Delicious Coffee in Under a Minute — Trust Me

I will say that working with the Keurig people was especially pleasant because they sent me a coffee machine of my own so I could get the "full experience." And, let me tell you, once you go single-cup brewing, you never go back. Got an order of K-Cups on the way, as a matter of fact. Pumpkin Spice anyone?

Anyway, I worked with Wilde Agency to help Keurig launch a promotion to small businesses. There were several different versions and, fascinating though they all are, I'll spare you a bit and include just one of the envelopes, one of the sales letters and a few pages from the longer brochure. Drink up!

All designs by Doug Geer.

Another Season, Another Reebok Mailing

Ah retail, there's a certain beauty in its predictability. For every new season, there must be new styles. And for every new set of styles, there must be new direct mail. Did Elton John write "The Circle of Life" about retail mailings, after all?

Not that I know of. But he definitely could have.

Here are the spring direct mail pieces for the Reebok Outlet store, the first set of which promotes the breast cancer awareness concept. All designs by Nicole Dickinson.

Data Back-Up: Tape Libraries Are Sooooo Two Thousand and Late

If you've got, oh, tons and tons of information that's integral to your business, you've got to store this information somewhere. And, for years and years and years, businesses have been backing up this information every night to tape libraries. Now, tape used to be the definitive way to go; say, when Bananarama came on the scene. But do you remember what your Walk-Man did to your Bananarama cassette? Or, how after repeatedly rewinding and fastforwarding to listen to "Cruel Summer" again and again, the tape finally just disintigrated? That's a lot like what can happen to your integral business information when you back up to tape libraries.

Enter Exagrid, whose digital back-up systems will save your assets. This was a three-dimensional mailing, so the images might look a little wonky, but I'm confident you'll be able to get the gist. All designs by Nicole Dickinson.

Simplified Parts Sourcing

So, to make a long story short, when an engineer is designing a new product, they often don't have the best information about the parts to use. And, often, it's difficult to get the information about the best parts to use from Sourcing because there's no simple system to use. Then, when the best parts chosen for the design, the design ends up in multiple rounds of approvals until things can get straightened out.

Bummer, huh?

So the good folks at Endeca have come up with a system that makes it easier for both the Design and Sourcing departments. Below is the direct mail piece we sent to both departments (the front was the same and the backs were customized.) All designs by Nicole Dickinson.

A Lovely Reception From AT&T

There I was, back at Wilde Agency, this time creating direct mail pieces to entice customers into AT&T mobile stores. The following are a couple of concept mock-ups. Enjoy.

Designs by Beth Story

Big Goings On at the Reebok Outlets

Forty percent off store-wide at the Reebok Outlet store is no joke. Putting in some time with the fine folks over at Wilde Agency, I worked on creating concepts and copy for direct mail pieces to convey this darn good deal. Here's a pre-finalized image of one of our directions.

Design by Beth Story

My Shop On Swan Song

Well, right before I left, the rest of the Marshalls team and I went through a comprehesive rebranding of the Shop On campaign.

Here are a couple of pages from the "Aren't You Bright" direct mail piece. This is all swipe imagery, but the copy, oh, the copy's for real. Design by Melody Olbrych.

What's More Terrifying Than Halloween?

Paying too much for your costume.

Or, at least, that's what we on the Marshalls creative team would like you to believe. Here's a look at one of my favorite iterations of this year's Halloween DM. It changed to a different look and feel as the direction from brand changed, but this was some copy I was sad to see go - especially the Halloween 2007 tag line on the back.

(Design by Pope Carlos)

Huzzah for New Campaigns!

Oh Marshalls Laws, I hardly knew ye...would be a lie. I knew you only too well. I've know the agony of fitting in an event message, a savings message and a cute little quip into eight words or less. Again and again and again. You paid my bills for a long time, but there's a new game in town and we're giving you the boot.

Enter the "Shop On" campaign (as created by Mullen Advertising). It's an empowered yet playful call to shoppers of the world, encouraging them to revel in the delight of shopping and celebrate the spectacular savings at Marshalls.

To that end, here are some pages from our Men's Fall DM. It's actually much longer than this, but I've pulled out some of my favorite lines. The piece is aimed at women who need to shop for fall clothes for their husbands, boyfriends or sons. (Or all three. I'm not here to judge.) Take a little peak and don't miss the first line of the last page. A personal favorite that went over big with the brand, as well.
(Design by Pope Carlos)

Summertime Shopping Enticement

So, here in the retail world, we live many months into the future. You are living mid-spring and we are living back to school and fall. "What's happening in the future," you ask? Tunics again. And cures for all debilitating diseases.


I'll return for a moment, though, to your time and share with you a few pages of the oh-so-lovely summer direct mail piece, as designed by the talented Miss Melody Olbrych. Bask in the glow and then give in to the urge to buy sandals. (Digression: have you actually been in to a Marshalls Shoe MegaShop, speaking of sandals? Divine. And this is coming from someone who usually has a hard time with the whole "joy of the hunt" paradigm.) Without further ado:

Shoe Strategy

Here's a little concept I'm particularly proud of because it hit what our brand was looking for spot-on. One of the designers (Melody - it's often Melody. She's an insanely good partner for both concepting and design) and I were challenged to come up with a way to convey the key points of the Marshalls Shoe MegaShops (name not our doing) to frequent and infrequent customers. The crux of the Shoe MegaShop is that it is a much larger selection of family shoes in a layout that lets people shop by shoe and not by size. This direct mail piece was being sent to announce that the already-existing Marshalls in their area had just opened this new department.

And so, without further ado, the middle panel of copy from our "Stepped Up/Step In" concept:


(Design by: Anthony Shea and Melody Olbrych)