Boxcar Marketing Business Cards

Friend, colleague and awesome graphic designer Jason Landry created the Boxcar Marketing logo and business cards that we’ve been lovingly passing around for the past couple of months.

The font for the word Marketing is Gotham by Hoefler & Frere-Jones. And the font for the word Boxcar is a custom creation based, although there are similar fonts available. The inspiration for the design was railway tracks and the X railway crossing symbol.

Although you can’t see it clearly in this photo, the cards are a rich burgundy with a red that totally pops.

Thank you Jason!

Wordle: Boxcar Marketing

This is a wordle of the Boxcar Markting blog. The words that describe the content here.

Pull a Face for PutPlace: Photo Contest

My bookkeeper pointed out the other day that the backup on her computer hasn’t been working for the past couple of months. Eek gads! What that means is that all the information she is entering for my bookkeeping purposes could disappear. By “her” computer, she means my computer, which I’ve set up for her to use.

Documents, photos, music, videos ... there’s all sort of valuable stuff on that computer because it used to be my home computer.

So here is my data loss disaster story in a series of photos.

It starts like this:

Oh, that was weird!

Oh, that was really bad.

Oh, I don’t know how to fix this.

Oh, I really don’t know how to fix this.

====

Oh, James?

Oh, geez.

Oh. Ooooooooh.

Oh. No.

Have your own story? A single photo will do.

One of my clients is PutPlace. And they are all about preventing data loss disasters like this one.

* PutPlace offers real-time backup.
* PutPlace protects and organizes your photos, documents, emails, music and home movies.
* PutPlace enables you to publish a file on multiple sites and find it later.

PutPlace is more than file backup. It’s a lifesaver and they are running a photo contest.

All you have to do is submit a photo of your shock or horror with a caption about your data loss fears. The prize is an annual subscription to PutPlace for 100 GB of data + $200 USD Amazon gift certificate.

As Darren says, “Go forth and panic for the camera.”

Submit your photo: Putplace.com/pullaface

Work Industries becomes Boxcar Marketing

Spring is traditionally associated with change and renewal. A time to clean things up. A time for new seeds to be planted. Spring also happens to be an excellent time to announce the evolution in our business.

As of April 2008, Work Industries will be Boxcar Marketing.

Same great service, strategy and team you expect, with a new name. It’s still Monique Trottier and James Sherrett and a merry band of partners working hard behind the scenes. Except now the scenery has changed.

Why the name change?

We wanted to better describe the type of “Work” we do: “Marketing.” At the same time, we wanted to keep the feel of a hard-working, industrious shop, which led us to “Boxcar.” Last, we wanted to do away with inconsistency over our name (Work Industries) and domain name (www.iworkindustries.com).

So after a few sessions at the white board and too many domain name searches, Boxcar Marketing was born.

We’ve let some friends and colleagues know about the name change, so it’s percolated out there into the great Google. Now this announcement makes it official.

What does the name change to Boxcar Marketing mean to you?

Where you saw Work Industries, now you’ll see Boxcar Marketing. On invoices, cheques, business cards, contracts and in email addresses, we’ll be Boxcar Marketing. We’ll do our best to redirect all the Work Industries points of reference to Boxcar Marketing. But if you spot an old reference to Work Industries, please let us know.

As is the nature of our business and our philosophy, we expect and want your feedback. We practice and preach conversational, 2-way communications.

So let us know what you think. If you have questions or concerns or just want a little more information on the name change, please contact us. We’re still at the same phone numbers and office address. But now we’re Boxcar Marketing. Please update your email address book:

Monique Trottier
Email: monique[at]boxcarmarketing[dot]com
Monique Trottier’s vCard / hCard: View.

James Sherrett
Email: james[at]boxcarmarketing[dot]com
James Sherrett’s vCard / hCard: View.

(hCard? Make your own!)

Rachael Ashe Joins Boxcar Marketing

Boxcar Marketing would like to welcome Rachael Ashe to the team. Rachael is a talented office manager who is willing to jump in and help us on any project that needs extra hands and brainpower.

If Rachael is actively working on your project, you’ll receive a more personal introduction. In the meantime, I must direct your attention to Rachael’s incredible photography.

Rachael also works with our fantastic design partners at Hop Studios.

Personal Technologist on Lab with Leo

A few months ago I taped a segment with Leo Laporte for his show Lab with Leo. The show airs on various techy TV outlets in Canada, the US and Australia. Because of the delay from taping to airing and then encoding for the web, I hadn’t seen the segment until I found it last night on Google Video.

I’ve included it below, if you’re at all interested. The experience of doing the segment was excellent fun, and I’d recommend it to anyone. I even had makeup applied.

Lab with Leo Laporte Episode 135 — James Sherrett talks about the Personal Technologist:

Special thanks to Ryan Yewell, a Chase Producer for Lab with Leo, for stickhandling the whole process and my anxious questions. Thanks, Ryan!

SEMPO Survey: Last Chance. Add Your Voice.

Want to know what Canadian advertisers and marketers are:
* thinking about search marketing
* doing about search marketing and
* planning on doing about search marketing?

If yes, take the 2007 SEMPO survey.

Who should take the survey?
* people familiar with, and actively engaged in, at least one type of the search engine marketing practices.
* people engaged in such programs in the capacity as advertisers (including both marketing staff and management), site managers, marketing agencies and search engine marketing service providers.

The survey takes 10-20 minutes. (I know it’s long, but without community participation there’s no information, no data, no analysis.)

Take the 4th Annual State of the Search Market Survey.

Here are some reasons why it’s worth your time:

• A special portion was created for Canadian advertisers this year, which means real information about the state of the Search Marketing Market in Canada will be reported.
• You could win a 8 Gb iPod Touch.
• You could win one free pass to a North American Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference.
• You’ll be the first to receive the summarized results of North America’s most comprehensive snapshot of the search marketing industry.
• Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and the other major search players will know your thoughts, observations, and concerns about where search is and where it’s going. (They rely on this survey for that information!)

Take the 4th Annual State of the Search Market Survey.

About the Survey
The survey is conducted by Radar Research, and all responses are kept strictly confidential. All results are aggregated and made anonymous. The more people who complete the survey, the better the data.

More on SEMPO Canada:
SEMPO Canada is Canadian Non-Profit Professional Search Marketing Association working to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing in Canada. This Working Group was founded in November 2006 by Ken Jurina and Alexandre Brabant and focuses on improving the growth, awareness and understanding Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in Canada including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Link Building, Pay Per Click Management best practices in this new field of marketing and how it uniquely pertains and is of relevance to Canadians worldwide across any sector, vertical or industry.