Upside of a downturn - Sunny Kobe Cook

I had the opportunity to meet a great speaker, Sunny Kobe Cook who knows something about advertising and marketing. When I first moved to Seattle, Sleep Country USA was drilled into my head. Every time I turned on TV or listened to the radio there seemed to be a Sleep Country ad. To this day I remember them.

Sunny gave the group some advise which I would like to pass along. She stressed that every business should do 4 things in a down economy.

1. Advertising is a MUST.

2. Write handwritten notes and do the small things.

3. Cut your costs by 10% off every bill.

4. Look at your team and make adjustments if necessary.

Sunny Kobe Cook : Consultant, Author, Speaker, Award-winning Entrepreneur

Sunny Kobe Cook began her career as a secretary and gained popularity with the company she founded in 1991, Sleep Country USA. She served both as CEO and Company spokesperson in both radio and television advertisements for many years. During that time, she was named Inc.Magazine's Northwest Woman Entrepreneur of the Year along with numerous other business and corporate good citizen awards. She was featured on the cover of Washington CEO magazine when her company was the first retailer to ever be recognized as "Best Place to Work."

To tweet or not to tweet.

Recently, I've talked to many people in my profession about why and how to use Twitter. In many cases their reply is the same. "Why would anyone care what I'm doing?" If that's their answer than they just don't get it. What's really strange is that these are people in the creative industry, these are the people who should be embracing the technology and using it in different ways.

My response has always been... Twitter is another outlet to get you message to the masses. Again, I get the reply. I don't have time to Tweet. Nobody cares. Here today – gone tomorrow.

WRONG! Twitter is the new CB. It's a way to see what is happening at any given time about any given subject. It's a way to figure out what is going on around me.

The first thing I do when I get to a new city is I try and figure out where to go. What to do. Who has the best food. Where is the best happy hour. I want to know what people are talking about and what they like doing. I can ask a question and I get instant response.

I also have a Twitter testimonial. I asked followers to review my online portfolio. No more than I asked the question. I get a great response. One follower event noticed a small issue, which I was able to fix right away.

So let me ask you Twitter nay-sayers...Why wouldn't you tweet? What do you have to lose?

Oh... yah – possible clients, connections and unlimited information.

The logo needs to be BIGGER! BIGGER! BIGGER!

I received a email from a college of mine. In regards to the size of a logo. In this case their client wanted to make the corporate logo bigger. This is often the case with owners and marketing directors. They think their logo should be the showcase piece. They are flat out wrong. Here is my response...

As a Creative Director, your logo on the website is a perfect size. Marketing Directors often feel the need to make their logos over powering. An over powering logo takes away the attention which should be given to the company's products.

The logo has the correct amount of white space around it. Your current site gives me a strong brand feel. When a question like this comes to play, our agency often go to other sites to see how they handle similar requests. In this case I went to aveda.com. Aveda has a strong brand presence and your site made me think Aveda.

I highly encourage you and your business partner to look at that site. One beauty of the site is it stresses their product and keeps their brand message strong. I have never had the opportunity to visit your store in person. However, your current website makes me want to. I'd be more than happy to chat with you and your business partner.

Making your logo larger will take away attention from your products and image. Let the viewer digest the imagery. They will notice the logo, remember it is on every page. That alone will give it the attention it deserves.

Hopefully this will help you make a better decision before doing something which I believe will hurt your brand.

Matt

File Types and File Names

file types

• eps

Native Adobe Illustrator file

Sometimes referred to as Vector image

Typically CMYK format

Spot colors can be specified

Designers use this type of file

Most people cannot open this type of file on a PC

Higher quality image (300 dpi minimum)

• tif/tiff

Will open in any photo editor program

Most people can open this type of file

Lower quality image

Used primarily for black and white images

• jpg/jpeg

Will open in any photo editor program

Lower quality image - not suitable for commercial printing

Can be used in office applications and web applications

Always RGB format

file names

• CMYK

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black

Used by everyday color printers

• RGB

Red, Green, Blue

Viewed on a computer screen

• PMS

Exact Pantone color

Used as a special color for exact brand matching

Common for logos in your Corporate ID

Color - how does it make you feel?

Black: The color of authority and power. It is also stylish and timeless. Black can also be overpowering.

Red: The most emotionally intense color, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing. It is also the color of love.

Red is usually used as an accent. The most romantic color, pink, is more tranquilizing.

Blue: One of the most popular colors. It causes the opposite reaction as red. Peaceful, tranquil blue causes the body to

produce calming chemicals. Blue can also be cold and depressing. It is a productive color.

Green: Currently the most popular color, green symbolizes nature. It is the easiest color on the eye and can improve vision.

It is a calming, refreshing color. Dark green is masculine, conservative, and implies wealth.

Yellow: An attention getter. While it is considered an optimistic color, people lose their tempers more often with yellow.

Hence its use for legal pads. It also speeds metabolism.

Orange: Vibrant. It’s a combination of red and yellow so it shares some common attributes with those colors. It denotes

energy, warmth, and the sun. But orange has a bit less intensity or aggression than red, calmed by the cheerfulness of yellow.

Purple: The color of royalty, purple connotes luxury, wealth, and sophistication. It is also feminine and romantic.

Brown: Solid, reliable color of earth and is abundant in nature. Light brown implies genuineness, while dark brown is

similar to wood or leather. Brown can also be sad and wistful. Men are more apt to say brown is one of their favorite colors.

Original Piece written by David Johnson - Source: Infoplease.com - Edited by Chatter Creative