WordPress Woes

Heads up, WordPress warriors! A rogue plugin’s been playing fast and loose with over a million sites, turning them into digital Babels. This translation tool glitch might leave your site speaking in tongues—or worse, open to security snafus.

Lucky for Lance Montana clients, they’ll dodge this digital drama thanks to our sleek, secure, and decidedly plugin-averse approach. We believe in lean-code, custom-built solutions that are not only more secure but also optimised for performance. Without the bloat and vulnerabilities that come with excessive plugins, your site remains streamlined, faster, and far less prone to attacks.

But, if you have a non-LM designed website and have found yourself stuck in a WordPress plugin pickle, here’s how to unsnarl it:

☑️ Patch pronto: Update that cheeky plugin at the speed of light.
☑️ Fortify your fort: Boost your site’s defences with top-notch security measures.

Better yet – get in touch and we can custom-create a lean, mean secure website.

Insta-Words

Instagram’s latest feature lets you plaster words over your photos, because why just show when you can tell? Now, your beach pics can scream “No filter!” or “Hot dogs or legs?” with just a few taps. Perfect for those who think a picture alone just doesn’t say enough. Dive into the sticker-laden future of image sharing on Instagram. It’s a great way to capture attention for those who tend to mindlessly scroll without pausing for the captions. It will be interesting to see how this affects caption trends, and general engagement down the track. Check it out!

Swede Deals

Ikea’s not just for hot dogs, soft serve and maze-like shopping anymore. The Swedish icon is trialling Ikea Second Hand Marketplace in some of their Euro cities like Oslo and Madrid, and if all goes well, you’ll be able to score that barely-used Billy bookcase from the comfort of your Kivik couch (and without navigating a warehouse-sized puzzle while collecting a wooden spoon, storage boxes and kilo of frozen meatballs you probably didn’t need). It’s thrift shopping, but with Swedish flair and probably easier-to-follow instructions. The best bit in our opinion? The furniture is already put together! Explore Ikea’s pre-loved offerings.

Ageless Beauty

Dove’s latest ad is a throwback that never throws you back too far. Celebrating the iconic beauty product that has seen more bathroom counters than a plumber, this ad shows that good skin never goes out of style. From the boomer’s powder room to the millennial’s minimalist shelf—Dove is setting out to prove that good skincare is forever fashionable. As a marketer,  Dove leveraging its heritage to reinforce brand trust and loyalty feels like a nice move, making this campaign not just purely promotional but a powerful reaffirmation of the market position of a brand that’s been in the glow-up game long before it was a hashtag. See the ad that’s aging like fine wine.

Empathy by Design

Empathy isn’t just nice to have; it’s a cornerstone of great design. We love this new tool that measures empathy in user interfaces, transforming the way products connect with users. It’s more than making things look good—it’s about making them feel right.

Why does empathy matter for designers? Well, in a digital age where every app fights for attention, the ones that resonate on a human level will not just catch the eye, but will capture the heart too. Empathy in design ensures that applications not only meet functional needs but also understand and reflect user emotions, making interactions more intuitive and less frustrating. 

With this, apps and websites can go from being just useful to being indispensable, like a trusted friend rather than that awkward cousin you avoid.

You can check out the tool and learn how to measure your design’s EQ.

No Competition

In the digital echo chamber, it’s easy to get caught up in what the competition’s doing—constantly checking out their latest moves, strategies, and innovations. But while it might feel like you need to keep pace with every new trend they set, the truth is, focusing too much on your rivals can lead you down a path of imitation rather than innovation.

Instead, remember who’s actually using your products: your customers. They are the ones who matter most, and their needs, desires, and pain points should be your primary focus. By truly listening to your customers—understanding their experiences, gathering their feedback, and anticipating their needs—you can create products and services that genuinely resonate with them.

This approach not only helps you stand out but also fosters a deeper connection with your audience. After all, it’s your customers, not your competitors, who pay the bills. They’re the ones who will become loyal advocates for your brand, returning time and again because they feel heard, valued, and understood. So, instead of getting lost in the noise of the competition, tune into the voices that really count—your customers. This is the key to building a brand that doesn’t just survive in a crowded market, but truly thrives.

This blog below is a good reminder of why you should tune in to your customers and provides some good tips.

Keen To Dive In?

If you love what we’ve shared above and want to be kept in the loop with our weekly email, The Brief, you can sign up here. We’ll only send you things we love and think you’ll find useful, and you can unsubscribe at any time. And if you need some help exploring any of the above within your own marketing strategy, or you need a rebrand, a custom website built from scratch, Google or social ads, print materials, blog posts – or the whole lot – we’d love to chat. Drop us a line here.