Against the Grain: Events

It’s that time of year again and chances are, your company or organization is in the midst of planning some form of holiday get-together. Whether it’s a big night out on the town or a lunch-hour potluck, it’s always great for employees to get away from their desks and mingle with each other. At Trilix, we’re planning our annual ugly sweater contest, chili and soup cook-off, and company holiday party all in the same week. Sound like a lot of work? Not with these five simple tips:

1. Figure out a Budget – A lot of what you can do depends on the size of your budget. Renting a space for an after-hours office party with food and beverage can get expensive. However, if you want to get a few decorations, you can have a fantastic potluck to fit any budget!

2. Start Early – After determining a budget, pick a date and start planning! Call venues and caterers if you are planning an event outside of the office, or gather a small group of colleagues to help with planning. Since we’re quickly approaching the holiday season, it’s best to start soon!

3. Send out Invitations – Your invitations don’t have to be formal or fancy by any means. Draft up a fun, office-wide email to invite your colleagues to the big event. They’ll surely start getting in the holiday mood after receiving it!

4. Finalize Details – As your party date approaches, double check to make sure everything is in order a week before. Send out a reminder invitation to those invited and if needed, call the venue/caterers to confirm all the details. You’ll sleep much better at night knowing everything is ready to go!

5. Have fun! – Since you followed the first four steps, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about during your company holiday event. Mingle with people outside of your department or who you don’t work with regularly. Now is the time to let loose a little bit and talk about things other than work!

How does your company celebrate the holiday season? Let us know on our Facebook page!

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The end of summer is always bittersweet. Yes, we say goodbye to the scorching heat and oppressive humidity – which has been in abundance this season – but we also say goodbye to the long, sunny days, trips to the lake and running through the grass barefoot. But, there is one tradition that always helps ease Iowans into the fall: the Iowa State Fair.

This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the Iowa State Fair Butter Cow. Now, if you’re not from around here you might be thinking, “Say what?” Yes, it’s the 100-year anniversary of carving a heifer out of butter. The Fair is a proud and fun tradition, and they have asked groups around the Des Moines Metro to help commemorate this event by designing and painting concrete cows that will be placed throughout the fairgrounds.

We were honored when the Fair, a client since 2004, asked us to design and paint our very own concrete butter cow, and we took to the task with enthusiasm. We came up with a design and started painting. We wanted to incorporate design elements from the Fair’s marketing collateral to maintain brand consistency, but we wanted the butter cow to have its own identity. We used color and typeface to accomplish this goal.

Through this unique project, we discovered new ways to reach different audiences that can often be overlooked in the daily hustle and bustle. For example:

Care Packages

As a way to show our appreciation to clients, Trilix put together a “What’s Better than Butta” kit that included fair tickets, a butter recipe book, oven mitt, butter dish and wooden spoons. We can help you create a similar project to promote a new product, service or event. It is a fun and unique way to reach out to your audience, and it breaks through everyday clutter.

Unexpected Signage

The concrete butter cow is a prime example of how unique signage – that catches people off guard – is a great way to communicate a message. The concrete butter cows will be placed in a high-traffic/volume area where people of all different backgrounds will see it and be exposed to its message.

At Trilix, we are constantly exploring creative ways to communicate our messages and sometimes it’s our clients who provide the catalyst for these ideas. This is just another example of how working together, taking chances and creating a collaborative working environment can really get the ideas flowing.

View the commercials Trilix did for the Iowa State Fair.

A Fan Favorite is BACK.

Trilix Bracket Racket is ready to rock.

The competition is fierce on the college basketball court and we're giving you the chance to dominate the paint in the 6th Annual Trilix Bracket Racket contest. Show off your mad hoops knowledge by filling out a college basketball tournament bracket before tip off on Thursday, March 17.

This year's Bracket Racket grand prize winner will receive prestige, glory and unlimited bragging rights.

If that's not enough, Trilix is giving the winner 10 Iowa Lottery Rock of Ages scratch tickets for a chance to win up to $14,000! The lucky individual will also score a pair of tickets to see Rock of Ages, the most radical Broadway show in town featuring killer tunes from the '80s, at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines on April 22.

It's a long Journey to the finals, so we're giving you chances to win along the way. The top three contestants after the semi-final round will receive five Iowa Lottery Rock of Ages scratch tickets. Don't worry if your bracket busts, we've reserved five Rock of Ages scratch tickets for the last place participant too, just to make up for the total embarrassment. And, dude, don't sweat it if you don't hit the jackpot. Keep your tickets, because the Iowa Lottery is giving you a second chance to win. You can enter non-winning tickets at ialottery.com for a chance to win a trip to New York City to see Rock of Ages live on Broadway!

Watch your inbox for this totally righteous event on Monday, March 14 and we'll email you a link to the official 2011 Trilix Bracket Racket website. In the meantime, follow us at twitter.com/trilix and start posting your predictions using the hashtag #BracketRacket.

Tune up your air guitar and get ready to rock!

Die-hard shoppers are filled with anticipation on Black Friday. If you play it smart, you can find deals worthy of year-round bragging rights. Many people wait in line for hours in hopes of obtaining that must-have deal.

This year, we saw a growing number of retailers using social media to encourage customers to capitalize on their Black Friday sales. Black Friday sales increased 0.3 percent from last year, but social media chatter increased an incredible 250 percent. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, a total of 212 million shoppers visited stores and websites racking up $45 billion in sales between Thanksgiving Day and Saturday, November 27*, up from $41.2 billion in 2009.

The number of social media users is growing every day, which is shifting how shoppers get their information. Mobile phones are used more frequently to scout deals and 5.6 percent of Black Friday shoppers logged on to a retailer's site using a mobile device this year. This reflects a 26.7 percent jump from 2009.

Traditionally, retailers don't announce their special deals until the last minute. This year, popular retailers like Target, Lowe's and Walmart all promoted Black Friday deals on Facebook and Twitter to generate buzz before the big day. Target even went so far as to purchase the #BlackFriday hashtag. According to National Retail Federation Shop.org's eHoliday survey, 39 percent of retailers communicated their Black Friday deals through their Facebook pages and 21 percent announced deals on Twitter.

Other retailers used location-based services (LBS), like Foursquare and Facebook Places, to give customers special savings. RadioShack and Sports Authority both ran Foursquare deals. Sports Authority gave away 20 $500 gift cards. Customers were instructed to check-in on Foursquare and post to Twitter, while they anxiously awaited in-store giveaways. RadioShack awarded customers a 10 percent discount for checking in on Foursquare, 15 percent for mayorships and 20 percent if they unlocked the "Holiday Hero" badge.

Lowe's focused their Black Friday efforts on Facebook, where they hosted preview parties offering 90 percent off! Unfortunately, the company's website crashed during their Black Friday party, but they worked hard to make things right with their customers. To make up for the glitch, Lowe's posted coupon codes throughout the weekend for their loyal Facebook fans.

According to Media Logic, retailers' Black Friday Facebook promotions paid off, "In the 10 days leading up to Black Friday, the biggest retailers on Facebook grew their fanbases by an average of 10 percent. The more aggressive retailers on Facebook grew their fanbases by an average of 20 percent. Some of the tactics they used included a combination of Black Friday and other seasonal offers, discounts, contests, games and simple 'Like us' requests."

Retailers that capitalized on Black Friday social media promotions significantly increased their online presence. Now, they have the opportunity to promote their products and engage with a community of loyal customers all year long.

*Based on a survey of 4,306 consumers done Thursday, November 25 through Saturday, November 27, 2010 by BIGresearch for NRF.

Are your customers using social media? Trilix Research can help you find out.

In case you missed it, check out our Black Friday social media promotions blog post.

On Thursday, September 30, the Iowa Chapter of the American Marketing Association hosted their first-ever agency crawl. Lucky for us, Trilix was the first stop, and we were ready to show off our sweet digs. The first group of crawlers consisted of marketing professionals from around the Des Moines metro and round two included students from Iowa State and Drake University.

We had a great time showing off our agency, artwork and employees and telling everyone how great we are (or so we think). Check out our video montage of the crawl stop at Trilix, and stop by when you are in the neighborhood! Our doors are always open. Enjoy!