Forthought Design created Yoplait yogurt designs (Also see portfolio gallery below.)

Merdock Group Inc. of Charlottetown is pleased to announce that they are now working with Forthought Design Inc., an award-winning food packaging design firm in Toronto with long-term clients like Yoplait, McCormick Canada, Smucker Foods and Storck, to provide design for clients in Atlantic Canada.

Vivian Beer, Merdock’s President says,” The packaging design services and comprehensive understanding of packaging trends and standards that Forthought offers is exactly the type of premium package marketing we want to offer clients who are expanding into international markets.“

“One only has to walk through a grocery store to see how competitive product design has become and how essential it is for manufacturers to adhere to changing packaging trends and standards for local and international retailers.”

Rob Sraka, President of Forthought Design says, “We are hearing about significant product innovation in Atlantic Canada and are pleased to be working with Merdock Group to offer our packaging design experience to contribute to the success of these ventures.”

“We are not a big agency; only our clients are big. Our approach to design is called “The Whole Package” and it ensures that your brand’s objectives are met – from beginning to end.”

Prior to forming Merdock Group Inc., Vivian Beer, worked as V.P. Marketing and Sales for a food equipment manufacturer that sold to dairy and food processors in Canada, the US, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Latin America, so she has built a strong understanding and network in the food industry.

They are are already pursuing opportunities in Canada, US, Europe and South America.

For more information, please contact:
Vivian Beer, Merdock Group Inc., 902-367-1818 or vivian@merdock.com

About Merdock:
Merdock Group Inc. of Charlottetown, established in 2004, is a corporate branding and marketing communications company for the food, bioscience, tourism and technology industries. They developed the successful Luscious Lobster Campaign for Atlantic Canada Lobster which has been featured at major seafood events in Canada, US, Europe and China.

About Forthought Design:
Forthought Design is an award-winning package design studio located in Toronto, Ontario with clients across Canada and the United States. Forthought was established in 1992 in pursuit of creating inspirational and innovative package design solutions.

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Vivian Beer, Merdock’s President says, “It is essential for clients to be able to offer timely and relevant content about their products and services to their audiences in a cost-effective manner.  The technology you use can have a positive impact on creating a professional environment.”

“People are busy, so they need information in bite-sized pieces at the point where they can act on it, such as the point of sale.”

Merdock can work with clients to utilize their screens to feature their own custom brand and information. Businesses can provide information about specials, events and services to increase on-site sales. The extra advantage is client organizations can use the power of social networking to distribute their message to screens located at other businesses/organizations throughout their community.

Applications are not only for commercial use. Medical offices could utilize ScreenScape for patient education. Wherever people are waiting, they could be watching, reading and learning.

Clients have the option to sell advertising that could be featured on their screens, so potentially they can generate customer and advertising revenue from their display. For example, real estate agents could buy space to feature listings on screens in cafes and restaurants to create awareness in their region.

Clients can sign into ScreenScape and gain access to the Community for a minimal monthly fee to create their own content. For those who have ongoing content development requirements, Merdock can provide that service for them. Merdock will work with each client to create ongoing branded content and transfer it to displays on behalf of their clients.

“We can work as easily with a client in Charlottetown as we can in New York or Toronto utilizing ScreenScape’s online platform.”

Merdock specializes in corporate branding and communications. Extending their services to produce digital content is a huge benefit in allowing clients to deliver timely information at point of sale or point of wait.

ScreenScape members already include Boston Pizza, SellOffVacations, and Northumberland Ferries.  The company was founded in Charlottetown in 2007 and now has a presence in more than a dozen countries worldwide.

Merdock is delighted to become a content producer and even more that this dynamic new technology is based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

For more information, contact:
Vivian Beer, Merdock Group Inc.
vivian@merdock.com
902.367.1818

About ScreenScape Networks
ScreenScape is an Internet Service and Community that offers a smarter, simpler and more cost-effective way to use screen displays in your venue. Members of ScreenScape form a community of venues interconnecting to establish a shared resource and a marketplace for exchanging content.

ScreenScape Networks Inc.

(902) 368-1975 | screenscape@screenscape.net | http://screenscape.net P.O. Box 291, 133 Queen Street, 3rd Floor, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K4 Canada

First of all, Grant is an anthropologist, moves fast, talks fast and he is Canadian. (Is that possible?) He spent most of his career in the US teaching at Harvard Business School and more recently at MIT (ok, that explains it). He is author of the book, Chief Culture Officer. He made many Canadian references including how the Canadian Maritimes was famous for storytelling and how important that is in our current culture.

He arrived at the front of the room in a great suit and baseball hat. It was a long horizontal room, and he swept with a large gait to the far left and right to the point that I was getting a little motion sickness. There were three slide projections on the front wall, and ideas were coming at us in full pages. I had to listen and quickly read the slides, as they would be gone and he was on to the next. I asked him during the break if we would be getting a copy of the slides, and he said that many of the new ideas would be in his upcoming book. That explained it…he is keeping us hooked, but that’s ok with me. I had read his book, Chief Culture Officer, before attending, so most of his ideas were very familiar, so I focused on catching the new ideas or the ones I found most compelling. Here are some statements that stood out for me:

• 60% of mergers and acquisitions don’t work.
• We need more metaphors to describe things.
• There is fast culture and slow culture.
• Status is gone.
• Local culture is growing.
• We have moved from industrial food (less you know about it, the better) to artisan food (the more you know about it, the better).
• Farmers now rival chefs.
• There are now more stories connected to food.
• Celebrity culture has moved into homes – designs of kitchens open to dining and entertaining area has turned a home into a food show. The cook can entertain his/her friends while preparing a meal and likely telling stories about the ingredients and the recipe.
• Young people no longer care about long careers at big name companies; they use their social network to provide career opportunities.
• Content is in motion.
• People need content to sustain their networks. Have you ever gotten to the point where you considered dropping a Facebook friend because they didn’t have interesting content?
• Content is currency.
• Consumers look to us for content.
• Give something to people to talk about.
• We are now content suppliers.
• Look for patterns, what’s new? What kind of things violate our expectations?
• Don’t confuse culture with cool.
• Study assumptions you make and make adjusts.
• Fad – Fashion – Trend – Culture – First something is a fad, then a fashion. If it survives, it is a trend; not all trends become entrenched in culture.
• When things go mass, it’s over.
• Pattern recognition – Is it something or nothing? Is it significant, will it get traction in culture or will it fall away?
• Get lots of ideas in circulation.
• Errors are better than confusion.
• What does a culture find interesting? More importantly, what does a culture find interesting that it cannot tell you?
• When you buy the product, you should get the story.
• Where are the critical assumptions buried?
• Never be the hippest person in the room.

After the day-long session, the Google attendee suggested we go out for drinks off Union Square at Heartland. We met there for another three hours to debrief the day. I walked over with a Canadian who is working in New York and was flying to Istanbul the next day. I don’t know about you, but when you meet a fellow Canadian in another country, it seems so relaxing to chat with them and there is so much you don’t have to explain which makes one question what inherent patterns are changing in our own culture. If you are outside North America, then this is also true of meeting either an American or Canadian. We share a similar humour and experience of being neighbours.

The debriefing went well. We found the ideas discussed to be very stimulating. We all love Grant, his energy and ideas. But always the best part is to connect with people who think about the same things you do, in this case, explorers of culture.

Grant is going to set up a Wiki for us to stay connected and to exchange ideas. Met great new friends and hope to connect with more on the Wiki. If I come across more interesting ideas and discussions, I will post them here. I will be expanding on statements on the session in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. Easily each could be an article of its own. Also, buy Grant’s book, Chief Culture Officer and join the discussion.

Vivian

Here are more thoughts on the day from a fellow explorer of culture, Michael Margolis: http://www.getstoried.com/2010/02/23/culture-as-competitive-advantage/

The biggest issue with blogs is the name “blog”. It can imply writing incessantly about nothing, a personal soapbox. But it can be whatever you want it to be.

Think of a corporate blog as a newsletter, only you don’t wait for the end of the month or quarter to create it. You produce an article when it is timely and useful to your audience.

Blogs and particularly my favourite, Wordpress blogs, have a plethora of plugins to choose from, so you can add videos, photo galleries, blog stats, analytics, themes, and Wordpress has a very user-friendly admin area. What that means is the responsibility of putting up content does not have to fall on one person. Maybe one person can act as an editor. For example, an author can draft an article and leave it in the draft folder, and the editor can do a quick proof and publish it.

What can sometimes make blogs look cluttered is the variety of plugins which are so tempting to include, but if you want to maintain a cleaner/uncluttered image, you can pick and choose what will look best.

As a corporate communicator, what I think is the most important is you are giving your audience, customers and potential customers timely and relevant information about your service or product. And that is where the blog pulls out ahead. They are closer to a newspaper format in that the most recent/most important story leads.

Brands are conversations about your service and product, and blogs are very interactive. See how the comments sections in newspapers have taken off. Well, you can replicate the same kind of feedback from your audience on a blog. As the blog administrator, you can choose which comments get published. You do give up a little control when you put your information out on the internet in an interactive medium, but the alternative is not enough people will know about what you do.

Think of your brand as a series of stories to be told.

They can convey your commitment to product development, customer service, and your knowledge of industry and trends that will benefit your customers. All of this helps to build ongoing credibility. Be the first to get important information to your audience on matters that can make their businesses more successful.

Printed materials (featured on “Photos” page):

• Postcard
• Sell Sheet
• Business Card

Online communications:

• This website/blog
• Facebook Page
• Merdock
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