thetangibleintangible

When Otis Spunkmeyer decided to participate in the National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS) 2010 National Conference, the Otis team at deep jumped at the opportunity to develop a theme for their booth that would be fun and memorable. The Otis marketing team wanted to focus on their merchandising materials and how they help students crave what Otis Spunkmeyer has to offer, so our idea was to take those vintage videos you used to see in science class to talk about how Otis helps create impulsive behavior in students.

We love the way the video turned out. With the help of the fantastic Brandon Goodwin, we were able to create a vintage-style science video that not only made us laugh (in a good way), but which also helped Otis stand out at NACUFS.

We always love finding ways to be creative outside of the foodservice realm, so when some of the designers at deep were given the opportunity to design posters for our local Springfield Roller Girls, we willingly accepted the challenge.

So far, designer Steve Krone has two SRG posters—Sunday Bloody Sunday and Sibling Rivalry—under his belt, and local artist Ben Rook illustrated the zombie-themed Return of the Rolling Dread poster, which was finished by designer Mark Leicht. Since there are still a few more SRG bouts left in the season, we look forward to creating more killer work that helps support the girls.

It’s becoming increasingly harder and harder for us at deep to microwave our Lean Cuisines—but for good reason. Our siblings over at Food IQ are currently growing from a couple of cubicles and a kitchen they have to share with the slovenly oops-I-left-milk-in-the-fridge-for-six-months staff of deep to an entire space of their own. As their space expands, our kitchen is being turned upside down. Still, despite our mess, we’re excited to see—and eventually taste—all of the ways Food IQ will utilize their fancy new digs.

Congrats, Food IQ! We look forward to walking the few extra steps in order to burn off the goodies you sometimes have us sample.

Like proud mama birds watching their fledglings fly for the first time… or something… we at deep are über proud of our talented designer, Mark Leicht, who was recently awarded with Best Art Direction during the Springfield and the Ozarks (SATO) 48 Hour Film Festival.

Now in its 5th year, the SATO event brings in teams of filmmakers from the Springfield area and tasks them with the challenge of creating a five-minute short film over the course of a single weekend, or 48 hours.

This year, every film had to begin and end with the same sound, the numbers 1 through 5 had to appear sequentially but not in the same scene, an illustration of a man with a film head had to appear twice in the film in different forms, and one key plot point had to be told using shadows.

Mark’s team filmed the entire film in a friend’s basement and in one shot. And, as you see, it’s a sweet love story that is endearing and beautifully done. It’s no wonder that, in addition to best art direction, the film also won audience favorite.

Congrats, Mark and friends. We have fallen in love with color all over again.

The Twitter universe is slowly seeing a buzz over the announcement of Torani’s newest syrup: Bacon.

Yes. You read right. Bacon.

OK. We’ll admit—we, too, were a little skeptical at first. But when first sampling this syrup, our food insights group, Food IQ, found a number of ways to use Torani Bacon syrup on the menu. From drinks like the Bacon Bourbon Sour to interesting dessert and food applications (coffee cake with a hint of bacon flavor, anyone?), we found that this syrup added an interestingly smoky savoriness to the food and beverages we were tasting.

So now we’re curious. Has anybody out there actually tried it yet? Tell us what you think.

We couldn’t be happier to announce that deep has been selected as the agency of record for Otis Spunkmeyer, the world’s tastiest supplier of frozen cookie dough and other sweet treats.

The Otis team at deep headed out to San Leandro, CA earlier this month to learn about everything Otis. Not only can we now bake the perfect cookie, but we came home gushing with excitement over this great brand and our budding relationship.

Thanks for trusting us, Otis Spunkmeyer! We look forward to more hugs, fighting the Otis 15 (think Freshman 15), and the great work we see coming down the road.

All of us at deep are always proud of the accomplishments of some of our own. That’s why we’re proud to announce the official hiring of Kattie Fredrick from Intern to Assistant Account Executive, and the promotion of Eric Brown from Assistant Account Executive to Account Executive.

See, Eric, we told you wearing that Gorilla suit would play to your advantage some day.

Congrats, Kattie and Eric. We love the energy, passion, and fashion sense you’re both bringing to deep.

We know from experience how Torani Toasted Marshmallow syrup can make some really freaking delicious S’mores lattes. That’s why we were so proud that over a million people tuned in to The Food Network’s Unwrapped with Marc Summers last night to learn all about the classic marshmallow flavor of this tasty syrup.

Torani was part of a selection of other products that were featured, including Hostess Snoballs, these giant cake-sized marshmallows, Moon Pies (Fun fact: 1,000,000 Moon Pies are made every single day—yet do you know anyone who eats them? Neither do we.) and more.

As always, Torani’s CEO Melanie Dulbecco beautifully represented the brand with passion, while Senior Scientist Domenico Milano talked about how he and his fellow scientists manage to capture the unbeatable flavor of a marshmallow roasted over a campfire so that people like you and I can enjoy S’moretinis, iced S’mores and lattes to our heart’s content. (We think he’s quite talented.)

Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time to catch repeats of this episode. Set the DVR for Monday, October 26 at 11:30 pm Eastern time, or on Tuesday, October 27 at 2:30 am Eastern time to see Melanie and Domenico in action.

There’s a reason we couldn’t be happier about the newest addition to the deep team. Valerie Lea, who has joined deep as Group Account Director over brands like Nestle, Torani and Lamb Weston, brings tons of experience working with brands like Wonka, Tyson, Campbell’s Soup, Duncan Hines and Mrs. Butterworth’s to name a few. Plus, she’s an overall cool lady with great fashion sense — and we definitely need more of that at deep.

To help introduce her to all of our avid blog readers out there, we asked her to tell us a little bit more about herself. Here’s what we learned:

Us: Hey, Val, mind if we put you on the spot and ask us to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Val: I market. I talk. I write. I watch. I learn. I love.

Us: Oooh, us too! So tell us, what are some things you don’t like?

Val: Paying $3.00 for a gallon of gas, the sound of folding paper, Fig Newtons, lint, back hair, the crispy end of a French fry, people who wear socks with sandles or think that passing gas is funny, or the fact that my doctor is younger than me.

*The agency collectively begins to panic, realizing Val might hate us and our lint and back hair, etc.*

Us: Uhh, why don’t you tell us about things you like?

Val: I love going to movies, driving around looking at big beautiful houses that the Lord has blessed people with, drinking good coffee and eating even better pie, making people laugh, and talking to my friends around the kitchen table until 2:00 AM.

OK, so since we also like laughing and movies and coffee and pie and stuff, we think Val is a natural fit here. Plus, anybody who has a blog in which she talks proudly about solving problems and living life like a girl is a great person in our book.

Welcome, Val!

Well, actually, we’ll help others shoot flaming balls this 4th of July. Some of the designers at deep enjoyed spending much of the winter designing new packaging for a fireworks company, not just because it allowed them to get really, really creative thanks to some of the crazy fireworks names, but also because it made us giggle like 12 year olds when we read the warning labels on the packages.

We all look forward to seeing flaming balls, flaming sparks, rockin’ gigantic bursts, and explosive shots that rock the night this 4th of July.