What does it take to keep your copywriting fresh and engaging? Recently, ABC television asked the same question. As the network prepared to launch their fall line up, their promotional messaging wasn’t connecting as well as they wanted it to.

So they called on Iron to deliver lead-in copy for four programs, including Modern Family, Body of Proof, Suburgatory and Man Up! With shows ranging from half hour comedy to one hour drama, they were four very different assignments. And often times, with a compressed timeline (ABC had only a week), an agency’s copy department will begin to lump a group of products or services together, with common messaging elements increasing efficiencies. But in many cases, those products or services have very different things to offer very different targets – and while it makes for harder work, it’s important to keep that in mind at every stage of the process.

Case in point, from the outset, we defined a specific messaging positioning for each of the four shows we were assigned, and tethered our thinking to that positioning – assuring we were able to present unique, ownable concepts for all of them.

The toolworks.org website launch completes our rebrand for Toolworks, a self-supporting nonprofit that is devoted to helping people with disabilities connect with the opportunities in their community. After redesigning their identity and stationery system, we created templates for their day to day operational needs, brand guidelines and began work on bringing their brand to life through their website.

With a stream-lined site structure and media-rich content, the new website enables Toolworks to spotlight their client success stories. Our strong attention to accessibility ensures past, present and future clients and supporters will also be able to navigate the site with ease. We built the site on top of WordPress, an easy to use content management system, to allow Toolworks the flexibility to maintain the website themselves, with support from Iron when needed.

The new website allows Toolworks to focus on running and promoting the social ventures that allow them to provide social services to over 500 individuals with disabilities every year. Their latest endeavor, Bakeworks, was featured on Huffington Post San Francisco.

Patelco, one of the country’s largest credit unions and a long time client of ours, celebrated their SF branch grand re-opening last Wednesday and an early morning line of 100+ people eagerly waited to get a look at the brand new interior. Or maybe they were there to collect the $75 being awarded to the first 75 people through the doors. This was just one of the offers we cooked up this summer to promote the branch and its move.

At the end of July, Patelco closed their current SF main branch doors and moved on up the street to 124 Second. With this new branch location opening just 75 yards away from the old, the goal was to make existing members aware of the move, so daily banking routines weren’t disrupted, as well as bring in potential members.

In July, we targeted existing members with a direct mail flyer notifying them of the branch move and promoting the “First 75 in, take $75 out” offer with a QR code. Upon scanning the code, members were taken to the sitelet we developed earlier in the year for the Patelco Pays Your Way campaign. And a pop up prompted visitors to enter their information to receive a voucher and chance to win the $75. Additionally, visitors had the opportunity to take a look around and learn how Patelco celebrated their anniversary by giving back to the community.

We also created a series of bold, eye-catching posters for the new branch windows directing anyone passing by to visit the site. All patelcopays.org visitors during the promotional period, not just current members, were eligible to redeem the voucher.

Last week, we were honored by the Interactive Media Council with an Outstanding Achievement Award for excellence in design and usability of the Dockers Macy’s micro site.

This robust online shop-in-shop experience is one of our finest achievements in ecommerce design and usability. Utilizing elements from the new Dockers brand launched by DraftFCB, we were able to design a micro site that spoke to the khaki retailer’s target of 35+ males, and enticed them with entertaining interactive features, including a “Fit Guide” and “Style Finder Survey.”

From the day of its launch, the micro site captured attention and interest in a way that transcended the standard online retail experience – encouraging Dockers shoppers to explore the full range of Dockers products, and bettering the likelihood of a sale.

It’s an honor to have our work recognized by the IMA, and even more so to have been given the opportunity to work with two terrifically talented and savvy teams at Dockers and Macy’s.  We’d like to personally thank Dockers for bringing us aboard, as well as Macy’s for their development prowess!

For international brands it can be a challenge to introduce themselves to new and unfamiliar markets. A new market often demands a new perspective on the brand – a new take on what is being offered or how it is being presented, based on what people respond to in that particular region.

Take Bticino – an extremely large Italian manufacturer of high-end light switches, wall plates and other electrical device peripherals – as an example. They contacted Iron in 2009, as they began the process of introducing their products to the US market. Given the brand’s prominence in Europe, the company had plenty of experience framing its message of sophistication in different languages – but where the company was struggling was translating their VISUAL language. While European countries can often share an aesthetic sensibility, the US is isolated from that cultural network. In short, to customers in the US, Bticino’s marketing materials seemed strange rather than sophisticated.

Over the course of a year, we set about translating Bticino’s message of sophistication both literally and visually, redesigning the company’s website, brochure, catalog, print ads and every other consumer touch point (see a small sample of our work below). With a cohesive marketing arsenal, the company has been able to expand target market saturation from San Francisco to Los Angeles and is in the planning stages of opening an office in New York. We’re excited about how the work turned out and are looking forward to our next international challenge!

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our first major digital collaboration with Dockers. Earlier this month the new Dockers microsite went live on macys.com, fusing branded content with a robust e-commerce engine.

The Dockers microsite features an interactive fit guide, a quiz to help users find the pants for every occasion, as well as news on the latest products. The Flash-based application seamlessly integrates with the macys.com backend, giving customers an immersive brand experience and then direct access to the products of their choosing.

After helping Levi’s kick-start its wholesale interactive business, Iron was seen as the natural choice to design the experience. The microsite is part of a major brand overhaul for Dockers, as the San Francisco khaki company reinvigorates its entire product line, targeting a younger, more progressive audience. We’ll follow up with news on Dockers micro-sites at JCPenney and Kohl’s soon!

NewSchools Venture Fund is a nonprofit venture philanthropy firm working to transform public education for low-income children. Our challenge was to build a digital presence that would stand tall among Silicon Valley audiences and reflect the innovation and transformative results for which they are known. The site needed to portray the true face of NewSchools and tell a narrative to potential entrepreneurs, funders and the thousands that will visit. The new site has an integrated array of features including a blog, picture galleries, videos and other key resources. You’ll also find case studies of the great work NewSchools ventures have done.

As part of our commitment to working with companies dedicated to social good, we recently launched a new brand identity for local start-up Genability. Genability is focused on making electricity usage more elastic, distributed, renewable and clean. They are currently building the world’s most complete and accurate database of energy prices, as well as the next generation of cloud services for managing, forecasting and optimizing energy.

The logo we developed explores the use of Fibonacci spirals and kinetic energy. We wanted the mark to create a sense of motion and energy to represent the give and take of the network Genability will build.

To learn more about Genability, visit www.genability.com

How do you thank the communities and people who have supported your business for the past 75 years? How about with some groceries, gas, coffee and lunch… all for FREE! Patelco is celebrating their 75th anniversary and this is how we’re helping them to say “thank you”.

Yesterday, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, and Patelco Credit Union executives, kicked off the Patelco Pays Your Way campaign by visiting Lucky Supermarkets in Oakland. The team personally handed out $75 Lucky gift cards to 75 lucky grocery shoppers. This was the first in a series of Patelco Pays your Way events that we’ve helped coordinate.

Patelco Pays Your Way events will continue every Monday through Friday between March 15 and April 15 with Patelco representatives popping up at select Lucky Supermarkets, ARCO stations, Tully’s Coffee, Jamba Juice, and Panera Bread locations throughout the Bay Area.

In addition to helping individuals cover the cost of every-day purchases, Patelco is also offering more than $40,000 worth of prizes to its memebers as well as a chance for members and non-members to win $50,000 with one toss of a cupcake.

To find out where the Patelco Pays Your Way team may strike next, visit www.patelcopays.org

With over 350,000 apps in the Apple Store, we thought it was high time we joined the mobile revolution. As part of a complete naming, strategy and branding project, we are thrilled to announce the launch of Zipongo for iPhone.

Zipongo is a fun, interactive game with tools for tracking, sharing and exploring new foods, activities and even your sleep habits. The app, and asociated web site, use game theory to engage users and incentivize healthier lifestyle choices. Let the revolution continue!