First Weblog

Big Brand Talks
September 29, 2005

The Art Directors Club (ADC) presents Big Brand Talks, a half-day seminar for creative professionals featuring three design industry leaders who’ll share their unique knowledge and insight on the branding and design process. This ADC event runs from 1 PM to 6 PM on Thursday, September 29, 2005, at the ADC Gallery in Manhattan.

The speakers include the legendary Minneapolis-based designer Joe Duffy of Duffy & Partners, along with Bill Gardner of Wichita-based Gardner Design, creator of Logo-Lounge.com, and Katherine Stone, president of the Atlanta-based experiential marketing firm Engage Consulting, Inc.

At Big Brand Talks, Duffy will reveal the successful processes he developed to create integrated campaigns that build memorable brand values and identities for many of America’s best known products; Gardner will deliver a visual and editorial overview of current and emerging trends in trademark and corporate identity design; and Stone will discuss how the emerging field of experiential marketing can help brands create deeper, more enduring connections with consumers than traditional advertising does.

The Big Brand Talks speakers are uniquely qualified to discuss trends in branding, iden-tity and marketing. Duffy pioneered the collaboration of design and advertising in 1984 when he started Duffy Design in partnership with the award-winning ad agency Fallon McElligott, now Fallon Worldwide. His understanding of how design affects consumer attitudes has lead to many big ideas executed in a full array of marketing communications disciplines, as well as through retail environments and branded experiences. Duffy has just written “Brand Apart,” published by The One Club and distributed by Rockport Press, which examines some of the most powerful integrated branding case histories of the past two decades.

Gardner is founder of LogoLounge.com, an international, cross-referenced compendium of logos from some of the world’s leading corporate identity designers. Gardner’s work and writing on corporate identity, environmental graphics and three-dimensional design have been published in numerous books and periodicals. He’s co-author of the best-selling LogoLounge book series and the author of the always-anticipated “Trends in Logo Design” report.

Stone’s Engage Consulting, Inc. helps companies command the attention of their con-sumers through the development of engaging experiences that drive long-term brand growth. The former Director of Experiential Marketing at The Coca-Cola Company, she currently serves as Senior Vice President of IXMA, the International Experiential Mar-keting Association. Stone provides sharp and insightful commentary on marketing issues on her blog, Decent Marketing (www.decentmarketing.com), which has been featured in Fast Company magazine.

“We’re very excited to be able to offer Big Brand Talks to the creative communities in design and marketing,” says ADC Executive Director Myrna Davis. “Professional de-velopment events such as this are a key part of our mission. As the club for creative leaders, the ADC is gratified to be able to provide these accomplished individuals with a forum for their ideas, their practices and their truly exemplary work.”

Immediately following the Big Brand Talks seminar, the ADC Gallery will be the setting for a book party for Duffy’s “Brand Apart.” Jointly sponsored by the ADC and The One Club, the party will be open to all those attending the seminar, as well as to members of the local advertising and design industries.