We are very proud of our new work for retail training giant, MOHR Retail, the company that has trained the staff of household brands including T.J. Maxx, New Balance, and Verizon Wireless, in its 30 years in business. Through a discovery process that included a brand audit, interviews, and a competitive review, we were able to define four brand pillars that helped  establish a clear strategy for the web redesign. The site focuses on the importance of MOHR Retail’s trainings by using the main messaging area to promote the core attributes that set them apart from other training programs. Our brand study also made it evident that a name change would reinforce their expertise in the retail space and MOHR Access—became MOHR Retail.  Brand strategy always guides design at Grafik—and that is why clients like Michael Patrick of MOHR Retail have this to say about working with Grafik.

“We are all so proud of what you have created. Thank you for listening, bringing your expertise, and translating our vision into reality. The site shows us in the best possible light. It communicates that we are a leader in retail training, offer fresh and important insights, and are a substantial organization that is ready to handle the full range of needs retailers may have. If this doesn’t grow our brand and drive business, I’m not sure what would. We made the right decision when we chose Grafik!” —Michael Patrick, Founder & President, MOHR Retail.

While waiting for my flight at Reagan National Airport, I happened to look up and experience one of the most striking technology campaigns I’ve seen in a while. The Smarter Planet campaign, designed by Ogilvy Paris for IBM, employs a collection of simple yet sophisticated illustrations by Noma Bar titled Outcomes. His work precisely uses shapes, form, and negative space showcasing his skills as an artist, illustrator, and designer. The resulting images are deceivingly simple and often require an extra moment to see the meaning within. I only wished I had taken a photo of the actual display at the airport, however the images below should give you a good idea.

Noma Bar's Outcomes illustrations for IBM's Smarter Planet campaign

The Smithsonian announced this weekend that they are launching a new brand line, “Seriously Amazing.” Before you read any further, in the interest of complete disclosure, you should know that Grafik has worked with the Smithsonian on many of their initiatives including the branding of the National Museum of the American Indian, and a brand exercise for the Smithsonian Institution’s Latino Center. And we have had a beef over the years, on behalf of all of the excellent branding firms in Washington, D.C., that we are never invited to the dance. So in the context of having a large chip on my shoulder, I have to say that the new tagline for the Smithsonian is really pretty good—excellent in fact. The firm called in for the assignment is a well-known branding agency in NYC, London, and Dubai Wolff Olins and branding museums and international institutions is their specialty.

A news item in the Washington Post on Sunday shows that Wolff Olins spent the time to research, and get input from many of the museum directors and board members. As a pre-eminently political beast it must have been a huge endeavor to interview all of the people necessary to build consensus for the new line—one that costs $1 million dollars. It seems they hit the nail right on the head, getting a huge round of applause when they launched the brand last week.

I personally like “Seriously Amazing” as it taps into the research as well as the vast store of treasures that are held by all of the museums making up the Institution. Known for years as the “Nation’s Attic,” the new tagline has a more forward direction. It remains to be seen how the mark will play out in future fundraising and the awareness building campaign.

Job well done, Wolff Olins! Oh, and a note to self: Every time the Smithsonian cries poor to our local D.C. agencies, we should think of the tagline’s million dollar price tag and refuse to do their work on a pro bono basis.

Driving home from work the other day I was listening to NPR and heard a story about a battle between Chick-fil-A and a small Vermont T-shirt manufacturer who is producing T-shirts saying “Eat More Kale.” Chick-fil-A owns the tagline “Eat Mor Chikin” and, indeed, the corporation has done a splendid job advertising their fast food chicken restaurants through the Eat Mor Chikin campaign. It seems that the T-shirt manufacturer, Bo Muller-Moore, has been doing a booming business producing “Eat More Kale” shirts out of a studio above his garage and has enough orders to support himself. He decided it would be wise to apply for a trademark for “Eat More Kale” and was confronted by a cease and desist letter from the chicken guys. In a statement, Chick-fil-A  said, “We must legally protect and defend our “Eat mor chikin” trademark in order to maintain rights to the slogan.”

Laws regarding trademark and patent infringement are complex, which is why we always tell our clients to consult with their own trademark lawyers or use one of ours. But one test of trademark infringement is whether there would be confusion in the marketplace or whether the existing brand equity would be diluted. Muller-Moore’s lawyer commented in a New York Times article, “There’s no one out there that’s going to come forward and say, ‘I thought I was buying a Chick-fil-A product but I got this T-shirt.” Add to that the fact that the food chain does not have a franchise operating in Vermont so there is even less chance for confusion.

Can a company or brand own words exclusively? Clearly many wonderful campaigns have been copied such as the Got Milk? campaign that I wrote about several weeks ago. Harley Davidson has copyrighted the sound of their motorcycle—and no other motorcycle or bike can use the same sound. But can you hold a copyright to the words “Eat More”? I did a quick search on Google to see how many “Eat More” campaigns and ads there have been. Witness just a few.

Clearly there have been many campaigns that have used the the words “Eat More.” And it is equally clear that Chick-fil-A has done a superb job of imprinting their brand through their deft ad campaign. So what has been accomplished and what are the effects of this lawsuit? Well, Eat More Kale has gotten way more publicity than they ever thought possible, getting national coverage in the NY Times and an NPR spot. Muller-Moore has tapped social media and drew incredible support from Facebook followers, both a former and the present governors of Vermont, and a groundswell of kale lovers nationally.

At a recent press conference, Governor Peter Shulmin of Vermont noted, “If you think that Vermonters don’t understand the difference between kale and a chicken sandwich, we invite you to Vermont, and we’ll give you a lesson about the difference between a kale and a chicken,” Shumlin said. “There are some very distinct features that should be noticed in that difference. Kale is a vegetable; chickens are birds. Birds create manure; kale eats manure.”

What has the Chick-Fil-A brand gained—a tarnished reputation as a corporate bully that flies in the face of its humorous campaigns. How many people will look at the cows and think of the “Eat More Kale” controversy and leave with a bad taste in their mouths? With little possibility of confusion and not even one Chick-fil-A restaurant in Vermont, one has to wonder if this was a giant mistake by the Chick legal department with little thought how it might effect their brand. In this case their cease and desist order may have a real correlation to less counter orders. Governor Shumlin sent this message to Chick-fil-A, “Don’t mess with Vermont. Don’t mess with kale. And, Chick-fil-A, get out of the way because we are going to win this one.” (Source: NPR.org—Chicken Vs. Kale, Kirk Carapezza)

Vintage Ivory soap

Okay. I freely admit that I love old packaging. My house is filled with thousands of antique tins, old boxes, and discarded packaging from days gone by. I notice packaging, so when Procter & Gamble decided to pump up the packaging and advertising for one of its oldest brands, Ivory soap, I was eager to see what change was in store.

The new campaign devised by Wieden+Kennedy is nothing short of brilliant. But the new packaging by Sterling Brands is uninspired. One has to wonder why their advertising agency did not show the new look on any of their ads, TV spots, or online placements. If you want to look at 125 years of Ivory soap packaging, Procter & Gamble has set up a Facebook page that shows all the different ways they have wrapped their pure white soap.

The most controversial aspect to their simple blue and white packaging was the Procter & Gamble logo which was thought to have ties to Satan.

Old Ivory soap packaging the showcased a P&G logo that was thought to have Satanic themes

For years urban legend maintained that the man in the logo was proof of the company’s ties to Satan. Supposedly the curlicues of the moon man’s beard was an array of 6’s and if you connect the dots with the 13 stars, three 6’s appear. The curlicues at the top of his head resembled the horns of a ram representing the false prophet. Eventually in 1985 the Procter and Gamble logo was taken off of Ivory soap. Over the years the Ivory logo has been modified and most recently Wieden+Kennedy modernized the wordmark. Tag lines have also changed and those in use over the years have included:

• Pure Clean. Pure Ivory.
• 99.44% Pure.
• So Pure it floats.
• Keep it pure, clean and simple

“Ivory is P&G’s oldest and most beloved brand, and while consumers relish in the nostalgia and heritage of the product, it’s time for a holistic reinvention of the brand as we work to touch and improve more consumers’ lives in more parts of the world more completely,” says Jay Sethi, Ivory brand manager. “We’ve answered the call for consumers wanting a ‘simple and clean’ solution and the most powerful aspect of Ivory still remains the simplicity of the product.” Lisa McTigue Pierce—Packaging Digest Oct. 4, 2011.

Karl Lieberman, creative director, Wieden+Kennedy, spoke about the new advertising. “Unlike a lot of other brands, Ivory has stayed true to its equity. It has remained the antithesis of the overly complicated—from its ingredients, packaging and advertising—it’s a throwback to an era where there wasn’t time for such things. And that’s what makes its new voice so refreshing.”

Ivory has changed its look over the years, but has always kept it simple.

But while Ivory has remained a strong brand since 1879, competition in the soap category has changed. The Ivory brand has been running third to Dove and Dial. (Source: NY Times, Nov. 7, 2011). Product managers felt that with the increased consumer focus on cost savings during the recession years, it was a good time to promote the Ivory brand promise of “value and simplicity.” “Renée Richardson Gosline, an assistant professor of marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management, also predicted the simplicity of Ivory and its campaign could appeal to consumers. However, she also questioned the absence of the new Ivory packaging in advertising. ‘If you’re proud of the packaging, show it off,’ she said.”

Display of Ivory soap products

I was raised in a Jewish household, so Christmas was not celebrated. I used to look wistfully at the beautiful Christmas decorations, think about the cookie baking marathons, and go to our fireplace every Christmas morning hoping that Santa had left us something…he didn’t. There is one Christmas memory that rises above all the others, The Norelco Santa commercial.

The Norelco Santa ad first ran in 1961 and appeared in black and white. It was rather crude but the Santa riding on the electric razor was enough to get everyone’s attention. As a young girl I knew little about the Norelco brand, and I really did not need an electric shaver, yet the TV spot remains imprinted on my mind. Not only was it fun to watch, it was a new kind of animation that many had not seen before.

The TV spot was so successful that it was updated several times to add additional products and to take advantage of color TV. In 1994 the commercial was remade with a more up to date Santa, better animation, and more scenes of Santa frolicking through the snow. While viewers continued to watch their sets for the first Christmas viewing of Santa, it seems that Santa’s job was on the line.

In his book, Santa Claus: A Biography, author Gerry Bowler notes, “Santa’s job as adman was not secure. Norelco electric shavers had employed Santa Claus in its Christmas ads for years. “Norelco,” the ads would chirp. Unfortunately this presentation seemed to suggest to viewers that the company was in the toy business and so in 1986 Santa was dumped in favour of a manly looking fellow shaving to the slogan “We made close comfortable…” The result? Sales boomed and the company expressed no regret making its loyal, old employee redundant. His appearance was a classic example of how an advertisement could be popular without being effective. “Santa Claus advertising at best created a cute, warm, image for the brand, but nothing else.”

After  Philips decided to subsitute Santa with a new ad, the company was besieged by letters from loyal fans wondering why Santa had been replaced. For six years viewers, like me, felt as if something was missing from the pre-holiday TV fare. In 2002, the company realized that they had made a mistake and Santa was reintroduced. This year finds the Norelco commercial hipper and more contemporary with better production values.

And my eyes will probably gloss over while it is on. It’s missing the nostalgia for a simpler time and the magic of animation is magic no more. I highly doubt that kids watching this commercial today will remember it years from now, but not due to any Norelco missteps. It is a different time, a totally different world, and the black and white jerkily animated Kris Kringle has to be put out to pasture. Still, for this non-Christian, Norelco will always symbolize the fun, beauty, and magic of the holiday season.

The line outside of Target on Black Friday

It seems that this year the 99% stood in line to open up stores at midnight while the 1% comfortably slept in.

Black Friday no longer started at an un-Godly 4 a.m.—it now started at the stroke of midnight. It all started with Target, and was rapidly followed by several other retailers. Kohl’s and Best Buy all jumped on the midnight Black Friday bandwagon. Walmart and Toys“R”Us are opened even earlier at 10 p.m. the night before. Some of the affordable brands like JCPenney, Sears, RadioShack, H&M and Staples all let their buyers sleep in until 4 or 5 a.m. Mall also jumped on the bandwagon and in the DC area, The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City opened at 5 a.m.

It seems as you go up the food chain you are allowed more sleep and the hour of shopping is correlated with the level of luxury brands. Barneys and Burberry did not open their doors until 10:00 a.m., as well as Saks, Tory Burch, and Cartier. Many of the luxury brands anchoring the malls followed their landlord’s guidelines. Mazza Gallerie, home to luxury brands like Neiman Marcus and Sak’s Men’s Store held their opening steady at 9:00 a.m.—only one hour earlier than normal. It seems that the luxury brands are catering to a clientele that understandably does not care about saving $200 on an off-brand TV set, but also wanted to have some of the Black Friday “fun.”

Many of the luxury brands are promoting more goods online, and they are not waiting until Cyber Monday. Astute online marketers have been working with luxury brands like Zegna to build up enthusiasm and awareness for their Cyber Monday sales. In some uber-elite stores, they are not expecting their clients to lift so much as a finger—either to shop online or to stand in line. Just call for your personal shopper and everything will be taken care of.

Norman Rockwell's famous Thanksgiving painting

Early shopping or not, I for one hope that the shopping mania did not seep over into Thanksgiving Day, a day normally reserved for family, food, and football. Imagine if the beloved Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving scene with family gathered around the table was altered to show the seats of missing family members who are in line at Best Buy counting minutes till opening instead of counting their blessings.

I was driving into work this week and almost plowed into a Mid States Oil truck. I was captivated by the ad on the back of the truck. It was yet another rip off of the famous, and wildly popular Got Milk? ad campaign that was launched in 1995 for the National Milk Processor Board. Someone somewhere in the marketing department at Mid States Oil thought it would be a good idea to show a sexy female with an oil mustache. What were they thinking?

Got Oil? Campaign

The Got Milk? campaign was, and is, nothing short of brilliant.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners has probably won every award in the book and according to their website there is a 90 percent awareness factor for the campaign—nothing short of astounding. The campaign has been going strong and is kept relevant by using popular stars such as Hugh Jackman, Taylor Swift, and even the Simpsons.

Taylor Swift posing for the Got Milk? Campaign

Hugh Jackman showing off more than his milk mustache

But along with fame comes imitation.

Got Milk? has been spun off to: Got balls?, Got Beignets?, Got Rice?, Got Mold?, Got Pancakes?, Got Junk?, even Got Pigeons? It turns out that they have created a wonderful website called “milking ‘got milk?‘” Here you can find lists of imitators—each one sillier than the next. Their photo gallery is open to new examples submitted by anyone who finds a Got fill-in-the-blank image and it is supported by a Twitter feed and Facebook page.

Do any of the submissions come anywhere close to the original—not even in the same galaxy. In fact, looking at the milk rip–offs, I have only two words that perfectly describe what I see: Got Poop?

A funny Got Milk? spin-off...Got Poop?

Last week, I opened an email from a client—to say the least, I was pleased at what I received in my inbox. Let me just start by mentioning, the greatest part of being a designer is seeing your finished work have a life outside of the studio.

Over the summer, I was heading back to DC from the beach. I was nearing the Bay Bridge stopped at a red light, and saw one of JK Moving Service’s brand-new, 53-foot moving trucks in oncoming traffic. This truck makes a huge statement when you see it on the highway or down the street in your neighborhood. I simply remember the sheer excitement of seeing my design the first time driving down the road on the pristine, glowing-white 18-wheeler.

JK Moving Services truck

So back to this email. I began to read it and it was not about a current project, rather it was about cake. Yes, cake. Unfortunately, there was no actual cake on my desk to blissfully devour, but the email left me drooling just as if there were. JK had a meeting with a contact of theirs and decided they needed to really make an impression, so one member of the staff baked a cake modeled after a JK Moving Services truck! If seeing my work on the highway wasn’t enough—now it had been “temporarily immortalized” with delicious ingredients that are easily consumed. It makes me think of TV shows where people create the cakes to commemorate things like a beloved Disney character or a famous landmark—all with a story to tell. This cake may not be on some prime-time television bake-off, but in my eyes, it sure feels like someone was inspired enough by my design to pay tribute to it. Obviously this wasn’t the case, but just let me have my moment.

Homemade JK Moving cake

As cool as it is to see a logo, identity, or website outside of the studio that I’ve worked on, this definitely takes the cake (that pun is super intended). It’s amazing to see just how much life can be injected into a brand—especially when that brand is given an extension like a cake. I mean, who doesn’t like cake?

By the way, my birthday is coming up. Now how do I get my hands on one of them cakes?

Looks delicious!

LinkedIn, Aim, Digg, Myspace, Squidoo, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit express some holiday cheer!

It’s now November and Christmas is just 52 days away. Gift shopping, turkey feasting, and snow shoveling (Hope I don’t jinx it!) seem to occupy the top of your to-do list, and tweeting and posting may not be such a priority. Anyone who engages in social media, either personally or professionally, knows that it’s one of those tasks you know you have dedicate time to, but when things get crazy busy with work projects and personal schedules, it’s what usually gets pushed aside. Here are a few basic tips to keep in mind that will make sure your Klout score doesn’t suffer during one of the busiest times of the year.

1. Start now and plan ahead

Take a cue from department stores that are already playing Christmas songs and selling holiday decor. Start thinking about what topics you should be blogging, posting, and tweeting about now so, when you have to leave work early for that holiday party, you’re covered. Tools like HootSuite and Crowdbooster allow you to schedule tweets and Facebook posts to be published at a future, predetermined time which is really useful when you’re out on vacation or just plain swamped.

2. Be timely and newsworthy

The risk you encounter when you schedule tweets and posts is that your content may be stale (or as Eric would say, “So nine minutes ago!”) by the time it gets pushed out. For your content to stay relevant, don’t just say what happened, but include your take on it. Don’t tweet “It’s 52 days till Christmas,” but say “Tips for tweeting your Christmas countdown.” This is where your brand’s voice comes in giving your content added value.

3. Go mobile

If you haven’t already, definitely get access to your social platforms on your smart phone. Some of you might be thinking that this is a given, but just this week, I’ve encountered a few people who work in the online media field who don’t have Twitter and Facebook apps on their phone. Enough said.

4. Keep your audience top of mind

It’s important to remind yourself when generating content, that your audience is in the same boat. They’re also as busy as you, if not more, and you have a smaller window of opportunity to engage them. Echoing number 2, be smart about when and what you tweet. If you know that most of your audience tend to comment on Facebook during their lunch break, then concentrate your Facebook activity at that time. Crowdbooster has a useful feature that gives you suggested times on when you should tweet and Facebook post based on previous clicks, replies, and shares on your content.

5. Get in the holiday spirit

One “perk” of this busy season is since there is a lot going on, there’s more to talk about. Do your coworkers decorate their offices? (Yes, Danielle, I’m talking about you.) Is your company holding a holiday marketing campaign, sale, promotion or the like? These all make for good ideas for blogging, posting, and tweeting. Tis’ the season to be jolly after all.

These simple and somewhat logical tips do not only apply to the holiday season and can be quite helpful if practiced throughout the year. Just based on my informal research, people rarely follow all of the above which can save you a lot of time and maybe even your sanity. If you have any other tips in mind, please do share!