There is a poster boldly displayed on one wall of Dynamic Digital Advertising’s new digs that proclaims, “Don’t be afraid to be different.” I think that is the common thread that binds all who work here; we are each very different. Not weird different, but creatively, healthy, believe-in-ourselves different. 

A specific example would be our Programmers. David says our Lead Programmer,  Amy, can solve any problem to do with code.  She is also a whiz with an electric drill.  Tyler is our “Go To” guy for everything from small changes to clients’ websites to installing a complex phone system, while Reggie has become an expert at building gargantuan retail shopping carts, and Vinnie does a lot of action script work and helps with Coldfusion code issues and other language problems. If you put the four of them together, you would never mistake one for the other, and yet they are linked by this strange gene Programmers have for speaking little and spending hours solving problems. It is like there is a mind meld between them and their computers.  

Dynamic Digital, as an entity, is unusual too. There is no model we followed when David and I first started a decade+ ago. We grew organically, and David’s business instinct and vision helps shape what is our very complex organization today. But from those early days, we never lost the goal of providing marketing, promotional, and advertising services to businesses. Our old self-promotion brochures push digital photography, cd-rom development, graphic design, and print production among other things. We still do all that, but we just keep adding services. So many services that our Lead Designer, Carrie, wonders how she is going to showcase the new service. (P.S.-She always figures it out.)  Check out our website, the timeline graphically shows our growth, the changes, and the new services. And today, May 15th, 2008, I can promise you, there is real excitement planned for the coming year. Stay tuned. 

When I first started at DDA as an advertising copywriter, one of the first projects I worked on was a search engine optimized website for a printing company in Philadelphia, PA. Years ago, I knew nothing of search engine optimization (SEO) or, for that matter, of the printing world. Wanting desperately to do well with the given task and to learn as much as possible about both areas, I threw myself into the website development project with both feet.

I travelled to the company and took a tour of the entire facility from digital prepress to mailing and fulfillment. I spoke to the company’s President who climbed the corporate ladder literally from the ground up and to those that perform their strategic responsibilities within the company day in and day out to obtain first-hand information. I can remember to this day how I went home after work and told everyone everything I learned about the printing industry.

My excitement soon faded when I realized I needed to then learn all there was to know about SEO copywriting - something one was and is not taught in college curriculum. With the help of my colleagues, research, and trial and error, I discovered how to integrate relevant keywords into the copy in order for the web page, and subsequently the website, to achieve high rankings on major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

Hearing years later that through the collective efforts of optimized online copywriting, strategic website design and development, and the DDA exclusive SureThing™ Program, the site is doing well and that they have achieved high rankings and more rankings than they ever initially thought they could is a great feeling. I’ve learned so much since that introductory project with respect to a large variety of companies in different industry segments, as well as what it takes to write the seo copy that makes websites not just “brochures”, but effective online businesses.

That said, there is still much to learn, so back to work.

Some projects are clear cut, others are not.

As a full-service company, we see a lot of versatility in the work we do — video production, animation, website development, illustration, brochures, catalogs. I could go on but I think my point is clear.

There’s one constant variable throughout it all — the client steers the project. Our ability to provide any service needed, from programming to copywriting services, means that we can go in any direction a client wants.

If they call about a website and through discussion decide a video would also be appropriate, we can do it.  If they want to add a certification or training component to a CD-ROM, we can do it. Tracking usage, logo design, tradeshow banner, video script — we can do all of that too.

A prime example of our ability to meet just about any need, is a client we are currently working with on a variety of projects. They began wanting marketing and branding, and from there it’s mushroomed. We have gone from logo design to video to website development and back to video again. This client’s business is growing rapidly and as his needs and focus shift, we shift with him, providing exactly what is needed to meet his vision.

Not all projects are like this. Some are straight forward.

But regardless of the size or scope, through our vast ability and focus on customization we are establishing relationships, not just providing services.

Whether it’s a DVD or a little bit of everything, our clients are getting a partner not just a vendor.

Last night I watched Top Chef, a cooking competition show in which I’ve recently developed an unhealthy addiction. During each episode the chefs compete in challenges with hopes of impressing the judges, winning immunity, and passing through to the next round, inching one step closer to the grand prize. The reason I enjoy the show so much, and reserve an hour of TV watching every Wednesday, is because I love the creativity. The challenges are universal to all participants, but the way each chef approaches their meal varies drastically. Even more, the end results are always quite impressive given the amount of time they have to finalize their dish. There may be moments of panic, but inevitably the chefs find their inspiration and work vigorously to meet there specified deadline.

This atmosphere of creativity is not unlike the environment here at DDA. The graphic designers, creative and online copywriters, corporate and medical video production specialists, and programmers all have to work under a certain conceptual umbrella determined by the client’s needs. However, each individual has their own approach and style, imprinting their signature on the end product.  

This is what makes our staff here at DDA so great. If we only produced cookie cutter websites, brochures, and corporate and medical training programs, our business would not be thriving as it is now. Clients turn to us for our creativity and tendency to reach for the innovative. And with a staff comprised of creative individuals possessing various strengths, exciting websites, graphic designs, custom programming, and exceptional video development are guaranteed.

Spring is definitely my favorite time of year. My new office is great because I have really nice windows. A row of them to my left and a couple behind. The first time I saw the office, I was concerned because the windows, throughout the building, are high up and not really a direct view outside. Turns out that, whether seated or standing, the view through every window is one of trees from their mid point on up. Breathtaking!

It occurs to me that during spring the trees are in transition. Early on the seemingly dry branches and twigs blossom with life, color, and attitude. Later in spring the blossoms fall, coloring the ground, and the now very much alive branches and twigs become adorned with leaves of complex shapes in limitless shades of green.

What is most compelling and interesting is the way the windows frame the trees as if to feature each grouping as a picture frame would. Each window becomes a work-of-art, combining the best qualities of renaissance, impressionism, and realism. Rich, beautiful, and alive.

At DDA, we believe advertising and marketing is similar.  It is our goal to provide glimpses of reality that feature and highlight the best qualities of our client’s products, services, staff, and capabilities. Framing each with the proper information, aesthetic, and presentation to provide the viewer with a perspective that helps our client’s organization radiate the aura of quality and success.

Websites, photography, videos, 2D animation,  3D animation, CD-ROMS, DVDs, programming applications, illustrations, brochures, sell sheets, catalogs, training portals, copy writing, virtual spins, and virtual worlds… each and every one is a little window shining light in, but also reflecting all the best that our clients have to offer.

Moving an office with 21 people and not disrupting the work flow takes organization and juggling. As an experience, it is both traumatic and cathartic. It seems that at the old Dynamic Digital office, we saved everything that had to do with advertising. We filled a big dumpster with our throwaways.  I saved proofs of all our projects, as well as samples of brochures, postcards, and posters of companies - even those that are no longer in business. But most of all, we saved every marketing and promotional item about our digital services.

I came across one of our first letterhead designs that we used to sell our services to local businesses. It had seven thumbnail images stacked down the left margin and included digital photography (with a Lumina scanning camera) which today is obsolete. Since it scanned in three passes (RGB) the resulting image was a photograph. Today, if you go into our video and photography studio, the sophistication of digital cameras from that first clumsy Lumina is dramatic. The images our photographers and videographers produce with our up-to-date equipment are crisp, the color is very accurate, and the results are akin to film output.   

Since those early days, we have pushed the envelope constantly in all the areas of our services. Our clients, new and old, discover over and over again that there is nothing we cannot do at Dynamic Digital Advertising. We chose the road of complexity and steep learning curves so we could become a truly full-service shop. And we are proudly that, and pushing some more. Stay tuned. 

One of my favorite poets said it best, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I…I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” 

Viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that utilize an assortment of social networking devices (website designs, Flash animations, photography, video productions, message boards) to promote a product or service and quickly spread word of this product. The most successful viral marketing campaigns rely heavily on mystery and trying to get people to sign up for your website to learn more. Most notably in the past, extensive viral marketing was done for the movie Cloverfield. Movie previews did not release the name of the film, only a simple blurb of intense video, and numerous websites with mysterious information about the movie were created. The marketing hype behind the movie was the driving factor to get people into the theater, and it worked. These are the great things you can do with Hollywood -funding. Likewise, there is a commercial on television that shows a delivery person carrying boxes with the brand name and website on them while a song plays in the background and no other sound is used. What the product is is a complete mystery and they hope the commercial intrigues you to go to their website. In a way, it works. But if you ask me right now what the brand name and website and website is, I couldn’t tell you. Thus, the campaign is a huge failure.

While viral marketing has shown to work in a few cases and while DDA has the resources to pull off such campaigns, we always find that successful advertising promotes and engages people while teaching them about the product or services you offer. Things like brand name recognition are extremely important. Simple and effective messages will always have mass appeal. That’s why at DDA we strive to achieve effective marketing campaigns that will absolutely draw people to you, whether through animation, video, websites, brochures, or any other advertising techniques.

I can recall in my last days in college, way back when, thanking the stars above that soon I would say adieu to the formidable research paper and all tasks like it, the most hated by me being the position paper.

How naive I was. Within just a few days of my internship at an arts and entertainment newspaper, it became quite clear that I was no where near done with the research — one of the most critical aspects  of good writing.

Now at DDA, those handy research skills are still put to good use. In writing for websites, video scripts, brochures, etc., I am continuously switching topics and audiences.  The only way to make my writing as effective as possible, is to know my topic and my audience.

Big words, flowery descriptions, and lots of professional jargon is not going to impress the real client or consumer. Attention spans are short these days, and if you don’t have the exact information they are looking for written clearly and concisely, regardless if they are reading it on your website or at your tradeshow booth, they are going to move on.

So as a writer, that means a little bit of research and orientation to familiarize myself. Luckily, my reporting skills allow me to do this in the quickest, most efficient way possible.

I am constantly impressed on  a daily basis what the writing department is capable of. After receiving a request mid afternoon for editing and expanding upon copy on a very complicated medical condition and treatment for an interactive CD, Laura, the Head Writer, had the text complete within two hours. Not only complete, but well written, professional, and knowledgeable.

Taking just a small amount of time to take a step back and really think about to whom you are writing and what they would be most interested in hearing, and really knowing what it is you are writing on, is what allows us to switch gears and produce high-quality copy as quickly as we do.

When I was in college, I struggled to find my niche with regard to a career. I started as an accounting major and then filtered my way through marketing, psychology, sociology, and secondary education to end up with a rare degree in Professional Writing. My hobbies as a child ran the gamut from photography, violin, and sewing to softball, poetry, and singing. I tried almost everything at least once, and for the most part I loved it all. I even liked ballet, although I pirouetted into the wall in a dance recital and rollerblading, although I fell and scarred myself for life.

Today, as an advertising copywriter for DDA, I’m able to enjoy the many different aspects of the career options and hobbies that held my interest when I was younger. I can express my creativity as I did in photography, poetry, and sewing through copywriting services for brochures and websites. I can utilize what I learned in psychology and sociology classes to maintain a good repore with clients, and the organizational skills gained through accounting for overseeing projects from start to finish. For that which I did not necessarily succeed, I’ve learned to pick myself up, dust myself off, and move on to the next venture.

The lessons learned in school and fun as a child I carry with me every day and try to build upon them with practical application. It sometimes amazes me to step back and think about how one’s experiences truly do shape the ethics and capabilities displayed in the workplace.

DDA subscribes to several business practices and principles that directs everything we do. They are transparency, ethical conduct, and doing the right thing. The practice of these are both just good, sane, logical and practical approaches to client and vendor relations and emotional, cerebral and feel-good-about-yourself practices and beliefs that allows one to look himself or herself in the mirror each morning and sleep well at night.

Some definitions through the eyes of DDA:

Transparency. I like to think I am a good communicator. I know I am a lousy listener. My other career path might well have been as a history teacher and I sometimes wonder if the excitement of the advertising and business world overwhelmed my common sense.

Despite my best efforts, I recognize that four people in a meeting or discussion will leave with four slightly or largely different understandings of what just happened, what information was shared, what conclusions were drawn, and what the next steps are. Since we believe strongly that good process is at the core of all efficiency, somehow each successful advertising, branding, or marketing meeting must result in common understanding, shared goals, and a focused unified vision of the end game.

Transparency tools are woven into and heaped upon every advertising, branding, or marketing project we undertake. DDA TRAC (Time Resource and Accounting) is an in-house developed, Internet-based time tracking database tool. The result is that every hourly billed project including programming, logo design, graphic design, copywriting, photography, video, 2D and 3D animation, illustration, trade show displays, large format graphics, print design and print production for sell sheets, catalogs, brochures, flyers, direct mail, business cards, training portals and tools, CME design and development and even search engine optimization (SEO) is invoiced accurately. No time, not one minute is rounded up or added on, and every invoice is accompanied by a detailed minute-by-minute description of how the time was spent. On time, On budget, On TRAC every time.

Additional tracking and reporting tools abound. DDA’s search engine optimization (SEO) work has a series of metrics that perpetually report website visitation, usage, pathways, experience-based mapping, rankings, and much more. Website analysis means corporate websites can be better understood, improved, and managed.

Online proofing development websites are assigned to each client and each project. Our clients see every project unfold, improve, and take shape and their input is welcomed, requested, and insisted upon every step of the way.

Transparency is as much an attitude as it is a report or tool. At DDA, we believe that direct communication is the hallmark of a truly professional service-oriented vendor. We answer the phone, have project coordinators for each client, welcome questions and love client interaction. Every project is a blend of skills, expertise, information, and point-of-view provided by both the client and DDA.

Call us anytime. At DDA, the Transparency is clearly better.

Ethical Conduct to follow Monday.

Doing the Right Thing to follow Tuesday.