Advertising

A night out with your coworkers is always nice, but when you take home a few awards at the end of the evening, it’s even better.

The Art Directors Association of Iowa recently held its 54th annual design exhibition, and between PM and our own Emily Hughes, we scored four Awards of Excellence and two Best of Category Awards.

The ADAI exhibition is a fun event for us because it’s focused on graphic design. It also showcases lots of inspiring work produced right here in our own professional community. If you’d like to see some of the other winners, check out the photos on Facebook.

Here’s a quick look at PM’s winning submissions …

Ballet Des Moines Fundraising Packet

Award of Excellence for PM

Category: Collateral

The Ballet Des Moines needed a customizable piece that could be tailored for different fundraising prospects. We created this double-fold brochure with a pocket and inserts for various messages. The pro-bono piece is small enough to mail yet makes a big impact with dramatic photography and metallic ink.

Chicago Pneumatic Brand Ad Concepts

Award of Excellence for PM

Category: Unpublished

Some of the coolest designs never make it to press. Kudos to ADAI for having a category to recognize some of them! PM created these ad concepts based on the results of a voice of customer/brand positioning exercise for Chicago Pneumatic. The look is in line with the CP brand, but pushes it farther to make a connection with the hardworking contractor audience.

Thinc Iowa Website

Award of Excellence and Best of Category for PM

Category: Website Design

We can’t say enough good things about working with the Silicon Prairie News team on their first Thinc Iowa event last fall. They trusted us to recommend a creative approach, and this website is the centerpiece of the design. It features parallax scrolling from section to section, instead of traditional multi-page navigation. (Trust us, you just have to see it.) Our cohorts from Shift did the programming. And we had so much fun, we signed up to do it again this fall for Thinc Iowa 2012.

Martha and Ryan Save the Date

Award of Excellence and Best of Category for Emily Hughes

Category: Announcements/Invitations

Beyond her work at PM, Emily Hughes has a whole other creative outlet designing wedding invitations and other announcements. This one is particularly special, since it was for Emily’s cousin — who incidentally wrote the copy. (Creativity must run in the family!) Another PM connection: the photos were taken by our former coworker, Gretchen Scott.

As a side note, this year’s exhibition was organized and emceed by our fellow creative, Paul Richards, who put a lot of heart, sweat and time into the entire event. Many thanks to Paul and the ADAI volunteers for another excellent exhibition. What a great way to spend a warm spring evening!

This month’s installment of “yes, we do that” shows how advertising can take some surprising forms.

Editorial Note: This marks the start of a new feature where we post a taste of the work we’ve been doing. We’re calling this section the “Creative Sampler.” Every month, we’ll highlight a few sweet bites of creative. Check back next month, because like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.

Mobile and Merchandising

PM recently developed the brand identity and all of the supporting elements for KPI & JCI & Astec Mobile Screens’ Road Connection campaign.

By “supporting elements,” we mean a truck wrap, a website/blog and tradeshow signage — as well as a huge variety of event giveaway items, from t-shirts to temporary tattoos. The campaign also has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

So far, the campaign has resulted in more than 2,000 letters to Congress from 39 states, more than 2,400 Facebook fans, more than 283 Twitter followers and 28 official sponsors. Our mobile journalist has also logged more than 14,000 miles traveling to trade shows, state association meetings and dealerships.

You can read more about this grassroots, nonpartisan campaign to promote long-term infrastructure funding here.

iPad Apps

Our clients at Honeywell Performance Materials and Technology are also taking paper sales tools to the next level. We just finished developing two new contractor apps, which are now in the iTunes App Store.

Since R-22 refrigerants are being phased out, contractors are looking for viable alternatives. The Honeywell R-22 Retrofit product selection tool makes it easy to compare up to three retrofit products based on several factors. The app can also calculate the amount of refrigerant needed for the job.

The second app gives HVAC contractors an electronic option for the paper “slide rule” pressure-temperature (PT) chart they typically carry. The Honeywell PT Chart app helps contractors select a refrigerant and calculate a variety of data points they need to perform tasks in the field.

We’re currently in the process of developing iPhone and Android versions of both apps. Stay tuned!

The Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) recently held its annual meeting in Asheville, NC. PM’s Kristine White was there to gather great insights on the turf customer audience … and we hear the mountain scenery wasn’t bad, either.

Kristine’s luggage was a bit heavier on the return flight with the six TOCA awards she brought home for us. PM was recognized with awards for a variety of Toro pieces, including a Gardner Award in the design — marketing communications category. Only a handful Gardner Awards are given out for the 300-plus entries, so this was a real honor for us. Here’s a full list of the awards:

2011 Gardner Award — Design — Marketing Communications
Toro Micro-Irrigation Owner’s Manual (Best in Category)

First Place
Toro Advantage E-Newsletter (Writing for Electronic Newsletter)
Toro Micro-Irrigation Owner’s Manual (Design – Printed Special Projects)

Merit
Toro Walk Power Mower Brochure (Overall Collateral Design)
Toro GIE+EXPO Media Kit (Overall Media Kits Design)
Toro GIE+EXPO Media Kit (Writing for Company Media Kit)