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Five Star Bank recently rolled out its TotalValue Checking product. As agency of record, we promoted the launch by creating an integrated promotional campaign, leveraging both traditional and digital media.

One of the hallmarks of TotalValue is the level of choice it offers, with a range of checking account types and features that serve myriad customer needs and preferences. Along with the TotalValue Checking, our client is launching its AirTeller Mobile App, which brings to customers the advantages and flexibilities of banking from their smartphones.

While a series of print ads and billboard advertisements work to promote awareness, pay-per-click advertising and in-branch posters with QR codes deliver prospects to web landing pages and promotional videos to drive consideration. In-branch brochures help drive preference as prospects engage with Five Star Bank associates. The Bob Wright team was hands-on with all aspects of the campaign: advertising design and media buying; collateral design and print supervision; web design/programming and video production.

Mike Gastin shared his excitement about the launch. "We're very happy for Five Star Bank, and thankful for the opportunity to partner with our client in delivering this cross-media program. TotalValue Checking and AirTeller both provide examples of Five Star's commitment to personalized banking, which is focussed on customer preferences and relationships. We're looking forward to following the growth of Five Star's new offerings."

Recognizing Five Star's history, Creative Director Phil Daggar is equally enthusiastic about the rollout. "In addition to the launch of these new initiatives, It's gratifying to see Five Star Bank promoting its brand to our region. With a heritage of over 150 years in local community banking, Five Star offers banking that truly is made for our area."

Congratulations to Five Star Bank on the launch of TotalValue Checking and AirTeller!

Naming, branding and identity creation are all rewarding aspects of communications design. And yes, most times fun. In this line of work we’re exposed to all manner of specialty products and services that provide solutions to very specific needs. Indeed, there’s a niche for everything.

Enter Lava Shield. A new product offering from client Dyna-Purge (a division of Shuman Plastics), Lava Shield answers an important need of plastics workers. Lava Shield addresses the safety and environmental risks of cleaning (purging) molten excess plastic material from molding machinery by providing a catch surface that is safe and efficient to utilize, and has properties that allow recycling of the purged plastic material after it's captured.

Defining the Audience
We were asked by Dyna-Purge to help brand the product by developing its name and visual identity. The naming process began by working with our client to understand the buyer persona of the product. As it turned out, we needed to consider two personae: the-end user of the product, and the person with buying authority for the product.

Interests in motorsports, American motorcycles and “rough” outdoor activities characterize the end-user persona. The persona that has buying authority is typically in management and will have additional corporate responsibilities.

A Name is Born
Initial naming ideas spoke mainly to the functionality of the product, but the team realized that more personality needed to be brought to the name – it needed to be evocative and contain a certain amount of symbolism. After all, the end-user is dealing with hot, dangerous molten plastic that needs to be controlled and directed as it comes out of the machine so it doesn’t do any damage to equipment or operator. The product name needed to capture the imagination. As part of naming the product, we ended up naming the danger to be addressed: “lava”. Lava was then married up to the solution: “shield” – the surface that protects against the danger. Lava Shield was born as the product name.

Conveying the Name in Visual Form
With the name approved, we developed a visual identity that captured the essence of the name and that would appeal to both the end-user and purchaser of the product. The identity’s visual treatment strikes that balance, while maintaining a clear visual unity and hierarchy between Shuman Plastics, Dyna-Purge and Lava Shield.

We’re currently in the process of designing product graphics. We’ll then move on to website design and programming.

Contributing to Safety
A rewarding aspect of branding a new offering is the learning opportunity that exists. It was a pleasure learning more about the safety and environmental needs of the plastics processing business, and to contribute to the launch of an important product to address those needs.

For 2012, the Sharps Compliance Corporation’s annual report design reflects the Texas-based company’s mission that is rooted in preservation of the environment.

Headquartered in Houston, Sharps Compliance provides environmentally-sensitive solutions for the proper management of medical waste and used healthcare products. Sharps Compliance also develops solutions that deal with unused and expired patient-dispensed pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter medications.

Previous years’ annual report designs focused on the product development side of the business. For this year, Sharps Compliance chose an option featuring graphic design, illustration and print production elements that reinforce its commitment to the environment. This can be seen in such attributes as color palette, minimalist style for illustration and infographics, and the utilization of eco-friendly printing stock.

Winning an award within your industry is always a thrill. The affirmation from your peers is always welcome. But just as the awards we’ve earned recognize the effectiveness of our creative approach toward solving business problems, they also recognize our clients’ vision and commitment to objectives-based communication design. For that we’d like to thank Greg Chambery at The Maplewood and Rob Ewanow at Photo Booth Fun. The environment they helped create paved the way for a handful of 2012 Summit Creative Awards. Those awards are:

• Gold Award in the Consumer Service Website category for The Maplewood Nursing & Rehabilitation
• Silver Award in the Health/Medicine Website category for The Maplewood Nursing & Rehabilitation
• Bronze Award in the Consumer Service Logo/Trademark category for Photo Booth Fun

So what is a Summit Creative Award? With an 18-year history, the award competition recognizes and celebrates the creative accomplishments of advertising agencies and creative groups with annual billings under $30 million. Included in its panel of judges are leaders of top creative agencies, universities and corporations from across the world.

Entries in 23 categories came from over 20 countries this year. Judges searched for innovative and creative concepts, strong executions and the ability to communicate and persuade. In the end, winners were selected in a wide-range of categories from print and broadcast to emerging media and viral marketing.

Our award-winning clients offered their thoughts and enthusiasm on the recognition:

Greg Chambery, Administrator of Maplewood Nursing & Rehabilitation
“Sometimes it’s important for an organization to go outside of traditional approaches and thinking when considering what current and future customers desire. This website presented us with just such an opportunity and we’re glad we chose a design that represented a road less traveled.”

Rob Ewanow, President of Photo Booth Fun
“When I started my business, one of the first things I knew I would need is a quality logo, one which would clearly communicate what my business offers. It had to be fun, whimsical, unique and above all clear. Having prior experience with the team at Bob Wright Creative I went right to them with my challenge and they delivered. I had a number of logos to choose from, making the decision even more difficult. I'm very happy with the one I selected, as it effectively represents our brand in a variety of media including traditional and digital.”

Again, thanks to Greg Chambery and Rob Ewanow. And of course, thanks to our creative team for their tireless commitment to providing exceptional work on behalf of our clients!

When the organizers of Jazz for Food came to Bob Wright Creative in need of website design and programming for this year’s event, the results were positive yet unexpected.

Based in Rochester, New York, Jazz for Food’s purpose is three-fold as it raises money to: provide financial assistance and appropriate resources to the needy affected by the struggling economy; help elderly individuals in need of community support; provide scholarship money to inner city youth for music lessons.

Historically, Jazz for Food has been synonymous with a concert to raise charitable funds for its beneficiaries, which include Foodlink, Lifespan and the South West Area Neighborhood Association (S.W.A.N.).

As successful as this concert-based approach has been, we recognized the strength in Jazz for Food as an organization. We therefore advocated for a new, unexpected approach that promotes not just a singular Jazz concert, but that communicates the strength and longevity of Jazz for Food as an established entity. So, by embracing their group strength in the new website, Jazz for Food now clearly presents itself as a charitable organization that delivers tangible benefits to beneficiaries and sponsors through the curation of distinctive live music experiences.

By introducing expanded content about Jazz for Food, its events, and benefits of sponsorship, website visitors gain a view to an organization that is established and committed to delivering on its mission. Because their new website is built on the Drupal content management system, Jazz for Food has the ability to easily add more events and keep things fresh with timely information.

Even though the site launched just a few days ago, JazzForFood.com has already received considerable positive feedback. This feedback affirms that Jazz for Food has indeed revitalized itself and is a noteworthy player (no pun intended), not only to its beneficiaries, but also to sponsors who diligently research, consider and activate charitable partnerships.

We wish our friends at Jazz for Food all the best as they continue to help those in need by building their organization and portfolio of events.

Click here to visit the Jazz for Food website.

When the time came for CGR to produce web-based Community Indicator Projects, the long-established research organization partnered with Bob Wright Creative to help develop and continuously enhance these powerful web-based tools.

Some Background on CGR

The Center for Governmental Research (CGR) is a municipal research organization founded by George Eastman in 1915 to serve as an independent, non-partisan agency for keeping citizens informed. CGR serves government, nonprofits and business leaders by providing data-driven research and analysis that affects the quality of life in communities both inside and outside New York State.

What is a Community Profile?

A Community Indicator Project, or Community Profile, assesses a range of community issues over time. Comparative performance data is generated on a number of topics, such as economics, education, and health. This data empowers leaders and residents to assess indicators in comparison to other communities, as well as the state and the nation.

Web-based community profiles (link takes you to CGR website) have become essential tools for starting strategic discussion about strengths, challenges and opportunities that affect an entire population. CGR has been in partnership with Bob Wright Creative since 2009 to help develop web-based Community Profiles, and to also help enhance the product at each iteration.

A Web-Based Community Profile for Cayuga and Seneca Counties

To produce the second-generation Cayuga and Seneca Counties Community Profile (click link to open site in new window), CGR specified a website to provide analysis, data and interactive charting capabilities for 70 indicators of community vitality. Comparative data for 4 similar counties, along with the state and the nation, cover topics such as demographics, economy and education.

The website, along with its lead sponsors the United Ways of Cayuga and Seneca Counties, provides leaders with a powerful means for assessing and understanding their communities.

A Solution that Benefits Users of Information and Providers of Information Alike

Bob Wright Creative was again brought in to support the creation of this resource. User interface design and website programming enhancements were provided  to maintain alignment with the evolving nature of the data, as well as the evolving needs of the user.

The website’s user interface design delivers improvements to usability and searchability based on user feedback. As for the back-end, developing a Drupal-based content management system delivered a number of benefits to CGR and its sponsors. These benefits include:

• Enhanced content management capability, administrative control and site security
• Greater flexibility of data presentation through the design and development of dynamic charting capabilities
• Easier inclusion of social media functionality
• Modular code resulting in cost-effective same-site scalability, as well as cost-effective replication for future Community Profile websites
• More efficient and cost-effective enhancements of product features and functionality going forward

With essential information that is always up to date and easily accessed from one central location, service organizations can more easily decide which areas need the most attention. These decisions become actionable by developing approaches to solving issues in a data-driven, quantitative way.

A Platform for Growth

CGR and its sponsors provide community profiles to the benefit of the organizations and populations they serve. Bob Wright Creative’s ongoing role involves user experience enhancement and provision of technology platforms that deliver efficient scalability, ongoing improvement and cost-effective replication. We’re happy to be part of an ongoing website initiative that is helping many, and that is a viable platform for future growth.

Click here to visit Cayuga and Seneca Counties Community Profile.

We're very excited for our client, The Maplewood, for being selected as a finalist in this year's "Best of the Web" competition, held by the Rochester Business Journal. VisitMaplewood.com is in the Health Care category. Winners will be chosen during a ceremony on March 13.

The Bob Wright Creative team worked with Maplewood administrator Greg Chambery and his team to complete a marketing strategy and re-branding initiative, out of which the new Maplewood website was born.

In creating the website, we knew the importance of producing a centralized information hub to live at the heart of a purposeful inbound marketing effort. The site has a number of features including a virtual tour, multiple blogs, videos, and audio podcasts. The result is a deep, valuable resource for current and prospective residents and their loved ones, advisors, and members of the medical community.

Many thanks to Greg Chambery and The Maplewood for the vision which has driven the site's creation, and congratulations to all of the finalists. We look forward to March 13!

I ran across an AdAge article recently, thanks to @ThomasJArmitage, that provides interesting insight into how 10 renowned brands improved their marketing agency relationships and how they plan to improve even more in 2012.

This article doesn’t represent some sort of “how to” for me. In fact, Bob Wright Creative is blessed to have wonderful clients that are strong leaders committed to creating excellent work in a positive environment of collaboration. The reason why I resonate with this article is because it re-affirms my belief in the practice of making someone else’s life a little easier.

No matter our organization’s offering, or our role within the organization, when we consider ourselves to essentially be service providers committed to helping others, I believe the output of our endeavor will always be as strong as it can be.

The article also reminds me that as an agency we are clients too. We have vendors such as printers, photographers, web hosts, landlords, accountants, and others. Just as our clients will ask themselves “how can we be more effective in our role with our agencies?” we continually ask a similar question of ourselves: we’re all pulling for the same level of excellence in our collaborations, so what can we do on our part to achieve the desired result in an ideal manner, where everyone involved ends up in a better place?

So, while the season of resolution is still new, I resolve to strengthen my commitment to helping make things a little easier for others, inside the office and out.

You can read the AdAge article in its entirety here.

Sometimes the full essence of a particular story can’t be fully conveyed through one media type alone, or even a collection of certain media types. When rebranding The Maplewood and building a new website for the long-term and rehabilitation care facility, we uncovered a challenge: Not everything that makes The Maplewood special can be conveyed via text and photos. The intangible qualities of staff – personalities, life experiences, values, passions – are all crucial elements in understanding the full Maplewood story. Observation of these qualities is important to prospective residents and families as they navigate what can be uncertain waters. Communicating these qualities requires a creative approach. The result was a series of “Getting to Know” videos, each highlighting a different member of the Maplewood family. With video, we were able to bring a range of human characteristics to the full Maplewood story. Here’s an example:Peace of mind is critical for those making long-term and rehabilitation care decisions. Through the help of video, the Maplewood’s audience can be confident that the right choice of care is being made. In your world, what messages pose a challenge for traditional media? How do you leverage video and other forms of new media?

Congratulations to Greg Chambery, Owner/Administrator at client company The Maplewood. Greg recently made a guest appearance on "the CEO Hour" where he, along with attorney Kevin Cooman, discussed financial and legal issues pertaining to long-term nursing care.

For me, an interesting take-away is the level to which The Maplewood dedicates itself to innovation within the ever-changing long-term care operating environment. This is especially impressive when we consider the ripple effect Baby Boomers will soon have. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents, aunts and uncles! But, it seems that commitment to innovation will be key as the demands of this sizable demographic are felt.

Greg's participation in this forum also illustrates The Maplewood's commitment to being a valuable resource not only to its residents and family members, but to the greater community as well.

Click here to listen to Greg Chambery on "the CEO Hour".