Archive for January, 2012

Google have recently added a nice little enhancement to its Adwords service. You can now add a phone number to a text ad so that users can click on that ad and instantly dial your number. This is clearly to help mobile user to connect more easily with advertisers.

All non-clickable phone numbers displayed in AdWords ad text will be automatically converted into a Click-to-call number.

You will need to activate this on your account and once in place users will be able to click the phone number directly. The interesting bit is that you will only be charged for the clicks that result in a call.

And by getting the cofiguration right, you can get an extra line on your ad, making it larger, more appealing and more likely to get clicks.

Tracking will allow you to review how many calls you receive on the clickable phone number listed in your ad text for each campaign, ad group, keyword and ad on the Campaigns tab in your AdWords account.

If you would like to help configuring Adwords to get the best out of this new feature then just get in touch.

You may not have heard of cinemagraphs before. That would make sense as they have not been well publicised. They are appearing subtly in advertising and marketing campaign across a wide range of sectors and are being used in some clever ways to gain attention. One such example is the recent campaign for the Citroen DS5.

They are also the first of their kind produced by an automotive manufacturer. In line with the fact that the new model looks like nothing else on the road,  Citroën UK wanted to convey DS5’s personality and presence with a fresh application of digital technology.

Photo: Citroën’s ‘créative technologie cinemagraphs’

Made popular by New York-based photographer Jamie Beck and motion graphics artist Kevin Burg, cinemagraphs use the animated gif file format to combine the composition of still photography with the movement of film.  A captured moment in time; at first glance the image appears as still-life, then the movement reveals itself, injecting a whisper of dynamism into each shot.

Here are some other stunning examples: