We all know that just about anything can be found on Craigslist, including a whole heap of crazy. From used cars to used cats, missed connections and anonymous rants, there’s no shortage of wild listed in the world’s most popular classifieds. In fact, the site itself features its own “best of” section, with user-nominated posts dating back to 2001. So I took it upon myself to sift through the thousands of listings that made the cut to bring you my personal top 10. And since this is Craigslist we’re talking about, I’ve included an extra five (as a bonus, of course) to bring you the absolute “best of the best.” Enjoy.
Fill in the missing brands in these slogans and see how you rate.
1. With a name like __________, it has to be good.
2. You’re in good hands with __________.
3. __________, no one can eat just one.
4. See the USA in your __________.
5. __________ — They’re magically delicious.
6. Between love and madness lies __________.
7. __________ — Proud Sponsor of the Comeback.
8. A nose in need deserves __________ indeed.
9. Yo quiero __________.
10. __________. We bring good things to life.
Bonus: __________. More experience than our name suggests.
11: You surely cheated. 10: You are truly an ad geek. You’re our kind of people! 7–9: You’ve consumed more than your fair share of Cleveland TV. 4–6: You’re the average American TV viewer. 1–3: Welcome to our country? When did you get here?
1. Smuckers 2. Allstate 3. Lays 4. Chevrolet 5. Lucky Charms 6. Obsession (Calvin Klein)
7. MetroHealth 8. Puffs 9. Taco Bell 10. GE (General Electric) Bonus: Virgin Atlantic
How did you do? Leave us your quiz results in the comment section below or tweets us @MelamedRiley!
If you want to test your brand knowledge a little bit more, check out this fun Logo Quiz app.
My fiancé and I are in the throes of planning a Summer 2013 wedding. I spend free evenings checking out local wedding vendor blogs, building our wedding website and scouring Pinterest for inspiration, and often find myself wondering: how did people plan these things before the internet?
But even I am doing things a bit the old-fashioned way it seems. Today’s brides are turning to mobile apps to help them do everything from creating a color palette to figuring out who’s going to sit next to Great Aunt Pearl at dinner. Here are just a few of the mobile tools that brides and grooms can put on the iPhones before saying “I do.”
It’s the rehearsal dinner and you just realized you don’t know how everyone should be lined up. The Knot’s Wedding 911 app is a hub where brides-to-be can get their most pressing questions instantly answered by those in the know in order to avoid a premarital meltdown.
If people look bewildered every time you tell them your colors are persimmon and robin egg blue, you might want to try the myPANTONE™ Wedding and Events. This app lets brides create and share the color styleboard for their big day, helping their palette-challenged friends and family members understand their vision.
There was a time when having disposable cameras on every table was a perfectly acceptable (and fun) way to get your guests in on the wedding photography. Now guests can download mobile software like Our Wedding App and upload pictures directly into a designated photo album for your wedding. So even if you are talking to Dad’s work friends at table 7, you won’t miss crazy Great Aunt Pearl doing the electric slide.
Better yet, just create your own official wedding app to guide guests through your special day. Like Our Wedding App, Appy Couple lets guests upload pictures to a shared album. But it also helps guests find your venue, remember when the cocktail hour starts, find a nearby diner after the event and so much more. This app is still in beta testing, but is set to hit the market this fall. I’m eagerly waiting on an invitation, so when people ask us all about the wedding, I can tell them “there’s an app for that.”
Creating and maintaining an active social identity can be hard work. Sometimes the upkeep and hype can make you forget who you are and why you began those social entities. Sometimes we need to take a step back and re-evaluate what we are doing and what we want from our social relationships.
As an admirer of Bridget Jones, I took this opportunity to reflect on her journey to self-discovery and explore how it relates to maintaining a social persona.
“And that was it. Right there. That was the moment. I suddenly realized that unless something changed soon I was going to live a life where my major relationship was with a bottle of wine… and I’d finally die, fat and alone, and be found three week later half-eaten by Alsatians. Or I was about to turn into Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.” – Bridget Jones
Although tidying up your social entities may not be as dramatic as Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, there is something to be said for Bridget’s aforementioned epiphany. Sometimes change needs to happen in order to improve and allow you to reach and expound upon future endeavors. Bridget set out to do just that, giving herself three goals as she started her journey from spinsterhood to social acceptance.
Goals: “To lose weight, gain a boyfriend, and achieve inner poise.” – Bridget Jones
Here’s how you can apply these same goals as you start your own journey to re-discover your ideal social identity:
Lose weight: Clean up your social accounts. Shed that extra weight that is filling up your Facebook and Twitter newsfeeds to make room for something or someone new.
“Come on Bridget, we belong together — you, me, poor little skirt. If I can’t make it with you then I can’t make it with anyone.” – Daniel Cleaver
“That’s not a good enough offer for me.” – Bridget Jones
Gain a Boyfriend: Have you found those influencers on Twitter that are important? Find people you can learn, network and grow from. Ultimately build meaningful social relationships — go crazy and gain 50 new social boyfriends.
“This is an occasion for genuinely tiny knickers.” – Bridget Jones
Achieve Inner Poise: Now that you are feeling a little lighter and have built up some budding relationships, find that inner balance and dedicate time to grow your network and make meaningful connections that last longer than 140 characters or a Like.
“It is proved by surveys that happiness does not come from love, wealth, or power but the pursuit of attainable goals.” – Bridget Jones
As any good Bridget fan would know, her path to self-discovery was anything but smooth. One key thing that Bridget had to understand and accept was that she was who she was. Social media is about being who you are and understanding that people should accept you “just as you are.” So many people and brands try to brand speak or in ways that are not genuine because they feel it is a place to be different. Wrong. It is a place to be yourself (transparent) and to find influencers to network and connect with. Build a community of people who, as Mark Darcy so cleverly put:
“I like you very much. Just as you are.” – Mark Darcy
Though socks and underwear are consistently two of the most requested items for children in need, they’re often the least donated or available. This is where the Associate Board of Shoes and Clothes for Kids (SC4K) comes in. These young professional volunteers are spearheading a year-round drive to collect brand new socks and underwear, working with all manner of public, private, and religious organizations to collect the needed goods or generous donations.
When the opportunity arose to put a visual face on the SC4K Sock and Underwear Drive, I jumped at the chance. I’ve loved working with SC4K, an organization performing such a crucial mission, since I joined the Melamed Riley family. Two years ago I was thrilled to have the opportunity to redesign their logo to the one you see now. From the start, I wanted to deliver a mark for the Sock and Underwear Drive that, while different from its parent identity, still existed within the larger SC4K universe.
What you see above is the final outcome of that process. Knowing that the wording and imagery would be different than the SC4K logo, it was important for me to maintain the same color palette and use of the Trade Gothic typeface. Also important was incorporating the unique “tilt” that I had given the SC4K logo. From there, I wanted to go beyond a simple word mark while maintaining the same style of illustration I had already established.
Making the pair of socks and underwear “fit” in that rectangular shape was key for me. Building the items out of as few shapes as possible within Illustrator was as well, given how the logo would sometimes be seen either in black and white, at small sizes, or both. You never know — so always design for the most challenging situations. That way, the final product will work at any size.
Once I built the socks and underwear, I added the lockup of words in a way that felt similar to those in the SC4K logo. Add the tilt and there you go! A fun logo for a very important cause. With back-to-school on the horizon, there’s vital work for SC4K to do and plenty of exciting and fulfilling creative on the horizon for us.
Discussing the weather seems to be the default conversation during your daily elevator trip; however, with many cities reaching the 100 degree marker all around the US, weather is likely the main topic of conversation blitzing your Facebook and Twitter feeds. “I’m melting” seems to be a recurring status update, and many are searching for ways to beat the heat. Jim, our resident mixologist here at Melamed Riley, recently whipped up a cool batch of margaritas for our ping-pong tournament. The margaritas were so refreshing, I thought now would be the perfect time to share a new Vitamix recipe sure to help you chill out. I decided to draw inspiration from They Draw and Cook and create an illustrated recipe (and a modest homage to the untouchable style of Kate Bingaman Burt.)
Let us know what you think of the recipe and please note: the alcohol is always optional. Enjoy!
Every year, we have an annual summer get-together and holiday bash. Sprinkled in between are anniversaries, birthdays, special announcements and various other “excuses” for a soirée! Our creative team usually whips up an incredible invite for our peeps, so I wanted to share a few of my favorites:
For our fifth year as an independent agency, an “independence” theme was the answer for this invitation. Liberty never felt so good.
I was seriously wowed when this appeared on my desk! I had to literally dig through the sand to reveal the where’s and when’s for our summer outing at Wendy Park.
More heads on bodies! A little bit of photoshopping and vintage effects yielded this sweet poster that was hung or placed in each employee’s office.
Another one of my favs was this personally “embroidered” shirt which I say scores a 10 in the wow factor category! This masterpiece was an invite to The Corner Alley for a night of bowling and holiday cheer.
This is our latest … Pick up some 3-D glasses and check this out! This too receives tens across the creative boards.
We all know that just about anything can be found on Craigslist, including a whole heap of crazy. From used cars to used cats, missed connections and anonymous rants, there’s no shortage of wild listed in the world’s most popular classifieds. In fact, the site itself features its own “best of” section, with user-nominated posts dating back to 2001. So I took it upon myself to sift through the thousands of listings that made the cut to bring you my personal top 10. And since this is Craigslist we’re talking about, I’ve included an extra five (as a bonus, of course) to bring you the absolute “best of the best.” Enjoy. 
