4882 McGrath St., Suite 310
Ventura, CA 93003

New phone number: 805.650.5555
New fax number: 805.650.5556

2012 is going to be a big year for us. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements!

At BBM&D we’re a fairly self-reflective bunch, and one of the ways we help clients think about their brands is to get them to ask themselves some fun and important questions:

Is your brand at the head of the class?

High-achieving brands aren’t always pegged as valedictorians right away. Sometimes they’re simply the new kid in class that learns to play well with others. The BBM&D-created brand of Mission College Foundation’s website had to integrate with not only the existing main college website, but also the other brands in the West Valley/Mission Community College District. BBM&D’s design for the foundation’s new site focused on the students, with photography and personal stories that put a face on each recipient of foundation-supported programs. Accessible, hassle-free giving options made donations easy and made a difference for Mission College students.

Is your brand ripe for a redesign?

Longevity is a brand’s best friend, but even strong brands with deep roots need regular pruning to harvest their true potential. BBM&D originally designed a website for this 96-year-old growers’ association over a decade ago—before smart phones, iPads, and modern programming standards changed how we use the web. BBM&D’s redesign of the California Avocado Society website incorporates the new content-managed, database-driven, rich-application web of HTML5. The resilient CAS brand ensures that this vital information resource for growers, distributors, and agricultural researchers remains an indispensable compendium of all things avocado.

Can your brand weather stormy seas?

Strong brands don’t fear economic tempests. The BBM&D-created brand of Ventura Harbor’s Adventure Sailing Charters has sea legs for both rough waters and smooth cruises. BBM&D christened the maiden voyage of Adventure Sailing’s website with epic blue-green vistas of wide sky and open ocean. The hassle-free online reservation page makes day tripping to the Channel Islands a breeze, and the photo gallery carousel preserves those nautical memories.

Does your website give your brand a good workout?

These sites are so hot you can almost feel the sweat beading. The challenge for Burn 60’s site was creating a site that rocks you to the core and reflects their status as the premier personal fitness studio in LA—where celebrity sightings are not uncommon. Burn 60’s brand edginess is reflected in this design—an HTML/CSS, standards-based site featuring an interactive digital pressroom, Javascript image slideshows class registration, schedules, and social media integration.

The brand challenge for Mavericks’ site was speaking to mutliple markets. Mavericks is edgy, trendy, and serious, but also directed to a family-centered community. The color combination, type treatment, content, and imagery tell the story. Interactive elements included membership sign-up, trial membership, and staff-maintained class schedule. Thanks so much to Mavericks for letting us be a part of their team!

“And you may say to yourself…”

We think those are all great answers—but then of course we would, wouldn’t we? As with so many other things, though, it’s probably said better with music:

Imagine using a stolen NBC logo and then facing their army of attorneys. There are other issues as well. Apparently, $179 is not $179—it’s actually much higher. A client recently relayed the story of a $179 logo which ended up costing close to $3000.

This is bad all around. Designers are feeling the damage—their work is being using without permission and without payment. Clients will feel the damage too—especially those who believe they are purchasing a legitimate product and, because of this, put themselves in the bullseye of legal teams and bad press.

In the end, both clients and designers alike will feel the impact of this damage.

Garcia has been with the firm for nearly five years, most recently in the role of designer. She received her bachelor’s degree from California State University at Channel Islands, where she achieved summa cum laude honors among one of the earliest (second) graduating classes of the university.

“Arrate has a proven track record with our company. Her work is exceptionally strong and she has continually exceeded our expectations for our client work and as a leader for creative thinking and execution,” said Barbara Brown, President of BBM&D Strategic Branding. “She has unquestionably earned a place on the agency’s management team.”

Recently she has won a number of awards for her work, this year receiving two MAGGIE awards from the Western Publishers Association, and several ADDY’s from the American Advertising Association. Her work has also been published in a number of benchmark publications including Logo Lounge by Rockport Press.

About BBM&D Strategic Branding
BBM&D Strategic Branding is an established, full-service agency founded in 1992. Best known for award-winning, thoughtful creative, the firm specializes in museums, healthcare/beauty, food/agriculture, fitness and manufacturing. BBM&D is accomplished in both print and in web development with a full range of branding services that help their client with brand distinction, from brand identity to e-commerce to packaging. Their work can be viewed at bbmdstrategicbranding.com.

The Maggies are awarded by the Western Publications Association to acknowledge excellence in magazine, periodical, and publication design. BBM&D has previously won a Maggie for a comprehensive redesign of “American Fitness” in 2006, and every year since then, BBM&D has been a Maggie finalist for work on both “American Fitness” and the “Gifted Education Communicator,” a research journal for educators and parents.

“This is an intensely competitive contest,” said Barbara Brown, President of BBM&D. “We are thrilled to be recognized for our work. Our ultimate goal is enhancement of the reader experience, through both intelligent information architecture and strong, compelling imagery.”

“Winning one award is an exciting honor in itself,” agreed Arrate Garcia, Designer and Project Manager at BBM&D. “Bringing home two is a gratifying reminder that our hard work is worth it.”

BBM&D Strategic Branding is a full service agency that helps position successful companies into higher levels of profitability and visibility. For nearly twenty years, BBM&D has worked with such diverse clients as Saturn, Brown Jordan Outdoor Furniture, Santa Barbara City College, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Their award-winning designs can be viewed at bbmdstrategicbranding.com.

The Ventura Botanical Gardens, a 501(3)C non-profit organization is in the process of fundraising, planning and developing the gardens at Grant Park. The design, developed by BBM&D Strategic Branding aims to provide the touchpoint for marketing strategies, reflect the culture of the organization and illustrate the inspiring locale. The logo is a fine art rendition of a local California native grass. The choice of a native grass represents the sustainability goals of the organization and the seed pods represent the organizations native beginning. The pods reach upward to the future, illustrating the goals and dreams of the development of the gardens at Grant Park. One of the pods is also an artistic rendition of the hillside where the gardens will be located.

The new identity strongly embodies the Ventura Botanical Gardens vision and was voted in nearly unanimously. The logo premiered at a City of Ventura public event and will begin to be used in the promotion of the upcoming 2011 Garden Tour. The Garden Tour, the largest public fundraising event for the organization will be held on April 30 from 9:30am to 4pm. Tickets for the event can be purchased at venturabotancialgardens.com.

Highest honors, in the form of two silver ADDYs, went to BBM&D’s work for Anaheim-based Venture Strategies Innovations, a womens’ heath nonprofit with global reach. BBM&D’s comprehensive branding and identity effort for VSI entailed a five-piece printed sales collateral kit and a content-managed, donation-enabled website.

BBM&D garnered a pile of bronze ADDYs for website development in 2010, mainly for rebranding and redesigning online presence. Bronze awards went to BBM&D-created websites for Interface Children & Family Services (Ventura County), Childrens Dental Group (Ventura County), d’essense/LMS Fragrances (Santa Barbara), Chemical Processing Services (Ventura), and ex-LAPD officer-turned-motivational-speaker Kristina Ripatti.

More bronze ADDYs were awarded for BBM&D-created sales collateral: an invitation for the Community Memorial Hospital’s Benefactors Ball, a three-piece stationery package for Los Angeles-based consultants Fox & Frank, and perfume packaging design for d’essense/LMS Fragrances. Finally, BBM&D scored bronze ADDYs for publication design: the November/December issue of American Fitness magazine (by Los Angeles-based AAFA, the organization of fitness professionals), and the summer 2010 Gifted Education Communicator (by Sacramento-based California Association for the Gifted).

“We are thrilled and honored to be recognized by our peers in the industry,” said BBM&D president Barbara Brown. “2010 was an intense year of hard work, but these awards acknowledge that and then some. All the creativity and effort was absolutely worth it.”

BBM&D Strategic Branding is a full service agency that helps position successful companies into higher levels of profitability and visibility. BBM&D has worked with such diverse clients as Saturn, Kinkos, Brown Jordan Outdoor Furniture, Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Their award-winning designs can be seen at bbmd-inc.com.

As a guest speaker, BBM&D president Barbara Brown was delighted to share her nearly twenty years of experience developing iconic brands through insightful, thoughtful creative. Dr. Ken Szymanski shared his client-side experience and spoke of the importance of synergy between agency and client, the value of great communication, and the effectiveness of strong partnerships.

The visual presentation’s case studies highlighted some of the fun and creative marketing campaigns, concepts behind them and the results of effective marketing on a medical/dental practice. Several other points were also discussed: information on the value of long-term brand strategies, adjustments in the marketplace that affect a brand, and the importance of broad reach/tight focus marketing. The audience was especially interested in Brown’s observations on how to keep marketing fresh while maintaining a consistent marketing message—a topic that brought another round of questions.

Addressing the challenges of new business marketing was also important to the attending students. Many of them will, at some point, be opening their own practices, and the presentation’s intent was to provide them with relevant insight into some of the challenges they will be facing.