Posted by truecreek on January 17, 2012 under The Work | 
Lots of color often makes for a wonderful shot. Had a chance to work with one of the brand new Fairfax Connector buses a few weeks ago, during a shoot for the 495 Express Lanes. From what I understand, each bus is about $500,000 and change. Even the tires had Armor All on them.
The 495 Express Lanes will be completed in late 2012, so there will be more on this site as the year progresses. Check out Transurban’s new site here.
Posted by truecreek on under The Work |
Some nice artwork that just didn’t fly with the client. It happens.
Posted by truecreek on April 26, 2011 under The Work |
Posted by truecreek on March 23, 2011 under The Work |
Posted by truecreek on under The Work |
Posted by truecreek on February 1, 2011 under The Work |
At True Creek, we are into big ideas. The Creekbed draws from the brightest, most creative minds in the industry today; people who have shaped brands like Intel, Apple, Nissan, Best Buy, Volkswagen, Cox, Comcast, NASA – and many local and regional names that are big fish in a smaller pond.
We offer our clients a wide variety of services: Media Planning, Placement and Reconciliation, Television and Radio Production, Newspaper, Four-Color Magazine, Collateral Materials, Direct Mail, Promotional Merchandise, Point-of-Purchase, Outdoor and Out-of-Home, Logo Design and Corporate Identity/Graphic Standards.
Our agency is based in Oakton, VA, which is just outside the Capital Beltway in Washington, D.C.
Please take a moment to tour the site. Afterwards, let’s talk about how we might be able to help you. 703-281-2165. Or send a note: joseph@truecreek.com.
Posted by truecreek on January 25, 2011 under The Work |
Poster artwork for our newest internal campaign for Suddenlink. Think As One.
Posted by truecreek on November 16, 2010 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
2011 is set up to be another exciting year at the movies. There’s guaranteed to be something for everyone with plenty of thrillers and comedies. Just throw in some romance, a little horror, lots of drama and exciting action and you have another great year in cinema.
It also looking to be the biggest year ever in 3-D.
Here are just some of the blockbusters you’ll see in 2011:
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The Hangover 2
Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom
The Dark Fields
The Green Hornet
The Rite
Scream 4
The Green Lantern
Cars 2
X-Men First Class
Transformers 3
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II
The Three Musketeers
Twilight Saga
Happy Feet 2
Mission Impossible 4
Sherlock Holmes 2
Posted by truecreek on July 20, 2010 under The Work |
Another version of the sting banners created for Fortress Technologies. The banner is designed to unroll at 50%, for table top use as well.
Posted by truecreek on June 15, 2010 under More Dam News |
By Joseph Young
During an appearance at Wired’s Business Conference, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced the company was going to recognize customers desire for a better in-store wi-fi experience. Starting July 1st, the company will offer customers a free, one-click wi-fi connection to the Internet through AT&T, in all U.S. company operated stores.
Very nice move.
Schultz also announced that sometime this fall the company will be introducing the Starbucks Digital Network, in conjunction with Yahoo!. Again, only U.S. company operated stores, but the network will offer exclusive and free content, access to some paid sites and plenty of local and community news. Content providers will include Apple, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and more.
Posted by truecreek on May 4, 2010 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
Summer is almost upon us, a time when the cinema industry generates over 40% of their total annual box office revenue. It’s a time when people go out to the movies in droves, choosing to watch the hot new movies of the summer rather than stay on the couch and sit through another season of reruns on television. According to Nielsen, the shift is dramatic, with a 13% tick up for cinema in share during the summer months.
Last year, the industry experienced a record-breaking summer, with huge hits like Transformers, The Hangover, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and many others. Coming up this summer there will be another 13 blockbusters and remakes scheduled for release on the big screen.
Here’s just a few of the flicks you can expect to see this summer at a theater near you:
Iron Man 2
Shrek Forever After 3D
Sex and the City 2
Marmaduke
Toy Story 3D
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
For most consumer marketers, cinema is the place to be this summer. And throughout the year, cinema advertising is a fantastic complement to any broadcast TV schedule. So if you are in the theater, consider yourself a smart marketer. If you’re not, give True Creek a call and let’s fix that.
Posted by truecreek on April 27, 2010 under More Dam News |
Posted by truecreek on April 26, 2010 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
We recently commissioned several of our very talented writers to concept some headlines for a organization that has dedicated itself to combating distracted driving. Here are just a few. If you have a favorite, please comment and let us know.
Posted by truecreek on March 12, 2010 under More Dam News |
By Elaine Wong
Walmart topped the list of the most valuable retail brands in the U.S., followed by Target and Best Buy, per a new report issued by Interbrand today.
The report, compiled by Interbrand Design Forum—a division of the global brand consultancy, ranks retailers based on the value of their brands. The ranking is based on a number of factors: financial forecasting, the percentage of sales and profit that can directly be attributed to branding, and brand strength. These form a net present value, or the economic value of a brand.
Walmart dominated the charts again this year with a 19 percent increase in brand value to $154.1 billion. Target, in second place, saw a jump of 49 percent to $25.5 billion. Best Buy dropped 19 percent in brand value, though it still came in at third place with a brand value of $17.8 billion.
Rounding out the top 10 were The Home Depot, Walgreens, CVS, Sam’s Club, Dell, Coach and e-commerce site Amazon.com.
More about Walmart, Target, Best Buy Named Most Valuable Brands here.
Posted by truecreek on February 3, 2010 under The Work |
Delivered in a small and rugged form factor with its size, weight and power specifically tailored for vehicles, the Fortress ES820 provides industry leading radio range. It’s an amazing piece of equipment. This is the latest in 4/C print work produced by True Creek for Fortress Technologies.
Posted by truecreek on November 19, 2009 under More Dam News |
We’re proud to announce the addition of a new client, Fortress Technologies. They design, develop and manufacture secure wireless networking products for a wide variety of government markets, civilian organizations and corporations.
Right now, on the media side, we’re working on the planning and placement for the first half of 2010, in conjunction with Timberlake Media Services in Chicago.
Creatively, we’re working on a new direction that will offer them the ability to communicate their message effectively, while standing out in a very crowded field.
We’re really looking forward to the opportunity and hope to be posting some great work in the coming weeks.
Posted by truecreek on November 5, 2009 under More Dam News, Research |
Only 37% left to go. Give or take a few percentage points.
An April 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows 63% of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections at home, a 15% increases from a year earlier.
April’s level of high-speed adoption represents a significant jump from figures gathered by the Project since the end of 2007 (54%). The growth in home broadband adoption occurred even though survey respondents reported paying more for broadband compared to May 2008. Last year, the average monthly bill for broadband internet service at home was $34.50, a figure that stands at $39.00 in April 2009.
Download the report here.
Posted by truecreek on October 28, 2009 under More Dam News |
Great article from Ad Age.
By Marsha Lindsay:
What does the worldwide, technologically enabled drive for conversations mean for marketers? It means you’re no longer marketing products or services — you’re marketing conversations. It means marketing-communication planning should be driven by a conversation strategy.
The right conversation strategy answers two big questions: What meaningful content will attract sufficient conversations with the right people? And, how will you jump-start conversations and keep them alive?
When people are starved for time and already engaged in many conversations, jump-starting new and meaningful conversations is the big challenge of marketing today. Just building a website, writing a blog or posting videos on YouTube doesn’t mean sufficient numbers to impact ROI will find them organically, much less take the time and energy to converse with you. By definition a conversation requires others to be present and participate — otherwise you’re talking to yourself. Perhaps therapeutic, but no way to make a living.
Even if people know there’s an opportunity to have a conversation with you — on Twitter or your blog, for instance — you can’t expect them to engage given all the other demands on their time. You’ll need a strategy that both gets them to know you exist and care so much that you exist, they’ll become intrigued about conversing with you. This requires a strategy that integrates search optimization, media, message and contributions of content from consumers.
The right strategy begins with the end in mind: What message can work across multiple platforms and be scaled so quickly and broadly it can drive sufficient revenues to support a business model?
Very few companies have the luxury to let conversations build slowly over time. And no business can afford to risk a high-waste and low-impact effort. More often than not, high-impact campaigns with reasonable returns don’t materialize solely from online ads and social media. Traditional media must be a major component of the mix.
Stefan Olander, Nike’s global director of brand connections, noted at Lindsay, Stone & Briggs’ Brandworks University 2009 that many of Nike’s online campaigns received overwhelming response at launch. Colleagues at Nike were excited about the prospect of dropping expensive traditional media campaigns in favor of these successful digital campaigns. Olander reminded them that, despite how well-known the Nike brand is, to optimize online conversations they still must jump-start initiatives with traditional media.
That’s because traditional media can do what social media cannot: aggressively interject messages into people’s lives in a socially acceptable way. Research conducted by the Advertising Research Foundation indicates that messages delivered by TV may, in fact, be the fastest and most cost-efficient means to jump-start productive conversations in the digital and real worlds.
Experts at the World Advertising Research Center have also studied what it takes to optimize engagement in a conversation economy. They recommend this media priority:
- Mainstream media.
- Open networks such as blogs and websites.
- Closed networks such as Facebook and MySpace.
A multimedia mix framed to spark conversations requires a compelling message concept that can work across a multimedia platform. Its foundation has to be far more than a one-time promotion or product attribute; it must be a message strategy that connects brand meaning with search habits and accommodates ongoing contributions that can range from casual conversations to consumer-generated content.
This is a tall order, but not impossible. That’s because the solution can be found in the motivations of the conversationalists themselves. Some psychologists say that people subconsciously come to a conversation with a desire to be changed by them. This makes sense. Conversation is mankind’s natural search engine.
Posted by truecreek on under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
By Joseph Young
Well, we’ve crossed the threshold. In my travels today, I had the chance to stop off at the local Wegman’s to take advantage of their snappy food bar. Lunchtime can be pretty busy in that place and today was no exception.
What was interesting was seeing what I will call “The New Sweatpants Society.”
Men and women, meeting, then having lunch with their significant others at the grocery store. That is no big deal.
What was interesting was that in almost every case, one of them was dressed in business attire. The other, in sweats.
It was striking.
Couples all over the place, dressed entirely differently. Someone obviously didn’t get the memo.
So, do you think it’s a statement of the times? The extremely casual nature of their dress could mean that one of the two is working from a home office, works in a very casual environment or perhaps they have a day off. But this is Tuesday, yes?
Unfortunately, I suspect it’s something a little more sinister. One of them is out of a job.
On the bright side, I’m sure most of these couples are relishing the chance to break some lunchtime bread together.
But on the other, perhaps it’s a sad commentary on the current employment situation in our country.
I plan on checking in again in a month or so to see if the things have changed any. Let’s all hope I see a few more shirts and ties!
Posted by truecreek on July 21, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
As advertisers, we are all aware that it is becoming increasingly difficult to cut through the clutter of the multitude of messages we are receiving daily from those companies that want to share their wares with us.
So many in fact that it has become extremely difficult for an advertiser’s message to stand out from the pack. Add in the prospect of the increasing use of DVR’s and other time shifting technologies and you have a real advertising challenge on your hands.
There is however, one advertising tactic that is gaining greater acceptance. That tactic is cinema advertising.
In “The Arbitron Cinema Advertising Study”, the evidence is very clear: consumers are showing increasing acceptance of movie theater advertising. Younger viewers and those who frequent movies now see the on-screen commercials “as part of the entertainment experience.”
What a wonderful treat. We finally have “a willing and attentive audience.”
According to the study, more than 45% of the respondents had gone to the movies at least once, with 60% of those watching the commercials prior to the start of the movie. It was also determined that the perception of the method of advertising is positive, with over 63% stating that they “did not mind the advertisements they put on before the movie begins” with the younger audience being even more receptive.
So, give cinema advertising a try. Better yet, just give us a call and we’ll get things moving.
Posted by truecreek on July 1, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
By Carmine Gallo
It’s the best way to grab potential customers’ attention and warm them to your pitch. Here are some tips:
During a business trip in Reno, Mario Moretti Polegato took a walk in the Nevada desert. His feet began to hurt in his rubber-soled shoes, so he took out a pocket knife and cut holes in the soles for ventilation. When he returned to his home in Italy, he manufactured a special insole that lets perspiration out without letting water in. Polegato is now the chairman of the Geox shoe company. Polegato recounted that story in a recent interview in The New York Times. The same story is told on the Geox Web site, along with a photo of Polegato and the shoes he cut holes in during that fateful walk.
Most business communication is dry, writes David Meerman Scott in his new book, World Wide Rave. “People love to share stories. When someone says: ‘Let me tell you a story…’ you’re interested, right? When someone says: ‘Let me tell you about my company’s product&’ is your reaction the same? It doesn’t sound like a way you want to spend your valuable time, does it? Stories are exciting.” Tell more stories to create excitement. Consider employing the following tips in your next business presentation:
Tell stories about yourself. Stories can be incorporated into almost any business communication—blogs, Web sites, and especially face-to-face presentations where you have the best opportunity to make a strong emotional connection with your audience. In September 2007, Brad Nierenberg, CEO of RedPeg Marketing in Alexandria, Va., pitched a project to Gaylord National, a massive new resort outside Washington, D.C. He, along with several other members of the team, competed for the account to publicize the hotel’s hiring event the following year.
Nierenberg told me the team members told stories about themselves in the first slides of the pitch, connecting those stories to the roles each would play on the account. For example, the account lead showed a photo of herself as a young cheerleader and discussed how her role is to lead with precision and to keep spirits high. Nierenberg brought a picture of himself as a 6-year old in a cowboy outfit. As the “sheriff” in town, he might not be on the account every day, but he would be available to make sure “all was right in the town of Gaylord.” Nierenberg knew the stories were making on impact on his audience from the smiles on their faces. “They couldn’t wait for the next story,” he said. The attendees even asked for copies of the photos to show the other decision makers. RedPeg won the account.
Tell someone else’s story. “In a mental world, it is ideas that shape behavior, and it is the transformational leader’s job to package the right kind of ideas into a story and to effectively communicate it to the organization,” according to Charles S. Jacobs in Management Rewired. Note that Jacobs doesn’t say that a leader’s job is to tell his story. Personal stories work best in some cases, but not all. Sometimes your clients’ stories are more relevant than your own. For example, Eastcastle Place is an independent living complex for seniors in Milwaukee, Wis. Chicago-based Celtic Marketing, Eastcastles’ advertising agency, decided to use storytelling in its 2008-09 marketing plan. According to Celtic President Marlene Byrne, research demonstrated that seniors were interested in independent living but feared making the move. They assumed the transition would be stressful financially and emotionally. “We felt the best way to show them that moving doesn’t have to be overwhelming was to share stories of Eastcastle residents who already made the move and were happy they did.” Stories of real residents (along with their photographs) appeared in direct mail and public advertising.
The purpose of the Eastcastle ads are not to make a sale over the phone but to inspire prospects to visit the community. More often than not, a story doesn’t make the sale. Stories open the door, making a prospect more receptive to the message. Although I’ve never owned a pair of Geox shoes, on my next visit to Nordstrom, I will probably look at a pair and think about the guy who poked holes in shoes in the Nevada desert.
If you want to connect with your audience, inspire them, and motivate them to action, start telling stories.
Posted by truecreek on June 9, 2009 under The Work |
You have to give Glenn a lot of credit. He’s an extremely talented art director, with a tremendous background in production to boot.
The best thing? He’s a member of The Creekbed. I was impressed by the fact that he’s done work for over 150 companies, so you know he’s going to bring the level of experience and creative talent needed to effectively communicate with art.
Here are a few examples of some of his work for the automotive industry.
Posted by truecreek on June 3, 2009 under Opinions. Everyone has them. |
Posted by truecreek on May 27, 2009 under More Dam News |
By Jonah Bloom
There are many ads today from our imperiled banks, insurance companies and automakers telling us that we can still trust them and should still buy their products. But there’s one word consumers haven’t heard much that might serve these companies better than their current dirges: sorry.
That thought came to mind as a rash of “We’re sorry” ads broke out recently across the pond in the U.K. As a native of Britain, I should note that being sorry is our national pastime. (My parents, who are always profoundly apologetic, often on my behalf, fondly recall the time I briefly knocked out my 10-year-old self by walking into a parking meter and came to fuzzily apologizing to said inanimate object.) I’ve often wondered whether this propensity has anything to do with some deep-seated national guilt at the many atrocities committed by our former empire.
Regardless of its origins, these days it manifests itself in nothing more serious than an underwear manufacturer apologizing for charging bigger-breasted women more for bigger bras. Yes, Marks & Spencer recently ran a national campaign apologizing for this. The headline, of course: “We boobed.”
This mea culpa hit more or less at the same time London’s Evening Standard newspaper, relaunching under new ownership, ran a major outdoor campaign saying sorry: “Sorry for Losing Touch,” “Sorry for Being Negative,” and so on.
Sunny Delight also decided to confess its sins. It’s running ads in a number of U.K. women’s weeklies, with the wording: “Britain’s mums told us where to stick the artificial ingredients. And it wasn’t in the bottle.” The drink has been relaunched as a healthful option.
Apologizing in ads isn’t new. Under fire, it’s crisis 101. In the auto industry, we’ve seen many variations, from Renault apologizing to the French people for its various missteps in the early ’90s to various apologies alongside product recalls to GM’s semi-apologetic “Road to Redemption” campaign.
Yet despite a mountain of evidence that American people feel they’ve been let down by car companies, banks, insurers and, indeed, corporate America as a whole, we haven’t heard a whole lot of sorry.
Doug Wojcieszak, author of an apology-strategy book called “Sorry Works!” and founder of a company by the same name, says it’s not a cultural thing, and that, in fact, sorry works in the U.S. “It works very well here because of our immigrant culture. Many of us screwed up elsewhere, that’s why we’re here. Americans get mistakes — they just don’t get or like coverups.”
Perhaps the problem is CEOs and lawyers don’t want to admit culpability for anything that’s gone wrong. But even that doesn’t stand up as an excuse, according to Mr. Wojcieszak. Most of his work has been in the litigation minefield of health care, where he’s building a growing body of evidence that failure to apologize is often a key factor in malpractice becoming a lawsuit, and, conversely, that apologies defuse more potential legal situations than they create. “Even senior health-care executives are starting to understand that apologizing actually takes away the urge to litigate,” he says.
Of course, as any savvy marketer, or properly-adjusted human being, knows, there are two conditions that have to be met for contrition to mean anything. You have to mean it, and you have to be able to show meaningful ways in which you’re changing whatever it was you’re apologizing for.
But assuming that many of the people at America’s bailed-out banks and automakers probably are pretty sorry about way they mismanaged their businesses about now, I can’t help thinking that it’d be a valuable start for a bunch of companies generally regarded as having been too arrogant to see the mistakes they were making to share their regrets with the public.
Posted by truecreek on May 21, 2009 under The Work |
