Starting in August we want to bring you our usual blogs in video form. Video blogs, also known as vlogs, will be available along with the written post. Both mediums, written and video, will contain the same content. You will be able to choose the medium that you prefer.
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At Machteld Faas Xander we are proud of our home. We love Waterloo Region, we love The Tannery and we REALLY love our space.
Our space is great, and many people actually associate us with our office. We have taken great care to ensure that it reflects us as a company and that it provides us the best atmosphere for collisions, collaboration, and creation.
We want to celebrate our home and invite you to join us, using one of the greatest ways to celebrate that we can think of: cookies.
The next time that you come to visit us or use our space, check in on foursquare. When you check in at our location three times, you will receive a delicious cookie as a gift for visiting our home. We will be featuring cookies from local shops and bakeries around the region. If you have a suggestion for a featured cookie, tweet us @MachFaasXan
We look forward to seeing you!
The MFX Team
For those of you who are unfamiliar with foursquare, it’s a mobile app you can download to your phone. You create a personal account, similar to other social networking accounts. When you go to a place or spot, you check in through the app and it shows that you were at that place. You can also leave tips and share what you were doing at that venue. It’s great for getting new recommendations on a current fave spot, or getting new recommendations on anything from sushi to soccer balls. Try it out… you’ll love it!
Want to sign up for an account? Download the app on your mobile phone or go to this link.
Want to know more about foursquare? Here you go.
Since July 3rd, Machteld Faas Xander has had a new, vibrant and cheery face around the office: Lisy Ruiz. Lisy’s enthusiasm for marketing and her willingness to tackle any new task makes her a perfect fit for the MFX environment.
Lisy is part of the Specialist High Skills Major for Business program at Resurrection C.S.S. She is with us as part of the co-op course that is required for this program.
Working as an assistant to Rebecca and Cheryl, Lisy has been dedicated to Music Works. All have appreciated the passion that she has shown for this project. Lisy has also taken up numerous tasks around the office. She has been helping with our photography as well as social media work, including writing blog posts and pioneering our Tumblr account.
Everyone at MFX is going to greatly miss Lisy when she finishes her co-op placement with us this week. We wish her the best in all of her future endeavors and hope that she comes back to visit!
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The sign is up! Our friends at Mad Hatter Tech are now officially part of our space.
Watch movie magic flash the process before your very eyes!
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Mark Smullen, a member of the Machteld Faas Xander family, spent his Victoria Day long weekend differently than the majority of us. Mark and his wife, live on an alpaca farm. Last weekend, Mark, his wife and their friends, other alpaca farmers, embarked on shearing the alpacas.
There are 32 of the furry friends in total. Mark and his wife own 20 of the alpacas and the other 12 are being boarded on the farm for other farmers.
To shear the animals, two shearing tables are set up. There is a designated shearer who is accompanied by two or three others who manage the alpaca. The alpacas are secured with straps to ensure the safely of the animals and the humans. Some of them cause a fuss, spitting and thrashing or squealing, it can be frightening for them. To calm them, the people speak softly to them and sometimes uses a refreshing lavender spray.
Unlike sheep fleece, alpaca fleece contains no oils and is hypoallergenic. It is also much finer. After being sheared, the fleece is sorted according to quality, and then it is sent to a fiber mill where it is processed into yarn, or products such as socks, mittens, or gloves.
Everyone comes together for lunch and supper. Even though the work is hard, his friends and family make the time enjoyable and fun. Mark shares that although the sore backs and alpaca spit are unpleasant, the good company, the laughs, and the feeling of a job well done make it all worthwhile.
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The importance of social media in communications and promotions is continuously growing and evolving. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+ are just a few in the parade of social networking websites that allow companies to interact with their clients and customers like never before. Many businesses want to become more involved in this world, but are unsure of the next steps.
At Machteld Faas Xander, we are excited to welcome the newest member of our family. Jessica Colwell joined the team this week as our Social Media Specialist. Having graduated this year at the top of her class from Conestoga College’s Advertising Program, Jessica is intrigued by the possibilities and opportunities of this ever-evolving medium. She has been working with Machteld Faas Xander as an intern since February as part of her Conestoga program, and we were so impressed we hired her on! Over the course of her internship, and now as an employee she’ll be helping us all at MFX to develop strategies that will best utilize the power of these online communications, for us at MFX and for our clients.
Jessica’s many passions include travel, painting and writing. She has had one poem published and several paintings displayed in three separate countries. Last year, she won $5,000.00 in a province-wide IMC (Integrated Marketing Campaign) competition to create a marketing communications campaign.
We are always looking for more people to connect with online. Our Twitter account is @MachFaasXan. Our Pinterest account, Facebook page, Google+ page and other accounts all go by our name, Matcheld Faas Xander. We have already made some valuable connections through social media, but more on that in future posts.
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Once upon a time (1983), we established a Kitchener based communications agency. There have been a lot of changes since then so, last year, in conjunction with our move to the Tannery in Kitchener, we decided to re-brand our business and call ourselves Machteld Faas and Xander.
Since you¹ve read this far, you are probably wondering who are these people with the strange names?
First of all, you need to know that it’s made up—we wanted to maintain the equity we had in the name MFX and then got a bit creative. Second, the name was created to embody the values of our owners and founders, John and Rebecca Short. As the company grows, we wanted a way to communicate to staff and customers the core values that drive our success as a creativity firm.
Why Machteld, Faas and Xander?
These aren’t names you usually hear on the street in North America. Often in naming a company, an invented name is easier to trademark and create meaning around since it has no other connotations. Picking typical English names borrows feelings and emotions that others might have about them. Machteld, Faas and Xander are distinct and rare, which allow us to embody the values and stories that are important to us.
Machteld
Based on the Creator archetype, Machteld encourages our creative expression, not just among our typical ‘creative’ team, but also throughout the organization. As a core, driving organizational value, Creator encourages us to remember that everyone is creative and that it is our job to help enable creativity through design. Machteld Faas Xander values imagination, beauty and designs that are both aesthetic and functional. As a core driving value, staff is encouraged to remember Machteld’s guidance and look for ways to embody creativity in every facet of the company.
Faas
Based on the Explorer archetype, Faas encourages our self-guided learning culture. Fiercely independent, Faas inspires a flexible, self-starter working environment. As a core, driving organizational value, Explorer encourages us to experience a better, more authentic work life. Machteld Faas Xander values self-guided learning and provide tools to support individual employees’ journey through their careers. Faas guides the learning and professional development side of our company.
Xander
Based on the Magician archetype, Xander inspires the way we get things done. Design is a visual-language based discipline and so it’s appropriate that Xander helps us remember that the best way to inspire people is by showing them. MFXers value the social aspect our work and are good at driving consensus through participation, ultimately achieving goals for clients. We believe that when we come together in a fun, positive, open environment‹people can accomplish anything.
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How the heck do you pronounce that?
Well our new branding has definitely received a lot of attention. And we thank everyone who took the time to give us positive feedback and constructive criticism on Machteld Faas Xander.
… Speaking of which, a lot of folks have been wondering how to properly pronounce our new name, in all of it’s glory, properly. So our Lead Designer, James Bisch, knowing what a dictionary nut I am, put together this handy pronunciation key (see above) to ensure you have our name down pat.
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Introducing Machteld Faas Xander
We’ve been promising big news in recent blog posts. Well today is the day, and it’s significant because it’s the day we drop the name MFX Partners, a name that has identified this company for the last 10 years, and introduce our new name: Machteld Faas Xander.
Why did we rebrand?
Over the past four years, our brand and our vision have evolved. We’ve adopted a passion for possibility—not just for ourselves, but for our clients as well. So sure, company growth helped fuel the initial fire, but really this was more about the relationships we want to build with our clients, the environment we want to create and work in, the type of work we want to do going-forward, and the legacy we want to leave behind.
And because we’re a firm that’s helped rebrand numerous companies and their products, we used our own creative process. We started with a great deal of soul-searching. We knew that we wanted a name that meant more to our customers and staff than just a sign on our office door. We wanted a name that we could build a community around, one that would capture and convey the rich history of our organization and the energy of the people who built it. We wanted to build meaning around our name that focuses on our three core values of creativity, exploration and transformation. We also wanted a name that would incite and inspire conversation, and most importantly, one that embodied the “passionate creative people” that work here.
So today you’ll see our new name and logo, as well as the re-launch of the blog portion of our website. Our fully redesigned site will be launched in a series of releases over the month of March.
Machteld Faas Xander will offer services in two core areas—Marketing and Communication & Creative Change Making—both guided by a people-focused, design-driven process that will help us stay true to our core belief that design has to invent and create new ways of doing things, that it has to be interesting—and that it has the transformative power to help people think better.
We’ve posted our first blog content in reverse order, so that you can read down this page about the new MFX. Cheers.
Who are Machteld Faas and Xander?
First off, they’re made up—we wanted to maintain the equity we had in the name MFX, so we’ve been a little creative. Second, they embody the values of our owners and founders, John and Rebecca Short. As the company grows, we wanted a way to communicate to staff and customers the core values that drive our success as a creativity firm.
Why Machteld, Faas and Xander?
These aren’t names you usually hear on the street in North America. Often in naming a company, an invented name is easier to trademark and create meaning around since it has no other connotations. Picking typical English names borrows feelings and emotions that others might have about them. Machteld, Faas and Xander are distinct and rare, which allow us to embody the values and stories we want to.
Machteld
Based on the Creator archetype, Machteld encourages our creative expression, not just among our typical “creative” team, but also throughout the organization. As a core, driving organizational value—Creator encourages us to remember that everyone is creative and that it is our job to help enable creativity through design. Machteld Faas Xander values imagination, beauty and designs that are both aesthetic and functional. As a core driving value, staff is encouraged to remember Machteld’s guidance and look for ways to embody creativity in every facet of the company.
Faas
Based on the Explorer archetype, Faas encourages our self-guided learning culture. Fiercely independent, Faas inspires a flexible, self-starter working environment. As a core, driving organizational value—Explorer encourages us to experience a better, more authentic work life. Machteld Faas Xander values self-guided learning and provide tools to support individual employees’ journey through their careers. Faas guides the learning and professional development side of our company.
Xander
Based on the Magician archetype, Xander inspires the way we get things done. Design is a visual-language based discipline and so it’s appropriate that Xander helps us remember that the best way to inspire people is by showing them. MFXers value the social aspect our work and are good at driving consensus through participation—ultimately achieving goals for clients. We believe that when we come together in a fun, positive, open environment—people can accomplish anything.