The mission of the Fulton County Arts Council (FCAC) is to enhance the quality of life of all citizens through support of the arts. It’s a cultural leader in Fulton County and the largest funder of the arts in Georgia. The Jones Group, a supporter of the arts in the communities in which we live, partnered with FCAC to redesign and develop its website, www.fultonarts.org. Launched in concert with the organization’s 30th anniversary celebration, the website presents all aspects of the Art Council’s story and purpose, educates our public on accessible, low cost art centers, provides people a reason to visit often and learn more, and encourages its visitors to get involved in the arts.

Navigation was designed and content was developed to support the site’s primary message that there are a number of ways to get involved in the arts, support artists and assist with funding. A content management system was built to allow owners of the site’s content to quickly and easily update material and events, keeping information fresh and relevant. The website’s contemporary look and feel is supported by the liberal use of clean, white space, which allows for a platform to showcase artwork and images that represent all disciplines from the arts center. The home page features an events feed and rich information about the five community arts centers.

Through the work at these centers, the FCAC strives to better the lives of Fulton County citizens by making the arts accessible for all.

Print is a national bimonthly magazine about visual culture and design. Founded in 1940, the magazine is dedicated to showcasing extraordinary design on and off the page. As a reflection of its standing in the industry, Print was awarded the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Award for General Excellence in its circulation category for the second year in a row and has been cited by numerous other groups and organizations. Each year the magazine holds its own competitions to recognize exemplary work from across the nation. One of the most celebrated is Print’s Regional Design Annual, the most comprehensive survey of graphic design in the United States.

We were thrilled to learn this summer that our “Paper Makes it Real” campaign for Unisource Worldwide was recognized and awarded inclusion in the Annual. The integrated, multi-channel campaign was developed to increase demand for Neenah Paper text and cover papers within the creative community. We are honored that our work has been included among the best American design created during the past year. The “Paper Makes it Real” campaign also won a Bronze ADDY earlier this year. The ADDY Awards are the world’s largest and arguably toughest advertising competition.

Shepherd Center, widely recognized as one of the top hospitals in the country and specializing in the medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury or brain injury, hosts a number of signature fundraising events each year that are paramount to the continued support of Shepherd patients and programs. One such event is their annual summer fundraiser, Summer in the City. The Jones Group is proud of Shepherd’s success, its impact on our community and especially the lives of the people it serves. We were pleased to donate our services to brand and promote Summer in the City, held on June 22 at Greystone in Piedmont Park.

Specific items of donation included the event logo, invitation, tickets, poster, program cover, print ads and web landing page. Attendees and supporters enjoyed chef stations featuring some of Atlanta’s finest restaurants, including Aria, Table 1280 and Kevin Rathbun Steak, as well as wine pairings from elite wineries around the world, live music and a live auction. We’re thankful that the event surpassed expectations. Thank you to all of the good folks at Shepherd Center for all you do.

Sometimes you just can’t have it all. Then again, sometimes you can. That’s the belief of Zack and Cat Hawkins, a husband and wife team that wished for margaritas they didn’t have to feel guilty about due to high calories. Instead, they decided to make it happen themselves. So Sinless Margarita was born in their kitchen. Their proprietary margarita mix is comprised of all natural ingredients, sugar free, contains no preservatives and uses Stevia as a natural sweetener. The end result is a margarita mix that contains only five...that’s five...calories per serving.

In just over a year and a half, they have created a major presence throughout metro Atlanta, are sold in nearly all 50 states and have even been featured on Today. They decided it was time to elevate their branding as well as their visibility and presence at retail. They called on The Jones Group to redesign their brand identity and packaging.

The new look is fun and vibrant but balances with clean and modern. Each of their three products, Margarita Mix, Sour Mix and Strawberry Margarita Mix, have their own primary color and share the same silver top. The number “5” is featured prominently on the front of the label to draw attention to one of the brand’s distinguishing characteristics of only five calories per serving. The new design has been well received at retail, and new product offerings are on the horizon. Raise your glass! You can have your margarita and drink it, too.

CSM Bakery Products offers the most comprehensive sweet goods portfolio in North America, and many of the world’s largest and most recognized food retailers rely on its offerings as one of the key ingredients to their businesses.

CSM Bakery Products, formed in March 2010, is the result of merging the legacy companies of H.C. Brill Company with Best Brands, after H.C. Brill’s parent company, Amsterdam-based CSM, acquired Best Brands. When the 125-year old industry leader then had a need to reposition itself to communicate the new scale of products, capabilities and benefits to its customers, it contracted The Jones Group to deliver the goods. Our process and strategy produced the new positioning and the tagline, Solutions that Delight, which captures the essence of what the company now brings to its business partners and consumers.

We then sweetened its corporate website to better reflect this positioning and capture all of the company’s hero brands, including Brill, Henry & Henry and Multifoods. Launched in July, the new site serves to build awareness and educate the industry on the newly named company's expertise, brands and product offerings.

One of the company’s distinguishing characteristics is its commitment to partnering with customers to better understand their needs and provide the insights and innovative solutions to help support their businesses. The festive tone of the website expresses CSM Bakery Products' ability to delight customers and consumers and ensure many happy returns. The Jones Group's digital solution for their interactive needs will do the same for them. Visit the new website at www.csmbakeryproducts.com.

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, the nation’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler, based in Charlotte, NC, is the corporate embodiment of community stewardship. It’s not a term that collects dust on a plaque in the lobby or is left ignored in a mission statement, it’s embedded into the very DNA of its culture. Consolidated engaged The Jones Group to overhaul its corporate website and to ensure that its commitment to positive community impact served as the backbone to its online presence. On May 16, the project culminated in the launch of the newly designed website, www.cokeconsolidated.com.

This was as much a strategic exercise as it was an interactive one. Utilizing our user-centric process and brand workshops, we refined the company’s value proposition and provided the framework for all key messaging. Our Persona process pinpointed target audience needs, goals and action items.

The user interface is an engaging tour throughout the local community in which Consolidated serves, satisfying the objective of establishing a site that is innovative, fresh and relevant to young adults and each of the company’s target audiences. Animation brings the community to life and is a vehicle of content delivery. Social media platforms were integrated into the site, further inviting audience engagement and interaction. The design demonstrates the “happiness” that Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated brings to customers and consumers in the local markets it serves.

Acuity Brands is one of the world’s leading providers of lighting fixtures and related products and services. In particular, its expertise and leadership in the area of Outdoor LED Lighting has been the subject of increased focus and development due to LED becoming a more cost effective solution replacing HID lighting applications. The Jones Group was hired to create a unique selling platform with the goal of reaffirming Acuity Brands as the innovator and true leader in the category.

The new positioning debuted at Lightfair International (LFI), North America's largest annual architectural and commercial trade lighting show, May 17-19, in Philadelphia, Pa. LFI is also an event that we have branded and promoted for five years. Acuity’s comprehensive outdoor LED luminaire product families are now grouped into customer-friendly and easy-to-find major categories that identify the four primary outdoor lighting experiences of DRIVE, PARK, WALK and VIEW.  

A catalog, showcasing 19 newly developed products, supports a major expansion of the company’s outdoor LED lighting portfolio. The expanded portfolio includes existing and newly introduced luminaires from six of the company’s leading lighting brands, Lithonia Lighting, Hydrel, Tersen, American Electric Lighting, Antique Street Lamps and Winona Lighting.

We have considered it an honor for the past seven years to work with the High Museum of Art to brand its largest fundraising event, the High Museum Wine Auction. The event, held under the tents at Atlantic Station on March 26, celebrated The Ultimate Collection: A Sumptuous Blend of Wine, Art, Food and Friends. Now in its 19th year, the three-day extravaganza, often referred to as “The Greatest Party in Atlanta”, raised a total of $1.7 million, $1.125 million of it coming from the Live Auction.

More than 71 live and 169 silent auction lots offered exclusive opportunities to taste, tour and visit with more than 100 vintners from the world’s premier wine regions as well as the chance to purchase cult wines, rare vintages and large-format bottles. More than 100 distinguished wineries and 35 of Atlanta’s finest chefs were represented at the Vintners’ Reception, part of Saturday grand finale, to the crowd of more than 900 food and wine enthusiasts.

The High Museum of Atlanta’s Wine Auction is the largest charity wine auction in the United States benefitting the arts, the top charity fundraising event in Atlanta and the largest fundraising event for the museum, a crucial part of exhibition and education planning for the year. The auction has raised more than $18 million over the last 19 years, making special exhibits and partnerships possible and The High Museum the leading Southeastern art museum.

To view branding of the previous six Wine Auctions, please click here.

Many people are familiar with AmericasMart, the largest permanent wholesale marketplace of its kind, and its significance for Atlanta’s economy. Its uniquely integrated buildings, a staple of downtown Atlanta, house the nation’s largest selection of Home, Gift, Rug and Apparel product. However, what many people don’t know is that the Atlanta Convention Center at AmericasMart is available to host and/or create corporate events. The Jones Group was tasked with positioning the brand and launching awareness to meeting planners across the U.S.

The first step was to position the Atlanta Convention Center as the city’s newest meeting and special events facility and create a platform for communicating its distinguishing benefits of convenience, flexibility and value. A tagline was then created, Discover Your Next Great Event, to support the new positioning and promote the tradeshow facility.

We developed a website that addressed the unique needs of meeting planners. The content is informative and intuitive and packaged within a sophisticated user interface, which all work together to communicate the reasons why the Atlanta Convention Center is the city’s premiere destination for meetings, tradeshows and events. The look and feel of the site aligns with the corporate brand and can be visited at www.atlconventioncenter.com.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle is well known for its many annual listings recognizing some of Atlanta’s leading companies in a variety of industries and categories. Each spring, the Chronicle releases its list of the fastest-growing women-owned firms in Atlanta, and we were excited to learn that The Jones Group ranked #4 on this year’s list!

Congratulations to Vicky Jones, who founded the agency in 1997 and serves as president, guiding the firm’s vision and long-term strategy. “It is an honor to be included on this list, and we could not be more thrilled,” says Vicky. “During a time when many in our industry have been deeply impacted by the economic climate of the past few years, we feel fortunate to be in this position. It’s a testament to our successful transformation into a digitally-centric agency, supported by newly added strategic services, including research, that we first introduced in 2008. Our senior team of brand professionals has passionately executed these services for our clients. We are very appreciative.”