Ideopia is beefing up its staff with new talent, and moving two of our most valued veterans to new positions.

Ben Singleton, a 20-year PR veteran, has joined Ideopia as Director of Public Relations. Ben will supervise our PR group, and integrate PR with social media and web technologies. Ben served with the US Army in Afghanistan in 2012 helping farmers, businesses and government develop Agri-business in Kandahar Province.

Curt Staubach has joined Ideopia as Director of Interactive and Web Development. For 15 years, Curt was the President and Founder of the web development firm, Eclectic Studios. His expertise includes software and app development, web and mobile development, motion graphics and web video applications. Curt is well known in technology circles. He’s also an Adobe User Group Manager and a featured writer for InsiderRIA.

Meanwhile, Ideopia veterans are supporting our expansion in new positions.

Mike Bober has moved from Director of New Business to Director of Integrated Marketing. Mike has worked with new business, account management and planning at Ideopia for the past six years. He has a strong background in broadcast and video production. He has been nominated for Emmy awards numerous times, and has two Emmy’s in his trophy case.

In her new position as Interactive Designer, Emily Babel will primarily work on email marketing, user interfaces, infographics and programming. Emily started at Ideopia as a graphic design intern in 2009. She is a virtuoso cupcake baker, boxer in training, accomplished ballroom dancer, perennial soccer powerhouse, and the office guru of all things Marvel – Pixar – Star Wars.

Learn more about Ideopians.
Visit their agency profiles on Ideopia.com: Ben Singleton, Curt Staubach, Mike Bober, and Emily Babel.

Readers of “Does Your Brand Stink?” in last month’s Kloud9 know that we take smells very seriously. In our continuing series we’re proud to bring you Aroma USB, a smokin’ new device that plugs into your computer’s USB port (the same place you plugin memory sticks). Whether it’s your cube mate’s gym bag or the tuna fish sandwich you had for lunch, the fragrance plugin promises to spiff up your air quality.

Depending on your mood, Aroma USB offers various scent options: lavender for calming, lemongrass for better mental focus, or citrus for reenergizing.

So what can you do with this precious knowledge? 1. Use Aroma USB to conduct your own scent marketing experiments, or 2. Slap your logo on it for tradeshow swag. Aroma USB runs $28 each, a small price to come out smelling like a rose.

You would expect the smartphone generation to navigate the web effortlessly. But, a new study released by Nielsen Norman shows that teens (13-17) might be more confident than capable of using the Internet.

One of the biggest differences between adults and teens was the ability to complete tasks given by the researchers. e.g. buying a sweater in an e-store. Surprisingly, adults were 14 percent more successful at completing their assignments.

So what’s going on? Jakob Nielsen notes that teens have “insufficient reading skill, less sophisticated research strategies, and dramatically lower levels of patience.”

It’s also possible that old people (25-35) build many teen targeted websites and serve up one-size fits all web experiences.

How to Repel a Teen from Your Website
Call a teen a kid, and you can kiss that sale goodbye. Teens resent being lumped in with kids. So watch your language and title on your navigation.

Slow loading graphics or widgets repel teens. Most of them use secondhand equipment with slower computing speeds and Internet connections. Remember, this is an impatient audience.

Getting personal. Teens value their privacy. They’re very suspicious of any attempt to shake loose personal information. So don’t ask!

Are you targeting teens on the web? We highly recommend reading the entire overview report on the Nielsen Norman web site.

Some ugly products like drill presses are just plain ugly: Others have obvious, but not necessarily performance disabling flaws (e.g. not exploding gas tanks). Worst of all the lookalike products that have little visible differentiation from their competition. We’ve handled them all. A few tips:

1. Be honest and acknowledge your ugliness. Skip the lipstick, sell the pig. Consumers cherish honesty, and it will elevate your brand. If the bank CEO is ugly, either don’t use him in the ad, or make him own it.
2. Don’t make ugly products the focal point of your ad. Use a smaller image and use the remaining space to dramatize the benefits of your product.
3. Make your product part of something bigger. For example, fish sauce might be depicted with hungry and happy diners at a Sushi restaurant.
4. Create strong images that visualize benefits. That’s what consumers are buying, and that’s what they will remember. What if hot dog manufacturers featured their ingredients in their ads? Yuck.
5. Ask yourself what visual information prospects will remember quickly from seeing your web page. Associate your product with something bigger, e.g. do you remember Shaq, or a detailed image of his Nike kicks?

Turn ugly into an advantage. Just be honest, dramatize product benefits and not what it looks like. Associate it with other products and setting that are attractive. Reduce the size, and give your customers unforgettable visuals. And you’ll see the real beauty in your products and services.

Our latest infographic by senior designer Joel Steczynski shows the effectiveness of 18 marketing tactics at achieving basic marketing goals. For example, advertising is great for building awareness, while websites excel at education. Download the infographic and see if you agree with our recommendations.

DOWNLOAD 18 MARKETING TACTICS.

This month, we say goodbye to Sarah Reynolds, an absolute dynamo in account management. We’re excited for Sarah’s new position and appreciate her contribution. And as she demonstrated at our Mexican going away party, that girl can wear a sombrero. Good luck Sarah! See the Fiesta Gallery on Ideopia’s Facebook.

Ideopia starts a new campaign, “Parking for Overachievers,” for Valair airport valet parking at the Greater Cincinnati International Airport. We worked with long-time client, Cathy Matchinga, Valair’s president, to communicate the company’s total commitment to amazing customer service.