Buster Creative took home first place at the 2012 Diagnostic Marketing Association Creative Communication Awards held in Chicago last week. The award recognizes our work on the DigitalScope campaign for the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the world’s largest association of board-certified pathologists.

DigitalScope is a groundbreaking online slide imaging technology now being used in laboratory proficiency testing programs at the CAP. Similar to a Google Earth for slides, DigitalScope delivers unparalleled viewing of whole slide images and enhances proficiency testing and education for laboratories.

From logo development to web redesign, we worked closely with the CAP to create a memorable, effective (and award-winning!) campaign.

Our Approach: To help increase awareness of DigitalScope, Buster Creative developed an integrated product launch consisting of print ads, tip-in cards, eblasts and web redesign. As is the case with many other technologically advanced products, DigitalScope is truly something you have to see to believe. For each of the campaign pieces, we employed valuable white space and short, to-the-point copy, allowing the vivid DigitalScope imagery to speak for itself. The end result is a powerful, integrated campaign that succinctly explains the features and benefits of the product, while also driving customers to experience the technology for themselves.

Buster Creative’s award-winning campaign for DigitalScope.

  
Left: Buster Creative’s first place Dx Communications Award. Right: Buster Creative attends the 2012 Diagnostic Marketing Association Creative Communication Awards in Chicago. (Pictured clockwise from top left are Mike Kite of College of American Pathologists, George Demet of Buster Creative, Alice Hlavin of Buster Creative and Jill Bye of College of American Pathologists.)

Google has announced the launch of its new anti-webspam algorithm, which it says will prevent webspam from polluting its search results.“In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at Webspam,” announced Matt Cutts, head of Google’s webspam team. “The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines.” The new algorithm is also designed to favor sites that create high-quality content and improve user experiences. Read the full announcement on Google’s Webmaster Central Blog.

Buster Creative recently worked with renown restauranteurs Jay and Darice Lovell on their upcoming line of soups, stocks and sauces. The Lovells came to Buster Creative to help them develop compelling product labels that will support the launch of their brand.

Project Name: Soups, Stocks and Sauces LLC product launch.

Project Goals: To design and create compelling product labels for the Jay Lovell’s brand.

Product/Service Description: Available soon at speciality food and high-end grocery stores, the Jay Lovell’s products are made the time-honored way in small batches using the same high-quality, mouthwatering ingredients found at Mr. and Mrs. Lovell’s famous restaurant, Lovell’s of Lake Forest.

Tone: Professional, sophisticated, inviting and friendly—just like Mr. and Mrs. Lovell!

Message to Deliver: Jay Lovell’s products are almost impossible to make at home, but they’re easy to buy. They are all handcrafted using fresh and natural ingredients, which make them taste like they were made in a restaurant, not a factory.

Our Approach: What makes a product label stand out from all the rest? This is the question we tackled over and over during this project. After conducting extensive research on the competitions’ product labels, we realized that the design needed to be show-stopping while also being able to accommodate an entire family of labels. We also took into consideration the label color versus the product color and the contrast that need to be created between the two. that the Jay Lovell’s labels  needed to look just as spectacular as his products taste. What better way to show all of the quality, skillfulness and passion that go into the Jay Lovell’s products than to feature a photo of Jay right on the label? As you can see in the final design below, Jay’s photo reinforces his notoriety and adds the perfect amount of warmth and trust to his brand. For decades, Jay Lovell has won over the hearts (and palettes) of all those who dine at his restaurant. Now customers throughout Chicagoland will be able to bring that same Lovell’s experience and restaurant-quality taste into their homes.

  
Initial concepts for the product labels

Final label design 

Facebook recently pushed its Timeline feature to all brand pages, and you know what that means . . . It’s time for a Buster Creative makeover! Help us with our Facebook “facelift” by voting for your favorite  cover photo below.

Option #1

Option #2

Option #3

Since 2005, Buster Creative has teamed with Hollister on the Secure Start Newsletter, a resource for individuals with ostomies. Using thoughtful research, writing and design, Buster Creative helped transform the Secure Start Newsletter from a corporate-centric flyer to a consumer-focused lifestyle newsletter.

Success — Hollister has dramatically increased the printing quantity of the newsletter and has increased online readership using an integrated email and web campaign.

This past winter, Hollister came to Buster Creative to refresh the Secure Start Newsletter utilizing their most recent branding guidelines. Take a look below at how Buster Creative has transformed the Secure Start Newsletter over the years.

Secure Start designed in-house (2004).

Award-winning Secure Start design by Buster Creative (2005-2011).

 
Secure Start 2012 print and e-news designed with Buster Creative brand refresh.

Have you seen the recent commercial for a prescription drug called Stoogesta? The faux pharmaceutical ad is actually a parody trailer for the upcoming Three Stooges movie. Apparently, not everyone is “nyucking” about it. The one-minute spot was originally scheduled to air on CBS during the NCAA basketball tournament, but the television network decided to ban it at the last minute “due to the making light of prescription drug ads.” Since then, the video has gone viral with over 175,000 views on YouTube. What do you think of the ad? Is it majorly insensitive or just harmless fun?

Opportunity:

GutterSupply.com wanted to promote Quick Shop, a feature on their web site that helps gutter contractors shop for a particular job through material lists.

Solution:

We helped develop an integrated marketing campaign using traditional marketing and social media platforms. This monthly campaign maximizes the client’s communication efforts by bringing together print, fax, e-mail, web, video and social media to deliver a powerful, consistent message that increases brand recognition and boosts sales.

Take a look at some of the pieces from the Quick Shop integrated marketing campaign.

Print:

Fax:

E-blast:

Web:

Social Media:

Video:

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. If you haven’t found the perfect gift yet, declare your love with one of these sweet new Valentine-themed apps!

Valentine RADIO - Share some tunes with your loved one using this playlist of the most romantic songs. Valentine RADIO compiles 40+ radio stations that are sure to set the mood this Valentine’s Day.

Chocolate-Recipes - What’s Valentines Day without some mouthwatering chocolate? This app gives you over 550 recipes to whip up and enjoy your favorite chocolate dish.

Love - Looking for the right words to express your love? This app holds an extensive collection of love quotes and sayings that will melt anyone’s heart.

Candy Valentine Hearts - Everyone knows those familiar candy conversation hearts that come out around Valentine’s Day. This app lets you create photo-realistic candy hearts with your custom message, color and background. It’s all the sweetness without the calories!

Voice Valentines: Professional eCards with Sound - Create a unique Valentine’s e-card with this e-card app, which incorporates tons of customizable features and even allows you to record a personalized voice message!

California Blooms - Nothing says romance quite like flowers. The California Blooms app lets you order beautiful rose bouquets from your phone and delivers them right to your door within 24 hours of being cut.

Former Buster Creative intern Loren Burton recently treated us to a private tour of Grubwithus, a budding social dining network based in Venice, California. Loren currently works as Front End Developer at the company. He created the newly developed Grubwithus iTunes app, which lets you easily access the networking site and reserve meals with the press of a button! Check out the screenshots below.

Loren Burton (back row, far right) and the Grubwithus team.

Congratulations to Buster Creative intern Grace, winner of the Girls Scouts “Reality Check” video contest!

Run through the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, the largest council in the nation, Reality Check is a new video campaign about ”self-esteem, media literacy and today’s technology to help girls understand how their own story is as important and exciting as those on reality TV.”

Grace’s video was chosen by Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana CEO Maria Wynne for illustrating her passion for the preservation of marine biodiversity through the creative use of animation and graphics. Grace was awarded a $250 Best Buy gift card, plus tickets for her and a guest to see a production at the Goodman Theatre with Wynne.

Watch Grace’s award-winning video below and some of her greatest work while at Buster Creative.