Customer turnover is a real worry in the banking world, and, after 90 days, it’s common for many customers to just leave. We didn’t want Academy Bank’s customers to do that, so we thought up some ways to improve their experience and help them get more out of banking. Our first idea was to give out free money, but evidently that wasn’t in budget, so plan B it was.
A few years back, we helped non-profit KVC Health Systems completely overhaul their branding and websites, an effort which involved a lot of asset creation up front for a vast range of collateral across their different organizations. That same year and every year since they have come to us for help with designing their annual report.
We’ve been hard at work, but how are you supposed to know that if we don’t tell you? There are a couple of projects—funny ones—we’ve been meaning to tell you about for a while now. Today feels like the right day.
A requirement for getting into a VW bus and having your picture taken is that a rad logo must be on it. Everyone knows that. So when our friend John brought his literal bus into our figurative shop, can you guess what we did? If you guessed “slapped a rad logo on it” then you friend, are the big winner.
The month of May has been a busy one. This month, we marked the end of a phenomenal project by launching a brand new website for KVC Health Systems—a locally-based nonprofit organization that does really great work for kids and families throughout the country.
After closely working with them for more than a year, KVC now has a family of six websites all newly branded with a handmade look and a message that “People Matter.”
One of the most important questions we answer for our clients is how creative services can be leveraged to achieve their objectives. They know what an agency does, but they want to know what an agency can do for them. Since a lot of creative is subjective, we often find ourselves talking about intangible benefits — customer loyalty, emotional connection, and trust. Intangible benefits aren’t the whole story, however. Creative services, especially web and application development, can also provide a business with functional tools that make life easier.
In 2010, we were at a poolside event and met an MBA student from a Kansas City college. Since Johnny Lightning Strikes Again is in the business of growing businesses, the conversation naturally turned to a concept for a bar & restaurant that he and a few of his fellow students were considering pursuing. Philosophies were shared, business cards were exchanged, and plans to discuss it over coffee were made. These conversations are always exciting, but they also highlight that there are a lot of hurdles to jump over to go from a concept to opening day.
In this case, there was one thing that made us believe that they had the right stuff to do it, however. They wanted to start with the brand.
Lyndsey Higgins, Co-Founder of Team Cocktail, was nice enough to write a little bit about their experience working with us on their branding, clothing, and web design project:
Branding is a word that is used a lot – not just in our industry, but in the business world as a whole. But what is branding? It’s a slightly difficult question, because branding is often defined not by what it is, but by the most common applications of it. Branding is when you design a logo. Branding is when you design a website with a look-and-feel specific to that company. Branding is when you mark an animal with a branding iron. While all of these statements are true, none of them can really serve as a proper definition of branding.
Branding is the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design. It is a communication tool, used to capture the message of a company and deliver it through visuals. It is not something that a company does once and then checks off their list; it is an on-going process that enables businesses to increase their visibility and achieve their goals.
If you are from our hometown of Kansas City, MO and keep up with what’s happening in local fine dining, you’ve almost certainly heard about the recent opening of The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange. If not, The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange is a phenomenal new restaurant in the Crossroads Art District with a very rich history (guys – if you visit, be sure to use the restroom and see the plaque describing what Al Capone has done in there). What does this have to do with branding, design, or marketing? Well, we had the privilege of producing the website for The Rieger, which you can check out here: http://theriegerkc.com/. While you’re there, be sure to look for the key and unlock some information about one of The Rieger’s (and Kansas City’s) best little secrets.
Thank you to Ryan Maybee and Howard Hanna for bringing this restaurant to life and allowing us to be a part of it. We’re confident that you’ll be a Kansas City landmark for a long time to come!
