Ah, Summertime.
When the mercury starts rising, things heat up around Magneto.
MAGNETO HQ - Just as we think the summer doldrums are about to overtake our happy little hamlet of Magnetoville, more work comes rolling in and we're right back at it-singing show tunes and practicing our upcoming Embers stage act. Seriously though, we do not have a stage act at Embers. We do like show tunes however and we have also been busy making excellent advertising and such.

Let's see now, on the advertising side, we've created a campaign for United Way to help those in dire straits get through the financial crisis, produced a fun radio campaign for NW Natural, launched a contest and summer promotion for Smart Energy, created a new mark for Mentor Graphics' product called Nucleus and much more. On the show tunes side, we're listening to faves from "Man of La Mancha" and "Cats" right now. So get yourself a cool drink, slip on your banana hammock and your panama hat and sink your teeth into the latest "Summer Fun" edition of Ignition.
Krieg Thumbtwister, Editor

Helping To Get People Back On Feet Is All In A Day's Work. Plus A Night Or Two. Magneto United Way campaign helps bring in $1.6 M in donations. PORTLAND - With thousands of people out of work and having no visible means of support, many have been brought to their knees financially. Evictions, utility shut-offs and homelessness have hit record highs. The United Way asked Magneto to create a pro bono campaign to get people to help their neighbors through this short-term crisis. Magneto named the campaign "The Community Relief Fund" and designed the logo. We also produced TV and radio spots and a newspaper print campaign tugging at people's heart and purse strings. The campaign helped to bring in $1.6 million for people in need. Time, resources and expertise were also donated by Limbo Films, Digital One Audio, Mission Control Post and photographer Andy Batt. SEE THE CAMPAIGN.


Smart Energy Challenging People
To Take Smart Energy Challenge.

http://www.smartenergynw.com/challengeWant a free trip to Crater Lake Lodge? You'd better know a sh*tload about cow manure.
NORTHWEST OREGON - As you may know, Smart Energy is an alternative energy program from NW Natural that has, as it's major push, the biodigestation of cow manure into methane gas for commercial use. Pretty wild stuff. To get the word out this summer, we created a campaign called the Smart Energy Challenge, which tests your energy knowledge and rewards you with points towards a grand prize vacation to Crater Lake plus a bunch of other stuff. It's kooky fun. You should check it out and sign up to test your skills. Who knows, maybe you'll win.
LINK TO THE WEBSITE.

News Roundup
BRAND IDENTITY
FOR NUCLEUS
BY MENTOR GRAPHICS

SEE IT

NW NATURAL RADIO
SPOTS FEATURE
PRECOCIOUS GIRL

LISTEN TO THE RADIO

BRAND POOBAH
by Buzz Winkle

Hey kids, today I'm going to lecture on something called "branded content," (a.k.a. product placement, or embedded marketing.) Basically, it's a blend of advertising and entertainment into one. You know, when you're watching a movie and a product is "seamlessly" worked into the scene. Like when Spiderman fires his web at a perfectly framed and lit Dr. Pepper can or in that latest Transformers movie where for some reason, the good Autobots all want to look like crappy GM cars. C'mon, stop insulting our intelligence. Back in the day, a sponsor was a sponsor and nobody was trying to fool anyone. You know why they called those daytime dramas "soap operas"? Because they were sponsored by big soap companies and we knew it. Nobody tried to crudely wedge in products to fool unsuspecting viewers. Well, sometimes they did. But take this Atari ad for instance. Sure it's blatant and weird but nobody's trying to fool anyone. It's a no-nonsense tie-in

between Atari and Foghat and features a young Geraldo Rivera as "dad." It's just a good, clean, honest product tie- in. Not the subversive kind of crap they're shoveling us these days. Am I right or am I right? Buzz out.

Brand Wisdom
Need enlightenment? Get the Magneto Quick Reference Guide to Brand Wisdom. Email Buzz at buzz@magnetoworks.com


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