Sarah and the Seed by Ryan Andrews is one of the most captivating web comics that I have ever read. It’s a five part series and gets a bit dark (be sure you read until the end!). The art is beautiful and the story is amazing. See for yourself!

via  jabru.tumblr.com)

If it surprises you to learn that Kendall-Jackson remains family-owned, it’s understandable. As the American wine industry has grown, its pioneering families and successful brands have often sold – some would say sold out – to large corporate interests.

Not K-J. It’s a brand misconception they’re about to correct – that even as they’ve become a household name, they’ve kept it personal, and all in the family.

The effort to re-personalize K-J’s brand kicks off with the FINE-conceived Words of Wisdom campaign, and an appearance on CBS’s hit show “Undercover Boss” on Sunday, January 29th at 8 (7 Central).

On the show, CEO Rick Tigner connects with staff incognito to learn their true stories and weave them into the company’s family legacy. It’ll have you celebrating K-J’s personal side. And maybe taking a closer look at that new guy who started in accounting at your own office.

Meanwhile, the Words of Wisdom (or, WOW) campaign begins with a comprehensive communications effort across digital (web, mobile, tablet, Facebook) and analog channels.

The Words of Wisdom website, headlined by a silhouetted image that evokes both the TV show premise and the ever-presence of the late company founder Jess Jackson, tells the K-J family story. With video and words, it forms the connective tissue between the Jackson family and the people who make K-J go. That thread extends to K-J fans with a collaborative tool that allows people to share their family’s legacy through advice, stories, and pictures.

The winery’s website is responsive, adapting for view on desktop, tablet, and mobile. It’s not just a simple sniff – even re-sizing the browser on your desktop will take you into small screen mobile mode. A back-end tool helps manage the flow of wisdom, approving submissions as they come in.

Through user submission and additional K-J video and other content in coming months, the digital experience will continue to grow. Along with it, grows the sense that K-J has retained its family roots, while inviting you to Join The Family.

The offline campaign extends to neckers, case glorifiers, mass displays, billboards, online advertising, and beyond. All are unified by the idea of continuing to build on this winery’s family legacy.

The Words of Wisdom campaign will persist long after the Undercover Boss television event. It will evolve and grow, a legacy shared and created by those with a lasting appreciation for Kendall-Jackson. And just good old-fashioned family wisdom.

Paul Hobbs is one of the first California winemakers to focus on single-vineyard wines. As one of the rare winegrower/winemakers, his integrated vision of unfiltered, unfined wines creates exciting, structured wines rooted in classic old world techniques yet distinctly Californian in expression. That attention is on display on the new Paul Hobbs website and mobile site experiences.

The winery’s website design reflects the natural, organic approach that has enabled Paul Hobbs himself to emerge as a celebrity wine authority worldwide. The rich nature imagery of the javascript-driven homepage emphasizes the texture and authenticity of the process and approach. Carefully selected images and display are able to convey the biology and science of winemaking while losing nothing of the romance and aesthetic. And the experience expands dynamically to fit your browser size. It also provides a place for philosophical quotes that drive Hobbs, like “The key to good winemaking is paying attention.”

The mobile site retains the site look and feel and focused image approach, while narrowing the content to those things most accessed on the go, with a focus on releases, purchase, and visit/contact info.

A FINE content management system – with wine industry tools developed over years of creating world-class wine brand sites – drives the web and mobile sites, managing complex information areas that are specific to Hobbs, though general to many wine brands. Thoughtful attention to the management and display of acclaim, vineyards, accolades, and even FAQs helps make that content easily accessible and updated, without overwhelming the site’s aesthetic.

The overall effect is an experience that connects the people (extending beyond Paul Hobbs to those who help to make the wine great), the place (with a reverence for the land and the process of farming it), and the product (the acclaimed wines).

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As FINE specializes in digital web design, we’ve worked on our fair share of SEO implementations during a redesign. Sadly, website redesigns are notorious for causing sites to seemingly drop off the face of Google. (Note to self: must stop referring to the searchable Internet as Google).

So how does FINE accomplish things like launching, for example, a brand-new website for famed Napa Valley resort Auberge du Soleil without losing traffic? Very carefully. It can be done, but there are lots of things to keep track of and balance as you move through the redesign.

Read the rest of this entry »

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GoDaddy Faces Boycott Threat from SOPA Opponents
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2011 was a year of austerity, occupation, Congressional bickering, dictator(ship) deaths. Good or bad, for many it just wasn’t all that fun. That’s why we’re heading into 2012 with something more than the usual resolution. We’ve got a cause, and the cause is play. It’s “play with purpose”, and the purpose is play.

We’re going to enlist you in that cause. You’ll find our new Play With Fine site regularly stocked with playstarters, perhaps some opportunities for philanthroplay. And you’ll be invited to show your contributions, and share with others. It’s a playgroundswell! But it’s not simply fun and games. Play is important. We’ll let our Play Manifesto explain:

We’re serious. Play’s not just kid stuff. It doesn’t require toys, courts, boards, computer screens, or even a customized “Play With Purpose” playground ball. That’s because play is not merely a category of frivolous activities; play is an essential perspective.

Play’s that zone of enhanced learning, discovery, creativity, and productivity that’s the exact opposite of “goofing off”. What it takes is an active, alert, focused, stress-free frame of mind. Certified playologists call it “flow”. You’ll know you’re there when you’re doing exactly what you want to be doing right now. Or maybe forever.

This is the realm of open minds and happy accidents that gave us each, as children, most of what we know about how the world works. It also yielded penicillin, The Theory of Relativity, ice cream cones, gravity, Shakespeare’s plays, the computer mouse. You know, kid stuff.

As technology gives us new ways to play and “gamify” our lives, remember that it’s all an extension of the innate sense of adventure, imagination, freedom, and curiosity that’s always inspired our species. It can cost nothing but pays off big time. It has a purpose, and yet it’s an end in itself.

Perhaps the greatest thing about play is that it makes hard things seem easy. Unstructured, spontaneous play will challenge you to work through tricky situations and rules, toward new ways, ideas, and possibilities.

But you won’t even notice; you’ll be too busy playing.

As living testament to the fact that every touch point is a chance to enhance brand relationships, we offer the humble “out of office” auto reply. Why not have fun with it, embue it with supernatural powers, use it to relay a poem or a sentiment? As long as you keep it relatively brief, in deference to the repetition some of your recipients may experience, the auto reply can be fun. When the FINE offices close next week, you can expect to see some effort on this front. A few early examples are below – we’ll add more. Another bonus: now you don’t need to email us over the holidays just to see the clever auto replies.

—————
Hello!

This is an automated response, from a machine.  It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until it wishes you and yours a safe and happy holiday season.

FINE will be closed from Dec. 26th through Jan. 2.   I look forward to re-engaging with you and hitting the ground running in 2012.

Cheers!
- Sam
—————
If you’re reading this, Doc Brown was unable to make lightning strike the clock tower, and I’m stuck in 1985. I won’t be able to respond to emails or voicemail until 9ish on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012, or until email is invented – whatever comes first.

Happy Holidays,
Abe
—————
Thank you for your Email. This is an auto-reply. My elves are standing in while I figure out how to program my newest iComeLately gadget to twitter-book my social-tablet.

I’ll bet no matter how many Emails you send, my little elves can easily keep up. Go ahead. Give it a shot. Email again. In fact, I’m trying to figure out exactly how many Emails my Inbox can store. When I get back, I’m going to randomly pick Emails out of a hat (well, digital hat… combined with a few random deletes). I will perhaps respond to those Emails selected.

So… send away, and increase your chances of being one of the lucky reply recipients. The big drawing occurs on January 3, when I descend back down upon this fine landscape we call the work environment.

In other words, I’m gone until the new year. Happy Holidaze to all y’alls.
—————

Hello and thank you for your message!

The FINE offices are closed Monday (12/26) through the following Monday (1/2) for the holidays. During this time I’ll be doing crazy things like: head to the grocery store *during the day* (gasp!), skip the weekend brunch rush and go during the week, an early morning hike somewhere in the beautiful Pacific NW… but most importantly: kicking back and sleeping in!

I hope this message finds you enjoying all the little things that bring you joy this holiday season.

Have a wonderful holiday and I look forward to connecting with you again in the new year!

All the best,
Kate

—————

Hello. This is one of those auto-reply messages. I would never talk to YOU personally in this smart-alecky way.

In accordance with the wishes of my personal retinue of hypnotists, shamans, and low-carb chefs, I will be pursuing a vigorous course of corrective therapies at an undisclosed location between 12/23/11 and 1/3/12. I hope to re-engage with you as soon as my regimen is complete.

Happy holidays!

—————

Here’s hoping you’ll be available only via auto reply next week as well! Happy holidays.

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