AIGA—Shift.Option.Talk.

Carol Sogard
Visual Think
Associate Professor, University of Utah

On Tuesday, January 20th, S.O.T. features Carol Sogard. Carol, an associate professor in graphic design at the University of Utah, has been successfully managing her design business, Visual Think, since 1992.

Shift.Option.Talk is a series of informal, roundtable conversations with local designers in the SL community. Featuring a different location and host-designer every event, it’s the best way to relax, meet other creative-minded designers and just shoot the breeze.

Shift.Option.Talk is a free event but participants cover their own lunch. Space is limited to the first 25 who register. RSVP by Monday, January 19th.

Tuesday, January 28th, 2009
Time - 1:30 PM
Location - Caffe Niche
779 East 300 South, SLC
www.caffeniche.com
Admission - Free (Participants pay for their own lunch)

To RSVP or for more information, click HERE.

Posted by John Dye under Advertising, Business, Design, Marketing

During the recession, “not bad is the new great”

This is a hard-hitting and realistic article on how to market in the current economic downturn. The emphasis on a “sense of steady engagement” and utilizing social media are especially relevant.

Take five minutes and read the article HERE.

Posted by John Dye under Advertising, Business

How Nike created a successful online user community using Nike+

When I run, I run with the Nike+ kit to track my time, pace, etc.

When I sync my iPod, it also syncs the information to the Nike Plus site. The site is very robust, and Nike has done an excellent job at creating an online community of users that band together for races, competitions, etc.

This article talks about the site and how Nike has leveraged it to increase its brand equity.

Check it out here . . .

Posted by John Dye under Advertising, Branding, Business, Design

Sage words from Thomas Jefferson

“The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time.”
- Thomas Jefferson

In these difficult economic times, it is important to keep your economic engine running by continuing to plan for and carry out effective integrated marketing and advertising strategies.

Many companies are cutting back; most do not realize advertising has a cumulative effect, with each medium and campaign building on the previous and creating a stronger foundation for the next.

Do not be tempted to trim the fat and end up accidentally cutting into the muscle of your organization’s branding and awareness efforts. Keep your campaigns and programs consistent, steady, and strong, and you will weather this rough storm of economic uncertainty.

Posted by John Dye under Advertising, Branding, Business, Clients, Marketing, Promotional, Sales

Pepsi’s New Logo (5 months in the making)

Read what went into the process HERE.

Posted by John Dye under Advertising, Branding, Business, Design

Now is the time for you to start engaging with your consumers via social media

60% of Americans use social media; of those people, 59% interact with companies*

85% of those who use social media believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media.*

Therefore, now is the time for you to start engaging with your consumers via social media.

*Source: 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study

Posted by John Dye under Advertising, Branding, Business, Clients, Web 2.0

Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan

I am a big believer in planning. As the image and caption above illustrate, it is important to take the time and effort to organize and plan activities to see optimal results.

I do not golf, but I do run marathons. I always seem to perform well through the first 20 miles—then the wheels fall off. I drop almost 2 minutes on average per mile through the last 6 miles. People pass me on my right and left; it seems I am running in sludge.

I attribute this to not having a scheduled regimen to help me understand what my body is doing and feeling, and then training specifically to help my body alter the ill effects I feel on the last leg of the marathon. I am not planning my work and then working my plan.

In business, this age-old maxim holds true as well.

Tom Landry, the legendary coach of the Dallas Cowboys (who I grew up idolizing) once said, “Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.”

I believe that wholeheartedly. For example, if you are a salesman you will be assigned an annual budget to hit. The dollar amount may seem overwhelming—an elephant you must eat. How do you go about achieving it? Break it down into monthly increments. Then, break the months to weeks. Then the weeks to days, days to hours, etc.

In essence … planning!

Find out out where the value-added activities are and concentrate on them. Achieve your annual budget over the course of many good hours (which become good days, weeks, and months). This is not a new concept; it is a true principle that if followed will yield results.

For success, first plan your work,

then,

work your plan.

Posted by John Dye under Branding, Business

We want to hear how you currently advertise . . .

There are a million different ways to expose your company to the public eye—we are interested in what you have done in the past to promote your product and/or service in an attempt to capture the public’s eye! Take this short survey on advertising—we’ll post the results on our blog.

Posted by Jim Killian under Advertising, Branding, Business, Clients, Design, Marketing

Mass appeal

We have a pretty green group here at Fluid Studio, meaning ecology “green.” Our application of green principals falls short of our goals like everyone, bur hearts are in the right places and we all expend energy to stay on the right side of the issue, or the left side depending which way you are facing. We talk regularly about improving our workplace with recycling, compact fluorescent bulbs, car pooling and mass transit. I have been pushing for our parent company to find a way to get cheap passes for UTA so we can ride the bus, TRAX or Frontrunner to work. Well, someone finally called my bluff and asked me to check into it. Here’s what I found out…

I had a conversation with Ryan Taylor at UTA. He explained there are two methods for an employer to facilitate mass transit passes for their employees.

Posted by Rikard under Appreciation, Business

Building Business Through “Cross Ruff”

“Cross Ruff” is a simple technique based on leverage.  Here are the steps to “Cross Ruff” that many agencies have found effective.

1. Take a current client’s product and think of a joint/co-promotion with other companies compatible products (generally a company that is not currently your client).
2. Put the co-promotion in rough form.
3. Call the other companies in the co-promotion.
4. Introduce yourself as the agency of record for your client and present the rough idea of what you have in mind for the joint promotion.

Most companies you call will already have an agency of record, however, studies show that one third of companies who are currently working with agencies are unhappy and open to discussions with other agencies.  Companies who have used this technique of “Cross Ruff” have found that most of the phone calls they make turn into face-to-face meetings and companies are very impressed with the co-promotion opportunity offered by the agency.

So, get with your creative department and concept a “Cross Ruff” promotion.  Hey, it definitely beats cold calls

Posted by Laura Hoskisson under Advertising, Business, Clients, Design, Marketing, Sales