Local Artisans Treatments make a splash this fall

This fall, we helped Vida Spa create and launch new therapies -- the Local Artisan Treatments -- in the US and Canada.

The treatments are fresh, different, true to Vida Spa's customized, ayurvedic focus. Most importantly, they tell a story.

By integrating specific combinations of herbs sourced from local farms into a facial and a massage, Vida Spa therapists, trained in the ancient art of Ayurveda, are able to bring the right healing benefits to each individual.

For example, an anxious person with dry skin, sleep issues and a cooler body temperature might receive a treatment with the calming, moisturizing properties of nutmeg and sesame oil. Someone who tends to feel warm, sluggish and who fights oily skin might experience a different treatment that incorporates the cooling elements of sage and rose petals and the lighter flaxseed oil.

We reached out to media in both the US and Canada, and were happy to garner placements in DailyCandy, Vitamin Daily, Ideal Bite, Elle Canada, WHERE, and multiple blogs.





The buzz is catching up to them. President Allison Hegedus was also interviewed for Men's FASHION, which was distributed in The Globe & Mail, a national Canadian newspaper, this past September.

Design work

We are in the midst of designing our website - long overdue! (Hey, it's hard to fit in your own marketing when you're busy making everyone else so beautiful.)

We're using this handy blog in the interim, but I wanted to also pass along Brian Lodis' (design director) website, where one can find work samples representative of our quality.

You better sit down for this!

www.brianlodis.com

Update: Jubilee Women's Center on PBS - Cont'd attention

Jubilee Women's Center has experienced continued attention as a result the recent national PBS piece on "Middle Class and Newly Homeless." The City of Seattle Human Services Department highlighted it a recent community-wide electronic communication, and the Capitol Hill Seattle blog covered it last week.

I believe this issue needs more attention in the Seattle region -- yes, the economy is showing signs of rebound, but the devastation that has occurred is tremendous. And how long will it really take for people to recover? Many middle class individuals and families are hesitant to share their personal stories but a visible local piece on this issue needs to be done.

Missing Paul Nyhan's (at the Seattle PI) beat/focus...who will pick up the slack?

Christmas in July?

Last Wednesday, David and I kept busy by sending a handful of editors Vida Spa's gift for the holidays: a Winter Essential Kit (moisturizing products, important for a great winter skin care regime). Ironic that it was 104 degrees on our trip to the post office? Yes. But still necessary nonetheless. Long-lead media (magazines) plans out their winter issues between 3-6 months in advance (sometimes even more) so if you're hoping for some ink to drive holiday traffic, it's always important to prepare early!

Jubilee Women's Center on PBS!

Congratulations to Jubilee Women's Center for being featured in a national segment on PBS Now. The segment covered homelessness in light of the recession. More and more middle class families in America are finding themselves without a place to live, and in need of our community's safety net for the first time. Jubilee Women's Center, located on Capitol Hill in Seattle, has seen a 67 percent increase in women coming to their doors in the last year.



View Middle Class and Newly Homeless.

Thanks to PBS Now for covering this important issue. And a big thanks to photographer Kathryn Barnard who donated her time and energy to photograph the residents of Jubilee Women's Center.

New Career Pathways report for Seattle Jobs Initiative

We are really jazzed about the new national Career Pathways brochure that we designed for Seattle Jobs Initiative (SJI).

The 40+ page piece was heavy on content -- but broken up by smart information design and gorgeous full-bleed photography.





This project really highlights how important it often is to have access to original photos. We feel that stock photography often looks generic - yet many organizations rely heavily on plucking images from a small “community pool.” Coordinating a custom photo shoot provides a library of images unique to your brand for consistent use throughout all of your marketing communications materials.

Seattle Jobs Initiative is releasing this report to policymakers (and gurus) across the U.S.of.A!

New projects and exciting developments

Summertime is supposed to be a time when things slow down (right?!?) but we've been keeping a nice steady pace around here.

The big news is that we've hired a summer intern! David Bruce, a political science major from the University of Washington, will be joining us in mid-June to help execute PR campaigns and provide general assistance. His first day will be spent at Georgetown Studios, where we'll be coordinating a photo shoot for Vida Spa's holiday promotions. More on that later!

KLC is also ramping up to begin an SEO campaign for Orthopedic Specialists of Seattle, and we can't wait to report amazing results. So far, our efforts have already increased their patient referrals via the web by 158 percent - an incredible return on investment! We are confident they'll see even more to come.

We're excited that Jubilee Women's Center was featured in a lovely article on the front of the Capitol Hill Times a few weeks ago, and that Executive Director Susan Fox and former resident Tracie W. were interviewed on Puget Sound Access, which broadcasted on KKNW 1150 AM, KIXI 880 AM, KWJZ FM and KQMV FM on May 24th.

We love it when our clients enjoy the limelight!

New fundraising brochure for Seattle Jobs Initiative

We recently created a new fundraising brochure for Seattle Jobs Initiative. The brochure followed two Seattle Jobs Initiative success stories, and focused on the importance of skills training.





We provided copywriting and design services, and saw the project to its completion.





The image-heavy piece included beautiful original photography, also coordinated by KLC.

Next up in our design house? An information graphics-packed policy brochure for Seattle Jobs Initiative. Stay tuned!

Welcome, George

We're excited to have some new project management help around here!

Welcome George Freitag! George is a marketing writer with a penchant for all things techie. George has worked in politics and for various nonprofits and governmental agencies. He has a passion for marketing like we've almost never seen before -- all the better for our clients!

George will be managing some website projects that we have underway, bringing his project management, web mastering, and writing/editing expertise to each and every of them. We can already tell that we won't remember how we did it before having him on board...

Vida Spa on the radio

Yesterday, Allison Hegedus, president of Vida Spa, was interviewed on Chat With Women talk radio show, on 1150 am. Listen here!

The hosts, Pam and Rochelle, were gracious, spirited and hilarious. Their local following has allowed the program to recently become syndicated, starting in the Los Angeles market.

Congratulations to all!

Seattle Jobs Initiative on Seattle Channel

Today I had the pleasure of following a very friendly Seattle Channel crew around Seattle Jobs Initiative's welding program at South Seattle Community College.



The Seattle Channel's weekly show, City Inside/Out, is putting together a show on the city resources available for people during this difficult recession. They will introduce viewers to Jerome, a participant of Seattle Jobs Initiative's program who went from being homeless to anticipating his living wage career in welding. Watch this Friday, March 27 (on Cable 21) at 7 pm!

The power of numbers

Numbers and facts are of utmost importance when working in public relations -- recently evidenced by our PR campaign for Jubilee Women's Center, a transitional housing facility for homeless women located in Seattle.

A PR person's job is to make the most of the news you have -- and when you're a small (and special!) organization like Jubilee Women's Center, we might have to dig a little deeper.

Kenner Lodis Creative together with JWC program staff analyzed what's really happening on the program side of this nonprofit organization. We found that Jubilee has recently seen a 67 percent increase in the number of homeless women coming to their doors - and women are older and more educated.

With this information, now we can share your story. KLC put together press materials on the changing face of homeless and reached out to appropriate media.

Columnist Nicole Brodeur from the Seattle Times covered a new resident who came to Jubilee after working successfully in the mortgage industry.



She wrote a follow up article a week later.



KOMO AM 1000 and KOMO News also covered the issue.



The response has been overwhelming. From home-baked chocolate cakes to large donations to emails from the community expressing sentiments like "Wow, I had no idea the reach of your organization - congratulations," Jubilee Women's Center is seeing the power of PR.

New marketing materials for Orthopedic Specialists of Seattle

We recently created new marketing collateral - including a brochure and physician bios - for Orthopedic Specialists of Seattle, a 6-surgeon group at Seattle Orthopedic Center in Wallingford.









Kenner Lodis Creative partners with creative talent all over the city of Seattle (and beyond) to bring the right people to the project at hand. On this particular assignment, we worked with an experienced designer who understands the health care industry. We also worked with our favorite health care photographer, who specializes in physician photos.

Our work with Orthopedic Specialists of Seattle (OSS) began in 2007. When we came on board, we began a thorough discovery phase process to identify who the OSS patient really was, what they wanted, and why they chose this particular orthopedic group. After interviewing patients, we reinvented and focused the OSS brand, and created messaging that better reflected their value: highly specialized orthopedic care.

Next, we built a search-engine friendly website with original content, which launched them to the top of the search engines for almost every keyword phrase identified.





Next up? More search engine optimization activities, and continued marketing and branding work with this great, savvy physician group.

What makes a good PR person?

I was out to lunch last week with a writer from the Seattle Times' and the topic of "What makes a good PR person?" came up. I shared my philosophy, and she respectfully shared her invaluable input. I thought it was a great conversation and I wanted to share.

PR takes a unique (and dare I say, rare?) set of characteristics and skills. In no particular order, a good PR person:

• Asks to see or be apprised of your entire marketing plan – wants to know your goals as an organization
• Can easily and quickly synthesize a lot of information
• Stays on top of trends, and knows when and where their clients fit into the scene
• Has the creativity and technical writing skills to write a press release that could potentially be reprinted as is (AP style)
• Can get excited--and can transfer that enthusiasm--about their clients
• Is flexible, responsive and proactive
• Doesn't take "no" personally
• Has the ability to anticipate problems--that is, can predict the worst--while not letting keen judgment compromise optimism
• Is comfortable with not taking credit for a large majority of their work
• Understands the value of a personalized pitch
• Knows when not to pitch a story

Some of these are personality traits that you’re either born with or not – but many are developed over time; by making mistakes and learning from them. That’s why if you’re hiring an agency, it’s important to know who will be primarily servicing your account. Do your research before hiring a PR agency (even a “boutique”), because it’s commonplace have junior staff primarily service accounts – after all, their time costs less to the agency.

At Kenner Lodis Creative, we work hard to make sure we only take on clients that we truly feel we’ll be successful with, and that’s not everybody. But if you're in the market for PR, we'd love to start a conversation with you. We love new projects, and we love sending our respected colleagues (when better suited) new work, too.

Vida Spa featured in Allure

We’re excited to announce another client success! A wonderful esthetician by the name of Laura Hess (featured below) of Vida Spa was featured in Allure magazine this month, giving fantastic advice – with an ayurvedic approach – to uneven skin tones.





Congratulations to Vida Spa for the well-deserved recognition for employing charming, committed and knowledgeable staff!

DailyCandy

It's always great to see exactly what you envisioned months ago actually come to fruition. I'm excited to share that our cross promotional campaign with Vida Spa and Remedy Teas resulted in a DailyCandy placement today. The two businesses--both committed to wellness and grounded in ancient, holistic practices--were a natural fit. Remedy Teas has been absolutely wonderful to work with; what an exciting company with a clear vision - and fantastic product. The spa's new Tea-Tox Facial is infused with a concentrated dose of green tea and tulsi herb - great for detoxifying and boosting immunity. I wish it much success!

Thanks to Kathryn Barnard, our favorite lifestyle photographer, for executing a beautiful photo shoot.

-Krista

Welcome to our new blog!

Welcome to Kenner Lodis Creative's blog!

Kenner Lodis Creative helps businesses achieve their goals through thoughtful and unique marketing and public relations. We create marketing communications strategies that address a company's needs from start to finish. By partnering with the best and brightest creative talent -- and always managing each step of the way -- we ensure coordination and success. And, we always aim to maximize return on investment.

We work with a variety of clients across multiple industries. Most recently, we've been leading PR efforts for a high-end wellness spa, Vida Spa at Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle as well as a wonderful Seattle nonprofit organization, Jubilee Women's Center. Kenner Lodis Creative also coordinates communications activities for Seattle Jobs Initiative and provides ongoing marketing support for Orthopedic Specialists of Seattle.

This blog will highlight our recent work and accomplishments, and will evolve into a forum for sharing insight and tips on successful marketing communications.