February 2011
28 posts
5 tags
What's Next @ redpepper
One of the most difficult things to do in marketing today is to connect your marketing to actual business results. Most of the time we settle for things like impressions, likes, visits, and views. Those are all valid ways of knowing that your marketing is getting through the noise. But is it enough? What you really want to know is if your phone or your register is ringing as a result.
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January 2011
22 posts
7 tags
Most Righteous Ride
Check the tag on the back of your shirt.
Back?
Alright, a brand out there that makes a bunch of uniforms - particularly automotive - well, that’s the only place they put their logo. And 16 million Red Kap wearers don’t know about it, but what you watched up there is changing it.
Slowly.
redpepper is on a quest to make Red Kap famous, intelligently. We’ve got to get a lot...
3 tags
Color Theories
Quick Question: What color most inspires creativity?
My informal and very unscientific poll of some “creative types” revealed that the answers to this question are as individual as the personalities of the people who responded. Five responded with the scientifically correct answer: GREEN. Four voted for sunny yellow, three for purple, two for orange and one for blue. Only two peeps were seeing...
5 tags
How Smart Phones Help People Make Smart Choices
If you have a smart phone and you’re reading this, two of your friends do not have smart phones. Which means they don’t have near the power in their pockets as you do. And it’s not just about the phone. It’s also about the wallet. Somewhere along the line it became “common knowledge” that we only use 10% of our brains. Which is false. We use the full...
1 tag
Worldwide Conspiracy with WESC
Check out this Interactive Display Window that was designed for a street-wear clothing brand called WeSC. Their mission: Connect WeSC to music and/or art and create an impression so great the receiver wants to be the first one sharing the experience.
In order to narrow the gap between WeSC and costumers, they provided an interactive portal for the costumers get to know the brand’s...
2 tags
The Ruins of Detroit
Until the 1960s, Detroit was one of America’s most important cities, a hub of industry with a population of almost two million and a skyline to rival that of any U.S. city. Its buildings were monuments to its success and vitality in the first half of the twentieth century. Now, those same monuments are now ruins: the United Artists Theater, the Whitney Building, the Farwell Building and...
4 tags
Becky's Story - Trevecca
So, we wanted to share a personal and authentic story of a student that completed the Trevecca Adult Degree Completion Program. As we poured through many stories of students who had gone back to school and finished their degree, we realized that we kept coming back to Becky’s story.
We decided to share Becky’s story by having her son, also a Trevecca graduate, share a letter...
2 tags
A collection a day.
I’ve tried several times to put my finger on why so many designers are obsessed with collecting things. Whether collecting posters, buttons, figurines, or stamps, there’s something provoking and addicting about lining similar-but-different objects up on your shelf. That said, I hope you might share in my glee upon discovering Lisa Congdon’s A Collection a Day project —...
4 tags
Why "going viral" may not be a practical...
An old creativity teacher named Heraclitus once observed that “A thing rests by changing.” And while it’s something of a counter-intuitive statement, when you think about it, this particular epigram certainly applies to the current state of advertising. The discipline of advertising is, without question, changing. However, the role of advertising is still the same as it ever...
7 tags
Expedite contest entry forms on Facebook
You know how you make signup forms for contests and things where people have to manually enter their basic info then click submit? Repetitively typing in their email, address, and phone number over and over just to be entered for a chance to win a magic eraser or pair of flip flops or something? Well, Facebook has added a pretty useful upgrade to the Graph API that will get that info for you...
7 tags
Facebook Places Experiment
Location what? Places who? Yeah, it’s everywhere I know. Add “Social Media” to the mix and you get the ultimate marketing buzz term for ‘011 and beyond, Social Media Location Marketing. SMLM for short. An acronym I just invented that when pronounced is pronounced smell’em; because you’re so close to marketing to someone you can smell them. You can use that. I...
3 tags
Accentuate the *Odditive: Why quirks are good...
Steve Jobs’ black mock turtle neck and jeans uniform, Jim Carey’s rubber face, Everything about Johnny Depp….
If you look up the word quirk in the dictionary, you’ll find the expected definition, “a peculiar trait,” listed behind the definition that points in the general direction of the word’s original meaning. Prior to the 15th century, quirk was a...
5 tags
Setting the Stage for Creativity
I need coffee directly to the right of my computer while I write. Even if I’ve already had five cups and have no intention of drinking it. If it’s not there, I’m not there. On my left I place all physical notes relevant to a current project.
Which is to say, the left side of my desk is usually empty because I like to take notes on my computer instead. Too many papers to handle and I suffocate....
3 tags
Working with a Small Space
Joe Fig is an artist who among other things, explores the working life of professional artist by creating miniature reproductions of their studios. Fig’s book Inside the Painter’s Studio (Princeton Architectural Press, 2009) includes interviews with artist about creative processes, along with images of his miniature sculptures documenting their space. You can see photos here.
If you...
4 tags
Experiments in Brand Awareness
Yes, this is over 3 1/2 years old. Yes, the outcome may not be ideal. Regardless, this is definitely a successful marketing experiment in brand awareness that I would love to see more of.
2 tags
Gram 3.0
For the design heads your forefounders just 2011ed their site. Now you can learn pentagram fast don’t lie!
1 tag
United Steaks of America
Food art? Political art? Just plain picture art or pure propaganda? I have no idea, really. And it doesn’t matter much to me either. The artist who brought us United Steaks of America is now exhibiting an entire exhibition entitled M.E.A.T America opening at Bambi Gallery in Philly.
It’s sure to be idea-inspiring and depending on your dietary preferences, perhaps even appetizing!
...
2 tags
New Year's Affirmations
Michael Jordan has been called the greatest basketball player of all time - and his record-setting accomplishments on the b-ball court back up that claim. But Jordan’s high school basketball coach didn’t seem to agree with that when Jordan tried out for the varsity team and didn’t make the cut. Jordan could have just settled for his spot on the junior varsity team but, instead,...
3 tags
Jingle All the Way: An old advertising device is...
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz… My balogna has a first name… I’d like to teach the world to sing… If you can complete each of the phrases above, you can understand the power of the jingle. Make no mistake, a jingle is an ad. But done right, it can never be ignored like one. Take the following, for example. “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.”...
5 tags
Small book, big thoughts.
I could write volumes about Steven Pressfield’s gem of a book, but that would go against its very nature. At only 165 pages (some just a paragraph long), The War of Art doles out more insight and inspiration than an entire section of self-help tomes.
Don’t let the ho-hum cover fool you. Passionate yet to the point, Pressfield takes resistance by the horns and whips it to the ground in a...
3 tags
“I almost drove to ATL one night b/c I had this idea to make water.”
– MR
5 tags
"Don't tell us what we can't do"
Nike just launched a super slick mini-site all done up in HTML5. The site promotes their “this is what we are doing to go green” campaign titled “Nike Better World”.
Super. Slick.
Word on the twitterstate is that Ian Coyle put this bad boy together. I am inspired.