News from our Savvy Workshop

Inspired by the Food Network TV Show “Iron Chef,” three teams of marketing and industry pros were tasked to come up with a complete marketing package for this year’s Iron Design Competion. This year's mystery client: a line of high fashion designs comprised of…road kill. And, they only had one hour to do it.

NHCC President Chris Conroy & Heartwood Media CEO, said the club is always trying to include more presentations to involve the audience. “The Iron Design competition is inspiring & educational. Those attending can walk around & observe competing teams collaborate and work together.”

This year’s Top Secret Product was pretty hard to keep under wraps, according to Print Savvy CEO Lisa Landry, who hosts the competition every year. “We really tried to kick it up a notch this year.” said Landry. “We really brainstormed to come up with something that 100% unique & not already in the marketplace,” she added.

Indeed, the “Flapper” dress sporting faux suede & a variety of faux beaver tails flopping around was a sight to behold. Ptjer Fashions included the “Fawn Over Me” little hot-pant number was a crowd pleaser, & the “La Pew” gown was an example of elegance, as much as one can get wearing skunk stripes. “We really had a good time with creating the costumes, as this is really the only morally righteous way to wear fur” stated Joel Mercier, Print Savvy’s Event Coordinator “You can say that this product is truly green & comes from 100% natural resources!”

The evening began with a selection of food that included gourmet Panini sandwiches & delicious chicken chili that both participants & audience members noshed upon as they networked, & concluded with text-voting, ala “American Idol” style, to declare the 2009 “Iron Design” trophy: a cast-iron skillet. “My clients are still raving about the food,” said Print Savvy Senior Account Executive Ami D’Amelio “It really was in a different league this year!”

The three teams that came to the table were Calypso Communications, of Portsmouth, who sent a team of seven of their best talent, while the Timberland Company of Stratham sent four of their award-winning team members to compete.

“The final team added a bit of a twist to the competition this year – six industry veterans who had never worked together before, all currently “under-employed,” made up the final team, and called themselves The Marketing All-Stars,” Landry said. The three teams worked for just one hour as the audience looked on. Then, it was time to showcase their stuff.

“Each team brought their own unique strengths to the competition, Timberland came up with a great name and had a fantastic logo, Calypso had terrific ideas for selecting a celebrity to sponsor and promote the clothing line, including giant billboard displays in NYC’s Time Square, but it was clear that the Marketing All-Stars had the most audience votes,” Conroy said as he declared the winners.

“I think it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there for this competition, & we’re extremely proud of all the competitors. Each team had a unique & interesting offering. I loved the way team Calypso positioned the clothing line as a trailer chic lifestyle brand that used celebrity endorsement already popular in that demographic (they recommended Miley Cyrus & Matthew McConoughey) & I was especially fond of the logo from Team Timberland. It was cute, to the point & very, very funny. Finally, I was totally impressed by the way the Marketing All Stars worked together without corporate backing. Talk about a creative & innovative way to show the marketplace what you can do—especially in this economy! I suppose audience chose to ‘hire’ the All-Stars because they had their game on & like me, they were inspired by their chutzpah.” Landry said “They clearly took the challenge very seriously.”

Photos at http://www.harkinsphotography.com/irondesign09/index.html, courtesy of Kevin Harkins Photography.
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