Quizno’s has done it again… The popular sub shop has unleashed their newest creepy ad campaign, featuring singing kittens. The ads, which attempt to promote Quizno’s value menu, include three singing kittens dressed in marching band attire that annoyingly yell “five-four-three” to the tune of Three Blind Mice. The thought of  kittens and a sub sandwich just don’t mix well for me. It makes me wonder: Who is Quizno’s target audience?

Unfortunately, these ads are a step up from their “Spongmonkey ads,” which featured defective-looking rodent creatures with jacked up human teeth and crazy eyes. The little spongmonkeys sport a top hat and strum their claws on a guitar – all this while singing “We love the subs!”

Is their target audience stoners? I have never eaten at Quizno’s, ONLY because every time I see one, I think of these rats prancing all over my sub sandwich.

Consumers look at thousands of ads a day. It’s important for each brand to stand out and be recognizable to the consumer. A great logo design is one way a brand can become memorable and recognizable. Some brands are so recognizable they can even be identified by only part of the logo.  Can you recognize these logos? Click on the logos below to reveal the brand.

Another important aspect of brand recognition is in the name. Many brand names have become household words. For instance, that cotton stick you put in your ear every morning is not called a Q-Tip, it’s actually called a cotton swab. The Q-Tip brand has become so powerful that many consumers use the brand name for all cotton swabs. There are a few other brands that have this powerful branding.

How many times has someone asked you for a Kleenex instead of a facial tissue or a Post-It Note instead of a sticky note? A brand name MANY consumers use as a product name is Coke.  “We need some Coke’s for our party, so get Dr. Pepper and Sprite."  In many parts of the country, Coke has become a ‘nickname’ for carbonated beverages.

Some other brands that are misused as the product name are Band-Aid (adhesive bandages), Xerox (photocopy), Tylenol (pain reliever), Vaseline (petroleum jelly), Chapstick (lip balm), and Velcro (hook-and-loop fasteners).

We all have that friend who constantly explodes your Facebook newsfeed with all of his/her status updates. Or that family member that spends dinner time tweeting. And if you’re really lucky, you have the pleasure of knowing someone that takes their phone into the restroom so they can update from the porcelain throne. Nice, right?

Many people have become obsessed with updating and tweeting to a point of addiction. In fact, in a study conducted by Retrevo Gadgetology found that 48% of the people surveyed check/update their Facebook or Twitter during the night or as soon as they wake up. The survey also found that 56% of users need to check their Facebook at least once a day and 12% need to check it every couple of hours.

In light of this information I have created a list of signs that might help you determine if you are a “Social Networking Addict:

1. When a friend says something great, you say “I’m going to make that my new Facebook quote!”
2. Your dialogue has been limited to 140 characters or less.
3. You want a “like” button for all things in real life.
4. You make sure you bring your camera to every event, not for memories, but so you can “Facebook” them.
5. You quit your last job because they blocked sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
6. You’re meeting your @mom and @dad for dinner this evening.
7. You buy a new cell phone so you can keep up with all of your social media apps.
8. You dressed as the twitter bird for Halloween.
9. If one of your status updates doesn’t get a comment or like, you feel you’ve been defeated.
10. You’ve become better at Farmville and Mafia Wars than you are at your own real-life job.
11. You spent an hour looking at pictures of a friend-of-a-friend, who’s a friend-of-a-friend.
12. The Fail Whale sets off symptoms of a heart attack.
13. After reading this blog you have decided that you are, in fact, addicted to social media and retweet this blog!

Be sure to share your results below or add to the list!

At CurrentMarketing, we have the capabilities to print a variety of materials for clients.  When I first started working here, this idea seemed pretty simple. I mean, you just hit ‘print’, right? Wrong.

Words like duotone, four-color printing, uncoated, Pantone, paper trays, and bleeds all flew by my head so quickly I was set in a whirlspin. I hadn’t even started learning all the different paper options that were available! I regret to admit that after a couple of print jobs, I had developed animosity toward the printer.

There are so many things they don’t teach you in college.  Printing is a huge aspect to the advertising/marketing world. CurrentMarketing is fortunate to be able to offer our clients the capability of printing the materials we design at a high turnaround rate. Without knowledge of the printer, you could get lost in a world of Pantones and two-color printing jobs. And I have to say, although colorful, it’s a very dark world to be in.

Since working here, I have learned more about getting files ready to print, printing materials, and trimming materials than any other marketing aspect. Although, I am definitely still learning about all things printing, it has become an easier task now that my head (and notebook) is full of printing knowledge. For now, let’s just say the printer and I have a love/hate relationship.

When you're in the business of marketing, efficiency is critical. The faster things get done, the happier the client. So whenever I see someone taking the long route on their computer — like Edit > Undo, for example — it drives me crazy. I want to immediately run over to their computer and hit Command Z. Problem solved. And that's just one among dozens — even hundreds! Just think about all the time you could shave off of your keyboard and mouse time if you were familiar with even a few of them. Now, I'm not a 'Shortcut Master', but here are a handful of basic shortcuts that every marketer — and especially designer — should know:

General Shortcuts:
Command + Z = Undo
Command + C = Copy
Command +V = Paste
Command + S = Save
Command + P = Print
Command + ⇧ + 3 = Screen Shot

Photoshop Shortcuts:
V = Selection Tool
C= Crop Tool
Space Bar = Hand tool
Space Bar + Command = Zoom In
Command + Shift + > or < = Increase or Decrease font size
Command + Delete = Fill with background color
Command + Shift + T = Transform again

InDesign Shortcuts
Command + G = Group objects
Command + Shift + ] = Bring to Front
Command + Shift + [ = Send to Back
Option + Down Arrow = Increase leading
Option + Down Arrow = Decrease leading
Command + Option + Shift + E = Fit content proportionally
Command + Option + Shift + N = Auto Page Number of the Current Page

For a few more comprehensive "cheat sheets" of shortcuts, visit:
Here
and
Here