Launch Agency News » Advertising Agency

Launch Agency receives Eagle Award from Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County

Rebecca — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:39:34 +0000

Each year, the CACCC honors the person or organization who’s had an extraordinary impact on the abused children of Collin County. This year, the Eagle Award was presented to Launch Agency for calling attention to the good work of the Center, an organization that operated under the radar for approximately 20 years.

Agency principal Diane Seimetz on the Eagle Award, “While we don’t donate our time and talents for recognition, it’s a great feeling to know you are making a difference when you do.”

Mike Newman of the Plano Profile on the CACCC: “Their mission is a simple, to-the-point one: ‘to provide safety, healing and justice to children victimized by abuse or neglect.’ The job of accomplishing it is anything but simple.”

Launch principals Seimetz, Michael Boone and David Wilgus are grateful for the honor. And express thanks to the talented team that worked so hard on behalf of the CACCC, including Alexandra Watson, Jon Fullrich, Laura Carroll, Ryan Ingram, Reuben Miller and Alison Hamilton.

To learn more about the CACCC, visit www.cacplano.org.

Seimetz A Panelist At Radio Mercury Awards Workshop

Rebecca — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:55:55 +0000

One of our own is honored to be able to share her knowledge and expertise on radio marketing. Launch co-founder and principal Diane Seimetz has been invited to participate as a panelist at the Radio On! Creative Workshop, located in downtown Dallas, on March 7th. She will discuss the experiences she’s had working closely with such clients as Park Place Dealerships, Sam’s Club, Promised Land Dairy and others, and how to write engaging, compelling radio creative.

Diane will be joined on the panel by:

Chris Smith, Group Creative Head, The Richards Group.
Aldo Quevedo, President, Dieste.
Paco Olavarrieta, Chief Content Curator, Dieste.
Ricky Roo, VP Creative, TM Studios.

Seats are limited, so register now! Tickets are $125/person and include the panel, lunch and a session by guest speaker Roy Williams, best-selling author of The Wizard of Ads. Click here to register!

Launch adds 10 new Dallas ADDY trophies to its collection

Alex — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:40:47 +0000

The 2011 Dallas ADDY awards were held this past Thursday, February 17th, and once again, Launch came home with a sizable share of the awards. Launch was awarded 10 trophies in all, and in a strangely consistent fashion, all of them were silver.

In a true “meta” moment, four of the trophies were awarded for work Launch did in order to promote the ADDY event itself. Each of the three posters won individual trophies, as well as one for the campaign as a whole. Work from this campaign, dubbed “Suffer for Your Art,” adorned the event space, from posters at the entrance to on-screen display graphics at either side of the stage.

The “Suffer for Your Art” theme also continued throughout the night as part of a crowd-pleasing video Launch created with acclaimed director Jeff Bednarz and Directorz executive producer Jeremy Besser. The video featured Dallas advertising luminaries describing some of the bizarre and hilarious challenges they’ve faced in producing award-winning advertising. They were edited with the considerable talent of Charlie Uniform Tango (Lola Lott; executive producer, Jack Waldrip, editor; Alex Campos, assistant editor; and Dave Slack, graphic artist).

Launch also took home three awards for its Children’s Advocacy Center posters. Each of these public service concepts, dubbed “Bear” and “Robot”, took home a trophy each, and again, the overall campaign won a trophy as well.

Another pair of trophies was awarded to Launch for its work on smart USA sales promotion materials, including one for a smart sales kit and another for a series of smart product info sheets. And, finally, Launch won its tenth trophy of the night for a small-space ad produced for smart center Dallas & Fort Worth, titled “the half monty.”

All in all, it was just the latest in a string of successful Dallas ADDY shows for Launch. Here’s looking forward to a repeat performance in 2012.

Park Place Website Drives Award Show Success

Megan — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:07:29 +0000

Not to toot our own horn, but over the past seven years Launch has helped Park Place Dealerships fill their trophy case with some significant marketing awards. This year was no exception. Park Place hauled in six awards for the redesigned ParkPlace.com website which Launch co-designed and developed with eCarlist.

The award list includes:

2010 Communicator Award of Excellence – Best Automotive Website

2010 Communicator Award of Distinction – Website Structure and Navigation

2010 Direct Marketing Association Echo Finalist – 5^th Place Website Design

2010 Direct Marketing Association Echo Special Award – Search Marketing

2010 Automotive Website Awards – Best Dealership Website Design

2010 WMA WebMarketing Award – Outstanding Achievement in Web Development, Best of Industry

On top of the marketing awards, Park Place was recognized by the Dallas Morning News as one of the Top 100 Places to Work in DFW, coming in 5th in the large company category. Yet one more sign of why we enjoy working with them so much year after year.

Meet Caitlin Christopher, Account Service Intern

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:09:24 +0000

Caitlin Christopher is a Texan, born and bred. She was a dancer growing up, but now she’s a recent graduate of SMU, from the prestigious Temerlin Advertising Institute, with a major in advertising (and a minor in Spanish).

While in school, Caitlin completed an internship at The Richards Group, focusing in account planning. She also spent a summer studying abroad and visited Mother UK, Naked, Pentagram and Tribal DDB London. With that background, experience and eagerness to continue learning, Caitlin bested many other qualified candidates to earn the coveted Launch internship gig.

Caitlin may be an account service intern, but we tested her creative thinking with a round of Q&A.

Q: Paper or plastic?
A: Paper.

Q: Favorite nail polish color?
A: Fiji – by Essie.

Q: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: Greece. I’ve just always wanted to go there.

Q: What’s your favorite website?
A: Does Google Reader count?

Q: What do you want to get out of your internship at Launch?
A: I want to better understand the management side of advertising because my prior internship focused on account planning.

Q: What’s your favorite place in Dallas to get take-out?
A: Green Papaya. It’s like Vietnamese food, on Cedar Springs. Or Eatzi’s. (Eatzi’s, a former Launch client, is on Oak Lawn).

Q: What’s your favorite flower?
A: Stargazer lilies.

Q: What do you do in your free-time?
A: I dance a lot — in the car, sometimes walking down the street. Then I catch myself and realize other people can see me.

When she’s not dancing to a meeting, Caitlin is quietly tapping her feet under her desk.

Welcome to Launch, Caitlin.

Happy Holidays from Launch

Alison — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:06:15 +0000

Color Palette Inspiration for Designers

Stephanie — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:21:33 +0000

Coming up with a great new color palette for a design can often be tricky. Sometimes, designers get stuck in a color rut or need help figuring out what colors will go best with a visual. For some fresh contemporary color inspiration, there are a number of great color palette resources online. Here are a few favorites the Launch team turns to for amping up design work:

CSS Drive’s Image to Colors Palette Generator

This is a great little site where you can upload an image or point to a URL, and it will give you a color palette based on the image. There are many of these out there, but this one stands out because it provides a light, medium and dark palette, as well as a complete palette.

Adobe® Kuler

Kuler is a wonderful resource built right in to Creative Suite 4 software. It’s a great way to explore some new color themes, and the content is created by users worldwide. Browse by highest rated, newest, most popular and save your favorite color combos. To access this in Illustrator, simply go to the Select menu, click Extensions, click Kuler.

From Build Internet – Color Scheme Inspiration: Vintage Horror Movie Posters

Can’t omit this little gem … an exploration of vintage horror movie posters and their color palettes. It combines kitschy vintage design, movies and color. And while this blog post may not solve your design problems, it’s great to look through!

Launch Wins Comerica Collin 60 Award

Lee — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:35:41 +0000

Launch was recognized as the 35th fastest growing company in Collin County as part of the annual Comerica Collin 60, sponsored by Comerica Bank. Diane Seimetz, Principal, Creative Director, accepted the award for the agency. This marked the second consecutive year Launch made the list. Launch was ranked 41st in the 2007 Awards.

The Comerica Collin 60 annually recognizes the 60 fastest-growing private companies in Collin County, Texas. In order for businesses to qualify, they are required to have been operating since 2002, be privately owned and meet rigorous sales performance numbers. The companies are then ranked by the percentage of growth during the last three years.

The awards luncheon was held during the first week of May at the Marriott Hotel at Legacy Town Center in Plano, TX. Seimetz, Michael Boone (Launch Principal, Account Director) and KC DeFranco (Account Service) attended for Launch.

Diane Seimetz Honored as Woman of Excellence

Alison — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:39:55 +0000

Launch Agency Principal Diane Seimetz receives prestigious Woman of Excellence Award by National Association of Professional and Executive Women.

In recognition of her outstanding contribution to the advertising industry, the National Association of Professional and Executive Women has recognized Dallas ad veteran Diane Seimetz with the Woman of Excellence Award. The Association is dedicated to providing professional resources, education and marketing expertise to executive women nationwide, and extends this honor to those who display exceptional leadership skills in their field.  Seimetz, along with partners David Wilgus and Michael Boone, is principal of LAUNCH, a boutique brand development, marketing and advertising agency in Dallas, Texas. The company specializes in consumer brand launches and relaunches, counting such companies as online dating giant Match.com, the Paris Hotel Las Vegas, Hotels.com, the Park Place luxury car dealership group, NYLO Hotels, rent-to-own leader Rent-A-Center, Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse, upscale girls’ salon Sweet and Sassy, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, RadioShack brand PointMobl and others as clients. The agency has been recognized as one of the fastest growing businesses in the region, and has earned a national reputation for strategic and creative excellence. In addition to membership in the American Advertising Federation (AAF), American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), Seimetz is active in her church, local animal shelter, Marketing Board for the University of Northern Texas, Gamma Phi Beta sorority, the DFW Interactive Marketing Association and Women on the Web.