tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-154240392009-03-19T07:12:38.131-07:00<center><img src="http://www.workerbees.com/images/blog_header.gif"></center>Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-29426362414480248182009-03-19T07:01:00.000-07:002009-03-19T07:12:34.871-07:00

Nobody's having much fun with the economy hovering over the toilet bowl these days. But that doesn't mean you have to just sit there and watch the customers flee. Case in point: This modest print ad for the School of Visual Concepts. They offer professional development education in graphic design, advertising, and marketing communications, along with Adobe Creative Suite training. Those marcom

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-14601323475579507582009-03-01T20:23:00.000-08:002009-03-01T20:46:26.246-08:00

One the more intriguing assignments we've had in recent weeks was preparing a multimedia presentation for the Harvard Business School's reunion. Our task was to vividly portray the achievements of the Class of 1963, now 45 years after cap-and-gown day. Since everyone's a voyeur, the guts of the presentation were built around a survey of class members that revealed such tidbits as: 50% of the

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-87778390078556354542008-11-19T09:20:00.000-08:002008-11-19T10:09:38.404-08:00

All too often, marketers make a big splash with a new program and then walk away well before it's taken root. This flash-in-the-pan approach to promotion simply doesn't add up for products and services that have any sort of drawn out purchase path -- like a new condo, for instance. So kudos to Vulcan Real Estate for having the wisdom to send bi-weekly emails to their extensive list of prospects

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-46922627927764669332008-11-19T08:34:00.000-08:002008-11-19T10:10:58.158-08:00

We certainly don't think so. Our highly biased opinion may have something to do with the fact that patient stories form the backbone of a new consumer ad campaign for Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. Inevitably, all hospitals do (or claim to do) pretty much the same thing. And, while you could run an ad saying "our technology is better than their technology," or "our doctors are smarter than

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-42779766803418206172008-03-30T08:18:00.000-07:002008-03-30T09:22:50.305-07:00

When you've got about 50,000 cars a day driving by the place you're marketing just on one street alone, why not lay out a welcome mat for those road-weary travelers? That was the idea behind a series of three large, mostly permanent banners we developed for Vulcan Real Estate to tout the sustainable lifestyles and building practices going on in South Lake Union. Other messages on the

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1993129856740372772008-02-20T07:51:00.000-08:002008-06-23T13:01:58.449-07:00

Ads for urban condos are supposed to look a certain way, right? Sure, if you want your ad to look like all the others. That was the problem astutely recognized by Vulcan Real Estate when they asked for some new print ads to promote interest in their Rollin Street Flats project in Seattle's South Lake Union. Our answer: forget the usual visual cliches. In fact, forget the visuals altogether, and

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-19905614178974140022007-11-12T10:55:00.000-08:002007-11-12T11:04:15.694-08:00

After the Swedish Cancer Institute approached us about putting together a plan to mark the 75th year anniversary of the institute, we came back with an advertising-light proposal that stressed building bonds with past and current patients. After all, when you get some very bad news from a doctor do you go searching for newspaper ads about cancer, or do you call your friends and relatives? One of

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-25685469081537922572007-07-30T07:53:00.000-07:002007-07-30T07:58:01.387-07:00

This ad isn't printed wrong. It's exactly as we intended it. The audience is a few hundred typography and letterpress enthusiasts assembling in Seattle this summer for the 2007 TypeCon conference. If you've ever spent five minutes working with handset wood or lead type (as students of SVC's letterpress classes do all the time), you'll get it in an instant.

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-8896513769974385552007-06-26T13:52:00.000-07:002008-03-30T09:24:30.297-07:00

Here in the internet age, creating email is more like advertising-the-way-it-used-to be. That's to say it arrives unsolicited and not always wanted. To overcome this natural apathy (if not, antipathy), good HTML email will employ the very old school techniques of a provocative image coupled with an equally intriguing headline. Case in point: the series of emails we recently completed for

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-43475897090764666392007-06-16T07:50:00.000-07:002008-02-20T08:06:16.127-08:00

How many times have you seen an ad announcing a corporate merger that shows the confident handshake, the overhead view of the smiling employees (guaranteed to be stock photography), or two steroid-enhanced logos? When Worker Bees was asked to do just such an announcement ad for Univar and Chemcentral--enormous industrial chemicals distributors, we thought about the audience: Men in manufacturing

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-46621085836347685952007-03-24T13:55:00.000-07:002007-11-12T11:06:15.186-08:00

One of the more interesting projects we've taken on in recent weeks was the design and writing of a 110-page history of Swedish Medical Center during the 12-year presidency of Richard H. Peterson. The Swedish President and CEO recently retired, and the board of trustees felt that a published history would be a more meaningful gift than the tried-and-true set of golf clubs. As it turned out, the

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-26780669684623647622007-02-19T09:45:00.000-08:002007-08-26T14:27:29.018-07:00

One of the challenges of creating ads for opera and symphony programs (besides the usual reader apathy that all advertising faces), is the environment. The lights are low. The audience is eager for the show to begin. And it's not considered polite to bury your nose in the program. Still the Swedish Medical Center Foundation wanted to make a point to well-heeled potential donors that until

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-59452279688420028442007-01-27T15:50:00.000-08:002007-07-30T07:59:44.092-07:00

There's an almost automatic response among mothers and grandmothers when they see this ad. They want to look. Which is precisely what we were aiming for in this ad announcing a special fund-raising opportunity for the Swedish Medical Center Foundation. At Swedish's upcoming gala event, there will be a special auction to help fund a simulator that lets doctors and nurses practice difficult and

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1158607817578077092006-10-14T12:25:00.000-07:002007-06-16T08:04:08.843-07:00

Every year, Washington CEO publishes a list of the largest public companies headquartered in the state. Our client, Univar, isn't on that list. It's not because they're small or private. At more than $5 billion in annual revenue, they're bigger than Alaska Airlines, for one. The issue is that--even though they're managed from offices in Bellevue--their legal headquarters are in Rotterdam, where

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1157739192968505492006-09-08T11:10:00.000-07:002007-03-24T14:02:12.486-07:00

We recently completed some radio spots for NCNB to announce the opening of their new Wenatchee office. Given the understandable tendency of people to discount a copywriter's words, we interviewed people on the street instead. We asked them, simply enough, what they thought of their bank. Needless to say, it wasn't hard to get some spirited (and negative) answers. We used those responses to

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1157421789520228892006-09-04T18:53:00.000-07:002007-03-24T14:01:37.363-07:00

We've been fortunate enough to work with Vulcan Real Estate in their visionary remaking of Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood. One series of projects is for pre-marketing Rollin Street Flats, condominium homes that will be constructed adjacent to the wildly successful 2200 mixed-use development (the 261 homes there were sold out nearly a year before the projected move-in date). For a hipper,

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1162356088624964162006-08-31T20:33:00.000-07:002007-03-24T14:01:04.889-07:00

We just completed this ad for the Swedish Medical Center. It didn't cost a million to produce, and nowhere near that much to run it in the Puget Sound Business Journal. But, if all goes well, it will do its part to raise awareness (and money) for a multi-million fund-raising campaign underway at Swedish. As the ad points out, the hospital covers $38 million in Medicaid and uncompensated care

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1157419981689870542006-08-15T16:27:00.000-07:002006-11-12T14:15:47.703-08:00

Nor was this your typical fund-raising advertising opportunity. Each year, the Puget Sound Business Journal runs a special corporate philanthropy supplement bursting with ads from non-profits seeking financial aid. When asked by the Swedish Medical Center Foundation to help create their message, we felt that acknowledging the enormous clutter was the best way to proceed. The headline reads: We

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1153031773580304912006-07-15T23:35:00.000-07:002007-02-21T08:16:01.673-08:00

We're not intimidated by coming up with concepts for annual reports. We've done Shurgard's, for instance, since the year they went public a decade ago. What made this one particularly tough is that we knew it would be Shurgard's last. Earlier this year Shurgard agreed to sell their company in a not-exactly-friendly $5 billion takeover battle with Public Storage. So, we'll be saying farewell to a

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1148057467794960172006-05-19T09:43:00.000-07:002006-09-17T14:57:56.790-07:00

Even if your business only has one location, you still compete with mega-chains. And, while home-spun, down-and-dirty marketing materials will say that you're small and local, they don't build much confidence among savvy, globally-connected consumers. One company that understands you need to level the marketing playing field is North Cascades National Bank in Chelan, Washington. We recently

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1146950237486240242006-05-06T14:13:00.000-07:002006-09-04T19:03:50.283-07:00

As much as advertising has changed over the past few years, clutter and the need to stand out haven't gone away. Hardly. So, in this direct mail campaign for FILTER--the staffing firm for the creative industry--we used hard-to-ignore visuals to avoid a quick trip to the round file. Copy on the back side reads: "If reproductivity is cutting into your group's productivity, get in touch with FILTER.

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1143788123939681362006-03-30T22:54:00.000-08:002006-09-04T18:52:38.466-07:00

We just had a most interesting opportunity to collaborate with Hornall Anderson Design Works on the messaging (as people are fond of saying these days when what they really mean is "story") and web site for a new online venture called Wetpaint. They're in beta right now of their web-based software that lets normal, non-geeky people create, edit, and add comments to web sites. If you're familiar

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1139809644673221912006-02-12T21:43:00.000-08:002006-07-15T23:40:40.876-07:00

You've probably never heard of Univar, so you may be surprised to find out they're a $5 billion company (about the same size as Starbucks!), quietly based over in Bellevue. They're the world's leading chemical distributor and they brought Worker Bees on board to help them reach chemical producers with this message: Distribute your products through Univar and we can save you from a lot of the

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1136502480364746532006-01-05T15:06:00.000-08:002006-07-15T23:27:13.806-07:00

We've been spending our days in the editing suite at Dubs, Inc. lately, helping to put together two sales meeting videos for IDX and GE Healthcare. So unless you're a salesperson repping software for gigantic MRI machines you probably won't see them. However, why don't you check back here in a couple of weeks and we'll see if we can show them to you. Thanks to Sue Mowrer, our favorite producer,

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424039.post-1135200980416407752005-12-21T13:27:00.000-08:002006-06-27T16:41:09.496-07:00

Every 90 days, the Worker Bees machine gears up to concept, write, and produce the quarterly catalogs for the School of Visual Concepts. We have it down to a bit of a science so the entire 16-page project can move from "uh-oh, we better get started" to "hey, that looks pretty good" in less than three weeks. SVC, should you not know, is the 35-year old training ground for graphic designers,

Larry Ashernoreply@blogger.com