From $4,500 tickets to $250,000 luxury suites, to $3 million commercials, anyway you look at it, the Super Bowl this Sunday is big money.  Of course we’ll all be watching the game, but we will really pay attention to the ads to see which advertisers scored with great spots and which ones choked.

Here’s a great preview from Advertising Age of what to expect on the biggest day for advertising.

Catholic Charities of Buffalo selected Abbey Mecca & Company, a branding, marketing and communications firm, to develop and execute an integrated marketing and awareness campaign in support of the 2011 Appeal for Catholic Charities.

Abbey Mecca’s efforts will focus on raising awareness for the annual fundraising Appeal and encourage people across Western New York to make donations to the Appeal. The creative approach and media plan are designed to “educate and motivate” the audience using Catholic Charities performance statistics in headlines to draw attention to the impact Catholic Charities has in the community.

Throughout the campaign, the theme “whoever. wherever. whenever.” is used as way to reinforce the fact that Catholic Charities helps people of all faiths, all ages and all backgrounds in Western New York. The advertising campaign breaks the first week of February and will continue through mid-March running across multiple media including television, radio, outdoor, newspaper and online. In addition to advertising, the creative approach is integrated into all supportive marketing materials and in direct mail efforts.

About Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities is the most comprehensive direct human service provider serving all eight counties of Western New York, with more than 70 programs and 61 locations. Founded in 1923, Catholic Charities also provides, without regard to religious affiliation, comprehensive counseling services for children and families, anti-domestic violence programming and emergency services, among other social and mental health services. More information is available at www.ccwny.org.

About Abbey Mecca & Company
Founded in 1969 by C. Robert Abbey and Nicholas D. Mecca, Abbey Mecca & Company is an integrated branding, marketing and communications firm located in Buffalo, New York specializing in non-profit marketing, business-to-business marketing, consumer advertising, and digital media marketing. The agency creates targeted brand marketing campaigns for local and national clients across a variety of industries. More information can be found at www.abbeymecca.com

If you feel like you’re seeing more political advertising this season, it’s not your imagination.  Ad industry insiders are predicting combined political ad spending to be three to four billion dollars for the mid-term elections.

There’s a good reason behind the increase in spending – the Supreme Court changed the rules of the game last spring and relaxed many legal restriction effectively giving  political groups more time to raise and spend more money.   The NY Times called the avalanche of new ad dollars a gold mine for local TV and radio, but for regular advertisers in local markets, the increased demand on ad inventory means they either have to pay higher prices or could get shut-out until after election day.

Diane Warner, our media director at Abbey Mecca told me “You really need to be prepared if you’re buying media for a regular advertiser during the political season. There are going to be changes and moves but basically, we need to protect our clients ad schedules and make sure the media understands that.  Most of the media are really good at managing the demand of political advertising with taking care of their regular customers.”

You can read more about ad spending for the mid-term elections in today’s New York Times or at WARC

We’re looking for a talented designer for freelance and part-time assignments.  We want someone who is motivated, possesses strong layout and typographic skills, and can collaborate with our team.  We need you to have great communication abilities and be a conceptual thinker

If you think you fit this description and are interested, please email your resume and samples of your work to careers@abbeymecca.com subject line – “Freelance designer.”

Qualifications
3 years in graphic design/production
Proficient in CS
Understanding and experience with all phases of design, layout and production (including output and pre-press preparation)

Knowledge of color, paper, all printing processes
Well-organized with good problem-solving skills and strong design sense
Ability to work on multiple projects and meet deadlines

Work in-house when required
Responsibilities
Create layouts and mechanical for corporate identities, advertising, direct mail and other collateral material under art director’s guidance.

Create collateral comps for clients/printers
Preflight/collect files for output/delivery based on supplied production specs
Photo color correction and manipulation
Revise existing files (client edits, resizes, etc.)
Complete minor layout projects
Prepare project boards for client presentations

Most companies will invest thousands of dollars to create an identity that captures the essence of their brand.  Your logo is the core of your brand. Consistent and accurate display of your logo is necessary to establish and maintain recognition of your brand.  Here are a few simple rules to follow when displaying your brand.

1. Always display your logo in the intended format. Unless your logo was specifically designed to be broken up into individual elements and displayed separately, don’t do it. Although it is tempting to only use your icon, or switch to a condensed font or find some other way to get your logo or name bigger on a display or sign, do not want to allow your brand image to be altered in any way.  Just because the sign company can get the logo larger on the sign if they stretch the letters… doesn’t mean it is a good idea. Having a version of your logo in both horizontal and vertical formats makes it easy to maintain a consistent brand representation across all media.

Correct use of logo

Incorrect use of logo

2. Use your tagline. The words of your tagline have, in most cases, been tooled and re-tooled to express the essence of your company for a reason – to elevate your brand. This should be displayed consistently.  If your tagline is a valuable asset on your business card and letterhead, surely it would add value to your brochure or website. Don’t under-estimate the value of repetition… repetition… repetition.

3. Color is at the heart of brand recognition. You see the familiar brown and gold truck parked in front of your house and know that you are getting a UPS delivery. The colors gave it away. That recognition comes from consistent display of the brand colors. The colors of your brand have been specifically chose to reflect your image. By using these colors in your marketing you instantly have a cohesive look. The addition of alternate colors should be well thought out. By using these colors throughout your marketing you can create a cohesive look. The addition of alternate colors should be just as well thought out.

4. Update your corporate identity. First take an inventory and then update your supply of corporate identity items – letterhead, envelopes, business cards, note cards folders etc.  Have them professionally printed and use them consistently. Although it is tempting to keep using the old letterhead, it does not send the right message about your brand.  Ggather all the extra, outdated supply and donate them to a school or not for profit organization. Many of these institutions would gladly accept your donation. Roll out all branding items at once and create a unified look for your company, as well as some excitement over the new branding.

5. Care about your brand. Create a culture within your business where everyone feels responsible and takes pride in the faithful representation of the company image. Start by creating a set of brand standards that everyone must adhere to, publish them, and assign a brand steward.

Abbey Mecca picked up two ADDY awards recently.  This time, the firm took home two Silver ADDYs during the 2010 Buffalo Advertising Club’s Annual event.

The agency received a silver ADDY for the “Are YOU Ready” campaign – a series of 30-second TV spots created for the Canisius College Department of Athletics. The entire campaign can be viewed on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5nLk030eEQ. The second Silver ADDY was awarded for a 2009 Annual Report created for Christ the King Seminary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

The local ad competition was organized by the Ad Club of Buffalo, which is an affiliated club of the American Advertising Federation. The AAF, a not-for-profit industry association conducts the ADDY^® Awards through its 200 member advertising clubs and 15 districts. It is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry. The AAF is the oldest national advertising trade association, representing 40,000 professionals in the advertising industry.

With these latest ADDYs, the agency has received a total of 14 industry awards for creative excellence in the past 14 months. Founded in 1969 by C. Robert Abbey and Nicholas D. Mecca, Abbey Mecca & Company is a branding, marketing and communication firm located in Buffalo New York.  Earlier this year, the firm earned four Bronze Telly Awards and two international Davey Awards for Creative Excellence. The agency creates and executes targeted brand marketing campaigns for local and national clients across a variety of industries.

Here’s a great article from this morning’s trades on US ad spending across media and for various categories.

The US advertising market posted a double-digit contraction in revenues last year, as major players like Procter & Gamble and Verizon Communications reined in their expenditure.

According to Kantar Media, the research firm, adspend levels fell by 12.3% on an annual basis in 2009, to $125.3 billion (€91.6bn; £82.0bn), although this decline slowed to just 6% in the final quarter.

Read the full article at here.

Buffalo, NY – Abbey Mecca & Company, a branding and marketing communications firm, has provided branding and advertising services for the 2010 Appeal for Catholic Charities of Buffalo’s public awareness campaign. Read the rest of this entry »

Scott Follett | Brand & Marketing Coordinator

Why do some ad campaigns endure while others fall down?

There’s no simple answer – there’s just too many variables. But there is one thing for sure, creative for creative sake is pretty much like throwing a dart with your eyes closed and hoping you’ll hit a bull’s-eye. Consumers today have much higher expectations for advertising. If a consumer is going to give an ad their attention, we are obligated to offer some entertainment value in exchange. If a consumer is to remember an ad, then we are obligated to offer something unique. And if a consumer is to understand a brand, then we are obligated to make sure the creative is aligned with the brand strategy. Read the rest of this entry »

Buffalo, NY – Abbey Mecca & Company, a branding, marketing and communication firm headquartered in Buffalo, NY has been recognized with three awards for creative excellence during the 2009 International Davey Awards Competition. The Davey Awards honors the finest creative work from the best small firms, agencies and companies worldwide. This year’s competition drew more than 4,000 entries from across the US and around the world. Abbey Mecca received three silver Davey Awards for work created for clients in Western New York. Read the rest of this entry »