It’s snowing. Have you heard?

If you live in Western Washington then you’ve heard little else other than the impending snowy doom that finally made it’s appearance last night. You’ve heard it on the radio, on the morning news, midday news, evening news and late night news — you’ve even heard it from the BBC.

While listening to the news this morning, and searching for the snow brush for my car (I know I have one somewhere), I heard the anchors referring to our current weather situation as ‘Winter Extreme’ (feel free to debate the use of the word extreme with others).

Now, given that we at Golden Lasso are what you could call ‘branding nerds’ we feel there is a huge missed opportunity here. Vicious rounds of snow, winds, and freezing temps rarely hit this area with such gusto. Why not brand these suckers? (Come on, it’s all we hear about for a week every year or so, let’s have some fun with it!)

Thus, the brilliant-bordering-on-crazily-ingenious minds of Golden Lasso put our partially caffeinated heads together and came up with the following list of names for our beloved winter storms. The idea is to have these function akin to hurricane names; we’ll have a set list and rotate through the names as needed.

We at Golden Lasso want to present you with a Brand. New. kind of winter snowstorm.

Snowmageddon (It’s been used before but you have to admit it’s pretty great.)

Snowpocalypse (Ditto.)

SnobamaCare (We need coverage, lots of deep powder coverage)

Death Storm 2012 (Pronounced as twenty-twelve, none of that two-thousand stuff.)

Storminator (For those pining for yet another Ah-nold tribute.)

White Night (Be careful to not misspell night.)

Flake Fest (has potential uses other than snow)

Proto-Slush (Created specifically for those techie folks.)

Ice Ice Baby (And you thought it was a one-hit wonder.)

Fluff Core (We must admit this came from the one of us perpetually in a pink haze – due to his adorable daughters, of course.)

Seattle’s Annual SUV Justification (Insert your SUV opinion here.)

Snow Place Like Home (An homage to the place 95% of us will be if those flakes start a’falling.)

The White Wrath (Because every once in a while our beautiful region decides to try on a different color than grey, and quickly realizes the ‘Don’t wear white after Labor Day’ rule actually is true.)

Sleet Week ’12 (It’s rain. It’s snow. It’s rain. It’s … sleet.)

And the winner is …

iStorm (Just because we could.)

If you happen to be a weatherman, or know one, point him/her to this post. We’re missing out on a wonderful opportunity to brand and really give a personality to the storms that pass through our area every so often. People need to connect with the storm, form a personal relationship with it, interact with it and feel like they can trust it. It all begins with the name. It’s the least we can do to help the storm win over the citizens of Western Washington.

Give us a call, we’d love to help.

Posted by Jennifer Lovering.

One of the great things about Golden Lasso’s neighborhood here on Capitol Hill in Seattle is the plethora of mouth-watering food options. The lunchtime choice is always difficult. Today, we opted for one of our favorite food trucks turned brick and mortar institution: Marination Station! 

Who knew the unusual cuisine combination of Korean fused with Hawaiian could be so delicious? We do. And you should find out too.

We’re lucky that Marination choose Capitol Hill as the place for their transition from mobile deliciousness to neighborhood novelty. Spicy beef, tofu, and pork tacos are a team favorite. Their spam sliders and Kimchee rice bowls are also a tasty treat for your palate. Almost everything is marinated in their signature sauce. The Marination menu may be short, but has something for everyone.

Today, shortly after noon, we filtered into the conference room, pulled up a chair and shared a meal together. Few things beat the sight of a table full of Marination Station’s yummy concoctions. We like to think of our Friday team lunches as a little office tradition, a caloric intake to tackle the creative problems of the afternoon.

Why post about our lunch? Because we care about our neighborhood. Rumor has it that the rules for Seattle food trucks are changing, slowly opening the door to even more possibilities in and around the Hill in the future. ‘Bring on the trucks!’ we say. We’re all for more variety, more options, and more activity, the kinds that make local communities thrive.

To analyze a new project – whether through word-of-mouth referrals or responding to requests for proposals – we invest our time to dig deeply into the project’s goals and business environment to become immersed in the context and nuances. Using an associative and cognitive approach to guide our direction, this is the time when we freely explore subjects without limiting where our research takes us – whether it’s learning about custom cabinetry one week, affordable health insurance during another and safe drinking water the next. Only then can we speak intelligently with our prospective partners about challenges, opportunities and the marketing landscape.

These efforts produce a knowledge base that leads to the truths that empower us to show what we expertly can do: developing and executing fresh, even unexpected tactics to achieve agreed upon strategic objectives. And although we don’t give our work away before we’re hired, we do get excited from the organic brainstorming that takes place. That leads to concepts, which often become the basis of future work. Sometimes we even follow through on their development just to venture into the realm of what’s possible.

For example, recently, we considered the messaging strategies for a public agency that oversees animal services. Their objective was to increase pet licensing while informing the public about their valuable services. Research showed that existing campaigns for like-minded organizations were exhausted ideas with tearjerker messages centering on the needless suffering of lost, adorable animals and the clichéd social-media memes featuring cute puppies and funny cats.

We developed a strategy to engage the public’s attention through humor that also educates, by giving human qualities to our animal companions. Isn’t that something we all do with our pets? We also recommended broadcasting the messages over radio, leveraging the capability of promotional consideration, the growth of multimedia cross-pollination through radio station websites and social media pages, and the necessity to serve the public’s interest. Above all, consciously or subconsciously, an effective radio ad inherently creates theater of the mind for the listener. That’s a message with potentially infectious power. Like a pop song or jingle that’s become an earworm, a catchy radio ad is old-school, embedded viral marketing that can get people talking about and acting on what you’re selling.

We concepted and produced, in partnership with our broadcast media partners, a handful of public service announcements geared towards a memorable and tangible brand story. Although unreleased, they are an example of how Golden Lasso’s process moves from research, to idea generation, to execution of real messaging solutions that tell your truths. At minimum, that’s what our clients deserve from their marketing partners and advisers.

Take a listen:

15 second commercial

30 second commercial

Sometimes the most inspiring ideas arise purely for the sake of creativity and, in the right strategic hands, do wonders for a brand. The idea of a simple reward to a customer has the potential to make the customer feel noticed and conversely represents the brand as a person too. Thus begins the much sought after relationship and loyalty between brand and consumer. Check out our neighbors up north at Lululemon and learn how, with a little paper and a lot of innovation, they went the extra mile to surprise e-customers with a fun holiday gift —on target with a strategy to strengthen connections with loyal customers.

The yoga diagram first came into play when the Lululemon creative team was asked to brainstorm ideas for an extra special “delight item” to be included in each completed order. The result is a playful, interactive concept that connects directly to Lululemon’s luxury yoga products, yet adds an unexpected twist.

In our own work, Golden Lasso strives to promote a similar philosophy and strategy of connecting the online sphere with that of the real world to strengthen brand engagement. Now, the question remains: what other resources are out there just waiting to be tapped into?

If you couldn’t already tell, Golden Lasso has a penchant for poetry. Sometimes poetry and marketing collide and what is left is strategic inspiration. Take a look.

Friends of Golden Lasso,

As we approach the new year, I’d like to take a moment to thank those of you who’ve helped make 2011 a triumphant year for Golden Lasso.

On behalf of our team, happy holidays. And may your time during this special season be filled with warmth, prosperity, and good company.

Here’s to a peace-filled world in 2012,

Bridget Culligan
CEO
Golden Lasso
Tried. And True.

We’re all things holiday over here at GL…take a look!

^ The scene at the 2011 Golden Lasso holiday party. That is, before all the fun started.

^ For those of you who visit our homepage, you’ll find an especially striking holiday logo designed and photographed by our very own e-Pro, Robert Well. Want to know how Robert makes all the magic happen? As with most creative ideas, collaboration is key. Our good friends at the Capitol Hill workshop Metrix Create Space helped laser cut acrylic letters to get that glossy, flawless glow!

^ Jennifer’s plus one.

At Golden Lasso, we believe in using design as a means for improvement not only in the spheres of business, but in our community at large. We teamed up with the Seattle Public Library  (SPL) to design their branded Bookmobile—featured in the Seattle Times by one of our favorite culture watchers, Gabriel Companario.

In support of education and literacy, the Bookmobile travels throughout the city of Seattle delivering books to residents of assisted living facilities who are unable to visit local libraries. The new mobile is one of four SPL vehicles serving over 40 nursing homes each month.

Designing vehicle graphics provided the fun, yet challenging opportunity to extend our branding treatments for SPL beyond web and print and into the world. We began by working from the Seattle Public Library logo. In the end, shared enthusiasm from the good folks at the library helped us create an environmental design that achieved a valuable extension of SPL brand, as well as the benefit of serving our community.

Philip and Ro deck the Golden Lasso halls!

In some ways Facebook is not intended to be serious, it is by definition a time waster and a free one; so why do I take their missteps so seriously?

I need food and shelter to live. We all do. And yes, I often enjoy food that is in excess of my daily requirements, usually because it is delicious and presented in a pleasing manner. Does that make me a glutton because I prefer to subsist on good food?  I live in a house, that while not luxurious, easily exceeds the definition of “shelter.” Over time my standards have been raised (just a tiny bit).

People who excel at preparing food and shelter that exceeds our basic requirements are hailed as artists. There are schools devoted to their art, whole sections of the library, awards are given, there are cable channels dedicated to their practice.

Ingesting data, the process of consuming and processing information, while not a requirement for life has become part of being an informed citizen. We take that for granted. As with food and shelter, sometimes we actually consume a little more— just for pleasure. Sometimes we want more, because it tastes good, or challenges us, or educates us in some way.

What are reasonable expectations for the preparation and presentation of that data? Would you rather watch a good movie or a crappy movie?  What if that source is free? Should we still have an expectation of quality? We could just send out pricing spreadsheets to our client’s cruise customers, why are we wasting their time with all these details and pretty photos and all the design we put into their marketing?

Organization of information is part of my business. It pays the bills and provides the aforementioned food and shelter. It is literally my business to take it seriously.

In the case of facebook the information may seem purely frivolous information—just quips and comments, shared news items, and updates from people I have connections to. I honestly wish they had chose some other venue but these updates are communication from some of the most important people in my life.

During the last year I have received birth announcements, wedding announcements, and helped organize a memorial service, all on facebook. Not entirely frivolous.

I really wish I did not have an opinion about the recent facebook redesign—but I do.