Congratulations to our client Bodman LLP for winning two first-place awards at the annual Legal Marketing Association Midwest chapter awards banquet in Chicago last week. The firm’s new website and the 2009 biennial review took top honors in their categories.

The Midwest chapter includes 300 firms in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa. Bodman held the distinction of being the only Michigan firm among the 2010 award winners.

The judges called the biennial review “a piece with stunning graphics that demonstrates high-tech speed and innovation. The piece makes you want to look at it and play with it…[it is] fun, innovative and memorable.” The judges also praised the shared look and feel of the biennial review and website and called the site “attractive and easy to navigate.”

Way to go, Bodman!

We extend congratulations to the following clients for being named “Your Honor Award” national finalists by the Legal Marketing Association:

• Choate Hall & Stewart (Events)
• Gesmer Updegrove (Website)
• Hemenway & Barnes (Identity; Firm-wide, office or practice group brochure)
• Lewis and Roca (Advertising)
• Nixon Peabody (Practice development)
• Steptoe & Johnson (Announcement)

Last year, nine of our clients were awarded the following distinctions:

• Choate Hall & Stewart (Events, 2nd place)
• Clifford Chance (Recruiting, 2nd place)
• Faegre & Benson (Website, 3rd place)
• McMillan (Identity, 3rd place; Events, 1st place; Advertising, 1st place)
• Nixon Peabody (Market research, 3rd place)
• Practising Law Institute (Identity, 2nd place)
• Poyner Spruill (Firm-wide, office or practice group brochure, Honorable Mention)
• Sterne Kessler (Website, 2nd place)
• WeirFoulds (Website, 1st place; Announcement, 1st place)

We look forward to learning this year’s final results at LMA’s annual conference in March. Visit lmaconference.com for more information.

To learn more about our award-winning work, click here.

Tiger Woods was recently quoted as saying, “I’ve learned you must tell the truth; just not the whole truth.” But it appears the whole truth is coming out and, probably, then some as freeloaders get on the bandwagon. Who can be certain? If Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Bill Clinton, plus any number of other superstars, are predictive of the future, Tiger will be just fine.

But it does reinforce the fear every marketer has of hitching their brand to a star. Dead stars are far better, but even they get on the leader board with disturbing news about alleged misdeeds before the grave. What we’re learning, however, is the American public is becoming a bit more resilient and thus their stars return. Because we need our stars to have something to reach for. Sex is human while marriage is also a sacred oath. This battle of Human v. Divine won’t be over soon.

Meanwhile, let’s get on to more important things. The Redskins keep losing in spite of remarkable efforts…

No headline news here, but the economic times have brought the value all professional service firms deliver to clients into sharp focus.

Example: In the legal sector, organizations like the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) have given new voice and clarity to the conversation about value. In fact, the ACC’s Value Challenge issues a clarion call and explains the elements of value as defined by in-house buyers of legal services. You can check out those elements and learn more about them at http://www.acc.com/valuechallenge/.

In response, West Virginia-based Steptoe & Johnson, a major player in the energy and other critical sectors across KY, OH, PA and WV, is rolling out a new brand program that puts the challenge at the heart of its internal and external communications. A “re-skinned” Web site (http://www.steptoe-johnson.com/), internal training and supporting new business pitch materials are organized around the ACC’s essentials of value: Relationships, communication, budgeting and staffing, knowledge sharing and results.

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Burkey was one of 12 judges two weeks ago in Louisville, KY judging Creativity 39.

Among a pile of mostly uninspired work, one suite of materials stood out. It was—I am surprised to say—the 50th anniversary work for Barbie! (See barbiestyle.barbie.com.) The work was, in almost all aspects—design and production—brilliant. What struck me (and others) is that the bags, brochures, media kits, in-store displays and environmental graphics were completely on brand. In my experience, the challenge of being “on brand” escapes most designers (and, remarkably, clients!). How easy it is to go bumping happily off the road without a clue to the damage being done to the brand.

What made this work revelatory for me is that I understood the Barbie brand for the very first time. A eureka moment. Suddenly, I understood that it is Barbie’s glamour, not her impossible plastic beauty that inspires girls. Glamour was writ large in oversized brochures where Barbie was shown in almost human scale. Glamour was writ large in store displays where she WAS full-size. Glamour was authentic because the design and brand team embraced and celebrated Barbie’s plastic self. Understanding your brand is central to protecting and growing it. It hardly matters whether you hate the idea of Barbie (such an easy target). For those whose job it is to promote her glamorous brand, it was a job well done.