Third Degree Nostalgia

Awe. Moving. It conjures thoughts of new beginnings. Excitement over things to come. Dreams of our new space, all shiny and new. And lets face it, how close each of our desks will be to a window.

We are ready for the next leg of our journey but for us, as we pack, we are feeling a bit nostalgic.

Original logo on a mason jar mug.

Current logo on a coaster.

Don't you just love old photos?

A coaster. And a reminder.

Oh, the creative that could be found on these old hard drives. And the incriminating emails.

Do they even make HOT DAMN anymore?

Media Buyer by Day. Office Designer by Default.

Everyone knows those people who work hard to develop a knowledge base and craft in college only to move on to start a career in an industry unrelated to their degree. That’s me. With a Bachelor of Interior Design from the University of Oklahoma, (and countless all-nighters in the College of Architecture studios) I’m now working on 8 years at Third Degree. As a Media Buyer, my Excel spreadsheets are not only strategic and thoughtful, but let’s be honest…color coordinated.

Did I mention it also qualifies me to judge coloring contests?



I interviewed for a temporary position as the Receptionist to pay the bills after college. Having spent a couple weeks in a hot warehouse, checking the caps on tubes of “Femoré” (I’ll leave that product description in the hands of Google), I was ready for a job in a climate controlled office. Little did I know most of the summer, shorts were considered “office chic” in the old Mercantile building.



After falling in love with these guys…



and these characters…



And learning that Media at Third Degree was not just about numbers and spreadsheets (no matter how colorful) and was more about finding targeted, creative and impactful ways to get our clients’ messages out…I stuck around…for awhile.



I was later asked to co-design our Diner/Breakroom/Conference Room with coworker Kathleen Shannon. We rented a cargo van, shared scandalous stories with each other (her more so than me) and crossed the Red River to IKEA.



Now, with the help of Creatives, Adam and Brett, I’m calling that the Trial Run before the new task at hand.



A whole new office space: demolition, construction, codes, timelines…may I suggest a little wine? And one excited Media Buyer.

We're Moving.

That’s right. You heard correctly. After 14 years, Third Degree Advertising will be uprooting from our home in Bricktown and relocating our headquarters to new offices in Midtown Oklahoma City (corner of Fourth and Walker).

More information to come.

ABNB Federal Credit Union's "Holiday Regrets" Promotional Campaign

The holiday season is right around the corner. Despite all of that festive bliss in the air, you can’t help but have some regrets.

ABNB Holiday Promotion Mood Board

Too much food, those things you probably shouldn’t have said to your in-laws after all that eggnog – and what were you thinking when you decided to get that new puppy?

ABNB Holiday Promotion Mood Board

Here’s one holiday decision that you won’t regret: ABNB Federal Credit Union’s low-rate credit card. And what better place to get the word out than where many Americans rack up their credit card debt: the mall?

Floor Clings

Our media planners will tell you that the mall is one of their favorite out-of-home advertising locations to utilize because it gives the audience more time to take in our message (and because media planners love the food court). It also gives us a chance to get creative with some really high-exposure spaces.

Wrapped Escalator

We use the mall to target very specific geographical neighborhoods as opposed to entire DMAs. It’s also a great place to reach GenY and GenX. That’s why we continue to utilize this untapped space for ABNB as well as many of our other clients.



And that's just one part of our whole approach. We still do TV donut spots and radio ads in English and Spanish! Props to our Spanish voice talent for speed-reading that disclaimer.

Radio Spot English

Radio Spot Spanish

Phew! Desserts, puppies, whatever! Bring it on. No regrets for us this holiday season!

Buck the Norm: We come from SPAAAACE!

Beam Me Out of Debt was our Gen Y targeted message this year, as Buck the Norm invaded the Gazette's 5th Annual Halloween Parade.




The float was complete with a pulsating flying saucer beaming Bucky the spokes-thumb out of debt, reflective stars, and fog machines. Aliens marched along side the float handing out glow sticks to those brave enough for a close encounter.



We even spotted a few visitors from a neighboring galaxy in the crowd.



For more behind the scenes photos of our space oddity visit our Facebook page, or check out our past Tinker Federal Credit Union events, like corporate sharks and debt loving zombies. And keep watching the skies.

9 Ways Facebook's New Look Affects Your Brand

You know the Third Degree Facebook page is always active. (We can't resist a good photo op.) So when Facebook changes its interface, we take notice. We’re particularly interested in how these changes impact businesses. Here are some important highlights and takeaways for you to remember:


Anyone can comment on Pages.
Any Facebook member can now comment on a brand’s page, regardless of whether or not they “Like” the page. Although there are concerns associated with this transition (like dealing with crises and spam, and reaching new customers) this will now open conversations to more users, which can in turn bring potential customers. The good news is that you can’t measure success by ‘likes’ alone, but instead by the engagement of your community. Less stress on ‘like’ forces brands to create great content that keeps people coming.


The News feed is more selective, streamlined.
The streamlined News Feed includes a ticker timeline for less crucial updates (like a friend commenting on another friend’s photo). Important events get better real estate on the bigger, traditional news feed. This is good news for business pages, since you’ll cut through a noisy feed by posting high-quality content (determined by EdgeRank).


The EdgeRank System decides what you see.
Facebook’s EdgeRank formula breaks down visibility into various categories: Affinity, Weight, and Time. Affinity increases each time you interact with a page, meaning that content will get more presence in your feed. Weight prioritizes the visibility of different content categories, like photos, videos, links and status updates, with comments getting the most priority. Time-relevant information stays closer to the top of a newsfeed. (via)

Friend activity is now public.
The Friend Activity tab shows you which of your friends visited a brand’s page, the “Likes” and comments on posts, and any mention of the page by friends. A more personalized page means more user interest in visiting and interacting with the business or brand. Users can now recommend your brands to their friends directly from your page. (Just remember to give them a reason to do so.)

Status update character limit increased over 1000%.
A status update was once limited to 420 characters. That limit is now 5,000. For users, that means a more blog-like experience with their profiles. For brands, it means you can get a little more in-depth when you share news or events with your community.

Admins have more metrics.
This one's for the real analytics geeks. Where once you could only see metrics and engagement per-post for your self-published items, now you now track broader measurements by exporting Insight reports into Excel. (via)


Insights tool is more granular.
Analytics options now include a page-fan’s friendcount (“Friends of Fans”) and weekly Total Reach. Facebook encourages word-of-mouth sharing among fans and their friends, as well as to allow businesses to measure the extent of that sharing. Now you can count the stories people share that show up in News Feeds. Likes, mentions, RSVPs, check-ins, wall posts, answered questions and other related metrics are all measured. (via and via)

New plugins share browsing activity on Facebook.
If you're finicky about your privacy settings, this new feature might be a bit squicky. A Facebook plugin on your website publishes a Facebook user's browsing activity and sentiment on their profile and wall. From there, it filters out into their friends news feed and ticker. (via)

Facebook dabbles in social listening.
Following in the footsteps of Spotify, last.fm, and Pandora, Facebook now has a music dashboard letting you see what your friends are listening. Look deeper and you'll see their top albums and singles. Whether this will drive more people to Facebook and, in turn, could boost traffic to pages remains to be seen. (via)

So that's the straight dope on Facebook's newest changes. Though still filtering out to most users, Facebook's history shows they won't be the last changes to Facebook's UI. Whatever comes, just keep your focus on quality, shareable content. Oh, and have fun!

Funds For Learning Moves Up a Grade

Funds For Learning (FFL) helps schools and libraries wade through government paperwork and become compliant to be eligible to receive technology funding. Tricky stuff. It's one of those "hey-I-didn't-even-know-people-did-that" jobs that once you hear about, you're glad is around.


We've worked with FFL for a few years now, helping develop their early branding. We even won the prestigious Jef Fontana Humor award for their on-hold message a few years ago.


Oh my, how the years fly by. Now Funds For Learning is the nation's largest provider of these services. They've moved up to a swanky new office and their team of experts is way bigger. Their past brand fit a smaller organization carving out a new niche. Now, they're ready to brag about their expertise, their experience and their drive to help.


So we got to thinking: Who is Funds For Learning to its clients? They cut through complicated paperwork. They show a clear path to funding. They keep clients from making costly mistakes. They're like sherpas, the rugged mountaineers that escort adventurers to the peak of Mount Everest. They're like a sensei, a master of mysterious techniques. And they're like a guru, with deep knowledge of their craft. What do these all have in common? They're guides. So, that's how we positioned Funds For Learning.


Above is the first brand positioning board recently created. The strategy is to: Keep a streamlined appearance to stand out from the competition's cluttered ads. Incorporate the internal culture into the messaging: Collaborative, fun-loving, resourceful, with a strong belief in communication. Use a new color system revolves around reds, oranges and saturated cyans, with white as the accent. Funds For Learning didn't need a drastic change to their brand, just a natural next iteration. A graduation, if you will.


Humorous Venn diagrams show that Funds For Learning really understands the tough position most districts are in these days, without getting too dour about it. The graph background, handwriting, and hand-drawn circles all reflect elements of a school whiteboard and a workplace brainstorming session. Using strong visual metaphors from simple visual shapes make Funds For Learning's brand very approachable.


Funds For Learning liked these initial ideas so much they decided to do a full-on photoshoot to show off their sweet new space and their team of gurus, sherpas, anda senseis (a.k.a. guides).


After a long shooting day, we let off some steam with an epic paper fight. Hey, what's a graduation without a little fun?