Trafk Media

Water steel, concrete and the US National Whitewater Center

todd — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:31:50 +0000

Trafk was hired to help kick off the opening of the US National Whitewater Center’s new Canopy Tour. The tour reaches heights of over 60 feet high in the hardwoods along the Catawba, but we kick it off with street level marketing throughout Uptown. Using a 3′ x 3′, 35 lb., laser cut, galvanized steel stencil we will hit the streets of the Center City on April 13th with over 40 individual stencils.

Check out the video below to see what you can look forward too on the new Canopy Tour at the US National Whitewater Center.

Click here to view the embedded video.

sponsored by:

Dickies Pants, Jackets, and Overalls at PiedmontRed.com

Behind Stone Walls : Love and Acceptance

todd — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:12:10 +0000

First United Methodist Church is a progressive congregation led by husband and wife Pastor team Jonathan and Elizabeth Coppedge-Henley. They’re a welcoming and diverse organization, known for their commitment to the community and helping those in need.
Yet despite their church’s strengths, FUMC struggled to reach new members. One of the challenges in growing membership is the building itself. It’s a magnificent stone cathedral- a beautiful structure- but a little intimidating to someone who might be considering a visit on Sunday. They needed a way to let folks see through stone façade of the building itself and into the warm and open heart of their congregation. They needed a better presence on the web.
FUMC’s prior website was a basic template design that fell short of capturing the zeal of their church. Their old site was also difficult for church staff to maintain, and its content was often outdated.
Inspired by FUMC’s positive energy and commitment to their mission, our design team created an original new website with the dual purpose of reaching new members as well as better communicating with current members. The new design draws on a warm color palette that ensures that folks looking for a new church get the right idea about FUMC, and their new website was built using WordPress, which makes it a lot more user-friendly and easier to keep updated.
Visit fumccharlotte.org and take a peek through those stone walls and into the heart of their church. You just might like what you find, and they’d love to see you on Sunday.

sponsored by:

Dickies Pants, Jackets, and Overalls at PiedmontRed.com

Endorsed by Charlie Sheen

todd — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 21:25:34 +0000

Business a little off this week? Maybe an infusion of Tiger Blood is the answer. Ad.ly can help you harness the power of Charlie Sheen and his 2 million plus Twitter followers or choose from 1000 other celebrities to help you sell more of your widgets. Ad.ly connects companies with the “right celebrities” to endorse their products to followers on Facebook, Twitter, etc., and then tracks the results and provides a report to the advertiser. It’s not as far- fetched as it sounds. Their client list includes a-list corporate heavyweights like American Airlines, Old Navy, Sony and Best Buy. Charlie Sheen not the right pitchman for your company? Maybe Snoop Dogg is a better match. A recent tweet from Snoop plugging Toyota read, “These homies know the deal. Wonder if this swagger wagon can fit 22’s? SPINNIN!” We’re hip to the idea of celebrity endorsement in social media over here at Trafk Media, just not sure whether to go with Kim Kardashian, 50 Cent, or Snookie.

sponsored by:

Dickies Pants, Jackets, and Overalls at PiedmontRed.com

Lessons from the Grateful Dead

todd — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:09:15 +0000

If you ask anyone who’s been to a Dead show to describe the experience, be ready to listen for a while; it’s difficult to put into words. The band pioneered the blues/rock improv genre, literally inventing their own subculture in the process. In thirty years they only cracked the top 40 charts twice, yet by the early 90’s their shows consistently sold out 70,000 seat football stadiums- sometimes on three or four consecutive nights- with no paid advertising. The band played their last show in 1995, yet Grateful Dead Productions continues to generate $60 million a year in sales and licensing fees. Not too shabby for a band that doesn’t even exist anymore.

How’d they do it? An original product and clever marketing. Jerry Garcia once said, “Deadheads are like people who like licorice. Not everyone likes licorice, but people who like licorice REALLY like licorice.” Jerry understood the importance of positioning his brand and finding a niche. He knew that being different is a good thing and you should never try to be all things to all people. It just doesn’t work. The Dead established early on that their primary goal was to sell the live concert experience- tickets and merchandise at some 80 concerts a year- not radio play driven album sales like the traditional music business model. Unlike other music acts, they actually encouraged fans to tape their live shows and share the bootlegged copies with future fans. They built a raving word of mouth social marketing force that even today’s corporate social media outlets could learn from. Fan of the music or not, you can’t deny there are lessons to be learned from the dead experience…much more than how to rebuild the engine in a VW Camper Van in the parking lot before the show.

Click here to view the embedded video.

sponsored by:

Dickies Pants, Jackets, and Overalls at PiedmontRed.com

Website design for FUMC Child Development Center

todd — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:49:48 +0000

We had a blank slate to work with for the great folks at the First United Methodist Church child development center in Uptown Charlotte. They were looking to build a website for over 10 years, and after much research they decided to go with Trafk Media.

The requirements were determined with an interview of Janice Price the Development Center’s Director. She requested a unique template free design, easy for non-technical users, and quickly updateable. We quickly turned around 3 distinctly different proofs. The end result is displayed below and soon to be on the web.

sponsored by:

Dickies Pants, Jackets, and Overalls at PiedmontRed.com

The Wild One – Eastpak goes Guerrilla

todd — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:40:37 +0000

The name Eastpak brings me back to my days at McClintock Jr. High on Rama Road in Charlotte. My black cordura Eastpak backpack with a wore out brown leather bottom would be stuffed full of books, drinks, and years of various crumbs from my constant teenage snacking. There was no sexiness or uniqueness to the bag or the brand. That was actually the point, it was part of the unspoken junior high uniform. But now even Eastpak has gone Guerrilla. Their newest spokesperson is called ‘The Wild One’. He doesn’t speak, doesn’t have too because he’s a naked skateboarding midget. Not much more to say. So watch the video and think of Eastpak in a new light.

Click here to view the embedded video.

sponsored by:

Dickies Pants, Jackets, and Overalls at PiedmontRed.com

Communities in Schools Visits Trafk Media

todd — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:57:28 +0000

What do you get when you ask a group of teenagers to come up with a brand new product and then create their own fifteen second TV spot to advertise it? Why, “The Good Stuff”, of course; a hair growth tonic that cures baldness in a matter of minutes, not weeks like the competition, and has packaging that just happens to resemble a soda bottle.

Click here to view the embedded video.

When the Communities in Schools organization wanted to give local high school students a peek into the advertising business, we were glad to oblige. Heck, we were just as happy for a quick break from work as the kids were to leave the classroom for a bit. They learned about Trafk Media, and then pounced on the chance to create some ads of their own. With a little direction and a few out takes, we captured enough winning footage to keep the phones over at “The Good Stuff” office ringing for quite a while.

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Dickies Pants, Jackets, and Overalls at PiedmontRed.com

The World of Street Art

todd — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:59:04 +0000

When you hear the term graffiti, do you envision clumsy letters on an overpass that spell out ‘Dale and Jenny 4 ever’? Add “Exit through the Gift Shop” to your Netflix queue. The film throws open a wide window into the famously secretive world of street artists, where spray paint is only the beginning. Everything from giant wheat paste posters, to modified phone booths and Guantanamo Bay detainee dolls are used to communicate ideas to an unsuspecting public in a powerful and memorable way. “Exit” is inspiring, and good enough for movie date night even, but be careful; when it’s over, you just might find yourself poking around in the garage for a can of paint.

Release the Lions Contest

todd — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 18:29:29 +0000

Are you creative? Even a little? Have any interest in a free website? If so, enter Trafk Media’s Release the Lions contest. It’s fun, easy and works like this :

1. Following the Lion image below, is a contact form to submit your address. Fill that out.
2. We’ll mail you a 3″ x 4″ sticker of the Trafk Media Lion.
3. Put the sticker in a really creative place and take a picture of it.
3b. Nudity isn’t really that creative.
4. Email us the picture here
5. We’ll post all the photo entries here at trafkmedia.com, where everyone will be able to review the entries and vote on a favorite.
6. On July 15th, we’ll tally the votes.The photo with the most votes wins a brand spanking new website courtesy of Trafk Media. It’s that simple.

RULES:
There are no rules,and that’s the point. Put the stickers anywhere you want, take a picture, and send us the picture. Have fun with it!
d

[contact-form]

My Neighborhood Turkey

todd — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 17:30:56 +0000

There’s a turkey in my neighborhood. No, it’s not the lady who bottle-necked my daily commute to work for 7 years by parking her 1988 Chevy Conversion Van in the street. It’s an actual turkey. And yes, he’s a wild turkey..sort of. He lives in the woods behind the neighborhood, and waddles up to Central Avenue each morning to protect his territory; mainly from large vehicles including school buses, city buses, and dump trucks. He’s not fond of my Toyota pick up truck either and the two have been known to have lengthy stand-offs that would earn a nod of approval from Clint Eastwood himself. -MK

Click here to view the embedded video.

sponsored by:

Dickies Pants, Jackets, and Overalls at PiedmontRed.com