Pure Thinking

From the Intern's Perspective II

Still loving my internship here at Pure—I love being busy. I have developed a productive routine, and am experiencing the rewards of positive results with my work efforts.

Highlights?
I was given the chance to attend the PRSA Colorado luncheon last week with Pure and I left feeling very inspired. We got to hear Dana Perino‘s experiences in working as the Press Secretary under President Bush. She was a very charming story teller. She told stories such as the shock she felt when she was appointed as Press Secretary, and advised the room of professionals on how she maintained relationships with the press, while having to keep a lot of information to herself. She really emphasized the importance of always being on your feet and always listening to what is going on. It made me reconsider how important sleep really is...(her first meeting of the day was always at 6:30am)!

Dana Perino, doing what she does best. Answering heated questions!

As cliché as it may sound coming from a young, female professional, but it was great to hear about a woman staying strong in such a high pressure, male dominated position, which “forced her to learn to be a fighter.”

It makes me think of the women I work with here at Pure. We have a small office, and a great group of hard workers. We also have a great group of women here. They are all driven to do the best job for the client and have an exceptionally diligent work ethic. The last agency I interned at, Kelliher Samets Volk in Burlington, Vermont, was female dominant as well. The Mad Men days are in the past and women have made a huge influence in the advertising and PR industry. As of 2002, females made up 70% of the public relations industry. With how quickly this change has been put into place, I can only imagine what the future holds for business women. 

Work it girl!

Other highlights of working as the PR intern at Pure the past few weeks?

Helping get together a big fundraising event for a client, reaching out to national and local associations to promote an event, and seeing results of our outreach efforts!

Being short has its advantages

There's been some hype lately over the shortening of a brand name - in particular "Pizza Hut" evolving into "The Hut" and "Radio Shack" becoming "The Shack." I assumed it to be a sign of the times, as texting in particular has caused us to shorten everything.

Tom Parrette suggests that brand shortening acts like a nickname, and expresses familiarity and short-name basis ease with consumers, so that "The Hut" isn't just any hut, but The Hut. So, assuming the new brand takes on a meaning that the owner intends for it to take (in Radio Shack/ The Shack's case, a younger/hipper identity) brand moves such as, ahem, "Pure Brand Communications" evolving to "Pure" can help acknowledge a loyal clientele and therefore, represent a brilliant branding move.

Here are a few other examples of brands that, for various reasons, have downsized their name. In terms of brand loyalty, would you call them a success?

Kentucky Fried Chicken: In 1990, the Commonwealth of Kentucky trademarked the name “Kentucky,” forcing businesses to pay a licensing fee to use it. KFC was able to sidestep the issue by changing its brand name to the commonly used nickname. The fast-food restaurant has recently expanded its brand nomenclature to include KGC (the “G” standing for “grilled”).

Charles Schwab: Not a name change, but noteworthy nonetheless-the brokerage’s most recent ad campaign employs the headline “Ask Chuck,” conveying a trusted familiarity.

America Online: The company officially changed its name to AOL in 2006, stating: “Our new corporate identity better reflects our expanded mission-to make everyone’s online experience better. Plus, consumers in the U.S. and around the world already know us by our initials.”

Federal Express: Global market research revealed that “federal” connoted something bureaucratic and slow, and the full name was difficult to pronounce in certain foreign markets. In 1994, Fedex was adopted as the official brand name. The company’s new name also proved much easier to use in visual applications where space was limited.

--Kate

Art & Copy

ART & COPY is a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration. Directed by Doug Pray (SURFWISE, SCRATCH, HYPE!), it reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time -- people who've profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney and others featured in ART & COPY were responsible for "Just Do It," "I Love NY," "Where's the Beef?," "Got Milk," "Think Different," and brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents.

Exclusive Engagement at the Starz Filmcenter from August 21-27. In cooperation from the Art Director's Club of Denver. Check it out.

Eco-friendly font

By now you have probably heard that recycled paper and soy inks contribute to greener graphic design, but it turns out that in the realm of sustainability, not all fonts are created equal. With that being said, Dutch communications company Spranq have jumped on the environmentally friendly bandwagon, with a font that looks like this:

Ecofont is the name of the typeface and it is available for free at this company's website. The idea is that these little holes will save on average 20% more ink, contributing to a cleaner environment.

The catch 22 here is that it really only works well for a font in the 10 pt size range. At this size and smaller the holes go unnoticed. But, as the font gets bigger the holes will obviously become larger, and at a smaller size the amount of the savings goes down, mostly because the holes will close up and become ineffective due to ink spread, etc.

This seems to be one of those inventive ideas that is a great tool to introduce the world to the services and ingenuity of this company in a roundabout viral episode, while playing on the environmental theme so prevalent in today's society. Whether or not it will help contribute to a cleaner earth seems unlikely, although with a little creativity from the end user, you may be able to trick yourself into sleeping easier at night knowing you're saving the world. Or maybe it will become all the rage like Courier did in the 90's.

- Todd

FASTER WAITS?

Y

ou will find these billboards in the Valley of the Sun. Now if I understand what they are saying, if I have an emergency like a deep cut that is bleeding profusely, I should fire up my computer and go to the web and find out the hospital with the shortest “wait time” which may be clear across the valley as I gush blood on the keyboard and become faint.

If I don’t do that, I can drive around the valley until I find one of the really useful billboards with a digital clock that will tell me the wait time for that hospital.

I think it would be a better idea to just reduce the wait time by hiring more staff. But then, I may be delusional from loss of blood.

Is there such a thing as “Faster Wait times”?

Mike

SUPER AD SUNDAY IS HIRING OFFICIALS.

 

On Sunday, February 1st, during the Super Bowl, the real action happens between possessions. Vote on your favorite Super Bowl™ ads through the magic of cell phone text technology. And call fouls on the rest. Join the officiating team at Jackson’s Sky Lounge, located at 1520 20th St. in LoDo

Learn more about it here.  Or just go right ahead and register here.

Shepard Fairey speaks

Shepard Fairey Interview

From the mean streets as a graffiti artist to winning Presidential campaign artist, Shepard Fairey talks about his influences, inspiration and DIY attitude that got him where he is today. An outlook and attitude that continues to evolve and influence generations to come. - Todd

Ruff Tuff Real Stuff

Luke Lucas of Lifelounge recently posted a great collection of muscle car advertisements from back in the day, and they're sexist, hypermasculine, and.... awesome.

Uniqlo Human Vending Machines

"Basically we’re going to have two mimes. A male and a female mime inside the machine. And the public can see them through glass. When you get there, we’re going to have Uniqlo reps dressed in the silver bodysuits. And they’re going to hold a thermograph scanner — think of an airport security machine. The thermographer identifies cold spots in your body. After you go through that, you go to the vending machine and push a button and the mimes are going to do a synchronized choreographed routine and then your outfit comes out."

This Holiday shopping event will work to promo Uniqlo's new line of Heat Tech Innerwear. Gizmodo seems wary, but anything involving metallic bodysuits has me sold.

Economy Pizza

Student-targeted advertising for the Economist distributed via 20 different pizzarias in Philadelphia. Super smart.

By BBDO New York.

via I Believe in Advertising