Tattoo Projects Born to Blog

Interns Wanted

Buffy McCoy Kelly — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:22:34 +0000

Tattoo is looking for design interns who are willing and ready to dive into a crazy and fast paced environment, which is also known as advertising. It’s a great opportunity to grow and learn in this industry. If you are interested, contact us for more info.

Effects of Packaging

Buffy McCoy Kelly — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:47:18 +0000

Packaging is an important concept when it comes to your product and brand identity. This packaging design rebrands carrots as junk food just to get kids to eat more of them! What is this world coming to? However, this should get the point across that looks and packaging say a lot when it comes to a product…not only to kids.

SOS…aka “Save Our Swarm”

Buffy McCoy Kelly — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:59:46 +0000

First Outdoor Ad with 10k live bees – money from the sale of each bottle goes toward helping Britain’s dwindling bee population. Interesting to say the least.

How Does Your Blog Communicate?

Buffy McCoy Kelly — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:49:35 +0000

Following up on the idea of social media being one of the newest and most popular ways of communicating and marketing your products, blogs are not only important in getting an audiences attention, but also in establishing relationships. But, you have to be careful in this aspect of social media. You have to be the one to make sure you establish those relationships positively.

When companies join the social media and the blog world, they are putting themselves out there to take risks and possibly face negativity. Actually, you are almost guaranteed to face some kind of negativity. According to a blog on Conversation Agent a few risks that companies can face include: negative comments, loss of control over message, and neglect. You and your team must be prepared for each of these risks to happen. And by being prepared, that means having a strategy for how you are going to react. Negative feedback from consumers can easily be turned into a positive relationship. Not everyone has the same view, opinions, ideas, etc. So be sure to keep an open mind by respecting others opinions, and learn how to disagree with people in a professional manner. Disagreements can end in growth and a little extra knowledge if you allow yourself to open up and listen to others instead of doing all the talking yourself. With that being said, use your blog to connect with people. Allow it to interest your readers in both what you are doing and/or what is going on in the outside world…variety is a good thing and it keeps things interesting.

What do you think? Is there other negative/positive that can come out of a company blog? If so, what is it and how should companies go about dealing with it?

The Social Media in the Eyes of Marketers

Buffy McCoy Kelly — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:01:37 +0000

“New media is not traditional media, only on blogs.” A recent article found in Conversation Agent claims that a non PR person will revolutionize the industry by FORGETTING the following:

1. Never mind whether PR means press release, lets start a new conversation
2. Moderation goes beyond answering on behalf of someone, it means enabling connections
3. Building relationships means understanding the social graph

PR is in need of a reinvention beyond pitching bloggers press releases. Or, should blogging and online marketing just be left up to marketers, after all it is our job, right?

Two-way conversations are critical. As marketers we want to market our products and inform our consumers of our services. But in the world of blogging, we also want to connect with consumers and the public with a sense of reality by starting conversations and understanding what the social world looks like at all times. In the blogosphere, you want to be relevant to your readers. In order for you to connect with your audience comes the importance of cultivating two-way conversations via social media and blogs. NOT the traditional press releases and the usual methods PR agencies use. This is not only important in building a connection, but also in building a brand.

Buffy McCoy Kelly — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:42:13 +0000

Learn a load about advertising. Apply Here.

Who’s New at Tattoo?

Buffy McCoy Kelly — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:30:01 +0000

For Doug Huber, his interest in Advertising started on a set. After graduating from Gettysburg College with a film degree and spending a year studying abroad at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Film & Television in Melbourne, Australia, he moved to LA to pursue his dreams of working in the film business. While working in LA, he became increasingly interested in the creativity behind the commercials and strived to become an advertising creative. Enter Miami Ad School, where Doug learned the ins and outs of great advertising. While studying there, he interned at Bureau Pindakaas, Amsterdam; Lowe Worldwide, NYC; and Team One, LA. Now graduated, Doug is looking forward to creating some great work as Tattoo’s new Art Director.

As for our otheer new hire, Stephen Bache has come all the way from the state of Texas. With that being said, he’s no stranger to the virtues of bbq and cold brew. Stephen stumbled onto writing as an act of serendipity. He wrote poetry and one day showed it to a young lass, who proceeded to lavish him with praise and poetic attribution. Well this young dog learned a few new tricks that day. From then on the fountain pen was flying so fast the paper started to look like it had been violated by a premenstrual octopus. As Charles Bukowski once wrote, a man can be many things, but only after seeing it through the eyes of a woman.

Some time later, when Architecture Calculus turned up one to many x’s in college, most often on top of the Question number, Stephen turned to Advertising as his creative outlet. And while he still does have a love for buildings, Stephen now prefers to plaster them with window clings. As a copywriter, Stephen has met some inspirational personalities, exceptional mentors, and all-around good human beings through Advertising. Though he traded team sports for a skateboard in high school, Stephen understands the value of having passionate people around you for support. He carries this team-player work ethic along with ambition and a passion to succeed into everything he does.

We are excited to welcome Doug and Stephen as new players on our team here at Tattoo.

Does size REALLY matter?

Buffy McCoy Kelly — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:13:29 +0000

Advertising agencies vary all across the board when it comes to size, money, work, how the business is run, etc. But that’s a fact about any industry, really. However, agencies tend to be identified by their size too often for what it’s worth. “Both small and large agencies have size thrust upon them as a defining element of their identity, and they should resist,” according to AdAge. But seriously, judging a business on its size is almost like judging a human being on whether they are tall or short, male or female. Sometimes it’s good to be small, sometimes it’s good to be big. Who can really say one is better than the other.

An intriguing article in AdAge that discusses the size of agencies and how it effects their identity says this, “What we often don’t acknowledge is that we operate in a world that values, encourages, and rewards growth. A hierarchy exists that tells us it’s better to be big.” With that being said, growth is a good, positive thing, however growth can be seen with many different meanings. Whether your a small agency, medium size agency, big or even a huge agency, advertising is advertising and if you’re passionate about what you do…size won’t matter. The number of employees you have on board won’t matter and the size of your office or the number of clients you have won’t matter either. Size is a funny thing, but when talking about agencies, a small agency can be just as effective if not more effective than the largest one out there.

Besides, if you don’t focus so much on size and more on portraying your agency with business maturity, strategic thinking, and creative risk taking then you shouldn’t have a problem with size being a critical factor in your identity with the public and/or clients.

Pepsi makes a change…again.

Buffy McCoy Kelly — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:17:21 +0000

Brand Identity. It’s the way you want your consumers to view your product or your brand and it’s one of the most important aspects of the advertising/marketing industry, so it better be done right. All it takes sometimes is one move and your brand identity can go tumbling downhill…fast.

Pepsi, for example, has undergone a name change, packaging updates and two separate relaunches that have confused it’s brand identity since 2007, according to an article in AdAge. Now for Pepsi’s new idea…dropping the “diet” and coming out with Pepsi Max, a cross between cola and an energy drink. After once thinking the term “diet” was the way to go, they are now taking a new approach with the thought “Zero calories, maximum taste.” Although Pepsi is a large brand with a well known reputation, brand changing can cause harm to any company, no matter the size and no matter the popularity. Pepsi hasn’t necessarily done bad to the identity of their product, but I wouldn’t say they have done good either. They have have made a lot of changes in who they are and what they look like, which doesn’t always sit well with consumers; in other words, they are taking big risks.

Sure, brand identity can change, there is no question about that. Not everyone gets lucky enough to get it on the first try. However, if you want your product to thrive, find out what it is that consumers know and love, and stick to it. Let them get to know your product for what it is and what it’s always going to be.

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Buffy McCoy Kelly — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:29:25 +0000

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