ENTERPRISE IG INDIVIDUALIZES CHOICE HOTELS' IDENTITIES
San Francisco CA: While there are clear differences in target markets and services among Sleep Inn, Quality Inn and Comfort Suites, this has not been so obvious to the general public because their logos, designed some 20 years earlier, have been very similar. Realizing this fact, Choice Hotels hired Enterprise IG to update and differentiate the brands from one another as well as to communicate their individual core values as mid-priced lodging options to their respective target markets.

For Sleep Inn, aimed at the business traveler who requires a hotel that is reliable, fast and efficient, Enterprise IG utilized a "new horizon" icon. Using yellow and orange coloring, the icon was also designed to be reflective of a moon crest or eclipse. A deep purple/blue background was used to reinforce the element of night time. For Quality Inn, the new identity had to reflect raised standards on product quality and amenities, and reinforce its position as a mid-priced experience in the economy segment. To that end, an asymmetric 'Q' was placed in the top left-hand corner on a dark green background to reinforce the word "Quality" while portraying the oval part of the 'Q' as a sun and the tail as a hill and river. Numerous sub-brands exist under the Quality umbrella and, therefore, enlarged typography was used to leverage recognition of the brand name (Quality) over the product offering (Inn).

The third brand in the trilogy, Comfort Inn, presented a problem because it encompasses suites. Thus, says Steve Schultz, executive vice president of marketing for the hotel chain, any new identity had to set the suites apart from the inn while ensuring that it retained the value associated with the Comfort name. Enterprise IG designers made the new typographic font style slightly larger for Suites than for that of Comfort to accentuate the specific product offering. A monogram encapsulating the initials of Comfort Suites, coupled with the rich blue, burgundy and gold coloring, reinforced this sense. The new identities are currently being tested throughout the U.S., and will be rolled out over the next year.

PEACOCK AND 'I' ARE BUDDIES IN NBC PORTAL PROMOTION
Venice CA: Blur Studio has provided character concept development and 3D animation services for a new television campaign promoting NBCi.com, the internet portal for the television network. The campaign promotes exclusive NBCi features as well as the site's role as a gateway to the web. The two-spot package brings the peacock and the "i" from the logo to life as distinct personalities — the peacock is conservative and the "i" is impish and nerdy — in a kind of buddy relationship.

One spot is set up as a road trip through cyberspace in which the "i" uses his laptop to navigate through the confusing information highway. In the second promo, the "i" removes its dot-head and walks on it like a seal balancing on a ball. Blur Studio assisted Mike Blum's Riverstreet Productions on concept and then produced final animation. "It was a chance to do character-centric animation, something we love," says Blur's creative director Tim Miller. Character concepts were developed by Blur concept artist Chuck Wojtkiewicz.

NANCY RICE BACK TO SCHOOL
Miami FL: After 31 years in advertising, Nancy Rice, a co-founder of the Fallon McElligott agency, is going back to school. As worldwide chief creative officer at the Miami Ad School, her mission is to assure the quality level of teachers, students, and their work worldwide. She will also oversee all marketing materials. This past year, Rice served on the advisory board for Miami Ad School, Minneapolis, where she will continue to reside with an office located at the school. Rice is one of the legends of advertising, having held senior creative and management posts with the likes of Knox Reeves Advertising, Bozell & Jacobs, DDB Needham, Ogilvy & Mather, BBDO Minneapolis, and Rice & Rice. In 1981, she was a founding partner in Fallon McElligott Rice which, within three years of its founding, was named "Agency of the Year" by Advertising Age; while there, Rice was named first runner up for "Ad Woman of the Year" by Adweek. In 1986, she was "Art Director of the Year" by the New York Art Directors Club. In addition to winning numerous awards, Rice has also been a sought-after judge and speaker for the advertising industry and the graphic design field. She has been a trustee for her own alma mater, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and was a commencement speaker representing 100 years of MCAD alumni. Most recently, Rice had a one-woman show in New York City at the Herb Lubalin Gallery.

LATINO INFLUENCE SHAPES MAMBO FRAGRANCE PACKAGING
New York NY: With its latest launch, Mambo for Men and Mambo for Women, Liz Claiborne Cosmetics hopes to spice up the fragrance marketplace during the fall launch-frenzy. Seeking packaging that evoked the emotion and color of Latin culture — "we were inspired by the recent fame of Latin icons like Ricky Martin, Penelope Cruz, and Jennifer Lopez," says Liz Claiborne Cosmetics head Neil Katz — the company turned to the Raison Pure International design firm. The creative team says it found its inspiration in the Mambo style of dance, the result being a tall column that appears to swivel its hips with a wavelike curve in the center. A hot fuchsia color blends into a spicy yellow shade at the center and then melts back into the fuchsia shade at the bottom for the women's fragrance; for the men's fragrance, an avocado green tone fades into a spicy yellow and finally dissolves into garnet red. The outer box also takes inspiration from the dance, with a pattern of swirling vertical stripes of color. Boxes feature warm, tropical colors — the women's is a blend of fuchsia and plum, while the men's box uses brown and garnet. Both boxes have a line of gold in the middle as a preview of the bottle. The design is being implemented in point-of-sale materials such as promotional banners, gift set wraps, and shopping bags.

GRID EXCLAIMS 'HOW SWEET 16 IT IS!'
New York NY: Grid Typographic Services is celebrating the beginning of its sixteenth year as a specialist in quality typography for shareholder communications. Succeeding in an otherwise diminishing industry, founder Don Davidson describes the company's mission as "upholding traditional typographic standards complemented, not replaced, by modern day technology."

Started in 1986, and owned and managed by professional typographers, the company's focus has always been producing quality typography, with a particular emphasis on financial reports. This singular concentration has proven to be very successful. Grid produced typography for 43 annual reports in the 2000 season alone. Over time, the company has also become a significant provider of type for mutual fund reports. This is important to the company's performance since, says Davidson, "the staff is permanent, not seasonal; the momentum is always present."

Testifying to Grid's success, notes Davidson, "client loyalties are exceptionally strong, with some relationships dating back to Grid's very start. Both corporate and design clients are very generous to us in expressing their appreciation of Grid's performance." A promotional campaign, designed by the legendary Richard Danne, utilizes a "Sweet 16" theme and taps into a selection of client comments and testimonials. Danne's design of "Grid@15" recently won the Award of Distinction in the Zanders 2000 USA Corporate Communications Design Contest.

SMULLEN HELPS SHAPE LINE OF BARBIE BRANDED FURNITURE
Princeton NJ: A new line of licensed Barbie furniture — for real kids not dolls — is reaching stores this fall. Drawing design influences from the popular brand, five pieces in the Barbie Avenue Collection are the work of licensed product specialist Smullen Design based in Pasadena, CA. The solid-wood furniture is manufactured and marketed by New Jersey-based specialty furniture manufacturer P. J. Kids. Maureen Smullen, a well-known designer and brand marketer, says: "Our goal was to create a line of sophisticated furniture that reflects the Barbie lifestyle, yet does not scream licensed property. The aura and attributes of the Barbie brand had to be apparent, yet not overpowering... The Barbie brand is much more than a doll, it's a lifestyle. Licensing Barbie is about reflecting that lifestyle and culture through a collection of brand specific visual elements and products." Adds Stewart Paul, president of P.J. Kids: "We are looking to create a lifetime of Barbie memories... We partnered with Smullen Design to design a collection of furniture that could evolve and grow along with the child." He explains that the offering features interchangeable color schematics and removable design elements, allowing many pieces in the line to be either dominantly pink or white, depending on an owner's changing tastes. "The design direction," he concludes, "was an effort to give the furniture longevity while simultaneously evoking the Barbie brand."

STEVE JOBS OF APPLE DECLARES 'OUR PATH IS INNOVATION'
New York NY: Keynoting the Macworld Expo at Manhattan's Javits Center, Apple ceo Steve Jobs thumbed his nose at the economic downturn and promised continued bold strokes in the face of tough times. "We're in a really interesting time," he told an overflow audience. "There are very tough economic conditions out there. And most of our industry is retrenching. They're retrenching, they're restructuring, they're laying off people. We decided to try a different path to navigate through this difficult economic time. Our path is innovation. We've got incredibly talented people working overtime to bring incredible products to you, incredible software, an incredible buying experience."

To back up his point, Jobs pointed to "tons of new products and innovations" brought out since the beginning of the year. These, he said, included a new option for buying computers through the introduction of retail stores, the ongoing transition to the Mac OS X operating system, the launch of the PowerBook G4 titanium portable, the iBook consumer notebook, three new iMac models, the new Power Mac G4 towers, SuperDrives for building DVDs, and iTunes digital music software. He concluded by pointing to iDVD 1 and 2 which provide "the ability for mere mortals to make DVDs that rival and even exceed the DVDs produced in Hollywood..."

SUNDANCE GRAPHICS PACKAGE DECONSTRUCTS THE SCENE
Hollywood CA: yU + co has designed and produced a graphics package for Anatomy of a Scene, a new original series on Sundance Channel. The package includes the show's main title sequence which consists of an artful rendering of the filmmaking process in reverse as a finished scene has elements stripped away until it is reduced to a screenplay page on a computer screen. The design of the title seeks to encapsulate the premise of the show, which is to show how the filmmaking process evolves. Adam Pincus, senior vice president of on-air promotion, original programming and new media, observes: "yU + co's concept is very simple: take a finished scene and go backward in time. It reveals the creative process the way the collaborators see it. It is a very elegant way to capture what this show is all about."

The 40-second piece opens on a cowboy walking along a gravel road. This image pulls back and into a stylized representation of the editorial process, as a stuttered series of film frames travel up the side of the screen. This is followed by an abstract view of the cinematography process. The filmed scene then dissolves into a storyboard sequence, then into a script and finally into type on a word-processing screen where the show title writes on. "The scene we picked — the cowboy on the road — was also a very deliberate choice," said yU + co producer Barbara Schwarz. "It is a simple scene, but one that evokes the independent spirit of the Sundance brand."

DELTA STATIONERY ENCOURAGES TRAVELERS TO 'FOLD AND FLY'
New York NY: Platinum Design has developed a kit to attract new customers to Delta Airlines' recently instituted small business travel program. The design firm incorporated blue tones with simple icons, line drawings and a bit of humor to produce materials and brand for the myobtravel.com online service. The design of the kit, shaped part like a tabbed folder and part like a briefcase, is intended to be playful as well as easy to file. Platinum officials note that "the new stationery is particularly fun." Designed on a crisp white letterhead, the designers used muted red dotted lines to simulate the mapping of a travel route. The lines also illustrate the folds for making a paper airplane. Simple instructions on the lower left-hand corner encourage customers to "fold and fly." The project also included reworking a preexisting logo and creating itinerary cards, ticket jackets and web templates.

GUERILLA MARKETING MEETS 'HELLO MY NAME IS' AT PARTY
Philadelphia PA: 160over90, an interactive web and print agency, says it has discovered a new medium to communicate brands and images — graffiti. As urban art emerges from its subculture origins and moves mainstream, says Martin Duffy, associate creative director of the agency, its potential reach as a guerilla marketing tool for getting noticed is fathomless because it stimulates consciousness, increases curiosity, and provides a sense of hipness.

Getting noticed was just what 160over90 had in mind when FastCompany Magazine recently held its Realtime business conference in Philadelphia. The magazine partnered with 160over90 to create a webmercial to boost event attendance. Realizing the possibilities of introducing 160over90 to so many business executives at once prompted the agency to host a cocktail party for attendees. Rather than a traditional "networking" cocktail party, though, the goal of every facet, from the invites through the party, was to poke fun at traditional conferences while providing clients and prospects an environment to "kiss ass and take names."

Duffy developed the event's theme to parody the kitschy "Hello my name is" sticker. Then, using their own "Hello my name is 160over90" stickers, 160over90 launched a guerilla sticker campaign to graffiti downtown Philadelphia. On event night, guests were guided to the party by way of temporary animated graffiti projected onto area buildings. 160over90 brought the graffiti edge into the party by showcasing the work of artists Jim Houser and Shepard Fairey. Guests were greeted with themed pint glasses, which were personalized for use, thus eliminating the need for real "hello" tags.

CSA TIMELINES WOMEN'S INITIATIVE AT DELOITTE & TOUCHE
New York NY: The Carbone Smolan Agency, CSA, has designed an interactive annual report for Deloitte & Touche's Initiative for the Retention and Advancement of Women. The site uses digital technology to provide an historical context for promoting the role Deloitte & Touche LLP has played as an employer of choice among professional women. "Deloitte & Touche has been very forward thinking in their approach to helping professionals find greater balance in their lives," said Leslie Smolan, a principal at the design agency. "The 2000 annual report reflects this same thinking by making the leap from a traditional print format to a progressive digital version which also offers a significant savings on distribution."

Users of the site follow a scrolling timeline that begins in antiquity and travels up to the present. References to early technologies such as the invention of the knitting machine, the dishwasher and the Post-it note, beside such key events as the passing of British laws to protect labor in factories and Marie Curie winning the Nobel Prize, offer precursors to the role women assume in the final decade of the 20th century. Events build to Congresswoman Barbara Jordan's capping remark "The 20th century will not close without the presence of women being felt." The timeline culminates in an interface which provides access to each of the past seven years that the Women's Initiative has been in place. By clicking on a given year, factoids appear describing important events and highlighting key achievements. The report concludes with "The Revolution Continues," a look to future goals. "Change and accessibility were the themes that drove the creative process," explains Christa Bianchi, a CSA designer. "Because we had to communicate a large amount of diverse content in only 60 seconds of animation, we devised a system of color-coding for the timeline."

LOGO PROMISES VIRTUAL HOUSE CALLS BY DOCTOR GOODWELL
Seattle WA: Phinney/Bischoff Design House has developed the brand position, identity and web site for Doctor Goodwell, a health technology company that enables people to have "virtual visits" with their personal physician from their desktop. The Redmond-based client is the product of two-year-old Overlake Venture Center in Bellevue, which serves as an idea incubator for Overlake Hospital. The online visits include audio and video conferencing for the doctor to see and hear the patient. The technology provides an alternate channel of care for the minor aches and ailments that simply require a conversation and possibly a prescription. "From a brand perspective, we needed to transcend the idea that this is somehow just more online health content," says David Miller, a principal at Phinney/Bischoff. "It's not about 'our' health articles. It's about 'you,' visiting 'your' doctor on 'your' schedule. This is as simple as flipping on your PC and speaking directly with your doctor — and that's pretty compelling."

ANNUAL OPENS WINDOW ON STORIES OF FACING CANCER
New York NY: The American Cancer Society is on a mission to make sure donors know that they can make a difference in the life of cancer patients. Therefore, the 2000 Annual Report focuses on stories of people "Facing Cancer." For this project, New York's Gumption Design especially wanted the cover to be special, drawing readers into the moving stories of both survivors and volunteers. "We wanted to have an element of surprise," says Evelyn Lontok, creative director of Gumption Design. "After exploring several die-cut solutions, we decided upon a window cutout with another one behind it that effectively pulls the reader into the first page." A monotone image of daffodils, the Society's flower of hope, coupled with the word "strength" on the first window presents the two underlying themes of the book. Inside, there are full bleed photographs of the storytellers. Explains Lontok: "It was important for the readers to really see these people — to feel as though they could reach out and touch them." The stories served as bookends to ACS's research and programs contained in a three-panel center spread that is effectively separated from the stories. David Golub is vice president of creative services for the Society.

NAME CHANGES RISE MODESTLY DESPITE ECONOMY
New York NY: Despite a worldwide economic slowdown, name changes for corporations around the world — and the attendant identity programs — increased by 7% in the first half of 2001. In a survey released by global brand and identity consultants Enterprise IG, figures showed new names totaling 1993, compared with 1854 over the same six months last year. For 31 years Enterprise IG, a WPP company, has tracked corporate name changes across all business sectors, releasing the results on a semiannual basis.

On releasing his firm's totals, Enterprise IG chief executive Jim Johnson stated: "Even though companies are cutting costs, they still recognize the need to invest in and manage the corporate brand, and create distinctive names that differentiate themselves in the marketplace."

While United States firms continued to be in the majority, accounting for most of the total name changes, globalization continued to drive change abroad. The United Kingdom chalked up the second largest number of new corporate names, followed by Canada, Germany, France, and Japan. New names were reported from no fewer than 39 countries around the world.

As in preceding years, the financial sector, including commercial banks, investment banks, brokerages, and mutual funds, accounted for the largest number of name changes with 60% of the total. Communications firms followed in second place with 11%; and energy was third with 5%. Manufacturing and industrial companies dropped to fourth place. Other significant categories covered included healthcare, retail, transportation and technology.

In the U.S., 39 states were represented in the survey: New York led with 574 new names, followed by California, Massachusetts and Illinois.

As a result of this continued rise in name changes, observe Enterprise IG officials, some venerable names have disappeared. Wall Street powerhouse Morgan Stanley Dean Witter discarded Dean Witter in favor of its pre-merger name, and Arthur Andersen became Andersen Worldwide. Bell & Howell is now ProQuest Co. Kaufman & Broad opted for initials and became KB Home Corp, while BF Goodrich dropped its initials and became the Goodrich Corporation. Cummins Engine omitted the 'Engine' in its name and re-emerged as Cummins Inc. In the UK, the Post Office changed to Consigna, while two major Midwestern department stores, Dayton and Hudson's, selected Marshall Field as their common name. The magazine McCalls re-launched as Rosie.

Not surprisingly, the popularity of dotcom names continued to fade. Examples include Talk.com becoming Talk America Holdings and Phone.com being renamed Openwave Systems. "The lure of the dotcom designator has definitely peaked," says Johnson. "The trend is now toward more traditional names that are able to be used globally."