Megan Lyman of Gilford, Miss New Hampshire 2012.

I just finished five days as a judge on the panel to select the next Miss New Hampshire.
I expected one thing and got another.

What I got was honor students, athletes, talented performers, and mentors. Young women who have already volunteered more time in a few years than most adults do in a lifetime. A program that in one night granted over $70,000 in scholarship money. And the feeling that our future is in very good hands.

So why did so many people roll their eyes when they heard I was going to be a judge in this competition? Why do people have such an inaccurate perception of the Miss New Hampshire Scholarship Program?

Why is this brand so misunderstood?

It’s because it’s connected to deep perceptions built by a long “beauty pageant” history. Images of bathing beauties sauntering across the stage. Stories of over-bearing parents living vicariously through their daughters. News reports of six-year-old girls getting makeovers. A media machine determined to hang on to the “beauty queen” moniker and perpetuate an unsavory stereotype.

Brands are often saddled with an image that is dated, vague, or flat-out misleading. Inaccurate brand perceptions that need to be changed. There are many elements to be considered when your brand is ready for a little facelift. One of the most powerful is inspired by an important axiom:

The experience is the expression of the brand.

It worked for me. Before my judging experience, I knew very little about the program. I had met a few Miss New Hampshires at various events and they seemed nice. But I had never attended any Miss New Hampshire competitions, never met any of the dedicated volunteers, didn’t know anyone who had ever served as a judge.

Many brands are best built through experience – when you see things in a different way, meet the real people involved, feel the energy, and appreciate the passion. Have you ever heard someone say this? “Baseball is okay on TV, but going to a game is a completely different experience.” Or this? “I feel so much better about that project because I did it myself.”

Think about how you can better express your brand through experience. How can you get people to interact and interface with your product or company so that they will feel it?  How can you convert them into advocates like the Miss New Hampshire Scholarship Program did with me?

Newly crowned Megan Lyman will spend the next year making appearances throughout New Hampshire and representing us in the Miss America competition next January in Las Vegas. She is smart, talented, friendly, and genuine. Yes, she is beautiful, but both inside and out.

If you have the pleasure of meeting her, you will learn what I know now. That this is one outstanding young woman we can be proud to call our Miss New Hampshire. That she will make a positive impact on all those she meets, perhaps most importantly, the young people she inspires at the scores of school appearances she will make over the next twelve months.

It’s up to Megan to deliver as much of the Miss New Hampshire brand experience as she can. But that won’t be enough to make people feel like I do about the Miss New Hampshire Scholarship Program. I’m an ambassador now. A believer. And for others to feel like me, they have to have an experience. Let’s hope they do.

 http://www.missnh.com/meet/

http://www.missamerica.org/

Photo used with permission.

How does a mid-size community hospital inform its market of its lifesaving cancer services?

It thinks like a cancer patient, that’s how.

St. Joseph Hospital Cancer Center of Nashua had a clear idea of their preferred media channel–a single billboard. But not just any billboard. This one stands perfectly on Rte. 3 facing northbound traffic in Nashua–one of the busiest stretches of highway in NH and visible to just over 103,000 passing vehicles every day.

What could capture the attention of busy commuters speeding by? Or be memorable? Even strike an emotional chord? And could it also build the St. Joseph Hospital cancer services brand?

A good fight, in six words or less.

The EVR creative team chose an approach that focused on words. No images. (In this case, imagery runs the risk of putting a face on cancer or cancer treatment. We preferred to guide only an emotional response. And we need to do this quickly and concisely.) The solution joined the strengths of St. Joseph Hospital’s care with the honesty of a cancer patient. This would make it engaging.

Making it clever would make it memorable. And more than anything, we need to make it direct.

In reality, cancer starts at the diagnosis. It’s followed by a treatment plan. We fully distilled the message and arrived at the phrases: “Your Cancer. Your Fight.” Naked and bold, and displayed as text only, this simple message has “grab.” Now changing the “o-u-r  f-i-g-h-t” color within the text “Your fight” creates a clever third phrase. Now we’ve made our message memorable.

This copy package salutes the honesty of the patient “Your Cancer. Your Fight,” as well as suggests health care attributes of teamwork and “not fighting alone” as revealed in “our fight.”

A total of twelve subsequent boards will build on this wordplay concept.

The graphic design solution evolved quickly as oversized, san serif, extrabold type on solid black background—high contrast for fast readability. Key words were highlighted in a color aligning with the National Cancer Society’s cancer types providing the series of messages maximum relevance.

Keep an eye on the road, and the other on the lookout for the new campaign.

Surrounded by graphics

Now you see it – now you see it again.
Graphically speaking, that’s how it goes.

Fabrics, jewelry, wallpaper, tattoos, type, packaging, television, tablets, websites, mobile media, user interfaces, social media, movies, photographs, directional signs… Graphic design is all around you: on you, next to you, behind you, and in front of you. It’s as simple and as complex as lines of all widths and lengths, repeated patterns, textures, a multitude of colors – and it can be found in one, two, or even three dimensions.

Even in New Hampshire, we’re exposed to the same visual barrage as the rest of the world.

As an advertising agency, we’re at the heart of developing brands that stand out in our hyper-visual world. And that’s what makes graphic design so entertaining and energizing: the constant effort to create something new that hasn’t been seen before. It’s equal parts satisfying and utterly frustrating. But it’s a lofty goal and one that quality designers take on with pride.

The community of graphic designers is a resilient bunch. We actually enjoy the process of wading through the possibilities, selecting solutions that have promise, vetting the contenders, going back to the drawing board, redesigning, vetting again, and finally putting their best in front of an anxious client. All while staying within budget. Now that’s design magic.

Discover truly outstanding design at:
comarts.com
aiga.org
gdusa.com
designobserver.com
evradvertising.com