All successful businesses begin with one great idea, and at Design6˚ we can help set those ideas in motion. Regardless of size, we approach every project strategically to create a strong and unique concept that meets your expectations, and your budget. – Keep us in mind for your next marketing project.
Halloween is a frighteningly successful holiday – second only to Christmas in consumer spending. Americans spend in excess of $7 billion each year to celebrate this spirited day.
Halloween has undergone a social change from traditional family trick-or-treating to a full blown event for adults, nearly 70 percent of adults plan to celebrate Halloween. It’s a time where marketers are truly expected to go outside the box with something surprising and different. When a brand introduces a playful spooky marketing campaign of their product or service, it can be a real treat for retailers.
In the spirit of things, we thought it would be nice to resurrect this Dirt Devil commercial from 2011 with over 3.3 million views – one of our all-time favorites:
And check out the ads below from across the interweb for some eye candy (pun intended):
Any other cool Halloween themed ads or commercials we should know about? Let us know in the comments.
This Friday I will be exhibiting my creative “itch” as a first time participant in The Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce’s Fall Gallery Walk.
Over the years I have discovered that the need to express myself creatively means stepping away from the computer from time to time to create something totally hands on.
Having designed print materials for such a long time, I have a passion for paper in it’s many decorative forms. A few years ago I came across a collection of recycled handmade papers and was immediately driven to explore creating something unique. My technique entails the traditional decoupage process of cutting and pasting papers, including newspapers, books, maps, and even paper bark from a birch tree, in combination with paint.
GALLERY WALK | Friday, October 4
Please stop by and say Hello.˚ My exhibit will be from 5pm – 9pm at the Fox Chase Bank on the corner of High and Chestnut Streets.
Choosing a color palette for your company is an important step in the branding process. Here are six tips for choosing your company colors:
Simplicity is Key
Usually only two to three colors are needed to define your brand. Once you have your primary color picked out, choose a bold accent color that you can use to highlight important content.
Analyze the Competition
Whether you want to blend in or stand out, it is important to see what other companies within your industry are using to define their brand.
Know Your Audience
Understanding who you are marketing to is a key factor in choosing the right colors. While bright neon colors might work well for teenagers, an older generation may prefer a more subdued palette.
Differentiate
Take your analysis of the competition and go in another direction. Make your brand stand out.
Think Psychologically
Decide what types of feelings you want to evoke in your customers when they see your brand or visit your website. Do you want to be attention grabbing or more peaceful and serene?
Think Big and Go Past Color to Personality
Use bold colors that set you apart, but try to avoid trends and fads that have a tendency to fade out. Choose colors that complement the personality of your brand. Think about whether you want to convey friendliness and energy or more professionalism and confidence.
So go ahead. Do your research and find a balance to make your brand unique and if you need help, feel free to contact us to help set you apart.
In a world where technology rules and we are greeted by ads on every device, it can sometimes be hard for advertisers to cut through the clutter. However, if you have the budget (or sometimes a lack of budget), guerrilla marketing may just be the way to go. What exactly is guerrilla marketing? It’s a way of using non-mainstream media and tactics to create buzz about a product or service one has to offer. Below are just a few examples of some recent campaigns that have popped up around the world.
LARGER THAN LIFE MODELS
If you are looking to promote a new TV channel or the arrival of a popular TV series in Britain, it appears that giant sculptures strategically placed around the country are the way to go. A 12-foot-tall version of Colin Firth’s character Mr. Darcy from the popular mini-series Pride and Prejudice has been seen in several British lakes to promote UKTV’s new Drama channel. Its most recent stop was in Lyme Park in Cheshire where the famous scene was filmed. In a similar fashion, movie and TV streaming site BlinkBox promoted the arrival of the newest season of Game of Thrones by placing a 40-foot-long dragon skull on a beach in Dorset – an area famous for dinosaur fossils.
Image via adweek
INTERACTIVE
Earlier this summer, popular beer brand Heineken tempted travelers at New York’s JFK airport with a game of “Departure Roulette.” They set up a large board and asked people to change their destination with the push of the button. As one would imagine, most were not adventurous enough to “Drop Everything. Push Button. Commit To (New Location)” as the sign prompted. But there were a few that were up to the challenge. The event was set up to tie in to a Heineken campaign in Amsterdam in which four participants were dropped in exotic locations and asked to film their journeys.
FLASH MOBS
Flash mob videos have been making the rounds online for the past few years. These choreographed groups generally take the public by surprise as they show up in crowded shopping malls or subway cars. The Rijksmuseum Museum in Amsterdam used this approach to draw attention to the fact that it was reopening after 10 years of undergoing extensive restorations. Descending on unsuspecting shoppers at a mall in Breda, this flash mob consisted of over two dozen members of Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ – reconstructing the museum’s most famous painting and inviting the public to the reopening to come see the real thing.
Have you seen an example of a great guerrilla marketing campaign? Tell us about it in the comments below and be sure to check out this list of “122 Must See Guerilla Marketing Examples” from CreativeGuerrillaMarketing.com.
With summer officially over and the kids back in school, it’s time to sharpen your pencil and reassess if you are on track with your marketing goals, to finish this year strong.
Below are six marketing strategies that will help you cross your t’s and dot your i’s:
Get Smart
Count on “mobile” being a bigger, bolder line item on every major marketer’s strategy this year. Last year, more people purchased smartphones than PCs.
Multi-Screen Viewing
Nearly 40 percent of Americans now use a tablet or smartphone at least once a day while they’re watching TV, and 80 percent do so at least once a month. What does that mean for brands? The potential to partner with broadcasters to offer related material opens up targeted advertising opportunities.
Get Visual
Top sites like Pinterest and Instagram are embracing the fact that people are spending more and more time with their devices and a picture often says more than a 1000 words. Great imagery that catches customers attention plays a stronger role in marketing communications than ever before.
Direct Mail
As fewer people read the newspaper small businesses are taking a second look at an old favorite for reaching people at home – direct mail, which may have a better shot at finding clients and customers than businesses realize.
Loyalty Programs
Many marketers have turned to social media to promote their brands, the goal is to move away from solely focusing on new customer acquisition and toward the retention of existing and best customers.
Stunt Marketing
A unique and engaging concept, guerrilla marketing generally relies on a big idea rather than a budget, in the hopes of attracting potential customers attention and elicit interaction.
Looking at your goals for this year, are you on track to deliver as you enter the fourth quarter?
Some students go to college knowing exactly what they want to do. I did. But for most 18 year olds the decision of choosing a major can be overwhelming. And for my son, sending out a college application as “undecided” has a negative feeling, putting even more pressure on his decision making.
Growing up in an artistic family, he has a passion for the digital arts, with sights set on the gaming industry as so many young people do. It’s difficult to predict the employment market, but one thing is for sure, computers are everywhere and they are here to stay. In such a competitive industry, he was encouraged when we saw a story about a website called Code.org, perhaps opening doors to even bigger and better and more creative applications.
Hadi Partovi, co-founder of Code.org recently sat down for an interview with Ryan Seacrest and explained that, “most of the schools in the country don’t teach computer programming and coding. The jobs outnumber students 3-1 in computer programming, so if we got more students to study this and to major in it, we’d be able to add a half a trillion dollars to the U.S. economy, which is a big deal.”
Code.org describes itself as a “non-profit dedicated to growing computer programming education. Our vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. We believe computer science should be part of the core curriculum in education, alongside other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, such as biology, physics, chemistry and algebra.”
To learn more and to try out some simple coding for yourself, visit Code.org.
The movie “Jobs” will be in theaters Friday, August 16th, paying tribute to the man behind Apple computers.
For years Apple managed to capture the market share of artistic and creative users with their motto “Think Different.” Their reputation as a cool and creative company goes back to very early days of their brilliant brand marketing campaigns. Remember the 1984 commercial? Back then the computers engineered by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were almost exclusively used by creatives.
As designers we can all pretty much say “iHad” one, or four, or a bushel of them. Way before Apple computers were all the rage across the globe, I bought my first computer – the MacIntosh Classic – at CompUSA in Delaware. It was a huge purchase for me at the time and to this day I still feel the same excitement every time I drive away with a brand new computer.
Since then I’ve owned generations of Apple computers. First the revolutionary iMac G3 – mine was the teal with a color coordinated round teal mouse – how stylish was that! – then, always upgrading, I owned the iMac G4, G5 towers and the Mac mini. The latest computer always being my new favorite, I now have a 27-Inch iMac Desktop and tote my MacBook Pro.
While Apple has expanded their marketing to the masses with products like the iPod and iPhone, their design aesthetics and easy operation remain the go-to choice for designers, photographers and film editors.
As long time fan, I will be in the theatre opening night, as we all silence our iPhones, to celebrate the man who changed the way we think, work and enjoy our lives.
The final season of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” airs the weekend! As so many other fans, I have been “hooked” since its debut in January 2008. The heart pounding episodes have left me lying wide awake many a Sunday night, anxious to feed my addiction.
The writing has been superb, but for me it’s always the music, and sound effects that profoundly enhance the mood of each scene – both physically and mentally.
Anticipation for Sunday’s next fix is building and WXPN’s “Leicht Lunch” featured a Breaking Bad themed playlist, which for me heightened the awaiting of the series’ final thrill.
In an interview with billboard music composer Dave Porter describes what went into telling the story and creating the musical details that make “Breaking Bad” so badass.
Listen to a playlist here and let us know which episode/song was your favorite in the comments section.
Networking is an important part of business. If you’ve ever attended a networking event or trade show, you know that you are sure to come back with a stack of generic looking business cards.
Here are a few of our favorite, unconventional business cards from companies looking to stand out from the crowd:
Have you ever seen a particularly creative business card that you held onto? Tell us in the comments below!
Images via Mashable, Tumblr, CRDNA, The Design Inspiration