I read recently that a UN Relief Agency (UNWRA) was adjusting its forecast of the number of starving people worldwide dramatically upwards. From memory, I believe the number forecast just a few years ago was less than 600 million, a huge number and about 10% of the world’s population, to a number closer to 1.5 billion. This projection was to occur by the year 2015, again from memory.

The reason was because of the push in some countries, especially in South America and the U.S., to produce Ethanol. That’s correct, in our endeavor to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, we are producing less rice and other crops for food and using the land for growing corn and sugar cane to be turned into fuel. The second impact of this is that land is being cleared from pristine areas, like the rain forest, at a record pace to have more land to grow Ethanol related crops.

The biggest irony is that, especially in the case of corn, it takes almost as much energy to grow the corn, harvest and transport it, and refine it into Ethanol as is gained by the resulting fuel itself. About 90% as much.

So, the upshot is that we are starving people, destroying the ecosystem and producing little or no energy gain all in the interest of reducing our dependence on Petroleum. This is the law of unintended consequence.

Now you might ask, how does this law apply to DDA’s immediate world and our drive to produce high quality and affordable state-of-the-art custom marketing and advertising for clients in the corporate, medical, financial, manufacturing and educational arenas?

On a grand scale, and with a birds-eye-view, I can safely say that everything an individual does in life, and at work, begins with an intention. At DDA, we try hard to avoid unintended consequences by always encouraging and maintaining the best of intentions. Wanting to produce the best website design, video production, photography, animation, print design, catalog, custom programming application, illustration or copy writing, at the lowest cost, in the most efficient and client-friendly manner may not totally eliminate the law of unintended consequences, but it sets a course that is more clear, more fair, and more likely to get both DDA and the client organization to the place we all want to be.

At DDA, we have a staff of degreed writers, a video production crew, graphic designers, photographers, programmers, a search engine marketing team, and more to help make your product amazing. However, we also encourage plenty of client feedback along the way so that we can provide you with something you’re happy with. For example, during video production, we will send you a draft of the script, allow you to respond with any feedback, and update the script as often as necessary to ensure we are giving the right, effective message. At the same time, the video team will provide you with design concepts, video clips, and anything else to receive some feedback and improve. So while we can manage any project from start to finish, a large part of the process involves you, the client.

The reason we encourage our clients to provide as much feedback as possible is so that all the appropriate changes can be made in the early stages of the project. Because video or custom programming can take a good amount of time, it is essential for everyone to properly plan before time is spent on the bulk of the project so that we do not run into issues that will further complicate matters. If, for instance, the scope of a programming project is changed after the original has been created, it will take additional time for our programmers to go back to make the necessary changes. This will obviously push the budgets and delay the final product, which is what we do not want to do. With the proper planning and client approval at different stages of development, we can eliminate these last minute changes to meet your deadlines in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Spring is definitely my favorite time of year. My new office is great because I have really nice windows. A row of them to my left and a couple behind. The first time I saw the office, I was concerned because the windows, throughout the building, are high up and not really a direct view outside. Turns out that, whether seated or standing, the view through every window is one of trees from their mid point on up. Breathtaking!

It occurs to me that during spring the trees are in transition. Early on the seemingly dry branches and twigs blossom with life, color, and attitude. Later in spring the blossoms fall, coloring the ground, and the now very much alive branches and twigs become adorned with leaves of complex shapes in limitless shades of green.

What is most compelling and interesting is the way the windows frame the trees as if to feature each grouping as a picture frame would. Each window becomes a work-of-art, combining the best qualities of renaissance, impressionism, and realism. Rich, beautiful, and alive.

At DDA, we believe advertising and marketing is similar.  It is our goal to provide glimpses of reality that feature and highlight the best qualities of our client’s products, services, staff, and capabilities. Framing each with the proper information, aesthetic, and presentation to provide the viewer with a perspective that helps our client’s organization radiate the aura of quality and success.

Websites, photography, videos, 2D animation,  3D animation, CD-ROMS, DVDs, programming applications, illustrations, brochures, sell sheets, catalogs, training portals, copy writing, virtual spins, and virtual worlds… each and every one is a little window shining light in, but also reflecting all the best that our clients have to offer.

My dad travels… a lot. Last weekend, he stopped by Philadelphia on his current trip to visit us. He has been on the road and in the air for over two weeks, visiting Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and on to North Carolina and then back home to France by the end of this week. He works in the tobacco industry, working with flavors and R&D for all the big name cigarettes and cigar companies. One of the beauties of all this traveling is the incredibly cultured experiences he encounters and the wonderful and varied people he meets all around the world.

From this current trip, my dad told me about “Ashes and Snow”. His descriptions of whimsical photos and videos and real-life images of people and animals all displayed in this fantastical and astounding bamboo building in the middle of Zócalo, Mexico City, was hard to comprehend and visualize. This “Nomadic Museum” sounded ethereal. I could tell he was deeply affected by his experience.

He handed me a brown paper bag which I opened and inside found two notebooks, intricately and meticulously hand-made of natural paper and twine. Opening them revealed beautiful sepia photos of women, men and animals in natural environments, untouched by human technology. The package also included a DVD. The video was amazing…

Although the imagery is unaltered by today’s technology and shows humans and animals in their most natural and serene nature, the images were produced and delivered using high technology. The photos were printed in large format, revealing intricacies in skin pores and animal fur. The videos were played on giant screens, where every ripple of muddy water the baby elephant sloshes
around looks like a mountain. It took the artist almost two decades to accumulate the work in the exhibit but it is the technology of today that delivers his images with the most powerful and inspirational potential.

From the installation to the gift packaging to the website and video, the experience is consistent and amazing. Although we may not always be filming eagles flying down narrow columned ruins, or a man suspended in the ocean with humpback whales, this experience is what we strive for in each of our projects at DDA.

Sometimes things appear so clear and simple- but underneath it all it is so very complicated. Right now, I am working to help make a beautiful website easier to use. The design is clean and elegant and fresh, but  some people can get a little lost. I know for a fact how much detail and effort is going on behind the scenes so that we can make everything perfect. Our designers, programmers, copywriters and web developers are always working together to make everything just right. Our Website Design Company will tweak every last detail until all of the advanced programming, web design, photography, and video work together to make this site exciting, fun, and easy to use. Just another normal day here at DDA.

A friend sent me the funniest e-mail. It was about living in 2008 and alike the very best humor often is, it was so very funny because of how true it was.  And we all need to remember to laugh at ourselves no matter how true the facts are. It reminded us of how dependent we are on modern technology. Some of the funniest reminders are, ”You accidentally enter your password on the microwave,” ” You e-mail the person who sits at the desk next to you”  and “Every commercial on TV has a website at the bottom of the screen.” In a personal experience, I recently put in a new stove and my brother said that there were so many buttons that he wanted to hook it up to the Internet so I could cook and work at the same time. I thought that was too funny at the time, until I saw a show about the newest appliances being designed. They actually allowed your computer at work to talk to your oven at home. Now, you could start dinner while you were still at work and it would be ready by the time you came home.

It’s unbelievable how modern technology and computer programming can make our lives even more convenient than they already are.  Those websites that are listed at the bottom of every commercial are full of every convenience. It may be the photography or animation that catches your eye, but it’s the custom programming that makes it all happen. Advanced programming is the norm here at DDA, as is custom animation, professional photography services and custom web design. Things that happen everyday here, make lives easier and more convenient for so many. 

They say bad habits die hard. It should also be said that good habits are a laborious birth. At DDA, doing the right thing is NOT a matter of unlearning bad habits, but rather the articulated and dedicated practice of doing the right thing.

Most advertising agencies are born of deception and subterfuge. Example after example abounds of new agencies being formed by one or two account representatives who steal a few clients and set up a business of their own. The ease of doing this is enhanced by the fact that almost by definition, advertising agencies often don’t really do the marketing or advertising design and production themselves. Outside design and production houses, like DDA, serve the advertising agency industry by providing in-depth graphic design, photography, video production, 2D and 3D animation, programming, search marketing, copywriting, website design, ecommerce and other services. DDA provides them all.

Guaranteed, immediate clients and a readily available source of design and production make for an easy advertising agency business start-up. What is difficult is servicing the clients well over the long term and sustaining growth. What is wrong is the perpetuation of all of the bad habits the founders of the breakaway agency learned at their former place of employment and integrated into their new work process and client relationship procedures.

In this way bad habits not only die hard, they are perpetuated and spawned. Some of the bad habits may have actually been more benign at the original advertising agency due to the large size, or specific nature of the clients and industries they serve. When transferred to a smaller, less capable environment, they can mutate and become malignant.

Here’s the irony; the backgrounds of the founders at DDA are an organic mix of corporate marketing, B2B and B2C advertising, retail store and manufacturing ownership and general business management and consulting. NO advertising agency experience, no breakaway business start-up, no mutated process and poor client relationship habits.

After fourteen years of steady and sustained growth, innovation, and pioneering processes and procedures, DDA has all but reinvented the advertising agency. After fourteen years we are still fresh, eager, energized, and creating new habits daily by always striving to do the right thing.

Like smells, colors may mean different things to different people and stir up memories that would otherwise be forgotten. For example, every time I smell Garnier Fructis shampoo it reminds me of when I had morning sickness. This is a smell I don’t ever wish to smell again. Color and certain color combinations also carry around different meanings and create a mood, welcomed or not.

In the corporate world, companies adopt their corporate colors - brown for UPS, yellow for DHL and purple/orange for Fedex - and use these colors as the main focus of their branding. UPS has certainly taken their corporate color and created an entire marketing theme: “What can brown do for you?” Color choice, along with all the other ingredients to a successful design (typography, composition, photography, imagery, illustration), needs careful consideration before beginning a project.

Just now I got a phone call from a client requesting that their video animation be placed on a dark blue background to create a slick, classy look. While I am sure we can create a slick, classy video animation on any color background, for this particular client dark blue was chosen. Luckily there are some general rules when choosing the proper color and as with all rules there are exceptions. Except the rule about running with scissors. That should never ever be broken. 

Here are a few: Stay away from reds when designing for the healthcare industry. Yellows, reds, and oranges are great color choices for restaurants and the food industry as they have been proven to increase one’s appetite while blues have been proven to suppress ones appetite as people commonly associate them with mold or rot. However, blue is a great choice for very corporate companies that want to emote dedication, trust, and loyalty.   

When I was in college, I struggled to find my niche with regard to a career. I started as an accounting major and then filtered my way through marketing, psychology, sociology, and secondary education to end up with a rare degree in Professional Writing. My hobbies as a child ran the gamut from photography, violin, and sewing to softball, poetry, and singing. I tried almost everything at least once, and for the most part I loved it all. I even liked ballet, although I pirouetted into the wall in a dance recital and rollerblading, although I fell and scarred myself for life.

Today, as an advertising copywriter for DDA, I’m able to enjoy the many different aspects of the career options and hobbies that held my interest when I was younger. I can express my creativity as I did in photography, poetry, and sewing through copywriting services for brochures and websites. I can utilize what I learned in psychology and sociology classes to maintain a good repore with clients, and the organizational skills gained through accounting for overseeing projects from start to finish. For that which I did not necessarily succeed, I’ve learned to pick myself up, dust myself off, and move on to the next venture.

The lessons learned in school and fun as a child I carry with me every day and try to build upon them with practical application. It sometimes amazes me to step back and think about how one’s experiences truly do shape the ethics and capabilities displayed in the workplace.

DDA subscribes to several business practices and principles that directs everything we do. They are transparency, ethical conduct, and doing the right thing. The practice of these are both just good, sane, logical and practical approaches to client and vendor relations and emotional, cerebral and feel-good-about-yourself practices and beliefs that allows one to look himself or herself in the mirror each morning and sleep well at night.

Some definitions through the eyes of DDA:

Transparency. I like to think I am a good communicator. I know I am a lousy listener. My other career path might well have been as a history teacher and I sometimes wonder if the excitement of the advertising and business world overwhelmed my common sense.

Despite my best efforts, I recognize that four people in a meeting or discussion will leave with four slightly or largely different understandings of what just happened, what information was shared, what conclusions were drawn, and what the next steps are. Since we believe strongly that good process is at the core of all efficiency, somehow each successful advertising, branding, or marketing meeting must result in common understanding, shared goals, and a focused unified vision of the end game.

Transparency tools are woven into and heaped upon every advertising, branding, or marketing project we undertake. DDA TRAC (Time Resource and Accounting) is an in-house developed, Internet-based time tracking database tool. The result is that every hourly billed project including programming, logo design, graphic design, copywriting, photography, video, 2D and 3D animation, illustration, trade show displays, large format graphics, print design and print production for sell sheets, catalogs, brochures, flyers, direct mail, business cards, training portals and tools, CME design and development and even search engine optimization (SEO) is invoiced accurately. No time, not one minute is rounded up or added on, and every invoice is accompanied by a detailed minute-by-minute description of how the time was spent. On time, On budget, On TRAC every time.

Additional tracking and reporting tools abound. DDA’s search engine optimization (SEO) work has a series of metrics that perpetually report website visitation, usage, pathways, experience-based mapping, rankings, and much more. Website analysis means corporate websites can be better understood, improved, and managed.

Online proofing development websites are assigned to each client and each project. Our clients see every project unfold, improve, and take shape and their input is welcomed, requested, and insisted upon every step of the way.

Transparency is as much an attitude as it is a report or tool. At DDA, we believe that direct communication is the hallmark of a truly professional service-oriented vendor. We answer the phone, have project coordinators for each client, welcome questions and love client interaction. Every project is a blend of skills, expertise, information, and point-of-view provided by both the client and DDA.

Call us anytime. At DDA, the Transparency is clearly better.

Ethical Conduct to follow Monday.

Doing the Right Thing to follow Tuesday.