Sales Graphics Blog

As tablets fly off the shelves businesses are rushing to put iPads into the hands of sales and marketing teams. 80 percent of Fortune 100 companies are now testing or utilizing the iPad, but when it comes to security many businesses may be putting trade secrets at risk.

A recent infographic by Confident Technologies explains tablet users’ most common vulnerabilities, including most people’s decision not to password protect their device and the fact that 66 percent of users keep themselves perpetually logged into applications.

Most app developers look at these vulnerabilities and blame the user, but we have a different perspective. At Sales Graphics we look beyond security ideals to examine exactly how people actually use their devices.  This closes the gap between perception and reality, allowing us to create a presentation software that doesn’t leave presentations vulnerable, even when devices are left unlocked.

How Sales Graphics Keeps Your Presentations Secure

When teams send presentations over the Internet they often deal in clunky files or cloud-only services. Both mediums are only as secure as the passwords that protect them, but in the world of iPads where more than half of users are always logged in, this could create significant vulnerabilities. Sales Graphics solves this problem with secure URLs.

These URLs create weightless sharing for intended recipients, feedback showing how engaged users are with specific presentation slides, and security by changing every five minutes. Even if an employee’s iPad is left unlocked and unprotected, presentations won’t end up in unwanted hands.

Before racing forward into 2012 on the Sales Graphics News Blog, here are the 10 most popular Sales Graphics blog posts of from the past year.  iPads stole the show (both literally and figuratively) in 2011, with readers taking a particular interest in clicking through to posts tagged “iPad Presentations.”  Have you heard enough or do you think iPad presentations will stay hot through 2012?  Let us know in the comments.

1. Physicians Prefer Pharma Reps Present via iPad
2. The Best iPad Presentation Apps for Business
3. CustomShow: Now Playing on the iPad
4. Sales Graphics Provides Powerful Tool For Pharma Marketers
5. Vanity Fair’s iPad Presentations Mark the Future of Sales for the Industry
6. WeTV and AMC: United By Presentation Software CustomShow
7. NBC Increases Advertising Revenue $100mm at 2011-2012 Upfronts
8. What’s Wrong with Keynote for iPad? Almost Everything
9. 5 Reasons Why Good Presentation Design Can Drive Your Point Home
10. Telemundo Presentations From IMAX to iPad

This year Proximo (the brand behind 1800 Tequila, Three Olives Vodka, Hangar One Vodka, and more) made a huge splash at their annual sales meeting. The privately-owned spirits company called on Sales Graphics to take their presentations to the next level with a solution that looks phenomenal and works great.

We responded with a product that brought the audience to their feet. Statistics based video animations built substance for the spirits brand while graphics referencing the brand’s advertising campaigns provided pop and personality with special appearances from the Three Olives animated cowboy, and much more.

The life of Proximo’s newfound presentation design coupled with high-performance presentation technology created the perfect recipe for Proximo’s presentation’s in 2012. Since CustomShow software works across sales teams and operating systems, our presentation software helped put iPads into the hands of Proximo’s entire marketing team. Pre-loaded presentations gave every iPad holder instantaneous access to presentation creative, providing consistency for sales reps across the country. Updates are simple on iOS and Windows, meaning the days of hard-to-transfer presentations that don’t render right are over. In fact, in CustomShow version control is automatic and updating to new iterations is as simple as a single click.

This new convenience and portability lets Proximo’s sales team present instantly, on demand, and regardless of whether or not they have an Internet connection. 2012 is sure to be a good year for Proximo, as they propel ahead with effective presentations crafted at the intersection of technology and design.

To read more about the Proximo case study and view a snippet of the animated presentation we created for the spirits brand, check out their spot in the Sales Graphics Presentation Portfolio.

We’re getting ready to launch our first infographic on iPad presentations, but to make it happen we need your help. Please take the next two minutes to answer the questions in our short, two page survey.

Your quick contribution will inform presenters on the state of the industry in an entertaining way. Plus, we’ll send you the completed infographic after the research is tallied and graphic design has put on the finishing touches.

Thank you in advance, and we look forward to releasing this infographic to the public.

Click Here to Take the Survey

After multiple years of consecutive growth, BIO has proven that they are a strong cable channel serious about story and narrative. A&E and BIO’s SVP of Marketing, Guy Slatterly, won CableFAXIE’s Marketer of the Year Award in 2009 when the channel grew an impressive 23 percent. And then there’s the fact that BIO is consistently nominated for (and is a frequent winner of) the most outstanding nonfiction series in the Emmys.

As the company that makes upfront presentations for A&E, Bio, Lifetime, and History Channel (snippet from the BIO presentation pictured above), we wish the channel and their sales team continued success both on air and in day-to-day meetings.

Take one step inside Disney Land as a child and the place feels like a wonderland. Walk in through the gates as a marketer and it looks like the work of masterminds. Disney understands the power of brand translation, and the way they weave their image through everything makes them a perfect Sales Graphics client.

Disney came to us initially in hopes of creating a Media Sales & Marketing image for all the Disney Media brands including Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Online, Radio Disney, Disney Family Fun, and Disney Jr. Because every division of Disney has its own nuances, it was our responsibility to pin down the essence of every part of the whole.

Disney sent us a collection of whatever creative they had on hand, from web graphics and Keynote presentations to videos and more, and from that we took what we’ve learned over the past 50 years of presentation creation to create a unified look-and-feel for the group.

The logo morph above is an example of our easy and seamless presentation design work, and for brands who want to take their presentation management a step further, we also specialize in scaling this creative across corporate sales teams so marketers and sales teams stay on the same page.

When it comes to large organizations making sure everyone is on the same page is difficult enough, but for two brands who had just merged, it seems the challenges would be numerous. AMC uses widescreen for example, while WEtv prefers to stick with the standard 4:3 presentation layout.

Fortunately for everyone involved, a few members of the team had a bit of experience with our presentation software, CustomShow. Before long the sales teams at both WEtv and AMC had signed up and they recruited us to work on their upfronts.

AMC commissioned us for the second year in a row to create their presentation. Our goal was give viewers a taste of each property and then delve deeper on demand into the content that’s necessary for making buying decisions. WEtv, on the other hand, enlisted us to adopt some of their existing creative into a compelling animated presentation.

Today everything both teams need is accessible on demand through a unified slide library. Managers control which presentation slides are editable and which are indispensable, updates can be sent team-wide, and perhaps most important of all, the sales and marketing teams at WEtv and AMC have become unified by a slide library that lets them keep their brand image intact.

Despite critics’ threats of television’s impending demise in advertising demand, the Fall 2011 upfront season was a fruitful one for the major networks. The biggest U.S. television networks increased their advertising revenue by 8.1 percent, but for Sales Graphics’ client NBC, the growth rate was even higher.

NBC emerged from the upfronts with a nine percent increase over last year, proving that the DVR and the economy were not enough to stop the network from growing. Interested in the kind of creative that the network uses to command this kind of success? Take a look at a presentation we made in the past for NBC News Networks for the 2009 upfront and view a cinematic email blast MSNBC commissioned us to create for their recent rebranding effort.

Anyone who has ever hired an architect knows the power of experience. There’s a big difference between Frank Lloyd Wright and the kid next door playing Lincoln Logs, which is why making the mistake of hiring the latter could result in a toppling house toy instead of an architectural marvel.

In this way, presentations are a lot like buildings. That new startup might not warrant the results of true professionals, which is why half a century of experience at Sales Graphics could make all the difference for your company. We are presentation designers with a well rounded employee base always looking toward the future. Our creative presentation solutions have helped companies stand out from the competition for decades, and while we are very much cognizant of the newest technology trends, we also know what keeps the best of the best around for years to come.

That’s why Sales Graphics is the Frank Lloyd Wright of presentation agencies. We understand timelessness and believe that the first impression and a foot in the door can determine a lot more than the fate of a Lego set. We’ve been here 50 years and plan on being here the next 50, so when it comes time to building the future it should be clear, the answers are here with those that believe in the power of heritage and innovation.

Take a single step into Ferrari corporate and one thing is immediately clear. Every decision there is based on performance. The brand’s offices are positioned above a showroom floor that serves as a constant reminder of everything they have achieved. With a Ferrari on display there’s no doubt, this is a brand that takes presentation seriously.

For the times when Ferrari can’t fit actual cars in the conference room they rely on next best thing. Ferrari chose Sales Graphics to build their sponsorship packages and while we couldn’t quite figure out how to get the car to the top floor where our offices are, the result looks like it was built while gazing upon the source of inspiration.

The final presentation looks and feels like it was made by the same people who design the lines and contours of next year’s model. Ferrari’s presentation decisions are cutting edge and high performance, but like any good brand, they’re founded on timelessness.