Tag: branding

Trending from G/L: The Vegetable Orchestra is cooler than a cucumber

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: The Vegetable Orchestra is cooler than a cucumber

Branding

The Vegetable Orchestra based in Vienna, Austria performs with instruments made from fresh, local vegetables.

Worldwide one of a kind, the Vegetable Orchestra performs on instruments made of fresh vegetables. The utilization of various ever refined vegetable instruments creates a musically and aesthetically unique sound universe.

The Vegetable Orchestra was founded in 1998. Based in Vienna, the Vegetable Orchestra plays concerts in all over the world.

There are no musical boundaries for the Vegetable Orchestra. The most diverse music styles fuse here – contemporary music, beat-oriented House tracks, experimental Electronic, Free Jazz, Noise, Dub, Clicks’n’Cuts – the musical scope of the ensemble expands consistently, and recently developed vegetable instruments and their inherent sounds often determine the direction.

Founded in 1998, this innovative group creates a “musically and aesthetically unique sound universe” for their audience. Their concerts truly appeal to all of your senses.

The Vegetable Orchestra prepares for each performance by first shopping at local markets for vegetables to create their instruments with.

Some of these perishable instruments are “ready-made” — like two peppers rubbed together for a squeaking sound. Others require cutting, drilling and assembly to make something similar to traditional instruments — like a carrot flute or a leek violin.

Since their instruments are brand new before each performance, a long sound check is necessary after the creations are complete.

These vegetable instruments achieve sounds traditional instruments cannot — each concert has a completely different and unique sound. The group draws from a number of diverse music styles and influences to create their unusual melodies.

After the concert, the lucky audience members even get to enjoy a homemade soup created from the vegetable instrument left overs.

It is so cool to see such a fresh idea. It just goes to show that you can create something great out of anything — even a carrot.

Be sure to check out this video for a closer look at The Vegetable Orchestra:

Or listen to one of their super unique performances:

Pretty cool, right? Let us know if you have anything awesome you’d share with our team!

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Trending from G/L: Media Planning and House of Cards

Ben Schwab
Creative Director

Trending from G/L: Media Planning and House of Cards

Branding

Having that Big Idea is the backbone behind most impactful and memorable advertising campaigns. But, without the ability to properly expand that core concept across available modern media planning in a relevant and clever way, you are possibly squandering an opportunity to enter attention as part of the larger cultural conversation.

Case-in-point would be the work done over this last year promoting the return of the Netflix original series House of Cards. If you’re unaware of it, this popular Netflix bing-watch focuses on scheming politician Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, who manages to weasel his way to becoming president of the United States through a series backstabbing and nefarious acts. The show recently dropped its fourth season in March.

The media planning was designed to capitalize on the growing media attention given to the real world presidential election cycle by targeting political events and using them as a springboard to promote the reelection of the show’s main protagonist, Frank Underwood. By weaving mock campaign style ads for Frank into commercial breaks during televised events such as CNN’s Republican presidential debate, the spots became more of a topic of discussion in the following weeks than the content of the debate itself.

https://youtu.be/Se44ed4KBMA

The initial ads, which trended across Facebook and Twitter, focused on targeting aired debates and political events leading up to the show’s March launch date. They even went as far as to establish a “campaign headquarters” for the character’s election campaign directly across the street from where the GOP debates were held, bringing the mock campaign style of the television spots to the real world.

When all was said and done, this unique campaign managed to gain 6.6 billion impressions, the most successful launch of a show for Netflix to date. That’s the kind of seamless, timely integration that inspires us at G/L.

Geile/Leon generates tons of unique and captivating ideas like this for our clients every day. Contact us today to learn how we can help your brand tell a compelling story. And if you have any cool examples you want to share with us, we’d be more than happy to see them and chat!

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The Trouble with Design Templates

Ben Schwab
Creative Director

The Trouble with Design Templates

Branding

Say you need a one-time solution that cuts down time and cost from production of your print and design pieces. That’s what standardized design templates are for, right? They’re easy to use and promise to alleviate the headache of managing external communication with an agency on a regular basis for every minute project. But sometimes, it’s possible the benefits are offset by some unexpected drawbacks.

Benefits of a Design Templates System

The number one supportive reasoning behind the desire for a template-based system is cost savings. The list below breaks down why, in theory, the use of a template could lead to this desired effect.

  1. Time – Now that a look and layout have been established, your internal art department should be able to easily plug-in copy and photography for production of quick-turn print and digital projects.
  2. Consistency – The use of a template clearly defines guidelines and graphic elements to carry across all artwork, leading to a consistent tone and feel for all of your projects.
  3. Internal – Provides you with the comfort of dealing with your own employees face to face. With proper use of the template, your own art department can handle all projects internally. 

Drawbacks to a Template Design System

Clearly, there are great benefits to using design templates. However, in practice there is a list of drawbacks you should prepare yourself for, including but not limited to:

  1. Time – Having an internal production department handle creation of ads based on a template can take just as much time, if not more, as having the agency handle production of artwork. Since the agency is more familiar with the design, the turn-around on artwork may actually be more cost effective by leaving it in their hands.
  2. Compromised Design – Sacrifice of unique and eye-catching design can occasionally result from simplifying templates to be easier for internal production artists to replicate accurately and quickly.
  3. Longevity – Often changing opinions and direction can force a template to be scrapped after only a short time of use.

There’s no doubt the use of templates can prove beneficial. We have created them successfully for a multitude of clients and continue to do so. But whether the benefits outweigh the possible pitfalls is ultimately up to you and should be carefully considered. If you find yourself in a bind, feel free to lean on us. We’re your resource and are more than willing to help see your project through to completion.

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Trending At G/L: Size Matters Not – Creating Gaming’s Largest Universe with a Tiny Team

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending At G/L: Size Matters Not – Creating Gaming’s Largest Universe with a Tiny Team

Branding

Imagine a gaming universe with 18,466,744,073,709,551,616 planets (for those of you who don’t want to count commas, that’s over 18 quintillion, or 18 billion billions). Fathoming such a number is insane. Now picture what must’ve created it. A Big Bang? God? A long-extinct alien civilization?

What if I told you it was a team of just 13 developers?

Mind blown, right? It seems impossible, but it’s the reality behind Hello Games’ new hit video game, No Man’s Sky.

The key ingredient to No Man’s Sky’s expansive universe of quintillions of unique, full-sized planets is a developing trick known as procedural generation. Without parsing the coding mechanics of it, procedural generation in a game like No Man’s Sky generates playspace on the fly, following a pre-programmed gaming algorithm, rather than relying on handcrafted worlds carefully sculpted by artists.

No two planets are alike, and many come with their own native species, which are also procedurally generated. So far, gamers have discovered well over 10 million species.

In the first 24 hours since No Man’s Sky became available, creator Sean Murray has been reporting amazing data that indicate his passion project has been very popular.

After reaching 1 million discoveries in the first hour, the game’s servers continued to hold strong despite being pushed to their limits, resulting in over 10 million discovered species a few hours later.

It’s an impressive universe, created on a shoestring budget (with a relatively small 6GB install size to boot) by a relative handful of incredibly dedicated and resourceful developers. And yet, even if gamers were to discover one new planet per second, it will take 500 billion years to discover each one.

*sigh*

Well… better get started.

If you’re looking to dig deeper into the concept behind No Man’s Sky, take a look at TIME’s recent interview with creator Sean Murray.

Have any initial thoughts? Shoot us a note anytime and we’ll be happy to nerd out:

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Geile/Leon Marketing Communications Wins New Business and Awards

Mary Sawyer
Vice President of Public Relations

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications Wins New Business and Awards

Branding

The year 2016 has been busy for Geile/Leon Marketing Communications so far as we proudly work with our great long-term clients and welcome a pair of terrific new clients – LCN, an industry leader in door control and Upper Iowa University, a private institution of higher education.

LCN Products, of Carmel, Ind., is an international brand of door closers and hardware that specializes in safety and security challenges. For LCN, G/L is providing strategic planning, marketing, branding and new product introduction services.

For Upper Iowa University, located in Fayette, Iowa, G/L is developing a strategic positioning and branding program that will be the basis for the institution’s future marketing and communications.

“We’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with our newest clients primarily because they’re great organizations to work with,” said Tim Leon, President and Lead Strategist at Geile/Leon Marketing Communications. “It’s our goal that every new client we bring on is the beginning of a long, productive partnership that will make both organizations stronger now and long into the future.”

And, while we don’t work for awards, it has been gratifying this year to be recognized for our efforts.

For instance, we are very pleased to have been named in the Small Business Monthly’s annual reader survey as one of the best businesses in the area. Readers named us as one of the Top 5 Marketing Firms in St. Louis.

The St. Louis Business Journal lists St. Louis advertising, marketing and public relations firms by number of employees. We’re in the Top 30 this year… not the biggest of the firms, but we’re proud of the capabilities we have to offer. Our clients know that we have most of the capabilities of much larger firms, but provide them unparalleled service, creativity and attention.

Have any questions about what we’re working on? Shoot us a note anytime:

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Behind the Scenes: Product Videos for Major Retailers (with Lincoln Electric)

Dan Diveley
VP of Business Development

Behind the Scenes: Product Videos for Major Retailers (with Lincoln Electric)

Advertising

Product videos on retailer sites lead to greater sales. I’m guessing that’s why retailers like Home Depot®, Lowe’s®, Northern® Tool and others are encouraging their suppliers to provide video and other assets. We recently had the opportunity to jump in the retail video phenomenon for our client, Lincoln Electric, a major manufacturer of welding products and related accessories.

We work with Lincoln Electric’s WTCA division, the retail side of the business. We produced several product videos, 360° videos and more than 150 still photographs which will be posted on a variety of retailer sites, big box stores, farm/ranch dealers, etc.

While my agency has produced many videos and TV spots throughout our 27 years, this was our first where the director and videographer weren’t able to directly watch the shot without eye protection.

I got a chuckle out of seeing our team in welding helmets as they directed the shots.

Lincoln Electric

Our client sells through a variety of retail outlets but not all carry the same helmets, clothing and equipment. So while shooting the videos, we had to keep track of the clothes and other items used by the talent so each video contained only the products sold by each retailer.

Welding is one of those specializations where a true welder would be quick to catch any discrepancies regarding technique, skill level or applications that a novice welder like me would not notice. So we sourced a professional welder who now teaches high schoolers the skills of the trade. Our clients at Lincoln Electric were so impressed with him and his knowledge that they donated helmets and gloves to the school as a way to help his students. Thank you Lincoln Electric!

 

lincoln electric

Alongside the product videos, we produced 25 360° videos that allow customers a view of the entire product. It’s amazing what requirements retailers have for these. Some are actual videos and others are up to 27 still shots stitched together. To accomplish these, our videographer, Steve Parisi from Frame Four Studios, built a turntable strong enough to hold the equipment, some which weigh hundreds of pounds.

PortaTorch – Lincoln Electric

To view more examples in this series, visit Retail Product Videos.

This was an amazing project for a great client that appreciates quality work. If you are needing videos to support your retail or distribution sales, please give me a call – Dan Diveley, 314-727-5850 or email me at [email protected] or fill out the form below.

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Trending from G/L: Colgate shows LGBTQ support with #SmileWithPride

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: Colgate shows LGBTQ support with #SmileWithPride

Branding

It seems to be a recent trend that brands are showing their support for the LGBTQ community and this time, this minty brand took a new spin on it.

Check out Colgate’s “Smile With Pride” ad at the link included.

 

LGBTQ

Most of us have been in this kind of situation. You’re making the move to a new place and you’re unsure of the culture of the neighborhood. Will you be able to borrow an egg or a cup of sugar from the neighbors? Will they be willing to watch your dog when you’re on vacation? Most importantly, will you get along?

This commercial shows the wall of skepticism torn down by a simple smile. This Spanish ad translates to, “Sometimes you just need a smile, sometimes, all your smile needs is Colgate.” Sometimes you just need a smile. Good message, Colgate.

The Colgate ad was the first Mexican ad to feature a gay couple and was put out just weeks after the president of Mexico approved revisions to the constitution for same-sex marriage.

Pride advertising is a chance for brands to express their stance and speak their truth. When brands take a stand and share stories of diversity and equality in their advertising, consumers, especially millennial, appreciate, respond, engage in conversation and spend dollars on the brand.

The fact that this ad is relatable makes it successful. Plus, tugging at the heartstrings always gets people.

For another example of a brand that did it right, check out Honey Maid’s “This Is Wholesome” ad:

Or the Ad Council’s “Love Has No Labels” ad:

But how do these ads measure up with Bud Light’s flashy ad starring Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen at a gay wedding? In this ad, Rogen raises his bottle and says, “Bud Light proudly supports everyone’s right to marry whoever they want.” The whole ad is bold, comical and in your face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiavhnkrZRU

The whole point we’re trying to get to here is that sometimes flashy isn’t best. Show that people in the LGBTQ community are just like us. Don’t say it. Consumers want to relate to a brand and if that means using emotion to elicit a response, then go that route at all costs.

Any other feedback you have on this campaign? Shoot us a note below and we’ll be in touch.

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Top G/L Tips: Tim Leon on Brand Refresh benefits

Tim Leon
President/Brand Strategist

Top G/L Tips: Tim Leon on Brand Refresh benefits

Branding

How is your company’s brand perceived by your target audience? Is it full of life or is time to re-energize it?

In this video, Tim Leon, president of Geile/Leon, shares his 25+ years of experience in helping companies refresh their biggest asset: the brand. He’ll walk you through the key questions that need to be asked, including:

· Why do a brand refresh?
· When does it make the most sense for your brand?
· What are the steps needed to execute it effectively?

Watch the video here:

Have any further questions? Tim is passionate about branding and would be happy to have a conversation. Contact him by phone at 314-727-5850, ext 117, email at [email protected] or use the form below.

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Top G/L Tips: Mary Sawyer on Trade Shows

Mary Sawyer
Vice President of Public Relations

Top G/L Tips: Mary Sawyer on Trade Shows

Branding

A Trade Show PR program is a terrific way to generate buzz beyond your booth that extends long past the trade show. And the best part: PR costs very little extra in terms of time and money!

Here are a few tips on how to make it happen. Mary Sawyer, VP of PR at Geile/Leon, shares what she has learned from years of experience helping clients maximize their trade show results.

Are you planning your next big show and looking for new ideas? Mary would love to hear about your plans and offer a few suggestions. Contact her by phone at 314-727-5850, ext 116, email at [email protected] or use the form below.

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Top G/L Tips: Randy Micheletti on New Product Launches

Randy Micheletti
VP, Director of Brand Strategy

Top G/L Tips: Randy Micheletti on New Product Launches

Branding

New products launches are so exciting. But as the saying goes, you only have one chance to get it right!

Here are 6 key steps for successful product launches. Randy Micheletti, VP at Geile/Leon, shares his process to ensure every launch is successful:

Are you working on a product launch? Randy is happy to discuss your goals and make a few recommendations. Contact him by phone at 314-727-5850, ext 110, email at [email protected] or use the form below.

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