November 28, 2006
Diesel rearranges letters, comes up with new name
MONTREAL—After nearly a decade of being mistaken for a fashion label, locally based marketing agency Diesel has decided to change its name to Sid Lee .

“It was time for us to move on and choose a name that was ours and that we didn't have to share,” company president J.F Bouchard told The Globe and Mail.

Diesel is also the name of an Italian clothing manufacturer, best known for its line of designer jeans.

Sid Lee began as a design firm in 1993 but has since morphed into an ad agency with a client list that includes Cirque de Soleil, Red Bull, and the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas.

The agency's new name is an anagram of Diesel, a fact that is featured prominently on their redesigned website www.sidlee.com

Ad agency expands into a growing market sector
TORONTO—-GJP Advertising + Design is launching a new practice that will focus solely on the land development industry.

"In the past, a lot of land development marketing has been undifferentiated and hasn't taken a multi-disciplinary approach," said GJP executive vice president Kevin Pfuhl in released statement.

"We recognized a need for this growing and competitive industry to have access to more creative and multi-channel marketing solutions under one roof."

The advertising agency has hired Brian Steinhauser and Michael Willson as the heads of the new practice.

The two co-founded the advertising agency Buddhabutter in 2004, which will now dissolve as Steinhauser and Willson bring their old clients over to GJP.

"We understand the land development industry and our client's unique needs," said Steinhauser, in a written statement adding, "our work isn't just about making sales materials look good but about transforming the buying process into a lifestyle experience and creating the traffic clients need to achieve their sales goal in a very competitive market."

GJP specializes in planning, branding and design, as well as print and broadcast advertising and analysis. Contact: www.gjpadvertising.com.

November 23, 2006
Design City show wraps up successful launch

Attendees visit the Design Edge Canada booth

TORONTO—The first Design City event ended a successful three-day run last Monday. Graphic designers represented a significant portion of the 10,000-plus attendees at the combined Design City/Print World trade show held Nov. 18-20 at the Direct Energy Centre.

Sponsored by Design Edge Canada magazine, Design City featured leading suppliers to graphic designers, including software companies, printers, paper mills, stock photo agencies, specialty services and organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council Canada and RGD Ontario. For a gallery of photos, click here.

It was also announced at the show that Design City 2007 will take place Nov. 8-10, 2007, as part of Graphics Canada. For more on Graphic Canada, visit www.graphicscanada.com.

Rare Method's Roger Jewett and Brian Clegg

Marketing firm makes another acquisition
CALGARY—Interactive marketing firm Rare Method continues to grow, acquiring locally based online and custom web software developer Stone Monkey Media.

"We acquired Stone Monkey due to its experience in developing relevant and usable software solutions for a variety of clients," said Rare Method President Roger Jewett, in a released statement.

The move to acquire Stone Monkey Media comes on the heels of Rare Method's acquisition of web design and development company Ground Level last month.

Representatives from Stone Monkey Media, whose client list includes the Calgary International Film Festival, Visions Electronics and TELUS, say they are excited about the acquisition.

"Joining a fast growing and dynamic interactive marketing firm like Rare Method is great timing for us," said company president Brian Clegg, adding "we have been looking for the ideal partner."

As was the case with Rare Method's acquisition of Ground Level, terms of the cash deal were not disclosed. Contact: www.raremethod.com

Creative director returns to TAXI
VANCOUVER—After spending over a year with DDB Canada, Michael Mayes has decided to return to TAXI as the creative director of its new Vancouver office.

New creative director of Taxi Van, Mike Mayes

"Im delighted to return. It's going to be exciting to bring Taxi's unique culture, energy and experience to Vancouver," said Mayes, in a released statement. He left TAXI Canada in the summer of 2005 because he wanted to move out west.

Officials with TAXI Canada are thrilled to have Mayes, who was the only Vancouver-based creative director that was considered for the position, back in the fold.

"As a business graduate with creative brilliance, Mike has that very rare left and right-brain balance that clients love," stated company President Rob Guenette.

TAXI's Vancouver office is scheduled to officially open in 2007, but Mayes will begin working for the company in early December.

"To work for the best agency in Canada and in my favorite city. There will be nothing like it," Mayes said. Contact: www.taxi.ca

November 22, 2006
ADCC awards celebrate best in Canadian advertising and design
TORONTO—-There was a new format for the Advertising and Design Club of Canada’s annual awards gala last week. While attendees may have been a little thirsty as they sat through the awards presentation held in the MacMillan Theatre, they did remain parched for long. An after-party was held at the Royal Ontario Museum, which sits adjacent to the theatre.

This project won Publicis Toronto a gold in the stationery category

The design category gold winners of the evening include GJP Advertising + Design for packaging and Nolin Branding & Design for typography. Toronto’s Concrete Design Communications took home best in brochures. Publicis Toronto won gold in the stationery and the newspaper ad, single categories.

Other print advertising gold winners include DDB Canada, Vancouver for public service ad, campaign; TBWA/Toronto for advertising posters, single; Vancouver’s Rethink for best advertising innovative/non-traditional, single, and advertising multiple media, campaign; and Zig won two golds for advertising photography and for non-profit/public service websites.

Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide Canada won three golds for its own company website in the corporate image, B2B and self-promotional website categories. Leo Burnett Canada walked away with a gold for advertising best art direction, single or campaign.

In editorial design, Walrus magazine took home three golds for art direction for a single article, art direction for an entire issue, and illustration. Report on Business grabbed two golds for best cover and spot illustration. Gold for fashion photography went to Strut and for portrait photography went to The Look. And Prefix Photo won gold for art direction for a single page or spread.

Lastly, Lisa McCoy of Conestoga College won the student competition for her iPod Nano print ad campaign, Nanofy Your Life. To see all of the gold, silver and merit winners and their work, visit www.theadcc.com.

Pantone's new logo

November 17, 2006
Pantone unveils new brand identity
NEW JERSEY—-Pantone Inc. unveiled a redesigned logo last week that will be used as part of a new global branding strategy.

Designed in partnership with G2 branding out of New York, Pantone president Richard Herbert said the redesign is meant to emphasize a forward looking approach for the company.

"We decided to change our brand identity to convey the company's transformation as we expand our product lines to include innovative products that help a broader creative audience use colour," said Herbert in a released statement.

The new logo has abandoned Pantone's old solid colour chip in favour of a new transparent box with the company name on the inside. The image is meant to evoke an open window onto creativity. Contact: www.pantone.com, www.g2.com

Brian Robbins returns to Fuel Industries

November 9, 2006
Fuel Industries expands stateside
OTTAWA—-Casual gaming expert Brian Robbins has returned to Fuel Industries as executive producer and “gaming evangelist.” Before leaving in early 2006 to join Game Trust, Robbins was lead game developer for Fuel. Now based out of New York, Robbins will provide creative and technical strategy expertise to Fuel’s U.S. clients.

Robbins has been active in the online gaming industry since 1999. He is a co-founder and chair emeritus of the International Game Developers’ Association’s Casual Games Special Interest Group. Contact: www.fuelgames.com.

November 8, 2006
DesignThinkers reaches record attendance
TORONTO—-While there were slight set backs due to technical difficulties, the Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario’s two-day conference last week was very much a success. A record 809 attendees packed the theatres at Varsity Cinemas to hear a number of speakers including Bill Cahan, Jane Hope of Taxi, Kit Hinrichs of Pentagram, Sean Adams and Noreen Morioka, and crowd pleaser Brian Collins.

Comments posted by attendees during DesignThinkers 2006

“Brand identity in the U.S. has become a collection of trite clichés,” said Collins, executive creative director of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, during his presentation titled “Design Changes Everything.” Holding a black flag emblazoned with a white skull and crossbones, Collins suggested that this icon was perhaps the world’s best example of effective branding. “A brand thrives when it provides a connection between promise and performance,” said Collins. “This brand promise says, ‘You’re fucked.’” And then it delivers. Collins suggested that instead of being sailors, it’s time to act like pirates.

Neville Brody’s long discussion pleased some and disgruntled others according to comments written on the DesignThinkers wall.

“We have to constantly look at the role of graphic design and look at the state of the world and how we’re serving it,” said Brody, former art director of U.K. mag The Face. “Design is becoming a commodity. We’re not changing the messages we’re editing them. It is as if the bandwidth grows but the channel narrows. We’ve gone from high-res to low-res and now we’re aching for less technology. We’re aching for a natural analogue space.” Brody, who now runs his own international design agency, Research Studios, went on to say, “design has become sort of vacuous. We need to start asking more serious questions. We get excited about stuff very quickly but it doesn’t mean anything so we have to get excited by something else. We’ve forgotten how to trust ourselves… What now? If we don’t tear up the plans, we’ll never find out.”

For more on DesignThinkers 2006, see the upcoming Jan/Feb issue of Design Edge Canada. Contact: www.designthinkers.com

New tradeshow for graphic designers
TORONTO—The first Design City graphic design tradeshow launches Saturday Nov. 18. The three-day exhibition, held at Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre (formerly National Trade Centre), will be presented as part of the 2006 Print World tradeshow.

This “show within a show” will bring together graphic designers with vendors targeting the visual communications market. Some of this year’s exhibitors include Colour Innovations, Domtar, FSC, iStockphoto, M-real, Moveable and Quark. Additional exhibitors at Print World include Adobe, Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Xerox. Contact: www.designcityshow.com

November 1, 2006
Vancouver design shop opens Toronto office
TORONTO—Kaldor Brand Strategy + Design is expanding east. The Vancouver-based shop recently opened a Toronto office to be managed by local designer and design educator Gary Blakeley.

“Kaldor has grown at an exponential rate this year and we’ve been keen to offer our talents to clients east of Vancouver,” said Kaldor principal Sally Douglas, in a released statement. Current west coast clients include UBC, the Vancouver Art Gallery and Coast Capital Savings.

Blakeley has been designing for over 20 years in Canada, Australia and England. Most recently, he ran his own studio in Toronto and has also served as senior designer at Pronk & Associates. Clients in Canada and the U.K. have included Amnesty International, Douglas & McIntyre, UBC Press, British Rail, the BBC and the Imperial War Museum.