Perceptions from the Studio

Great Commercial: AT&T's "Lost Dog"

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:13:00 +0000

Blogging has certainly taken a back seat to the new projects we've been working on at Perceptivity Studio, but I wanted to take a quick second to point out one of the best commercials I've seen in a while: AT&T's "Lost Dog" spot, which is currently running.

I think I've mentioned before that I watch most of my television on DVR and zap through the commercials (I know, I know, I should be more loyal to my industry!) to save time. But as we were fast forwarding the other night, my husband actually told me to stop and watch a commercial, a very rare occurrence. It was the AT&T "Lost Dog" spot, which features a little girl putting up posters looking for her lost puppy with UNC basketball star Tyler Hansbrough saving the day with his AT&T phone and the power of social networking. Entertainment Weekly also took notice of this tearjerker in their PopWatch blog today.

The spot is great because it really does strike a chord with its target market. This sort of "viral" everyday information swap has become a daily occurrence for most of us these days. Need some information? Jump on Facebook or Twitter and you're likely to find someone who can get you what you're looking for...whether it's your lost dog, a book recommendation, a business resource or pretty much anything else your heart desires, and it comes personalized just for you by someone you know in some context.

Now with mobile devices like the ones AT&T is touting, these social networking tools are becoming more and more accessible...and some would say ubiquitous. While I've resisted the mobile web for a few years now (because really, I check my email too frequently already!), I know the day is coming when I won't be able to resist the call of a shiny new Blackberry and its ability to instantly gratify my every wish and whimsy. And this commercial is doing its job to encourage me to hurry that process along.

The new Namics logo: boring revamp...or is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:40:00 +0000

I read about the new Namics logo in the Brand New blog this morning, and I instantly wondered what the heck they were doing when I saw the before and after (photo from Brand New):

The original Namics logo, while a little bit odd, at least had some character to it. And they replaced it with a bunch of words set in Arial?? Seriously?

But once I read the background behind the new Namics logo (you can read more about it in the Brand New article if you're interested), dubbed by Heads, the agency who created it, as “the world’s first ‘Real Time Corporate Identity'” I appreciated its genius. While I don't understand what the German words before the Namics name mean, they're actually being pulled real-time from input by Namics employees through any number of methods, like Twitter or SMS. Confused? Visit the Namics website and watch the logo continually refresh itself. It's a random stream of consciousness...ever-changing and reflecting trends in the online world.

Despite my initial reaction, I think this is one of the most intuitive logo ideas I've seen in a long time. It is able to reflect a consistent brand image for Namics while still staying fresh and new at all times. Brilliant.

The Bronze Quill

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:11:00 +0000

I mentioned a few months ago that Perceptivity Studio and Bacon Group, Inc. had won two Bronze Quill Awards of Excellence from the IABC. While Bacon Group kept the original awards, I ordered one for Perceptivity Studio, and it just came yesterday. Thought you would enjoy looking at our pretty new award! (It's a little hard to photograph, since it's clear, so apologies for the bad picture!)

Stay tuned for a post about the new campaign we just launched for Bacon Group's new pre-designed shelter line, called S3 Shelters. If you'd like a sneak peak, visit the temporary website at S3Shelters.com where you can view a slideshow of their beautiful work and enter to win a $50 Visa gift card.

An Eco-Friendly Identity for PURE Inspired Design

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:06:00 +0000

Designing the eco-friendly identity for PURE Inspired Design was an ideal job for Perceptivity Studio. Part green, part fun & modern, I am so happy with what we came up with for this new company!

Interior Designer Samantha Cobos, an established interior designer in the Minneapolis-St.Paul area, became so interested in "green" interior design that she decided to start a new company dedicated solely to environmentally conscious interior design. PURE Inspired Design will officially be launching to the public in the next issue of SPACES Magazine, and we've been busy shaping the identity for its public unveiling.

We started with the logo design for PURE Inspired Design, which has a modern, organic feel with bright colors dominated by a vibrant lime green to signify that this is a "green" company.

The business cards came next, and the two-sided design features the company's tagline, Environmentally Conscious Interior Design, across the back on a bold, green background. We printed the PURE Inspired Design business cards with a green printer, using 100% post-consumer fiber recycled paper.

As I mentioned before, the company will officially be launched in the next issue of SPACES Magazine, and we created a full-page ad to introduce the company. Readers are already familiar with Samantha's existing interior design business, INTERIORS by Samantha Cobos, so we used the same picture so they would recognize her face, and explained why she started the new company. Future ads will feature her exclusive line of eco-friendly furniture and rugs, which are currently in development, but the main purpose of this ad was to draw a connection between "environmentally conscious" and "interior design" which we did with the various images in the ad. The Robin's nest image was perfect, since many people associate a "nest" with their home, and the blue eggs perfectly picked up on the turquoise in the logo.

Finally, we developed a fun website for PURE Inspired Design. The home page features the same images as the ad for brand recognition, and the site also features a portfolio of Samantha's interior design work and a product gallery of the furniture and rugs she is currently developing. Visit the site, www.pureinspireddesign.com, to see more, and to learn more about this awesome new company.

While PURE Inspired Design is currently operating in the Minneapolis-St.Paul area, they will also be offering a "virtual" interior design service worldwide in the near future. We wish Samantha Cobos and PURE Inspired Design the best of luck as the company is launched next month. Thank you for letting Perceptivity Studio build your new identity!

Stinky Cheese: The $50 Logo Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:35:00 +0000

I read about the $50 Logo Experiment this morning on the Logo Design Love blog and just had to share it with you!

As many of you may know, there are a lot of online logo design companies out there who promise to basically move mountains for mere pennies, giving you custom logo designs at bargain basement prices with un-heard-of turnaround times. It's kind of scary at times for designers like me, because why would you want to work with my company when you could go to one of them for much less?

Well this post is a perfect example of why it would behoove you to run screaming from these logo companies. I always wondered what kind of work these companies produced, and this blogger's experience gave me quite a laugh. That cheese character is just priceless!

The morals of the story?

1. Make sure your designer gets to know you first. There are a lot of logo designers out there. Whether you choose to work with my company or not, make sure the designer you choose is concerned about getting to know your business before they dive head-first into Illustrator. At Perceptivity Studio, we go through our Perception Brief with our clients before starting a logo design, which helps us get to know what makes your business tick, what you like, what you don't like and so on. We've found that it's much easier to get things right the first time around when there's a rationale to go on.

2. Don't nickel and dime your designer. Logo design is a very time-consuming process if you're doing it right. When I design logos for my clients, choosing a typeface alone can take hours as I sort through thousands of fonts in my collection to find several options that will work for a logo, not to mention creating several graphic images that will represent the company (and what they represent) well. Assuming that sweat-shop labor is still illegal, give your designer the budget they need to properly allocate the amount of time it takes to give you some great logo options to choose from.

3. You get what you pay for. If you do decide to go with one of the online logo design companies, you very well might end up with a logo you love. But you're more likely to end up with some stinky cheese.

A company's logo is such an important part of its identity, and I absolutely love working with companies to design or even re-design their logos. Thank you to all of the companies who've trusted Perceptivity Studio to establish their brands. I hope the process was worth more than $50! :)

The Perceptivity Studio Super Bowl XLIII Ad Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:48:00 +0000

I'm not the biggest football fan unless we're talking about the Florida Gators, so I really wasn't all that excited for the Super Bowl last night. At least not about the actually football game part of it, (which really didn't end up being all that bad). I was, however, totally psyched for what I consider to be the main event of Super Bowl Sunday, and I know I'm not alone here...the ads.

Ah, those :30 and :60 budget-busters that all the advertising nerds like me look forward to each year. Honestly, during the actual game, which I watched from the comfort of my couch with my husband, I had my book out and got some reading time in, but as the music signaled a commercial break approaching, I put down my book, got out my notepad, and got ready for some great commercials.

According to USA Today, about 28 advertisers bought a record $206 million dollars' worth of commercial time. They paid a record $3 million per 30-second slot — or $100,000 a second — for their moment of Super Bowl glory. Nearly 100 million viewers nationally watched at least some part of the game and its 52 commercials.

Now normally, I would scoff at spending that amount of money on one commercial. But these days, it might not be the worst idea in the world. Super Bowl ads have always been popular, true, but these days, think how many people (myself included) are blogging about them, posting/watching the YouTubes, watching them on Hulu, etc. etc. Sure you paid for one :30 spot, but in these days of Tivo, it just might be one of the few times you can get people to not only watch your ad once, but watch it again and again and share it with their friends and colleagues. That being said, you won't be seeing a Perceptivity Studio Super Bowl spot anytime soon, but it does rationalize that ridiculous $206 million number just a bit more than it used to.

But I digress. Despite the huge budgets, I wasn't terribly impressed this year. Sure there were a few good commercials, but I don't think that any of this year's ads will make the all-time best list. So in lieu of recapping all of them, I've decided to give out my awards for the best and worst of the night. If you want to see more, Hulu has them all posted:

The Perceptivity Studio Best in Show: Coca Cola's "Heist"

This one isn't getting the best reviews out there, but I really loved this sweet Coke ad that featured a gang of insects absconding with a sleeping picnicker's Coke bottle to the music of Peter and the Wolf. Was it the most effective ad? Definitely not. But it made me smile, and it was the one ad that I personally will remember from this Super Bowl.

Runner Up: Monster.com's "Double Take"

This one is getting good reviews, and I really enjoyed it as well. The plight of the everyman in corporate America with the snooty, good for nothing boss is dramatized by showing the boss in his pristine over-the-top office with a large moose head mounted on the wall, then taking us around the other side of the wall where the moose's other end hovers above some poor Joe's desk. Not sure it's the most timely of messages (because really, if you have job security right now, who cares if you have a moose a** above your desk!), but still a good one.

Most Timely Message: Hyundai's "Contract"

On the flip side, the Hyundai "Contract" spot was not all that memorable or special, but its message will probably be very effective for them. Buy a Hyundai, and if you lose your job, return it with no adverse affect to your credit. With the economy in a less than favorable state right now, this just might make more people consider buying a Hyundai. And their Hyundai Genesis "Angry Bosses" spot made me giggle a bit too, noting that "winning one little award will suddenly make everyone get your name right (it's Hyundai, like Sunday)." Their spots averaged out to a good mix of humor and concern.

Runner Up: E*Trade's "Wings"

Acknowledging the bad economy, E*Trade welcomes people to use their service to "learn to fly again." I'm not a big fan of the talking babies though, so despite the good timing, I didn't love this one. But after re-watching it a few more times, I must admit the cute little singing baby is growing on me!

Biggest Laugh: Doritos "Crystal Ball"

This one wasn't created by the pros, it was created by two unemployed brothers, who won $1 million from Doritos for winning an online contest and ended up creating the best-liked ad in the Super Bowl according to the USA Today Ad Meter. Was it the best ad? No. It relied on the old slapstick "getting hit in the crotch" shtick that has happened in many Super Bowl ads before it. But despite its cliche humor, you have to admit this one was funny. And honestly a bit scary for my industry!

Lamest Attempt at Humor: Castrol Oil "Edge Monkeys"

Who decided that chimpanzees were so funny? Funny monkeys are another Super Bowl stand-by, but this one didn't work quite as well for me. Grease monkeys, haha, get it? And the gratuitous monkey kiss at the end? Yuck.

Runner Up: Pepsi's "Pepsuber"

While SNL was fantastic during the election, it's not doing so well outside of the fantastic Tina/Sarah impersonation. This one was just lame, and a big disappointment considering how good Pepsi's ads have traditionally been.

Most Amibivalent Reaction: Pepsi "Refresh Anthem"

While it was decidedly better than "Pepsuber" I'm still a bit undecided on the "Refresh Anthem" ad. Is Will.i.am really the Bob Dylan of our generation? Sure I loved his "Yes We Can" Obama video, but I don't know if I agree with that comparison, though some of the other then-now comparisons were quite good. The jury's still out on this one. I think Pepsi missed a big opportunity to really show off their new branding.

Biggest Letdown: Budweiser Clydesdales

The Budweiser Clydesdales have been a standard for good Super Bowl ads in years past, and I just wasn't all that impressed with this year's trio of horsey goodness, which tried to be a bit too cute for my taste. Of the three, "Circus" was probably the best, though it reminded me more of the Britney Spears music video of the same name than it tore at my heartstrings. Maybe next year will be better for the Clydesdales, but until then, I will leave you with the unforgettable 2002 "Respect" spot, which still brings tears to my eyes.

So what did you think? What were your favorites? Least favorites? Were you disappointed with the overall quality of this year's commercials like I was? Leave a comment and let me know!

A bit of advertising history: famous logos and Super Bowl Commercials

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:24:00 +0000

Things have gotten very busy again at Perceptivity Studio. Not that I'm complaining in the least, but it's made my blogging become a bit scarce! I really do plan to get some of the fun new projects we've been working on up here soon, but in the meantime, here are a few websites where you can go kill some time learning about the history of advertising.

1. Stories Behind 10 Famous Food Logos
Sure you recognize them in the grocery store, but do you know how these famous icons came to be? Get to know more about the Morton Salt Girl, Jolly Green Giant, Sara Lee, Quaker Oats and the Laughing Cow, find out where Heinz 57 came from, and find out which two of these four icons are real people and which two were dreamed up by creative advertising geniuses: the Gerber baby, Aunt Jemima, Chef Boyardee and Betty Crocker. I love seeing how brands have evolved over the years but still maintained a sense of brand equity so you and I will still recognize them.

2. The Adland Archive of Super Bowl Commercials
While most years I honestly couldn't care less about the football teams playing in the Super Bowl, I most certainly do care about the famous Super Bowl commercials! Super Bowl commercials are notoriously the best commercials you'll see all year, and companies spend humongous amounts of money to make sure their spots will be the ones talked about. (This year the starting cost for a :30 Super Bowl commercial is reportedly up to $3 million dollars, not to mention the production costs to put together that :30 spot. What would you do with that kind of marketing budget?)

Anyway, here is an archive of all of the notable Super Bowl commercials from years past. My all time favorite Super Bowl commercial? The Apple 1984 commercial from, not surprisingly, the year 1984. It's a classic and gives me chills every time I see it. Not to mention it launched Mac computers! Here's a bit of history on the Apple 1984 commercial:

The Apple 1984 commercial was created by the advertising agency Chiat/Day, and Ridley Scott (who had recently finished filming Blade Runner) was hired to direct it with the "unheard-of production budget of $900,000." Steve Jobs loved the spot, so they purchased commercial spots in the upcoming Super Bowl. In December 1983 they screened the 1984 commercial for the Apple Board of Directors, and reportedly the entire board hated it. It almost got pulled in favor of a much safer but much less impactful spot, but thankfully it did run and the rest is history. To read more about it, there's a great article here.

The Apple 1984 commercial is embedded below, enjoy!

Ikea brings holiday spirit to their billboards

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:25:00 +0000

With billboard design, sometimes it's hard to step outside the box, or in this case, the rectangle. There are so many restrictions...making sure that you don't have too many words (because you sure don't want your potential customers to crash their cars!), that your text is readable from a distance, that your message is easy to grasp in just a few seconds, etc.

Some companies get their billboards very, very wrong, but there are a few that always stand out for me, getting their billboard designs very, very right. Like the Chick-fil-A cow billboards. You've seen them...three dimensional cows stand below the board promoting "chikin." Genius!

And I just saw these three-dimensional, holiday-specific billboard designs from one of my favorite places...Ikea! If you haven't been to Ikea, you're totally missing out on a zen-like experience...two gigantic stories of low-cost, but totally stylish furniture and home accessories. But I digress...Ikea has done some great advertising over the years, like the award-winning Ikea Lamp commercial, which I'll embed at the bottom of this post if you haven't seen it. Ikea continues the trend with these fantastic billboard designs, which feature the words Joy, Hope and Love made from families enjoying the holidays with their Ikea furniture. The simple copy at the bottom says "Decorate for the holidays." Which of course has a double meaning, so brilliant!

Now get our your tissues for the Ikea Lamp commercial. This message totally speaks to me, because I'm one of those sentimental fools who gets attached to inanimate objects. Enjoy!

10 things I didn't have growing up, but couldn't function without now

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:51:00 +0000

As part of GenY, I'm a bit obsessive about my technology. I check my email far too frequently, never leave home without my cell phone, and DVR way too many shows. As I was driving down the highway yesterday, I started thinking about all of the things that I'm now so intertwined with I would go into withdrawal if they were taken away, and yet everything on that list is a relatively recent addition to my life. So I thought it would be fun to make a list of the things I I didn't have growing up, but couldn't function without now. These are in no particular order because I tried to rank them, but couldn't! :)

Cell Phone: I'm not half as high-tech here as I could be, but my aging pink Razr is one of my nearest and dearest friends. It goes with me wherever I go, and even sits on my nightstand when I sleep, where it also functions as my alarm clock when I actually need it (my four cats take care of waking me up these days). It also serves as my business phone, so my clients are able to reach me even when I'm out and about. I've been debating whether or not to upgrade to a Crackberry or another of the smart phones, but know that as obsessively as I check my email now, that could be a very dangerous thing indeed! Which leads me to...

Email: While I'm always glad to talk to my clients on the phone (friends and family too), I am a huge fan of email. It gives me a record of everything I need to do in an easily accessible location, and with a few clicks and searches, I can generally find any information I've ever received from a client. Ask me two years later to find some notes I scribbled during a phone conversation and it's questionable (but still likely) that I'll be able to track them down. But the email from two years ago is still safely filed in that client's folder in Entourage. I've had email for quite some time now...my family first signed up for Prodigy (an old school internet service provider) when I was in middle school. I still remember my first email address (KNFJ75B@prodigy.com...and no, I didn't pick that snazzy succession of letters and numbers) and am still friends with one of my penpals that I met on Prodigy way back in 7th grade (Hi Kristen!)...and yes, we met online, but then proceeded to actually write each other real letters...how quaint, right? We also had a 2400 BPS modem that plugged in to the phone jack and a cord stretched across to our computer...dial-up of course. Which leads me to...

High-Speed Internet: 2400 BPS dial-up was SLOW, and painfully so. Of course I didn't realize that back then, but as technology started picking up speed it became painfully obvious just how slow it was. Now with my super-speedy Fios, everything online is pretty much instantaneous, which is perfect for an admittedly impatient me. Which leads me to...

Computers: Like I said, my family got a computer pretty early on, so I'm not sure if this officially belongs on the list, but comparing my computer today to that first computer is such a drastic contrast that it pushed it over the edge. While I used PCs for a very long time, my career in design necessitated a jump to Mac, and I will never go back, as they say. I spend a lot of time with my MacBook, which I have docked to a big flatscreen monitor, speakers and my tablet/mouse, but I can still take it with me when I'm out and about, which is the perfect solution for me. Which leads me to...

WiFi: While this isn't a perfect science yet, I love that I can take my laptop just about anywhere and find a connection to check my email, look something up or kill some time. Airports, restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, check, check, check and check. And even in my home office, I'm not actually wired in. I can work at my desk (where I can usually be found since that big monitor comes in handy) or unplug and sit on the couch or on the back porch just as easily. Which means that information is almost instantaneously accessible wherever I go. Which leads me to...

Google: How did we survive without Google? Seriously. I would guess that at least 50 times a day (which may be a conservative guess), I open Google and search for something, whether it's specific vendors I'm looking for, directions I need (Google Maps), random facts, research I need, etc. etc. etc. And I'm sure you do the same. We all do, which is why Google is so huge. And in addition to the traditional search engine, there are other fun features. Which leads me to...

Google Reader/Blogs: I read a lot of blogs. I think at last count I was over 75, which includes a mix of marketing information, entertainment news, updates from friends, and random info including cat blogs and my new favorite, Cake Wrecks, which has hilarious commentary on poorly decorated cakes. (Totally random, but great for a good laugh when I need a quick break!) I used to have all of these blogs bookmarked and have to go check them to see if anything new was posted (I read fewer blogs at this point!), and then I discovered the magic of RSS. I now subscribe to all of these blogs in my Google Reader, and it magically tells me every time there's a new post. I don't even have to go to the blogs to read them (unless I want to read the comments, but hey, maybe they'll fix that soon), I just click through them right from the Reader interface. (If you don't have an RSS reader set up and you read more than this blog, go do it right now!) When I write in my blogs, the posts automatically show up in my Google Reader and on Facebook, which leads me to....

Social Networking: Before the internet, if you had long-lost friends, they generally stayed long-lost. But since the advent of social networking, I've been able to find nearly all of the friends I'd lost touch with, including my elementary school friends from South Carolina, middle school friends from before I was rezoned, high school friends before the reunion and college friends to network with now that we're all out in the real world. It started with MySpace, but now I'm an avid Facebooker, and it's made it so much easier to keep in touch with my friends and even my family. I'm reminded of their birthdays, get to see pictures of their kids and lives in general, know what they're currently doing, and can easily check in to say hi or comment on any of the previously mentioned items. Facebook stays open on my computer all day, which leads me to...

Digital Music: Just like the ubiquitous Facebook, my iTunes is always playing in the background on my computer, on shuffle of course. I love music and have a large, eclectic library of music stored on my computer and on my MP3 player. Do I have CDs? Yes, but the last one I actually purchased was from a long time ago, and most of the ones I occasionally listen to are burned compilations of various artists. At home, it's a mix of everything on iTunes, and at the gym, my MP3 player has upbeat songs to motivate me. In the car, it's usually still the plain old radio, but hey, we can't be high-tech all the time, can we? Which leads me to...

DVR: Live television. I realize that as a member of the advertising community I should watch it, but since we got our first DVR a few years back, I very rarely do. We record an ungodly number of shows between the two DVRs in our house, and we watch them all on our own time. "What did she say?" I just rewind it to find out. Phone ringing? Pause. While there are still a few shows I watch live (LOST!), I couldn't even tell you when most of the shows I watch are actually on, because I watch them all after the fact. When I was little, I called our very basic cable box the "Fraggle Box" because I knew that when I pushed a button, it would put my favorite show, the Fraggles, on the TV for me. My DVR is one smart Fraggle Box.

So there we are. A ridiculously long post about my technological must-haves, and probably too much insight into my technologically obsessive life. So tell me...what did I miss? What are your favorite old-school technology memories? How many blogs do you read? Leave a comment and let me know!

Top 10 Holiday Eco-Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:57:00 +0000

How scary is this? An estimated 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold each year in the United States, enough to fill a football field 10 stories high. It is estimated that between Thanksgiving and the New Year an extra million tons of waste are generated nationwide each week. In fact, 38,000 miles of ribbon alone is thrown out each year--enough to tie a bow around the earth!

Needless to say our society tends to get more than a bit wasteful when December rolls around. Since being environmentally friendly is very important at Perceptivity Studio, I did some research to find out how I could be more "green" during the holidays. I decided to share this information in our holiday card this year to encourage our clients, associates, friends and family to join my efforts, and thought that those of you whose addresses I didn't have might still enjoy reading them!

Here are our top 10 holiday eco-tips for a greener Christmas:

10. Consider purchasing a live tree from a local Christmas tree farm and then planting it in your yard. It’s beautiful during the holidays, and then you get to watch it grow!

9. Give gifts that can be experienced, like tickets to a baseball game or a homemade dinner, to minimize waste from wrapping gifts.

8. Find out what services your family and friends are already using and pre-pay for them as a gift, like a month at their gym or their Netflix subscription.

7. If it’s time to replace your holiday lights, consider replacing them with LED lights—they’re 90 percent more efficient than traditional incandescent lights.

6. For holiday dinners and parties, use non-disposable utensils and dishes to reduce waste.

5. Save your gift boxes, ribbon and even wrapping paper each year and reuse them. If it can’t be reused, separate the leftovers and recycle what you can.

4. Instead of using traditional gift bags to wrap presents, buy reusable tote bags. They’re only 99 cents at most major stores, and the recipient can use them again and again.

3. Designate a certain hour every night to turn the holiday lights on. That way you can gather and enjoy them together and save some energy—and money—in the process.

2. Send holiday cards printed on recycled paper. The Perceptivity Studio holiday card is printed on paper made from 100% post consumer fibers, meaning it contains no new trees. Please recycle it (and your other cards) after the holidays.

1. Make a New Year’s Resolution to “go green” in 2009, and start making your home and/or office more environmentally friendly.

Need help making your marketing efforts more eco-friendly or green? Eco-friendly marketing is one of our specialties, and we would love to help you accomplish that #1 tip in 2009. Read more about our eco-friendly, "green" marketing services, and contact us to learn more about what we can do to help your company!

I wish you all a very safe, happy and "green" holiday season, and a wonderful 2009! Thank you all for helping make 2008 such a great first year for Perceptivity Studio!

Anatomy of a custom holiday card

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:12:00 +0000

I just finished a fun custom holiday card project for one of my clients, and thought it would be fun to share the process we went through to create it.

Elizabeth, one of my clients from Tanglewood, was looking for a custom holiday card to send out to friends and family this year, and saw my $99 Custom Holiday Card design special in my fall newsletter.

We tossed around a few ideas, but she mentioned that a friend had done a really beautiful line drawing of their home, and maybe I could "Christmas it up" a bit to use on their custom holiday card.

Here is the original drawing, done by Rosemary Williams:

I also requested a photo of Elizabeth's gorgeous house:

I took the drawing into Photoshop, sampled colors from the photo, and "painted" the line drawing to mimic her home. I also added Christmas lights to the roofline and the sailboat in her window, some snowflakes falling through the air, and the little topiary trees on her porch.

After I was done "Christmasing up" the artwork, I created the custom holiday card layout in InDesign, adding the background, design elements and typography that matches the Tanglewood logo I created for them earlier this year.

Here is the final custom holiday card:

Thanks for letting me work on this project, Elizabeth, and I hope you and your family have a very happy holidays!

If anyone else is interested in taking advantage of my $99 Custom Holiday Card design special, contact me soon! The holidays will be here before you know it! Running short on time? A New Year's card can also work well. And we can also help you be eco-friendly with either a custom holiday card printed on 100% recycled paper (like Perceptivity Studio will be sending out this year) or even a custom e-card like I'm currently designing for Bacon Group Architecture.

Perceptivity Studio & Bacon Group Architecture win two Awards of Excellence at the IABC Bronze Quill Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Bacon Group Architecture entered two categories in the IABC Tampa Bay Bronze Quill Awards, and we attended their banquet in downtown Tampa last night to find out the results. We are excited to announce that we won two of their four highest awards, Awards of Excellence, for our entries! Our customizable trade show displays were recognized in the design category and the campaign as a whole was also recognized. It was such an honor, and I am so proud of what we accomplished!

It's been a long process re-branding Bacon Group Architecture from start to finish, but we finally finished their whole campaign, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results! While I've posted bits and pieces of the Bacon Group Architecture work in this blog, I've never posted it all in once place, so here it is, including the logo, corporate identity (letterhead, envelopes, business cards, labels, notepads), niche market brochure, corporate brochure/pocket folder, website, signage, proposal template, trade show display and trade show advertisement.

Again, we are so honored to have our hard work recognized by the IABC, and it makes me so happy to see how consistently Bacon Group's brand is presented across all of their different marketing materials now. (When you're a marketing nerd like I am, these things are exciting!) It has truly been a pleasure working with Mindy Bacon, the Director of Marketing at Bacon Group, to create and implement a new, professional image for their company.

To learn more about Bacon Group Architecture, visit www.bgarchitects.com or call 727-725-0111.

Notes on Efest and the Eco-Friendly Marketing Booth

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:51:00 +0000

As I mentioned last week, Perceptivity Studio exhibited at the Efest Green Living Festival this past weekend at a booth with our green signage partner, Precision Digital Greenworks. I am exhausted from a long two days, but energized by the positive energy from the festival.

Not only did Efest meet my expectations, it far exceeded them! There were over 10,000 people there over the course of the two-day festival, and we met so many wonderful people looking to make a difference, many of whom I hope to work with in the future to make their marketing materials more "green" and environmentally friendly.

Here are some pictures from our butterfly-themed booth:

We had a raffle to win a trip to the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville to go along with the theme of our booth.

Sarah from Precision Digital Greenworks (left) and I had a great time at our booth on Sunday.

I definitely plan on going back again next year!

If you're a new reader from Efest, welcome to our blog! Feel free to subscribe via the RSS feed if you use a reader or via email if you don't. (The links are in the top right corner.)

Eco-Friendly Marketing: Less is More

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:32:00 +0000

I read about this billboard in Denver here and wanted to share its brilliance with you:

What a clever idea! While this message is specifically referring to the conservation of water, it applies to so many other things, and I think it's great of Denver Water to also use less billboard vinyl--and thus be kinder to the environment in the process--to get their message across. It's a great example of eco-friendly marketing, and how you can be more environmentally responsible while still using that consciousness as a marketing advantage. Instead of noticing the message less, I'm guessing most people will actually notice it more.

I'm off to exhibit at the Efest Green Living Festival tomorrow in Sarasota, so eco-friendly marketing is heavy on my mind. I just got the Perceptivity Studio "Eco-Friendly Marketing Services" brochures (printed on 100% post-consumer fiber recycled paper, of course!) back from the printer, and am co-exhibiting with my clients at Precision Digital Greenworks, an eco-friendly display company (read about their new marketing materials here), so our whole backdrop and banner stands are made from eco-friendly materials...including biodegradable PVC in lieu of nasty vinyl, and renweable bamboo for the banner stand hardware. Our booth has a "butterfly" theme to symbolize the transformation of our products and services to be more eco-friendly. I'm excited to see our whole booth set up in the morning!

If you'd like a copy of our new brochure, which features descriptions of our eco-friendly, "green" marketing services, as well as examples of some of the "green" projects we've completed thus far, leave a comment here, or send me an email and I'll get one out in the mail to you.

Guerrilla Marketing for Obama: Vending Machine "Change"

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:56:00 +0000

It's been a long election season, so needless to say I'm excited to go cast my vote on Tuesday! Which leads me to a very important reminder: GO VOTE ON TUESDAY! We've seen in the past few elections that every vote really, truly counts, so please, regardless of who you're planning to vote for, just get out to the polls on November 4th. It's important, and we are so lucky to have the opportunity to choose our next leader during this difficult time in our nation's existence.

OK, off my soapbox and on to the fun stuff. While I won't get into the politics of either candidate, I will say that from a marketing perspective, Obama's campaign has been a breath of fresh air. Whether you love him or hate him, you must admit that Obama's marketing campaign has been brilliant.

Obama's logo and campaign materials, unlike so many political campaigns before them (and after them, I'm sure) are well designed, not only from a visual standpoint, but also from a branding standpoint. They're patriotic, but also clean and simple, touting "Change" and "Hope" more than the candidate's name, and making these words almost synonymous with "Obama."

To quote a great blog post from earlier this year,

...we are living through the first Presidential campaign that is being marketed like a high-end consumer brand...The typical Presidential campaign logo usually features some variant of the stars and stripes. Beyond patriotism, they have no message. They are pretty much interchangeable between Republicans and Democrats. Obama’s logo rearranges these patriotic elements into an emblem that distills his message to the core: the hope of the sun rising [or, Republicans, is it setting?] over amber waves of grain, with the novelty of the candidate’s unusual last name reinforced in an “O”...And like good corporate logos, this logomark can be disaggregated from the candidate’s name, in the same way that the swoosh instantly screams “Nike” or the circular logos of BMW and Mercedes spark instant associations with affluence and prestige.

There was the viral Yes We Can video:
Yes We Can Obama Song by Will.I.Am

Then there was that 30 minute "infomercial" this week across most major networks with absolutely no mention of his opponent. Not to mention a brilliant Internet campaign including Twitter, Facebook, and an email announcement to subscribers the moment Obama chose his vice presidential candidate. I could go on...

But the item that inspired me enough to actually blog about his campaign was the brilliant guerrilla marketing campaign I read about on Trend Hunter this morning, called "Press for Change." The Press for Change campaign encourages Obama supporters to transform the change buttons on vending machines into a political message for Obama, adding his "O" logo to the button with a "press for change" sticker above it. Genius! Here are some pictures:

Now I'm not condoning vandalism here, nor am I suggesting that seeing the Obama message on a vending machine is going to sway a vote one way or the other, but again, regardless of politics, you must admit that this one is clever, and totally in-line with Obama's brand promise.

I hope that future politicians are taking (marketing) notes from Obama's campaign, and I look forward to seeing how future elections take Obama's strategies one step further as our marketing landscape continues to evolve.

Don't forget to vote on Tuesday. Promise?

Eco-Friendly Identity for Precision Digital

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:59:00 +0000

As a marketing company striving to be more eco-friendly, it's important to have a strong network of vendors with the same mindset to support the efforts I'm making with my clients. So I was thrilled to team up with SKL Marketing to help Precision Digital, a local display company, develop an identity and marketing materials for their new "green," eco-friendly line of product offerings, and to be able to offer their products to my clients as well.

Precision Digital Greenworks, as we named this new division, offers "green," eco-friendly banners, trade show materials and signage using new products designed to have less of an impact on the environment. Their industry traditionally uses some pretty toxic materials, including vinyl, which takes 500 to 700 years to biodegrade in landfills. Now they offer biodegradable PVC, which only takes 3 to 5 years to biodegrade. This and other similar materials, paired with eco-friendly inks, mark quite a transformation for a display company.

The logo for this new division uses the globe and "Precision Digital" type treatment from their existing logo, while changing to a color palette of lime green and brown and adding a handwritten script for the word "greenworks" to give it an eco-friendly flair.

The tagline I developed for the company, "Transforming the way you display," touts their main brand promise. To quote the brochure we developed, "Just as a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, Precision Digital is changing something ugly into something beautiful." Likewise, all of their materials feature a monarch butterfly against a vibrant orange background.

Here is the tri-fold brochure, which includes a caterpillar, cocoon and flying butterfly to symbolize the transformation the company is making. It also includes samples of a banner design, banner stand design and sign design.

The business cards also features the Monarch butterfly.

And their temporary website also plays on this concept.

We wish Precision Digital luck as they launch this new product line to the public!

If you're interested in learning more, please contact me and I will coordinate your new eco-friendly banner, trade show materials or signage with Precision Digital.

Polished Identity for Control Logics

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Homan Lajevardi has been a client of mine for over a year now, and I was so excited to hear that he was starting his own company a few months back. His new venture, Control Logics, specializes in risk management strategies, including internal controls and audit and Sarbanes-Oxley assistance. And while I certainly don't claim to be an expert on all of the technical details of what he does for his clients, Homan certainly is.

Homan wanted his company's new identity to be very polished and professional. The symbol I developed as part of the logo is made of "C's" and "L's" while still creating a graphic image that stands on its own, both in the circular icon in the logo and as a ghosted graphic element on identity pieces. We added shading and highlights to give the symbol some dimension, and paired it with a clean, sans-serif typeface.

The business cards are very clean and simple...

...and we created electronic letterhead, with templates created in Microsoft Word and Excel.

We wish Homan the best of luck as he creates yet another successful, worldwide company. To learn more about Control Logics, contact Homan at 813-454-2383 or homan@control-logics.com.

Sweet Girly Identity for Elle Diere Sophisticated Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:38:00 +0000

I've known Lauren Castine for 8 years now, and she's one of the most creative people I know. Dubbed "Martha Stewart" by all of her friends, Lauren has a knack for making things look beautiful, from homes to parties to weddings to, now, baby accessories. When Lauren became a mom 7 months ago to the lovely Kendall James, it came as no surprise that Kendall would quickly become just as well-dressed as her mom. And since Lauren wanted accessories to match each of her adorable outfits, she started making them herself.

Lauren and I have worked together on many a project since we met, including the identity for her wedding business, Elle Diere Signature Weddings (she and her mom have planned some AMAZING weddings...mine included...and they make beautiful handmade items like ringbearer's pillows and aisle runners)...

and most recently, the birth announcement for her daughter Kendall.

The identity for her new line of accessories, Elle Diere Sophisticated Baby, combines elements from each of these projects. Here are the business cards:

And the product packing for the headbands and hair clips:

Lauren is currently selling the Elle Diere Sophisticated Baby line at Serrano's Maternity in Brandon. View more of her designs here, then contact Lauren at ElleDiere@gmail.com if you'd like to learn more. We can't wait to see what's next!

Visual Website for Exterior Concepts

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:02:00 +0000

I've been writing freelance stories for Brandon Magazine (a new upscale magazine for the Brandon area of Florida) for the past few months, and that's where I met David Hetrick, the owner of Exterior Concepts. The latest issue of the magazine features his company as its cover story, so while I was interviewing him for the story, I got to know a lot about what he does. I also found out that he was looking to update the Exterior Concepts website, so I've been working with him on a website redesign.

Exterior Concepts is a full-service hardscape company that creates outdoor living spaces with an artistic twist, resulting in spectacular mixed-medium outdoor living spaces for their customers. Their work is really beautiful (check out the Featured Projects and Gallery on the site), and Dave is a true artist.

The new website really makes their work the star, showcasing all of the beautiful projects Exterior Concepts has done for its customers over the years. There's a slideshow of some of the highlights on their home page...

...and the Gallery showcases a portfolio of each of the different "artistic mediums" that Dave uses in his outdoor living spaces, including custom decks, gazebos, fire pits and water features.

I've really enjoyed working with Dave on both the website and the magazine article, and I hope that his business continues to grow and flourish as more people discover Exterior Concepts. If you want to learn more, visit the website, www.exteriorconceptsonline.com, give Dave a call at 813-877-2792 or email ext.concepts@yahoo.com.

Logo Design for The Marlo Laney Group

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:33:00 +0000

Marlo Laney is an enthusiastic, energetic Realtor who just relocated back to Florida after living in Virginia for 11 years.

Since she last lived in Florida she's gotten married and has a new last name, but since the name "Marlo" isn't all that common, we decided to use it to achieve a bit of brand recognition from people who remember her as Marlo Davis. Thus her business in Virginia, The Laney Group, became The Marlo Laney Group in Florida.

As a Realtor, we wanted a symbol for Marlo that would represent what she does (find people homes) without being completely obvious about it. So instead of using a house, we used a skeleton key. Marlo wanted a fluid, feminine script to display her name, and chose a deep red to match the Keller Williams logo she displays on her marketing materials, along with a blueish gray and black.

If you're in the market for a new home, give Marlo a call at 813-846-6328 or email her at marlo_laney@hotmail.com. 78% of her business is referral based, and her customers have said that Marlo has helped them put the fun back into the homebuying process...that they've enjoyed looking at houses, and she made the process less stressful. She really focuses on developing trust with her clients, and always offers them honesty and education.

Welcome back to Florida, Marlo!

A Refreshed Identity for Quality Medical South

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:27:00 +0000

Perceptivity Studio teamed up with Contact Media to create a new identity and marketing materials for Quality Medical South, a biomedical equipment repair and service company.

Quality Medical South liked the concept of their existing logo but it needed a bit of a makeover. We refreshed the heart monitor graphic, type treatment and color palette while still maintaining the integrity of the original design.

Once the logo had been updated, we worked with them on a new website design and sell sheet design for their individual product lines. The new website, www.QualityMedicalSouth.com, just went live.

The sell sheet design has a similar look and feel to the new website, while presenting the information in a simple, easy to read format.

Tampa Bay Green Business Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:06:00 +0000

As I've posted before, Perceptivity Studio is trying to be an environmentally-responsible business, and I've teamed up with a few other local Tampa Bay businesses to start a new group called Green Initiative Tampa Bay that will hopefully help me (and you!) do just that.

We're still in the planning process, so we've developed a survey to help us understand how other businesses in Tampa Bay (and elsewhere if you're not local!) feel about "going green" with their businesses with questions involving opinions, eco-friendly business practices and more. I sent a link out to many of you this morning, but if you didn't get it, here's a link to the survey:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228CHSLD6YQ

The more feedback we can get, the better, so please take a few minutes (it's quick, I promise!) and let us know what you think. I will post more information about the group once we get it going. Thank you in advance for your help!

A New Website for Engineering Matrix

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Perceptivity Studio has been working with the wonderful team at Engineering Matrix since February. We launched a direct mail campaign to let their current customers know about some of their lesser-known services a few months ago and developed a new "look" for their company in that campaign.

Next up? Revamping their website. While it actually went live a few weeks ago during my crazy-busy blogging downtime, I'm excited to finally blog about it and show you the new site now, because I love it!

Here is the home page...actually, go look at the actual home page so you can see the rollover on the menu. When you roll over each of the menu headings, the "Matrix" in "Engineering Matrix" changes...so About is "Engineering Story," Team is "Engineering People" and so on.

The interior pages follow a similar layout. Here is the team page:

Engineering Matrix is very involved with "green" building. In fact, 25%+ of the staff are LEED Accredited Professionals with the U.S. Green Building Council, which is a big deal! So we did a special page on the new website dedicated to Sustainability ("Engineering Green") and even changed their blue logo to green for this page.

We're also developing a complete admin system so they will be able to edit the website themselves, including adding new projects to the portfolio page (which we're hoping to launch soon so you can see all of the amazing projects they've worked on).

This has been a really fun project to work on, and we look forward to whatever is next with the Engineering Matrix team! If you haven't already, go look at the new website now!

Perceptivity Studio will be exhibiting at Efest!

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:12:00 +0000

Perceptivity Studio has been focusing on eco-friendly marketing with our clients for a while now, and we're excited to take that focus one step further--we'll be exhibiting at this year's Efest in Sarasota on November 15th and 16th.

Efest is "a major green living music and arts festival that unites hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals that care about our environment," and we're hoping to reach like-minded businesses who are looking to make their marketing efforts more eco-friendly with our green marketing materials (like business cards and brochures), green promotional items (like recycled pens and water powered clocks), green display materials (like banners, signs and trade show materials), electronic media (like websites and email newsletters) and eco-friendly identities (logos that reflect eco-conscious companies).

Want to read more about our eco-friendly, "green" marketing services? Visit our website and click on the "green marketing" button at the bottom of the page. Want to check out Efest? Their website is www.efest.us.

A More Sophisticated Yellow Tag: Best Buy Gets a New Logo

noreply@blogger.com (Perceptivity Studio) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:02:00 +0000

I just read on the Brand New blog this morning that Best Buy is in the process of re-branding themselves with a new, more sophisticated logo. There's quite a bit of debate over at Brand New about whether Best Buy's new logo was a good idea or not, and I'm still a bit undecided myself.

As I said in my comment over there, my initial reaction was positive. From an aesthetic standpoint, the new Best Buy logo is certainly an improvement...from a practical standpoint I'm still making up my mind.

It's certainly hard to ignore the screaming yellow price tags currently adorning all of Best Buy's stores, but will we really not notice the new yellow-outlined tag just because it's not screaming as loud? The big-box Best Buy stores will still probably be painted bright blue, and the yellow is still there, just not "highlighter" yellow. I'm guessing the new Best Buy signs will all be in neon, a la the photos from the new Mall of America storefront where the new logo was launched.

It's still going to be obvious that this is Best Buy, and I don't think people will notice them less because of their new logo.

In our Great Logo quiz back in May, Best Buy was one of the logos we looked at. Here's what I had to say back then:

This logo has been around since 1989, and literally screams the company's main benefit (you will get the "best buy" by shopping here) loud and clear in eye-catching yellow and black. In Best Buy's highly competitive retail environment, this bold color combination may be a good idea. However, just because it's bold doesn't mean people will automatically pay attention, so think about colors that make sense for your company before automatically picking the loudest ones.

I said it then and I say it now. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to stop screaming at your customers. Let's see how Best Buy's new logo plays out once it's officially launched.