MTV Networks Entertainment Group Picks CustomShow

MTV Networks Entertainment Group chose Sales Graphics to design their 2010 Digital Upfront presentation. They're also using CustomShow to deliver and manage the slides across their entire salesforce.

Incorporating sophisticated designs that enhance the individual brands as well as the over-arching Entertainment Group, the new Digital Upfront presentation helps tell the compelling stories of Spike, Game Trailers, Comedy Central, and Atom. With interactive examples of all the great content and animated designs that bring home their great numbers, MTV Network Entertainment Group's Digital Upfront presentation is a winner in 2010!

Sales Graphics' Sponsors LuxuryLab Innovation Forum

Sales Graphics is proud to be the presentation sponsor for the LuxuryLab's first-ever Innovation Forum this Friday. To register for this event, click here. Held at TheTimesCenter, the forum will host thought leaders who will share never-seen-before research, trends, best practices, and a passion for ideas. A range of speakers will give presentations which will leave attendees with a well-rounded understanding of the current crossroads between media, technology and luxury.

Sales Graphics has been providing luxury brands with dynamic and engaging presentations, videos and marketing materials for over 50 years. As the presentation partner of choice for luxury and media brands, we are excited to work with LuxuryLab to help make the Innovation Forum a success and we look forward to it becoming an annual event for luxury brand marketers.

Uncovering Steve Job's Presentation Secrets

BusinessWeek contributor and communications coach Carmine Gallo has a interesting article and book about how Steve Jobs creates such effective and engaging presentations. Many of the tips that Gallo reveals from his study of Jobs' presentations are things that Sales Graphics' DesignStudio has been putting into practice for years—especially designing slides that are"devoid of bullet points". Easier said than done, but simple, focused slide design results in effective presentations and clear communications.

Bravo Launches Digital Roadshow with Sales Graphics

Bravo Media launched their Digital Roadshow presentation today. Designed by Sales Graphics' DesignStudio and built in CustomShow presentation software, Bravo's Digital Roadshow presents the full range of their digital capabilities and gives their sales team a powerful tool for presenting, explaining and selling Bravo's rich set of digital opportunities.

Built around a set of detailed and engaging demo videos that explain even the most complicated digital opportunities clearly and simply, the Digital Roadshow allows teams of television and digital salespeople to show advertisers the complete picture of Bravo's digital products and opportunities. And since it's in CustomShow, it's easy to use and easy to update for their entire sales team.

Glamour's 2009 Top 10 College Women Event Video

Glamour Magazine called on Sales Graphics' DesignStudio to create the video elements for their 2009 Top 10 College Women event. An inspirational event like this needed an inspirational and exciting video to open up the ceremony and a strong graphic style to tie together the ten video bios documented each of the exceptional women honored at the event. Sales Graphics' DesignStudio created a set of videos fit the bill.

Fox Cable Sports Signs Up for CustomShow

Fox Cable Sports Ad Sales, which includes Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports Net, FUEL TV and SPEED, has become the most recent member of the Fox Networks Group to adopt CustomShow as their presentation platform. Working closely with Sales Graphics' DesignStudio, Fox Cable Sports will be taking full advantage of CustomShow's design and management capabilities, including creating animated Flash backgrounds for each of the four networks and combining all of their presentations into a single managed library.

Sales Graphics Wins 2009 Stevie Award for Best Sales Video

Sales Graphics was honored last night by the American Business Awards with the 2009 Stevie Award for Best Sales Video of Year for our Glamour.TV Sales Video. Sales Graphics' DesignStudio, working closely with the great Creative Services team at Glamour Magazine, created an exciting video that showed off Glamour's great online offering in a 4-minute video that sales people showed on DVDs, laptops and online.

We are always thrilled to receive awards like the Stevie that recognize all of the hard work that our designers and clients put in to create projects like the Glamour.TV video.

min's Sales Executive of the Year Awards

min announced their Sales Executive of Year Awards today and we were excited, but not surprised, to see many of our clients listed among the honorees. Working closely with our clients' sales teams, we have seen their exceptional work close up. And the great work our clients do influences the work that we do at Sales Graphics. Our CustomShow Presentation Software has been made better over the years through feedback, input and suggestions from sales teams like these. And our DesignStudio projects benefit immensely from the creativity and insight of sales teams across the country.

So congratulations to the Sales Graphics' clients who are among this year's honorees:

• Lisa Hughes, The New Yorker
• Women's Health
• Men's Health
• Harper's Bazaar
• The Parenting Group

Scientific American Gets Curious with Help from Sales Graphics

Scientific American is curious about how things began. So curious, in fact, that they're dedicating an entire issue to the origins of things. And to help launch this First Annual Origins Issue, Scientific American teamed up with Sales Graphics' DesignStudio to ask some experts on curiosity how to make this issue as interesting and exciting as possible.

This was one of the most enjoyable video projects we've worked on. The editors and the kids were great to work with and everyone had a good time. The result was this promotional video:

Sales Graphics a Finalist for the 2009 American Business Awards

Sales Graphics was honored today as a Finalist for the 2009 American Business Awards for Interactive/Multimedia Sales Presentations and Sales Videos. The projects nominated as finalists were the NBC News Upfront Presentation, the Glamour.TV Sales Video and the Glamour Reel Moments Video.

While we are always honored to receive awards that recognize the great work our designers, developers and clients do, The American Business Awards are particularly satisfying because they recognize not just the design excellence but the business effectiveness of our projects. As presentation specialists, we understand that design is only good if it's effective. Presentations are meant to inform, persuade and activate an audience and if great design can further that goal, great.

Sales Graphics' DesignStudio focuses on effective design that enhances our clients messages and helps them achieve their goals, and successful clients are the best recognition of that. Awards are good too, though.

Sales Graphics' DesignStudio Wins International Creative Award

Sales Graphics' DesignStudio was awarded a Bronze 2009 Summit Creative Award in this year's Summit International Awards Competition for the "Glamour Reel Moments" Sales Video produced for Glamour Magazine. The international panel of judges was made up of agency and design professionals from around the world.

We're thrilled to receive the award as a recognition of the hard work and talent of our designers and to recognize the great programs and collaboration of our partners at Glamour Magazine.

Here's the award-winning video:

To see more examples of Sales Graphics' DesignStudio video work, take a look at our Portfolio.

Esquire Magazine Presents in Style with Sales Graphics

Esquire Magazine joined its sister Hearst publications Good Housekeeping and Harper's Bazaar in bringing in Sales Graphics for their ad sales presentations. Working with Sales Graphics' DesignStudio and powering their presentations with CustomShow Presentation Software, Esquire is giving their sales team the tools they need to give great presentations.

NBC News Networks Makes News with Sales Graphics

NBC News Networks, which includes NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, Meet the Press and MSNBC, has brought Sales Graphic in to create their cross-platform upfront presentation for 2009. With a presentation that focused on their great content and unrivaled technology, NBC News Networks needed an upfront presentation with great design and unrivaled technology as well. Sales Graphics delivered both. Using the latest video and interactive technology, Sales Graphics DesignStudio created a rich-media presentation experience that was still customizable and easy to use.

Travelzoo Awards Travel in Style with Sales Graphics DesignStudio

Travelzoo has selected Sales Graphics DesignStudio to produce the graphics and animations for their 2009 Travelzoo Awards.  With Hugh Jackman setting a new standard for award shows this year at the Academy Awards, Travelzoo knew they had to really wow the audience this year. Establishing the Tzoos as one of the most prestigious awards in the travel industry, Travelzoo wanted to make sure that the awards event was fun, professional and gave all the nominees and winners the kudos they deserve for all their hard work and creativity.

Prime Access Presents with Sales Graphics

When Prime Access wanted to add a high-end presentation to their proposal for one of their clients, they turned to Sales Graphics' DesignStudio to create an impactful and branded presentation experience for their client. Prime Access Inc. is a full-service agency that specializes in Urban Majority™ advertising services, offering unique access to African American, Hispanc, gay and urban youth consumers. Working with the DesignStudio, Prime Access can tap into our deep understanding of presentation design and convert their client's selling strategy into an effective presentation story and design. Working together, Prime Access and Sales Graphics make a great team.

Comcast Sports Group Scores with CustomShow and Sales Graphics

Comcast Sports Group, Comcast's 10 regional sports networks, has already put points on the board for 2009 by signing up with Sales Graphics to provide CustomShow Presentation software to its national sales team. Using CustomShow's powerful presentation creation and management system, Comcast Sports Group will be hitting home runs all year long with great presentations that are always up-to-date, accurate and exciting. With a nationwide sales force serving 10 regions, Comcast Sports Group needed a presentation solution that would allow them to manage and control sales materials effectively across the country. With all of the great programming and regional-specific content, they also needed a presentation system that was powerful enough to show all their video and flexible enough to be customized for each pitch in each region. CustomShow fit the bill and made the team for 2009.

Harper's Bazaar Subscribes to CustomShow for '09

Harper's Bazaar will use CustomShow for their sales presentations in 2009. By working with Sales Graphics to create and develop their 2009 sales materials in Sales Graphics' CustomShow software, Harper's Bazaar will be giving their sales team the best presentation tool available. Joining Good Housekeeping as Hearst titles using CustomShow, Harper's Bazaar will use CustomShow to manage, update and present their magazine to advertisers across the country. Now their presentations will be as well-dressed as the models in their magazine.

Glamour Celebrates Reel Moment's 5th Anniversary

As Glamour Magazine celebrates five years of their hugely successful Reel Moments Short Film Festival, they knew they needed a great marketing piece to take to potential sponsors that would show the full scope of this great sponsorship opportunity. Having worked with Sales Graphics' DesignStudio on several great videos in the past, we worked together to create a visually stunning and detailed overview of the highlights of the last five years of Glamour's Reel Moments. A "reel moment" in itself, the Glamour Reel Moments 5th Anniversary video will be a great tool for salespeople to showcase one of Glamour's premiere events and sponsorship opportunities.

The Parenting Group Launches New GP

The Parenting Group launched their new General Presentation today with a new look, new message and a great new intro video for their CustomShow Presentation. Using CustomShow to manage, present and share presentations for all of the print and digital titles, The Parenting Group gave their sales team a powerful new tool to reach and engage with advertisers across the country. Working with our DesignStudio designers, The Parenting Group was able to fully realize their new brand look and feel with a great new design. Sales Graphics also produced a series of videos of real moms sharing their experiences and insights into being a mom. By incorporating these videos into the presentation, The Parenting Group's salespeople can bring these moms with them on every sales call.

The Parenting Group really does "get moms." And they also get great sales presentations!

DesignStudio Video Boosts Newsstand Sales for EW

Marketing is all about making an impression, producing a reaction and driving people to action. Much of what Sales Graphics' DesignStudio does, like creating impactful videos and sales presentations, can only be measured qualitatively with terms like "looks great" or "really engaging." However, we are always looking for opportunities to quantitatively measure the impact of our design work and it's great when we are able to get specific results back from the design work that we do.

Entertainment Weekly recently gave us the opportunity to see that kind of measurable results with a video project for their newsstand sales. We had originally created an exciting intro video for their ad sales presentation that really wowed advertisers and started the presentation off with a bang. Once EW's consumer marketing team saw the video, they asked if they could have a version to try out at newsstands. So Sales Graphics' DesignStudio created a version of the video that had a newsstand call to action. The results were amazing:

"I wanted to let you know that the video you helped create for the newsstand video test in the San Fran airport was a huge success, lifting sales 137%. The newsstand team is rolling out the video to an additional 15 locations. Thanks for all your help and creative genius!" - EW Consumer Marketing

This kind of measurable result is what Sales Graphics is always striving for and working towards with every design project we produce.

Golf Digest Gets Ready for 2008's Hot List

Every year Golf Digest published its Hot List of the best golf equipment available. To get advertisers excited about this year's great-looking Hot List issue and to remind them to get in it while they can, Golf Digest came to Sales Graphics' DesignStudio to produce an exciting online video with a strong call to action.  Even though we doesn't make golf equipment, by getting advertisers excited about advertising in Golf Digest's Hot List 2008 issue, we think our DesignStudio should be on this year's Hot List!

MSNBC Gains Momentum with Sales Graphics

MSNBC has been gaining momentum and closing the gap with it's competitors, and they turned to Sales Graphics' DesignStudio to help get the message out. Our DesignStudio created an exciting email blast video that MSNBC sent first to its own salespeople and then encouraged them to forward it on to clients and advertisers to let everyone know the good news!

Smithsonian Media Goes Traveling

Smithsonian Media is reaching out to travel advertisers and they've come to Sales Graphics' DesignStudio to help them do that. We created an ad sales video showcasing the extensive travel content across all of Smithsonian Media's properties, including Smithsonian Magazine, goSmithsonian.com and the Smithsonian Channel. "Just about every story we run is a travel story," explained Carey Winfrey, the Editor of Smithsonian Magazine. Sales Graphics' DesignStudio created a video that helps the Smithsonian's sales team effectively present all of their great media platforms and highlights the fantastic travel content across all of them.

Glamour.TV Unveils 2009 Lineup

Glamour.TV announced their 2009 lineup with a great new video produced by Sales Graphics' DesignStudio. With such a compelling, video-based product to sell, Glamour's sales team needed much more than a PowerPoint presentation to get advertisers excited about this great sponsorship opportunity. So, in order to take full advantage of their great content and strong brand, Glamour called upon Sales Graphics to put together a video that showcased the engaging and unique content that will shown on Glamour.TV in 2009. The video was a huge hit, firing up the sales team to go sell and demonstrating to advertisers the power of the content and brand of Glamour.TV.

In Bad Times, You Need To Do Things Better

According to Interbrand and BusinessWeek Magazine, during a recession brands need to spend harder to "not get distracted from their long-term brand-building efforts" or"to get a leg up on weakened rivals." However, the most important piece of advice from BusinessWeek's annual "Best Global Brands" article came from Martin Puris, the creator of BMW's "The Ultimate Driving Machine" campaign. "In good times, people are less apt to try new things. In bad times, they have to start to do things better."

Sales Graphics has been working with clients to help them do just that: sell better, present better, track better and manage better. With Sales Graphics' DesignStudio and CustomShow Software, our clients have access to better creative, better technology and better tracking and asset management. In good times, those are good things to have. But in bad times, they're necessities.

Newsweek's Women & Leadership Conference

Newsweek Magazine's annual Women & Leadership Conference and issue kicks off in October. And to kick off their ad sales efforts surrounding this great franchise Newsweek came to Sales Graphics and our DesignStudio to create a video promotion for potential advertisers. With editor interviews, footage from last year's event and testimonials from satisfied sponsors and partners, the video helps bring across the unique value that Newsweek and the Women & Leadership Conference bring to advertisers.

Sales Graphics Named One of America's 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies

Inc. Magazine today ranked Sales Graphics Corp. on its annual ranking of the 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the country. The list is the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy - America's independent-minded entrepreneurs. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S. economy.

Sales Graphics  is proud to be among this elite list of exciting and future-thinking companies. Unlike most of them, however, Sales Graphics is not a new start-up but a 50-year old company with a long history of providing innovative presentation solutions and industry-leading customer support and service. With a history of successful projects and satisfied customers, Sales Graphics recognizes that successful growth only comes from providing the  best products and services possible to our clients and we look forward to another year of growth, innovation and satisfied clients. 

GENERATE Powered By Sales Graphics and CustomShow

GENERATE, a new kind of agency creating "new content for a new generation", has hired Sales Graphics to develop a new kind of sales presentation. Taking advantage of Sales Graphics' DesignStudio and CustomShow Presentation software, GENERATE will present their broad range of quality content and content creators to the advertising community to develop branded entertainment that will reach consumers across all of today's many media platforms. Combining quality content with innovative technology and marketing, GENERATE hopes to redefine the role of content and content creation in tomorrow's media environment. And combining quality design with innovative technology and marketing, Sales Graphics hopes to do the same for presentations. 

Our Fearless Sales Graphics Designers!

In a testament to the workplace bonhomie at Sales Graphics, Purva, Mike, Roberta and David all jumped out of an airplane together on Sunday. Whether it was a show of esprit de corps or a double-dog dare gone awry, it made for exciting water-cooler conversation the next day. And most importantly, all of them were back at their desks on Monday morning none the worse for the wear. Congratulations!

Sales Graphics Gets Loving + Company to Help Spread the Word

Sales Graphics has engaged Brad Daves at Loving + Company to help spread the word about not just all the great things we've been doing at Sales Graphics for the last 50+ years but also all the exciting new things that are coming up. Between the great creative work our DesignStudio has been doing for our clients and the exciting new developments we're working on for CustomShow, we think there's going to be a lot of work for Brad Daves and Loving + Company in the upcoming months. So stay tuned!

DIRECTV Kicks Off Summer Sales Training

DIRECTV launched their summer sales training event today with a training presentation designed by Sales Graphics' DesignStudio and built in CustomShow. Working closely with their Local Strategic Partners, DIRECTV hit the road with an engaging and educational presentation to empower their sales partners to communicate DIRECTV's value and benefits directly to consumers. And with a whirlwind national schedule, DIRECTV's training staff needed a presentation system that was both reliable and flexible enough to meet the demands of their taxing training schedule.

CustomShow Showcased at NCTA 2008

CustomShow was on display in New Orleans throughout The Cable Show 2008. But instead of having our own booth, we relied on our clients to do the presenting. Over 25 exhibitors at this year's NCTA Cable Show relied on CustomShow to present their content and brand at the biggest cable event of the year.

Preparing all of the presentations for NCTA this year was more than a full-time job for Sales Graphics' DesignStudio, but the results were well worth the effort. We made sure that the new seasons, new shows and new media opportunities were ready to be presented for many of the biggest names in cable television.

DesignStudio Wins Top International Creative Award

Sales Graphics' DesignStudio was award a 2008 Summit Creative Award today for its work on pcAmerica's Restaurant Pro Express microsite. The Summit Creative Awards recognize and celebrate accomplishments of small and medium sized advertising agencies and other creative groups with annual billings of $30 million or less. Over the last fifteen years the competition has established itself as the premier arbiter of creative excellence for firms of this size.

Playboy TV Unveils CustomShow Presentation

Playboy TV unveiled their new CustomShow Presentation and Library to their national sales team today to rave reviews. With a sexy design provided by Sales Graphics' DesignStudio, Playboy TV has a complete set of presentations that are as unique and engaging as the channel itself. With examples of marketing collateral, interactive VOD interfaces and success stories of recent deployments, the Playboy TV sales team is ready to go out and wow the marketplace.

Sales Graphics Wins Big at Horizon Interactive Awards!

The Horizon Interactive Awards, a leading international interactive media awards competition, announced the 2008 award winners to highlight this year's "best of the best" in interactive media production.

Sales Graphics was recognized for excellence in Business to Business Marketing with three Gold Awards, two for CustomShow Presentations and one for a Flash Microsite.

• Entertainment Weekly's 2007 General Presentation - Gold Award, Business to Business
  
• Newsweek Magazine's "The Connection Point" Presentation - Gold Award, Business to Business
  
• PC America's Restaurant Pro Express Website - Gold Award, Business to Business
  

The seventh annual, international competition saw just over 1,000 entries from 20 countries around the world. "The 2008 competition was the most competitive to date. The work in this year's competition is at such a high level that the judges really had their work cut out for them," said Mike Sauce, founder of the Horizon Interactive Awards. "All of the winning entries displayed a high level of sophistication, aesthetic creativity, technical excellence and clear purpose."

All three of these projects were close collaborations between our clients, Sales Graphics' DesignStudio and Sales Graphics' Technology Team. We're very proud to receive this honor and look forward to continued excellence in 2008!

Men's Health Grooming Awards 2008

Men's Health today announced the winners of it's annual Men's Health Grooming Awards 2008. And to kick off the presentation, they used a smooth video created by Sales Graphics' DesignStudio. Already a CustomShow user, Men's Health recognized the value of creating a video piece that could both be used for the event and added to their CustomShow Library to help present the event to advertisers and sponsors. And the best part about it that everyone came away looking great!

Portfolio Debuts CustomShow Presentation Library

Portfolio debuted its CustomShow Presentation Library to its international sales team today at 4 Times Square. Packed full of presentations, category information and editor videos, Portfolio is giving its sales force all the tools they need to get advertisers to invest in Portfolio. As one of Condé Nast's newest titles, Portfolio needed to go out into the marketplace and make its presence felt. The sales team needed to convey the new brand, new value proposition and new design and content to a difficult audience. Sales Graphics' DesignStudio created a brand video and a library of editor clips that clearly show and speak to Portfolio's strong new brand. CustomShow allows Portfolio's salespeople to access and present this information beautifully, consistently and efficiently anywhere around the world.

Men's Vogue Launches CustomShow Presentation in Style

Men's Vogue today launched their new CustomShow Presentation library at their annual sales meeting. Fresh off their win as Startup of the Year, Men's Vogue is arming their national sales force with a library of presentations as full of interesting things and as beautifully designed as the magazine itself. With video clips of editor interviews, a new brand video and a deep library of research and category presentations, the Men's Vogue are ready to sell in style.

The Power of Glamour

Glamour Magazine kicked off its 2008 sales effort with a new video designed by Sales Graphics' DesignStudio. The combination of a new strong brand message, beautiful images, compelling client interviews and cool musical beat will give Glamour's sales team an engaging and effective tool to take out to the advertising community in 2008.

Domino Debuts 2008 General Presentation

Domino Magazine debuted their 2008 General Presentation at their national sales meeting this week. This is Domino's second year of working with Sales Graphics DesignStudio and managing their presentation using CustomShow presentation software. Once again Domino's presentation represents the look and feel of the magazine and embodies the brand through beautiful photography and engaging animations.

Are You Ready? In Style Launches New Presentation

At their national sales meeting this week, In Style Magazine unveiled their new ad sales presentation in CustomShow presentation software. Working with Sales Graphics' DesignStudio, In Style put together an exciting presentation that is both fun to watch and right on brand for the magazine. With music, video and animation throughout the presentation, salespeople and clients alike will be energized and excited about In Style in 2008.

A&E Integrates Sales Efforts with New Unit

To better integrate sales efforts across all of the company's platforms and brands, A&E has announced the creation of a new cross-media sales unit that will focus on offering advertisers a complete package of marketing insights, research, strategy and solutions. Heading the new team will be long-time Sales Graphics' favorite, Melinda McLaughlin, who was promoted to Senior Vice President, Insights and Marketing Solutions. Debby Tarnok, another of our favorite partners, was also promoted to Senior Director, Ad Sales Marketing, to help run the new team and provide the tools, insights and solutions needed to keep A&E on the cutting edge. 

Sales Graphics has been providing A&E with design and technology solutions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their sales efforts for more than four years. For the last six years A&E has worked closely with Sales Graphics' DesignStudio on their annual presentation designs and implemented CustomShow for both Ad Sales and Affiliate Sales. CustomShow Presentation Software is specially built to enable sales teams to effectively and efficiently incorporate a wide range of elements into their presentations, allowing integrated sales teams to present multi-platform content in a single, engaging presentation. From programming clips to micro-sites, CustomShow software lets A&E's sales team present the entire range of platforms and offerings that their networks have to offer.

A&E has been a marketing innovator for years and this is just another example of their forward-thinking. Congratulations to Melinda and Debby, and the entire AETN marketing and sales teams, and we're excited to continue working with them in 2008.

Fore! Golf Digest Goes Traveling

Golf Digest introduced Matt Ginella, their new Senior Editor of Travel, with a look back at his experience as Photo Editor for Sports Illustrated and then Golf Digest. Working with Sales Graphics' DesignStudio, Gold Digest put together a look at what's coming up for Golf Digest travel, both in the magazine and online. Matt then explained a little bit about what his new job entails, which sounds just about as good as it gets. Travel around the world and play golf!

Condé Nast Portfolio Invests in CustomShow for 2008

Condé Nast Portfolio Magazine signed up Sales Graphics to design and produce their 2008 Ad Sales Presentation. Working with Sales Graphics' DesignStudio to create a rich media presentation that includes video interviews of their editors, Portfolio.com online content and featuring their beautiful photography, Portfolio will also use CustomShow to manage, present and deliver their presentation to their entire sales force and marketing department. We certainly think it's a great investment and we're confident they'll see quite a return on it!

The Wall Street Journal Hosts the Your Honor Awards

The Legal Marketing Association New England Chapter last night announced the Sixth Annual Your Honor Awards, sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. These awards are given out to marketing firms and departments for exceptional work in the area of legal marketing. But the most exceptional work every year is the work that John Jardin does as the Master of Ceremonies. Working with Sales Graphics' DesignStudio for the last three years, he has turned what might otherwise be a dull and predictable awards presentation into a fun and engaging "Oscars" for the legal marketing community. With a compelling presentation created from the funniest film clips of lawyers we could find and presented with CustomShow presentation software, John deserves an award of his own.

Recession as Opportunity to Innovate

Recesssions are scary to think about and can have disastrous effects on consumers and businesses that aren't prepared. But for marketers, recessions and eceonomic slowdowns can often be periods of great opportunity. Advertising Age has been a frequent proponent of the opportunities that recessions can provide to marketers looking to gain market share, enter new markets or reach new customers, and they're saying it again. ("Innovate in a Recession? Yes") Gains made during recessions are cheaper that those during boom years, and when the market swings back (and it always does), those small gains can turn in to big advantages. The key point of the article is "companies that spent more on innovation during the downturn saw return on capital employed rise 23.8% during the recovery, compared with 0.6% for those that slashed spending."

Sales Graphics has always been at the forefront of ad sales presentations, providing "future-thinking" solutions for sales presentations and sales teams for over 50 years. CustomShow presentation software has revolutionized sales in media, entertainment, technology and many other industries. Sales Graphics' DesignStudio uses the latest design tools and technologies to create engaging and compelling content that brings the sales message home. 2008 is looking to be great opportunity for marketers to innovate and grow, and Sales Graphics is there to help.