modern8 eNews: September 2002

A successful brand implementation touches areas not always associated with marketing. Congruence occurs when all marketing efforts, no matter how indirect, are speaking with a unified voice each aligned with the Brand Contract. The Brand Contract is the target audience “take away” after engaging the brand.

The first three steps in 5d, the brand design process employed by modern8, are the pre-design steps that define a profile of the brand attributes, the brand contract and the target audience. These three steps -— Discover, Distill, and Depict are used alone in a Perception Branding consultation or they can be used as a critical first step before a major design or advertising initiative. The complete 5d process is outlined in a Flash demonstration in the About Us section of the modern8 website: www.modern8.com/?page=what

NIC, the nation's largest supplier of online government services, touts the recognition recently received in the 2002 Best of the Web awards in Government Technology magazine. Six of the twelve winners are NIC government partners. NIC advertising, created by modern8, continues to use the existing logo, while awaiting completion of a brand overhaul that will soon replace the corporate identity.

The third in a series of local industry ads feature Justin Milo, modern8 designer/programmer in a characteristically odd pose. The ads are intended to personalize the company and position modern8 as a design consultant for branding and marketing communications. Subsequent ads will feature other employees.

Following a similar design in the printed invitation, modern8 also created a Flash-enabled email blast to promote the appearance of a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of "How Cool Brands Get Hot with Teens". The Utah Advertising Federation sponsored the speaker. The Flash animation anwsered the question: Which youth culture segment prefers TV dinners? View it at www.modern8.com/uaf/

modern8 was asked to donate creative services to Salt Lake County Aging Services. The County coordinates a transportation service to senior citizens needing help visiting the doctor, or going to the store, but depends on volunteers to drive the vehicles. Recognizing that success promoting the program and recruiting volunteers depends on professional communications, the County asked modern8 to help on a pro bono basis. A logo has now been completed and accepted and will soon be applied to posters and brochures.

The adjacent property immediately west of our building is being remodeled into the Hong Kong Tea House Restaurant. We are excited about the improvement to the building. Not so excited about the obstructed view from our window. / Randall Smith, modern8 creative director, came back from an industry conference in Scottsdale, Arizona last week with deeper insights into branding, business management and what it’s like to mountain bike in 106 degree temperatures.