I’m very happy to report that we held our first (and hopefully annual) I’ll Buy That Retail Forum last Thursday afternoon here in the Brewery. The Labatt Beer Institute was a marvelous host and I like to think that people stuck around for more than a free beer or two at the end. I was thrilled with the turnout as we had over a dozen clients in attendance. They were treated to three excellent speakers who covered a wide range of topics. First, Christine James from the Canadian Retail Council gave us an update on what is going on in her world. Although her presentation touched on a number of issues that were of great interest to the retailers in the audience, it was the current credit card and banking issues that generated the greatest discussion. Christine said she is available to any of you for more information on these or any other issues atlantic@retailcouncil.org. [...]
Media
The power of print
If repetition is the way to get an idea into people’s heads, then D.B. Scott succeeded in letting us know that power of print is far from dead. At the MagazinesEast2009 presentation on the Power of Print, I realized that magazine advertising can have a unique effect on consumers, one that is still unrivaled by their media counterparts. I started thinking about the influence of magazines in my own life and realized they are the one source of information I willingly buy into with my undivided attention. [...]
Design
The woes of the washroom sign guy
For many years, a common icon has been discriminated against and taken for granted in our society. We seek him out when the urge overcomes us and he helps us to locate our final destination. I am talking about the Washroom Sign Guy. [...]
Projects
A lesson in advertising
When I first came to trampoline, I wondered why our creative director Brad Dykema displayed Ogilvy on Advertising so proudly on his bookshelf. Now I know why. [...]
Branding
Pink Larkin: scalable branding in action
The branding process can be as large or as small as budget, time, and initiative allow. A perfect example is our client Pink Larkin, a Halifax/Fredericton-based law firm. Aside from a number of announcements and “help wanted” ads every year, the firm never had a huge media presence, relatively speaking. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no room for fresh thinking and progressive brand-building. [...]
Branding
Re-branding the arts
I’ve been called many things in my days; a traditionalist being one of the more benign. Which brings me point blank to the subject of my blog. Lately I’ve seen an ever-worrisome propensity of marrying what I deem the higher arts — opera, dance, symphony, visual art — with the more base “art” forms — including, but not limited to, pop music and reality television. [...]
Campaigns
Flesh and blood machines
These athletes look incredible. That was the simple thought that stuck in our heads soon after we began working with the 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships.
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia is the location for this year’s competition. This is a huge event. An international competition of top-calibre athleticism: The world’s best paddlers will be gathering in Halifax this summer for an incredible weekend. Our client needed a complete branding campaign to build excitement not just among the sports fans of Halifax, but also the non-sports fans, not to mention sponsors. They needed a campaign that would intrigue anyone with a pulse. Playing off of the high-performance, toned athletes was soon agreed on as a great way to accomplish this. [...]
Social Media
Trampoline is a-Twitter
It’s amazing how much can be said in just 140 characters. Tweeters are spreading news and rumors across the globe in seconds with fewer syllables than it takes to form a sentence.
Founded in 2006, Twitter is a instant-messaging, blogging tool that asks members, “What are you doing?” Similar to adding Facebook friends to see status updates, Twitter allows users to “follow” others to get brief, yet frequent, updates. [...]
Events
Get Up There!
Everyone involved in Get Up There is doing their part to raise awareness about colorectal cancer, which is the third most diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of death from cancer. [...]
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