After years of complaints, lawsuits, and generally just an overriding 

 about the hyper-specific ads you receive on social media, one company (Apple) is finally providing tools for individuals to control the data you share with the apps you use. And they are doing it at the phone level. (

The Wirecutter has a breakdown of all of the privacy controls in iOS 14 here

The iOS 14 privacy updates were ready last fall, but Apple delayed to give developers more time to implement the required changes to their apps. 

Apple has started rolling out iOS 14.4 to most devices

Why? Well, mostly because these changes will dramatically impact the estimated $70 billion plus in revenue they’ll make each year - 99% of which comes from ads.

, and that is largely because they have an incredibly effective targeting system based upon your user data. Data that is not only collected when you use the app - but when you are logged into Facebook and visit some of 

the 9 million websites that have the Facebook pixel installed

Their business model is based upon you willingly giving your data to them.

And now, if you have an Apple mobile device, you’ll have a choice.

For an Agency Who Uses Facebook Ads, You Seem Awful Happy About This! What gives?

Fair question - and it is true that Facebook ads are most often our first recommendation to most businesses. They offer robust, flexible targeting that most often gets our clients the most results for the least money on the most platforms. For the non-profits and small to mid-sized businesses that make up our clients, that’s huge.

We are still people, and as individuals, we’ve all seen advertising that ranges from curious (hyper-personalized ads for things you mentioned in passing your Alexa) to caustic (the 2016 and 2020 election cycles).

As an agency, we understand that targeting by its own definition 

discriminatory, so we tread carefully there - trying hard to exclude 

 when there is a compelling need to. But regardless of this,

we’ve seen Facebook’s ad targeting be overly focused on certain demographics, despite our best efforts.

And we’ve been paying attention as Facebook refuses to acknowledge or truly address these issues, even after countless Congressional hearings and 

being successfully sued over its targeting practices

And don’t get us started on the “not our problem” approach to content moderation that has been a major cause of division and disinformation.

This sort of behavior, especially with a platform that is as large and frankly critical to many, demands critical attention and action.


Like it or not, for our clients, Facebook is still extremely effective. It sells tickets to non-profit events. It drives enrollments in education. It sells art as well as it sells ice makers. It works, and it is extremely cost effective.

We’ll still continue to use Facebook for ads, but we’ll also continue to be critical here and in our communications directly to them.

While these iOS 14 controls are a first step by one company, it is part of a larger shift to provide user-side control of user data.

In recent years, data privacy has become a hot-button issue that is rising not only in the consciousness of your audience, but in the eyes of the law. With legislation like California's CCPA and the European Union's GDPR, many businesses that handle user data need consultation, strategic planning and development help to remain in compliance (and handle their user's data with respect and care).

Privacy & Compliance

Is your digital marketing eating your budget, but not providing value? Do you even know what value it should be providing? We can help. With a fractured and intensely sophisticated landscape, it can be overwhelming. We can help you determine the return-on-investment (ROI) and value of your marketing, and help you get this critical marketing engine humming once again.

Digital Marketing Optimization

Apple iOS 14 Privacy, Facebook, VIA and You

VIA Studio was founded in 1996 by Kelly McKnight, chasing the promise of the then-nascent Internet. In that moment, VIA Studio were prospectors, explorers of an uncharted territory. Enthusiasm and opportunity abounded, and the work and the partnerships followed. That entrepreneurial spirit sustained the adventure for many years, even outlasting the popped “tech bubble” of the early 2000s.

When Jason Clark joined VIA Studio as a partner in 2003, the business and the industry as a whole were just beyond “the bubble”, and both were on the cusp of failure - or success. Jason saw it as an opportunity, and the way forward was hard work, listening, and learning.

In the years that followed, it wasn’t always easy. VIA had its share of ups and downs as the industry, the technology, and the people who interact with them adapted and changed, while being hurtled along with the pace of progress.

What kept us on an upward trajectory was our commitment to learning and adjusting by asking the tough questions of ourselves and taking feedback from our clients.

The new brand you see before you today is a direct product of that mindset, coupled with years of experience and introspection.

Not having a “traditional” agency background has suited VIA Studio well - we’ve never accepted tradition without some sort of real and recent rationale. The end result is that, through constant iteration, we’ve created novel approaches to nearly every aspect of our business.

Beginning in the early 2010s, we began building and adapting processes that focus on the humans doing the work and those interacting with the end result - instead of focusing on the work itself. With that end-to-end, human-centered approach, we’ve developed a methodology that leads to exceptional work and fosters strong partnerships.

“The VIA team has been consistently exceptional on both sides of the LPM coin: first, a deep understanding of our brands and what makes them work, and second, the ability to translate those attributes into assets and plans that reach our audiences in a compelling way. Also, they're a fine collection of humans.”

- Gray Smith
Louisville Public Media
Director of Corporate Support & Advancement

The net result was easier, more productive partnerships - with organizations of all shapes and sizes. In this past decade, we’ve forged bonds with Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits alike. All with the same result - respectful, mutually beneficial relationships that turn over great work year in and year out.

Kentucky Preforming Arts, GE Appliances and Louisville Public Media logos in white.

VIA Studio is proud to partner with Kentucky Performing Arts, GE Appliances, and Louisville Public Media.

VIA Studio Clients

The brand we re-launched around that time -  “Digital Craftsmen & Communicators” -  was solidly based on that working, crafting, honing attitude. We knew that if we continued with the work, one day we’d be different.

 - in both meanings of that term. In the last decade, we could see the work we were doing having more impact, the partnerships expanding, and our skillset becoming more sophisticated. We realized something big had changed. And now we had to reflect that in our branding.

To create our new brand, we turned the branding process we’ve built for our clients inward. We had in-depth, searching conversations about who we are and what are our values. These values underpin our brand, and we hope you can see them in every aspect of what we do, both publicly and internally.

As our confidence has grown, we’ve moved from a brand that celebrates our culture to one that 

 of both client and community, and the work that is created from those partnerships.

Footer Design for VIA Studio in Louisville, Kentucky.

Website Footer

"One of the things that impressed me when you were getting me up to speed, was that there was a full pitch deck. It was really well thought out, not thrown together in the corners and I grabbed a couple of images and said let's use this for our color pallette. It was super well thought out."
- Carl Smith, Bureau of Digital


Weaving our user-focused strategies with our new brand understanding, we seek to use our platforms more deliberately. We hope you see this in both big and small ways - from how we thoughtfully use each of the many media platforms at our disposal, to the subtle shifts in voice and tone, to how we’ve tuned and prioritized our website to each individual audience.

Person holding phone with VIA Studio's Instagram displayed.

We've updated the content on VIA Studio's Instagram feed.

VIA Studio's Instagram

The root of this confidence is not bravado, but rather in our commitment to having open, transparent conversations. We hope you can see this transparency

in not only what we choose to publish in this journal (hi!) but also in the straightforward agreements and communications we have with you as client or employee.

If you are interested in hearing more about our rebranding and website development process, you can watch our hour-long panel discussion 

“Why Rebrand?”, hosted by the Bureau of Digital’s Carl Smith.

But what drives us? Our introspective nature and processes have always served one thing: creating new, interesting, exciting, valuable, and true work for our clients. The future is why we exist, and its intriguing possibilities drive us to create. You can see this in the dark, mysterious, sometimes impossible backdrop that forms the basis of our brand.

Blue wavy lines on a transparent background.

Lines

The new VIA Studio brand is perhaps the truest reflection of ourselves and the partnerships we represent. We hope you are as excited and intrigued by it as we are. After all, it’s you - our partners and friends who have driven us and challenged us. And we thank you.

 at VIA Studio is two components: Brand Strategy and Brand Identity. 

 is a process that helps you find the unique values of your organization and your value to your audience, and defines how you can best communicate that value. 

 is the outward expression of your company, and is crafted from your logo, colors, typography, as well as the rules that govern how they are implemented. A great identity reinforces confidence in and awareness of your brand.

Branding

Art Direction runs the gamut from concepting a campaign to directing a photo or video shoot. We can help guide a brand vision through any media.

Art Direction

Content strategy is the delicate art of deciding what to say, when to say it and where to say it. Contemporary audiences interact with your brand on many different platforms at different points in their journey to becoming a customer. Through our user-focused content processes, we can help you make informed decisions on what to say, when to say it and where to say it.

Content Strategy

Looking Inward to Move Forward: The VIA Rebrand

Vintage clip of man riding a rocketship backwards.

VIA Studio explores the Spotify algorithm.

Vintage Movie Gif

In Stanley Kubrick's deeply dark, deeply insightful, and sadly timeless classic film "

Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

", we see people at every level of power and influence trying to figure out just how to deal with a potential catastrophe and reality of their own making. In the end (spoiler alert), well... things don't go well.

While the algorithms we have allowed to be designed have not yet grown to such a potentially calamitous end, they 

 and are deserving of our constant review and critique. 

Massively popular and also massively influential. And what do we know about it? Very little. How much do we talk about it? Very little. But we should.

Can we talk about the Spotify Discover Weekly algorithm? 

If you use Spotify with any regularity, chances are you are probably a fan of the 

 playlist, Spotify's algorithmically-determined list of songs tuned to you. 

Since its launch in 2015, it has been met with near-universal acclaim and listenership. A 

quick Twitter sentiment analysis for "discovery weekly"

shows overwhelming positivity - even when it misses, it still hits.

But, like all modern conveniences - from tailored ads to "customers also viewed these similar products", there's a lot going on behind its face. And with the millions of Spotify users, it has a huge impact.

With our personal data fueling this (and other) massive engines of influence, these things are worthy of understanding - and critique. I've found shockingly little critical discussion around the impact of Spotify's algorithm when the likes of Facebook, YouTube, and Google are being called before Congress to discuss their algorithms, so I've decided to take a deeper dive and consider it all.

Straightaway, I'll tell you that the Spotify is close-lipped about their algorithm because it is a private company protecting their intellectual 

. Secondly, it is very complicated, but not impossible to understand. Software engineer Sofia Ciocca published an 

in-depth Medium piece on how the Spotify algorithm works back in 2017

 that exposed from primary sources how it worked.

At the time, she wrote it was these three components:

Collaborative Filtering: What People with Tastes Similar to You Also Like

Natural Language Processing: What The Internet Likes

Raw Audio Processing: Sounds Like This Other Song You Like

You could argue that the above components map to "old school" discovery - asking your friends who like the music you do what they are listening to (#1), browsing music blogs or print reviews (#2), or ... just hearing a beat you like from a radio 15 feet away (#3). There's wisdom in modeling it as such - why reinvent the wheel?

But it's important to understand that 1) these algorithms are fueled by 

 positive) of a massive audience being influenced by a homogenous algorithm.

Don't be ignorant to the fact that your personally identifiable data is being used by Spotify to provide you this service, and to provide it to other paying users. But also: 

that data may be used or sold to third parties

. But that's the bargain, right? Thanks to laws like the 

 - most companies have been forced to provide a way for you to request or delete your data in a timely manner.

Quora: How Can I Download My Spotify Data?

There have been relatively few studies on the effects of Spotify on user's consumption of and discovery of new music. But one study, 

‘How Consumers’ Adoption of Online Streaming Affects Music Consumption and Discovery’

, determined that discovery of "highly valued music" increased dramatically with Spotify vs iTunes, as well as overall consumption. The general sentiment on social media also implies a deep, earned affinity with Spotify for these same reasons.

Empirically speaking, this maps to my own experience and that of my friends who I've discussed how Spotify has impacted them. I've encountered a number of new artists and albums that I now "highly value" through Spotify, and specifically 

. And of those, I've tended to purchase physical copies of the album as well.

One case in point is Pastor T. L. Burnett's 

 - a 1971 gospel album. I am not a religious person, nor do I have an affinity for gospel music but 

recommended a few tracks off this album to me sometime in 2016/17. Likely due to the algorithmic components described above, specifically my "favoriting" of tracks that feature "choral vocals" and "tight bass lines". This album has both, and it quickly became one of my all-time favorites. I bought the LP on vinyl.

What's more, is that later I saw this relatively unknown album in the front window of 

 that same fall of 2017. How did that happen? Was Spotify suggesting it to me because they conspired with a tiny label to push sales of a 2010 re-released album that had little fanfare before or after? Or because, rather, it resonated with others that shared my similar tastes?

So, both objectively and empirically, I tend to think that the Impact on End-Users with Spotify is a 

It's been shown to increasingly expose listeners to music they find "highly valued".

: Keep in mind these recommendations are coming from an opaque algorithm from an organization with a profit motive. While useful, we have little way of knowing what goes into it. More on this later.

The Impact On Overall Sales: Initial Disruption Followed By Some Positive Trend

The record store as we knew it pre-iPod is long gone, replaced by digital downloads or more recently, streaming. And, since the nadir of music sales in 2015, 

it's been climbing in large part to streaming

. But there has been a recent and very interesting development. A few weeks ago, 

the RIAA announced vinyl sales have eclipsed CDs for the first time in three decades

, vinyl sales were being driven by streaming.

This stream-then-buy has been the case for me. I can't tell you the number of artists I've been introduced to - or re-introduced to and I've bought the vinyl. Apparently it's the same for other listeners? Emotional attachment may very well be turning into sales (again).

So, by all accounts while streaming (or perhaps the 

) killed the traditional music-buying marketplace, in its place a new ecosystem has risen. The barriers to discovery and purchase are lessened, but so has the need to purchase discrete albums and tracks lessened. 

One thing that an algorithmic approach to music discovery does provide is a wider view of cross-genre interests. I could not find any definitive information on the growth of genre diversity among listeners, but empirically - I've seen this in myself, and in my friend network.

The Impact On Artists: Likely Positive, But Is a Single Point of Failure

From an artist-revenue perspective, the general attitude is that 

Spotify isn't pulling its weight with the "middle class" of artist

. But, from a music discovery and overall awareness perspective, 

there's never been an opportunity like Spotify

When compared to the industrial "Top 40" machine, the "fairer" marketplace that is Spotify appears to be a win for most artists as they have a more open playing field. However, the payout (as mentioned in those prior articles) is a pittance compared to the sale of a physical disc or MP3 download.

In direct context with the algorithm - as long as the algorithm is solely based on user-generated patterns and NOT through sponsored nudges, etc - the algorithm looks to be working.

So, in sum: likely positive, but as Spotify is the 1000-pound gorilla and gatekeeper, it demands constant critique and attention. If it fails, a huge avenue for musicians fails.

The Problem With Algorithms: Transparency

Overall, my research says to me there is a positive outcome from the Spotify algorithm. However, the algorithm is opaque and proprietary, like most algorithms - including Google Search. And considering its massive impact on consumers, it demands criticism and investigation, on two fronts: 1) is Spotify allowing external influence and 2) how is the personal data being used?

Regarding external influence - it's hard to determine this except by outside observation. But, the driving force behind the recommendations appears to be data alone. Obviously we can't know that for certain - but 

 Spotify has been fairly transparent in the methods it uses and 

 music is so intensely personal that a song out of place in a Discover Weekly feels like your shirt is on backward. Listeners will smell (hear?) a rat.

In the Google world, there is much research, reporting, sleuthing, and experimentation done against that algorithm. From my research, 

this has happened, albeit on a very limited scale

, with Spotify as well. And that's completely necessary for businesses (artists) who use the platform, but also for consumers to have confidence that they are not being unduly influenced. Ever hear of 

The homogeny of the algorithm and our intensely growing comfort and need for it needs checking on occasion. Find other sources of recommendation, otherwise we will all collapse into a Spotify singularity.

Overall, through objective research and empirical observation, I think it is fair say that the net result of Spotify and its Discover Weekly algorithm

 for listeners has been very positive. For musicians 

(ignoring for a moment the overall music marketplace)

 has also been positive, though less conclusively so. 

 suggestion algorithm appears to do a good job of recommending music users like and tends to promote music discovery and genre expansion in ways that we've never seen before on a massive scale. Not everyone has that "one friend" who is a tastemaker, after all. 

: The overall market share and audience influence that Spotify has coupled with the lack of transparency is deeply concerning and demands constant critique and investigation. 

While not necessarily as important as, say, governance or legislation, music, and the environment needed to create it is a critical part of culture and the human condition. Completing ceding that it into the hands of an opaque, monolithic entity is a recipe for disaster.

And never forget that your data is running it. You are a stakeholder, and you have influence.

Shortly after Amazon Prime launched, I noticed a lot of pressure on ecommerce vendors (and really, anyone who was shipping anything) to ship quickly and ship cheaply. If it didn't say "Free Shipping", it was dead. It became a major trend because users were factoring it into their purchasing decisions. And now everyone, from Etsy to eBay offer expedited, free shipping.

, but you could also call it "The YouTube Effect" because shortly after YouTube hit the mainstream in the early 2010s users came to expect quick, cheap, high-quality, lag-free video streaming. If you or the vendor you chose to stream video didn't live up to that it was a letdown. But few for-pay video streamers could do that - though thanks to tech and bandwidth improvements, they have - because they were forced to.

Now, recommendation engines like Spotify's have changed the game for any sort of recommendations - from music to shopping to the "related posts" at the bottom of a blog post.

Creating innovative, well-considered strategies relies upon experience and knowledge - but also the ability to research, find facts, and identify trends and opportunities. We provide this service to clients who are challenged with new platforms, new markets and new technology. Naturally curious, we like to stay up-to-date and ahead of the curve for our own knowledge, and for the benefit of our future work.

Below is a selection of journal entries for some of our most recent research subjects.

Research

Analysis

A Critical Look at Spotify's Algorithms, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Algorhythm

Often an agency will advise their client that a rebrand or a "refresh" of their current brand is in order. But why? It's an expensive, potentially disruptive journey that contains many unforeseeable obstacles. The VIA Studio team will have an in-depth conversation with Carl Smith, owner of the Bureau of Digital, discussing the strategies and tactics that delivered us to our new brand.

Carl Smith owns and runs the Bureau of Digital, an organization that supports agencies and provides the leadership training necessary to survive and thrive. Their focus on Digital Leadership, Business Development, Design Leadership, Operations, and Project Management has been invaluable to the digital agency landscape.

“This new brand is not a change for the business - it’s a recognition of the trusted partnerships, growth and successes this team has earned over the past decade,” says VIA Studio CEO Jason Clark. “We want to show the world what our clients and partners already know.”

Why Rebrand? A VIA Studio Panel Discussion

Like most agencies, we spend a lot of time listening to our clients and discussing the work to be done. The exchange and conversation is critical - but it's noisy and everyone needs to get on the same page for the work to 

Briefs are required for work to start.
Briefs can be used for almost any kind of work (strategic, creative/design, dev).
Briefs should provide goals, priorities, audiences.
Briefs should be short.

Briefs are the guidelines before the work is done, and the measuring stick after the work is done.

If you've worked in the marketing or creative fields, you are probably aware of the "Creative Brief". It's tried and true and we still use them today. But as our work has become increasingly complex and sophisticated, we've adapted a number of other briefs that perform the same basic functions, for different types of work.

Here's a brief overview of the briefs we use:

e.g. an advertisement or perhaps an entire campaign or website

Defines the goal, audience, calls to action, design requirements, and initial creative direction.

Are separated from the execution, and do not define it.

After the creative brief is determined and approved, we can move forward with the work. For simple projects like ad design, we would move into design. But for complex projects - like a website or an app, we must define the experience at a deeper level for there to be consistency with the goal of the project. We have to define the User Experience (UX). We do this with a "UX Brief".

Relies upon a creative brief for goals, priorities, audience.

Defines audience interactions, technical limitations.

Does not define project specifications or discrete design.

Defines a brief list of priorities (must have, should have, could have)

Those two briefs are well-established standards in our industry. They help to take a discrete request and define guidelines for work. But - what do you do when there's a far larger challenge - one that might require multiple requests or pieces of work, but all need to be aligned?

As we began to create more sophisticated, comprehensive programs for our clients, like launching a new brand, we identified the need for something that could define a landscape rather than a single effort or output. We call these "Strategy Briefs".

Tend to be audience-focused. Where is our audience, and how can we engage them?

Describes audience motivations, challenges, and our desired actions, rather than design or messaging

Having created and iterated on many briefs internally, and having seen how effective they are at crystalizing direction and aligning work - we have also developed an externally-focused brief for prospective clients, or for nascent projects for current clients. We call these "Prospect Briefs".

Recap conversations, summarize and align goals, priorities

Use common language all team members can understand

Define the work that we'll be responsible for

May provide estimates or timelines, but...

Are NOT scopes-of-work, but rather a working document - a "shared understanding"

In summary, briefs are powerful tools that condense and summarize the landscape as well as set goals and guidelines for projects big and small. They are quick to write and easily readable. They become the foundation of work and provide a lifeline from the beginning to the end of a project.

For us, they've become invaluable, required work and communication tools for every discipline and for both internal and external work.

Want to see how we use them? Contact us to tell us about your project.

Effective branding and marketing are the outlays of solid processes. We've spent years honing and adapting our processes at every level of our work to provide them to our partners.

Process

A Brief Guide to Briefs

"How much should I budget for my website?" is a question that we are asked all the time. It's a fair question, but the answers is often hard to come by. But never fear, we have some strategies to help make that determination.

Like any expenditure, the budget for a website needs to be based upon how important it is to the business - or put simply: "What value can we expect the website to generate?"

The same goes for any expense, really - a car, a building, a tool. But attributing value to a tool (and a website is essentially that) can often be tough. But it's not impossible.

First, let's break down the two basic ways that website are used for businesses:

These websites sell products to consumers, directly. They start and complete their transaction on the same site, in a short amount of time. Therefore - determining the value of a website "conversion" is easy - it’s a sale of goods for money, so there is a finite value attached. And with repeat transactions per customer, you can even define a “lifetime value”. Easy peasy.

For businesses that are service-based the sales processes is more complicated and has a longer timeframe. The website you are on right now is a good example. We don't sell canned products - we sell our time as a service to clients through projects and ongoing partnerships. What we need from our website is for it to attract prospective clients, in the form of phone calls, emails or form submissions. We refer to those as "leads" or "prospects". Up until we sign a contract we have no way of knowing what their value to us might be, and that transaction does not take place on the website.

What we can see here is that assigning value to an ecommerce or retail website is easy and immediate. Lead-generating websites have transactions that don’t happen immediately and does not happen on the website, and it's near impossible to assign value at the moment they become a lead through the website.

How do determine value of a lead from a website?

There are two components to this calculation: attribution and client value.

Ben Wilson

Journal Entries

Apple iOS 14 Privacy, Facebook, VIA and You

Looking Inward to Move Forward: The VIA Rebrand

A Critical Look at Spotify's Algorithms, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Algorhythm

Why Rebrand? A VIA Studio Panel Discussion

A Brief Guide to Briefs

We Don't Sell Products - How Do We Measure Success with Our Website?

Facebook ads that really work

The Dramatic Uptick in Shopping on Mobile is all about Comfort

The Great VIA Speling Bee

Facebook Donations: How to Add Charitable Giving Tools to Your Non-Profit's Facebook Page

When to use Google Search Ads (Adwords) vs Facebook and Instagram Ads?