NEWS
NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE UNVEILS LOGO BY LANDOR
New York NY: Landor Associates is responsible for the recently released logo, mark and identity that introduces the concept of Network NYSE, described by Allen Adamson, managing director, Landor New York, as "an integrated technology platform that brings customers closer to the market than ever before." The brand is intended to help change the way investors think about global capital markets, and to make the stock exchange the global "portal of choice." Among the sites for the new brand: the floor and the facade of the Exchange.
TWENTIETH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS FROM ALAN SIEGEL'S EYE
New York NY: In conjunction with an exhibition of 100 photographs from his collection at Cornell University's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Alan Siegel has produced a book, One Man's Eye. The book is a history of 20th century photography from his personal perspective. Siegel, chairman and ceo of siegelgale, the branding and strategy firm, has been collecting photographs since the 1960s. He explores his own involvement with photography, his views on collecting, and his interpretation of each photograph and artist. One Man's Eye is organized into ten subjects: Portraits, Still Lifes, Flowers, Nudes and the Human Form, American Views and Visions, Landscapes, The Urban Environment, Design and Abstraction, Sports and Athletes, and The Circus. Publisher is Harry Abrams.
RITTA & ASSOCIATES STEER BMW BRAND INTO FASHION LANE
Englewood NJ: BMW is rolling out a new line of casual couture, and in support of the move Ritta & Associates has created an 84-page catalog and supporting print ads. The line includes chic merino sweaters, high-tech travel bags, golf gear — all with a subtle placement of the BMW name or logo. "The three main audiences — BMW owners, those who aspire to be, and those giving gifts to either — all delight in finding something special inspired by The Ultimate Driving Machine," comments Denise Ritta, executive vp at Ritta & Associates, BMW's lifestyle marketing agency. "This collection takes the BMW experience to the next level by providing an excellent, and affordable, shopping resource." To get the word out, the firm's advertising and collateral emphasizes the products themselves with fashion photography by Ciro Zizzo and top models. The ads break in automobile buff books and the catalog is available at dealerships.
SOFT BUT ENERGIZING COLORS ARE NEXT BIG THING SAYS CMG
Alexandria VA: The Color Marketing Group, a top forecaster of color trends a couple of years out, says that the current crop of soft colors (which it predicted) is now hitting the shelves and markets and will continue to be popular this year. But the next big thing to complement the serenity of these blues, aquas and lavenders will be more energizing colors. That means, say the forecasters, an emergence of spicy oranges, earthy reds, and golden browns reminiscent of natural dyes reflecting the influence of regions such as Morocco and Asia. Also of importance, says Consumer Colors co-chairman Robbie Douglas, will be special effects, translucence, and color layering. Says Douglas: "With 21st century technologies allowing us to use special effects in a wide variety of products, pearlescence, iridescence, textures, and other complex finishes have continued to grow in importance. These unique subtleties in color finishes and sheens are playing a vital role in color marketing for many industries." Contact: 703.329.8500 or www.colormarketing.org
SMULLEN DESIGNS MAGIC INTO HARRY POTTER COLLATERAL
Pasadena CA: Smullen Design has been engaged by Warner Bros. to create a comprehensive collection of marketing and graphic collateral for Harry Potter. In addition to developing some of the property's first branding solutions, Smullen's team of designers is helping to establish the tone and develop graphics for materials that will help to market the Harry Potter brand around the world. In addition to a branding brochure and stationery system, the firm created trade show marketing materials, shopping bags, signage, advertising, a press kit and a collection of brand presentation boards. The work is to be incorporated into a variety of sales and marketing materials to be used by licensees and retailers.
"Creating graphics for a property that is touching so many people around the world in so many different ways is not a project to be taken lightly," says Maureen Smullen, principal of Smullen Design. "People already have vivid mental images of the characters and places in the book. Our job was to bring the property to life through this initial series of graphics and visuals. With words, a cover illustration, and a few simple graphics inside the book, Harry Potter is quickly becoming one of the world's most recognized brands. It is critical for us to continue to create a visual vocabulary that is at once loyal to what has already been established in the hearts and minds of readers, while providing marketers and licensees the tools to expand the brand into new markets... Brands are created from the feelings, emotions and experiences people have for a product, service, or in this case, a book and its characters."
As one of the first teams of designers to work on the Harry Potter property, Smullen's work began with a number of different divisions within the Warner Bros. organization, and their efforts are helping to introduce the property to retailers and licensees via trade shows and direct marketing. The firm is also continuing to create an even wider array of materials for the brand, including products and instore p-o-p collateral.
GCF RECRUITED BY VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FOR ADMISSIONS
Baltimore MD: Genovese Coustenis Foster was contracted by Vanderbilt University Admissions to redesign recruitment materials. After a research phase, GCF developed new admissions applications, a viewbook, travel and search pieces, and a poster. The items were delivered last summer and are said to already have contributed to a substantial increase in the number of applications received already this year as well as a rise in early decision applications. The creative firm, which specializes in communications for the educational market, is continuing to work with the school to develop more admissions publications and a style manual.
MINNESOTA CHAPTER FUNDS AIGA NATIONAL PROGRAMMING
Minneapolis MN: The Minnesota Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts has presented a contribution of $75,000 to the National Design Center on Fifth Avenue in New York City, headquarters for the AIGA. The donation supports seven national initiatives: programs that involve the community and demonstrate the role of designers; outreach materials for clients to assist them in understanding the value of the professional graphic designer; promotion of AIGA group memberships; a slate of speakers and programs for smaller AIGA chapters; the introduction of new disciplines into the creative community; a traveling exhibit on the value of design; and investigation into programs that support independent and corporate designers. The contribution is recognized by the naming of the third floor conference room at the National Design Center "Minnesota." A pair of customized snow shovels, designed by the Minnesotan Eric Madsen, are engraved with the names of contributors and hang in the room. Madsen and Tim Larsen led the fundraising. Comments former chapter president Doug Powell, "Support for national activities has not always been easy to secure. This commitment signals a new shift in the way people perceive the importance of a cohesive, national organization."
TAFFETDESIGN CONTRIBUTES TO THE WB NETWORK'S HYPE
Santa Monica CA: Taffetdesign executed the logo and main title design for "Hype," a show that recently premiered on the WB Television Network to much, well, hype. The show is a topical sketch comedy from the producers of "Mad TV" and plays off media coverage of pop culture events, spoofing entertainment shows as well as the movie and tv stars they cover. Founded in 1997 by Emmy Award winning creative director Jill Taffet, Taffetdesign is an entertainment design agency that brands, markets and promotes television and new media through concept, design and positioning. Clients include ESPN, E! Entertainment Television, Discovery Networks, Fox, HBO, Oxygen, TV Guide, and Universal Studios.
COPELAND HIRTHLER REBRANDS ITSELF AS ICONOLOGIC
Atlanta GA: The design firm behind Atlanta's bid for the Olympic Games and behind some very high-profile brand identities such as Mindspring, Powertel and CNN Interactive, is rebranding itself. Copeland Hirthler is changing its name to Iconologic, as well as formally merging with its internet spinoff BrainSandwich. Explains firm founder Brad Copeland: "Our goal is to integrate design, interactive media, and advertising to help clients meet their goals in new ways while never losing sight of the power of creativity which, we believe, has the ability to separate the great brands from the good ones . . . Our vision . . . is to create an idea-driven brand collaborative . . . that produces a singular idea, voice and vision that expresses everything essential about a brand and literally changes the way it is perceived." The new name is inspired by a 16th century Renaissance book, Iconologia, which was a guide for translating symbolism in Renaissance art.
Many creative firms that are moving into diversified media are changing their names to expand the scope of their activities, and to shift away from the specific names of the founders. Iconologic's client roster includes, among others, Central Atlanta Progress, Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, the International Olympic Committee, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and Standard and Poor's. The firm recently served as brand image directors for the IOC at the Olympic Games in Australia.
ELLENSON FLIES TO FUTURE WITH SAAB AIRCRAFT LEASING
New York NY: To highlight long-term reliability after Saab's transition from aircraft manufacturing to aircraft leasing and maintenance, Ellenson Group created a series of advertisements to run in aviation trade publications. Each ad depicts a wry situation in which major changes take place on the land in the next twenty years — but the airplanes continue to fly. Saab Aircraft Leasing's product, 30-50 seat turboprops, i.e., "puddle-jumpers," is being promoted to airlines in the "20-Year Horizons" campaign. Credits go to: Richard Ellenson, creative director; Jeff Kopay, art director; John Huggins, copywriter; and Dan Drenger, digital illustrator.
ASPEN CONFERENCE IS 50-SOMETHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL
Aspen CO: Like many 50-somethings, the Aspen Design Conference (or International Design Conference in Aspen as it is officially known) is searching for the fundamental things of being and, yes, even the meaning of life. Accordingly, this year's event is dubbed "The more things change . . . A conference about what matters." The organizers note that the first fifty conferences were organized around specific design issues, even as those issues were changing, inverting, flipping, morphing and sometimes refusing to move an inch. "What has not changed," they say, "is the point of it all: design that matters. At this conference, design that matters today will be considered in the light of what seemed to matter in the past that produced the professions of design as we now know them — in two, three, or sometimes four dimensions. In the process, hopefully there will be more than a glimpse of what promises to matter next." A distinguished assembly will discuss the following issues. The business of design and the design of business; the environment, built and found; the shape and feeling of things; and the changing world we design for. The event is planned for June 6-9. Contact: 970.925.2257 or www.idca.org
HIGHBROW HUMOR STRESSES NEED FOR INSIDER INFORMATION
New York NY: Inside.com, an entertainment and media news service, has initiated a new online/offline campaign from Sterling Group. The campaign also promotes its new [INSIDE] print magazine. The humorous campaign emphasizes the value of smart, timely news. In each print ad, executives from the entertainment and media industries react to one uninformed executive's statement. A comic strip-style bubble contains another executive's thoughts. In addition to print, there are billboards appearing in New York and Los Angeles, and online banners on entertainment and internet sites.
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN DOUBLES AS LETTERPRESS BOOKLET
Boulder CO: A converter of ink-and-paper to digital books, netLibrary, enlisted Workhorse Advertising for a campaign intended to display e-book expertise as well as an appreciation of conventional publishing. The campaign, targeted to commercial and university press book publishers, ran as two single pages and one six-page ad. Interestingly, all eight pages were then bound as a letterpress booklet for collateral distribution. Chris Beatty served as creative director/art director while Tim Abare was creative director/copywriter. Type and scratchboard illustration by Douglas Smith of Newton, MA were printed on a 1957 Heidelberg "Windmill" letterpress, then photographed by Dennis Lane of Denver.
DESIGNERS RECAST WHOLE ORCHESTRA BUILDING AS GALLERY
Boston MA: The centennial exhibit currently on display at the Boston Symphony Orchestra is the work of Krent/Paffett Associates. The design firm, in collaboration with the archives and marketing departments of the Orchestra, soon found that the national historic monument by architect Charles McKim (of McKim, Mead and White fame) had a rich history that required more space to explicate than the two intermission rooms available. The solution: the Krent/Paffett team extended the exhibit throughout the entire building, including hallways rarely used, by designing a graphic panel system which evokes architectural features from the building's detailed millwork and the swooping curves of overhead ceremonial banners. They also designed and developed display cases that could integrate with the historic building. Speaking for the firm, Ed Malouf explains that "these two elements of the Hall — limited space and an established style — clarified our goal: to design an exhibit that would arouse interest and be celebratory, but not intrude on the space, or detract from its quiet, classical elegance."
ADVERTISING EXPERTS PREDICT MODEST U.S. SPENDING RISE
New York: Two veteran forecasters of advertising expenditures—Robert J. Coen of Universal McCann in New York and John Perriss of Zenith Media of London—told attendees at a recent media conference that ad spending in the year 2001 will continue to rise, though not as fast as last year. Speaking at the UBS Warburg Media Conference, Coen, whose firm is a media services division of McCann-Erickson, estimated that ad spending for all media in the United States would increase 5.8% in the next twelve months as opposed to the brisk 9.8% in 2000. His estimate was reduced from a more bullish 6.5% forecast made during the summer, before the current economic slowdown became apparent. Perriss, whose company is owned by Cordiant Communications and Publicis, chimed in with a prediction of a 4.6% increase in the U.S. for the year 2001 which, he said, takes into account that the economic cycle appears to have peaked. Both forecasters took pains to note that the prediction is for moderation rather than deep cuts. Each argued, in his own way, that advertising, marketing and branding are more critical to corporations than ever, and are no longer viewed as expendable discretionary costs. Commented Perriss: "Marketing is a 'must have' not easily cut any longer." Added Coen: "We don't think things are falling apart because of a little softness. The outlook is generally quite good." The two men make their predictions twice a year.
DNA SEQUENCE INSPIRES GIDEON'S CROSSING TITLE DESIGN
Hollywood CA: yU + co, a motion graphics design and production studio, designed and produced the main title sequence for ABC's new drama about experimental medicine, Gideon's Crossing. The title opens on the image of a strip of film displaying a DNA sequence. In a montage, closeup images of other lab equipment follow and are then succeeded by images of the cast members, appearing in vertical panels that move through the frame. The pacing of the imagery accelerates, climaxing with a man's hand clasped about the hand of an infant. "We wanted to separate ourselves from the typical tv show with a main title that conceptually is more like the title sequence of a feature," said Jon Hutman, production designer and a producer. "The show's themes are also reflected in the typography, as characters first appear as a series of lines of varying hues, as in a DNA sequence, before metamorphosing into letters," adds creative director Garson Yu. Another aspect of the design is the color palette: opening shots are desaturated and rendered in cool, bluish tones. As the sequence proceeds, and the emphasis shifts to humanity, the color scheme grows warmer. Tosh Kodama and Aki Narita are the designers.
LANDKAMER BROADENS COMMERCE ONE'S BRANDING
San Francisco CA: Landkamer Partners created a new corporate signature designed to differentiate and support Commerce One's expanded mission from just an e-commerce applications company to an international business-to-business e-commerce solutions company that creates trade exchanges or portals, hosts portals and develops e-procurement solutions. The new corporate identity is shaped by a distinctive visual approach: close-up, tightly cropped photographs of customers with prominent testimonials, a system of blue colors, and an easy-to-read, contemporary typographic style. The branding is evident in updated corporate and product marketing materials, a redesigned web site, and product packaging. Mark Landkamer, principal and creative director of the design firm, worked closely with Susan Dwyer, Commerce One's vice president of corporate marketing.