Karl Drecktrah had a dream of building a neighborhood friendly development in south Minneapolis on a quiet street. The homes would be modest and built with the influence of constructivist designers and artists. Long hours were spent discussing the origins of the Futura typeface and the work of Kasmir Malivich over bottles of deep red wine and chunks of Manchego cheese.
We devised a beautiful branding strategy and carried it out in posters, advertisements, brochures, bus benches and a website, but alas, the housing market fell as the project launched and all that remains is a brilliant idea.
Blackwing filters are high performance products for muscle cars. The branding is directed towards this specific audience. We were always hoping this project would progress into designing a hood ornament.
Vroom!
iWow software adjusts the tone of music out of an iPod and into small speakers. This is one of the software boxes that we designed for Apple Stores.
Coolstuff was a line of clothing and housewares designed for college dorm rooms. The packaging was colorful and the products were inexpensive. Cool idea, Coolstuff.
We developed a motif for branding the four counties of the Devils Lake Region in North Dakota. Icons indicate qualities of each county. This collection of printed material was made for a series of public meetings to attract new business to the area.
“OK, we have a new fleet of white trucks. We think there should be some sort of message on them.”
These are the the trucks that the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota uses to pick up gently used clothing and small household appliances. We think the message tells EFMN's story as well as the side of a white truck can.
Lominger Limited invented a suite of assessment and development tools for corporate career development. If you are a sales person and want to be vice president Lominger’s tools can help you do that.
This suite of tools helps corporations’ assessment, learning agility, performance management, selection, strategic alignment, succession, team effectiveness, coaching and development solutions.
The Carney Group began working on this project when Lominger was run out the founder’s spare bedroom. Now these innovative products are in use by corporations around the world.
Nine Mile Beer is from a microbrewery just outside of Detroit, Michigan. Beer logos and labeling are their own rewards if you know what we mean. Not everything has to be hard to do some things go down smoothly like a good amber ale.
Over the years, our work with the BBC has been some of the most gratifying and interesting The Carney Group has ever done. In the world of radio the British Broadcasting Corporation is the original broadcast network.
No one else has the experience, the knowledge or the reach. The only thing that baffles the BBC is the US market. When they wanted to increase their listenership they came to The Carney Group.
The slogan directed to the radio stations they wished to attract was, “Is your audience getting the news they’re listening for?”
Jolly good!
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Branding
Branding is the understanding of a company or product’s image. Successful branding is convincing people the image is valid. The market place can spot mistakes every time.
“You now have to decide what 'image' you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.”
— David Ogilvy
Here we show the images of those ideas.
Interactive
We distinguish ourselves by making websites that are different from one another as our clients are. Each is a response to their needs and tastes. When we finish sites these clients are free to add to and alter them from the point where we leave them. They change from our websites to theirs. That’s OK.
The best websites are living things.
Greg Jansen calls his style modern and edgy and his work is all of that.
After working on his website The Carney Group is sure that the reason that he's hired to shoot weddings is because he's a nice guy.
Who wouldn't, given the chance, hire a likable guy to chronicle your most joyful and important day?
He's all that.
What are the symbols of one of the most active and savvy realtors in the Minneapolis-St Paul area?
Coffee cup? Check. iPad? Check. Car keys and business cards? That covers it, all right.
This is one of the most unusual websites we've built and for us that's saying a lot. Building unusual sites are among our favorite things.
This site is very interactive and changes every day. If you are looking to buy or sell a house this site and Brian Gute are both very useful.
Lundell Manufacturing fabricates and engineers a vast range of flexible materials. They’re determined to deliver tailor-made solutions. The Lundell family has guided the growth of this company from its inception in 1978, preserving a focus on quality, precision and innovation. Everything about this firm shouts quality and integrity.
If you visit be sure to mention how shiny their floors are. They love that.
Nolan Properties Group wanted a website that looks clean and simple while really tricky at the same time. Check out the home page, the archives and projects.
Tanek Architects’ website is proof positive that we are not interested in making a web site like another one. This site is different, fun and a little noisy. Turn your speakers up and pass you cursor over the graphic at the top of the screen.
Tremendous Entertainment is an on-going success story. Colleen Needles Stewart left her anchor position with a popular television station to launch a film company so she could tell stories that are more than a minute and a half long. Tremendous provides unprecedented access to fascinating places and people around the world. The company has been breaking new ground ever since with award winning programs like Bizarre Foods, The Last Rhino, Lifeline - Mayo Clinic, The Happiness Advantage, Off Pitch, and Condition Black.
Pat Carney Studio is related to The Carney Group. It meets the needs of the client even when the client is Pat Carney. Come wander through a nice photographic portfolio and perhaps hire the photographer.
Some companies end up changing the world, Microsoft, Ford Motor Company, Apple. Some companies start out to change the world.
Effect Partners leads an expanding network of partners through a process that embeds sustainability into the foundation of their brands, translating sustainability into profits. Their commitment to creative social change helps clients grow while having a positive effect on the world.
Thus, changing the world.
One of The Carney Group's proudest accomplishments. We helped Zeichen Press become a household name.
You don't know who they are? You will. This greeting card company is the brain child of Fran and Jen Shea. They make greeting cards like no one else. They are funny. You will want them.
No, really. Try it you'll like it.
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Collateral
Marketing collateral is the media used to support the sales of a product or service—sales material. Wikipedia says the term "collateral" specifically refers to brochures or sell sheets developed as sales support tools. Does it have to be a sell sheet?
The Carney Group likes to expand the outside edges of this definition. Here is a collection of some of our most successful projects loosely categorized as collateral.
CHS Corporation came to us, “You want to work on this?” they said.
That’s an odd way to approach a marketing firm with a project. As we dug into this two tiered market development project we found that it had been around for a few years and hadn’t returned enough to pay for the postage.
The Carney Group’s self-imposed directive—Make it easy to shop. Come to think of it, we say that whenever we’re speaking directly to the buying public.
The redesign of the Double Duty Rewards program increased sales response by fifty times.
Look back here, soon, for a comprehensive white paper on the astonishing project.
Ben Manilla Productions and Public Radio International produced a thirteen week radio series on The Blues. Dan Jensen, our contact with PRI at the time, had just been to Nashville Tennessee to see Hatch Show prints and encouraged The Carney Group to study their work for the production of the booklet and CD imprints for this project.
His Holiness, The Dalai Lama made his first visit to Minnesota in 2001. The Carney Group was asked to produce all of the material for the visit. We made posters in several sizes, brochures, security badges, directional hand outs and websites.
We were invited to many of the events and enjoyed His Holiness so much. Who wouldn’t? The Dalai Lama interesting, deeply spiritual and very funny. If this holy-man thing doesn’t work out he could try stand-up comedy.
According to oral tradition, the Ojibwe, centuries ago, were instructed to find the place where "the food grows on the water”.
This led them to the northern inland lakes of the Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota where flowing fields of manoomin, wild rice, were found in abundance.
For centuries the wild rice has grown and has been harvested form these northern lakes in the same way. Now, some fool wants to introduce genetically modified wild rice to these same lakes. GMO wild rice?!
This poster featuring the amazing work of, artist, Rabbit Strickland was made in two versions, the art version with little type and message and the propaganda version. Both were in support of keeping wild rice wild.
When iPods were first introduced, broadcasters called them “Radio Killers.” The Carney Group was tasked to explain this growing phenomenon to the worried broadcast world. We decided that color was the tool that would convey the information we were trying to get across. The finished piece was a tabloid rainbow of definitions, explanations and anecdotes to ease the worries and prepare our audience for a revolution that was already upon them.
Donaldson Filtration developed a revolutionary new core for Detroit’s high performance automotive products. Besides being a cleaner, more efficient filter it was easier to redesign and able to be made into any shape a new auto might require. This product could both improve the performance of new cars and trucks and significantly cut design time.
Now, how to get auto design engineers to notice? How about inviting them to a weekend at performance driving school? The direct mail response rate was seventeen percent.
Variable data printing, exciting photography and a great product are all factors, but some offers just sell themselves.
Onsite Sewage Treatment Program…Maybe this isn’t technically collateral, but this is an important project.
Every time we involve ourselves in a new project, especially a long range one, we become shirt-tail experts in the subject matter. This one is no exception.
Yes this will forever be the s**t project.
The legendary artist and party host, Brant Kingman was asked to bring his party planning talents to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The invitation said starting at 9pm and ending at 2am, but this crowd doesn’t get up early and always stays past closing.
It was an evening. It was a morning. It was the beginning of years of crazy adventures. What an era!
Thanks, Brant.
Anchor Block said they wanted to send 300,000 direct mail pieces for the Minneapolis/St Paul area.
“You’ll send most of these to renters who are never going to install pavers.”
They argued that they had sent out mailers before and if they wanted to get the number of responses they needed they had to send out that many to get a one percent response.
We researched who might buy these products. Our first mailing was to families who had purchased half million dollar homes between one and two years ago. They had been in their homes long enough to hate their driveways or realize they needed a patio. The list was ten thousand names. The response was five percent.
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Logos
A good logo is a symbol imbued with meaning by its owner and accepted by the public it's meant to move. The best logos are the most describable, memorable, scalable, and effective both with and without color. It accurately represents the organization.
Ultimately, a logo is created by the client who uses it. The design firm listens and moves in the direction the client points. In the end, it represents the client, not the design firm.
General Mills
Federal Credit Union
IP House
Internet service provider
Three Legged Race
A small theater company
BEASTLY BALL
Minnesota Zoo gala
AMPERS
Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations
CODEWEAVERS
A software company
AXIS
Infections disease clinic
BUFFALO GAL
Theater company
BUZZSAW
A disk-based image library
NERICA
Business consultancy
Greg Jansen Photography
LIGHTFAIRE
Lighting showroom
LOMINGER LIMITED
Corporate assessment and development tools
NORTHERN SHORES GRILLE
Marriott Hotels restaurant
NSI/HOROWITZ
HVAC and mechanical construction and maintenance
UNITED OPERATIONS INC.
Building facilities management
Distributed Learning Workshop
A database of university courses
VILLAGE BY THE BAY
Condominium development
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