For those who haven’t heard, Google recently experienced some cyber attacks. The attacks originated in China, with whom their relationship has been a longstanding point of contention for many of Google’s critics. Free speech and human rights activists have been especially outspoken about Google’s role in censorship of their search results within Chinese borders. Yesterday afternoon, Google announced steps toward removal of those censorship measures subsequent to discussions with the Chinese government.

Here is Google’s press release on the issue.

There are two important points that relate to this story, and the business of building and maintaining both websites and brands.

Firstly, we must tap into the wealth of information the web provides us. The web still lives in a gray area of communication where perhaps the truest freedom of speech exists. Behind the veil of the keyboard, users can say and do as they would never think to in the real world. People show their true feelings and express ideas that may not be socially acceptable or popular, but may reflect the person even more truly than who they are in the physical world. For sites, and brands, striving to speak freely and honestly about themselves can be the best way to bring in customers. Brands should take advantage of the wealth of information and unchecked commentary about them on the web by addressing consumer challenges and changing their products or company policies for the better. Google seems to be learning the lesson the hard way by waiting for someone to attack before responding to the public sentiment.

Secondly, we have to consistently assess the health of a website and/or the brand it supports. For Google, despite all of the criticism of its actions in China, it has taken a malicious attack on the very fabric of what makes their business great to drive them toward change. Domino’s Pizza, longstanding cardboard, er pizza delivery joint, has recently undertaken a campaign that shows their honest assessment of their product and the changes they’ve made to improve it. How Domino’s and Google have used these negative experiences and brand criticisms to remake their products or reassess their adherence to ethics are stories that have yet be completed. Both of them, however, are examples for businesses everywhere to follow toward advancement and improvement. When someone criticizes you, as hard as it may be to take, you have to look in the mirror and think about whether or not they might be right.

Although it’s taken a serious attack for them to measure up, I applaud Google for finally standing up to the Chinese government and showing us that great business can afford to do the right thing when it means more than the dollars they may lose in the process.

An attorney once told me, “You better get it in writing in case one of you guys gets run over by a beer truck tomorrow, just so your heirs know what the deal is.”

Well, I almost got run over by a Staples truck yesterday. And then a funny thing happened.

This is not the actual Staple's truck that almost clobbered me yesterday. It's added here for visual impact.

I was walking from our agency to the UPS store carrying Christmas gifts like chord wood destined for Seattle. All of a sudden, this large Staples truck comes nearly careening around the corner and onto the parking lot access road I was just stepping into. I heard him before I saw him and stopped in my wing tipped tracks. The clean cut driver deftly pumped his breaks. The bright, shiny delivery truck hissed to a stop. With an apologetic smile, he waved me across the street.

But the funny thing is, as soon as I looked up and saw the Staples’ logo on the clean truck with the handsome driver, I knew he wasn’t going to run me down. There was a very basal emotion of calm that rose inside me, and it was directly associated with their brand.

Where do you think that calm came from?

From their advertising campaign, and the easy shopping experiences I’ve enjoyed in their stores. Like the ad guy I am, I immediately appreciated the power of the brand, even as it almost clobbered me outside my own agency.

Then I asked myself, “Would I have reacted the same way if it were just a big ‘ol nondescript white van, a  Shucks Autoparts truck, or a delivery guy for Schlitz Beer?” Probably not. I instinctively knew everything was cool, even as I stood in the cross hairs of the Staples van’s hood ornament. Kind of creepy stuff.

I guess their brand pushed my “Easy Button.” Does yours?

• Powerful brands always deliver on their promises
• Powerful brands should resonate even outside of their comfort zones
• Powerful brands can ask for forgiveness and get it
• Powerful brands make life comfortable
• Powerful brands care

What’s your brand story?

Park&Co Debuts Business Cards With A New Twist

The business card is one of the most boring or interesting or silly or downright weird things you might ever get from a person. A small piece of thick paper or lightweight card stock, it says something about a company and possibly about the person. A business card can even lead to a jealous murderous rage. Well, at least in a Brett Easton Ellis novel it can.

What would make someone do anything more with that business card than just file it away or toss it in the nearest wastebasket? The simple answer is make it eye popping. Blind the person you’re giving it to with a dazzling display of visual daring do, or something like that. The card though, can be just as effective and memorable by asking you to do with it something that you’ve never done.

We recently decided at Park&Co that it was time for a new look, and to merge several ideas in one very simple, elegant little card.

This card, as you can see, is modest in its print execution, with two colors and an inviting sans-serif font. Free of distraction, you’re provided the necessary information about the individual giving it to you. The card also has some curious text in the upper right hand corner. Web and print are married by the request that the holder visit Google and search that very unique phrase. Go ahead and give it a try. This one is “The Fastest White Man Alive” Won’t forget about that too soon, will you?

You visit the page and learn a little more about the card’s issuer. With a story unique to that person, you find something about who he or she is and what makes him or her great at the job. We tried to create a business card that melds media in a creative way and leaves an impression on the person who receives it. Maybe we’re off the mark though. We could’ve just gone to this guy.

Most local TV ads are made with no money, no concept, no production values, and no shortage of obnoxious yelling. And in case you didn’t catch the phone or address of that car dealer, accident attorney or mattress warehouse the first time, don’t you worry, Vern, you’re gonna get it again…and again…and again.

With a dash of fun and creativity, it’s easy for a local commercial to soar mightily above this din, and I recently came across one from central Alabama that hit me like a fence post to the jaw. It was made by Rhett and Link, two guys who started I Love Local Commercials and are touring the country producing free spots for local businesses they take a shine to. Who knew honesty could be so effective. Or so funny.

That number again is 256-737-0438.

Natural evolution is the ultimate form of innovation. If you pay attention, nature can teach all businesses how to thrive, no matter how nasty the economic environment.

Earlier this year, we were privileged to help rebrand Clinica Adelante; a community clinic that was founded to serve the health care needs of farm workers in Maricopa County, AZ 30 years ago.

In that time, their business environment has changed dramatically. Immigration laws and urban sprawl have significantly impacted their patient population. State and federal funding is harder to secure, especially with patient count in decline. And competition from private practices is growing as subdivisions replace farms.

Yet even with all of these impacts, Clinica Adelante remains true to it’s mission:

“Adelante Healthcare continually seeks to improve the health of our communities by providing quality, comprehensive primary health care within each patient’s ability to pay.”

However, in order to continue to serve the underserved, Clinica Adelante needed to evolve, and innovate quickly, to attract privately-insured patients. In January we took their leadership through a branding program. We discussed their nine convenient locations, top-notch doctors, electronic health records initiative, etc.. These are all great features, and yet none of them are brand differentiators. So we dug deeper.

The key to their new brand is in celebrating the organization’s heritage of growing from the land, while making it relevant for the next 30 years. But being relevant wasn’t enough. Clinica Adelante challenged themselves to be leaders. We started by updating its name and organizational persona to reflect its new brand position: “Sustainable Healthcare.”

The original logo depicts the organization's heritage, while the new brand celebrates its relevance today.

Sustainable Healthcare

The “Sustainable Healthcare” platform isn’t just about going “green.” The brand position has three equally significant legs.

1. Sustaining the health of the individual patient: Sustaining individual health includes all of the above features, offering multi-disciplinary services, and becoming an online and offline resource for healthier lifestyles through diet, fitness and green living.
2. Sustaining the availability of health care for all: True to its mission, Adelante Healthcare will continue to serve the needs of all patients – regardless of their ability to pay – through central locations, convenient hours and a multi-cultural staff.
3. Sustaining the environmental health of the communities they serve: Adelante will become a leader in green clinic operations, educate on living healthier lifestyles, and promote environmental sustainability.

Another way to view Adelante’s position is: “Healthcare that is bigger than you are.” That’s a ubiquitous “you,” meaning that when anyone associates with Adelante as a privately insured patient, they are healing more than just themselves. They are helping others benefit from high quality healthcare, while also contributing to a community that strives to make the home, neighborhood, and planet a healthier place.

Adelante's new Sustainable Healthcare website

Operationally, becoming a model of sustainable healthcare is an ambitious goal. It doesn’t happen overnight. The goal is to have a definitive plan in place with measurable outcomes. Adelante is relying on organizations like the Teleosis Institute, Practice Greenhealth, and CleanMed for best practices in sustainable operations. They have also hired a new sustainability professional to enact change throughout the entire organization for waste reduction and recycling, energy efficiency, organic cleaning and maintenance, and green building materials for expansion and renovations. Adelante recently moved into its first LEED certifiied clinic in Buckey, AZ, with more to come.

Avein Saaty-Tafoya, MBA, HCM, is CEO of Adelante Healthcare. She said one of the challenges in their evolution was defining what “Sustainable healthcare” means.

“Our greatest obstacle was clarity. There were many assumptions about our new brand given the new focus on sustainability, as well as all the activity outside our industry in the green movement. Park&Co helped make this brand identity relatable and easy to understand.”

Here’s what Avein had to say about the opportunities the new brand position presents.

“It honors our mission, which is grounded in continuing the provision of health services whether a patient is insured or loses their coverage. It touts our business model, which as a non-profit community based collaborative must drive revenue and cover expenses, while at the same time increase efficiency and contain costs. We are exceeding expectations when it comes to quality and financial metrics. We are becoming a state and national model because of innovative programs like our collaboration with the Farmers Market Association at our centers. This partnership helps our patients gain access to affordable and healthful organic produce. Simple initiatives like this one have made a positive impact on our staff, patients, and the communities we serve.”

By helping Adelante healthcare share its mission of sustainability with a broader audience, we helped it secure its own sustainability as a business and a brand. We’re proud to be part of their innovative evolution to thrive in the next three decades and beyond.

I recently returned from a whirlwind trip following U2 on the West Coast swing of their latest tour. The trip took me to three different cities in the span of a week where I saw the show from a variety of different perspectives and vantage points. The last stop was in Pasadena at the famed Rose Bowl.

As many of you probably know that Rose Bowl show was noteworthy for a few reasons. First, 100,000 people occupied the stadium making it one of the largest concert events in the history of California. Also, U2 used the performance to record their latest concert DVD and they streamed the concert live via YouTube. The statistics that followed the live broadcast were staggering. Ten million streams from 188 countries across the world made this the largest streaming event in YouTube’s history.

A friend who knew I would be attending the Rose Bowl concert sent me the following email before the show, “Aren’t you a sucker? Now, I can have the same experience free while still laying on my sofa.” In a sense he has a point. Thanks to social media he saw the same show, but he hardly had the same experience. Not even close. And this is as big a commentary on the effectiveness of social media vs. in-person Word of Mouth as there ever was.

What I experienced in the span of a week led to countless stories and memories that I’ll cherish and share for a lifetime. It was by definition the ultimate Word of Mouth experience. He didn’t experience the camaraderie that comes with spending an entire day in the General Admission line and the subsequent loss of humanity in the stampede that follows when the gates finally open. He didn’t experience haggling and begging our way back to the Vegas strip among 20,000 other stranded cab seekers. And of course, he didn’t experience the magic that is a live U2 event.

He may have been comfortable and it certainly was free to watch the Rose Bowl show on his laptop. But as I was there smashed between fans from London on my left, Hawaii on my right and Canada to my back, I was part of something bigger. I was part of something 100,000 strong in fact. A community of passionate people that if only for three hours of our lives were connected to each other. Social media is great. It has the ability to extend real life situations, but make no mistake, it will never replace those situations and experiences.

My friend may have sung along to “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” from the comfort of his own couch, but I sang the same song at the top of my lungs with 100,000 others. And as I glanced around and the band fell silent it was clear that we shared something too. An overwhelming moment that only those within those walls can truly remember. I will never forget the looks on the faces of the people surrounding me. Those looks can never be defined by any social media application. Once again, U2 taught me a lesson, and once again, I’m better for it.

As an Art Director I am a firm believer that Design is not art. It is a creative effort but not art. Art in my opinion is for art’s sake, and can portray something (or not portray it) in any way the artist sees fit. Design is purposeful, and must communicate a message and enact its viewer or user. Hopefully it is done in a meaningful, memorable, and creative manner.

VW is notorious for great advertising and design has a new series of ads (by DDB Berlin) which use classic art as the vehicle for the message. I like them, a lot, but I think there are some pure artists and pure designers who would disagree with using art in advertising like this. Take a look closely, at the details, as each piece of these recreations is very carefully crafted.

In this age of high tech social marketing tactics like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr to help engage the customer, it seems like face-to-face customer service tactics can get a bit lost. Well, I was fortunate to see that for some, old-fashioned customer service is still a priority. I recently experienced first-rate treatment at, believe it or not, an auto repair center.

I had been taking my truck to The Car Repair Company for routine maintenance and occasional repairs, but I hadn’t been in for a couple of years. Well, one day the maintenance light in my truck went on and so I took it to The Car Repair Company. They still had me on record and told me come on in and they’d take care of it.

Now here are the three things that I felt exemplified above normal customer service:

1. Like everyone in the car business, The Car Repair Company has had some challenges, but Jim Atkinson, the owner, was very upbeat when I came in. They normally will give you a lift to your work when you drop off your car. I thought with business being tight and all, that I would have get my own ride. But Jim, yes the owner, said that he would still take me to my office if I needed a lift, and he did.
2. They informed me that one of the repairs would take overnight, but I told them that I had no other transportation at my disposal, so I would bring in my truck in the morning. Jim felt that the repair on the lower ball joints should be done for safety reasons and offered to rent me a car and deduct the cost of the rental from the price of the repair. Not too many places would offer that.
3. I had one glitch on my transmission service, but I didn’t come back to The Car Repair Company for few weeks to get it checked out. Instead of saying it had been too long, Jim told me to just bring it in. A minor inspection and minor adjustment was done while I waited and at no cost to me.

I’ve always liked the Car Repair Company, but this one experience demonstrated a commitment to customer service that wasn’t just lip service. It solidified my loyalty to them over other service centers. Most importantly, it reminded me that as an agency, Park&Co needs to keep doing the most for our clients at every opportunity in order to keep their loyalty. Like The Car Repair Company, it’s what we demonstrate above the norm that makes the biggest and most lasting impressions on our clients.

On October 13, Park&Co hosted the Phoenix creative community for its latest “Creative Connect” gathering. At the event we wanted to see what would happen if you arm some of the Valley’s most creative people with a blank canvas and a few sharpies. The result was truly remarkable.

If you were at the event you likely participated in our “conversation board” experiment. If not, then watch the video below to see what happened when the people in attendance were asked to do what they do best - be creative.