I'm sure I am not the only designer that has nightmares about Comic Sans or bad kerning. Any Charlotte graphic design professional would sleep better resting their creative brains on one of these type-centric pillows.
I am still in love with this stop-motion film commissioned by the Maine Chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design, for use as an interstitial between speakers at the Compostmodern conference this past spring. It is a great visual remedy for Charlotte graphic design teams that have endured the past week of rain and gray.
Last week I represented birdsong gregory as part of the Charlotte Chapter of AIGA (the professional association for design) team at charity pumpkin carving competition, GUTS.
Charlotte graphic design firms, web design firms and advertising agencies came together to raise money for the Levine Children's Hospital while enjoying festive candy, spooky music, and a little light-hearted competition. Thirty-three participants turned out from the creative Charlotte community to sculpt some truly amazing pumpkin creations in the name of this worthy cause!
Confirming birdsong gregory's belief that Japan is one of the craziest places on this planet (outside of the Piedmont, of course), check out Burger King's exclusive Windows 7 Whopper promo. Seven stacked beef patties extend your usual Whopper to over five inches in mouth-watering, artery-narrowing height. And the whole thing costs an appropriate ¥777 (or $8.55). It'll be available for one week only (i.e., seven days).
And apparently, the fine print offers the first 30 customers each day a free Win 7 Whopper at ¥777, with latecomers shelling out a heftier ¥1,450 ($17.10) for the privilege.
Sustainability is an issue on top of many creative minds but it can be a complicated topic to tackle. To ease the process and give designers a distilled framework to work from AIGA, the professional association for design, unveiled The Living Principles for Design at the Make/Think Design Conference in Memphis last week.
The Principles, developed by AIGA Center for Sustainable Design, build on a framework of environmental protection, social equity, economic health and culture — giving clarity to integrated sustainability and making it accessable, relevant and actionable. This is a great resource for Charlotte graphic design and advertising agencies that are looking for ways to incorporate sustainability into their professional practices.
Starpack, the UK packaging industry's most prestigious awards, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and has made their 2009 picks. Here at birdsong gregory, this had got to be one of our favorites
Winning the Gold for Best Drinks Design, this Jack Daniels perforated tin by Brown Forman is technically innovative and brilliantly executed. The partial vertical perforation of the body sidewall, gives a glimpse of the iconic Jack Daniels bottle inside, and features 9,000 perforated holes running from top to bottom. By only perforating half of the square container the design provides an ideal background for quality black print on the metallic surface, and the design is finished off with an embossed logo.
Three Starpack Awards (Gold, Silver, Bronze) are given within six categories: Brand Design, Food Design, Drinks Design, Health and Beauty Design, Household Design, and Luxury Product Design. Check 'em all out here.
Wow. This video, Part 1 of a demonstration of the amazing BumpTop, isn't just another conceptual touchscreen interface pipe dream; it's actual downloadable software, albeit only for Windows.
BumpTop is a desktop environment, designed to enhance traditional computer desktop functionality by more closely supporting the normal behavior of a real-world desk. It is aimed at stylus interaction, making it more suitable for tablet PCs and palmtops.
In BumpTop, documents are described by three-dimensional boxes lying on a virtual desk. The user can position the boxes on the desk using the stylus or mouse. Extensive use of physics effects like bumping and tossing is applied to documents when they interact for a more realistic experience. .
BumpTop currently supports Windows XP/Vista/7, and Mac/Linux will potentially be supported in the future.
After many years of using the iconic Futura font for its catalog design, Ikea has switched to Verdana, upsetting hard-core IKEA fans and graphic designers alike. Their point of contention? Verdana was invented by Microsoft for the computer screen, not print. Not to mention that Verdana is not nearly as pleasing to the eye.
To protest, the chattering class is up in arms. Twitter is filled with angry comments extolling the company to "stop the Verdana madness, and an online petition now has over 4,000 signatures.
According to IKEA (who made the switch because it's cheaper to use one font that works in digital and print media), "We're surprised. But I think it's mainly experts who have expressed their views, people who are interested in fonts. I don't think the broad public is that interested."
So is this important to IKEA? It depends on the scale of criticism, of course, but also on something that's not quantifiable: the depth of emotional attachment.
When a company has evangelists, it is often because that company represents core values (i.e., Apple = innovation). For IKEA, whose core values are style, chic design, and affordability, a typeface could be considered more than just a typeface: it's an emotional catalyst. When Walmart changed its logo recently, no one complained because Walmart had nowhere to go but up since its core value is low prices, not contemporary style or sleek design.
For IKEA, the Futura font is (or was) the emotional subtext to IKEA's contemporary yet familiar vibe. Which means perhaps for the purists and evangelists, switching to Verdana is a sign of something worse than a new font.
Brands are wonderful assets when they capture the essence of a product, service, or event succinctly, meaningfully, and with endurance over time, but when branding doesn't feel authentic, it can reduce communication and sow disillusionment and skepticism among the very folks being targeted.
A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.
It's a new form of spontaneous group performance art, but it’s easy to see how this type of viral event could be used to promote a brand or marketing event (the famous T-Mobile Liverpool Street Station flash mob in London)
If you don't get it, please call our Charlotte ad agency and ask to speak to Jim.
Since 2003, Roger Federer has sported a monogram on all tennis-related clothing. But now the intertwined “RF” is back. It’s big enough to be legible in photographs. And it’s everywhere: on Roger Federer’s shoes, his duffel, his jackets, his racquet cases. Forget all the subtle functions a monogram used to perform – discreetly personalizing a gentleman’s wardrobe, helping the servants sort the shirts. What three years ago seemed a plausible, if affected, style on the part of an athlete has now transformed this international tennis superstar into a master of personal branding.
Along the way fans and the media have speculated that the idea for the monogram had been his all along or whether his primary sponsor, Nike, made him do it.
The font – a slightly redrawn version of Bodoni, which with its cousin Didot, has been the basis for logos for Vogue, Giorgio Armani and Louis Vuitton – is a signifier of fashion at the high end, and here at birdsong gregory, our Charlotte branding agency is glad to see the stuffy old monogram emerge as clean, modern logo with loads of branding potential.
Ever wonder what the story is behind Nike's iconic swoosh or the fabled Playboy Bunny? If you love great logos as much as we do, then you'll want to check out this great collection of the world's best known logos along with intersting facts about the history and creation of these brand symbols. Here's the link.
What’s important to note here is that logos help customers identify a business. The more distinctive a logo is, the more recognizable it becomes. The more complex a logo, however, the less likely it will be that people will remember it.
And although successful logos stand the test of time, there are times when a logo may need to be updated to reflect the changing times. Nonetheless, the logos mentioned here, whether having undergone changes or not, have left a lasting impression in the minds of people the world over.
Suppose you want to announce or sell something, amuse or persuade someone, explain a complicated system or demonstrate a process. You could tell people one by one or broadcast by radio or loudspeaker. That’s verbal communication. But if you use any visual medium at all – if you make a poster; type a letter; create a business logo, a magazine ad, or an album cover; even make a computer printout – you are using a form of visual communication called graphic design. This colorful (literally) trade, by the way, is one our Charlotte ad agency specializes in.
So here's a link to a helpful explanation of what the different components of graphic design are, and how this infinitely creative process combines art and technology to communicate ideas for companies like yours.
Would have to be the spots featuring the credit-healing powers of Reverend Rob and Apple Auto Sales. I'm not sure what Charlotte agency is responsible for this classic (-ly bad) advertising, but it's been a fixture of late night local programming for more than a decade now.
Joe Isuzu was his name, and spoofing sleazy, silver-tounged car salesmen/pitchmen was his calling for the better part of the nineties. I'm not sure who was responsible for this memorable campaign, but I know it wasn't a Charlotte ad agency.
Played by actor David Leisure, Joe Isuzu was a pathological liar who told outrageous and overinflated claims about Isuzu’s cars. The campaign was resurrected briefly in 1999 and continued until 2001 to promote several cars such as the Isuzu Axiom.
A few of his more (in)famous quotes include:
“You have my word on it.”
“If I’m lying, may lightning hit my mother.” (“Good luck, Mom!” appears on screen!)
“It has more seats than the Astrodome!”
“Hi, I’m Joe Isuzu and I used my new Isuzu pickup truck to carry a 2,000 pound cheeseburger.”
“The Isuzu Impulse: faster than a speeding—[catches a bullet in his teeth]—well, you know."
We had been hearing rumors in the Charlotte social media circles for a while, and now it’s here – an upated Twitter homepage. It’s new, it’s very blue, and it’s all about search.
In fact, from the looks of it Twitter has decided to take the simple and straightforward front page route, all centered around search functionality Gone are any attempts to explain Twitter, or a link to the “Twitter in Plain English” video. Instead, the Twitter homepage features a big search box, along with popular topics right now, over the past day, and from this week.
The fresh new look is big departure from the previous homepage, but we’re kind of digging it here at birdsong gregory And the new focus on search makes it a lot easier to keep up with our colleagues in the NC ad agency world.
Companies such as Zappos, Dell, and JetBlue are all known as successes in harnessing the power of social media for business. However, the aforementioned businesses sell directly to consumers. How about the business that sells products to other businesses? What if you’re a company that builds inventory software or administers group benefit plans? Is Twitter, Facebook, Ning, or a company blog going to be of any use?
In a word, yes. There are plenty of companies utilizing the social web for B2B marketing purposes. To help you make sense of it all, here are a couple of tips that our Charlotte ad agency shares with our B2B clients to help them find customers, build up a reputation, and gain the upper hand on landing the big deal. Although the Charlotte social media scene is still catching up to other regions of the country, there is a lot of opportunity for area companies.
Step 1. Build a reputation of expertise
What use is a company blog if you only have 10,000 customers, rather than 10 million? While it may be true that a B2B’s blog or Twitter is not going to be followed by as many people, it doesn’t change the fact that it will affect the decisions of your customers. Say a potential customer becomes aware of your software solution, and goes to your website to find out more about you. How can you stand out from the crowd? By building a blog with your expertise in focus.
If a potential customer comes to your company’s website and sees an active blog with insightful posts on how your company’s product helps customers, reads detailed posts demonstrating your company’s knowledge, and comes across a few case studies, they’re going to be far more inclined to come to you for their needs. North Carolina Ad Agencies need to take note.
Social media provides an outlet for displaying who you and your company are. Talking about your industry in an intelligent way via Twitter and a regularly-updated blog can raise your company’s profile and brand it as a thought leader and expert in its specific business area.
37Signals, the maker of Software-as-a-service business collaboration products, is a prime example of this philosophy in action. Their blog is regularly read by thousands of people, shared among businesses, and has even opened up another revenue stream in the form of a popular job board. Social media builds reputations.
2. Research your customers
Everyone thinks of social media as a communication tool, but not enough people think of it as a research tool. With the ridiculous amount of data produced every day on social networks, blogs, and in conversations, it should be apparent that you can learn tidbits or spot major trends by tracking the social universe.
Know what your customers are saying: If you’re trying to secure a contract from a big business, then they are probably talking to their customers via Twitter, Facebook, and more. Learn what they’re saying to their customers and read the blogs of decision makers to learn what they value and how they think.
Know what your customers’ customers are saying: Your customers don’t care about you – they care about their customers and their bottom line. If you can find behavior patterns in their customers that your product can address, your pitch will resonate more. Driving the point that their current solution doesn’t work, and then proving that with social chatter is even better.
Step 3. Ramp up your networking If you are competing with another company to land a big deal, it always helps to have connections and friendships within the company you’re trying to woo. You should always be networking, because you never know when a contact can become your advocate or even the decision-maker. And that’s where social media can help.
There are a lot of things you can do to get started on the networking front. They key, though, is that you have to reach out. Otherwise, how will people know to listen? While there are literally hundreds of ways to network with potential partners, vendors, clients, businesses, customers, and decision-makers, the truth is it doesn’t matter which tool you use as long as it is one that the other person values. LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo, etc. are always great places to start, but if you can network with them on niche social sites, you’ll stand out just a bit more.
Step 4. Learn from others In the end, you want to come out sharper, more knowledgeable, and better prepared than your competitors. It doesn’t matter if you have 60 or 600,000 customers, and it does not matter whether or not you sell to general consumers or Fortune 500 companies. Almost everyone is using or tracking social media and it provides you a prime opportunity to make you and your business a leader rather than a follower.
- Seek out blogs and publications in your industry and subscribe via RSS
- Network with relevant experts, including those who may only be partially related
- Follow the insights of business leaders on Twitter
- Connect with commenters on your own blog
- Make yourself very easy to find on the web – if people search for your name or your business, you should be at the top of Google’s results. Building a blog, using a Twitter, and creating a decent corporate website always helps
- Keep an open mind
In closing, don’t underestimate how much information is on the web. It’s stunning what you can learn just by reaching out. If you and your business have a strong social presence, it’s simply easier for potential partners, customers, employers, and businesses to find you. So when it comes to B2B marketing, Charlotte needs to get ready!
Command X: Season 2 is a graphic design reality show featuring seven up-and-coming designers who step into the spotlight and have the chance to break into the industry in front of 2,000 peers, heroes and potential employers during "Make/Think" the 2009 AIGA Design Conference. Throughout the conference, contestants will take on a series of design challenges to complete and present on the main stage within 24 hours. Although no one from the Charlotte advertising or design community was featured in Season 1, a designer from a North Carolina ad agency in Raleigh did compete and was a runner up. Way to go, Matt!
This year, seven lucky participants will show off their talent before the world's best designers. Each will receive a complimentary registration to the conference—although they’ll be hard at work on their next design challenge most of the time! The winner of “Command X: Season 2” will receive $1,000, design software and iPhone and best of all Glory.
Today, it’s not enough to have a well-designed website or a secure e-commerce presence. You need people to actually go there and interact with your online brand. And if you are a member of the branding Charlotte or marketing Charlotte, NC communities, you know you have to pay to play.
Pay per click search engine marketing is a form of online advertising where the advertiser pays to be listed in the sponsored link section of the search engines. When you launch a PPC advertising campaign, you pay only when someone clicks on your ad. Of course PPC ads, also called sponsored links, are related to the searches made by the users. You have to buy keywords using an auction feature that determines the Cost Per Click (CPC) of a given keyword, this bid also has an influence on your position among the other ads on the page.
You then set a maximum budget for your campaign. That means that if you set a $500 budget for a $1 keyword your ad will virtually be printed on search pages until five hundred users have clicked your ad and landed on one of your website’s pages.
Charlotte, NC advertising agencies please take note: PPC advertising is one of the most effective marketing methods used on the Internet. According to some experts, online marketers will spend more than 5 billion dollars on PPC campaigns by 2010. Consequently the competition for keywords is likely to get tougher and tougher as time goes by, making the optimization of that process ever more necessary for North Carolina advertising agencies, from Charlotte to Raleigh.
What do you call it when advertising agencies come together . . . to advertise themselves? How about Minneapolis.
Local agencies up in the frosty Gopher State are setting aside their usual rivalries to join forces for the promotion of the state’s biggest city, Minneapolis, as a place for anyone in advertising to work and live. The centerpiece of the effort — to be called MinneADpolis, the City of Advertising — is a website scheduled to start this week. Take a look here
The site will include samples of campaigns produced by Minneapolis agencies, video clips of employees discussing why they like the market, information on events and careers and even a virtual tour of the town that can be taken with personalized avatars called advatars, which can be dressed in skinny jeans, flannel shirts and other signature outfits of the creative class.
This an interesting idea for Charlotte ad agencies and branding firms to consider. How can we do a better job of letting the rest of the Southeast (and the country) know about the local creative talent we have right here in the Queen City engaged in marketing in Charlotte.
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