Thursday, June 26, 2008

Jeff Watch: 2008

This kicks off a new topic we will be covering for the next few months. Since his wildly controversial diet, Jeff (a Realm Partner) has lost an amazing 41 lbs. Add to that his recent need for a new wardrobe... It is certainly worth tracking.

Today, Jeff looks great. Thin, tanned and buff. Plus, sporting plaid pants in an assortment of Realm colors.

Stripes are thinning and white makes you look heavy. We have NO idea what plaid does.

And what does 40 lbs. look like?This cat.That's a lot of cat to lose.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Editable PDFs, Field Kits and Georgia-Pacific


We love editable PDFs - beyond what any agency should feel for a design technology.

There is a magical moment when a field representative realizes she will get materials she can customize and make "local" to her audience without any real effort. For the brand manager or corporate communicator, they are guaranteed a level of message consistency that lets the program go out the "right" way and not get confused in translation.

We have used the methodology in documents before, but never as sweeping as for our rollout of the GP-Safe program. In this case, very little printing was provided to the field. Instead, the kit was provided electronically.

Georgia-Pacific faces many of the same challenges that so many of our clients face - field offices (in their case mills) that demand a sense of independence while, at the same time, are clamoring for more support from corporate. This is where the editable PDF steps in.

We were able to offer the field posters, ads, bumper stickers, t-shirts and more that the office can make local to their audience by changing key fields. Everybody wins!

Props go to Ben at our office who is the PDF guru. Michelle and Winnie for their work on concept and design of the Big Blue Zero. We're not sure who came up with the, now famous line, "Not just safe - GP Safe." Could be Mike or Jim. Either way, they'll get a T-shirt that they can show their friends.

There will be a full release about this program in the next few months after the results are measured.