Playing With Blocks

How do you get to play with blocks as part of your grownup job?



You work in advertising. That, and you have a client like Cox Communications who lets you use blocks to illustrate how their local stores are better than what their competitor – sounds like A-Gee & Gee – is offering.



The featured medium of this campaign is television, so we gathered together the contents from the bottom of my kids' closet, and shot stills of a little neighborhood scene that we then had animated to create the final commercials.



We also created digital outdoor boards using the same imagery.



Beep, beep!

Kathleen was the lead creative on this campaign, which is running here in Oklahoma starting this week. Since Cox is the local cable provider (in addition to providing telephone and high speed internet service) they get lots and lots of play on the tube, (i.e. television... I don't think TVs actually have "tubes" inside them anymore?)



I actually wanted to name this post Playing With (Sounds Like Begos), but we're trying to avoid getting in legal grey area. If you'll notice on the final animated commercials, all the distinctive circular pegs are Photoshopped off the tops of the "blocks" to give them a more generic appearance.



But, lets just say, I am nuts about Begos! I love to build fancy Bego houses and stuff from scratch (this is the front of a bodega style market I brought from home), but then it makes my five year old feel bad: "mom, why isn't my Bego house good like yours?" So I may have to start playing with Begos in private (or in this case, at work) so he doesn't get a complex. It may be too late – especially if I keep calling them Begos.

Facetime With Bucky

BuckTheNorm.com is back with a new contest. TFCU is asking young people to submit their own photo of Bucky over the summer, and the best one chosen gets to be Bucky's facebook profile pic, and the winning entrant gets a free digital camera.



We've worked so much on buck the norm around here, and had gotten so used to calling the "spokesthumb" of the campaign, Bucky, that we thought it might be a good idea to formally introduce him to the buck the norm audience as well. So we decided to do a video about him.

First step, get his face right. We'd gotten a little rusty drawing the perfect Bucky face, so we had to practice... a lot.



Fortunately we had a lot of volunteers around the agency (if you consider forcing people to let us draw faces on their thumbs with permanent marker volunteering).



Finally, it was perfect. Good match, don't you think? This is actually my thumb, which plays Bucky Number One in the video.



Daniel has more experience starring in buck the norm videos.

His thumb is Bucky Number Two.

(That sounds kind of gross...if you're five years old I suppose... but I have one of those, too... so I went there.)



We decided that my desk area had the most natural light, so we set up our little makeshift studio there: easels, foam core, poster board, and dangerously hot desk lamps and shop lights rigged up at precarious angles.

We were too lazy to move my desk. Or clean it.



Brett was our official stage hand-slash-camera man. He's about to go union.



We actually had a guest star Bucky. Here I am holding her hand up so it shows up in the frame.



And here I am going all stage mom on her. Her real mom, Kriste, our media buyer, is in the background. She's about to come throw me down. I'm pretty sure she could take me.




But at the end of the day it was worth it.

Presenting our handmade video.

Who Says Print Is Dead?

I walk into our agency "diner" the other day and there's Jentry our media buyer finding a creative use for newspaper.



She was decoupaging newspaper onto our exposed warehouse pipes (with, I should add, "The Office" Season 1 DVD blaring in the background.)



Papering the pipes was a design element she concepted as part of our diner remodel that we did ourselves. But she hadn't had a chance to complete it yet.



As a media buyer, it's Jentry's job to really be strategic about the mediums we take advantage of. Hmmm... is this a commentary on the state of newspaper as a media avenue?



Nope. It's just a creative way to make the most of what we've got.



Michael Scott approves.

Get Going With Your Scootery Self

My coworkers love it when I shoot pictures of them really closeup on the way places, like in airplanes, or cars. When I say love it, I mean hate it, because it freaks them out a little, and they sort of retract their heads away from the camera that's suddenly right in their face, which gives them a frozen smiled "why-are-you-doing-this-to-me?" expression.



But that doesn't mean I've quit doing it. Account coordinator, Hallie, is looking slightly frozen but very summery as she drives us to an equally summery promotional event, the Get Going radio remote and registration at TFCU (that's what the flyer's about that I'm sticking in her face, as well as my camera).



It's a sunny blue-sky day and one of the outdoor boards promoting the event is located right by the branch we're going to, so it's a good photo opportunity. Although the drivers who have to slow down because I'm standing in the middle of the street to take the perfect shot are perhaps a little annoyed.



But I had to get a good angle, because I'm really thrilled with how the scooter rear-view mirror extensions turned out. The outdoor company used real metal bars which look great when the sun hits them as you drive by.



The scooter is the big draw of this promotion. This is the second summer Tinker Federal Credit Union has done the Get Going promotion where they give away a pair of Buddy Scooters plus a $100 gas card. It's wrapped around an auto loan push including boat loans, RV loans, motorcycle loans... you know, all the ways you get going.



There were lots of people signing up, and the radio station that was hosting the remote had pizza, music, and other extra activities going on. Most of the TFCU branches are able to display a real scooter provided by Atomic Brown Scooter Shop.

They had a sign taped on the scooter that said "please don't sit on the scooter." Yeah, we were really great example-setters on that one.



The Get Going promotion was pretty successful for TFCU last year, so this year we tried some additional mediums. Like the outdoor with extensions, in-branch standees, and these cool floor clings placed in the entry ways and near teller areas.



They also used Get Going themed "It's On Us Cards," which TFCU often uses to reach non-members in close proximity to the branches at coffee shops or Sonic drive-thrus, surprising customers by having prepaid for their drinks.



Plus, they commissioned some whimsical window paintings for their front doors. These remind me of the ones Allegiance Credit Union did a few months ago that were surprisingly easy, inexpensive, and effective. For a fun or humorous promotion, it fits right in and especially lets current members know there's something new going on.

Where Am I?

What happens when the creative director goes on vacation? She delegates, delegates, delegates, changes her out-of-office email reply, changes her voicemail, and... lets go.

At least for a week.



Maybe you're still not back in the office from Memorial Day weekend malaise and/or mayhem, but now that vacation season is here, the shared office calendar starts to get color-coded blocks of time that are a little bit longer than usual.

But, there's also lots of other reasons for being away from your desk. Some work-related, some not so much.



This desktop flip chart is a promotional item I got in the mail from the stock photography resource, Veer. It's specifically geared toward creative professionals, and a bunch of us kept it around here, so obviously it struck a chord. We have a very open office (no walls, no partial walls, no secrets). So it's sort of redundant to broadcast that you're away. But these are just too clever and quirky to resist putting on display.



Maybe you're at the dentist.

I'm ALWAYS at the dentist, thirty-three years old, two crowns, a ticking time bomb for a third, apparently I clench... my teeth that is.



At a long lunch.

We tend to brown bag it in our agency diner. But we have been know to step out once and a while.



Dealing with a high-maintenance kid. Or perhaps just a high-maintenance teacher.

That's a little bit of an exaggeration. I love my kid's teacher. However, she thinks Super Mario Bros. is too violent and not age-appropriate for my five year old to be discussing in class. Really? Super Mario? He like, jumps on mushrooms and turtles with wings. Maybe I shouldn't tell her his second favorite video game is Halo.



Some of them get a little more kooky.



A little more creepy.



And a little too close to reality for comfort.



But my favorite is the one I'm leaving up while I leave it all behind.

If you comment to this post, please don't get your feelings hurt if I don't reply. Like the first photo says, "I'm going off the grid" and leaving all modern technology behind. Except for my kid's Nintendo DS. Because Super Mario doesn't take vacations.

Ready For Your Closeup, Regional Health Care Center?

So our creative team recently tackled two photo shoots in the same week for two different clients. Nothing too unusual about that.



But what was kind of funny is that they were both for regional rural health centers, Jackson County Memorial Hospital and Unity Health Center.



And, both shoots were booked with Simon Hurst, one of our favorite photographers from across the pond (that means he's English, like the Hugh Grant.... or Mr. Bean).



He calls Oklahoma home, now, though. It's not like we fly him in special-like all the way from England.



That's his photographer's assistant, Beau.



Beau is like a magician's sequined, smiling assistant. Except not smiling, and no sequins. But he does get all the glamorous jobs like keeping Simon and his camera dry in the rain.

This might be some lighting thing going on here, but I'm pretty sure it's makeshift umbrella duty.



Beau probably has a lot more to say than he shares. As he watches our associate creative director Brian, consult with Simon, Beau's probably thinking we should try a different composition, or consider shooting our every day people with greater depth of field to exaggerate the concept of them playing a powerful role in their own healthcare.

Or he's wondering when we might break for lunch.



A lot of times we use stock photography for our executions, especially in the initial concepting phase. This is one of the brand platforms we just started for one of our newest clients, Jackson County Memorial Hospital. We'll continue to develop this brand into other messaging mediums like a web site redesign, annual report and an internal awareness initiative including an employee brand book. But we'll be replacing some of the stock photography with custom photography of real doctors, patients and members of the community.



It's not unlike the brand we created for Unity a couple years back. The "it starts at the center," platform has been a springboard for outdoor, web, print and also internal outreach – like a brand video they shared with all the staff and community members at a town hall-style launch of the new Unity look and feel. We ended up using a combination of stock and "real people" photography in the final pieces we created for them.



It's always an unpredictable undertaking shooting real staff and patients. Simon is really great about putting them all at ease, and they usually find his British accent incredibly charming. Because, unless you're like our art director Kathleen, most regular people don't necessarily run to fling themselves in front of the camera.



Although it's always pretty easy to find Third Degree team members who are willing to act as stand-ins while we find our best shot.

Okay, technically since our account coordinator Felina is expecting, it's somewhat appropriate for her to be pushed in a wheelchair. But our designer, Liz, is definitely not qualified to be her caregiver. Although I have a suspicion she's no stranger to playing doctor.

Every Credit Union Should Have a Simon

Simon is the guy who knows what's going on the inside – the staff side – of the credit union.



Simon isn't afraid to share. He's a enthusiastic giver of information, motivation (and self-proclamation.)



Simon has got your back. Even if you don't know it, or aren't quite sure you want it once he's literally standing in your cubicle.



Simon is the friendly face of people working and bonding together behind the scenes.

Amanda and I (pictured above and below) just got back from a two-day planning session with the always enthusiastic and welcoming marketing team at Delta Community Credit Union in Atlanta. I saw "the Simon head" up on the shelf, and asked one of their team members, Jeff Deck, who is always "Simon" and always a good sport, to get on the get-up and give us an impromptu photo shoot.



Did I mention Simon is friendly? We'll just assume this especially friendly moment is because it's really hard to judge appropriate personal space when you're wearing a giant foam head and have limited sight and depth perception. Right?



And, hey, cut the guy a break. He usually exists completely online. Simon is basically the portal for all employee communications on the Delta Community Credit Union intranet.



Simon lets employees know about upcoming credit union events and news, job opportunities, new employees and need-to-know stuff like processes and procedures. The intent is to create a friendly, consistent and current source of info for the internal staff – taking the idea of reliable, people-helping-people positioning that the credit union works so hard to continually reinforce externally to its members and community, and bring a little of that attention to one of its biggest group of advocates – its own employees.



Although the taped glasses and tie are always staple Simon character traits, Simon has a lot of looks for all the different types of information he shares.



Third Degree created the Simon character together with the Delta Community marketing team . We wanted Simon to be fun and a little offbeat (he was even a robot first for about two rounds of concepting). We wanted people to, well... pay attention to him. Almost everyone is guilty now and again of ignoring a breakroom flyer or a mass company-wide email. Our hope in creating Simon, was to create a memorable messenger.



And, if mischievous members of the Delta Community team, who are always up for a practical joke, ever start to really have some fun with Simon (this printout was mysteriously tacked up in marketing one morning, although Simon had already been returned damage free), it just goes to show he's truly become one of them.

Speaking of returns – can an organization like a credit union measure the R.O.I. on fostering happy, informed, all-on-the-same page employees?