Aflac Brunch Commercial #BadDataViz Error

Pancakes ≠ Eggs!

This commercial really bugs me! When you visualize information, you need to get the data visualization right! Don't tell people that Aflac is like the pancakes, and then highlight the eggs in the data visualization!

This comes from the shortened version I've seen through the CBS app of this longer commercial, which doesn't make this error. The long commercial is fine.

Whoever shortened this commercial, just didn't care enough to get it right!

Pay Per Click Checklist

When you have an AdWords PPC campaign, it is not a set-and-forget system. To get the most from your system, you should follow an on-going, structured plan like the Pay Per Click Checklist infographic. Midas Media has designed this simple infographic to maximize your PPC results.

When you hear people talk about Pay per Click (PPC) Management they typically mean Google AdWords.

That said, PPC now spans a whole spectrum of platforms from social media, content, display and of course ‘the daddy’ Google search itself.

This actionable PPC optimisation checklist is directly attributed to managing an AdWords PPC campaign, but it’s fair to say it can be applied to other paid search marketing too. It can also be used as the basis for a campaign review and audit check list.

This is published on the landing page as a good combination of longer article with more in-depth detail, and a simple infographic that is easy to understand and share.

Thanks to Ed Leake for sending in the link through Twitter.

Advertisers, You Need YouTube

Advertisers, You Need YouTube is a motion graphic from MDG Advertising that shows many of the stats from successful YouTube video advertising campaigns.

While YouTube began as a source of online video entertainment, its massive popularity and mainstream prevalence has turned it into a major video advertising platform. To show why YouTube is now a very powerful and vastly important video marketing tool for advertisers, MDG Advertising created the following video. It shows the reasons, results, and revenue that are making YouTube a video marketing must for brands trying to catch the eye of audiences worldwide.

The video style is visually appealing, and has some fantastic statistics.

However, the design makes a common mistake we see in many motion graphic videos.  Big fonts are not data visualizations!  I noticed at least 20 different numbers shown to the audience in a really big font.  None of them were visualized to give them context for the audience.  Making the number value in big text and moving across the screen doesn’t make it any easier for the audience to grasp the meaning behind the data.

In data visualization and infographics design we know that visualizing the data always puts it into comparison to another number to provide the audience a frame of reference.  That helps the audience understand the scale of the numbers and how large or small they actually are.  Without that comparison in the design, the audience is left to try to compare the values to something they already know.

Thanks to Jarred for sending in the link!

Measuring Google AdWords Conversions

Google AdWords released some fantastic stats about cross-device conversions on their Inside AdWords blog, and included the infographic Measuring AdWords Conversions in a Multi-Screen World to help communicate some of the information.

Estimated cross-device conversions will begin rolling out globally to all AdWords advertisers starting today and continuing over the next few weeks. To see these new statistics, you’ll need AdWords conversion tracking and a sufficient volume of conversions on which to base a reliable estimate.

In the last few months, we’ve analyzed data across thousands of AdWords advertisers to learn more about cross-device conversion patterns.

More results from other verticals can be seen below.

The visual diagram helps readers understand the information by narrowing down the scope of the data; clearly identifying it as only a portion of the Estimated Total Conversions.   However, they made one of the biggest design mistakes.  Big fonts are not data visualizations!   Making the percentage numbers big doesn’t put these values into context for the readers and doesn’t make the data any easier to understand.

Found on the D/FW SEM Facebook feed.

The Rise in Mobile Video

The Rise in Mobile Video from Digital Surgeons takes a look at the confluence of data behind the growth of mobile devices and the growth of video content made for those mobile devices.

Mobile video offers brands a new and interesting way to interact with it’s customers. It’s not about the platform, it’s about telling engaging stories and connecting with audiences.

We took all of that pesky research around the current state of mobile video and condensed it into a beautiful infographic. It’s our pleasure to present the Rise of Mobile Video Infographic.

They have gathered some fantastic data together in this infographic, and the data tells a great story.  The simple color scheme is easy on the eyes, and the use of icons and logos for the different device brands helps to reduce the text.

However, the design is visually noisy, and hard for the readers to follow.  Here are a few tips that could make this infographic great:

• Big fonts are not data visualizations.  If you want your audience to understand the data, the design needs to visualize it to put the value into context for the reader.
• Values not visualized are perceived as being less important.  Readers are skimming the infographic because they expect an infographic to make the data fast and easy to understand.  Usually they will skip the text and look at the visuals first.  This means that any values not visualized are skipped when the readers are skimming.
• Streamline the path of information.  An infographic should walk the audience sequentially through the data, building up the conclusions.  In this design, the major sections move top-to-bottom, but within each section is a random placement of statistics.  Some are side-by-side and some are top-to-bottom.  It’s hard for the reader to understand where to move next after each statistic.  A clean, linear flow would be easier to read.

Thanks to Alex and Peter for sending in the link!

Wine Pairing - Inspired Infographic Advertising

How to Pair Wine with the Bright, Bold flavors of Southeast Asia is a new infographic from P.F. Changs’s, an upscale restaurant chain, as part of the content in their “Inspired” advertising campaign.

The flavors of Southeast Asia cuisine are exploding in popularity.  Venture below to learn about the region’s most delicious ingredients and the dishes they can create.  Find out how to pair each dish with the perfect wine to enhance those flavors.

I love seeing an infographic design being used in this fashion, as part of a larger content marketing strategy.  The larger advertising campaign also includes specifically, interactive PDFs and a dedicated page on their site to entire program.

Although wine pairing infographics are not new, P.F.Chang’s made this custom to coincide with their own menu.  So this design is meant to help diners match wine types specifically to items on the menu at P.F. Chang’s.  The color coding ties the ingredients in to the different dishes and types of wine.

Thanks to Anne for sending in the link!

What Works in Rich Media Mobile Advertising?

Celtra’s What Works in Rich Media Mobile Advertising? infographic provides marketers with a baseline for ad performance, helping them plan successful and effective mobile campaigns.

Celtra Inc, the industry leader for rich media advertising and analytics across mobile devices, has today unveiled a new infographic that highlights front-line advertising industry trends from the company’s first quarterly Mobile Rich Media Monitor Report.

The data behind the infographic indicates that a well designed rich media experience that uses a store locator, games or social media has a direct and positive impact on consumer engagement and return on investment. In fact, rich media mobile advertisements drive double-digit engagement rates (12.8 percent on average) across all devices types, platforms and ad placements.

Celtra’s infographic hones in on several key metrics including engagement rate, expand rate and click-through rate. The data also provides an in-depth look at ad feature performance for mobile rich media campaigns.

This design is the first in a quarterly series planned by Celtra to be released with their quarterly Rich Media Monitor Report.  Each one will highlight a different insight from the information that Celtra publishes in the report.

It’s a clear design that walks the reader through the data and the conclusions step-by-step.  There’s a lot of data included, but the data visualizations are easy to understand.

Thanks to Caitlin for sending in the link!

The Sage Hill Difference marketing infographic & interview

The Sage Hill School has created an infographic as a marketing piece showing many of the different stats about the school’s history and performance.  The Sage Hill Difference has been used as a printed handout, a 7-foot retractable banner, a PDF available for download and the JPG image file online.  The design is used to educate and inform prospective families, parents, students and the general public.

The Sage Difference: 7-foot retractable banner

I asked Torrey Olins, the Director of Communications and Marketing at Sage Hill, some questions about designing and using the infographic as a marketing tool:

Cool Infographics: What software applications were used to help analyze the data and create the design?

Torrey Olins: The piece was created using InDesign. The data was collected and analyzed through a combination of resources from Sage Hill School and our advertising firm, O’leary and Partners (www.adagency.com)  The piece did not require any software for analysis of data.

Cool Infographics: Who designed the infographic?

Torrey Olins: The design of the infographic was a collaboration between myself O’leary and Partners. About six months ago, I came up with the idea of creating an infographic for the school’s marketing efforts in our fall 2012 admission season, and in fact, sent my account manager and her assistant links to coolinfographics.com for inspiration. We were unable to find any other high school that had created an infographic for marketing, so we ended up using elements from a variety of different sources. For example, the school history portion of the infographic was inspired by an infographic created to celebrate the history of a small city.

Because O’leary and Partners has been creating print and digital media for Sage Hill School for several years, they were able to apply our design look and feel (color palate, fonts, etc.) to this piece so that it integrates nicely with our other school communications, while also going in an entirely new direction. I did not want this piece to look like a “one off” and I was pleased that O’leary accomplished my goal of creating an infographic that maintains continuity with our brand.

Cool Infographics: Would you describe the different formats you published the infographic?

Torrey Olins: The infographic was published as an 8.5” x 25” folded print piece that we hand out to prospective students and parents at high school fairs, our Admission Open House and other campus events. We also have a jpg and pdf copy of the infographic on our website (www.sagehillschool.org) and have published it on our Facebook (www.facebook.com/sagehillschool) and Pinterest accounts (www.pinterest.com/sagehillschool). We also reproduced the infographic on two large (7’x3’) retractable banners that we can bring to off campus events or use around campus (we currently have one in our lobby for visitors to see while they are waiting for appointments.)

Cool Infographics: How has the use of the infographic and social media impacted your marketing and recruiting process?

Torrey Olins: Sage Hill School is Orange County, California’s premier independent, coed, nonsectarian high school. The school was founded in 2000 and currently enrolls 466 students in grades 9-12.  Because Sage Hill School is located in a community that does not have as long of a history with independent schools as with the public school system, it is important for us to highlight the differentiators that make Sage Hill School the finest college preparatory option in our area. The infographic is an effective way to communicate the value of a Sage Hill education to the parent who is deciding whether to send a child to public school or pay tuition for Sage Hill School.

The infographic format met my needs for a fresh approach to demonstrate the achievements and differentiators of Sage Hill School to prospective families, as well as reinforcing the value of the school for our currently enrolled families. We are very excited that Sage Hill School is one of (or possibly the first) high schools to utilize the infographic format for marketing in the 2012-2013 admission season!

The recruiting season for independent schools typically begins in October and will last until admission decisions are announced and families sign contracts in the spring. Thus, it is quite early in the process and unfortunately,  it is too soon for us to speak to increases in inquiries/ applications as a result of the infographic or other social media efforts.

Cool Infographics: What has been the reaction and feedback to the infographic?

Torrey Olins: Let’s face it, facts and stats about schools can be extremely dry. For families who are considering a variety of different high school options, numbers and figures tend to run together. Thus far, both current and prospective families have indicated that the information in the infographic is presented in a way that is interesting, fun and memorable.

As a school in our second decade, Sage Hill has established a reputation for innovation in our educational program; this year we are pleased to educate families about Sage Hill School through the use of an innovative communication tool. We are also excited that this piece has put Sage Hill School’s name out in the broader community as an institution that is eager to embrace new media, both inside and beyond the classroom. I have been contacted by a number of other independent schools who are interested in using this format for their marketing as well.

Thanks to Torrey for taking the time to share their process and reaction to using the infographic!

Honda Accord: 30 Years of U.S. Production

Honda Accord: 30 Years of American Craftmanship is a large infographic from Honda America that was released as part of the release of the new 2013 model design of the Honda Accord in August.  Designed by Jeremy Yingling with InfoNewt (my company) this is a very brand specific, marketing-style infographic.

IN 2012, HONDA WILL MARK 30 YEARS OF ACCORD PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES.

The first Japanese nameplate manufactured in the U.S., the second-generation Accord first rolled off the Marysville, Ohio assembly line in November of 1982. In the 30 years since, more than nine million U.S.-built1 Accords have helped define American manufacturing craftsmanship. The all-new 2013 Honda Accord will once again redefine space efficiency and driving joy in the midsize class, signaling the start of Honda’s next three-decade chapter of building the Accord in America. 

The 2013 model becomes the ninth major design generation of the Accord.  This gave us the opportunity to highlight differences each major model design has brought to the Accord over the last 30 years.  The design visualizes the major technical specifications, the major advancements included in the Accord and shows the multi-year periods that each design generation was available.  The eye-catching color-waterfall shows the available exterior colors available for every model year, and the milestones along the left-side of the design show the progression to reach a cumulative total over 9 million Accords produced in 2012 coming out of the manufacturing plant in Marysville, OH.

Honda has done a great job of utilizing this one infographic design in a handful of different ways.  The infographic was initially used as 9’ banners at the Honda press events, and included in the press kits provided to everyone invited to attend.  Honda has now released the infographic online on the Honda News page on Flickr, making the design available to everyone.

Update on Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 10:00AM by Randy

You can see photos of the PR banner, read more about how the design was used in multiple ways by Honda PR and some “behind the design” information about the designing the infographic on the InfoNewt blog.

Honda Accord Infographic PR Banner, Behind the design

Anatomy of a Television Commercial

Commercials, we don’t like them but we still have to watch them. (Except for superbowl commercials, those are funny!)  However, they are expensive to make and a lot of thought goes into them. The Anatomy of a Television Commercial by Voices.com explains what it takes to be a commercial worth it’s costs to make.

Learn about how to create a compelling TV ad in this visually appealing infographic. See key developments in the television ad industry and who the key players are. Learn how to write a script, what a good script length is and how to choose the right voice talent for a TV commercial.

This design does a good job leading the reader through a story top-to-bottom.  The use of the TV illustrations as frames for the different data visualizations consistently reinforces the television-related topic without text.

Where they messed up the visualizations is in the Television Commercial Durations section.  At first, I couldn’t understand why the visuals all looked wrong, but I finally realized they made a full circle equivalent to 100 seconds, instead of the standard 60 seconds used on EVERYONE’S clocks all over the world!  The 60-second visual should be a full circle, and not the 2/3 shaded circle shown.  Big visualization mistake!  Don’t confuse your audience.

I find it interesting that ad spending and television ad portion of advertising budgets continue to rise even with some many new ways to more effectively advertise online.  If there are any advertisers reading this post, may I point your attention to the Advertise page for Cool Infographics…

Thanks to Ashley for sending in the link!