On Monday the MLB Home Run derby took place and for the first time players tweeted during the derby. This social media experiment, requested by the MLB, allowed players to tweet, take pictures & video and share them on Twitter. It also allowed players to communicate directly with fans. I think this is really cool from a technology standpoint, but beyond that will it really catch on? (more…)

I have been a part of several discussions lately, involving company re-brands and I thought it would be fitting to get your opinion. The question is, should companies, who are well established and been around for a long time, rebrand themselves? (more…)

Soon companies will be able to use their name as the internet domain name. Names like .coke or .nike or .whatever name you can think of, will no longer limit companies to .com, .net, or .org. There is a catch though, and its a pretty big catch.The application fee to register these .anything domains comes in at a hefty application fee of$185,000.000, and that does not include the $25,000 annual fee. (more…)

Recently I was watching an episode of the new hit TV show “The Voice” on NBC. I had seen a few episodes and it seemed fairly decent. The cast of stars is quality, the singers are good, and I was actually excited to see how some of the contestants would perform under pressure. (more…)

These ads are gorgeous.  What a fantastic job done by agency Moma São Paulo who designed and developed this print campaign, for seminar group Maximidia.  These ads are fresh, clean, simple, and fun. (more…)

In November of 2009 I made a decision that changed the way I viewed personal computing, technology and my career.  I went to BestBuy and laid my eyes on the then new “27 inch iMac.  It was love at first sight, the resolution, the keyboard, dynamics, it was something special.  I played around with it for 5 minutes and new I was not leaving the store without it. (more…)

How many of us been stuck at a job we cant stand to be at? This ad by campaign brilliantly illustrates, being stuck in a job you hate. These 10 pieces are creative, and in a way kind of creepy, the message is clever and are hats are off to the agency who created these. (more…)

We are at it again.  Not even 7 days after our post regarding soap giant Dove, another borderline racist ad comes out from the chocolatier Cadbury.  This ad however is personal.  Well personal to Naomi Campbell that is.  The superstar is “considering every option possible” regarding action possibly being taken against Cadbury, according to the Huffington Post.   In a  recent ad campaign  by Cadbury, Campbell’s name is mentioned alongside a bar of the new chocolate “Dairy Milk Bliss” and she not having it.  Or is her mother, Valerie Morris. Naomi’s mother chimed in with this comment “I’m deeply upset by this racist advert. Do these people think they can insult black people and we just take it? This is the 21st century, not the 1950s. Shame on Cadbury.” (more…)

When Ray Kroc bought and modified the McDonalds concept in the 1950’s, I’m not sure he understood the impact and influence the brand would make throughout the world. They experienced incredible growth in the 1960‘s & 70‘s, and won “The Burger Wars” with Burger King in the 1980‘s.

The 1990’s were a bad decade for the fast food giant. Their advertising strategies were changed, to target adults, and the Deluxe Line of sandwiches launched. Ultimately bombing and costing the giant over $200 million dollars. Not a small price and was considered one of the biggest marketing flops of all time. During this campaign in 1996 the company launched its first website on www.Mcdonalds.com. This was to be the first of several key designs in the next 15 years, leading to possibly one of the best looking sites on todays web. (more…)

When I think of Dove, I think of refreshing, revitalizing, body wash. Their marketing and packaging has always caught my eye, and to be honest i find it quite appealing. They often use bright and bold colors, accompanied by some form of a modern gust. The price is well positioned, and the end product is nothing short of fresh. All that said, when I saw there latest ad campaign it nearly knocked me off the floor. I had to do a double take to see if what i was looking at was real. It was like watching a bad parody ad on SNL.  The new ad for their VisibleCare body wash collection claims that it is made to improve the look of your skin in a week.  Or it may turn a black women into a white women in 3 steps.  Depending on interpretation. (more…)

Tattoo artist S.Victor Whitmill is suing Warner Bros. because he is claiming the rights to the creative of Mike Tyson’s tattoo, that was apparently used without the artists permission during the movie Hangover Part 2. According to the New York Times, the artist “never been asked for permission for, and has never consented to, the use, reproduction or creation of a derivative work based on his original tattoo.” (more…)

I was reading a blog written by our friends at The Instar Group and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to offer a creatives perspective on a post they had written. Apparently United & Continental airlines recently merged. Which is not a shocker within itself, as we all know the airline industry has been struggling since the recession began in ’09. What is a shocker though, is the new logo that was presented. (more…)

Whether you use your website as a business or as a leading authority of information, your website is your face and presence on the Internet. The web design of your Internet site is the first impression others have of you. Your web site can be considered your “Internet Face.” It is the first chance people will have to form an opinion about you or your company or business. (more…)

Internet-based businesses often commit the serious blunder of giving short shrift to website content considerations. Small and inexperienced online operators are especially prone to making this huge mistake. Quite often, such website owners opt to write their own content. Others utilize article directories.  (more…)

Clients looking for a website designer look for different things. If the client has an idea in mind, the designer can work from the idea in addition to tossing his own ideas to the client to see what works best, depending on the client’s brand. The client might not have a clue, in which case the designer’s ideas and work can shine which will net the client an eye-catching site. Yet other clients might not know much about the Internet at all, but recognize the need for a presence on the web. In cases like that, the designer can guide the client through to the right decisions based on his business type and both of them can shine. (more…)

A well designed professionally crafted logo can really help a company stand out from the crowd, project an image, and send a message. Custom logo design can go a long way in making a business memorable and can be an incredibly important component in the building of the identity of a brand. (more…)

It is an established fact that roughly half of all businesses fail within its first few years. A major source of this failure is believed by experts to be due to poor and ineffective marketing. If the marketing materials of a business do not stand out above those of the competitors, the sales of a company will take a major hit. (more…)

When it comes to marketing, advertising and connecting meaningfully with your clients, a strong presence on the web is absolutely invaluable. In today’s America virtually everyone spends at least a small portion of each day browsing the internet. According to a study performed by Nielson//NetRatings, a world class media analysis conglomerate, more than 75% of Americans have access to the internet from home. (more…)

Perhaps the most essential component to selling a product or service is first defining to the consumer what problem that product or service is meant to solve. Great products or services that come from your business without the benefit of branding your business will suffer from confusion in the mind of the consumer, which in the minds of the increasingly “give it to me now” type of customer who controls expendable income these days is instant death. (more…)

So you have spent years of your time developing, tweaking, and honing your product or service until it is the best in its class. You may even have spent months of time and money hiring people to tell you where to price your product or service, where to place it on the shelves, and who would most likely purchase it. (more…)