News + Notes
[03/13/13] Breakfast with the Bishop: Pancakes and Applause
Saturday morning proved to be a delicious and wonderful way to begin the weekend. Americom is proud to have attended and shared the same atmosphere with some of the most selfless, smartest, and most faithful people in the Golden Triangle as we joined for pancakes and applause as our friend and client, Mike Fuljenz, received an award for service. Every year, Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas (of the Catholic Diocese of Beaumont) hosts a Breakfast with the Bishop - an event where the community comes out to enjoy food and friendship, learn more about the rewarding aspects of Catholic Charities, and enjoy the gracious hospitality from the priests, deacons, and sisters in the diocese, including - yes - Bishop Guillory. The food never ceases to amaze and even local celebrities meet, greet, and cook while silent auctions, music and lots of Seaport Coffee - read more here
[02/20/12] Winning Work: Americom Snags Three ADDYs in Lake Charles
Americom Marketing is the proud new owner of three new Addy honors for the areas of Logo Design, Annual Report Layout, and Print Advertising. The AAF-Lake Charles Dist. awards banquet was held this past weekend, where Americom won 2 Silver awards for the logo design of The Crossing apartment complex and the newspaper ad design for Sertinos Café. Americom also picked up a bronze for The Beaumont Housing Authority's Digital Annual Report.
"This past year was perhaps th
e highest level of creative we've done, in my opinion. Web, print, logo, ad schedules and planning...all of it," says Lance LaRue, creative director at Americom.
"Ad budgets are being cut by everyone near and far, so we all have to get smarter and sharper...we did some new, different projects this year that were really successful, and to see some of these get honors is extremely rewarding. This logo could be my favorite we've ever done, too." The digital annual report is one such piece that really defined "different" this year, involving a mix of video, interviews, copywriting, layout design and some web software.
"Chase Courtney headed up the video and worked with the software for some very poignant vignettes of success stories. He and Lance and the team clicked with Allison Landrum and Robert Reyna at the BHA every step of the way. It's a great example of collaboration and high quality," says owner/president, Charlie Cooper. Read More Here
[10/18/12] One of Our Own Featured in Cat 5 Magazine-
Our design work is
often seen in newspapers and magazines, but it's generally in the form of an advertisement for one of our clients.
A logo here, a branding ad or special offer there.
But today one of our own has a feature. The Cat 5 Magazine (Beaumont Enterprise) today features a cover story article on our very own creative art-and-copy guy, Lance LaRue, and his art ...[learn more here]
[09/15/12] Social Working: Vintage Ads Get Word of Mouth RecordsEvery day is a great day when it comes to working on projects for our delicious TexJoy Seasonings (from the Texas Coffee Co.) But success is extra sweet and savory when the results are better than expected, marking new records. Such is the case with our latest efforts with TexJoy's Facebook page. Our vintage style poster ads are as equally fun as they are productive. Our first poster, designed to look like a vintage ad from the 50s or 60s (think Lichtenstein meets Donna Reed), produced record speed in responses for both Americom and TexJoy.com considering there were no offers or sale specials associated with it, and it increased measurable brand awareness & public engagement. Within 23 hours of the upload, more than 2,300 viewed the post, over 200 "liked" it, and the best part is that over 50 shared it to their own pages. And now with over 70 shares, we see where it has accomplished goals of generating word-of-mouth and interaction.
From just posting the first poster, we've seen numerous fans added; many commenting that they'd forgotten about the brand or asking fellow fans where to buy it in their locations. Creative Manager and Designer on the project, Lance LaRue, says, "One of the keys to getting attention and reaction on social media is to avoid drowning out your messages or over-saturating it. Banners and posts are like online billboards - you have to change it up and place it/time it right, otherwise they can be easily glossed over and lose their luster. There's more to come and we're really excited, but for now - congrats to TexJoy on a fun, new record."
[09/6/12] AmeriCommerce Named to Inc. 5000 - Fastest Growing Companies
Congratulations to the team! Check out the news 
[07/12/12] Client and Work Awarded 2 Trophies at Press Club
Universal Coin and Mike Fuljenz win two First Place Awards at the Annual Press Club of Southeast Texas Awards banquet. In the words of Americom Marketing president, Charlie Cooper: "We are so proud of Mike Fuljenz and Universal Coin & Bullion...their efforts are always first class and it's great to see it recognized again with such prestigious awards. And it's particularly rewarding that our graphics for these materials played a small role in putting the spotlight on such valuable information for consumers and precious metals buyers and investors." As one of our oldest clients, UCB and Mr. Fuljenz are known nationally, not just for their work in the sales side of precious metals industry, but also for their consumer advocacy and education of numismatics.
The Metals Market Report is a weekly analysis by Fuljenz. The report is an online series of articles and commentary about the marketplace developments and trends for gold, silver, rare coins and more. The Personal Gold Guide is a booklet with further commentary for both novices and savvy investors alike. This is the second time Americom's layout and design work for the gold guide has been honored..
[06/26/12] All New Annual Report Design...Digitally Speaking
The
Beaumont Housing Authority's Annual Report is complete, it's digital,
and it is perhaps our most aggressive project for the year so far. We
are all very proud of the hard work and the result, but we're also
thankful for the BHA's blessings as they've granted us a flexible,
generous creative license.
As most annual reports go, the financials and other routine details take over the printed page and design firms are mostly left with the cover art. As fun as that is, designers like us always want to dig in a bit more. Well...lucky us! Americom is pleased to present the DIGITAL Annual Report for the BHA - complete with videos, testimonials, vignettes, theme design and, yes, cover art. Click to view here "The BHA's vision for this year's annual report design involved more than just dressing up numbers on a page; they wanted to entertain and educate," says Lance LaRue, lead designer on the project. "They really did their homework and gave great direction and materials, but they let us know early on that we should get creative with it and have fun. It's a credit to their innovative nature..." Along with our Americom affiliate and editor extraordinaire, Chase Courtney, we shot new footage and edited together news clips from throughout the year to showcase the many milestones that the BHA accomplished in 2011. Using Turn-Page software, the annual report is a digital magazine that allows for playing videos for a more in-depth look at articles and highlights. Congrats to BHA and the team.
[03/13/12] Americom Creative Brings in Two New ADDY Awards
We
are excited to add the task of making room on our shelves for two new
trophies. Americom Marketing brings home two new ADDY Awards from the
American Ad Federation - Lake Charles, LA event for the categories of
Web Design (HTML, ecommerce) and Newspaper Ad Design (half page, black
and white). The web design for Bangalla, a Silver Award winner, is
another combined effort from Americom Marketing's creative team and
AmeriCommerce's outstanding implementation specialists and software.
Lead designer on the project, Chad Campbell, worked closely with
teammates Donna Barlow and Manjula Higginbotham for an ornate, organic
look matched with ease of shopping and navigation techniques for a
clean, open design. Our newspaper ad design for GunSafes.com combines
branding of the business and products with a unique offer, appearing in
the Boise Idaho Statesman and Idaho Falls Post Register.
The ad's art and copy earned a Bronze award with credits going to Chad
Campbell, Lance LaRue, Charlie Cooper, and Michelle Tufford and her team
at GunSafes.com
[03/07/12] iGo, You Go, We All Go
And now a site for something different. AmeriCommerce and Americom Marketing’s Creative team just put the final clicks on a fun new ecommerce site for kids cars and bikes. These vehicles are built and sized for kids, but we sure were tempted to hop on and have our fun. And we know we’re not alone. The new site offers a great line of vehicles and, of course, easy navigation and shopping for customers worldwide; but it also showcases a lighter side of our web design styles. With a unique blend of illustration elements, bright colors...[read more]
[02/23/12] Branding and Building
We are proud to announce our newest brand development project with the Beaumont Housing Authority. Their brand new state-of-the-art property will have a brand new logo and brand identity to go along with it. Americom is excited to have a hand in the new look and the opportunity to continue work with Robert Reyna and his outstanding staff. Construction is already under way for The Crossing...[read more]
[12/14/11] Have a Merry Media Christmas
Americom Marketing was built on media buying and strategy consulting. With the growth of new media and ecommerce, our walls have widened and our list of services has gotten much longer. And, it's getting even more fun. We are happy to announce that Santa packed new media and new software tools for us this year. Americom takes advertising research and reach to new levels. Our competitive research can help you find where your industry competitors are advertising, what they are advertising, what their creative ad design angles show, and what they're saying on the airwaves of radio and TV. And just which stations and TV channels (and times and shows) those might be. Wouldn't you like to know what your customers are seeing when they're not looking at you? And where your customers are going when they're not going to you? With consumers pinching pennies and small web store start-ups aplenty, it's more crucial now than ever before to have competitive edge in branding and in sales. At Americom Marketing, we have the new toys that you're sure to enjoy.