Over the past year, MSLK has been very involved in the social media hype, figuring out the best strategies in using these medias to reach our clients and potential clients in creative ways. In light of the upcoming FGI presentation, we thought we would give you a sneak peak of various key statistics and demographics of users of blogs, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Read more to find out a few of the fun facts that we found. You can download a pdf of the presentation here.

Everybody wants a great looking website – one that’s unique and visually reflects your brand. One element that often gets overlooked is the usability of the site. No matter how great your site looks, if users can’t navigate through it and get the information they’re looking for, it’s doomed. Smashing Magazine recently published their research findings on how to design a website that people will use. What we’ve intuitively known through our process of web design finally gets some scientific cred. Get the scoop after the jump.

Like many companies, our holiday card is our number one opportunity to connect with our busy clients on a more personal and emotional level. Traditionally, we like to create a design that is also a mini gift, something everyone can either use or hang on to. This year, we were invited by the non-for-profit group, Robin Hood Foundation, to create a customizable, limited edition design that companies and individuals can purchase online and use as their own holiday card. In the spirit of giving, 100% of the proceeds goes directly to fighting poverty in New York City.

The Challenge

The challenge for this year’s card was to create a simple, festive, non-denominational card that appealed to a wide target audience. Sounds easy, but for designers who are met with the same staid seasonal imagery and themes year after year, the trick is to stay inspired. See how our idea was informed by experimenting with simple shapes.

MSLK prides ourselves on helping our clients stay top of mind with their customers. With a challenging economy adding to an already crowded and competitive marketplace, it’s more important than ever to stand out from the competition.

We’ve developed our favorite “Top 9″ clever tactics to get people talking about your brand — adding a positive shock value coming from companies that consumers would least expect.

MSLK was just featured in the January 15th issue of Investor’s Business Daily in article titled,  “Never Stop Learning: Retool to Lift Your Firm,” by Adelia Cellini Linecker.

During an hour-long conversation with the reporter last month, she picked our brains on everything from cost-effective marketing tips and strategies to time management practices. This resulted in a nice piece on the front page of the Leaders & Success section.

Businesses cannot afford to simply wait for the economic picture to improve in order to increase their bottom line. It is important to be proactive in developing ways to increase revenue in the first quarter. Implementing a successful marketing and rebranding campaign could make the difference between a company’s success and failure during a negative business climate.

As consultants who have helped hundreds of mid-level and large companies reposition themselves and stay ahead of the competition, MSLK has created our top five tips for businesses to improve marketing and emerge successfully from an economic crisis…

Trade show promotions are a dime a dozen but how many of them remain in your bag after you leave the conference room? I think the best promotions are a clever twist of form follows function. Case in point, what better to make me think of the joy of shipping with Fedex than a teeny weeny Fedex box filled with Chiclets? At 2″ x 1″ they are cute, fabulous, and fun! I took 10 and happily handed them out to all of my friends. Now that’s viral marketing.

MSLK has won an American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA for the Wigwam Packaging Re-branding. Over 10,000+ were entered, with only 15% of entrants recognized with Certificates of Excellence in categories such as packaging, print, web, advertising, motion graphics, and point-of-purchase.

We’re incredibly thrilled. It was a great honor to be selected, and a testament to the hard work and many months of hard work everyone in the studio put into it.

Now that it’s cold weather…. go out and buy yourself a pair. (My current fave: Camouflage F2225.)

Am I crazy, or is there something a little too similar about the MINI, Bentley, and Chrysler logos? Obviously the winged metaphor is great for a car and all, but this is a bit much.

My beloved old Saab finally kicked the dust a couple weeks ago. After some debate, I’ve decided to look into some options for replacing it. My search led me to the Volkswagen dealership, where I couldn’t help but notice the classic Doyle Dane Bernbach ads from the ’60s and ’70s plastered around the place. I was surprised to see that the charming, witty, iconic ads that transformed the original Beetle from an ugly duckling to America’s sweetheart, are still selling cars today. Even more surprising is how effective and relevant they still are. See some of my favorites after the jump.

Is it possible to be obvious and clever at the same time?

I would have answered “no” before I’d seen this great ad. It’s so effective that it stopped me — and I couldn’t possibly care less about football if I tried. And believe me, I’ve tried.

I love the look of the flagship LV store on the corner of 5th Avenue and 59th Street, the white checker glass facade is amazing. Its even better this week with their new windows. They are obviously a rip off of the GAP’s holiday windows, but the patterns on the glass break up the lights and take it to the next level.

As Katie pointed out this morning, it’s reasons like this that I will never be cool: I like cleaning supplies. I like laundry detergent and hand soap. I like floor cleaner and window spray. That’s not to say I like cleaning, per se, but I do really like clean things. So when I heard Method was opening a pop-up store in Soho, I was pretty excited. Method positions themselves as an environmentally conscious cleaning products company. They use natural ingredients rather than harsh chemicals, and they encourage the re-use of their packaging by selling refill bags. Unfortunately, after three attempts to go to the store, I’ve yet to actually make it inside. Apparently they are only open from 10am – 7pm (working folks never clean, do they?). Nights are for private parties only. I was promptly shown the door when at a few minutes to 7pm, I snuck in. I did snap a few pictures that are shown after the jump with a few more I pulled from their site. Good luck making it in.

It’s the scent strip gone haywire. Marketing company, First Flavor, would like to introduce you to Peel n’ Taste technology. Although the Wall Street Journal, mistakenly reported that they produce ‘lickable’ ads, the truth is all they’ve done is put breath strip style sheets of flavor under a peelable flap. You will soon find this in print advertisements, direct mail, in-store coupons, etc.

Please someone tell us when you come across an ad. It seems there was a Welch grape juice in February’s People and a mojito flavored ad out there to promote the television show Cane. The latter is truly a dual sensory leap – can tasting an ad really evoke the feeling of watching a television show?

I swear to you that this posting has nothing to do with the MINI brand. Much has already been written on this blog about their marketing efforts.

This posting is simply to showcase the New Yorker’s recent use of multiple covers to convey the theme of travel. Allow me to demonstrate…

Say what you will about corporations jumping on the green band wagon. Yes, it’s annoying, but hey, even if the motivations are a bit transparent, I’m all for any positive eco changes. I recently received a flier in my last T-Mobile bill promoting their new campaign to get customers to go paperless. Now granted, I’ve signed up twice online to get paperless but I inevitably keep getting a bill by mail (and yes I know — a flier to go paperless, mehh) BUT I thought the promotion was pretty cool.

T-Mobile has partnered with the Arbor Day foundation on a their Restoration Project to plant trees in weather damaged regions of the US like New Orleans and Southern California. For every customer who goes paperless, they will plant a tree on their behalf. So yes I have signed up again, maybe the third time is the charm and hopefully a tree will be planted too! Sign up if you are a T-Mobile’er too. Happy Earth Day!

Target used Newsweek’s green issue last week to offer a solution to some of the plastic bag waste they’re responsible for producing. Teaming up with Terracycle, they’re asking users to mail in all their plastic Target bags in return for a reusable tote – the Retote. The best part about the call to action is the way plastic bags are mailed in. The cover of the magazine becomes the pouch for your plastic bags. Tear off the cover, use a little tape to seal the edges and stuff all your target bags into the pouch. The postage is prepaid and the address is listed on the front of the pouch making it simple to drop into the mail.

Freitag (which means “Friday” in German) started as a phenomenon of Zürich’s urban subculture in 1993 when Markus und Daniel Freitag, both brothers and graphic designers, had a genius, sustainable business idea: They created courier bags made from used truck tarps, used car seat belts, used air bags and used bicycle inner tubes. The upcycled Freitag bags are functional yet individual at the same time. Every product has a cool, one-of-a-kind design. Now, fifteen years later, Freitag is a cult brand known all over the world.

When I moved to New York, I didn’t have to think twice if I should take my Freitag bags with me. Beyond my personal relationship with this brand, I also have a professional connection: In 2007, I had the pleasure to work for Freitag with my former employer in Zürich, the branding firm Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft.

I passed by the Sony store by Madison Avenue and was amazed by millions of colorful rabbits on Sony’s Window displays.These bunnies are used in the campaign for their new BRAVIA® HDTV with a Blu-ray Disc™ player. Pretty cool.