If you have not heard already, MDC Partners Agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky is lending a hand to the Carrot industry to launch a $25 million campaign to position baby carrots in “sleek, junk food packaging” in order to boost sales and interests in healthy snacking in the U.S.

Though fighting the obesity epidemic that is plaguing the United States’ youth is a genuine enough underlying goal in this whole effort, I’m not sure it’s taking the most direct route. I mean come on, what about the fact that carrots are also an excellent source of beta-carotene, the key ingredient not only in it’s nutritional value and orange color, but also one of the substances most easily converted to vitamin A, raising the effectiveness of the light-sensitive area of the retina and improving eye sight….Zzzzzzz

Here, a recent TV spot was released by the Agency that depicts a gorgeous female model, cradling the beta-carotene filled sticks making them sexy, futuristic and attractive. Let us know how you’re feeling about the carrot ads, because I for one am very intrigued. If CP+B pulls this one off they’ll have conquered the same challenge Goodby, Silverstein & Partners did with their “Got Milk” campaign.

As a follow up to our respect for Old Spice’s most recent campaign featuring Isaiah Mustafa, we’ve taken interest in (along with everyone else in the industry) where Weiden and Kennedy’s creative design forces will take the brand next. Problem is, after watching this 30 second spot featuring Baltimore Ravens’ Linebacker Ray Lewis, the only feeling you’re left with is the residual sensation from scratching one’s head. Of course it’s not made to replicate the initial Isaiah Old Spice spots but has Weiden and Kennedy “jumped the shark” with this concept? Our personal suggestion… don’t fix it if it ain’t broke! They had some mileage left on the Mustafa treads. What do you think?

by Jonathan Marshall

COVERPLAY, Jacob Tyler’s web design and brand strategy client and now Shark Tank entrepreneurs appeared on ABC’s hit TV show The Shark Tank last night. COVERPLAY business partners, Allison Costa and Amy Feldman impressed the Shark Tank investors with their business savvy and the potential of their product. COVERPLAY had the investors scrambling to come up with competing investment offers in the company.

Feldman and Costa created a sanitary cover that is used to cover a child’s play pen to protect them from bacteria and illness. The original idea came to Costa while staying in hotels with her twin babies, she realized there is a definite need for a slipcover to go over a child’s playpen. The inferior playpen provided by many hotels were full of germs and stains. Jacob Tyler Creative Group created the COVERPLAY brand and filmed the Video and pitch that was used to land their Shark Tank debut.

Feldman and Costa initially asked the Sharks for $350k for a 15% stake in their company. In the Shark Tank, the two San Diego business women had multiple ensuing offers from the Sharks, including attempts from all three investors at upwards of $500,000. Finally Allison and Amy chose to go with Barbara Corcoran, who offered $350,000 at 40% interest in the company.

XTERRA Wetsuits approached Jacob Tyler in late 2008 to re-brand the company for 2009 with a new look and feel and brand campaign to cross over all collateral. The goal was to increase their brand recognition in the triathlete market as a leader in wetsuit technology enabling the athletes to swim faster and win races. Of course, the MAIN objective was to sell more wetsuits.

XTERRA had never used an agency before for their marketing collateral and Web site and it was clear when you looked at the materials. There was no cohesive identity in either their Web or print media. The team at Jacob Tyler created a campaign called “First Out” attempting to make a statement that if you wear an XTERRA wetsuit, you’ll be first out of the water.

At our first photo shoot, we creative directed shots with a focus on action and models running out of the water, unlike their previous posed studio shots. The new action shots were to be used on all collateral moving forward with the headline “First Out.”

The old version of the site was dark and out-dated. The product shots were small and the site navigation was confusing. Sections weren’t  appropriately organized, as there was no secondary navigation. Lastly, there was no call to action allowing to guide the user to make a purchase or learn about the product technology. The site re-design, focused on the technology and “First Out” campaign. Some of the main changes included were:

A call to action on the home page showcasing new or sale items quickly link to “special deals” and convert users to buyers.

Site navigation was minimized to maintain the usability “rule of 5″.

Enlarged product views with the ability to see both sides of the suit, as well as view the suit both on and off a model.

A clean white background making information easier to read and print.

A quick user guide pop-up linked from each specific product showing users how to choose a suit based on height and weight.

The site was recently launched and now we will be tracking increases in sales from our Eblast campaigns and magazine ads. The main statistic we will be following however is the difference in conversion rate to sales on the new site vs the last version. We are betting big that it will be a large increase. Check out the new site at xterrawestuits.com