One of the best things about having our new website up and running is that we finally get to share all the great experiences and work we have created in the past year. So excuse us if we look like show-offs as we blog about some of these projects but we are very proud of our team and the high standard we have set for our agency.
One of the stand-out projects this year is the newly redesigned Brombergs.com. It was really an honor to work with one of the oldest family-run business in America and Alabama’s leading jeweler since 1836. Yes, that’s eighteen thirty-six. We are so grateful to the Bromberg’s team for trusting us to create a classic and elegant design that is indicative of their brand. They were a joy to work with and we are immensely proud of the results.
- Joel
We joke all the time that there are no two days the same at Concept, but actually we are thankful for that. We are always asking ourselves how we can make our clients more successful in their business which in turn makes us more successful. We have many years of creative history built into our team and we come up with great solutions to some of the most complex marketing issues. After a couple of meetings on a project, we are able to come together collectively and create great thought provoking ideas to engage our client’s target audience. That’s the way it works, but every once in a while we come across a client problem that takes a little more digging and thought. The IEM program at UAB was one of these accounts.
We were faced with a program that was not widely known and the subject matter could be quite overwhelming. We knew that once people got into the program it totally transformed their lives. Our dilemma - how to convey a message to potential students about the life changing moments that come with the IEM program, but stick to the core focus of the program and the University? We conducted interviews with the faculty and alumni to see what commonalities there were with each of them. We started noticing that although each person had different professional outcomes after the programs, they all shared the same thoughts and feelings about the program and how it changed their lives. The most common thought process was because of the program, they were able to see past their current professional situation and pursue the professional path they wanted. With this information, we had a clear picture for the direction of our IEM campaign.
We created a micro site with an intriguing URL for future campaigns. We then created testimonial videos of the program director and three of the program’s alumni. While each one of them have a specific story to tell about their experience, they all share a new look on their professional careers that were instilled by the faculty of the IEM program. Check out the videos on www.thinkbeyondthecube.com.
- Jeff
Concept, Inc was featured in The Birmingham News for our wildly successful PR, marketing, advertising, publishing and design endeavor we like to call our first cookbook! We had a great time creating it and it seems like people are really enjoying the recipes. Oh, and we’ve now sold over 60K copies!
http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2010/12/dadgum_thats_good_a_hit_for_al.html
-Susie
Some recipes are passed down through a family for generations. Our own Maryland Tracy always brings in the most amazing pecan pies every year around Christmas. For our cookbook, she trusted us with the recipe, which we modified a bit to fit into a mini pastry. They are ridiculously amazing and here is the recipe:
Mini Fried Pecan Pies
You’ll Need:
• 1 gallon cooking oil
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Golden Eagle syrup
• 1 tablespoon self-rising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 (15 ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts
• Confectioners’ sugar (optional)
1. Fill Butterball® or Masterbuilt Fryer with oil. Heat to 375°F; this will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
2. While oil heats, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in syrup, flour, salt, and vanillaextract. Stir in pecans until well-mixed.
3. Unroll pie crusts and cut into 16 circles using a 4-inch cookie cutter (or a glass mug that is wideenough). This requires re-rolling twice using the leftover of crust. Spoon 1 tablespoon filling in the center of each
crust circle. Fold dough in half, creating a half-moon shape. Seal and crimp the open edges using the tinesof a fork.
4. Fry the pies in batches of two at 350° F for 3 minutes until golden brown, turning occasionally tobrown evenly. Remove pies and place on paper towels to drain. Let cool slightly and dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired.
Here’s hoping everyone has a blessed holiday season!
Everyone knows how crazy I am about anything dog-related. Add dog agility into the mix and I’m in hog-heaven… or would that be “dog-heaven”? So I was practically over the moon when we started working on our idea for an agility show to pitch to the TV networks out in LA. It came about when we were trying to come up with ideas for one of our clients who is an agility coach and trainer – yes, he also happens to be MY agility coach just by coincidence.
I’m going on about dog agility as though you know what it is already. You most likely do, just maybe not by name. Have you ever been flipping through the channels and stopped on Animal Planet or ESPN when they are televising dog sporting events? Dogs weaving in and out through poles at high rates of speed? Sound familiar? It’s about the coolest thing you will ever see and most everyone remembers that if they remember nothing else about the competition. THAT is dog agility and what I spend most of my time competing in, training for or reading about when I’m not at Concept.
So we had this really cool idea… two coaches, one in the south, one from up north, each training a group of people and their dogs to compete against each other for a chance to compete at the European Open. We wrote a treatment for the show, picked our cast of characters, and shot the “sizzle reel” with one of the very best producers in Atlanta.
The producer, Jeff and I flew out to LA to meet with Discovery Networks and a few others. As of this writing, it hasn’t been picked up but we’re not giving up just quite yet. I’ll keep you posted though.
-Rebecca
I have been following illustrator/designer Jessica Hische for sometime now. Her ability to give her hand-drawn typefaces such life is inspiring. Her great understanding of space makes her illustrative designs come to life in a way rarely seen. Her designs have a graceful, quiet feeling of nostalgia. She is truly a master of of type.
http://jessicahische.com
-Jennifer
