The Bronze Quill

I mentioned a few months ago that Perceptivity Studio and Bacon Group, Inc. had won two Bronze Quill Awards of Excellence from the IABC. While Bacon Group kept the original awards, I ordered one for Perceptivity Studio, and it just came yesterday. Thought you would enjoy looking at our pretty new award! (It's a little hard to photograph, since it's clear, so apologies for the bad picture!)



















Stay tuned for a post about the new campaign we just launched for Bacon Group's new pre-designed shelter line, called S3 Shelters. If you'd like a sneak peak, visit the temporary website at S3Shelters.com where you can view a slideshow of their beautiful work and enter to win a $50 Visa gift card.

Notes on Efest and the Eco-Friendly Marketing Booth

As I mentioned last week, Perceptivity Studio exhibited at the Efest Green Living Festival this past weekend at a booth with our green signage partner, Precision Digital Greenworks. I am exhausted from a long two days, but energized by the positive energy from the festival.

Not only did Efest meet my expectations, it far exceeded them! There were over 10,000 people there over the course of the two-day festival, and we met so many wonderful people looking to make a difference, many of whom I hope to work with in the future to make their marketing materials more "green" and environmentally friendly.

Here are some pictures from our butterfly-themed booth:



















We had a raffle to win a trip to the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville to go along with the theme of our booth.



Sarah from Precision Digital Greenworks (left) and I had a great time at our booth on Sunday.

















I definitely plan on going back again next year!

If you're a new reader from Efest, welcome to our blog! Feel free to subscribe via the RSS feed if you use a reader or via email if you don't. (The links are in the top right corner.)

Eco-Friendly Marketing: Less is More

I read about this billboard in Denver here and wanted to share its brilliance with you:
















What a clever idea! While this message is specifically referring to the conservation of water, it applies to so many other things, and I think it's great of Denver Water to also use less billboard vinyl--and thus be kinder to the environment in the process--to get their message across. It's a great example of eco-friendly marketing, and how you can be more environmentally responsible while still using that consciousness as a marketing advantage. Instead of noticing the message less, I'm guessing most people will actually notice it more.

I'm off to exhibit at the Efest Green Living Festival tomorrow in Sarasota, so eco-friendly marketing is heavy on my mind. I just got the Perceptivity Studio "Eco-Friendly Marketing Services" brochures (printed on 100% post-consumer fiber recycled paper, of course!) back from the printer, and am co-exhibiting with my clients at Precision Digital Greenworks, an eco-friendly display company (read about their new marketing materials here), so our whole backdrop and banner stands are made from eco-friendly materials...including biodegradable PVC in lieu of nasty vinyl, and renweable bamboo for the banner stand hardware. Our booth has a "butterfly" theme to symbolize the transformation of our products and services to be more eco-friendly. I'm excited to see our whole booth set up in the morning!

If you'd like a copy of our new brochure, which features descriptions of our eco-friendly, "green" marketing services, as well as examples of some of the "green" projects we've completed thus far, leave a comment here, or send me an email and I'll get one out in the mail to you.

Tampa Bay Green Business Survey

As I've posted before, Perceptivity Studio is trying to be an environmentally-responsible business, and I've teamed up with a few other local Tampa Bay businesses to start a new group called Green Initiative Tampa Bay that will hopefully help me (and you!) do just that.

We're still in the planning process, so we've developed a survey to help us understand how other businesses in Tampa Bay (and elsewhere if you're not local!) feel about "going green" with their businesses with questions involving opinions, eco-friendly business practices and more. I sent a link out to many of you this morning, but if you didn't get it, here's a link to the survey:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228CHSLD6YQ

The more feedback we can get, the better, so please take a few minutes (it's quick, I promise!) and let us know what you think. I will post more information about the group once we get it going. Thank you in advance for your help!

Perceptivity Studio will be exhibiting at Efest!

Perceptivity Studio has been focusing on eco-friendly marketing with our clients for a while now, and we're excited to take that focus one step further--we'll be exhibiting at this year's Efest in Sarasota on November 15th and 16th.

Efest is "a major green living music and arts festival that unites hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals that care about our environment," and we're hoping to reach like-minded businesses who are looking to make their marketing efforts more eco-friendly with our green marketing materials (like business cards and brochures), green promotional items (like recycled pens and water powered clocks), green display materials (like banners, signs and trade show materials), electronic media (like websites and email newsletters) and eco-friendly identities (logos that reflect eco-conscious companies).

Want to read more about our eco-friendly, "green" marketing services? Visit our website and click on the "green marketing" button at the bottom of the page. Want to check out Efest? Their website is www.efest.us.

Eco-Friendly Marketing

I just took the Design Can Change pledge to make Perceptivity Studio a more eco-friendly design studio. There’s nothing particularly strict about the effort, it’s really just a set of guidelines that gets the ball rolling. It's something we've already been moving toward, but today was an official commitment to making it happen. Over the next few months we're going to make an effort to not only make our business more eco-friendly, but also to help our clients produce more eco-friendly marketing as well. Stay tuned for more blog posts on eco-friendly marketing topics you can think about on our next projects together.

We've already started helping our clients be more eco-friendly with their marketing efforts. We've talked a bit in the past about our efforts in green printing for Tanglewood and Accelerated Momentum. While it does cost a bit more to print with a green printer, it's wonderful to see tangible results of the actual difference you're making by spending just a bit more money.

Of course the "feel good" aspect can only take you so far, and eco-friendly marketing can also be a smart marketing decision, especially in an industry where being "green" is becoming more important, like construction, architecture and engineering. Perceptivity Studio has been helping our clients in these industries explore different ways to promote their LEED (which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a designation by the U.S. Green Building Council to signify sustainable building practices) services.

• We already mentioned printing Tanglewood's business cards with a green printer, and we just recently printed their letterhead and envelopes with a green printer as well. This development and construction company is part of the USGBC, and spends extra time and money to incorporate green building practices in their historic renovations and new construction. It was important to them to produce eco-friendly marketing materials, and we added a "100% Recycled" symbol to each piece to let their customers know that they'd made the effort to be more responsible.

• Bacon Group Architecture is also a member of the USGBC, and principal architect Rick Bacon is a LEED Accredited Professional, meaning that he's passed the test to prove he has the knowledge and skills to successfully steward the LEED certification process. Bacon Group has mentioned their sustainable architecture services in their company brochure and on the home page of their website, and we're working on a cut sheet for their brochure to explain the LEED certification process to their customers, since it can be a bit confusing. Bacon Group's eco-friendly identity package was all printed on recycled paper as well.
  

• Engineering Matrix is also a member of the USGBC, and a good chunk of their staff has obtained LEED AP status. Many of their projects have obtained or are in the process of obtaining LEED certification. We highlighted their Eckerd College Iota Complex project in a direct mail campaign a few months ago, and we've developed a very "green" sustainability page on their new website, launching soon. (Stay tuned for more on this fun project!)
  

We're very lucky to have clients who share some of our sustainable philosophies, and we really look forward to helping you all learn more about the small steps you can take to be more eco-friendly with your marketing and business over the next few months.

If you have any specific eco-friendly marketing questions you'd like answered or topics you'd like us to cover, leave a comment or email us. In the meantime, consider visiting the Design Can Change website. Their Resources section has all kinds of good information to get you started being more eco-friendly with your business!

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Welcome to the Studio

Welcome to Perceptions from the Studio, the official blog of Perceptivity Studio. Check back frequently for enlightening posts on marketing and advertising related topics and exciting new work completed for our wonderful clients.

If you haven't already been to our website, visit now to view our portfolio and learn more about the company. Are you ready to get started on a new project? Contact Jenni McKay today at JMcKay@PerceptivityStudio.com or 813-857-2071.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you back soon.