Paint By Numbers

I'm in Atlanta visiting our friends at Delta Community Credit Union. Great restaurants, good company... plus, I got to see one of their new number-themed commercials we just finished up for them on my TV at the hotel this morning!



I never get to see their commercials "for real" because, well, duh, I live in Oklahoma City, and it never seems quite real until you see one of your spots during Project Runway or Top Chef, or in this case, the news. Which I only ever seem to watch when I'm in hotels or airports.



Me. In my PJs. Watching the news (just because there aren't any reality shows on TV at 6:00 in the morning).



Director: David Stepp / Animator: Steve Jones / Audio: Lucky Dog / Photography: Simon Hurst

These TV spots were all about Ten Reasons to Switch in 2010 to Delta Community. These spots turned out so cool. We wanted to bring these numbers to life to create a memorable and optimistic new membership campaign for Delta Community for the new year (a fuzzy number five dog, a number three sonogram)...



Plus, it was as about as close as I could get to living out my lifelong dream to work for Sesame Street or Jim Henson. I mean, our big orange fuzzy number five was definitely muppet-worthy.



This is Doug. He's the bad ass who constructed all these props for us back at his shop at Eaton Quade. He doesn't even flinch when we say, "can you make a giant number eight shrubbery for us?" Which is good, because then his cigar might fall out of the corner of his mouth. We think he should have a reality show about his shop, like American Chopper.



American Chopper with giant Fruit Loop colored numbers everywhere, that is!



Actually color was a big deal when planning for this shoot. Kathleen was the master mind of all things fuzzy, paint sample chippy, paper leafy, etc...



Tons of planning went in to creating the props and the perfect color palette, from deciding to paint the studio "Decisive Yellow" as was named on the swatch, to buying lots of coordinating wardrobe for all the talent. And, of course, Kathleen also stood in as the model for the test shots.



I know Delta Community is excited to kick off the new campaign.



And I was excited to take home the fuzzy five (just for one night) to show my number one five-year old.

Why They Love Us Anyway

Alas, the holidays are over. Which means dragging our significant others to agency social events is almost behind us. But the agency Christmas party is a perfect example of why our other halves probably cringe when we tell them a Third Degree event is afoot. Especially when there is, yep, a theme. This year it was "I'm Dreaming of a Black & White Christmas." Everyone had to come wearing black and white.



It's easy to see the second reason they love us, is we also make them take ridiculous pictures.



With like props and stuff.



Some of them were enthusiastic.



Truly good sports about it.



Others a bit more reserved.



Some of them still aren't talking to us.



Some of them were never talking to us in the first place.



See, if you haven't guessed yet. We're not too camera shy here at Third Degree.



We crave the limelight.



A little bit of drama.



Art directing our own shots.



And using blurry photo effects that make us look bad ass.



Then we post them for the world to see.



And hope our spouse's coworkers don't see them.



Because then they'd be so jealous, of course.



And wish they were a Third Degree wife-husband-boyfriend-pet-kid-parent-neighbor too.



So here's to the agency "others."



May you rest easy for a while.



That is until the Addy's.



Of course, there's a lot to be said for going stag.

Hats & High Tea

Over the holidays Third Degree and some of our clients descended upon the decadent and historic downtown OKC Skirvin Hilton Hotel for their Holiday High Tea, which is like right around the block from our agency (okay like four or five blocks, whatever).



We've been promoting their holiday happenings like Breakfast With Santa and the High Tea with direct mail and radio liners on Magic 104, which has a huge ratings boost in December because it plays all Christmas music all the time. I think they especially play Michael Bolton renditions of Christmas songs because I hear those a lot. Not judging. Just saying.



How Many Hats Can You Fit in an Elevator?

So, the neatest part of the tea? Serious. Giant. Fabulous. Hats.



Can't fit all the hats in the elevator? Take the gorgeous marble staircase.



Our clients were good sports considering we totally sprung this hat thing on them once they got there.



Brett, one of our few guy guests, was a good sport, as always. He even spoke in a British accent for us. We commenced with an impromptu tea game: name your favorite British person and/or fictional character (leave it to me to make people wear hats and play a game). Answers included Mary Poppins, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and, of course, Jude Law.



Mickie's tea was a little stronger than the rest of ours. She may have snuck in a flask, but will deny it if you ask her. She will probably also stop talking to me after seeing I post this pic.



Overall our tea etiquette was a little rusty. We kept spilling stuff. And we sort of devoured all the cute little scones and finger sandwiches. But you can't tell from these very proper pictures.



Very proper, right?



Pinkies up ladies!



This is before Mickie started "drinking."



This was either right before or right after I knocked over a vase of flowers in the lobby. Yep. Did I mention the Skirvin Hotel is a client of ours. You just can't take us anywhere.



Will we do high tea next year? Most definitely. But we'll have to up the stakes. I'm thinking white gloves required next time.

Haven't had your fill of high tea pictures? Of course not! See more here.

Vegging Out This Christmas

'Tis the season...



... to get stuffed.

This year we took our general agency love of food, combined with my love of fake food (and my personal collection of hand sewn stuffed vegetables I picked up at a yard sale years ago) and constructed a handcrafted Third Degree holiday card for 2009.

For a retrospective of past Third Degree holiday cards (some more controversy-sparking than others) click here.



We were going to arrange real Christmas lights around the fabric beets and tomatoes and carrots, but were struck by inspiration to hand make those, too, out of yarn and tissue paper. Kathleen photo directed the eggplant. They can be such divas.



Next on the merry-making agenda? Packaging up our homemade salsa for everyone. Unlike our crafty little Christmas lights, we did not technically make the salsa with our own hands. We have a salsa lady for that. What? Don't you have a salsa lady? We highly recommend it.



But we did make like little elves all assembly line style during our Monday agency lunch to get our salsa all packaged, labeled and topped with bows.



For extra inspiration we made sure to have a classic Christmas movie playing in the background.

Christmas Vacation? No.
Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer? Nope.
Charlie Brown Chrismas? Uh. uh.

Love Actually. Actually.



Because choosing to address all our Christmas posts by hand (no laser printed labels for us, no way!) takes a little Hugh Grant, a lot of holiday cheer, and probably not as much vegging out as the title of this post might suggest.

Fire In The Breakroom

We have a lot of stuff tacked on the bulletin boards in our agency diner. So it might take a double-take to notice our latest pinup.



The 2010 Oklahoma City Firefighters calendar.



Simon Hurst who did the photography asked us at Third Degree to help design the actual calendar. The proceeds go for a good cause, Shout OKC, which helps young women cancer survivors.



When the calendar was still in production (i.e., deciding who would be December, is March's pants perhaps inappropriately low, etc.), the calendar made a News9 story because of it's mission to support cancer survivors.



Of the fifteen or so women working at Third Degree, I thought it was ironic that we relied on our all-guy art director Brett to do the calendar layout justice (with the help of our intern at the time, Jason, who had no idea what he was getting into). And although the photo featured above is a closeup of one of the clever fire-related quotes, probably 80% of the time Brett was working on this project his computer screen was zoomed in on sweaty abs, bulging tattoos, and squinty-staring-into-the-sunset hazel eyes of heroes with names like Bart, Jesse and Gabe.



But this parting shot, is for Joey. So if you're grabbing a cup of coffee at your next agency visit, or heating up one of the forty-two Lean Cuisines we have in the freezer over lunch, you can take a moment and learn that Joey is six feet tall, loves helping people in their greatest time of need, and enjoys extreme sports.

Going To The Mall

Maybe you grew up like me thinking the mall was a mecca for all things wonderful - everything you could ever want with an Orange Julius on top. Or maybe you aren't as keen on this particular shopping concept avoiding all things "mall" (mall stores, mall food, mall walkers, mall rats.)

But the reality is, especially with the holiday season upon us, that you are going to find yourself in the mall sooner - rather than later.



We recently got some seriously oversized, and seriously impactful, Planned Parenthood messaging in the Crossroads mall.



Jentry and Holly, who are always on the lookout for interesting media opportunities, scouted out some unoccupied storefronts in high foot traffic areas and negotiated some great placement for this not-for-profit client. Then we got busy putting together some larger than life designs, and our installers got cracking.



One location, which we thought was truly inspired, was across from what I like to call "the kid pit." You know the area where the moms and dads take a break with about fifty screaming corralled kids who are bouncing off big foam owls or lily pads or whatever.



Well directly in the line of vision of any young mom who might be zoning out in "the pit", is the "our family is just the right size" storefront banner. We thought it was appropriate. Right?



Our second location is a series of several panes along a major corridor with images of young, prepared and incredibly large-headed people with a positive message to share. You can't help but look at them. And, if you look closer, you can get a list of services that Planned Parenthood provides.



We think it's definitely space well used.