A Bit of B2C, Just in Time for the Holidays

Nobody’s going to lose a bet guessing that the portfolios of DC-based marketing shops run heavy with government agency/contractor work. That’s why we’re stoked — that’s right, we said stoked — to be working with Hillcrest Labs — specifically the promotion of the company’s Loop Pointer.There’s a definite approach to government work. You pick up the alphabet soup lingo, you write with painstakingly passive voice, and images of people shaking hands in front of the Capitol building get sprinkled around like bailout money. Where the approach to government clients tends to be rock steady, the approach to commercial clients can be much more rock-and-roll.

That’s not to say the creative liberation is somehow preferable; often, working within the tightly defined set of protocol and diplomatic expectations common to government and B2B audiences actually forces you to be more creative. True, the final product will still be buttoned down, but making it effective with those formal trappings is an undeniable challenge.

Still, a tangible, consumer-oriented product (as opposed to an agency objective or company service) really allows you to let the reigns out. It broadens potential vocabulary for writers (slang? sure dude!), lets designers play with an expansive color palette, fonts, and image effects, and gives developers real liberty to introduce edgier effects and functionality. It also helps if the product in question happens to be incredibly cool and the Loop is that and then some.

Right now, our Loop efforts have concentrated on print ads and point-of-sale promotion. We’re looking to begin some Web presence enhancements soon. It’s been a blast tapping that quadrant of our collective brains, and we’re looking forward to stretching out even further in the year ahead.