The other day, I noticed an email sent to one of our DDA emails that struck me as a bit odd. The email said this person was “looking into advertising” and wanted to know the costs that would incur with that. I couldn’t help but think to myself, what is just advertising? Is there some standardized package that companies sell as “advertising”? Of course, this person is looking for some way of advertising their business or product, but he/she seems to be under the assumption that there is an all-inclusive advertising package. There’s not, and if any company tells you otherwise, they are lying.

In the 15 years or so that DDA has been in business, we’ve done everything from print design to video production to complex eLearning portals and virtual medical simulations. While I have not been with DDA that long, I do know one thing, advertising is not some standard that can applied to any marketing needs. A brochure may not be your best option. A website may not do the job you want. Video may not be the right route for you. DDA prides itself on building fully custom marketing and advertising pieces that cater directly to your business, product, or service. A big part of our job is to analyze your needs and figure out the best way to promote you - whether that be through complex communications tools or just timely direct mail pieces and trade show ads. We want to make sure you are presented in the best, most effective way possible. So we won’t sell you any “package,” we’ll just provide the necessary marketing needs to return the results you need.

Today we had another meeting with a new client who came to us to develop a video about immunizations for toddlers and infants. The initial goal of this video was to debunk the myths and present real, factual information in the form of an archived video presentation. Upon initial talks about the video project, we decided that creating a series of vignettes that utilize parent and physician interactions in a Q&A type format would be best. After this latest meeting, the project is growing into something close to a complete eLearning tool for parents to learn and educate themselves on immunizations for their children. It appears this video will be fully interactive, with a search function that will let parents find specific videos and information they want to view, or they can simply watch from start to finish. Also included will be the recommended immunization schedules and a glossary that will help define various immunizations and their purpose. Needless to say, this is becoming quite the amazing tool for parents with any anxiety or questions regarding immunizations, and is a project that everyone is quite excited about.

DDA is very accustomed to these types of programs. Making interactive videos and web presentations is a day-to-day activity here at DDA. From interactive medical simulations to live webcasts and product showcase videos to complete eLearning tools, DDA does it all, and completely in-house too.There is nothing we enjoy more than taking a project, adding a few new elements, and creating a better, more efficient platform than anyone could have initially imagined. This latest project is just another fine example of DDA pushing technology and taking advantage of our capabilities.

In my time here at DDA, I’ve noticed that the “eye” for design is much different between what our clients would like and expect and what our graphic designers and team here want and expect. It is common that the client has a vision for what they think a website design, print design, or logo should look like - and that’s great - but there always needs to be a compromise between their vision and the professional designs we provide. Unlike so many marketing companies and website developers, DDA does not believe in using templates or cookie-cutter designs for anything, everything we create here is custom. As a result, everything is a process. We need to create an original design that not only matches the look and feel of your company and creates viewer interest, but is also something that you are ultimately happy with. Upon initial design concepts, we like to provide multiple versions and possibilities to obtain client feedback. The client chooses one they like the best, or they choose two things from different designs they like and we revise to implement those into one design.

In working with a recent design concept, I felt like the client made the best decision for himself. We provided a nice design, but he wanted to push his product a little more and add more imagery and text. We did so, and most of us here felt the design started looking a little too busy, that now there might be too many images involved. The client came back and said pretty much the same thing, so we made some tweaks and simplified it a little more, and now I think the design looks better than it ever did. As I said to the designer, it’s a very nice compromise between our original vision for the site and the client’s vision for the site, and it worked well.