Leave your mark by making theirs

The City of Good is looking to the creative community to crowdsource a logo for its brand identity.

City of Good is a nonprofit, collective action network recently created by Boise businesses and civic organizations to feed those who are isolated, vulnerable, or are recently out of work—and to put people back to work in this effort during the challenging time of the COVID-19 crisis.

If you are a designer who is interested in learning more about this opportunity, please email Russ Stoddard of Oliver Russell at rstoddard@oliverrussell.com.

The City of Good initiative is led by Boise businesses and organizations, including founding partners Bittercreek Ale House, the Boise Co-op, KIN Restaurant, Oliver Russell, and Treefort Music Fest.

More information about City of Good can be found here.

To those in advertising

Last summer, Muse by Clio launched, with Tim Nudd at the helm as editor in chief. For those with long memories, you may also recognize Tim’s name from his years with Adweek.

One of their early guest essays also proved to be among the most popular of the year. For those who haven’t read it, I encourage you to take a few minutes to do so:

To Those in Advertising: Yes, We Are Curing Cancer Here

Why what we do matters

And after you’re done, be sure to sign up for the Museletter, their daily email. It’s a good read each weekday morning.

7th Annual Blanket & Donation Drive

For those who may not know, each year, Foerstel holds an annual blanket and donation drive in late-November / early-December. And this year is no exception.

With the temperatures dropping to low temps at night…it reminds us of the very reason that we started this drive seven years ago.

Foerstel annual blanket driveIt was a late night for a few of us leaving the office when we were walking to our cars and talking about going home to our dinners and our warm homes. That’s when we looked over to a group of people huddled under the connector trying desperately to stay warm. Then our conversation changed to going home and finding blankets from our closets to bring back for these people.

Since then, we have asked our kind, generous community to help out by just bringing in blankets. They can be gently used from your own home or new. We will distribute blankets at the Homeless Memorial Service, a special time to remember the homeless who have passed away in 2017. The service will be held at Corpus Christi, on 12/21/17.

However, if you don’t have blankets…we are also asking for other needed items such as these:

  • New or Gently Used Blankets
  • Twin Size Sheets
  • Interlocking Foam Floor Mats for Kids
  • Peanut Butter Granola Bars
  • Coffee
  • Non-Dairy Creamer

DROP OFF:
Foerstel Design
249 S 16th St. Boise, ID
MON – FRI
NOV. 27 – DEC. 15
9AM – 5PM

Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity!

The well-crafted brief

If you haven’t seen it by now, you owe it to yourself to take a few minutes and watch Close to Home, the latest in the It Can Wait campaign from AT&T.

Go ahead, we’ll wait.

https://youtu.be/OVnRcIXEqaU

As good as this piece is, for those of us in the ad world, the story behind it is even better.

Recently, Ad Age published The Story Behind AT&T’s Disturbing Phone-Safety Ad, Ann-Christine Diaz goes inside baseball on the film, how it was made, and the thinking behind it.

A few notable nuggets from the article:

AT&T research found that while the general audience, namely, consumers in their 30s, had agreed with messages from the previous ads, they were “rationalizing, giving reasons why they could [use their phones and drive] safely, whether it’s because they’re an experienced driver, or doing it at a stop sign,” among other things, said Ms. Kuckelman. Moreover, it showed that not just texting or email, but social media and other phone activities were contributing to accidents.

And this:

“The agency brief started with, ‘think of this not as an advertising campaign but an opportunity to save lives,'” Mr. Planchon said. “They wanted the tone to be raw and emotional.”

Take a few minutes and read the entire article. It’s worth it.

In the end, however, this a fact that we’ve seen over and over — in the right hands, a well-crafted creative brief provides the framework, and the opportunity, to do some amazing work.

If you’re on the creative side, insist on them. If you’re on the account side, write them. Then rewrite them. Make them better. Your client — and your agency — with thank you for it.