And with that classic line courtesy of Arnold “Mr. Freeze” Schwarzenegger, I’d like to introduce a client we’ve been working with for the past several months. Ross and Robin form the dynamic duo that is ZeroCelsius, up in New Hampshire (where it is indeed 0º C all year round).

They’re a wealth management company, but one that’s a little different. They’re almost the exact opposite of what pops up in your head when you think finance or money or management. One that’s approachable, warm, funny, human. A “creative” wealth management company that speaks to, well, creatives.

While they don’t always take themselves seriously, they’re quite serious about their work. (Believe me, I’ve looked at enough charts and graphs and spreadsheets to know it’s not all fun and games). Aside from being great to work with, it’s also been a great learning experience.

But what’s really cool about ZC is the unique focus they have and the story they tell. They’ve picked sides; they’re not everything to everyone. And because of that, they’re doing something that seems to be increasingly rare — they’re interesting. It’s a model quite different than that of the-customer-is-always-right, but because of that, they’re able to work with the right customers.

We’ve been working together to polish the brand messaging and coming up with new, really unique approaches to engage their customers. It’s exciting stuff, and I can’t wait till we roll it all out.

That being said, I’ll leave you with more words of wisdom from Mr. Freeze: “In this universe, there’s only one absolute… everything freezes!”

We teamed up with the lively folks at Catalyst a few months back to produce some material for their tenth annual east coast conference. If you don’t know about Catalyst, check them out here.

This years theme of “On Your Mark”  lead us down a few paths, but mainly the idea of user interaction. We wanted conference goers to literally “Make their mark” on all the conference materials. So throughout the campaign we built user generated content, fill-in the blank manifestos, and plenty of places to leave their mark. Catalyst is all about the experience, including every piece of design. Below are some of the final products. To check out the Conference site we developed click here.

Lab Notebook
Vellum overlay cover for conference attenders to sign their literal mark or signature to the front cover.

Main Conference Notebook
Die cut cover for attenders to fill in the blanks and reveal the underlying manifesto on the second page.

Our good friends at Sixthman, brought us “on board” to help develop the brand for their newest partnership cruise, VH1’s Best Cruise Ever. Included in our efforts were brand strategy, naming, logo design, print collateral, and the website design. A big initiative like this always leaves a trail of materials from our process, so I thought I’d collect some add some thoughts and share. Enjoy!

Concept:

Imagine everything awesome about VH1, then imagine it on a cruise for 4 days and nights with endless activities, so much so you’ll forget to put on sunscreen.

First Execution:

The first approach we tried was an illustration based design that would allow us to be a little more whimsical and playful, but we felt it took away from the simplicity and humor of the sunburn concept.

Second Execution:

The second approach was a photo shoot with an everyday Joe as our model. We didn’t want Billy Blanks or Xena the princess warrior, we wanted average. Someone who really would forget to put on sunscreen, you know, that guy. After we received the photos we tried various treatments, including a body covered in sun burnt type, but kept hanging on to this idea of simplicity. Below are some of the executions:

Final Solution:

We ended up on a version with only the logo burn mark and all the type set into the box in the bottom right. This version also allowed us to “swap” the background whenever needed. A TV Spot might have a setting sun, a web banner might have thousands of people packed onto the deck of the boat, or the festival poster might have the simple blue for ample room for autographs. The version below also includes the retouched final model image.

Logo

The logo was a simple stencil, used for the blocking of sunburnt chests, with an added Rock N’ Roll hand. Our goal was to make it translate easily into merch and lower back tattoos.

So, as Danny Bonaduce would say, What do you think?

Andy Levine is the founder and President of Sixthman, an incredibly unique affinity travel company that brings together like-minded people in exclusive, interactive and intimate environments. They have produced events such as The Rock Boat and Cayamo, and they are embarking on several new concepts this year such as VH1’s Best Cruise Ever and The Elvis Cruise.

Andy is actually my first and only boss and I can tell you without any exaggeration that Matchstic would not exist today if it were not for him (I’ll save that story for another day, feel free to ask me).  What I respect most about Andy is the way he treats people.  All people.  Not just the “important” ones.  When I worked for him managing bands and most in the music business were interested in big record contracts and music videos, Andy kept a simple philosophy that I will never forget: No Fan, No Band.  It’s this appreciation and connection with these fans (others call them “customers”), that has led Sixthman to be the market leader in it’s category.

But Sixthman didn’t get there overnight.  Andy has fought hard over many years and it’s the courage of him and his staff that has led them to where they are today.  So without further adieu, here’s Andy…

Craig: How did Sixthman get started?
Andy: I learned how to play guitar in college and was asked to join a band as long as I booked all the gigs.  After college, we broke up and I began promoting shows at a club in Gainesville, Fl called Richenbachers and managing the band Sister Hazel.  When Sister Hazel began touring nationally, I moved to Atlanta and started Sixthman as an artist management company.

Craig: What caused you to shift your focus?
Andy: Our philosophy in managing bands was to put most of our energy into building a healthy relationship with the fans rather than vying to be an MTV darling.  We found that by taking such good care of our current fans, they were bringing new fans to the band.  That manifested itself into a demand by a group of loyal fans for a convention with the band in 2001.  They reminded us that they had done everything we asked them to do to promote and assist the band.  Attended concerts, bought cd’s, called radio stations to request airplay, let us sleep on their couch etc.  We produced a cruise in Labor Day Weekend of 2001 for 400 fans and it was a huge hit.  That inspired me to explore making a business out of it by partnering with bands to build an experience for them and their fans.  It seemed to make all the sense in the world.  Like minded people on vacation with their favorite bands.

Craig: What were some of the reasons people maybe didn’t believe in this new direction?
Andy: The biggest hurdles to get over where funding, idea of being trapped on a ship and the perception of cruising in general.  In the beginning, we had to put up $1,000,000 for each cruise in advance and the returns were not great for that kind of risk.  Bands quickly got over the being trapped on a ship thing once they saw that the people who paid to join them on vacation were very respectful and genuine fans who cared about them rather than just looking for a picture or an autograph.  The cruise thing being for old people just kind of went away once people saw what a great venue the ship became for this kind of festival.

We had some people in the office who thought we should stick with managing bands and starting a record label but that just wasn’t making sense to me or getting me excited.

Craig: What did you deal with in continuing to move forward with this new vision?

Andy: Each year we would be looking at a small return, if any, for a lot of work.  We kept focusing on learning and building the experience which allowed us to fight thru any doubt as we saw a majority of our customers returning every year and bringing friends with them.  All we could do was identify things that were working really well and highlight them as reasons to keep pushing forward.

Craig: What happened as a result of the new business focus?

Andy: After a few years of pioneering this concept, we got a call from the Barenaked Ladies asking us if we could produce a cruise experience for them and their fans.  I simply said, “we have been waiting on your call”.  They are the prototype band for something like this because they had a reputation for a great live show, genuine connection with their fans and mainstream success with radio and cd sales.

Craig: What does the future hold for Sixthman?

Andy: We are in the midst of learning all the great lessons you learn in business and getting a little better each day at execution on land and at sea.  The question we are trying to answer is, “Are we in the business of creating music cruises or can our skill set apply to bringing any community together.  I am betting that the concept is broader than music and that we will bring some cool new things to life.  For example, we have partnerships in place with VH1, TBS, Electronic Arts, Grand Ole Opry, Graceland and Time Life to create experiences alongside their brands.  We believe experiences are going to be a priority for many groups of people and want to be the best at making them amazing.

Craig: What advice do you have for anyone else who may be analyzing their business and thinking of a strategic shift?

Andy: A few years ago, we engaged Matchstic to interview some of our customers, vendors and employees to see what we were truly the best at.  They let us know that we are showing the most promise at Tearing Down the Walls between people and their passions.  As an artist manager, I was able to leverage that skill 35% of the time.  Now we leverage it 90% of the time.  That exercise was profound for us.  Discover your Brand Essence.

We had the privilege of working on a campaign with Compassion International in early ‘08 – duly named Bite Back (check out the full case study here). It was an incredible project and campaign to be a part of.

Fast forward a year and a half later…and SEED (SouthEastern Excellence in Design) saw fit to present us with an award for our work on the campaign. Yes, yes…we may be self congratulating a bit…but hey, we’re excited!

And definitely check out the video they put together of all the ‘09 award-winners above (the Bite Back work is at the 2:38 min mark).