By Larry Coffman
Rick’s Report: Veteran photographer Rick Dahms is not sitting back waiting for something nice to happen in the challenging new professional-photographer environment (see related story). He’s launched a Spring promotional campaign that began with a photo of athlete and cardiac patient Dave Watkins as the centerpiece.
The photos above were shot at Idylwood Beach Park in Redmond. Said Rick, “It was a cold, foggy morning… the water was frigid, my friends. And there were creatures moving about our legs as we stood on numb feet in cold mud. Our hero, Dave Watkins, stood stoically still, while the ever-fearless Sherry Loeser, with 1200 watts of lighting gear strapped to her back, held the light and I—courageously—pushed the button.
“And it worked!—so well, in fact, that the shot even has been featured in TV news stories about Watkins, the founder of Ironheart Racing, who underwent open-heart surgery to replace an aortic valve in 2005.”
The photo is the first in a series that will be featured in Dahm’s promotional effort and also is part of an ongoing campaign for UW Medicine.
Said Rick, “The digital age has made it so easy to put work out there, and there’s so much good work out there that the big problem is making new connections in the middle of all that beautiful noise. I’m hoping that my little behind-the-scenes ‘show-and-tell’ will lead me to people who are in love with the process of making great pictures….”
Kaiser Konsequences: As a member of Group Health Cooperative (with several incisions to prove it!), I was sad to see yet another mainstay of our local business community get gobbled up by an outside giant—in this case, Kaiser Permanente.
Am sure you’ve seen Kaiser’s new TV ads introducing the change, produced by MullenLowe out of Los Angeles. A casualty of the change was the local agency, DNA, that did award-winning work on the account for a number of years.
The latest accolades for DNA’s Group Health work include a 2015 MARKETING Awards Big M in the TV Campaign category for the spot featuring the fearless young bike rider above and a Best of Show and Judge’s Choice Award in the 2015 Seattle ADDY competition, which went on to win a Silver ADDY nationally….
Rod’s Rewards: Speaking of CMO’s, we’ve been fortunate to have the services of the most decorated one in recent memory in the person of PEMCO’s Rod Brooks. He was a regular in MARKETING for several years with his Client Side column and is sharing his experience once more in the CMOpinions column on Page 6 in this issue.
Rod’s most recent recognition was his induction into the Washington DECA Hall of Fame for his contributions to that organization known for its educational and mentoring work with students.
Earlier this year he was inducted into the Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) Hall of Fame for his efforts in behalf of the organization that he also served as president.
And last year he was named one of the local AMA chapter’s Marketing Legends. He’ll add a fourth honor when he’s inducted into the MARKETING IMMORTALS pantheon at THE EVENT on May 25.
CMO Calll: Melissa and I are looking forward to sharing our plans this Summer for the new annual publication that will debut in January 2018, as the successor to the MARKETING ATLAS.
A key to the success of the proposed publication is the most robust possible list of chief marketing officers who are receiving MARKETING newspaper and active on the marketingnw.com website.
If you haven’t already, please check out the existing list in the CMO Roll Call Special Section on the website. It now numbers nearly 150 and we want to more than double that number by the end of the year.
Please email your additions to the list to larry coffman@frontier.com—as well as any needed updates to the current list you may be aware of…