Loyalty cards have become a necessary evil.  If you don’t have one, you are probably missing out on some savings - especially at supermarkets and drug stores.  So like most of us, you end up attaching them to your key ring or stuffing them in your wallet only to fumble for them when you are at the checkout.

Well, two smartphone apps hope to change this experience for you: Cardstar and Key Ring.

Cardstar and Key Ring are loyalty card repositories. Loyalty cards can easily be entered on both apps. Loading your loyalty cards is very easy. You choose retailers from a list or if your retailer is not listed, you can manually add it. The Key Ring app has a built-in barcode scanner that captures the barcode using the camera function. Eight of the nine cards I own were accurately scanned and loaded into the app. Cardstar requires you to manually enter each loyalty card which took me 10 minutes or so.

In my testing of each of these apps, both of these apps work very well. However, I found Cardstar to be slightly better. Accessing the barcode of a loyalty card only required a single click (versus two clicks on Key Ring). Cardstar also had a lot more coupons and offers for my loyalty cards than Key Ring. Either way, both apps work well and simply the management of loyalty cards.

More importantly, these apps have a tremendous opportunity to become much more than that. Besides being very convenient, these apps could become very essential to shopping. A great feature from Key Ring is the ability to select a coupon from a retailer and have the savings automatically be applied at the checkout counter. Key Ring has initially signed up several dozen grocery stores and continue to expand into other categories. The next evolution of these apps involve the integration of LBS (Location-Based Services). By integrating LBS into these applications, retailers could send you a real-time offer or an on the spot promotion right in the store - maybe even narrowed down to a specific aisle.

What do you think? Is there a future for these products?

The brilliant packaging and design of The Rolling Stones masterpiece, Exile on Main Street.

Tuesday, May 18th marked the re-release of what most music critics and fans alike agree is The Rolling Stones at their finest, the album Exile on Main Street.

This classic album is ranked seventh on Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Greatest Albums of All Time” list.
Though he thought all the material had already been used for the album, Rolling Stones‚ front man Mick Jagger was asked by Universal to find some bonus songs.

And yes, he did.
10 never-before-heard tracks.

The 18-track double-album was originally recorded in a few different locations, in a non-consecutive manner.

At Olympic Studios in London, Richards‚ mansion in France, and Los Angeles, where the real Main Street inspired the album‚s title.

It was originally released in 1972.

Exile on Main Street’s cover design artwork and was created by John Van Hamersveld.
When the buying public took their first look at the design and imagery of the sprawling record cover, most people admitted that they didn’t “get it”.

Having just soaked in Warhol’s ultimately-iconic zipper cover for Sticky Fingers, fans should have been ready for anything, but John Van Hamersveld’s designs seemed to confound them, asking them to digest a rough, anti-establishment, punk-before-there-was-punk collage of images that may have, initially, combined with the unfamiliar musical stylings to impact sales (don’t worry, as the record was supported by the now-famous 1972 American concert tour and songs such as “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice” got some significant radio play, the record went on to top the charts in the U.S. and the U.K.)

Fans and critics finally, got it.

The Stones spared no expense in re-releasing this classic masterpiece.

They always have understood their fans appetite for art, design and pushing the boundaries of marketing and merchandising.



Their blazing red and black stick your tongue out at the world iconic logo is still one of the most recognizable brands id’s in the world.

The Rolling Stones “get it.”

Sure you can download this double album and new tracks online.
Watch it upload every song.
Hear it and experience nothing but the music.
Not that that’s all bad.

But as the Stones see it, why would you want to do that when you can buy a vinyl/cd/dvd limited edition box set for $179.99 and be there, again.

You can tear off the shrink-wrap just like you did back in the 70’s.
When you can pore over the liner notes and photos of this vinyl masterpiece, with reproduced postcards from the original album, get a 64-page book with photos from the recording in France to the Tour of 1972 by photo legends Dominique Tarle and Ethan Russell.

This re- release takes you back to 1972 to experience this music as it should be experienced.
Frankly the way ALL music should be experienced.
When buying music in a record store was an event, something you waited for, and something you always remembered.

When you took home the prized album, unwrapped it, read the stories, the credits, hung the posters on your wall, then carefully pulled the shiny pristine album out of the paper sleeve and delicately place it on the turntable and finally and oh so carefully, dropped the needle.

Heaven.

You lost yourself in the experience, not just the music.

I bought the vinyl/cd/dvd limited edition set. Setting me back that $179.99.
And you know, it was worth every penny.

Check out the brilliant packaging and merchandising created for this album.
Yes, nostalgia and memories comes with a heavy price tag.

You can pay $2500.00 for a limited edition set of 1000 that includes among other goodies, 3 posters each hand signed by Mick, Keith and Charlie.

Or you can buy the road case complete with reproduction hotel room keys, ticket stubs, and a number 81-football shirt worn by Mick during the recording of Exile in France.

It’s as if you were there, part of the crew, the entourage, at the shows, and backstage partying it up with Keith.

Thanks Mick, Keith and Charlie for reminding us that appreciating music is more than just listening to it.

In the past two months, three of Allen & Gerritsen’s clients have been recognized by both the Internet Advertising Competition and New England Society for Healthcare Communications with awards reflecting design and/or executional excellence.

These clients have included:

Toy State Road Rippers and CAT Brands Launch First Digital Campaign, Best Toy & Hobby Online campaign



The Boston Celtics: Reclaiming the Championship in 2009-2010, Best Sports Online campaign



New England Baptist Hospital: Becoming an Online Resource & Community, Best Website Design



The agency was also recognized for the work it did for the 2009 MITX Awards ceremony video.

Telling An Agency Story Through the Little Big Planet Platform, Best Advertising Online Video



All and all, we have been up to some pretty excellent work with more to come!

Google, as a search tool, has existed since 1996. Google, as a verb, has existed since 2002. But the multinational public cloud computing and Internet search technologies corporation (as defined by Wikipedia) has yet to construct a brand.

Two of A&G’s team members (a thirtysomething digital guru and a fiftysomething accomplished creative director) had a friendly Facebook debate about the branding of Google and the significance of its new ad campaign, “Search Stories” which can be found on YouTube.

Google: Once Impersonal, Now with a Heart and Soul
By Gary Greenberg



For me there’s nothing more impersonal than sitting in front of a blank search bar with the multi-colored, now iconic Google logo and typing in whatever you happen to be looking for at any given time.

Nothing emotional about it.
Nothing terribly exciting about it.
You don’t ever really know if you’ll get the information you need.
You just, do it.

And like millions and millions of others I do “it” everyday.
Sometimes dozens of times a day.
Anytime of day.
Any day of the week.
It’s there for me whenever I need it.
I take it for granted now.
It’s just there.

Notice I say “it’s” just there for me.
Not who is there for me.
Google is a thing, not a person.
No face.
No real personality.
I suppose when they change their logo depending on the holiday maybe I get to see a bit of who Google is.
Google is not someone I can really converse with.
Yeah I can ask it questions, but does it really hear me?
I didn’t think so until very recently.

Until, the Superbowl ad they ran.

Perhaps for the first time, I started to see Google as having a heart, a soul.
Something that turned into a someone, that could have emotions.
Someone that feels love.
Someone that’s confused.
Someone that needs help and advice.
Someone that in fact doesn’t always have all the answers.

Someone that’s vulnerable.
Someone that’s human.

Google finally for me, put a face on their faceless search bar grew up and became a real person.
Someone I now want to share information with.
Someone I want to talk with.
Learn from.
Someone that I may want to be friends with.

Nicely done Google.
Wanna hang out?

Google Doesn’t Need A Brief. We were the brief.
by Graham Nelson



Google is a brand that doesn’t stand for anything. It stands for everything. It stands for innovation, engineering, and technology. It stands for the tools that have become a part of our lives, that define our lives.

That brings us to the Google’s newest ad campaign, “Search Stories”. As challenger engines like BING and ASK steal search share – BING’s share increased 5% in January – Google must defend it’s territory as THE search engine with better access and more productive search results and it did so by telling one of our stories, as oppose to one of its own.

So if we agree that Google is the ultimate human engine, how exactly did this phenomenon come to pass? Consider this: I recently asked members of the Twitter Group “The Next Generation” — 18-25 year olds that share their thoughts regarding life, work, brands, and technology — to define what the Google brand stands for. Here’s a sampling of the feedback that I received:

Google = engineered. (via @stuartfoster)
Google = ubiquitous. (via @alicehu)
Google = crackerjack. (via @jpotteiger)
Google = matrix. (via @tallbonez)
Google = lifesaving. (via @addy_dren)
Google = “go-to-guide” (via @TheKimSchneider)
Google = Inevitable (via @hachface)
Google = My HomePage (via @captain_pete)

I recognize the sample demo and size is not representative of this blog’s readership, but I’d be willing to bet the themes above would hold true at any size. And at the core of their responses is a raw emotion that “Google is something that I could not live without.”

Because at the end of the day, Google isn’t an emotional brand. Google enables its user’s emotions. Google isn’t a brand that people fall in love with. Google enables users to find the brands that they love. Google doesn’t have a heart. Google is an extension of its user’s heart.

Google as a brand? Irrelevant. Google as an extension of us? A beautiful story. And that’s what we’ve seen on the screen in “Search Stories”. A simple screen with search terms and results pages demonstrating the story of a relationship from start to finish.

Google didn’t need a brief. We were the brief.

CREATIVE BEHIND CAMPAIGNS FOR BUDWEISER, DUNKIN DONUTS and
JOHN HANCOCK MOVES TO ALLEN & GERRITSEN

Award winning Eivind Ueland Joins Allen & Gerritsen to Raise the Creative Bar and Land More National and Global Accounts for the Growing Agency

Watertown, MA (March 8, 2010)— Eivind Ueland, a copywriter who has created campaigns for such high profile clients as Anheuser-Busch, Dunkin Donuts, Novartis, John Hancock, CVS/pharmacy and Tyco has joined Allen & Gerritsen (a&g) as Creative Director. Ueland was most recently Copywriter and Associate Creative Director at Hill Holliday.

Ueland will report to Chief Creative Officer Gary Greenberg, who heads a&g’s Creative Ideas group. “I love Eivind’s passion,” said Greenberg. “His experience, talent and perspective will infuse the agency with fresh new ideas that will grow our existing client base and allow us to win more national and global business. He’s a perfect fit for our culture as well.”

Some of his Ueland’s most notable work includes Super Bowl ads “Replay” and “Respect” featuring the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales. In addition to 10 years at Hill Holliday, Ueland worked at DDB and Grey. Ueland has won some of the most coveted honors in the advertising industry including Cannes, One Show and Clio awards.

“Allen & Gerritsen is experiencing an exciting resurgence, and thriving when other agencies are struggling,” said Eivind Ueland, Creative Director at Allen & Gerritsen. “The leadership team and the agency’s clients are wide open to new ideas, technologies and creative methods to tell a brand’s story, whether aimed at businesses or consumers.”

In addition to Ueland, a&g has made some recent creative hires including Brian Moore, who joins the agency as Associate Creative Director. Most recently, Moore was a Senior Interactive Art Director at Arnold Worldwide, where he work on digital campaigns for Fidelity, Tyson, Bahamas, and won an Effie for the Vonage campaign. In addition to Arnold, he freelanced on interactive projects for clients including Microsoft, Gillette, Oral-B, Bose and Saab. Brian recently earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in design with a focused on dynamic media and storytelling.

Another creative hire includes Benjamin Daly who joins the agency as Digital Art Director. He joins Allen & Gerritsen most recently from Oasis, where he was a Senior Art Director and Flash and Motion Graphic Designer. While at Oasis, he worked on the Titleist, Foot-Joy, Marshall’s and Standard and Poor’s accounts. Prior to Oasis, Ben worked was an Interactive Art Director at Arnold Worldwide developing digital campaigns for Progressive, RadioShack and TRUTH.

About Allen & Gerritsen

Always focused on what’s next, Allen & Gerritsen (a&g) strategically combines technology, creativity, media and analytics to develop digital, experiential and traditional branding experiences. Ranked by Advertising Age as one of the Top 50 Independent advertising agencies in the US, a&g creates conversations and builds connections that contribute to the bottom line. Their roster of global, consumer and BtoB clients includes the Berklee College of Music, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, The Boston Celtics, Fallon Community Health Plan, Hannaford Supermarkets, KemperSports, MFS Investment Management, Ninety Nine Restaurants, New England Baptist Hospital, Toy State, Waters Corporation and Zildjian.

Check out our killer creative from the past year. Thanks to everyone involved for all your hard work.

In the days of yore, that would be back only 10 or so years ago, marketing musicians and bands was the job of the record companies. They produced the marketing materials, which usually consisted of press kits sent to radio stations, promo materials, displays and posters for record stores, and the occasional ad in a trade pub.

The band would tour of course. Hoping to gain interest in their new album by playing live. The tour would boost sales. More records/CD’s sold. Ta dah. Everyone was happy. Or were they?



Fast forward to 2009. Web sites, social media and marketing, and free music downloads have changed the music marketing landscape. And now the bands are marketing themselves as is the case of Boston based rock band, Endway. http://www.endway.com/


Endway felt that the best way to get notoriety was to give out their music for free – bypassing iTunes, Amazon and the record labels – and use Web 2.0 technologies to connect with their fans.

And in return for free tunes, Endway suggested fans donate to local charities through their web site. The money donated would then go to a favorite charity, the Boston Ronald McDonald House. Donating all music sale proceeds to a charity had never been done before, how could we get the message out and make this work? By using web 2.0 technologies.

a&g developed the Endway web site as a portal to existing social media applications. Instead of developing a video sharing platform, a&g used one that was already freely available – YouTube. Rather than develop a photo-sharing application we connected to the best – Flicker. For creating multiple contact points with the band, a&g encouraged Endway to further develop their presence on Facebook MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Pure Volume - so that people coming from those sites would have content and links back to the “home” site – much like spokes on a wheel. These Web 2.0 tools also allow for real time content updates, heightening Endway’s connection to their fans, and vice versa.

Within the site itself, a record of all user interaction tracks videos and photos uploaded (through Flickr & YouTube), comments posted, shows attended, friends referred, etc. This allows Endway to identify and reward their “super fans”.

So visit www.endway.com today, download some free music, make a donation and enjoy what’s become Music 2.0.

Cool huh?

bodyco is a new-concept, high-end group training facility that offers all athletes, from beginners to elite competitors, a new kind of training experience that empowers everyone to achieve their fitness goals.



bodyco needed our help to tell their unique story everywhere. On the web. In video. In print. On TV. They even asked for our help in designing the gym itself, so the bodyco space would look and feel as unique and powerful as its training model.



We wanted people to know that when you walk into bodyco, you’re gonna work. But you’re also going to become a part of an incredible training community. Simply put, when you train at bodyco - You. Fit.

Partnership for a Drug-Free America came to us with another challenge. They asked us to createa multi-media campaign that would empower parents to find the information they need to talk to their kids about drugs. This campaign is designed to tell parents that it’s not as hard as they think, and they don’t have to go it alone. The knowledge and tools they need to learn how to talk to their kids about drugs are waiting at pdfa.org, from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.





Clearly there’s a better way, and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America is it.