How to Transition From One Creative Agency to Another

Looking for the right creative agency can feel like looking for the right mate. You need mutual respect, shared goals, and above all, chemistry. And like romantic relationships, your relationship with a creative agency can run its course.

We have several clients who have come to us fresh from a breakup with another creative agency. We’re always happy to welcome new clients who are “on the rebound,” but we can also offer tips on how to make your break up as painless as possible for all parties.

Tips for Leaving Your Creative Agency & Starting with a New One

• Talk to your agency. This is the first and most important step! Let your agency know what your plans are. Your account team can then help you plan for the transition, from website hosting to social media account ownership—and all of the other little details you might miss if you try to do it on your own.
• Plan for your website transition in advance. If part of the transition includes moving your website from one hosting company to another, or even just moving the DNS for your domain name, plan ahead. There are a number of implications for such moves, from search engine optimization (SEO) to analytics accounts tracking to transferring files, like PDFs, that are hosted with your site. The tech teams at the old and new agency may even need to have a conversation to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.
• Bring your files. Especially if you want the new agency to work with your existing creative—and especially if it’s in Flash—you’ll want to provide the original source files, such as Photoshop, Illustrator or Flash. The more your new creative agency has to re-create, the more expensive it is for you.
• Allow for some wrap-up time. Even after you’re fully ramped up with your new agency, there will be some loose ends that pop up. Allow for at least 30 days of final maintenance time with your old agency in case they need to hunt down a last file or answer questions.

If you follow these tips, you’ll make it much easier for us to hit the ground running with your account and start turning out great work on your behalf.

And if—GASP!—it’s us you want to leave, well then follow these tips too. We’re professionals, and we know that not all client relationships last forever. Just be up front with us and we’ll help you transition to your next relationship.

Your Turn

• What steps do you use when you start a new agency relationship (or end an existing one)?

CDG works with new clients every day. Contact Us to get started on fresh new work for you!

[Photo credit: Alex E. Proimos]

Just as the 2012 election cycle got hotter than a fried butterstick in Iowa, CDG launched a new and improved site for CQ Roll Call.

CQ Roll Call is the premier provider of non-partisan legislative and electoral news and analysis, as well as legislative tracking and advocacy tools. The new site features a streamlined structure that gives users a comprehensive, yet concise picture of what CQ Roll Call has to offer.

But it’s not only end-users who enjoy a better experience on the site—so do the editors and producers at CQ Roll Call. The new site was implemented in Zeus, CDG’s content management system. Zeus’ powerful functionality and intuitive interface makes it easy for CQ Roll Call to add, edit, and manage the site content.

Also, Zeus allows CQ Roll Call to track the users who request free trials of their products—information that had previously gone un-captured. With its new Zeus-powered site, CQ Roll Call can track conversions precisely and communicate more effectively with its current and potential subscribers.

“The new website is a great showcase for our products and services,” says Andrea Birdsong, Director of Interactive Marketing at CQ Roll Call, “And because we can better manage our content and track our conversions, we can serve our subscribers more effectively.”

So, Beltway insiders and intrepid politicos, visit the new CQRollCall.com and see if it gets your vote of approval.

Looking to improve your website? Contact CDG Interactive.

  Scan a parenting magazine and it won’t be long before you see headlines about celiac disease, reflux, GERD, and childhood obesity. Fortunately, there’s a new resource for parents and patients dealing digestive and nutritional disorders: GastroKids.org.

CDG created the site for our long-time client, The North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN). The association asked us to create a site geared to an audience parents and patients, rather than the doctors who typically visited their site.

In 2009, CDG had designed a site for NASPGHAN’s foundation, which contained a large amount of the parent and patient focused content as well as information for health care professionals. The design still held up well, as did the basic information architecture. So rather than start from scratch, we leveraged the design elements of the existing foundation and performed a “content redesign.”

We created a new logo and tagline to rebrand the site, but its essential look and feel remained the same. Meanwhile, we re-wrote and re-optimized content to focus it exclusively on the parent and patient audience. We extracted the information for medical professionals and housed it within NASPGHAN’s main site. The result: two specific destinations for two very different audiences.

We implemented the site in Zeus, CDG’s content management system, making it easy for site administrators to add, manage, and remove content (including meta content). This was a key concern for NASPGHAN, as it has plans to grow the site into an ever-more robust resource for parents and kids.

Is your website ready for a tweak, a touch-up, or a full-on redesign? Contact CDG.

It’s here! CDG's new iAd for GEICO has just launched. The “Secret Savings Society” iAd takes the user on a compelling journey of tests and trials to unlock the secret of savings.

The iAd was created to drive home GEICO’s signature brand message of saving on insurance—and to generate new quotes—through a highly engaging environment.  As the driving creative concept, our team developed the idea of the Secret Savings Society—a mysterious group that had discovered the ultimate way to save. The action, and interaction, of the iAd introduces users to the world of the Secret Savings Society and challenges them to join it.

Once inside the iAd interface, the user challenged to pass four tests, in order to gain entry into the Secret Savings Society. Each of the tests is a different game-like interface. After completing each test, the user receives a crucial piece of a code that ultimately unlocks the door to the Secret Savings Society. Once admitted, the user learns the true secret of savings. (Hint: GEICO figures prominently here!) Capitalizing on social media, the iAd allows the user to share their experience with the Secret Savings Society via an iAd Twitter interface.

Designed to encourage user engagement with the GEICO brand, as well as to generate new online quotes, the iAd offers a variety of content and user interactions beyond the four challenges. Users can access free GEICO ringtones and wallpapers, videos, and apps. They can also get a free online quote and/or contact GEICO with the tap of a button.

The “Secret Savings Society” is currently running in a variety of apps, and is featured on Apple’s iAd gallery app. Since its launch, it has been achieving impressive results, in terms of both the number of people who are viewing the iAd, and the amount of time they spend in the interface.

CDG’s second iAd for GEICO comes on the heels of its successful “Wheel of Wisdom” iAd, which launched in October 2010. This first ad not only received high traffic and a large number of repeat visits; it also won several industry awards, including Best Insurance Online ad (IAC Awards) and Platinum Award, Mobile Device Advertising 41st (Creativity International Awards).

It all started with the peanuts. Last year, to introduce some levity into its serious daily diet of journalism, CQ Roll Call launched a poll on its website to determine which state produces the best peanuts.

After the peanut debate was settled (for the record, Georgia won), CQ Roll Call decided to launch a more elaborate contest and capitalize on the potential to spike both traffic and brand awareness. To turn the vision into reality, CQ Roll Call turned to us at CDG Interactive.

The result, “Roll Call: A Taste of America” was a delicious success. The mini-site created by CDG Interactive generated more than 400,000 votes over the course of just 5 weeks.

The Set-Up

Roll Call: Taste of America was an All-American virtual food fight that functioned like a typical March Madness bracket, with 64 regional foods from U.S. states and territories were chosen to “compete.” Each week users voted for the winners in each bracket. Voting took place over 5 weeks until the final victor emerged. Users who voted were entered for a chance to win a pair tickets to a Taste of America party at We the Pizza, a Capitol Hill restaurant run by celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn.

The Interface

To support the contest, we created a fun, energetic design that housed not only the bracket itself, but also displayed supporting materials like contest rules, sponsor advertising, and a video by Mendelsohn. The site also allowed (but did not require) voters to enter their email addresses and share the link with friends.

We also created the database of foods, monitored the voting, and modified the bracket week to week to show the winners and initiate the next round of voting.

The Results

Over the next five weeks, Roll Call: Taste of America brought in more than 400,000 votes and nearly 1,400 unique email addresses. Feedback was incredibly positive from users, sponsors, and the team at CQ Roll Call.

“Everyone was blown away by the design,” said Andrea  Birdsong, Director of Interactive Marketing at CQ Roll Call, “The site surpassed all of our expectations. It was a fun diversion for our usual audience, not to mention an excellent showcase for our brand and our sponsors.”

(Another big winner? The coconut, which pulled out a victory over all the other regional foods. Too bad, chicken wings, maybe next year. )

CDG Interactive has received another honor for the Apple iAd mobile advertising campaign created with and for client GEICO, the nation's #3 auto insurer. 

In addition to the International Advertising Competition Best in Show received earlier this year, the Gecko's Wheel of Wisdom campaign has won a Platinum Award--the Best of Category--in the 41st Creativity International Awards for the category of Mobile Device, Advertising.

Other agencies winning media CIA awards this year include such prestigious international names as The Barbarian Group, DDB, and Leo Burnett as well as such companies as MTV Networks and Disney Resorts.

Launched in October 2010 as one of the inaugural campaigns on Apple's unique iAd mobile advertising platform, the Gecko's Wheel of Wisdom is an immersive game-like experience. Users can spin the Wheel to get advice from the well-known GEICO mascot on areas ranging from Travel to Romance, Family to Style.

The iAd also includes such bonus content and features as ringtones, wallpaper and a map locator for the nearest GEICO office. And no GEICO experience would be complete without the ability to get a quote right from your phone.

With the success of this initial campaign, CDG Interactive and GEICO are now working together again to create a whole new iAd campaign.

Are you looking to start a mobile marketing campaign? Contact us to learn how we can help you.

We’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with the launch of the redesigned US-Ireland Alliance website. The US-Ireland Alliance is a vibrant organization dedicated to strengthening connections between the United States and Ireland.

The site, like the Alliance itself, shatters the quaint, stereotypical view of Ireland (think shamrocks and leprechauns) and reveals the country’s dynamic arts, business, and political spheres. The new site highlights the Alliance’s work to build strong relationships between American and Irish luminaries, and to further the relationship between the two countries through programs like the esteemed George J. Mitchell Scholarship.

In addition to a new look, the site also got a technical overhaul thanks to Zeus, CDG’s content management system CMS. The new CMS allows the team at the US-Ireland Alliance more ease and flexibility in updating and maintaining their site’s rapidly changing and time-sensitive content. 

To ensure that the new site attracts the wide audience it deserves, CDG also executed a comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) process and implemented a social media strategy to better engage users across Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and other channels.

In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, check out the US-Ireland Alliance website and find out how much the organization has to offer. Better yet, become a member! Even if you’re not Irish by blood, you can be Irish by association, right?

 And if you need a little magic worked on your site, contact CDG.

Raise your hand if you have a love-hate relationship with content management systems! For mid-sized companies especially, choosing a CMS can make you feel like Goldilocks; too complex, too simple, not flexible enough, too flexible, etc.

CDG decided there had to be a better way. Recently, we introduced Zeus CMS, a content management system that gives you the control, flexibility, and functionality you need.

To date, Zeus has been successfully deployed for multi-national companies like Mondial Assistance as well as mid-sized organizations. What makes Zeus so appealing? Here are a few highlights:

Continue reading "Seize the Power! Meet Zeus Content Management System" »

As 2010 draws to a close, we look ahead to another busy year in 2011 and we look back two of our biggest highlights.

At the start of the year we began developing and launching multinational websites for the many business units of Mondial Assistance, the world’s largest provider of travel insurance. Not only were we able to take advantage of the multi-language support of our new content management system, Zeus CMS, but we also learned a trick or two about language flexibility in UI controls.

And we eased from summer into fall by designing and developing all creative for GEICO’s first-ever iAd, the innovative and immersive new advertising platform for Apple’s iPhone. The ads featured the ever-popular GEICO gecko and his Wheel of Wisdom as he offered you advice not only on saving on your car insurance, but also on travel, romance, family, style and more.

We have the pleasure of working with a range of great clients and we look forward to the launch of many more new projects with them—and our new clients to come—in 2011.

Happy New Year, everyone!

CDG announces the latest iAd for Apple's new iPhone advertising platform

In August CDG got a call from GEICO, a long-time client, with a unique opportunity: create a mobile ad for the newest advertising platform out there - Apple's new iAd. We rapidly developed a number of concepts that would take advantage of this new platform and highlight the unique brand qualities of GEICO.

We landed on the concept of the Gecko branching out and providing help on more than just saving you money on car insurance. With our concept of "The Gecko's Wheel of Wisdom" the Gecko is now able to offer you advice on other areas of your life, including Travel, Romance, Family, Style and more. Each piece of advice is accompanied by the Gecko's commentary.

In addition, you can download ringtones and custom wallpapers, watch some of GEICO's latest commercials, find an office near you, or get a quote over the phone or via an App - all without being taken out of the original App you were in.

Needless to say, all parties involved are very excited about the results. For more information about the project give us a call (preferably on your iPhone).

Additional Screenshots