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Since the 1990's SunChips have been Frito-Lay's healthy option for their snack line.

For years, however, the brand never really seemed to take off. In fact, sales seemed to stall over time.

Then a few years back, their brand team discovered that many of the people who buy brands like SunChips also happen to be environmentally minded. In an interview with BrandWeek, Frito-Lay VP of Marketing Gannon Jones said:

"We started to see that there was an intersection of people who were concerned with their health and with the planet's health. Out of that was born the hypothesis that we could begin to connect SunChips more prominently with the environment so [the brand would become] a small step for me and the planet."

The brand seemed to take the message to heart and remake themselves - and not just greenwash their image.

* They started producing some of their chips in a Modesto, California manufacturing plant that is completely solar powered. (It's one of their eight of their manufacturing facilities.)
* They buy green energy credits to offset the electricity to produce their snacks.
* They partnered with National Geographic to launch a "Green Effect" contest, which encouraged people to submit environmentally-friendly local projects. They would fund the winners' ideas for up to $20K each.

And, if you managed to miss their barrage of ads during the Olympics, they've just developed the compostable chip bag to be release in America on (of course) Earth Day. Yes, in a mere 14 weeks, that pesky SunChips bag in the vacant lot across the street will be dust. Or plant materials, more likely. (They've retained both Ketchum and OMD to get the word out for their compostable bag).

So, how's all this greening of their brand working out for them?

According to Frito-Lay, sales grew 17.6 percent to $201.8 million in 2008 and has tripled its household penetration in the past four years.

I don't know about you, but those sound like pretty sustainable numbers to me.
 

(Photo by cogdogblog)

I've had a chance to speak with Tamara Brooks from October 17 who is an Aquent client about her business, their plans for the future and how Aquent has impacted how they work.

Tell us about October 17.  What does your company do?  Who do you target?

 

October 17 Media successfully manages both local and national advertising and marketing initiatives for clients such as Future Shop, Fitness Town, the Canadian Gene Cure Foundation, Leahy Music, the District of West Vancouver, Homeworks Services Inc., Sutton Group Realty and Pistol & BURNES.

 

In the crowded marketplace of marketing and advertising it is our goal to provide innovative campaign strategies, meticulous attention to client needs and meaningful return on investment. Essentially our services cover a variety of web site design, development, online advertising, optimization and marketing solutions including robust social and viral marketing campaigns.

 

Historically, October 17 Media has primarily worked alongside Vancouver based businesses but we're looking to expand our client roster nationally. We've traditionally worked well with companies that are health care, lifestyle or non-profit focused. We love to work with companies that have a great brand message and a strong offering - it makes our job easy!

 

 

How did you find out about Aquent?

 

It's a funny story actually! Tamara, one of our founding partners, was originally a graphic designer. At one point when she was fresh out of school, she approached Aquent looking for work. Years later, after successfully starting October 17 Media, she returned to Aquent in search of hiring talented creative staff!

 

"I remember the stringent software 'test' they put me through - and that I hadn't done very well on the Adobe InDesign test and I'd been embarrassed! They had found a few potential jobs for me but they had been catered to my skill level. I know their standards are high when reviewing candidates and that's exactly who and what I want from a company who is pre-selecting potential staff members for our team."

 

 

How has Aquent helped October 17 reach their project goals?

 

At October 17 Media, we pride ourselves on hiring the best darn web people around! Part of what makes us great is our "A-player" hiring process and our dedication to ongoing learning and staying on top of new trends and techniques. Rest assured that we aim to have the best of the best working client accounts as that long term strategy will help with October 17 Media's business longevity and enable the highest possible service quality.

 

Aquent was recently able to help us hire a extremely talented blog copy writer on a very limited budget and time frame. The candidate was professional, on budget, on time and easy to work with. The experience with Aquent and the candidate was fantastic.

 

Moving forward, what will October 17 be focusing on and why?

 

In addition to the two principals (Tamara Brooks and Brenda Cadman), our team consists of a variety of sales professionals, account managers, web site optimization specialists, paid search advertising experts, web designers and developers, flash gurus and programmers. As far as hiring in the future, we see our team growing in both the account management, sales and paid search advertising areas the most.

 

The web is growing at an extraordinary rate, so if you can think of a website as being similar to a TV channel, we essentially want to help companies create both the quality content they need for their channel as well as generate the traffic to their site. We serve clients as their internet traffic controllers. :)

 

 

Where do you see the greatest need is for talent in the digital marketing space?

 

1. Candidates with knowledge about affiliate marketing programs.

How to utilize them in a non-spammy, effective manner. It's super competitive but also a completely viable way of gaining marketing share. Intimate knowledge with what makes publishers tick and how to reach out to them is invaluable.

 

2. Great flash developers & programmers

Flash and programming skills are most certainly in demand for many of the projects we work on. A hard-working, dependable, friendly and creative flash developer and programmer is worth their weight in gold!

There was an interesting article about the cost for online copyright violations in yesterday's Business section of the LA Times by columnist David Lazarus.

In essence, Lazarus says the damage costs demanded by companies such Getty Images and Corbis, which could be up to $1,200, are exorbitant.

The column starts off with a story about a small businessman who gets a letter from Getty asking for $1,000 in damages for illegally using their image on his site. The businessman has no intention of paying the fine, because he believes it's too high. He took the image off his site and decided to ignore the request.

Though the columnist points out that the photographers who take these photos are small businesspeople, too (and thus need their cash as much as the businesspeople who use their photos), he veers around the point that it should be the Web design firm who built this man's site who pays for illegally using someone's work to build a site.

According to the Times, "Getty says it finds about 42,000 examples of copyright infringement a year. For its part, Corbis says it uncovers about 70,000 violations annually."

That's a pretty sizable number of copyright infringements. And a lot of money that should rightly go back to the photographers and the companies that handle their work.

I don't know about you, but I think $1,000 is a fair fee to a design firm who openly steals another person's work to make money. Buying photos and their rights has always been part and parcel of doing design work.

It'd be different if Corbis and Getty are going after a Blogger who doesn't know any better (and I would say give that person a warning and direct them to Creative Commons), but I think it's pretty clear here that the design firm, not the businessperson, should take the hit for this.

Any other opinions?

(legally used photo by Ed Yourdon)

Time management - oh the words sound so simple but are yet so darn tricky. How else are there several books, infomercials, classes, and seminars dedicated to this very topic? How often do we feel like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland singing badly along to "I'm late for a very important date..." while frantically staring at our pocket watch? We learn and adjust to suit the obstacles we face. But every so often I can swear I hear the blare of the Ringmaster's megaphone announcing me as the next act and wouldn't you know it - I'm on the tightrope.

As many of you know I started a new job at a "GREAT company and I have to say - I am probably the busiest at work I've ever been which is a GREAT sign for the market. And as many of you experience every day I usually have two periods of panic - typically 11am and 2:30pm where I am so amazingly busy that I feel as though I'm spinning plates - but they aren't next to each other to allow for maximum spin potential. OH NO.... They are actually each on a different floor of the building. And the elevator is broken... and the stairs are filled with smoke. ok... The stairs aren't really full of smoke - by law I would have to evacuate the building and wait for the go ahead to come back in from the fire department. But you get the jist.

Here are my 10 tips for managing your day and time.

1. At the end of every day plan out the next day. Sounds tedious yes but what time is better to figure out what you couldn't get to today and what you should focus on tomorrow. And let's face it you're excited to be headed home so you're usually in a good mood, more relaxed, and putting those tasks down for several hours from now isn't so hard. Create a template, print out a copy every day and fill in the blanks.

2. Make your day manageable. Plan out time for each task. Do you have to devote time to training or is there something else you need to get done but can never seem to get to? Schedule it in and then DISCONNECT. Don't read your email or answer your phone. Impossible you say? Just try it once. Trust me.

3. Put the things you like doing the least, first on your list and TACKLE them.. head on. The rest of your day will be a breeze without those issues looming over your head.

4. Always plan in 30 minutes to an hour for administrative tasks - returning emails, checking the status of a report, filing papers, etc. at the end of the day. It's much easier to start your day and tackle number 3 if you've already gotten yourself caught up on the things that seem to take a long time while juggling plates. Trust me - if you try to file while plate spinning, it will take you much longer versus dedicating that time.

5. The things you don't get to - move to the next day. It will get done. Now if it's an urgent matter and your boss just said "Bob this needs to be done in an hour", please don't print this blog and hand it to him and say "I'm sorry Sir but The Headhuntress told me not to." :) Case by case basis please.

6. Take a BREAK already. It's a proven fact that people who do not take a few minutes for themselves to move around, get some water, grab a smoke with the Ringmaster, etc. are less productive overall. It's ok to walk away for a few minutes and let me tell you - that 5-minute breather will add a lot more productivity on in the end. I schedule in a 3pm peanut butter cup break every day - boy do I look forward to those.

7. Multitasking is no longer viewed as awesome. To a lot of employers multitasking simply means doing a few things half as well as you would have if you devoted your full attention to it. So schedule it out - 1 hour of phone calls, 1 hour of research, 1 hour of (insert task here) - versus trying to do it all at once.

8. Stick to your plan. Perhaps enlist an office buddy who is also trying the planning strategy and play police for the other.

9. Schedule out of office appointments first thing in the morning or at the very end of the day. There is nothing more difficult than getting back from a 1pm appointment and trying to refocus and get back on track.

10. Write it down!! How often are we scrambling to get a few things done at the end of the day that we forgot to do earlier - if you write it down, it's much easier to tackle, remember, check off when complete, etc.

In our pursuit of work, life, balance we often become overwhelmed by the pure amount of work we have to do. I liken it to tightrope walking and plate spinning but overall the message is still the same. If you're overwhelmed and often hallucinate the sounds of the circus (you know the song I'm talking about) and there just aren't enough hours in the day - try managing your time differently.

You know, I bet this Pringles banner ad that does better in a contest among peers than it actually does online.

Or maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe everyone like me passing it along is driving up clicks.

Could be.

Regardless, click away - it's fairly funny.

@iamkhayyam turned me on to this inspiredology post featuring intriguing examples of "horizontal" web design (i.e., sites that scroll from right to left instead of up and down). Checking them out made me realize a) that I don't see this enough, b) you can use a lot of different visual metaphors to indicate when a site is loading, and c) some human beings are really, truly, super creative.

The majority of these are portfolio sites. If you don't have time to look at all 25, I recommend that you at least take a gander at these four:

Cesar Jacobi/Mutanz- Pythonesque surreal animation and cool t-shirts (among other work).

BBH London - Very elegant, fluid layout and amazing commercial work.

SectionSeven Inc. - Slick 3D foldout animation.

Ole Häntzschel - Clever use of distortion, illegibility, and rollovers.

If you've still got time, here's two more:

Sonido - Nice "Word Search" Menu Metaphor.

Nile Studio - Russian design studio with a typical horizontal portfolio but very trippy cyrillic type work.

Have you seen any good examples of horizontal design that aren't on inspiredology's list? They've got to be out there...

Image Courtesy of Môsieur J..

Back when it was the latest thing, I wrote about Modernista!'s new "website", which is really more like a widget that connects you to Modernista!'s pages on Facebook, Flckr, Wikipedia, etc. I thought then and still think now that this approach is WEB design in the truest sense. They didn't design a something that people view on the web; they designed a way to do something with the web. The essence of the web is connectivity, and the folks at Modernista used this connectivity itself as their site.

The infinite, even fractal, connectivity of the web is uncontrollable, as they themselves highlight at Modernista.com, "The menu on the left is our homepage. Everything behind it is beyond our control." Their site is transparency itself, which means that they don't try and spin the news, for example, even when it's not really that great.

The fact that layoffs are the most prominent news that you'll find on the Modernista! site today (February 18, 2009) led the AdFreak to remark, "Downturn not kind to Modernista!'s anti-site," and AdRants to snarkily quip, "Modernista Promotes Own Layoffs."

I think they miss they point. The web forces transparency on organizations and individuals. The real question is whether you are going to ignore that you are already exposed, or seize the day and expose yourself (you know what I mean).

A couple weeks ago, Mr. Randall Rothenberg published a manifesto on interactive advertising creativity, which I missed at the time but discovered thanks to a post by Alan Wolk on whether or not creativity still matters.

Mr. Rothenberg's lengthy (by web standards - it took me minutes to read rather than seconds) manifesto is a well-written, informed, and impassioned defense of inspired creativity as the heart and soul of advertising, as that which not only gives it value but, more importantly makes it meaningful to the lives of real human beings. Against the rising tide of commoditization, he says, "We must stop acting as if we're selling schmattes, and start acting like the makers of magic that the best of us are -- and always have been."

Aside from pointing out that Rothenberg explicitly confirms my assertion that interactive design is a team sport - "There are several new skill sets creative agencies today must possess to attract, engage, and influence consumers -- Flash video development, software design, information architecture, animation, CRM, iPhone app design, and ActionScript development among them -- and no one individual will have expertise in all" - I would like to highlight one other critical point he makes: Great advertising is not aimed primarily at consumers; it's true "target audience" are the employees of the company that it promotes:

"This is perhaps the most important reason advertising creativity matters. It inspires the marketer. It encourages the sales force. It provides them, and all the other constituencies in and around the company and the brand, the faith that they will be able to sell the product in to the retailer, close the sales on the dealer's lot, win new commissions, and better their own lives. Great advertising is their rallying cry, the flag they march under. The mouseclick must be matched by their heartbeat."

Forget about the customer for a second. Does your creative work actually inspire your colleagues?

The PhizzPop Design Challenge is a web design and development competition sponsored by Microsoft. As I understand it, the overall purpose of PhizzPop is to familiarize the design and development community with the power of Microsoft's Silverlight.

To that end they've arranged a PhizzPop tour through various US cities. In each city, agencies are selected for the competition, trained on Silverlight, and asked to complete a design challenge, and then present their solutions at a rocking event. The next scheduled tour stop is in Los Angeles on February 20, 2009.

This is the third go-around for PhizzPop and this year they've added an online version of the challenge to allow folks to participate even if they aren't located in one of the tour cities.

Why am I pimping PhizzPop on this here blog? Cuz Aquent is a sponsor and Aquent Graphics Institute (AGI) provides the Silverlight training for all participants competing in the Design Challenge. And I've got nothing but love for AGI.