Category: Blog

2016 is a Leap Year. That means we have an extra day in February. If you were born on February 29^th, you get to celebrate your birthday on your actual birth date for a change.

We have Julius Caesar to thank for the first Leap Years. He introduced the idea to the Romans more than 2000 years ago, declaring that any year evenly divisible by four would be a Leap Year. But that led to way too many Leap Years. Still, the practice continued until the Gregorian calendar was introduced 1500 years later.

Today, Leap Years are declared according to three criteria of the Gregorian calendar. First, a Leap Year must be divisible by four….however, if it can be evenly divided by 100, then it is NOT a Leap Year…..unless the year also is evenly divisible by 400…then it IS a Leap Year.

Why do we have Leap Years anyway? They are needed to keep our modern day Gregorian calendar aligned with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days – or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds – to circle once around the sun. This is called a tropical year. However, the Gregorian calendar has only 365 days in a year, so if we didn’t add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours off our calendar every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days. (Thank you, timeanddate.com, for that head-spinning scientific, astronomical explanation! If that’s too much history and too many numbers and way more information about Leap Years than you need, we understand.)

Leap Day offers a number of traditions and beliefs – it’s known as a day for women to propose marriage to the man of their choice…it’s the day, in 1692, that the first warrants were issued in the Salem witch trials (some find that significant)…and it’s promoted as a day to “take a leap” and try something you’ve never done before. We also think it would be a great day to catch up on lost sleep and take an extra-long afternoon nap…so maybe that will catch on.

However you choose to mark the year and/or the day, be sure to make it fun. Happy Leaping!

Clients come and go…but many of our clients come and stay. We treasure those long-term relationships and feel we can learn from our clients as much as they can learn from us. Krista Walton, Marketing Communications Specialist at Armstrong World Industries – a client for many years – took a few minutes recently to talk about what it’s like to work with us.

Why do you like working with TCG?

It’s such a talented group of people—not only do they bring great design ideas to the table, but their attention to detail is extremely valuable, especially in situations where quick turnaround time is required. No matter how crazy of a request I may throw at them—they always get it done, on time, and the results are fantastic.

What do you think about the quality of our work?

Outstanding! Sometimes I’m not even sure of what I’m looking for—all I have is a high-level idea. But even when given little direction, TCG comes back withdesigns and ideas that exceed my expectations.

What is your favorite piece of work we’ve done for Armstrong and why?

That’s tough—there are so many options! If I have to choose one, I’m going with a display that TCG worked on for many months for one of our retailers. It was a huge project, and there were points when the deadlines were extremely tight—many late nights were involved! I’m proud of what we accomplished together as a team. The display looks amazing!

What kind of results has TCG helped to generate for Armstrong?

All of the great promotional materials and merchandising that TCG designs for us is critical to our success.

Thanks for your kind words, Krista. You are an outstanding client and we look forward to many more years together!

We just finished the first of several pieces for a new client launching a new business. It’s always fun to help a new business get off the ground—developing their logo, the look of their collateral and their public persona. When we are involved from the start, we seek the client’s input and then put together creative that reflects their personality and meets their goals.

In case it’s not obvious, we just love what we do!

Our lastest update on what’s happening in the exciting world of advertising & design. “Insight” is available digitally or through traditional mail. Email Margie Seagers mseagers@tcgad.com and let her know that you’d love to be on our mailing list!
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Want to convince a guy to consider a career in nursing? Then you need a guy who’s in nursing or in training to be a nurse to make the point.

Fun historical fact: there was a time when women were not permitted to go into the field of nursing or enter nursing schools. Imagine! Times changed, of course, and now women make up the majority of the nursing workforce. Times continue to change, and more men are drawn to nursing today. It is a rewarding career that’s expected to present plentiful opportunities for employment for years to come.

We recently had a special opportunity to work with a consortium of career and technology schools to develop a 4-minute video aimed at recruiting male students to a career in nursing. Using a testimonial format, we interviewed a diverse group of male students in practical nursing programs and graduates working in the nursing field. We edited those interviews into a fast-paced, informative video about what it’s like to be on the nursing career path for men.

We had the good fortune to work on this project through our client relationship with Lancaster County Career & Technology Center (Lancaster CTC). In addition to Lancaster CTC, the consortium includes Chester County Intermediate Unit, Delaware County Technical Schools, Eastern Center for Arts and Technology, and Lebanon County Career and Technology Center.

We’ve had great feedback on the video! The schools were very happy with the finished product, and they all have put the video on their websites where prospective students can easily view it.

Our favorite bit of feedback came from Carolyn Voorhees, MSN, RN, one of our contacts at Lancaster CTC during production of the video, who had this to say: “Everyone loved the video. Your organization should get an award for this production…it is excellent.”

Thank you, Carolyn! You can check out the video for yourself right here: Men in Nursing.

When Goldilocks wandered into the home of the three Bears in the woods, it took her a little time to find things in the house that were not too big and not too small, but just right. Many companies can find themselves searching for the same thing when it comes to advertising agencies.

Does your agency respect your deadlines? Do they treat your budget like it’s their own money they are spending? Do they value your time? Are they quick to respond to your requests? Do you have access to the people who are working on your project?

If your agency is too big to give you the attention you deserve or too small to provide all of the services that you want, maybe it’s time to give us a try. We’re not too big, not too small…maybe we are just right for you.