If you’ve visited our website recently, you may have noticed our new look. We’re really excited to announce that we relaunched our website earlier this year with a fresh look.

Some of the new features we incorporated into the site:

• Modern and clean design using HTML5 & CSS3, allowing for advanced features and enhanced flexibility
• Built for any device using responsive web design utilizing the 996 grid
• Custom homepage slider
• Online chat
• Email subscriptions
• Updated portfolio
• Refreshed blog

We hope you’ll take a few minutes to look around at our site and perhaps some of our portfolio examples.

It seems like having a business presence on social media is the latest gold rush. But is this just hype, or is there actually something to it?

Yelp announced that based on a study conducted by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), businesses who have claimed their free listing on Yelp are generating an average of $8,000 in revenue a year. This is directly related to new business coming through Yelp. Additionally, businesses who paid for advertising on Yelp generated almost 3 times as much.

Yelp isn’t the only social network delivering business revenue. Businesses that are participating in the social space are seeing increased revenue from Facebook, Twitter and newer channels, like Pinterest.

Don’t miss out.

BCG also stated that local, small business are only spending 3% of their advertising budget online – the rest of the budget is going to traditional media. That probes the question – where are the customers? Are they looking at these traditional mediums, or are they searching online? According to a recent study, all 97% of consumers now use online media to shop locally.

If only 3% of small business ad spend is being spent online, but 97% of consumers use online to find a small business – well, that just doesn’t add up.

Is your business involved in digital marketing and social media? Have you seen the positive effects it can have? If not, contact us today to see what kind of revenue we can help you bring in.

This past Saturday night, our team had the privilege of attending the annual AAF Hermes Awards Ceremony. This is an amazing night, where the best of Dayton’s advertising professionals come together and celebrate their achievements. Over 400 people attended this year’s event, held at the Dayton Marriott.

In addition to all of the agencies and other professionals being recognized, this year special recognition was given to Sara McCatherine, the director of AAF Dayton. Sara was awarded the AAF Silver Medal, a recognition of an individual making outstanding contributions to advertising and who have been active in furthering the industry’s standards, creative excellence and responsibility. Congratulations, Sara!

Two of our projects were honored with Silver awards. Our web design for Wright State University – Hotspot placed Silver in the Elements of Advertising – Responsive Web Design category. The Wright State University HotSpot showcased the experiences that living on campus brings to students. The HotSpot was designed as a showpiece on a touch-screen display at open houses for prospective students and parents. Viewers could touch any box, which would then expand and take you to external websites, if selected. Additionally, viewers could scan a QR code to visit the HotSpot on their mobile phone.

Another project for Wright State Instagram Scavenger Hunt also placed silver in the Digital Advertising – Games category. This was a really fun project where students were assigned teams based on their residence halls and took photos from a pre-designated list. Students uploaded photos to Instagram and/or Twitter and included two hashtags; “#wsuscavenger” to enter the contest, and a second specific to their room assignment, such as “#JH1” for Jacob Hall, First Floor. The website allowed students and visitors to view submitted photos and served as a checkpoint to see which photos had been collected. Floors with the most photos collected by the end date won items like free Chipotle, suites at basketball games, bookstore gift cards, etc.

Both projects came out of several enthusiastic brainstorming sessions with the client, determining what the target audience (Wright State college students) would be most engaged with – in these cases, their cell phones and the popular social media platform, Instagram.

On both projects, Carla Hale was project manager, Paul Garcher was graphic designer, and Josh Cope was programmer. We are very proud of our team and can’t wait to see what next year holds!

Pictured Left to right: Paul Garcher, Designer; Dan Bertsos, Director of Residence Life and Housing at Wright State; Carla Hale, Project Manager; Josh Cope, Programmer.

Pictured Left to right: Josh Cope, Programmer; Carla Hale, Project Manager; Brad Cullman, President; Paul Garcher, Designer.

Quick takes are brief interviews with the C3 staff getting their insight into recently developed projects. Today, April Pollock answers questions about the website for Mel-O-Dee Restaurant & Catering in New Carlisle, Ohio.

What were the main objectives for the website?

Prior to the launch of the new site, Mel-O-Dee Restaurant did not have a web presence. The goal was to establish a presence that allowed patrons to easily access menus, promote the new catering venture and allow customers to submit a carryout or catering order online. We wanted to make sure that the history of the establishment was captured as well.

What can you share of the graphic design of the website?

For the overall feel of the design, we captured their landmark sign and worked it into the logo, and pulled the color palette from the interior of the building. We used those elements they are known for such as the musical notes and worked them into the essence of the site.

What is your favorite feature of the site?

Personally my favorite feature is that the site is responsive. For a restaurant, it is important for the menus and information to be mobile friendly as I know I often check this out on my phone if I am in the area and interested in a new spot.

Quick Takes – Fry/Straka Landing Page

Quick takes are brief interviews with the C3 staff getting their insight into recently developed projects. Today, designer Paul Garcher answers questions about the newly launched landing page for Fry/Straka – a Global Golf Course Design firm.

What were the design objectives for this landing page?

Fry/Straka is a new partnership, but the principals of this company have a great deal of experience in the golf course design industry. They have designed courses all over the world, so we wanted to make sure that the visitor quickly sees the work they have done internationally. This was done primarily through the photography.

Speaking of the photography, would you say that is central to the site?

Absolutely. As you can see the design is fairly simplistic, but in this business the visual appeal of the golf courses is critical. The client provided us with some spectacular photography and that really determined how we decided to lay the page out.

What is your favorite feature of the page?

It’s definitely the main photo area…that really makes the page. The site is built responsively and re-sizes beautifully even with an image area that large.

Is there more to come?

Yes there is! As I mentioned this is a new business venture, and this landing page gives the client an online presence, but we will be developing a full website with galley pages and even more spectacular photography! Be sure to check back soon to see the website in its entirety.