As an upcoming senior at Osseo Senior High School, I feel truly thankful for my time with Prime Advertising and Design, Inc. Not many teenagers my age get such a great opportunity to get an in-depth scope of a leading local business. My summer at Prime as an intern was a learning one. I learned the following: the skills of mass-organization, the art of providing professional customer care, and the climate of a small business.

I spent most of my time at Prime helping to update and develop new organizational strategies for the company. From filing ad agreements, to updating price-list verbiage, to emailing clients their prospective ads, I’ve done it all. While this work may not be alluring to most, I’ve come to appreciate its value. Without such efforts to organize, a system falls behind and important information gets lost in the cracks. Only by getting organized and setting a standard to uphold can a consistent productivity be achieved—a lesson well-learned from my mentor, Penny Monse.

At the same time, I supervised the front-desk/reception-area. This allowed me to be Prime’s official welcome-woman; essentially, I was the first impression new customers received of the company. With such a responsibility, I tried to convey to each customer Prime’s dedication to growing their business and its willingness to work hard to achieve that goal. Getting to interact with clients and help promote Prime’s professional image were my highlight experiences.

Most interesting of all was Prime’s climate. That’s not to say its temperature, (because as we all know that fluctuates between a sauna and a refrigerator) but rather the emotional temperament of the group. All the employees at Prime are dedicated to fulfilling their customers’ needs. I’ve seen the long hours they pull, striving for perfection, only to do the same for another client. It’s truly inspiring, the creativity and effort they put into their work. Their passion for their jobs reflects in their positive natures. Prime is its own family and one I feel welcome to be apart of.

Luckily for me, my time at Prime has not yet reached its end. I have been offered and have taken a fall position for after-school work. I am pumped to continue working with everyone and seeing what sort of projects Prime will send my way. This was definitely a learning summer, and with what I learned, I hope to make this fall, and this coming year, an equally educational one.

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This fall, I’m entering in my senior year at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. I will graduate in May of 2011 with a B.A. degree in Advertising and Web Design. This past summer, I had the privilege of working as the web design and development intern in the multimedia department at Prime Advertising & Design. This internship was a perfect fit to my studies at Eau Claire; allowing me to witness many aspects of the advertising industry as well as gain hands-on experience in web development. Throughout the duration of my internship I completed a wide range of small projects and was encouraged to seek out any others that interested me.

I was looking for a demanding internship in web design/development but I underestimated how rewarding the experience was going to be. The hands-on experience and knowledge that I have gained are valuable tools that will build a strong foundation for future opportunities. I have also furthered my awareness of the importance of web design and development in today’s society. A website is an online identity of a company or individual and needs to be well designed, easy to navigate, and search engine friendly.

The position was supervised by Shauna Smart, the Web Project Manager at Prime. I worked closely with the Web Designers and Web Programmers in preparing customer sites for go live. Projects for the internship included daily meetings and tasks assigned to me by Shauna. My internship at Prime predominantly focused on building and maintaining websites for numerous clients. I contributed to all phases of the process, and learned aspects of building a website that I had little experience with prior to the internship. I gained experience from the beginning of projects at the customer estimate phase through the final phase of go-live.

An aspect of web design that I had not been introduced to previously, was the use of a content management system (CMS). At Prime, I was able to work with the company’s in-house CMS called Element Z.  Becoming familiar with Element Z taught me how to place content within a site, edit HTML code, upload files/photos to the file manager, and also use the dashboard to navigate around the system/site.

While I am excited to get back to school and finish out my senior year, I am sad to be leaving my internship at Prime Advertising & Design. I have enjoyed working with the staff and learning to apply my education in the work force. I appreciate all of your time and guidance these past three months. I cannot thank you all enough for all that you have taught me and for making my internship such a rewarding experience.

Filed under: advertising, blogging, content management system, design, internet, seo, web design | 2 Comments »

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Thousands of Maple Grove residents turned out July 15th to kick off Maple Grove Days with the annual Pierre Bottineau community parade. The Prime team showed up in full force to pass out pens and flying discs emblazoned with the Prime and Excel Promotions logos. Kids and adults alike clamored for these items and enjoyed seeing our van decked out with the new brand as well.

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As a member of the Maple Grove community since 1993, Prime Advertising & Design was proud to be a Gold Sponsor of the Maple Grove Days festival this year, and donated over 800 official event T-shirts to volunteers, committee members and 5K race participants.

In addition to the parade, Prime participated in the charity “bed race” benefitting the 40 Winks Foundation – a group that donates beds to various charitable organizations. Several Prime clients placed well in the competition including Slumberland (1^st), J Brothers Construction (2^nd), Rose Arbor (Most Creative), and J. Cousineau’s (Most Enthusiasm).

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Everyone had a great time, enjoyed the summer weather and loved seeing many of our clients participating as well in this successful community festival.  All of us here at Prime can’t wait ‘til next year!

Enjoy the below video of the Maple Grove Days fireworks finale.
Maple Grove Days Fireworks Video (requires QuickTime)

Filed under: Uncategorized, community events, prime news, promotion, teamwork | 1 Comment »

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When Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert wrote a letter to Cavs fans on NBA.com July 8 denouncing LeBron James‘ decision to leave his team for the Miami Heat, he never anticipated the negative reaction it received. The letter, while  intended as a “rah-rah” post to show his support for the Cleveland fan base, set off a firestorm of criticism from major national news outlets, fans, and the blogosphere. But Gilbert’s detractors weren’t upset by the content of the letter – they pounced on his font choice – the childish, cute and crayonesque Comic Sans.

The choice of Comic Sans as a font for what can only be described as an angry rant demonstrates that Gilbert (or the person who posted on his behalf) is clueless about the impact fonts have on audiences. What was intended to rally the troops and unite Cavs fans behind him in a “who needs LeBron James anyway?” movement, backfired terribly and opened Gilbert up for an onslaught of criticism. Using Comic Sans was akin to writing a note and dotting every “i” with a smiley face – it just didn’t convey the outrage he felt after hearing James’ decision.

This episode illustrates how readers and viewers can see something and have an opposite reaction to what was desired – simply because the wrong font was chosen by someone who didn’t take the time to consider its impact. It’s a cautionary tale for companies who are marketing their services to specific audiences – and it applies to much more than just fonts.

If you’re trying to attract young families to your restaurant, use photos of parents and children – not seniors and singles. Looking to lure the 20-something crowd to your bar? Steer away from illustrations showing teenagers and middle-aged couples. Or if older folks are a demographic you’re trying to capture, you should probably keep the point sizes larger and use fewer words.

Always keep in mind that your logo, the colors you choose, fonts, point sizes, photos used in print and on the web, and anything you may link to from a blog or a Facebook or Twitter page,  will be instantly associated with your business. If it doesn’t fit with your brand and conflicts with your intended objectives, don’t do it.  And if you ever find yourself the owner of an NBA franchise and want to get something off your chest, have someone else double-check your post before sending it off.

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On the heels of the World Cup, The National Sports Center in Blaine, MN is gearing up for the Schwan’s USA Cup 2010 – America’s Greatest Youth Soccer Event.  With more than 1,000 teams from 22 countries participating, this annual event held July 10-17 is not to be missed.

Prime Advertising is proud to have played a part in this year’s USA Cup. Working directly with one of our clients, CL!X Sports Photography, official photographer of the USA Cup.  CL!X came to Prime looking to update the theme of this year’s USA Cup photo merchandise for the teams and players.

Prime’s graphic design team created a fresh new look for a variety of products available to the players of the tournament.  Prime designed three new photo and poster background options for teams and individuals, sure to excite any soccer enthusiast.

The hot new item this year is the Personalized Trader Ticket. The Trader Ticket is customized with each player’s photo as well as personal information – team name, jersey number, country, etc. This option offers a fun and unique way for youth from around the globe to trade tickets amongst themselves and remember their USA Cup experience.  Prime also helped design a customizable soccer ball, which is sure to be a hit. Who wouldn’t want a soccer ball with their very own photo on it?

With these new designs, we have armed CL!X with products that are sure to grab the attention of these young athletes. Prime greatly appreciates the opportunity to offer our assistance on this project and we congratulate CL!X on being chosen for such an exclusive event!

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Filed under: Uncategorized, advertising, design, marketing, photos, prime clients, promotion | No Comments »

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