Lara Presber got her first hammer from her dad when she was only eight years old and her first sewing machine from her mom when she was 10.  Little wonder that Lara grew up to be an architect and fashion designer (and integral part of Calgary Karo’s Environments department).  Lara’s second collection – for Fall 2008 - has been chosen as one of the four finalists in Toronto Fashion Incubator's New Labels competition.  Lara’s story made it to the front page of the Calgary Herald Real Life section recently.  Read it here...

Employees at western Canada’s only interdisciplinary creative agency, Karo, are donating $100,000 of their time to two not-for-profits; the Boys and Girls Club in Calgary and Vancouver’s Potluck Café Society.

 The employee led program – Karo Kaus - will use the donated time and expertise to develop design strategy and multidisciplinary creative to help the organizations better achieve their goals.

 “We know how to help our clients strengthen their brand experiences and be more competitive and we want to help these organizations do the same thing” says Leah Vanderhorst, a member of the employee committee that selected the Potluck in Vancouver.

 “We are thrilled to have Karo help us share our story and better market the Potluck Café Society” says Heather O’Hara, Executive Director of the Potluck; a self sustaining enterprise that  provides meals, employment programs and community kitchen programs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.   Karo will help attract new clients, secure corporate partnerships and promote fundraising initiatives such as the Soup Project, which aims to sell gourmet soup to businesses and their employees to generate revenue.

 The Boys and Girls Club of Calgary provides safe, supportive places and activities for disadvantaged young people to experience life enhancing skills.  It’s opening an Arts and Recreation Centre and Karo will develop a strategy and creative which will attract donors and local artists to volunteer.  

 Cheryl Doherty, the Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club says “We can’t wait to get started working with Karo.  The centre will help 6,000 young people a year; exposing them to caring adults, boundaries and expectations and constructive use of time.”   Studies show that young people who engage in the arts are less likely to drop out of school, use drugs or alcohol or get arrested. 

 Karo Kaus is led entirely by the people who work at Karo.  Each of the 75 employees was involved and committees in each Calgary and Vancouver reviewed 71 proposals before selecting the two winners of the creative services grant.

 “I couldn’t be more proud of our team for coming up with Karo Kaus” says the president of Karo, Chris Bedford.  “The not-for-profit landscape is as competitive as any private sector industry, with organizations on tight budgets vying for limited donation dollars and community volunteer capacity.  We want to help out by doing what we do best; creating meaningful brand experiences.”

 Karo believes passionately in supporting employee initiatives and activities; one of the reasons it was ranked fifth in Canadian Business magazine’s 2007 “Best Workplaces in Canada.” 

On February 13, 2008, Karo Group won an IDI GOLD Award of Excellence at the annual Interior Designers Institute of British Columbia Awards for its work on the Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition.

Trev Deeley Motorcycles (“TDM”) wanted to integrate its priceless collection of motorcycles into its dealership.  After consulting with the former director of Public Programs at the Royal B.C. Museum, TDM hired Karo to create an experiential visitor environment for its new, 10,000 sq.ft. Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition.

Karo’s design showcased TDM’s new identity as well as exhibit graphics, display millwork and feature areas. It allows TDM to construct themed exhibits from its extensive and expanding gallery of motorcycles and one-of-a kind objects from around the world.

Most importantly, Karo’s design allows maximum flexibility for revolving exhibitions while supporting a strong permanent brand and presence for the Exhibition venue itself. Flexibility is crucial as the collection is rotated not only annually, but also daily for different events hosted in the space for groups large and small. Karo answered the design challenge with a fun, interactive space that is easy to maintain. Compared to TDM’s former Richmond location there has been a significant increase in both interest and visitation—leading to a benefit for TDM’s sales, showroom and service areas.

“Not only has Karo’s exhibition design supported the dealership and allowed the Harley aficionado to engage with the legacy of the brand, it allows both diehard fans and newbies to be drawn into the power of the Harley-Davidson experience. It has also become a tourist destination attraction in itself with a visitor increase of 800%.” Brent Cooke, Exhibition Manger, Harley-Davidson Canada

 Karo’s design for the Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition also placed in the category of "Institutional and Educational" projects, defined as "places of assembly occupancy such as schools, universities, daycare centres, museums, theatres, public art galleries, public auditoriums, airports, places of worship, courthouses, correctional and recreational facilities." Karo’s entry was judged against several other public institutions for this award, including schools, a library and a film centre. That Karo stood out among myriad others in this category was indeed an honour.     

Let’s face it, we all love a great story, which is why we flock to buy books, watch movies, and attend theatre. We love to hear stories of great personal achievements, companies, and brands. Storytelling is perhaps the oldest form of communication and cultural identification. The same cornerstones of a brilliant story are found in brilliant design, which is why design as a creative process is ideally suited to link brand stories in a unifying way. Chris Bedford will explore how organizations can use design thinking to uncover their story and learn how to tell it in a compelling manner through all consumer touch points.

Conference details: http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/conference/europe08/conference.htm

Freshwater fishing licences have long been sold in paper format from outdoor shops. The BC Ministry of Environment, Fish & Wildlife decided it was time to make these licences more accessible. Karo was asked to develop a system that allowed fishing enthusiasts to buy their licences online.

Karo devised a user-friendly, simple system where a licence could be ordered, paid for and printed from the user’s personal computer. The system provides a digital copy of the licence to avoid having to repurchase a lost licence. Once the angler’s account is set up, licence renewals are quick and easy and the angler can also add family members under their account. As well, the angler’s personal info can be easily accessed by a ranger via a QR barcode that is generated electronically when the licence is issued. The long-term benefits for the client entail an ability to learn more about angler preferences (now that this information is gathered electronically) and an increased impact on fishing tourism in BC.

With the “soft launch” of the web site at the start of September 2007, and without much media coverage surrounding the system, the numbers were surprising–over 1,000 anglers registered and over $11,000 of purchases took place by the end of September. Most anglers appeared to be from outside BC. Many European purchases took place from as far away as Romania and Rome.

Karo Group has just added five new awards to its stable of excellence. We entered our Horse Racing Alberta campaign into the Canadian Agricultural Marketing Awards that took place in mid-November, 2007.

Karo was in competition with top agencies including Ad Farm and BBDO, the latter of which entered its Milk Campaign, well known across Canada. We came away with an Excellence in Television Series and Merits in Billboard Single, Billboard Series and Product Sales–Direct Marketing/Direct Response.

Leading these other wins was  our “Best in Show” for the Consumer Direct Category. This victory is a tribute to the Karo tradition of design excellence that arises from creative liberty, market experience and energetic teamwork.

The Calgary Stampede 2007 10-day campaign has brought Karo more awards—this time internationally.

The IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) Brass Ring Awards is an annual competition recognizing excellence in marketing for amusement facilities worldwide. On Monday, November 12th in Orlando, Florida, it was announced that the Calgary Stampede won in five of the ten categories presented in their division—the most wins in any division. The categories were:

• Integrated Marketing Campaign—the campaign as a whole (TV, radio, direct mail, guerrilla, print)
• Outdoor Signage
• Media Kit
• PR Campaign
• Web Site
  

The most exciting win for Karo is certainly the Integrated Marketing category. It is a new category this year and was created with the intent to show the creative use of media and breadth of work included in an agency’s campaign.

The international competition consisted of a vast variety of American parks, most notably the Six Flags amusement parks and the San Diego Zoo, as well as parks from Mexico, Germany, Norway, Singapore and Hong Kong.

For immediate release November 5, 2007: Western Canada’s only interdisciplinary creative agency, Karo Group, is offering the opportunity of $100,000 in pro bono work to help two community groups better achieve their goals through meaningful brand experiences.

Karo uses design strategy to create successful, integrated and focused customer brand experiences for a wide variety of clients, include ATB Financial, Calgary Stampede, Simon Fraser University, Syncrude, Enbridge, Ivanhoe Cambridge, Shaw, ENMAX, NovAtel, P.I. Financial, TransAlta, Concord Pacific, Alberta Securities Commission and First Calgary Savings.

“The not-for-profit landscape is as competitive as any private sector industry, with organizations on tight budgets vying for limited donation dollars and community volunteer capacity,” says Karo President, Chris Bedford. “We want to help out.”

Karo will apply $50,000 worth of design strategy and multidisciplinary creative to each of two not-for-profit organizations, one in Calgary and one in Vancouver. “We want to help two organizations develop meaningful brand experiences for their stakeholders and clients, which in turn will take them to the next level of attracting public support,” Bedford says.

Registered not-for-profits interested in receiving an application package can contact Karo at charity@karo.com.   An employee committee will create a short list and then employees from each office will vote on which two organizations will receive the $50,000 in Karo employee time.

The head of the Calgary committee and dedicated volunteer with Canadian Humanitarian, Kerry Worth, says “We’re thrilled to help charities develop a competitive edge the same way we help clients succeed in business.”  Natalie Clark, who is heading up the project in Vancouver, says “We are all really looking forward to this opportunity to help a worthy organization garner more support through a meaningful brand.”

This is the latest Karo initiative for giving back to the community. Every year, Karo provides more than $250,000 in pro bono work to groups such as  CANstruction, CKUA, Climate Central, Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, One Yellow Rabbit Theatre Company and Brain Injury Group. Karo also provides time off to employees involved in volunteer pursuits and it will match an employee’s donation to a not-for-profit up to $500.

Karo succeeds because it respects its employees, clients and the community.

For immediate release November 02, 2007: Western Canada's only interdisciplinary creative agency, Karo Group has been named one of Marketing Magazine's top ten agencies in Canada. Karo was the only agency west of Toronto to make the list.

The magazine selected ‘Canada's Top Agencies 2007' based on three criteria: strategic/creative innovation, financial success and leadership. Karo was chosen, in part, because if its unique business model that focuses on customer experiences, and the agency's substantial growth (35%) over the last 12 months.

"Karo was founded on the principle that we will succeed only if our clients and employees are happy, and our business model grew out of that" says Karo's president, Chris Bedford. "In the last year, we've substantially increased revenue, rapidly grown our client list and fostered an amazing culture and work environment."

Also in 2007, Karo was ranked fifth in Canadian Business magazine's "Best Workplaces in Canada." Karo was the only creative firm in the top ten.

"We are proud of the awards we've garnered this year," Bedford says. "They help show that our strategy to break away from the pack and develop our own integrated model to serve our clients is working."

Karo uses design strategy to create successful, integrated and focused customer brand experiences for a wide variety of clients including Trev Deeley Motorcycles, Calgary Stampede, Simon Fraser University, ATB Financial, Concord Pacific, Syncrude, P.I. Financial, Shaw, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Enbridge, Vancouver Aquarium, Ivanhoe Cambridge, ENMAX, Alberta Securities Commission, Mountain Equipment Coop, First Calgary Savings and OpenRoad Auto Group. Karo’s reach also extends beyond the Canadian market, including the U.S., Mexico, China and Argentina.

Marketing Magazine will honour Karo and the other shops named as Canada's Top Agencies 2007' at the second annual Marque Awards Nov. 29 in Toronto.

For more information, please contact Chris Bedford in Calgary at (403)266-4094 or Warren Baxter in Vancouver at (604) 255-6100 or visit our Contact Us page.