Archive for the ‘Burns Work’ Category

Have you seen what leading titles like Wired, Fast Company, and others are doing with online magazines? Very cool stuff like integrated video, real interactive experiences, social integration, and more – all accessible across mobile, tablet, and desktop platforms. Now, you can launch your own interactive magazine, too. Check out this digital project we just published for HP Enterprise Services, and let us know how we can help you bring your engaging ideas to life in a unique publication: http://www.epageflip.net/t/13229/

“They like us, they really like us!” A couple of our ideas got mad props at “The Fifty” event, a recent Ad Club Denver awards show tasked with designating the best 50 ideas to come out of the past 12 months. The Fifty celebrates the power of the idea, in any marketing size, shape, and media.

The event showcased our “Cut the Cord” campaign for Plugless Power as well as our “Thank You for Not Sitting” internal campaign. The Plugless Power launch promoted a product designed to enable totally hands-free charging for electric vehicles (EVs): no more plugging in a dirty, industrial-strength power cord in the garage every time you pull in and park. We launched the “Cut the Cord” message at the London Home Show with posters, displays, and graphics that got everyone paying attention to the power of simplicity.

The “Thank You for Not Sitting” campaign used language such as “no butts about it” to foster greater communication during a “no internal emails or phone calls day” among the Burns Marketing crew. Office insurgents left No Butts about It cards, candy cigarettes, and email reduction patches on everyone’s desks to make the point. Today, “no butts about it” is code for “come talk to me.”

The two campaigns were featured in The Fifty, a print book distributed at the January 26 Ad Club event and in an online gallery. Our very own art director Jennifer Hohn swore off sleep to concept, design, and produce The Fifty’s promotional materials; designer Erica McCary and senior copywriter Joellen Sarmast assisted with design and copyediting.

Photos below by Wes Ferguson

Event creative direction and design by Burns Marketing

Ad Club Denver and Fifty committee members Steve Miller, Jennifer Hohn, and Jay Weise

Gregg Lulofs, Greg Knoll, and Adrian Hanft check out the winning work

Digital content enables you to tell a rich story about your brand, support sales teams, and deliver engaging content to your customers. With help from Burns Marketing, you can realize the benefits of digital content without having to build complex tools or distribution systems.

With our digital publishing system, we can take a simple PDF file (a brochure,  newsletter, annual report, etc.) and add rich assets including video and document links. After publishing, the document is available for viewing on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. The publishing system automatically takes care of formatting the document so it can be correctly viewed on the iPhone, iPad, and Android OS phones and tablets – eliminating the need to have multiple versions and removing compatibility issues.

Watch our digital content publishing demo for an overview of how the system works from an end-customer prospective.

Looks like the 2011 Key Leadership Summit we helped coordinate for Woodward was the start of something big. We supplied the event creativity and brand strategy for their annual meeting of international executives, which took place in October 2011. They launched sales momentum that achieved a 12-percent increase over last year’s first quarter.

No, not that British guy… we’re talking about Robert Bean, our interactive media director. On a given day, you can find him holding office as the mayor of multiple Foursquare establishments, spinning the Burns Marketing dress code to suit his version of “business casual,” training for his endurance canoe fundraiser, and guiding social and website projects to the finish line.

Read on for a glimpse of what lies under his cerebral hood.

1. What did you want to be when you were 15?
I wanted to be a Steadicam operator and movie producer. I filmed wedding videos, shot city hall meetings for the local government TV station, and made home movies in my basement. [Where was YouTube when we needed it?] I attended to a workshop at UCLA, where I met Francis Ford Coppola, Ted Danson, and Woody Harrelson and helped produce a “Cheers” episode. I was so disgusted with the lifestyle in Hollywood that I changed direction and joined a mime troupe the next summer. [Those of you who know Rob – and know that mimes are supposed to be silent – well, you can see that marketing is probably a better fit.]

2. What’s your most interesting injury?
Wow, let me count the ways. The most memorable was my land-kiting incident. The last thing I remember was being on my mountain board with an eight-meter traction kite and hearing a big “whoosh”… the steady 30-mph breeze turned into a 50-mph gust. I was blown downwind about 40 yards at about 12 feet off the ground. I landed pretty hard but felt relatively unhurt. Later at home, I heard a “pop!” in my left leg; my femoral artery had burst, and my knee blew up to the size of a softball in about 40 seconds. When it was over, I bought bigger pads, and I still fly big kites to this day. [Contact Rob directly to learn more about back pain, bone spurs, and shoulder injuries. The guy has seen more raw flesh than Lady Gaga’s meat dress.]

3. What project are you working on outside of Burns Marketing?
This year marks the sixth year of “The Big Moo Canoe,” a series of canoe challenges, family fun events, and children’s challenges in support of Heifer International, a nonprofit organization that distributes livestock and farm training around the globe. Now a designated fundraising team, Big Moo Canoe has raised over $20,000 and hopes to top $25,000 by the end of this season.

4. What’s your favorite outfit?
My “[Vibram Five Finger] Barefoot shoes and pregnant” costume from last Halloween; I look great in a dress. [Rob can work a floral muumuu, but those shoes give us the creeps.]

5. If you had to eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Cotton candy, what else? [Is that a food?]

6. What’s your favorite movie? Why?
“Purple Rain.” I always wanted to be Prince. He has a purple motorcycle, he plays the guitar like a madman, he’s an amazing singer, and he’s spent a lot of time with some pretty nice-looking ladies. [Rob’s just jealous of his extensive wardrobe of tight, shiny pants.]

7. What do you bring to Burns Marketing that no one else does [besides the toe shoes]?
Lots of costumes, I love to dress up. Retreats have brought out some of my best costumes [and we’re willing to bet that Rob’s file cabinet is the only one here that contains pink bunny slippers]. I’ve been an ex-con with a shaved head, a Viking, an ’80s muscle man, and donned multiple ’70s outfits. My most recent Halloween costume theme was “Occupy my Tent,” which even had its own Facebook page and social media plan. [Fortunately no one here had pepper spray handy.]

8. What are you most proud of?
My marriage and family. They stabilize me, make me a happier person, and give me a wonderful opportunity to teach and learn new things together.

Now that you’ve gotten to know the Real Mr. Bean, ping him with your interactive challenges – or graphic surgery tales – at 970.203.9656 or send an email to RobB@burnsmarketing.com.

Remember summer camp? The fast friendships you made, the thrill of being “on your own” for a week, acquiring vital skills like learning how to roast marshmallows so that the outside is lightly tanned and the inside is warm and gooey… Those are memories every kid should have the chance to make.

You can help make that happen. Log in to Facebook, find the “Send a Kid to Camp” app, and post a camp badge on your wall. From horseback riding to fishing to roasting marshmallows and dressing up, the variety of badges lets you share your favorite camp activity with others. You can even personalize your post with a short description of your favorite camp memory.

Posting the badge on your wall will help us get people talking about Roundup River Ranch, a camp for kids with life-threatening illnesses. At this medically supported camp, children and their families can focus on fun, not their medical conditions. Together, we can create memorable experiences for our campers and their families – for free and forever.

Please help us get the Send a Kid to Camp app rolling by donning your badge proudly.

Eric Weber sailing somewhere in the BVI

Tucked away in our fourth-floor office in Centerra is the inimitable Eric Weber, Ph.D., one of the most scientifically gifted minds of northern Colorado. When he’s not working on his breakthrough single-injection sterilization solution for the veterinary market, he’s our business development strategist and life sciences subject area specialist. In other words, all hail our science guy.

For an insider’s look at what fuels his imagination, we lobbed a few critical questions his way.

1. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Rescue swimmer for the Coast Guard. [Fortunately for us the lure of science beat life on the ocean.]

2. What’s your most interesting injury?
Gunshot wound. [Word to the wise: don’t ask to see the scar.]

3. Who’s the funniest person you know?
Rob Bean [Burns Marketing’s colorful interactive director… don’t worry, if you haven’t met him yet, you will].

4. What’s your specialty?
All things science – and sailing in the Caribbean.

5. Who’s the most interesting person you’ve hung out with?
My mother.

6. What’s your favorite outfit?
501s, T-shirt, and cowboy boots.

7. If you had to eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Calamari, with peanut butter a close second [hopefully not together].

14. Summer or winter?
Totally summer, but I love to ski.

15.  If you were a kitchen appliance, which one would you be and why?
Garbage disposal. (This should be totally intuitive.)

Now that you’ve gotten to know Dr. Weber, page him with your bioscience and life sciences marketing challenges at 970.203.9656 or send an email to EricW@burnsmarketing.com.

An industry leader in brand and product publishing, WebCollage came to us for help telling their story to their specific audiences. Our solution was a brand new website that conveyed the true benefits of their services to customers — without focusing on features.

Through their services, WebCollage turns shoppers into buyers. And we wanted to make sure that this important fact was clear to all who visited the website. Using our animation and video skills, we developed a series of stories that demonstrate what WebCollage can do for their customers.

This year, Denver hosted the biggest and most influential design event of 2010, the HOW conference. Two members of our design team — Travis and Jen — attended to collect relentlessly creative insight and deliver it to our team.

From inspiration methods to collaboration opportunities, the conference provided plenty of fuel for strengthening our creative techniques. They learned new ways to think outside the box, but inside the strategy. By staying in the forefront of industry methods and innovation, our team continues to adapt and refine our processes so we can deliver results.

Burns Marketing knows what women want… virtual flowers. Together with Nurse-Family Partnership