11.22.14

“A Story in Every Stitch”

Janome is one of the leading manufacturers of sewing machines worldwide. Not exactly a household name (unless you’re part of the hard-core sewing community), Janome makes innovative machines from basic sewing, quilting and embroidery to specialty machines for overlocking, embroidery, and fiber arts—a machine for every level of sewist.

You might ask, “What the heck is a sewist?” Well, according to Wikipedia, Sewist is a relatively new term, combining the words “sew” and “artist” to describe someone who creates sewn works of art, which can include clothing or other items made with sewn elements. Janome fully embraces and supports this community of craftspeople (the vast majority being older women) by producing machines which inspire creativity and innovation, yet are simple to use.

I recently had the great pleasure of working with Janome in collaboration with the strategic wizards at Winsper (Boston). Winsper was hired to assess the company’s overall brand and marketing communications. A thorough brand audit concluded that Janome’s advertising messaging was inconsistent and staid, looking rather old and frumpy. The solution: a brand makeover. We needed to take this cherished brand and give it a fresh look & feel and an authentic tone & voice that would not only resonate with the core audience of older women, but also appeal to a growing younger demographic.

After exploring a plethora of strategic creative directions the team rallied around one simple, big idea called “Stitch Stories.” The premise of Stitch Stories is based on Janome’s understanding that behind every hand-crafted blazer, prom dress and table runner is a sewist with a story. A quilt becomes a family tapestry. A handmade shawl becomes an heirloom. A red pillow becomes a symbol of hope and renewal. Using technically-advanced machines from Janome, sewists can weave their authentic stories and personalities into everything they create. Distilling this notion down further gave birth to our campaign theme line—A Story in Every Stitch. Voilà! A fresh, unique idea that leverages the power and emotion of storytelling to artfully connect and engage with our passionate and loyal sewist audience.

Conceived as a fully integrated, multi-channel marketing initiative, A Story in Every Stitch will come to life through TV to Twitter. Currently in soft launch mode, the campaign will fully blossom in the coming year.

09.29.14

“Harley-Davidson-Anderson”

I first discovered the talents of Andy Anderson in the pages of Outside and Men’s Journal magazines. Little did I know then that Andy Anderson, photographer extraordinaire, was also a firefighter in the United States Air Force. Apparently, back in the mid 90s, Andy’s wife bought him a camera when he was stationed in Alaska for a year. He started taking pictures. A few years later, upon retiring from the Air Force after 20 years of service, Andy started shooting pictures full-time…and the rest is history.

My first project with Andy occurred during my Carmichael Lynch years. I hired Andy to capture images for the 100th Anniversary H-D MotorClothes catalog. The catalog project was a smashing success and the beginning of a great friendship.

Andy Anderson is a bear of man with an artful eye for making pictures. His location productions are smooth running operations perhaps due in part to his military background and no-nonsense attitude. That said, Andy has great soft skills and is one of the nicest, easy-going people you’ll ever meet. But beware, he is a prankster.

I witnessed this first hand as the recipient of one of his practical jokes. We were in Alaska shooting in Denali National Park as part of a multi-state/location shoot for another Harley-Davidson project.

It was 11:00 PM and we were waiting for last light. (Which in June, this far north, the sun never really sets.) As the sun skimmed the horizon it started getting cold—the kind of cold that seeps through your clothing, chilling you to the bone. With motorcycle in place and the crew ready for action, Andy motions me over. He’s under the black camera hood, slightly bent over, framing the shot. Expecting some last minute creative collaboration, I walked over to discuss. Appearing abruptly up from under the hood, Andy turns and quickly douses my already frozen body with an ice cold 16 oz. bottle of water. This trickery quickly turned into a short-lived wrestling match which was not in my favor from the start. I soon found myself upended in a patch of dwarf tundra willow, cold water trickling down my back, ego slightly bruised.

Yet despite the twilight shenanigans we got an amazing shot, and I got the last laugh. If you ever have the great fortune to work with Andy, ask him how his Harley-Davidson Alaska shoot went, and what he found in his jacket pocket a few months later.

More of Andy’s work can be found in the Harley-Davidson and Harley-Davidson MotorClothes case studies in the Work section of my site, and at andyandersonphoto.com.

08.25.14

“The science behind a better butt”

Every once in awhile you get the opportunity to work on a project that leverages your creative juices and passion for a brand you know first hand. This recently happened for me working on a project for Life Time Fitness where my family and I are long-term members.

For those not familiar with the brand, Life Time Fitness (based in Chanhassen, MN) is one of the largest chains of mega-fitness centers in North America. Many of its large high-end facilities operate 24/7 and feature personal fitness instruction, salons, food courts, large child centers, and indoor/outdoor pools.

The challenge/opportunity my creative partner (Jill Palmquist) and I faced was branding a new training program called Core 3. Unlike most training programs, Core 3 uses a holistic scientific systematic approach to health and fitness through a combination of comprehensive assessments, personalized nutrition plans and customized workouts. Not only do people get stronger and fitter, they become more knowledgable about the science behind it. Now add a passionate Life Time trainer as your guide and you have the perfect formula for creating a stronger, smarter you.

Although the execution of the actual campaign evolved to a somewhat different look & feel, the original work Jill and I presented to Life Times’ internal creative agency (as seen above) helped inspire the tone and bold graphic equation which lives today.

The integrated campaign elements as presented included print, POP, collateral, digital, web video and TV.

08.12.14

“The Art of Big Data”

Mention the term Big Data to the average person and visions of the NSA, Big Brother, and cold corporate giants often fill their head. Now insert the term into a sentence containing words such as inductive statistics, nonlinear system identification and petabytes and you really have heads spinning. We’re not just talking the average Joe, even well-schooled business MBAs swallow a little harder when the conversation turns to big data. Ah, but fear not, for you and your company have a friend.

Welcome to Teradata.

While the name implies data (really big data) it also represents a company that although data driven also understands—big data is people. Teradata’s proprietary analytic platforms, applications and services help companies uncover insights that help improve business and the lives of the end user—the customer’s customer. Put simply, Teradata helps companies do amazing things. Things like helping health care companies scour over an entire state’s health records to pinpoint people who are at risk for certain illnesses thus improving patient outcomes and reducing costs.

So you might ask, what’s Ray’s professional influence on the world of Big Data?

(Thanks for asking.) Turns out I recently had the great pleasure of collaborating with the super smart folks at Winsper (a strategic marketing agency in Boston) in creating a brand refresh for Teradata. Our challenge was twofold: define Teradata as one of the expert guides for whom businesses can rely on to traverse the complex landscape of today’s big data universe—and while elevating their leadership position—humanize the Teradata brand.

The brand refresh involved creating a proprietary look & feel, tone & voice that would dance with the greatest of ease across any channel from TV to Twitter. Centered around the simple, yet powerful brand platform of “When you know more, you can do more.” my copywriter partner, Mike Gibbs, and I created an artful, non-technorati campaign which juxtaposed expressions of leadership with imagery of simple human moments and perspectives that reflect some of the vertical industries in which Teradata specializes. In essence, we put a human face to big data. The integrated B2B campaign is a multi-channel initiative including website, video, print & digital ads, social, brochures, email and Power Point. (Teradata case study coming soon to my main site.)

Ad copy reads: The closer you look at the world around you, the more data you see, and the more you need Teradata. We help leading companies unify and analyze massive amounts of data to discover new ideas and insights that lift them above parity. It could be an idea that changes the way one customer sees your company. It could be an idea that changes the way your company sees the world. Learn how our analytic platforms, applications, and services can help your company do amazing things at Teradata.com.

06.22.14

“Germans Have More Fun”

A couple summers back, while filming a fun, quirky video campaign for the New Ulm Tourism Association, I found myself atop the 102’ tall Hermann the German monument with New Ulm’s 8″ unofficial Ambassador of Fun. Standing there in the late afternoon sun, with the city of New Ulm stretched out below me, brought back memories of my youth. My father (Ray Jr.) was born and raised in New Ulm so we often made the relatively short trip from Minneapolis to visit my grandparents. My grandfather (Ray Sr.) owned a hardware store on Main Street. Fesenmaier Hardware was a classic hardware store and sold everything a small town home owner in southern Minnesota could ever need. My grandparents, like the majority of New Ulm’s population back then, were 100% German. Although born in America, both spoke flawless German. In fact (to our great amusement), when they didn’t want us grandchildren to hear something they would effortlessly switch from speaking English to German and back again. My grandmother, “Dolly,” as was her nickname, was a tiny woman standing barely 5’ tall. But what she lacked in height she more then made up for in the kitchen as she was an amazing cook. At any given time, she would have some sort of authentic German dish going on the stove or oven.

In New Ulm, now more than ever, German pride is busting at the seams. It permeates the town’s history, culture and is celebrated in a variety of unique venues and events such as August Schell’s Brewery, Veigel’s Kaiserhoff restaurant, Turner Hall, Brown County Historical Society, Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, and at seasonal festivals such as the annual Oktoberfest.

Summer is finally here and it’s one of the best times to experience all that New Ulm has to offer. I highly recommend spending a long weekend, and by the end I bet you’ll agree—that Germans do indeed have more fun.

For a glimpse into the plethora of fun, unique venues and activities New Ulm has to offer, check out the New Ulm case study in the Work section on my main site.