Creative, Schmeative. Impact Rules!

That may seem an odd sentiment for a creative agency. Especially since there is nothing we enjoy more than taking words and pictures and bringing them to life in new and exciting ways. But we do expect our creations to turn people’s heads. And we love it when what we created sticks with our audience, and changes they way they think.

We just found out that this year we turned more heads than even anyone had anticipated for The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). They asked us to use Rideshare Week to kick off a first-ever, year-long, cohesive, sustainable alternative transportation message that would excite commuters about using OCTA’S alternative transportation initiatives. We made it our goal to get solo commuters out of their cars and into busses, trains, vanpools, carpools, biking walking. Specifically OCTA asked us to increase participation in their annual Rideshare Week program by 15% – a 5% increase over their previous year’s increase of 10%.
 “No problem,” we lied, and we immediately set out to solve the problem. We scoured OCTA’s Awareness and Attitudes Studies, boarding reports, ridership trends, boardings, StationLink routes, and National Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) studies. Bit by bit we laid the foundation for the core message that would unite all the promotions, marketing events, materials and interactive resources for this year-long campaign. Taking our cue from TCRP studies, we designed this campaign to appeal to commuters directly, (rather than corporate transportation coordinators) for maximum impact.
To attract commuters from all walks of life, we created a heroic silhouette that was ageless and raceless: an illustrated everyman who set the style and branding image for all the promotions to come for the rest of the year. All the graphic elements promoting the Rideshare program were designed to be visually stimulating, compelling and memorable. Simple yet elegant icons of transportation gave equal weight to all the alternative transportation options.
OCTA named the hero image the “Ridesharer.” This campaign image appeared in all media, in print, on busses, on workplace posters, postcards and handouts, as well as on the web, on Powerpoint presentations and in email blasts, to reinforce the central message of empowerment no matter where the audience was or where they were looking.
Additionally, in accordance with the TCRP findings, OCTA’s VanPool effort was made easier for commuters with our interactive Seatfinder application which made joining existing vanpools and establishing new VanPools vastly easier.
When all of the figures were compiled and analyzed, the overall effectiveness of the 2011 Rideshare Promotion Campaign was remarkable. There was a 134% increase in pledges over the previous year, and it turned out to be the most effective Rideshare promotion ever. As an added bonus, vanpool participation nearly doubled even before the beginning of the vanpool week promotion.
Speaking from a “creative” point of view, impact is what it's all about.

One and a Half Months in 4 Minutes and 27 Seconds

Every move is fraught with delays. Trucks are late. Things get broken, lost, misplaced or (the politically correct word for:) stolen. Everyone expects this. Everyone deals with it. You just double the estimated amount of time predicted and learn to live with it.  It takes a lot to make a move truly "memorable."
Welcome to a memorable move. Between rebuilding two offices, resetting a contractor's broken finger and two broken toes, a bout with the flu for most of the crew, plus old plumbing, ducting, electrical and a monster ethernet network nightmare, our move of just under 7 blocks took almost exactly 2 1/2 months to complete. You have to laugh. 

Moving out of The Palace Livery and into the Original Chamber Building leaves us Unstabled.

Our new home, the original Chamber of Commerce Building is in one of the most beautiful buildings in the City. Constructed in 1906, it is a prime example of Beaux Arts architecture and the first "modern" steel frame building in all of Pasadena, and one of the first west of the Mississippi. It was also revolutionary in its design. The office towers were designed to maximize the effect of natural breezes for cooling. The U-shaped design surrounded a central atrium that assured there was always a shaded section at all times of the day. The central atrium was used mainly for deliveries, but was also a light and airy place to relax during hot and hectic days. The flow-through design utilized windows on the outside with transoms over the internal doors to make the most of the slightest breeze.

In 1988 this building was the first home to Pasadena Advertising (then The Pasadena Agency), We were one of the first tenants of the Chamber Building after a complete restoration by our good friends Gene and Marilyn Buchannan, and it marked the beginning of a long association with hundreds of other visionaries and developers dedicated to the restoration of Old Pasadena. A success story we are immensely proud to have been a part of.

As for the move itself, it was exciting, frustrating, educational, occasionally painful (and, of course, smokey), and ultimately extremely rewarding.  Or, in short.

We've decided never to move again. =)

Bike-To-Work Week, er, Month, um, Year

The Orange County Transportation Authority Bike to Work promotion officially starts Sunday, April 29, 2012 with a bike festival in Huntington Beach. However, National  Bike Month has to wait its turn for another 2 days, because it, officially, only happens in the month of May. 

Our National Bike Month Poster for OCTA

For years, this celebration was widely known as Bike To Work Week (which is still going on). This month, Bike To Work Week is May 14 - 18. However this is the year that OCTA asked us to use the month of May to kick off a year-long effort to get people out of their cars and onto their bikes to go to work, to shop, to school and to play. And while I'm sure a substantial number of you reading this are shaking your heads saying, "No that's impossible," I have to remind you that I have been doing it for over 17 years. And I know that some of you must be thinking, "Well, that all well and good for you young folks, but I'm too old for that." Fine. Then, using my age as a guideline, if you're over 67, you can use that excuse… at least for another year.

Everyone at Pasadena Advertising is proud that we were chosen to be a part of this effort, and OCTA is doing their best to make this year's program truly excel. Their theme this year is "anyone can bike" (as I believe I have proven myself). And among the benefits they are pointing out, the cost savings alone should provide more than a little motivation. The savings amount to thousands of dollars a year. In this economy, that is huge. But another benefit of course is health. For those of us who work so hard we can't find time to get to the gym, how about getting in a one-hour workout in 20 minutes?

My 6-mile round trip to the office by car is about 40 minutes. The round trip by bike, is around an hour. So in just an extra 20 minutes a day, I get in a full hour's workout. And I don't stand in line. And I don't have to put up with people using my soap, shampoo, towel, and whatever else they accidentally get their hands on. And did I mention that I can vary my route and enjoy a different ride every day? And that it's free?

So dust off your bike, and give your car a rest. Have fun.  Get healthy.  Click here for more information about OCTA's National Bike Month celebration. 

Look, Our New Gold Line Website Is On Track

Pasadena Advertising Marketing & Design has created a new content managed website for Foothill Extension Authority.

Foothillextension.org homepage

After a month of testing, The new foothillextension.org website designed by Pasadena Advertising Marketing and Design (AMD), has gone live to answer visitor's questions and point out directions simply, directly and immediately.
The Foothill Extension Construction Authority is building an extension to the Gold Line light rail that is planned to connect downtown Los Angeles to the San Gabriel Valley foothill cities, eventually extending all the way to Ontario Airport. From the website’s compelling and easy-to-navigate front page, this new design lays out the planned rail route as well as the points of interest near every city’s station along the way.
“The excitement in the Foothill Cities is growing daily, and we wanted to create a site that would justify that excitement with a graphic, interactive representation of the promise of what is to come,” explains Pasadena AMD President Suzanne Marks. “We felt is was important to capture the full spirit of the project,” adds her partner Tony Nino, “not just to help our neighbors understand the construction schedule but also to visualize the full potential of a light rail line connection to a major airport.”

Construction phase pages connect to city/station designs and nearby attractions.

“The design concept,” according to Creative Director David Ensz, “was to frame the interactive elements of the site in the graphic tradition of Plein Air artistry in the style of classic orange crate art for which the region was known.” The challenge of programming designer Luke Gschwend was daunting, “I had to create a content management system which made navigation easy and intuitive for the site visitors, yet simple to understand and update for the in-house Foothill Extension personnel."
The final site, at http://www.foothillextension.org accomplishes all of the goals beautifully. Almost all of the information visitors could want is no more than two clicks away from the home page, and for more immediate results, a search feature is available from every page.

How do you choose a person of the Century?

Well if you're developing a fund raiser to celebrate the first century of Scouting, then first and foremost, you need an outstanding Scout.  No problem there.  You have an incredible abundance of folks to choose from. Eagle Scouts alone have become presidents, governors, war heroes, Supreme Court Justices, and astronauts including 11 of the 12 men who walked on the moon. 

So the Boy Scouts Los Angeles Area Council tried to find a person who exemplified the spirit of scouting.  Someone with a wide breadth of knowledge and experience in a variety of fields.  How better to represent the many areas of achievement rewarded by Scouting with merit badges and advancement in rank. 

The person they decided on was University of Southern California president Steven B. Sample.  As our CEO and Boy Scouts Los Angeles Area Council Board member, Suzanne Marks explained, "He best personified the variety of skills that Scouting has taught for over a hundred years.  Steven Sample is an inventor, an educator, a business leader, an author and a Boy Scout.” 

To develop her campaign, a mix of traditional and electronic media, Suzanne relied on two of her own Scouts at Pasadena Advertising, Life Scout and V.P. Creative Tony Nino, and Eagle Scout, Creative Director, David Ensz.  “I wanted a design a basic look with a balanced focus to honor Dr. Sample and also pay homage to the first century of Scouting,” explained David Ensz, “the muted earth tones were a reminder that camping is an essential part of the Scouting experience.”  “Although crimson and gold seemed to be more prominently displayed among the USC alumni,” laughed Tony Nino.

Dr. Sample is the esteemed author of the Los Angeles Times Best selling book, “The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership,” and a highly regarded professor of “The Art and Adventure of Leadership,” His extraordinary efforts in propelling academics at the University of Southern California are world-renowned; his incredible ability to generate contributions to that fine institution of higher learning has resulted in one of the most successful fundraising campaigns in the history of higher education.

Fittingly Dr. Sample’s Person of the Century celebration raised over $600,000 for Scouting in Los Angeles. In this economy, that was an achievement that more than exceeded expectations.  The Los Angeles Area Council is honored and grateful for the contributions of all our supporters.