Get This

Hard Times Bring Out Our Best

Laurens County's Day of Caring reveals much about the character of the community.

Had such a great phone conversation with my favorite former client Caroline Thomas today. Caroline is Executive Director of the Laurens County (SC) United Way. Formerly head of marketing for Provident Community Bank (back during the pre-Harrison Kohn days), she’s one of the most positive people I know.

We talked about the dynamics of non-profit fundraising during these difficult times. Her United Way is down 5% this year, a tremendous accomplishment, all things considered.

But what got me was Caroline’s take on how people have come together to give freely of their time and talents. The recently held “Day of Caring” had triple the participation this year, as ordinary folks got out to plant, paint, repair and renew areas within the community. “It’s just amazing to see the genuine compassion people have for their community and their neighbors here,” she said.

We agreed that the national media, ever hungry for the most sensational stories, rarely gets to the grassroots to see the true goodness happening around us.

Caroline leaves Laurens County in June to join her husband in North Augusta, where John just accepted the position as Chief of Public Safety. I wish them much happiness.

mh

Le Mot Juste

The art of having something to say.

In The Age of Twitter, the way something is said is of less importance than just banging stuff out every hour, on the hour. Having a point at all appears to be optional.

Why be burdened by making a point when, in 11 minutes, your Tweet is on somebody’s second page.

The painter working on the building behind our Greenville office spent two days creating a perfect white canvas out of a brick wall. Now, for him … for every communicator … comes the hard part: Having something to say. Something interesting. Compelling. Something that will change the way we see ourselves and our world. Something we’ll want to read again and savor.

Gifted writers writing great headlines separate the real communicators from the noisemakers.

Avoiding Noisemakers

If you’re anybody you’re on Twitter.

When I set up my account, I felt a rush to follow and be followed. It was some form of digital self-validation.

The problem becomes following so many people who have nothing to say … but continue to Tweet about how they’re feeling; what song is playing in their head; or who went 0-for-5 last night. You log on for some inspiration or a good laugh and most of what you “see” is noise.

That’s the bad thing about Twitter. The great thing about Twitter is the power to instantly “unfollow” all those noisemakers.

I’d much rather stay connected with eleven turned-on people with whom I share common ground and elimate those that apparently have little to do all day but tell the world why they hate the socks they’re wearing.

Twitter is cool. But so is just listening to the wind on a crisp spring day.

Try unfollowing someone today. It’s liberating.

mh

HK Launches NNPwealth.com

For Greenville-based wealth management group Nachman Norwood & Parrott, we just launched this site.

Our goal was to synthesize their brand message — they aren’t a typical commission-based investment firm; they have set fees and give truly objective advice — and instill each page with a sense of Place and Authenticity. To do so, we developed an illustrated/stylized version of notable downtown locations.

Check it out, and let us know what you think!

Green Branding

Now, more than ever, a company that heralds its green initiatives and environmental differentiators is able to compel its customers to see it in a new, attractive light — often separating that business from its non-green peers.

The value of Green Branding can not be understated. Many businesses, including many of our clients, have had long-held “green” traditions. Maybe you’re already aware of your notable environmental practices, or maybe you’ve never considered their potential value.

Either way, are your environmentally friendly business practices being synthesized into a company message that sets you apart from the fold? We have frontline experience with Green Branding, and we’d be happy to show you some of the projects we’ve worked on. Contact us today to learn more.

Why Time Begins on Opening Day

Now 25 years old, Thomas Boswell’s 1984 book, Why Time Begins on Opening Day, remains a favorite of mine. A lot has changed about baseball, but the fundamentals of the game are still the same.

Savor these words at the end of Boswell’s little gem:

Baseball offers us pleasure and insight at so many levels and in so many forms that, when we try to grasp the whole sport in our two hands, we end up with nothing. The game, because it is no one thing but, rather, dozens of things, has slipped through our fingers again.

As each season begins, we always feel the desire to capsulize and define the source of the sharp anticipation that we feel as opening day approaches. We know that something fine, almost wonderful, is about to begin, but we can’t quite say why baseball seems so valuable, almost indispensable, to us. The game, which remains one of our broadest sources of metaphor, changes with our angle of vision, our mood; there seems to be no end to our succession of lucky discoveries.

And he concludes …

Sure, opening day is baseball’s bandwagon. Pundits and politicians and every prose poet on the continent jumps on board for a few days. But they’re gone soon, off in search of some other windy event worthy of their attention. Then, once more, all those long, slow months of baseball are left to us. And our time can begin again.

As I said, much has changed since 1984. Today we share our Opening Day with the culmination of March Madness (Go Heels). Today, financially strapped newspapers can ill afford to send beat writers on the road to cover their team. Today, the force of brilliant marketing has relegated baseball to second- or even third-place status behind pro and college football. Today, the long shadow of HGHs have killed the game for millions of casual fans.

But in its intricate simplicity … in its meandering walk through spring, summer and into autumn … baseball still captivates me. Though we’re surrounded by stimuli and trillion-dollar deficits and a global economic sink hole, Opening Day assures us that at this “shining moment,” all things are possible.

Play Ball.

HK Launches ChromaScape.com

We’ve been website-crazy recently. This week, we’re proud to launch ChromaScape.com, the home of the innovative company that boasts brands like Amerimulch and Solution Dispersions. For this parent company site, we chose a bright and bold mixture of colors and images that communicated the company’s technological focus.