The 8Bit Podcast: Recent Episodes
Creative Arcade
The 8Bit Podcast is a graphic design, marketing, web development and inbound marketing podcast. Created and hosted by the founders of Creative Arcade, a growth agency based in Duluth, Minnesota. Our name is derived by our company culture philosophy referred to as the Power of Play. Play in the sense of exploration and the drive for innovation in the work we provide for our clients.
It's pretty safe to bet that everyone is ready for 2020 to leave and we move onto new beginnings in 2021. Hopefully free of this pandemic that has changed us all forever. In our 2020 year in review, we discuss the pandemic, how it has changed our work, and we found many positives amid all of the panic and uncertainty.
In the latest pandemic-necessary Zoom version of the 8Bit Podcast, Phil and Talyn discuss what it takes to pull off a memorable COVID-19 campaign in 4 weeks. From concept to securing talent. Social distancing and keeping those involved on shoot day safe. You get to see and hear it all in this don't miss episode.
Move over Millennials, there’s a new generation in town: Gen-Z. They were born between 1995 and 2010 and are making their mark on culture. They’ve known screens their whole lives and expect businesses to keep up. Their world is no longer on Facebook and Instagram, it’s thriving on TikTok, Triller, and Twitch. To talk to them, you need to understand them. In the latest 8Bit Podcaast, Talyn and Jeff cue up a few takeaways about Gen Z.
It’s been a rough time for small businesses. The pandemic has closed their doors, limited their customer bases, and/or pushed people to online retailers. In the U.S Midwest, restaurants, bars, and other businesses could take advantage of the warmer patio season this summer. But colder weather is headed our way, and small businesses need to be prepared. Here are some simple tips on how to help your business during this bumpy time.
In the 8Bit Podcast Episode 35, Creative Arcade developer, Jan Christenson, recaps his experience volunteering at WordCamp Minneapolis. This year it was a virtual conference pulled off by WordPress geeks like Jan using virtual tools like Zoom, YouTube and much more. Hear about his experiences and what he learned during the presentations on how WordPress keeps evolving and improving as a CMS of choice for web developers.
Check out the associated blog posts as well:
- WordCamp 2020 Recap: Things Get Virtual
- UX Design and Strategic Chaos
- Color Pallette Implementation for WordPress Themes
- Auditing Your Website
- Hackers and the Importance of Keeping Up With Pending Updates
- The Future of WordPress as a Headless CMS
- How You Can Make WordPress Better for the JAMStack
What in the world is happening with TikTok? What is this Reels thing I keep hearing about? Already, India has banned TikTok and other countries like South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. may follow suit. If you’ve grown a large crowd already on this platform, this can feel like a kick to the gut. While we don’t see the app really going anywhere, anything could happen, so it’s best to know your options and how to prepare for no more TikTok. Here are a few ways to ride out the potential demise of Gen Z’s favorite app in our latest episode of the 8Bit Podcast.
The Minnesota Twins’ 2019 campaign is unlike anything we’ve seen before. So of course we had to discuss it on our podcast. We use their campaign as a lesson on what a legacy brand is and how they can tweak boundaries within that brand. A simple take on base branding elements with wild objects, emojis and more. Using texture, repetition, color and more to give it all a much different look that appeals to a younger crowd.
Phil introduces our new copywriter, Talyn Riedesel, and asks all the right questions so our listeners can learn more about her. After a year away from marketing, traveling the world, she reveals her favorite country to hang out and more about her food escapades. A portion of the show is deemed a "Talyn Takeover" and she explains the difference between branding Voice versus Tone.
The 8Bit Podcast Episode 030, is out of the ordinary for us as we interview our three summer interns. It's a chance to introduce them to the world, what we have them working on and how the process is going so far. We basically describe one of our Power of Play projects in more detail and what the intern team is tasked with for the summer.
Today's inbound methodology refers to the idea of the flywheel and taking strangers through the journey of attracting, engaging and delighting. How does an outbound (television, print, radio, outdoor etc) fit into this ideal? In Episode 029 we discuss it .
Depending the size of an organization, digital capabilities, like social media, are handled internally, externally or a mix of both. However, depending on how the organization "values" the discipline, the resulting "investment" (time, expertise, money) follows suit.
In this episode, Phil and Jeff discuss the pros and cons of having internal digital capabilities in your organization and how to look at it from a place that values the efforts it takes to do digital well, whether internally or externally.
We avert a giggle session early on to deliver a timely and relevant amount of information on using inbound marketing practices for recruiting talent to your company. Much like inbound marketing, one can use those same principles to engage with the best talent even when they may not need a job. Very informative and funny episode!
This installment begins a new spot in our office where we shoot the podcast. It's a great episode that not only looks different, sounds different, but tackles why video and photography are some of the best dollars one can spend in their marketing as it builds brand and delivers over and over in our visual marketing today.
Jan Christenson stops by today to help answer some detailed questions regarding SEO (search engine marketing) and being found online in general. If you ever wanted to learn the latest best practices in being searched and found, this is the episode for you.
In our last episode, we drank old eggnog and previewed our desire to learn more about voice marketing via smart voice devices like Alexa. What we found out is eye-opening and promising for marketers everywhere.
This one is a gem. We taste our own year-old eggnog recipe that is supposedly to get better over time. We hope and pray that we don't die a slow, painful death from bad eggs.
We introduce our newest member, Kate Rod, content and copy writer. She shares her vision of marketing and her role here at CA. We ask some rapid fire questions to get to know her more and end the show with recapping some thoughts on online marketing.
We introduce our new designer, Stephen Pestalozzi, while also getting our collective takes on this year's Super Bowl ads. Were they any good? What resonated and what didn't?
Your website should become your main marketing hub if it isn't already. Outbound and inbound strategies, media and executions should push people online for many reasons, but mainly the fact that the measurement is so valuable.
By coincidence, Episode 018 happens to be all about marketing trends in upcoming 2018. We use many online sources and their predictions and give our own takes on whether we agree or think they are crazy.
In this episode, the guys recap their trip to Charlottesville, VA and the University of Virginia for their new vendor brand summit. Phil and Jeff were tasked with giving a 5 minute presentation about Creative Arcade, meet with campus leaders and learn more about their brand as CA now is a preferred vendor of UVA.
We mainly touch on the newest features in Instagram, namely, Stories. We discuss its future and why we see it as becoming a great tactic for telling one's story and building brand. We end the show recapping our summer which included some big integrated marketing campaigns for two different organizations.
This episode goes into many things, but all revolving around creating content. We discuss our latest drone adventures including visiting Iona Beach up the North Shore of Lake Superior to inbound marketing principles and much more.
A whole episode about a recent contest we decided to compete in. Marcus Lemonis is one of the country's biggest entrepreneurs. He owns many businesses including Camping World, a hit television show, The Profit and now has purchased what used to be Gander Mountain. It now is being re-branded as Gander Outdoors and he needs a logo. He does the most Marcus Lemonis thing out there and has a $100k logo contest launched via Twitter. Our thoughts follow.
Fresh off his recent visit to Bemidji State University, Phil talks about his role on the school's advisory board, what they are learning and launches us into a conversation regarding new tech like augmented reality and virtual reality.
We keep the ball rolling with an episode directed at changing your website. What to consider, the process and the features you need to compete online. Jan Christenson joins the show to dive deep and leaves you with much to think about.
A great episode where we discuss change. In particular, with brand identity. When should I change my organization's brand identity? What should I change? Who should do it? What considerations do we need to weigh? A packed episode.
This episode includes our new employee, Jan Christenson. He is our new digital/web developer who brings legitimate development capabilities to Creative Arcade. We learn more about him and his experience and how we can better support our client's needs.
We discuss our last few months including a journey out to Morgantown, WV to visit West Virginia University Athletics. We also introduce our first full-time employee, Jan Christenson along with reviewing this year's Super Bowl ads.
On our way back from the Ryder Cup we take some time in the car to discuss outdoor. The stretch of road we are on has some of the most concentrated amounts of outdoor boards in Minnesota and allows for some candid discussion on the outdoor board and its role in marketing/brand building.
We podcast from the car on our way back from a day-long visit of the Ryder Cup held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in the Twin Cities. We discuss the experience, the marketing inside the event and our take on the impact it brings.
In this episode, we detail our expansion and remodeling of our space here in the Buchannon building. We also introduce our new intern, Tate and how we have made it a choice to help our local colleges and their design programs in a variety of ways. We also recap the end of summer and look to the future.
The Destination Fitness episode. We go on-site with Mike Hendrickson, owner of Destination Fitness in Duluth, MN. Creative Arcade has been working with them for a while now with updating their brand identity, website and other ways to reach potential clients of their fitness services.
We were very busy this summer and we haven't recorded in a while. So, we recap what we have been up to including:
• The summer storm in Duluth
• PokemonGO
• All Pints North
• West Virginia University Athletics work
Among other things at Creative Arcade.
In our latest podcast we introduce our new intro music provided by the band @Gerald from the Minneapolis, MN area. This leads to a great discussion regarding the role that custom music plays in branding and differentiating yourself from the competition.
Welcome to our first podcast. We discuss why we started the podcast, how and why our company name came to be while outlining what we hope to achieve in upcoming episodes.