the photo that really pops

I've begun reading, The Wedding Marketing Blog written by Andy Ebon recently. I found an old positing on his that related back to something my Advertising teacher spoke of today in class, design. As we begin the creative process of our project, Jane spoke of different design elements that can be used to lay out our creative piece. In the blog, Andy speaks of his encounter of a piece of creative that finally caught his attention at a bridal show. He said that when he usually goes to these types of shows, nothing really snags his eye. Cashman Photo Enterprises did just the trick for him. The display consisted of these large metal poles, where beautiful wedding photos in acrylic frames were hung from multiple sides of the booth, and multiple levels. He said these design techniques simply made the pictures pop out at you. With a tagline of "images that click", he sure was approved.

I think Cashman used not just one design technique, but multiple. They used depth and perspective to create a large space and make the booth "dramatic". They used Geometry when picking what pictures and frames to hang up. The pictures weren't all the same size, they had a great mix. And finally they had a somewhat chaotic pattern to their design that is always catches the eye and plays with it.

You can check the booth out yourself! Just click on the blog link!

Roses are digital, violets still blue

Who really thought it would be be acceptable to have a job behind a computer and be on Facebook all day? Well every day more and more companies are switching to a new alternative to traditional marketing; digital marketing. And with the upbeat and lavish industry it is, the wedding industry is not getting left behind.

GlobalRose have been distributing fresh roses and flowers to nearly ten thousand weddings and 30,000 special events for over 30 years.  They have become the industry leader in flower online wholesaler, with sales reaching over 25 million.  The demand of lower prices on premium flowers has increased over the years that GlobalRose decided to hire the digital agency, Experience Advertising to take charge of their online marketing channels and social media strategy.

They see this plan as a  competitive advantage because they can now spend less on traditional advertising (tv, radio, print) and focus on lower their prices for customers. They have targeted the young, tech-savy customers that want to make the wedding planning process faster and convenient. They believe its these "timely and cost-effective manners" that make companies leaders in their industry.

same sex marriages made easy

Vendors and event planners can now rejoice in Maryland. After the elections, the ratification of same sex marriages has allowed florists, photographers, and jewelers to do a little happy dance knowing their sales will be prospecting this coming year. The wedding industry is "eagerly awaiting business." 

Some companies might have been pre-gamed the celebration. Full Moon Marketing and Events in Reisterstown launched marylandgaymarriages.com in June to appeal to the market. The website has a directory of 20 vendors that have welcomed same-sex couples. The directory is divided into different categories including; bakeries, churches, music, florists, honeymoon and much more. Full Moon is hoping to reach 1000 vendors within the year. They hope that this will make wedding planning for same-sex couples easier because of the double takes they may receive. 

Full Moon took to heart this new venture acknowledging the white space in the economy right now. I spoke of same-sex marriages before and how they would become a large impact in the industry. They have understood their target market and created a service that wasn't there before. Hopefully many more will follow by example and accommodate for this ever-growing market. 

the wedding gets "smart"

Practically everyone in the whole world has a smart phone, except for my mother (that will never happen) and everyone loves taking and sharing pictures. So it wasn't a big surprise when these two strangers collided to create one of the coolest new apps I've ever heard. The new WedPics app allows guests at events, such as weddings, to take pictures and share them in the same cloud where other guests and even the couple can see them. 

This all started when Justin Miller, CEO and co-founder of this app was sitting at the back of a concert, blocked with fan's smartphones, wishing there was any way he would be able to get any of their pictures. Miller along with co-founders Idan Koren, Andy Heymann and Tyler Mahoney received $800,000 from investors and their first app, Deja Mi, was born. This device captured the attention of large corporations. They paid big bucks for attendees of their conferences to use this app to upload pictures or freely share information. This became so successful that they decided to try a more invigorating market, the wedding industry.

The company’s second app, called WedPics, allows couples to pay $99 in which there are given an access code. This code is then passed on to the guests. Guests can then download the free app on their smartphones and enter the access code. After that, it’s like magic. Instantly the guests are entered into this private Instrgram party where the uploading happens live. The couple then is granted access to this cloud and they can download or save of their favorites.

With so many components in the 80 billion a year industry; WedPics hopes to become the photo sharing app on top. They are mindful of their competitors in photo sharing (Facebook and Flickr) and their direct competitors (Wedding Snap and Wedding Party). They market themselves as the “convenient, safe, and cheap alternative to disposable cameras,” hoping they will gain favor.

With big things occurring with technology, it’s great to see such a traditional industry such as the wedding one, converting from the dark ages and into the light of technology.