Steam Studios | 5620 Pats Pt. Winter Park, FL 32792 | Visit us at: www.steamstudios.com
 

In lieu of our usual funny headline, Steam Studios presents a Public Service Announcement

Tomorrowís the big day - Election Day 2004. And we humbly ask you to join us in making our voices heard.

Weíre not going to ask you to vote for this guy or that guy, this issue or that issue. Whoever or whatever you want to vote for is your decision and yours alone. But the more people that vote, regardless of their choices, the louder our collective voice becomes. Tomorrow we get to remind the politicians in DC that they work for us, and that weíre paying attention.

Vote the issues. Vote your conscience. Vote for anything and everything that you feel affects you.

Please, just vote. Thank you.

- Steve and Sam
 

Samson and Vanessa forgo Halloween festivities for trip to France.
Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin reportedly ìbummed outî.

Samson and his blushing bride Vanessa are honeymooning in France at this very moment. Sam will be back in the Steam offices on November 5th, so until then, any and all questions/ inquiries/ hate mail should be directed to Steve McCain.
(407.421.0733 or steve@steamstudios.com).

In other news... 98.7% of the local populace had no idea that Steve was dressed as Rías Al Ghul, obscure 70s-era Batman villain, for Halloween. This surpasses Steveís previously held record of a 96.4% non-recognition rate when he dressed as Harry Potter a full year before the first film was released. DC Comics has refused to comment.
 

Taglines

Pop quiz, hotshot: what are the slogans for Nike, Campbellís Soup or Burger King?

If you answered with ìJust Do Itî, ìMmm...Mmmm... goodî, or ìHave it Your Wayî, you are witness to the power of the well-constructed tagline.

A tagline (or slogan) is the phrase that helps consumers connect your companyís name to your company marketing or brand message. In English this translates to: Words to remember your company by.

Now weíre not saying that a tagline has to convey EVERYTHING about your biz, it just has to work as a reinforcement of an idea within the mind of the consumer. For instance, Nikeís ìJust Do Itî immediately evokes images of athleticism, striving for perfection, and the thrill of competition. It does not tell you ìHey, we make athletic shoes and clothingî. Nikeís tagline kickstarts the game of mental connect-the-dots beginning with ìJust do itî and ending with you saying to yourself ìIím going to buy some Nike shoes when i finally get around to just doing itî.

So how do you write a memorable tagline? Here are some simple rules to remember:

1. Speak to your market. If youíre selling athletic shoes, speak in the language of athletics, competition, and fitness.

2. Make it emotional. Find out what motivates those athletes and craft your message accordingly. And instead of going for the brain ìOur shoes are great because they cost over $100 a pairî, go for the heart , ìJust do itî. This will help consumers make an emotional connection with your company, as opposed to a product line that could be gone by next season.

3. Make it positive. No one ever bought ìthe athletic shoe for losers and cry-babies.î Think about it.

4. Make it personal. Your business is unique and itís up to you to let the consumer know it. So ask yourself this: Why do we do what we do? If you can get to the root of what compels you to make great athletic shoes, you can impart that on your consumer.

5. Keep it simple. 7 words MAX is a great rule of thumb. Anything more than that risks being too convoluted for instant memorizing. And while 7 may seem like an arbitrary number, itís not. It's been proven that when reading any given stand-alone phrase, memory retention of any words after the seventh decreases by 50%. And by stand-alone phrase, we mean anything not written in paragraph form (like a tagline). Which is good because that would mean EVERYTHING after the seventh word in this newsletter would be irrelevant. And thatís not the case, right?

And that about covers it. Apply these simple rules to your company tagline and watch as consumers become mindless zombies driven to your brand. Ah, don't you just love the smell of capitalism in the morning?

Kid Robot: www.kidrobot.com
G.I. Joe is sooooo over. Enter the ultra-cool creations of underground toymakers (yes, you read that right) like Michael Lau and Jason Choy. Merging classic toy-making technologies with a graffiti-inspired, urban aesthetic, these toys are guaranteed to give your cubicle a much-needed ìtoo cool for schoolî vibe.

City Creator: www.citycreator.com
Are you ceaselessly working? Not goofing off enough? Have we got the solution for you! While away hours, possibly days, of your life building cute pixel cities. Warning!!! This is even more addictive than playing Tetris. Not suitable for anyone who likes being a productive member of society.

Same Difference: View Same Difference
Words canít express how much we LOVE Derek Kirk Kimís ìwebcomic experimentî. A tale of two Korean-American twenty-somethings who learn lessons about life, love, and ìgrowing upî over the course of one weekend, Same Difference is bittersweet and mesmerizing. Please note: Thereís no nudity or violence in it, but it does deal with adult themes (read: bad words. gasp!) so if youíre uncomfortable with that sort of thing, feel free to stick with ìThe Family Circusî.
 

To our existing customers, just in time for the holidays:

10% off any new project between Nov. 1, 2004 - Dec. 31, 2004!

Just reference code: Holiday_Ex_04 the next time you need design work from us. Then with those savings you could buy us some Kid Robot toys! (Or not... whatever.)

Note: This discount does not apply to current projects that have yet to be finished or to recurrently invoiced projects, such as website updates.
 

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