(Xmas in July) Unwrap your Holiday Success

LET’S UNWRAP YOUR SUCCESS: Digitally Preparing Your Small Business for the Busy Holiday Season

While visions of sugarplums may not be dancing in your head just yet, it's never too early to start planning for the holiday season. And what better time to get a head start than Christmas in July? Let us guide you through the merry world of digital marketing and help you prepare for the bustling holiday months ahead. So grab your virtual Santa hats and let's sleigh this!

'TIS THE SEASON FOR E-COMMERCE: In today's digital age, e-commerce is the gift that keeps on giving. To ensure your online store shines brighter than Rudolph's red nose, make sure you optimize your website for mobile devices, improve loading times and streamline the checkout process. Think about your holiday deals, creating enticing gift guides and leveraging social media to spread the cheer. 'Tis the season to jingle all the way to Black Friday!

DECORATE THE HALLS: For those with brick-and-mortar stores, creating a festive shopping experience is key to attracting customers. In addition to your holiday decor, consider offering special promotions, host in-store events and launch limited-edition holiday products to entice shoppers. And remember to ramp up your social media campaigns during the season.

SOCIAL MEDIA SLEIGH RIDE: Speaking of social media, Santa Claus is coming to your feed! To connect with your audience during the holiday season, leverage the power of social media. Craft engaging content such as gift guides, holiday recipes and festive how-tos. Encourage user-generated content by running holiday-themed contests and giveaways and pick a charity to support. And don't forget to spread joy by sharing heartwarming stories and embracing the holiday spirit across all your social media platforms!

'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE OPTIMIZATION: While Santa's making his list and checking it twice, it's time for you to optimize your website and content for holiday keywords. Research popular search terms like "Christmas gifts," "holiday deals," and "best stocking stuffers" to tailor your SEO strategy. Craft captivating blog posts, Holiday graphics and product descriptions that are keyword-rich and showcase your holiday offerings. With the right optimization your small business will be rockin' around the search results!

FA-LA-LA EMAIL MARKETING: Don't leave email marketing out in the cold this holiday season. Create eye-catching email campaigns with fun subject lines and offers to entice your customers to CLICK. Personalize your emails, segment your audience and use automation to ensure your messages reach the right people at the right time. And remember, a well-crafted email can be the perfect way to wrap up those last-minute sales before Santa arrives! Promote those Gift Cards.

With Christmas in July serving as your digital marketing compass, your business will be dashing through the holiday season with confidence. Whether you're an e-commerce entrepreneur or a retail rockstar, embracing the power of digital marketing will help you make this holiday season your most successful yet. So start spreading the holiday cheer, put on your digital elf hats and get ready for a season filled success and plenty of ho-ho-ho-liday sales!

Keywords: Holiday, Christmas, ChristmasinJuly, digitalmarketing, socialmedia, emailmarketing, SEO

The Yarns We Spin

I was honored to be invited to create an exterior installation for the 5th Annual Kingston Design Connection’s Showhouse. The one catch was, I couldn’t attach anything to the vinyl siding that could cause damage. Once again I found myself having to defy gravity and make magic.

I thought this project would be a great opportunity to collaborate with my long-time design partner, Buddy Valentine, who’s recent work has been creating incredible yarn patchworks. I initially took inspiration from classic window details and treatments. Translating these shapes into yarn forms for the exterior of the house. Buddy I were then worried about the long yarn strands tangling so we ended up changing the concept to smaller sized checkerboard pattern in lively colors. The colors were derived from the Ukrainian Flag, the transgender flag and since it was for October - orange for Halloween.

The secret ingredient that keeps the panel intact are siding clips used for hanging Christmas lights. The best find of my life.

Enjoy the following galleries showing the transformation form our first ideas to the finished product…

Our initial inspriation photos…

Our first design direction - more like curtains on the outside and our color pallet…

After being fearful of tangles, we moved into this direction… A checkerboard pattern. And then went into production. We had 25 total panels to make.

Next, the installation with ladders and a wonky scaffold. Did I mention I’m scared of heights?

And the final product…

Photos by Phil Mansfield

Architecture, design, display, installation, interior design, kingston, Kingston Design connectio, art installation, yarnChris BickOctober 11, 2022Installation, yarn, design, kingston design connection, design house, installation art, colorful, KingstonComment

I "Hearth" You

Check out my latest and greatest Holiday store window display for Half Moon Books: a fireplace made of books.

I started with a composite “inspirational” image that I made in Photoshop and went from there. The fireplace frame and hearth are all made of books. The mantle and deer head are cardboard covered in pages from The Ugly Duckling story. And then I just packed out the display with books, books and more books! I went opposite of my usual minimalism for this edition.

Happy Holidays.

LA PoMo 84

A huge shout out to my fave design stars Susie and Heidi Bauer of Rock S cissor Pap er who recently turned me onto the gloriously Post-Modern (PoMo) design of the 1984 LA Olympics by the very colorful Deborah Sussman. I'm obsessed - I wanna go back to the 80s. I mean 1984 with Marylou Retton? C'mon Mar... And guess who else came on my radar in 84? Yup, Madonna!!!

#debrahsussman #PostModern #pomo #the80s #laolympics #84olympics #design #colorful #olympics #graphicdesign #marylouretton #gymnastics #champion #teamusa #worldchampion

ARchitecture, display, Graphic Design, installation, interior design, vintage, Nostaglia, Nostalgia, the 1980sChris BickSeptember 23, 2021design, Interior Design, olympics, the 1980s, nostalgia, retro, post modern, Los Angeles, pomoComment

Paper Dress

Introducing my newest window display installation for Half Moon Books in Kingston, NY. The title is “Let Them Read Books.” Very Marie Antoinette meets Vogue.

With the coming Fall / Back to School season upon us, I wanted to do something that I hadn’t ever done before. Whenever I finish a window I feel like I’ll never have another ideas and then here we are - a paper dress extravaganza. I actually got the idea from an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race where the queens had to make garments out of one of Ru’s books. I thought yes, I have to do this, but a fashion piece is really out of my “architectural” comfort zone. But if you’re not challenging yourself, you’re not growing, correct?

So, I found these images as my inspiration. I fell in love with the paper pleating: I told myself, “I can do this!”

To make the paper gown I bought some fabric costume pieces to attach the paper too. Gotta love hot glue guns and spray mount - They’re magical. And of course I had to do a pair of pumps.

But then I had a huge predicament. I had build the dress offsite in one piece - how was I going to get it to the bookstore without damaging the design - walk her across town of course. I am a “put on a show” kinda girl after all. So, off we went.

Here’s some shots of the final installation. I added a chandelier for the full fancy vibe. I hope you love it as much as I do. Check out more of my displays at Half Moon Books here.

Up, Up and Away

PIONEER AGENCY KINGSTON NY SPRING 5.jpeg

For my latest store window display I wanted to give the client (and the customers) something colorful and fun after a year of craziness and stress. It was also a priority to keep costs down.

I found some pictures hot air balloon launched, sky photo murals and tissue paper ball clusters that I thought were beautiful and used them as my inspiration. The owner had paper lanterns so the only prop we had to buy were the sky photo murals.

Even with my full knee replacement only 2 months old… Check out the wonder that was created.

My ispirado…

Piece by Peace

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Ever since the huge success of the Circle of Books I did a few years ago, I wanted to play with books in a shape again and Jessica is always talking about the Peace symbol (we are in the Woodstock area after all)…

There was no better time than 2020 for PEACE. ☮️📚🎄

I pretty much had my heart set on giving Jessica a Peace-Shaped bookshelf for this Holiday Season. And thanks to ABunch Fabrication, it came true.

Here’s how it all happened…

My Design Inspiration:

My Amazing Sketch: Don’t laugh too much…

Design Development with ABunch Fabrication:

The Construction Process:

Installation:

The one and only Andrew Bunch

The Unveiling:

White Heat

Another new Holiday Store window display complete… This one for Kingston’s very own Bop to Tottom.

The client mentioned doing a window in all white (a fresh, calm feeling for this Covid Christmas), so I ran with that motif. But as usual, I wanted to use unconventional materials and play with light. I used florescence light fixture diffusers to distort the hanging light bulbs… Like a frosty window. I also used white corrugated roofing material for a “ski slope” backdrop for the dress forms.

Now, add some snowflakes, white wrapped boxes, Christmas lights and white ribbons and you’ve got yourself a wintry scene. I also wrapped the logs from last year’s display in white paper… Created such a cool effect and a lot quicker than painting them all.

Chalk it up

Check out the new Fall window display I just completed at Bop to Tottom in Kingston’s Historic Uptown Stockade District.

My design was to create a retro-class room vibe… Since many students would be learning online and missing the IRL experience. The client wanted to save some money on this display so I figured out some inexpensive alternatives for this window update.

Inspired by the artist Cy Twombly and chalk scribbles, I created these simple chalkboard vertical banners of 1/4” lauan wood and chalkboard paint with fun chalk scribbles. Since face masks are now top sellers, I printed photos of the owner and staff at a large size and hung them on old cork boards that were in the basement of the store - added bonus for the classroom vibe. Then I used photo murals on the back and side walls for that high impact fall colors background.

Initially, I wanted to get vintage school desks and chairs as props but they were to expensive so I just used some furniture I had lying around. And voila… Instant store window display on a dime.

Say Watt?!?

The new window installation for Half Moon Books is all lit up… This installation is a trio of chandeliers made of books. It was challenging, as it is with books, because of their weight, but I think it turned out fab.

Just a few drill holes and some basic elec wiring and voila… Book Chandeliers!

And a huge thank you John Cox for letting me take over his workshop.

design, display, Half Moon Books, installation, Retail, window displayChris BickSeptember 2, 2020Installation, window display, window shopping, store window, books, chandelier, lighting, lighting design, Half Moon Book Store, Vintage Books, used booksComment

I Don't Search I Find

pioneer marketing chris bick half moon books word search puzzle.jpg

My latest store window design installation for Kingston’s Half Moon Books is a Word Search Puzzle… There’s 5 words that are hidden in the puzzle of letters. Can you find them? See below for some spoilers.

When Jessica, the owner of Half Moon Books and I first met to discuss this window design, we wanted something fun and lite yet celebratory since this was to be her Post-Covid 19 Pandemic “reopening” Summer window. I honestly don’t recall how we landed on a giant word search puzzle, but when Jessica and I brainstorm, it’s like lightening in a bottle. Shablam!

And since it had to involve books, I thought if we opened books you could paint one letter per page. I went with a rainbow assortment of colors to make it fun, positive and happy… It’ Pride Month after all. Then I found this great website that generates Word Find Puzzles for you. The puzzle consists of 32 total books, 4 across (opened) by 8 down - essentially an 8x8 character puzzle. And voila… We had ourselves a window. I always feel like I’ll run out of window ideas but they keep coming. A reminder to believe in yourself.

The construction went so smoothly. I’m usually defying gravity, but compared to some of the other window installations, this one was pretty easy. And that’s exactly what I wanted.

Okay, can you find the following 5 words that Jessica picked: Justice (we gave you this one), Peace, Liberty, Equality and Love… There’s other ones but those are bonus!

Be safe out there. xo

SPOILER ALERTZ! Don’t go any further if you want to find the hidden words on your own.

pioneer marketing kingston ny window display half moon books.jpg

pioneer marketing chris bick half moon books word search puzzle i love you.jpeg

Chains of Love

I took the day off from work to install the new Spring store windows at my fave Bop to Tottom… I guess I was in a bubble up until because this was the day when the Coronavirus Covid-19 hit home for me. I heard of toilet paper hording and social distancing for the first time ever. No sooner did I finish the window than Bop to Tottom had to close and I then I was laid off at my full time job.

Once this ends, there will be super fun and colorful store window Bop to Tottom to bring you some happy cheer. Even if you need a quick pick me up, drive by and enjoy this colorful tribute to Spring re-birth!

This too shall pass as we will get thru this… Alone together.

To see the entire window display, click here.

Bop to Tottom

DREAMS COME TRUE. I’ve always wanted to do the windows at Kingston’s signature gift shop, Bop to Tottom. The windows are incredible. They’re a vintage style, foyer wrap around on the corner of N Front St and Wall St. It’s reminded me for so long of Fred Flare. Giving me that nostalgic rumble.

When I heard that Karen, the owner, wanted me to do this year’s holiday windows… I was sooo happy… Absolutely thrilled. We had a tight schedule but it was so fun. I had a blast with Karen and her team. And here’s what I made…

The motif is “Sex and the City get an AirBNB in Pheonicia for the Holiday.”

Let’s take a tour…

The front girls… Rita, Dolores and Simone… At their front door.

THE NORTH-FACING WINDOWS: This is loosely interpreted as “inside” the girls’ AirBNB in Phoenicia. I merchandised little rooms and wanted to pack with the windows with great gift merch… So, every time you looked at the windows, you’d discover something new.

Check out the stumps as product platforms.

THE SOUTH-FACING WINDOWS: This is loosely interpreted as “outside” the girl’s AirBNB. I used a winter photo mural and loads of trees to give it that forest vibe.

It's Ornamental

Here’s a “how to” demo on making books as ornaments…

BOOKS AS ORNAMENTS HOW TO:

I picked a bunch of books that made nice fans. The paperback “romance novel” size seemed to work the best.
I drew lines on the covers where I wanted to cut them. 2 diagonal lines gave me the diamond shapes. Explore shapes!
Using my friend’s woodshop, I cut the books using a bandsaw. Be careful… Safety has NO QUITTING TIME!
Next, I cut 7/8” red ribbon in all different lengths and hot glue gunned the ends to the spine of the books.
Finally I would fan the book and hot glue the covers to each other… Creating an awesome fan effect.

Using my friend’s woodshop, I cut the books using a band saw. Be careful… Safety has NO QUITTING TIME!

Cutting the red ribbon in all different lengths and hot glue gunned the ends to the spine of the books.

About to glue the covers to themselves.

And voila… The finished product!

Wanna see it in real life? Be be sure to visit Half Moon Books on N Front St in Uptown Kingston this Holiday Season. Happy Holidays. xo, Chris

design, display, Half Moon Books, Holiday, installation, kingston, marketing, RetailChris BickNovember 27, 2019books, Bookstore, ornaments, Holiday Windows, Holiday, retail, window display, InstallationComment

Tens Across the Board

Another fantastic window collab with Half Moon Books. They’re celebrating their 10 year anniversary, so of course, I wanted to give them a cake of books! 🎂📚 Happy Birthday Half Moon Books. I love you!!! 🎉🎈🌜 #windowdisplay #bookstore #happybirthday #installation — at Half Moon Books.

display, design, Half Moon Books, installationChris BickMay 10, 2019retail, display, window display, anniversary, ten, Bookstore, books, Half Moon Book Store, used book, cakeComment

Less is More

half moon books winter 2019 pioneer agency kingston ny.jpg

For the Winter 2019 Half Moon Books store window update, I wanted to do something interesting but also minimal. I think after Holiday, minimalism is a great motif. I thought of just one solid pillar of books spiraling. There’s repetition and pattern in the simplicity. #monolithic

Click here for more Half Moon Books installation

design, display, Half Moon BooksChris BickFebruary 3, 2019half Moon BooksWinter, Bookstore, Half Moon Book Store, window display, window shopping, Installation, store window, display, retail, bookstore, Vintage Books, used bookComment

Starry Night

And without further adieu, here’s my latest window installation for Half Moon Books in Kingston, NY… STARRY NIGHT.

I wanted to create something a bit different for this year’s Holiday windows. Something a bit darker and not totally “in your face” Christmas. No red or green, no Christmas Trees and no Santa. So, I came up with Starry Night.

I had to defy gravity with the books like I usually do and I had found great pictures of “floating books.” That’s when I had the idea to create the books as chimney smoke. A cozy, winter scene.

I love vintage books

Making the book fans

Hanging the blue paper

House cut-out and twinkle lights

I initially wanted to use a cabin but upon my research I found this great vintage Sears Catalog house illustration. It’s the Randolph style if you’re interested! BINGO… The books serve as chimney smoke puffs for this charming Sears Catalog spec home.

The background is dark blue paper mounted to a pegboard base with twinkle xmas lights poked thru the holes… Instant starlit night sky. And then I used the half moon from the store’s actual logo and VOILA; A Starry Night was born.

I hope you enjoy! Shop small this holiday. Peace and Love for all.

Oh, I almost forgot. I made a table too!

Under construction

Finished product

design, display, installation, Retail, HolidayChris BickNovember 25, 2018Half Moon Bookswindow display, window shopping, Holiday, Holiday Windows, christmasComment

play to the gallery

Lots of installations to show you this week. In addition to the Fall windows at Half Moon Books, I also helped install my 3rd annual Tousey Winery booth for the Hudson Valley Wine & Food Fest. Needless to say, it was a busy week.

My adorable clients, Ben and Kimberly Peacock (see below) always want to outdo themselves with the booth design, year after year. This year, I wanted to highlight their craft and how painstakingly they work on their wines. It’s an art form.

That’s where the art gallery theme came to be. Crisp white walls, bright lights and artwork. The gold frames highlight their products and the wall decals in my fave Helvetica font display their menu and tell their story. The philosophy behind their wines and their craft… Like an artist’s statement that you’d see at a gallery.

My fave is the light up podium at the front showcasing their sparkling wine… The Loic named after their youngest son. Oh, we also won best booth! Cheers…

Visit my complete Tousey Winery gallery here.