Do you have FUN in your workplace? If not you need some.

Fun is everywhere at Current. Playing together is key at Current. We do adventures together like white water rafting, competing at volleyball or racing around an obstacle course every year at the Run for The Rose. Lisa Koier, our COO, AKA “Culture Queen," always endorses fun and excitement around the office.

Here are a few tips to add some FUN in your workplace:

1)    Nicknames. Everyone MUST have a nickname. It is much more fun to greet around the office with names such as “The Bomb," D-Meister” and “Smarty Pants." Don’t you agree?

2)    Treats. Dogs and cats are not the only ones that need treats. Offices do as well. Be spontaneous and plan an ice cream party day or a popcorn hour.

3)    Gatherings. Treat your office to a fun outing, like Movie Night, Roller skating or a Comedy Night.

4)    Lunch. Yes, Food again. It is important to try and lunch with everyone on your staff at least twice a month. This allows you to catch up and get to know your co-workers on a personal level.

5)    The final tip for today is Animals. Animals you ask? Every office needs a pet. A fish, a ferret, a bird, your choice. Our shop pet is a dog. Her name is Mona. Our office would not be the same without her. She is a permanent member of our staff. Oh, and my nickname for her is M-Dog. Seemed like a natural fit.

Remember, have fun in your life, even at work.

T-Minus two days and counting until Thunder Over Louisville, the largest annual fireworks show in North America and the opening ceremonies to the Kentucky Derby Festival.

CurrentMarketing is the agency of record for the Kentucky Derby Festival. With more than 70 events to promote, it can get kinda crazy within our agency. With three years of experience, here are our Top 10 tips for survival of this mayhem.

10) CurrentTrack - Without this phenomenal online agency management system, we would be lost. The archived projects and search feature allow for easy access to past projects. Task management is KEY to the workflow for the hundreds of projects we complete in the months leading up to May.

9) Traffic Manager- Behind every management system, there must be a STRONG traffic manager. We have the best traffic manager around, who knows our procedures and the CurrentTrack system front and back and back again. What is a traffic manager you ask? I don’t have time to answer this (did you not read that there are only three days until Thunder?!?!). So read up on it here. Get one.

8) Feed your Creatives
Feed, Feed, Feed your designers, hell all of your creative staff.
Candy, salty snacks, Diet Mountain Dew, whatever does the trick. This helps keep them glued to their seat and working hard at the task at hand. BONUS TIP: Keep the fluids to a minimum. Too many fluids causes extra potty breaks and that is 3-5 minutes of billable time.

7) Memorize
You must be able to retain information and recall it quickly. Boron helps your attention and memory. It is found in avocados, apples and nuts. Choline is another brain booster found in eggs and milk. Stock up.

6) Team Players
Have a team attitude. And Have a Great Team. Enough Said.
TIP: Creatives love after hours cocktails and more snacks.

5) Focus
We always try our best to clear our minds and FOCUS on all the many details of every project. If it means leaving the office with our laptop or locking ourselves in a closet, we do whatever it takes to stay focused.

4) Take Great Notes
To organize this many projects, you must take detailed notes.
From the initial concept to design to sending a file to the printer, notes are your essential to this process.

3) Ask Questions
No question is a dumb question, only if it does not get asked.
BONUS TIP: Write your questions down as you may forget to ask them later.

2) Reward your Team
We realize we are not in this alone and a pat on the back to your teammates -- candy, trophies and other prizes go a long way!

1) HAVE FUN!
Every job has its ups and downs, but we must make sure we enjoy what we do. We infuse FUN in it as much as we can!

Graphic designers and brand experts have long preached logo consistency. We do here, too. But when you can build brand awareness and equity, why not try something new?

Many brands today apply a temporary, sometimes seasonal, design element to add life and energy to their logos, and even create buzz about their brand. Google, for example, recognizes every holiday and season with logo garnish they call “doodles” on its homepage. Yahoo, The Gap, Wild Apricot and Target also seasonalize their logos all year long.

Recently, we gave Kentucky Derby Festival’s logo a seasonal look to incorporate the creative theme for this year’s Festival, A World of Fun.

When the international theme was developed for the 2008 Festival, it seemed natural to bring that feel to the corporate mark. The sphere that normally holds the Golden Pegasus became the perfect area to integrate the globe shape. The latitude and longitude lines helped add depth and define this shape. The color modification to blue and gold helped set the complete mark apart.

The industry buzz is that this technique can infuse new energy into a corporate logo, increase website traffic and build overall awareness of your brand.

I cannot wait to see what Google has to offer for Major League Baseball’s opening day what Derby Festival may have to offer in 2009.

Until then.

The website that I visit the most that helps me with my position as an account executive at CurrentMarketing is a tie between two:

www.secondwindnetwork.com

This site is a member-based website for advertising professionals that provides wonderful information about the industry, research and has an online forum to ask questions to your peers in the industry. Very helpful!

HOW Design

This site is geared more toward designers and art directors, which takes me back to my roots. I visit this site often to post questions, read about the latest technology and to find many How-to-do’s in the industry.

The site I visit everyday again is a toss-up between AnyWho (which I use to find people) or  CurrentTrack which is our web-based ad agency management system by Developware. Without it I would be lost and I use it about 574 times a day. It keeps me on track. It's the best ad agency software I've ever used.

The sites I really visit every day are www.marquiswhoswho.com and www.movies.go.com.

I am always searching names, content, people, info, movies and places. These sites are always helpful and provide a nice break over lunch as I eat at my desk and surf.

Earlier this week, I posted some initial points on successful event marketing. Today, I’ll share what I think are four keys to help any event be successful.

Know Your Audience
Too many companies, businesses and even festival and event groups spend more time marketing to themselves instead of their potential audience. Many events have several tiers or several different demographics for their events. It is important to know all your audiences and to target your event messages to each one. The SBA has a helpful article about establishing clear guidelines on how to drill down and learn about the people you're trying to reach.

Your marketing message is not just the image you project in media. It is also the message you send to your staff, vendors and participants. From the way you reply to an email to the way you answer the phone. Positive correspondence to everyone involved in your event is key so they will continue to partner with you in the future.

And you must allocate your budget to grow for impressive creative and solid media plans and strategy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Events and Festivals are in my blood, and I love it.

I attend them. I produce them. I develop and execute marketing plans for them. I even got engaged at North America's largest fireworks show.

So that makes me some kind of expert. At least our clients think so.

I do love discussing and analyzing everything about events to help groups get the most effective use of every dollar they have to produce events. Our experience with Kentucky Derby Festival, Butchertown Art Fair, The Cup Experience (Louisville's 2008 Ryder Cup Host Committee) and the Kentucky Bourbon Festival has brought a few things to my attention.

First, many festivals and event companies don't realize that partnering with key groups like a PR or marketing firm, can improve communications and get professional insights that an event group, working alone, may not otherwise have. Many groups choose to handle these efforts internally, in an effort to conserve costs, but it is not the best use of their time, skill sets or resources. Event groups should focus on what they do best...events.

Secondly, far too many event groups have no consistent theme. When I was a judge for the Kentucky Festivals and Events Association event materials competition, I was amazed to find the amount of work that carried no consistent theme and had no clear message they were trying to deliver to their audiences.

Lastly, event groups need all the help they can get. If "It takes a village to raise a child," it takes an entire community to successfully promote and produce an event. Seek out volunteers, who can recruit more volunteers. Find experts in marketing, crowd & traffic management, concessions, signage and recruiting to build teams that will help with the event you're planning and for future growth.

Later this week, I'll share what I think are four keys to successful event planning and management.