Sonia recently took Rick Steves up on his offer to see Spain through the backdoor. And she wants to give you a peek, too. Join her and husband / sculptor Chris Brunner as they (and 20+ travel enthusiasts) explore the rich cultures of Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, San Sebastian and Bilbao. Check out her 8 minute video for everything from Picasso’s monumental Guernica (1937) to Gaudi’s still-in-construction Sagrada Familia (1883). Sonia’s only lament: she failed to capture her favorite experience – sitting frontline to a fiery, pounding flamenco performance. Ask and she might show you some steps

Rick Steves’ Travel Mantra
"The more money you spend, the bigger the wall you build between yourself and the culture you traveled so far to visit,” says veteran travel guide Rick Steves. “Stay in the small inns, eat in family-style restaurants, visit out-of-the-way places, rub elbows with the locals.” He encourages travelers to walk whenever possible, to smile as they heft their luggage up those three flights of stairs and to be unfailingly polite. Sounds like a good way to approach daily life, too.

Outdoor Works

Kansas Spay & Neuter phones had stopped ringing. For the first time in a year there was no backlog. They called us needing to get the word out that they had openings. We turned to our friends at Clear Channel and within a few days had creative developed and multiple high-traffic, digital billboards in place. And guess what? Immediately the phone started ringing again with pet owners scheduling low-cost spay-neuter services for their pets.

The more you love cuddly little puppies and kittens, the fewer you hope to see born. We’ve happily donated branding and materials for Spay-Neuter Kansas to help lower the stomach-churning number of unwanted pets that get euthanized. When Clear Channel Outdoor joined the cause, we practically howled with joy.

View the billboard

The World Trains
With FlightSafety

You see “world-class” and “worldwide” bandied about a lot – but they’re more than words to FlightSafety International. Its Director of Communications, Steve Phillips, got to wondering – how many of the world’s countries send aviation professionals to train at FlightSafety’s 40 Learning Centers? A little research provided the staggering answer: 154. That’s nearly 90 percent of the world. The company leveraged the point at the last NBAA convention with booth graphics, advertising, print and interactive media all sporting this powerful message. You can still see our instantly communicative visual – a spinning, flag-flaunting 3-D globe – on FlightSafety’s website.

Digital Straight Man

Interactive developer Todd Gimlin’s deadpan serious about digital media. But he keeps colleagues laughing whether he’s promoting its external brand-building capabilities or providing internal operational support.

He extols team members to see him about the latest gizmo so he can provide a “quick run through of everything I don’t want you touching.” Cajoles those of us with iPhones to give feedback on a newly launched mobile site because we are “much more special than everyone else in the office.” And warns us about phish email designed to look like it’s coming from the government: “The real IRS will never ask you in an email to go to a website to fill in information. They already have your home computers bugged, which provides them all the information they need.”

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What started out as a holiday campaign has grown into a movement. People tweeting about Do the Deed across the country – and overseas. Colleges using it as class projects. Girl Scouts handing out deed cards. Church groups springing to action. Malls letting us stencil Do the Deed at their entryways. Businesses encouraging employees to get involved.

Numbers Tell the Story
In our launch month, The Wichita Eagle ran more than 600 total column inches of print ads (including several full-page color). Online ads (including Flash animation and pre-roll video) delivered half-a-million impressions and almost 1,000 clickthroughs. KAKE TV, KWCH TV and KNSS radio supported The Eagle’s coverage, while Fast Company extended our national reach. Digital billboards ran in Wichita, Hutchinson and Pratt while FOX TV aired 20-second PSAs. Individuals (and organizations) have been talking up Do the Deed on Facebook, Twitter and blogs. More than 20 local businesses and organizations let us stencil Do the Deed on their sidewalks and strategically plant yard signs.

We hope you’ll take note of the partners who’ve made Do The Deed fly. They’ve donated their talents and time – and an abundance of ad space (print, online, outdoor), production, materials and labor.

We’re filled with gratitude for all who have embraced the simple idea that small acts of kindness spread and grow. Hope you’ll check out some of the amazing stories and deeds logged onto our website. And that you’ll then ask yourself, “What will my deed be?

Check out the campaign

Direct Via Digital

You like to read your pubs front to back? Cover to cover? Or just jump around to items of special interest? With Flexjet Direct, we let readers navigate the online newsletter just as they would a print publication. Individually.

Contents - Go directly to the story you want by clicking on the drop-down.

Page Through - View the newsletter in the same order as the printed version

Issue Highlights - Access highlighted, rotating stories from the homepage.

Resources- Click on embedded links to websites associated with each story.

Share - Forward to a friend, request information, link to Facebook and more.

Connect - Follow up with a quick click to Flexjet.com.

All in the Family

Waters’ Kansas-owned chain of True Value stores – the nation’s largest – needed rebranding. A look and messaging that differentiate them from the big-box stores and locally owned competition. Research and a roll-up-the-sleeves workshop led us to the solution – Waters Words to the Wise.

By playing up the company’s rich, five-generation history, we emphasize that this is no Johnny-come-lately. These guys know their stuff. They’ve been there, done that. And if you want to build that new deck right or paint your living room with ease, you’d be smart to tap into Waters’ knowledge.

Familiar sayings supported by comedic punchlines highlight different products or services. These “insights” read as if they’ve been passed down through the generations.

With the launch of their new website, customers can submit their own words of wisdom garnered through lessons learned on previous projects. Check it out yourself. What you learn could make that next do-it-yourself project a snap.

The Shape of Things to Come

If you’ve flown through Mid Continent Airport recently, you’ve seen major construction changes underway. Here’s something to further whet your appetite for a gleaming new, HNTB-designed terminal. A number of folks – including Greteman Group – have been working hard to ensure its interior boasts public art of critical renown.

Choosing the Right Partner for the Job
Greteman Group helped spearhead the comprehensive selection process with the Artist Selection Panel, Wichita Airport Authority Board, and City stakeholders. Supported by recommendations from Patricia McDonnell and John D’Angelo, Greteman Group researched and vetted highly qualified, international artists. They narrowed the decision to an initial list of 50 artists presented last summer to the public Artist Selection Panel, then further honed these to 13 contenders. The panel ranked them on qualifications, theme, materials and appropriateness. Oregon-based Ed Carpenter won hands down.

Carpenter’s broken ground in architectural art that involves Dicroic glass tubing, winged-shaped tension structures and interactive programmed light projections. The images shown here of an installation in Houston’s international airport illustrate the possibilities. The art takes you on a voyage of discovery before you ever board your flight. Carpenter will visit Wichita, talk to members of the community, work with the architects and designers to come back with a solution integrated into our airport architecture. We’ll keep you posted.

Check out some more of Ed Carpenter's work

Need a Lift?

Flexjet faced a dilemma. It wanted to extend a helping hand to corporate flight departments with custom tailored resources to get them through tight times. But managers sometimes worry that fractional providers are just angling to take over their flight departments. Flexjet’s campaign, “You Need a Partner, Not a Rival” struck the right tone. Direct mail enticed flight department managers to visit Flexjet’s NBAA static display with a chance to win a four-hour demo flight on a Challenger 300. A handy punch-out card – with a mailing label on one side – made it easy to enter the drawing. Further communicating that Flexjet makes things fly.