»  POS Design

The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.

This video provides some staggering context for how much Facebook is utilized. The implications for marketers are huge. We need to ensure our approach to getting and utilizing shopper insights take social and technological tools such as Facebook into consideration. Based on the way consumer continue to evolve how and where they spend their time and get their information, this is critical. From packaging design to POS design, utilizing relevant and current insights should be the critical bedrock of all your work.

Check out the top 10 words you can now find in the dictionary that began as trademarked brand names for new products  – fun stuff like pogo sticks, granola, jungle gyms, and heroin. Here at birdsong gregory, our Charlotte ad agency, which, by the way, specializes in POS design, is currently working with a couple of clients on projects that have the potential to add a new word to the dictionary. Exciting marketing and branding challenges, so please stay tuned.

My wife and I took a last minute trip to Chicago a couple weeks ago after she found some inexpensive tickets online. Neither us had been to the windy city and we were looking for an excuse to get out of Charlotte so it seemed like the perfect time see a ball game, sample the cuisine and put away the work for just a moment.

We hopped on an early flight into O'Hare and met a friend at Hot Doug's around 10 am Saturday morning. While enjoying our foie gras hot dogs and duck fat french fries he suggested we take the Architectural + Historical Cruise. I appreciate the local's taste in encased meat products, but I'm usually not one for being herded like cattle through bus terminals and sweaty guided tour lines while waiting to catch a glance of something that never quite lives up to the hype. Despite my hesitation, we inquired with the concierge at the hotel and were greeted with a poster sized folded brochure with tons of factual information and two beautifully designed Chicago Line passes. They looked like European currency and featured large portraits of those responsible for sculpting Chicago's skyline over the years. I'm a sucker for good design, count me in!

The next day we catch a cab to the River East Art Center and make our way down the docks past newly renovated studios that face the water. Once the boat is full with anxious tourist and egger students we set sail out of Ogden Slip and make our way to the Chicago River. Our tour guide was more than thorough and paused only once to clear her throat after becoming visually upset while mentioning the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. I don't want to bore you with the details but the next hour of our ride was filled with some of the most amazing architectural vistas I've ever seen, truly unbelievable. The Chicago Sun-Times had this to say about the tour "Without question the best architectural tour available in Chicago". I'd have to go a step further and say it's one of the best things to do in the city, period! Everyone enjoys unplugging and getting away from the day-to-day to reenergize, but to learn more about this American city that bounced back from disaster to design and create architecture the entire world marvels at was quite inspiring.

Benjamin Gelnett is the new Senior Graphic Designer at Birdsong Gregory and has worked professionally as a graphic designer since graduating from SCAD in 1999. During this time he's created a variety of advertising campaigns, packaging and POS components, brand identities and sales and marketing materials for brands such as Gulfstream Aerospace, Bombardier, Renyold's Alcoa, Hunter Fan Co., Ecko Unltd and Muzak.

Eat the one you're with! That’s the plan for the state of Louisiana anyway.

The Silver Carp has become a big issue here in the US. These fish were originally brought over to the United States to help control algae growth in wastewater treatment facilities but escaped into the wild pretty quickly. These fish grow and reproduce rapidly and have taken over many bodies of water and they frequently starve other species by eating all of the plankton in the water. Not only that, they tend to jump out of the water when disturbed presently a pretty nasty safety issue for people travelling in open boats or on tubes. While I've never experienced it, I can't imagine anything much worse than a high velocity fish to the face.

How does this have anything to do with Shopper Marketing, POS Design or anything else we do here? Well instead of trying to poison the fish or block their movement- they're going to eat them! Described as a taste combining Scallops and Crab Meat, the goal is to get people to like, and subsequently eat more of, this fish. That means there will be naming (Silver fin is what they are calling it), point of sale displays, advertising and all the other good stuff that comes along with selling a new product. When the fate of a body of water is resting on how well a product is recieved, the message and the method become even more important.

We applaud the novel (private) approach to a big problem.  Speaking of which- anyone in Charlotte want to start selling those pesky Cankerworms as snacks? Anyone?

Facing paper-thin profit margins on a lot of what they sell, grocery stores rely on private label brands to drive revenue and provide customers with a lower cost, same-quality alternative to big national brands. So to improve margins and raise customer perception, Food Lion, the internationally-owned grocery store company headquartered outside of Charlotte, asked birdsong gregory to create a comprehensive promotion for its new private label brands, including their in-store line of household items. The result? The rebranded “Home 360º” launched with a POS advertising campaign to tout the benefits of  “cool products with hot prices.”

To learn more about the branding, marketing, advertising, and design services our agency offers, please visit birdsong gregory online, contact Jim Cusson at 704-332-2299, or stop by the next time you’re in downtown Charlotte.

Facing paper-thin profit margins on a lot of what they sell, grocery stores rely on private label brands to drive revenue and provide customers with a lower cost, same-quality alternative to big national brands. So to improve margins and raise customer perception, Food Lion, the internationally-owned grocery store company headquartered in North Carolina, asked our branding agency to create a comprehensive promotion of its new private label brands, including health and beauty. To competitively position these products above national brands in the minds of consumers, birdsong gregory developed more sophisticated, female friendly POS advertising campaign built around a “good for body, good for your bottom line” theme.

To learn more about the branding, marketing, advertising, and design services our agency offers, please visit birdsong gregory online, contact me at 704-332-2299, or stop by the next time you’re in downtown Charlotte.