Still to Come…

Check back to see designs from:
•The new Dallas Magazine
• Wyoming Governor's Conference artwork
• Austin Redesigned 2009 Publications
• Vegas Simplified (our new product in Las Vegas)
• Denver Green Light Guide

You win some, you lose some, no matter how hard you try

Chicago will soon be just a nice memory for us, but despite losing this year's RFP to our rival, Miles Media, Weaver still has every right to be proud. The effort put forth with this client over the past 8 years can't be beat, and the RFP pitch was one even the bureau said was the best they've ever seen. In the end, politics and personalities sometimes just don't mix, but you can bet we'll be back!!!






We also went after Washington State this year. We didn't win the contract, but the team, as always, put together a great pitch.

Philadelphia's Core Pubs Kickoff

2009 is finally the year we start collaborating on Philadelphia's core publication program, so we kicked off our research in April, going through our creative evolution with the PCVB and getting their buy off on our new direction.

Lisa (the lead editor on the account) and I felt strongly that we needed to hip up their guides and give them something that represented Philadelphia as the cosmopolitan, up-and-coming, urban city that it is and to stress that there is more here than just historical attractions. Our overall message for this guide that is driving both the editorial and design: "Philadelphia is a diverse big city with a small-town feel. It's a fusion of old and new, trendy and traditional, historic and modern, urban and neighborhood."

Also knowing the design esthetic of the PCVB, that is, they like their designs BUSY and they like to showcase A LOT of photography (guessing that they prefer this type of design because it appears there is a lot to see and do in their city if there is just plain more on a page), I set out to create something that still had plenty of drama and WOW and a design that could showcase a lot of options and information, while hopefully still maintaining the clutter.

After presenting these comps to the PCVB, Becky Carity summed up their response in one sentence: "They're in LOVE!"

Our New Market - Columbia

Columbia, South Carolina came to Weaver at the begginning of 2008. Probably the nicest market we have, we, of course, had to pair them with our jolliest designer, Jeff Kuenzel. And I couldn't be any happier with the outcome. Jeff has worked extremely hard on this account, and the bureau just loves what they see so far.

The bureau brought on their ad agency midway through our design process, introducing their new campaign, "Famously Hot" (check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7hfxdySwxM). To incorporate this into our already designed comps, Teri (the editorial lead on this account) and Jeff have infused emotive words into the headlines that flows with the "hot and cool" theme.

Wanting to give the readers our visitor expertise and perspective, we also chose to focus on the friendly personality of Columbia, their charm and warmth, and Southern hospitality, the wonderful people you encounter, and the fact that this little city gives you the chance to get away from it all and just enjoy life at this new slower pace. These ideas drove the design and the editorial and shaped the creative to include new personalized story ideas and vibrant, fun and fresh design elements.

A Brand New Year, A Brand New Method

This year we have introduced a new creative process (now called the creative evolution) to help our clients realize their own unique tone, voice and distinguished look. This creative evolution involves a series of Q&A worsheets we provide our bureau partners that includes creative and marketing questions. The purpose? For the Weaver Market teams to hear from the horses mouth what they think sells their destination, what they believe their branding is, and for the designer and editor to have a clear roadmap for the entire year regarding what initiatives and objectives they want to push within our guides, what obstacles these cities need to overcome and what we can do as industry partners to help achieve their vision and goals.

Based on information we recieve from our Q&A, we are now putting together "mood boards", which visually tells the story of how we want our guides to feel and emotionally inspire. This is a chance for the designers to translate all of the CVB's provided information into our interpretation of their visual story.

Colorado Comps

Here's a sneak peak at the Coloardo Official State Vacation Guide. This year we proposed going with a more lifestyle magazine look and tone. What that really means is that we have included "departments" and "feature stories" within the guide, and we have moved away from broad, generic copy to be more experiential, personal and specific.

The cover photography was provided to us by Colorado's advertising agency, MMG, in an effort to synch up with their branding efforts.

Thanks to my market team partners, Hannah Pierce, Andrea Golod and Emily Bush!

Wyoming RFP

The design team was faced with the challenge of creating new and exciting spreads and covers for the Wyoming RFP we set out to win in August. With 50% of the winning points assigned to the creative concepts, we really had to have the wow factor going for us.

The team was up for the challenge, with Kelly Ruhland and Carrieann Stutz taking the lead on design. We had about 5 days and the entire design team really gave it their all with successful brainstorm sessions, Wyoming branding research, photo research and a multitude of group critiques. The end result? An emotionally charged, personalized journal concept that captured the feeling of the old west, the feel of the open road, and it helped win us the account.

Thanks to all, including Kevin Day and Keri Rebrush for their creative minds and contribution.