Marketing is about connecting with your audience to get your message heard. While advertising does fit under that, usually the concept of 'marketing' has a broader scope. Individual resources such as ads help create the overall message which include explicit and implicit messaging. Implicit messages include composition, typography, color, image choices and more - in short, it's all the non-verbal statements which actually end up having the greater emotional impact and memory recall. The Roanoke Valley Restaurant Guide was a large project created by Multimedia Creations to help market the local businesses in the valley, but it was also part of the larger marketing strategy to make us a well-known and trusted local design firm - a tactic which worked very well!
Many businesses which need marketing pieces drawn up already have a brand image they have established, such as this local fitness center. My challenge was to incorporate the pictures she wanted to include into the design style she was already using. I also had the challenge of trying to make some very difficult pictures work on the photo editing end of the spectrum. It took a lot of playing to get all the colors and picture compositions and sizing to work out as a whole, but in the end it looked amazing. This piece is now a 6ft tall tradeshow banner which travels with her to events.
Perhaps one of the most common pieces of marketing collateral is the tri-fold brochure. The challenge here is always to balance the information with the visual impact desired. This photographer wanted to say a lot and show a lot - a tough combination. One of my hobbies is actually fiction writing, but that comes in quite handy when it comes to creatively describing a business! By the time we were done with this one, the photographer was very happy and he got a great deal of business from these. He ended up loving what I wrote so much that he kept coming back to me to help him wordsmith some of his direct mail pieces as well.
Speaking of direct mail pieces, below is a postcard for one of the subsidiary businesses of Multimedia Creations which I started. This was sent out as part of an overall awareness building campaign to all attendees at the various trade shows that we made appearances for. The design here emulated the look and feel of the print catalog which we also produced and handed out to attendees. This post-event reminder did a fantastic job of driving sales! Additional information was on the back, primarily simply the addresses of our brick-and-mortar location as well as our online storefront (very innovative for 1998) but also contact information and a picture of the catalog to help jar memories of the event.
Included in the overall comprehensive marketing plan is awareness of a cohesive look and uniform presentation. Having multiple different styles sends a confusing message to the potential customer, while a unified image has the added benefit of repeating the same message in multiple different formats which helps drive recognition. I worked with this environmental impact service to create not only the letterhead below, but also the templates for this business cards, mailing envelopes, print advertising, presentation folders and website. While the exact impact of this went unmeasured, the owners and employees felt more confident in their approach and message which landed more jobs for them.
An unconventional means of marketing is creating something tangible. DW Embroidery was contracted to create the metalwork embroidery on this leather vest which was unveiled at E3 as a promotional piece for the newest Bethesda Games offering "Dishonored 2". This is the piece without the overjacket, allowing you to see the embroidery details.
And here the full promotion al ensemble as presented at their booth at E3 in Los Angeles in 2016. The item then toured with the company across the globe.
