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In honor of the couples’ holiday, Smart USA asked Launch to create vehicle wraps to promote the Smart ForTwo for Valentine’s Day. USA Today thought the results were pretty enough to print, and did so in their article about the collaboration.
The wrap themes for Smart USA’s two-seater, the Smart ForTwo, center on love, couples, and matters of the heart. The Launch designs were added to Smart USA’s existing gallery of custom wraps and are available online for viewing and purchase at smartusa.com/valentine.
Each design turns the Smart ForTwo into a Valentine’s card on wheels—the perfect medium for lovely expressions. Smart’s Valentine’s Expressions set the bar higher than the chocolate and flower standard of years past.
USA Today wrote about the romantic wraps in an article for the automotive section. And in it, contended that the Smart ForTwo is the only car that could pull off the look.
Launch is happy that Smart USA would be its Valentine. And just as proud to have the collaboration featured by USA Today. Read the USA Today article here.
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Alexandra Watson
With bounding enthusiasm, Alexandra Watson, New Media masters-candidate-intern extraordinaire, began her first official day at Launch two weeks past.
Her superpower — the ability to discern media consumption habits of the world’s most elusive prey in the Ahab’s quest of advertising. Her research interests include digital & social media strategy, influence within social networks, online metrics & analytics, and cross-cultural communication (which she researched for 5 weeks in India last summer).
She is above all else, a loving mother of two girls and a dedicated wife. Currently she is working on her Masters at SMU in Dallas. Before returning to school she worked in the financial services sector with non-profit organizations. She also has extensive experience in database management, database marketing, CRM, and business planning.
To see if she even has any free time, and if so, how she likes to occupy it, read on:
Q: If you were a toaster, what would you toast, and to what degree?
A: Sesame seed bagel, well-toasted. Practical and filling but a bit different.
Q: How do you feel about the pending robot apocalypse?
A: As long as the robots will need an analyst for their data, I’m okay with it.
Q: Hobbies?
A: Photography, scrapbooking, painting, singing, Lego games on Xbox 360 with my kids.
Q: Favorite copywriter intern?
A: Definitely Matt L.
Q: What is your ideal vacation?
A: A week at a beachside resort with my family in a place we’d never been to before. Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or somewhere on the Mediterranean would be great.
Q: Favorite inspirational rocket/space related saying?
A: “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” (Og Mandino, American essayist & psychologist, 1923-1996)
Q: Best film adaptation of a novel?
A: The Count of Monte Cristo (new version). The movie was better. In the book his revenge goes on for years and years.
Q: What is the best weather?
A: Cool and cloudy. With a chance of meatballs.
Launch welcomes Alexandra and Alexandra welcomes Girl Scout cookie orders. The form is on her desk. Check out her blog at blog.strategyrockstar.com.
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Matthew Lindner recently joined Launch as an intern writer. Shortly thereafter, he was handed an assignment, which necessitated the use of the third person in its execution. Shortly after that, the universe exploded. This is his story.
Matthew is a native Texan and currently a Masters student at SMU in Dallas. His area of expertise is random; not in the sense that his expertise is varied, he just excels in generating random thoughts.
His free time is spent on the Internet experiencing how others experience the world. Being a child of the Ritalin generation, he enjoys video games, movies, and the company of like-minded people, but only in spans of 45 seconds. Rather than long walks on the beach, he prefers to stay indoors and contemplate the structural integrity of specific buildings in the ever more likely event of zombie or genetically re-engineered raptor outbreaks. He also has an OkCupid account, if anyone is interested. Let’s be honest after all that you really shouldn’t be.
Spoiler alert: There is more information about him after the jump. If you want to be surprised should you ever meet him in person, or if you just don’t want to know any more about him, please do not continue. I’m sure he’ll understand. <– See what I did there?
Capote Goes to India.
Q: Do you have any Internet aliases?
A: Yes. I can’t tell you who they are. That would be dumb.
Q: Do people often tell you that you look like Philip Seymour Hoffman?
A: Yes, as well as Star Wars Kid, but I don’t think it was a compliment.
Q: You seem to be fairly well acquainted with nerd culture.
A: Is there a question in there somewhere?
Q: Do you have any vices that could be used by agents of a foreign government to gain leverage over you?
A: Not unless Diet Coke counts.
Q: What would you do for a Klondike bar?
A: Absolutely nothing.
Q: Your nickname is December?
A: Yes
Q: Why?
A: I lost a meter-stick duel.
Launch is happy to have Matt aboard, and, with any luck, will still be so after reading this. You can view his website at iamdecember.com.
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As with most families, Launch has several traditions that mark each holiday season.
To celebrate Turkey Day, each member of the Launch team shared their favorite holiday food at our annual “Launchgiving” feast. Bellies and hearts were both full, as we also collected cans of food for those less fortunate.
For Christmas, the Launch partners – Michael Boone, Diane Seimetz and Dave Wilgus – supplied a delicious catered meal, tested our wit in a rousing game of Launch trivia and surprised us with Apple iPads. Again we counted our blessings and shared with those less fortunate by contributing to a toy drive benefiting our client the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County.
From the Launch family to yours, we wish you a Happy Holiday season and a healthy, prosperous 2011! Click here to view our holiday card. Season’s Greetings!
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Not to toot our own horn, but over the past seven years Launch has helped Park Place Dealerships fill their trophy case with some significant marketing awards. This year was no exception. Park Place hauled in six awards for the redesigned ParkPlace.com website which Launch co-designed and developed with eCarlist.
The award list includes:
2010 Communicator Award of Excellence – Best Automotive Website
2010 Communicator Award of Distinction – Website Structure and Navigation
2010 Direct Marketing Association Echo Finalist – 5th Place Website Design
2010 Direct Marketing Association Echo Special Award – Search Marketing
2010 Automotive Website Awards – Best Dealership Website Design
2010 WMA WebMarketing Award – Outstanding Achievement in Web Development, Best of Industry
On top of the marketing awards, Park Place was recognized by the Dallas Morning News as one of the Top 100 Places to Work in DFW, coming in 5th in the large company category. Yet one more sign of why we enjoy working with them so much year after year.
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As part of our ongoing pro bono awareness campaign for the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County, Launch created a :30 video that is playing on the big screen at Studio Movie Grill in Plano.
The spot, “Little Hands”, speaks to the shocking number of children the Center treats each year, and the hope it gives them, through a playful animation of still images reminiscent of techniques used by Sesame Street.
This follows the campaign’s print ad which started running in October issues of Texas Monthly and Dallas Child.
The Launch team on the video included art director Reuben Miller, writer Kevin Byrd, animator/designer Jon Fullrich, creative directors David Wilgus and Diane Seimetz, and account exec Alison Hamilton. Music was provided by Pure Evil Music & Sound Design, and young hand model Kyle Byrd donated his time.
Check out the spot on CAC’s YouTube channel.
Learn more about the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County, or donate to this very worthy cause.
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Last week, I attended the DrivingSales Executive Summit with longtime Launch client, Rob Sumner of Park Place Dealerships. Besides taking in a little Vegas nightlife, we learned how automotive dealers can differentiate themselves and build their brands online.
Scott Monty, Ford’s Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager (a.k.a. social media guru), shared their strategy and how it helped Ford become Ad Age‘s “Marketer of the Year.” We also heard from Jeremiah Owyang, author of the popular blog Web Strategy – one of Ad Age’s “Power 150″ Top Blogs – and Dan Zarrella, award-winning author of The Social Media Marketing Book, along with several industry experts.
Almost universally, the speakers talked about the importance of being accessible, transparent and authentic online. Woody Allen once said, “90% of life is just showing up,” and the same holds true online – 90% is just being where your clients are, be it Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare. As with any relationship, yours should be built on listening and understanding. Listen first and only then respond. Add value to the conversation. Provide support by answering questions and solving problems. (Best Buy allows 200 employees to answer on the company’s behalf.) Encourage dialogue, then advocacy, as you build an online relationship with your clients. Over time, your advocates may help your brand innovate, like Mountain Dew recently did by crowd sourcing to develop a new flavor.
On Twitter, the key is to find and target your influencers, and then personalize your messages towards them. The more fresh and relevant your content is, the more valuable it will be seen – and the more likely it will be re-tweeted. Other tips? For every self-promoting tweet, send 8-12 others about news, useful information, etc. Avoid a negative tone. And for the best odds of your content being read and shared, post on Thursday-Sunday, when fewer people are posting.
Location-based services (LBS), like Foursquare, are growing as smart phones proliferate. 63% of iPhone users are on LBS every week, and the audience is a desirable bunch – almost 40% are considered influencers. You can encourage usage by offering rewards; for example, Starbucks awards discounts to each location’s mayor.
So marketers, take a cue from Ford, Best Buy, Mountain Dew, and Starbucks—join the conversation. Chances are your clients are already talking about you online. By participating in a meaningful way, you can grow your brand and advocates online.
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After developing a new brand identity earlier in the year for the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County, the creative team at Launch was thrilled to bring it to life in an emotionally engaging print ad. Fortunately, our non-profit client scored some low-cost media opportunities thanks to the Dallas Ad League’s charity media auction.
Launch was tasked with introducing the new brand look, soliciting donations, and building awareness for the Center’s mission – providing safety, healing and justice to abused and neglected children throughout Collin County, which covers many of Dallas’ northern suburbs.
Agency Partners and co-Creative Directors Diane Seimetz and David Wilgus created the print ad, which calls on one’s instinct to protect a child in danger and defines the team of specialists that make it happen at the Center. The full-page ad is running in the October issues of Texas Monthly and Dallas Child.
Special thanks to the friends of Launch who made it happen. Photographer Brian Braun and beautiful young model Sydney Coon graciously donated their services for the ad.
View a PDF of the print ad:
Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County print ad
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