Category Archives: Advertising

posted by Apprentices

Dec 13, 2011 @ 10:33am

Publicité & Graphisme

“A poster, unlike a painting, is not and is not meant to be, a work easily distinguished by its manner—a unique specimen conceived to satisfy the demanding tastes of a single more or less enlightened art lover. It is meant to be a mass-produced object existing in thousands of copies like a fountain pen or automobile. Like them, it is designed to answer certain strictly material needs. It must have a commercial function.”

-AM. Cassandre, translated by Michael Taylor

AM Cassandre, "Dubonnet" - 1932

In a few days I will be traveling to Paris for a vacation and I wanted to familiarize myself with the history of French design, but I found no books or blogs on its history. This is, perhaps, due to France’s overwhelming amount of cultural history in painting, cinema, food, and fashion. Though French design seems to play a smaller role in France’s cultural history when compared to so many other facets of artistic expression, it’s advertising (publicité) and typographic (graphisme) legacies are by no means insignificant to a broad popular culture. (1) Below you will find an assortment of beautiful French posters that represent a rich cultural history of French graphic design.

 

Toulouse-Lautrec, "La Chaine Simpson" 1890's

Roland Ansieau, "Berger" 1935

Raymond Savignac, "Autorail Paris" 1937

Ramond Savignac, "Cigarettes Collie" 1952

Bernard Villemot, "Orangina" 1953

 

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posted by Kevin

Nov 02, 2011 @ 4:42pm

Persist or Advance

Occupy Wall Street is proving to be the definition of persistence. Meanwhile, the European debt crisis continues one week after the next. In a better world, crises would at least be short, especially such severe ones. The congressional stalemate continues despite national frustration. I can’t imagine anything worse than being on a “Super Committee.” A regular committee is painful enough.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola does something beautiful. They turn their cans white for the World Wildlife Fund . This profound gesture reminds me why I love the business of branding. Amidst all the chaos, Coke’s Arctic Home campaign feels like a refuge. A company doing something good, just because it is a good hearted company.

Coke’s white can inspired our marketing strategy for our client Moe’s Southwest Grill. Moe’s is incredibly supportive of schools and children’s charities, and we’re working on ways to further deepen their support at a neighborhood level.

Moe’s reminds me that we have to continually raise the bar. They are constantly tweaking their menu. They were the first retailer in town with Coke’s incredible new Freestyle machine. Better training, improvements to the prep line, and monitoring measuring customer feedback all followed a discussion about marketing strategy.

As the economy continues to strain business, brands easily fall into a mentality of persistence spawned by risk avoidance. I would argue that today’s challenging business climate demands constant improvement and innovation. I invite you to share a Coke with a colleague and start exploring how you might change things for the better.

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posted by Julie

Oct 26, 2011 @ 12:47pm

A marketing lesson from my dentist.

Now that I am an adult, I have been to a few dental offices. Some I have dreaded. Others I didn’t mind. I have patiently waited hours past my appointment time in an uncomfortable chair reading a two-month-old golf magazine. Then there was the time my dentist quit without sending any sort of letter or announcement to warn me about the stranger who was to be my new dentist.

But that’s all history now. I have the best dentist ever.

I came to the practice by a referral from my husband. Actually, not really a referral. It was more out of frustrated disgust. Unbeknownst to me, my dentist of many years had “retired” and sold his practice to a new dentist. When I learned this, I was in the chair. I didn’t leave in a huff. I let the nice new dentist clean my teeth then decided to find another new dentist who was a little closer to home.

My husband suggested I go to his dentist, Dr. Thomas Pitts. Initially, I hesitated since the office was all the way in St. Andrews. Yes, all the way. I live in the city. A drive on the Interstate defeated my whole closer to home qualification. So naturally I made my next appointment with them.

Ten years later, I am positively head over heels for this practice for so many reasons.

They are nice. Everyone who works there treats every patient with full courtesy. Do not confuse this with catering to customers’ whims and complaints. They treat you respectfully and they ask the same of you.

Snowflakes. Each year starting around December 1, they leave white paper, scissors and tape in the waiting area. They want you to make a cut-up folded paper snowflake (a la Kindergarten) and tape it to the window. They don’t mind if you leave the paper bits on the floor either. There’s only one downside to this, which is the next reason I love them.

I never wait more than five minutes. During December no wait is a bit of a bummer. There’s only time to make one snowflake. They have nice, comfortable furniture and all kinds of up-to-date magazines. If you ever had to wait, this would be a great place to do it. You never will though. Not here.

Halloween. Last year I was actually there on Halloween and everyone had on a costume. Even Dr. Pitts. My teeth were checked by a pretty creepy looking vampire.  How often can you say that?

They care about their patients. They know and remember me, my children, my life. They have called me to let me know they could see me earlier because of a cancellation. Their goal is not to simply meet patients’ expectations; they truly want to exceed them. While that good to great stuff is lip service for some organizations, this one lives and breathes it effortlessly.

The staff. Dr. Pitts is a very nice guy. He’s got a wry sense of humor and he’s a great dentist. He shakes your hand at every visit. The office staff and hygenists are all very nice and good at what they do. From what I can see, Dr. Pitts is equally kind to his employees. They appear to be valued, respected, included and empowered. Obviously, there’s not much turnover.

When I was in the other day, I asked them how they get most of their new patients. I really wasn’t surprised when they said they don’t advertise. All of their new patients — 100% — come via patient referrals. When you treat patients that well, you don’t need to advertise.They get a key part of marketing so many businesses never grasp.

How you treat people is the biggest message of all.

 

 

 

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posted by Apprentices

Oct 25, 2011 @ 5:28pm

Chess

I’m on the job hunt.

The Riggs apprenticeship program has given me the chance to learn a new craft while actively putting it into practice—a rare opportunity in the world of coffee-fetching internship programs—but the apprenticeship format’s finest attribute is this: it ends. The urgency of a finite deadline lends an invaluable immediacy to any undertaking. The late Steve Jobs paid tribute to this principle in the Stanford commencement speech that has littered the airwaves in the wake of his passing. A deadline forces decisions and, although it seems counterintuitive, often yields the best work. I hear time’s winged chariots hurrying near, so how have I spent my free time lately? Trolling job boards? Fine-tuning my resume? No… I’ve been playing chess!

Last night I found myself scrambling against an opponent stronger than I am accustomed to, but I forced myself to remain committed to one of the fundamental principles of the game—make the best possible move every time—rather than pursuing the abstract end goal of checkmate. Grand Masters are capable of envisioning a final scenario for victory once they’ve sensed the texture of a game in its first few moves. My tender wits can’t think that far in advance, so I did everything I could to stick to the few simple principles I’ve learned.

I made a few blunders and lost some valuable material (non-pawn pieces) due to oversight, but, making every move with as much thought and preparation as possible, I finally got myself into some advantageous scenarios. I skewered a rook, the endgame’s most powerful piece, absent the queen. Then I wheeled my knight into position. All of a sudden, I looked at the board on my turn and found myself a single space away from leveling checkmate on the opposing king. I had by no means followed a pre-determined strategy to arrange for the conditions of checkmate, I simply looked up and the winning scenario was before me, a move away. Dumb luck, one might say, but I’d care to argue. By making each move carefully and thinking through the ramifications of every possibility, I put myself into circumstances conducive to victory, even without concentrating solely on the goal of checkmate.

Giddy with victory and uncharacteristically optimistic, I began to draw parallels between what had just transpired on the chessboard and the institution of the Great American Job Hunt. If my sole focus is simply to get a job, I will overlook the tiny preparations and possibilities that present themselves only when I commit to the simple goal of putting myself in the best possible position to get hired: arranging informational interviews via every possible avenue, fine-tuning my personal brand message, narrowing down the attributes of the position I’d like to end up in. Maybe if I can focus on those small things, thinking through every move, I just might look up soon to the surprise of an interviewer shaking my hand and offering me a job… only I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at all.

– Pete Anderson

Editor’s note from Cathy: Pete Anderson may well be the only 20-something writer in America today with a professed love of long format copy writing. That in itself makes him a rare commodity; brands cannot live by pithy headlines alone. But do let us mention he also has some serious talent. Read more about Pete at about.me/pfa.

 

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posted by Apprentices

Sep 20, 2011 @ 12:23pm

Love Talk: be useful or be interesting.

I follow Anthropologie on Tumblr. (And yes, someday I’ll stop talking about Anthropologie. When they stop being so cool.) Here’s why: their Tumblr blog, etymologie, reads like great editorial content, because it is. Each week, the folks maintaining this blog choose a word: “pet” or “garden” are recent examples. Then, they feature a variety of content – sourced from employees, customers, ordinary people – that expresses the essence of the word. The tone is casual, conversational. The photographs aren’t always styled. It feels like a community effort.

A photo that appeared on the etymologie tumblr during "pet" week.

The only marketing that ever appears in the blog is a small “shop anthropologie” link in the top navigation. So what makes the Tumblr blog such a smart marketing strategy? It obeys the two essential rules for communicating in our world today:

Be useful or be interesting. Bonus for being both.

Consumers are overloaded with information. Messages – of all kinds – fly at us from every channel. Still, organizations somehow believe that simply moving their marketing communications to Facebook or Twitter means consumers will listen to them. Nope. The reality is that none of us can process all the information that’s thrown at us everyday, forcing us to become more and more selective about the content we consume.

If brands hope to be heard, they must create communication that actually offers something of worth to their customers. It should instruct, inspire, ease, entertain. A few forward-thinking fashion brands have been quick to grasp this concept and have created their own editorial outlets – like the etymologie tumblr or like The Journal, an online magazine produced by men’s clothing brand, Mr. Porter. Consumers are attracted to the content for its own merit. It’s like going to a smashing party given by a cool host – your brand.

Granted, if you sell jet engines or potting soil, creating a lifestyle publication is probably not your best communication strategy. The question to ask yourself, then, is how can I give to my customers? How does my brand fit into their lives?

Perhaps the only “marketing strategy” that matters is simply love your customers.

When you love someone, you make a concerted effort to please him. You consider her needs, and how you can meet them. You listen. You pay attention to what he likes.

And when you open your mouth, that’s what you talk about.

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