Art Director

Here’s another great thank you note from one of our favorite blogs, thxthxthx.com

I’m sure many can relate to this sentiment.

By Mark W. Tipton

Growing up on an island in the Pacific presents many opportunities for one to learn and be involved in water sports. Besides surfing and diving, sailing was one of my favorite pastimes to get away and recharge my batteries. There is nothing like warm tropical breezes blowing across your face and the sweet smell of the open ocean. Often dolphins would approach the boat and surf the wake off of the bow for miles and miles. The word waypoint is a nautical term that relates to your destination. Where are you headed on that tiny boat in a huge body of water? This sailing term is a great analogy for marketing in today’s ever-changing landscape. How do you do effective marketing in such a wide open and volatile market?

In recent weeks, I’ve sat down with several large companies and discussed with them their marketing and advertising plans for 2012. Most are doing the same thing they did last year and dismissing other plans that they had because they did not work as well as they thought. Why is that? For one thing it was the lack of planning and execution. Also, the frequency with which the tactic was done. An occasional email blast to your customers or a Facebook update now and again will not bring you the desired results you are seeking. Companies today are worried about how they will be perceived in the public eye. Be true to yourself and your company’s brand and have the customer get to really know your products and services. So how does one do that?

The best brands out there have identity – a voice and a personality, if you will. We tend to not trust people who seem guarded or reserved and everything you write seems like it’s been under review. In your email campaigns, let your customers really know who you are. If you are engaged in social media marketing or you are just beginning to explore this phenomenon, create a dialogue with your customers. Ask them how your product is and what they like about it. Ask them how often they would like to hear from you and in what manner. We as marketing professionals have to change how we think and do business. We no longer can have a one-way monologue; now we need a conversation with our customers. If we take the time to stop and listen, we can learn a great deal about who is buying our products and why. Then we can create our marketing and advertising tactics around our customers’ real needs.

Sailing is exhilarating, but I never set out on the open sea without having a waypoint, or a destination in mind. If not, you sail around in circles and can get lost very easily. The same goes for marketing. We need to have a plan and know the customers we are trying to reach on their terms. Be yourself and share your knowledge about your product often on multiple levels. This way your customers will have real trust and loyalty in your brand.

If you want to try some new marketing initiatives in 2012 and would like to discuss these plans, I would welcome the opportunity to sit and listen and be a fresh perspective for you as you move down this path. When done well, it’s like sailing downwind with your sails full and you reach your waypoint!

Mark W. Tipton is the manager of Integrated Business Communications for Spencer Advertising and Marketing. Phone: 717-509-9356 email: markt@thinkspencer.com

Grapes…You think about them for wine, jelly, juice, and even as a favorite flavor of soda or candy….But pie? Thanks to our creative Account Executive Megan Balmer (You remember – the one who thoughtfully cross stitches friends’ baby gifts), we have learned that this fruit of the gods makes great pie filling, too.

On a recent sunny Sunday, Megan spent the afternoon at her parents’ home in nearby Mount Joy, plucking Concord beauties from the vine and preparing them to be transformed into delicious desserts. She was kind enough to share with us not only how to pick and prepare the grapes properly, but her coveted recipe for grape pie, as well. Her family secret is in the images below.

You might think the alumni of the country’s leading specialty hospital devoted to orthopedics and rheumatology might only be interested in things purely academic and medical, but they still desire to be informed, engaged, acknowledged and inspired like the rest of us. New York’s esteemed Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) came to Spencer looking for a redesign of their most important alumni outreach mechanism, their Alumni News magazine, that would maintain the heritage and dignity of the institution, give it a professional sophisticated look that is up-to-date and appealing to alumni of a wide range of ages and organize the large amount of information in each issue so that it was inviting and easy to read. The resulting masthead redesign, new color palette, font selection and layout were so well received the new look was transferred to the other publications and collateral of the Alumni Affairs Department, many of which Spencer also designed.

Oh, Chocolate! Who doesn’t love Hershey’s Chocolate?

Recently, the production team at Spencer Advertising and Marketing completed a new Central Ticketing video for visitors at Hershey’s Chocolate World. A behind-the-scenes look at our men at work is above.

The purpose of the project was to showcase all of the wonderful activities that are offered at HCW. Young and old alike can spend the entire day enjoying sweet treats and shows to learn how Hershey’s makes it most famous confections.

Spencer shot the video in High Definition using Sony’s F3 and posted the project on Final Cut Pro and After Effects. It can also be seen in the lobby at Hershey’s Chocolate World in Hershey, PA.

The painting, prints and drawings of Robert Patierno have been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout Europe and across the U.S. His work may be found in the permanent collection of The Royal Museum of Art in Antwerp, Belgium, as well as that of many universities, and is sought after by both corporations and individual collectors.

At Spencer, however, “Bob”  is known as VP Kevin Tufarolo’s favorite and most influential college professor. Kevin first encountered Patierno on the campus of York Academy of Arts on his first day of classes in 1981, when Patierno thoughtfully commented on the paper the young student was purchasing. Three decades later, Kevin remains close friends with the artist and is still enamored with the work of the man who instructed him in such subjects as Foundation Design Theory and Figure Painting.  So when presented with the opportunity to work with the acclaimed artist, Tufarolo was happy to work on compiling the work into a tabletop book.

This month, “Robert Patierno: A Delight in Disorder” rolled off the presses just in time to debut at the opening of the artist’s exhibition at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, MD.  The team at Spencer designed and oversaw the production of the book, which is receiving rave reviews.

Bob recently reported, “The book is beautiful and they are selling out of it at the bookstore at the museum. It has been put into the Smithsonian Library of American Art, Gettysburg Library, the museum WCMFA and more.”

Click here http://rtpatierno.blogspot.com to learn how to order the book, and visit www.patierno.com to learn more about the artist and his work.

As the world gets flatter, clueless marketing folks around the world provide clients and onlookers with disastrous/comedic campaigns.
Here are our favorite hilarious translation disasters:

Parker Pen. The pen is mightier than the sword, but it’s not a contraceptive. When Parker translated their “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you” campaign into Spanish, they translated the word embarrass to embarazar which means “to impregnate.” Final product: “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

Electrolux. The Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux definitely piqued interest in America when they ran this vacuum cleaner campaign: “Nothing Sucks like an Electrolux.” Wow.

Clairol. This hair care product company introduced their Mist Stick curling iron in Germany. Too bad they didn’t do their homework: “mist” is slang for manure in German. Gee, your hair smells horrific!

Pepsi. They translated their slogan “Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation” into Chinese as “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave.” Might have worked if Dr. Frankenstein was from China…

Colgate Palmolive. They tried to take porn mainstream early on when they introduced a toothpaste in France called “Cue,” which also happens to be the name of a famous, sizzling porno magazine printed there.

Perdue. Their marketing geniuses had the slogan “It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken,” translated into Spanish as “It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate.” Another giant leap for translation software.

American Dairy Association. The campaign they launched to push their dairy products in Mexico probably didn’t reach the desired audience when they translated “Got Milk?” into Spanish as “Are You Lactating?”

American Airlines. AA almost created the excitement and new business they needed when they launched their “Fly in Leather” campaign in the Mexican market. While they meant to highlight upgraded leather seats, they instead used a literal translation, “Vuela en cuero,” or “Fly Naked!”

General Motors. GM decided to market their Nova model to the Spanish-speaking market without researching the name. Too bad: “no va” in Spanish means “It Doesn’t Go.” I guess the marketing folks knew something back then that we all know now.

Make sure this doesn’t happen to you. Fear translation software and stay away from agencies that don’t involve native speakers in their marketing and translation campaigns. If you are taking your product/service global, then make a solid investment in native translation services. Cutting corners almost definitely results in disaster.

Provided by www.evisionworldwide.com/blog/

by Graphic Design Intern, Tim Burford

About me: I go to school in Albany, New York, at The College of Saint Rose, where I’m majoring in Graphic Design and minoring in Art History. I chose the Lancaster area to complete my internship over the summer because my wife is a doctor at Lancaster General Hospital, currently completing her medical residency in Family Practice.

I had another internship in Los Angeles, but those plans fell through. Everyone kept telling me, “Things happen for a reason.” Last minute scrambles led me to a few places in Lancaster along with Kevin Clarkin and the Spencer crew (thank you, Jim Bunting!). I set up an interview with Spencer, hoping for the best. Once I left the front doors, I looked at my wife and said, “I want to intern there.” Things do happen for a reason and I strongly believe that. I wouldn’t have changed a thing about my internship experience. I was able to spend the summer with my wife and I was able to work with a great group of people at Spencer.

This post started out as a joke from Art Director Jenn Grybowski. I didn’t know what to post at first, so she told me to write a poem and we both laughed. After I started it, I got into it. I can honestly say this is the first poem I’ve ever written. The haiku below is based on my internship experience at Spencer.

Thank you to the Spencer crew for an awesome internship!

Depart Albany
Lancaster for the summer
I’m now the intern.

First week, dressed for church
Second – jeans, tees, and flip-flops
Hang “dad clothes” for now.

Timmy! Timbo! Snaps!
Timmah yelled down the hallway
Responded to all.

Segway tour downtown
Bowling and putt-putt on lunch
Wake up walks at two.

Lan-CAST-er turns heads
It’s LANC-ist-er get it right!
Next effort, Leb-nin.

Turnpike at Clipper
E-Z Pass will get you through
Exit one-three-one.

Man on stilts painting
Amazed at the mock up rooms
Click, shoot, photos done.

Lancaster, Jersey
Lancaster, Jersey and back
Through the thick traffic.

Up at dawn driving
Lock it up! Rolling! Cut scene!
Last take, wrap it up!

Only a week left,
Time flies when you’re having fun
Sad to see this end.

You’re family now
Schwarz once said it, “I’ll be back!”
“Thanks” from the intern.

Depart Lancaster
Albany for the school year
You guys will be missed.

by Art Director Jenn Grybowski

My best friend, Christina, is getting married on August 13th. Her theme for her wedding is handmade everything. Naturally, I was all over this theme. Loved it from the beginning. I offered my help in whatever way she needed and about a month ago I got an email from her with patterns and directions for about 20 different types of paper flowers that she wanted to use as decoration at her outdoor wedding for 225 people. Paper flowers! Every graphic designer’s dream. I love paper. All kinds.

I immediately dove right into the project. I picked about 10 different flowers I wanted to make. Probably a little much for the short time period, but I was too excited to care. I went to the craft store the next day and spent an hour picking out paper in different tones of pink and off-white and in different patterns like music sheets and antique wallpaper.

From there I started crafting…on my lunch breaks…watching TV…sitting at my in-laws’ house for dinner… 20 hours later I finished what is pictured above. There are 6 different kinds of paper flowers made from crepe paper, card stock, paper wedding bells, tissue paper. My friend loved one kind so much, those flowers will be prominently featured cascading down her wedding cake!

Ahh, the joys of paper. The possibilities are endless and so is my list of flowers to make. (I am still crafting with one week to go.) I will post more pics of the flowers in use after the wedding.