing to myself the whole time that I only had to work an hour to buy the book). I particularly loved the design books by David Carter like “The Big Book of Logos” or “The Big Book of Self Promotion”… let’s just say he had the market cornered on big design books.

I liked the books so much that I had to be in them. I looked up to the designers. The art I was viewing felt important. The feel of the page in my hand was crisp and clean. The book was heavy and substantial. There was a smell to the page. Let’s face it, no matter how old you are, you can remember picking up a magazine or book and holding it up to your nose to smell the ink. I’ve even bought books just because of the smell. The books made a difference and pushed me to get to the next level of my career.

Fast forward to 18 years later. My company has been published in over 20 books and won well over 100 awards. I am extremely proud of that but here’s the problem. I love winning awards but I realized the main reason that I really enjoyed it is that I love having the legacy of my work in print. I wanted to be admired (meaning my company, Jacob Tyler) the same way I admired others. The difference between winning a platinum award and being printed on a two-page spread versus receiving a bronze award and having your work on a small portion of the page was MASSIVE in my mind. I fought to win and wanted the sheer happiness to wash over me knowing that I could go to the book store and find the great big hard cover book with my work in it. Unfortunately, for the most part, those days are over. Very few “design award show” companies are still printing these great books as it has become cost prohibitive. Well, maybe not cost prohibitive but they can certainly save money and increase profit by just posting on their Websites. Thus, I have stopped submitting for awards as much as I used to. I just don’t care as much anymore.

Now I get it… despite the rise of digital book formats, printed books still have their space in the market. And yes, I know there are still great design books being printed. However, I am just stating my opinion that in MY industry, it doesn’t seem to be the same as it was when I started. The only thing I promise is that the next project we are awarded, I am going to the book store and find ONE design book that inspires me and buy it. Sometimes going back to the start gets you to a much better finish.

UX – The Universal Language

When poised with the question, “What is the Universal Language?” the hopeless romantic in me would say Love. Period. Drop mike. Regardless of background, native tongue or location in the world, love is the one language that every person on Earth can understand without translation. Love, my marketing friends, is the one true Universal Language.

Or is it?

When tasked the other day to analyze a specific service on a client’s competitor site (which just happened to be in Russian, to which I don’t speak a lick of) I will tell you that although I understood practically nothing on their website, I could easily navigate and find almost all of the information I was searching for.

Mind you, I couldn’t read their introduction or mission statement—but it was clear what kind of company it was. I couldn’t pronounce the services they offered, but their iconography led me to the details I needed. Their imagery was impactful. Navigation clear. So was I able to pick up fluent Russian in a moment’s notice or was it that I had been trained on a different type of language? Perhaps something a little more Universal?

UX, or User Experience, has become the life-blood of website architecture and design. It is the way in which a website user interacts with its products, services and systems and encompasses the ease of use and the site’s overall efficiency. In short, UX is the language we use to understand a website.

Users today expect a specific User Experience and, like learning any language, have spent years developing this proficiency. This self-taught proficiency is what UX professionals spend so much time harnessing, all to create the most efficient and effective pathway to the end goal: conversion. Whether it be the title or placement of a navigation item or the on-state rollover effect on a call-to-action, each and every site element must be strategically determined and placed to provide users with the language they have taught themselves to expect. It is our job as marketers to be fluent in our user’s anticipated actions.

When analyzing a site’s UX, there are a few rules one should try and follow.

Remove the guess work and utilize your metrics

You may think you know what your clients are after, and there is a good chance that you do, but the proof is in the analytical pudding. Use your analytics to understand your audience and their habits and then use that data to everyone’s advantage.

Understand your customer’s journey

Identifying the flow in which a user travels your site, from the first point of entry to either contact or purchase, is essential in establishing an effective UX. Chances are you have multiple audiences accessing your site. Walk through how each of them would ideally navigate your site. Does it make sense for each group? Understanding your user flows will help you determine and remove any obstacles between your viewers and conversion.

Test your site experience and test it some more

Many clients will launch a site, pat their agency partner on the back and then disappear into the mist until the next sexy web design fad comes along. Launching a website and leaving it to chance is a stake in the heart when it comes to UX. Use your analytics, talk to and survey your clients/customers, and always be trying to understand what site elements can be improved upon.

It is clear that UX plays a major part in our everyday lives. It impacts how your customers interact and engage with your brand. It is a predominant factor in lead generation and conversion. So whatever language you find to be universal, I urge you to become fluent in your site’s UX. Much like love, it’s how we communicate with one another.

Unsure if your website speaks to your users in a Universal Language? I encourage you to reach out to Jacob Tyler today for a complimentary UX audit—We look forward to helping you establish an efficient and effective User Experience.

Website Design by Jacob Tyler

Jacob Tyler Photography Challenge

Every Monday, Jacob Tyler will be voting on a photo that best represents a creative theme announced the previous week. The selected themes are aimed at instilling inspiration, interpretation and will encourage creativity in anyone who takes part in our challenge.

You do not have to work at Jacob Tyler to join in on the fun. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the Jacob Tyler photo challenge. Just make sure to use #jacobtylerinspired upon uploading your photo to Instagram. Winners will be selected every Monday morning at 10am.

To view past #jacobtylerinspired entries, visit: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/jacobtylerinspired/

Jacob Tyler Photo Challenge Rules:

All entries must be uploaded to Instagram by 10am Monday mornings.
Judging to be administered by the Jacob Tyler staff
To be considered, all entries must use the Hashtag: #jacobtylerinspired
Winners and the weekly theme will be posted to Instagram and Facebook every Monday by Noon.
You may post up to 3 entries per week
We highly encourage the photos be physically taken within one week of being submitted.
Filters and enhancements are fair game – We’re a Creative Agency after all! (note: #nofilter photos will earn mad respect and are always appreciated!)
Photos submitted must be yours
The beauty in both design and photography is that it is open to interpretation. Out of the ordinary (but tasteful!) entries are always encouraged.
Have fun. Be creative.

We look forward to seeing your entries! #jacobtylerinspired

Previous Jacob Tyler Photo Challenge Winner: Color Theme

Additional Entry Examples: Color Theme

Digital Advertising in San Diego

Turning Strategic Energy into Powerful Design Execution

We’ve recently partnered with a leading provider in the residential solar industry to create a compelling and highly engaging digital experience to inspire homeowners to go solar.

As with all projects, we focus heavily on our discovery process to learn as much as we can about our clients – who we view more-so as partners. In order to create a successful solution to the challenge we’ve been presented, it’s imperative that our team fully understands their business as well as the industry and market they serve. While we’re all familiar with the many benefits of going solar, the process of flipping the switch from traditional power to solar energy can seem complicated, when in reality it’s rather simple. We’ve been in education mode recently and have learned a great deal about the solar industry – and believe it or not, the process is not all that different than how we operate as an agency. In our case, instead of the sun delivering the energy, we build strong relationships with our clients allowing us to collect energy directly from them.

Just as solar panels collect energy from the sun and convert direct current (DC) electricity into alternating current (AC) electricity, we at JT collect energy from our clients, harness it and convert their DC into creative strategy (CS). The energy of CS flows from our creative leadership through our talented team of designers where it is distributed through powerful design execution creating both an efficient process and a successful end result.

Design in San Diego | Jacob Tyler

Behind the Name: How Kenneth Cole Inspired the Jacob Tyler Brand

The name itself – Jacob Tyler – is named after my son, Jacob Tyler Kollegian. But the inspiration for the brand that Jacob Tyler has become, began at a clothing store in Grand Central Station in New York City.

Let me rewind.

In the late 90s, I left a job as the creative director at a large agency to test the waters for new opportunities. While searching for a new job, I started to do some consulting work. To legitimize my new business, I registered the domain name “Vivid Commerce” to host my portfolio, figuring it made sense for a graphic designer that had a strong interactive design and development background– though I hadn’t really given it much thought.

Most of my clients at the time – large firms I had connections with from my agency work and referrals from friends – happened to be on the East Coast, mostly in New York City. So I often flew east from San Diego to work with them (in no small part because my “office” in San Diego at the time was my bedroom and my business attire consisted of boxer shorts and tee shirts).

From a wardrobe standpoint, I was chronically unprepared for New York. I never packed enough clothes. During many of my trips, I had to extend my stay and the last thing I had time to do was laundry. Knowing I couldn’t go back to the office in the same dirty shirt and tie yet again, I decided to buy some clothes on the way to the office. Wearing the previous day’s outfit, I took the train to Grand Central Station and walked into the Kenneth Cole store… luckily they opened at 8am. I bought a brand new shirt and tie, changed clothes in the fitting room and went off to work.

It became a routine.

Soon I was in Kenneth Cole up to three times a week, picking up new outfits. I was making decent money at the time, so had some “disposable” income but I kept going back because the clothes were reasonably priced, I thought they looked great on and the customer service was impeccable, always greeting me by name. Eventually, they had multiple outfits, pressed and ready to wear, for me to choose from every morning – whether I showed up or not.

2003

By 2003, my “consulting” business was taking off and my son was about to be born. We had decided to name him Jacob Tyler, and I decided to rebrand my company with the same name. Of course I loved the name itself – I had chosen it for my son – but it also reminded me of Kenneth Cole, a brand I wanted the Jacob Tyler brand to emulate.

Whenever I left that Kenneth Cole store, I felt and looked great. I wanted Jacob Tyler’s clients to feel the same way. I wanted Jacob Tyler to be the Kenneth Cole of graphic design. Like Kenneth Cole, at Jacob Tyler, we provide a great customer experience and top-quality products at a reasonable price.

The inspiration I took from my experience at Kenneth Cole in those early days in New York became the heart and soul of the Jacob Tyler brand. And really, that’s what a brand is – a living, breathing thing. It’s your organization’s culture. It’s the people. It’s what you deliver and how you deliver it. It’s something you live every day.

The name Jacob Tyler and our visual representation embody our brand and agency. They communicate who we are and what we’re about. But it’s our culture that defines us. For more than a decade, we’ve cultivated our brand and grown with it, but have never lost sight of those early principles I learned from Kenneth Cole.

On the Twelfth Day of Creative: Our Team

As told by our CEO, Les Kollegian…

On the Twelfth Day of Creative, I’m both joyful and thankful for all that Jacob Tyler has done this past year. After some VERY big changes and a major transition to a new office in the beginning of the year, we have managed to build our team and frankly, I feel our culture is the BEST it has ever been. We love the work we are doing for our clients and it shows. How can I tell? It’s not just the awards and the type of work we are doing… it’s the fact that our client retention and satisfaction is ALSO the best it has ever been. Our clients keep coming back for more and we are all thrilled.

I would love to say there is one project I am particularly proud of, but I take pride in my team and all the projects we do. I appreciate everyone who contributes to accomplish our goals and the 100% you bring every day to create success for our clients, and us.

Thank you all and have a GREAT and happy holiday.