Wednesday
10Mar2010

Lighting up the Western Virginia ADDY Awards

ND&P staff geared up for a night on the town last Saturday, seeking adventure and excitement. We found that and more at the Western Virginia ADDY Awards – taking home the show’s top honors in winning the Howard Packett Award for Creative Excellence. The award, recognizing the best work from the show, was given to a very special ND&P project for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond Office of Vocations (translation: the department for priest recruitment). A poster developed by ND&P Chief Creative Officer John Griessmayer and Art Director Kym Davis (shown below), the work also won Gold and Best-in-Print awards.

Many other shiny metals sparkled for ND&P and our wonderful clients, among them a pair of Silver ADDYs for the logo and stationery package for The Jefferson Hotel’s Lemaire restaurant (did we tell you Lemaire was recently named one of Esquire magazine’s “Best New Restaurants of 2009?”).

 

Congratulations to all of our fellow ADDY Award winners!

(Shaun Amanda)

Friday
26Feb2010

A Pocket Full of Millard Fillmore

I recently parked downtown for an evening event. A little shocked to find my two-hour stay would cost $9, I fed a $20 bill into the automated parking machine and immediately heard the clickety-clank of several coins hitting the change return.

At home a few hours later, I pulled the jingling stash from my coat pocket and marveled at a handful of gold-colored dollar coins with…MILLARD FILLMORE on them (and one with John Tyler).


I discovered the U.S. Mint is in the midst of a presidential dollar coin series modeled after the 50 State Quarters. New Yorker Fillmore had just come out that week, thirteenth president so thirteenth in the series (http://bit.ly/c9OaHT).

Over the next couple of days I asked several people about the coins, only to find no one else had heard about them either. I learned more, too, such as the fact each year since the series’ start in 2007 the mint has been releasing substantially fewer quantities, arguably because the program hasn’t taken off quite like they planned.

I can understand the popularity of state quarters – enthusiastically hunting down quarters from where you were born or went to college, where you live, where you favorite sports team is from. And I can also understand there might be considerably less interest in a presidential dollar coin series, even setting aside the fact you probably don’t actually USE dollar coins as often as other coins.

Because – what personal connection do any of us have to a president? I suspect it’s not even close to the one we might have with a state. Yes, I know there are exceptions. I can imagine great interest in the likes of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, even the historic precedent tied to current President Obama. But I can’t imagine people out there fighting for a Tyler or a Polk, apart from those intent on securing the entire series.

It’s about a personal connection, something that is so often critical in our own industry. Every day we can find examples of the personal connection consumers may have with a product or service we’re marketing: a hotel, a hospital, even a city. (Heck, I’d like to see coins with key U.S. cities on them – there’s an idea for the Mint!) And when we communicate with these consumers, we need to explore and reinforce that connection.

In the meantime, I have a bunch of Fillmores and I’m wondering if anyone has a George Washington, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson they’d like to trade…

(P.S. With each presidential dollar a “First Spouse” coin is also being released. These coins are larger, have a face value of $10, and are struck in 24-karat and contain a half-ounce of gold - Interesting the spouses have more value!)  (Shaun Amanda)

Wednesday
24Feb2010

Observations on Tiger Woods

Ernest DelBuono, ND&P crisis management expert, was asked by local media for his take on the February 19, 2010 conference held by Tiger Woods. In addition to the press coverage (links below), Ernest offers a few items to consider: 

  • As is fairly typical in any interview, most of what you share with the reporter never makes it into the story. Here are a few comments I shared with the reporters:
    • Who was Tiger’s primary audience?  He certainly mentioned all his audiences – family, friends, fans, employees, business partners, his foundation, young students, etc. However who did he mention first and most often? – his wife, Elin.  She was certainly number #1 on the list. And perhaps that answers the question: why did he do this apology in the first place?
    • Thank you Tiger for stating that when, with whom and how many times he cheated is none of anyone’s business. Those details are between Tiger, his wife and his mistresses.
    • As far as denying domestic violence, why bring up a negative like that? Especially since his denial probably isn’t going to change anyone’s mind. We have a photo of an SUV with the windows knocked out, witnesses claiming his wife had a golf club in her hands, and Tiger’s refusal to talk to police about the incident. Seeing as how there were no questions during his event, there was no reason to mention it.

I’ll ask my own question now and invite you to share your opinions – What is going to happen when Tiger makes his first return to the golf course?  Will he be able to duck reporters questions? Will he be forced to have a real press conference where he actually has to answer questions? Will he continue to be a diva on the golf course, throwing clubs and staring down reporters whenever they get too close or make noise? (Ernest)

For more of Ernest’s take on Tiger’s conference:

Richmond Times-Dispatch Article: 

http://bit.ly/alM2JV

Critique on WDBJ-TV in Roanoke:

http://bit.ly/acytP9

 

Wednesday
17Feb2010

A Social Cookie

Thanks to the new ownership of our local Ukrop’s grocery stores, central Virginia Girl Scout Cookie addicts may have to look a little harder to get a cookie fix. You’ve probably heard by now the chain’s new owner, Martin's Food Markets, has a policy preventing sidewalk vending at its stores (full story at http://bit.ly/bPWVeN).

But thanks to a national Girl Scout social/online media campaign, you can still find a source to feed your need (hint: check out http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/ and plug in your zip code to find your nearest Girl Scout Council).

The campaign includes a YouTube video (http://bit.ly/brGElx) and microsite. The online video feels a bit more like a TV spot, or a multi-purposed TV spot, but it does clearly convey the idea cookies do more than just taste good. Apparently “every cookie has a mission.” And no, it’s not to satisfy that sweet tooth, though let’s agree right now that is an inherent cookie trait. It’s actually “to help girls do great things.”

At this writing, the video has just over 15,500 views. But I wonder what would happen if they targeted the promotion to Ukrop’s markets and called it something like “find Girl Scout cookies now!”

You have to admit the use of social media for cookie sales promotion is a no-brainer, though I’d have personally liked to see something with a little more humor to kick up those views. And I’d have put some dedicated Twitter and Facebook cookie-presence in the mix (all I can find are general Scout accounts). I hope they’ve plastered the microsite address all over the place – even on cookie boxes. They may have – I just haven’t snagged my own thin mints yet to find out…. Let’s see, enter zip code…..

(-Shaun Amanda)

Tuesday
09Feb2010

Great Minds...Share

Leadership comes with a fundamental responsibility – to help guide the next generation of great minds. We take this responsibility quite seriously, and it’s easy to find examples of our commitment within our many employees and across our various offices.

We have practicing university faculty, countless industry association members, professional organization leaders, alumni supporters, volunteers, mentors – you get the idea.

With such an inherent dedication to shaping tomorrow’s leaders, it was pretty much impossible for ND&P Chief Creative Officer John Griessmayer to turn down an opportunity to corrupt (make that GUIDE) future advertising creative professionals.

AD2 Roanoke, an affiliate of the American Advertising Federation, is a non-profit organization of advertising professionals aged 32 and younger. So when they asked John for an interview focusing on “Career ADvice,” he jumped.

Amidst pearls of wisdom such as “nobody wants to see your charcoal drawings from art class” and “something can always be smarter, quicker or simpler,” John describes a dream collaboration team that includes the likes of a sarcastic talking cat, Paul Bunyan, a fry cook, a genetic hybrid of Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter, and a robot Heather Locklear.

Let’s just say John’s irreverent sense of humor hides a diabolic creative mastermind, and we’re glad he’s on our side.

For more words of wisdom, check out the full article series: http://bit.ly/bXcPjY  

(- Shaun Amanda)