How a Home Page tells a Brand Story.

Many in the Building Industry have candidly asked us…

What’s up the the Roxburgh.com home page?

Why do you change your home page so often and why those images? They are…well – different.

Yes they are. And here is why…

Sharing a  brand story.

The most powerful opportunity to share a brand story is a brand’s website. This is a peice of real estate that should not get stuck in a time-warp. Digital is evolving and a brand that is current evolves with it.  Add to this that images that stir your imagination establish an unconscious connection faster than any block of copy ever could. Where better to demonstrate these marketing concepts than on the home page of our own branded website?Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)?

The brand story of Roxburgh is always a story of being captivating, evocative, and soulful for our clients’ success.

Our home page changes with unexpected imagery that tells life stories that pique curiousity and emotion. As a marketing firm, we are known for great design that connects to customers. No matter the medium, relationships start when a product becomes noticably relevant to a person.

KEY POINT: Marketing at its core is about sharing our clients’ offerings in ways that:Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

1. Get Noticed

2. Get Liked

3. Get Remembered

4. Get Acted Upon

And while the customer journey may start in Social, Outdoor, or Search…it will lead to your website.

Stories roll out over time and flow in the digital space.

The Roxburgh home page is telling our story and thanks to technology it changes as easily as we change. Still, there is a constant in each image that ties back to what our brand is all about. The pursuit of connection and emotion through stories.

KEY POINT: Today being nimble is being strong. Always stay consistent in messaging and ‘on brand’ to gain momentum.

The story so far for your enjoyment

Here are our home pages so far. Click the title below each home page  to learn more about the thinking behind each design. It’s the careful intention that we put into all our work that makes it get noticed – which is the first step. [slider id=”0206″]

Design as an Experience

We are happy to share “Sea Shore” – the fourth of a series for Roxburgh.com illustrating how we think about design in marketing.  Once more, we turn to one of our art directors, Jean, to learn more.

Where did you find this image?

“I took this image with my iPhone. As far as quality, it may not be that great a picture, but it captures my experience beautifully. And today people relate to the look of a picture taken on your phone. It’s more personal in a way.

This was taken at Splash in the Surf & Sand Hotel in Laguna Beach on a hot summer day. There’s a feeling of pure relaxation that the beach offers. An optimistic release.

We are so lucky to have this in California.

Why did you pick this image for Roxburgh.com?

Because the beach connects everyone. And marketing is about connection.

Everyone has a different lifestyle and point of view, but they all love the beach in their own way. People go to connect with the ocean and each other in a relaxing way.

And at the end of it all, everybody has a story to tell about how wonderful their day was.

The headline “stories are the pathways to connection” is about this image and about what Roxburgh

Red Pen Version 2 Released.

If you haven’t heard of redpen.io yet, now is a perfect time to check it out. They just released “Version 2” with some cool new features.

What is it?

Red Pen is a handy little collaboration and review tool that simplifies the process of creative reviews and approvals. It makes sharing, commenting, and getting updates on design projects lightning fast, and most importantly…simple.

The best part?

While there are some small limitations, you can share single files for collaboration for free. They also offer more robust project management options with their Pro packages, but for a lot of people just single files will suit their needs just fine. To get started it’s as easy as dragging and

Gmail goes all Pinterest.

We recently signed up for a preview of a new toggle feature Gmail is testing. They’ve made an option to view their “Promotions” tab in a grid view. Making it much more image heavy. To the point where it closely resembles the layout of Pinterest.

Most of the emails that will fall into the Promotions tab are your typical email newsletter campaigns. Which we think is pretty cool, as most of the time it’s the imagery that’s so vital to a campaign.

However, this new feature will also have to be coded into the html of your email if you really want to control the presentation of it. Right now most aren’t accounting for this change, as it’s still in a testing phase, but just to give you an idea of how it can make or break things:

grid

 

As you can see, some things work out well, and

The Oxford Comma.

Here at the agency we like to joke around a bit about the use of the Oxford Comma. While we know it’s perfectly acceptable to use it or not, it’s still a fun issue to play around with. It’s definitely dependent on how a person was originally taught. Whether they were ingrained with learning the AP style or MLA seems to make all the difference.

Recently, TEDEd published this video to address the issue once and for all!

[su_youtube_advanced url=”http://youtu.be/ptM7FzyjtRk” showinfo=”no”]

So basically…

Well, it’s optional. Still. :p

Email Marketing: Mobile First.

In the world of email marketing, it’s amazing just how much as evolved over the last couple of years.

Even we were surprised to learn that 51% of all emails are now opened on mobile devices. (Source: Litmus: Email Testing and Email Marketing Analytics ) What does this mean when it comes to planning your email marketing campaigns?

You need to think about mobile FIRST.

The solution? Responsive email design. Which will look good and be effective on both mobile and desktop clients alike. We still see a lot of emails only being built with traditional email clients in mind.  They look great in most desktop email clients, but they usually are very image heavy and not all that reader friendly when it comes to viewing on mobile devices. Image heavy campaigns also limit the way your user can interact with your email.

This is all old news to industry experts, but sometimes it can be confusing. So we wanted to share exactly what responsive email design is.

The basic premise: Content will resize and optimize itself based on the device it is being viewed on.

Your content will render

Agency News: Introducing…

 

> TAMI NEWCOMB

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
JOINED ROXBURGH IN JANUARY 2013

Tami is an account executive on several builder and master planned community accounts.

Tami in a Soundbite: A seasoned marketing and advertising professional, Tami has an uncommon knack for recognizing the brilliant idea and giving creatives the freedom to do their best work. Brings a beautiful, calm energy to all endeavors, putting people at ease and fostering an authentic team spirit.

Experience/Education: 25 years in marketing, sales and operations for master planned communities, builders and real estate companies; 8 years as director of marketing for Talega, a 3,500 acre/3,650 home master planned community in San Clemente, receiving the 2008 MAME Award for Marketing Director of the Year; B.A. Communications Studies/Public Relations, California State University, Chico; Dean’s List; graduated Magna Cum Laude.

 

What is your favorite color?

 

-Bing cherry.

 

Since we know you love

Roxburgh selected for Master Plan in Bakersfield

We are excited to share that Roxburgh has been selected to market a new master plan in Bakersfield by the highly respected developer and homebuilder, Woodbridge Pacific Group (WPG).

The first mixed-use village will consist of some 800 homes designed for move-up, and luxury segments along with two age-restricted neighborhoods, a gated upscale apartment neighborhood and an assisted living/memory care facility.  A specialty shopping center is planned within walking distance of the new community.

Bakersfield…

The Bakersfield submarket is not new for us, as Roxburgh served as agency of record for Castle & Cooke’s Villages of Stockdale a few years back.

That said, the area’s economy and employment base has grown substantially. Today it is the fifth fastest growing (by percentage) economy in the country and leading indicators point to a strong and sustained real estate market.

Timing

Consumer research and design/planning meetings area underway.  Using the Roxburgh F.A.C.E. process, the community brand strategy is nearly complete.

WPG expects to tap local homebuilders for most of the new neighborhoods with formal discussions beginning later this year. The master planned village is expected to debut in late 2015.

 

Developing a great new place? Connect with us at at hello@roxburgh.com or (714) 556-4365.  The Roxburgh Agency is located in Costa Mesa, California – but we work on places in many locations.

Social Media Update (Facebook)

One of our favorite research sites, Pew Internet, has just released their 2013 Social Media Update. And amid the flurry of articles about how Facebook is “so uncool” and “dead and buried.” Pew Internet opens strongly with:

“42% of online adults use multiple social networking sites, but Facebook remains the platform of choice.”

 

Facebook may be “uncool.” But with 79% of 30-49 year-olds and 60% of 50-64 year-olds using Facebook, it’s feeling very cool for our clients in real estate.

Yes – Social is constantly changing, but for 2014 this is something that can’t be ignored.

 

Facebook is becoming even more like a ‘traditional’ media channel.

 

Looking at Facebook Insights data for our clients over the past few months, we’ve seen