Sales Graphics Blog

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

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.

In the past few years the online video landscape exploded. 86 percent of the American population has consumed an online video in the past month, representing a 706 percent growth in the space since 2006. This represents a significant opportunity for brands who want to use video to augment their marketing objectives.

Some brands take this journey by way of Old Spice style promotions, but every video must fit the personality of the brand, and the best video create some kind of call to action.

One example of this is the latest video we created for L2 Think Tank. A couple weeks ago L2 approached us to design a video infographic that demonstrates the findings in their latest Digital IQ Magazines report.

Because their research is a lead generation vehicle for their memberships, the objective of the video is to increase exposure and put the report in the hands of more people.

We sprung into action and created a video that briefly explains how they ranked the digital acumen of 87 magazine brands (many of whom are our clients). We also animated infographic style findings that demonstrates the most pivotal realizations from the report.

Our animations create an approachable introduction to the research, providing the firm with the lift in downloads that increases lead generation opportunities. For more information on how we can help your brand create marketing videos that align with your business objectives, drop us a message.

The newest version of CustomShow is well on its way to completion, but before the latest iteration hits prime time we’re rolling out aspects of our presentation offering in small chunks. This paced rollout will build up to one significant update, but current clients and early adopters can already enjoy our enterprise specific online presentation viewer. What does this mean for presenters and sales team? These five features break down CustomShow’s online presentation capabilities for business:

1. Aligned with your workflow. We think about presentations all day everyday, but just because we specialize in everything from design to slide management, doesn’t mean we have to do it all for every client. We work with design teams to give businesses version control and other special presentation features with our presentation software CustomShow, help corporations transition to the iPad, or work specifically on animation design. Whatever the case, our fluid business structure makes it easy for our business to pick up on your business workflow effectively.

2. Built for business. Our secure viewer is run through a secure login system. Sales teams invite viewers to online presentations via email. From there audiences can log in and view their presentation at a scheduled time or whenever it’s convenient.

3. Fit for any situation. Our online presentation viewer works as a standalone product, leave behind, or even in conjunction with CustomShow Web Meetings.

4. We take security seriously. We put managers’ minds at ease with hefty security measures that keep insider presentations confidential. One example of this is our automatically changing encrypted linking structure. Private presentation URLs change every few minutes so even if someone tries to share an unauthorized presentation it will hardly exist before it’s safe in the hands of the company.

5. Everything is trackable. Presentation administrators have access to detailed dashboards with realtime insights on presentation viewership. Data points let managers decipher who has logged in, how long they spent on each slide, and much more. This isn’t just sales team performance measurement, these are the kinds of statistics that can inform client or consumer interests and product development.

Try the Online Presentation Viewer Now

Want to give the online presentation viewer a spin? Follow this link and request an invite. You’ll receive an invite via email and within about thirty seconds you’ll be viewing a sample presentation we created for Bravo.

Television channels with true personality require upfront presentations that speak for themselves. Static charts and problematic PowerPoints don’t convey true excitement, and so this year we delivered upfront presentations for A&E, Bio, Lifetime, and History Channel.

In some cases we took existing creative for the channels and brought it to life in our presentation software CustomShow, but for some clients (including A&E pictured above) we designed upfront presentations from start to finish. Our creations don’t just talk about what it feels like to tune into a favorite television show, they reproduce the feeling. The new generation of television presentation upfronts starts here.

This year the Telemundo upfront event swung into action on high definition IMAX screens in New York City’s American Museum of Natural History. The wall filling graphics that covered the big screen during the event jettisoned viewers into a Telemundo experience highlighting the network’s most significant accomplishments to date, but thanks to CustomShow, the presentation from that night lives on in the hands of the Telemundo sales team.

It all started when the Spanish-language broadcast network commissioned Sales Graphics to create a “Welcome to Our World” space themed multimedia experience. We designed the graphics for their online media kit and created a consistently branded look-and-feel for their Museum of Natural History event, but the space flying didn’t end when the IMAX screens turned off for the night.

Instead, our presentation software CustomShow let the Telemundo sales team re-use and reintegrate the stellar space experience into everything they employ to sell the network across multiple devices. Everything that exploded off of Internet browsers and the IMAX screen at the upfront was ready for delivery the next day on laptops and iPads.

Telemundo didn’t miss a beat. In fact, their “Welcome to Our World” presentation on CustomShow turned out extremely well. The sales team that uses it in the field might say CustomShow handles like PowerPoint on steroids, but for everyone who has seen the cinematic experience on the iPad or an IMAX screen, the brand’s upfront feels more like a movie.

Click on the image above to see a sample Bravo presentation in action.

Three years ago the television industry had a realization and Bravo was one of the first to make it a reality. Industry presentations didn’t need to look like static and dreary PowerPoints and the experience of watching an upfront sales presentation could rival that of catching a few highlights from the Real Housewives Reunion. With one quick sweep the network rid themselves of flat, print-like PowerPoints and traded the old ways of presentation management for a type of mobility that was unprecedented within the company.

When we delivered engaging motion graphics and polished creative to Bravo, we connected them to our presentation software, CustomShow. This gave their sales and marketing team the capability to edit our professionally designed presentations from anywhere without having to deal with the version control issues that are so common amongst larger companies. Individual sales people retained editorial control but when company wide updates are necessary all it takes is a single change in the master slide library and the entire company has instant access to the newest and most up-to-date numbers.

As business moves ever faster, this kind of instant update is crucial. It’s also a game changer because it lets sales people move away from the drudgery of constantly sending large files back and forth, and instead lets them spend more time focusing on making the sale. For Bravo it was perfect, and the benefits only extended further when the network decided to buy the sales team iPads.

While others were trying to figure out how to sync Keynote presentation videos to the iPad, Bravo downloaded the CustomShow App and reaped the benefits of being one of the first to deliver motion-filled professional presentations on a device that’s today’s mark of innovation. CustomShow lets Bravo move fluidly across Macs, PCs, tablets and the Web, helping them build business development opportunities for the network across all their platforms.

With our technology Bravo can go everywhere, but what’s more important is that regardless of what comes next, our team will be ready with creative solutions for new innovations in business.

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.