by: Kathleen Doyle and Michael English

While we’ve heard rumblings in the industry about the demise of Flash for some time, it has become a reality only recently. Here’s a quick history of the rocky relationship between the Internet and Flash. Back in 2007, Apple chose not to allow a Flash player plugin on the iPhone, and in 2010, Steve Jobs called for Adobe to “kill Flash.” The writing was on the wall.Read full post...

Wilmington, DE—Aloysius Butler & Clark, a full-service marketing communications agency, earned ten awards in the 32^nd Healthcare Advertising Awards, a competition conducted by Healthcare Marketing Report. Among more than 3,700 entrants, AB&C was proud to walk away with silver, bronze and merit awards in eight different categories.

According to the Healthcare Advertising Awards, entries were judged on creativity, quality, message effectiveness, consumer appeal, graphic design and overall impact. “We’re proud the work we do with our clients meets the high standards of the Healthcare Ad Awards, and that we’re able to compete and win on a national level,” says Paul Pomeroy, Director of Marketing at AB&C.Read full post...

The Heroin Trap is a New Castle County drug prevention public awareness campaign.

Heroin addiction is not a game. But can a game alert people to the dangers of the drug? AB&C teamed up with the New Castle County Police Department and New Castle County Heroin Alert Program to create a countywide campaign that alerts youth and their parents to the dangers of falling into “The Heroin Trap.”Read full post...

Our Steve Merino joined Dan Levy on Bleacher Report Radio to discuss Super Bowl commercials and the creative process. What were his favorites? Hint: You’re not you when you’re hungry.

Jonathan created an action figure of himself to land his first job in the industry.

Jonathan Mathers, Aloysius Butler & Clark’s newest senior art director, brings his passion for stellar creative to the agency’s Philadelphia office. During his 10 years in the advertising industry, he has worked on diverse campaigns including casino accounts and soft drinks. A graduate of the Philadelphia Art Institute, Jonathan holds a BA in graphic design, and has quickly endeared himself to the Philadelphia group thanks to his love of Philly sports teams (yes, even the Sixers).

Jonathan has way too much energy to contain in a standard press release, plus we jumped at the chance to talk sports with him. So we sat down for a brief Q&A.Read full post...

You can prevent and adapt to scope creep with these five steps!

Great — now that I have your attention, it’s time for the ol’ bait-and-switch. Instead of offering 10 ways to stop scope creep, I’ll describe the five things you need to prevent and adapt to scope creep. If you’re a project or account manager who has worked in an agency, you’re very familiar with scope creep, whether you have six months or 20 years of experience. If you’re lucky enough to have no idea what I’m talking about, scope creep happens when a project deviates from the original direction outlined in the project plan. It’s simply a part of the business — and the sooner we accept that, the sooner we can adjust, adapt and produce the best work under the circumstances.

Here are the five things I promised:Read full post...

Abby is a recent grad of Tyler School of Art, Temple University, with a BFA in Graphic & Interactive Design (2014). Abby has joined the team to shake things up in the design and interactive world.

“Design is the perfect combination of communication and art that allows you to solve problems in a creative way. I have an odd range of interests, but I like to use them to connect with people, or even just to help spark some ideas. Whether it’s drawing, going to concerts, finding new places to eat, hanging outside or getting sucked into some history facts, I think it’s crucial to be present and to be able to connect real-life experiences back to graphic design,” says Abby.Read full post...

Sometimes when people ask me what I do, I say, “I order pens.”

That’s a simplification, but an accurate one. I manage the “outside” items AB&C buys for our clients: printing, billboards, displays, giveaways — that sort of thing.

I’m that annoying person who insists on facts: when, where, how much, what color, what size.Read full post...

Pull up your favorite beach chair, grab a drink with a little umbrella in it and take a look at some tourism creative from, you guessed it, those cool characters at AB&C.

Print ad: Southern Delaware

Print ad: Southern Delaware

Read full post...

No matter how large or small the assignment, we harness the power of creative intelligence to ensure measurable results.

The creative process is constantly evolving. From the beginning of my career in the ’70s to today, it has kept up with — or kept ahead of — the ever-changing world we live in. But one aspect has proven to be steadfast over time: creative intelligence. It’s the most important part of the process.

When we apply creative intelligence to a marketing communication challenge, we start with research, strategy and planning. That has proven to be a solid foundation, and on it we build innovative and powerful ideas. We have an array of communication mediums that I couldn’t have imagined 40 years ago. Traditional print, TV and radio have made room for the web, social media and mobile. But the basics of successful communication haven’t changed. We use creative intelligence in everything we do, to identify, reach and engage our audiences. Read full post...

Numbers. Lots and lots of numbers. Sometimes facts and data can be really intimidating. That’s why infographics are so valuable: When we see complex data represented visually, we’re better able to decipher and retain it, and therefore better able to share it with others.

In this video, designer Francesco Franchi explains what he calls “infographic thinking”: “What we are doing is a kind of visual journalism ­— it means a combination between graphic and narrative, so it is at the same time a representation but also an interpretation of the reality.” At best, infographics not only allows us to connect with the data almost effortlessly, but engages our critical faculties and invites us to interpret it.

For a very long time, infographics were used mainly for technical drawings, maps and scientific documentation. Now we are seeing them all over the web, in magazines, throughout social networking and in our newspapers. Many go viral within days of their launch, spreading information for everyone to easily access.

Read full post...

Using science to get into the customer’s brain

One of the most interesting new business pitches I was ever involved in was when a prospective B2B client, a large and well-known electronics company, was trying to introduce a new product line. The problem was, these new products were very different from those that the company was well known for.

The client had spent considerable sums introducing the new line, yet had made little headway in the market. So they opened this assignment to other agencies.

We were briefed, we developed creative, and we took it to a focus group. The creative bombed, badly. But why it bombed was the same reason the product line was getting so little traction — in the mind of the customer, these new products just didn’t fit with the way they perceived the company.

Well, we quickly regrouped and developed new creative. But this time, rather than just introduce the new products, we built a connection between them and the products the company was known for. The new creative worked well, helping to create an “aha” moment with people in the second focus group.

In our final presentation to the client, we took them through our experience, even showing the creative that bombed. Not only did we win the work for the new product line, we became agency-of-record for the entire account. We also learned a valuable lesson in the art of persuasion.

We called it, “meeting the audience at its mindset.” Read full post...

Trips to the printer for press checks have been replaced with PDF proofs and digital copies.

My wish for print design is for it to stick around for years and years to come. In my short seven years out of college, the print design world has changed dramatically. I long for the days when I used expensive papers, die-cuts and special printing techniques on every project. I miss trips to the printer for press checks, for they have been replaced with PDF proofs and digital copies. I fear that designers fresh out of school won’t ever experience the parts of my job that I have loved so.Read full post...

Getting creative with billboard design.

Yeah, yeah — we know all about Facebook, Twitter and all the other types of social media. But where does that leave traditional media? Where does that leave the billboard?

It’s hard not to feel bad for traditional media trying to keep up with all of the new technology. But you don’t have to worry about the billboard — some very creative people (not as creative as us) came up with some very clever ways to breathe new life into these oft-maligned road signs. In fact, they may be too eye-catching — it’s easy to imagine drivers so distracted by these works of marketing art that they sail off the overpass.

Check out 50 mind-bending billboards from 10Steps.SG for yourself — but keep your eyes on the road if you drive by them.

The bi-plane cake for St. Joseph's Children's Hospital

A recent episode of TLC’s The Cake Boss (“Bi-Plane, Bridezilla & Busting Buddy”) featured our client, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. The reality show follows Buddy Valastro, the master baker of Carlo’s City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, NJ, as he and his team create amazing cakes and pastries.

During this episode, Buddy created a completely edible version of the St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital bi-plane logo and unveiled the cake at the hospital’s annual Cooking for Kids event. Although we were fortunate enough to be in attendance at the event, it was great to see how Buddy and his team created the cake and debated how to bring the logo to life. But what was most rewarding was watching the work that the AB&C team did come to life on TV. Our team updated the Children’s Hospital logo last year and also designed the posters that were visible at the end of the episode when the cake was brought to the event. But the real highlight of the show was when “bridezilla” destroyed her wedding cake and insisted on a new one for the next day!