Squid Ink Blog --->

The Wichita Thunder is currently in their 20th season as a part of the Central Hockey League and Squid Ink is proud to be affiliated with the organization as their full-service advertising, marketing and creative design agency. Being the super fan cephalopods that we are, we wanted to continue to celebrate this 20th Anniversary season with a little more swag for the fans.

Introducing… the 2011-2012 Wichita Thunder wallpaper! Available in two different sizes for your downloading convenience (1024×768 and 1600×1200), get them today and show your Thunder pride off to all your neighboring cubicle dwellers!

Also, while you’re on a downloading spree, don’t forget to get the official Wichita Thunder iTunes App, it’s everything you need to stay connected with your favorite hockey team!

Wichita Thunder Wallpaper 1024x768

Download the 1024 x 768 Wichita Thunder Wallpaper HERE

Wichita Thunder Wallpaper 1600x1200

Download the 1600 x 1200 Wichita Thunder Wallpaper HERE

If a picture paints a thousand words…..

There are few things in life as pure as the innocence of a child, and their inate ability to “tell it like it is”. My beautiful little niece, Jocelyn, is fast approaching her first birthday, and we all revel at the “firsts” in her young life…but this one takes the cake!

I give you Jocelyn’s first visit to Santa.

The photo shows her state of holiday cheer pretty clearly, but if you place your hand over Santa’s mouth and gaze into his jolly old eyes, the story they tell is one of exasperated resignation and visions of sugar plums being pelted at him by wicked cherubs. Ho, Ho, Ho, a stiff drink is on the horizon!

I hope you enjoy this bit of merriment as much as I did! Happy Holidays to all and have a great and fun holiday season!

Mark Maack, Web Services Manager

My freezer is still empty, and my days available for hunting are getting scarce.

As I type this, we have entered firearms season and that always increases one’s chances for filling tags, so I’m hoping the weather cooperates at this point and allows me to get in the woods over the weekend. This is, of course, dependent on finding time around holiday shopping and decorating and the regular assortment of weekend chores that always seem to be lingering.

My last outing resulted in a long and frigid morning on the stand in a 30 mph wind straight out of the north, but unfortunately nothing in the game bag. I was happily surprised to see a few deer out and about… generally speaking they don’t like those high winds any more than I do. However the sightings were brief and from distances way beyond anything I reach with my bow. Regardless, it’s always nice to see them moving around when you’re out there, and somehow that makes the day seem like it was still something of a success.

So, I’ll be breaking out all of the extra-warm clothes and bundling up for what I’m sure will be another deep-freeze sunrise, and hope that my luck changes for the better. Now if I could just remember where I left my Thermos and quilted long johns…

Derek Pletcher, Creative Director

Growing up, if there was a K-State game on, it was a safe bet you could find my dad watching it on TV or walking around with his portable radio headset listening to it. I remember the seemingly never ending trips in the car listening to those games, and if they were losing the trip home was even longer! Growing up I never thought I would have the opportunity to make graphics for the very team my dad followed so closely.

Squid Ink was asked to produce the digital graphics for the video board, ribbon board and the 30×30 marquee board at INTRUST Bank Arena for the K-State vs. West Virginia basketball game. All I could think was, “What a fun project to work on!” Needless to say, I really enjoyed researching and developing these items (research involved watching ESPN and other sports channels!), and seeing the graphics as we tested them at INTRUST Bank Arena. Tomorrow, on December 8th, I will be able to check out my work in person with a special guest… my dad!

With the largest holiday buying season in full swing, all shoppers and businesses alike will have noticed the tremendous spike in advertising and marketing campaigns… but how do you make your company stand out of the crowd during this overly ad-saturated season? Squid Ink has a few quick insights for you before heading back out in to the holiday rush.

One thing to consider asking yourself before promoting a new campaign during any holiday season is, “What do our customers really need to know now, that is different from any other season of the year?” If you just want them to know your product exists, you maybe falling short. Remember, consumers are bombarded with ads of all types, from digital to print, social media to hidden QR coded messages… you want to stand out by understanding what your customers really need and applying this to your campaign.

All consumers need context, remember this! They want to know why your product or service is a good choice for them or the group they are purchasing for. If you show them an ad, make sure the context is also applicable to the specific reason for purchase. The more you can appeal to their need for the product, versus just the desire for it, the more they feel the need to buy. Context driven marketing also helps campaigns target specific demographics, especially in the age of Facebook and the technology generation gap that is still apparent. Embrace the mobile movement!

Consumers at the holiday season also want a story and a connection to you and your product. This is a season tied to emotion and they need to know how your product is made and/or what brought you to create it. This marketing tactic is extremely valuable if you have an environmentally conscious product, or something that stimulates the local or national economy during its current state. Remember, the passion that drives you to sell, can inherently drive them to buy!

Finally, target consumers’ seasonal behaviors. Analyze your target market’s specific seasonal buying behavior and realize that generally, no matter the state of the economy, there will still be peaks and valleys in purchase trends for your specific product. Do your research diligently for previous seasons and find out if your prospective consumers respond best to pre-holiday sneak peeks, frantic Black Friday sales or if they are the ones that hold out for post-holiday deals. Anticipate their behavior and you will build their anticipation to buy your product.

Take this advice and step back to appreciate the sales that come rolling in faster than Santa’s sleigh! For now, and in expectation for tomorrow’s turkey fest, we wish you all a wonderful holiday weekend from our Squid Cave to yours!

Meeghan Dunleavy, Director of New Business

Squidette, Meegs, Auntie Meemee (I have a very adorable little 19-month old nephew), Director of New Business… we Squids wear many hats over here in the Squid Cave, but do you ever wonder what, outside in the fish tank of life, occupies our spare time? For this Squidette, it’s a mix of family, friends and dance rehearsals… after all, if you have the tentacles, you may as well boogie!

I believe dance is a way to not only exercise the body but also the mind. It’s athletic while also enabling a form of great personal expression; everyone should try to cut a rug once in a while, it’s good for you! Over the years, I’ve danced professionally for local sports teams such as the Wichita Thunder and Wichita Wild, as well as for charity and benefit performances. Through these great organizations I’ve been blessed to participate with these local charities, have met many wonderful people and close friends and have also gained a further appreciation of Wichita and the people that live and work in our wonderful city.

Even if you’re not a dancer by nature (even those with two left feet!), or a footloose and fancy-free kind of person, I hope you can take time to boogie on down with your friends and loved ones this holiday season; it will at least help us burn off all the turkey and stuffing!

Meeghan Dunleavy, Director of New Business

This time of year, I sometimes have a hard time concentrating on what sits before me on the desk. While I know that there are many priorities and many clients vying for attention, the recent nip in the air and changing of the leaves has signaled the arrival of hunting season, and plenty of distraction to go with it.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I get to spend some extra time outdoors with friends and family, and connect with nature in ways most people don’t get to experience. There really is no good way to explain the effect of watching a Kansas sunrise and feeling the temperature drop as the first rays break the horizon, or how it’s enhanced by the yipping of coyotes and gobbling of wild turkeys. There’s no adequate description for the solitude or spiritual refreshment that occurs while sitting in stand watching and listening to the world wake up without the ring of alarms, honking of horns, or hum of our everyday electronic gadgetry.

I’m sure volumes could be written to describe the benefits of being able to unplug, even for just a short time, but suffice it to say that, for me, it’s a tonic with no comparison. The anticipation of a crisp and cool morning, waiting for the warmth of the sun to reach your face and signal the start of a new day is almost overwhelming by the time the weekends arrive. And regardless if the deer show up or not, I know where I’ll be come Saturday… and priorities will change.

Derek Pletcher, Creative Director

For those of us who build web sites for a living, (and for those who like to dabble), the days of being limited to a handful of available fonts are fading into the sunset. A new day has dawned and the choirs of angels are singing. Ok ok, the technology has been around for a while, but the browsers are finally catching up. I’m speaking of my personal favorite, the @font-face CSS method of incorporating custom fonts into your web design. Halle-freaking-lu-JAH!!!!!!

The @font-face method only requires a few lines of CSS and is therefore very easy to use without any third party tools. There are a number of free-font sites as well as commercial options available via services such as Google, Adobe and MyFont.com. The typeface possibilities are now endless, but not without proper testing. The “gotcha” is that certain fonts will render slightly different when testing cross-browser and cross-platform, so one must have a fall-back solution when testing to ensure that your your chosen font(s) works with all browsers (mobile browsers included) and all platforms. What looks right in Illustrator may not look the same on your website. Some fonts play nice, some don’t. Also, one must consider rights, usage and fees when using copyright protected fonts on your site.

In short, be sure to do your homework, test your designs, obey the (copyright) law and pump out those beautiful website designs!

Have fun!
Mark Maack, Web Services Manager

It’s hard to believe that it’s already November… where did the year go? Apparently there’s a lot of truth to the old saying that days go faster when you’re busy! For us here at Squid Ink, that’s certainly been the case, and I must say I’ve been grateful for work and the strides forward that we’ve been able to make with clients both old and new.

Our spring and summer months saw us working through another successful season with Music Theatre of Wichita, and with the Wichita Wingnuts baseball team. We also added a few more web clients, including one in particular that ended up with an outstanding e-commerce site. If you’re interested in bowhunting, make sure you check out www.magnusbroadheads.com.

We generally gear-down a bit at the end of the summer and take a brief pause between projects, but this year we ended up moving full-steam ahead in support of a renewed association with the Wichita Thunder. The transition of ownership and a new philosophy about promotion has been a welcome change for the Thunder, and also for us. New opportunities seem to be surrounding them and we’re very happy to be a part of their team again this year. Along those lines, our work with the Thunder and INTRUST Bank Arena has gotten us noticed a little further south, and we managed to get a foot in the door with the Tulsa Oilers hockey organization.

Things look bright for Squid Ink going into winter, with no shortage of things to do and some bright lights on the horizon. I want to say a very sincere thank you to my team for all of their dedication and hard work… it’s been a great year so far!

Derek Pletcher, Creative Director