Greteman Group’s (www.gretemangroup.com) 2010 Kansas State Fairadvertising campaign captured five first-place division awards from the recentInternational Association of Fairs and Expositions’ (IAFE) convention in Las Vegas.

• Poster – First Place
• Promotional Advertising – Single Outdoor – First Place
• Promotional Advertising – Multiple Outdoor – First Place
• Printed Promotional Material – Multipage Publication – First Place [the official daily schedule]
• Television – First Place

“These awards underscore the tremendous feedback we’ve heard since the campaign launched early last summer,” says Denny Stoecklein, Kansas State Fair general manager. “People love the Kansas State Fair’s creative. It sets the tone for 10 days of unrivaled fun, learning and good old Kansas pride.”

The campaign’s overall goals were to continue the upward trend in attendance and revenue growth; stand out among the competition; attract a younger demographic; and further strengthen the fair’s image as the premier entertainment event in Kansas. A recent study shows marketing efforts to target a younger demographic are working with 13- to 24-year-olds now comprising the largest age segment of attendees. The 2010 fair brought the highest attendance since 1998. Audited attendance at the 2010 fair hit 354,184, an increase of 3,328 over 2009, which is all the more impressive since 2009’s numbers were a 10% increase from the previous year.

Greteman Group retained the strong brand essence and “It’s a Wild Ride, Baby!” themeline established in its rebranding of the fair in 2004. New messages speak to the excitement and value of the fair, while maintaining a strong connection to the fair’s agricultural roots. The campaign features quirky barnyard critters: a groovy, glasses-wearing “Raving Bull” and a carousel animal offering “Sheep Thrills.” A combination of traditional fair images with edgier headlines and bold illustrations helps the campaign resonate with all audiences reminding fairgoers to get themselves out to the fun.

“It takes courage to produce truly standout creative and our partners at the Kansas State Fair understand that,” says Sonia Greteman, agency president and creative director. “From day one, they’ve empowered us to bring them ideas that capture people’s attention and motivate them to action. These awards represent a true creative partnership.”

Photographed at Autumn and Art, September 17 at Bradley Fair.

Photographed at Art Aid, October 9 at the Cotillion.

© Splurge Magazine, 2010

© Wichita Business Journal, 2010

Many of Wichita’s prominent business leaders are publicly declaring that their organizations will support health and wellness in the work place.

In the two months since its inception, 30 business people have pledged their support for the Wichita Business Coalition on Health Care’s Healthy Wichita, Leadership by Example program.

Dozens more are being sought as the program’s organizers target participation from Wichita’s largest employers.

The program is attracting businesses in a variety of industries, from Intrust Bank to Metal Fab Inc. to Greteman Group to Youthville.

Healthy Wichita is designed not only to encourage companies to take part in wellness initiatives, such as promoting diet and exercise, but it also aims to advance efforts companies already are making, says Ron Whiting, executive director of the WBCHC, who helped spearhead the Healthy Wichita initiative.

“What we’re really trying to do is create a movement in the community,” Whiting says.

The initiative falls in line with a continued push toward wellness and prevention as employers look for ways to reduce rising health care costs.

“The more companies they get involved the more credible this effort is,” says Healthy Wichita participant Bill Davis, owner of Vermillion Inc., which makes aerospace harness assemblies.

Businesses that join the Healthy Wichita program agree to allow the Sedgwick County Health Department to complete a work site assessment, which identifies possible health measures to implement.

“That’s really the hook,” Whiting says.

Following the work site assessments, businesses then agree to add at least one of the initiatives within a year. Examples include policy changes or health promotion programs.

Initiating change

Healthy Wichita participants say having a healthier work force can reduce health care costs, improve productivity and reduce absenteeism.

“We know that our most valuable resource is our people,” says Jackie Vietti, president of participating Butler Community College. “The healthier they are the more effective they can be.”

Those involved say Healthy Wichita also serves as a forum for businesses to share ideas about promoting and implementing wellness programs.

Meritrust Credit Union, for example, recently put a “Snack Shack” in its break room where employees can buy healthier foods, such as soups, crackers and fruit. It’s an idea the company says it borrowed from IMA Financial Group Inc.  

Byron Stout, vice president of human resources for Meritrust, says participating in Healthy Wichita is the company’s latest effort to promote workplace wellness.

“Our wellness culture is something that we have been cultivating for several years,” he says.

Meritrust in October added an online portal that allows employees to track their healthy activities and earn points toward financial rewards or breaks on health insurance premiums.

Other businesses also are expanding their health measures.

Butler Community College is implementing an online health risk assessment program for its employees, Vietti says.

That’s in addition to participating in a biggest loser program this spring, where many employees lost 30 to 50 pounds with proper diet and exercise.

Greater Wichita YMCA wellness coaches started working this year with Vermillion employees to establish fitness goals.

Vermillion executives committed to losing 15 pounds each by the end of the year. If they don’t, employees get to hit them in the face with a pie.

The company pays for all but $15 of an employee’s YMCA membership.

“We’re really trying to do everything we can to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle,” says Davis, Vermillion’s owner.

© Wichita Business Journal, 2010

Greteman Group labels itself as a branding agency.

Now, it looks like we can add software developer to that list as well.

Greteman Group, Wichita’s third-largest advertising agency, according to the Wichita Business Journal Book of Lists, is touting an iPad and iPhone app that it developed for Signature Flight Support.

Signature is a fixed base operator that has a presence at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport.

Deanna Harms, Greteman’s executive vice president, says several of the firm’s designers spent the summer developing the app, led by Sonia Greteman and Ashley Bowen Cook.

The app checks Signature fuel prices, calculates fuel discounts, locates information on the company’s 103 FBOs worldwide and allows users to bookmark favorite locations.

“Pilots and customers on the move have a great new handheld flight-planning tool,” Harms says.

The free app is available here.

© The Wichita Business Journal, 2010

From left: Sonia Greteman, Greteman Group; Ashley Bowen Cook, Greteman Group; Tim Norton, Sedgwick County commissioner; wife, Susan Norton.

Photo by Deanna Harms.

The creative folks at the Greteman Group have launched into the world of apps.

They designed an iPhone and iPad app for Signature Flight, a fixed base operator with facilities around the world, including at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

The app checks Signature fuel prices, calculates fuel discounts and the waived handling charges for specific aircraft, locates and provides information about Signature’s 103  locations and lets users mark favorite locations.

© The Wichita Eagle, 2010

ESC Testimonial – Deanna Harms

hey’re calling it Wichita’s own version of the Gap debacle. Along with unveiling almost $1 million in renovations at Century II late last week, the city debuted the center’s new logo.

The Wichita design community is not impressed.

“It made the rounds pretty immediately,” says Jarrett Green of Blink Interactive . “There was just a collective sort of, what is this?”

Among the comments is that it looks like: something a child drew, a part of the female anatomy, the top of a wok, the top of a grill and a briefcase in motion.

“I like it,” says John D’Angelo , the city’s arts and cultural services manager. “I think it’s nice. You know, it helps update the image.”

He says the logo will brand Century II as a performing arts center.

D’Angelo says he doesn’t mind the critical comments.

“We’ll take both criticism and compliments and review them. Absolutely. We’re always interested.”

The city paid $1,150 to Catherine Lewis of Exchange Design , who does a lot of work for the city’s division of arts and cultural services, to create the logo under its direction.

Not everyone with the city agreed with the direction, though.

“From a pragmatic point of view, I struggle a little bit — being in the business — with a logo design of that nature,” says City Council member Jeff Longwell , who has been in the graphics business for 30 years.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder here,” Longwell says. “Some people may just absolutely fall in love with the design. There’s elements of the design I kind of like.”

There are other parts he finds less appealing, and Longwell is concerned about reproduction issues.

He says the brush stroke that has a paint brush effect is hard to reproduce on, say, a shirt. He says there would be other screen-printing reproduction issues as well.

Longwell plans to share his concerns with others at City Hall this week.

Several design experts have very specific concerns about the logo.

“For a premier center … the logo doesn’t work well in terms of clarity nor will it reproduce very well in other applications,” says Ann Willoughby of Willoughby Design in Kansas City.

“There are a lot of practical reasons it doesn’t work. For example, I don’t think it would work well as a sign, number one. I don’t think it’s going to reverse out.”

She means it won’t look good for times when it needs to be presented with a dark background.

Also, she says, the graphic isn’t in the right proportion to the letters.

“It will not function well as a logo for all the applications that you’ll need it for.”

There are broader issues as well, designers say.

“Century II is an iconic structure, and it really deserves something bold and elegant, and we just did not achieve that,” says Sonia Greteman of Greteman Group .

“A beautiful calligraphic line can be a very elegant interpretation … but this one, it just doesn’t communicate the grandeur or the splendor of Century II. It just doesn’t represent us well.

“I think it would be an embarrassment for our city to move forward with this.”

Compared to what the city spent on renovations, Greteman says the logo wasn’t given the same amount of attention.

“It was just like an afterthought almost,” she says. “If you’re going to change the logo, it better be an improvement.”

Bill Gardner of Gardner Design says he’s not sure how the logo got approved.

“Somebody at the city should have been watching out for something like this,” he says. “If that’s the level of aesthetic that we can claim as our uppermost reaches of aesthetic, then boy, we’re pretty bereft.”

The issue is so important, Gardner says, because the logo will be used in myriad ways to promote the center and the city.

“It’s going to have an impact on the city for years to come,” he says.

“There’s a place for casual, informal logos, but a building like Century II certainly isn’t that kind of place.”

He says there are numerous architectural elements that could be reflected in the logo.

“There’s so much detail in that building. A good identity reflects the detail of that which it’s representing.”

He adds that the logo won’t scale down well.

“It looks like a doodle that’s designed to represent a masterpiece,” Gardner says. “It doesn’t represent much beyond a child’s craft corner.”

Green of Blink Interactive issued a call to local designers to see if anyone is interested in trying to do better.

“Our goal is not to throw it in the face of the city,” he says. “We’re kind of hoping maybe somebody goes, ‘Oh, we maybe should have put out an RFP for this.’

“It’s a big deal. It’s Century II, for god’s sake.”

The site is www.century2point0.com.

There are several potential new logos — some serious, some not — on it.

One of them even spoofs the Gap logo with a small blue box that the company recently debuted and then quickly abandoned.

“The Gap ate crow and retracted their logo, and they listened to their customers,” Greteman says.

It looks like the city might as well.

“Well, it may turn out that we learned a lesson from Gap last week and that we may have to reconsider,” City Manager Robert Layton says.

“Boy, if we’re having an adverse reaction to this, it’s worth reconsidering.”

It sounds like a number of designers are willing to offer their skills as a public service. That includes Gardner, who in addition to having an ad agency has LogoLounge , an international resource for logo designers.

“If it came down to looking at that thing for years to come or doing one for free, then I would gladly do one for free.”

You don’t say

“I’ve been there. I sit on the City Council.”

–City Council member Jeff Longwell, joking with the Grim Reaper Saturday night at the Boo and Brew Bash on taking a trip to Hell

Restore funding for journalism

The advisory board for the Wichita State University Elliott School of Communication takes issue with the Kansas State Department of Education’s recent decision to cut off funding to high school journalism and yearbook courses, and its reasoning that these programs don’t lead to high-demand careers.

Our board serves as a case in point. Our members represent a broad range of communication professions: publishers, editors, general managers, corporate vice presidents, managing partners, directors of public affairs, program officers and public information officers. We work in newspapers large and small, TV, radio, government, corporate America and advertising agencies.

Many of us trained as journalists. And we all view ethics-based, high-quality journalism as vital to our community, state, nation and world. Is journalism a profession in transition? Yes, as is manufacturing, education, finance, agriculture, health care, retail and almost anything else you can think of.

Good reporters don’t do our thinking, but they prod us to think. They unearth the unknown. Shine light into dark corners. The Fourth Estate arms us with information crucial for a wise electorate, savvy business dealings and sound investing.

To the Education Department, we say: Restore this crucial funding to our high schools, encouraging our youngest journalists. Now.

DEANNA HARMS
Chairwoman
WSU Elliott School of Communication advisory board

© The Wichita Eagle, 2010