Keely Saye is a talented inbound marketing specialist and we’re happy to have her as a strategic partner. We developed a fresh, distinctive graphic identity that reflects her personality and her style of doing business. We designed a custom logotype and graphic elements: a custom pattern, vertical mark, monogram, color palette and graphic standards. Although 95% of her work is in the digital space (look for her new website soon), we felt that it was important for her to have a business card that would create a lasting impression. We turned to Copper Dog Press that printed each card by hand on a ca. 1900 Chandler & Price platen letterpress. All of this care and attention to detail is evident in the finished product(s) and is reflective of Keely’s work as well. We’re excited to help her launch this new look!
On August 11, 2009, after 22 years in the industry, veteran agency Riggs Advertising announced its move from a larger agency with on-staff employees to a five-person partnership that works with a network of strategic contacts. The model was innovative, bold and ahead of its time – and it was dubbed “Riggs Partners.”
Six months later, partners Cathy Monetti and Teresa Coles presented the new Riggs model to more than 50 agency principals from across the country.
The presentation was part of a three-day seminar held by Second Wind, a business-improvement information network consisting of more than 9000 small to midsize advertising agencies, design firms and related businesses. The seminar, held at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, highlighted the SMALL+SMART agency model, an idea which held an uncanny resemblance to Riggs Partners’ existing structure.
“Riggs Partners was smart to make this shift from traditional ad agency to small and smart outsourcing agency,” said Tony Mikes, managing director of Second Wind. “Their structure is a wise and timely response to economic change, overhead-weary clientele, increased freelancing and advanced technology. They have recognized an idea whose time has come.”
Monetti and Coles offerred expert advice to a number of inquiring principals attending the seminar. “It will be interesting to see how many traditional agencies now move to a smaller structure,” Monetti said. “I hope to see many follow suit, because I truly believe – especially for midsize companies – our structure is the agency model of the future.”
Hot off the Press: 2009 annual report for Central Carolina Community Foundation. The design complements the new brand identity we developed for CCCF in 2008 and takes it a step further with a strong emphasis on typography and hand-drawn lettering. A short-fold cover allows the logomark to be visible while reading the first half of the book — we used the extra space on the press sheet to create bookmarks, which will be used to raise awareness of specific areas of need: Dropout Prevention, Homelessness Prevention and Illiteracy.
Thanks to everyone at Central Carolina Community Foundation and special thanks to Tonia Cochran and JoAnn Turnquist for being such great collaborators.
Imagine cooking 500 hot meals every day from a 300 sq. ft. kitchen. For 20 years or so, the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen had been operating out of a church kitchen and dining room, while the need to serve more meals just kept growing.
The board embarked on a capital campaign to raise money to build a new Soup Kitchen facility. While their case for support was sound, they lacked the packaging and community awareness to make the campaign a success.
So the CreateAthon team went to work on developing a new brand identity, outdoor campaign, and web site to re-introduce the Soup Kitchen as a vital part of the community. These outlets gave the Soup Kitchen the marketing foundation it needed, but the team didn’t stop there. Lee Price, Julie Smith, Tim Floyd and Teresa Coles developed a strategy for the Soup Kitchen that would help attract individual gifts to the Soup Kitchen well beyond the capital campaign. More to come in Part 2.
I read a blog entry this morning written by Alex Bogusky that I just can’t get out of my mind. While the perspective he offered was smart from beginning to end, one section continues to whirl around in my head—so much so that I simply have to address it here before I can get on to the “the deadline is approaching” projects on my desk today.
“The market forces created by the rapid demise of mass media and traditional media models have made the real business we’re in clearer than ever. We’re in the business of . . .creating new ideas . . . so compelling and entertaining that the consumer searches them out. . . . Brilliance will be more powerful than ever, and yet everything from above average on down will become invisible. Produce ordinary ideas and nobody will ever see them.”
This is a very real and incredibly powerful shift in the business of marketing. In years past, if we produced work that was average (or God forbid, below average), we could still produce some modicum of impact because it could be forced on unsuspecting consumers via mass media interruption. Some sort of intellectual or emotional exchange would still take place. But today, the penalty for generic is this: It goes completely unnoticed.
I spend a lot of time these days talking with clients about the need to develop content so irresistible consumers are attracted to it. It is our goal on every project to produce something magnetic; an idea or execution so educational, or funny, or emotionally powerful they seek it out, rather than the other way around. This is a tall order. And it is made even more difficult—make that impossible—when the idea is compromised as it makes its journey from concept to marketplace. The result is often just what Bogusky warned—invisibility.
It is a core value at RP to listen generously as suggestions are offered along any creative path, and I believe many a good idea was made better through collaborative input. But it is our professional responsibility to stand tall for ideas worth protecting. And that is a truth worth remembering.
CreateAthon client Preservation Trust of Spartanburg
Nonprofit Preservation Trust of Spartanburg recently launched Spartanburg Architectural Salvage, a retail store that caters to owners of older homes, DIYers and architects looking for period pieces salvaged from old homes and buildings. We were thrilled with the opportunity to work with these folks since salvaging these items keeps them out of the landfill. Plus, wouldn’t you want something original and authentic if you were fixing up an old house? Or even building a new one?
The first order of business: a new name and identity system, including a series of custom illustrations and three distinctive logos. The business cards doubled as hang tags.
More patina work coming to the blog soon.
CreateAthon Preservation Trust Creative Team: Kevin Smith, Ryon Edwards, George Fulton, Courtney Graham Hipp, Lauren Bowles, Jay Coles Identity design: Ryon Edwards, George Fulton
About Info
Riggs Partners
750 Meeting Street
West Columbia, SC 29169
803.799.5972 Tel
803.779.8447 Fax
