Reaction

We’re very honoured to be nominated for the 2018 Red Deer & District Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Awards. It's humbling to see our name alongside many great businesses and we’d like to extend our congratulations to all the other nominees.

There’s a heatwave sweeping across Central Alberta so what’s the temperature like at your workplace? ☀️ ❄️

New client. New brand. New identity.

Earlier this year, Reaction was selected to work with LINE-X to create a digitally focused campaign to let Canadians know the protective power of LINE-X is good for more than just bed liners. We decided to focus on something that just about every Canadian family can relate to and enlisted the help of NHL goalie Mike Smith to find out who could protect a garage door better — enter Mike Smith vs. LINE-X.
This national campaign included a cornerstone video for Facebook and YouTube telling the LINE-X vs Mike Smith story and was supported by additional assets that cover social media content, digital ads, outdoor media, radio and TV spots, as well as in store point-of-sale materials that will be used in local franchisee locations across the country.

This week Mike is speaking at the Annual Sierra Stone Dealer Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. He spoke on how business in 2018 need to work harder at clarifying their message, earning the attention of their target audiences, and marketing authentically by deploying empathy at scale.

Yeah, I guess you could say we were pretty excited to launch the Broder Homes website...
Broder Homes & Developments is an incredible central Alberta home builder, and they're an even more incredible client. Our entire team was proud to be a part of transforming their site to help showcase the awesome work they do. Go check out their website and see for yourself! http://broderhomes.com/

Getting started with Facebook advertising can be frustrating. Trust us, we know. But if you can power through and get your ads working for you, the reward of seeing those clicks and conversions is totally worth it. This article from Mention can be a useful resource to help you figure out why your ads might not be performing the way you want them to. https://buff.ly/2rW1hPJ

Social media might get all the attention, but email marketing isn't dead. Done right, it can provide a serious return on investment. Nowadays, social feeds are cluttered with a variety of content, but email space is nearly sacred. If someone opts into your email marketing, you've got a highly targeted audience already engaged by what you have to offer.
If you've decided to add email to your marketing strategy, take a look at this blog post from InVision that gives tips on design techniques for higher conversions. Learn how you can use colours to influence emotion, build trust with consistent branding, and personalize your efforts in a way that works for your brand. https://buff.ly/2FWv9yL

Launching a new version of your website? Thinking about moving to a new domain? When you make changes to your site, you need to have 301 redirects in place to ensure that traffic flow isn't disrupted. If you're not sure where to get started, watch this video we've put together explaining 301 redirects and why they don't have to be a major pain point in your next move.
For more information about 301 redirects, head to our blog post. https://buff.ly/2mLXEqG

Getting a team of creatives on the same page about project direction can be challenging — designers and developers don't always speak the same language. There are a lot of tools out there that can help streamline this process, and one of our favourites is Sketch.
Sketch is a design software program that can help you take a website from block frames to development in an efficient way. We recently introduced this to our workflow and had awesome success with it. But we couldn't... help thinking there must be an even better way to utilize this tool to make communication better between our development and design teams.
That's where Froala design blocks came in. Froala created a library of HTML/CSS code blocks that follow user experience patterns on various devices. They released these blocks as an open-source project to help creative teams build a strong foundation in the early stages of website projects.
To use these blocks to help our process, we knew we needed to put them into a format that made sense for our team. We created a Sketch version of these Froala blocks to share with them and the rest of the design community. Check out our blog post about our experience with the design blocks, and download the template to use with your own team. https://buff.ly/2mt1Onn
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Our friends at the Central Alberta Humane Society are hosting their For the Love of Animals Lottery to raise money for what is — in our opinion — one of the greatest causes out there. Help support the incredible work they do to save and protect rescue animals in central Alberta. Buy tickets online until January 31st. https://cahumane.com/…/even…/for-the- love-of-animals-lottery

Your brand is complex and has several personality traits that people see when they interact with you. Think about how you are at a business or networking event versus how you are at a friend's BBQ. You're still you, but you express yourself differently depending on the situation.
It's no different for your brand. Where you interact with people will determine which personality traits you should show them. These traits need to be used regularly and consistently, but you don't have to use all of them at all times.

If you couldn't make it out to Lacombe today to catch our talk on content marketing, you can check out the live stream video that Social Media Breakfast Lacombe posted!

Mike headed out to Lacombe with our Content Strategist Meagan to talk about tools we use to plan content and make content creation a less-stressful activity. Big thanks to Social Media Breakfast Lacombe for the invite, and to Good Neighbour CoffeeHouse for the awesome venue and amazing coffee!

Big congratulations to this year's Red Deer & District Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Awards Finalists! We're really excited to see three of our clients chosen for their hard work and involvement in the Red Deer community. The Business of the Year Awards take place October 18th, so make sure to get your tickets and show your support. https://buff.ly/2x8r9sg

Within a team of creatives, there are bound to be some pretty neat hidden talents and passions. Our Web Developer Kristin is part of the Red Aces Dance Club that hosts Swing'n'Beans events at Cool Beans on Friday nights throughout the summer.
For $5, you can get a drop-in beginner swing dance lesson and dancing for the rest of the evening. Or, if you're not hip to the jive, you can hang out and watch for free. Some Reactioneers tested out their dance skills last week. Check it out and then head to the Red Aces Facebook event page for more details! https://buff.ly/2w4BxRj

What is your brand to you? Is that consistent with what your brand is to your audience? No matter what you think of your brand, at the end of the day, it's what your audience thinks of your brand that really counts.
When you tell a consistent brand story based on who you think your brand is at its core, you're able to guide your audience to think of your brand the same way.

Digital marketing has really forced companies to carefully plan business decisions. One 'bad' decision can lead to a viral boycott of your products or services.
An interesting example to consider is Heinz. You know, there's no other kinds. In 2014, they made a decision to pull production of their world-famous ketchup from a plant in Leamington, Ontario, leaving over 200 people without jobs. And removing the demand for tonnes of Canadian tomatoes.
Canadians were understandly ...upset and took to social media. Luckily for Canadians, French's (who is best known for their yellow mustard), jumped on the opportunity to give Canadian consumers what they wanted: Canadian ketchup. Heinz might have made what they thought was a smart business decision, but what they didn't anticipate was the amount of time, work, and money they'd have to put into fighting a condiment war with French's.
Read more about how French's seemed to swoop in and save the day while Heinz was left to...ketchup. https://buff.ly/2vqsMiH
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We have a few musicians in our midst at Reaction, and even more music enthusiasts, so there's some chatter around the office about the Jazz At The Lake Festival happening this weekend in Sylvan Lake. Check it out if you're around Central Alberta tonight until Sunday. You might even catch a few Reactioneers out bobbing along...

Very cool team

MIke, Natalie and the team at Reaction has helped us tremendously with our graphic design, posters and branding. They have streamlined the process and make it very easy to do business with them. Cant recommend them enough.

Very cool team

MIke, Natalie and the team at Reaction has helped us tremendously with our graphic design, posters and branding. They have streamlined the process and make it very easy to do business with them. Cant recommend them enough.

Very cool team

MIke, Natalie and the team at Reaction has helped us tremendously with our graphic design, posters and branding. They have streamlined the process and make it very easy to do business with them. Cant recommend them enough.