June 26, 2007
Montreal’s makeover
MONTREAL—The Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal has announced it is rebranding Greater Montreal. This major project is expected to take a year and will involve dozens of individuals including elected officials, marketers, designers and the general public.

The region’s end goal is a dynamic visual identity and standardized graphic image to promote itself on the international scene. To accomplish this, it has selected the services of National Public Relations, Léger Marketing and Desjardins Design.

Their efforts will be overseen by a steering committee of “institutional players active on the international scene,” according to a press release from CMM.

Calling it a collective, collaborative process, CMM is seeking suggestions and comments from elected municipal officials, socio-economic and cultural stakeholders, branding experts and the public through focus groups and web surveys.

This winter, the design team will begin developing the city’s brand strategy, which will include a logo, slogans and positioning statement. Charles Desjardins of Desjardins Design, assisted by Pierre Léonard, president of the Société des designers graphiques du Québec, will manage the design team.

Visit www.brandinggreatermontreal.com to offer your ideas and suggestions.

Dossier celebrates the brands of its labour
VANCOUVER—Dossier Creative celebrated its 20th anniversary mid-month at its 5,500-square-foot studio.

Current and past clients, suppliers, associates and friends joined Dossier to commemorate two decades of “birthing brands” – the event’s theme. As Dossier has spent much of the last 20 years working with several prominent wine firms, it felt it was only fitting to have wine tasting featured at its birthday party. It uncorked bottles of one of its brand creations, Le Clos Jordanne.

Other brand start-ups Dossier has “birthed” include Naked Grape wine, Amica Mature Lifestyle seniors’ residence, Ryza rice drink, Bija tea and Mike’s Hard Lemonade cooler.

“We are probably best known for the birthing of Mike’s Hard Lemonade, a disruptive brand that also spawned an entire new beverage category: hard lemonade,” says Don Chisholm, Dossier co-founder and creative director, in a released statement. “The birthing process started not from a battery of data but from the open-ended premise: to attract males that currently drink beer. In the process, we created the irreverent, anti-marketing brand story, named the brand and designed the radical packaging.”

Dossier has also helped relaunch brands for clients such as Coca-Cola, Vincor Canada, Sleeman, Okanagan Springs and Coast Capital Savings. Contact: www.dossiercreative.com

Perennial’s fashionable retail design wins top prize

Perennial recognized for innovative store design

TORONTO—Earlier this month, local design firm Perennial was recognized for its work on Mendocino’s Toronto flagship store.

The fashion retailer’s Yorkville location, which opened last fall, received an Excellence in Retailing award from the Retail Council of Canada in retail store design. The award recognizes innovative and visually enticing store layout and design.

Mendocino wins retail award for design

“Mendocino is all about uncompromising, of-the-moment style… Our goal was to use design to bring that brand promise and Mendocino’s eclectic character to life,” says Donna Lawson, director of environmental design at Perennial, in a released statement.

Its Yorkville store has been such a success that Mendocino enlisted Perennial to redesign its Yorkdale mall location. Contact: www.perennialinc.com

June 18, 2007
Big wins at National Magazine Awards
TORONTO—Walrus creative director Antonio De Luca and his team of designers, photographers and illustrators received four honours at the National Magazine Awards last Friday. Walrus scooped up a gold for best art direction for a single article (The Teenage Brain); and silvers for its art direction for an entire issue (Bird Flu Fever), an illustration by Graham Roumieu in Hijacking History, and the cover of its Alberta Cash Cow issue.

Azure won gold for best cover at the 30th NMAs

Azure and Concrete Design Communications took the gold for best cover (Water) and a silver for the homes and gardens category.

enRoute won two golds: for André Doyon’s still-life photograph They Are the Champions and the other for best words and pictures article (Made in Canada).

Toro was also awarded two design golds for Michael Harrington’s illustration in Here Be Monsters and Adam Hilborn’s spot illustration, The Modern Man’s Trophy Wall.

Prefix Photo, and Underline Studio, won gold for art direction for an entire issue (Face Values 13) and silver for Barbara Astman’s still-life photograph, The Newspaper Series.

For a complete list of the 30th National Magazine Award winners go to www.magazine-awards.com

June 13, 2007
Muze Creative throws its support behind local festival
VICTORIA—As part of its pro-bono portfolio, Muze Creative of Victoria has designed the marketing campaign for the 2007 Victoria Dragon Boat Festival, held August 17 to 19.

Two of the six posters designed by Muze

The campaign includes in-house promotions for festival sponsors Telus and Fairway Market, posters, advertisements, buttons, t-shirts, a website and lanterns.

Muze designed labels for colourful Chinese lanterns that are sold as part of the Lights of Courage campaign, one of the fundraising events at the festival.

Lanterns from last year's festival

Muze Creative has supported the festival for a number of years but this year decided to help by creating the entire branding strategy for the event. “Branding and getting that level of polish is a lot of work for the volunteers,” says Muze Creative partner Carol Hyland.

In celebration of its 10th anniversary this year, the design firm wanted to take on more not-for-profit work and “give back to the community,” says Hyland. “[This festival] is a nice one because there is a lot of spill over into other non-profits organizations.”

The festival raises money for the Victoria Hospitals Foundation and the dragon boat teams, such as the Breast Strokers, raise money for their individual charities. Contact: www.muzecreative.com

Recognizing excellence in digital design
VANCOUVER—Fjord Interactive art director Jacqueline Jung won designer of the year at the Canadian New Media Awards, which recognizes outstanding talent in the digital interactive industry.

Jung receives new media designer of the year award

Jung started out as a print designer. Two and half years prior to joining Fjord Interactive, a division of Cossette Communications, Jung worked as a freelance designer and for a multimedia firm, also based in Vancouver.
“I believe I was meant to design for the interactive arts,” says Jung. Her clients at Fjord include McDonald’s, Bell Canada and Tourism BC.

Impressed with the quality of work presented at the CNMA awards gala, held recently in Toronto, Jung says: “I’m so happy to see Canadians are leading the way in developments in digital media.” For instance, she says, our involvement in the next generation of installation work and free form mobility.

For a complete list of Canadian New Media Award winners, visit www.cnma.ca

Blockbuster deal for DDB Canada
TORONTO—Blockbuster Canada, the country’s largest movie and game rental retailer, has selected the Toronto office of DDB Canada as its advertising AOR. DDB beat out 24 other agencies for the account.

Blockbuster is impressed with DDB’s track record of success in both creativity and business results, said Kimberly Clark, VP of marketing for Blockbuster Canada, in a released statement. “They demonstrated a great understanding of our business and a willingness to deliver beyond our advertising needs. DDB is the total integrated resource we were searching for.”

DDB’s marketing program for the Blockbuster brand in Canada will include television, print, radio, online and customer relationship management strategies.

Blockbuster operates over 440 stores in 10 provinces across Canada. Contact: www.ddbcanada.com

Competing for the grocery cart
VANCOUVER—Karacters Design Group in Vancouver created the packaging for Sun-Rype’s latest Fruit to Go children’s snack, Squiggles.

Karacters designs new product packaging

The illustrated fruit snack boxes and foil wrappers, drawn by U.S.-based illustrator Chris Lensch and designed by Karacters designer Jennifer Brown, feature jungle scenes of kids and animals enjoying the licorice-shaped product.

“We wanted to show them having fun with the product,” says Karacters Vancouver managing director Anne Farrer. “We wanted it to appeal to both girls and boys and didn’t want to skew it one way or the other.” Contact: www.karacters.com