The Captain’s Blog : Archive for October, 2006

It’s really quite amazing what a simple, timely piece of branding collateral can do for a business.

“You’re fired.” I say that as I reflect upon some of the comments and buzz that have come from a simple t-shirt we created a few weeks ago. Believe me, hearing that dreaded phrase, “you’re fired,” is music to our ears.

The t-shirt I refer to was just a simple, fun little spiff for a game Eli Kirk sponsored at Corporate Alliance’s recent Reunion Tour. As we prepared to sponsor this game we mulled over ideas of a fun and simple way to make the game, and our company, memorable. The game was titled “The Intern,” patterned after the well-known show “The Apprentice.” Since Donald Trump wouldn’t be the one to tell the participants that they were fired, we thought we’d tell them ourselves.

So, we emblazoned that phrase on a red t-shirt, made about 200 of them and took them to the event. The rest was, as they say, history. People asked for them, were disappointed if we ran out of their size, tried to get them for their kids; the shirt was a hit, and consequently so were we.

I myself wear the shirt proudly around the office on occasion, or to the gym, or any number of places. The reaction is always the same. Even some of my friends that are designers for a different company (Axis41) “had to have” this shirt. I guess some people are pretty excited about our little passive-agressive way of having a bit of sport. We’re just happy that people know that it came from us.

Granted, our idea wasn’t original. But we’re not here to reinvent the wheel, just make it turn in the direction we want it to go—be it for ourselves, or our clients. That’s what we do; create concepts, design, websites and more that work the right way at the right time.

JR Peterson

BoxHomeLoans.com is a website and an online application that we created for a mortgage company. Consumers can begin the application process online and explore the variables that are part of getting a mortgage.

Brandon Jeppson

Anyone familiar with the web knows about web conferencing tools. For a few years now, we have developed and continued to develop our own web conferencing tool. It was developed in Flash, is 100% web based with no software to download (meaning as long as you have access to a web browser you can use it), very user friendly and rich in interface and features. With the success of this tool, as proven by Novell and other companies, we decided to expand and market it to the general public. We call it Huddle. Click here to learn more about Huddle.

As the first step in marketing Huddle we are giving away 100 free accounts to the first 100 people who sign up before November 1, 2006. Within minutes after announcing this offer through different channels dozens of spots started filling up. If you would like to be one of the first 100 people to receive a free Huddle account on Nov. 1, click here to sign up.

We at Eli Kirk are really excited about Huddle and what it has to offer to anyone interested in web conferencing and events of most any kind. From group chat to presentations to recording and more, Huddle is the perfect solution.