In October of 2008, while the historic Obama/McCain presidential race was nearing an end and the stock market was taking a steep dive, DBD spent two wonderful weeks away from politics and economics in a beautiful place called "Woodplay."

DBD travelled to Raleigh, NC – the manufacturing site of Woodplay® Playsets – to supervise the photography of a completely new line of 2009 playsets and swingsets. Budgeting and preparations for the two-week production began months before with Larry Gajderowicz, the marketing manager of Woodplay. The concept of a rebirth of Woodplay began as much as a year before when Woodplay had a vision for a new product line. Larry, and division leader Kirk Williams, product manager Tom Ellingson, and vice president of sales Dave Featherman jump started the new brand and product development process in early 2008.

In late July, DBD art director Katie Peninger found the Raleigh photographer known as "f8 Photo Studios," and the search was on for locations and children. Remarkably, 70 kids ranging in age from two to 14 years of age volunteered to be part of the two-week session. A four-person team from Evansville including Katie, Phil Mowrey and Jodie Lynn of DBD and Adam Blevins of Woodplay were responsible for everything from talent scheduling, wardrobe, product scheduling, lunches, mowing grass – and even toilets (remember, there were 70 kids on site for 10 working days.) A team of only two assemblers helped build and remove the sets every day of the session. As many as 10 configurations were accomplished in the relatively short days of October.

Most important were the moments when the lights were on and the cameras were shooting. Going in to the shoot, DBD believed in the Woodplay product, of course. We were immersed in the culture of Woodplay for months prior to the shoot. And we understood well that our job during the shoot was to show children having a great time on the playsets. This, as it turned out, was the easiest part of the project.

FUN WAS EASY! The kids took to the playsets naturally – and enthusiastically. "The enthusiasm the kids showed was sincere, I had to remind myself that these kids were not acting as professional talent, but were just truly having a great time," said Phil Mowrey. "We all had a blast, forgot some of our other troubles, and totally believed in 'play' for two weeks." Also remarkable, there were no injuries to the children. "We had a first-aid kit on site that was never used," said Jodie Lynn, DBD's director of account services.

There was a tag line for the new Woodplay that had been floated for consideration. When Katie returned from Raleigh, she endorsed it all the way. "The first piece of copy we put on the layout for the '09 catalog cover was 'Every day is great day in Woodplay®,' " said Katie. "After the two weeks I had in Woodplay, I was a firm believer in Woodplay, great days, and kids!"

DBD developed the new Woodplay identity, the big idea, and the brand experience along with Kirk, Tom, Dave, Larry and Woodplay dealers throughout 2008. The new product line and new identity was introduced to all dealers in January of 2009, and is hitting showrooms in March of 2009 for the new season. Primary responsibility for all new product development rested with Tom Ellingson, and Woodplay director of product development Mike Guerzini, and engineer Dan Webb. See www.woodplay.com for details.  

When Goalrilla™, the toughest system on the planet®, developed a new basketball system that is even tougher than previous Goalrilla models, there was a new challenge to toughen up the product introduction to dealers.

A photo of an athlete performing a reverse slam is a beautiful, compelling and aspirational image of strength. And Goalrilla has more than its fair share of these tough images. The Goalrilla systems and photos can be seen in major national sporting goods chains throughout North America and on www.goalrilla.com. But, the E1 needed even more.

The most compelling characteristic of the Goalrilla E1 is the tremendous vertical strength of the system. The system can sustain a force of up to 1600 pounds of vertical torque without failure. To put this in perspective: a three-hundred pound athlete running a 4.8 second 40-yard dash and slamming on the system would apply approximately 800 pounds of vertical torque to the system. The strength of the Goalrilla E1, then, has virtually all basketball court eventualities covered. Or does it? Can it handle the entire starting five hanging from the rim? Should we even consider it?

Escalade Sports considered it. And Evan Lederman and Tim Seay, product managers for Goalrilla, chose to show this concept in the dealer promotional materials and in-store merchandising for the Goalrilla E1. DBD creative director Phil Mowrey, associate creative director Timothy vonBecker, and art director Tom Johnson first imagined the starting five hanging from the rim in a brainstorming session shortly after the project brief was written.

Tom worked with the Evansville-based photo studio Photics to produce the image. First, however, the shot required assembling a believable set of athletes from what DBD thought might be a small pool of genuine ball players in our relatively small town. Perhaps we forgot that we were in Indiana, one of the world's great centers of basketball. Twenty-five ball players turned out for the informal try-out at a local YMCA.

The starting five we selected weighed in at 1,245 pounds – including the bench and water cooler.

A half-day photo session captured the image we were looking for. Tom and Matt Breivogel, DBD graphic designer, were on hand for the bench shot. DBD art director Katie Peninger worked with Tom and Goalrilla associate product manager Autumn Alldredge, to capture a suburban driveway scene for Goalrilla E1.

Goalrilla E1 materials hit the showrooms in March of 2009. www.goalrilla.com/e1

Around the marketing department at Atlas World Group, and through the halls and walls of DBD, the concept of the Atlas® Puppy is nothing new. The loveable mascot has been ever-present since 2003, when Greg Hoover (now the president and COO of Atlas World Group) worked with DBD to create an identity that would express the broader, softer product offerings of Atlas beyond the very familiar Atlas Van Line product.

"We like to say that the 'puppy concept has legs,' – yes, we know that's a feeble attempt at humor," said Phil Mowrey, DBD creative director. "But because the puppy concept – nearly 6 full years old – is renewed continually, it does have 'the legs' to remain as the flagship for Atlas branding," stated Phil. The Atlas brand experience, for corporate buyers and consumers, continues to be received as the most professional among major providers of relocation services (as revealed in customer satisfaction surveys). Atlas director of marketing Barbara Cox keeps the puppy concept new through various programs throughout the year. And, the interest and response is measured for each trade show, direct mail, or Internet promotion.

The puppy made it to an online presence early in 2004. Yet, the puppy (actually two different white Labrador retriever puppies) has been remade several times thanks to digital technology. Today, the Atlas puppy is on line as "your best friend in relocation." The Atlas puppy is among the busiest four-legged creatures in advertising. The Atlas site receives thousands of requests weekly for instant pricing of Atlas services. The instant price feature was introduced in 2007, and improved in 2008 to be the most consumer-friendly pricing response among relocation companies. But – what else would you expect from your best friend in relocation?

Brandon Luhring, DBD director of Web development, states that "New ways to communicate with Atlas customers, are being developed and put on line every week, Atlas IT is very actively reaching out across the Web, and they are embracing the puppy [with Atlas marketing participation] as they do it."

2009 will continue to reveal surprises from the Atlas puppy. www.atlasvanlines.com

Desired or urgent news travels fast. Old rules of media clutter don't apply for Archery Promotion.

When desiring traffic for a particular event, the need for high-profile shotgun media is no longer required – in every case – to create volume. In fact, even before communities became electronic with the advent of social media (MySpace began as a social network in 2004, Facebook entered the scene in its current form in 2006, Twitter began in 2006), isolated offline communities enabled guerilla communications in many markets. When there is an established network (online or offline), it is the value placed on the news by the audience that sets the stage for increased traffic.

Enter electronic social media. Almost certainly, a form of electronic social media is part of nearly every event attended today. As part of a full-gamut media campaign for a nationwide tour of a top act, to local events receiving no traditional paid media support at all, as in weeknight Little League games. And, while social media is relatively new, it is the most cluttered of traffic areas in the realm of media. For instance, there are more than 200 million active Facebook users (with more than 100 million of them logging on daily -- spending a total of 3.5 billion minutes online every day). By definition, it's cluttered, correct? But, the old rules of clutter don't apply. Why? Because social media is not a shotgun. It's a rifle shot to a very targeted, networked audience. And, with the "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" phenomenon in mind, many connected niche networks are connected instantly across microcosms to several media channels.

Gone is the necessity to select a high-profile shotgun media to reach the greatest volume of prospects. Rather, with targeted networks in place, and impressions virtually guaranteed -- it's now the value of the message that matters most. And, the specific reach of the network you select to spark the communication is vital.

Case in point:
Recently, Trophy Ridge partnered with DBD to run a FREE Arrow promotion to entice prospects to try a new product. Trophy Ridge set aside 1,000 arrow sets for the promotion. The program was designed with a limited 15-day run. We anticipated demand for the giveaway but were somewhat fearful of the prospect of having a large percentage of the arrows left at the end of the promotion. Trophy Ridge chose an industry-leading, industry-specific forum to alert customer prospects of the give away. A single thread was posted on the forum. Readers of the thread were directed to a Trophy Ridge Web page designed to explain the arrow benefits and allow a sign-up form requesting a mailing address and other captured information about the prospect. The arrow promotion was successfully closed on the very day it was posted to the forum. All 1,000 arrow sets were claimed within five hours. Inquiries came not only from the forum where the communication was sparked, but from several related forums and news sites within the industry. The word of the promotion spread quickly – to several other networks, and then within those networks to specific readers. The value of the promotion will continue to grow as customer reviews come in about the arrows that were distributed. The product reviews are now being posted to the thread, keeping the dialog fresh – and sending visitors to the Trophy Ridge website.

Conclusion:
The FREE Arrow promotion was "under the radar" with respect to traditional, high-profile media. There wasn't even a posting of the promotion on the Trophy Ridge site. Yet, the promotion was the most accelerated one-day response from prospects regarding a new product that Trophy Ridge has ever accomplished. In addition, the responses were directly measureable against the cost of the promotion and effectiveness of the selected media forum. The promotion had two things going for it that we would endeavor to repeat in similar circumstances: 1) a message with great value to a targeted audience; 2) the proper selection of an established network to spark the communication.

Other factors:
It was noted above in the first paragraph that the purpose of this promotion was to create traffic to a particular event. A third-party factor was at work here that aided the success of this particular FREE Arrow event. There was a familiarity and trust established in Trophy Ridge. The value of this brand reputation and the degree of consumer preference enjoyed should not be quickly discounted. Nor should the many uses of traditional, higher-profile media that were used over the years to help build the Trophy Ridge brand. Had the brand been anonymous to prospects, it is presumed that the response would have been slower. Twelve hours? 36 hours? 15 days? That, we don't know. But, it is clear that we can't surmise – yet – that a deeply-rooted brand reputation can be accomplished by social media alone. Don't try to tell that, however, to the Facebook brand.