Seasoned CD to Lead Growing CPG & Retail Packaging Expertise

Throughout his career, Jim Jackson has raised plenty of brands from babies to icon status. (And in his free time, he and his wife managed to raise a brood of six design-savvy Minnesotans as well. Wait. Who are we kidding? HE CAN’T POSSIBLY HAVE ANY FREE TIME!) After seasoning his mad skills as a creative director at Boom Island Design, FAME and Little & Company, Jim has joined Periscope as VP/Design Director, Retail & Packaging. He’s got boatloads of design experience in a broad array of categories that run the gamut from frozen food to beauty products. And his calm, inspiring presence already makes us know that this design Zen master has great things in store for us. Can we get an om?

Our Experiential & Events Team Wins at the Ex Awards

What do a hot cocoa card and a QR code app have in common? Not one single thing till we won awards for both of them this week. Event Marketer’s Ex Awards heap accolades on brands (and, ahem, their agencies) in categories ranging from Best Guerrilla/Street Program to Best Use of Technology. And those just happen to be the two categories we took hardware home in. Our Columbia Omni-Heat program bested Beats by Dr. Dre and SodaSteam for Best Guerrilla, taking away the Ex, a top honor that ranks above a gold. Our Bullseye Badge for Target Back to College nabbed a gold in the technology category. We were bested by Coca-Cola’s Beat Box at the Winter Olympics, so that's pretty tough to get too busted up about. Take a look at highlights from both events below.

The Current’s Morning Coffee Break Comes to Periscope

What happens when the Twin Cities’ largest independent radio station stops by the largest independent advertising agency for a little live music? Just the best Friday ever.

Steve Seel and Jill Riley bring their morning show to the cube masses once a month and this was our lucky Friday. Josh Ritter played. (The night after a packed show at First Ave, mind you. NBD.) The Birchwood supplied endless boxes of bakery and enough Peace Coffee to make our nerves jangle and our feet tap fast. Needless to say, Josh played to a packed house. All the ladies in the audience swooned. And a pretty fantastic time was had by all. We even managed to turn up the ambient outdoor temps to 75 degrees for the occasion. Wish you’d been there? Watch the video. It’s almost as good as the real thing.

Digging Our New Digs in Hong Kong

It’s been seven years since we opened our Hong Kong office, and the growth of both the city and our capabilities has been jaw-dropping, to say the least. When we started busting out of our second office space last fall, we knew we needed to look long term and scout out a space with room to grow. Plus, we wanted to score a spot with some good hangout areas for people to convene and kibitz, just like our new Commons space in the Minneapolis HQ. We found everything we were looking for across the channel from our current spot, in the Central Business District in Kwun Tung in Kowloon East. The new digs feel like home already. Take a peek inside and try not to be too jealous of the hot pink lunch room and the grass wall.

Target Back to College Events Nab Some Hardware

We’ve been proudly creating and producing Back to College events, after-hours shopping events for freshmen, for Target for the last seven years, and we’re pretty partial to the project. Turns out the Reggie Award judges liked it a whole bunch as well. Last Thursday they deemed it hardware-worthy (GOLD, y’all!) in the age-specific category. Needless to say, we’re pretty hyped.

Each year, we push ourselves to up the ante and bring more sizzle to the events. This year’s addition: Bullseye Badge, a QR-activated mobile element that delivered changing content to students before, during and after the events and kept them engaged digitally and socially. We thought it was pretty dang cool and so did the students. Take a peek at some live action from the events below.