Advertising or Design?

Last night was the opening of the Eisner Museum's new Art or Design exhibit - I went there thinking that my questions regarding "Is it Advertising?" or "Is it Design?" would be 100% fully answered. But not so much. As Cori Coffman, the Museum's Director explained, the big difference between advertising & design is media - so is the design the ad and the advertising portion the media buy? Something to ponder.

There is definitely a difference when you're looking at an advertising agency versus a design agency. Taking a look at Planet Propaganda's ads versus some of the traditional agencies, it appeared to me (please note that my opinions are not necessarily shared or reflected by C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions - per the infomercial calls on TV) that their use of space and color was quite different than an ad agency. Also, I noticed ad agencies were a little more heavy on copy than the design agencies.

I guess I'll have to wait to see what Steve Sandstrom says at the Mad Ad Fed event on Monday, January 28th at the Sheraton. By the way, he's also speaking at the Eisner Museum on January 29 at 6:00pm.

Either way, don't forget to stop by the exhibit soon and see all the great pieces!

How Creative is your Holiday?

Coming up with your holiday "schtickt" was always one of my favorite parts when I worked at the ad agency. Now that I'm sitting pretty on the vendor side, it's great to see the whole hoopla that all the ad agencies in town do to get the attention of their clients and partners.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel highlighted some of the local ad agencies in this article. It made me smile to see the continued efforts of thought and care put into each package. Our peeps over at Freight Train sent out coal. Below you can see Dan, Eddie & Mickey sorting out the coal chunks for clients.



Lauglin/Constable sent out an electronic version of the Magic 8 Ball (take your flash classes next month with us and you can be equally as cool :) ) and other places like Hanson Dodge made donations to different charities on behalf of their clients.

I must admit, my favorite gift thus far has been from our buds at Metagraphix - they bought a tree and sent organic cilantro.

What are your favorite holiday "schtickts?"

Great video!

One of my favorite C2 Talents, Brad Krause, sent me a link to a hilarious video, created by our friends in Utah, Agency Fusion. Brad Derricott, Agency Fusion's owner/ambassador spent a bit of time in WI this year, presenting to the Milwaukee Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) and Madison Advertising Federation. His presentations, and overall goal at Agency Fusion, demystifies web design/development by focusing on usability, accessibility and search engine optimization. It's great to see smart companies going the extra mile to relate to their target market. Kinda like C2. We've developed our User Group Pipeline to serve our clients, our talent and other creative professionals. It's one-stop-shopping for professional development opportunities. Check it out. Oh, and check out that video from Agency Fusion: http://makemylogobiggercream.com/