Montgomery Bank & Trust, with financial centers in Montgomery and Toombs County, Georgia, engaged Kidd Group to create a renewed image for its bank to commemorate MB&T’s more than 80 years serving the financial needs of the community.

“Montgomery Bank & Trust is a community bank that prides itself on putting the customer first and focusing on being hospitable,” said Trish Rodriguez, Agency Director. “We wanted to create a brand that focused on MB&T’s relationship-centric banking and highlighted its commitment to customers.”

The new MB&T insignia is a pineapple, a symbol of hospitality and warm welcome. During the American colonial period the pineapple represented prosperity and was revered as precious and rare. By displaying a pineapple, you were extending the finest hospitality possible to your guests.

“The pineapple is the perfect symbol to personify MB&T’s philosophy of being welcoming,” added Rodriguez. “The bank’s employees embody this attitude and we felt the new brand is a reflection of their graciousness and customer service.”

The brand was launched at a staff dinner where the new logo was unveiled along with a brand overview video, and a presentation by the bank’s leadership. Employees participated by making pineapple inspired dishes and each received pineapples with attached brand cards as well as a branded polo.

To complement the new brand, Kidd Group’s web division, 3W Studios, redesigned the website, which features upcoming service lines including Insurance and Investment Services. In the fall the bank will be launching a new cutting edge Online Banking and Bill Pay service along with a Mobile Banking service.

Kidd Group has launched an advertising campaign to introduce MB&T’s new brand to the community. Additionally, the agency is working with the bank on a promotional pineapple welcome mat giveaway to customers.

Kidd Group has launched a new brand and logo for the City of Lake Worth’s Energize Lake Worth initiative. The initiative, which was introduced in June 2010, aims to educate residents, addressing environmental, economic and quality of life sustainability issues.

The City has involved residents from the beginning with a public meeting and seven Focus groups covering topics ranging from Transportation and Water Conservation to Land Use/Sustainable Construction and Waste Management and Recycling

“Our goal was to create a logo that represents the impact people have on the environment and the importance of conservation,” said Trish Rodriguez, Agency Director. “The colors chosen are found in nature representing our tie to the environment, the trees and the water.”

The City of Lake Worth promoted the initiative during its Earth Day Celebration. The event was spearheaded by the Kiwanis Club with assistance from community partners including the Downtown Cultural Alliance, Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency and the City. As part of the event, City volunteers handed out information about the energy rebate and home audit programs to encourage community involvement in the initiative.

“The City is truly energized about this initiative and educating our residents about conservation,” said Kathleen S. Margoles, assistant to the City Manager. “The main priority is to engage the community in this effort, making conservation within every resident’s reach.”

Through the Energize Lake Worth initiative, the City is creating a conservation roadmap for the future. The goal is to raise awareness among residents, reduce energy and greenhouse gas emissions, and inspire the community to participate in conservation efforts.

~Re-designed site meets the needs of the City’s multiple audiences~

Tallahassee, Fla. – Kidd Group’s interactive web division, 3W Studios, has developed and launched a new website for the City of Jacksonville Beach. The more user-friendly site features cleaner content organization to meet the needs of the City’s multiple audiences. The new design focuses on content management and incorporates a more practical behind the scenes system – allowing staff to maintain the site internally and facilitate increased collaboration.

“The staff management tools are so user-friendly that our clients love them,” said Jeremy Spinks, Studio Director, Kidd Group. “We consider it a great success that we can give our clients the tools they need to be self-sufficient.”

The former site had a centrally-managed code system, making custom edits difficult or nearly impossible. Kidd Group implemented the Drupal content management system; an open-source product favored by major institutions like the City of London and the Whitehouse. This new system allows for specific content to reach its intended visitor with minimal updates by the website’s management staff. The City plans to implement new tools available on the Drupal system including a newsletter engine, text message alerts and a mobile-ready theme.

~As a TFF sponsor, the agency has provided PR, social media and web services ~

The fourth annual Tallahassee Film Festival is underway and 2011 is proving to be the best year yet. TFF committee members reviewed more than 200 film entries from 30 countries around the world – the highest number since the festival began. TFF selected 71 films that will be screened through April 10. Additionally, the festival features Q&A sessions, educational panels, after parties and an awards ceremony.

As an executive producer level sponsor, Kidd Group has worked to ensure TFF is visible through earned media, social media and on the web. The firm has been working with TFF for the last two years to build a strong presence in the community and gain support from media and other community partners in an effort to continue growing attendance annually at the festival.

“Our main goal this year was to build buzz leading up to the festival, increasing engagement from the community through social media sites as well as garnering positive news coverage before, during and after TFF,” said Ivette Marques, APR, Public Relations Director at Kidd Group. “Our team has worked diligently for the last 10 months securing media partners, interacting with fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter, and promoting the festival locally and regionally.”

Earned media for TFF has increased from years past. The festival has been featured locally on WCTV both in news packages and live segments. Committee members also appeared on radio programs including NPR/WFSU and various Clear Channel radio stations such as 100.7 FM WFLA Talk Radio and 94.9 TNT. Additionally, the festival has been covered extensively in print and online by the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com, as well as Tallahassee Magazine and Tallahassee Woman.

Support for TFF through social media has played an integral role in keeping the festival top of mind. Engagement and interaction with fans in the last seven months has been steadily growing. Facebook fans have grown by more than 30 percent and TFF’s Twitter following has doubled.

“We wanted to keep fans and followers interested and excited about TFF. Although the festival is once a year, we made it a priority to keep our social media family engaged and informed through the year – from sharing the film selections and trailers to doing special contests and giveaways,” added Marques.

The hub for everything TFF was its website, www.TallahasseeFilmFestival.com, which features news, film trailers, education information, a full festival schedule as well as the opportunity for visitors to purchase festival gear. 3W Studios, Kidd Group’s interactive division, has been working with TFF for the last three years on website creation and maintenance.

“For 2011, we wanted to focus on giving festival attendees more opportunities to plan and prepare for TFF via online tools,” said Jeremy Spinks, 3W Studios Web Director. “Through the website, visitors were able to purchase multiple All-Access passes, t-shirts as well make monetary donations to TFF. These new tools helped increase online sales.”

Web traffic for TFF has also been on the rise. Compared to last year, visits to the site are up by 20 percent during festival week and new visitors to the site are up by 15 percent.

Since its inaugural event in 2008, the Tallahassee Film Festival has developed into a major regional event that gives filmmakers in the community an opportunity to make advances in the film industry while at the same time encouraging long-term economic development to North Florida.

Kidd Group has been engaged by the City of Lake Worth to develop a brand for its “Energize Lake Worth” initiative. The City hopes to address environmental, economic and quality of life sustainability issues through this citywide initiative.

“We have a long history of working with cities and conservation related issues,” said Trish Rodriguez, Agency Director. “We look forward to helping the City of Lake Worth raise awareness about this important initiative through a compelling brand.”

As part of the “Energize Lake Worth” initiative, the City hopes to create a roadmap for the future, reduce energy and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as raise awareness about its efforts and inspire others in the community to participate in these conservation efforts.