Will you be my Valentine?

Yes! Yes! I thought you'd never ask...Oh, wait...

...I mean, yeah. Sure. I guess so...

What have Hallmark and Hershey's done to us? A marketing scheme to sell candy, cards and flowers has instilled warm fuzzies in the hearts of Americans...Unless you are single. Then February 14th causes panic attacks, paranoia and sleepless nights.

As consolation, us single people get to simultaneously celebrate Singles Awareness Day (ironically, abbreviated to "SAD") and if you head over to the SAD webpage, you will find this.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

I am waiting for somebody to come up with the ultimate Valentine's Day reverse marketing idea. Like a restaurant that offers seating in odd numbers only.

-Lindsay, Campaign Manager
Lunch Today: Cheese Sandwich, Peach Snapple

p.s. I would like to thank Roger for showing the V-Day love to the whole Premise team (regardless of our Facebook relationship status). The flowers are beautiful!

Axed Obama Logos

You may say that waiting until after Obama's historical inauguration to examine some of the campaign logo options is 'a day late a dollar short'. I say nay!

Whether or not you care to acknowledge it, the 2008 Obama campaign was far and away the most successful marketing campaign in history. Only now, with it resting comfortably in the recent past can we truly examine it and recognize it's perfection. The logo was executed by the team at SenderLLC led by Sol Sender himself. I've included some quotes from Sol from an interview found here.

“We developed a lot of logos. Usually we only develop two to four, maybe five. There were fifteen, sixteen options, and we focused on three.”

Final Round:

#1:
“This masking of different photos with the O shape became an opportunity to say different things in different moments… The O could contain all these different ideas, possibilities and feelings.”




#2
“There was a lot of excitement about this. People felt this was really something new, something different. It was a kind of populist expression — everyone’s excited about Obama, people are talking… (but) it was a little too far out of the box. We felt that having a little more tradition in the mark was the smart way to go.”

#3
“For me personally, this was always the one.”


"Originally the stripes were kind of symmetrically expressed across the horizon, and as we went into final refinements we felt that giving it a little bit more dimension, a little bit more motion, ways to enter into it a little bit more for the viewer was a better way to go.”
So there it is, a glimpse into the process. Personally I think they nailed it, though I did love the first finalist with the "O" masking different photos. Finalist #2 was a bit too far out there and not quite executed very well. Especially in light of the work these guys have done for moveon.org that hits the more youthful feel. Not to mention the infamous Shepard Fairy poster. Behold the power of Graphic Design and Art to change the world! But I guess there wasn't even really much competition in that field. The McCain logo? yikes.

John Zappas, Graphic Designer
Lunch: I wish! I had some pizza yesterday. mmmm pizza.

By 2049, robots will rule the world

I was sent a link to this video by my office buddy, Jack, who also happens to be the resident marketing strategist here at Premise. I thought it was pretty interesting how quickly technology is changing everything in our world.

Take a look. A little scary...

Did You Know? Sony BMG Rome 2008

-Lindsay, Campaign Manager
Lunch Today: lean cuisine, carrots and hummus

I Like to Play with Legos

If you get the opportunity, check out the new test launch of “Digital Box” by Lego which, when held up to an in-store camera, will superimpose a rendering of the completed Lego model on top of the product box on screen. The Digital Box was designed by Metalo for Lego, and can be seen soon at select toy stores and Lego shops around the world. Now I can't wait until the technologies advance far enough for consumers to afford the version that projects a "how to" blueprint so I can create that life-sized Star Wars Death Star I've been eying up. Or better yet, a DC for kids shoe box that projects how to lace up your shoes, could be helpful at my house :)

Gregg, Partner
Breakfast of Champions: Cup of Coffee

Economic Downturn = Spam Upswing

An interesting mobile piece on how not to use sms when targeting youth or any demo for that matter from the New York Times.


Gregg Witt, Partner
Lunch: Some healthy pre-packaged pasta

Immerse Your Content and Message in The Printed Blog

In my work at Premise I'm constantly in exploration of innovative new ways the team can immerse brands in the online and real worlds of their targeted consumer cultures. This morning I stumbled upon a cool new media source that is not afraid to be different and it's called The Printed Blog.

In their words, The Printed Blog is the first daily newspaper comprised entirely of blogs and other user generated content. They say they are starting distribution in select cities and obviously this will be their key challenge. That said, even if it were limited to a few markets and left super niche, its certainly innovative thinking and I commend them for it.

Hope this inspires more online-to-offline communication mediums

Gregg, Creative Adventurist
Breakfast: Coffee from Grants Market

Texting is the new black

Over the holidays I noticed something that, while quite evident, always seemed less obvious to me.

TEXTING IS THE NEW BLACK!

I must have received two dozen (yeah, I'm popular) "Happy Holidays!" and "Happy New Year :)" texts over the last couple weeks. However, I only received 5-6 actual Christmas cards in the mail and two phone calls (thanks Mom and Dad).

Are we getting that lazy and impersonal that we simply type a message to our friends and family instead of calling to say it with love in our voice? I probably sound ungrateful to have received so many well-wishes, but really I'm not. I appreciate that my friends and family thought of me (and most likely everyone else in their phones contact list) and took 4 seconds out of their day to text me a Holiday message.

Of course, I'm only kidding.

I am a HUGE fan of texting. I prefer it over all forms of communication aside from actually being engaged in a face-to-face conversation (bonus if there are frosty beverages involved). I even got myself a fancy iPhone so I can text at the speed of light. But don't expect to be getting a mass text message from me anytime soon. If you would like to know what I have to say to the masses, just check my facebook status ;)

Lindsay, campaign manager
Lunch today: lean cuisine (for the record: I'm still hungry and I don't feel any more lean)