Megan Plaksiy, an award-winning student at The Art Institute of Tampa, describes herself as a creative professional with a passion for graphic design and its development and execution. With experience in package design and brand development as well as special skills in illustration and digital photography, Megan will be a valuable addition to the PeakBiety creative group.
James Ferrell is a multi-talented student with the Zimmerman Ad Program at the University of South Florida’s School of Mass Communication and will be graduating in May. With interests ranging from account management to music, he describes himself as design conscious, detail oriented, a team player, reliable and occasionally ridiculous. We welcome James and some occasional comic relief.
Holiday Wishes
PeakBiety Awarded Prestigious AdWords Certification
Tampa, FL – PeakBiety branding + advertising is proud to announce its recent recognition as a Google AdWords Certified Partner, one of only seven in the Tampa Bay area. This certification is a globally recognized stamp of approval, showcasing knowledge of the latest AdWords tools and best practice techniques.
To become a Google AdWords partner, a company must meet strict eligibility criteria. Rigorous certification exams must be passed which illustrate practical expertise in managing account and the ability to help clients get the most from their budgets. Additionally, a sustained volume of AdWords business must be maintained over specified periods.
An advertising product and Google’s main source of revenue, AdWords offers pay-per-click and site-targeted advertising for text, banner and rich-media ads. There are a variety of products including short text ads appearing in search engine results as well as image ads that run on Google’s Content Network.
If you’re interested in scheduling a demonstration to see how this cost-effective tool has helped other clients, call Glen Peak at 813-289-8006, extension 114 or email gpeak@peakbiety.com.
PeakBiety branding + advertising® services local, regional and national clients in a variety of business sectors. The agency focuses on adding value for its clients by improving customer perceptions. This commitment is summed up in the agency’s promise, “the power of perception®.”
PeakBiety is also one of the few agencies in Tampa Bay to meet the strict requirements for membership in the prestigious American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As).
Eye Candy Time
Interning at PeakBiety
by Maria Boutzoukas
I can honestly say that during my nine-week internship with PeakBiety, I have learned more than I could have imagined.
On my first day I was told that they had just started a major project and I would basically get to see the process on how a major project is completed from the beginning. I was very excited because even though I have worked on projects for my own clients and for class, I knew that this wasn’t going to be the same. It most definitely wasn’t, especially after spending an entire week researching photos, sketches, and brainstorming. I was able to sit in on meetings to discuss ideas and thoughts on the campaign and how we should go about it.
My second week involved deciding what concepts we were going to work on. We decided on 6 different campaign concepts and went from there. Each concept required a print ad, outdoor billboard, a radio ad, and a TV ad. This involved a lot of sketching, mock-ups, and critiquing.
My school prepared me for this but I didn’t realize how much time and energy is actually put into it. I was used to just coming up with an idea and then using all my time and energy to create the final product. It was a great eye opener. We then ran the 6 concepts by Glen, the president/project supervisor, to get his input and opinion on what concepts to continue with. We decided to work with all six, so we needed to complete all of the concepts for presentation to the client. We created storyboards for the TV ad concepts and the radio ads, and finalized the print ads and billboards. I learned a lot about consistency and alignment when we were going through this process.
Another project surfaced that I got to work on and it was the re-creation of a logo. I was thinking to myself, oh this is a no brainer and it will be a piece of cake…nope, not what I thought at all. I started working on the logo, making sketches like I normally would and just finding a font to use, and then, thinking I was done, I showed it to Amy, the creative director/senior art director. She explained to me what I needed to lay out and show, how I needed to search for different fonts, and try to find a variety of them. It was great because I had no idea that this was the process that a designer needs to go through when making a logo. So I was back to the beginning with a better understanding of what I needed to do. I spent more time than I would have imagined just researching fonts and figuring out which one matches well with another. After doing this, color was added in, and then placement.
Triston, another intern, was also working on this project, and it was great to see how he went about it and what his ideas were. I went from thinking that a logo can be created in a few hours to realizing that it actually takes a lot more time and energy, and has a very important process.
I also learned a lot about time management. We were working on about three or four projects within the same week and I got to see how everything was managed. Everything had a timeline so I couldn’t spend too much time on one thing. I came to the realization that when I work on a project not just for a company but for myself, I really need to map out what days certain steps need to be completed by.
Overall, I feel like working at PeakBiety has been such an amazing experience, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an internship position at a place where they want learn and gain lots of experience. It was such a pleasure working there and I would most definitely consider my time well spent.
Maria is graphic design student at the International Academy of Design and Technology. Born and raised in Clearwater, FL, Maria enjoys expressing her creativity in many ways—including graphic design, photography and DJing. You can check out her portfolio here.
PeakBiety Welcomes Fall 2010 Art Interns
PeakBiety welcomes art interns, Triston Thomas and Maria Boutzoukas, this fall.
Triston Thomas attends The Art Institute of Tampa and is majoring in Graphic Design. He describes himself as “a passionate designer with knowledge of editorial, packaging, and branding design, one of humble temperament, and having an unmatched enthusiasm for creating new things.”
Maria Boutzoukas is a student at the International Academy of Design and Technology. Born and raised in Clearwater, FL, Maria enjoys expressing her creativity in many ways—including graphic design, photography and DJing. Maria is also very active in the community, and has designed logos and T-shirts for a variety of organizations.
Extend the Power of Your Brand
As new technologies offer exciting ways to influence audiences, it is increasingly important to communicate a consistent brand value across multiple-media platforms. PeakBiety has been utilizing the power of perception® to maximize brand values for more than 20 years. We work hard to be a business-building partner by bringing ideas to the table that work across whatever channels are right for the brand. In this spirit, we’d like to highlight some of our newer services that can powerfully extend your brand communications.
Eblast Campaigns Email campaigns are a cost-effective way to keep in touch with customers and prospects. We handle everything from project planning to creative concepts, to design, to copywriting. We’ll even execute delivery working with email marketing software, manage databases, schedule programs and track results.
Case Study: Numara After a complete branding of the Numara Software company, we were asked to help promote their newest version of Track-It,® a help desk and asset management solution. What made Track-It® different? It provided optimal customization for multi-users’ functions within an organization. So, we developed an Eblast campaign highlighting the idea of a personalized solution by contrasting two completely different users with different needs. Our client’s product is the most widely installed help desk and asset management solution in the world.
Interactive Media & Flash Flash and interactive presentations can help bring your product or service to life with audience involvement as well as animation, motion and sound. We strategize, concept, storyboard and script presentations. We also execute and produce the media using a host of software applications such as Flash, After Effects and Camtasia—all with extendibility in mind to get the most out of your budget.
Case Study: Persystent
Persystent Software, a company making business-level PC recovery software, sought to significantly improve awareness of its unique products. They wanted to communicate how they help PC users remain productive and work ready at all times—whether on or off a network. After alternative creative concepts were developed and tested, a “graphic novel” execution was selected. Among other pieces of a larger campaign, this animated flash banner was developed for Persystent’s homepage to quickly communicate the product benefits in a dramatic and engaging way, and direct viewers to download a demo. Inquiries elevated to record levels.
Online Media Planning & Buying With limited ad budgets, relevant and targeted advertising is essential. We’ve taken our 20 years of media-buying savvy and adapted to the online world, developing efficient and effective plans utilizing new technologies. Our experience with geotargeting and retargeting has provided proven results.
Case Study: Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program™
The Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program™ educates the public about best practices to conserve and protect water resources. After a season of unprecedented freezes, they wanted to reach homeowners in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties with information about cold-tolerant plants and methods of replanting which reduce the need for water, fertilizer and pesticides. We geographically and behaviorally targeted Web banners to reach homeowners in a three-county area, interested in gardening and landscaping. Over a two-month period, the landing page logged almost 3,000 unique hits, with approximately 24% of them resulting from click-throughs on the banner ads.
Search Engine Marketing Also known as SEM, this form of internet marketing promotes Web sites by increasing visibility within search engine results. The many forms of SEM include paid placement, contextual advertising, paid inclusion and search engine optimization (SEO).
Case Study: TECO
Tampa Electric works hard to balance growing demands for electricity with environmental responsibility. For their new Energy PlannerSM program, we developed a campaign encouraging customers to save energy, lower the cost of electric bills and help the environment. Web banners ran on multiple local sites including TBO.com and TampaBay.com. Geographic targeting was used to reach only those consumers in the Tampa Electric service area. Recently, a search engine marketing component was added to reach consumers expressing an interest in greening their homes or lowering their electric bills. From April through May, 2010, Tampa Electric benefited from an amazing 1.3% clickthrough rate which is well above the accepted national average of 0.02-0.04%.
Social Media Development A social media campaign, like any medium, needs a clearly defined strategy in sync with the overall brand strategy. What you are trying to accomplish—sales, awareness, discussion or even goodwill—will determine which social networks make sense and how to utilize them. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and blogs can build consumer dialogue and promote a brand or product message.
Case Study: Cancer Research Alliance
Home to nine Nobel Prize winners, Cancer Research Alliance (CRA) member centers have a long history of groundbreaking achievements in cancer research. PeakBiety developed a cause marketing campaign around the theme, “The infinite power of one.” An integrated campaign involving email marketing, Web banner ads, radio spots and a Web-aired video explained that if everyone gave just one dollar and pasted the message on to their friends, cancer research would be pushed ahead. In addition to giving a dollar, donors were invited to add their photos to a cure mosaic on the site to “change the face of cancer”. Within weeks, the site went viral as word spread through social networks about being part of such a worthy cause.
Web Design Our strategic process of developing Web sites starts with identifying goals, audiences, and brand considerations. Once objectives are defined, we develop architecture, write copy, design graphics, create layouts and orchestrate programming. Our Web sites come with built-in search engine optimization features.
Case Study: Tampa Bay Water
Tampa Bay Water develops and delivers high-quality drinking water for the region. Having produced several effective annual reports for them, they knew we had a good understanding of their business. They needed a Web site that would allow them to communicate to the public their mission, as well as new projects and developments. The site, TampaBayWater.org, is now ranked in the top 24% of all Web sites for traffic by Alexa (a service that measures traffic for millions of sites on the Internet), and has an excellent score of 91 from grader.com.
Web Banners & Videos Banner ads are the most common form of Web advertising and can be very effective when targeted appropriately. Video content enhances Web banners with more graphic content and special effects. And once produced, video content can be cost-effectively repurposed for a multitude of uses.
Case Study: Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program™
To educate homeowners on how to manage landscape recovery efforts after extreme cold weather, the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program™ needed a turn-key communication program. In response, we developed an integrated marketing campaign including direct mail, newspaper, Web banners and a landing page, RightPlant.org. The theme, “Rethink before you replant” carried throughout. Utilizing video in the banners helped capture viewer attention and drive traffic to the landing page for more information. Over a two-month period, the landing page logged almost 3,000 unique hits, with approximately 24% of them resulting from click-throughs on the banner ads.
Announcing Our Spring 2010 Art Interns
PeakBiety is pleased to welcome three art interns this quarter.
Lisa Cox is a senior in Graphic Design at the Art Institute of Tampa with past responsibility for all major college marketing materials including flyers, brochures, billboards, posters, email blasts, identity design, and more. Talented, employing both sides of her brain, Lisa is an IT wiz assisting students and faculty with computer software and troubleshooting. In addition to being an awesome designer, she maintains and repairs video, audio and photography equipment for the school. And she’s an active student member of Ad2 Tampa Bay. Is there anything she doesn’t do? We’re trying to figure that out.
Liz Hyler comes to us with a BFA in Graphic Design having graduated May, 2009 from Kansas State University. With extensive freelance design experience under her belt, she is a valued contributor to logo design and brand identity projects. Her award-winning talent has garnered 1st place in K-State’s Forever Proud Young Alumni logo design, runner-up for the K-State Olathe Innovation Campus logo design, and runner-up for K-State’s Center on Aging logo design. Liz is also an AIGA member since 2008 and was an officer in 2009. She’s also a proud member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood. With her many accomplishments, accolades and associations, we are honored to have her working with the PeakBiety creative team.
David Miller is a senior at the Art Institute of Tampa working toward a BA in Web Design and Interactive Media. His accomplishments include building a learning assessment tool for The 50 States, constructing an interactive video player component with Adobe Flash and developing a movie trailer titled, The Combo Kid, using Adobe After Effects. David also assisted in the production of a short documentary about Ybor City titled Cigar City. If that’s not enough, David is an IT department associate maintaining equipment rentals, conducting print services for students and faculty, and monitoring computer labs.
Announcing our Winter 2010 Art Interns
PeakBiety is pleased to welcome three art interns this quarter.
Josue Franco is a senior in Graphic Design at the Art Institute of Tampa, and compares himself to an octopus: “Ever changing, shifting and wafting in accordance to its environment, the octopus has a great ability to adapt to its surroundings meticulously. My designs are flexible and adaptable to various approaches, media and styles.”
Alejandro Valdivia is also a senior in Graphic Design at the Art Institute. Alejandro describes himself as a creative problem solver, decision maker and team player, and has several years of freelance experience. He says “I’m a firm believer that simplicity is key. The attention span of the target audience is limited and finding a way through the maze of advertising that is already out there is challenging to say the least. That is why, usually, less is more.”
Nick Brower graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA in Advertising Design in November. He is eager to gain real-world industry experience and strives to create ads that not only solve problems but are also works of art.
