Mark Ray assumes role of President and Dave Allen is hired as Director, Insights & Digital Media
NORTH Inc announces that, effective immediately, Mark Ray has assumed the role of President. He will continue his role as Executive Creative Director. In conjunction with this change, Pat Johnson – former President of NORTH – has stepped down from her management role. Pat will pursue new horizons with her consulting company, Ammonista.

Mark Ray and Rebecca M. Armstrong, Managing Partner, have jointly held responsibility for day-to-day management of NORTH since 2007. Under their leadership, NORTH has landed the Deschutes Brewery and Lensbaby accounts as well as select projects for Umpqua Bank, Starbucks and Bikes Belong. Significantly, they have evolved the agency’s services to meet the challenges of the contemporary media landscape so that NORTH has been able to produce sophisticated interactive and social campaigns for Regence BlueCross BlueShield among others.

Central to NORTH’s vision is the need for stronger bridges between the digital and natural worlds. To this end NORTH is pleased to announce the hire of Dave Allen as Director, Insights & Digital Media. As founding member and bass player for the post-punk band Gang of Four, and later a digital music consultant for Fortune 500 companies, Dave Allen has been a band founder, label owner, digital anthropologist and social media thought leader. He has worked at companies such as Intel, eMusic and Nemo Design. Dave will work with the team at NORTH to cultivate digital influence for clients. Following the same guidelines that have elevated his own digital presence as a top cultural voice via the internet, Allen ensures an authentic and progressive social media presence for NORTH and its clients.

It’s no surprise to us really, but it’s great to see it recognized publically.

That’s right, NORTH and makelike are lucky enough to be able to walk into an award-winning abode every day.

Congrats to Skylab and thanks to Interior Design for picking such a fantastic space.

Congrats once again, Skylab!

Their studio generates art direction, graphic design, pattern design and illustration for publishing, editorial, markteing, retail, exhibition, product development and identity/brand applications.

www.makelike.com

It’s ironic that an event centered around “radical self-expression and anti-consumerism” is actually a very large and successful brand. In fact, in its 22nd year, Burning Man has built the kind of loyalist consumer base that could rival any iPhone upgrade launch.

Now before all you Black Rock true believers start beating us with virtual hookah pipes, this commentary is not intended to disparage the sanctity of “the burn.” If you want to go into the desert, build a city, make art, bike naked, trade bracelets, get baked and commune with the Lizard King, that’s cool. (And please send pictures.)

Meanwhile, let’s consider the properties of a successful brand. A brand can be a product, service, a person, or in this case, an event. When the brand consistently delivers on its unique promise, an emotional connection is formed with the consumer. The consumer identifies with attributes of the brand that reflect aspects of himself.

You see where we’re going here. Bud = mainstream, Americana, sports. Burning Man = counterculture, nonconformity, ‘shrooms. Told you it was ironic.

While Burning Man has become a business out of self-sustaining necessity, make no mistake, it’s a business. Black Rock City LLC, the organizing entity behind the festival, supports a full-time paid staff, has an office in San Fran and handles an annual budget of over $10 million. But that should be obvious to anyone not on a permanent acid trip. Even an anti-establishment experiment has to pay government land use fees.

“Hey, doesn’t Burning Man eschew all forms of marketing by its very being,” you ask? Guess it depends on what you call marketing but if you count web, print design, PR, blogs, direct mail and nontraditional, then um, no. Not to mention Word of Mouth. We’re talking two decades of burners spreading the “it changed my life” gospel.

Currently, there’s 287,346 related images on Flickr.

And that’s where Burning Man achieves true uber brand status. Come August 25th, over 48,000 brand advocates will once again shell out several hundred bucks for the unique experience of camping around a flaming… logo.

Yeah, that’s right, we said it. That big man-shaped structure towering over the playa is a logo.

Just check the trademark.

For those that missed it, top line conclusions (as we recall them):

For creatives:

Always be hungry, always be in new-business mode (even with an established client), always think ahead for your clients.

Sometimes there is a better idea. If you think there’s only one creative solution to a business problem you might want to look at a different career.

It makes for a bad meeting if the emphasis seems to be on “selling.” Offer to share a great opportunity that will solve for the client’s need. Then make a robust, watertight case for that opportunity focused on the client’s goal.

For clients:

The worst meetings are those in which the key decision maker is not present (although they may seem like good meetings at the time.)

Be disciplined up front. Don’t use the creative presentation as the jumping off point for a discussion about strategy. Ensure everyone client side is in agreement before engaging the agency.

Clients need to be smart about their stuff – know the business goals, plans for growth, the customer inside and out… and know all those things better than the agency.

Don’t assume creatives are producing something for their own self-expression. Most often they have the client’s goals in mind.

For both:

The best relationships are those in which there is trust – a “safe” environment in which to have a frank exchange of views about the work.

Remember that this is a business but there is something magical that happens when you make art, and sometimes that magic can transfer into something commercial.

The best work speaks to a universal human truth to which everyone can relate.

See? Something good usually comes out of those extremely awkward situations.

Even if it’s just a free meal and a bit of information that can help you later on down the line.

Photos by Chris Teso