After working in the media, marketing and publishing industries for a decade, in 2007 I founded CONRIC PR & Marketing with one goal in mind—to help the unemployed start successful businesses during the economic crisis.

In the early days, our agency primarily served budding entrepreneurs by creating and implementing successful strategic business and marketing plans. Today, CONRIC continues to keep the success of its clients its main focus, providing creative and innovative branding, public relations, advertising, marketing and web development to new and established local and national companies.

Thank you for this honor! Receiving this award of distinction is a testament to our team’s commitment and passion for helping our clients succeed. Behind every successful campaign are countless hours of market research and strategic planning that help our clients rise above the competition. This Muse Award encourages our team to continue on its path of excellence.

Our team was given the challenge to create a captivating advertisement for a national manufacturer of shelf stable juices that could stand against industry heavyweights and national competitors within a leading foodservice publication. The client had never previously advertised and sought to gain market awareness by promoting the unique benefits of its juice products. Size constraints meant the ad had to elicit reader attention through strong sensory connections based on sight and taste.

We achieved these connections through the portrayal of a vibrant juice product bursting with flavor, surrounded by lush fruits, using a distinctly tropical color palette to inspire thirst. Quite simply, we wanted the reader to almost taste the ad. A smart headline and accent copy drove home the benefits of the product. The result was a collaborative effort from initial presentation to execution and successful implementation. Our client and our team were so pleased with the results of the advertisement that we decided to enter it for a Muse Award.

Size constraints loomed as the greatest obstacle. We knew the ad not only had to command reader attention as efficiently as possible but stand alongside or rise above competing messages from national brands with larger space. It ultimately came down to balance – maximizing the visual draw through vibrant imagery and limiting copy to just the key points, then balancing how those two components could best interact within the space allotted. We selected an eye-catching, bold headline font to maximize the minimal messaging in limited space.

Our top three favorite things about the creative industry all involve change. The first is that the landscape of design is always evolving. Whether it’s through emergent technology or the ephemeral lifecycles of style and trends, our field seems to change on an almost weekly basis. New creative ground is broken so consistently that you never truly know what to expect next. Yet within this constant shifting, our second favorite thing is that the foundation of good design remains rooted in the same basic principles.

Ultimately, good design involves the successful interaction of a message or idea with the human mind. Though the creative process and the elements within a piece might change, the intent of a successful interaction is always the same. Countless paths may lead to successful design, as evidenced by the decades of legendary work that continue to inspire us today. That speaks to our third favorite thing about the creative industry – there is always inspiration to be found, and it always inspires us to achieve more and produce better work for our clients.

We would tell them to keep in mind that we are all still students in the field- constantly learning, growing and adapting to new challenges both in our work and in the world at large. Study and draw inspiration from those around you and those who came before. Just don’t forget to innovate rather than imitate.