To all of our clients, partners and friends, thank you for another great year.

Highlights of 2011 include the launch of new sites for CQ Roll Call, GastroKids.org and the US-Ireland Alliance, a second iAd mobile campaign for GEICO featuring the Gecko's Secret Savings Society (and winning a Platinum Award for the first one), and the continued growth of Zeus, our custom-built content management system.

From all of us at CDG Interactive, we hope your holidays are delicious and your New Year is sweet.

(And speaking of delicious, check out the entries to our third-annual cookie smackdown competition, above.)

It’s a sad day at CDG, as we remember the passing of the great Steve Jobs—someone who truly lived up to the overused descriptors of visionary, genius, game-changer, and legend. None of us ever met Mr. Jobs in person (although some CDG-ers had  a sighting of him at Apple headquarters while working on one of the first iAds), but we feel a palpable sense of loss for someone who moved our industry—and our culture—so far, so fast.

Thank you, Steve, for shepherding us into the future. We will miss you.

There was a whole lot of shaking going on yesterday at CDG's offices, thanks to the once-in-a-century 5.8 earthquake. No injuries or significant damage to report, here or elsewhere. So, from the creative team that brought you Snowpocalypse '10 apparel (also the creative team that ran panicked down eight flights of stairs in seconds flat), comes a snazzy T-shirt to commemorate DC Earthquake 2011. Hopefully, we will not have to add to the line of natural disaster swag for a long while. Get your Earthquake T-shirt today!

Matthew Snyder's presentation at Ignite DC on "11 Ways to Bridge the Physical & Mobile Worlds with QR Codes" is just a week away. And that's a nice way of reminding you that if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, now's the time.

In the meantime, Geoff Livingston of Zoetica interviewed Matthew about his presentation and more. Read it here on Geoff's Tumblr blog.

Many submit proposals to speak at Ignite DC, but only 16 are chosen. And this year, CDG Interactive’s Creative Director Matthew Snyder is one of them; he’ll be presenting at Ignite DC #7 on “11 Ways to Bridge the Physical & Mobile Worlds with QR Codes.”

If you’re not familiar with QR codes—they’re those strange looking squares full of little boxes you may have seen in ads or on the Metro recently—here’s your opportunity to learn more about what they are, 11 creative ways they’ve been used and how you can apply this technology to marketing your business.

Interested in going to the event on June 2? Tickets are just $15 and still available here.

Don’t worry if you can’t make the event; afterwards, we’ll make Matthew’s presentation available here.

CDG Interactive can help your business reach your customers with mobile, from QR codes to mobile ad campaigns. Contact us to find out more.

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!

Last year's Cookie Smackdown was such a success, we decided to do it again.

And the winners are

Best Overall

Oatmeal Fudge Bars by director of marketing Heidi Strom Moon. (recipe)

Most Original

Hautemeal Cookies by director of finance Will Packard--made with bacon! (recipe)

Most Creative Name

(Don't Worry) You Will Not Die by designer Shuangshuang Wu who wanted to assure everyone that her cookies were still edible.

Countdown madness

Now that Thanksgiving is over, if you need to know exactly how long it is until Christmas, check out the countdown clock. And we're inclusive around here, so here's a Chanukah countdown clock too.

Black Friday

In case you're not already standing in line waiting for deals, here are some gift suggestions:

Cell phone signal blocking handkerchief - Buy it for yourself as a gift to your loved ones

PC Advisor Gift Guide - tested and reviewed tech gift suggestions

From Esquire - the best tech gifts for men

Repressed holiday memories

If the holidays bring memories of ugly sweaters, then check out the Washington Post's holiday sweater photo gallery and you won't feel so bad about what your mother used to dress you in.

Let’s say you’re looking for a partner. You hope to find the best match. You want to hit it off and interact well together. You want this partner to have a history of productive relationships in the past. You hope the new relationship can last into the future.

Are you looking for romance on eHarmony? For a date on Match.com?

Nope, you’re trying to find a new creative agency. But the process is surprisingly similar. And the experience (and pitfalls) of online dating can actually teach you a better way to hire a creative agency.

These are the 5 ways that hiring a creative agency is like online dating ...

Continue reading "5 Ways Hiring a Creative Agency is Like Online Dating" »

While I was dealing with an issue today, I took an informal poll of my colleagues here at CDG Interactive to ask where they find their inspiration when faced with a problem or when they need new ideas. I was reminded that our creative team does a daily drawing, our copywriter has previously written about using writer’s sprints to overcome writer’s block. and our front end developer often chooses to relax by attending the performing arts.

Heidi mentioned that she likes the Idea Catalyst Kit to help generate ideas. And that reminded me about Oblique Strategies from Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt as a way to work your way out of a dead end or dilemma.

One of our technical team mentioned one of my usual favorite techniques – writing down the problem and free associating. After a few minutes, go back and start making connections. Sometimes it solves an entirely different problem than the one you thought you were working on.

Four or five people mentioned getting away from the computer and going for a walk outside. I’m thinking that the park outside our office may have more than a little to do with these preferences.

Where do you find your creative or problem-solving inspiration?