Today I read that large cable and TV networks are fearful of GoogleTV.

Why are they so afraid? Is it because they operate in an old style advertising lead network? Is it because they are afraid Google will force them to evolve? Afraid of changing the way they have been doing things for 50+ years?

Simple answer is YES!

GoogleTV plans to offer the viewer unlimited options allowing you to search the internet through your TV. Basically, the idea is they will sell TVs with Google enabled web browsers and keyboards so you can type in your search and get the streaming video right into your TV. I looked at this intro video. In a nutshell they are making your TV a web browser but instead of having to own a device to see the web like the computer, iPad or iPhone you will be plugged in directly to your TV. Think mega-sized-computer-screen if you own a large 46″ plus TV! Wow, that would be cool.

You can watch your game, downsize the video and, at the same time look up stats on your team on the web page… or, you can view  a news story while tweeting about it in real time with friends around the world. You have all the videos on the internet at your fingertips (think youtube, hulu, etc…) and all your photo viewing programs like picasa, Flickr, Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc… all right there for you to see or share with your friends.

That brings up the other side of having all this technology in your living room. Being a mother and having a house with other people sharing the same TV, I can tell you the problems will start very quickly. I happen to have one of the newer TVs that can go to the internet with a browser. It is definitely NOT Google by any means but you can browse certain things… I say certain things because I haven’t had the chance to really sit down and play with it. Why? Because I have a husband and a daughter who would rather watch their shows.  They get bored watching me play around with it– so basically the browser is never used.

I can just hear the arguments from people fighting over the keyboard (instead of the remote)

OK. The geek in me says the Google TV sounds like a great idea. The only problem I see with it is what I mentioned above. The TV tends to be where families gather to watch something together. Having so much control over the bazillion things you can watch on the internet is very intriguing, but I do not think it will bring families together, and it definitely will not help with the couch-potato pandemic sweeping the country.

I do agree that being able to just search for your favorite TV show is awesome. I already do that on my computer if I miss a show. I can always go to abc.com or fox.com and catch up (and with less commercial interruption!). Viewing it all in a large screen TV would definitely be a plus too. Mac actually pioneered this idea with their AppleTV. Oh yes! Apple thinks of all of these things first and then Google jumps in the bandwagon. The problem for Apple is that Google is a behemoth. Most elitists go for Apple, the world goes for Google. Sad but true. (Go Apple! )

The big cable TV conglomerates will need to adjust to the new era or be left behind. The music and print industries know this very well. Once the internet moves in, it is going to be an all out war. The way they generate money will have to change, and I am sorry to say that users  will suffer for it. We will inevitably have to view more ads online and pay for subscriptions to see our shows. Otherwise, how will they make the money to keep making expensive and cool TV? Early on, watching TV shows in abc.com for example, there were no ads! Now you watch any show and they plug in 4 to 5 areas where they place ads and force you to look at them. The only cool thing is they tell you how long it is going to last and actually have a count down, but still, they are annoying. Get ready for more of the same.

The buzz is going crazy on the internet about this Google TV. It even made headline news across the country! As one writer for the Los Angeles Times put it “…whenever new technology emerges that allows consumers more choices, it is inevitably a destructive experience for the companies making money off the old model, since they are the ones who find it most difficult to embrace and take advantage of the sweeping changes.” See the story here and also take a look at the comments.

We are talking a hot button for all things creative now. One comment says “If you go back a hundred years, actors earned money by actually doing live performances. Now, through the magic of TECHNOLOGY, they have been able to do one performance (~1 month of work) and make 20 million dollars. What technology giveth, it may also taketh away. By the way, the people who invented that technology that enable you to make a load of money, never made 1/100 of what the artistic exploiters made.” So true, but that is also the beauty of invention and capitalism!

There are a lot of contrasting and passionate views that this GoogleTV has touched upon. Having TV giants be afraid of an Internet company was unheard of 10 years ago. The truth is if you do not embrace new technology you WILL BE LEFT BEHIND. It is true for the internet, for your career, for everything you do and use. It is everywhere. Sitting there and closing yourself to it will do you no good. The good news is you can pick and choose what you want to deal with (like fuel efficient cars) and what you don’t (like 3-D TV LOL!!).

To me, the real worry is what will these big companies do to control what we can or cannot have access to and if they will be able to charge us for it. That’s in a near future, as for now, I can still plug in my Xbox to my HDTV and watch Netflix or get on Facebook and send likes to all my friends… and I don’t need GoogleTV to do so.

The 2^nd Annual Emerging Artists Expo: 25 artists, 25 and younger, 25 different styles.

This weekend is the 42^nd Annual Corn Hill Arts Festival! Here at Archer Communications, the anticipation and excitement is building. We are thrilled  to be sponsoring the 2^nd Annual Emerging Artists Expo and wanted to promote a greater awareness for the Expo by creating a microsite: www.archercom.com/emerging-artists.

Talented. Innovative. Entrepreneurial. Fresh. Edgy. These artists are all that and more. Visit the website to learn a little bit about every artist. Connect with them to see who they are and what inspires them. Then, meet the artists in person at the Emerging Artists Expo, located next to the Food Court, at the Corn Hill Arts Festival, July 10 and 11.You can also see photos of the artists and their artwork for a sneak peek as to what you can expect at the Expo this weekend. Throughout the Festival, Archer will also be conducting fun video interviews with all the artists and posting them on the website. The website also features a Twitter feed, a map of the Festival, blog posts, the latest news, and more!

It can be difficult for rising artists to gain exposure to a large audience. The 2^nd Annual Emerging Artists Expo is the place where the premier young artists in the area can be recognized for their creativity, talent, and dedication to the arts. At the end of the Festival, the Corn Hill Arts Festival’s Jurying Committee will select a winner of the Expo. Here at Archer, we believe in supporting and promoting young, promising artists. Thus, to further encourage these artists to pursue their creative dreams and develop their talent, we will also award the selected winner with a website. This custom website will allow the artist to showcase and promote their work online throughout the year.

We hope you will make a trip out to this year’s Corn Hill Arts Festival and visit the Emerging Artists Expo. Come by and also meet the “A-Team” from Archer Communications at the entrance the Expo. We hope to see you this weekend!

For more information regarding the festival, please visit www.cornhillartsfestival.org.

You don't want your newsletter or email to end up like this!

Recently a customer who was about to start a email newsletter for his company, in order to increase their direct marketing and get more unique visitors to their website, asked us at Archer to design a template for it. We have created many e-newsletters in the past, but usually they have simple layouts to accommodate the stringent rules email clients adhere to. The most notable and well known email clients are Gmail, Lotus Notes 6, Outlook 2007 and mac Mail, to name a few.

The difference with our client was that he wanted a fancier look for the newsletter. We tried to please the client all the while something told me we would have issues. Pizazz! and WOW! get lost in translation when it comes to email marketing if you don’t do it correctly. Some of these fancier looking designs you can achieve on websites cannot be done for email because they get blocked by very finicky email clients. It is not a good feeling to design a beautiful piece only to find out that no one is seeing it. Plus, creating something that works for one email client, may not work for all, and you end up compromising with a very boring e-newsletter or email. A designer’s conundrum… beauty vs visibility. If they can’t see the forest why decorate the tree? (Hey! I just made that saying up and it is so true).

Here is the flip side: If you know what you CAN do, a good designer can make your email work AND look awesome! I did some research and came across solutions where we could give our client the “WOW!” factor and still get it through to their customers. Here are some that stood out the most to me…

First of all, designing for email marketing is not the same as designing for the web. Where as website browsers keep evolving, email clients seem to be going in the other direction, thus making a lot of emails look like nothing is there. Or the email is filled with a bunch of question marks that frankly, I don’t even bother with, because it is too much work to even try and let the email program view the image. Most people would just ignore the email entirely, and there goes your carefully thought out email blast or e-newsletter… In the trash!

Less is more when it comes to email design. I just read a very good article from Campaign Monitor titled “Email Design Guidelines” where they go through step by step on the most basic rules. A good quote from the article that gives you a hint of hope that your email will be viewable is this: “While it’s not without its challenges, rest assured it can be done. In my experience the key is to focus on three things. First, you should keep it simple. The more complex your email design, the more likely is it to choke on one of the popular clients with poor standards support. Second, you need to take your coding skills back a good decade. That often means nesting tables, bringing CSS inline and following the coding guidelines I’ll outline below. Finally, you need to test your designs regularly. Just because a template looks nice in Hotmail now, doesn’t mean it will next week.” Amen to that!

The article itself gets into the actual coding, and may be a bit overwhelming to some that really don’t deal with the code itself. So for the benefit of non-coders, I will try to explain in simple terms what it all means.

Background images will probably be replaced with solid color. If you’d like to reach maximum email client compatibility, you (or your designer) should avoid positioning any elements above any other graphic element – like large images – because of issues with css properties support in email clients. The email client will remove the background image and replace it with a solid color or nothing at all. So images or items floating on top of other images are a no-no.

No repeating backgrounds. Let’s say you wanted a fancy wood grain background that gets repeated throughout the email like many do in their websites. This would also disappear because of the same rule above. So you are better off with solid colors.

No transparent images. Transparent images will also cause problems because they combine with the background so the email client would treat them as a floating image and they could disappear or get the dreaded question mark. They could be faked only if they are treated like a picture, but since email clients tend to move things around, it would simply be better to stay away from that.

Avoid fancy fonts. Unless they are treated like an image, your best bet is to use web friendly fonts that everyone has in their system like Helvetica, Arial, Verdana or Times. Why? Because if your intended receiver does not have Arno Pro Bold Condensed in their computer, most likely the email will revert to one of the fonts I just mentioned and break your design. I can hear moans right now… this is the worst travesty of web designers. I know. All websites are doomed to have the same fonts, but there is nothing worse than things changing on you without your consent. And if they can’t read your newsletter or email, what good does a fancy font do?

Test your design. Often. As mentioned in the article above, you need to test your design to see if it can work in different email clients. There are programs to do this and your designer should be aware of this tool. It will show you a snapshot of how your email will look and show you if things disappear or not. It is an excellent way to fool proof your design. But note that things change constantly and if you have had a certain layout for your newsletter that has been in use for a while, it would be a good idea to test it again every few months to see if it is still as visible as before.

Use a reliable email marketing software. It is one thing to send email to your mom from your own computer, and another when sending an email with commercial or marketing intentions in mind. This is a touchy subject that gets into the murky world of CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) legalities. There are many rules that circle around marketing through email and they are covered in the article “Complying with CAN-SPAM laws” from Campaign Monitor if you want to read more. Things like double opt-in, unsubscribe links, valid reply-to addresses, legitimate from name and other issues can be covered when using a reliable email marketing software. Some of the most well known are MailChimp, Benchmark, Campaign Monitor. These services are easy to use and are very cost effective when used wisely.

It would be also wise to say that when using the email marketing providers, it can also hurt you if you go into a email campaign without thorough thought to your target audience, the branding of your company, and how you present yourself. It should look professional because email marketing is very direct and you wouldn’t want your first impression to your client to be a bad one. For a true professional presentation and great results, always consult a professional interactive marketing agency  like Archer Communications, Inc.! But, even if you don’t use us, imagine those disappearing images, broken text, question marks, in an email you receive, and remember what you (or I) would do with an email like this… Yep… Send it to the trash!

By: Michelle Martorell – Creative Director, Archer Communications, Inc.

Archer Communications is excited to announce that it will serve as agency of record for Empire Attractions, LLC, New York’s newest themed event and entertainment provider.

Empire Attractions, recently established by Doug Waterbury, owns and operates a variety of venues throughout the State, including the Sterling Renaissance Festival, Screamers’ Hollow and the newly created Celtic Rock Festival, located at the Sterling Festival Grounds in Sterling, NY. Other Empire Attraction venues included Sylvan Beach Amusement Park, the Sylvan Beach Screamer Speedboat Thrill Ride and Yesterday’s Royal, located along Oneida Lake in Sylvan Beach, NY; and Santa’s Workshop at North Pole, NY, located on Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, NY.

As agency of record, Archer is responsible for the development, management and implementation of all marketing efforts for Empire Attractions and each of its entertainment venues.

“Although challenging at times, this account has everyone at Archer buzzing with excitement,” said Carol Davison, Sr. VP Client Services at Archer Communications. “These events demand a marketing approach and media mix as unique as the entertainment venues themselves. Branding, media placement, web development and PR are a few of the many responsibilities Archer will take on in 2009.”

Archer worked with the Sterling Renaissance Festival throughout the 2008 season. Prior to that, Carol Davison oversaw the Renaissance Festival account at Davison Advertising for 20-plus years.

Archer Communications is a branding and Integrated Marketing Communications firm, specializing in advertising, public relations, sales promotion, web development, exhibits, events, media planning and buying, Internet marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), packaging and direct marketing. Archer serves a wide range of business-to-business, retail and consumer clients in a diverse range of industries and markets.

For more information, visit us at www.Archercom.com

The Internet has quickly become a place where consumers can come together and share information about their experiences, where they shop, how much they paid and the level of or lack of service they received.

A decade ago, not-so-happy patrons would have gone and voiced their dissatisfaction to ten-or-so of their closest friends. Today, thanks to the Internet, those unsatisfied individuals now have an eager audience of hundreds, even thousands. The upside? The Internet has granted us (marketers) the ability to identify topics of discussion for disgruntled customers and pinpoint areas of our business that are in need of improvement.

Tips to Effectively Manage Your Online Reputation
Pay close attention to online chatter. Websites such as, Epinions.com, Viewpoints.com, ConsumerReview.com and Rocwiki.org were developed to provide mindful shoppers with unbiased first-hand reviews and recommendations. What are consumers saying about you and your products and services? Pay attention and respond accordingly.

If you are getting unfavorable feedback: Act quickly. If your customers are unhappy, how are you going to fix it? Recall? Refund? Tutorial? Upgrade? Remedy the situation fast or, thanks to the limitless nature of the Internet, the backlash will more than likely snowball.

If you are praised by the masses: Determine what you are doing right and keep doing it (unfortunately A+ ratings are hard to come by – the critics are tough and most of us have room for improvement).

For more information, visit us at www.Archercom.com

E-newsletters are an effective and relatively inexpensive way to stay in touch with clients, vendors and influential members of the community, and to keep them informed on both organizational news and industry trends.

Give Them Something They Want!
People will rarely engage in a newsletter that solely explains the benefits of doing business with your organization. To increase the likelihood of people actively reading what you have to say, make sure there is something in it for them. Be sure your content is newsworthy, relevant to the recipient, and includes something interesting, fun and non-promotional.

Update Your List
You can take the time to create a highly engaging and effective newsletter, but it won’t do you much good if it doesn’t get in front of the right people. Update your list with new contacts every month or as necessary and remove those that are no longer relevant.

Archer works web-based companies that help build and maintain targeted contact lists for our clients and enables us to provide fast and easy distribution of our clients’ e-newsletters and e-marketing campaigns.

Do Not Abuse/Overuse
As interesting as you think the day-to-day happenings of your business may be, outsiders most likely do not care. Send a newsletter only when there is news, and pick a distribution schedule that will not get you blacklisted from recipient in-boxes…try once a month or every quarter.

For information on creating an effective-newsletter, please contact Carrie Tschetter, ctschetter@Archercom.com, 585.461.1570 x 216 or visit us at www.Archercom.com

If you are looking to create or update your website, it is important that you understand the technology you are investing in. In addition to standard platforms, Archer is proud to offer a relatively new, cost-effective and highly efficient web development platform called Ruby on Rails (RoR).
RoR was introduced almost five years ago, and since then it has attracted countless developers that appreciate the sheer simplicity of the framework and its ability to create large, complex web-based applications in far less time. Read more on the advantages of RoR.

The Ruby on Rails Advantage:

• RoR allows Archer to provide clients with more robust web applications at a lower cost.
• Relative to mainstream languages such as Java and PHP, RoR is an extremely dynamic language that allows for limitless possibilities and the potential to solve difficult problems in a clean and efficient manner.
• After the initial implementation, it is faster, easier and less expensive to make application updates and modifications relative to other programming platforms.
• Ruby on Rails is an open source framework—there are no fees or ongoing licensing agreements, and no cost for configuration code, version upgrades, etc.

For more information about Ruby on Rails, contact Ryan Fortin, rfortin@archercom.com, 585.461.1570 x 215, or visit us at www.Archercom.com

The truth is, if your website isn’t performing optimally, you’re most likely losing business!

A good website (one that shows you serious ROI) isn’t just a pretty page design, nor is it solely the latest and greatest back-end technology. A website becomes a powerful marketing tool when it incorporates all of the necessary disciplines, including branding, copy writing, graphic design, back-end programming and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If your website is missing any of these key elements, you could be paying the price.

Why do so many good companies have bad websites? It seems many organizations turn to web programmers or IT companies when looking for a new website or to make updates to an existing one. Makes sense right? Unfortunately, most programmers do not understand branding, nor are they graphic designers. The same problem arises if a graphic design firm is contracted to develop a website…it may look great but, fail in other critical areas.

How does your website measure up?

1. Does your website have a strong, professional, branded image and message – one that truly represents the quality of your products and services? (Or does it have an unprofessional look and give the impression that you run your business out of your garage in your spare time?)
2. Was your website developed with clean, search-engine-friendly coding? (Or is your back-end outdated, making it difficult and/or expensive to update your site and impossible for you to be found by search engine spiders.)
3. Does your site contain information that’s well written and easy to find, encourage interactive user involvement, and compel your visitors to explore further and stay longer? (Or are visitors turned off by poorly written, unorganized, and/or meaningless content?)
4. Do you appear on the first page of the search results? (Or is your listing buried by the oftentimes less relevant competition?)

Don’t worry there’s help. If you’re not sure or have answered NO to any of these questions, you may want to consider sitting down for a free consultation with Archer’s web development and Internet marketing team. We will be happy to answer any questions and provide you with personalized recommendations.

To set up a free consultation, contact Gloria Kreitzberg, gloriak@archercom.com, 585.461.1570 x 206 or visit us at www.Archercom.com