The team, formerly known as the Wildcats, is now sponsored by Aaron Hautala, owner of RedHouseMedia. In the offseason, Aaron offered to underwrite the team I had been managing for the past several years.

After about six years of being sponsored by various groups, it’s great to have all of our team’s underwriting taken care of so we can just focus on softball. I think Aaron is excited about playing
the “Jerry Jones” owner role. I can picture him pacing around behind the dugout while we are playing a game.

The RedHouseReds partner sponsors include: Pro Print of Duluth and The Garage Promotional Group.

It’s a great way to spend a summer night. My family along with many of the other players’ families all come out to watch the game. Our wives visit and the kids all run around playing. In the past we have occasionally grilled hotdogs between games and had team parties. I think that is something we
would like to expand on this year. I would love to see more friends and families at the games. We are currently thinking through additional promos or events to make the games even more fun.

Minor league or farm teams do a lot of extra creative events during a season. I realize we are just a
local softball team, but let me remind you that as an extension of RedHouseMedia, the RedHouseReds are just as unconventional by design.  Who says we cant have as much fun as the farm teams?

So, friends and followers of RedHouseMedia, consider this your invitation to join the team for a game. Every game is a knot-hole game (free admission). The team plays in Brainerd every Tuesday night at Memorial Park/Mills Field. Opening night is a double-header. We’ll play this Tuesday, May 4th,

at 6 p.m. on field #3 (Near the Lunkers’ ballpark.) and then again on field #2 at 7 p.m. To follow the team more closely visit the blog at: redhousereds.blogspot.com or View the season schedule now.

See you on at the fields.

I am a self proclaimed Twins historian. I have 4 generations of baseball fever running through my blood. My grandfather was a member of the architectural firm that built the old met stadium. He was also a part time usher at the met just so he could get paid to watch games. My dad is a lifelong fan. There’s myself, and now my boys. (The first nook that I popped into my newborn son’s mouth was a Twins branded pacifier.) So the 3:10 start time was rubbing me the wrong way to say the least. This was not the kind of game I like to miss.

Aaron and I got an early start that day because our meeting was up in Walker. So I was told… Just as we were starting Aaron handed me the project folder to review on our drive. When I opened the folder two tickets for the game stared up at me. It took several seconds for me to wrap my head around what was going on. It turns out Aaron decided to buy some tickets and bring me along to the game as an appreciation gift for the several years I have been on board at RedHousMedia. (3 years.) I don’t jump up and down screaming and shouting, (ever) but I was inside!

After stopping home to swap my dress attire for my hat and twins shirt we departed for the next stage in Twins history. The ballpark is everything they have hyped it up to be. I have been to many ballparks and Target field is better than any, save for Wrigley. But you are kind of talking apples and oranges when you compare the two parks.

Most of the Twins greats were on hand for the day. At one point in the concourses we passed by Al Newman, Bert, Jack Morris, Jim Kaat, Jim Perry and Frank Viola. Aaron and I just looked at each-other as they all walked by. Wow. Puckett’s statue was also unveiled that day. Aaron and I are pictured above doing the classic Twins logo handshake.

We sat 7 rows up from 3rd base. Not to shabby seats. It was cool to see the sun fall on the hats of that many Twins fans. I had never been to the old met so It was great to see a grounds crew prepare the field for a game here in Minnesota. It was great to have the breeze on your face. It was great to smell all the incredible ballpark food in the breeze. It was great that the Twins won!

Thanks Aaron. What a classy move for an employer. Thanks for the entire trip.

Dain

The video below showcases the event, where Deerwood Bank made their long standing customers the guests of honor and thanked everyone in the community for being a part of their 100 years of success. What was especially sweet in my designer mind was having the opportunity to drape the building. I’ve always wanted to do this, we finally did. I love how the tension of not knowing what is under the cloth builds value to the experience. We actually had the building draped in cloth a few days prior to the event, so much fun!

Looking back now I recall a few months ago driving around the bank on a Saturday, staring at angles, features of the building, and where we could naturally place this brand message on the bank. When I was taking photos of the bank to design from I thought for sure a police officer was going to drive by and say, “Um sir, just what are you doing?”

The canvas of opportunity was on the front of the bank, a natural horizontal plane that screamed to me “Put my 100 year message right here.” We did just that. Dain and I worked up the artwork for the 100 year celebration a few months back which features a solid 100 using the 1 and deer icon from the Deerwood Bank logo itself. And then placing the words Established 1910 to further communicate the purpose.

The end result is awesome. The signage fits the building naturally, and visually thanks the community for making it happen. The event also was published on the front page of the Crosby Courier newspaper. We were also aware of being a good steward of the bank exterior, so, should Deerwood Bank decide to remove the 100 signage with they officially turn 101 in March of 2011, we can do it, without leaving any exterior marks and/or holes. Pretty cool!

We’re fortunate to have the ability to work with Deerwood Bank now 100 years in. What a blessing, what an opportunity. Thank you to everyone at Deerwood Bank all the years prior to today who laid the ground work to make this celebration possible. And if you’re on the fence with your current bank, move your money to Deerwood Bank.

Have a blessed Easter everyone.

Peace out.
Aaron

I was working on a project the other day and stumbled on a remarkable similarity. The aforementioned project involved researching through some old newspapers circa early 20s through to the 60s and beyond for Deerwood Bank. (Who, by the way, just turned 100) I often had to laugh as I flipped through the pages at the topics that found their way into the local newspaper. I was amazed the seemingly meaningless or trivial information that not only made the publication but often found front cover ink. (See actual clippings above.)  The blurb about Stanley stood out to me. Honestly I thought, how is this newsworthy. We’re not even talking about the full time depot operator. Stan is the backup! Or another entry from around the 30’s about the Casey’s of Ironton and their new car purchase. Not really any of our business I thought.

It seems like I have had these exact same comments within the last few days. What was it that I was just reading… And then it hit me. Oh yeah, facebook.

I turns out we are no different today than those a generation or two generations  or even three generations ago. Yes our choice in media has changed. But we all still have the same need to stay connected in some way to those we know. Let me take the previous entries from the newspapers and put them into a modern example of what they might look like.

There are and have been a lot of questions recently regarding how to harness facebook, twitter or whatever your social media of choice is.  It seems to me that it’s not about figuring out the media, but knowing the reason for our needs. We have always found the need to communicate and connect with our friends family and those in our community. Today we simply have the ability to do so on a broader scale. We can stay in close contact with friends across the state, family on the other side of the country and our community can now be as broad as the globe.

We have changed much in the past few years, yet have we changed at all? The more things change… the more they stay the same.

We meet and land new clients generally when they need help. At the time of our first meeting they’re tired, frustrated, and just plain unhappy with the thought of spending any money on advertising/marketing/public relations without a plan. To their defense, they have good reason to be frustrated and here is why.

Our first step of business when getting to know a new client is pretty simple. I need to see their past, their present, and their future from their own perspective. When we create a road map to their future, it’s important we fully understand where they have been.

I ask to see what business owners have been messaging regardless of media, a bare all meeting where every newsprint, radio, point of purchase, billboard, website, and business card is reviewed allowing us to see the big picture of what strategy has been in place prior to that day.

In general we see “here and there” ad placements, but not as a campaign, mostly one time insertions. What’s troubling about “here and there” in terms of advertising is it does not allow the brand room for continuity of message. When I dig further I ask, “Why did you advertise in this way in this media?” A typical answer is “There was a special promotion.” Or, “this was a special section to promote such and such,” is common. This is scary. This type of ad placement is reactive to media running promotions versus the business deciding which direction they would like to advance.

The point underneath all of this is why my headline today reads, “Just because it’s cheap, doesn’t mean it’s good.” The first step to breaking free from the need to advertise in every section of every media is understanding what media actually is listened to, read, or seen, and why, when, and where our brand needs to be part of it.

Case in point, if you want to get a ton of radio ads for very little money, just place them all from 11:00pm – 3:00am. Sure, you’ll get a great deal on the ads and feel like you are getting a ton for your money, which you are, but you’re not getting the most important thing for your money, value. (Unless your area has a dynamic amount of overnight shift workers)

Next time you want to run a radio campaign do this. Ask for the most expensive ads. Why? These are the best ads available. They run when the radio station has the most listeners listening. Meaning, in regard to numbers, your chance to land new business also increase. Sure these ads cost more, but you get value in the quantity of listeners, not just airtime.

Same goes in the outdoor world. In the exact same area of road one billboard costs $350.00/month and another just up the road costs over $900.00/month. Why the difference? The $900.00/month billboard can actually be read at 70 miles per hour, and it’s not competing with another billboard positioned directly above it. Here again, in the outdoor world, I encourage our clients to purchase only the billboards that offer premier sight lines and easy to read efficiency. I would much rather forgo billboard placement than to place a message on a board that offers our clients absolutely no value in terms of people reading it. The main goal in billboards is to be read and understood, not just seen.

Newsprint is in this game as well. Newsprint is famous for special sections galore. There is always a special section, why? Because it’s a great opportunity to create editorial content to create a buzz in which to sell ads. But here is where my love affair with special sections end. When the editorial (the story) is so hard to read because all you can see is page upon page of ad wells after ad wells. Readers go to the newspaper for the content only the local newspaper can provide, local content. Place your ads in the local content consistently and the local people will see your brand. It’s that simple. It might be less expensive to advertise in a different section of the paper, but we must remember, does anyone, or more importantly, does your target customer read that section consistently?

This entire dilemma is the same on every ad placement media available, from bathroom ads, to tv ads, to vehicle graphics, to direct mail. Each ad media placement and buy needs to be looked at through the same lens. Does this placement offer us a fighting chance to position our message in front of our target audience to predispose them to think about our brand? That’s the bottom line, no more, no less.

In closing, here’s a few tips for placing ads that really stand out in the markets we serve throughout Minnesota.
• Place radio ads in between 6am – 10am, and 4pm – 7pm. In between 10am and 4pm is hard to quantify who is hearing ads as the work day is in full process. Even with businesses who have radio playing in their workspace, it’s just too hard to track for my money. Following 7pm, a good number of people are heading to the next media of influence, that being TV for their update on their favorite sitcom and the local news.

• Place newsprint ads in your local section. Don’t be afraid of going too large either, but be sure you have enough dollars in your purchase to run more than one ad in the course of a month. I’ve seen 3 ads in three back to back weeks with additional ads running on the radio are a must to gain the attention you demand. Remember, local people like knowing what is going on in their community, place ads in the media that has this information.

• Don’t purchase a billboard without driving by it, at night, at day. If you can’t read the existing billboard design, most likely you will not be able to read yours either, the billboard just might be too far away. If there are trees blocking the billboard, don’t buy it. If it’s competing with another billboard above it, try to find another option if you can. Right hand read is better than a left hand read. Keep the message simple. This is not the place to say all things about your business. 5 words of less (3 is better), logo, website, visual if necessary. Think of a billboard in the way you think of a bumper sticker. Simple, straight-forward, fun.

When these simple steps (and believe me there are a ton more) are put into place, businesses start seeing the positive effects of advertising. It starts to transition the theory of advertising from being an expense to an investment.

And, if this still sounds overwhelming, drop us a line. We do this everyday, and we quite enjoy it.

Have a great week!
Aaron

It’s a long standing understanding that Deerwood Bank appreciates to zig, while other banks zag. We’ve always enjoyed their bank culture and brand voice in radio, newsprint, and point of purchase products. When it came to their website the same rules applied. I recall John Ohlin, president of Deerwood Bank, saying in the first website meeting, “We want a website, but not a bank website.” We couldn’t agree more, and that statement was our founding vision in this redesign.

The picture you see directly below was inspired during our first website meeting with Deerwood Bank. I’ve always enjoyed this picture as it captures the purity of placing what mattered most taped to an actual monitor. Our motto here at RedHouseMedia is: Great design doesn’t happen when you sit down in front of a computer. Great design starts in your head, then you sit down and tell the computer what to do. After all, the point of design is to not make things look cool, the point of design is to move your target audience to your predisposed end goal. In other words, design for success.

Another absolutely cool element of Deerwood Bank’s new website is the background photo. The photo actually changes throughout the day! Our production partner Faster Solutions was able to code the site accordingly, incredible. Another element that personally excites me about the background photos is I captured these photos while on a fishing trip over 6 years ago. I still recall creeping down to the waters edge and snapping the same shot of the same lake at different times of the day for the sole purpose of some day, some how, this will come in handy. Turns out it did. I always thought lake photos looked more impressive right down eye level to the water line. Kind of like a turtle peaking up above the water and taking a quick peak of what’s going on.

In terms of the overall design feel and impression, we aimed to create a site that was not confined to the typical website box. Design without a box. make the entire site an important aspect of it’s background.

Other fun elements on this website design are the home page billboards allowing us to message multiple products for our banking partner, the super cool contact us page with visual navigation, and for certain the full integration of social media into Deerwood Bank’s online culture. Speaking of social media, fan Deerwood Bank on facebook, and they will donate $1 to stock the local Second Harvest North Central Food Bank.

One of my personal favorite design options on Deerwood Bank’s new website is the Quick Links sidebar. Why I like this is simple. No matter where you are on the Deerwood Bank website you always know how to get back to what’s most important, your money. Access your account here. Love it. Lastly, you need to click here. Now, scroll on the way to the bottom of the page and look for the lifejacket. Click the lifejacket. Wasn’t that fun? Again, a small touch that goes a long way.

I need to personally give Dain A. Erickson, Art Director of RedHouseMedia our tip of the hat on this project as he took the design challenges on with zest and resolve. He took it personal, and still does, that this website properly reflects the brand of Deerwood Bank. The 100 year bank with all the answers.

What I know for sure is this, this book isn’t new, nor are the glowing reviews of the book. Generally when I bring it up folks are telling me they read it a few years back. So, I’m a late bloomer, but let me tell you a few points that floored me and then I’ll encourage you too to read the book and let’s chat when you are finished and hash it over.

WOW Point #1.
The Broken Window theory. Without giving away the entire point here’s what the theory is all about. Taken from the book, I type:  “Broken Windows was the brainchild of the criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. Wilson and Kelling argued that crime in the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken or left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building, to the streets on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes. In a city, relatively minor problems like graffiti, public disorder, and aggressive panhandling, they wiret, are all the equivalent of broken windows, invitations to more serious crime. The rest of this theory is then explained in greater details as you will see on page 141.

The reason why this point hit me so hard isn’t that it was the first time I’d heard the concept, actually, this was the second time this theory was presented to me. The first time I was enrolled in a Brainerd Lakes Leadership Training program where this theory was taught on how New York City reduced crime. Not by putting more police and weapons on the street, but by ensuring the broken windows were fixed and graffiti on the subway cars was always cleaned off. The theory means, if things look on the up and up, there is a good chance they will continue on the up and up. A solid case of what you see is what you believe. Broken windows says break some more. Fixed windows says, don’t break windows here.

It’s funny, because the first time I heard this concept about 5 years ago it moved our agency to become involved in our own backyard. Our first step was to become involved in the Downtown Brainerd restoration board. Again, using the Broken Window theory RedHouseMedia didn’t fix windows, we donated our services to create a new logo for the downtown, to create banners for the street lights posts, to write grants to receive the dollars to purchase the street light posts. We’ve also since been moved to donating our creative energies into the Cuyuna Lakes area. Again RedHouse didn’t clean graffiti off the walls, we created a new Chamber logo for towns of Crosby, Ironton, Deerwood, Trommald, Cuyuna, Emily and Riverton. We also created a new website for the Cuyuna Lakes Chamber to visually define where the city leaders believe their area is heading. I’m not thinking either of our examples have reduced crime, but we have seen businesses and residents begin to work in collaboration for the betterment of their street, their town, their community.

WOW Point #2.
Author Malcolm Gladwell breaks down all people into three different categories. Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen.

Connectors are the individuals who know everyone, they might not know everyone deep, but they have a surface working knowledge of people from every walk of life. Connectors are the people who connect people with people, and they really enjoy doing it.

Mavens are the individuals who understand price. To paraphrase Malcolm, Mavens notice a sign that says “everyday low price,” yet the price hasn’t changed. This irritates Mavens. Mavens know how to find a deal, and they love telling you about it. Mavens will do everything they can to educate the people they interact with how to find a deal, they will also provide free testimonials to anyone on a product they like. If you have a Maven in your life, you’d respect their opinion on products or services they trust.

Salesmen. Now the term salesmen has been drug through the mud due to the world we live in. In the pure sense of the word as Malcolm describes it, salesmen are individual’s (male or female) who are so passionate about what they do their excitement motivates others to want to be a part of it. Without thinking, Salesmen are blessed with the ability to motivate people to see something the way they themselves see it.

Now here is where extremely cool begins.
All three people groups are needed to get a product, a theory, or an movement tipped. (Tipping would be explained as once you push hard enough, all of the sudden, people catch on and move your message forward without your pushing.)

A great example Malcolm used was Paul Revere. What I didn’t know about Revere was this. There was another guy with Revere that night when they road out crying “The British are coming, the British are coming.” This other fellow went on a different road, to alert different people to the conflict that was at hand. Problem is though, have you ever heard of this other guy in the history books? I hadn’t, until now. Turns out this other fellow, William Dawes was his name, went out with the same message to people who would have been just as interested in defending their turf against the British. Why then no record of William in the history books? Turns out Paul Revere per Malcolm Gladwell’s writing was a Connector. He knew where to go, who to talk to, and who to connect with in order to get this news out. He was also a Maven. People knew Paul as someone who could be trusted with solid information. Put the two together and you have Revere who knew exactly who to tell, and actually what to tell them. End product, a Tipping Point of WOM (word of mouth) awareness that moved people into action. What about William Dawes? I really don’t know, but I’m guessing he might not have known which homes to go, in which case, rallying the troops would have taken more time.

So what’s the point?
If you want your business to make it, eventually it will need to tip. How do you get there? Read the book and then let’s talk. You can purchase The Tipping Point online from Amazon by clicking here, or better yet, click here to find a local bookstore in your neighborhood.

Happy reading.
( AWH )

The two billboards as you enter Crosby always intrigued me. They were so perfectly in-line left and right, so perfectly matched for each other, but up to this point they always featured different messages promoting different things for different companies. Same old, same old. For the most part past billboards in these two locations also featured non-enlightening messages for visitors and residents as they passed into the city gates. I recall billboards saying “don’t burn your garabage,” “click it or ticket,” “over the limit, under the influence.” Let’s be honest, these messages are good causes and important, but they never really set a good mood as you drove into town.

5 years ago we started working with the Cuyuna Regional Medical Center on the Medical Campus in Crosby. From that point in time I wondered and thought, “how can we use both of these billboards to create not only a welcome to the city, but a brand statement for the hospital.”

Well, it took 5 years to find that solution. When Peter Smith and I worked on a new campaign for the hospital, Pete said to me, “What do you think of this: Crosby Cares.” I knew he once again struck gold. And in that moment we had the two words that allowed us to bridge the billboard gap and create an uplifting message while driving into town. Since launching the billboards we have had countless people who have called and eMailed asking if we were behind it. I’m so grateful we were, it’s so cool.

It’s fun to live in the same community you work in. Everywhere we travel we have the ability to see our design not only promoting our client brands, but also collectively increasing the awareness of effective advertising art in our communities. And that my friends is why I do, what I do.

Until next time, let’s all be sure to exercise our creative license.

Happy weekend.
Aaron

(PS) If you see a spiky hair guy under these billboards applauding his own efforts, that’s me. I still get a kick out of it and a super wide grin every time I drive through the boards. Not sure why, I just love this stuff. I guess the judges at the AdFed competition didn’t mind it either as it won a Silver Addy Award. As the design now goes on to Region competition we silently hope for even more. (Well I guess that wasn’t real silent.)

It’s an interesting story how I started as a wedding photographer. Carrie was a good friend of my wife Beth from college. Carrie had asked us whom to contract as a photographer for her wedding. We said, talk to this person. She did, she contracted that person. Fast forward 60 days prior to Carrie and Brian’s wedding and the photographer we vouched for calls Carrie and says “I can’t make your wedding, something else has come up.”

With Carrie and Brian in a tight spot, they turned back to us. With my background in art direction and also starting to shoot magazine covers and editorial features myself, they asked me “will you shoot our wedding.”

I said no.
Beth said “you should do it.”

The thing you need to know about Beth is she’s generally right when it comes to matters of the businesses we own. Case in point right here.

Get this.
For this first wedding we purchased one camera, a Canon 10D, two L series lenses, one 550 EX flash, and 4, 1GB Lexar CF memory cards.
(For perspective, we now carry 16GB of memory cards, 2 cameras, 5 flashes, and  5 L series lenses to a wedding shoot.)

The funny (scary actually) thing was I received all this equipment in the mail, with absolutely no idea how to use it days before the first wedding. (Did you know that Carrie?)

The best way to learn I’ve always said is to be put into a position where if you don’t learn fast you’ll be in really big trouble. You’ll either succeed or die. Great huh?

Well, it turned out the photos for Brian and Carrie’s wedding turned out good, really good. I recall viewing the final pictures on the computer back at home (the red house front porch, watch RedHouse: The Movie by clicking here) late after the wedding during a massive lightning storm. I knew being on the computer during that storm wasn’t the best idea, but I just couldn’t believe the pictures I was seeing. “I did this?” I said to myself over and over.

From there word-of-mouth took over. One bride talks to another, repeat, repeat, and repeat. Amazing how the circle of influence spreads the good news. The crowning achievement for myself personally was being accepted into the WPJA. For sure I thought this feat would be impossible. Turns out the impossible isn’t.

So here I am today, Sunday morning actually. Having just finished one of the sweetest love filled wedding days I have been a part — Lisa and Todd’s. This is my final wedding I’ll be photographing. My last wedding dance.

The first question I generally field at this point is, “why?” It’s an easy answer. It’s time. Our business has been blessed so much during our first 5 years, in wedding photography, in advertising agency accounts, in relationships. Now, 5 years later I’m seeing my creative energy needs to be focused on one front. On RedHouseMedia, the advertising agency. We’ll still use our cameras, our lenses, and our lights. But now we’ll selectively focus our photographic energies into advertising.

I thank each of our wedding clients for without you much of our success here at RedHouseMedia would have looked much different. For certain, I would never had the experience to work with people in real time. This lesson is invaluable and I think what really separates people who take pictures from photographers is this: photographers understand relationship is everything with the people they take pictures of. So thank you to our brides and grooms. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your amazing story. Thank you for trusting us with one of the most amazing days of your life. Thank you for you friendship.

Peace out.
Aaron W. Hautala

Ever hear those comments before?
I have, all my life actually. The voice is always the voice of attempted reason to say to a creative “it’s already awesome, let it go.”

I’ve never liked letting it go. These past few months we’ve had the amazing opportunity to elevate brands with some old fashion creative heavy lifting. Taking the high road, not doing what everyone else is doing. Not inserting headlines that resemble “insert cliche here.” Believe me, it’s not easy. It actually hurts, quite a bit. Case in point, check out Dain in the photo. While he was trying to place the satellite in just the right place, I was instructing him “just a little right, ohhh, too far, just a little left.”

Dain illustrates the importance of taking care of the fine details.

Obviously the photo is a bit of smoke and mirrors, but the point remains true. Let us remember to think deep about how we position our clients. Let us position our clients so well that their competition may only respond by saying “me too.”

Let us never forget our job is to produce results in dollar signs, not just awe and shock. Case in point, last week we received a phone call from one of our favorite clients saying: “the ad campaign you launched for us paid for itself in one week after the campaign was launched.”

Now that is what I call some well-worth-it creative heavy lifting.

Have an excellent weekend everyone.
Aaron