Slant Six Creative Blog - Comments

Edit Barry comments on Do You Know What a SLAPP Lawsuit Is? You Should, Because You Could Be Next.

Edit Barry — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:07:00 +0000

Nice post, Neal. Freelance writers and bloggers engage in self-censorship every day for exactly this reason. Free press indeed.

Interwest Safety comments on Speculative Traffic Signs

Interwest Safety — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:57:22 +0000

I don't know why the deer would need help...Personally I hate how deer run out in the road right as your car is coming... I was hit on the side of my car by a deer once... so stupid. It ran away before I could catch up to it and kill it...

neal shaffer comments on New Work For Yahoo! and Wired Magazine

neal shaffer — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:13:31 +0000

Thanks as always for the compliments, Chris.

This project came to me via Daniel, who is a regular contributor to Wired. They picked him to do the project for Yahoo! and asked if he knew a writer that would be a fit. I was, naturally, all too happy to fill the role.

Chris Walbert comments on New Work For Yahoo! and Wired Magazine

Chris Walbert — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:55:59 +0000

Congrats Neal and Daniel. I've only seen the online version, but it looks awesome.

How did the project come about? How did this come to you guys instead of through Yahoo's other agency(ies)? Just curious.

Keep up the excellent work. I'm sure there will be many more of these killer projects coming in the future.

Chris comments on Identity: What It Means, Why It Matters (1 of 2)

Chris — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:05:41 +0000

I'm liking the equation you made for braking down what identity is, it really does simplify something that tends to be hard to pin with an exact meaningful explanation.

Definitely agree with your thoughts on Product strength, if it or whatever else you're doing isn't something that customers would want to use, use often, and tell people about trying to create a solid identity for it will be hard. Well, unless that identity is based on the product being bad and that by using it is a novelty of sorts... but I don't think people aim for that, or at least I hope they don't.

neal shaffer comments on Identity: What It Means, Why It Matters (1 of 2)

neal shaffer — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:49:31 +0000

That's a good point. No question that the product has to be strong – if it isn't, the rest doesn't matter much.

I consider the product part of content, and to me content is a living thing. It should evolve and grow as new information comes in. So, sure, if given the chance I would advise on ways to improve it.

Chris Walbert comments on Identity: What It Means, Why It Matters (1 of 2)

Chris Walbert — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:44:21 +0000

For a company, how does the product itself figure into what you do? Do you ever get a chance to help change or add to the products clients are selling? I fully agree that identity is important, but it's hard to build a solid one for a company if their product is weak.

neal shaffer comments on You Might Think You're Marketing, But You're Not

neal shaffer — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:24:14 +0000

No problem on the name misspelling - happens all the time.

I think you make a great point in your first comment about the differences between the creative strategy and the marketing strategy. Clearly they should work together, but they're definitely not the same thing.

I thought about that last point (the one-person department) and it's a tough question. I suppose they are "doing marketing," but it's almost the exception that proves my point.

Daniel comments on You Might Think You're Marketing, But You're Not

Daniel — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:00:46 +0000

Neil,

Another great post! One trend I've seen growing recently is the difference between a "creative strategy" and "marketing strategy."

Where a marketing strategy seeks to create some sort of transactional relationship with an audience (though I use that term loosely) to further the goals of an organization, a creative strategy defines what is said and how it is presented. Too often, these are confused, or worse a creative strategy is promoted as a marketing strategy. Uh-uh. It's not. It's a tactical implementation.

One point of contention, though: what do you call a one-person department who does all those things? Are they "doing marketing?"

VisitBaltimore comments on Do One Small Thing (It Matters)

VisitBaltimore — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:28:57 +0000

I'm with Visit Baltimore, and we just did a video with Spike Gjerde from Woodberry Kitchen. In the video he tells us about the location of the restaurant and also talks about the menu and their fresh produce. Check the video out at http://bit.ly/amqaDj