LogoLounge is a must-have resource for inspiration. The goal of LogoLounge is to create a more efficient way for designers to find reference materials for logos. The online database is searchable by keywords, client and industry – making it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for to help jumpstart your creative project. And knowing what your client’s competitor’s logos look like sure is smart, too!

Logolounge.com

I’m sure you have all heard the buzzword ‘teamwork’ many times, and probably felt it to be overused. We all remember the college ‘team’ projects where one person wound up with the majority of the work-load, and the rest drank a few beers and played video games. It doesn’t work that way at Solstice – teamwork really does work.

It starts simply . . . with a client, and sometimes with a defined need. What we do is bring everything to the team and organize a kick-off meeting. Everyone comes to the table prepared, ready to throw out their best and worst ideas for the team to review. We laugh, we kick-back (sans the beers and video games) and analyze each idea. When we all walk out feeling like we have a winner, the work begins. The result is a concept that can be developed into a successful deliverable.

Literally working in the same room, side-by-side, the real work ensues. Copy begins the process, followed by art and it’s all mixed with account management.

It works, obviously.

Thank you PRSA – we like it when our work is acknowledged.

From a copy perspective, creating a holiday card can be fun but also challenging. As our world has become more diverse in ideas and beliefs, it’s important that you say something meaningful and warming without potentially offending the recipient.

Here are some tips for writing a business holiday card message for a mass audience:

• I like the word “holidays” because it’s generic enough to cover all celebrations. Words like “Christmas” and “blessings” may be too controversial.
• Try to connect your greeting with your visuals. For example, if you use a picture of a sunset or fireplace, write a greeting that incorporates those elements in it: “Wishing you a warm and bright new year!”
• Try to acknowledge the recipient in some way, whether it’s thanking them for their business, hard work or their existence.
• And of course always have someone look over your copy to check for spelling or grammar errors.

Be sure to check out some of the holiday cards Solstice designed for clients this year:

I LOVE Anchorage! After four years of living here, I’m still in the honeymoon stage. That’s why when Solstice was asked to help the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) create a new brand for their Live. Work. Play. campaign, I was more than ecstatic to put my passion for this place into some promotional design. For those that are unfamiliar with the campaign, the goal of it is to have Anchorage recognized as the No. 1 U.S. city to live, work and play in by 2025.

After the Solstice team met with AEDC and did some secondary research, the client’s needs were identified and a game plan was devised. As a designer at Solstice, when we are given new projects, we are also granted the creative freedom to generate unique designs that meet the client’s goals. We generally try to present them with one design concept that’s comfortable, while also providing additional design options that position their brand in a new, refreshing and cutting-edge way.

After getting internal design feedback on our branding ideas, we were able to provide the AEDC with three impressive, on-target comps (mock-ups) for the client’s review.

The following are the three original concepts for the new Live. Work. Play. brand. You can click on each logo to view the associated mood board, which provides a peak into how each brand could have been fully developed.

It was a tough decision for the AEDC, but they were eventually won over by the simplicity of Option C. They were convinced that the carefully selected colors, fonts and graphic selection would really resonate with their target audience and represent Anchorage in a powerful way. The creative process for the campaign branding worked really well, with terrific client input and final delivery.

The chosen Live. Work. Play. brand was unveiled at the AEDC’s annual luncheon meeting on November 9, 2011.

While 2025 is a long way off, I will continue to love this city and do what I can to keep making it No. 1.

It was nice chatting with folks at the Alaska Marketing Association today about Word of Mouth Marketing. If you missed it — here is the powerpoint.

Word of Mouth: Talkable and Spreadable Brands

Thank you,

Lincoln Garrick

You know how when you access a beautifully designed site from your phone, but it’s completely useless because it was designed for your full screen?  That’s where responsive design comes in. Those programmers should make the site responsive to the type of device from which it is being accessed. Here’s a great link about the value of responsive design:

http://www.webmonkey.com/2011/09/the-boston-globe-embraces-responsive-design/

I’d like to take credit for finding this great link, but alas, I was busy trying to research a new tablet. You can thank Scott at SA for this great find.

Here’s how it works: Last week I was detained by a personal obligation for a good portion of the morning, and had scheduled a rather pressing client meeting for immediately after the lunch hour. When I finally raced to the office around noon (without technically breaking any speeding laws, because I wasn’t caught), the entire team had prepared me for my meeting, complete with copy edits, graphic presentations and management oversight. I basically had to walk in and everything was done – that’s how it is supposed to work, and that’s how it does work at Solstice. We communicate continuously and fluidly, which provides a great benefit to our clients through a work system that that combines and capitalizes on the strength of each employee. It’s good for business, and great for employee morale. What more could you ask for? (insert happy face here)

Returning one year later for my second summer internship, Solstice Advertising is a completely different agency. I expected the company to be relatively the same as the year before in terms of size and work, but actually the company had undergone a complete overhaul. Solstice has tripled in size since last year and they are growing their business by serving new clients in a variety of industries.

At first, I thought advertising was just showing commercials and putting ads in newspapers to sell various items. With my new Solstice Advertising summer experience I had this year, I learned that there is much more to advertising than just commercials and newspaper ads. I learned that it’s a partnership where a company puts their trust in an advertising agency to create an image they want to portray, or creating a brand that will represent their company accurately.

I think that great advertising is when an agency is able to accurately create an image or brand based off of the client’s wants and needs, and present the client’s brand or image to their intended audience successfully.

The rapid growth Solstice has undergone in a short amount of time shows me that they are doing something right. Solstice is committed to constant improvement and growing to meet the needs of all their current and prospective clients.

I ran across a viral video series that I fell in love with and couldn’t wait to share with as many people as I could.  These videos were visual, impactful and inspiring all within one short minute of my time.  Being an account executive, I thought to myself, “If only more companies utilized this formula and inspired people to do something that can impact their lives in a positive way through advertising.  Set aside the negativity, the stereotyping, and the ‘noise’ and think of what could come of that.”

Hoping to find a deeper association to these videos, I was pleased to find out they were commercials!   STA Travel, the world’s largest student and youth travel agency, sent three travelers around the world in six weeks to put together three, one-minute spots to inspire the masses.  Do you think it works?  It certainly inspires me to “Move, Learn, and Eat” regardless of my student status.

http://youtu.be/-BrDlrytgm8

http://youtu.be/Xc0d510zTA4

http://youtu.be/EcOgjrRWx_Q

Many of us know that YouTube is a great place to view and share videos with others.  Old Spice is a company that launched their video into the social media world and succeeded with brand awareness. “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” was a campaign that succeeded in making their brand stand out and be easily memorable.  “In the first 24 hours, this video had six million video views. This number of video views is more than Obama’s Victory Speech video, Bush Dodges Shoes, and Susan Boyle’s video”, according to Mashable.com.

Isaiah Mustafa is Old Spice’s spokesperson who made their videos humorous and interesting. After seeing this video, people wanted to be him, look like him, and women wanted their men to smell or look like him. Check out how this has evolved with Fabio at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUvBTb-0lH8.

The Wall Street Journal’s Web page displayed this campaign video but with commentary afterwards also. The interview grasps the essence of what made this campaign so successful and why Old Spice is on everyone’s mind.

Using an icon such as Isaiah Mustafa, was a favorable move for Old Spice because people already know who he is as an ex-NFL player. What is interesting about this ad, is that it didn’t become famous from broadcast TV, but rather from the ad going viral on the internet through social media. This video took a normal everyday product that has been on the shelves for years and turned it into something new, exciting, and reviving without anything more than a man talking about Old Spice in a unique way.

Jack Neff from Advertising Age in 2010 said, “Yet the recent viral-video successes of a marketer legendary for finding and relentlessly institutionalizing winning formulas suggests one does exist and that it’s been discovered. P&G’s Old Spice and Isaiah Mustafa videos have been this year’s viral phenomenon. But beyond that, Old Spice has had Mustafa-free videos hit the top 10 in Visible Measures and Ad Age’s weekly viral-video chart.”

It is obvious that Old Spice took an ordinary, everyday product and turned it into an enjoyable experience. This is what companies look for when making videos and ads, and it is something that is even harder to grasp in the social media world, but the Old Spice Company has done just that. They have grasped the audience’s attention and everyone just wants to see more.

Even though it has been almost a year since the first video was launched, it is still topping the charts. According to Techprone.com in its 10 Best Social Media Campaigns, the “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign is ranked at number two for 2011.” It is amazing that even after over a 180+ videos have been released through social media, the audience still is anticipating when the next Old Spice ad will come out.

Jonathan Salem Baskin from Advertising Age summarizes the Old Spice campaign perfectly: “The Old Spice campaign is the latest variation on this very old idea, with some important caveats. It isn’t classified as commercial, but rather social, so there’s no message at the end like ‘ Shoot the brute some Old Spice.’ It riffs on its own prior creative content, so it’s not really about the brand as much as about the brand’s branding and giving entertainment to in-the-know viewers. It’s an inside joke, really.”

Old Spice is of course just one company who has successfully used a spokesperson as their icon to revitalize their brand. Old Spice is no longer looked at as something for dad or grandpa, but as something everyone should want to use everyday. Their brand is memorable and is looked forward to in the social media world.  It just goes to show that branding is important for the most effective social media world.