Blog – Page 2 – Creative Agency Blog

Bluewater Farms Chooses Primary Design to Refresh Its Brand

Recently, we’ve been selected by Bluewater Farms to refresh the Southeastern Massachusetts-based cranberry company’s brand design on its expanding line of consumer products. Primary will work with Bluewater Farms to update the brand look across all product lines and implement a brand strategy across the family of companies including Cape Cod Provisions.

“Following our success at the Hatch Awards, Primary Design continues to excel at creating great design and branding strategies for clients like Bluewater Farms,” said John Schroeder, President and CEO, Primary Design. “Primary is excited to work with Bluewater Farms to help them reach new customers via inviting branding and packaging that touches all its products, as well as product photography, and a social media strategy that builds awareness.”

The Primary team worked with Bluewater Farms executives on a Brand Discovery to identify and establish all brand elements. Embracing the brand elements, Primary is in the process of creating brand positioning and packaging that will help Bluewater Farms appeal to new customers.

Hatch Awards Recognizes Primary Design’s Campaigns as the Industry’s Best for 2016

At the 56^th Annual Hatch Awards, the Greater Boston advertising community’s annual event recognizing creative excellence, Primary Design was honored with three awards for its superior, innovative work. Primary received a merit award in the Business-to-Business Campaign category on behalf of CharterSearch, a bronze award in the Packaging and Point of Purchase Campaign category for its work for Chilmark Foods, and a gold prize in the Corporate Communications category for its own “Primary Brew” campaign.

“The Primary Design team is thrilled to have our advertising industry peers recognize the creative excellence that goes into the work we do for our clients,” said John Schroeder, President/CEO, Primary Design. “We are proud of the way our team successfully collaborates with clients to deliver unique, eye-catching campaigns that meet business objectives.”

Primary worked with Chilmark Foods to re-brand and raise awareness of the company’s products, including renaming it the “Martha’s Vineyard Dressing Company,” creating quirky, fun new packaging, and raising the company’s social media profile. The Hatch Awards committee recognized this campaign in the Packaging and Point of Purchase category with a bronze award.

Primary Design also received a merit award in the Business-to-Business Campaign category for our work with CharterSearch, a national air charter arrangement service. CharterSearch approached Primary looking for help to refresh its brand image. The Primary team responded by revamping the image, including the development of a sleek new logo and creation of a compelling tagline, “find your wings.”

The Primary Design team was also extremely proud to receive a gold award in the Corporate Communications category of the Hatch Awards for its “Primary Brew” campaign. The Primary team created cool, fun, unique packaging for locally made, specially brewed beer, which was given as gifts to valued clients and prospective customers. We did this to show our appreciation for our clients and the gifts were a huge hit!

Primary Design is extremely proud of our work on behalf of CharterSearch, Chilmark Foods and many other clients. Our talented team continues to partner with clients to improve brand recognition and increase sales via creative, unique campaigns. If you need a smart, talented team to help your company develop an award-winning campaign, click here to contact us today!

The Ladies of Primary: A Salute to International Women’s Day

2015 was a huge year for feminist concerns and issues, and it looks like 2016 will continue in the same vein. More and more, women are making huge progressions in social, economic, cultural, and political roles all over the world. To celebrate #InternationalWomensDay at Primary, we wanted to know what influential figures inspire our creative and talented colleagues. To do so, we asked the women of Primary to take a selfie and answer the following three questions:

What woman, alive or deceased (but not related to you) has influenced you the most?
What is this woman famous for?
Why has she been an important influence?

Jenny Valencia – Resources Manager

Jackie Kennedy Onassis

Why She’s Famous
For being first lady and a style icon

Why She’s Been An Important Influence
I found it influential how she acted gracefully when tragedy struck her family, and always remained a dedicated mother. She later reinvented herself as a successful book editor and historic preservationist.

Aashruti Patel – Office Coordinator

Angelina Jolie

Why She’s Famous
For being an American actress, filmmaker and humanitarian

Why She’s Been An Important Influence
She’s influenced me because she has dedicated her time to helping those less fortunate than she is. Angelina works with an organization called UNHCR which protects refugees. She donates her time and money to help those less fortunate than she is.

Victoria Tran – Media Planner/Buyer

Artemisia Gentileschi

Why She’s Famous
She was an Italian Baroque painter, famous for illustrating strong women in violent scenes from myths and the bible

Why She’s Been An Important Influence
Gentileschi was an influential figure to me because of her talent and perseverance. During her time, female painters were not easily recognized or accepted. Her work, similar to Caravaggio’s style, challenged painters by defying what women should be painting. Eventually she was the first female accepted into the Academy of the Arts of Drawing. I admire her for not only her resilience, but for her drive to surpass her male contemporaries.

Cat Tersigni – Traffic Manager

Amelia Earhart

Why She’s Famous
She is known as the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean

Why She’s Been An Important Influence
I admire her because she was adventurous, courageous, and a risk-taker that didn’t let anything stand in her way.

Annmarie Guerriero-Lamy – Account Executive

Carol Burnett

Why She’s Famous
She’s a comedian, actress, singer and writer. Best known for the Carol Burnett show.

Why She’s Been An Important Influence
I chose her because she is a joy to watch and has always been an amazing actress/comedian. My mother and sister were always big fans, and Annie was one of my favorite movies as a kid. She is respected by many and seen as an innovator in female comedy, paving the way for the famous faces we see today. She ends every performance with a tug on her ear, paying homage to her late grandmother. She will always hold a place in my heart and make me smile.

Alison Szetela – Graphic Designer

Elsa Schiaparelli

Why She’s Famous
For being an avant-garde fashion designer who combined surrealism, humor and function with couture

Why She’s Been An Important Influence
She influenced me through her successful balance of form and function in design. Some, but not nearly all, of her design credits include jumpsuits, overalls, transparent raincoats, folding glasses, scarf dresses and visible zippers on garments. She was also well known for bringing the trompe I’œil effect and a little humor to fashion; gloves with simulated nail polish, sweaters knit like a sailer uniform. Regardless of being considered appropriate, she designed what the modern woman would appreciate; like her “speakeasy dress” during the prohibition era with a hidden pocket for a flask. Cheers to an influential Elsa Schiaparelli.

Camille Maren – Photographer

Frida Kahlo

Why She’s Famous
As a Mexican artist who overcame extreme physical handicaps to paint, she has become an icon for female creativity and unbreakable spirit. “Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?” She is famous for her self portraits which are an exploration of self that at times are shocking and almost always edgy. There was so much to figure out, and Frida kept at it, breaking rules if necessary but most importantly seeing things with fresh eyes and bravely painting them on canvas.

Why She’s Been An Important Influence
Her toughness, playfulness and drive to create, motivate me to do my own creative work.

Kristin Morgovnik – Account Supervisor

Reese Witherspoon

Why She’s Famous
Movie Star, Mom, Fashionista, Comedian

Why She’s Been An Important Influence
She is a powerhouse! She does it all – she’s a mom, a movie star, a fashionista, a comedian, and an overall class act. She does everything with style, grace, and a smile on her face!

Gina Lane – Media Manager

Joan Rivers

Why She’s Famous
She’s famous for being a comedian who always pushed the envelope

Why She’s Been An Important Influence
She’s influenced me because she was hilarious and is considered to have been a pioneer for women in her industry. No one had done what she did before her. Because of her, women in her industry have more freedom and are at least a little more likely to receive the accolades they deserve. People might not always have liked her humor, but I think she deserves infinite respect for the things she did for women in entertainment.

We’re so lucky to have such a great variety of creative and talented women in our office. We hope this empowers you and reminds you of those who have paved the way in battling gender stereotypes and glass ceilings. As Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said “Woman’s discontent increases in exact proportion to her development.” Happy International Women’s Day from the Primary team.

Feeling inspired? Leave a comment below and tell us about an influential woman you admire.

Local Wine Labels We Love

As a company that is passionate about what we do, we feel a kinship with brands that are just as passionate. Recently for National Drink Wine Day, we tasted some of the best local wine labels in and around Haverhill. Sommeliers we are not. We’re designers, and although we did not design these labels, we do have an appreciation for how each design was inspired by the grapes inside.

Vignoles

Willow Spring Vineyards – Haverhill, MA

Photo Credit: Thomas Csizmadia

This design offers a romantic feeling with the use of basic black and red. The willow tree logo has a single heart undulating from a branch. We feel it symbolizes the wine’s woody and sweet flavors. The typography blends together as if it represents these two flavors falling in love to become one (heart). Willow Spring Vineyards’ tasting room is set in a beautiful barn and we at Primary can vouch that it is well worth the trip – check out a few pictures from a past Primary excursion to this rustic, local winery. You’ll love it.

Blueberry Wine

Sweet Baby Vineyard – Hampstead, NH

We like this label and we like what’s inside even more. You will find this blueberry wine pairs well with dessert or is perfect by itself on a hot summer day. We know white reflects heat and think this might be one reason why they chose this label. Their font selection shares a look with this wine’s light, playful flavor and we love how the stamp treatment highlights that the grapes are grown locally.

Leon Millot Private Reserve

Jewell Towne Vineyards – South Hampton, NH

Leon Millot is a deep and flavorful wine with bright accents of citrus and strawberry. The artwork reflects these characteristics in a Van Gogh-meets-Pink Floyd sort of way. It’s a bit quirky but we know you will see what we mean once you try this unique bottle. If you think the taste is too out there then you’ll be more than happy to try the numerous amounts of other flavors that Jewell Towne Vineyards offers.

Plantation

Mill River Winery – Rowley, MA

There’s no “I” in wine, at least not in this brand. This label features a black bird perched on a cattail in the marsh that serves as the letter “I” in all three words. It’s a design treatment that works for them. There’s a bit of history to the Plantation story and we would need another bottle to tell you about it but for the sake of this blog we’ll talk about its taste and the fact that we really enjoyed its hints of raspberry and oak.

Classic Cab

Candia Vineyards – Candia, NH

They call it Red Wine but with a name like Classic Cab we figured out it was a Cabernet Sauvignon. We think it’s pretty cool that they used a simple pencil drawing of a vintage taxi as if it were a sketch from the storyboard to a Robert Deniro film. We feel the basic design pairs well with what’s inside because of its simple taste.

With 34 years of packaging experience for clients like Martha’s Vineyard Dressing, Co. and the Tap Brewing Company, we love when a design is inspired by a purpose and in this case, the purpose is to make people feel happy. We’re always here to help with any packaging, branding or advertising needs you may have. It’s ok if you want to pay us in wine. We only accept cases though. Cheers!

Valentine’s Day Cards for Graphic Designers

It’s that time of year when your vision is solidly coated in pink and red, or rather 189C and 186C if you speak the language of love for design.

We wanted to save you from some of those lame grocery store cards (think fuzzy velvet hearts and teddy bears hugging roses) with these v-day cards that will speak to the graphic designers or graphic design-loving folk in your life. Feel free to print these out and send to your loved ones – click or tap to enlarge in a new window.

Leave a comment and let us know which one was your favorite Valentine’s Day card. To stay updated on more fun and creative blogs, follow us. Happy Valentine’s Day from Primary!

Build Your Brand On Instagram

Instagram is an ideal platform for showcasing quality images and videos to increase your brand’s online personality and credibility. To determine if Instagram is a good fit for your brand, here are some stats and examples of how companies are currently maximizing their use of the platform.

The bullets below from Sprout Social point to the fact that Instagram users tend to skew slightly more female and younger.

29% of all online females use Instagram
22% of all online males use Instagram
53% of all online users between the ages of 18-29 use Instagram.

In the BufferApp Blog graph, we see that more people are engaging on Instagram over Facebook and Twitter; including commenting, liking, and tagging their friends on video and photo posts. Engagement demonstrates the level of interest people have in that post. The more engagement, the more eyeballs you have on your brand. According to eBiz MBA, Instagram is the #1 photo sharing website in the US from registered Instagram users, compared to sites like Photobucket and Flickr.

American Apparel

American Apparel has a large following of over 42k and maximizes their use of Instagram by showcasing their products in an edgy style. They often let their employees pose wearing their outfits and include common hashtags like #AmericanApparel or #MadeInUSA. Should you choose to use Instagram, follow American Apparel’s lead. Create a unique brand hashtag and include it in all your posts. This will allow people to easily find you.

In this American Apparel post, the hashtag #AAemployees is used, letting us know the woman wearing it is an employee. By using an employee to showcase their attire, this gives American Apparel a less corporate image and allows them to appear more attainable. This is a great strategy as people want to be able to relate to a brand, and many look at runway models as a more distant fantasy.

Without the caption in this post, nobody would have known this was an employee. Also, including the name of the product in the caption allows customers to be able to shop for it later. Entrepreneur says, the best types of captions to elicit responses from your followers include questions or long descriptions with no questions.

WeddingWire

WeddingWire posts nostalgic, positive photographs that speak directly to their audience. In their mix of high quality images, they incorporate headlines and questions over their photographs such as, “where should you honeymoon?” or “10 things every couple forgets to factor into their wedding day timeline” and other attention grabbing titles in addition to their captions.

Earlier this year, they posted a contest called “Just Said Yes”. The caption states, “Share your #JustSaidYes for a chance to win a mini-moon @ParadisusResorts by tonight (2/20) at 11:59pm ET!! @WhitneyEvePort will be announcing the winner next week! PS: You must be following @WeddingWire to be considered for entry. – Click the link in our bio for Official Rules. Tag your friends who may have missed this!”

This is a great example of how to run a contest on Instagram because:

They’re using a contest-specific hashtag
Requires people follow the company, so that helps increase followers
They have an enticing prize to draw applicants
The cover photo is a good summary of how to participate in the contest
The rules are simple to participate

They ended up receiving over 6,000 uses of the contest-specific hashtag, according to Mobile Commerce Daily. Running a contest provides the opportunity to have your followers post their photos and videos and tag your product. Re-posting user-generated content also gives you credibility. By not being afraid to share others’ posts and providing homage to the original user, you appear more friendly and trustworthy to your audience.

33 Acres Brewing

Another brand we love on Instagram is 33 Acres Brewing, a microbrewery in Vancouver. Reasons why we love them are because they are an example of a smaller operation (not a national chain) who manage to produce great content, a consistent brand image, and a large following despite their size. Their Instagram page features their beer, but also beautiful, simple plates of food and coffee. They have only the one location, but currently have over 13,000 followers.

This example from their page shows how a minimalist, but visually-appealing photo of their product can still be engaging. With a simple hashtag, caption, and image, they have received over 200 likes and several comments. Take a tip from these guys and utilize various angles to keep it interesting. If you’re a smaller company and can’t hire a professional photographer, take a clear picture from your mobile device and add a filter. There are many free photo editing apps you can download to give your image the refined look it needs.

Conclusion

If you decide to use Instagram to market your brand, realize that a lack of effort on your part to make your profile engaging could potentially do more harm than good. Take advantage of these company’s strategies by making clear, relevant captions and post captivating photos that will reflect the quality of your brand. Identify your target audience and engage with them by creating brand specific hashtags, contests, and regram others appropriately. Remember, Instagram is a place to show your brand’s personality, so have some fun with it.

Master Your Visual Social Media Content

Social Media content is a part of your brand’s resume. Your digital portfolio is available to everyone online and provides customers additional outlets to locate and contact you about your services/products. The importance of making your brand’s image as visually-appealing as possible cannot be overstated. Today’s online audience is increasingly interested in seeing a brand’s personality online. The use of quality, digital assets such as images and video can go a long way in adding to your brand’s character and credibility.

Images

Strong visual content could be what separates you from the rest of your competition. The quality of your photos can reflect the quality of your brand, so don’t post blurry or distasteful photos, it might turn off your audience. Be an open book, but make a bold statement, and dazzle them with your imagery.

According to JeffBullas.com, earlier this year, 70% of marketers said they were planning to increase their use of visual assets to further their marketing performance. So in essence, we’re saying everyone else is doing it, you should too!

Images are currently the highest shared content on social media. On Twitter, including an image in your tweet will get 5-9 times as many retweets and 4-12 times as many favorites. According to The Content Strategist, only 20% of text is remembered, while 90% of info transmitted to the brain is visual.

Video

Visually-based social media isn’t just based around the use of images but also includes memes, infographics, gifs, and videos.

In 2014, B2B video content increased from 8% to 58%. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, imagine what a video could say. According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, the average length of an internet video is 2.7 minutes. Video Brewery encourages that you keep in mind that 20% of your viewers will click away from a video within the first 10 seconds.

Developers have also taken notice of these stats. To cater to the reducing attention spans of their target audiences, more recent networks like Vine and Snapchat limit content to 10 seconds or less.

Social Network	Year Launched	Maximum Video Length
Facebook	2004	20 Minutes
Twitter	2006	30 Seconds
Instagram	2010	15 Seconds
Snapchat	2011	10 Seconds
Vine	2013	6 Seconds

Showcase your product or service in a video to demonstrate what they are and how they work. Images and videos help add to your brand’s credibility. Most shoppers don’t feel comfortable making a purchase without some form of visual illustration. You can even pin a video on Pinterest by first uploading to a video collection platform like YouTube, Vimeo or DailyMotion, and then posting the embedded video link.

Videos are also helpful in bridging the e-commerce gap on channels like Instagram and Facebook, where purchasing is currently done through third party e-commerce sites like Etsy, Uncommon Goods, EBay and Amazon. Connecting your social media followers to your online storefront makes your products more accessible and posting a short video on Instagram and Facebook with the link to your store helps bring your customers directly to where purchases can be made.

Takeaways

Social media users tend to avoid boring, uptight, corporate personalities. Social profiles and content should be fun and display character. Don’t fall behind. With so many other businesses to choose from, stay relevant and be easily accessible. Create your profiles/pages on these social networks with the objective to stop your audience in their tracks. Use impactful visuals, quality photos, and functional videos to attract more leads and build credibility.

Eco-Friendly Practices for Graphic Designers

While it’s true that most of our designing here at Primary is done on computers, we often ask ourselves if we are being as “green” as we can possibly be around the office. Here are some great tips/simple practices that we try to follow.

Paper

Recycled Paper – Dick Blick has a whole line of eco-friendly products including recycled paper pads. These are great if you need to do some preliminary sketches. Cast Iron Design is also spreading awareness with their beautiful recycled pocket-sized notebooks.

Recyclable Types of Paper – Many folks don’t know what can properly be recycled at work or home. Check your local city’s recycling facility website for a more accurate list. Some lesser-known recyclable materials include:

• Post-it notes – The color and adhesive properties do not interfere with the recycling process.
• Shredded paper – Yes, however, paper is built up of fibers, the longer the fibers the better. So if these aren’t practically confetti size, it should be recycled. Just remember to remove staples and reuse your paperclips!

Remember too that paper isn’t one-sided, so flip it over and use the backside if you’ve made a mistake.

Writing Utensils

Pens – Take your meetings notes with these cool Eco-Pens that could be made of cardboard, bamboo, water bottles, and more.

Drawing Pencils – Doodling ideas? Derwent Graphic Pencils use leftover timber ends and a UV cured coated finish that reduces energy consumption in the process. Faber Castell Pastel Pencils are made of natural wood and also have reduced energy consumption throughout production. In addition, the company has started a Brazilian reforesting project, supplying their own wood on a continuous basis and taking on their environmental responsibility.

Printing

Printers –ENERGY STAR qualified or sleep mode available printers will reduce energy usage. Toner Save or Fast Mode printers will use less toner. Duplex printing will allow you to print on both sides, saving paper. All of these options will help save you/your company money while being more environmentally conscious.

• Ink/Toner – Print on the lighter side with a few of these less toxic toner and ink options.

• Low-VOC or VOC-free inks and solvents – Toner itself is considered non-toxic but the printing process of melting laser toners emits Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). VOCs have heavy metals including include lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury, antimony, barium, selenium, silver, nickel, copper and arsenic and if not properly disposed, it can pollute water supplies.

• Vegetable or soy-based inks – To go with the “greenest” solution, vegetable or soy-based inksare great alternatives. Some soy inks enhance the color pigment and appear more vibrant. Soy ink also spreads 15% further reducing ink use and removes more easily than regular ink during the paper recycling process.

• Cartridge refills/recycling – Staples, Costco, or other local shops near you can refill your toner/ink cartridges, which is both convenient and cost effective than buying new ones each time they’re empty. You can even do it yourself with a refill kit. Staples provide $2 Staples Rewards for recycling your empty cartridges.

*You can prolong the shelf-life as long as they remain in their sealed packaging and kept in a cool dry place. Toner and ink expiration dates are not exact and many function perfectly fine well after their date.

Other Green Options for the Office Environment

• Turning off your PCs at night
• Energy efficient light bulbs
• Reusable eating utensils & plates instead of plastic or paper
• Reusable water bottles & mugs instead of Styrofoam or paper
• Resist the K-Cups (K-Cups are not recyclable: regrets from the inventor)

We can all be environmentally responsible with our daily practices. There’s no reason not to do your part at home, in the office, in the community, or wherever you are. Keep it green!

[Photo credit: James Wang]