Being that we’re a unified marketing agency, it only seems right that we give our take on the Super Bowl ads that aired last night, so here’s our collective montage of the Definition 6 opinions.

Our special thanks to Def6 participants: Asa Sherrill, Creative Director; Ashley Reed, Social Media Manager; Chris Wojda, Senior Brand Planner; Frank Radice, Expert In Residence; Jeff Katz, President & COO; Michael Johnson, Account Executive; Paul Hernacki, Chief Technology Officer; Ryan Kantor, Marketing Intern; Chris Thornton, CMO; and Charlie Eisenhardt, Senior Editor.

Get ready for our list of touchdowns, incomplete plays, penalty flags and halftime show reviews (we had to throw in SOME football references!)

Enjoy and please comment with your own thoughts. Oh, and you may want to check out AdAge.com's list of Superbowl ads so you can follow along.

Some of our Favorites…because they were humorous, well-produced and made a lasting impact on us:

“The best overall spots were the Fox promos...especially for 'House, MD,' 'X-Factor,' and 'Glee' (the Chevy product placement was fantastic!)”

“Good showing by Verizon, Motorola, BestBuy.”

“I liked the Kia ad. Where I was, everyone was guessing what brand it was promoting as it was running and BMW was blurted out. I thought it was a sharp looking car, and I’ll keep it in mind when I need a new car.”

“Helmets off to the NFL commercial during the Super Bowl!  Of course, it had star power and humor from The Brady Bunch to Modern Family but 'Best Fans Ever' was exactly what Roger Goodell and the NFL needed.” 

“I loved the Careerbuilder.com ad and the Coca-Cola ‘Siege’ one.”

“Favorite lines of the night from BestBuy's ad with Ozzy Osborne: ‘How many G’s are there?’ and ‘What’s a Beiber?’  Nicely done.”

"VW 'The Force' was awesome.  Glad they released the :60 earlier though.  Liked it better than the :30."

Missed tackles…for not enough brand identity, not funny, or just plain blah:

On Doritos, “The Best Part” (aka the finger-licker) – “Strange and disturbing. Funny concept, but poorly executed.”

“The Snickers ‘new’ Betty White - Richard Lewis and Roseanne Barr – were funny yet the concept was the same as last year.  They missed the mark.”

“Also disappointing were the Bud ads ‘Wild West’ and ‘Product Placement’.” 

Def6’s Superbowl MVP ad:

You guessed it - the 2 minute Chrysler “Imported from Detroit” ad featuring Eminem.  It does pose the question though – does longer viewing time contribute to the success of this spot?  There was a lot of controversy last week leading up to this, but we feel that it was well-produced, and evoked emotional connections with the viewers.   I guess the real question becomes – was it worth $8 million?

“This broke the car commercial mold and presented the heart and soul of Detroit! Normally I think using celebrities in commercials is gratuitous and unnecessary, but (the brand of) Eminem represents this feeling of Detroit. Chrysler & Fallon, great work making me care about American cars again.”

“Chrysler ad was truly awesome. I’m from Detroit. Had me misty eyed and wanting to buy a 200, feeling dirty for owning an Altima.”

“The best part of the whole night was the Chrysler tagline (the ad was very good, the tagline was great) ’Imported From Detroit.’  The insight into how removed most of the country has become from the Motor City is extremely powerful.  I just hope the products can deliver. That said, BMW's designed and made in America messaging was equally great.”

Gross-out Factor Winner - VW “Beetle”:

“I personally HATED the VW Beetle – had to close my eyes. I’m a huge bug-aphobe.”

On the sidelines, but still worth talking about:

"The Teleflora ad with Faith Hill totally caught me off guard.  It was one of those 'wow, did they really just say that' moments."

"The worst part of the whole night (in regards to brands) is Christina Aguilera's personal brand.  Talk about a negative brand experience that she will forever be remembered for. Ouch!"

Half-Time Review

The Black Eyed Peas performance – exciting, hip and trendy or simply played out? 

I really don’t want to get too down on this performance since it seemed that the NFL and FOX wanted to bring currently trendy music bands back into this widely viewed performance as opposed to the safer rock bands we’ve seen over the last few years (thanks Janet). 

The most interesting thing we’ve found is that it definitely evoked an emotion – you either loved it or hated it.    

“I thought it was awesome to see such a show – I was even dancing and fist-pumping along in my living room!”

“Terrible performance – not sure what you’re doing on that stage if you can’t hit your notes, but the lite-brite suits and choreography were killer!”

"My son just asked me if this was 'Tron: The Musical'."

“I heard they could have gotten the Foo Fighters, but chose the Black Eyed Peas instead. What a terrible call! The Black Eyed Peas are a generally over-edited band so it's no surprise they can’t hit notes live. I enjoyed watching all the middle aged people at the Super Bowl party stare in disgust though. Slash from Guns ‘n Roses was the highlight for me. Not sure why Usher showed up, just to lip sync.”

“I thought the half time show was lame. While The Black Eyed Peas are a great group, the production value of the broadcast seemed too tame, even dull, and therefore the energy and excitement of their live performance was hard to embrace. Watching the half time show I thought back about prior performances – the explosive energy of The Who which no medium can contain, and of course the shocking publicity stunt by Janet Jackson.  I wondered, do live half time performances also need a 'gimmick' to break through the clutter of viewers’ expectations of what constitutes Super Bowl entertainment? Much like the Super Bowl TV commercials, live half time shows may need more than Slash and his amazing guitar playing to break through the history of torn bras, mad rockers and fireworks that viewers have come to expect.”

“Yeah, on Facebook the consensus about the Half Time show was collective yawn. Comments I read made fun of the fact that the BEP's phoned it in as they usually do and the bells & whistles were predictable and tame.”

So there you have it…the D6 SuperBowl winners and losers.  While this year’s #brandbowl was not an overwhelming great set of advertisements, one thing is clear.  You should go buy a car.  We can’t remember which one, but the auto industry will surely need to recoup the money they just invested.

 

About 18 months ago we bought a post-production business in Manhattan Creative Bubble (now definition 6) and  unified it into our interactive agency because we fundamentally believed that the future of the internet and marketing was brilliant story telling. We wanted a group of story tellers and emotion creators to be a core part of our team and have the capabilities to produce work for Hollywood, TV and Madison avenue at a world class level.  We have achieved this and since unification have won a Clio, an Emmy, an IBIXX, OMMA, ADDY, ProMax and even Small Agency campaign of the year from Advertising Age.  But what I did not expect was to be so engulfed by the discussion regarding "What is happening with TV, entertainment and the internet?"

 

Most of the conversation has sounded like "who moved my cheese?" especially to an outsider who never had cheese in the first place (cheese is consolidated broadcast advertising dollars and limited distribution channels such as movie theaters and DVD's). Ultimately, I've come to believe the issue isn't that TV is dead or dying, in fact it is growing and thriving, or that VOD is going to destroy Hollywood. The issue is that ad buys are more complex, dynamic, fragmented and content distributors are having to work harder to maintain margin and that content producers are having to become more sales savvy because they need to have more customers than the limited number of broadcasters and theater distributors from days long ago.  Everyone blames the internet, the Millennial’ s, the mobile revolution and cord cutters for fragmented the audience and making it harder and harder to find a digital dollar vs. digital penny.  As a response, we are seeing a slew of "Smart TV's" internet enabled televisions with app stores, over the top content, deals with VOD organizations and social integration. Awesome! Fantastic! we will bring the distractions from traditional living room TV into the living room and then we will get all the dollars in one place again and things will just be beautifully profitable for us again.   Except…..

 

Who asked you to make the idiot box Smart? I want to watch TV, not necessarily watch a specific show, just watch TV.  According to a #CES panel where either Nielsen or TV guide said "70%+ of the people who sit down to watch TV don't know what they are going to watch until they sit on the couch" - ok, I buy that, and to me that means I still want it to be easy, passive, yes I want to do discover, but not necessarily search and explore like I do with Google, Twitter and Pandora. Stations and networks are good, they have themes, they have repeats, they have marathons in case I've fallen behind or want to get immersed on a weekend afternoon in a new series. So stop touching my TV, I want to sit back, relax and watch the "History of Steel" or "Golf" or "The Guy from the 70's painting and talking in that soothing voice" - I don't want to grab content, make my own playlist, find my favorite actor that cross references with Kevin Bacon to kill 20%-50% of the time I have to WATCH TV. Leave my few times a week I have no plan, and only want to enjoy.  Now if you can make it work with my iPad and come with me on my phone when I'm in line at the supermarket, then I'm all yours and I look forward to the new adventures of "TV and Me".

Follow Michael on Twitter @mkogon

Now if this were a documentary and not a blog I’d start out this way:

FADE IN:
Simple white text over black.

viral |ˈvīrəl|
adjective
1 of the nature of, caused by, or relating to a virus or viruses.

2 of or involving the rapid spread of information about a product or service by viral marketing techniques : a viral video ad. 
Creating original and entertaining viral advertising is a unique challenge every time it’s attempted; no matter the agency, the client or the brand. The audience at large has become more and more fickle when it comes to what entertains them, especially online.

Creating something the viewer feels compelled to pass along to a friend? Even more difficult. That’s why I try to make it clear every time I embark on a job dubbed “viral”. It’s not a noun. You are attempting to catch lightning in a bottle...naming it as such doesn’t make it so.
 
So what is the secret formula to this viral video stuff? The secret is there is no secret. Who can explain why one day the Coca Cola “Happiness Machine” is wildly popular and the next the “Death Metal Rooster” or the latest kitten video is all the rage? There are too many mitigating factors to count, let alone to try and prepare for. You can’t make a video spread virally. All the planning and analysis in the world will never trump a great idea. There it is. I knew I had a point!
 
What we do know is people are consuming video online like never before. 141 million people viewed Web video in February. Even more astounding, YouTube announced that users are uploading 20 hrs of video every minute of every day on their site. Man, that’s a lot of kittens!

Gone are the days that just because it’s there people will watch it, never mind share it. But that’s the goal. Sharing. Buzzfeed actually uses a metric on their site to chart viral performance - the formula is based on how actively the content is being shared and spread to chart success. Not just views.
 
As the guys from undercurrent.com so brilliantly said in their SXSW presentation, “internet fame is a social phenomenon, not a magic trick”. So what does that mean for brands entering the space? What can they do to help achieve some internet fame?
 
Firstly, for me as a creative, and certainly as a director, there’s one sure-fire trick to be followed and that starts with a great idea. Look at the most successful viral advertising and web video. I bet it’s a fairly simple idea done really well, usually in the “I wish I thought of that” category.

Is the idea and, in turn, the content quality? Is it original, smart, funny, heartfelt, genuine, or is it simply content for content sake? Will it entertain? Will it engage? Will it encourage advocacy - meaning, do I feel compelled to share? As a brand, the Death Metal Rooster is probably not something to aspire to…unless you’re Purdue maybe...which is just plain weird.  My point is that brands can’t chase “Chocolate Rain” or “Star Wars Kid”…I mean, come on, that kid would totally destroy you!
 
Two, duration. If you want to harness the power of the people sharing a great idea, keep it short and get to the hook early (around 2 minutes is our sweet spot) but if you insist on going longer, for the love of all that’s holy, raise the stakes and the funny*, escalate things to keep them engaged. *(oh, the funny, like "more cowbell", always helps).
 
People are being entertained across an ever-growing number of mediums and everyday consumers become more media literate. I will always passionately argue that just creating content is simply not enough. Content is king, sure, but now quality is job one.

Not to say that only means production value. That’s part of it of course. I’m the first to push back on folks that say things like “internet budget” or “it’s only being produced for a tiny screen, it should be really cheap right?”, or my favorite, “it’s only for the Web”, argh…don’t get me started!
 
Now, spoiler alert; time for a little self-tooting…wait for it. "The Happiness Machine" was a great idea. The fact that it has such a broad appeal is not a fluke. It’s a simple concept that delivered the desired effect; to put a smile on people’s faces. It’s on brief, on brand and elicits a genuine emotional response. Lucky for us, Coke saw that early on and they deserve a LOT of credit for preserving the core idea. The final product as it exists is very, very close to the initial creative. That is rare.
 
So, back to that trite open of mine. If you do your job right, the derivative of viral becomes an adverb, “virally”, because it has performed that way. People shared it and hopefully, became active participants with your brand.

Now, I don’t have all the answers. I’m just a guy that spent two days inside a vending machine so what do I know? What I do know is viral, much like any other successful advertising, is still about the big idea. Don’t think small because the aspect ratio is. On the contrary, think bigger because your audience is growing every day.

I love the idea that the only difference between a community and an audience is the way the chairs are facing. You can produce a million dollar spot and seed it or spend your million seeding a low budget video featuring nothing but a farting sock puppet, if the concept sucks there goes your million and your audience. (note to self: write million dollar sock puppet treatment, post haste!).
 
It’s no longer just about views or clicks, it’s about becoming part of the cultural zeitgeist. People share, discuss, rate, comment on, discuss, tweet, blog and even spoof or parody your creation. That’s viral. Your idea spreads rapidly beyond your control through every channel.

For brands, it means the consumer becomes your biggest advocate and as we have come accustomed to saying, BOOM goes the dynamite! You’re viral. Just stop calling it that. Cool? Thanks.

 “The key question isn't "What fosters creativity?" But it is why in God's name isn't everyone creative?” –Abraham Maslow

The idea of creativity is held in high esteem by a great many people. When you see a fantastic work of art, or see a new piece of technology that blows your mind, you can’t help but feel appreciative of the creativity that went into making it. You may also feel envy. “Why can’t I be that creative? My world is too structured to be able to do those sorts of things.”

In my position at our creative advertising agency, it's my job to "be creative", but the truth is that anyone can, and everyone should, be creative. In many ways, I believe people are more creative than they give themselves credit for. It is easy to appreciate grand gestures of creativity: the Gugenheim Museum in Bilbao, the XBOX Natal project, Avatar. But you must realize that those large expressions are merely the accumulation of small frequent expressions of creativity. The people behind them are disposed to looking beyond the boundaries of the everyday. By opening yourself up to the idea that each choice you make can be infused with the unexpected, you will begin to see your life and your business enriched with the individuality of creativity.

So what does it mean to “be creative”? You may not have a gift for the arts, but that in no way hampers your ability to be creative. Simply doing something or seeing the world in a new way is the very essence of creativity. Break free of what you know and get outside of your comfort zone. In its purest form, creativity is anarchy. Of course that type of creativity is only useful in an abstract sense, wielded as a hammer to break through a wall of convention. Truly inspired creativity brings about brilliant new ideas within the constructs of necessary guidelines. For example, I can strap an accordion to a rodeo bull and record the “music” as it tries to throw its rider, but likely that will only result in a painful accumulation of noise. It certainly would qualify as a creative act, but that creativity would be wasted in the final product. It’s important to break out of our familiar way of thinking and acting, but do so while still respecting the natural boundaries of human perception.  Creativity is a delicate balance between spontaneity and limitations. Often “new” ideas will be criticized as derivative. That may be true, but that in does not diminish the achievement. No matter how “out of the box” you get, it is still related to the box in some way. Anything that ignores all conventions is only interesting in the abstract. A relationship to the world we live in and the conditions our lives and businesses thrive in is a necessity for success.

Not everyone can throw away convention and embrace the unknown, nor should they. Clearly, some level of control and stability is necessary in business and in life. But being comfortable with the unexpected will allow you to make more creative choices, and, perhaps more importantly, accept and encourage creative choices in those with whom you work. Start small: re-arrange your office, take a new route home, or run a meeting differently. These things have little risk, but will force you to see things in a new way. It may take you longer to get home, but you may see or experience something new that spawns new ideas or growth in your life. Each small act will make you more open to new ideas and change. Many consultants will tell you that a repeatable process is necessary to create an environment of measurable success, and that is certainly true, but innovation is equally important to business. Repeatable process is the antithesis of innovation. Even the most successful business will ultimately stagnate if it does not embrace change. Indeed you must go beyond simply rolling with the changes of industry and be an initiator of change to truly rise above the rest.

Whether you are a designer or an accountant, a CEO or a secretary, make an active effort to infuse creativity into your life. Train yourself to be open to the new and unexpected, whether it be a new, but accurate use of your brand or an off the wall execution for a social media strategy.  It will make you at least a little uncomfortable and anxious (it should or you are not doing it right), but even the smallest of gestures will also enrich you, both professionally and personally. Where should you start? I don’t know… be creative.

I recently read that the White House has chosen an Open Source CMS (Content Management System) to develop their government Web site. This announcement caught my attention for several reasons--not only are many agencies moving their clients to open source and praising it's virtues, I also started using Drupal this past year and found it remarkably fast and easy to setup and maintain my own Web sites with quality results. Despite some criticism of open source over the years--more and more commercial (and government) developers are choosing it.

It's hard to argue against the benefits of free software, especially when results show that the software does what we expect, often exceeds expectations, and provides more opportunities for expansion than many proprietary products. While relative newcomers Drupal and Wordpress lead the pack for CMS offerings, open source mainstays such as Linux and Perl have been around for many years--not only surviving, but thriving over time. In a study by Amit Deshpande and Dirk Riehle of SAP Labs, LLC, Total Growth of Open Source results have shown that "the total amount of source code and the total number of projects double about every 14 months." Open source enables freedom for both users and developers to move & change quickly when needed, as well as providing more flexibility with software decisions such as to upgrade or not to upgrade. It's really no surprise that businesses and individuals are moving to open source at exponential rates.

Of course, Open Source has always been very much associated with Free, although there are other solid reasons to choose it beyond its cost. The pool of development resources is not limited to a specific company or provider, but instead is seemingly unlimited. As a specific open source project becomes popular, more and more developers start contributing, growing and adding to the code. Not only do they enhance the software to make it better for everyone, but they also create markets for their own support services. The better the code is--more people will use it-- and the more support is needed. Large developer communities have evolved around each software project, contributing to its growth, and administering its support. These open source communities are continually coming up with new innovations, powerful add-ons, extensions, and effective tools.

With so many open source choices available, even the ubiquitous LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Perl) has come to be accepted as generic term for any completely open source application stack--substituting interchangeable parts from other sources that include "PostgreSQL, SQLLite, Apache Derby," as well as "PHP, Python, Ruby, Groovy and JavaScript." Even behemoth Microsoft has entered the game with their own Open Source CMS Platform.

Additionally, interactive ad agencies are able to offer their managed computer services at lower rates when developers take advantage of Open Source technologies. This enables clients to do more within their budgets. Every size company can now take advantage of Website integration, online advertising, and interactive media development due to the emergence of open source and accumulation of knowledge brought to us by the developer community. Businesses across industries are now embracing these technologies, taking advantage of interactive media, and using a more integrated approach to marketing with the vast number of new tools that are now available from these creative, innovative communities of developers.

And so it begins...

Over the past 15 years we have seen the rise of the digital age.  Well, we’ve seen the rise, fall, and rebirth of digital over that time frame.  Out of the ashes of the dotcom bust came a stronger, smarter marketer.  A marketer that understands the importance of measurement, ROI, brand, and business objective.  Also, out of the ashes came a smarter consumer.  A consumer who suddenly realized they have a voice, and the power to initiate change.  This combination has resulted in interactive marketing going from an afterthought in a CMO’s marketing plan to a focal point.  The web is now the hub of most marketing initiatives.  It is the place where we can create the deepest engagement, measure the most activity, and impact the audience the most by creating true brand experiences and real interaction with the brand. 

So traditional is dead, right?  Wrong.  Traditional mediums continue to be important. I have not thrown my HD flat screen out on the lawn yet.  My IPOD and my radio take turns in my car.  Occasionally, I still even read a magazine.  The real problem for marketers now is this: the interactive medium has gone from the smaller part of the overall mix, to the key driving factor that is the glue that enables a truly integrated experience for the user.  The advertising and marketing world has gone from a push to a pull.  Marketers need agencies who can execute a truly integrated plan by developing real interactive strategy…one message, one brand, many channels, multiple experiences. 
This fact has been the driving force for the recent growth and expansion of Definition 6.  For 13 years, Definition 6 has been creating interactive solutions that deliver measureable results for our clients.  We have taken great strides to build integrated strategies that work with our clients’ entire marketing plans.  And so today we announce the next evolution in Definition 6.

Definition 6 has acquired Creative Bubble  – A New York Based video design, production, and editing firm.  Creative Bubble is an Emmy Award Winning agency working with some of the best and brightest networks in the entertainment field including Nickelodeon, HBO, ESPN, Showtime, and USA Networks just to name a few.  This acquisition means a several things for Definition 6 and our clients...

First, we now have full in-house video production and editing capabilities, from script to screen.  As the lines between digital and traditional continue to blur, content becomes king.  We now have the ability to 100% in-house develop rich video content, coupled with our digital experience, enables us to develop and execute full integrated marketing campaigns that can be distributed across multiple mediums…Definition 6 has the capability to develop across the three screens that really matter: TV, Internet, and Mobile.  We also now have a fully functioning office in New York, the epicenter for the media world.  Again, with our existing strategy, social media, and analytics practices, we can develop more effective campaigns more efficiently that deliver real, quantifiable impact to the businesses of our clients. 

There will certainly be more news in the coming months from Definition 6.  But we are beginning to see the vision we’ve had for years come to fruition and we are very excited.  Marketing Integration.  Technology Innovation.  Building Brands that Matter.  That’s what Definition 6 has set out to do for our clients.  The game is changing everyday…and we can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

MarketingSherpa released its 2009 eCommerce Benchmark Survey and reminds us that we should be gearing up for what is projected to be an improved holiday season: up 9% over 2008.  Nearly 1,500 eCommerce marketers rated tactics for improving website conversions.

1.  Perpetual shopping carts

These take many different forms:  from a simple note that there’s a product sitting in the cart to dynamic overlays showing images of the product, price, and estimated shipping costs.  The perpetual shopping cart keeps the purchase in the mind of the customer; that psychological anchor helps guide them back to the purchase.

2.  Website search

Consumer research suggests that almost 50% of shoppers prefer internal search over traditional menu options.  This number naturally rises when they have a specific product or brand in mind. 

The first priority is to test your internal search regularly to ensure that it works effectively. Second, examine the different business factors that can be used to optimize internal search results.  Some marketers use a ‘last in-first out’ method to move inventory, while others use their analytics and database systems to sort products by profit margin.  The choices are as broad as your technology and creativity.

3.  Enhanced display

Consumers are enthusiastic about getting multiple, varied photos of a product.   People want to know as much as they can about a product, and even static images can help.  Showing videos how to use products or explaining complex features can bring products to life for the user.

Definition 6 is an Atlanta ad agency and has extensive experience in building and designing eCommerce websites.  We can improve your Search Engine Optimization.  We are experts in Google Search technology and can implement search at your site.  We can also help you with your interactive advertising campaigns and targeted email marketing.  Do you need a mobile advertising strategy?  We can help!

At this Interactive Advertising Agency, we have been writing about how traditional media spending is moving on line. We have not been alone and we do believe that it is a good action to take if you are in Interactive Adversing. However, Pat LaPointe makes a good point last Friday in the article "Fools Rush In -- In Search of Magic ROI", by Pat LaPointe , Friday, December 12, 2008 "....beware: nearly EVERYONE ELSE HAS THE SAME IDEA. .....But the laws of marketing physics suggest that more marketers and marketing dollars will rush in to the arena than proven executional avenues can accommodate in the short term. And most of them will NOT bring breakthrough new creativity with them. That will create lots of failure and un-delivered expectations, which in turn may slow adoption of otherwise valuable marketing options." Full Article at: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&art_aid=96614#comments.

So it got me thinking...what about Email marketing?  The more the idea soaked in the more I liked it. Targeted Email Marketing is a wonderful way to shift ad dollars into digital and avoid being overwhelmed by the clutter. It is your list, your relationships and your message. It might be better than an over priced PPC campaign and a weak display campaign. It certainly will be faster and cheaper to do!

At the same time, if your Interactive Adversing Agency is good at creative, good at media planning and optimization and good at conversion techniques, you might just be someone who can break through the clutter, gain market share and then use Email to crush your competition.

Cecilia Barella, a Definition 6 Account Coordinator, recently discussed an article she read on Marketing Sherpa...

Landing page rules typically say that ad-response forms should be as short as possible and require the least amount of information because extra clicks lower conversions. But what was found is that if you create a process that’s user-friendly and that’s tailored to the customer, they’re actually willing to provide you more information. One example of a company using web search engine optimization is Continental Warranty, an insurance company.  The article says they went from using a one page- one step process to a three page process. Using better real time analytics tools incorporated on their advertising they were able to serve their customer tailored landing pages. 

Cecilia focused on a few key points in the article:

1. Before users get to a landing page you can capture the following information:
- Search keywords that drove them to click on an ad and land on the page
- Time of day they arrived
- Day of the week
- Web browser they were running
  
 
2. Determine the first step’s creative: Keywords show what customers are really interested in, so you know which questions to ask on the first page or which creative and graphics to use. (Make the content relevant to the search that got them there.) Time of day and day of the week can dictate how much information you can serve on your landing page, if it is during the weekend, the user might have more time and be more interested in reading detailed content. Second Step creative will be based on the information provided on the first form and third form is optional.  

3. It is important to keep testing the landing pages, this is where your interactive media agency can make a big difference.  Continental Warranty uses a system that automatically tests landing pages based on different user profiles. Pages that are not performing are removed from the rotation; high-performers are used more frequently. They are also constantly pushing new pages or tweaking existing pages based on targeted consumer information that they gather.

Cecilia's concluding thoughts were that search and website integration of both content and creative can enhance the customer experience.  By investing in your online campaign you can not only improve customer experience but also increase ROI and company revenue.
 
The full article can be viewed at: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30758&pop=no#