Imaginasium took home top honors for interactive work and 13 wins overall at the 2010 Fox River Ad Club ADDY Awards on March 18 at the Meyer Theatre. Based in downtown Green Bay, the brand experience and marketing communications firm works with local, regional, and national companies based in Northeast Wisconsin as well as around the country.

Imaginasium’s winning work included the categories of sales promotion, sales materials, video presentation, print, poster campaign, non-traditional advertising, microsites, national TV campaign, mixed media campaign, public service-interactive, self promotion and special effects-internet. In addition to the overall Best of Show – Interactive award for the Paperbillasaurus landing page intro for Wisconsin Public Service, Imaginasium received Gold ADDY Awards for:

• 2008 e-Annual Report for the Boys and Girls Club of Green Bay
• Colonoscopy phone messages for ThedaCare
• Colonoscopy campaign for ThedaCare
• Folder & sales kit for The Boldt Company
• Safety poster series for The Boldt Company
• 2009 catalog cover & sales rep profiles for Dental City
• Paperbillasaurus landing page intro for Wisconsin Public Service

Gold-level ADDY Awards go on to competition at the American Advertising Federation’s 8th
District level, competing against firms from Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Imaginasium also received Silver ADDY Awards for:

• Corporate brochure for The Boldt Company
• iCanConserve rate videos for Wisconsin Public Service
• iCanConserve microsite for Wisconsin Public Service
• Safety television campaign for Wisconsin Public Service

Imaginasium, 110 Washington Street, Green Bay, is a national award-winning brand alignment and strategic marketing communications firm. The firm offers full brand alignment consultation along with internal and external communications development and execution.

Green Bay, Wis. – Imaginasium and Infusion, both privately held Green Bay marketing communications firms, announced today that Imaginasium has acquired Infusion Inc. The company will continue to operate under the Imaginasium name.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The two companies have a history of partnering and share similar business and branding philosophies. “We have operated with mutual respect for many years, and our businesses complement one another,” said Patrick Hopkins, Imaginasium president. “Since 1986, Infusion has been a driving force in establishing Northeast Wisconsin’s marketing communications talent as a respected player on national brands. We’re proud to help continue that legacy.”

This acquisition allows Imaginasium to expand its capabilities and continue to serve the growing needs of existing and future clients, while maintaining its commitment to developing and implementing comprehensive brand experiences. The combined client rosters include local, regional and national companies including Wisconsin Public Service, Tyco, The Boldt Company, Prevea Health, The Metal Ware Corp., and Mizkan Americas, Inc.

“As we looked at this opportunity, it aligned strategically with our vision. We are excited to leverage our combined talents to enhance our core services and expand in the areas of interactive, public relations, and promotions,” Hopkins added.

The Infusion staff will soon be moving to Imaginasium’s current downtown Green Bay office, located at 110 S. Washington Street.

Infusion was started in 1986 as Goltz & Associates. The name changed to The Goltz Seering Agency in 1999, before adopting the Infusion name in 2005.

Imaginasium, 110 Washington Street, Green Bay, is a national award-winning brand alignment and strategic marketing communications firm. The firm offers full brand alignment consultation along with internal and external communications development and execution. Imaginasium was established in 1992 by current shareholders Denis Kreft and Joseph Bergner. Patrick Hopkins joined as a shareholder and president in 1999. www.imaginasium.com

Take a stroll down past Imaginasium’s offices at 110 S. Washington St. to see The Window Wonderland for yourself. And recall the potential of these great kids as you do.

*****

The Window Wonderland is a product of the decade-long relationship between Green Bay branding firm Imaginasium and The Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay.

Imaginasium has had a long tradition of developing unique holiday gifts for their clients, thanking them for the past year’s business and wishing them well in the New Year. By 2008, however, Imaginasium Executive Creative Director and co-founder Joe Bergner wanted to go in a different direction.

“The gifts we gave clients were certainly sincere,” said Joe, “and we loved doing them. But all of us here began to feel drawn to honor our client relationships in a deeper way, one with greater significance and the power to touch lives.”

Joe and his staff turned to the Boys & Girls Club for inspiration. Imaginasium had already been supporting the marketing efforts of the Club for over a decade. But perhaps there was a way to take a deeper dive and forge real connections with the kids themselves. Imaginasium envisioned a way to connect via a shared passion for creativity. The result was the first annual gathering where Club kids came over, threw on their “painting duds” and put their artistry to work on Imaginasium’s Washington Street display windows, completing them in time for the annual downtown Green Bay Holiday Parade.

Fueled by hot chocolate and boundless energy, the first year found them working alongside each other and the staffs of Imaginasium and the Club, everyone working together and having fun. And though they may not have realized it, their high-profile window works were also helping to raise awareness of the Club and all the good it does for the communities in the greater Green Bay area.

“Still, sometimes its hard to feel like a big success when it seems like you’re treading water instead of flying forward, as you’re used to doing.” That’s the sentiment from Imaginasium president Patrick Hopkins, newly-named Business Person of the Year by the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce at its 18th annual Business Recognition Awards luncheon.

“The economy has touched all of us,” said Hopkins. “It’s been a tough year for our industry and our company — hands-down the most difficult since I joined Imaginasium 10 years ago. But we’re thankful to have wonderful clients who believe in the power of brand and communications and an outstanding team who continues to do the right thing for them.”

Held at the KI Convention Center June 3rd, the Business Recognition Awards acknowledged six area businesses in a number of categories, including leadership, entrepreneurship and growth.

The Small Business Person of the Year Award was presented to recognize a local business leader who has demonstrated achievement in ownership or management of a small business or who has made significant contributions to the small business environment in Brown County. Those selected have demonstrated leadership in bringing about business growth and have an outstanding reputation.

Hopkins noted that recession or not, it was uncomfortable to accept the award as an individual. “No business is successful because of just one person,” he said. “Every day, I rely on a lot of talented and supportive people who allow me to go out and be the face of Imaginasium and get the credit for the hard work and dedication to doing the right thing for our clients.” Imaginasium has a team of 15 and is co-owned with Hopkins by founders Joe Bergner and Denis Kreft.

“Pat’s been the driving force in the transformation of Imaginasium to an expert brand alignment firm from a generalist-type advertising agency,” said Kreft. “That’s positioned the company to be a much more valued partner to clients, and opened revenue streams that allow us to be much more successful in the long run. Pat’s been a tremendous face of the company with public displays of thought leadership and active branding of the company to strengthen our market position.”

Imaginasium adds this latest honor to a long list of community contributions, including board membership on the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay, the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Phoenix Fund, the Greater Green Bay YMCA and the Cerebral Palsy Center.

Hopkins is also a member of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce’s CEO Roundtable program and a recent presenter at the Chamber’s Northeast Wisconsin social media marketing workshop. He’s also previously been invited to speak on brand alignment for the American Marketing Association and the Wisconsin Society of Human Resource Management.

Upon accepting the award, Pat summed it up by saying that in these times, companies must not only keep their focus, but band together more tightly and more focused than ever.

“When we put our heads together, we’ll always get farther than trying to go it alone,” he said.

MEDIA COVERAGE
Green Bay Press Gazette
WLUK

As former graphics students themselves, the point of the three-part presentation was simple: educate these future marketers, designers and business owners exactly what branding is and what it isn’t.

Branding is of course far more than graphic identity. But for beginners, it’s often seen as the most important part.

“As young designers, it’s natural for them to think of branding in terms of the talents they bring to the table and run for their computers,” Lax said. “I think it’s important they know right out of the gate design is one element of branding, but not branding itself. That’s much larger.”

Using the Imaginasium-designed UW-Green Bay athletics’ Phoenix logo as an example, Kory and Renae emphasized the need to think about the project in terms of the client’s brand assets before the first design is even considered.

“The brand is a clients’ greatest business property,” Lax told the students, “and we have to make sure we’re protecting it. For the Phoenix logo, that meant going through a lot of steps before design.

The pair explained how the Phoenix process started with a client interview and development of the internal Creative Brief, outlining goals and parameters. This was followed up by background research, brainstorming sessions, sketches and more.

Once preliminary designs had been hand-sketched and selected by UW-Green Bay, focus group testing weighed in and from the results, computer design of the final logo proceeded.
Perhaps the greatest lesson the students learned was that, for all the sexiness of a cool new logo or great visuals, a brand isn’t a look; it’s an understanding, both internally and externally.

Using Imaginasium’s work with The Manitowoc Company in the development of their employment brand, Kory and Renae made sure the kids understood that the strongest brands serve as unspoken contracts between the marketer and its audiences. To thrive, every touchpoint between these stakeholder groups must be aligned, every defining trait understood, every promise kept.

So between discussions of typography, imagery and color palettes, there was plenty of time to talk about brand positioning, promise and language, StoryLine™ development and the value of knowing what makes a brand different.

After Q&A, the pair wrapped up with some practical advice for the kids: before you enter the working world, definitely know your trade. And just as importantly, know your Authentic Brand Story.