Our Graphic Designer, Erika Jacoby, has been with BlackDog Advertising for more than 16 years. Her award winning online and offline advertising work is expertly designed, innovative and effective for our clients. We are so fortunate to have Erika on the BlackDog team! Read our interview with her to learn more about her favorite projects, funny office stories and her top vacation destination.
What inspired you to pursue a career in advertising & graphic design?
You get to work on different types of projects everyday. There are so many avenues to advertise a single service or product, whether it’s print or online. So there’s never a boring day.
What’s the best part of your job at BlackDog?
We are very lucky to work with clients who become like family. We develop great relationships with them and they keep coming back!
Describe your creative process when working on a project.
Well… First, I want to establish who the target market is and what the end goals are. How do we want to market this service or product? I do quite a bit of research before starting anything. I want to know what the competition is doing, what works, what doesn’t work. Then, I come up with the branding I want to establish. I work with John, our Creative Director. We toss ideas back and forth between all team members. We present our proposal to the client and then we go from there.
Can you name a couple projects of which you are most proud?
Hard to name just two. For me, it’s anything that not only looks good but is effective and doubles or triples our client’s profit. Recently, I would say the Old Town Trolley of Boston recycling bins that we created to look like mini-trolleys.
What’s the most memorable ad you’ve seen or heard?
I love all the ESPN “This is Sports Center” commercials. They’re simple with subtle humor but genius. I especially love the one with The New Jersey Devils mascot and the Pittsburgh Penguins mascot each changing the AC temperature back and forth. Reminds me of our office. We do that all day long.
Do you have a favorite funny office story?
It’s hard to pick one. I’ve been here for so long and have quite a few stories. But maybe the most memorable one was when we filmed our holiday video and we all got dressed in silly costumes and put together a very campy video. The bloopers had us laughing for weeks. We still laugh about it every time we watch it.
If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I’ve been very lucky to travel different places. It depends on what mood I’m in. But right now, if I could go anywhere, it would be to Zermatt, Switzerland. It’s one of my all-time favorite places. It’s the most quaint Swiss village and the backdrop of the Matterhorn is amazing. I didn’t want to leave. My friends and I kept our window open all night and the peace that I felt there, I haven’t felt anywhere else.