April 17, 2008

I.D. a font.

See how you do. Feel free to let us know your score. Best score here so far is 30...

Posted by John on April 17, 2008 at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , The Creative Life

December 12, 2007

Whopper Freakout really sells.

So, in one fell swoop, we're selling the living hell out of product and freshening up the testimonial. Nice work Crispinites. Nice work.

Posted by John on December 12, 2007 at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Brave New Marketing , Design , Marketing to Men , News of the Ad World

September 11, 2007

Design the copywriter's birthday card. They said.

From Noisy Decent Graphics. Thanks to Parc Masterson (cowboy, poet, flash artist) for the find.

Posted by John on September 11, 2007 at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , The Creative Life

August 15, 2007

Cuddle a cloud.

Adopt some sky.

Your personalized air molecule (and message) joins others in your own patch of sky.

Look, I know we're seeing a lot of these collaborative user-generated projects. But I'm currently still a sucker for them. From Human Ideas and Space 150 in the Minnie.

Posted by John on August 15, 2007 at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing , Current Affairs , Design , Marketing Trends , Web/Tech

July 27, 2007

Protesting can be inspiring, too.

Hat tip, WorstWeatherEver.

Posted by SethyG on July 27, 2007 at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Current Affairs , Design , The Creative Life

July 10, 2007

Low tech. High impact?

Seems to me that outdoor is a medium that can quickly separate the great creatives from the good ones. So the question is: Great billboard? Or, as one commenter on YouTube notes, great film?

Posted by John on July 10, 2007 at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (2)
Categories: Advertising , Brave New Marketing , Design

July 08, 2007

Sprint Ahead is pretty Good(by).

The new Sprint Ahead campaign sure is pretty. Cheers to the visual peeps at GS&P.

I also like the anti-technology idea of "magic." There's a lead anthem for the campaign which has appeared  in print but doesn't seem to have made it as a spot. Too bad. I think it's stronger than the spot above. Nonetheless, the convention of the campaign seems to have legs for days. The best of this campaign is yet to come.

Posted by John on July 08, 2007 at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Branding , Design , Opinion

June 18, 2007

Mash it up with Adobe.

Adobe Systems is looking for an ad. And you can make it. The “Take Creative License” contest gives entrants the opportunity to mash-up images available on the Adobe Stock Photos library and create an ad for the Adobe Stock Photos Service. The winning entry will be published in the September issue of Graphic Design USA Magazine along with an editorial highlight about the designer and their design process.

Go get 'em kids.

Posted by John on June 18, 2007 at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Brave New Marketing , Consumer Content , Design , Web/Tech

June 16, 2007

10 minutes on the streets of New York

A quick podcast (recorded on the streets of NYC) with Prescott Perez-Fox centering on the twentysomething malady known as the "quarter life crisis."

Shout out to Ben Thoma and Scott for making geek drinks NYC a great time.

Posted by John on June 16, 2007 at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: AC News , Design , Podcasting

May 21, 2007

Finally, e-cards even ad people can love.

Some Ecards is fuh-ney. And, as you can see, they've really got something for every occasion. Check them out. And hit send carefully.

Hat tip to Woolardspeak.

Posted by John on May 21, 2007 at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , Entertainment , Pop Culture , The Creative Life

May 17, 2007

Caveman Culture

Thanks to Karl at Tcritic.

Posted by John on May 17, 2007 at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1)
Categories: Brands , Design , Entertainment , Pop Culture , Television

April 04, 2007

Where's our art direction idol?

How is it possible that the number one TV show in the known universe continues to get away with having the cheesiest, most horrific  graphic design and motion graphics known to man? Seriously.

Come on Bill and Kyle. Can't you and your tasteful compatriots do something about this?

Posted by John on April 04, 2007 at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , Entertainment , Pop Culture , Television

November 14, 2006

The making of a good portfolio: a very subtle art

Last Friday, several of our American Copywriter friends (SHS's John, Andrew, and J., as well as Tug), together with a number of other KC-area professionals, took time out of their days to mold young advertising and design minds at the KC Ad Club's Career Day. I (and so there's no confusion, by "I" I mean Brazilian Art Director Bruno) took part as well, speaking at a Portfolio Development panel.

One of the questions my panel was asked at the end of our session had to do with portfolio organization. How to break down a design book (categories? projects?), what to start with, etc. In the interest of time (and not hogging time from the other panelists), I rushed through my two-part answer, which I'll repeat here, in the hopes that it will clarify whatever it is I said then, or shine some light onto students anywhere else.

First of all, I'm a believer in taking a page out of stand-up comedy. Stand-up comics will invariably tell you: open your routine with your B material, fill the middle with your C material, and close strong with your best jokes -- your A material.

Then there's the High Fidelity way of doing it (it had been more than a year since I last made a High Fidelity reference in this blog). Nick Hornby knew a thing or two about flow, and all one needs to do is replace "compilation tape" with "portfolio" in the last scene of the movie, and take it to heart:

The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules...

Anyone else there with a good rule of thumb for portfolio flow? Extra points for John Cusack movie references.

Posted by Brazilian Art Director on November 14, 2006 at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Design

November 09, 2006

Spec iPod phone spot makes us drool.

Despite the fact that everything here is purely speculative, color us officially hot for this product. When people talk about the dream of consumer-generated content this is it (although some pros were behind this). Simply delicious. Unless the real thing isn't nearly this cool. In which case, cgc could bite Stevie boy right in the butt. Cheers to those behind this beauty.

UPDATE: A reader emails to say, "This video is quite old." Well, we musta missed it first time around. Old or not, it's still hot.

Posted by John on November 09, 2006 at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing , Consumer Content , Current Affairs , Design , Web/Tech

October 17, 2006

Speaking of the '80's...

Times change. Design tastes change. The belief that grinning Stepford families really sell, however, doesn't seem like it'll ever go outta style.

Props to podcaster/blogger and friend of AC, Prescott Perez-Fox for the great find.

Posted by John on October 17, 2006 at 06:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , Marketing Trends , Pop Culture

August 10, 2006

Maybe the best creative you'll do today.

Have fun with this. Caution. It's addictive.

Posted by John on August 10, 2006 at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (1)
Categories: Design

June 27, 2006

State of Advertising in Puerto Vallarta

I recently was assigned* to take a trip out of the country and examine the advertising from a different culture. I didn't like the idea of going to another country, but I complied and booked a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was a hard decision to make -- going to an all-inclusive resort on the beach -- but I made it.

The city of Puerto Vallarta is an interesting mix of down-trodden/poor areas and a (more than) healthy insertion of American (or cosmopolitan) flare. It wouldn't be surprising to me if the city's economy relied solely on tourism -- this is evident while walking through Old Town as you are accosted nearly 100 times to book a tour, or two... all funded by the same company.

Enough about PV, the city. Let's get on to the things that I noticed about PV's marketing efforts.

1. Your product needs an icon. - I'm not talking about a logo, per se. I'm talking about a mascot, something that the public can identify with. Bonus points for making the mascot a cartoonish character. Maybe extra bonus points for blatantly stealing an Disney character (Uncle Scrooge).
2. A common theme. - When nearly the entire world loves something, embrace it. I can't count on my fingers the number of commercials and print ads that I saw that was themed with the World Cup. Soccer is gold down there, and there's not a lack of it in advertising.
3. Price? Who cares! - Don't put a price on anything. This is probably due to it being a giant tourist destination, but I don't recall seeing any cell-phone ads with rates or phone prices.
4. Simple and Colorful. - A majority of the print ads I saw were very simple and extremely colorful. In many cases, there was no headline, just the name of the brand. As much as I like copy and clever headlines, I really enjoyed these ads. I think it really spoke to the power of the brand... or maybe there's just not as much competition down there.

Those were the major things I witnessed in good ol' PV, but I'm sure there's more. Does anyone else have thoughts or comments on things you've seen in Mexico? Or even abroad?

* By assigned, I mean took some vacation time. It just sounds cooler to make you think I was really assigned. Sorry, I'm a liar.

Posted by SethyG on June 27, 2006 at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Design , Pop Culture

June 21, 2006

The Polar Opposite of "World's Favorite Brand"

I just spent 30 bucks on a product I didn't need, wasn't looking for, and never heard of. A piece of paper no bigger than a matchbook made me do it.

Here's the back story. I occasionally enjoy a martini. So I occasionally visit the liquor store to replenish my stock of gin. And last night, I made a discovery. There on the shelf was my favorite brand, in its tall, sleek bottle. Sitting next to it was another brand, in a short, squat, unassuming little crock. A small tag was hanging from its neck. The tag read: "Loved by a tiny handful of people all over the world. Hendrick's. It's not for everyone."

The little hang tag goes on to explain why everybody might not go for Hendrick's Gin. It's made in Scotland with "hints of coriander, juniper, citrus peel, rose petals - and a curious but marvelous infusion of cucumber." Yep. Cucumber. Standard on salad bars. In gin, not so much. And that's why, the tag says, "the sophisticated yet odd Hendrick's Martini is preferred by 1 out of 1,000 gin drinkers."

The brand is warning me that I probably won't like it. In fact, it's telling me the odds are 999 to 1 that I won't. Faster than you can say "reverse psychology", I'm heading to the register with a bottle of Hendrick's in one hand and my AmEx in the other. Half an hour later, I'm enjoying the "curious but marvelous infusion of cucumber." It's good. In fact, it's very good. So as I sip, I'm also savoring the possibility that, at that very moment, 999 other guys are someplace else in the world, spitting out their first taste of Hendrick's in absolute disgust. The schmucks. They obviously aren't "individuals who are truly excited about what is strange and different."

Yeah, yeah. I know it's all the fine work of some copywriter in Glasgow. But don't bring me down with any of your rational facts. I'm still enjoying the delicious fantasy that I'm one of the "tiny handful of people all over the world."

PLEASE NOTE: The above post was written by Joe Norris, an SHS managing partner and occasional contributor to AC.

Posted by John on June 21, 2006 at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Brave New Marketing , Design , Food and Drink

March 29, 2006

Now I can spell my name in the snow

And now, women can truly do anything that men can do. Yes, we can now pee standing up - thanks to The Whiz. Thanks to Popgadget for bringing this one to my attention.

Whizaway.com even offers a number of tips for using their product, including one I never really considered: if you are outdoors, be sure that your back is to the wind. I did an unscientific survey in our office, and apparently this is something that boys learn at a relatively young age. Glad I won't have to learn that from experience.

The best part? If you order the gift set, it comes with its own purple Organza travel bag.

Posted by Jennifer Whetzel on March 29, 2006 at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design

March 21, 2006

CNN's "Watch" Bases Covered

As more and more users hop on the high-speed bandwagon, you're going to see an increasing number of web sites streaming video.  Finally, I say.  Yes, it's an overwhelming technology to include on your site (and that's not mentioning the large bandwidth issues that it presents), but it's about time we start integrating this a bit more... remember, at some point in the next ten years our computers and TVs will be one unit.  But, like I said earlier, as more and more users get faster connections, you'll start seeing more prominent web sites adopting video playback as a major feature.

espn.go.com
Those of you ESPN followers may remember they're foray into this a few years back.  They've revised it here and there (it currently uses flash, which is a plus for cross-browser usage), but for the most part it's a definite additive to their site.

mtv.com
On the homepage of MTV.com, you'll see a nice little flash animation in the left-hand column... but if you want to click to any video or movie trailer, you'll get some warnings.  On a PC, you'll need to make sure you have Active X installed.  Sigh, okay.  But if you're on a Mac, too bad... it just won't work at all.

cnn.com
I've noticed that CNN has been offering video for a while now, but I think they're struggling with how they present it to users.  At first, if I remember correctly, it was a subscription only deal (and had a little icon to signify that it was video).  Now, it's offered up to anyone who comes to the site... but there's apparently not a single standard way of doing it - I count four different "watch" instances (click thumbnail).

What other high traffic sites are using video favorably (in your opinion)?

Posted by SethyG on March 21, 2006 at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , Television , Web/Tech

February 27, 2006

This Makes Me Cringe

Egads!  Whoever made this has hit the nail on the head.  Unfortunately, stuff like this probably hits a little close to home for a lot of us creatives in the world.  But what can you do?  This is how brands differentiate themselves from everything else.  We, as consumers, are inherently drawn to some... and not to others.  I don't know much about Microsoft's branding exercises, regulations, etc., but if they had originally made the iPod, and it came in a box like this, would I have ever taken a closer look?  Probably not.

Go check out the video of how Microsoft would redesign the iPod packaging.  It's hilarious.  Then think about how Microsoft would've changed the design of the iPod itself... dang, I'm cringing again.

Posted by SethyG on February 27, 2006 at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , Pop Culture , The Creative Life

February 10, 2006

We REALLY Do Hate Sheep, We Promise!

We teased... We prodded... We tested your patience (whilst testing our own many times over)... And after months of planning, designing, coding, revising, ignoring, revising and tweaking, everyone at Sullivan Higdon & Sink is super pleased to launch the brand new, all-improved, more cheekier, stay out laterer version of WeHateSheep.com!

An email blast should go out next week, but why not give some of our more loyal followers a taste before the masses get a hold of it?

Go check it out and tell us what you think!  What do you like and what don't you like?  What works, what doesn't?  What do you want to see more of?  No web site is ever perfect, nor is ours 100% complete (yet), so keep in mind that we'll be constantly massaging things to make them better and more interactive/informative.

Without furthur ado, by all means, enjoy the site.  Catch you on the flip side, flippers.

Posted by SethyG on February 10, 2006 at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: AC News , Design , SHS News , Web/Tech

November 30, 2005

Highways Need Creative Direction, Too.

Do you live in Texas, Pennsylvania, British Columbia, Toronto, Yukon and/or other Canadian municipalities?  If so, do you squint your eyes a bit less when driving around?  When it's rainy, do you find it easier to know where you're headed?  Basically, is your drive smoother than ever before?

If you live in any of the areas listed above, chances are, it is.  As of October 2004, these areas were the only ones that had already adopted/embraced the new Clearview font for their road/traffic signs (highway, street, road construction, warnings, etc.).

It took several years of research and development, but the US Fed Goverment finally gave type designer, James Montalbano, approval to use Clearview on all Federal roads. States are not required to make the change, they will decide that on an individual basis.  If they choose to change, they'll use ClearviewHwy – the font software produced by the design team that developed Clearview (ClearviewHwy contains kerning data in addition to approved letterspacing in default mode), yeah, design/tech geek stuff.

Seriously, a ton of research and testing went into creating this font and system, go poke around their web site when you have time.  We at American Copywriter commend James and his crew on his dedication to make something that may seem so trivial to most of us, become something useful, effective and so gosh-darned pretty.

Posted by SethyG on November 30, 2005 at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design

November 18, 2005

Oh, just let us go on a little would you?

If you've been with us awhile, you'll recall that we already blogged about this but since the new CA Design Annual is officially out and all, well, you know, you might, just for kicks check out pages 16 & 17. You know, just for fun. No reason, really. But...g'head. Seriously.

Congrats to Laura an Paul. Ye dun the family proud.

Posted by John on November 18, 2005 at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2)
Categories: AC News , Design , SHS News

October 25, 2005

This is Halloween! Everybody make a scream!

Or in this case, make a Jack-o-lantern, cyberspace style.
Boo!

Posted by Tug McTighe on October 25, 2005 at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design

September 21, 2005

Finally, my sponge is worthy

3M and o-cel-o are collaborating with that wacky Betsey Johnson to "bring a new sense of style to your sponge." Seriously, that's what it says on their website.

And this happens not a moment too soon. My sponge has been suffering from very low self-esteem since I brought home the Michael Graves toaster from Target. Problem is, the three sponge styles that are being adapted from Betsey's Fall Fashion Week show don't match my kitchen. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait until next season's fashions arrive.

Todd Oldham designed cool furniture for La-Z-Boy to help give them an image makeover, Michael Graves brought his design genius to small appliances at Target. I don't know, did sponges really need a makeover? Would you really want to be the designer known for breathing new life into a sponge?

Posted by Jennifer Whetzel on September 21, 2005 at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1)
Categories: Design

September 12, 2005

Let's-go-lo-go-let's-go.

We never turn ourselves off, do we? Yesterday as I watched the Chiefs cream the Jets in our season opener, I caught myself thinking "man, those are two ugly logos" (and to answer the question I was asked all last week, yes, one can appreciate both football and futebol/futbol/soccer).

I don't think the Chiefs logo is all that bad, as far as NFL logos go. I mean, at least there's an arrowhead there to carry the concept. Now, the Jets? There's a football in it. And it's green. I don't know about you, but I need the logo to give me something else to work with besides telling me the team colors and what sport is being played.

It turns out I'm in the minority, as the Jets' logo was one of only two NFL team logos to make the Top 10 on a survey conducted by vintage sports apparel website Section219, where sports fans voted on the best sports logos of the 20th century. It's highly unscientific -- I mean, it's easy to see how Raiders fans (notoriously loud on field and probably just as vociferous on the internet, I'm guessing) were able to get their dumb leather helmeted pirate head in 7th place.

Still, with the NY Yankees, the Cubs, and the Red Sox topping off the list -- with highly unimaginative marks -- we can take away one branding lesson: sometimes consistency is even more important than design. Interlocking a N and a Y is no hiding-an-arrow-in-between-the-E-and-the-x-in-FedEx, but -- love or hate them -- think of pinstripes and tradition in baseball and you think of the Yankees. I mean, can anyone draw the Detroit Pistons logo? What about the Toronto Blue Jays?

Plus -- what the hell is the Philadelphia Flyers logo? Is it a P with a wing sticking out? Uglay. It still made #19. Go figure.

Posted by Brazilian Art Director on September 12, 2005 at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , Sports

September 01, 2005

"Oh Canda?" More like "Holy Shit Canada."

To our friends at Leo Burnett Canada:

Your Web site is tastier than a fried Twinkie. And people, if you've not tried one let me make it clear, that's damn tasty.

(Yes, I'm a sucker for 'make you think' navigation. But then again, I own every Myst game ever made)

Posted by John on September 01, 2005 at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Design , Web/Tech

July 27, 2005

"Hey, what's that letter from CA?"

It's always nice to find a missve from Communication Arts in your mailbox. Yesterday, Joe (my boss),  called to let us know that some bottles Sullivan Higdon & Sink created for The Shatto Milk Company have been selected for CA's 2005 Design Annual. As Joe said, "This is on the list of things that don't suck."

And lest you think that highly prestigious awards are all we care about let me say this: Demand for this product wholly outstrips supply (despite large additions to the Shatto family herd of dairy cows) and people have taken to collecting the bottles. Each time someone decides to keep a bottle instead of return in, the deposit stays in the pocket of the Shatto family who literally bet the farm (a real, non-corporate family farm) on the success of this brand. This is also on the list of things that don't suck.

What you see here are two in a series of bottles we created for the company. Each bottle tells one more piece of the Shatto Milk Company story. They look kick ass lined up on the shelves of the dairy case.

In the movie, She's Having a Baby (1988) Dennis Dugan's character tells Kevin Bacon that he hopes to do one thing a year he is proud of. Well, all right, I'm having a better year than that, but I surely am proud of these.

The minute Paul Diamond presented the inital package design, I had a good feeling about these. I don't think we made a single change to his initial concept layout. Click on the images and read the tasty copy provided by Laura Crawford Piper. Great job Laura and Paul. And the next time you're in Kansas City area, buy Shatto Milk. It's American Copywriter (and CA) approved.

Posted by John on July 27, 2005 at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: AC News , Design , Food and Drink

July 15, 2005

Spiral: the new swoosh?

I don't know how many of the readers here are of the design persuasion. Even the ones who are not designers have, by now, caught on with the proliferation of the swoosh in the logo landscape (logoscape?) of the last ten years. It seemed like, in the late 90s and the early whatever-this-current-decade-is-actually-called, every new logo to come out of the logo ovens around the country included that funny-sounding visual element. After all, how else were you going to show that your company (or person -- don't you remember Gore's 2000 election logo?) was technologically-savvy, speedy, and progressive? At one point, all  you needed for a redesigned visual identity (one that conveyed the forward-thinking and cutting-edge drive of an improved company) was to add a swoosh to their old logo.

I blame Nike. Nike had their swoosh -- quite possibly the first one in branding history -- attached to the company's name, and then one day they freaked every student of branding out by just showing the swoosh in their commercials. And every marketing manager around the world went "What? Where is the name of their brand? I just told my ad agency to make my logo bigger three times today. How can they?" And of course, some of the newer Nike ads don't even show a logo, leaving what's arguably the world's most well known slogan as the brand stamp at the end of the commercial.

Before I say "but I digress," a little aside for those brand who "redesign" their logo and rewrite their taglines every other year: Nike's swoosh was born in 1971. The slogan came out in 1988. Here's to the power of letting a brand grow over time.

So, finally: "But I digress". I hadn't noticed until recently (but I know I will now), but thanks to this long list of logos (which features some funny and snarky comments about each of them), I'm now officially surprised by the number of spirals finding their way into logos today. What are we trying to do? Hypnotize people into staring at our logos? Talk about captive audience.

Posted by Brazilian Art Director on July 15, 2005 at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , Pop Culture

June 17, 2005

When they stop letting engineers design stuff, cool things happen.

Nothing against engineers, of course, but they aren't designers.

I read an article today about a company in Taiwan named Hannspree Inc. They make flat screen televisions. Sure, we all know what flat screen televisions look like - they're flat. But this company has come up with some innovative ways to house the TV screen. They only show a few examples on their website, but the possibilities are endless. (The soccer ball is pretty cool.)

I think that the age of design is just beginning. Wal-Mart has just figured out that just offering cheap stuff isn't working as well as what Target is doing - offering well designed stuff for a great price. Proctor and Gamble works with some of the top design teams in the world. The list of companies that "get it" is growing, and I can't wait to see the cool stuff that they come up with next!

Core77 has some pretty interesting design stuff too (and an RSS feed).

Posted by Jennifer Whetzel on June 17, 2005 at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design

June 09, 2005

SHS featured @ AdCritic.com

AdCritic.com is featuring some work that Tug, Matt Wegerer and I had a little something to do with in their "The Latest" section this week. It's subscription required to see it all. Note: To get a better look at the above, click the photo.

Here's what Ad Critic had to say:

"Salty Styling From Sullivan....

A Twang box design was featured in the April Advertising/Design Annual issue of Creativity, and all the boxes (which hold tiny bottles of the product), including some more-recent designs, are seen in this showcase. So what's up with putting salt in your beer? "Flavored salts are not all that unusual in south Texas," explains CD John January. "People use them on foods, adult beverages and sometimes by themselves. Seriously. Twang is a homegrown company from San Antonio, and we wanted to play off the design cues from that region, the Southern Texas motif — sort of a country retro cool feel that appeals to the urban hipsters that you see in all of those cool bars in Austin." But it gets around outside of Texas. In fact, that's how the agency hooked up with Twang in the first place. January ran into the product at a convenience store near Table Rock Lake in Missouri, he recounts, and, intrigued, he went to www.twang.com, and simply e-mailed Twang to offer the agency’s services. "They said yes, and the rest is POP history. The boxes are designed so that each panel is its own poster. In fact, we were able to create a trade show booth by taking the side panel of the box and blowing it up."

Also new from SHS is redesigned packaging for Captain D’s salad dressings — Captain D's is a 600-unit seafood chain based in the Southeastern U.S. — featuring charmingly silly copy and delightfully retro-tacky clip art styling. "Some people might not look at salad dressing packets as an opportunity, but we figured thousands of people a day would be interacting with these, and it's a good way to show off the fun, unpretentious personality of Captain D’s," says January.

Client: Captain D's, Twang
Agency: Sullivan Higdon & Sink, Kansas City
Creative Director: John January
Copywriter: Tug McTighe
Art Director: Matt Wegerer

Posted by John on June 09, 2005 at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design

May 24, 2005

Good things from "small" projects.

As noted in the Special Edition podcast, we believe strongly in the idea that a creative needs to focus on the here and now.

Even as you read, there is an opportunity to do something cool on your desk. Now, it may not be easy to get done. The client may not really be expecting it or encourging you to go the extra mile. You may not have a major budget. Or any budget at all. You may have to actually spend your own time making it happen. But the opportunity is there. I promise. Very often, I think, this opportunity is disguised as a "little" project.

Like, oh I don't know, say, redesigning some salad dressing packets.

Now ask yourself this: If you got a job to redesign salad dressing packets would you make the most of it or would you say, "Dude, I am so above that." Fortunately for a valued client and their consumers, the one and only Matt Wegerer and the equally individual Tug, came at this project with the zeal of the former approach. Perhaps we didn't reinvent the salad dressing packet as we know it, but, as salad dressing packets go, these are pretty damn cool.

This kind of stuff really makes me proud. Not because I believe these are going to result in tons of awards or garner a big write-up in Adweek. But because I know these little packets are doing a brand some good. It would be real easy to "mail in" something like a salad dressing packet. After all, no one ever got on a jet to Cannes because of salad packets. But if you're really serious about building brands, then you need to be serious about it at every point of contact with the consumer.

I imagine I am preaching to the choir, however, if you're really too much of a rock star to care about the fine details or you find no real joy in creating in a medium other than television, well, okay. Just don't tell me that you really care about the brands that have been entrusted to you. If you did, you'd care about every piece of it. Wanna make films and be famous, go to Hollywood and bust your butt to make it (I'll be cheering for you all the way). Wanna build brands? Do it from the ground (or the salad dressing packet) up.

Posted by John on May 24, 2005 at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design