…Oh, and the intern sort of helped. He might cry if we didn’t include him. Thanks Chase, sort of.

Click here for a larger resolution image and be sure to hit “Read More” for some bonus detail shots!

Struck walked away with one of these prestigious awards, and seven other merit awards. We wouldn’t feel right without bragging about our stellar talent, but there were some other highlights worth mentioning. We, along with most designers, have a strong appreciation and affection for craft. So we were particularly envious of the beautiful poster that Hint Creative designed for Gruppo.

The detail and authentic quality set this piece above and there is no question why it was ranked one of the best. In contrast to this piece, the simplicity and wit of Weber student Paul Mason made his poster for the classic SLC music venue Kilby Court an instant favorite for our creative director, Scott Sorenson. I suspect Scott feels a connection to the Pterodactyl.
Speaking of Scott, he took away his own Copper Ingot for the very cool Dexterity Salon barbering campaign. It doesn’t hurt that he was also one of the models sporting “The High & Tight.”

In the end, we had an amazing time rubbing elbows, drinking cocktails and participating in a little healthy competition. The AIGA board put on a killer event and we can’t wait for next year.

Congrats to all of this year’s winners and to our team on their wins as well:

• Copper Ingot Award: Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon / Dave Bunnell, Phil Smallwood, Mike Torretta, Russ Gray, Beth Lopez
• Merit Award: Joy to the World Window Illustrations / Peder Singleton, Todd Downer, Elizabeth Demers, Jeannie Dahlhauser
• Merit Award: Capture a Fairy Packaging / Brent Watts, Kortney Greer, Beth Lopez
• Merit Award:  A La Mode / Brent Watts, Russ Gray
• Merit Award: ProBar Packaging / Scott Sorenson, Matt Manes, Russ Gray, Destin Cox
• Merit Award: Struck Notebooks / Tosh Brown, Mike Torretta, Val Jar
• Merit Award: Konditorei Invitations / Brent Watts, Kortney Greer, Alex Fuller, Suzanne King

“We are extremely excited to be teaming up with Struck for our Digital Creative initiatives moving forward,” said Kay Howard, Director of Communications, Lennar Corporation. “We sought out a digital agency who could help elevate our brand and our online presence with great digital content—and we feel we have definitely found the right team with Struck.”

Though predominantly digital, Struck will apply a strategic, multi-disciplinary approach for Lennar. The partnership will allow Lennar to continue to effectively respond to market changes and maximize customer relationships by creating deeper online engagement.

“Lennar is leading the industry in their use of social media and mobile marketing to connect with their customer base,” said Daniel Conner, CEO at Struck. “We are extremely proud to be working with a homebuilding leader and, more importantly, a company that recognizes the incredible value of their digital communication streams in creating customer value.”

ABOUT LENNAR

Lennar Corporation, founded in 1954, is one of the nation’s largest builders of quality homes for all generations. The Company builds affordable, move-up and retirement homes primarily under the Lennar brand name. Previous press releases and further information about Lennar may be obtained at the “Investor Relations” section of the Company’s website.

ABOUT STRUCK

Struck is a national digital-forward creative agency with offices in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Portland. The brand solutions the agency creates are well recognized for their forward thinking, breakthrough creativity, and pioneering technology. Clients include Jack in the Box, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, ASICS, PROBAR, Westfield, Deer Valley Resort, The Little Gym, and Utah Office of Tourism.

Last summer, we were challenged with the task of promoting one of Utah’s most iconic attractions: Lagoon Amusement Park. As one of the longest-operating amusement parks in the country, Lagoon’s awareness isn’t a problem around the Intermountain West. But communicating the Lagoon experience was a bit tougher.

Our approach? We looked at their existing tagline “It’s what fun is!”, and actually dissected what “fun” is through the words of their guests. We explored how to connect that back with their core audiences of both families and youth. The Struck team then took those insights and created two video pieces, each tailored to those guest segments.

For Lagoon’s broadcast campaign starting in May, we showcased Lagoon for families in the magic hour that only evening light can provide. We defined fun for families through the lens of nostalgia, memory, and capturing moments with family and friends… right as the sun goes down and the neon flickers on. Set to the song “Pure” by Blackbird Blackbird, the spot re-introduces Lagoon as a place to re-connect and to make indelible memories. The spot’s aptly entitled: Let fun reign.

On the other hand, the definition of fun for Lagoon’s youth demographic was through the lens of social interaction and shared experience. That lent itself to a feel and tone that was far more whimsical, with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The end result was a web-only, ’80s-vibe video entitled “Best Friends”, available now through Lagoon’s YouTube channel. Check it out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Of course, your own definition of fun will be determined when or if you visit Lagoon. (Shameless plug alert!) If you’re in the State or within striking distance, put Lagoon on the ‘ol itinerary and let us know if fun reigned.

Perry was nominated from a wide national pool of candidates and he will serve a three-year term to help shape the direction of the organization, which represents a variety of professions under the umbrella of communication design. Perry’s appointment to the esteemed design association represents the high standards for creativity and design that are at the forefront of Struck’s innovative and groundbreaking work.

“We are extremely proud of Kevin’s accomplishments and his prestigious appointment with the AIGA,” says Daniel Conner, CEO at Struck. “He is an exceptional part of our team and is a perfect example of the caliber of top-tier talent that Struck has on board.”

Perry is a designer and business professional with more than 13 years of agency experience, and has played a leading role at Struck for the past 2 years. He provides operational expertise to the agency and orchestrates the diverse talents of more than 75 creative and strategic experts across the agency’s multiple offices. Perry is a past board member and president of the Salt Lake City chapter of AIGA.  His work has been awarded by major design competitions, including the AIGA 100 Show and Print. He was previously the creative director at Fluid Studio, and is the cofounder of Salt Lake Design Week and the ReVinylize Project.

“Today, design is recognized for its ability to join empathy and creativity in creating value for business and improving the experience,” said Ric Grefé, executive director, AIGA. “At the same time, the role of associations is challenged by social media and the internet. AIGA needed a leader who instilled confidence among his peers to help redefine AIGA’s role as a powerful advocate for design and Kevin definitely fits that challenge.”

ABOUT AIGA

AIGA is the professional association for design, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing design as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. Founded in 1914, AIGA today serves more than 22,000 members through 67 chapters and 200 student groups throughout the United States. AIGA stimulates thinking about design, demonstrates the value of design and empowers the success of designers at each stage of their careers. Learn more at aiga.org/about.

ABOUT STRUCK

Struck is a national digital-forward creative agency with offices in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Portland. The brand solutions the agency creates are well recognized for their forward thinking, breakthrough creativity, and pioneering technology. Clients include Jack in the Box, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, ASICS, ProBar, Westfield, Grand America Hotels & Resorts, The Little Gym, and Utah Office of Tourism.

AdWeek did a nifty little portrait  and write up on Struck. We grabbed Steve, Dan and Pauline to represent. Click on the image or here to see the full article.

The new campaign, which breaks today and includes broadcast, print, outdoor and digital, establishes the Utah National Park circuit as a don’t-miss adventure and offers visitors tools to plan their own Mighty Five™ adventure.  An online planning site (http://www.visitutah.com/parks-monuments/mighty5/) helps create custom Mighty Five itineraries from 3-10 days in length.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Utah is home to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. The Mighty Five campaign is the first of its kind for Utah’s state tourism as it focuses on the unique opportunity to visit all five national parks in a single week.

“Utah’s diverse landscapes can make it challenging to create a tourism campaign that accurately represents the unbelievable experiences you can have here,” said Vicki Varela, Managing Director, Utah Office of Tourism. “But The Mighty Five does a tremendous job of showcasing what makes Utah so magnificent and how easy it is to pack it all into one vacation.”

“Only Utah can offer five iconic parks in one epic adventure,” said Daniel Conner, CEO, Struck. “The Mighty Five campaign does an exceptional job of showcasing the beauty and adventure of Utah – the video is breath-taking, the planning tools are amazing, and we even created souvenirs so visitors can proudly declare they’ve conquered The Mighty Five.”

In addition to targeted broadcast, print, and digital advertising, the campaign will also feature hand-painted murals in Los Angeles and building wraps in Colorado.

ABOUT STRUCK

Struck (www.struck.com) is a national digital-forward creative agency with offices in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Portland. The brand solutions the agency creates are well recognized for their forward thinking, breakthrough creativity, and pioneering technology. Clients include Jack in the Box, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, ASICS, ProBar, Westfield, Grand America Hotels & Resorts, The Little Gym, and Utah Office of Tourism.

When people ask me what I do, I generally respond that I work in advertising. Sometimes I mention something about digital. And, if I’m brave, I’ll tell them I’m a *creative director*. Actually I’m a trash digger, a dumpster diver. Even though I’m a writer by training and trade, what I’m really good at (and what I really love) is thinking. And that means I spend a lot of time here at Struck neck-deep in piles of trash.

Let me explain.

Clients come to us with dumpsters full of garbage. This isn’t an insult. It’s a truth—and it’s a huge credit to our clients. They’re trying to solve messy problems. They’re fighting for attention in an exponentially fragmented marketplace. They have piles of research at their disposal. They have gobs of tactics begging for a chance. They have a little bit of everything. And, if they’re really great clients, they recognize that they need help. So they wheel their dumpster over to our front door and ask us to dig in.

What happens next? We dump that garbage in a big open space and we start going through it all. Some of it truly is garbage. It’s trash—distractions, broken tools, bad ideas, red herrings. But there’s greatness in that dumpster as well. That thing looks like a tire, that piece of leather might be a seat. There may be a rusty chain buried under that stack of telephone books.

We search for insights and guardrails, trusting that a campaign or a platform or something truly valuable can be uncovered. And I love every minute of it. I love the Post-it notes, the 3×5 cards, the Sharpies, the undecipherable stacks of customer data. As a creative director, I have a hard time imagining how we’d ever arrive at a creative solution without first digging through the client’s garbage.

What I love the most is the moment when you realize that the trash is no longer trash. It’s something else. In this case, it might be bicycle. All that digging and sorting has yielded some wheels, a frame and a pedal or two. We’ve oiled the chain and pieced together some handlebars. So, we sketch up some plans. We bundle up all the pieces. We take our time and we choose our words carefully. We sell that vision of a bicycle to our clients and then we unleash our designers, writers, developers, illustrators and filmmakers to do what only they can do: They make the most beautiful, the most effective and the most powerful bike that has ever been built.

That’s how we turn a dumpster full of trash into a bicycle. That’s how we solve problems for our clients.

A few Struckers were in Austin for SXSWi a couple weeks ago. On the way to a party (apparently parties are things that happen in Austin… weird, right?), they stepped into an elevator and quickly noticed that a woman in the corner was wearing a pair of Google Glasses (Google Glass Glasses? Googlasses? Googli?). This conversation ensued:

Strucker: Excuse me. Are those Google Glasses?
Woman: Yes.
Strucker: Cool. Uh. Where… uh… how did you get them?
Woman: I work at Google.

The doors opened. The woman exited and that was that. It was either the most boring conversation of the week or the most brilliantly planned product placement of the entire conference. Like everyone else, we’ve been thinking a lot about “wearable computing”—everything from Nike Fuelband and Jawbone UP to the much-reported Apple Watch and Mr. Wolfdog’s Translation Collar. It’s thrilling territory, but the most thrilling territory is also the riskiest. The allure of becoming the next iPod/iPhone/iPad is great. But the danger of becoming the next Segway is also a (more-than-likely) probability.

Whether it’s Gob off-roading through a construction site or Paul Blart bumbling through the West Orange Pavillion Mall, the failure of the Segway has become the ultimate punchline. There’s nothing funnier than the early adopters who bet on the wrong world-changing innovation. Unless maybe it’s the late adopters who scored *sweet* deals on the products everyone else rejected.

And, while it’s impossible to predict where Google Glass will land, I’m afraid there are signs of Segway-ness written all over this one. Here are five reasons we might be laughing about them in a few years (and, yeah, I’m probably wrong):

Practicality
More than 150 million Americans use corrective eyewear. Only 36 million wear contact lenses. While Google has promised that it is working on a prescription version of the glasses, it would likely be limited to a certain number of frames and styles… and there’s no indication of how they might work with various prescription strengths. And this says nothing of users/wearers who may simply suffer from common I-just-turned-40-and-holy-crap-I-can’t-see-things-up-close-anymore. I want to trust that Google can figure this out, but I’m also constantly thinking about the Opti-Grab and poor Carl Reiner.

Cost
A few years ago, this might’ve been at the top of the list. The initial Explorer’s Edition comes with a $1,500 price tag (plus you have to be a *somebody*), which seems incredibly prohibitive. But after watching $500-$700 iPads fly off the shelves at record rates and seeing 10-year-olds walking around with iPhone 5s, I’m starting to believe that we’ll pay nearly any amount for the latest and greatest. Still, $1,500 feels high. Even $500 seems steep for what has been described as “roughly a Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Nexus”.

Privacy
No one has an answer here. Mainly because no one has been able to dig deep into what’s happening with all the data that Google could/might/will collect with the devices. There are already reports of retail locations banning the use of Google Glass. I’d like to say more here, but if people freak out when Instagram says something about potentially selling your photos (but not really), how will we react to a device that might officially eliminate any illusion of privacy we’ve clung to?

Google
How is google a reason that Google Glass might go the way of the Segway? Um. Google Wave. Google+. Google Buzz. Google Video. In some way, however, those failures might show how Google’s deep pockets can keep nearly anything alive. Whether a hit or not, there’s been enough publicity around Glass that Google might take a page from the Microsoft playbook and keep telling us we really need something we don’t want.

Douchiness
This might be the clincher (and the most direct correlation to the Segway). Let’s call it the Face Punch Test. Do you want to punch this guy in the face? This guy? Now what about this guy? And do you want to be *that* dude or lady-dude? Of course not. After the initial novelty wears off, do you really want to face the ridicule of your friends every time you adjust your Googlasses to properly view an important email from Groupon Getaways? No. You don’t.

And here’s a more personal, more emotional thought… The answer to a better, more meaningful, more connected life might lie in turning our phones off and leaving them home—not strapping them to our faces.

From last weeks attendance at Google Engage and Adobe Summit it’s certainly clear that marketers need to know how consumers use their mobile devices and how to best reach those devices. Google Engage explored the “Where” with their Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) presentation and Adobe helped attack the “How.”

There are three moments of truth for a consumer. The first two moments are: 1) When the consumer first encounters a product in the store and decides to make a purchase and 2) When they take it home and actually use it for its purpose. But these days there are several other factors that influence a consumers decision. Google defines this as ZMOT.

Amazon reviews, website research, price comparison, asking their friends on Facebook and even checking eBay are all ZMOT. It’s everything that surrounds a consumer’s decision before they actually go to a retail (or online) store for a purchase. Retailers, marketers and advertisers have worked tirelessly to engage consumers with the first two moments of truth. From packaging, color, logo and location of their actual product to demonstrating the second moment of truth through their advertising, PR and other marketing efforts. In the past the most successful brands were able to deliver on both Moments of Truth.

These days, it’s the marketers that engage their consumer in those ZMOT who are most successful. It’s no secret that content creation across multiple channels is where brands are trying to break through and influence their consumer. From Twitter accounts, to YouTube channels and blog posts. And the race is on for the most effective way to connect with people through mobile and drive them to the 1st and 2nd moments.

Marketers and digital enthusiast spoke about the mobile reach this past week at Adobe Summit. Everyone wants to engage with their consumer during a ZMOT and they suggested just how we can do that– but the solution is not as glamourous as you may think. Email marketing is boasting huge results as consumers check their email access at all times of the day. Consumers react to the vibration or the ding of their phones notifications like hipsters react to the sound of an underground concert. It’s a reflex. And several of Adobe’s breakout sessions revealed their next mobile secret:

SMS and MMS mobile advertising.

Mobile is the go-to form to reach the individual consumer and complete their brand interaction. From sending an SMS alert when they try to close their pizza order on Papa John’s website to an MMS video based on their location this is the golden ticket in reaching consumers during their Zero Moment and persuading them to make a purchase.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” says pretty much every digital guy in any digital shop. Surely no one wants their phone to be intruded with sponsored texts. Well, actually, they do. According to Google Engage and Adobe Summit there are 234 million mobile device users in America who look at their phone an average of 150 times a day. When making purchase decisions 24% of females will take a picture of a product and ask their friends while 20% of men will scan a barcode. 98% of all MMS messages are opened and 44% of people who sign up for email notifications also opt-in for mobile notifications.

Consumers process more data than ever before in history and can process it faster than anyone in history. They want to be connected to brands which is why they like you on Facebook, mention you in a tweet and share your sandwich on Instagram. And they expect you to be part of their journey. Not just the journey of your brand in general, but their specific journey from first being exposed to your product to using it at home. ExactTarget and Sony boasted such success with their mobile campaigns at the Adobe Summit,  finding incredible interaction and ROI from SMS and MMS efforts. It hits consumers hard in their Zero Moments of truth and drives them toward those first and second moments.

So keep your eye on the mobile message market and let’s just hope there’s more cat videos involved.