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.

I first heard about Pinterest from my sister, a fourth grade teacher in Michigan who is not known as an early adopter. I was reading one of my favorite blogs, clicked on a Pinterest button on the site, and all of a sudden found myself in a different world that I knew nothing about. Just at that moment, my sister called me. I told her that I had just found this interesting site, Pinterest, and she told me it is one of the best places online for teachers to share ideas and curriculum—she has been using it for months. Three hours later, I was hooked.

These are a few of Grafik CEO, Judy Kirpich

I have been trying to figure out the many ways to use this new social media tool. Growing from 1.2 million users in August to over 4 million in January 2012, it is a site that allows users to share images they like about objects that they like. Each time you choose an image—whether it is from a website or within the Pinterest boards, it is called “pinning.”

A user can group infinite numbers of images into a board that can be organized and categorized according to the users preferences. The site is being used predominantly by women, and there are myriad boards on kitchens, fashion trends, bridal dresses. There are also boards featuring textures, art, places to travel, black and white photography and architecture. If you find someone who is constantly pinning up images that are interesting, you can choose to follow that person, and can select which of her boards you want to follow. If you see an image you like, you can repin it on your own board, like it, or even make a comment.

A shot of Judy

By installing a Pin It button on your desktop, if you see a beautiful image of an elephant on a nature site, you can click on the button and it will be added to your collection (board of images).Well, lots of sites allow you to post images, Grabbit for one, but what is interesting is that the Pin It photo arrives at your board with the credits and original site attached. And here is where I think it gets interesting…since Pinterest allows a “pinner” to see where the original content is from, if you repeatedly see that images you like are from the same website or blog, you are encouraged to visit that url. In this way Pinterest can subtly act as another method to get people to your own blog or website.

I decided to try an experiment. I posted eight images from my own blog. On a good day I normally get about 50-70 page views. The day before I started pinning on Pinterest I had 62 page views. For the next few days after I had started pinning, my page views went up to 379 and the views have remained higher.

After adding images from her own blog, Unmultitasking, Judy's blog traffic experienced a bump.

More research has to be done on Pinterest, however right now it is currently the seventh highest trafficked social media site. The demographic is predominantly female which should be interesting to advertisers. And in talking with some of our social media team and our creative directors we are already thinking of ways we could use this both for our clients and internally. One cautionary note—it’s addictive and can really suck up a lot of time, so be prepared to spend hours investigating it. Enjoy, and happy pinning!

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

It’s been said many times over, “It’s never too late.” This is especially true when it involves props, singing, and spreading smiles.

Case in point: Grafik’s 2011 Holiday E-card which was sent out to clients, friends, and our social followers early this week. Yes, it may be a bit tardy, but it’s still darn worthy of the mere 30 seconds you need to view it. So if you haven’t given it a look, click on the image below. Immediate smiles guaranteed!

Washington Area is Key Destination for Strategic Communications

WASHINGTON, DC, January 6, 2012 – The DC Ad Club, metropolitan Washington’s chapter of the American Advertising Federation, announced yesterday that Teddi Alyce Segal is chairperson of Advertising Week DC 2012 scheduled for this September. Segal is vice president of marketing and business development at Alexandria, VA-based, Grafik, the creative agency for the event. Advertising Week DC attracts communications professionals to a four-day event engineered to keep practitioners current on all aspects of marketing communications. Although major metropolitan areas such as New York and Los Angeles have more employees in the advertising and marketing sector, the Washington area has the highest per capita among all the major metro areas in the nation.

According to IHS Global Insight and the Greater Washington Initiative studies, the Washington metropolitan area is home to over 300,000 advertising-related jobs and is the highest per capita employer in the advertising sector. Over 21% of the $489 billion economic output in the Washington area is attributable to advertising expenditures.

“The high concentration of communications professionals is indicative of the demand for top-notch, strategic talent in our region for a breadth of communications disciplines, including marketing, advertising, public relations, advocacy, digital media, social media, and more. Our program is developed to serve the needs of all marketing communications professionals,” said Segal.

Every fall since 2004, Advertising Week DC celebrates the best of the advertising, marketing, and media community with a week dedicated to networking, professional development, and education. It is the area’s largest professional and networking event for advertising, marketing, public relations, and media leaders. The Advertising Week DC Steering Committee is comprised of key players from companies in the Greater Washington advertising, marketing, and media industries. The event will feature nationally recognized marketing experts in an extensive program of discussions and presentations focused on best practices in the rapidly evolving field of marketing communications. The conference will be attractive to client- and agency-side junior talent and, of course, the mainstay of seasoned professionals, and those currently in college studying communications.

“Advertising Week DC is the place to listen, learn, contribute, and engage in lively discussion around our profession. Our objective this year is to raise national awareness that the Washington area is the “go-to” market for strategic communications because of the breadth of marketing work being performed in the region,” said Sherri Anne Green, president of the DC Ad Club. “We’re excited to have Teddi spearheading the effort.”

Segal served on the Advertising Week DC Steering Committee in 2010. She joined Grafik in October 2008 and is responsible for business development and marketing efforts, as well as all public relations and social media on behalf of the agency. She previously served on the American Marketing Association-DC Chapter Board of Directors and is currently serving on the DC Ad Club’s 2012 ADDY Award committee.

Prior to coming to DC, Segal was with several agencies in Miami, FL, including Zimmerman and HDC. Advertising Week DC is a mix of professional development and networking. Both events have taken place annually since 2004. Past speakers have included Joe Grimaldi, Chairman & CEO, Mullen; Shelly Lazarus, Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather; Liz Dolan, former Chief Marketing Officer of The Oprah Winfrey Network; Stuart Elliot, Advertising Columnist of The New York Times; and Miles Nadal, Founder, Chairman & CEO, MDC Partners.

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About The DC Ad Club

Since 1918, the DC Ad Club (a.k.a. the Advertising Club of Metropolitan Washington) has served as the premier industry organization for area advertising professionals. As a chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the DC Ad Club promotes integrity and excellence in advertising through professional development seminars, recognizes industry leaders andoutstanding work, and serves as the leading networking venue for the industry. The DC Ad Club membership represents all segments of the industry—clients, agencies, production companies and the media. Ad 2 DC, a subset of the DC Ad Club membership, represents and provides programming for young professionals (age 32 and under) in the industry.

Grafik had its holiday party this weekend.  Here are a few of the photos from the event.  If you would like to see more photos, check out our Flickr page!

Yesterday, Facebook + Media released the list of Most Shared Articles on Facebook in 2011. As a sucker for “top” and “most” lists and the like, I look forward to the last quarter of the year, when they start popping up left and right on any topic you can possibly think of, because they are somewhat descriptive of the past year. Much longer than other year-ending rundowns, this list surprisingly had a really good mix—funny and serious, informative and seemingly useless, print and multimedia. This list left me almost in tears (of both laughter and sadness), but most of all, it has left me a bit confused. Its wide variety of subject matter and type of content makes me wonder about what all this means.

With online video and multimedia consumption emerging, only 11 of the 40 stories are videos or have a video component, and only four are primarily based on photos or have an interactive feature. With 44% (and growing) of Facebook users accessing the social networking site via mobile, does this mean that multimedia content has yet to be better utilized for mobile consumption despite Facebook’s recent push for mobile? Or do text-only articles show no signs weakening? My bet is on the first rather than the latter.

I also noticed that reputable news sites such as CNN.com, NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com and Yahoo! News dominate as the most popular sources. As someone from a journalism background, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside that the online community still primarily refers to the respected and esteemed news outlets for content—at least I’d like to believe that. Much of the sharing could be better attributed to Open Graph apps which has increased Yahoo! News’ traffic by 600% and garnered the WaPo more than 3.5 million users via the Social Reader app based on early statistics.

With this in mind, the majority of the articles are content primarily originating from, or touching issues directly affecting, the U.S. despite 75% of Facebook users living outside the United States. With topics ranging from Steve Jobs, job hunting, laughing babies, the U.S. deficit and Japan tsunami, this list is indeed indicative of this past year. It would be really interesting to see analytics and demographics on who shared what. Check out the list and let me know what you think.

Most Shared Articles on Facebook in 2011

1. Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami (New York Times)

2. What teachers really want to tell parents (CNN)

3. No, your zodiac sign hasn’t changed (CNN)

4. Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps (CNN)

5. Father Daughter Dance Medley (Yahoo)

6. At funeral, dog mourns the death of Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan (Yahoo)

7. You’ll freak when you see the new Facebook (CNN)

8. Dog in Japan stays by the side of ailing friend in the rubble (Yahoo)

9. Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines (Yahoo)

10. New Zodiac Sign Dates: Ophiuchus The 13th Sign? (The Huffington Post)

11. Parents keep child’s gender under wraps (Yahoo)

12. How to Talk to Little Girls (The Huffington Post)

13. Stop Coddling the Super-Rich (New York Times)

14. Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior (Wall Street Journal)

15. Twin Baby Boys Have A Conversation! (Yahoo)

16. Man robs bank to get medical care in jail (Yahoo)

17. Why You’re Not Married (The Huffington Post)

18. A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs (New York Times)

19. Ryan Dunn Dead: ‘Jackass’ Star Dies In Car Crash (The Huffington Post)

20. Scientists warn California could be struck by winter ‘superstorm’ (Yahoo)

21. Notes From a Dragon Mom (New York Times)

22.  A Message to Women From a Man: You Are Not “Crazy” (The Huffington Post)

23. Obama’s and Bush’s effects on the deficit in one graph (Washington Post)

24. Penn State, my final loss of faith (Washington Post)

25.  Golden-Voiced Homeless Man Captivates Internet (Yahoo)

26. The most typical face on the planet (Yahoo)

27. Widespread destruction from Japan earthquake, tsunamis (CNN)

28. Permissive parents: Curb your brats (CNN)

29. A father’s day wish: Dads, wake the hell up! (CNN)

30. Laughing Baby Loves Ripping Paper! (Yahoo)

31. Epic Cover Letter: How To Get Hired For Your Dream Job (Pic) (The Huffington Post)

32. New Zodiac sign dates: Don’t switch horoscopes yet (Washington Post)

33. Things Babies Born in 2011 Will Never Know (Yahoo)

34.  The Psychology of Revenge: Why We Should Stop Celebrating Osama Bin Laden’s Death (The Huffington Post)

35. Where Children Sleep (New York Times)

36. Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet, shifted Earth’s axis (CNN)

37.  Steve Jobs, Apple founder, dies (CNN)

38. China’s latest craze: dyeing pets to look like other wild animals (CNN)

39. Grant Hill’s Response to Jalen Rose (New York Times)

40. Steve Jobs’s Patents (New York Times)

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.

Write what you are thankful for

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I propose a challenge to you. It is not a challenge of strength or wit, but a challenge of gratitude. With one day of each year singled out for giving thanks, it is easy to focus on what makes you happy. The family surrounding you. The food at the table. The day off of work. And it feels good. It feels great, even. Physically expressing love and gratitude physically makes you feel great, and don’t you want that all year ‘round?

For about two years, I began each day with a list of what I was grateful for. I would spend 15 minutes each morning and log onto my blog and get typing. It started off with 21 things, moved to 49, and some days I’d be in the 60s. Initially, finding even 21 things you are grateful for can be daunting. Some people I’ve discussed this with had difficulty getting seven things on the page. But that’s OK. Shoot for seven things for your first list. Move up from there.

I wrote my gratitude list every day to start my day off in a mindset of love and thankfulness. It turns out that things go better when you start your day on a positive note. It makes writing emails easier, it makes you more mindful of what you say and do, and it makes you happier, which makes you more enjoyable to be around.

It may seem difficult to get started, because you may have concerns like, “What should I be grateful for?” “What if it sounds petty?” “Am I being grateful enough?” The truth is, it’s your list. It’s meant to bring you peace. If you’re grateful for your expensive car and your beautiful home, by all means, put that down. If you’re grateful because there are nursing homes to take care of your ailing grandparents, put that down. If you’re grateful because you had an uneventful (read: no accidents) drive to work, put that down. If you’re grateful for your electricity, toothbrush, couch, shoes, put those down. It doesn’t have to be worldly and grand. It doesn’t have to be unique. It can be the same things each day. It just has to be true to you.

Once you get on a roll, it’s difficult to stop. Sometimes the words can’t come out fast enough to keep up with your brain. If you need some inspiration, start your list with things you’re surrounded by when you write, from the pen in your hand or the computer keyboard beneath your fingers, that allow you to share information. Or think about your meals that you have had or have planned for the day. You are able to purchase that food because of the job you hold, and you can give thanks for your boss, and your coworkers who make your job enjoyable or easier.

The food you eat makes its way to you somehow, whether direct from the farm or through a grocery store where it was likely handled by an employee, the truck driver who brought it to you, the person who harvested the fields for you, then to the sun, rain, dirt, insects, animals, every thing that had a part in the process. Show gratitude for all of those things; because of them, you had food to eat today.

See how my lists got up there into the 60s? I didn’t go this deep every day, but once you get started on one thing, you can see how it continues. Once you are aware of all of the things you are grateful for, you will find more, and more, and more. Your perspective will change on the things you see. Sometimes it can be overwhelming how much gratitude you have that you didn’t even know existed, but it is such a wonderful feeling that you will want to share with others.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I ask that each of you write a gratitude list, if even just as an experiment. What might be fun is to do this at your Thanksgiving dinner with your family. Instead of speaking your gratitude out loud (which can be scary), have everyone write something on a piece of paper, put it in a bowl, and have everyone pick one to read out loud. It breaks the tension of sharing your own gratitude, but opens everyone to sharing theirs.

Wishing you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving, and hoping you may make each day a day of giving thanks.

When news broke of the Penn State Scandal, the conversation took a life of its own on Twitter

Unless you have been hiding under a rock the past two weeks, the Jerry Sandusky and Penn State child abuse scandal has dominated headlines, talk/radio shows, and all forms of social media. And through the course of events, I have been particularly fascinated with how Twitter has been used (or not used) to take advantage of what it is good for: pushing out information instantly and engaging a broad audience that you may have no immediate connection to. Being the digital geek and spaghetti western fan that I am, I have selected a few examples from the past two weeks to highlight how Twitter was used or could have been used, and broken them down into the good, the bad, and the ugly.

However, before I go any further, I should note that as a Penn State graduate and husband to a wife who devoted hundreds of hours working with The Second Mile organization as a student, I was particularly transfixed by the unfolding events of this tragedy and consequently more obsessed and affected personally than the average American by the situation. And while this is not intended to be an op-ed, I do want to say that my heart goes out to the victims and their families, and also to the students, alum and all those associated to the University who are still trying to make sense of everything. My prayers are with you.

The Good: Twitter as a Breaking News Source
On November 5, the investigation into Jerry Sandusky became public knowledge as the formal grand jury presentment was released and Sandusky was formally accused of making sexual advances or assaults on eight boys. At the time, the news item was a footnote on ESPN’s website, and a small headline with local Pennsylvania news outlets. As a dedicated Penn State football fan, I needed more information, and not able to find anything of value on the web, I turned to Twitter to learn more. I did a quick search on Jerry Sandusky and found several Penn State users using the hashtag #PSUCharges to comment on the news. By following those users, I built a list of about 10–15 sources, most local to the State College area on Twitter that posted updates every 5–10 minutes over the next week. Not only did I have the latest news and information about the events as they happened, I also had an insight into what the students were going through and what the mood was like on campus, including photos and videos, as those local users retweeted tweets posted by Penn State students. Twitter continues to prove itself as the top source for breaking news and I recommend you use it as such for personal use, or as a means to disseminate your own news. Since Google ended their agreement with Twitter, real-time information is harder to come by in Google search results, and until Google Buzz catches on, you cannot rely on a search engine to surface the latest news.

The Bad: Twitter as a Form of Crisis Communication Management
The University knew about this investigation, and they also knew that the information would become public knowledge on November 5. And while most of the sports world was focused on the LSU-Alabama football game set to take place that night, which some argued was a game between the two best college football teams in the nation, Penn State’s public information department had an opportunity to set up a social media crisis response team, outline a strategy of information dissemination, and get ahead of the impending media storm. Social media has proven to be a critical component of any crisis communication management strategy, and as an example, Penn State could have established their own hashtag, could have set up a Twitter profile dedicated to distributing updates, facts, and contact information. This team (and I emphasize team as something this large would require many people) could also have used Twitter to engage the media in real time, and headed off the propagation of the multiple rumors that were flying fast and furiously. Sadly, Penn State stumbled out of the gates and chose to take a reactive approach which demonstrated their incompetency, led to the distribution of misinformation, and further fueled the media frenzy. As a digital strategist, it pained me to see my alma mater fall so short on something that should be PR 101 at this point and urge you to recognize the power of Twitter and never underestimate its value in defending your brand.

The Ugly: Twitter as a Means to Expand Your Audience
It became very clear at the outset of the media blitz that Twitter would not be exempt from sensationalism reporting, furthering personal agendas, and driving eyeballs, listeners, or in this case, followers. I have never been as disgusted as I was seeing people who styled themselves as “news” media shamelessly spouting off complete ignorance, conjecture, and speculation, taking advantage of an emotional and personal tragedy to make a name for themselves. What, ideally, should have been basic fact reporting turned into a contest to see who could denounce Penn State officials most vehemently, who was more against child abuse and Penn State, and who could criticize Penn State alums or students the hardest for being upset. 140 character pearls of wisdom have been tweeted and retweeted, effectively making the rounds within the Twitterverse similar to the email chain letters of old. And while I was personally disappointed with the content, I could not argue with the fact that these personalities were exposing themselves to new eyeballs, effectively growing their audience.

Finally, one other lesson I learned the hard way: use Twitter with caution when attempting to get work done at the same time. If you’re not careful, you will quickly get sucked in reading tweets, news articles, trading messages with users, and ultimately getting nothing done. Not that I’m speaking from experience…