Ant Hill Marketing

The annual InnoTech conference was held yesterday at the Oregon Convention Center and it appeared to be a very successful year. The overall attendance looked strong, the speaking session line-up was interesting, and the energy was positive. A few members of the Ant Hill team went to take in the speaking sessions, including some from the eMarketing Summit, and we all walked out with a list of things to do, so we must have learned something.

As I took in the experience, I tried to note a few things that jumped out at me about the conference.  Here is my top 10 list:

1. Best Speaker: Eric Dishman, Intel Architecture Group. Eric is clearly a smart guy and he has a knack for taking his vast knowledge about health innovation, synthesizing it down to a few key points, and expressing it in a way the audience can understand. I could listen to the guy all day.
2. B2B Anyone? It struck me that InnoTech is a business-to-business conference, but that most of the eMarketing Summit speakers talked only about consumer mobile and social marketing strategies. B2B companies have a lot to learn from consumer examples, for sure, but it would be nice to hear more of a B2B perspective at a B2B conference.
3. Separate Lives. Thanks to Kelly Feller, Intel’s social media guru, I now feel comfortable with my decision to keep my business and personal life separate when it comes to Facebook.  If it’s good enough for her…
4. Virtual Insanity. I felt sorry for all the exhibitors located next to the ASG Game Truck. I would have had one of those virtual guns pointed at my virtual head if I had to listen to that racket all day. I suspect most of the post-show beer was drunk in that part of the hall.
5. PowerPoint Skills. PowerPoint was introduced in the 1980s, so you’d think users would have it mastered.  Nope. Type-heavy slides, small fonts, and bad artwork are still the norm.
6. Portland Foodies Unite! Cooking Light magazine has a huge spread about the Portland food scene this month, yet our convention center serves up a paltry set of options to our visitors. What do you say work a deal with the food cart vendors to give attendees some quick, easy and tasty options right outside the front doors. Fuego burrito anyone?
7. Buzzword Bingo. Most speakers were pretty good at explaining their ideas in a way the audience could understand and without a heavy dose of selling, but a few just couldn’t help themselves.
8. Good Vibe. It has been a couple years since I’ve been to InnoTech, but the attendance and energy was good. There is clearly some optimism about the future.
9. Parking Deal. Did you know it only costs $9 to park all day in the convention center lot? I didn’t.  I paid $12 to plug my meter. Lesson learned.
10. I’ll Be Back. Sign me up for next year.

Ant Hill is thrilled for our pro-bono client, Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center who recently received a $12 million federal grant to fund construction of a new Cornelius Wellness Center. The center will replace the aging Cornelius clinic and will allow Virginia Garcia to provide greater healthcare access to uninsured community members is Washington and Yamhill counties.

We started working with Virginia Garcia about 3 years ago to articulate their brand in order to further their mission in the community. If you aren’t quite familiar with the organization, Virginia Garcia provides high-quality, integrated healthcare for thousands of Oregonians who don’t otherwise have access to care. And in this economy non- profit healthcare centers like Virginia Garcia are feeling the strains of an increased number of patients coupled with a reduction in federal and state funding.

This is a huge success for the organization and we send a big congrats to the Virginia Garcia and the VG Foundation team who have worked so hard to make this new facility a reality for thousands of low income families in Oregon.

The Hood to Coast Relay is reputed to be one of the premier running events of its kind in the country. Twelve thousand runners come from nearly every corner of the U.S. and many countries around the world.  They pile in two thousand large vehicles and set out on a quest to cover 197 miles as fast as their bodies will let them.  And, to a person, they will call it one of the most fun things they have done in their lives.

I’ve run the race more than a dozen years myself and can easily say it is one of the highlights of my year. And I have always thought very highly of the management and organization of the event.  It is truly a feat to pull this off.  But the staff does not do it alone. Each team is required to provide three volunteers to man the 36 exchange points along the course at all hours of the day and night. It takes a lot of dedication for a person to get up at 2:00 a.m., drive to the middle of the Coast Range, and direct hundreds of vans and thousands of people who are sleep deprived and reaching their limits.  And for their efforts, each volunteer gets a t-shirt that just lets people know “I helped pull off one of the greatest running events around”.

The 2009 Hood To Coast volunteer t-shirt

That’s why I was more than a little disappointed in organization’s response to an obvious mistake on the volunteer t-shirts printed for this year’s event.  As reported in The Oregonian, the bright orange t-shirt proudly declares the person wearing it is a “Race Offical” rather than “Official”. It’s an honest, if not unbelievable, mistake. And our whole running team got a chuckle out of passing around the news.  But, at our final race preparation meeting last night, all we could talk about was the dismissive response of Robert Foote, Hood to Coast Relay president, who shrugged off the mistake and said it “is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.”  What does that say about the Hood-to-Coast brand?  And how must the sponsors whose logos appear under the mispelled word feel?

I can understand and sympathize with the complexity of running an event like this.  It is a huge undertaking and, yes, a t-shirt misprint must seem like a small gaffe.  But, the dismissive public comment and failure to correct the mistake indicate leadership that fails to recognize the difficulty teams have in providing volunteers and the sacrifice those people make to help pull this event off. It also sends a message to event sponsors that the organization might not be as professional as it appears.

The only possible rationale for the decision I can think of is that it was too late to reprint the shirts once the mistake was discovered or the staff felt that the extra cost would take away from the donations that will be made to the American Cancer Society, the beneficiary of the event.  If either of those is the case, just say that rather than trying to dismiss the mistake as insignificant.

It is a lesson for all organizations (and people) that make mistakes, because we all do.  Own up to it.  Correct it. And stay true to your brand. Certainly the main event sponsor, Nike, understands this. And I hope the Hood To Coast staff has spent the last few days figuring out how they can quickly reprint the t-shirts for the 3,000+ volunteers who will be setting their alarm clocks, grabbing a coffee, and heading out to a place they’ve never heard of — all in the name of fun.

Photo courtesy of www.portlandground.com

I love Portland. We’re not the city that never sleeps. We’re not the windy city. And, we’re not filled with tinsel, bleached hair and botox. But, we are overshadowed by other cities, especially when it comes to creative – and that’s a shame (or a sham depending on how you look at it). Creativity thrives here in our fair City of Roses (regardless of what Fast Company thinks). And with more than 1,500 companies, large and small, in the creative services industry, we contribute a fair share of professional services business revenue and jobs. Yet for some reason, we’re afraid to toot the horn let alone blow a low whistle (a little music once in a while is okay people). Maybe we think we’re great but need proof. Or we’re overly modest. Either way, consider this:

1. Creative services industry employs roughly 15,000 people in Portland
2. We have 344 designers per 100K residents – more than LA and Austin (according to Bureau of Labor Stats ’08 in Greater Portland Prosperity 2009)
3. The creative vitality here (based on the National Creative Vitality Index - yes there is such a thing) is more than twice the national baseline
4. Portland is among one of the most innovative cities, ranked 6 by Forbes for most patents, and 6th for both entrepreneurship and small business (Creative Capacity Project)
5. Creative industries generate nearly $2 billion and a payroll of nearly $1 billion annually (that’s no chump change) (Creative Capacity Project)
6. More than half of Oregon’s creative firms are concentrated in Portland (Creative Capacity Project)

Portland is a great place to be – to live and work. But we know that already. Even though we’re pushing through a rough spot and our state has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, we don’t have the brain drain other cities are facing. In fact, we’ve got some brain gain going on. More people are moving here from out-of-state than to our western compatriots (that’d be Seattle, Albuquerque, Austin, San Diego, Denver, San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacremento). The region is a magnet for all kinds of talented professionals – a chunk of them in the the creative industry and they’d rather be here than someplace else. Some get the entrepreneurial bug. It’s quite catchy here. Some freelance for local agencies or work directly with clients and supplement with other jobs. Baristas or bartenders are common, but more often they are artists, writers and musicians. Perhaps this is why Forbes dubbed Portland one of the best metro areas in which to ride out the recession. The great coffee, local microbrews, top notch wineries, and growing spirit distillers are definitely a bonus. And innovation abounds (the coffee, beer, wine, and spirits help) with the booming food scene, developing clean/green tech industry, the variety of arts and yes, our creative services industry. There’s no doubt the quality of life here is a big pull for newbies and the anchor for those of us here.  But to keep all this quiet, to simply sit idle hoping the great creative work gets noticed, isn’t the best strategy to help grow an industry sector. We all want good clients whether they reside here locally or in other regions – and other regions are touting their creative (some quite loudly).

So, what makes Portland such a great creative place? I posed this question (on Twitter) to fellow Portlanders and here’s a short list of what they said:

Portland is a great creative city because there are no rules. @DanFellini

Because Portlanders are real people. The lack of restriction and openness promotes a more creative and less stifled spirit. @massagepdx

It’s not that I don’t play well with others; I just want to choose where, when and with whom I play. [It's the] PDX attitude. @LogoMotives

Despite local chagrin, the influx of creatives from all over the country converging here brings broad perspective. @Metroknow

I have mixed feelings about it as a creative city. It’s like a college graduate: full of potential. Now it needs to find its way. @swestbrook

PDXers are curious and not too self-obsessed. Our lives are generally balanced and we leave room for non-work projects. We’re generally tolerant and open to new ideas=innovation. We’re risk takers and revel in a good fail-as-learning experience. @thisKat

Portland creativity=cuz we have twice the creative fuel with half the financial pressure. @vizeboogie

Because in PDX, there is life other than work, and that drives us to be more creative and inspired. @KevMurphy

We are passionate about living. We are free spirits. We celebrate…our ability to listen to ideas that we might not hold dear to ourselves. We live our lives out loud. @dtboyd

It’s this last point, living out loud, that strikes home.  Portland should take pride in our creative abilities and capabilities and not be afraid to shout them to the world.

Saturday was what I would call a Win-Win-Win day. From 8:00 a.m. to midnight, Siobhan and I were at the Art Institute of Portland for their annual web raising event. For those of you who don’t know what the web raising event is — it is basically a barn raising for websites.  Each year, AI schools around the country select a local non-profit organization, gathers a team of volunteer students, and develops a website in a day.

This was the first time an agency has been involved and it elevated the event to a new level, allowing students to see the brand we developed for the client and what they have to work with for the site development. Ant Hill guided AI students to build a website for our client Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Centers.

The day was long. I’m talking really long. But it was a really exciting day. The students worked so hard and developed an amazing site that will help Virginia Garcia communicate their core mission and brand. At midnight, the site was about 95 percent completed but wasn’t quite ready to go live, so we will be picking the development back up next Saturday to finish the site.

If you want to see a play-by-play of the event, just check out the twitter stream.

Here are a few photos from the day.

The schedule. (Crazy)

Morning food spread.

Teamwork in action.

Reviewing first set of designs.

Shiv chowing down on some Webraising food.

We look forward to seeing the final results next weekend!

-Erin