Archives for inspiration
Decking Our Walls
Underwhelmed by the thought of another agency lobby with a flat screen mindlessly cycling through our work and potentially burning images into the retina of our clients’ eyes – Pop Art decided it was time to get some real art on the walls. Selecting art that portrays the culture of an agency is not an easy [...]
Sticky Wall 2.0
This year, Pop Art participated in Colaboratory for the first time, Portland Ad Fed’s revolutionary new internship program. We had three different interns over six weeks, from both the design and writing disciplines. Each intern was here for just eight working days (Monday – Thursday), which was some of my initial hesitation in participating in the [...]
On Method Design and Efficiency
In acting, there is a school of training known as “Method Acting,” whose proponents begin preparing for a role by immersing themselves in the culture they are trying to portray. Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro are three well-known practitioners, often going to great lengths to remain in character, even after the [...]
Use Social Media for Customer Service
We’ve all seen stories about rogue customer service teams using social media to help customers, but here’s a great way to institutionalize it. At the end of the article, you’ll find a reminder and links about why great customer service improves both sales and profits. Using Social Media Opt-Ins for Customer Service Imagine if at the end of [...]
Lingo Bingo 2: Creative Edition
Based on the popularity of my last post, I teamed up with Kevin Platt, one of Pop Art’s talented writers, to bring you Lingo Bingo 2: Creative Edition. Next time you meet with your internal creative team, ad agency, or marketing firm, print one of these out before the meeting. When the creative buzzwords start [...]
Food and Advertising: How to Cure the Culture of Obesity
I am the world’s worst eater. Bar none. Put a burger in front of me, and I’ll ask for bleu cheese and bacon, too. Which is why I was dumbfounded when I started seeing this McDonald’s commercial a while back: I wanted an apple. The commercial illustrates a conundrum faced by the U.K. government anti-obesity [...]
Imagination(Interactivity+Technology)
Last Month, Stephen and I attended Flash Forward. I came back charged up and totally inspired. We have reached a point where the potential of the technology we work with (Flash, PHP, .NET, hammer, nails) has exceeded our ideas, and we need to take advantage of it. What a beautiful place to be in! We [...]
On the Value of Teamwork
“Hey, we’ve got this comp due to the client in 30 minutes. Think you could knock out a headline for us?” (If you found this funny, you’re a total ad nerd.)
Revisions
Revisions: How much is too much? Revisions: How much is too many? Revisions: How many is too many? This many! Revisions: They’re not just for cows anymore. Revisions: How to know when to stop. Revisions: How many is too many? Collaborating Collaboratively Here in the marketing world, we creative folk work as part of a team. We interact with account [...]
Today’s The Day: Post It By Number
Today is our 10-Year Anniversary party, and the office is buzzing with last-minute preparations. The beer, wine, and martini fixin’s are here. Cocktail tables are being installed, tablecloths unfurled. The new sign is lit (look for another post, forthcoming, or just take a stroll down Broadway in downtown Portland. And, the makings for our special [...]
You Can’t Please All the People All the Time (And Here’s Why)
And now, an IM conversation between Dave and myself. Dave Selden: 10:11 very interesting article here: http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html Dave Selden: 10:11 I really like the “mind doesn’t know what the tongue wants” part the fact that you can’t design a universal ketchup and please people you have to design several ketchups that sub-groups can rally around Thom Schoenborn: [...]
Measuring Creative
I attended some event in which a group of Wieden+Kennedy dudes talked about a survey they’d done to prove the value of their creative. So they asked a bunch of media buyers and marketing folks what they thought NIKE’s annual media spend was. The average guess was ridiculously higher than it actually was. To translate: [...]
Forward07
A couple of Fridays ago I attended Forward07, an American Marketing Association conference on innovation and sustainability. I’ve attended a few conferences in the past year and none were as inspiring as this one. Huge thanks to all the folks who helped pull this one together. The Challenge Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, was the first speaker [...]
Branding: It’s not just for cows anymore
I remember taking a corporate identity class my last term of college. Though it was mentioned that branding was a company’s “identity,” it was never explained that branding was more than just a logo. We spent a majority of the class designing a new logo for a company of our choosing and ways to [...]
The Commitment Cut
Today, I got a haircut. A big one. My summer chop-off. Buzzville, USA, Population: Me. I also had a very entertaining barber, from the Bay Area. He regaled me with stories of pimped out Buicks, drug dealers, and a special summer drink his cousins used to make with equal parts Mickey’s and Gallo Sangria. Drink half [...]
Designer Movie: Stranger than Fiction
Every once in a while, I see a movie that excites me as a designer. The opening titles for Panic Room, combined with that film’s amazing camera work. Fight Club, with it’s “IKEA catalog” sequences and David Carson-like typography. Last night, I saw another such film, Stranger Than Fiction. The great typography and motion graphics first [...]
