Building a Strong Brand Starts Inside Your Organization

A company name or brand is short hand for all the emotions, expectations and experiences any given individual associates with that image or name.  While everyone knows to market their brand outside their organizations, many overlook the opportunity to market their brand inside their organizations. Your employees are a critical constituency of our business. The stronger you build your brand internally, the more committed, engaged, and productive employees are likely to be.  It feels good to be on the same team as those around you. Additionally, employees with clarity about your brand and mission are more empowered to help you build your business.

So how do you bring your branding inside?  A good place to start is by making your physical work place unique to your brand and company.  Jason Hanleybrown, CEO of Fast Water Heater based in Bothell, WA embraced this idea and made some dramatic changes to Fast Water Heater’s offices.  "We wanted to accomplish two things with our new wall murals – first have a large visual reminder about our core values that our employees see every day.  We now have interesting graphics that communicate our Mission and Values at our primary entry ways.  Second, one of our Values is “Enjoyment” – we wanted to create a positive and enjoyable work experience for our team members."  Mr. Hanelybrown worked with Bellevue-based, RainMaker Signs to design and install new custom wall murals and graphics in the lobby, conference room, and other rooms throughout Fast Water Heater’s headquarters.

When asked about building organizational culture and attracting top talent Cameron Herold, author of Double Double is quick to bring up wall murals and graphics.   “Let your walls talk.  Your office space is one of the ‘decoys’ that will either attract or repel the ‘ducks’ you want to hire.  Use your space like a magnet.  The blank walls are canvas’ waiting to attract A Level employees to your company.”

In competition for top talent, tech companies know branding and work environment go hand in hand. Google understands the power of attracting and rewarding talent with amazing work space.  Google recently hired RainMaker Signs to design, fabricate and install wall graphics in their Kirkland offices along with adding wall lettering for some meeting rooms named after obscure Crayola crayon colors (produced in exactly those colors no less!)  Rover.com, a new tech company matching dog owners to the right dog sitters, is planning to install a 50’ mission statement mural in their new Seattle offices.

Deborah Scott, co-owner and Chief Marketing Officer at RainMaker Signs, understands the power of effective branding. Ms. Scott co-founded RainMaker Signs with Michael McGinn after a career of managing some of the largest brands in the world. For nearly a decade Scott managed top national brands at General Mills, including the flagship Cheerios brand. Ms. Scott went on to lead global brand marketing for Amazon.com and was responsible for the Amazon.com logo still in use today.

“We started RainMaker Signs because we believe great visual communications make great things happen.” Visual communications, be it wall graphics, vehicle wraps, displays or other types of signage, bring energy, personality, and key messaging to light in a very public way. When used internally it builds pride, affinity, and productivity. “We love helping our clients with marketing inside and outside their organizations. Both are important. We are proud to be a part of such positive projects and have an outstanding team to deliver great results.”

11 Questions with Justin Ford of Noble Food Group

1. What is your business background?
• I was a business consultant for Domino’s Pizza in the Northwest for 3 ½ years before taking a position with the International division. I moved to Amsterdam and spent 4 years assisting the master franchisees of several countries on developing their business.

2. How did you get started with Domino’s?
• I started in 2002 after several years in the restaurant business, in other brands. I saw delivery as the future of the restaurant business and no one does it better than Domino’s Pizza.

3. What was your first Domino’s store and how did you acquire it?
• My partners and I first acquired 5 stores in the Salem, Oregon area in May of 2011. By October of that year, we expanded to the Seattle area and grew to 17 stores. Since that time, we have had the opportunity to both build new stores and acquire others to reach our current store count of 38 locations. They weren’t all easy to do, particularly growing as fast as we did but it has been worth it!

4. Your partnership group now owns nearly 38 different Domino’s franchises. What are the future plans for your ownership group?
• My partners and I became Domino’s franchisees with the goal of reaching a count of 150 stores. This remains our goal and we intend to do so over the next couple of years. This presents fantastic growth opportunities for our team, and it is personally important to me to be an “employer of choice”. Without great people we will never realize our dreams. In order to achieve this we must always strive to be better than we currently are.

5. How did you form this ownership group?
• Our group has 4 partners. The founding members of our group, myself included, first worked together on building up the Domino’s Pizza business in Switzerland. After expressing my intentions to come back to the Northwest and franchise, we decided to partner so that we could achieve something big and fantastic together.

6. You spent a lot of time overseas working for Domino’s. What was the biggest lesson you learned from working outside the US?
• Wow, good question and it’s a difficult one to answer. I suppose the largest lesson for me was to understand how other countries view us as both a collective nation and as individual Americans, both good and bad. Ultimately, I came away with a much greater appreciation for our country and I try not to lose sight of how much better I can be. I feel like I have a much better understanding of the world at large, though there many places in the world I’ve not been to and would like go.

7. Who do you see as your biggest competition? Why?
• Honestly? Ourselves. If we do everything right, execute to our own high standards, innovate, take good care of our employees, customers and re-invest into our business, it won’t matter what our competitors do. If we are successful at always doing these things, we will dominate.

8. If one of your delivery drivers came to you and expressed an interest in owning a Domino’s franchise, what advice would you give them?
• I openly encourage all my employees to consider franchising if it is something they are interested in. The Domino’s Pizza economic model is one of the most advantageous for a new business owner to get started in. My advice to them is to save their money and have a solid business plan to own more than one.

9. What is the best piece of advice that anyone ever gave you?
• Be true to yourself and ignore the naysayers.

10. What is your favorite part of owning Domino’s franchises?
• Building a team of good people and watching them become great…and working to exceed our customers’ expectations. Our pizzas taste better than ever and we are able to interact with our customers more than ever, too, thanks to the new, open “pizza theater” style of our restaurants. It removed the barriers and puts us in a position to give best customer service.

11. You are well known for holding fundraisers for local community groups and causes. What is your personal philosophy about ‘giving back’ and what do you find so rewarding about it?
• We never say no when our community comes asking for pizzas or support. We enjoy being a part of the communities in which we have restaurants. I strongly believe in giving back.

Edelman Appoints New Digital Group Director for the Pacific Northwest

Edelman has named Gina Avila the senior vice president and group director for digital in the Pacific Northwest. In her new role, Avila will partner with leadership in Seattle and Portland to drive digital strategy for clients and lead a staff of digital specialists across the region. Avila will report to Will Ludlam, general manager of Edelman Seattle, and be based out of Edelman’s Seattle office.

Avila brings nearly 20 years of integrated marketing experience to the role. Most recently, she was the senior vice president of internet and mobile marketing for Citi. There, she drove adoption of Citi’s digital and mobile platforms such as the Citi Mobile Snapshot, the first mobile application to allow customers to view deposit and credit card balances and recent transactions without having to log into their accounts. She also oversaw channel marketing strategy and execution across digital, email, television, print and in-branch merchandising.

“Gina's ability to create and amplify authentic stories across multiple channels will no doubt strengthen our digital capabilities in the Pacific Northwest,” said Will Ludlam, general manager of Edelman’s Seattle office. "She also brings a wealth of consumer, technology, financial and corporate experience that will greatly enhance our ability to provide social marketing counsel to clients in those spaces.”

Prior to Citi, Avila was the vice president of business development services at IMG, where she built brand marketing opportunities and sponsorships for IMG College, which offers exclusive marketing rights to nearly 90 universities and conferences in the US. She was also a management director and vice president at Saatchi & Saatchi, leading brand identity projects and integrated marketing campaigns for Pay by Touch and New York State Tourism, among others. Avila also managed integrated marketing for American Express OPEN Small business products while a management supervisor and partner at Ogilvy in New York.

“It’s a great time to be in the Pacific Northwest, which is home to some of the world’s greatest brands, innovative start-ups and emerging technologies,” said Avila. “I’m excited to combine more than 20 years of integrated marketing experience with Edelman’s industry-leading reputation in the digital marketing space to help drive client innovation."

Next stage of Bellevue's 120th Avenue Project Begins Monday September 15th

Contractors will begin making improvements to 120th Avenue Northeast between Northeast Seventh and 12th streets on Monday, September 15. The city is widening the street to five lanes and adding bike lanes and sidewalks as part of a project to improve mobility and accommodate growth in the corridor.

This is the second stage of the 120th Avenue Northeast corridor project. The first stage, from the 300 block (just south of Northeast Fourth Street) to just south of Northeast Eighth Street, is in its final weeks of construction.

Drivers should expect intermittent lane closures, but two-way traffic and pedestrian access will be maintained during construction. Access to local businesses will be maintained through the duration of Stage II, tentatively scheduled for completion in late 2016.

Stage II will widen the existing roadway of 120th Avenue Northeast between Northeast Seventh and Northeast 12th streets to five lanes, with a center-turn lane where necessary. It will include bike lanes and sidewalk on both sides of the road, landscaping, street lighting, a new traffic signal at the intersection of 120th Avenue Northeast and Lake Bellevue Drive/Old Bel-Red Road and modification of the two existing traffic signals at Northeast Eighth Street and Northeast 12th streets. Additionally, the project will stabilize soft soils between Lake Bellevue Drive and Northeast 12th Street, construct a joint utility trench and provide new sewer and water systems throughout the corridor.

Work on this project will be phased into three work zones. The first work zone will take place from Northeast Seventh Street to Old Bel-Red Road. Work zones two and three will occur from Old Bel-Red Road to Northeast 12th Street, east side and west side, respectively. Private utility work will occur separately.

Work in work zone one is estimated to take about six months to complete, and will include activities such as underground utility work, widening on 120th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Eighth Street, construction of a retaining wall and sidewalks, curb and gutter installation. Much of the work in this zone will be concentrated at the intersection of the Northeast Eighth Street and 120th Avenue.

Standard work hours will be Monday through Friday, with daytime hours between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. and night hours between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Because Northeast Eighth carries a high volume of traffic during the day, a majority of the intersection work will take place at night. We will keep the public informed of construction activity and impacts during this two-year project. Watch for electronic message boards with pertinent construction and impact information. Obey flaggers and use caution when traveling through the work zone.

Western Washington housing market stability continues with modest gains in sales, prices

“Stability” seemed to characterize the direction of Western Washington’s housing market during August, according to new figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Both the volume of sales and prices rose slightly from a year ago, although both indicators slipped somewhat from July. MLS members also reported a modest year-over-year increase in inventory, but the number of new listings added to the selection during August was the smallest since April.

“What we are seeing now with the market is a moderated growth in appreciation, a normalizing of sales volume, and continued health overall,” declared MLS director George Moorhead, the owner and designated broker at Bentley Properties in Bothell. “It is not a call for alarm,” Moorhead emphasized, describing it as “just a balancing and adjusting of a healthy market.”

MLS members reported 9,342 pending sales across the 21 counties served by the Kirkland-based organization. That marks a 3.1 percent gain over the year-ago total of 9,065 mutually accepted offers. Eleven counties reported increases in pending sales during August compared to the same month a year ago.

Commenting on inventory, MLS board member Dick Beeson said the pace of activity in the South Sound has slowed, “and that means buyers have to keep a keen eye out for good bargains in areas they have been scouting.” Beeson, a principal managing broker at RE/MAX Professionals in Tacoma who oversees offices in four counties, said sellers are more in the driver’s seat than they were earlier in the year. “It’s not a mad-rush sellers’ market,” he reported, but added, “buyers are realizing they must act in a timely manner to compete.”

At month-end buyers could choose from 27,060 active listings – about 2.4 percent more than the inventory of a year ago when there were 26,433 properties in the MLS system. The total at the end of August included 10,054 new listings that were added during the month, down slightly from the year-ago figure of 10,172. Last month’s total number of new listings was the smallest total since April.

System-wide, there is just under 3.5 months of supply, but that average varies widely among the counties served by Northwest MLS. King County, with only about two months of supply, has the tightest inventory. Four-to-six months of supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

Through eight months, MLS figures show the number of closed sales is outpacing the same period a year ago by a slim margin (115 units). MLS members reported 7,775 closed sales during August, slightly below the year-ago total of 7,841 (down 0.84 percent) and the previous month’s total of 7,878 completed transactions.

Year-over-year prices for single family homes and condominiums that sold last month rose about 1.6 percent compared to a year ago, increasing from $283,000 to $287,500. Despite the system-wide increase, five counties reported declines in median prices for sales that closed in August compared to 12 months ago (Grant, Jefferson, Kitsap, Okanogan, and Pacific). Seven counties had double-digit increases.

In King County, the median selling price was $398,000 for a 1.4 percent gain from the year-ago figure of $392,500. According to MLS statistics, the sales price in August matched the figure for May, but slipped from the figures for June ($410,000) and July ($425,000).

Single family homes (excluding condos) had a median selling price of $299,950 area-wide, up 2 percent from a year ago when it was $294,000.

In King County, the median sales price for single family homes that sold during August was $437,000; a year ago it was $430,000.

“The current trend for strong pending activities and solid closed transaction numbers should keep the confidence level steady,” remarked Darin Stenvers, chairman of the board of directors at Northwest MLS. “Buoyed by low mortgage rates, buyers should remain optimistic about their new home purchases late into 2014,” he added.

Stenvers, the branch manager at John L. Scott in Bellingham, expects the balance of 2014 will remain at a slow and steady pace of appreciation, which should help distressed sellers. “Sellers should reevaluate the market as they may be surprised at the current values,” he suggests.

The recovering market is also boosting activity for home improvement contractors and subcontractors, Stenvers noted. “Sellers are able to afford to improve their homes prior to marketing them, or buyers are undertaking reasonable remodels shortly after closing,” he reported.

Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member real estate firms, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Its membership includes more than 21,000 real estate brokers. The organization, based in Kirkland, Wash., currently serves 21 counties in Washington state.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Bellevue Receives Grant for Education Center

The C. Keith Birkenfeld Memorial Trust, managed by The Seattle Foundation, has pledged $500,000 to support the construction of the planned new downtown Club.

“We are thrilled to receive this generous grant”, said Kathy Haggart, President & CEO for Boys & Girls Clubs of Bellevue. “We know Mr. Birkenfeld was a teacher in Bellevue and involved in numerous civic efforts for more than 20 years. What a fantastic legacy to leave.”

Mr. Birkenfeld, a member of a Kitsap County pioneer family, passed away in 2005, leaving his substantial estate to be distributed through grants made annually to deserving non-profit organizations for the purpose of building a lasting impact on the communities they serve. His intent was to inspire others to give through his generosity. The Trust is designed to make grants annually, expending all funds within a twenty-year period. 2014 marks the ninth year of funding with a total of $8.1 million in grants made to date.

Specifically, the grant will be used to fund the Education Center in the new Club. It will be named the C. Keith Birkenfeld Learning Center, in recognition of this gift.

About Boys and Girls Clubs of Bellevue
Boys & Girls Clubs of Bellevue was established in 1952. Currently the organization has 12 sites throughout the City of Bellevue and serves children 2 ½ - 19 years of age. Club programs include the Project Learn after-school program, structured recreation leagues, preschool, and teen specific programming. For the past 62 years, the Club has provided the young people in our community with something they need and want most - a safe environment where adults respect and listen to them, and where they can have fun! Our mission follows that of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.

NFL Tackles a Tough Issue: Domestic Violence

In a bold move, Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the National Football League, informed team owners that the NFL will increase its penalties for player’s involved in domestic violence cases.
“We need respected leaders and coaches to be role models,” states Barbara Langdon, LifeWire Executive Director. “Millions of viewers watch NFL Games every season. We applaud Roger Goodell for taking this opportunity to lead with tougher sanctions, hold players accountable and send a powerful message to the nation that domestic violence and sexual assault will not be tolerated. Domestic violence devastates the lives of too many women, men, youth and children. By enforcing these penalties the NFL can make a profound difference by being a role model in the fight to end domestic violence.”
The league’s policy concerning domestic violence could be a game-changing hit to San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Ray McDonald who was arrested early Sunday morning on felony domestic violence charges, according to the San Jose Police Department. McDonald, Height 6-3 Weight 290, was taken into custody after officers responded to reports of a violent altercation. The alleged victim, with visible injuries, is pregnant.
LifeWire’s mission is to end domestic violence. Regardless of your socio-economic status; race or background, domestic violence goes across all barriers. One in every four women and one in every seven men have experienced severe physical violence by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.* If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, call LifeWire’s 24- Hour Helpline at 425-746-1940 or 1-800-827-8840. To learn more about domestic violence, visit LifeWire at www.lifewire.org
Prevention is key. “With the support of the Verizon Foundation, LifeWire is implementing the Coaching Boys into Men Program in local schools and the community,” explains Ward Urion, LifeWire Social Change Manager. “In this innovative program we work with coaches and athletic directors to deliver a powerful message about healthy relationships while working to change cultural norms that support domestic violence.”
“We are working to end domestic violence in our community. If you are in a position of power to send a message to end violence in our nation, be a leader and speak up,” states Urion. “The NFL has an exceptional opportunity to be a role model and effect social change at the national level.”
In a KNBR radio interview, 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh reiterated his zero-tolerance policy for domestic violence. “If someone physically abuses a woman and/or physically or mentally abuses or hurts a child, then there's no understanding," he said, "there's no tolerance for that.”
LifeWire is the largest provider of comprehensive domestic violence services and confidential shelter in Washington State, and is a nationally recognized leader in the field. Since 1982, LifeWire has been a lifeline for more than 124,000 victims and their children, offering safety, shelter, support, education and prevention services. LifeWire assists people with meeting their needs for safety, critical human services, advocacy, shelter, homelessness prevention and housing stability helping them become self-sufficient.