March 20, 2012—Grafik is pleased to announce that its branding work for client JK Moving Services has placed it among one of the world’s most effective rebrands in the eighth annual REBRAND 100 ^® Global Awards. This recognition is the highest recognition for excellence in brand repositioning, and is the first and most respected global program of its kind. Grafik’s rebrand of JK Moving Services encompasses an effort that touches every facet of the brand from corporate mantra, to logo and visual identity, and every execution where the brand lives (e.g., moving trucks to uniforms to corporate website and brochures).

“Many projects had big ideas expressed elegantly through all methods of engagement—language, visuals, sound, etc.” said Shashi Caan, Founding Principal, The Collective US and UK and 2012 juror. Each year, an international and multidisciplinary mix of industry experts convenes to jury this annual competition. They consider “before” and “after” representations of brand transformations with written summaries and supporting elements that showcase integration of social media and mobile engagement.

“It is gratifying to be among the nation’s most recognized branding establishments,” said Judy Kirpich, founder and CEO of Grafik, and the strategic lead of the JK Moving Services account. “We’ve spent a decade focusing on strategic branding. It informs everything we do.”

According to the team at REBRAND^TM, a small consulting firm or brand had as much opportunity to be selected as did global organizations with exponentially greater budgets since the name and size of the brand strategists are hidden from jurors during their review process. Emphasis was on executed strategy that made an emotional connection and met the stated objectives and needs of the identified target audience and prospects.

“Grafik Marketing Communications armed themselves with solid research and customer testimonials before embarking on a one-year rebranding program for JK Moving,” said Charles Kuhn, Founder, President and CEO, JK Moving Services. “They completely reorganized our brand architecture and rolled out a powerful new corporate mantra that resonated with every division and facet of the company.”

The 2012 winners represented over 28 countries and 34 industries. They ranged from One Foundation (Global Ethics Ltd), Pfizer, National Music Centre (Canada), Merck Millipore, and Cisco. In addition to in-house teams, small agencies, and representatives of multinational corporations and nonprofits, competing firms included Interbrand, SNK, Lippincott, Siegel+Gale, and Brandient.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

About Grafik: Founded in 1978, Grafik is an award-winning strategic marketing communications firm located in Alexandria, VA, specializing in brand and creative development across traditional and digital media. Current clients include: U.S. Census, Honda North America, EYA, Convergent Wealth Advisors, Global Automakers, Prostate Cancer Foundation, and DC Prep.

About JK Moving Services: For over 30 years, JK Moving Services (JKmoving.com) has provided local, long distance, and international relocation services to a variety of commercial, residential, and government clients. Headquartered in Sterling, Virginia, the company maintains a full-time, professionally trained staff of relocation and move management experts committed to providing the highest level of customer care.

About REBRAND™ and the REBRAND 100® Global Awards: REBRAND is the world’s leading resource for effective brand transformations. The REBRAND 100 Global Awards is the first and most respected recognition for repositioned brands. Featured in such media as The Wall Street Journal, CNNMoney, Bloomberg Businessweek, various magazines and books, the annual competition has entry deadlines in late September. The full 2012 winners showcase is at www.rebrand.com.

The Honda In America web and mobile site

Grafik helped Honda GR shift into high gear with the launch of www.hondainamerica.com. Directed towards policymakers on the Hill, the site features the most up-to-date information about Honda’s efforts in the areas of fuel efficiency and advanced safety technology, as well as detailed investment data about the company’s manufacturing, employment, and purchasing history in America.

“It’s a responsive web design, which means it adapts to its environment. The same site looks different on the web and on mobile,” said Greg Appler, VP Interactive for Grafik. This provided great cost savings to Honda, as they didn’t have to build a separate mobile site, but their users are able to easily view the site on mobile devices. “Additionally, the magazine style format leverages contemporary experience technologies to enhance interaction and usability.”

In previous years, Grafik helped Honda GR produce a comprehensive data book, however with this new effort, not only is the company able to extend its reach—but it is more environmentally sustainable.

“We now offer our audiences the same valuable information, and more, via the web with HondaInAmerica.com,” said Edward B. Cohen, Vice President Government & Industry Relations for Honda North America, Inc.

Grafik was so proud of the work, we entered it into the DC Ad Club’s Best of DC Agency Showcase, featuring the year’s best marketing presented by the area’s top creative agencies.  The panel of judges selected the site to be among the work that will be presented. On November 15, Greg Appler and Creative Director Gregg Glaviano will share the inspiration behind the execution of this, deemed one of the best marketing campaigns of 2011.

Grafik has been honored a Silver Award by The International Academy of Visual Arts W³ Awards for our work on Software AG’s “Know” campaign at knowyoursupplychain.com.

The W³ Awards is a web competition comprised of and judged by preeminent executives from businesses of all sizes, such as Disney, Yahoo, and Microsoft, and recognizes small firms to Fortune 500 companies for their work online—websites, marketing campaigns, and videos. The W³ Awards received over 3,000 entries this year and we are proud to be among those honored. Other winners include EXPO, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and Volunteers of America.

The W³ firmly believes that recognition from the Academy proves to your clients and your peers that your work is truly outstanding.

The 2010 W³ Awards program honors creative excellence on the web, and recognizes the creative and marketing professionals behind award winning sites, videos and marketing programs. Sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, entry into this global award program is accessible to the biggest agencies, the smallest firms, and everyone in between. Grafik’s Gold was in the category of  “Agency Self-Promotion.”

At Grafik, we are particularly pleased with the award because the new site, launched in early 2009, was a dramatic online evolution of our own brand that included a new identity, a comprehensive portfolio, and an integrated team that has grown to include interactive talent from some of the nation’s top agencies and consumer brands.

In keeping with Grafik’s sweet spot—building unique and branded experiences—Grafik.com is a non-traditional one-page site that provides a surprisingly fresh and intuitive user interface that also presents some unique challenges for page rendering, navigation, and search engine optimization. A client-side font rendering engine and a healthy dose of jQuery were called in to address these and many other issues–and to show off our technology chops.

Internally and externally, the response to the new site has been positive. We like that. And, now and then, it’s nice to win an award for our efforts.

Grafik Website: www.grafik.com

I have always looked forward each year to the announcement of the MacArthur Fellowships. This award- also known as the “genius grant” is awarded to “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.” MacArthur Fellows are given $500,000 in unrestricted monies so they can keep on doing what they have been doing without having to worry about funds. Every year the list includes some of the most amazing people in all walks of life, but this year, finally, it included 2 people that are intimately involved with type.

Matthew Carter- one of the old school of type designers has not stayed old school. In addition to designing well  over 60 typeface families and over 250 individual fonts,  he recently finished work designing fonts that would be legible on low resolution hand held devices.

The second person to be awarded a fellowship is Nicholas Benson, a stone carver and calligrapher who has worked on carving letter forms into stone at such notable places as the National Gallery of Art, the National World War II Memorial. and the soon to be opened Dr. Martin Luther King National Memorial National Gallery of Art. In these days of computer generated fonts, Mr. Benson is notable for painstakingly carving every serif into granite or marble- one letter at a time.

So few people today notice typefaces let alone understand the difference between Stone Serif or Meta. Few recognize what proper leading or letterspacing can add to legibility and most believe that it is an art that anyone with a computer and fonts can master. These two notable fellows are a testament to the part typography can play in our world today. They are two examples of two craftsmen that love and labor over letters, and reading the list of people awarded “genius grants” today I felt a burst of pride in our profession and for all of those who look at type as art, not gray matter.

Doing great creative work during a recession is sometimes very hard. Yeah, I know I probably should not say this- but after going through (and surviving) several downturns I know what I am talking about. When there is too much time, not enough work, and everyone is worried about saving their jobs and paying their bills, creative suffers. Ironically some times the longer one has to work on a piece, the worse the design ends up being. Dragging out a project to fill time, or fussing too much sometimes breathes the life out of a project.

That is why, in my opinion, the creative awards we have won for the VOA 2008 Annual Report are so special. This annual just picked up the 2010 Communicator Award of Distinction. This is the fifth award the annual has won, and it was selected out of a pool of more than 7,000 entries.

All that of course is wonderful news. But what makes it special to me is the energy and life the creative team breathed into it, with a very low budget and recession pressures abounding.

Award competitions during a recession are funny things. In Grafik’s case- with lots of awards under our belts, for good or for bad, we tend to cut back dramatically on the number of pieces we enter- conserving the money for more important things. This results in our being very very selective, and cuts down on the number of submissions and awards. That’s a hard thing to do since we want to showcase the talents of our creative teams, and let’s face it, it makes everyone feel good. But sometimes the bottomline demands it.

For Grafik the recession is ending. We have been busier with more work, more proposals, more new business pitches than I dare say we have seen in a good 18 months. Our moods are elevated, projects are flying through the office, and our staff is less preoccupied with keeping their work, and more occupied with turning out their work. All good stuff. But it is still the resilience of those who can create when all the chips are down, who refuse to throw in the towel that I believe commands attention. So to the entire VOA team- on the Grafik side and on the client side- Kudos not only for the award, but for keeping the faith.

Grafik was the prime sponsor of the American Marketing Association’s (AMADC) Spring Mix Networking Event held at the Liaison Hotel last week week which sold out to the advertising and marketing community’s movers and shakers on both the agency and client sides. Lance Wain addressed a packed audience on the shifts and success stories in the D.C marketing world and then introduced the event’s keynote speaker, legendary advertising icon Chuck Porter, founder and co-chairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky—the agency responsible for creating the advertising for global brands such as Burger King, Best Buy, Coke Zero, BMW Mini, and VW.

Grafik’s interactive staff flanking Chuck Porter on the Liaison Hotel Roof.

“Grafik has been a quiet leader in the D.C. market, steadfast and holding strong for 30 years. We have decided to take a very active role in leading the marketing community for our next 30 years and our commitment to the American Marketing Association and programming like this demonstrates the kind of brand evolution our company is undergoing,” says Wain. “We have a very exciting roster of events coming up that we are planning with the AMADC for the coming year. It is important that our clients and the community know that Grafik is at the forefront of marketing trends, research, and hot creative.”

In attendance at the event were some of Grafik’s key clients including Software AG, Convergent Wealth Advisors, and Travelex Global Business Payments. The next Grafik-sponsored AMADC event will be held in Fall 2010.

Not only is Grafik on center stage with relevant content, but the boutique, Alexandria firm collected its fair share of industry awards in the last year. From a spot in the prestigious 2010 Graphis Annual Reports Annual, to three distinctions in the AIGA 50, plus two ADDY’s, and three accolades from the Art Director’s Club of Metropolitan Washington—Grafik continues to be recognized for creative excellence.

The web2awards is the world’s first annual award competition that names the best websites in the printing industry. The web2awards were established by Printing Industries of America to recognize, honor, and elevate printers that are achieving excellence with their online presence.

Visit  Printing Industries of America to view all the winners and find out more.

We’re proud to announce the Volunteers of America 2008 Annual Report received an Excellence Award from the 2009 American Graphic Design Awards competition. One of the largest and broadest competitions honoring all forms of electronic, print, motion and interactive design. Thanks go to Mila, our production team, Meredith Light, and especially our client for trusting us to tell their story.

The winners of the Creativity 38 Annual have been selected, and Grafik is pleased to announce the judges have recognized our work on the Volunteers of America 2007
Annual Report as well as the America Supports You corporate sponsorship brochure.

With hundreds of entries submitted from agencies, design and public relations firms, illustrators, photographers, printers and media outlets, we’re honored to have two
pieces selected and published in this prestigious national awards publication.