For too long, everyone has just looked the other way. But not anymore: It’s time to talk about the ‘creative ick‘. Those little things that we see brands and agencies do that really just give us the heebie-jeebies.

CREATIVE ICK #1: BAD TYPEFACES

A powerful tool that is often wielded for no good, if you ask us. Comic sans on Insta stories? No man. Century Gothic… AGAIN?! There are other typefaces, friend. Chiller!? Papyrus!?!?!? Oh, that’s some blood-boiling stuff right there. At Calypso, our team understands what a typeface says about your brand, and we go the distance to understand what pulls your customers in.

CREATIVE ICK #2: SH!TTY COLOUR USE

There are some bad, bad, bad brand colours out there. Here’s a tip: It’s OKAY to update your brand look and feel. Your customers won’t abandon you because you swap that hideous lime green for a more pleasing burgundy. In fact, the opposite is true and you’ll attract even more clients!

CREATIVE ICK #3: COPY CATS

Oscar Wilde had the famous quote, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” – but notice how he says “imitation”, not “blatant copying”. There’s nothing more off-putting than scrolling through reels and seeing a brand blatantly copying a trend without putting any thought into it. PLUS, 9 times out of 10 they’re late to the party and the trend is outdated. All in all, it’s just cringe!

CREATIVE ICK #4: BAD STOCK IMAGES

And not just bad stock images, but the SAME OLD stock images. Look, we know shooting imagery for every single post and campaign is completely impractical. But that doesn’t mean you should just settle for the first stock image on the search results. There is a WORLD of imagery and video footage out there, so dig a little deeper. At least, your agency should… and if they’re not, choose us!

CREATIVE ICK #5: EXPENSIVE RUBBISH

Are you over-paying for that piece of design? That single social media post? The answer is probably YES. Seeing big agencies take advantage of clients just because “we are big and have awards” gives us serious icks. At Calypso, we offer great work at reasonable prices within good turnaround times. So, ask yourself: “Does spending hundreds of thousands on average marketing give me the ick?” If it does, drop us a line.

WHY OUR CLIENTS LOVE US

“I would like to thank every person at Calypso for always being on top of our marketing, staying on the trends and giving our clients the most awesome and realistic glimpse of what IKCS is all about. We are continuously getting compliments, from our web page to our social media pages. Their passion shines through on the work they present on behalf of their clients and that’s what true marketing is about.” – Paul & Sherrilee Lucas, owners of IKCS

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