WERKSHOP MARKETING ACQUIRES PR DIVISION OF CABEDGE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WERKSHOP MARKETING ACQUIRES PR DIVISION OF CABEDGE
Firms to Focus on Core Strengths

Nashville, Tenn., (December 16, 2010)- Werkshop Marketing and cabedge.com, LLC are proud to announce a recent transition that will allow the two companies to separately focus on their core strengths.

Werkshop Marketing, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., and Bowling Green, Ky., recently acquired the PR Division of cabedge. As a result, the company is expanding its services beyond marketing strategy, branding, advertising, creative, social marketing and web design. This move included the addition of Samantha Owens as the VP of Communications Strategy, Rachel Donahue and Becca Ary as Account Executives, and Amanda Butler as Assistant Account Executive. Each will be based in the Nashville office, but will also serve the company’s regional clients. All web-focused employees will remain at cabedge and include web strategists, content developers designers, programmers and project managers.

“cabedge started nearly 10 years ago with a passion to build beautiful, usable interactive experiences. Over the years, we have evolved beyond the ‘pretty picture’ websites and now provide our clients with strategies and tools that help them communicate with their online customers more efficiently.” says Chris Blanz, CEO, cabedge. “The decision to regain focus, and transition the PR Division was not one that came lightly, but one that made sense for everyone involved.”

“This decision will enable our two companies to grow in our respective fields,” said Tim Earnhart, Principal, CEO and Creative Director, Werkshop Marketing. “And when given the opportunity in the future, this move will give Werkshop and cabedge the opportunity to strategically align ourselves as partners, rather than competitors.”
Werkshop Marketing was created in October of 2009, and was the result of the merging of Fresh Dirt Marketing of Nashville and Earnhart + Friends Advertising of Bowling Green. The creation of Werkshop Marketing enabled Fresh Dirt CEO, Holly Grenvicz and Earnhart + Friends Advertising CEO, Tim Earnhart to strategically align their two companies, which before the merger, partnered on projects, but separately operated as one, a marketing strategy company, and the other as a creative firm.

“The move to add the cabedge PR team to Werkshop is the next step in fully aligning Werkshop Marketing as a full-service agency,” said Holly Grenvicz, Principal and Chief Strategist. “Having the four new employees on our team will give us the ability to bring our clients marketing campaigns full circle by offering all PR and promotions services they might need in order to tell the world their story.”

About Werkshop Marketing:
Founded in October 2009, Werkshop Marketing brings together a team of professionals who can deliver marketing strategy, branding, advertising, creative, social marketing, web design, and communications services to industries of all types. Located at 2915 Berry Hill Drive, Nashville, Tenn., and 422 East Main Street, Bowling Green, Ky., Werkshop Marketing serves local, regional and national clients. Check us out online at www.werkshopmarketing.com, www.facebook.com/werkshop and www.twitter.com/thewerkshop.

Media Contact:
Samantha Owens
Werkshop Marketing
Samantha@werkshopmarketing.com
615.305.3460

Brainstorming

Like most Creatives I brainstorm for a living, but I had never really broken down or analyzed my brainstorming process until Holly started peppering me with questions about it. Brainstorming to me is all about collaborating, so when we were planning how to structure the Brainstorming DIG on 8/26 I immediately knew that putting together a panel of fellow brainstormers to discuss the topic was definitely the way to go. When I was choosing the panel I treated it like a brainstorming session, pulling together a variety of people who come from different scenarios (in-house and agency) as well as from different head spaces (email, web, media production, print design and marketing strategy) but who participate in the formal and informal act of brainstorming all the time. Thank you to Chris Blanz, Allison Davis and John Hussey for participating!

I guess I would peg my style within any creative project as “strategic/organic” which mainly just means that I always have clear goals in mind and do tons of research but arrive at my solutions in a very organic way. Creating a spark, layering ideas and collaboration are the key. Below are a few of my tips to help you have a productive brainstorming effort:

1. Know your goal. What problem are you trying to solve?
2. Use a group. Keep your group lean and mean and get the right variety. Maybe invite the accountant or someone who comes from a different head space.
3. Write down everything and encourage others to do the same.
4. Make sure there is a moderator who can guide the group (politics and all) through an effective session.
5. Give all participants equal time to share. A good moderator will encourage this to happen.
6. Embrace the ridiculous- even those ideas could lead to an effective solution.

Keep those creative juices flowing.

Photoshop 101- Tips & No-nos

Woo! What a DIG we had this morning. Lots of familiar and new faces in the crowd- it was nice to see all of you.

We discussed Photoshop best practices and covered some basic to-dos and even answered some more advanced Photoshop questions posed by our sharp DIG students. (What the heck are layers??!!) A lot of folks came to learn how to better communicate with their designers or clients- so important to a happy “graphic” relationship! We covered a lot but hopefully it will all marinate and become a part of everyone’s personal best practices. I just want to leave each of you with my list of Photoshop tips & no-nos that will make you a better Photoshop user.

JENN’S PHOTOSHOP TIPS & NO-NOs:

1. Photoshop is intended to be used to manipulate photos- not to design page layouts with large bodies of copy.
2. Followup to #1: if you are working on a brochure, newsletter, magazine layout, or other layout with bodies of copy use Photoshop in conjunction with your favorite layout program or Office document program (InDesign, Quark, Pagemaker, Word, Powerpoint, etc.).
3. If your designer is asking you for an eps file they are most likely asking for an Adobe Illustrator eps NOT a Photoshop eps. Very different- be sure to specify.
4. Respect your files. Do not save a jpeg more than once. When in doubt revert to the original file.
5. Most of the time Web/Screen graphics=72dpi, RGB, jpeg/gif/png Print graphics=300dpi, CMYK, tiff. Consult your friendly printer to confirm their preferred specs.
6. Stop! Don’t use Photoshop filters just because you can. We’re not impressed.
7. Last but not least, learning how to use the tool is just the beginning. A professional looking end product takes knowledge, skill, some practice and sometimes some major artistic prowess.

Keep learning your tools and use them WISELY.

Jenn

P.S. If you missed this session we’ll be repeating it in Bowling Green on Thursday July 29th. http://bgjulydig.eventbrite.com/.

(We’ve also had requests from some folks to do some one-on-one training with their staff. We would be happy to accommodate- please contact me for details. jenn@werkshopmarketing.com)