In early August, concert promotion and ticketing company Live Nation Entertainment reported a 98% drop in second quarter revenue compared to last year. Because of this year’s COVID-compromised concert season, there have been thousands of refunded tickets and postponed concerts (including my postponed Judas Priest tickets you see here), causing Live Nation to report a loss of $86 million in ticketing for the quarter. While pop stars and concert arenas can most likely survive financially until their next show, small artists and venues are still scrambling to come up with innovative marketing ideas to keep their instruments in hand and their doors open.

At first, drive-thru and socially-distanced concerts seemed like a solution. It reduced the likelihood of infection and still retained some of the feeling of a live show. However, their popularity quickly declined once venues realized they were losing money even with reduced crowds and that not many concertgoers wanted to sit in their cars to see their favorite artists. Some artists just ignored the virus and played shows as if life was normal. While that is definitely not the right solution, there have been plenty of successful marketing ideas that are keeping fans, artists, and venues satisfied while they anxiously await their rescheduled dates.

BANDCAMP FEE WAIVERBandcamp, a website that allows independent artists to sell their own music and merchandise, has been waiving fees on the first Friday of every month since the pandemic started. With no fees being taken from an artist’s sale, Bandcamp is ensuring that all fan-produced revenue is going directly to the artist. This has become a popular marketing message point on social media. When the first Friday of the month is near, my Facebook newsfeed is filled with small artists advertising the fee waiver and asking for fans’ support. It’s working too. On March 20, the first day when fees were waived, fans spent a total of $4.3 million on the website, 15 times more than a normal Friday.

VIRTUAL CONCERTSWhile no one expected virtual concerts to be a replacement for in-person concert experiences, they have been popular options for artists big and small. Utilizing Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, artists have been playing livestreamed sets for fans to enjoy from the comfort of their homes. For 21 weeks, Rockford favorite Miles Nielsen and his wife Kelly Steward have been performing what they’ve dubbed “Quaranstreams,” 60 to 90-minute-long sets livestreamed on Nielsen’s Facebook page for over 3,000 fans. While streaming, similar to other virtual concerts, Nielsen and Steward promote their merchandise and share links to their PayPal and Venmo accounts for anyone interested in giving a tip. Based on the happy comments and high viewership, it’s safe to say that the “Quaranstreams” are successful while also maintaining aspects of the live music experience like tips and merchandise.

COVID MERCHANDISESpeaking of merchandise, artists have gotten creative with new COVID-inspired products to sell to fans. Just about every major artist has their own branded facemask now, but there are some other products that stand out from the crowd. KISS, the undisputed kings of artist branding, created a Stay At Home Tour shirt, the proceeds of which are donated to the Global Relief Fund For Live Music Crews. Wu-Tang Clan quickly sold out of their “Protect Ya Hands” hand sanitizer to benefit the homeless. For each bottle sold, the group donated a bottle to the Ottawa Mission Foundation and donated additional profits to other homeless shelters in Canada. However, the title for “Best COVID Band Merch” goes to Devo and their energy dome face shield. When a problem comes along, the face shield will protect you in case someone has to sneeze and whips it your way. All lyrical puns aside, creative marketing like this is the best way for bands to make a living with no shows on the horizon. According to Dell Furano, CEO of Live Nation Merchandise, touring artists typically earn between 10 and 35 percent of their revenue through merch sales.

So, you want to be a media expert? It’s great exposure for you and your organization; it makes you appear knowledgeable, and it lets you delve into the broadcast world just enough to get a flavor of the fun without tumbling into the sometimes crazy abyss.You might think “experts” who are frequently called on by reporters for interviews are more educated, more accomplished and more skilled than their counterparts and, therefore, more qualified to give media interviews.Nope. That’s typically not the story.Often, the reason the same people get called on by reporters for interviews again and again is because they have a good “RAP.”RAP stands for Responsive, Approachable, and Prepared. Let’s break it down...Be responsive. When a reporter calls, he or she is usually chasing more than one story, more than one interview and balancing breaking news with broken gear plus a lack of adequate staffing with a lack of time. The “do more with less” mentality has been alive and kicking in newsrooms across the country for years already; the rest of corporate American is still catching up. The more responsive you are, the more likely you are to snag the interview and receive the first call next time.Be approachable. Share your cell phone and email address with the reporter. If you haven’t worked with the reporter previously, make small talk and find some common ground in sports teams, hometowns or mutual love for hot weather. Above all, be kind, patient and helpful. Reporters are people, too, and fostering a good relationship can be mutually beneficial.Be prepared. You don’t need to have complete knowledge of the subject to be able to give an interview. You do need to know why the reporter is covering the story and what he or she hopes to gain from your interview. You can ask those questions when setting up the interview to help you prepare. Then, jot down three main points you want to get across during the interview and stick to those key messages. If the reporter strays into unfamiliar territory with his or her questions, come back to your three main points or simply respond that you don’t know the answer but will follow-up.Feel like you flopped your interview? It’s okay. For most reporters, having one source is better than having no source, no matter how good. Also, it’s a sound bite—not a speech. Remember that for all your verbal stumbling, there is probably at least one :10-:20 sound bite that is usable and will work for the reporter’s needs.Follow the above tips and you’ll be well on your way to developing a good “RAP” with reporters and gaining traction on your media mentions!

Baseball and basketball fans across the globe are anxiously awaiting the return of their favorite teams. Both the MLB and NBA are slated to resume play shortly with COVID-related restrictions. One of the biggest changes is fans aren’t allowed to attend games for the remainder of the season. While this is obviously disappointing, current conditions have led to some creative PR and marketing to keep fans happy.

One of the first brilliant marketing ideas I’ve seen so far is courtesy of the Oakland Athletics. Their idea (which has now been replicated by other MLB teams) allows fans to submit a photo of themselves to be made into a cardboard cutout and placed into the stands at their home stadium. The team offers different price points. The most expensive at $149 lands your cutout in the new ALS CURE Project Foul Ball Zone. In exchange, you get two tickets to a 2021 home game, receive an autographed photo from A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty, and if a foul ball lands at your cutout, he will provide them with a signed baseball. In addition, proceeds from cutouts purchased in this section will be donated to the Piscotty Family Foundation to find a cure from ALS. Piscotty’s mother died from ALS in 2018.

The NBA has a more complex situation than the MLB. Select NBA teams (based on their record before the COVID shutdown) are currently residing at Walt Disney World Resorts to finish their season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando -- without fans. Since the remainder of games will be played at one location, every NBA arena is vacant. To utilize this empty space for fans and community members, teams like the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings are converting their arenas into socially distanced voting centers for the upcoming fall elections. The teams are also providing free parking, staff, and even ad campaigns within their respective cities to encourage citizens to vote.

To identify with fans and promote NBA players’ ideals, the NBA is also allowing players to replace the last name on their jersey with a social justice message for the remainder of the season. The idea appears to be a huge hit among players. As of July 8, 285 of 350 eligible players had chosen a message to display on their jerseys, the most popular of which is ‘EQUALITY.’ These messages, along with the arena conversions, should prove to be a successful way for players and teams to support their local communities and connect with fans.

While it’s yet unknown how successful a COVID-affected sports season will be, the MLB and NBA have put all their efforts into creating a safe and enjoyable environment for players and fans alike. Let’s play ball!

Mother’s Day proved some businesses have been more adept than others at adjusting to accommodate COVID-19 online ordering, curbside pick-up and delivery. Red Lobster had a lot of clean-up to do after the recent holiday, proving now more than ever, it’s important when things don’t go according to plan that businesses protect their brand with good PR and customer service!

Red Lobster CEO Apologizes for Mother’s Day Mayhem

Public relations crisis management counsels that brands should own their mistakes promptly, apologize when there are victims and communicate how they are making things right. Red Lobster’s CEO Kim Lopdrup did that yesterday.

For many Americans, the tradition on Mother’s Day is to give mom a day off from cooking. As a result, it’s a big day for restaurants. It was this year, too, though nearly all orders were take-out, of course. Unfortunately, Mother’s Day 2020 became a problem for some restaurants and several Red Lobster locations in particular.

Some restaurants, including Red Lobster, ran specials for Mother's Day, but failed to anticipate how much demand there would be during the pandemic. For Red Lobster, Sunday was its biggest online day ever. As it turned out, the restaurant's online systems accepted orders that staff ultimately was unable to fulfill. With all orders online, demand projection should have been doable. That was not the case.

Okay, so it’s not day 762 but some days it feels like it. The KMK team is still fully employed, fully engaged with its clients on a daily basis and, dare we say, busy.

Like many businesses, KMK employees could work at home in the past due to sick children, a home repair scheduled or bad weather conditions.

COVID-19 has pushed all of us into a 100% work at home schedule. KMK decided to poll its team members, see how they’re doing, and ask what’s the best and worst thing about working at home. Here’s what we found out:

WORST: Working at home with young children – from e-learning to boredom and always going to mom, NOT dad!BEST: Working at home with my dog.WORST: Not having face-to-face client meetings.BEST: Saving money on hair and makeup—haha!WORST: Realizing how much non-KMK work needs to get done (laundry, cleaning, etc.).BEST: Getting more sleep with no lunches to pack, commute to the office or prepping for work.WORST: Not having in-person brainstorming meetings with other KMK staff.BEST: Being able to work with little interruption and beer in the fridge at the end of the day!

In addition to our Zoom staff meetings to keep connected and enjoy one another’s creative vibe, the KMK team is keeping a sense of humor.

One employee responded, “The toughest thing about working from home is the lack of human contact. I find myself talking to myself a lot and the worst is when I pick a fight with myself and lose.”

Working remotely can present challenges and obstacles if you’re not used to it... especially when you’re a part of a creative team like KMK. We’ve taken the last 4 weeks of quarantine to hone in on the tips and tricks that work for our team!

Lots of Virtual MeetingsEvery Monday, KMK staff members hop on a virtual staff meeting to go over the past week, provide updates on projects and get a look at the week ahead. While this is the only company-wide meeting we have each week, team members are breaking off in individual virtual meetings to chat about projects as well.Be Available and Respond QuicklyWhen you’re in the office, it’s easy to run to your neighbor’s office to see if they had a chance to look at your email... working from home makes that a little more difficult. Make sure you’re available to answer phone calls and emails in a timely manner. Our rule of thumb at KMK is 30 minutes!Stick to a RoutineIs your favorite part of the workday popping a k-cup into the Keurig to brew your morning cup of coffee? Used to eating lunch at noon? Keep it up! Just because you’re working from home now doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your favorite parts of the day.Don’t be Afraid to Pick Up the PhoneIf you feel like it would be easier to talk through a project, task, or just have a question you feel can’t be conveyed properly through email, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone to call your coworker... they’re on the clock, too!Set Goals and Crush Them!Staying on task while working from home is, understandably, harder for some. An easy way to keep projects moving along is to set project goals, big or small! Set reminders in Outlook or a common project space like Basecamp or Slack.Bring Your Pet (or Kid) to Work!Just because we’re working from home doesn’t mean that life stops from 9-5... We have kids and pets and, dangit, they want attention just as much as our clients do! If your coworker’s dog decides the 9 am conference call is the best time to sing the song of its people, use it as an opportunity to connect with your coworker instead of criticizing.Check Your Internet SpeedIf your internet seems slower than usual, check your routers! KMK Communications Specialist Sarah Mitchell thought it was her provider, but after further investigation, found out her router needed replaced! Now she’s up to speed (get it... internet speed)!

Do you happen to have...

Ticketmaster tickets to a postponed concert?Amazon order question that requires a phone call?Netflix issue where you need to talk to a human being?

Well, too bad. You’ll have to wait. A long time. Like until this Coronavirus thing is over.

All three companies have implemented extremely poor new customer service guidelines of nixing phone call support.

On Monday, I was trying to order something on Bed Bath & Beyond’s website using an unexpired coupon. The coupon wasn’t working. It was 6 p.m. Typically, I should have been able to call customer service, but the company is no longer staffing phone lines at that hour. I couldn’t send an email or chat with anyone either. So, I waited.

The next day I initiated an online chat with an approximate wait time of 35 minutes. I missed my chat as I was busy working. I tried again and periodically checked to see if the chat was active and caught it just in time. I got the issue resolved.

Twenty-two.

By my best calculations, that’s the number of political campaigns KMK Media Group has worked on in the 21 years we’ve been in business. City, village, county, township, state and referendum campaigns. Roughly one a year, but it never seems to work out quite that evenly.

The landscape of this primary election, however, is different from the rest...at least from a local advertising standpoint. We’re seeing record ad spending at the national level which is squeezing local campaigns’ pocketbooks and airtime.

Kantar/CMAG, a nonpartisan political advertising research company, estimates ad spending in the presidential race will be $6.5 billion by the time it’s all said and done in November. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has spent more than half of the $626 million in national political advertising spent so far, with Trump forking out only $18 million in his uncontested primary.

As I write this, one of Bloomberg’s ads just aired on a local evening newscast. “Attacking, distorting, dividing,” Bloomberg’s voice booms, using the ad to attack Trump. It’s just one of 39 different creative spots Bloomberg’s team has made to date, with 64% attacking Trump and primarily running on network TV.

At least one time every month, KMK hears this question from a prospective client, “Why isn’t my website ranking higher in the search engines?”

A loaded question, for sure.

Our firm’s solution is to ask more questions like: What keywords and services are you searching for? Do you know if your customers are using those same terms? What SEO and online marketing are you currently doing? How often are you updating your website? And the list goes on...

The most important factor, however, in Google rankings is Google itself. Each year, Google makes hundreds of changes to its search feature. Some years, those changes number in the thousands. Many of them are minor but occasionally they are major algorithmic changes that significantly affect search results.

Click here to discover the major Google algorithm changes that have had the biggest recent impact on search results.The morale of the story? SEO is an ongoing process. It doesn’t happen overnight and if you stop doing it, your SEO tactics will eventually not work because Google has changed its algorithms enough to affect your site’s rankings.

Have an extra $5.6 million in your pocket? President Trump doesn’t.

Well, President Trump probably DOES have an extra $5.6 million in his pocket, and then some. But he has $5.6 million less than he did after his campaign purchased a :30 TV commercial in the February 2 Fox-aired Superbowl. That’s one day before the Iowa Democratic caucus.

By the end of November, 2019, all 77 spots available in this year’s big game had been sold at a record $5.6 million each. Advertisers running multiple spots got a bit of a discount, but not much. The February 2 event is the most watched TV time slot of the year, even though the 2019 Superbowl delivered fewer than 100 million viewers for the first time in 11 years.

I love avocados and Mexico so can’t wait for that pairing this year. Word has it there will be at least five automobile commercials including Toyota and Kia. Anheuser-Busch, Weathertech and Snickers jumped on the Superbowl ad bandwagon, too, along with newcomer, Pop-Tarts.

The NFL and Fox agreed this year to fewer commercial breaks. That means we’ll see the same number of commercials run during fewer commercial breaks, allowing us ample time to use the facilities, grab more munchies or just relax and evaluate more TV commercials at one time.

Is your company’s Facebook page falling flat on its face? Is it weary, tired, and less than engaging? Are your Facebook insights showing less than stellar growth? If so, it may be time for a “Facelift!”

How Many People Use Facebook?As Facebook celebrates its 15th anniversary, 2019 Pew Research shows that 69% of American adults use Facebook.Interestingly, compare that to 73% of American adults use YouTube; 37% use Instagram, 27% use LinkedIn, 24% use Snapchat and 22% use Twitter. Facebook is where it’s at for adult marketing reach regardless of your end user’s demographic. Make sure you’re doing Facebook well before taking on other platforms.

You Need To Commit the Time to Do It RightBusinesses most often hire my agency to handle their Facebook accounts so we can boost their fans, engagement or brand awareness and to invigorate their page with more creative content and a marketing strategy. Sometimes it’s simply due to a desire to save their own marketing team’s time.

To do Facebook well, you need to allocate several hours a month to it. If you’re committed to that premise, read on to discover some tricks of the trade...

Top Tips for Increasing Your Facebook ROI

Do you send email newsletters and announcements to your customers?If so, do your subscribers sometimes tell you they’re not getting your emails? It happens more often than you think and, most of the time, you have no way of knowing it unless the recipient checks their junk or spam folder.

There are some things you can do, however, to help prevent your emails from going unread even before they land in an inbox.

Watch your language. We’re not talking about curse words, although you may feel like including a few of those when your emails continue to go undelivered to inboxes. Spam filters look at an email as a whole and set limits for certain criteria. If the email hits that limit, it won’t get delivered. Things that can increase your chance of sending “spammy” content include frequent, random capitalization or an email composed entirely of capital letters. Watch for any strange spacing or excessive white space, poor spelling, and scam-like subject lines (i.e. fast, free money).Spam test your email. You should always test your email blast before you send it out to make sure it looks and sounds the way you intend upon delivery. In addition, run your email through a spam test like MessageLabs or Spam Assassin.Ask subscribers to add you to their safe sender list. Most major email providers like Gmail, yahoo, Hotmail, and AOL use automatic filters to detect unwanted email. They analyze past emails, who sent them, how the recipient interacted with them and more trigger points to label an email as spam and prevent its delivery. Ask your subscribers to add your email address or domain to their safe sender list. The best time to do this is in your introductory email or to your subscription confirmation page.

Finally, ask your I.T. professional to authenticate your sending domain, and don’t send from a free webmail address. In this case, there is a bit of truth to the adage of, “you get what you pay for.”

If the thought of doing a TV interview makes you think you’d rather schedule a root canal, keep reading. It’s actually far easier than you may think. Here are some tips to make it virtually pain free. I promise.

Identify three main points you want to get across, and practice articulating them, most important first. Make punchy and concise statements. Think “sound bites.”Practice with a colleague or in front of a mirror. Your goal is to maintain eye contact and start and end your statements without droning on.When you begin answering a reporter’s question, restate that question and make sure it’s a complete sentence. Instead of saying, “Really fun and the opportunity of a lifetime,” say “Skydiving for the first time at age 85 was fun and the opportunity of a lifetime.”Be personable and expressive. Look at the reporter or photographer, not at the camera unless otherwise instructed to do so. Speak as if having a conversation, using a smile when appropriate and hand gestures to accentuate your points.Assume the reporter would appreciate any background you feel comfortable sharing. Newsrooms are busy places and reporters are even busier, often given stories to cover with no time to prep. Help the reporter by talking generally about the topic before your interview starts. It’ll also give you a chance to better understand the reporter’s angle on the story.

Ultimately, if you don’t know the answer to a question, it’s okay to say so and offer to follow up with the reporter via phone, if appropriate.

Ask what time the story will air. If you miss it, you can probably catch it on the station’s website. Watch it and remember you’re your own worst critic. Do take note of public comments online to see what points resonated with viewers. It will help hone your message for next time!

When looking up the word “brand” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, you’ll find eight definitions – in the marketing world, brand holds one meaning. A client’s brand is the foundation of all projects, designs and messaging developed in-house. But, what about personal brands? That’s right, PEOPLE have brands, too.

We’re not talking Kylie Jenner’s line of Kylie Cosmetics, we’re talking a public image, reputation and/or identity of oneself. Think about it... politicians, professional athletes and Hollywood stars have brands... so, why don’t you?

Here are our top 5 tips for building your personal brand:

Invest in YourselfInvesting in yourself doesn’t always mean spending money. Take time for yourself and:

Set goals!Attend classes and seminars!Invest time in YOUR creativity!

Know What You Stand ForIn a world constantly telling us what to believe, decide what YOU believe in and why. Start by asking yourself these questions:

I have two teenage daughters and a pre-teenage son. They notice people of the opposite sex and tease each other over “crushes” and who is “hot” at school.

As parents, we try to teach beauty is more than skin deep but it’s hard with today’s mass media and ever-changing trends pushed out by modern day celebrities.

Imagine my surprise when one of my daughters told me recently that a larger backside is actually desirable these days—what?! That floored me almost as much as learning “mom jeans” were back in style. Who would have imagined those of us who lived through the mom-jeans era would ever have to see it again? Ugh.

My oldest daughter, who also happens to have Down syndrome, thinks just about any person of the opposite sex is attractive...tall, short, bald, bushy, young, old. At this point in her 17-year-old life, she’s not very discerning.

She’s actually very accepting of others’ looks. (And perhaps a bit boy crazy.)

So, you’re looking for a firm to handle your creative and communication services... but where do you start? How do you know if one firm is better suited for your company compared to another? Selecting a firm for your specific needs is unlike most business purchases. The choice will ultimately affect consumer perception and any future business.

As a firm that has successfully handled hundreds of clients over the past twenty years, we can give you a little insight on the work it takes to hire an external addition to your creative team.

WHAT & WHENBefore reaching out to a marketing communications firm, determine a set of objectives your business is looking to accomplish. Sometimes it goes beyond needing a new website or increasing public relations. A set of creative professionals can help you meet your objectives by giving viable suggestions that will aid in your business’s success.

Second, set a deadline. Keep in mind, different projects require more time than others. Allow for more than ample time for production. Extra time helps accommodate review sessions and a few rounds of edits that will likely occur.

Before diving in, set a budget. Continue to be upfront about your budget when meeting with agencies. A budget will let them know what they have to work with and allow for an honest conversation on whether or not your budget is reasonable. Be prepared to potentially scale back your wish list or increase your budget, as needed.

The phrase “if you build it, they will come” might be a good mantra if you’re expecting ghosts of businesses past to show up, but, more realistically, a new (and old) business shouldn’t count on an open sign to garner business. That’s where public relations can step in.

Here’s our top five reasons why every business can benefit from PR.

Build Brand AwarenessDon’t count on gaining customers or clients if people don’t understand what your business does! A press release announcing your new business venture is an important first step in business ownership – but don’t think it stops once you’ve officially opened your doors and taken in your first customer or signed on your first client. Public relations allows you to keep your name in the game, so to speak, and allow current and future customers to know what you’re all about (and that you’re still all about it!). Send out information about new inventory, new staff, new services, new hours...anything that offers a new perspective on your business and how you can continue to expertly serve customers!Generate Business LeadsAre you lucky enough to have a solid group of customers or clients you see or hear from on a regular basis? Great! But, what about all of the potential customers who may not even know you exist? Public relations is a great way to garner new business through a blurb in the newspaper or a newsworthy interview on TV that ties into a current event, new offering or human interest story.Gain Message ClaritySome company names dominate the market, but have you ever caught yourself asking what the brand actually does or stands for? Message clarity can grow and sustain a business, helping communicate why people should trust your product or work rather than someone else. A skilled reporter may even ask you the questions everyone wants to know but you didn’t realize they wanted to ask!Stay RelevantYou had your ribbon cutting a while ago! Now what? A new business can’t ride on the high of a giant pair of scissors forever – that’s where PR can elevate your business and keep you relevant in the eyes of your customers and potential clients.Reduce CostsYou mean we’re telling you PR can actually help you SAVE money? That’s right! When you learn how to take advantage of earned media, you’ll discover how valuable the PR you got in the news yesterday was compared to what you spent on your last commercial. The right balance of paid and earned media can help you effectively push out your product highlights and your expert status and specialty in providing it.

In this digital age, many companies, both large and small, have some form of intranet, including our company.

Why?

At KMK, we found building a customized intranet for our firm grew from our team’s desire to have ONE secure platform that managed multiple pieces of information, primarily, data related to the websites we build for our clients.

We just finished programming our intranet and it holds a variety of crucial information all in one spot including:

• Client contacts• Client website information• Client hosting account details• An estimator for website proposals• A log to track backup dates for clients’ websites...and much more information, including security-related items.

Joomla. It’s not a misspelling of Jumanji...or a new Star Wars character...or a new jelly bean flavor.

It’s a content management system (CMS) that helps companies change information on their websites, similar to Wordpress and Drupal. KMK uses it when building our clients’ websites, and apparently, we’re in good company.

Joomla powers many business, entertainment and government websites around the world including General Electric, Ikea, Porsche, Nintendo, Michael Phelps, the United Nations, and many governmental organizations in the U.S. and around the globe.

Why did those entities (and our own) decide to use it for the backend of their websites instead of other CMS options? Here’s the answer:

• It can handle large amounts of traffic• It’s flexible, allowing straight-forward set-up for simple to advanced websites• It’s easy to manage; training for our clients takes minutes, not hours• There are many components available that are open source and can be easily customized• Joomla doesn’t restrict the addition of independent, fully customized components• Joomla frequently releases updates to its platform, making it easy to keep our clients’ sites safe from hacking vulnerabilities

What’s Your Creative Type?While working in the creative industry, you will inevitably encounter all kinds of creative personality types. When given a task, creatives have their own way of approaching it, executing ideas and problem solving. Their own style. It’s often said that creatives “think different” as Apple coined the phrase in 1998, during its campaign, urging its audience to do just that. But what does that mean? Adobe’s Create magazine, devoted to graphic design and communication design, developed a quiz to help shed light on those “creative” personality types.Adobe explains it this way: “The Creative Types test is an exploration of the many faces of the creative personality. Based in psychology research, the test assesses your basic habits and tendencies—how you think, how you act, how you see the world—to help you better understand who you are as a creative...” Its goal is to help you better understand yourself and how you work best with others.

Adobe explains that these personality types aren’t black and white labels and many people may have more than one core type or the type can change during the creative career. After reading that, my curiosity was peaked! What would this test say about me? What would it say about my teammates? Only one way to find out! I challenged my KMK teammates to take it, and when I took it, the results were spot-on!While no one fits perfectly into any one characterization, it does help you discover the overriding slant of your creative being! The test also suggests the other creative types best suited for personal collaboration and learning.ADOBE CREATE’S CREATIVE PERSONALITY TYPES:The Artist: Seeing beauty, creating beauty.The Thinker: Deep thoughts, big questions.The Adventurer: So much inspiration, so little time.The Maker: Committed to your craft.The Producer: Process is power.The Dreamer: The power of imagination unleashed.The Innovator: Move, shake, disrupt, repeat.The Visionary: Imagining the impossible.

The Results?Our KMK team is diversified among thinkers, makers, producers, dreamers and visionaries. It’s a good mix of innate creative traits and external problem-solving skills to drive our ideas while balancing it with results for our clients.Want to discover what creative type you are? Check it out: https://mycreativetype.com/