Are you going to see WATCHMEN?

I had never read a comic book in my life.  But I did read Alan Moore’s graphic novel WATCHMEN a few months ago.  It really is an incredible piece of work (as is Dave Gibbon’s illustration) that I thoroughly enjoyed.  The movie premieres March 6.  A memorable 03.06.09 if you follow the American date system.

One of our clients, Myvu has partnered with Warner Brothers for some exciting promotions including a contest to win advance screening tickets in select cities.  There’s been a great deal of buzz on this movie already – with a huge fan base for the story.

We designed emails, a banner campaign and landing pages to support the promotion.  You can also download Watchmen trailers and save on the Myvu Crystal Personal Media viewer if you find the secret word in the Watchmen trailer posted on the Myvu site.

Wordless Can be Great

When I buy a new electronic device, for myself or the family, I’m not particularly patient about going through all the ineluctable chores such as getting the darn thing open to figuring out how to work it right away.

When we started collaborating with Myvu, we looked at the guidebook that came with their product. It was a booklet with several languages.  When I see booklets with many languages, I think that it’s sort of nice – this company is thinking about other people besides just English-speaking customers.  But that feeling quickly vanishes when all these pages are now in between me and my enjoyment or utility of the product.  That’s why I’m a huge fan of the wordless quick start guide.  Oh, like many people, I’m also a visual thinker.

The secrets to wordless (or almost wordless) communication are:

A very logical process must be detailed out in a very logical order.  If you’ve ever seen MASH where Radar reads “how to dismantle a bomb” you know that the order of events is very important.

You must have a very good illustrator who can make things simple, yet accurate.

Once you think you have it, give the draft to the least technical people you know (you might not want to tell them why they have been honored) and ask them to set up the product in question. Adjust as needed.

In the end, a wordless quick start should:

• Reduce the amount of paper and printing you use
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Make you a better communicator
• Help you identify ways to improve your product design

Station Domination

Running right now – for the month of November – in Herald Square station in New York City is this campaign for Myvu.  The installation is comprised of huge wallscapes, column wraps, banners and also a life-sized interactive demo.  Our company developed concepts and created the art for the campaign.  We also worked with Monster Media to create the in-station interactive demo.  The campaign is augmented with telephone kiosks in the city as well.

CardScan for Mac

There are perhaps fewer and fewer reasons to own a Windows computer and the new CardScan Executive for Mac product just added more layers of dust to my PC.  Having worked with CardScan for over four years, we were thrilled when teamed up with them to launch their long-awaited made-for-Mac version.  Capture all your contact information – from business cards – but also from email, web and other e files.   I have a confession, I did not have my contact information organized until now. See all the things you can do with a CardScan for Mac system at their web site.

We provided the graphic design for the new packaging which includes a peek-inside window for the card scanner and features less overall packaging for a greener result.

We also directed new photography and provided advertising concepts, pr consulting and copywriting services.

mimio

We helped mimio –  makers of innovative interactive whiteboard technology – evolve their brand to focus on educational customers and reflect the benefits of their product to this audience.  Our work included new colors for their logo to reflect the product’s metaphor of adding color and fun to a class lesson. We also provided a new tagline, “make it interesting”.   We provided a library of new photography, sales collateral, public relations support and materials, ads and trade show graphics.

New Myvu Advertising Campaign

Working with photographer Kent Dayton, who captured some great new shots for Myvu, we evolved and expanded the very successful Myvu campaign.  Here is a new print ad: