Nate Ludens • Creative Communications

An article in last Friday’s Review-Journal could turn out to be a really timely effort from McCarran Int’l Airport. Hopefully, the revenue from billboard leases will trickle down to some of Las Vegas’ hungry creatives. This will lie entirely in the hands of the winning bidder, and I’m cautiously optimistic.

There’s tons of complex reasons why the creative industy here is hurting. Some are internal issues at companies who were/are  managed poorly, but most are directly related to gaming cutbacks. In this case, I think it’s a chicken-or-egg system. Sales are down, so companies have stopped spending on marketing. It’s the only “controllable expense,” they say…. I disagree, to an extent. Blindly pulling the plug on marketing is effectively selling off your entire brand investment. Hey – cut where you need to cut, but keep in mind the work and expenses that have led up to your sales slide. Not to mention the jobs for the people that stay late and work weekends for thankless campaigns that shift millions of dollars around town. I always try to buy these guys a beer or a pizza whenever I can.

On a similar note… Yesterday, while returning from Utah, my wife and I counted at least 10 consecutive billboards with nothing on them. I think billboard companies should have stock templates with general feelgood campaigns instead of running blanks. Hell, why not? I’ll even volunteer to design them. If you know someone who is in a position to make decisions on something like this – please email me. I’m curious to see the benefit of running a white blank board vs. a message reminding people to drive courteously, hang up their cell phones, or spend time with their kids when they get home.

I cannot stress enough the importance of having good friends in your industry. For years, I have offered to bail out anyone who needed a spot to hang out and check their email, work for a few hours (or weeks), make a handshake happen or find the name of a missing font. I’m always glad to do these things to help out friends in a jam – or even friends of friends. I’m sure most people are the same as I am – with a few bad check writers and client stalkers in there, of course .(Karma works both ways).

Over the last month or so, I have had some bumps in the road with software, hardware and an exciting new endeavor or two or three. Thankfully, some of the people who I have helped out of jams in the past have come to my aid – and these things call for a Humongous Thank You.

You know who you are, and you know I’ll bail you out of your next jam. Cheers, Nate.

One of the best design evangelists is Tom Peters. His books have been a huge inspiration behind Black Diamond Digital Imaging. I recently re-discovered Mr. Peters’ website, and his blog, in particular.

Check out this excellent recent blog post from Tom Peters.

Hi Everyone, we have uploaded the shots from last Friday’s Beanie Bash 2008.

Check them out!

The shots turned out great. Thanks again to everyone that showed up.

I got a great thank you email this weekend about our monthly parties at the studio. If you haven’t experienced one yet, please feel welcome to. We send out email invitations, blog posts, twitter feeds, myspace posts – if you don’t know about our parties, you’ve been on vacation in a far away land, my friend.

“Again, thanks for letting us crash your party. The networking that
goes on is awesome. So many different industries clashing together.
It’s awesome.” John Hawkins.

John was also very kind in his review our party on his blog. Check it out here.

John is a great family man, a passionate photographer, a über-programmer, and the organizer of WordCamp (more info coming soon) and organizer of the Las Vegas Twitter Meetup Group, which is a strong and growing diverse group of businesspeople who partake heavily in the activity formerly known as “networking” – but without the cover charge. – I for one, am stoked about meeting John and the potential ahead for our groups.

Thanks, hombre. Salud!

Check out what this guy did to remodel his basement. Here’s the article. Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for the twitter post.

Hey, to those of you who showed up last night at the studio – THANK YOU. I’m very fortunate to have such great people surrounding me.

Currently, we have a truckload of clothes we’re going to donate to SafeNest, a mild hangover, and a group of hilarious “mugshots” of people wearing silly beanies. In other words: a kick ass party.

Tonight is the AIGA Las Vegas Holiday Party. Always a riot, so I’d better get some rest.

Cheers to good times with good humans.

Nothin’ but love,
Nate

Hi Everyone, just a quick reminder.

This Friday we are having the Black Diamond Digital Beanie Bash 2008 – Click here for more info

Also, if you are a Twitter user, follow us at www.twitter.com/bddi

Hope to see you on Friday.

If you want to join us for SnowJam Las Vegas on Friday, show up at our studio at 3pm this Friday for a cold one. Then we can carpool over to the Cashman Center, which is only about 5 minutes away.

Here’s their e-mail, which I got yesterday….

Ahead of the inevitable storms and 400″ of annual powder they receive, Brian Head Resort has already fired up their snowmaking guns (see above) and plans to open ASAP. The two mountains at Brian Head are now connected by new lifts, so you can cruise around all 650 acres without ever taking off your skis or snowboard!

Remember, you trade in your admission ticket at SnowJam for a FREE lift ticket to Brian Head worth $45!

Buy and print your SnowJam ticket or discount coupon now at www.snowjamshow.com and save $2 on each admission (every little bit helps!). An advance purchase SnowJam admission ticket is good for any of the 3 days of the expo, Nov. 21, 22 & 23.

Next Friday, Saturday & Sunday, Cashman Center will be filled to the gills with over $3 million worth of equipment, clothing and accessories, and in this economy our guys are willing to make unbelievable deals. And they’ve got tons of every great brand in the business. So if you beat up your gear over the last couple of seasons or you’re overdue for an upgrade, SnowJam is your one chance all year to save LARGE!

See you at the show!
SnowJam Staff

I’d like to thank Erika and the folks at Glaceau for calling me to shoot for them at VooDoo Friday night. Check out the link below to view the gallery photos. There are some silly ones, and some sexy ones, and probably some stuff that you might not want your co-workers to see… perfect ingredients for a good party!

Here’s the link to the web gallery.

Barack and McCain were there...