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The Most Epic Journey Ever (or, surviving an 11 hour drive across the prairies)

May 10, 2013 in Creative, WJ Fun Stuff with 0 Comments

When I tell people I’ve spent the past five years in post-secondary education, they immediately assume I have some sort of degree. I know my parents wish I were at least a doctor. The truth is I just wasn’t satisfied with one thing; my passion for knowing more and refining my skills took me from business school in my home province of Manitoba where I received a diploma in marketing, to a year of graphic design school in Vancouver, and back to Manitoba where I jumped into a brand new Interactive Media Arts program at Assinboine College in Brandon, MB. There I expanded my graphic design skills and added experience in web design and development, as well as had the opportunity to do a lot of freelance work with clients and start to get a taste of the industry. As my education completed, I knew I’d had my fill of Manitoba and decided to widen my horizons and look for bigger opportunities, bringing me to look to Calgary. Upon simple research, William Joseph Communications kept coming up over and over again. Whether it was great SEO or the fact that I just loved their work, I put them on the top of my list of potential practicum placements. To my luck (or lady luck?), I got in! I was going to be WJ’s newest intern!

My journey from Manitoba began with a treacherous eleven-hour drive. I left the snow banks in my rear view mirror, survived off of energy drinks to keep me awake through the boring Saskatchewan landscape (no offence to my colleagues Amy and Matt in our Saskatoon office!), and made it into warm and sunny Alberta. With the air conditioning on and Google maps leading me down some sketchy back roads, I made it to Calgary!

It’s only half way through my first week at William Joseph’s offices in downtown Calgary, and I’m already being told to write this blog. My name is Caitlin (a.k.a. Catalina, Cali, Cailtin, Cailin), and I’m the new creative department intern at William Joseph’s Calgary office for the next two months. Initial confusion over the spelling of my name aside, I was welcomed into the office with many laughs and some hilarious desktop backgrounds on my computer.

So far the entire WJ team has been incredibly welcoming and friendly. I’ve already been introduced to the office’s collection of terrible CDs only to spend the morning reliving Backstreet Boys memories between bits of crazy complicated server config talk from the developers.  Upon flipping through the huge selection of resource books available, the designer in me fell in love with paper samples and Pantone colour swatches. I was also introduced to Kris’ massive library of fonts. Over 20,000 typefaces at my disposal – a typography lover’s dream!

I cannot wait to get working on some projects with the team to see more of what they do day-to-day. As a student who spent the past five years in school refining what I wanted to do with my life, it’s incredibly rewarding to be sitting at a desk at an agency surrounded by some amazing like-minded people. I got a feeling I will definitely enjoy my time here!

Just in time for Halloween…

October 31, 2012 in Experimental Stuff, Social Media, Strategy, Web, WJ Fun Stuff with 0 Comments

In honour of the day, we present some of the scariest marketing mistakes companies are making.

With the spookiest of days upon us, it seems like the perfect time to talk about the scary mistakes that so many companies – both small start-ups as well as large corporations – are making when it comes to their marketing strategies. Of course at William Joseph, we’ve never made any of these mistakes (tsk, tsk) but we see them happening all the time (not with our clients of course) and wanted to share them with you in an effort to ward off the evil spirits that contribute to them:  a lack of understanding, imagination and sometimes just plain cheapness. So like garlic to a vampire, arm yourself with these marketing horror stories and use the knowledge to save yourself from impending danger.

Marketing Horror Story #1 – Playing it too safe

Too many companies say they want to get noticed or do something ‘edgy’ but when it comes right down to it, they get scared off by ‘what people will think’. While it’s certainly true that not all brands can get away with edgy advertisements that push societal norms, most can in fact take a few risks with their advertising as long as the core message remains on brand and is authentic. It’s also important to note that ‘edgy’ advertising doesn’t need to be crude, rude or nude but just creative, clever and original.

Marketing Horror Story #2 – Snubbing social networks

It’s true that social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are fairly new marketing channels whose longevity hasn’t yet been truly tested, but don’t kid yourself into thinking they’re a fad or just for young people. The Internet has allowed us countless ways to communicate in the most genuine form as marketers – directly with the very people who use our products and buy our services. It allows us to have discussions with, and not just at, our customers. So if your company is not using social media to communicate, or you’re not taking advantage of running a social media ad campaign, you’re missing out on an invaluable way to reach customers on the most basic level – as a ‘friend’.

Marketing Horror Story #3 – Hiring an agency based solely on price

We know, we know…. Hiring an advertising agency can be a daunting and expensive task. Every agency will tell you that they’re creative and cool, and many will provide a quote that seems too good to be true. And it probably is, for two reasons. One, they’ve purposely low-balled the quote to win the business and will then end up tacking on ‘add-ons’ as the project proceeds so you end up paying just as much, or more, by the time the project is over. The second reason the quote is so low? Because that agency sucks (and I don’t mean the Vampire type of suck) and you’ll end up with marketing materials that are evidence of that. At WJ, we’ve heard it so many times: “I choose X agency over you because they were cheaper” but the result of that cheap work was that the client was left with materials that they were so disappointed in that they ended up coming back to us at shortly after. Having wasted money and time developing the crappy stuff, they then rely on us to fix it and it ends up costing them even more money in the long term. So do yourself and your budget a favour and choose your agency based on the strategy they recommend, their design portfolio and their fit with you as a client. Not on price.

Marketing Horror Story #4 – Not taking advantage of happy customers

Anyone who owns a business will tell you that it’s 10 times easier (and cheaper) to get business from return customers than it is to find brand new ones. And that’s true…but what’s even smarter is turning those happy customers into advocates for your business. Let’s say you’ve done a great job for them and they tell you that – so why not ask them to tell others? Ask them if they’d be willing to make a Facebook status update promoting the great service they just got from you – you never know how many of their FB friends are going to see their post and seek you out. But don’t stop there. Ask to write a Case Study on the work you did for them and post it on your website or social media page, include a testimonial from them on your site, or offer them a referral discount if they send new customers your way. If someone is happy with your business/service, make sure everyone knows it!

Marketing Horror Story #5 – Death by consensus

One of the most troubling things a marketing agency can hear is “We really liked it but then we showed it to Judy down the hall and she just isn’t sure.” Don’t get me wrong…I’m sure Judy is a lovely lady who is very good at her job, but I’m going guess that Judy’s job isn’t in marketing. Way too often, the agency and the client will spend weeks, if not months, developing a campaign or marketing concept that has strategic rationale and a creative execution developed to solve the client’s problems or needs. Everyone loves it…until… someone shows it to someone who shows it to someone and that someone “isn’t sure” if they like it, and then all of the sudden the client gets cold feet without evaluating the merit of the criticism. So the next time this happens, ask yourself: Is this person part of our target audience? Do they understand the background or context surrounding the idea? And, does their opinion even matter? If the answer is no, then you know what you need to do – trust the work of your agency and don’t kill the idea.

Happy Stampede Calgary!

July 11, 2012 in WJ Fun Stuff with 0 Comments

It’s that time of year again in Calgary! Hope all of you are enjoying a wonderful 100th Stampede and we will see you out at the parties!

THIS WEEK WITH PANDA: Design 101

May 8, 2012 in Creative, WJ Fun Stuff with 0 Comments

Recently I had the privilege to take some of my acquired design knowledge and share it with a very special group of people (My Design Profs would be so proud). I’ve always had a small desire to teach ever since I left art school and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. My younger brothers teacher approached me to give a talk and short lesson on art and design and how it applies to the real world. I gladly accepted the offer and made arrangements to come up and spend an afternoon with the students.

Upon further reflection anxiety began to set in. I have no problem walking into a boardroom full of executives, marketing directors and creative types and pitching a design concept, campaign, brand identity or whatever other corporate collateral ones business may require, but the daunting task of entering a room of 10–12 year olds was frightening. Is it possible to capture a 5th graders attention for 3 hours, how does someone captivate an 11 year old on the topic of design, is it possible to back out of this? Call in sick? Reschedule or send a replacement? I figured the best way to tackle this assignment was to show examples of what inspired me to do what I do, if I could talk passionately about design maybe just maybe I could inspire their young minds to possibly go down the same road I traveled.

Some of my fondest memories of my time in school were those spent in art class, having the opportunity to visualize my uncorrupted imagination and using the mediums at hand to communicate my ideas visually, spending hours painting drawing and sculpting anything that popped into my head. One of the most beautiful things about being a kid in art class is the freedom and the lack of fear to do as you please. How I wish I could go back to those days.

Back to the task at hand, as I began to deal with the fear of standing in front a class room full of prepubescent kids, I remembered the words of my little brother, “ Can you please wear a T-shirt so all my friends can see your tattoo’s” I figured this would at least capture their attention long enough (as well as give me some playground street cred) to get through the introduction to my presentation. The structure of this presentation would be key to me surviving this afternoon. What are kids this age interested in? And how does that apply to art and design. Lets break it down. Because I’m technically still a kid at heart I tried to think of thing that attracted me to design and how it might apply to these little humans. I looked in to areas like video games, character design, architecture, industrial design, fashion, branding etc. I wanted to show the class how far reaching art and design can be, and how things that they see every day are touched by design. I was even able to throw in some art history and still captivate their attention, with the help of artists like Keith haring, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Milton Glasser, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, Gaudi and even an appearance from the Bauhaus I was able to give these kids their first introduction into the world of design to their eagerly awaiting eyes. Surprisingly these kids were hanging on my every word, it was amazing. Looking back on it I think I may have even changed a couple career paths transforming future doctors and lawyers in to starving artist, illustrators and designer, welcome to the dark side my little friends, your parents will be proud.

For the second part of the afternoon I wanted to give the kids a little taste of what its like to be a designer. So I tasked them with a little project. I challenged them to come up with there own brand and company name possibly a tag line if they felt so inclined. Once the concept had passed the teacher and my approval, they were given templates to see their logos and branding in application. These templates included Hoodies, T-shirts, shoes, snowboards and Skateboard. It was absolutely amazing to see their little minds spill out on to the paper, with no restriction the class produced some fantastic results, these kids were naturals. Check out some of the results below:

In retrospect this was one of the most rewarding days I’ve had as a designer. It made me remember how great my job really is and how fun it can be. I think sometimes we take what we do for granted and don’t realize how impactful the things we create truly are. I’m hoping to make this field trip and annual thing. Hopefully I was able to at least plant a seed in a couple of the students in the class and show them the possibilities at their fingertip. Who knows maybe one of those kids grows up to be the next super star. Look out world I’m changing design one small mind at a time.

Our final day :(

April 26, 2012 in WJ Fun Stuff with 0 Comments

How can I describe my time here at William Joseph?? In one word… amazing!!

This has been one of the best experiences I have had in a long time. Being in school for the last 4 years is no comparison to what I have witnessed and experienced in the last couple of days at William Joseph.

Today we had a chance to go offsite to a client meeting where the team pitched their concept. I have always thought that I was fairly good at presenting, but watching Scott, Jason, and Liz today made me realize I could learn a thing or two from them! They were fantastic! They were so engaging, and the main reason why is that they were so passionate about the idea that they were presenting; and over the course of the pitch you could tell that they had done their due diligence and that really, it was the right course of action and the best idea for them! I can honestly say that I am a little bit sad to go home, and if living in Calgary was not so expensive, they may have not been able to get rid of me . . .

I want to thank everyone at the office for putting up with all of my questions but most importantly for being so friendly and inviting! I am not sure where my career path will take me in the next couple of years, but if I am lucky enough to end up at company like William Joseph, I can say that it will be great career and an ultimate dream come true! – Intern1 aka Lacy

Day two of our captivity…continued

April 25, 2012 in WJ Fun Stuff with 1 Comment

After an evening exploring downtown on the C-train with my partner in crime Lacy, a good night’s sleep, and more than a few cups of coffee I was ready to take on Day 2.

We started the morning off down in the Monkey Room with the Strategy team. There wasn’t any monkey business; instead we did do some real great exercises in creative thinking. One thing that has really been impressed on me today is the impact of creative thought on the entire marketing process. The team is really great at bringing creativity into both strategy and design for their clients. It has encouraged me to try to practice actively thinking outside the box in the future.

Then it was off to help with a few administration duties upstairs, before meeting with the CEO in the boardroom. We were able to sit in on a video conference with a potential client. It was great to listen in on the meeting and try to understand the clients’ requirements and vision for their organization (which is going to be a very exciting addition to Saskatoon!- But I’m not allowed to talk about it because we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement). Ryan Townend, William Joseph’s CEO was able to describe all of the ways that the agency would be able to help them reach their goals and make the impact that they are looking for. I was very impressed by the relationship that starts to develop from the very first meeting with a client! It was also an awesome opportunity to meet the men behind William Joseph and get to discuss their company and the industry; they have really opened my eyes to the world of opportunity both inside and outside of Saskatchewan.

Next, we sat in on a meeting between Strategy and Design while they planned for an upcoming presentation. The staff here are very hard-working and kept busy with several of the projects that they have on the go, but still make time to share a few jokes and have some fun. Afterward, we stuck around and had an excellent discussion with Scott Hartley, Director of Client Services; it was so interesting we almost forgot to go to lunch! I had my first experience with a Calgary food truck over lunch before returning to the office to spend the afternoon updating contact lists and analyzing clients’ use of social media sites.

It’s been another great day, and I’m looking forward to Day 3 tomorrow!
- Intern2 aka Cera

Day two of our captivity…

April 25, 2012 in Creative, Social Media, Strategy, The Daily Town Crier, WJ Fun Stuff with 0 Comments

Today at the office was a very busy and eventful day! We started off with a ‘Smartshare’ meeting where we got the chance to learn some great creativity techniques that help to get your creative juices flowing. We went through a number of exercises, which were a lot of fun and good for a laugh when I realized that there were others that shared in my sense of humor! In the end after a couple of exercises, I learnt that I am actually creative! Who knew?!!

Afterwards we got a chance to sit in on a meeting with a potential new client and the CEO Ryan Townend. I have to say this was the highlight of my day getting a chance to see Ryan work his charismatic charm! And the only thought I had afterwards was, that if more businesses had the chance to listen to Ryan, they would understand the importance of a good marketing campaign and how beneficial it is for a company’s bottom line. It was really a great experience getting a chance to see how everyone at William Joseph is so incredibly dedicated to helping their clients succeed.

I also had the opportunity to experience a food truck here in Calgary for the first time, and I have to say the food was incredible, which was surprising to me since I was expecting it to be a lot like food you would find at the fair every year.

After one more meeting in the afternoon and some other tasks around the office, it has been an amazing learning experience, one that is above and beyond any classroom experience I have ever had. One thing I have really taken from today, is the fast pace work environment/industry that all the staff encounters on a daily basis, and all I can say is WOW! Their ability to work on multiple projects, all with different deadlines, and budgets is enough to make my head spin! Yet they handle the stress of it all as if it were the most common thing in the world and I respect the heck out of that!! – Intern1 aka Lacy

Day 1 at WJ – continued

April 24, 2012 in The Daily Town Crier, WJ Fun Stuff with 0 Comments

After an early morning flight from Saskatoon, I’ve had a long but wonderful day in Calgary at the William Joseph Communications office.  It’s been a pleasure to meet everyone that I have so far, and interesting to learn about them and what they do on a daily basis.

There is a very comfortable and collaborative atmosphere, and a great team assembled here at William Joseph (including a staff member’s dog who has kept me on my toes today).  It’s been educational and insightful to observe the staff of different departments working together, and the flow of project materials from one to the other.  While I’ve learned a lot in my courses, it can’t compare to observing a real agency in action. The staff has been great, answering our questions and showing us around. We’ve even been given our own project to work on!

The opportunity to have a behind-the-scenes look at some past and current campaign materials, and sit in on a real project meeting has been indescribably rewarding.  I can’t wait to see what is in store for us tomorrow. – intern2 aka Cera

Day 1 at WJ – our interns report in…

April 24, 2012 in The Daily Town Crier, WJ Fun Stuff with 0 Comments

Today has been an amazing experience so far into the world of advertising; and what’s great is that there are still 2 days left, which means that there is still a lot to see and learn! What I can say so far is that all the classroom learning cannot compare to what it is like to actually be in the center of it all. In any business school you spend a lot of time working in groups, and every professor will assure you that collectively you will come up with better quality ideas then when you work alone. I personally have had good and (more often than not) bad experiences working in groups. You know the experience I am talking about! That one group where one person does all the work because there is that one mysterious group member that no one seems to know or have ever met. One thing that absolutely impressed me today at the office was the level at which the staff at William Joseph works together, and ultimately the culture that they have created. The staff here is not just a group brought together on a common project, but instead a extremely strong team all dedicated to a high level of customer service, and as such they produce some amazing ideas and executions. I would feel very lucky to be part of a company like this that not only has each other’s back, but can do it with a smile and joke along the way! I am excited to see what the rest of the week has to offer and what else I can learn while I am here! – Intern1 aka Lacy

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