April 2017

I’m very proud of our team here at Westamerica Communications. As a cross-media marketing company we work in many different communications channels. And this requires our team to be knowledgeable and flexible. But the rewards are great.

Award Winning Marketing

In the recent past we’ve received numerous awards for our client’s work
in various industry categories. We’ve won a couple “Bennies” in the Premier Print Award Competition, from the Printing Industries of America. This international competition recognizes the highest quality printed pieces in various categories.

We’ve received Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards from the Marketing Association of Credit Unions, which “has been recognizing the best of the best in marketing achievements since 1986.”

And now we’re very excited to announce that the Telly Awards has named Westamerica Communications as a Bronze winner in the 37th Annual Telly Awards. These awards honor the best in TV and cable, digital and streaming, and non-broadcast productions.

Award Winning Video Production

 

One of our clients was launching a new product. They were also exhibiting at a trade show. They wanted to help their clients understand the new features available in their new microprocessor controlled prosthetic knee. Because we understand the importance of video in today’s marketing environment, we suggested a 3-D product animation video with 360° rotation and exploded details.

Our video production team created a video that highlighted the 8MHz microprocessor, the customizable settings and the fact that the entire unit is fully submersible.

The client was extremely happy with the final outcome. The video was a great addition to their trade show graphics. And, due to the versatility of video, the client has featured the video on it’s website and distributed it through their social media channels.

It seems the client wasn’t the only one impressed with the video. Now it has been recognized as an outstanding video production by a group of top advertising and production professionals.

The Telly Awards

You may have never heard of the Telly Awards but I can tell you they’re a really big deal. To win a Telly you’re in the company of video production houses like:

• Comcast
• ESPN
• Fox
• HBO
• NBC
• The History Channel
• Time Warner, and more.

And, it’s not like everyone who enters wins an award. These are not “participant” trophies. In 2016, there were over 13,000 entries from companies all over the United States and from five continents. And, when you consider that only 7 to 10% of entrants are chosen as Silver Telly Award winners and Bronze Telly Award Winners typically represent about 18 to 25% of entrants, earning a Telly Award is a significant creative achievement.

The Judging

The judging panel is made up of over 500 accomplished industry professionals, each a past winner of a Silver Telly.

It’s also interesting to note that the entries do not compete against each other. Rather entries are judged against a high standard of merit and thus are recognized for their distinction in creative work.

According to the Executive Director of the Telly Awards, Linda Day, “The Telly Awards has a mission to honor the very best in film and video.”

“Westamerica’s accomplishment illustrates their creativity, skill, and dedication to their craft and serves as a testament to great film and video production.” -Linda Day

It brings joy to my heart to be working with such a talented group of people. From our sales and customer service staff, our creative services department, our video and print production departments to our employees in the shipping department, we all work together to create some of the most beautiful, useful and dynamic marketing materials in all of Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

 

We have this client, Jim, who we’ve worked with for a number of years. One day last year, he called and said he had decided to sell his restaurant supply company. And, like many entrepreneurs, Jim was not ready to settle down but instead had an idea for a new company.

His idea was to take a profitable part of his previous business and expand it into a full business of its own. Armed with this idea, and with the help of the creative design services at Westamerica Communications, Wood Welded West was born.

Developing the Brand

In a previous post I quoted Paul Rand, the famous American art director and graphic designer, who said the logo is only as good as the product it represents. Well, when Jim called looking for some help in branding his new company we knew the quality of the product he was producing and wanted to make sure his branding matched his product.

Jim is selling custom cutting boards, butcher blocks and other beautiful wood products from Michigan Maple Block Company and the Bally Block Company; know collectively as the Wood Welded^® Companies.

These are some of the most beautiful and stunning kitchen countertops, food prep surfaces, and sturdy industrial workbench tops you’ll ever see. The popularity of Wood Welded^® butcher block products is due in part to its continuous operation, by one family, for over 125 years.

The goal of our creative services department was to create print collateral, signage and even a van wrap that would reflect the beauty, durability, and history of the wood welded products.

Graphic Design Services

First, we slightly modified the company’s original logo to reflect the new West Coast location while keeping its original look and feel. We wanted to preserve the company’s 125-year history.

Wood Welded^® provided a wonderful graphic with a butcher working on a butcher block and a maple leaf to represent Michigan Maple Block Company, which is located in Petoskey, Michigan—the heart of hard maple country. We enlarged the graphic, cleaned it up a bit and used it to create a sign for Jim’s showroom. We also used the same graphic on the door panels of the van.

The next challenge came when we started creating the artwork for the van wrap. The graphics needed for such a large output had to be high resolution. We started with stock images but they didn’t really have the look and feel we needed. So we took some photos of the actual wood stock that Jim uses to make his counter and work bench tops. We were able to capture the wood grain and texture in the images. Thus we used photos of Jim’s own products to create the van wrap.

Point of Purchase Display

You may argue this point with me but I think the ultimate Point of Purchase Display is a van wrap. To prove my point, Jim drove his newly wrapped van from our facilities in Lake Forest to his showroom in Anaheim. By the time he arrived there was a phone message waiting for him inquiring about his Butcher Blocks!

Up to that time, Jim had done no other advertising. He had yet to send any direct mail or distribute any of his custom print collateral. The only way anyone would have known about his new business was the van.

Jim, from all of us here at Westamerica Communications, good luck on you new endeavor!