Buck The Norm: We're Going To Need A Bigger Boat

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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.

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?

Arts Festival Outing

The Arts Festival is held right in the heart of downtown OKC and is only walking distance from Third Degree, which is nice. It's just one more reason I really love working right in the middle of everything, even if our warehouse loft-style agency space has no air conditioning this week (but more on the hotness later.)

So anyway, this week is Arts Festival time (properly named "Festival Of The Arts"). Kind of the same thing, huh? Ahhh, marketing.



Speaking of marketing, I invited Nancy, marketing director at TFCU to come with me. I sent her an email that said:

Nancy,

Wanna' go to the Arts Festival with me and walk around and do lunch? If I had little check-boxes in this email, which Hallie would know how to do HTML code for, but I do not, they would say:

1. [ box ] you are pretty, and yes

Or

2. [ box ] you are stinky, and no

Tara



This is the email attachment she promptly sent back. I love how she actually crumpled up the paper before she scanned it. Way to work in the texture, Nancy.



First order of business. Getting the food. Check out the long lines. This was the first really warm spring day in Oklahoma City which was almost a record breaker at 94 degrees. Sheesh. Check out Nancy bringing water to my Beef Empanada's and Sweet Potato Fries line (which was like four times as long as her Grilled Chicken and Bacon Sandwhich line.)



Look! Some of Nancy's coworkers. Darius, Barbie and Lauren from TFCU, were working the Shrimp Kabob food tent with their Buck The Norm t-shirts! Yay, grass roots credit union marketing. They know how to do it, that's for sure. Now get me a shrimp kabob, Darius!

That's Darius on the left, who has never met a stranger in his life, and is the most popular credit union business development rep I've ever met. Darius can do anything.. fix an ATM on a mobile trailer, fix a award-winning bowl of chili at a fundraiser, fix a poster frame that's falling off a branch wall, and always, always with a smile fixed on his face. Honestly, Darius could be a whole other post. Heck, Darius could a whole other blog.



Second order of business. Check out some art. In 94 degrees, that means going "oh, that's nice, uh... let's go." I know I'm a creative director, and an artsy type, but, yeah... I can only sweat so much for the cause. Nancy, however, had a nice chat with the artist at this particular booth on the left. She's so nice.



So we found some shade and some Strawberries Newport. I can be nice, too, if I'm eating whip cream, vanilla pudding, pastry and strawberries. Now that's a work of art.

Invitation Invasion

What's a personal perk of working with or being a designer?  Really neat wedding invitations.

Going To The Chapel

You 'd think it was June at Third Degree.  We've had two eventful weddings this past month. The first was Amanda's.  She's a sophisticated, professional gal, and I think her personal style runs kind of earthy-artsy meets conservative-classy.  She had Kathleen design her wedding invitations for her and her now-husband Andy.  Birds and feathers and leaves and scrolls abound in this design, but it still somehow conveys a simple statement.

Lovely Letter

Kathleen was our late March wedding.  It was an unconventional wedding for an unconventional girl.  Of course, she designed her own invitations.  The copy sort of reads like a Wes Anderson-inspired correspondence, with typewriter lettering, clever little cameo silhouettes and signatures of the couple.

Intersting details are what make this invite so homemade and individualized, like a hang tag RSVP, stamped kraft paper envelopes and a strip of photo booth pics of the couple. 

Surprisingly enough, an affinity for designing wedding invitations has not gone to waste for one of our clients, Delta Community Credit Union.  A year or so back they came to us with an idea to promote their CD product like a special invitation to an exclusive offer.  They had us design a direct mail piece that looked, felt and read like a wedding invitation.

We certainly had the art director for the job.  Kathleen executed the concept with all the scrolls and frills (look familiar?), and even included an RSVP card and return envelope.  The cards were printed on white column metallic stock and the envelopes on silver metallic. It was a very unique way to turn a credit union product promotion into a memorable offering that made the recipients feel like they were getting something above and beyond the usual.

The Conference May Now Commence

We've arrived in San Diego, and it's Day Two of our trip to the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Conference for credit union marketers.



We set up our tradeshow exhibit. Exhibity!



We set out our Third Degree mint tins. Minty!



We said hi to our friends from Tinker Federal Credit Union!



And our friends from Delta Community Credit Union said hi to us! (And swiped some mints!)



Then we stuffed a few more pastries in our face and settled in for the keynote speaker who was an honest-to-god internet celebrity! See, I didn't need to buy an Us Weekly to feel in touch with the stars. We had Judson Laipply, the guy who does the evolution of dance on the number one watched You Tube video. He is actually a really great speaker, and spoke about how to cope with the things you can't control in life. His point-of-view is that life is change, so you might as well dance. Of course, he ended with a live performance of all his dance moves from the twist to the moonwalk to boy-band moves.



Now I'm motivated. Motivated to incorporate choreography into any future creative presentations. I think I'll stick with Paula Abdul's catalog. You know, if you took down the graphic panels, the framework of our tradeshow booth kind of looks like the backdrop to the Cold Hearted Snake video... hmmmm.

Speaking of videos, tomorrow we premiere our Fight On video (as seen on CreditUnionSavvy.com) on the big screen, plus we find out which of our credit union clients won Diamond Awards for marketing excellence. So, I probably should refrain from breaking out the fishnets and the kneepads just yet, lest I overshadow any more respectable victories we might have. Sigh.

On The Road With Roy

Technically we're in the air, but I like alliteration, so whatever. So me and Roy, CEO and founder of Third Degree are traveling. We're joining fellow Third Degree-er, Karla (who got a one-day head start on us) in San Diego for the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Conference, where credit union marketers gather from all over the country to see what's shakin' in their industry.



Day One:

So Wednesday was just all about getting there, which from Oklahoma City to the west coast is sort of an all day affair. We're on a little commuter jet here, and I'm taking our first snapshot of the day. Doesn't Roy look like an impish little evil conscience on my shoulder? Actually, it's quite the oppposite. He is the role model for responsible use of time and resources during business travel.



I'll explain. See my lap. That's my iPod shuffle. I'm listening to Sly and The Family Stone, and gazing out the window, which I could spin as being a creative type who needs time to dream and stretch my imagination and such. But at the moment, I'm wishing I had given in and bought an Us Weekly at the newstand (but I was too embarrassed to read it in front of Roy).



I'll explain further. See Roy's lap. He's reading an inspirational look-at-business-and-life-in-a-totally-truthful-and-life-changing-way book, the kind which is usually based on a metaphor or parable that includes a piece of moving cheese or a purple cow or in this case a young man, an old man and a mountain. It's called "Peaks and Valleys: Making Good and Bad Times Work For You in Work and In Life" by Spencer Johnson M.D. And yes, he's taking notes, like underlining stuff and writing in the margins.



I sound like I'm making fun, but really, it's cool how Roy is always trying to learn something new. He has a huge reading list. We even have a "Roy's Reading List" in our Third Degree brand book. Sometimes when he gets really fired up, he'll order a whole box from Amazon of a certain book and pass them out to everyone in the agency, most recently, Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future." That one makes us creatives feel really good about ourselves.



So now we're finally here in San Diego and about to embark on Day Two of our conference in earnest. Oh, and I did read Roy's book on the second leg of our flight. I even made a highlight or two of my own in yellow marker. Then I zoned out and watched the inflight movie in which Keanu Reeves plays a dehumanized visitor from another planet. Again, not too much of a creative stretch for the imagination. I should have just bought the Us Weekly.

One Smart Little Credit Union

Allegiance (located in Oklahoma City and around $200 million in asset size) is the first credit union we ever did work for, starting about 6 years ago.  And we just love them.  And I say smart "little" credit union, but that's just because they make a little go a long way. They are really great about making the most out of the ideas we create for them.  They always go that extra step after we've created a campaign or a theme for a new promotion and really embrace it internally.

People People

For example, they always use their own employees to tell their story, featuring them in all their materials.  Here is a messaging series we created for their allegiancecu.org site to help them position themselves as really being a knowledgable resource for their members.  Not only did they embrace it, but they made their own buttons that each of their front-line employees wear in the branches, deciding if they want to be a "helper," a "knower" or a "sharer" depending on their own personality.

A Silly/Serious Promotion

This is the most recent checking promotion we themed for them.  Third Degree created the concept, and then designed elements like teller mats, doorhangers, direct mail and web banners.  The promotion got great results, just between November and December Allegiance grew $3.8 million in checking accounts and now have over 800 Rewards Checking accounts. 

Window Shopping

Of course we can't take all the credit.  We didn't even know Allegiance had hired a window artist to come in to paint these whimsical branch-front windows to feature the promotion, until Brett, who designed the smart/silly campaign happened to see them driving by.  Could they have had Third Degree design and produce a more graphic, professional window-cling? Sure.  Would a more conservative or sophisticated campaign been sort of jacked up by trying to recreate it with a cartoonish window-painting style? Uh... yeah.  But for this fun, lively, friendly promotion, it was a perfect fit, and a really economical solution.

Making "Spectacles" of Ourselves

That's Brett.  And that is one clever idea we can't even take credit for.  Dang!  However, that doesn't stop us from posing in front of it.   Nice shades.

Smile and Say "Buck It!"

When we create a campaign we can get really, really involved.  That, and none of us can seem to stay away from the camera.  Well, Kathleen can't stay away from the camera (which is a whole separate post in itself).  The rest of my team can be persuaded with a little begging, which is what I did on a recent shoot for Buck The Norm (a Gen Y initiative for Tinker Federal Credit Union) to get some of our own Third Degree-ers to become Buck The Norm-ers.

Thumbs Up!

There's art director Daniel in his closeup. He's got his Bucky face drawn on his thumb. Bucky is sort of this irreverent character who shouts out this message of financial empowerment, and also happens to be a thumb.

Argh! Rargh!

Daniel is really bringing the intensity in this scene. So these monster finger puppets are so cool. They represent "the norm," like debt and overspending. We ordered hundreds of them and passed them out at the OKC Ghouls Gone Wild Halloween parade (more on that below). Almost everyone in the agency has one or two finger monsters that have taken up residence on their desk.

Dance Montage (Deleted Scene)

Yeah... so, this one didn't make the cut.  But we did lots of dancing that day.  We were shooting for a video that we created using a series of still shots (these photos by David McNeese) animated together in sequence to bring the action "to life."

Sweet Girl

Here's designer, Liz, all pretty and coy in blue.

Mean Girl

And there's account coordinator Hallie, all up-in-your-face in blue.  

Lending a Hand

Actually, Liz and Hallie and I had a blast on the set of this video shoot. Liz helped gather and make a lot of the hand-held props like these oversized fake bills on cardboard. That guy and girl drowning in distress are young local student-slash-actors. Those hands creeping into the shot are not. Those are (you guessed it) the sweet girl and mean girl hands of Liz and Hallie!

True Colors

Okay so Hallie's not that mean! She put on a smiley-face-yellow wig and joined bespectacled and bedazzling Third Degree account executive, Kande, to march in the OKC Ghouls Gone Wild parade as part of the Buck The Norm float.

She Wore Blue... (Synthetic Hair)

Miss account coordinator Felina, also donned a beautiful hairdo and along with Kathleen helped coordinate the Buck The Norm parade float and people and buckets (buck its!) and huge finger monsters and music and video.  She, like all the other Third Degree and TFCU brave participants went hoarse after shouting "Buck The Norm" over and over again at 30,000 crazy costumed spectators. Buck The Norm actually won "Beast In Show" from the parade sponsor the Oklahoma Gazette.

Buck The 76 Trombones, We've Got Giant Finger Puppet Monsters!

Here's a video of the Buck The Norm float and participants from the actual parade.  The Ghouls Gone Wild event, now in its second year, is part of an effort to foster the creative spirit in Oklahoma City.  It's an evening event geared towards adults (but whose going to keep the kiddos away from a giant Beetlejuice float? not me!) Wayne Coyne of the world famous independent group, The Flaming Lips, is a huge supporter of the parade and his march of 1,000 skeletons attracts participants from all over the country, eager to dress up as skeletons and carry flaming torches in a surreal procession as part of the parade finale.

So What Is The Norm?

Want MORE finger puppet monsters? Want MORE Daniel and Liz and Hallie?! Who doesn't? Watch the Buck The Norm video that started it all.