A Hipster Christmas

Forget the days of Christmas sweaters and stale fruitcakes, it's time to add a little flair to the holidays. We found this selection of stylish decor to give your holidays a modern touch. Check out this "Wall Tree" - all you need is a little brick-a-brack and some imagination and you got yourself one cooool Christmas tree.




Why not serve up a little sophistication at your next holiday gathering? Check out these chic party favors - better than a double shot of egg nog!



Time to re-think that boring gift wrap - try a simple retro print like below and top it off with some holly and pine cones.





We're so cool we don't need color! Check out these urbane mantel pieces, your grandma may not even see them.




Don't forget the kids. With this gear, your wee-ones will think they're in Whoville!



Last but not least, is this fuzzy wreath. I can't decide if this is genius or tacky. I'm leaning towards genius, but I'd love to hear from our readers.

Giving Thanks!

Thanksgiving is just two days away and us designers here at JB Chicago have a lot to be thankful for this year. We wanted to take the time today to share with you all of the wonderful things that have brought joy to our lives this year.

We are thankful for:

• Our fabulous and devoted followers of "Cut to the Paste"
  
• Our amazing coworkers at JB Chicago who put up with us each and every day : )
  
• Our families and friends who support us each step of the way
  
• Awesome designers who inspire us to do great things
  
• Other design blogs that keep us entertained and distracted from the work we should be doing
  
• The best company in the world, Apple, who willingly make our wallets thinner each year with every new product they put on the market
  
• iTunes, who supply us with killer music all day long (half the reason why we are so damn talented)
• Our place we call home, Chicago, the greatest city in the world
• The clients that approve our stellar designs without revisions : )
• The empty seat on the train/bus for that long commute home
• Weekends!
• Delicious food, that makes our mouths water and our bellies full
• And much much more... 

In all seriousness... we are very thankful to be able to do what we love most and on top of that, get paid for it! We hope that each one of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, friends, and great food! Don't forget to show your support for all those people that help make Thanksgiving possible... our farmers! It's the farmers who work hard each day to provide us with an abundance of great produce, dairy, meat, vegetables, and other nutritious foods. 

Help us show our thanks by sending out a tweet on Wednesday, November 25 at 10am CST with #thankafarmer. 

Gobble Gobble!!

Designer Apparel

OK - it's not quite Christmas yet, but if you have a designer on your list we have some great gift ideas. Everyone loves an inside joke and the art department is no exception. The following post is devoted to the graphically inclined who would love a witty new shirt or bag. I'm not sure why the word "KERN" on a zip-up makes me smile but remember designers are a strange breed. All entries are courtesy of behance.net (DADAD studio) and our friends at veer.com. Let us know if you have a favorite - my vote goes to the "Lorem Ipsum" t-shirt.

With a Little Help from Our Friends

JB Chicago had a busy October... mainly because we launched the greatest Halloween promotion in SoNet history!

Through the creation of applications for Facebook, Twitter and the Web, we reached thousands and informed them of the benefits of Tetrapak cartons - "milk boxes" that are good for you and better for the environment. Moms loved the idea of passing out a healthy alternative this Halloween. And with each click within the apps, participants were donating to World Wildlife Foundation, making this a win-win across the board.

We have to give special thanks to all the bloggers who supported us during this campaign. With their help, we were are able to spread our message to a much wider audience. Please show some love and visit the following:

http://www.artfulcreativemama.blogspot.com/
http://www.centsible-sawyer.com
http://monaevedesignfarm.com
http://www.opentalkmom.com
http://www.savingdollarsandsense.com/
http://www.easyecotogo.com
http://www.mashupmom.com
http://www.greenlivingguy.com
http://www.got2begreen.com
http://www.nourishinteractive.com
http://www.greenscroll.org/blog/869

Blog Action Day: WWF Climate Change

Today, in honor of Blog Action Day for climate change, our post will be dedicated to how World Wildlife Fund is acting now for our future. "WWF is participating in Blog Action Day today (15 October 2009). This is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. This year’s topic is conveniently climate change. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices." 

Climate change has been a priority for WWF for over 20 years as climate disruption poses a fundamental threat to the vulnerable places, species and people WWF seeks to protect. To adequately slow climate change we urgently must reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. We are leveraging the power of WWF’s network of organizations around the world to build support for the new post-2012 global climate agreement at Copenhagen that is fair, effective and science-based.Read more here.

WWF has also used the power of design to fight climate change. Many of the campaigns that involve WWF contain strong graphics and messages that greatly affect their viewers. WWF has worked hard to promote their causes and grab the world's attention and through the use of many creative minds, they have succeeded. We have found some very effective WWF campaigns and wanted to share them with you today. 

Remember that you can take action too! 

• Check your lights

• Check your thermostats

• Check your water faucets/showers 

• Turn off appliances you are not using

If you want to learn more about WWF and what they are doing please visit their website today. 

* Make this Halloween healthy for both the kids and the environment while also helping WWF! Learn more at this blog.

Read more about this campaign here.

October: The Best of the Breast!

So we're 8 days into October and two things come to mind: Halloween and Breast Cancer Awareness. Our last blog post was dedicated to our Halloween campaign so we wanted to showcase Breast Cancer Awareness this week. It seems as though everywhere we look things are "going pink" for Breast Cancer Awareness month. From websites to advertisements, television, clothing, buildings and the NFL... Breast Cancer Awareness has made its mark.  We think it's a wonderful campaign that has greatly evolved over time and allowed designers to put their talent to work for a good cause. We are now seeing social networking and the online world taking a big part in spreading the word to large masses (check out the pink for october campaign for example). Because these campaigns have used various medians to broadcast awareness, designers might find it difficult to "stand out" amongst the competition. Some of you may be thinking competition? Who is in competition when we are all fighting for the same cause? As designers we still want to create a piece that really jumps out at our viewer and grabs their attention right from the start. The goal of all campaigns is to raise awareness, but who can do it the best? We have researched some Breast Cancer campaigns/advertisements that we found to be very well thought out and executed. Take a look below and let us know if you have found others! 

And because we have to give some Chitown love! 

JB Chicago: Milkin' Halloween For All It's Worth!

In our last post we talked about Microsites and how they have played a crucial role in today's marketing environment. Our company, JB Chicago, is a forerunner in the online realm and has made its mark in the Twittersphere. We have successfully created a niche in this ever-growing medium as the go-to company for launching successful online strategies. Our research shows that centering such launches on holidays is highly effective. Our latest project that we just launched was a Viral Marketing Halloween Campaign for "milk boxes" (learn more about the product at tetrapakusa.com). The campaign we created is fun, silly and for a good cause – every time you play we donate to World Wildlife Fund. Sound good? We’re just getting started! 

The goal of this campaign is to show chocolate milk as a great alternative to candy, whether you’re giving it to kids during the holidays or simply as an after-school snack. By utilizing viral and social networking components we can achieve this in a fun, engaging way that allows the message to spread among moms. Hershey's and Organic Valley want to spread the word about milk in single serve, shelf stable cartons. To do so, we have created applications for them on Facebook, Twitter and the Web. On the social networking sites, you can choose whether your friends deserve to be treated or tricked – all the while supporting World Wildlife Fund. And on the Web, you can upload headshots of yourself and your friends, only to have them appear atop the dancing bodies of monsters, ready to trick or treat at your friends’ doors. These applications are easy to do and easy to become addicted to! It’s easy to get swept up in the Halloween spirit. So take part in this all-around great campaign and share it with your friends. Remember: while you’re sharing a laugh with your friends, you are also helping protect the future of nature with the World Wildlife Fund.

Look below to see how the JB Chicago designers stepped up to the plate to make sure this campaign didn't "scare" people away! From designing the twitter profiles and pages, the facebook application and fan pages, the twitter microburst, the blogs, and the flash piece we took Trick or Treating to a whole new level. Help us spread the word and make this Halloween a friendly one for both the kids and environment!

Twitter Microburst: Tweet out Tricks or Treats with this fun application and find out who is the "Scariest Twitterer" of your friends. Receive access to coupons for the products and a link to our blog.

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PTW

Facebook Application: Send and receive Tricks or Treats to/from your friends and publish them to your wall, while also showing people the benefit of handing out chocolate milk instead of candy this spooky season!

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PFBApp

Facebook Fan Page: Become a fan of the Trick or Treat page on Facebook and help spread the word about the application by posting photos, chatting in discussions, and posting your own thoughts!

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PFBFan

Flash Piece: Have fun with your friends and create personalized Trick or Treats for your friends using uploaded photos.  

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PWebApp

Blog: Read up and comment on the latest news from Tetra Pak and receive coupons for the products. 

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PBlog

Mad for Micro-sites

Brands are seeing some serious traffic online recently by creating micro-sites. They are hooking unique visitors with contests, coupons and content that can be spread easily through social networking and email.

Here are a couple examples of micro-sites in the food industry: Reynoldsrecycled.com, Taco Bell's bajablast.com, cicispizza.com, Hellmann's buildtheperfectsandwich.com. Notice how these sites entice visitors with fun graphics and special offers.

The last example for AXE was made by our team here at JB Chicago. Visitors were encouraged to create their own twist on "Kiss Me I'm Irish" and tweet on to their friends.