Monday, June 28, 2010

The Deed

As they say, the deed is done.

The new site has gone live. I think it's fair to say that if we were our own client, we'd be hissing.

Love the site, every single thing, now, can we just...cue tweakage.

You can see for yourself. And, if you are of the keeping every thing up to date variety, you can go ahead and scrap this feed.

As our parting gift, an innocuous link that pokes fun at designers and their friends.





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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Whoosh...

Blowing dust off the blog.

((cough))

Squinting eyes to reacquaint clumsy fingers with Blogger.

((cough))

We've threatened before, but this time it's real. The Trampoline site is going live. We'd tell you when, but then we might have to work late. [insert eye roll]

We are, what you might call, fine tuning, albeit between author's alterations, impromptu field trips to campuses in Boston and other necessary Tramp-to-dos.

We like that you keep coming back and we regret the lack of fresh content. Stop by, there's never any shortage of freshness at the studio.

-Your Tramps

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Go SUNY | Adirondack

Congratulations to SUNY | Adirondack on the momentum of their strategic plan.

Today's coverage in The Chronicle was great.





Looking forward to the months ahead.



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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Tips of the hat

Sending a big congratulations to Chris and his platinum team at Scoville Jewelers on their massively successful* Super Sale before this year's SuperBowl. Special thanks to Davidson Brothers for their help in making each gift that much better!




Looking North, a hearty "Way to go" to the entire team at Oscar's. Jerry and Joq, along with their incredible team, reopened their doors to great fanfare. Seeing that kind of community support and celebration is proof of a great business**.







*Not for nothin', but most of the Trampettes got a little bit of sparkle ;)

**And boy, do we have the brats, bacon and More Than Mustard to prove it!


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Monday, February 8, 2010

The Sell

Mack Collier (@mackcollier) was tweeting that the issue most companies have with blogs (after "not having one") is this: Failing to deliver relevant or quality content and an inability to use it for business development. We have certainly been guilty of the blog as press release or portfolio approach.

Mulling what Mack said, it occurs to me that we might be able to talk a bit about "the sell." It really doesn't matter what the product or cause is. Seriously. Just like social media doesn't have a back door secret to being a cure-all for your marketing woes, the sell cannot be a sham. There are charts and graphs, how to books and lecture series presenting all the ways in which you can magically do x, y or z, but when it comes down to it, it's just like losing weight.

It's about the person.

The honesty.

The accountability.

Resolve. Tenacity. Willingness. Focus.

The sell is knowing who you are talking to and how what you are selling pertains to them. I'm not talking about amortizing the cost of a vacuum cleaner out for 3 years so that it is really only 23 cents a day. That's crap for a person on a budget— smoke and mirrors, nothing more. The sell shouldn't be speculative or projecting some feel good thing that at the end of the day does not benefit the person.

Do you believe what you are selling? Do you really believe that if I do what you are asking— wear it, eat it, buy it, give it— that I am genuinely going to reap the benefits?

Or, when the door is closed and the camera is off is the truth that you are just chasing a number, a goal and I am but a direct line or an unfortunate detour along that run?

We are people. Each of us with our own insecurities, capabilities, advantages and capacities. If, when you offer the sell, you do not sincerely take those things into account, if you put your own motives ahead of how I feel, you will fail. You may get me this time, but when the buzz of your potion wears off, I'll be left feeling used or swindled.

Social media, consumers and your bottom line will all eventually reveal the truth in whether you are offering something of value or are just one more snake oil salesman trying to steal my last dollar.

How you do what you do is up to you, but if relevance and quality are central to success, are you on a course to fail?



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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Risky Business

We take risks and then, sometimes, we don't. Others do.

We've long had our insurance through the O'Briens. A while back they came to us for some brand insurance. They were totally game nodding and diving head first into every aspect of the brand overhaul, with one exception. They were vehicularly gunshy, hesitating to do the full brand monty with their cars.

Until one day, they did.



And the Risk Mobiles were born.






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Friday, January 22, 2010

Tramp Stamp Turf Style

There is the client experience and then there's the *client* experience. Ken Reynolds is the latter, pushing us harder, cracking us up and generally reminding us that we have really cool jobs. Ken knows cool jobs, he is in the golf simulator business.

We're working on a number of the things for him, but our favorite is the logo.



Why?

Because Ken calls it his "Tramp Stamp."




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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Sowing Seeds of Thanks



We are very lucky to do what we do.

We're even luckier to be doing it here in the Adirondacks.

Luckier still to work with the people we do.

Seasoned Greetings.







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