Strategy/Writing/Design | Connecting your message with your markets
How do you set yourself apart in a crowded field? As B Plus C Communications, I wrestled with that question until I realized that my cat’s successful bids for attention achieved the same results as a successful marketing campaign. Solution to the capabilities brochure problem: Showcase the cat and tell his authentic story. Use his … Continued…
At Crown Hill Cemetery, the third-largest non-governmental cemetery in the U.S., one of its most famous of its memorials honors Mary Ella McGinnis, who died on August 6, 1875, at the age of six. If you stand in just the right spot at the right time of day, her monument appears to return your gaze. … Continued…
This Italian restaurant established its identity with billboards, television, and radio. Television and radio spots shared the same scripts. To tie its menu to family-style comfort food, out-of-home messaging centered around two tag lines: “So good, you’ll leave home for it” and “Every bite as good as it looks.”
Orthopaedics Indianapolis wanted to promote its services directly to employers and parents. I wrote two ads that used original illustrations based on the character of Humpty Dumpty, the fallen egg in need of rescue. One message promoted the need for expert orthopaedic care to resolve workplace injuries. The other, addressing families with athletic youngsters, pointed … Continued…
A publishing executive who attended the 1963 March on Washington was moved by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech to create an organization designed to increase the representation of people of color in influential positions within American corporations. He established INROADS as a non-profit network of locally incorporated non-profits serving … Continued…
Girl Scouts of Central Indiana provides organizational leadership for girls and adults in a large number of Hoosier counties: 35, at the time GSCI embarked on a capital campaign to replace its longtime office space with a building more suited to its mission and its people. I researched, wrote, designed, laid out, typeset, and produced … Continued…
Naming a new company means creating an identity that’s not already registered for online use, which explains some of the (in my humble opinion) downright goofy names you see. For a tech-tutorial website concept focused on graphics software, I suggested the name “Undon’t” as the opposite of “Undo,” and created this logo to highlight the … Continued…
Madam C. J. Walker became America’s first self-made female millionaire. This dynamic entrepreneur founded a cosmetics empire with a product she created to treat her own hair loss. She built her company in Indianapolis, Indiana, along with an architectural gem of a facility that combined a theatre with spaces devoted to community use. This building … Continued…
[Please note: I’m only allowed to share the scripts of these spots and can’t identify the client’s location.] ——————– Lonnie’s customers describe their experiences at other vehicle repair shops, including franchises and dealerships, as a source of frustration. “How do I know whether the price is fair and the repairs are necessary! I’m not a … Continued…
The Copper Development Association launched an online microsite designed to promote the advantages of brass in manufacturing. On modern high-speed machine tools, brass offers significant versatility, machines quickly, and leads to minimal tool wear. In many cases, manufacturers can switch parts from other metals to brass and gain a high degree of efficient profitability. This … Continued…
For a technology-oriented company that specialized in providing computer systems and services targeting the graphic arts, I created a typographic logo that matched up precisely geometric letter forms with a swirling, graceful ampersand. The combination of hard-edged and curved shapes echoed the focus of the client’s business, aptly named for its products and its customers.
When the accounting firm of Lee R. Ford & Associates wanted a new logo, I created a two-color identity design featuring a trio of interlocking plus signs, symbolizing the mathematical underpinnings and precision of the firm’s practice. An optical illusion produces one of the plus signs out of the void between the other two, giving … Continued…
The Phoenix Theatre, an Actors’ Equity member institution, presents diverse plays, including recent Broadway hits (which it’s often the first Midwest theatre to stage) and new works by Hoosier playwrights. It mounts its productions on two stages in a renovated church that’s been its home since 1988. Faced with ongoing needs for updates to its … Continued…
The City of Indianapolis committed $19.6 million to a project targeting one of its major east/west arteries, 38th Street, originally dubbed Maple Road. This busy thoroughfare evolved from a residential corridor to a site for small commercial districts that served burgeoning northern suburbs, and eventually became a conduit across the city rather than a destination … Continued…
Crown Hill Cemetery embarked on a Master Plan to support this historic not-for-profit institution’s restoration, preservation, and community-partnership needs. Following up on the opportunities and challenges identified in this document, the Crown Hill Heritage Foundation used direct mail to reach its donor audience with a message about the cemetery’s origins. Titled “From Strawberry Hill to … Continued…
[Please note: I’m only allowed to share the scripts of these spots and can’t identify the client’s location.] ——————– Most people mistrust used car sales operations, often with good reason. Many use high-pressure tactics to sell substandard vehicles at inflated prices. Aubrey’s wanted to use humorous depictions of customers’ worst fears to differentiate itself from … Continued…
Many not-for-profit organizations, especially those that provide vital social services to otherwise under-served populations, stand or fall on their infrastructure’s ability to support their programming. When Boone County Senior Services outgrew its longtime headquarters in Lebanon, Indiana, its not-for-profit foundation embarked on a capital campaign aimed at raising the $2,000,000 necessary to build a new … Continued…
Animal overpopulation contributes materially to euthanasia rates when unspayed and unneutered cats and dogs breed, and their litters become strays. In Indianapolis, Indiana, the percentages of stray and surrendered animals euthanized at the city’s two animal shelters vastly exceeded comparable statistics in smaller metropolitan areas and even entire small states. The Indiana Companion Animal Network … Continued…
The emerald ash borer first reached the United States in the 1990s, stowing away in wooden shipping crates bound for Michigan from China. In the emerald ash borer’s native habitat, many trees display natural immunity to it. Not so in the U.S., where thousands fall prey to the insect’s devastating effects every year. At historic … Continued…
Founded in 1863 as a not-for-profit institution, the third-largest non-governmental cemetery in the United States occupies 555 acres in the heart of Indianapolis, Indiana. Crown Hill Cemetery relies on its not-for-profit Heritage Foundation to fund the preservation and restoration of the historic treasures on its grounds. The Heritage Foundation calls on B Plus C Communications … Continued…