universal positive – Page 12 – Unique insights and actionable ideas from The Darnell Works Agency’s daily quest for greatness.

Marketing Innovation: Under Armour

March 21, 2024July 28, 2014 by Roger Darnell

On July 17, top executives from the world’s major sports marketing companies gathered in New York City to honor the best in sports advertising, design and communications at the first-ever Clio Sports Awards. That night, Steve Battista proudly accepted the Brand Innovation Award on behalf of Under Armour, where he serves as senior VP brand creative. Behind the scenes, I know that many of the companies and talents I have had the privilege to work with are also celebrating this monumental win. For example, global creative agency ATTIK provided key support for Under Armour’s launch of Armour39 (wearable tech that helps you track your workout intensity), as did creative production company Shilo… which also produced many of the epic brand films (including the one above) that have made Under Armour’s YouTube Channel must-see TV for serious athletes.

A story by Austin Siegemund-Broka for The Hollywood Reporter chronicles the brand’s growing success, and offers this insight

Read moreMarketing Innovation: Under Armour

Spotlight on innovation via yours truly and Fast Company

March 21, 2024July 14, 2014 by Roger Darnell

Reviewing the nine-year history of this blog, innovation is one of the most oft-recurring themes. With the main goal of providing you with more information about myself and my business activities, but also seeking to incorporate developments I find illuminating from the fields of marketing, science, technology and entertainment, anything that might provide insight into new thinking or new ways of achieving success in these areas makes it onto my shortlist for universal positive posts.

To me, the above video produced by Fast Company during its 2013 Innovation By Design conference is a perfect example of the type of inside information that really helps us all understand specific ideas and strategies we can adopt to do things differently, and most likely, better. Here is another great story connected to innovation in product design.
. 10 Lessons My Startup Team Learned from a Massive Product Launch

On 14-15 October, Fast Company’s Innovation By Design Awards and Conference will return to NYC’s Metropolitan Pavilion, and advance registration is now open.

Read moreSpotlight on innovation via yours truly and Fast Company

Have you seen our cosmos?

March 28, 2024July 1, 2014 by Roger Darnell

The National Geographic Channel and Fox teamed-up this year to launch the new 13-part documentary series starring astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson, who has proven to be the perfect person to fill Mr. Sagan’s enormous shoes.

On traveling to learn, and introducing “Rare Air”

March 21, 2024June 23, 2014 by Roger Darnell

In the famous words of St. Augustine, the world is a book, and those who don’t travel read only one page. I agree that traveling is a great means for learning, but at the same time, I know that most often, it’s a luxury. According to the Travel Effect Study, travel improves educational attainment and future success. If you’re a parent, that gives you two excellent reasons to get out and go, when possible. Ready to hit the road? If so, I highly recommend this list of awesome experiences compiled by Bryan Kitch for Afar.com.

“If travel is the best form of education, this is a Master Class. These experiences go off the beaten path, and likely outside average tourists’ comfort zones.”

On the other hand, if you are not free to cut loose at present, I have something for you, too. It begins with a story.

Days we are sure to remember

March 21, 2024June 16, 2014 by Roger Darnell

Richmond, California-based Mountain Hardwear creates performance apparel and equipment designed to empower outdoor athletes to live boldly. At the time when this post is going live here, if you wanted to find me, you’d have to travel to the Kalaloch Campground in Forks, Washington, along the outer edge of continental USA’s northwesternmost coastline in Olympic National Park. My family and I have been planning this excursion for the past couple of years, and it’s a dream come true. Apparently, my dreams are a lot like those of the individuals behind Mountain Hardwear… and their customers.

Earlier this year I started noticing the company’s “Days You Remember” video series, and I bookmarked it as the perfect thing to share in today’s blog post. All the videos are tagged with this statement that resonates very deeply with me:

Forces for good: Creativity + John Cleese

March 21, 2024June 9, 2014 by Roger Darnell

Today’s post is a mash-up featuring clever ideas from a highly esteemed master of creativity, and 99U, which is the education arm of Behance, the world’s leading online platform for showcasing and discovering creative work. So literally, there should be something here for everyone. Let’s begin!

Flavor’s on the rise at Cutters Studios…

May 9, 2024June 5, 2014 by Roger Darnell

It’s been almost 10 months since Cutters Studios rebranded its design and VFX division, which since 1997 had built a solid reputation in Chicago as Sol Design FX. With the addition of executive creative director Brad Tucker and executive producer Darren Jaffe, last August the company opened-up shop in Santa Monica and began life with a new name: Flavor.

At the time, Cutters Studios president and CEO Tim McGuire shared these insights: “Something new and exciting is happening in the design industry and it’s time to refocus our talent and effort to make a statement. Brad and Darren are true leaders in motion design known throughout the industry. They will work closely with all of the Cutters Studios locations.”

Read moreFlavor’s on the rise at Cutters Studios…

Stacy Peralta: Thanks for the documentary

May 10, 2024May 27, 2014 by Roger Darnell

I have expressed my appreciation in the past for LJ Jeneski of Nonfiction Unlimited, the LA-based commercial production company that since 1995 has been built upon the idea of exclusively representing the planet’s best documentary filmmakers for commercial and creative assignments. We worked together over the period that launched us all into a very busy 2007, and I feel we accomplished a lot together. At that time, the company’s elite roster included directors Rob Bindler, Paul Crowder, Steve James, Robby Kenner, Barbara Kopple, David McNamara, Stacy Peralta, Earle Sebastian, Ondi Timoner and Jessica Yu. It was my introduction to most of these incredible talents, and through the process of updating bios and promoting their newest projects, I got to know many of them pretty well.

Among my early assignments was touching-up an already stellar bio for Mr. Peralta. Here’s a snip from that writing amalgam I can only take a little credit for.

So far, the life of award-winning documentary filmmaker, accomplished television producer/director and Nonfiction Spots commercial director Stacy Peralta is literally a Hollywood movie – or more precisely, several of them.

Sharing secrets: Know your audience!

March 21, 2024May 15, 2014 by Roger Darnell

When trying to communicate with someone, it is vitally important to understand who that person is, whether or not they speak your language, their age, where they live… and also, factors like what’s on their mind right now, and where they are physically. The point of this article is to emphasize that communication – and marketing – is usually a waste of time if the particulars of the human beings comprising the audience are not taken into account. Personally, I’m shocked at how often people fail to address this mission-critical first step, explained so effectively by Seth Godin in the video presented here.

Effective communicators like Mr. Godin begin their programs by assessing their target audiences, exploring the relevant demographics and/or psychographics, and analyzing data. Indeed, the information we exude into the world is measured and used… whether we know it or not.

Case study: Smart ways to communicate

May 9, 2024May 12, 2014 by Roger Darnell

To me, one of the best ways to understand how effective marketing works is to look at campaigns that have won the most or the biggest creative industry awards, and you won’t find a recent campaign that has been more successful at winning major awards than this one from McCann’s office in Melbourne, Australia. I discuss many awards submissions with my clients every year, and in my experience, oftentimes what makes a project award-worthy is the documentation you can provide – especially when you can clearly present valid results the work has helped deliver. This theory is backed-up by the documentation for Dumb Ways to Die from McCann Melbourne, which was named “Most Awarded Agency” by Advertising Age in 2013 thanks to this project earning numerous “best of show” honors from the major international programs, including a record five Cannes Lions Grand Prix (in the Film, Integrated, Direct, PR and Radio categories).

Here are some highlights of the verbiage the agency used for this project, which was produced for Melbourne Metro Trains.