Game On!

This year, Insight's gift to our clients was a board game.

Called Launch: A Classic Christmas Campaign, the game is all about putting together an ad campaign.

Players move around the board collecting cards to show they've launched various media components, interact with Santa's capricious reindeer, and race to the finish.

Working on this project was fun. Of course, repeated testing was necessary in order to refine game action and instructions. In other words, we spent a lot of time playing games in the conference room.

We've also made an online version, so everyone can play! Check it out here.

Adopt a Family for Christmas

Several years ago Insight staff adopted their first families through the HELP!Line Center's Holiday Clearing House. Each year since, we've continued this tradition -- buying gifts and necessities for families in our community who would not otherwise have a Merry Christmas.

Last Wednesday we took time to go shopping for our families. It was fun to buy the  baby dolls, blocks, trucks and cars. But we also bought basic necessities, such as coats, mittens and boots for the children, along with blankets, clothing, laundry detergent and grocery staples.

Thanks to the generosity of Insight staff, we were able to make a difference for two Sioux Falls families. But many more families still need to be adopted. There's still time. Call the HELP!Line Center at 211. It's the best Christmas present you can give yourself.

Hello, Office Peeps!

Office Systems, Inc. is now Office Peeps!  The Watertown, SD-based company recently unveiled a new retro-inspired identity.

Starting with the logo, Office Peeps has also rolled out the new look on their website, storefront signage, and print materials. A teaser newspaper campaign slowly revealed the company’s new identity during the week of the unveiling. 

Insight Marketing Design was excited to rebrand the 50-year old office sales and service business. We created a complete array of integrated campaign components. 

"We learned that the company’s greatest value and strength was its employees,” said Insight Principal, Candy Van Dam. “The rebranding puts the emphasis on people, rather than products.”

Not that products aren’t important. Office Peeps carries over 50,000 products, and offers them at competitive, low prices. “By being part of buying groups, Office Peeps’ purchasing power rivals that of any mass merchandiser,” said Van Dam.

“But because the staff is so experienced, many with 20 or 30 years at the company, they really know the products – and the customers – inside and out,” she said.

Parade of Lights

After waiting in storage for a whole year, Insight's Little Red Stocking campaign window became a Parade of Lights float for this year's parade.

This year's project didn't take nearly as long as last year, but we did have to re-think the entire display. It's one thing to figure out how to make 8' pieces of cardboard stand in an enclosed window...quite a different thing to figure out how to keep them from being blown over on a moving trailer.

There were some great floats out there and we were just thankful we made it through the entire parade without a problem.  We tip our hats to the other float builders with whom we now share a common bond of float construction and all its labors.

For me it was my first time a.) attending the Parade of Lights and b.) building a float. I was amazed by not only the number and scale of the entries but also by the awesome creative and engineering thought that went into them. I may have found a new calling. Who needs a float built next year? I'm ready to begin construction.

It was also the largest crowd that I have ever seen in Sioux Falls. People filling the sidewalks, looking from the tops of parking garages, and from the 6th floor balcony at the Holiday Inn. I definitely plan on attending next year.

Out with the old; in with the new

Did you know that "unfriend" has been named the Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary?

Unfriend. It's a verb meaning "To remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook." And Crispin Porter+Bogusky created an entire campaign for Burger King around the concept. The Burger King Sacrifice created a flurry of unfriended friends. I didn't do it, of course.

Out with the old? Last week we were developing copy for a project, and one of the sentences included the phrase "on the blink." No one under 30 years old knew what it meant. (OK, Mel knew.) We experimented with their young minds: "Have you heard the phrase 'on the fritz'?" That was just plain funny.

Apparently "on the blink" and "on the fritz" have been pushed out of our vocabulary to make room for "unfriend," "intexicated," and "freemium."

New Hardware

 

Insight was just notified that we won 11 MarCom Awards for 2009 (loud applause)!

Just for the record -- no, we didn't send in 50 entries. Just 16. And yes, we had competition, with nearly 5,000 entries.

Also, for the record, we like the little statuettes MarCom Awards bring.

Here's how we did:

•  Four Platinum Awards -- the highest honor -- for “Moonlight Movies,” a movie trailer produced for Downtown Sioux Falls; Ethanol Today covers for the American Coalition for Ethanol’s membership magazine; a video for Children’s Home Society on the making of the Little Red Stocking window; and Santa’s Prayer, a book also created for Children’s Home Society.

•  Four Gold Awards for the “DSU 2.0 Invitation” for Dakota State University Foundation; the “Chicago TV Spot” for the Sioux Empire Community Theatre; the “Does it Hurt When You?” advertising campaign for Open Upright MRI of South Dakota and a television campaign, “It’s Turkey Time,” for the South Dakota Poultry Industry Association.

• Three Honorable Mentions, for the “Enjoy the Scenery” Season Poster and the Season Illustration for the Sioux Empire Community Theatre; and the logo, letterhead and business cards for Chicagoland Community Church.

The MarCom Awards is an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing and communications professionals. It is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals.

 

 

IMD Begins Book Tour

Yes, Insight has been published. Not in an artsy little zine that three people in San Francisco read. Not in a brochure of Addy® winners. Not in a book we created ourselves (good idea, though).

In fact, Insight's work now appears in two books so legit you can find them at your local big box bookstore, or order them from your favorite local independent bookstore. Or online.

They're big books. The kind you'd find on a coffee table in a really cool house. Or in the art department of an ad agency.

The Big Book of Green Design, 2009, Collins Design, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishing, New York, includes four pieces created by Insight.

1. Insight’s Eco Bags, made of 100% recycled materials, were sent to clients with a list of “Top Ten Ways to go Green at Work.”
2. The Bike Rack Art Call for Entries for the City of Sioux Falls was created to solicit designs for original bike rack sculptures.
3. The Fueling Revolution poster for the American Coalition for Ethanol publicized the organizations 2008 National Conference and Trade Show.
4. Ethanol Today is the publication of the American Coalition for Ethanol. Insight designs each issue; The Big Book of Green Design shows the Insight-designed cover of one issue.

Edited by Suzanna Stephens and Anthony Stephens, The Big Book of Green Design features top green design materials created worldwide.

Another title in the "Big Book" design series, The Big Book of Self-Promotion from the same publisher, also hot off the press, contains several pieces from Insight. These include holiday books A Classic Christmas Tail and A Classic Christmas Tail 2.

The Big Book of Self-Promotion contains work from more than 500 design firms worldwide, showcasing the freshest, most inventive ideas used by these companies to promote themselves.

Proof that Every Design Project is Worth Extra Effort.

Donal McLaughlin was given the assignment to design an emblem for the United Nations Conference in 1945. So, at the age of 38, he was  challenged with the task of designing an original pictorial image in conjunction with the words "The United Nations Conference on International Organization, San Francisco, 1945". This new emblem was to be used on a round button, measuring 11/16ths of an inch. Not even 3/4ths.

Mr. McLaughlin created a map of the continents, with the United States front and center on the vertical axis. Another designer from his team added olive branches as a symbol of peace.

This design was adopted as the the official United Nations seal and emblem one year later, in 1946. Donal recommended and produced minor modifications that same year.

We lost Donal McLaughlin last month at the age of 102. He left behind a legacy of graphic design and architecture. But, his most monumental creation was a small button. You can read this story in it's entirety in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Thank you Mr. McLaughlin for the years of hard work and inspiration.

Email Design Gallery

Over the last two years Insight Marketing Design has created a series of campaigns for Sioux Falls’ own Howe Heating and Plumbing. One of the most recent projects was an e-newsletter that has received national attention.

Insight’s use of piping as graphic images and fun retro conventions earned us a spot in the Campaign Monitor’s email design gallery. This gallery showcases some of the great designs that Campaign Monitor’s customers come up with. 

See Howe’s and other awesome campaigns at: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/gallery/entry/2904/howe/

Or sign up to receive Howe’s e-blast at: http://www.howeinc.com/newsletter/subscribe.php

It’s SWELL!

Have lunch on us this Friday

Insight is looking for people with opinions.

We're conducting a focus group this Friday at noon regarding consumer products. The focus group will explore package design and taste testing. And we'll feed you and pay you for your time -- about 30 minutes. The fun starts at 12:15 pm and we'll have you out the door by 12:45 pm.

If you're interested in participating, give us a call at 605-275-0011.