The Landmarks of Excellence constitute the premier awards event for public relations professionals in the region. They are a presentation of the Bluegrass chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and the International Association of Business Communicators, Kentucky chapter.

Congratulations to Mayor Greg Fischer, who was named Communicator of the Year, and to Dan Hartlage, principal with Guthrie/Mayes, who was inducted into the Public Relations Hall of Fame.

New West’s work with clients over the past year resulted in two Awards of Excellence, the top award, along with four Merit Awards and four Honorable Mention Awards:

Awards of Excellence:

• Graphic Design, Periodicals: FIT4FUN/Kentucky Children’s Health & Fitness Fund. This is a lively, colorful, quarterly health and fitness magazine distributed free to all Kentucky public school kids in grades K-3. Our client is Kentucky Children’s Health & Fitness Fund in La Grange. Publisher Jan Winter said she got a little emotional as she realized that “people really believe in this work.”

• Writing, Special Projects: Kentucky Department of Insurance. We worked with the Department of Insurance to spread the word about its new health insurance advocate through a multimedia consumer-focused advertising campaign that included print, television and radio. The budget was limited, but we used creativity and a friendly mascot to demystify the “monster” of health insurance.

Merit Awards:

• Publications, Booklet or Brochure: Kentucky State Fair Board
• Special Event: Kentucky Department of Travel & Tourism
• Graphic Design, Printed Piece: Transit Authority of River City (TARC)
• Overall Community Program, Customer Relations: Transit Authority of River City (TARC)

Honorable Mention:

• Publications, Non-Profit Booklet or Brochure: FIT4FUN/Kentucky Children’s Health & Fitness Fund
• Special Event: General Electric
• Online Communications, External Web Site: Kentucky Cabinet for Health & Family Services
• News Media/Video, Multimedia Presentation: Kentucky Education and Workforce Cabinet

That was one of the main messages we picked up at the Third Annual Emerging Media Summit recently here in Louisville. The summit was put on by the International Association of Business Communicators’ Kentucky Chapter and the Louisville Digital Association. It was a great conference with a lot of good speakers.

Speaker Jason Falls discusses the role of games in social media

Here were some of the other big takeaways:

• Blogs are losing some of their influence as mobile marketing ascends. If you want to do any mobile marketing, you need to have a clutter-free, easy-to-navigate, mobile-optimized version of your web site.
• Technology is changing rapidly. What’s hot today might not be hot tomorrow. Don’t put too much stock in any one tool.
• In social media, no one person can know it all. Any organization involved in communications needs to have multiple people who are comfortable with social media.
• Use multiple approaches to reach out (QR codes, SMS texts, news releases, website, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and to listen to/quantify what people are saying online (social media monitoring tools, switchboard, surveys, etc.)
• Online health is a growing trend
• Gaming is a growing tool that is applicable to many clients

Tim Hayden of 44Doors compared social media to “the campfire in the village,” where a broad range of conversations is taking place. You can either join them or not, but the conversations are going on. Hayden said mobile marketing brings a new dynamic to communication that is liberating, rewarding and empowering – bridging the online world with the offline. The challenge is in harnessing it.

The use of QR codes in marketing has exploded, allowing smartphone users to wave their devices over a code that takes them to a website. Ergo, instant buy-in from the customer! But does it take the customer somewhere he or she wants to go? Is the site optimized for that little tiny screen the user has in his hand? Does it allow for a quick and seamless exchange of information with him? Does it offer him some sort of reward? Or does it take him to a home page that takes two minutes to load all the graphics, minuscule copy and a confusing array of links?

QR codes are being used for virtual grocery shopping in Korea, wine-brand rollouts in the U.S., restaurant deals, car-repair deals, traffic info, and much more. QR codes are even used as identifiers that could save your life. Say you have an accident and are found unconscious. Medical personnel could scan a code in your wallet that will instantly bring up your health-care history so you’re given the right kind of treatment – and not, for example, a drug to which you might be allergic.

Don’t be surprised if one day soon you walk into your favorite home improvement store and are greeted with an automated voice that says hello and asks if the power drill you bought last time is still working for you, and would you like to save 10% on power tools today?

A foggy summer morning at the D & F Farm in Somerset.

To promote Kentucky Proud produce, we recently shot a 30-second commercial featuring tomato farmer Dwight Faulkner of D & F Farm in Somerset, Kentucky. Eager to capture the gorgeous scenery, our creative team (Paul Gosselin and Mike Duck), the director (Dennis Goodman) and the production company (Videobred) were on location before the sun ever rose. It was worth it, as we got some great shots of rolling fields in the early-morning fog.

You can watch the completed Kentucky Proud spot at http://youtu.be/vzvSRV63iLA

Shooting at Ashford Stud, Versailles

New West is also working with the Kentucky Department of Travel & Tourism to produce a series of three spots showcasing some of Kentucky’s unique attractions, from Lincoln’s birthplace to Cumberland Falls,  from horse farms to distilleries.

Production on the Travel & Tourism spots is drawing to a close, and the ads will air sometime this fall in neighboring states — and likely here as well.

Soldat Nehro was getting excited about his upcoming trip to America. The Egyptian native and professional dog trainer had been out of Egypt only once before, living in Britain for a year while attending school. But the idea of going to the United States held twice the appeal.

He wasn’t really sure when his fascination with America began, but it probably had a lot to do with his uncle, Mohammad Nehro. Uncle Mo (that’s what everybody called him) did a lot of business in the U.S. and he loved to tell stories about his trips and the experiences he had there. He was quite the mucho, macho man and as a young boy Soldat and his friends couldn’t wait for one of Uncle Mo’s stories. He’d talk about New York and Chicago and other big cities. And, yes, he’d even been to Disney World (Animal Kingdom was his favorite).

While in Britain, Soldat became friends with a Londoner, Arch Shackleford. Arch had spent a summer in America a couple of years earlier and through a friend had gotten to spend a few days at sea with the well-known Santiva Salt Water Fishing team, based in southern Florida. He couldn’t stop talking about it. He’d get so excited telling the story about his fishing expedition; it was like someone had lit his pants on fire. He’d start gesturing wildly and jumping around as he relived the experience.

“Man, we’d been fighting this 8-foot blue fin for like six hours!” he said. “Finally, we got to this decisive moment when we knew we were either going to reel him in or we were going to have to cut him loose. That’s when those guys went to work with brilliant speed. I mean they were really dialed in, and the next thing you knew that sucker was on the deck of our boat. What a rush!”

“Arch, Arch, Arch,” Soldat said, rolling his eyes. “I get it. It was really fun and exciting, but come on. You need to bring it down a bit.”

Nonetheless, Arch’s enthusiasm only stoked Soldat’s desire to see America for himself. And now, three years later, that chance had finally come.

Over the years, Soldat’s work with dogs had started to gain some attention. In fact, in some circles he was affectionately called the “Master of Hounds” for his way with the animals. And thanks to his growing reputation he landed a client who wanted Soldat to show one of his dogs at a major show in New York.

“Can you do it?” asked the client.

Soldat thought to himself, “Are you kidding? Just watch me go!”  But he simply said, “Yes I can.”

So, off they went – Soldat, the client and a dog named Comma, who always seemed to stay thirsty. Soldat thought Comma was sort of an odd name for a dog, but he’d seen worse – like Derby Kitten – so he didn’t make a big deal out of it. But a few days before the show, he asked the owner about the name, just out of curiosity.

“Well,” said the client, “his daddy, named Twinspired – something to do with that famous horse track in Kentucky, I think – and his mother, Midnight Interlude, didn’t exactly hit it off at first; there was a bit of a pause in the courtship. So when he was finally born, that’s how we came up with Comma. Get it? Pause. Dog paws?”

Soldat was sorry he asked. But none of that mattered now. He was finally going to America. And he was going to enjoy every minute of it. And he was going to take Comma to the top.

New West Senior Account Manager and All-Around Creative Guy Gary Elder has been writing these Derby stories, using the names of every horse in the race (in this case including Uncle Mo, who was a late scratch), for more than a decade.

This show, sponsored by the Louisville Advertising Federation, recognizes creative excellence in our localadvertising community. It’s part of a three-tiered system. Work that’s awarded at the local level then advances to the regional level. If it wins at the regional level, it then competes in the national Addy show.

This is all fine and well if you’re an agency. But if you’re a client, a question might cross your mind: “Why should I care?”

Some people believe we admen and adwomen enter award shows simply to satisfy our creative egos. And while I will admit there’s a certain amount of ego gratification involved, that’s not the whole story. An agency that enters the work it creates for its clients is making a statement. It’s saying, “We’re proud of this work. We think it’s some of our best.”  Think about that for a moment. If you’re a client, don’t you want an agency that’s doing its best for you?

There’s another reason you should care. Last year, a new study in the UK by Thinkbox and the Institute for Practitioners in Advertising found that most creatively awarded work is 11 times more efficient at delivering business success.  Did you get that? Eleven times.  1,100% more effective. You can read a summary of the study at www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/ConWebDoc.2490.

Now back to Friday night. Our “Scrapbook” TV commercial for Kentucky Tourism brought home the gold in the special effects/animation category. It was also awarded a silver in the general regional/national TV category. (You can view it on this page.)  “Vintage Kentucky,” a video promoting Kentucky’s winemaking industry for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture won us another silver. A bus shelter poster campaign promoting the free downtown trolleys for the Transit Authority of River City earned us four more silvers. And a newspaper ad campaign for Trilogy Health Services, a network of assisted living and rehabilitation facilities, earned us our final four silvers of the night.

On behalf of New West, let me offer a hearty thank you to our clients who allowed us to do such stellar work last year. And to those of you who aren’t clients yet, maybe you should ask us to create some award-winning work for you, too.

Moms who needed a little “me-time.”

So New West decided this would be a good opportunity to reach out to these tech-savvy moms with some old-school human touch.

We teamed up with General Electric to show off some of GE’s new Profile™ Washer & Dryer pairs at the BlissDom conference in Nashville Jan. 27-28. These are beautiful machines, with all the latest technology, including “Overnight Ready” wash cycles that remove so much moisture you won’t even need to transfer to a dryer, plus a SmartDispense™ system that automatically adds just the right amount of detergent or fabric softener.

In other words, more me-time for the launderer.

And what does a busy woman do with a little free time? She goes to the spa! We decided to reach out to conference attendees through a spa atmosphere, complete with skilled professionals to provide neck massages and manicures.

To sweeten the pot even further, GE gave away a gorgeous new GE Profile™ washer and dryer to one of the attendees who dropped by the booth.

Bingo.

“How amazing was that massage? Loved it! Thx to GE, Opryland spa, and #Blissdom,” mommyinsider wrote on her Twitter page.

“I’m in a conference room…make your first stop the @GE suite where you can get a great massage! #blissdom I’ll meet ya’!” tweeted StressFreeBaby.

“Holy cow…I just saw the Bentley of washer dryers. @rationaltunes would die. GE profile (@GE_appliances),” said Twitter-happy looneytunes.

And on and on.

Now that’s what we’d call a clean sweep.

Pictured, from left to right: ESGR Area Chair Jim Papovich, New West Senior Account Manager Gary Elder, New West CEO Becky Simpson and New West President Tom Howell.

Kudos to us!

Representatives from the Kentucky ESGR (Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve) dropped by the New West offices last week with a nice and unexpected gesture.

They presented New West with the prestigious Seven Seals Award, which recognizes employers who provide outstanding support for the men and women serving in the U.S. military. New West Senior Account Manager Gary Elder provides pro bono public relations to the ESGR to help the Department of Defense organization promote its mission: encouraging employers to support guard and reserve members and recognizing those employers that go above and beyond in demonstrating that support.

Kentucky ESGR Region 3 Chairman Jim Papovich and state Public Affairs Director Harry Wiley presented the award.

We are honored to receive this award and happy to do our part to help the men and women who serve our country.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors explored the Kentucky Experience at the FEI Alltech World Equestrian Games.

The last four weeks have been a blur of activity here at New West. And before we light out to our next assignments, we thought we’d catch our breaths for a brief recap.

It all began with the load-in of all things Kentucky into The Kentucky Experience at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Two years in the planning, the three pavilions and courtyard gardens welcomed the 500,000-plus people who visited or participated in the Games at the Kentucky Horse Park. From Corvettes to crafts and bourbon to bluegrass bands – every item, every activity and every inch of space was carefully designed, decorated and displayed to showcase the best Kentucky has to offer. For 16 days, the International (and NBC-TV) “sun” shone bright on this Kentucky home! For that work, the Kentucky Department of Travel presented New West with its “Partner of the Year” award.  Thanks for the recognition. It was FUN!

Visitors to the Louisville Water Company's 150th anniversary celebration enjoyed a carriage ride. The historic Water Tower stands in the background.

While WEG was in high gear, we were also helping our friends at the Louisville Water Company prep for a big 150th anniversary celebration. The water branded Pure Tap by New West more than a decade ago was first delivered to businesses in what is now the Central Business District on October 16, 1860. Highlights of the celebration included tours of the magnificent buildings that water company leadership has carefully preserved and maintained over the years (photos) and carriage rides around the Water Tower property on River Road. And through May of 2011, visitors to The Frazier Museum in downtown Louisville will be treated to a display of LWC firsts, facts and artifacts (See http://www.fraziermuseum.org/).

New West helped celebrate a major economic development announcement as well.  Our writers, designers and event management teams helped our GE Appliances and Lighting client orchestrate some world-class good news. It began with an early October announcement at the GE Lighting plant in Bucyrus, Ohio, that will double its workforce over the next two years and ended just last week with the simultaneous announcement at four GE facilities in middle America involving hundreds of millions of dollars of new investment and hundreds of new jobs.

Happy Derby!

A Derby Story by Gary Elder

“Anybody seen Paddy? I need to talk to him,” said Dean “Homeboy” Kris.

“Not me,” said Victor Noble, the older, refined gentleman who had worked at the American Lion for years, watching performers come and go and becoming friends with the regulars. He carried himself with a certain dignity, earning the nickname “Stately Victor.” He was class all the way. If Victor gave you his word, you could take it to the bank. There was nothing more certain than Noble’s promise.

“Same here,” said Lucky. “Got no idea where that boy is. What’s goin’ on?”

“Oh, it’s just a little recording deal that may be in the works,” said Dean. He didn’t really want to get into details, especially since he didn’t know Lucky that well. In fact, Lucky was pretty much a mystery to everybody. Nobody seemed to know his last name or where he was from. If you asked, he’d just say, “Lucky, from Jackson Bend. That’s enough.” He’d shown up 12 years ago, asking if he could rent the apartment upstairs in exchange for maintenance and other odd jobs at the club. He’d been there ever since. The irony of his name wasn’t lost on anybody.

Just then, the rev of an engine and screeching tires snapped their heads around. Paddy O’Prado had arrived. “For crying out loud,” said Victor, “look at that car! Can’t he do anything discreetly? Mine would fit in the trunk of that thing.” It was something to see. Kind of a cross between a Mustang and an Aston-Martin and almost the size of one of those Hummer limos – and bright green.

For certain, there was nothing discreet about Paddy O’Prado, or “POP” for short; the brash Irishman fromDublin who was full of backtalk and a “devil may care” attitude. Victor said he acted like he was “from the line of David, God’s gift to the world.”

Paddy was going to be a rock star. He was sure of it. He spent a few years with a couple of small Dublin bands – Mission Impazible, Sidney’s Candy – before flying over on the super saver to find fame and fortune in America. “Heck,” he’d say, smiling from ear-to-ear, “if that two-bit Bono can do it, I can, too.”  He certainly had the personality – if not the talent – to be a rock star.

“What are you lookin’ at, Lucky?” Paddy said as he practically launched himself into the room.

Lucky ignored him.

“Hey, Victor, grab me something cold out of the ice box, will ya?” He knew Victor was the only one there old enough to still call a refrigerator an ice box. He loved asking Victor to get him something to drink, then he’d laugh and say, “How old are you, anyway, Victor?  I forget.”

“Not so old I can’t whip your….” Victor would then just turn away, shaking his head. He never finished the sentence. He had too much class.

Crash!  Dean’s kitten jumped up from behind the bar and knocked over a glass. That startled everybody and gave Dean a chance to change the subject to something more serious.

“Paddy, we got an offer from a guy in LA who’s with a pretty big label. As your manager, I’m telling you, this could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.”

“Allright!” said Paddy.  “What do I have to do?”

“Just make music for me,” said Dean. “Maybe then I can get enough money to pay off the conveyance tax on this place.”

“Don’t worry, Homeboy,” said Paddy. “How can we fail?  I’m an awesome act.”

Want to read more Derby stories? Check out the full archive.

“The mother duck is frantically circling the grate and the lone remaining baby is in danger of falling through as well,” cried Marketing Assistant Donna Wade.

In a flash, Mary Walter-Yandell, Graphic Designer by trade, but bird fancier by choice, leapt into action. “Who has a net?” she cracked (in a voice that is barely audible on most occasions). Nancy Roth, the agency bookkeeper/receptionist wasted no time in calling building maintenance…but it was lunch time and the usually trusty handyman was a good half hour away.

Justin Toon reaches into the drain to rescue the ducklings

Meanwhile, Mary had called into service the wiry but sturdy Art Director Justin Toon to go outside and help move the iron grate and capture the fallen ducklings before they were swept away by a mounting rain.

In short order the ducklings were rescued and they were reunited with momma. She and her babies waddled into the nearby creek and swam away. Ruffled feathers were smoothed.

The quick thinking and seamless teamwork of these office mates helped one lucky family of ducks avert certain disaster.

The ducklings: safe and sound after being rescued

Momma and babies head to the creek after the rescue