PeakBiety branding+advertising announced today that Central Florida’s leading state of the art cement facility, American Cement Company, has chosen it to create an innovative corporate sustainability campaign that will highlight American Cement’s commitment to operating a sustainable manufacturing facility in difficult times and beyond. PeakBiety will build an advertising campaign that will run in industry publications.

American Cement recognizes sustainable practices as essential for the future of the company’s operations, as well as the quality of life of its people and the communities in which they live. This is why the company implemented the following five environmental initiatives:

1.  Employee and contractor respect for environmental responsibilities,
2.  Proactive solutions to climate change,
3.  The optimization of energy and resource use through efficiency gains and recycling,
4.   The promotion of environmentally-friendly innovations, and
5.  Helping foster a healthy environment for the communities in which it functions.

Glen Peak, President of PeakBiety branding+advertising, said, “We are excited to work with American Cement because like us, they recognize that sustainability practices are a fundamental investment in their operational future. It’s an important story to communicate.”

Last April, American Cement celebrated the Grand Opening of its new, state-of-the-art plant in Sumterville, Florida.

PeakBiety branding+advertising services local, regional and national clients in a variety of business sectors. The agency focuses on adding value for its clients by improving customer perceptions. This commitment is summed up in the agency’s promise, “the power of perception®.”

PeakBiety is one of the few advertising agencies in the Tampa Bay Area to meet strict requirements for membership in the prestigious American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), as well as official recognition as a Google AdWords Certified Partner.

Take a break and let’s decorate the tree!

click on the ornaments to begin.

Dan Holden, a recent graduate from the International Academy of Design and Technology is a creative individual with a passion for illustration, print, and plain old good design.

Originally from Massachusetts, Dan grew up with a paintbrush in his hand and was constantly drawing and painting. He has won multiple art awards over the years and has the attitude and motivation to be successful at whatever he puts his mind to. Whether he is out for a night on the town or at the golf course he is always admiring and critiquing other design, trying to inspire new ideas or see where it can be improved. Freshly equipped with his BFA in Graphic Design and experience ranging from 3D modeling to package design and photo manipulation, Dan will be a great fit with us here at PeakBiety.

As the winner of the 2010 American Advertising Federation – Tampa Bay (AAF-TB) Silver Medal Award, Glen Peak has the honor of presenting the 2011 award to Paul Catoe, President of Tampa Bay & Company, the Convention & Visitors Bureau. The Silver Medal Award is bestowed annually by American Advertising Federation (AAF) chapters throughout the country to outstanding members of their local advertising community. Glen Peak presents the award to Mr. Catoe at The ADDY Awards Gala on February 24 at Lowry Park Zoo.

As President & CEO of the Tampa Bay & Co. since 1999, Catoe has been a distinguished member of the Tampa Bay advertising community for many years. Glen Peak remarks, “Paul has been a significant contributor to Tampa Bay growth—hosting a Super Bowl and growing the area rapidly as a convention and vacation destination.” Prior to joining the CVB, Catoe served as the President and General Manager of WFLA-TV, Tampa Bay’s NBC affiliate. A 30-year Tampa Bay resident, Catoe has been very active in the community, serving on the CVB’s board of directors for six years and as chairman in 1998. Catoe is on the board of directors for the Outback Bowl, Florida Aquarium, Lowry Park Zoo, and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

AAF-TB President Barry Wallace stated “The Silver Medal is seen as one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon an advertising professional by his/her peers. We are thrilled to be honoring Paul for his dedication to the industry and to the Tampa Bay area.”

For many local chapters, awarding the AAF Silver Medal is the highlight of their year. It enhances the image of advertising by recognizing a local advertising professional for their industry and community involvement.

About AAF – Tampa Bay
The American Advertising Federation – Tampa Bay exists to support its members, the community and the advertising industry. Its mission is to promote fellowship, education and career enhancement among members of the advertising community; foster and recognize excellence in advertising; champion public service causes; build an understanding of the role and benefits of advertising at all levels; and encourage advertising self-regulation and continuous improvement to raise industry benchmarks.

About the Silver Medal Award
Silver Medal recipients are selected by a panel of judges consisting of past Silver Medal winners and past presidents from each local club of the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Judges use the following criteria when making their selections: contribution to the community, creative ability, contribution to the advancement of advertising, betterment of his/her own company.

PeakBiety art director and designer, Kathryn Clark, has been appointed Secretary of AIGA Tampa Bay after on-going engagement, participation and support of the organizations events over the past two years.

Founded in 1914, AIGA is the oldest and largest professional design association in the world. The mission of AIGA has been to advance design as a profession, strategic tool and vital cultural force.

In recent years, AIGA’s official name changed from “American Institute of Graphic Arts” to “AIGA, the professional association for design.” This change was meant to reflect the evolution of the profession from its earliest roots in graphic arts. In addition to the desire for a name that was more inclusive, there was also a strong interest in retaining the legacy of AIGA. The new name seems to address both interests. Today, as the professional association for design, AIGA strives to stimulate thinking about design, demonstrate the value of design and empower the success of designers throughout their careers.

The Tampa Bay chapter of AIGA was founded in 2006 and provides programs, events and benefits for students, professionals, corporations and the design community. Recent events have included a Skype videoconference with renowned designer Milton Glaser, studio tours of local firms, and the second annual Sip, Sail and Socialize down the Hillsborough River.

AIGA Tampa Bay's Sip, Sail and Socialize

AIGA spans the realm of all design professions including, but not limited to: advertising, brand strategy, design education and management, environmental graphic design, information graphics, interactive design and motion graphics, package design, printing and paper industries, research and strategy, typography, sustainable design and web design. The Tampa Bay chapter of AIGA includes Bradenton, Brandon, Clearwater, Dunedin, Naples, Lakeland, Largo, Riverview, Sarasota, Tampa and St. Petersburg and all students, professionals, corporations along the Gulf Coast of Florida.

To learn more or get involved, visit http://tampabay.aiga.org.

Megan Plaksiy, an award-winning student at The Art Institute of Tampa, describes herself as a creative professional with a passion for graphic design and its development and execution. With experience in package design and brand development as well as special skills in illustration and digital photography, Megan will be a valuable addition to the PeakBiety creative group.

James Ferrell is a multi-talented student with the Zimmerman Ad Program at the University of South Florida’s School of Mass Communication and will be graduating in May. With interests ranging from account management to music, he describes himself as design conscious, detail oriented, a team player, reliable and occasionally ridiculous. We welcome James and some occasional comic relief.

Tampa, FL - PeakBiety branding + advertising is proud to announce its recent recognition as a Google AdWords Certified Partner, one of only seven in the Tampa Bay area. This certification is a globally recognized stamp of approval, showcasing knowledge of the latest AdWords tools and best practice techniques.

To become a Google AdWords partner, a company must meet strict eligibility criteria. Rigorous certification exams must be passed which illustrate practical expertise in managing account and the ability to help clients get the most from their budgets. Additionally, a sustained volume of AdWords business must be maintained over specified periods.

An advertising product and Google’s main source of revenue, AdWords offers pay-per-click and site-targeted advertising for text, banner and rich-media ads. There are a variety of products including short text ads appearing in search engine results as well as image ads that run on Google’s Content Network.

If you’re interested in scheduling a demonstration to see how this cost-effective tool has helped other clients, call Glen Peak at 813-289-8006, extension 114 or email gpeak@peakbiety.com.

PeakBiety branding + advertising_® services local, regional and national clients in a variety of business sectors. The agency focuses on adding value for its clients by improving customer perceptions. This commitment is summed up in the agency’s promise, “the power of perception_®.”

PeakBiety is also one of the few agencies in Tampa Bay to meet the strict requirements for membership in the prestigious American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As).

(click on one of the candies above)

by Maria Boutzoukas

I can honestly say that during my nine-week internship with PeakBiety, I have learned more than I could have imagined.

On my first day I was told that they had just started a major project and I would basically get to see the process on how a major project is completed from the beginning. I was very excited because even though I have worked on projects for my own clients and for class, I knew that this wasn’t going to be the same. It most definitely wasn’t, especially after spending an entire week researching photos, sketches, and brainstorming. I was able to sit in on meetings to discuss ideas and thoughts on the campaign and how we should go about it.

My second week involved deciding what concepts we were going to work on. We decided on 6 different campaign concepts and went from there. Each concept required a print ad, outdoor billboard, a radio ad, and a TV ad. This involved a lot of sketching, mock-ups, and critiquing.

My school prepared me for this but I didn’t realize how much time and energy is actually put into it. I was used to just coming up with an idea and then using all my time and energy to create the final product. It was a great eye opener. We then ran the 6 concepts by Glen, the president/project supervisor, to get his input and opinion on what concepts to continue with. We decided to work with all six, so we needed to complete all of the concepts for presentation to the client. We created storyboards for the TV ad concepts and the radio ads, and finalized the print ads and billboards. I learned a lot about consistency and alignment when we were going through this process.

Another project surfaced that I got to work on and it was the re-creation of a logo. I was thinking to myself, oh this is a no brainer and it will be a piece of cake…nope, not what I thought at all. I started working on the logo, making sketches like I normally would and just finding a font to use, and then, thinking I was done, I showed it to Amy, the creative director/senior art director. She explained to me what I needed to lay out and show, how I needed to search for different fonts, and try to find a variety of them. It was great because I had no idea that this was the process that a designer needs to go through when making a logo. So I was back to the beginning with a better understanding of what I needed to do. I spent more time than I would have imagined just researching fonts and figuring out which one matches well with another. After doing this, color was added in, and then placement.

Triston, another intern, was also working on this project, and it was great to see how he went about it and what his ideas were. I went from thinking that a logo can be created in a few hours to realizing that it actually takes a lot more time and energy, and has a very important process.

I also learned a lot about time management. We were working on about three or four projects within the same week and I got to see how everything was managed. Everything had a timeline so I couldn’t spend too much time on one thing. I came to the realization that when I work on a project not just for a company but for myself, I really need to map out what days certain steps need to be completed by.

Overall, I feel like working at PeakBiety has been such an amazing experience, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an internship position at a place where they want learn and gain lots of experience. It was such a pleasure working there and I would most definitely consider my time well spent.

Maria is graphic design student at the International Academy of Design and Technology. Born and raised in Clearwater, FL, Maria enjoys expressing her creativity in many ways—including graphic design, photography and DJing. You can check out her portfolio here.

PeakBiety welcomes art interns, Triston Thomas and Maria Boutzoukas, this fall.

Triston Thomas attends The Art Institute of Tampa and is majoring in Graphic Design. He describes himself as “a passionate designer with knowledge of editorial, packaging, and branding design, one of humble temperament, and having an unmatched enthusiasm for creating new things.”

Maria Boutzoukas is a student at the International Academy of Design and Technology. Born and raised in Clearwater, FL, Maria enjoys expressing her creativity in many ways—including graphic design, photography and DJing. Maria is also very active in the community, and has designed logos and T-shirts for a variety of organizations.

As new technologies offer exciting ways to influence audiences, it is increasingly important to communicate a consistent brand value across multiple-media platforms.

PeakBiety has been utilizing the power of perception® to maximize brand values for more than 20 years. We work hard to be a business-building partner by bringing ideas to the table that work across whatever channels are right for the brand. In this spirit, we’d like to highlight some of our newer services that can powerfully extend your brand communications.

Eblast Campaigns
Email campaigns are a cost-effective way to keep in touch with customers and prospects. We handle everything from project planning to creative concepts, to design, to copywriting. We’ll even execute delivery working with email marketing software, manage databases, schedule programs and track results.

Case Study: Numara
After a complete branding of the Numara Software company, we were asked to help promote their newest version of Track-It,® a help desk and asset management solution. What made Track-It® different? It provided optimal customization for multi-users’ functions within an organization. So, we developed an Eblast campaign highlighting the idea of a personalized solution by contrasting two completely different users with different needs. Our client’s product is the most widely installed help desk and asset management solution in the world.

Interactive Media & Flash
Flash and interactive presentations can help bring your product or service to life with audience involvement as well as animation, motion and sound. We strategize, concept, storyboard and script presentations. We also execute and produce the media using a host of software applications such as Flash, After Effects and Camtasia—all with extendibility in mind to get the most out of your budget.

Case Study: Persystent

Persystent Software, a company making business-level PC recovery software, sought to significantly improve awareness of its unique products. They wanted to communicate how they help PC users remain productive and work ready at all times—whether on or off a network. After alternative creative concepts were developed and tested, a “graphic novel” execution was selected. Among other pieces of a larger campaign, this animated flash banner was developed for Persystent’s homepage to quickly communicate the product benefits in a dramatic and engaging way, and direct viewers to download a demo. Inquiries elevated to record levels.

Online Media Planning & Buying
With limited ad budgets, relevant and targeted advertising is essential. We’ve taken our 20 years of media-buying savvy and adapted to the online world, developing efficient and effective plans utilizing new technologies. Our experience with geotargeting and retargeting has provided proven results.

Case Study: Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program™

The Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program™ educates the public about best practices to conserve and protect water resources. After a season of unprecedented freezes, they wanted to reach homeowners in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties with information about cold-tolerant plants and methods of replanting which reduce the need for water, fertilizer and pesticides. We geographically and behaviorally targeted Web banners to reach homeowners in a three-county area, interested in gardening and landscaping. Over a two-month period, the landing page logged almost 3,000 unique hits, with approximately 24% of them resulting from click-throughs on the banner ads.

Search Engine Marketing
Also known as SEM, this form of internet marketing promotes Web sites by increasing visibility within search engine results. The many forms of SEM include paid placement, contextual advertising, paid inclusion and search engine optimization (SEO).

Case Study: TECO

Tampa Electric works hard to balance growing demands for electricity with environmental responsibility. For their new Energy PlannerSM program, we developed a campaign encouraging customers to save energy, lower the cost of electric bills and help the environment. Web banners ran on multiple local sites including TBO.com and TampaBay.com. Geographic targeting was used to reach only those consumers in the Tampa Electric service area. Recently, a search engine marketing component was added to reach consumers expressing an interest in greening their homes or lowering their electric bills. From April through May, 2010, Tampa Electric benefited from an amazing 1.3% clickthrough rate which is well above the accepted national average of 0.02-0.04%.

Social Media Development
A social media campaign, like any medium, needs a clearly defined strategy in sync with the overall brand strategy. What you are trying to accomplish—sales, awareness, discussion or even goodwill—will determine which social networks make sense and how to utilize them. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and blogs can build consumer dialogue and promote a brand or product message.

Case Study: Cancer Research Alliance

Home to nine Nobel Prize winners, Cancer Research Alliance (CRA) member centers have a long history of groundbreaking achievements in cancer research. PeakBiety developed a cause marketing campaign around the theme, “The infinite power of one.” An integrated campaign involving email marketing, Web banner ads, radio spots and a Web-aired video explained that if everyone gave just one dollar and pasted the message on to their friends, cancer research would be pushed ahead. In addition to giving a dollar, donors were invited to add their photos to a cure mosaic on the site to “change the face of cancer”. Within weeks, the site went viral as word spread through social networks about being part of such a worthy cause.

Web Design
Our strategic process of developing Web sites starts with identifying goals, audiences, and brand considerations. Once objectives are defined, we develop architecture, write copy, design graphics, create layouts and orchestrate programming. Our Web sites come with built-in search engine optimization features.

Case Study: Tampa Bay Water

Tampa Bay Water develops and delivers high-quality drinking water for the region. Having produced several effective annual reports for them, they knew we had a good understanding of their business. They needed a Web site that would allow them to communicate to the public their mission, as well as new projects and developments. The site, TampaBayWater.org, is now ranked in the top 24% of all Web sites for traffic by Alexa (a service that measures traffic for millions of sites on the Internet), and has an excellent score of 91 from grader.com.

Web Banners & Videos
Banner ads are the most common form of Web advertising and can be very effective when targeted appropriately. Video content enhances Web banners with more graphic content and special effects. And once produced, video content can be cost-effectively repurposed for a multitude of uses.

Case Study: Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program™

To educate homeowners on how to manage landscape recovery efforts after extreme cold weather, the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program™ needed a turn-key communication program. In response, we developed an integrated marketing campaign including direct mail, newspaper, Web banners and a landing page, RightPlant.org. The theme, “Rethink before you replant” carried throughout. Utilizing video in the banners helped capture viewer attention and drive traffic to the landing page for more information. Over a two-month period, the landing page logged almost 3,000 unique hits, with approximately 24% of them resulting from click-throughs on the banner ads.