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.
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:
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.
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.
This year Avantgarde celebrates its 15th year with a collection of CDs produced by some of its favorite artists. Swayzak presents Serieculture, the first in this series, is a two CD set including a collection of unreleased and super rare Swayzak tracks matched with a live vinyl mix crafted by Roger 23 at his studio in Saarbrücken.
San Francisco’s own Timbuk2, a maker of hand-sewn bags for bicycle messengers and cycling enthusiasts since 1989, has Just introducing thier newest innovation - Bag In A Box. They have packaged a special $100 gift card in a distinctive package - perfect for your holiday gift giving. A unique secret code on the back of the card unlocks the $100 value on their web site - just enough for a custom messenger bag, one accessory and express shipping.
Working with Kevin Mitnick and USAToday, Avantgarde released a study on November 29th that showed that automated "bots," worms and other threats pummeled six computer platforms over a two-week period with 305,955 total attacks. Results also revealed, and that an inadequately protected computer fell victim to an actual compromise within four minutes of first plugging into the Internet.
In November, palmOne introduced a new member of the Treo smartphone family — the Treo 650 smartphone — giving mobile professionals all they need to stay connected and in touch. The Treo 650 simplifies customers’ lives by combining a compact, full-featured mobile phone with email, a Palm OS organizer, messaging and web access.
The smartphone update has a higher-resolution screen and a faster processor than the previous top-of-the-line model, the Treo 600. Additions include a removable battery and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. An improved VGA camera promises to work better in low-light situations and to record video as well as still images.
San Francisco’s own Timbuk2, a maker of hand-sewn bags for bicycle messengers and cycling enthusiasts since 1989, has hired Avantgarde to help evolve its brand strategy as it introduces products geared toward broader lifestyles. The company’s new Graphic Messenger Bags and Laptop Bags have been winning rave reviews, and the company plans to expand into other related lifestyle products.
The Tibetan Aid Project is a Berkeley, CA-based organization that works to preserve and restore Tibet’s cultural and spiritual heritage. For the past three years, the organization has raised funds through an annual Taste and Tribute dinner featuring a range of cuisines. For this year’s event, held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco, Avantgarde developed a unique mail-out invitation beckoning supporters to the gala dining experience, which showcased nine four-course menus created by 18 renowned chefs. The event raised more than $100,000 for Tibetan Aid, surpassing the 2002 dinner’s fundraising record by more than $50,000.
The Tibetan Aid Project was founded by Tibetan Lama Tarthang Tulku in 1969 and is staffed entirely by volunteers. The project supports the production and distribution of sacred Tibetan texts and art to Tibetans in Asia. It also provides general assistance to monastic centers, sponsors traditional ceremonies, and works to promote awareness of Tibetan civilization around the world. Avantgarde looks forward to supporting such a worthwhile cause in the years to come.
The Tibetan Aid Project is a Berkeley, CA-based organization that works to preserve and restore Tibet’s cultural and spiritual heritage. For the past three years, the organization has raised funds through an annual Taste and Tribute dinner featuring a range of cuisines. For this year’s event, held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco, Avantgarde developed a unique mail-out invitation beckoning supporters to the gala dining experience, which showcased nine four-course menus created by 18 renowned chefs. The event raised more than $100,000 for Tibetan Aid, surpassing the 2002 dinner’s fundraising record by more than $50,000.
Working from Annie C.'s fusion of old-world charm with contemporary style, Avantgarde developed the company's identity, product hangtags and sales materials. The design solution speaks directly to the unique aspects of Annie C. products by using an elegant and stylish typeface, an offbeat, quirky and appealing color palette and graphic details inspired from the bags’ beautiful linings and stitching.
Annie C., an accessory and apparel company, launched its Spring/Summer 2003 product line comprised of innovative and whimsical handbags. Based in Healdsburg, California, Annie C. has distribution in specialty boutiques in the San Francisco bay area, Napa and Sonoma counties. San Francisco boutiques include OOMA, Heidi Says, Brown Eyed Girl and Jest Jewels.
Working with Share Our Strength's local event committee, Avantgarde was asked to design the Taste of the Nation invitation and program showcasing Teatro ZinZanni while communicating Share Our Strength's non-profit goals. Our solution was to highlight the amazing and truly marvelous acrobats from the wildly theatrical Teatro Zinzanni show by using mysteriously dark photography combined with the crisp, streamline deco look from the guidelines of Taste of the Nation’s national branding campaign.
Taste of the Nation is the nation's preeminent culinary benefit supporting the fight to end hunger. Each spring, more than 10,000 community leaders come together in more than 65 cities across the United States and Canada to organize one-of-a-kind culinary events. Since 1988, Taste of the Nation events have raised more than $50 million which have supported more than 450 organizations working to end hunger and poverty in the United States and abroad.
Avantgarde is proud to announce that Meals On Wheels has had another record year. The 2003 Meals On Wheels Chefs & Vintners Gala raised more than $500,000 for San Francisco's homebound seniors. With a new location atop Nob Hill, the event continues to be a success.
A strategic seeding project developed by Avantgarde put Handspring’s new Treo 600 smartphone into the hands of key personalities in the entertainment, technology and business worlds, continuing the company’s successful viral marketing efforts around its Treo line of mobile communications devices. The highly visible “influencers” reached by Avantgarde acted as leaders or connectors to other personalities in their circles, helping to spark an epidemic of Treo 600 purchases immediately upon the device’s release in September. Avantgarde is presently developing testimonials around influencers' use of the Treo.
A December article in Business 2.0, “Anatomy of a Buzz Campaign,” highlighted the value of this program in generating awareness of the Treo 600 (see article in Business 2.0; subscription required). Business 2.0’s Damon Darlin asked Biz360, a San Mateo, CA-based media analysis company, to track mentions of the Treo 600 in print and electronic media. Biz360 found that between the launch of the device in September and late October, the buzz campaign had garnered free editorial coverage equivalent to $265,000 worth of advertising space.
(Avantgarde contributed to Biz360’s own successful launch in 2001 with launch materials, a corporate web site, and interface and branding design. See Biz360 Case Study).
Buoyed by positive reviews of the Treo 600, Handspring merged with Palm in October, creating the new PalmOne. (See press release). And in November, the Treo 600 received PC Magazine’s Technical Excellence Award and was a finalist for the Best of COMDEX Award in the Mobile Devices category. (See press release). Avantgarde congratulates Handspring on the Treo 600’s phenomenal success and stands ready to help other clients establish “customer epidemics” through targeted product placement with visible thought leaders.
Avantgarde continues its relationship with Xerox, helping to develop strategic marketing partnerships to support the company’s FreeColorPrinters program, which delivers free color printers to qualified organizations such as non-profits, schools, and small businesses. A partnership we arranged between Xerox and Corel earlier in 2003 has now resulted in a holiday promotion offering Corel products to FreeColorPrinters program members.
Through a targeted e-mail, Xerox offered program members 25% savings on the Business Bundle and Graphics Bundle of Corel software. Corel, best known for its award-winning CorelDRAW® and WordPerfect® Office Suite, gives customers the power to create, exchange and instantly interact with visual content.
Working with Meals on Wheels for the 2nd year in a row on their Gala Event, Avantgarde is supporting the overall marketing, design and strategic development efforts as key member of their team. Each year the Meals On Wheels Gala event is the primary fundraiser for the organization, to date raising over 3.5 million dollars.
Situated atop Rincon hill, the 365 Main data center building is anchored on a natural bedrock slab. Originally constructed as a U.S. Marine Corps storehouse in 1946, it underwent a substantial $130 million renovation in 2001. Today, it is simply the best-built, most intelligently designed structure in San Francisco and possibly the United States for mission-critical data center operations. Avantgarde worked with the operations staff to develop a website that accurately communicates the features and benefits of this unique data fortress.
Following the success of the Avantgarde first Treo seeding project, Handspring hired Avantgarde to develop a new program around its new Treo 300 which supports the Sprint PCS Vision network. Avantgarde targeted the speaker base at PopTech! 2002 conference, giving each speaker a new Treo with Sprint service. PopTech! is a once-in-a-lifetime conference that features nationally known speakers from both the mass media and the digital worlds. Avantgarde continues to work with Handspring to spread the word and help promote its products.
Handspring Treo Communicator Named Best Overall Product of 2002.
Working with the American Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief for Cambodia, Avantgarde donated all of its extra computer equipment to support this organizations school building efforts. Initiated by Bernard Krisher, a US philanthropist and Far East representative for the Media Lab, this program is devoted to building two hundred new elementary schools in Cambodia and providing them with Internet access.
GCI is an innovative and proactive commercial contracting and construction management firm that specializes in commercial interior, corporate facility, seismic upgrade and building renovation projects, all with a focus on “Green” construction techniques. Avantgarde worked with GCI to develop a strategic web marketing plan developing their website content, information architecture and interface design. Launched in November of this year at the BuildEx construction conference, GCI is using their website as the marketing cornerstone of their business development efforts.
Leveraging three years of experience developing demand generation programs for the Xerox Free Color Printers Program, Avantgarde is now leading the development of long-term strategic partnerships with companies that can help increase Free Color Printers member value while furthering the distribution of Xerox's Solid Ink based printers.
Since 1999, the Xerox Free Color Printers Program has provided qualified organizations with a free color printer direct from Xerox. This innovative program was created to deliver professional, powerful and fast color printing capabilities to organizations, enabling them to distinguish themselves with color printing. The Free Color Printers program serves thousands of organizations, including: non-profits, schools, religious organizations and small businesses of all kinds.
The Contemporary Extension auxiliary group from SFMOMA has been a fast growing group of young adults between the ages of 21 and 40 formulated to further their member's knowledge of the art world and support SFMOMA. With a goal to increase membership dramatically in 2001, it was time for CX to have an official website. Avantgarde partner, Jennifer Betti is an active member of CX and volunteered Avantgarde's services to develop a fresh, colorful, bright and artistic site to project CX's interest in design and the art world. The design demonstrates these attributes while being informative and a central point for CX's focus on networking.
In October 2001, Handspring launched their new Treo product at the prestigious Agenda conference. In order to generate demand for this new and innovative compact communicator that integrates a mobile phone and wireless applications like email, short messaging and Internet browsing, Handspring hired Avantgarde to develop a strategy and implement a program to get this hot product in the hands of the most influential people.
Packet Design is not only Vernier Networks parent company, but also one of Avantgarde's charter clients. After spinning off Vernier and forging ahead with new technologies, it was clear that Packet Design needed an expandable website to allow for its rapid growth. Avantgarde was engaged to capture Packet Design's innovative wireless, packet based technology in a easy to navigate and clean site design. Inspired from Mondrian, as the father of technological “packet” art imagery, Avantgarde designed a colorful and simple site that is easily expanded to showcase Packet's growing content.
Always dedicated to staying involved in the community, Avantgarde has donated design services to Meals on Wheels of San Francisco (MoW). In October of 2001, MoW formulated a Gala Steering Committee to help drive the marketing, advertising and public relations of its annual fundraiser. Partners, Kristin Kelly Colombano and Jennifer Betti are active committee members engaged in pro bono projects to help maximize the Gala's success.
One of Avantgarde's highest profile clients, Vernier Networks, launched their new product at Networld + Interop in September of 2001. Seen as one of the most innovative new wireless networking technologies, N+I gave Vernier the prestigious "Best in Show" award. See Vernier's Avantgarde designed website for more information.