// press
// 03.26.08
Site Outage
Due to a run of power outages over the last few weeks, the Avantgarde website has been down more than up. I found the configuration problems that were causing the Internet connectivity problems, so the site should be back up and running for good.
// 10.10.07
LightPole Launches Its Beta Site
LightPole has just launched their new location aware Mobile Discovery publishing system and consumer focused mobile application. Avantgarde worked with LightPole to develop their phone user interface and consumer/publisher website design.
The LightPole service makes publishing geo-contextual content as easy as blogging. Through LightPole, publishers can reach mobile users, leveraging the publishing tools already in place. No advanced programming or heavy IT investments are required. Distribution can be supported by ads, subscriptions, transactions, or other models. Mobile phone users can select channels of geo-contextual content, post comments and annotations, and record their own Points of Interest.
The LightPole service already supports hundreds of models of mobile phones, including Blackberry, Motorola, Nokia, and most phones from leading carries such as AT&T, Sprint/Nextel and T-Mobile as well as the Blackberry on Verizon. LightPole continues to add support for new phones all the time.
Consumers can download the LightPole mobile browser from LightPole's content partners' sites: MappyHour (a community driven site of over 43,000 Happy Hour spots around the world) or HotSpotr (a community driven site with over 6000 entries showing which cafes have free WiFi ) or sign up for the private beta at www.lightpole.net.
LightPole also published a Yelp! mobile channel which allows users to search and view Yelp! reviews with the LightPole mobile browser. You can get Yelp! on your mobile phone by entering in your mobile phone number below:
// 07. 9.07
Ten things 2007 - a class with Michael Shanks about design
Just ran into this interesting review of the design aspects of the Timbuk2 retails store written for a design class out of Stanford.
"When I first embarked on my research for this project I was looking a for a few specific things. I was trying to discover what were the human factors behind design. How was the object culturally appropriate? What does it say about the user and what does it reveal about their status? What I began to see was how a company chooses to market themselves. How they companies position themselves in the market. It seemed to be a complex formula about perceived value, price points, and target market. I thought to myself that the world of merchandise was a sterile formula applied universally to a baseless market, that was successful for a handful of well financed companies. However, In the midst of my research I found a company that was above that influence. A creatively unique brand, with a story and product to match. That company is Timbuk2."
- Check out Ten things 2007 for a full read.
// 06. 1.07
Buzz on the Web: Influencing the Influencers
Dan Greenfield, Vice President of Corporate Communications at EarthLink, contacted us a couple of weeks ago about the idea of influencing the influencers. He was interested in finding out about what Avantgarde thought about the effect of influencer marketing on the adoption of products and services and what was important in the process.
Our take, "Throwing tons of money at all the influentials in the world won’t work if the product itself doesn’t meet a genuine unmet need. The brand experience has to be a reflection of the personal creativity of the user in order for a product to translate from a small circle to mass consumption."
Read more on this blog: Bernaise Source
How to manage email to prevent productivity-sapping overload
In a new book, Mark Hurst argues that Americans are chronically overloaded with bits -- the building blocks digital information. Hurst, a principal in the consulting firm Creative Good, says we're buried by e-mail, blogs, digital photos, and podcasts.
In the book Bit Literacy, Hurst provides a roadmap for better managing digital information.
Hurst enlisted the help of Avantgarde to get the word out about the book. We developed a target list of influencers who could help spread the word about this common sense approach to managing information overload.
Hear the pod cast RealAudio - MP3 - iTunes and read more book on the Bit Literacy website.
// 04. 8.07
Best Non-Profit Online Ad 2007
As the Creative Director for the Asia Foundation, Kristin Colombano has won the Internet Advertising Competition award for Best Non-Profit Online Ad. Since 1997, the Web Marketing Association's annual WebAward Competition has been helping interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies, and their best work to the outside world.
// 03.20.07
Hollywood's All Ears
Forbes.com, March 20, 2007
Some manufacturers turn to outside marketing firms to get their phones in stars' hands. Palm (nasdaq: PALM - news - people ), for instance, hired Avantgarde, a San Francisco-based marketing company, to outfit stars like Matthew Broderick, Mario Batali and Peter Gabriel, among others, with its line of Treo smartphones. Others go in-house: Motorola runs its own invitation-only showroom in West Hollywood, designed solely for A-listers.
// 03. 7.07
Avantgarde Refreshes Its Look
After a few years of just maintaining the Avantgarde web site, we have finally refreshed the site to more accurately reflect our evolving business, the changing times and our varied cultural and business interests.
The new Avantgarde website is actually three websites in one:
1. First you will find the corporate information site. This area has all of Avantgarde’s updated information, a new portfolio area, and a collection of new clients and updated case studies. These case studies include 4 new stories about our work with Palm, the Timbuk2 store and Timbuk2 TED Bag and Zone Labs.
2. Next you will see the first of two blogs. The Press blog contains all of Avantgarde’s company and client announcements, press clippings, press releases and client quotes. This area will be updated regularly with new press, client announcements, site updates and portfolio additions.
3. Finally you will find the Avantgarde Journal. This area contains musing about our personal interests in music, fashion, food and design as well as any other areas that we might fancy.
I would love to hear what you think about our new look and content. When you get some time, send me an email to marcus@avantgarde.com, or just put up a blog comment on one of our entries.
If you want to keep on top of what’s new with Avantgarde and see what we are doing, you can either subscribe to our site RSS feed or sign up for our email list. The first fifty people to sign up for the email feed will get a copy of our recently released limited edition double CD: Avantgarde // Swayzak Presents Serieculture.
// 02.24.07
What Timbuk2 Has to Say
"Avantgarde played an essential role in assisting Timbuk2 with the implementation of the Cradle To Cradle bag for TED2006. They pulled together key relationships, assisted with the creative development, and managed the execution. The Avantgarde team is passionate, creative and organized - just what we needed for this successful project."
- Mark Dwight, CEO, Timbuk2
What Palm Has to Say
"Avantgarde has the rare combination of a strong technical foundation together with the ability to develop strong influencer relationships that allow them to craft innovative marketing programs. Avantgarde played a significant role in Treo's success by initiating a number of creative programs that developed hundreds of valuable long-term relationships with cultural thought leaders and influential personalities in business, entertainment and academia."
– Allen Bush, Director of Carrier Marketing, Palm and Director of Worldwide Communications Handspring