Monday, September 06, 2010
Long live cheese!
May 27, 09:00 AM by HM Copywriter
I’ve always been a big fan of the rhyme. Although I will deny it till the cows come home and sing “Swanee River” in an arboretum of odd socks, I adore jingles as well.
I mean who can’t still recite the 1970’s classic, “Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us?” Come on; that smack is gold!
Denying the rhyme is like denying Shakespeare, Mother Goose, or even the long forgotten Andrew Dice Clay. In fact, there’s no doubt in my mind that everyone on the planet can recite at least a snippet of their collective work. No?
So, be warned all ye ad school heroes. Clio winners. Crispin cronies. The next creative who rolls their eyes, wrinkles up their nostrils, or utters the word “hack” within earshot of moi, best prepare to nibble numerous nouns. The time for retribution has come and it brought mad alliteration.
Read the whole story:
Cindi Walther: HM Copywriter
Geeze Mindscape ...
May 15, 02:06 PM by HM Copywriter
Congratulations to Pete, Paul and the entire Mindscape @ Hanon McKendry Crew!
As if winning Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year wasn’t enough, Mindscape finished out the week by being named one of the top 10 Most dependable web development firms in Central United States for the 2nd year in a row – featured in Forbes Magazine May 25th edition!
But can they dance?
HM Copywriter : Cindi Walther
Top 10 Mother's Day Gift Suggestions
May 4, 02:44 PM by HM Copywriter
For many of you (Men) this may come as a complete surprise.
Mother’s Day is next week. May 10th to be exact. Now before you go off not planning your last minute trip to the corner drug store, I have a Billie Maze inspired suggestion—order now!
The world wide web is a wonderful, whimsical, way of wooing the woman who wovingwy waised you. Jewelry, flowers, day spa gift certificates, and even vacuum cleaner bags can all be purchased with just a click of the mouse. That, and a valid Visa, Master, AMEX, and sometimes Discover. The secret is knowing your audience.
This is the woman you lived with for, I dunno, 18 years. For you perceptive types, picking out the perfect gift should be a snap. For others, a broken zipper snagged on ball of frayed, unlaundered sweat shirt. Seriously?
If you fit into category B, might I make a few suggestions.
1. Call your dad. It’s likely he dropped the ball at Christmas, and mom has been relentlessly reminding him every day since.
2. Call your sister. She may have few too many ideas in mind, and wouldn’t mind tossing you a bone. Likely not her patented tear inducing bone, but a bone none the less.
3. Look up a top ten Mother’s Day gift list on the internet. Wait, isn’t this supposed to be one? My bad. Ask Men has a good one. Except the bonus suggestion. Very disturbing.
4. And last, but not least, ask the mom. Yes, you can do that. It’s the 2000’s. But be prepared. Depending on your current income and your behavioral past, things could get pretty pricey.
Reporting from high atop the HM building in beautiful DT Grand Rapids, MI. I’m Cindi Walther wishing you and yours a Happy Mother’s Day!
Baker College Senior Takes Top Prize
Apr 20, 03:39 PM by HM Copywriter
We would like to congratulate Baker College senior, Nicole Houghtaling, on her winning entry in the Hanon McKendry 2009 Creative Crawl Student Poster Contest.
The contest was held in conjunction with the American Advertising Federation of West Michigan (formerly Ad Club of West Michigan) 2009 AD Fair Creative Crawl in February. All college and university students from throughout West Michigan who attended the Creative Crawl were eligible to enter.
Houghtaling is a graphic communications major at Baker College in Muskegon, and will graduate this spring. She plans to continue her studies at The Polishing Center in May. A member of AD2, Nichole has her sights set on a position as an art director or graphic designer in an advertising, design or other creative-based firm.
Nichole won $100.00 for her winning entry, that she will likely spend on her Shi tzu, and insatiable love for Raisnettes.
Nichole’s Winning Design:
You can never be too Irish!
Mar 17, 01:26 PM by HM Copywriter
It’s that time of year again. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and Irish O’s are smiling over the city.
There goes the neighborhood ... Cool!
Mar 5, 04:15 PM by HM Copywriter
One of the best neighbors an agency could ask for, B.O.B, just keeps getting better.
As completely, and shamelessly lifted from M Live:
The B.O.B.’s ‘Bobville’ would bring concert venue, festival marketplace to downtown Grand Rapids
GRAND RAPIDS—A new downtown concert venue and festival marketplace, with a partially retractable roof, dozens of vendors and luxury suites, would be part of a $5 million expansion of The B.O.B. See the plans at the Knape’s Corner blog.
Restaurant developer Gregory Gilmore is calling the five-story, 65,000-square-foot facility “Bobville” and expects it to create up to 200 jobs while drawing more crowds downtown.
The new venue is expected to hold up to 2,000 people and stretch 225 feet long and 100 feet wide on what now are parking lots adjacent to The B.O.B.
Gilmore’s vision calls for a “park-like environment with the feeling of a European piazza that will invite people to wander through.” Preliminary plans call for construction to begin in October 2010 with completion by February 2012.
The “multifaceted flex space” will be partially connected to the existing B.O.B., a former warehouse (Big Old Building) converted by Gilmore into a popular multilevel restaurant and entertainment complex 12 years ago. Gilmore was not available for comment.
“It’s amazing the creativity that went into creating this flexible space that could be used for lots of different purposes,” said Jay Fowler, executive director of the city’s Downtown Development Authority. “It will meet an unmet need.”
Renderings for Bobville show a fieldhouse-like structure with a street level where concerts, farmers markets, shows and festivals could be held. Portions of the ground floor would include 30 to 40 food and beverage kiosks.
Beneath the performance area, a recording studio is planned. An underground gathering space dubbed “The Grotto” would be incorporated into an outdoor area at Fulton Street and Ottawa Avenue.
Catwalks around the second level would provide access to 30-60 kiosk-like areas that could be used as business incubators by artists, food makers and other businesses.
The third and fourth levels would include 50 leased luxury suites or housing that would overlook the concert stage. Preleasing those suites would finance a portion of construction costs, according to plans submitted to the city.
The Bobville plan is less ambitious than earlier B.O.B. expansion concepts, some of which included a much larger building that incorporated a boutique hotel and condominiums with an integrated parking structure.
In a letter to city Planning Director Suzanne Schulz, Gilmore explained: “When the world changed last year, our plan did, too. But we feel this is the most beneficial to the city and us.”
Fowler said it will fill a niche in the concert market while providing more entertainment options downtown.
“I understand for concerts, this meets sort of a middle ground that’s larger than anything that’s available currently, but it’s really smaller than the arena,” Fowler said. “There are acts that will come to town to play a facility like this that can’t fill the arena.”
A special land use request is expected to be discussed as part of a March 26 hearing by the Grand Rapids Planning Commission.
E-mail Chris Knape: cknape@grpress.com
AD Fair Student Poster Contest
Mar 4, 02:53 PM by HM Copywriter
Turnout for the AD Fair ‘09 Creative Crawl on February 24 was phenomenal. We’re estimating that the number of people who Crawled through Hanon McKendry was more than double that of the 2008 event. Judging by the number of Mardi Gras beads guests had collected at various Crawl stops, other Crawl host sites were swamped as well. It was great to see this level of interest in the advertising and design industry in West Michigan.
Participants included members of the media; ad/design/marketing/photography industry professionals; business reps; teachers and suppliers. And, of course, students came en masse from colleges and universities throughout West Michigan including GVSU, Kendall, Davenport, Compass Film Academy, Spring Arbor, Calvin and Baker.
Anticipating strong student interest, Hanon McKendry introduced a Creative Crawl Student Poster Design Contest at this year’s event. All students who visited Hanon McKendry during the 2009 Crawl are eligible to enter. Poster designs must promote the Creative Crawl and include five creative elements collected while on tour at Hanon McKendry.
Entries are due on March 11. A winner will be selected by March 30. The winner will receive a cash prize, and their photo and winning entry will be posted on www.hanon-mckendry.com. Participating students may contact me with questions, to obtain logo files, or to submit entries: lefebre@hanon-mckendry.com. Good luck!
Bill Talks Politics with the Ad Club of West Michigan
Nov 6, 01:17 PM by HM Copywriter
Reposted to our blog:
Bill McKendry on Politics and Branding
We recently sat down with Bill McKendry of local advertising firm Hanon McKendry to get his views on politics and the advertising industry. Here’s what he had to say:
What political campaigns have you been involved with?
Several state-wide ballot initiatives in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Colorado (most famous are the 1998 Anti Physician-Assisted Suicide initiative and currently I’m working on the Vote NO on Proposal 2 campaign trying to prevent the legalization of human embryo destruction as a way to conduct Stem Cell Research). Also I have worked on campaigns and independent expenditure efforts for Republican Congressional and Senate Candidates in Michigan, Kentucky and Colorado. Finally, I’ve also put together campaigns for some local State Representatives and one campaign for Michigan Appeals Court Judge.
Why do you like/dislike working on political campaigns?
Political campaigns are great because you receive almost instantaneous feedback on how well your work is performing. Daily tracking and polling is done and you get to see first-hand if your message is resonating with voters and if it is causing them to move the way you want them to. Plus, there’s the “election day” and you clearly know if you’ve “won or lost.” No other work has that sense of finality to it.
Obviously the amount and pace of the work can be a big negative (but the energy you create, though not sustainable, can be very exhilarating). But probably the biggest negative is how hard it is to find clients in politics that want to do quality work – typically, political clients want cheap ads with no concept and they just want to “throw mud.”
We have a different standard at Hanon McKendry – we believe good ads are more effective than bad ads and that we want to win, but also be proud of how we win.
What’s typically involved from the ad agency perspective, with a
political campaign?
In the best situations, we’re teamed with a research/polling firm, a media firm that know politics (i.e., that can collect timely intelligence on the opponent’s media buying plans) and a PR firm. The research firm gives us single-focused and proven propositions to craft messages from, the media firm puts that in front of targeted voters and the PR firm turns every new ad into a media event.
Other than that, our role is the same as always – create and produce attention-commanding and compelling ads … on time and within budget.
How have political ad campaigns changed over the years?
TV has become more and more important (print, outdoor and radio are considered “nice-to-have’s”) and driving people to the web for more information is now fundamental to every campaign. Web marketing using social media outlets are also a significant change in this campaign cycle.
Any favorite political blogs?
I’m not a big blog reader (sorry), maybe I’m too old for that? I get my political info the “old-fashioned” way – TV, Radio and Newspaper.
And in a more general sense…How important do you think design and branding is in the political process? How should local/state campaigns approach the issue differently than national campaigns?
Obama, whether you agree or disagree with him, has demonstrated the power of branding/marketing/advertising/packaging – a simple, powerful message that resonates and is told well/often gets through and (not sure of the outcome yet, but I would bet) wins.
This is true whether it’s local or national politics. (It’s also true, I believe, for any business or organization as well.)
Who do you think has the better designed/branded presidential
campaign, and why?
This has nothing to to with which candidate I’ll vote for, but Obama has clearly run the best campaign from a design/branding perspective. Great graphics, simple message, focused, and controlling every voter touch-point (TV, Web, Events, PR, Print, Radio – every medium is singing out of the same Hymn book). It’s clearly the best Presidential campaigns I’ve seen in my lifetime and will go down as one of the best “personality” brand campaigns ever.
Do you talk politics at work? Why or why not?
Because of the issue work we do we break all the workplace rules here at Hanon McKendry, we talk “politics”, “sex” and “religion” almost daily. And while there are many different views/viewpoints, there’s always respect and tolerance extended to each and everyone. But, clearly, people know what they’re getting into when they come to work here and I’m open and honest about my viewpoints. But our compnay policy since our inception is that we would never force anyone here to work on anything (political or otherwise) that they’re uncomfortable with personally or professionally.
How have the presidential campaigns used design as an edge?
You see it all over– campaign banners, yard signs, campaign buttons, podium backdrops, on the web, etc. McCain and Obama have both done nice work, Obama’s “Change” campaign has used design exceptionally well.
As such, the “edge” goes to Obama on this front because his campaign’s graphics are/have remained consistent, focused, clear, fresh and appealing. They are simply employing the basics of great design and that will always give you an edge.
Have any design elements from either campaigns spoken to you?
Obama’s campaign work is so good, he would win my vote for best campaign. As for my vote for President, that’s a little more complicated.
Look out Hollywood!
Aug 13, 04:47 PM by HM Copywriter
Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, Skunk Ape, Yowie, Oh-mah, Mo Mo are just a few names this elusive creature has been hiding behind for oh, so many years. Well it seems the 7-foot wacko magnet is off the lam and on the radar. It had to happen sooner or later.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402882,00.html
http://www.ktvu.com/news/17174989/detail.html
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