JaxCreative

Sustainability. Ten years ago this word wasn’t part of the normal, everyday lexicon of most people living outside the hippy-dippy-artsy-fartsy bounds.

Now, if you don’t reduce, reuse and recycle, you’re a social pariah. Probably someone who still eats red meat and drinks out of Styrofoam cups. We all think we know what sustainability is, but with a little help from our Wikipedia friends, the definition is “the capacity to endure.”

In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Sustainability also jumps the fence to include “interfacing with economics through the social and ecological consequences of economic activity.”

Huh?

That’s what we said when Jax Creative was recently awarded a massive project from IFAC (International Federation of Accountants) on sustainability.

So, remind us. How do accountants and sustainability go together? Accountants are essentially bean counters. Beans are cheap and make great dips. And a main staple in most pre-school crafts.

Uh, yeah.

Thankfully, IFAC connected the dots for us by supplying the copy. All 194 pages of it. Our Herculean task was to take this information and design a comprehensive, sophisticated online report.  One that would educate and enlighten professional accountants and give them something pretty to look at.

Tiger tamed. Bean counters wowed. We’re especially proud of the awesome e-reader format. After all, accountants deserve sexy, cool features, too.

So next time you make the annual tax schlep to your accountant’s office, ask him how much he enjoyed the IFAC Framework Sustainability 2.0 report. Chances are he’ll say it totally blew his mind. Then offer you a bite of his bean burrito.

Wow. This spot is brilliant, funny and will someone please give the casting director a cupcake? Even the children never missed a beat. The writing was hysterical and being a full fledged member of the minivaner’s crew I too will walk with a little more swagger in my step. The art direction? Flawless. I especially want to give a shout-out to the opening montage shot with the Dad’s bald spot. Brilliant. Wait. Did I say that already? I’m just awestruck by such mad creative skills yo. Kudos, distant colleagues to straight owning Sienna sales with your marketing skills.

We keep hearing that the recession is over. But like private jets, vaginal rejuvenations and mixed nuts, advertising is one of the first casualties of an economic downturn. So, instead of complaining about the dirth of work out there, we’ve come up with our own positive spin on the slump.

From the Glass Half-Full Department:

1. There’s no work to clutter up your desk anymore.
2. Reduce, re-use, recycle. This now applies to gum.
3. Salon visits? Long and grey is in.
4. The word “staycation”. Nuff said.
5. Become a mac-and-cheese-atarian.
6. Nanny? Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
7. Manis and pedis have become bourgeois. Plus you know how to say “bad tipper” in south asian dialects.
8. The five-second rule for dropped food has been increased to 30 seconds. Even longer if you wipe it off on your shirt.
9. DIY not only applies to re-tiling bathroom floors, but also bikini waxing and outpatient surgeries.
10. Don’t think of it as child labor, think of it as mentoring.

We’re not whiners by nature. But if we were, advertising would have us kvetching all day and all night. There are the usual client demands. Make the logo bigger. Change the headline. Control the ebb and flow of the moon’s gravitational pull.

For us, work is anything but. And the old adage “it’s not brain surgery” is so true. Even before Lisa personally experienced seven brain surgeries, we’ve both always looked at work as an opportunity to make Mojitos out of life’s lemons — lemons, limes, whatever.

Just the other day, Jackie scratched her cornea. (Word on the street was she got into a knife fight with a print vendor over color corrections.) Since she already had to wear an eye patch, she ended up being a pirate for Halloween. Way to turn that frown upside down.

Wait. Does this make us sound annoyingly blissful and happy? Like we’re sliding down rainbows on the backs of unicorns? Did we NOT mention the seven brain surgeries and a scratched cornea?

So, on the rare occasion that we get a less-than-thrilling project or have to make the logo bigger, we’re just grateful to be working. Not to mention alive and not blind.

Goodbye Flash. Hello WordPress. Our original website — built in Flash — has served us well but, it was time for a little nip and tuck. We’re going from website to blogsite because Social Media Marketing is very slimming and we all know how traditional websites add ten pounds. Enjoy our new blog job.

We created this portfolio website for renowned L.A.-based Interior Designer, Mae Brunken. The challenge was to brand her above the rest and give her a style that would be fresh without being too edgy. The Flash-based site showcases her interiors in a visually stunning and interactive way. It’s kept current by continually updating her homepage with new and exciting work as it becomes available.

We’ve been trying to get this new blogsite up and running since December of 2008. Lisa and I knew incorporating a blog into our website (thus, blogsite) was our next big step and we’re both extremely excited about it. Well, we were in the beginning but, now our excitement is about equal to the 23rd hour of a 24hr car ride with two screaming children, a bladder full of Big Gulp and a flatulent dog. You see, we knew this endeavor meant involving only one person who we felt was up to the task. Our Chief Programming Guru Extraordinaire — yes, that’s his official title— Samuel Mueller of Semular. He’s not only packin’ mojo but, style, grace and the rare ability to speak to us creative folk about the technical mechanics of the internet in a non-condescending language. Yet, with this greatness comes a price. You see, in our business the client gets to pick two out of three options; Time, Cost and Quality. If you need a Quality project done within a quick turnaround Time, it’ll Cost you. If you don’t have the Time and can’t pay the Costs, don’t expect high Quality. If you’re like us and want high Quality but, don’t want to incur lots of Costs, it’ll take a good long Time to get your project off the ground.

So, here we are at the end of August in 2009 and still our blogsite isn’t live. We spend our time familiarizing ourselves with this Word Press program, adding as much content as possible and crossing our fingers we win the next Pick 6 lotto.

I kid you not, I saw a Coyote run from my backyard neighbors property — although I thought it was a wolf and proceeded to run through the house like a mad woman screaming “WOLF!! WOLF!!” — into my driveway and across my front lawn. He was headed straight for the duck pond… Oh, oh!

I called 911 and as it turns out, (read the following with a strong southern drawl) “Ma’am, they’re natural to these here parts”. Really? Scarsdale!? Coyote country?!? Hmmm, Sotheby’s did not happen to mention that in their real estate brochure?! Hello? I have a five year-old daughter and a 4 pound dog! So, am I no longer allowed to have them play outside? The Wildlife Conservation person from upstate New York told me to just make sure to keep my garbage up and if it becomes a consistent problem to call my local wildlife control. Keeping my garbage up? No problem. Dealing with my 10 year-old son who wanted to go after him on his bike? Priceless.