Um, of course we couldn’t close out the year without sharing a look back at what transpired here at The Good Kids. From an award that caused quite a stir within the design community to the addition of three staff members we’ve got a lot to share, show and tell!
The New Kids Struck Gold
2021’s projects produced a ton of options when it came to submissions for the American Advertising Federation of North Dakota’s Addy’s. Ultimately, we submitted the following:
- Glance Spa & Salon
- Lespwa Lavi
- Mighty Missouri Coffee Company
- ND Eats
- Skeels Electric
- Valor Global Online
- And … our own Rebrand
Ashton and Ben attended the awards ceremony for their very first time, hopeful of walking away with a win, but admittedly unexpectant. To our surprise and a credit to the team’s talent, The Good Kids received the highest award of the evening – Best of Show!* We’re pretty sure others were caught off guard too – a new studio and a non-videography submission won top honors.
Additionally, a Gold ADDY in the Packaging Single Unit category was awarded for the Mighty Missouri Coffee Co. submission and we received a Gold ADDY in the Integrated Media Campaign category for our rebrand.
*Now, there was a small oops. The Federation erroneously awarded Best of Show for a category that was ineligible. While the mistake was later caught and corrected, we’re still proud that our work caught the attention of last year’s judges and was awarded highest honors.
Entries for the 2022 ADDY’s were recently submitted and we’re anxiously awaiting announcements this spring. In the meantime, staff have their fingers crossed. Don’t worry, we won’t hold our breath until then!
Ice Cream, You’ll Soon Scream
We’re been fortunate to assist a variety of businesses with brand build outs and brand refreshes. But there is one in particular that we’d like to give you the inside scoop on … Pride Dairy.
The iconic purveyor of all things good and creamy, Pride Dairy engaged us after receiving an Agriculture Products Utilization Commission (APUC) Grant, which supports the development of new and expanded uses of North Dakota agricultural products.
Keep an eye out for a fresh Pride Dairy logo, the release of a new brand of pint-sized premium ice cream and a unique and udderly delicious ice cream sandwich.
New People
Our company deepened its bench of creative, client-focused and downright Good Kids in 2022. Jackson Murphy joined the team in January. He has a keen eye for design and layout and brings experience and interest in animation.
Check out this Skeel’s walk sequence he and Ben tackled together.
Sophia Jilek started out as the Good Kids’ first intern. After a 3-month stint in that experiential role, a permanent seat was extended. We’re all thrilled she decided to stick with us! Sophia is a recent graduate of Bismarck State College and digs illustration and website design.
Ben’s better half stepped into an administrative support role in 2022. Rebecca keeps the office in order, assists with accounting, and ensures we’ve got coffee to brew and LaCroix to crack open.
New Products
One thing became clear in 2022 … clients’ diverse needs. The Good Kids created a gamut of free resources (find freebies in our blog posts) and new services.
- We now offer a Brand Audit that helps businesses identify the need to engage in a rebrand or refresh. In some cases, the Audit confirms that a company is on the right track and small tweaks could produce impactful results.
- In a quest to secure new brand marks and brand names, the Good Kids also started offering Federal Trademarking. This service includes submitting artwork, monitoring progress and navigating any roadblocks to ensuring exclusive ownership and use of your creative work.
- Remember Jackson’s personal interest? Animation! That’s another service we actively shared with clients who took us up on the offer to create sting animations, walk sequences and more.
Resourceful Resources
Newspapers across the country are shuttering, which was a cue for The Good Kids to pick up the practice.
Actually, we were overly ambitious and naive to the time and work newspaper publishing required, but we forged ahead anyway to produce the first edition of The Good Times. Temptation to throw in the towel was present, but we were committed to producing a special gift for clients to pick up and thumb through.
The newspaper hit racks and doorsteps on May 1. Our nod to the happy holiday. The paper features real and fake news that educates and entertains. Make sure to grab a copy from our office or pick up the digital edition at issuu.com/thegoodkids.
While you’re at Issuu, you might also enjoy:
Goodbye ‘22, Hello ‘23
The Good Kids experienced a lot of firsts in 2022 and are grateful that you helped them happen. We owe our success to you and hope that your brand will grow beyond all expectations in 2023. Cheers to the year ahead!
