Articles by Kim
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Kim Bauer posted thisAgencies need people with some gray hairs. I just endured a TV spot voiced by a 20- or early 30-something, telling me age is my power. It hit me as condescending, insincere, glib, and completely disconnected from who I am, what I value, and what I might possibly give a flying f0€k about. I’m the target market and I’m insulted. And I quite proudly rock my grays, finding myself, as a result, sliding into a semi-retirement before I want it. People like me would have made that spot irresistible – to people like me. But this is where the industry I love fails. I understand that the majority of marketing is looking to hook ‘em when they’re young and keep ’em for life. But there’s no contemplation of the maturing consumer’s sensibility. And there’s especially no recognition that there’s a huge market of graying consumers, with way more disposable income than their kids, who are nowhere near in that elderly category interested in gross steamed food delivery, retirement homes, or adult diapers. There are millions of vital, attractive, accomplished consumers who are completely overlooked, underestimated, and insulted by the bullshit. And yes, the youth-focused hiring in marketing and advertising is largely to blame. Millennials and Gen-Z don’t know how to talk to Gen-X and Boomers. If you’re a parent, you know the frustration of trying to impart your wisdom to a child or teenager who truly won’t (and can’t) get it until they live enough life to arrive at certain realizations on their own. Now put your kid in charge of creating compelling content targeting YOU. Right?!! FFS. When are we going to recognize that the target market needs to be spoken to by the target market?
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Kim Bauer shared thisHire a graphic designer. And for your greatest security, one that is over 50. Yeah, you read that right. You want someone who was trained to know CMYK vs RGB, and understand color adjustment to compensate for the limitations of each. To understand and address the effects of various substrates and compensate for dot gain, transparency, gloss or shift. To understand bleeds as well as safe print margins. If the cost is intimidating, compare it to the cost of a reprint – or the impact of a print product displaying botched colors, soft or pixelated imagery, and/or distorted or illegible type. Print is not like digital, where you can re-upload and replace with a click. Reprinting is expensive and comes with horrendous timeline disruptions. Releasing bad print can destroy a brand. Don’t be that schmuck who doesn’t pony up for travel medical insurance, then has a heart attack in Mongolia. Pay a seasoned graphic designer and breathe easy.Kim Bauer shared thisThere’s a special place in the print file graveyard for three repeat offenders: 𝑳𝒐𝒘-𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 AI generations and quick cell phone pics can look “fine” on a screen… until we try to print them larger than a postcard. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐: flag it, show you how it’ll actually look, and talk options (re-shoot, resize, or rethink). 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕: if it’s important, don’t rely on a screenshot or an AI thumbnail. Start with the highest-quality file you can. 𝑵𝒐 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒔, 𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒔 We see this a lot: gorgeous design, nothing extra around the edges. Great for a screen, risky for paper. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐: sometimes we can mirror or extend the art to fake a bleed, but it’s not always ideal (and it takes time). 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕: if something is supposed to go to the edge, build in a bleed from the start—or ask us what size to use before you design. 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒐𝒔 We often see free-Canva designs exported in RGB for jobs that really should be in CMYK, and sometimes folks proudly tell us, “I know you need CMYK!” for art prints we actually run in RGB. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐: convert color spaces on our end when we can, and explain what’s going to shift so there are fewer surprises. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕: if you’re not sure what color mode you need, ask first. A quick question beats a weird color surprise every time. For a long time, I quietly fixed all of this in the background. But the truth is that invisible work is a huge time-suck, and it devalues the skill it takes to save a file from the graveyard. We’re still your buds in the print world... still here to help, still on your team... but part of respecting our craft (and your project) is treating file setup as real work, not magic. My goal is always to catch issues before they become expensive surprises. Just don’t be shocked if we start charging for actual resurrections. #PrintFileTips #DesignForPrint #PrintReady #GraphicDesign #PrintShop
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Kim Bauer shared thisThis is just one of so many fabulous executions leveraging FIFA world cup energy and excitement, while flying under the radar, abiding by the (excruciatingly tight) rules imposed by the FIFA overlords. When our industry rises to the occasion with this level of brilliance, I’m proud and excited, but forlorn to recognize the mediocrity that otherwise so tragically dominates what we’re sanctioned to produce. Advertising still has so much greatness to offer; CMOs, please take note and get out of your own way!
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Kim Bauer reposted thisKim Bauer reposted thisIt is 148 days until October 19, 2026 - referendum day in Alberta. 🇨🇦 Case for Canada: https://lnkd.in/g_bUnyT9 🍁 On Canada: https://lnkd.in/gPjV_SKR 🦄 Three Alberta separatism myths: https://lnkd.in/grTH8JfG Put up a flag, share pro-Canada content, make your own content. Some separatists might try to flood the conversation and discourage your voice. But be proud, and know you're in the majority. We didn't ask for this debate but let's be present in it - proudly, politely, firmly.
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Kim Bauer shared thisI gotta give props to m5 the agency for the current Nova Scotia tourism campaign. The spots are simple enough, just a little bit cute and cheeky, and aware of not letting the cute idea detract from the branding. Nice. And no, I had nothing to do with the creation; I’m just sharing appreciation for the craft. https://lnkd.in/eEW3DSbV
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Kim Bauer posted thisI’m not gonna lie — and this is no surprise at all to those who know me — I’m a pretty politically involved human. And I’ve defended political posts on this platform in defense of the undeniable connection between business and governance. But my feed has become an exhausting flow of rhetoric – republican and democratic – and I’m over it. The politics are now stand-alone opinions/propaganda/inflamations that push way beyond the boundaries of the intended discourse on this business and networking platform. While I encourage discourse in the political arena, this is not the appropriate forum. I respect any opinion from any source willing to engage in intelligent debate, but purely political discussions need to find their lane. If you care to discuss how I might serve you in a creative and/or production design capacity, I’d be delighted to chat. If you wanna talk politics, maybe X is where you should look.
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Kim Bauer shared thisMy American friends, it’s up to you how you choose to handle this.
Kim Bauer commented on a post
6d
Congratulations Adam! They snagged themselves a superstar, so I have to presume they’re pretty special too.
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Kim Bauer reacted on thisKim Bauer reacted on thisJOYCE CAROL OATES writing to ELON MUSK ON TWITTER: "So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates – scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the ‘most wealthy person in the world.’” (Via James Robison & Norm Clark) - Photo credit : The Guardian
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Kim Bauer reacted on thisKim Bauer reacted on thisWhen the slogan sounds better in your head. _ Follow me for more Funny Business
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Kim Bauer reacted on thisKim Bauer reacted on thisThe Big Idea Needs a Bigger Job The rosé has gone warm. The Palais has gone quiet. And the hangover flights are home. Minus a few stragglers struggling to get their emotional-support Lions through Nice airport security. I love Cannes. I love the work. The ideas. The irrational confidence required to spend five days convincing 14 jurors that a giant bootprint shaped like a pint of Guinness is "a cultural intervention." I love that, once a year, our industry gets together to celebrate the fact that ideas still matter. Because they do. More than ever, actually. But awards season creates one small problem. It can make us confuse proof of creativity with a business model. A Lion is a wonderful thing. It proves you made something truly special. It may get you a new title, it may get you a better table on the Carlton patio, it may even get you a LinkedIn post where an ex-colleague writes "so deserved," despite not having seen the work. But you cannot melt one down to make payroll. Trust me. I tried during review season once. For most of my career, the big idea had a clear job: find the human tension, find the idea nobody saw coming, produce the shit out of it and make an Oscar-worthy case film about it. But creativity will not save our industry by staying in the campaign room. Yes, AI is changing the economics of our business faster than most of us are comfortable admitting. But here's the part I can't stop thinking about: this is not a technology problem. It's a creative-allocation problem. We have spent our careers looking at a complicated brief and finding the one sharp thing hiding inside it. We know how to turn confusion into clarity. We know how to make people care. We know the first answer is rarely the interesting one. That is the most valuable skill in business right now. And we've been spending it almost entirely on campaign thinking that is losing its hourly value faster than your colleagues disappear when the bill arrives at La Guérite. It belongs in the product meeting. The AI meeting. The innovation meeting. The "what the hell are we actually selling now?" meeting. That's where I spend my time these days, carrying the same creative instinct I built in the campaign room into rooms our industry was never invited into. Not because every business problem needs a brand film. But because every business problem needs the thing we're actually good at: the idea nobody else saw. Awards matter. Craft matters. Big ideas matter most of all. But creativity will not survive by admiring itself in a glass cabinet. It survives by walking out of the campaign room and proving it's also the sharpest thing in every other room in the building. #creativity #ai #innovation
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Kim Bauer reacted on thisKim Bauer reacted on thisTrue Canadian heroes. What a game. What a team. What a country. — De véritables héros canadiens. Quel match! Quelle équipe! Quel pays!
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