Here’s a good cause that you might want to know about. One of our favorite charities, World Bicycle Relief, is conducting a special appeal called DOUBLEbikeMATCH. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous donor.

So why not make ‘em dig deep?

You give $10, they give $10. You send a whole bike ($134 - seriously, isn’t that insane?), the angel gives one, too. That can really add up with all our friends, and the donations will help healthcare workers travel farther, and allow families to carry food and water and more.

If you’re feeling giving this holiday season, go to this site and donate today . They make nice gifts, too.

P.S. - We designed this campaign. Show a little love for the crew.

Tired of the same old Holiday station that plays the same Kenny G, Celine Dion and those other songs that make you want to throw the radio out a window? You know, the ones with the same song rotation since Halloween. (I’m looking at you 93.9 The Lite!).

Well we have the cure for the holiday blues…the WOXY.com Holiday Mixer. WOXY is the official radio station of Stalelife, Inc. (we are big supporters of the Cincinnati station) and the holiday mixer puts us in a great mood. It’s the perfect blend of old classics like The Waitresses (Christmas Wrapping) and Run-DMC (Christmas in Hollis), cult gems like Bob & Doug McKenzie (12 Days of Christmas) and new independent artists like (Hey Guys! It’s Christmas Time!) and The Raveonettes (The Christmas Song).

And if you want to take some of this wonderful music home, WOXY has partnered with the music blog Hard To Find A Friend to bring you the holiday compilation Peace On Eatrth: Vol 2 that benefits the Children Of Uganda Fund.

So visit our friends at The Future of Rock n Roll, give them a listen and stop by their store to pick up some holiday gifts and help support the children and one kick-ass music station.

Happy listening!

Words can’t describe how much we dig The Chicago Tribune. The first-rate journalism and sports coverage, our clients in marketing, @ColonelTribune and @dan360man on Twitter – everything about the Tribune is appealing to us. Most of all is their pledge to keep our planet green.

Did you know that The Chicago Tribune averages 40% recycled stock? That equates to 116,377 metric tons of paper saved every year (and probably a few forests). Plus they use soy-based ink, bio-diesel in their delivery trucks and they offer a greener way to pay your bill. Easy Pay is their automatic service that eliminates monthly mailings and the need for checks.

We were approached by our client to create a mailer that would encourage people to sign up:

Our creative is hard-working, roll-up-your-sleeves direct response - a corporate communications envelope (6×9 kraft) that will be opened, crystal clear messaging and a fast call-to-action. The Tribune folks also threw in a solid premium – a re-usable grocery bag.

The letter is clean, with bold subheads that encourage scanning and instant understanding of the exclusive subscriber message. We’re hoping the results match our previous successes with the Tribune.

If you subscribe to the Chicago Tribune and get the above mailer, be sure to sign up for Easy Pay. Being “green” is practical choice that helps the world, and could be an easy part of your every day. Plus that bag is HUGE (we use ours all the time).

You may recall that we created poster concepts for the The Best of the Midwest Awards. The overall winner from our unofficial poll of the three concepts was number one, which ended up being the organizer’s favorite, too.

^ Click image to enlarge ^

There were some subtle modifications to the original – for instance the zippo/camera was removed and the cascading line elements now resemble actual film, but overall the initial creative remains intact.

If you’re a fan of independent film, be sure to get your tickets right away – the BIG show is next Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008. All profits will help fund next year’s awards.

Professional hockey is on it’s way to Austin, TX! Well, it used to be here in the form of the Ice Bats, but now legitimate NHL hockey is a year away.

If you live in the live music capital of the world, you may have seen these OOH and Banner ads:

A couple people we polled wondered if the Dallas Stars were moving to the ATX – keeping the same name as the NHL team will lead to that confusion. But this is an all new AHL team – the “farm” system for the big boys.

We immediately wondered about the campaign - who are they trying to attract - the rock concert crowd?  They do mix with true hockey fans – after all, we’re fans of both.

But would it be better to appeal to the people who love hockey, first? Generate a buzz with die hard fans of the sport by showing players scoring or blocking shots? Or even have the stick blade point in the same direction for the ads? (hockey fans/players notice these things)

Either way, glad The Texas Stars are coming to town. We might have to get some corporate seats (and maybe even make an appeal to the marketing director).