It’s a car! It’s a plane! It’s a….wait, what is that?

July 5th, 2010 by Chris Strong

I like cars. Always have, always will. Planes on the other hand, not really the same love affair there, but put a plane and a car combined, that actually performs both roles flawlessly, that’s a different story.

That’s why I am geeking out over the Terrafugia Transition. It is exactly that: a plane and a car all in one.

A plane that can fly 460 miles at 115mph?
A car that has foldable wings and still gets 30mpg?

Plane. Car. Whatever. It doesn’t matter because it rules and I want one.

The best part about it is that under ‘Safety Features’ it reads: “Drive in case of inclement weather.” Given the way some people drive on the road around Cincinnati in the rain, I’d actually consider going from plane to car less of a safety feature, but that’s just me.

I need to find $195,000 to get one of these, so feel free to email me if you have any ideas or want to do a time-share.

Posted in News, Technology | 2 Comments »

The ‘Champagne of Beers’ Gets A Makeover

July 2nd, 2010 by Chris Strong

So MillerCoors has recently launched some updated packaging for the Champagne of Beers. That’s Miller High Life, but I refuse to call it anything else because the tagline ‘Champagne of Beers’ is awesome.

It’s been a little while since they did anything to the packaging, so I personally do think it was due. The logo has been minorly tweaked, but the packaging on the cases is where you’ll really notice things. Even if you’re not very familiar with the brand, you’ll notice things right away. The ‘Girl in the Moon’ logo adorns the sides of the packaging now and the front/back is much simpler and fitting for the brand. It doesn’t feel like the box is shouting at you, it feels more polished. Other minor tweaks to logo sizing for example are there, but that’s about it.

In terms of how I view the brand, everything about the changes seem fitting to me. For a brand that also has apparently been seeing growth in recent years with consumers changing their beer choices with the economic rollercoaster, I think the update was well deserved and hope that it does well.

Posted in Design, News | 109 Comments »

HyperQuake.com Gets Some Love From NetDiver

July 1st, 2010 by Chris Strong

The fine folks over at Netdiver recently gave us a shout out on their blog (thanks guys!) after taking note of some of the recently refreshed elements on HyperQuake.com.

You can check out what they said right here.

After that, if you feel like it, drop us a line and let us know what you think of the new elements on the site. You know how to contact us.

Posted in Design, News | 149 Comments »

America: Nation of Good Sports

June 29th, 2010 by Julie Hill

Did I say good sports? I meant sore losers. From Best Week Ever:

Posted in News | 186 Comments »

Smirnoff ‘Ices’ Bros Icing Bros

June 25th, 2010 by Chris Strong

Smirnoff Ice

So in the past few weeks apparently a wide spread, seemingly (but also much disputed) consumer-generated drinking game popped up and started gaining lots of viral traction online. The interesting thing about it though is not so much the game itself, but more the many questions that surrounded it.

Known only as Bros Icing Bros (which lived online at this website before being shut down this week), the core focus of the game was the sweet malt beverage, Smirnoff Ice.

Iced!

The game was quite simple as the entire premise was that if someone approached you with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice and you didn’t have one of your own to fend off the attack, you’d be ‘Iced’ and have to get down on one knee and consume the bottle of Smirnoff that your attacker approached you with. Given the need to have your own ammo to arm yourself against these sniper like attacks and the apparent desire by many college students to ‘Ice’ their friends, cases of Smirnoff began moving fast from the shelves, leading some to believe that it was merely a viral marketing ploy by Smirnoff’s parent company Diageo, known for successful viral marketing campaigns, to move products.

The Ultimate Ice

Move products it apparently did, but many people, myself included, doubted that it was a viral marketing ploy by the company because it was essentially one huge binge drinking game. It was very hard to understand why the company, viral marketing campaign or not, would want to be associated with a.) binge drinking and b.) people essentially using the product to make fun of the product. Individuals interviewed in some articles made this clear when they would indicated one wouldn’t want be iced because Smirnoff Ice is a “pretty terrible” drink.

Well, answers came yesterday as Diageo apparently confirmed that the past few weeks of games and the online site www.BrosIcingBros.com were not part of a marketing campaign. The site is down, saying only “We had a good run Bros…”

Right now, the Bro the started the whole thing, apparently only known as ‘Joe’, may or may not be in hot water for copyright/trademark issues stemming from the game and the site.

Should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Posted in News | 257 Comments »

We’re in Australia! Well sort of…

June 24th, 2010 by Chris Strong

So you may remember a couple of months back when we shared with you some news about the newest poster in our poster series having been printed and released to the world.

Create Your Own Environment

Create Your Own Environment

Well, since then, poster #3 in our series has been finding its way to the far corners of the earth and all spots in between.

Most recently, one of the prints made its way over to Melbourne, Australia (I told you we were there!) where we sent one out to the crew at LifeLounge.com (a design/art/typography blog) as a thank you for feeding our creative juices and providing us with inspiration on a daily basis. Turns out, the gang over there gave us a shout out on their site, which you can check out here. Thanks guys!

HyperQuake's 'Create Your Own Environment' Poster Featured on LifeLounge.com

HyperQuake's 'Create Your Own Environment' Poster Featured on LifeLounge.com

If you have not been to their blog before, and you didn’t click on the link above, what are you doing? Definitely go visit, do it now, because you are missing out. When you get there, tell them the crew over at HyperQuake says hi.

Posted in Design, News | Comments Off

Hyperquake lands Buffalo Wings & Rings franchise business, filling stomachs in process.

June 22nd, 2010 by Andy Brownell

BWR-HQ

HQ recently had the opportunity to leverage our digital marketing and brand design strengths to pitch and ultimately win the agency of record assignment for the Cincinnati based, Buffalo Wings and Rings restaurant chain. What’s even better is the fact that we will continue to leverage our passion for all things food to help build this nation-wide, 54 restaurant business (and who doesn’t like wings?).

For 2010, our efforts will be focused on developing an integrated campaign utilizing  social media, loyalty, customer advocacy as well as both traditional and non-traditional media launching later this summer. Our recent return from the Buffalo Wings & Rings annual franchisee meeting in New Orleans, LA gave us a great chance to hear directly from the dedicated front line teams of owners throughout the US.

“Buffalo Wings & Rings is a different kind of restaurant brand centered on catching up and connecting,” says Roger David, CEO of BWR. “Families and friends choose us because of the unique BWR experience. We want our marketing to reflect and build on that experience and sense of engagement. As a leader in experiential marketing, consumer connection and new media technologies, HyperQuake is well positioned to help us.”

Thanks Roger and the entire Buffalo Wings & Rings team. We look forward to helping build your business and our own knowledge of your 45 wing sauce/heat combos in the future.

Posted in Design, News, Thinking | 161 Comments »

Windows 7 & the 7-Layer Whopper Hit Taiwan

June 17th, 2010 by Chris Strong

So, apparently despite being an burger lover, I missed the news back in October that to mark the release of Windows 7 in Taiwan, Windows and Burger King were teaming up to help the Taiwanese answer the question “Where’s the beef?” They were doing this through selling 7 patty burgers, for 7 days only, to the first 30 people at Taiwan Burger King, during the release of Windows 7 of course.

Forget your sweet tooth, feed your meat tooth

Forget your sweet tooth, feed your meat tooth

Apparently, the answer to that question is that all the beef is in this mega burger that I shudder to even write this blog about. I know that the Cattleman’s Beef Board and National Cattleman’s Beef Association have helped remind us that beef is in many ways, “What’s for dinner”, but I think this story makes clear that in this case, beef is what’s for breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, dinner and all your daily snacks…

Thanks to the fine crew @ahamburgertoday on Twitter, I stumbled upon this story last night and my mind still can’t recover.

I get the idea behind the marketing tag-team that Windows and BK came up with here, but I just can’t comprehend why anyone would want to let their body take on this challenge. Again, this coming from a hamburger fan. I am a little bummed though that they didn’t unleash this on the United States.

I think it would do well at those BK Whopper Bars that are coming to South Beach in Miami, that we wrote about a few months back. Don’t you?

Posted in News | 174 Comments »

Consumers showing brands new levels of love in 2010

June 7th, 2010 by Chris Strong

So consumers have often shown their love for brands in a variety of ways, some more endearing than others.

At one point in time, the pinnacle when it came to a consumer showcasing their love and dedication to a brand may have been the simple act of cutting the logo of the brand in one’s hair.

This took the top haircut spot recently, surpassing the faux-hawk.

This took the top haircut spot recently, surpassing the faux-hawk.

Not only is it another form of advertising for the brand, but hey, this looks pretty killer and who wouldn’t want a haircut like that whether they liked the brand or not, right?

Of course there is always getting a brands tattoo on you (oh and if you need help with that, just see our earlier post on how you can find a good tattoo parlor via your iPhone), but come on, that’s still not showing a brand the love they deserve.

Well, thanks to the gang over at The Onion, we now know that at least one consumer showed his true love for a brand recently. They reported that earlier this week in a Circle K convenience store in Redmond, OR, Bryce Thompkins proclaimed his devotion and love for the Pepsi brand. Apparently only a small group of employees and close friends were there to see the ceremony.

Details from The Onion’s report:

‘”I love Pepsi,” Tompkins vowed as he offered the clerk two crisp dollar bills, symbolizing his willingness to sacrifice for Pepsi, and received 71 cents in return, symbolizing the portion of the two dollars that Pepsi does not cost. “Always will.” The solemn union of man and flavored soda was commemorated by a small bit of printed paper, which Tompkins declined.’

Now I ask you as you read this, can you say that you show the same dedication and support to the brands you use and respect? Our connections with the brands we use everyday are changing and Mr. Thompkin’s actions are a testament to that. I’m will to bet that as brand advocacy by consumers continues to evolve in 2010, we’ll see more of these types of reports.

So in short, take a cue from Mr. Tompkins and show the brands you love, some love.

Posted in News | 172 Comments »

Happy 25th Birthday to AOL

June 2nd, 2010 by Chris Strong

So it was AOL’s 25th birthday on Tuesday last week.

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who disagree with the statement that AOL was very much a major catalyst in millions of people starting to use the internet. Remember the days of coming home from school or work and finding a shiny new AOL disk in the mailbox? Now those were the days.

ALL NEW!

ALL NEW!

AOL might now be the powerhouse they once were, but it sounds like they have some plans for the next year.

Happy Birthday AOL.

Posted in News | 120 Comments »