Everyone who works with Brian knows that moment when he puts the project challenge into precisely the right words and lays out a clear path to the solution. Captivating and, at times, awe-inspiring, Brian’s breadth and depth of knowledge in creative strategy radiates. In other words, it impacts our entire team, helping make us stronger creative and strategic communications practitioners. Click the video above to see Brian in action as we celebrate his 40-year career in the industry.

Brian LobsingerCreative Strategy's Key Ingredients

Brian Lobsinger, our senior director of creative strategy, boasts a career spanning every corner of the visual space in marketing and communication. From pre-press production in a print shop to advertising and marketing to software UX design and web development, he has experience aplenty­—more than 40 years’ worth.

Yet, no matter how technology evolves, no matter which tactics and techniques come and go, he’s quick to tell you the principles of an effective creative strategy remain the same regardless of the medium or complexity of the project.

Two that jump out right away: knowing the audience and consistency.

It’s those fundamentals Brian uses to steer the creative development at A. Bright Idea. We’re lucky that we get to talk to him daily. We want to share some of his insights you might find interesting.

Brian, thanks for taking the time to chat.
Of course, happy to take a quick break.

You’ve been around. You’ve held many roles in the creative and branding space. So, let’s start with what you think are the main elements of creative strategy and brand development.
First and foremost, always determine your audience and get to know them. It may seem rudimentary, but I can’t tell you how often that gets skipped. Misalignment of verbal and visual messaging or speaking to the wrong audience causes a campaign to fall on deaf ears. One of our main goals is to create a bond with the audience member and try to make that person a brand ambassador. If what we say isn’t clear, we’ve missed that opportunity.

You’re a big hockey fan, yeah?
Yes, I am indeed!

Okay, so, here’s a curveball question: What can the average person learn about creative strategy by watching hockey?
I thought this question was going to be a tricky one. This brings up one of the other major principles of brand development, or all design really, which is consistency. The fundamental mechanics of hockey—skating, passing, shooting, etc.—need to be consistent. They become muscle memory for players. Once your fundamentals are strong (and consistent), it frees you up to exercise your creativity. It’s the same for design, if you have a solid process in place to dissect the situation, you can focus on the fun part of exploring new and creative solutions whether along the boards or on a billboard.

That hockey analogy is also useful for another thing that has been consistent throughout my career: situational awareness. No matter how well you know the audience, your team always needs to consider special circumstances and other factors influencing decisions.

I’d say this is one of the cooler things about design. Even if the end goal of two projects is categorically the same, the results will look different because of the details such as audience, preferences, budget, etc. This is what makes what we do fun and usually challenging but never boring.

What’s one thing in all the design work you’ve done that stuck with you?
In one of my first design jobs out of college, I learned how important it is to be able to distill the essence of a company or organization into something visual that conveys meaning at a glance. And, at the same time, I also learned that you absolutely need to disassociate your ego from your design (work). Looking at it objectively will help you remove your personal bias, hopefully making it easier to explore fresh ways to approach your work in general.

What exercises do you use with the visual team to build a brand identity?
Well, for me, the visual side of branding starts with words, ironically. We brainstorm words that can represent the essence of the client, its mission, products, values, etc., to set a direction. It’s basically a word association game we play together. It gets everyone thinking about the brand and helps make that “blank” sheet of paper that we all must start with a little less intimidating.

In the context of design strategy, what does “staying on the cutting edge” mean to you?
It’s a double-edged sword. Technology and technique-wise, our team always stays at the forefront. From a design perspective, though, it’s sometimes best not to be too edgy. If your client is an investment bank, it’s probably wise to convey a slow-and-steady, trustworthy identity. Again, it all comes down to your audience and their needs.

What have you learned while working at A. Bright Idea?
Working with this fantastic team has helped me stabilize my process. Projects change, and over the years so has technology. But A. Bright Idea is a believer in process. I appreciate our methodical, strategic approach to finding alternative solutions to design needs. And although I still use everything I’ve learned in my career up to this point, one of the great things is that no two projects are ever the same. So we always have opportunities to learn and explore our creativity.

Connect with us to gain more insights from Brian and others on our team by emailing info@abrightideaonline.com.

We’re thrilled to announce the additions of fresh talent and leadership promotions! Always looking to enhance our ability to serve clients, Founder & CEO Anita Brightman finds gratification in expanding the team’s depth and capabilities. It’s the same level of beaming pride she gets from nurturing professional growth and seeing colleagues’ trajectories over years and even decades.

This most recent crop of team members has expanded our depth while promotions have crystalized our core. We’ve added to our ranks communicators who bolster our public relations, video and marketing teams. In addition, three Bright Lights have moved into leadership roles.

Meet our new hires and new leadership members enhancing A. Bright Idea’s strategic communications and client service.

Promotions & New Roles

Lisa Condon
Senior Director of Organizational Training & Talent

Lisa’s 16-year tenure at A. Bright Idea is summed up as a graphic design tour de force. Lisa’s A. Bright Idea tenure is summed up as a graphic design tour de force. For most of that time, she steered our team of design professionals, orchestrating projects from kickoff to polished final product. Her experience stretches some three decades, and clients, partners and our family of team members are quick to recognize her eye for details and the nuances of good design. She recently shifted roles, taking on the duty of training and mentoring our ever-growing bench of Bright Lights, a side of her former position she enjoyed most.

Her personalized lightbulb explained: Proudly a “true print designer,” Lisa customized her lightbulb to represent a die cut — a special technique in the world of printing. It showcases her passion for tactile elements of graphic projects, such as special folds, cutouts and dimensional substrates layered on a wall. She approaches every visual project as an opportunity to convey the client’s story in a compelling and appealing way.

Robyn Koenig
Assistant Director of Creative Strategy

Robyn joined our team straight out of college. It’s been onward and upward ever since. The staying power rests in her love for the ever-present problem-solving in our diverse clients’ design needs. The day-to-day fun comes from the variety of work, from brand refreshes and wall projects to enormous multi-page layouts and digital ads. Running the full spectrum of creative needs for clients eliminates any possibility of a dull moment. Her track record of success earned her a well-deserved bump to a leadership position.

Her personalized lightbulb explained: As a member of our graphic design team, you’d expect Robyn to sketch her own lightbulb icon. And that’s exactly what she did. For Robyn, design is a labor of love. Her icon features a robin sitting on a lightbulb-shaped branch, partly pointing to nature as a source of inspiration. (She also loves a good pun.)

Josh LaVeck
Assistant Director of Marketing Communications

It seems like yesterday that Josh joined our team. It’s been more like a couple of years, yet in that time Josh has more than proven himself an exceptional marketing professional. His elevation reflects his rare ability to juggle 50 balls while marshaling our collective talent to deliver the best product for clients. Verbal and visual messaging is always on target; the product is always on time. Never one to boast, he’ll tell you he’s just having fun.

His personalized lightbulb explained: A campfire forms the shape of a lightbulb, a nod to his childhood learning to appreciate the outdoors and hard work as a Boy Scout and eventually earning the rank of Eagle Scout. His icon’s design pulls from those formative years that helped shape his approach to work and work ethic. And if you’ve ever sat around a campfire, you probably agree that the experience provides a moment to reflect and draw inspiration for the days ahead.

New Hires

Zack Stauffer
Director of Video & Emerging Media

Fittingly based in our Burbank, Calif., office — the Media Capital of the World — Zack comes to A. Bright Idea with rich Hollywood production experience. When we strategically opened an office in SoCal, we did so knowing we’d tap into the Greater Los Angeles Area’s deep talent pool of top-notch producers like him. Having spearheaded tons of video productions and commercial content, we’re proud to have him help us reach the next frontier of filming with cutting-edge technology.

His personalized lightbulb explained: He conceptualized his lightbulb icon around a rocket ship blasting off into the unknown. First, he loves space. But more to what it says about how he approaches his role, it conveys the idea that every advancement starts with imagination. It signifies his dedication to staying curious and open to change and creativity.

Isabella Regis
Communications Associate & Office Assistant

Equipped with great early-career experience, Isabella arrived at A. Bright Idea hungry to learn and explore new approaches to marketing and public relations. To Isabella, our diverse clients are a treasure trove of angles that constantly spark new ideas. She considers it a privilege to serve our government, nonprofit and commercial clients.

Her personalized lightbulb explained: Depicting a National Parks Service patch, Isabella’s icon seeks to demonstrate her go-getter attitude. The way she sees it, we can achieve any goal with consistent, intentional steps, whether tackling a big client project or ascending a mountain towering over us. And it’s the gratification of a breakthrough or reaching the summit that keeps the fire burning within.

Through our internship program, we provide interns with mentorship, industry knowledge, and on-the-job training in a fast-paced environment. By interning with us, individuals gain real-world experience in agency life and learn what it takes to work as an effective team.

Recently, A. Bright Idea had the pleasure of mentoring two interns, Hayley McCullough and Sophia Dietrich, who worked closely with the visual team to create and edit content, enhance their production skills, and much more. They both offer a peek into their life as an A. Bright Idea intern below!

At A. Bright Idea, I’ve learned not only the intricacies of a public relations firm, but the team it takes to run a successful business. Here at ABI, we have four teams: Executive, Verbal, Visual, and Administrative. This summer, I worked closely with the Visual Team, specifically with Nate Keezer and Taylor Goad. Nate, ABI’s Videographer/Production Coordinator, and Taylor, ABI’s Motion Graphic Designer, guided me through this new endeavor to help enhance my production skills. In return, I’d produce small pieces of work for ABI clients in order to help projects run more smoothly. Nate, Taylor, and I worked together regularly in ABI’s professional Sound Booth, Mac Editing Station, and Photography/Videography Studio. One of my primary goals throughout my internship was to get more familiar with Adobe Suite applications. Nate showed me the basics of Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition, then handed me the reins to complete tasks for client work. Additionally, I gained hands-on experience with advanced camera and studio equipment. Over the course of my summer at ABI, I’ve improved my filming, editing, and networking skills to further my pursuit of a career covering sports. Thank you to all the team members at ABI, and to Cobey Dietrich, Executive Vice President of Verbal and Visual Communications, for taking a chance on a Sophomore from The Pennsylvania State University. As I head into my junior year, I’ll be sure to take all of the lessons I’ve learned here at ABI with me. I’m pursuing a major in Public Relations, a double-minor in Business and Media Production, and a Certificate in Sports Journalism. Aside from working at ABI this summer, I’ve spent time working on my Private Pilot’s License. I plan to obtain my VFR license in the summer of 2023. In the fall, I’ll be working at Penn State Football as a Recruiting Operations Intern, Secretary of the Association for Women in Sports Media, and Family Relations Chair for THON as a mid-distance athlete on PSU’s Club Track & Field team.

As a student beginning my junior year in high school, I am so lucky to have had such an amazing experience interning at A. Bright Idea this summer. Working behind the scenes with trained professionals has given me a new appreciation for the world of public relations. I now recognize the teamwork, planning, and sacrifice that goes into both pleasing clients and providing high quality work. While working at ABI, I spent most of my time with a small group of people from the Visual Team; Nate Keezer, Taylor Goad, and my fellow intern, Haley McCullough. I had such a great time learning about all aspects of production, as well as collaborating on different projects throughout the summer. I was very fortunate to have had a background in using some of the editing software available at ABI, and was able to utilize this knowledge to go through footage, edit videos, and so much more. On one occasion, I was even able to work on a spot for a client! I am forever thankful to all those who have given their time to teach me about the visual aspects of public relations, as well as the social components that establish connections with clients and coworkers. I will continue to use all that I have learned from this internship to better myself as a student, team member, and person.

This coming school year, I plan to hone my skills as a digital artist in hopes that I can combine my knowledge of audio/video production with my skills in digital rendering and computer animation. Working in the film industry has always intrigued me, and this internship at A. Bright Idea has taught me so many things that apply to this interest. I will also be able to apply this knowledge to the Advanced Video Journalism class that I will be continuing next year. Once again, thank you to all who were instrumental in making this past summer both a fun and fantastic learning experience.

You know we all love goin’ Downey Oshun, Hon!

A. Bright Idea counts itself fortunate to have teams on both coasts, with offices in Sonoma and Burbank, California and Bel Air, Maryland. Why? Well, in part because we get a front-row seat to the special role our oceans play in the environmental health and economic well-being of adjacent communities on land we serve. And so we’re proud to work on projects with several clients that deal directly – and even indirectly – with Earth’s most prominent feature and one of its most vital to us.

Accounting for around three-quarters of Earth’s surface, land’s big brother demands our respect and collected, concerted conservation efforts. To recognize World Ocean Day and buoy work to safeguard this precious resource, we donated to The Ocean Foundation, a non-profit that supports, strengthens and promotes “those organizations dedicated to reversing the trend of destruction of ocean environments around the world.”

However you decide to mark and celebrate the day, we encourage you to be part of the change. Here are a few ways you can join us:

  • Host a beach clean-up
  • Talk to friends, family and neighbors about thinking before they throw waste, especially cigarette butts
  • Donate to a local, national or international organization as we did
  • Use less plastic
  • Be more mindful of your carbon footprint

It’s one of the many ways we reflect our dedication to service, one of our core values. We look forward to illuminating more ideas for you and your organization to support communities.

If there’s anything we learned about digital marketing in 2021, it’s that short-form video content is here to stay. But what digital marketing trends can we expect to see in 2022 and which current trends are on their way out? The answers may surprise you.

1. Artificial Intelligence for marketing insights

AI can analyze patterns in consumer behavior and use data from social media platforms to identify what content performs the best. Additionally, the type of data targeted is expected to change. The current primary focus on third-party data (data collected about a user by an external organization using web cookie tracking that is then sold to an organization) is likely to decrease due to increasing consumer privacy protection efforts. First-party data (data gathered by tracking and observing user behavior on an organization’s own website) will subsequently take its place.

2. Programmatic Advertising

Another use of the power of AI, programmatic advertising, automates media buying and allows brands to target more specific audiences while eliminating the need for time-consuming manual insertions of the orders.

3. Gamification

If there’s one way to get buyers to spend more time (and money) on an app, it’s to incorporate game elements with built-in rewards. This approach is true for “edutainment” apps like Duolingo and shopping apps such as the Starbucks mobile app.

4. More and more video marketing

An emerging trend in the past decade, video marketing is now more sophisticated and advanced than ever. It is the most popular way customers want to learn about new products. With more and more brands utilizing live video and augmented reality to market their products, they find new ways to connect and engage with their target audience.

Now, what trends are we leaving behind?

1. Drip marketing

Gone are the days of sending the same steady stream of generic emails to an entire contact database. Instead, send targeted and personalized emails to contact subgroups. Even better, include dynamic and interactive email content.

2. Quantity over the quality of input

The internet is already saturated with content, so simply pushing out a steady stream of basic content is a waste of time and effort. Instead, focus on developing high-quality content that offers value to potential customers.

3. Relying heavily on organic output

Social media and search engine algorithms have been causing a steady decline in the reach of organic output. It has never been more important to focus on paid digital marketing to make the biggest impression with your content.

4. Only rating text in Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The explosion of video we’ve seen in the past few years means that more and more people are looking for video content on search engines. Instead of rating only keywords in SEO, focus on rating video, images and audio using captions and alt-text.

Bottom Line

The evolving digital space is quickly becoming an essential part of everyday life for many people. These digital marketing trends are vital for any small business trying to compete for consumers’ attention and revenue.

Learn how our team of verbal and visual communicators can help your business here.

Every social media post develops your voice.

Now more than ever, a brand can directly interact with its target audience. Creating a unique voice for social media helps distinguish your business and puts it in a better position to rise above the noise.

What is a brand voice?

Even if you are not familiar with the topic, you start to notice a different tone from each account by simply scrolling through social media. A youth-focused brand may use more playful language and images, while another business might communicate more directly.

Your voice is part of the brand itself in the eyes and ears of intended audiences. It interacts with the public across the digital landscape, beyond design and other types of messaging.

A voice can build connections with your audience, encouraging engagement and interaction. A study by Customer Thermometer found that 65% of customers emotionally connect with a business when engaging with their brand. You can tap into that connection to increase trust and awareness of your brand. When on social media, people want an authentic approach – after all, your content is on the same news feed as their friends. The goal of developing a unique voice is to develop a memorable brand and establish lasting connections.

Take time to brainstorm

Sit down and develop a strategy. Write down what makes your company unique and identify audiences to target.

Who are you trying to reach? That is one of the most critical questions when determining your voice. Leverage a social media management tool or use native analytics on each platform to measure demographics for every page. Facebook, in general, may skew older than other platforms such as Instagram.

From this data, you can see your current audience and compare that to your target demographics. Adjust your tone on social media to engage a different audience, if needed.

Use language audiences can understand

When creating content for a business, it is easy to fall into the trap of using language specific to your industry. To expand your audience, avoid jargon and write from the reader’s perspective.

People are less likely to interact with a brand if they feel like they are being sold something. Create content that adds to the existing conversation online. Social listening tools are a great way to measure what people are saying about a brand.

Social listening allows businesses to track, analyze and respond to conversations about their brand and the entire industry on social media.

Consistency matters

The voice is your brand’s persona, and it should stay consistent. Tone, however, can change from platform to platform.

Social-Media_Voices_SupportGraphic2

Just think of it as how you act in different settings. With friends, you might be a little more casual. That is your voice for Instagram. In a business setting, you are more professional, use that language for LinkedIn. Even with these tweaks, the messaging should still sound like it is coming from one “person.”

Be careful not to make your social media only about the brand – engage with the community.

Check the data

Developing your voice should not just be a one-off venture. It should be reviewed and analyzed on a regular basis.

Analytics is everything when it comes to social media. Measure your outcomes, including engagement and impressions, on a weekly and monthly basis. Make slight adjustments to your voice and tone based on these metrics.

It may take some time but developing a voice for social media will elevate your brand above the rest.

A blank canvas, a blank screen, a blank page. Every creative pursuit starts essentially with nothing and requires the creative genius of the person to paint a picture, design a graphic or tell a story. For a business, your origin story, your endeavors, your challenges and solutions, all mean something to everyone involved.

But how do you share all of this with people who don’t know you or haven’t worked with you? How do you evoke emotion and get them to care? That is what branding does. What’s more, the large blank canvases all around you at your office or place of business, are often the underutilized mediums that can help you tell your story.

“Wall projects are a cross between interior design and graphic design,” Lisa Condon, Senior Director of Graphic Services says. “Wall graphics help grab attention, add elements of color and beauty to offices and most importantly of all, tell a brand’s stories.”

Stories are meant to be shared, and what better way to share your story than through big, bold, beautiful images, artifacts and text.

Wall projects come in many shapes and sizes – as you’ll see in the examples below – and with options galore, it can be overwhelming to visualize how to best use space for physical branding.

When considering if a wall project is the right way to tell your story, think about the following:

  • Wall space – Do you have space that is either blank, not used effectively or could be updated? Are there areas where people gather, where you hold meetings or events, or where people are waiting?
  • Longevity – Do you want something with permanence or something that can be flexible and needs to be updated or mobile?
  • Budget – Are you looking for something full or small-scale? (This helps determine materials, fixtures and fabrication plans.)
  • Availability of assets – Do you have high-resolution photos and videos that you’d like to share in new ways?
  • Permission – Can you modify the space? Do you have or can you get the permission to embark on a project of this scale?

Fortunately, we don’t expect you to have the answers. These types of considerations help frame the ideas – showing you all that can be done and in keeping within parameters.

We’re fortunate to have worked on a variety of environmental design and wall graphic projects, including large scale printing, fabrication and installation. Take a peek at some of the projects we’ve developed. Maybe they’ll inspire you to consider telling your story in a unique and immersive way.

Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Chemical Biological Center Visitors Center

Imaginative design transformed this visitors center into a dual-use space for VIP tours, meetings and events showcasing the organizations mission, presence, culture, research and products. Understanding the need for flexibility, we designed 16 inner building walls, 14 banner displays, 10 portable walls and two double-sided outdoor displays.

Defense Logistics Agency

This auditorium oasis consisted of 40,000 feet of wall and floor space telling the stories of the agency’s role in supporting the Warfighter. It created an immersive brand experience for visitors and reached hundreds of personnel daily with important messaging and visual reminders of the mission of the agency. A wall of fame, massive hand painted mural and glass-encased artifacts helped take this project to the next level.

https://abrightideaonline.com/work/defense-logistics-agency

U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity

This project consisted of a 10-foot nomadic exhibit, a touch-screen kiosk and retractable banners for use at future environmental and technical conferences. To ensure our client was able to fully grasp the scale, feel and placement of assets within the spaces, we created virtual spaces and elevations. This ensured when the final space was complete, there were no surprises. For the touchscreen and video kiosks, we produced interactive presentations using Adobe Flash and Microsoft PowerPoint, integrating animated, video and audio content.

We also converted a 35-foot-long Airstream trailer into a Mobile Information Center (MIC) to engage students in future recruitment efforts and inform the community of the site’s mission. We developed museum quality display panels, models and hands-on products for an enriched engagement experience. Specific graphics produced and fabricated include munition models in wood frames in a mock igloo as well as a representation of an emergency alert siren. When a button is pressed the actual warning tones and messages play, which audibly stresses the importance of the work being safely performed at the site.

Your story matters so why not tell it and display it in a big way. Ready to talk more about how to brand your space? Do you have questions about wall projects? Email us at info@abrightideaonline.com, message us on social media and look out for our Wall Project Q&A with Lisa Condon, Senior Director of Graphic Services.

Many households across the U.S. tune into the Big Game every year. This year’s game truly felt historic for many reasons.

First, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers faced the Kansas City Chiefs at their own home stadium in Florida making them the first team to play a Super Bowl on home turf.

Second, Tom Brady adds yet another win to his record-making this number seven.

Third, you may have noticed the absence of Budweiser’s Clydesdales and the somewhat comical battle for soft drink superiority between Coca-Cola and Pepsi. They, among many other advertisers, opted to take a time-out on advertising during the Big Game this year due to the impact and uncertainty the coronavirus pandemic has placed on this game and life across the nation.

The brands that did have ads air during the Big Game took the opportunity to reach audiences with a variety of creative, some funny, some heartfelt, some serious and everything in between.

I teamed up with our Director of Video Creative, Eric Bach to dissect a few of the ads that really caught our attention.

Our Favorite Spot:

“Last Year’s Lemons” Bud Light commercial secured the winning spot for us. Bud Light took an old saying, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” and squeezed it (pun intended) to showcase their new product while highlighting the many sour situations that took place over the course of 2020. Beyond the clever concept and on-point execution of the ad, we noticed additional creative tactics with this campaign. Not only did they reinforce branding with an in-game ad, known as a drop-in, directly following the commercial, but utilized what appeared as guerrilla marketing in the stands, with the cameramen pointing at a “fan” covered in Bud Light body paint, holding a cardboard sign reading “When Life Gives You Lemons.” Overall, Bud Light executed a well-rounded and strategic campaign this year, relating to just about everyone on earth and making us laugh along the way.

*Also, side note, did anyone else catch Budweiser on screen? Weeks before the big game they announced they would not partake in advertising this year which remained true, not directly spending Budweiser ad dollars as they traditionally would. However, Anheuser-Busch ran advertising on its own and separate lower-third unit advertising their zero-alcohol beer

90s Nostalgia:

A reoccurring theme we noticed throughout the night was 90s nostalgia! This was kicked-off with Pizza Hut featuring Craig Robinson decked out in retro Pizza Hut gear playing Pacman in a room filled with iconic Pizza Hut memorabilia, eliciting fond childhood memories…the only thing missing was a BookIt pin!

The nostalgia kept coming with a reference to one of the decade’s most popular sitcoms, with Tide’s “Jason Alexander Sweatshirt.” The ad not only had us reminiscing about our favorite George Constanza moments, but Tide topped it off with a music bed referencing George’s famous answering machine message. The addition of the audio tied the whole spot together to make it even more memorable for audience.

One last nod to the 90s, Uber teamed up with Wayne’s World’s Mike Myers and Dana Carvey to promote the Uber Eats service. They preface this commercial by stating this is NOT an ad they’re using to manipulate the audience to eat local, while using some not-so-subtle tactics, like the babies wearing “eat local” shirts and a shameless celebrity plug from Cardi B to do just that. Uber took the obvious and over-used promotion tactics advertisers often lean on and made fun of them in their own way to shape this ad.

Honorable Mention:

An all-out sandwich war featuring Brad Garrett playing the part of a mob member in the latest Jimmy John’s commercial had us giggling the whole time. Jimmy John’s typically incorporates humor into their ads and this time did not disappoint. This commercial took a jab at their competitors by stating they are the “King of Cold Cuts” and took time to throw in reasons why, such as their superior ingredients, freshly baked bread, customizable menu and more. Humor remains a strong tactic for advertising because consumers like being entertained instead of pitched, so appealing to them emotionally through humor can lead to further engagement with a product in the future.

When it comes to advertising, for the big game or otherwise, creative direction remains the deciding factor if a brand reaches their target audience or not. Advertising is simply the vehicle to deliver the creative to the audience. That said, an integrated approach to advertising is always recommended. If you’re interested in determining the creative direction for your next campaign, send us an email or connect with us on Twitter! We’d be happy to discuss your next campaign and creative!

2021 marks A. Bright Idea’s silver anniversary. From this 25-year milestone, we look back on one incredible journey and toward blazing more trails and pushing ourselves and the creative communications industry to reach new heights.

So, we acknowledge this accomplishment, not to assign importance to an arbitrary number of years but instead reflect on what it took to reach this coming of age and our trajectory from here.

Like many small businesses across the country, the beginning of A. Bright Idea started with a simple vision — a person wanting to pioneer her own way. Anita A. Brightman found inspiration from within and with the support of her family, friends and mentors, to create her own agency in 1996 after feeling lost in the large corporate setting, yearning to not only write but create and ultimately lead. At the start of her journey, a former colleague doubted the 26-year-old’s choice but Anita used his lack of faith to fuel a path to success.

From our agency’s foundations, we grew methodically and expanded from a home-based business to a full-service agency with offices from coast to coast. Our process-oriented culture has in turn become the hallmark of our brand, a culture that’s methodical, imaginative and collaborative.

We’re excited to celebrate! Through 2021, we will mark this special year with Silver & Shine moments. Look for our new webinar series and participate in two trivia contests on Facebook and Instagram where we’re giving away some great ABI swag and other fun goodies while also sharing tons of great anecdotes from Anita and other employees. You’ll see photos and videos to inspire or make you laugh, and of course, help you get to know us a bit better!

In many, if not most ways, we owe a toast to you. We have little room in this one blog post to provide a full compilation of client success stories over a quarter-century but suffice it to say that each one helps chronicle our story. Thank you and let the party begin.