The Ramey Agency : News and Events

One Design, Multiple Screens

2012-09-20T14:56:03Z

The Internet continues to spawn new faces on computers, mobiles, tablets, gaming devices, TVs and any number of future screens. Brands have been scrambling to create and maintain unique web experiences across an ever-widening spectrum of devices. For the past few years, keeping up has been expensive, time consuming, and has often meant that customers get inconsistent brand experiences online.

Fortunately, help is on the way. Ramey is one of the early adopters of a new technique, Responsive Design, which can help brands present a unified experience for customers across their entire digital world, It allows sites to be built with one master design that can work across platforms, adjusting to the user’s device.

Besides the cost savings and more unified look, Responsive Design makes a brand’s content more shareable. For instance, if a desktop user sends a link to another user on a mobile device, a responsive site will deliver the same content in a modified wrapper to the mobile user, so they can experience a brand message without delay or technical issues.

Google recently recommended this technique as its preferred method for developers handling mobile content and as an SEO best practice.

In our multiple-screen world, Responsive Design makes sense for both the content creators and consumers. Find out how Ramey is already helping clients manage digital complexity with this live site for The Bower Foundation.

Interview with Ramey Intern Lori Brown

2012-09-11T21:20:05Z

How has your time at Ramey been over these past few weeks?
The past few weeks at Ramey have been an absolute joy and have really been a learning experience. From the first day that I walked in, I was treated like a member of the Ramey family.

Did anything surprise you? Maybe about working at an ad agency?
Yes, what surprised me most about how an advertising agency is run would have to be the relationships that the members of the agency have with their clients. I knew they had to be familiar with their clients and know what they need or want. But I never knew their relationships were so strong, and I guess that’s what makes Ramey so special.

What was the coolest thing you did and why?
The coolest thing I did while at Ramey was getting the opportunity to sit in on a voiceover recording. To listen to them come up with a headline and coach the person on the phone as to how they want it said and how they want the audience to feel was absolutely phenomenal and completely different from how I imagined voiceovers were done.

After working at Ramey, did you take away anything about what you might want to pursue careerwise?
After working at Ramey, I can honestly say that advertising is definitely the field of work that I wish to be in. With the knowledge that I acquired over the weeks I interned, I will enter that field having learned from one of the best ad agencies in the world.

We promise no hurt feelings – who was your favorite Rameyite (Employee)?
Wow, truthfully, I cannot name just one person. There were so many people within the agency that I adored. But I would also be remiss if I didn’t name Chris Ray, Wes Williams, Jim Garrison, Nicole Stowe, Tom Allin, Bob Potesky, Michelle Hill and Kelley Williams as being just a few of my many favorite Rameyites.

What’s next for you?
For the upcoming months, I will continue to work as the Associate Producer on the nationally syndicated radio show “It’s a New Day” with host Rip Daniels, stationed in Gulfport, MS. I will also work on adding pieces to my portfolio and submitting applications to several different grad schools such as George Washington University, Savannah College of Art and Design, Miami Advertising and many more. Prayerfully, I will get into SCAD’s School of Communication Arts where I can graduate with a Masters of Fine Arts in Advertising.

8 Things That Get Me Through The Day: Nicole Stowe, Visual Branding

2012-09-10T16:26:51Z

1. My analog desk calendar. There’s something about writing things down and making notes that still wins out for me over digital calendars. I order the Dayminder Weekly G520-00 every year.

2. Instagram because I love to take photos.

3. Nivea Kiss of Shine lip balm. Otherwise, I can’t concentrate.

4. My Rhodia No. 18 notebook. Top spiral. Grid, of course. And my Retro 51 Tornado rollerball which they just rehabbed for me after many years of use and abuse.

5. Nothing happens without coffee. I drink East Timor whole bean from Higher Ground Roasters in Leeds, Alabama. It’s organic and fair trade, but most importantly – tasty. And delivered to my door once a month.

6. If I’m ever feeling stuck, I pull out a random volume of The Annual of the Type Director’s Club. I get unstuck.

7. Art! I recently saw a Christo and Jeanne-Claude show at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art and was amazed by the Wrapped Trees project. The way the installation shifted each season was surprising, and they self-fund all their large-scale projects through the sale of their original works.

8. My camera pencil sharpener. You can select how sharp a point you want. I always have it set at the sharpest.

New 2012 X Club Members

2012-08-29T21:07:09Z

We recently inducted two more members into Ramey’s X Club – which recognizes staff members who have been with the agency 10 years or longer. Congratulations to Rhonda Penson and Nicole Stowe! Ramey now has 13 employees who have been here 10 years or more, and 3 who have been here 20 years or more.

New TV For Ole Miss

2012-08-22T19:19:50Z

The Ramey Agency is proud to have recently helped create a national television spot for The University of Mississippi, which will air during every 2012 televised football game. As Chancellor Dan Jones noted in recent communication with Ole Miss friends and family, “[the spot] defines the spirit of an Ole Miss Rebel.”

What If Eli Manning Never Played Football?

2012-08-21T18:34:20Z

According to a new Ramey TV campaign, he’d still be treated like a star at BankPlus. Albert Kodagolian from Bueno Films in Los Angeles came to Jackson to direct this two-day shoot. With only five hours of Eli’s time each day, the production had to be extremely well coordinated — every minute counted. Fortunately, we got great weather, a great local crew, and a great acting job from Eli. Check out these spots showing an “alternate universe” where Eli is just an ordinary pizza delivery guy or a simple entertainer at a kids’ arcade.

Boomers vs. Millennials

2012-08-09T20:45:17Z

Image: University of Washington

There’s an awful lot of talk in advertising these days about Millennials and Boomers – who they are, what they like, how they buy, what they believe. We thought we’d pit one against the other in a little experiment to dig deeper.

BOOMER:
Why Millennials piss me off.

As a Baby Boomer, I am a member of the Greatest Generation Ever (sorry, Brokaw: nice book, lame title). We did more cool stuff with more style, panache and gravitas, and we did it for longer than any other generation in recorded history. I know, I know, boomers are not perfect. Some of us bought Monkees’ albums. But sorry other also-ran generations: even our lame crap beats your lame crap every time.

So how come Millennials are especially annoying right now? For one thing, they whine. A lot. And about practically everything.

Waahhh! The economy!

Waahhh! I’m not self-fulfilled yet!

Waahhh! My parents want to charge me rent!

Waahhh! 4G is still too slowwww!

Oh please. Boomers made their own economy. Boomers invented new kinds of self-fulfillment. Boomers left home for communes. Boomers had love-ins instead of Facebook friends.

We rock. That’s why Millennials still covet our music. They still watch our movies. And they still can’t kick us out of our jobs because we’re just too original, too tough and too good.

Millennials need to take a long hard look in the mirror, put on their big boy (and girl) pants and clean up their freakin’ rooms since most of them are still living at home with us, their boomer parents.

MILLENNIAL:
Old man, please.

As a Millennial, I can already say I am a member of the Greatest Generation Ever. And, while I take issue with a lot of what has been said, I will give him two points:

1. “We (Boomers) did more…”
2. “They (Millennials) whine.”

Sure, Baby Boomers did do a lot, but that’s the rub. In the big booming world of the Baby Boomer, more means better. Quantity is valued over quality. Even if something isn’t great (Read: Monkees), it’s celebrated. Why? Because it means more – and that’s good! What other generation would create the suburbs, fast food, and strip malls?

Which brings me to why whining – a Millennial trait – is a good thing. It’s a demand for quality. It’s a belief that, yes, things can be done better. And that, no, more is not necessarily better. Quantity is most certainly not better than quality.

After all, I see plenty of reason to whine about the economy and 4G. We can do better. And – thanks to Millennials – we will.

You went to the Moon? We made it to Mars.

You keep your record collection in your attic? We keep ours in our pocket.

You rock? We rock, roll, hip, hop, rap, pop, and tweet.

And, oh yeah, we share, too. A lot.

Sure, we might mess up sometimes, but that’s what you pay for constant improvement. There’s a reason we’re called the Entrepreneurial Generation. We might fall early, but we don’t stop until we’ve got it right.

We won’t Boom and fizzle out. No, no. We’re just getting started.

Creative Dept Show & Tell

2012-08-07T13:42:05Z

Here’s what we’re into this week.

Axe creates a “multiple girlfriend” app taking advantage of Facebook’s relationship status feature. How big of a player are you?

Kumi Yamashita created these delicate origami profiles with what, at first glance, appears to be just a crumpled piece of paper and lighting.

Ramey Labs is currently working on our own augmented reality project. London’s Streetmuseum is a great example of using the technology to weave together past and present.

Some of our creatives thought Gridset was a great way of controlling web layout, and especially liked its collaborative feature. Others thought it was easier to build a grid per project. Jury is still out.

What if you had to change perception about a certain city? What if that city was Ciudad Juárez? Luis Pegut is trying to do just that with photography.

Branding consultancy Mayday Mayday Mayday turns NYC Metrocards into pieces of a giant citywide puzzle.

SD vs. HD Demystified

2012-07-31T15:56:43Z

These days, it’s a no-brainer to shoot TV spots in HD. But depending on how it’s distributed (talk about a process that hasn’t kept up with the times), and ultimately what kind of TV the end user views it on, there are a myriad of potential problems. We’ve created a graphic to take you through the process, and give you two potential solutions.

Creative Dept Show & Tell

2012-06-04T15:38:21Z

Here’s what we’re into this week.

What word would you eliminate from the English language? The New Yorker asked that question recently via Twitter. Say bye-bye to “slacks.”

Following a Tweet from rapper Drake about money, an unlikely T. Boone Pickens fires a stinger back. Let the retweets begin.

Kickstarter project subSIPPI wants to show you the real Mississippi. No, not that one. This one.

A campaign for Hellmann’s Mayo in Brazil takes all the things you just bought at the grocery (provided that included a jar of Hellmann’s) and gives you a personalized recipe right on your receipt.

Paper animations by Jenny Chen.

Want to learn how to use that SLR besides just putting it on auto mode? Learn some camera basics with CameraSim. You can adjust aperture, shutter, play with focal length and depth of field, all before you step outside.