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All Blog Posts (41)

I bought a few URLs...

wow guys, I can't believe I actually managed to snag www.elance.me as a URL. Now the only question is what should I do with this great web address?

I was thinking about creating my own Elance clone... or maybe another version of this website.

I would love your opinions, please let me know your thoughts.

Best Regards,
Adam Fiveson
Creative Director
561-432-9959

http://www.5sonstudios.com/ | http://www.5webdesign.co… Continue

Added by adam fiveson on October 20, 2008 at 11:22am — No Comments

Term paper

Writing a term paper is one of the most common requirements for an upper-division course such as the one for which this book was probably assigned. Such term papers usually count for a significant part of your final grade. Yet many, perhaps most, students have never received formal instruction about how to write a good research report. The following pages are meant to help you write an "A" paper by giving you some guidelines about how to go about your research and writing.
Why do instructors… Continue

Added by mevric on October 11, 2008 at 2:24am — No Comments

How to write Resarch Thesis paper and Tips

Choose a topic which interests and challenges you. Your attitude towards the topic may well determine the amount of effort and enthusiasm you put into your research.

Focus on a limited aspect, e.g. narrow it down from "Religion" to "World Religion" to "Buddhism". Obtain teacher approval for your topic before embarking on a full-scale research. If you are uncertain as to what is expected of you in completing the assignment or project, re-read your assignment sheet carefully or ASK your t… Continue

Added by mevric on October 11, 2008 at 1:11am — 1 Comment

Portrait Innovations

Whether for business or family keepsake, a portrait is a treasured, personal work of art. Some edgy, new century portrait innovations will make you want to resurrect the old custom of having your portrait made. Stay tuned for some exciting tips on how to add these innovations to your own portraits.

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Added by Kitty A Smith on July 17, 2008 at 11:42am — No Comments

New versus Old

Today, professional photography has taken a backseat to camera phones and digital frames, photo bucket and scrap booking. Although all of these have a place in our lives, don't forget the beauty and joy of a special portrait. Portraits are made at the beach, a theme park or even in the family bed. They can be as unique as your fingerprint.

One photographer who has used some interesting ideas in his photography is Christopher Bridge. Check… Continue

Added by Kitty A Smith on July 17, 2008 at 11:42am — No Comments

Introducing... the web walk on!

Okay so it's time for me to do a little self-promotion. I've just released the newest and greatest product in the 5SonStudios family of products.

Have you ever wished that it was more immediately clear what you do when your customers visit your website? Have you ever felt the need to point to a specific aspect of your website or welcome someone in a more "lively" fashion that can be done images and photography alone?

Introducing the virtual s…

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Added by adam fiveson on June 27, 2008 at 2:51pm — 1 Comment

Oh yeah? My Sister is a web designer.

Really? and my uncle plays golf on the weekends but he's not Tiger FREAKIN Woods!!!

Why is it that every profession on earth has a barrier to entry except ours?

Any imbecelle with a computer and a copy of Photoshop can call themselves a creative professional.

Hell, "artist" is now Goddamned code for "lazy bum".

I work my tail off educating my clients to no avail... I'm constantly being offered ridiculously low rates or worse... "a piece of the action" to do my work…

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Added by adam fiveson on June 19, 2008 at 9:49am — 1 Comment

Love or Friendship- Determing your Branding Strategy

I read an interesting article on BrandChannel, "People Buy Brands Like They Make Friends." The article written by Nichiketa Choudhary explored the various relationships brands have with their customers. You can read the full article here.

Choudhary writes:

"Consumer-brand relationships are less about love and more about friendship.
Just like our friends, bran…

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Added by Karen Swim on May 15, 2008 at 11:14am — 3 Comments

Brandjunkie Survey Results

The 2008 Brandjunkie Survey Results are in and some of the results may surprise you. You can read the survey results here but below are a few excerpts.

When asked to describe themselves as a brand and identify what brand they would be, the top five answers were Apple, Nike, Coca-Cola, Virgin and BMW. Top five brands that respondents would most like to sit next to at a dinner party were Apple, Virgin, Google, Coca-Cola and Nike. When… Continue

Added by Karen Swim on April 1, 2008 at 8:46am — 2 Comments

Website of the day....

Check this link out for something a bit different....once open, just give it a few seconds to get going...

http://producten.hema.nl/

Damn that's excellent!!!

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Added by adam fiveson on March 12, 2008 at 10:39am — 1 Comment

Build It and They Will Come

They only way you will have buyers beating a path to your door by "Simply Building It" is to have them come to your door first.

When delivering a product or service to the person making the purchasing decision you must make sure the the product actually meets NEEDs, address Wants and adequately controls their expectations.

This is accomplished by taking time to listen to them before you take the time and effort to "Build it".

Niel

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Added by Niel Leon on March 10, 2008 at 1:25pm — 11 Comments

Finding Positives in a Negative Slant.

OK, so the other day I broke down and finally hired a salesperson. His name is Scott and he has been a friend of mine since I was 14.

I went ahead and got him some business cards and gave him the tools to go out there and get me some business.

Now before I tell you all the issue of the day I think it's fair to point out that Scott and I are good friends but he isn't "in" the business... he comes from a sales background b…

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Added by adam fiveson on March 7, 2008 at 9:37am — 1 Comment

Bastardized Brand Virtualization - Online Spin Blog Post

I found today's Online Spin blog post of interest. Trying to recap would not do it justice so I have included the full post below. While many online marketers are enthusiastically telling others to join SL, this post offers a contrary opinion (often my favorite kind of opinion!). I have also heard from some professionals who tried SL and did not find it to be a great business driver. I believe the message here as with all marketing tool… Continue

Added by Karen Swim on March 3, 2008 at 9:36pm — 9 Comments

Get back in the GOD DAMNED box!!!

No, I'm not rehearsing a script for the lead in a sadomasochistic short story.... I'm thinking about what I think every time I hear a client tell me that they are really wanting "out of the box" concepts for their work.

Typically, when a client asks for such a thing what they really want is simple, effective advertising... which is fine... safe... dull... boring.... and actually pretty lame ass advertising but it's fine I guess. We can do boring too and it pays the bills.

But to…

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Added by adam fiveson on February 12, 2008 at 8:42am — 3 Comments

Recession Hat Tricks

If you say it enough, does it make it true? We tried hard not to use the "R" word. But as we watched the housing market tank, our neighbors losing their homes and jobs and teary eyed stories on Good Morning America there was just no denying it - the US is in a recession.

While we understand what that means on a personal level, what does it mean for your business? How will it impact your branding efforts?

Well some marketers simply make lemonade out of lemons. We're in a recessi… Continue

Added by Karen Swim on February 8, 2008 at 10:22pm — 3 Comments

Pretty was not A Design Requirement!!

One of my favorite design review stories comes from a device that I developed for the US Military. It was a special container that held chemical simulants to confirm operation of a chemical dector first used in the 1991 Gulf War. The simulant package had to be small, rugged, inexpensive, easy to manufacture, a prevent the simulant form escaping prematurely.

Larry, my designer, and I developed the design prepared all the drawings and got the first units made for evaluation by Marketing…

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Added by Niel Leon on January 27, 2008 at 4:38pm — No Comments

Good Branding NEVER goes out of style.

This isn't true.... back in the day, cigarettes were marketed by cute little babies and by Santa!

And it was OK to beat your wife over what brand of coffee she buys.

(those were the days... now she onl…

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Added by adam fiveson on January 26, 2008 at 5:31pm — No Comments

Online Brand Management

Social media is hot and businesses are using it to engage customers and ignite viral marketing. The trend makes managing your online identity an essential component to your overall branding strategy. Comments posted to forums, blog posts, profile pages on FaceBook, LinkedIn and even your social bookmarks contribute to how your brand is viewed.

It is worthwhile to give consideration to what you write, text, type, endorse, rate and photograph before hitting the enter key on your keyboard… Continue

Added by Karen Swim on January 26, 2008 at 11:26am — 8 Comments

Firstest sometimes the Worstest

I started a Forum Thread about Product Development - http://www.brandingservices.org/forum/topic/show?id=1699302%3ATopic%3A1361 -

where I noted that being first and original is not always the best road to success with new products. If being the FIRST with a new product was the ultimate situation then patents woulds have a much higher success than they do. In the USA there are over 7,320,000 patents…

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Added by Niel Leon on January 19, 2008 at 11:05am — No Comments

Cream always rises to the top....

But crap floats too.

I'm always amazed when I see the crap I get in the mail from people trying to win my business.

Just the other day, a local chinese restaurant decided that to celebrate the new year, they would send me this bamboo wall calendar to try and win my business.