Marketing | Basement Light Design

June 26, 2022July 28, 2022

Cardboard record player

GGRP Sound resurrects the folding cardboard phonograph

Sure, it’s nothing new. Folks who grew up in the 70s have probably seen something of the sort. For the younger bucks, though, this thing is absolutely fresh: a cardboard 45rpm record sleeve that can actually play vinyl. Like magic.

While audio engineering company GGRP Sound obviously can’t claim responsibility for the clever creation, their decision to resurrect it for a marketing material (they sent it to creative directors across North America) is definitely awesome. Even though you’re likely to only play it for the novelty of doing so, it could make for a meaty few minutes of absolute fun.

The Folding Cardboard Phonograph is a sleeve made from corrugated cardboard that houses a complimentary 45rpm record pressed by GGRP. More than a humble sleeve, however, it details instructions on how to use the packaging to play the included record. Once assembled, you can put the record through the attached needle and spin it using a pencil (or any pointed object) punched through a preset hole. The sound vibrations are amplified through the cardboard material.

Just like a real record player, you can spin it slower or faster to alter the resulting tune, perhaps even scratching it for a slightly modern twist. The video below should give you a clearer idea of how it can be played.

Courtesy CoolThings.com

July 22, 2013February 26, 2021

Tile Bluetooth device

Reveal Labs launches a crowdfunding campaign for its Tile Bluetooth device to find lost items

Tile is a low energy Bluetooth device that connects to the iPhone to assist users in finding lost items such as keys, wallets, computers and more. The company is offering Tiles for $19 each via a Kickstarter-like crowdfunding process. The company hopes that money raised will help to get the device closer to production.

Co-founded by software and hardware engineers Mike Farley and Nick Evans in 2012, the Tile device has a range of at least 100 to 150 feet away from you. Users can locate items using a complementary iOS app—think of it almost like a “Where’s My Phone?” for everything else.

Evans says, “Tile is changing the world by making lost and misplaced belongings a thing of the past. We are giving people back hours of their lives that were previously wasted searching for missing possessions.”

As of this writing, the Tile has 20,007 backers, with an accumulated total of $1,074,019.

Courtesy The Next Web, Inc.

June 28, 2013July 25, 2013

“Most Awesome Brochure”

I’m totally stoked to announce that a brochure designed by Basement Light Design for the Austin Symphony‘s 2013–14 season has been awarded the honor of “Most Awesome Brochure” for 2013 by the League of American Orchestras. I am proud of the work that ASO Marketing Director Jason Nicholson and I continue to produce over the past five years. I urge every Austinite to support this wonderful musical institution as often as possible!

Brochure design by Scott M Deems, Basement Light Design; principal photography by Kenny Trice

—Scott

The following story is reposted via Trevor O’Donnell, who regularly blogs about marketing the arts

I’ve written before about the great work Jason Nicholson from the Austin Symphony is doing. Today I’m delighted to let you know that his 2013/14 season brochure has been recognized by peers at the League of American Orchestras as the “Most Awesome Brochure” in his category.

You can see the complete brochure here.

Early reports suggest that the brochure is pulling ahead of last year’s, but we’re waiting for overall results. What we insiders like and what works aren’t always the same thing, of course, so we’ll have to hold off on making judgements until the numbers are in. (Surprising as it may seem to some veteran arts pros, sales results are the only reliable indicators of an orchestra brochure’s quality.)

From a strategic perspective, however, I can identify several elements of this brochure that make it worthy of its awesome designation:

It’s based on research into audience motivations. Jason learned from audience members on the outer fringes of his support system that the experience of enjoying a night out was as important as the content of that night out, so he created a brochure that focused on the customers’ experience.
It’s as much about the customer as it is about the product. Commercial marketers know that one of the best ways to sell a product is to show happy people who represent their target demographic actually enjoying the product. This does that beautifully. (Larger orchestras that use their promotional real estate to talk exclusively about how wonderful and important they are could learn a thing or two from this.)
It tells a story. Rather than simply presenting sequential product information, this brochure tells a compelling emotional story about a couple’s night at the symphony. It uses narrative to draw consumers in and help them identify more personally with the product. That last shot of the happy couple walking hand-in-hand up the aisle under the words “Subscriber Information” is priceless.
It breaks the fourth wall. I could write a lengthy treatise about the rhetorical impact of that shot of the patrons and musicians in the same hallway.
It meets the audience where they live. Arts institutions often maintain a philosophical belief that audiences should aspire to their level, which is fine and may be true, but allowing that philosophy to spill into marketing messages can be suicidal. This brochure avoids condescension by saying, “This is about you,” which is exactly what it is.

I’m a huge fan of the work the Austin Symphony Orchestra is doing and I look forward to seeing great things coming from Jason and his team in the future.

Congratulations, Jason. Can’t wait to hear how the campaign works.

June 26, 2013July 15, 2013

Best print ads of 2012–13

See some of the winners from the Press Lions at Cannes…

01 Grand Prix: Apple iPad mini

Agency: TBWA/Media Arts Lab, Los Angeles
These iPad mini ads, released late last year, were placed on the back covers of several national magazines—including Time, Wired and The New Yorker. The tablet is shown actual size, with its display featuring that magazine’s front cover.

Grand Prix: Apple iPad mini

02 Two Gold Lions: Penguin Audiobooks

Agency: McCann, Mumbai
This campaign turned famous authors into headphones.

2 Gold Lions: Penguin Audiobooks

03 Two Gold Lions: Sunlight Dishwasher Detergent (Unilever)

Agency: Lowe, Bangkok, Thailand
Get that pig off your plate with Sunlight. An average idea, perhaps, but the illustrations are impressive.

2 Gold Lions: Sunlight Dishwasher Detergent (Unilever)

04 Gold Lion: Comedy Central

Agency: Grey, Buenos Aires, Argentina
These ads are an homage to Mad magazine’s “fold-ins.” Fold the page to meet the dotted lines… comedy ensues.

Gold Lion: Comedy Central

05 Gold Lion: Dove beauty products (Unilever)

Agency: Ogilvy, São Paulo, Brazil
What follows is one of the drawings from the famous “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign, which won the Titanium Grand Prix this year. At left is a woman as described to a sketch artist by the woman. At right is the same woman as described by a stranger.

Gold Lion: Dove beauty products (Unilever)

Courtesy Tim Nudd, Adweek

February 4, 2013July 6, 2017

Nonprofit communication trends

Curious about how other nonprofits are communicating? Want to see where the trends are? You can download your free copy of the Nonprofit Communications Trends Report now. The trends you’ll find in this report come from an online survey of 1,435 nonprofits. We asked a variety of marketing questions: In what shape is your marketing plan? Which communications tools do you see as very important, somewhat important, and least important to you? Which social media channel are you most likely to add or experiment with? Which types of content do you expect to spend most of your time producing? What are your biggest marketing challenges? How often do you plan to email the typical person on your email list? How often do you plan to send direct mail? What excites you about your work? What scares you about your work? We also break down the data by nonprofit size, mission, and region of the U.S.

Infographic source courtesy Nonprofit Marketing Guide

Nonprofit communication trends for 2013 infographic by juliareich.

October 8, 2012July 16, 2013

Salvador Dalí’s lollipop logo

Salvador Dalí, the wacky surrealist known for his signature pointy moustache and painting melting clocks, was also graphic designer behind the classic Chupa Chups lollipops—an enduringly sweet, bright rendition of a daisy.

The Catalan lollipop made its first appearance in 1958, when the company founder Enric Bernat hatched the idea of placing a bonbon on a stick. He called the product “GOL,” imagining the candy as a soccer ball and the open mouth a net. It didn’t go over well. So Bernat hired an ad agency that renamed his product “Chupa Chups” (from the Spanish chupar, meaning “to suck”). All that was left was the branding. In 1969, Bernat complained about what he had while having coffee with his artist friend—none other than Salvador Dalí.

Salvador Dalí in 1954

According to lore, the painter went to work immediately, doodling for an hour on newspapers that were laying around. Dalí’s version masterfully integrated the wordmark into the daisy design, and has hardly changed since. And book publisher Phaidon points us to one subtle, extremely smart feature of the design:

Acutely aware of presentation, Dalí insisted that his design be placed on top of the lolly, rather than the side, so that it could always be viewed intact. It’s proved to be one of the most enduring pieces of branding ever and one that’s still used today, four billion sales later.

What would induce the famous artist to take on such a project? Dinero. The guy rarely turned it down, causing surrealist poet André Breton to nickname him “Avida Dollars”—an anagram of Dalí’s name that roughly translates to “eager for cash.”

Image: p4nc0np4n

Courtesy Belinda Lanks, Fast Company

July 19, 2012July 15, 2013

Affordable 3D outdoor

Metromedia Technologies, Inc (MMT) announced today an exclusive partnership with PosterProps, the developer of a patented lightweight, digitally-printed material that clips over posters to create a spectacular 3D prop. PosterProps can be fashioned into any shape or size, and unlike traditional hard props, require no special equipment or crews to install, reducing both time and expense. The billboard or poster inflates on-site and installs by using existing installation crews without specialist equipment in under 30 minutes.

The best news for outdoor marketers is that this translates into lower costs than traditional outdoor “spectaculars.”

Tony Gearty, CEO of PosterProps said: “We are delighted to have found a partner of MMT’s caliber who share our vision of growing a market using our innovative and affordable props, which means so many more billboard locations can now justify a 3D offering.”

January 31, 2011July 16, 2013

Starbucks changes logo

In March Starbucks will celebrate its 40th anniversary and rollout a “new” logo (not actually new—a stripping away of the word ring, leaving the familiar siren unchanged but now in green).

Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ chairman and CEO, writes in an announcement on the company’s website, “we’ve given her a small but meaningful update to ensure that the Starbucks brand continues to embrace our heritage in ways that are true to our core values and that also ensure we remain relevant and poised for future growth.” By removing text from the logo, “international ubiquity” and an exploration into non-coffee business ventures must have been listed on the team’s creative brief. But overall, reaction from the rank and file has not been positive. A typical comment on the site reads, “This gold card user isn’t impressed!”

Mike Peck, senior creative manager at Starbucks and his creative team admitted modifying the brand identity “was the project of a lifetime.” The logo was broken down into four main parts—color, shape, typeface and the siren. Peck and his team found the answer in simplicity.

In 1971, the company began selling coffee beans and spices in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. By 1992, the company became publicly traded.

December 13, 2010July 16, 2013

Noisy SunChips bag

It took biochemists four years to develop the compostable bag for SunChips, distributed by US snack manufacturer Frito-Lay. And it took consumers a few short months to reject the invention, taking their gripe—that the bags are “too darn loud”—to the internet and that all-important sounding board, Facebook. The packaging is a marvel of molecular technology, made entirely from plant material. Despite its brittle texture the bag is remarkably strong. After the launch, I tested the packaging myself while dining at a local sandwich shop. True, the bag does crackle, not unlike the sound of glass breaking. But to remove it from the market because the bag doesn’t “make the right sound” seems a knee jerk reaction to fussy consumer focus groups and grumblers. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that sales of SunChips declined every month since the introduction of the new bags. American capitalists demand a quiet, yet compostable, snack bag.

One would hope given half a chance, snackers would become accustomed to its sound and feel, and who knows, perhaps other chips would follow suit. How many plastic chip bags clog up the nation’s landfills each year? I do not have those numbers handy, but I’d guess in the millions, and at 100 years per bag to degrade, that’s a lot of waste.

My solution is groundbreaking: empty the chips from the bag into a bowl, plate, or napkin, and discard the bag… (And concessionaires should avoid selling SunChips at concert venues or movie theaters!)

December 6, 2010July 16, 2013

Jameson Whiskey “juice box”

While I have not yet viewed the Fox tv biker program, “Sons of Anarchy,” San Francisco “hipster” blog Uptown Almanac reported a case of product placement on the show. A recent episode of the show, which airs on Fox TV’s FX cable network, shows a rectangular container—similar to the juice box containers parents force their wee ones to drink instead of soda pop. But instead of juice, the product appears to contain Jameson Irish Whiskey. (Click above to enlarge the video capture image that clearly shows a Jameson Whiskey “juice box” next to one of the actors.) Fans of the show, searching online for the product, were annoyed to discover the product does not exist.

Jameson—a major advertiser on the series—claims the product does not and will never exist, and was a prop produced by Fox’s art department. Many would hope Jameson would consider bringing such a product to market. After all, wine in paper cartons has already proven to be popular with those on a budget.

Until then, fans are left to dream…