Czarnowski Adds Branding Extension in a Permanent Way

In recent years, St. Jude Medical has undergone an inspiring brand renewal, taking their new look and feel to the show floor and threading it throughout their marketing and promotional initiatives.

The next logical phase of their brand extension required integration of their messaging and mantra into the hallways and offices of their corporate headquarters in St. Paul Minnesota. Who better to take on the project than Czarnowski?!

Having a deep understanding of the brand, the audience and the desired experience, our team delivered an inspirational and exceptional environment. Highlights follow:

Client: St. Jude Medical Project: Corporate Headquarters – Permanent Installation (August 2009)

Czar Services Provided: Design, CAD, Acct/Program Management, Fabrication, Graphics, Transportation/Logistics, Install & Dismantle

Objectives:

Update St. Jude’s corporate headquarters in keeping with their overall brand direction while meeting the needs of three distinct audiences: employees, customers and shareholders. The desired reaction should reinforce the type of company St. Jude is and its culture. The branding elements should convey the essence of St. Jude as a leader in the industry without being obvious or self important. The environment should extend the brand promise from the heart of the employees to the heart of their customers which ultimately land in the hearts of their patients. The experience should reveal a deep understanding of their customers’ need for controlling and containing risk in the moments that matter most, those where a single moment during a procedure can make all the difference. Fostering a diverse and loyal community of brand stewards is the ultimate goal.

Strategy:

Give extensive consideration to and deploy deep due diligence toward each audience that works in and passes through the environment. Identify and understand what motivates each audience while they move through the space; determine the desired reaction to the experience; and design and incorporate elements that respond to both emotional connections. The following profiles drove the solution and results:

- Employees are motivated by the culture and they want to enjoy going to work in a pleasand and supportive environment; they want to make a difference in the world around them; and they want to be reassured that St. Jude’s is doing well as a company.

- Customers are motivated by relationships and need to trust the company and its products; they need assurance that they will have more control and less risk during medical procedures; and they need to know that their patients will be the ultimate benefactors of the partnership.

- Shareholders are motivated by results and expect stability and vision; they require that the company is socially responsible and environmentally aware; and the need to know that it is a good place for employees to work.

Solution:

The lobby was designed to elicit a shared cultural and brand experience for both visitors and employees while connecting visually and emotionally to the other spaces in the building. The lobby’s centerpiece an exquisite piece of interactive art that tells the stories of patients, customers and employees. These stories are told with passion, intensity and honesty; they come together as the face of St. Jude’s brand. Elsewhere, the elevator lobbies carry the brand thread and emotional connection via a high-level introduction of the specific floor specialty. The peer-to-peer areas offer motivation and foster collaboration based on the specifics of the teams. The hallways and corridors drive emotional connections with St. Jude’s brand by showing how the company and its people are making a difference every day. Various technologies, materials, textures, etc. were used to create an experience that is singularly powerful.

Results:

An environment that achieves the desired spectrum of emotions and inspiration: intensity, control, precision, innovation, intuition, focus, quality, experience, consistency, respect, passion, simplicity and humanity. In addition, the project was delivered on time and on budget.

Revolutionary Thinking at Czarnowski San Francisco

Recently, Czarnowski had more than 130 clients, prospects and industry friends converged on our Northern California office to experience "what2009" a series in client interaction and technologies. This year's event was proclaimed as "A Day of Revolutionary Thinking".

The full-day event included a roster of superb speakers; an interactive showcase of emergent technologies; a diverse display of products and services; and networking nirvana amidst a constant flow of great eats and drinks.

Speakers

The main event featured a trio of educational sessions given by four remarkable thought leaders in the world of marketing. Our very own Tom Frisby partnered with Mark Watson of Measure Inc. to show how strategy and measurement can come together to drive success in the face to face arena.

Next, Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist for Apple Computer and current venture capitalist, gave an entertaining, insightful and infectious presentation on ‘The Art of Intrapreneurship and Innovation’.

For “The e-Watercooler,” Megan Casey, CEO of Squidoo.com and highly regarded online community leader, demonstrated in real-time how to use new media to engage an audience and keep them involved in the conversation long after an event or show.

New Stuff

Between sessions, attendees were encouraged to network, visit vendors and dive into interactive demos to find out what’s new in the world of technology. Czarnowski partner Reality Engineering was onsite to give guests a real-time demonstration of electronic collateral distribution. Several computer kiosks were set up throughout the facility to offer paperless access to marketing materials from Czarnowski and attending vendors.

Guests were able to scroll through the options, choose the materials they wanted and instantly email themselves a link to the selected files. What a welcome replacement for the piles of paper and stacks of brochures that often clutter the show floor and storage closets! It’s simple, quick, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly – plus it provides valuable data on who has accessed specific materials. Stay tuned for more info on this system – we predict it will be a winner with our clients.

Another interactive demo featured a high tech, highly customized version of a popular old arcade game…Skee-Ball. At the computerized game station, guests were prompted to answer questions about their marketing strategies. Each answer earned a turn at the game using a Wii controller to propel the virtual Skee-Ball. This interaction showed how the amazing power of play can bring a whole new level of engagement to a show or event --- while delivering important content and capturing important data.

Partnership

In addition to Reality Engineering, several Czarnowski partners supported and had a presence at what2009 including: AV dimensions, Brand Via, Cort Event Furnishings, Alejandrino Partners, Ardent Impressions, Barbara Llewellyn Catering, Dazian Fabrics and Dave Barten Production Services and Lighting.

Teamwork

It was no small endeavor to pull this great event together and it truly took a team of folks to pull it off. From our San Francisco Office, a special thanks to Kim Merkin for leading the charge; Melissa DeLong for attending to all of the details; Jeff Smith from Chicago for plugging everyone in before, during and after the event; our amazing NorCal and SoCal teammates for their priceless contributions.

We can now add this event to a long list of successful affairs where we actually "practice what we preach"!

Stay tuned for more to come in the following months. Happy Holidays!

Revolutionary Day!

This is the 3rd such event that Czarnowski has produced for our customer and prospect audience that highlights, not just new electronic technology, but also introduces some of the latest ideas in Marketing, Social Media and Measurement through some of our stellar "expert" friends. See who's Talkin.....

Guy Kawasaki's newest book, Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition (Portfolio, Penguin Group), was released on October 30, 2008. Reality Check is his all-in-one guide for starting and operating great organizations-ones that stand the test of time and ignore any passing fads in business theory.
Guy Kawasaki is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures. He is also the co-founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web.
Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Mr. Kawasaki is the author of nine books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way.
Guy Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Megan is a founding member and the Editor in Chief of Squidoo. Before starting Squidoo, Megan spent 6 years in book publishing, most recently at the Portfolio business books imprint of Penguin Group, USA. Megan is now widely regarded as one of the most inspiring community leaders online (and, irrelevantly, the youngest).

With more than 30 years of industry experience, Tom is an accomplished creative leader within the environmental design community. He leads Czarnowski’s think(form) design team in providing a full range of creative, strategic and tactical services to customers. He is best known for his focus on creating Brand Architecture and a Brand Experience, not architecture for the sake of architecture. Some of the accounts that Tom has recently worked on include: IBM, Toyota, Lexus, Bausch & Lomb, Eli Lilly & Purdue Pharma.

Mark Watson is principle of MeasureINC, a consultancy firm specializing in experiential analysis and design of trade, consumer and retail environments

This event is wholly in line with our overall vision...."Czarnowski will create and sustain the highest level of service and customer experiences through our unique and passionate culture. " We love what we do.

To learn more about our culture, our atitude, and our services, please visit www.czarnowski.com

It's our Constitution Day!

This year marks the third anniversary of Czarnowski's Constitution Day. It's more than a mission statement, this Constitution of ours is something special. From our customers' perspective, it is a declaration of our collective pride and a representation of a unique and passionate culture. It is an affirmation of our respect and gratitude for those who laid the foundation and a roadmap for those who will come after us. Constitution Day is fundamental to Czarnowski’s very existence.

It is our Vision in Motion – it is a day that we come together as Czar Nation to re-commit and re-focus on what we stand for, how we’re doing and where we’re going. It’s a day to reflect on our core values and recognize why Czarnowski has been around for more than 60 years. This is a day to re-energize and re-dedicate ourselves in ‘Being It’ every day. The best way to predict the future is to create it. Every single day, each one of us has the privilege and power to make a positive difference and to create a better future for ourselves and our customers. For more info on our "Constitution" please contact mcooper@czarnowski.com

Czarnowski and the "Science of Sleep"

Check out the latest in our permanent installation category...In association with Eight, Inc., Czarnowski creates another successful retail environment.

This permanent showroom fabrication and installation is unlike most mattress stores, customers won’t find quota-driven sales people at Sleep to Live. At the store’s entrance, a virtual concierge (her image is projected on a screen)greets customers in the “decompression zone” and explains the store’s concept and layout - three experience zones and a retail area. Customers then embark on a self guided “choreographed discovery path,” punctuated by graphic and digital media displays, interactive screens, test beds and helpful store associates.

The interactive technology allows for an in-depth customized experience not found elsewhere - a main reason why Sleep to Live bills itself as the world’s first scientific sleep store.

In the “sleep discovery” area, interactive displays help customers learn how to achieve quality sleep. The “bed and pillow discovery” zone, a screened room where a diagnostic bed analyzes individual customers (or pairs) in order to recommend a sleep surface and pillow.

Customers can lie down on a Sleep to Live diagnostic bed to be measured and analyzed. In less than 10 minutes, the bed will determine precise pressure points establishing ideal alignment for the individual’s skeletal-muscular system, and will suggest which mattress and pillow is the best fit for them.

Czarnowski "Experience Studio" Chicago Exhibits

Our Czarnowski "Experience Studio"/Chicago Exhibits @ 5th Annual Guerilla Truck Show

Morlen Sinoway Atelier's Annual design event in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood takes to the streets and creates mobile showrooms in 15’ box trucks. The Guerilla Truck Show takes place on a Tuesday night during NEOCON Chicago every year. This year there were approximately 37 trucks involved.

Detailed coverage of the event can be found here. Core 77 Design Magazine. Our design team of Dan Griffin, Eric Lax, Jeff Woods, Michael Nagle and Zach Nagle from our Chicago office created a mobile exhibit in our box truck the day of the show, and exhibited their fine art, craft and design. Despite the rainy weather, the event was a huge success! We "really" Love What We do!

Czarnowski & Second City Present ‘The Baczlorette’ at HCEA

The HCEA (Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association) hosts their annual meeting from June 13 – 16 in Tampa, Florida. This meeting is the must-attend event of 2009 for all healthcare exhibit and convention marketers, medical association exhibit managers and medical meeting planners. This show and its attendees represent an industry that has and will continue to be extremely important to Czarnowski.

It’s refreshing to report that attendance at this event is projected to keep pace, if not surpass, the numbers from last year.

Along with four days of educational sessions, the exhibit hall is where the action will be and Czarnowski will be right in the middle of it. In addition to being exhibitors, this year we will be hosting a very special event the evening of June 15.

More about Czarnowski....www.czarnowski.com - Mark Cooper 404-921-5126

Czarnowski Wins Again!

The recent RSNA (Radiological Society) exhibit Czarnowski designed and built for Philips Healthcare won a prestigious Gold Ex Award in the category of Best Trade Show Exhibit in a B-to-B Environment.

The awards were presented at the Ex Awards Gala in Chicago on April 27. The Ex Awards, sponsored by Event Marketer magazine, is a recognition program honoring excellence in event and experiential programs.

The Ex Awards are billed as the preeminent awards for event marketing and they are the only awards judged entirely by brand-side marketing professionals.All winners will be profiled in Event Marketer’s annual ‘best of the best’ issue which drops in June. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the awards program go to www.eventmarketer.com.

“An extraordinary effort by a large number of creative and talented professionals. All collaborated and focused on a unified mission to bring the Philips Healthcare Brand to life . An extraordinary process and extraordinary results. My thanks to the entire team.”

Jeff Masters
Manager, North American Marketing Events Group
Philips Healthcare

Congrats to the Czarnowski team for being part of this success story and making Philips a very happy customer! More about Czarnowski can be found at: http://www.czarnowski.com

Our First Sustainability Report - An Inside Look

Czar Publishes Our First Sustainability Report

(An internal report that we are sharing in the spirit of transparency)

Category sustainability earth day

Do your clients, family members or friends ever ask you “What is Czarnowski doing in the area of sustainability?” Now you can answer with confidence and conviction.

Today is Earth Day, and what a great day to share Czarnowski’s first-ever, self-declared, C-level Sustainability Report which was written according to Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) guidelines for sustainable reporting. Phew, what a mouthful. Once you read through it, it’ll all make sense. Feel free to share this report with your clients and cohorts. Here are 10 talking points to bring up when educating folks about sustainability and Czarnowski.

1. This is Czarnowski’s 1st sustainability report but it won’t be the last. Practice makes perfect.....so stay tuned for ongoing developments in this arena.

2. Czarnowski is the first exhibit company to write a GRI sustainability report (page 3).

3. 16% of all energy supplied to our California-based facilities comes from renewable resources (page 10).

4. Definition of sustainability: To meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (page 3).

5. Scope of this report includes our main offices in North America: Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Pittsburgh and San Francisco

6. Czarnowski-employed automobile commuters produced 4,129 metric tons of CO2 in 2008 driving to and from work. 20,750 pounds is average in the USA for a household total of one person over one year.

7. Each of our main locations has over 50 suppliers within 100 miles (page 15).

8. A list of environmentally-friendly building products is on page 16.

9. A Glossary of Green terms is on page 42.

10. How our steady financial growth and diversified client mix contribute to sustainability is depicted on pages 20 and 21.

We hope this document serves Czarnowski employees and our clients. Sustainability is not about recycling. It is about financial, social AND environmental efforts. The more educated our company is, the better we can serve our clients and thus continue to be leaders in our industry.

A big thanks to everyone who contributed to the contents of this report.

For a complete copy of this report...email mcooper@czarnowski.com

What's in a BMW presentation? Czarnowski

NYC’s Grand Central Terminal through April 6, 2009

A public art installation at New York’s Grand Central Terminal, featuring two distinct sections and made possible by BMW, opened to the public last week.

One is a collection of four iconic BMW Art Cars designed by Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg.
The second is a project by contemporary artist Robin Rhode, who used the all-new 2009 BMW Z4 Roadster mounted with special paint dispensers behind its wheels to create a football-field size painting, a 30’ x 40’ section of which will be shown.

The installation is free and open to the public through Monday, April 6, 2009 from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall®.
For more information on the exhibition, visit YouTube - Grand Central Terminal Hosts BMW Art Cars.
"Arts and culture is our City’s signature industry, and it also nourishes many others," said New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "New York City’s vibrant cultural life is a big reason why so many people want to live here, and it draws visitors here from around the world."

The BMW Art Car project has a storied history of more than 30 years. Since its founding in 1975, sixteen of the world’s most respected artists, including the four whose works will be displayed in the installation in Vanderbilt Hall®, have designed BMW Art Cars. The cars have been exhibited by museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Louvre in Paris and the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.

The BMW Art Cars will be accompanied by rare, behind-the-scenes footage of the four cars that will be played in the Grand Central Terminal installation. The videos reveal Warhol painting his car, Stella and Rauschenberg discussing their inspirations and influences in creating their respective pieces and various experts discussing the resulting impact of these works.
Occupying Vanderbilt Hall will also be the most recent example of BMW‘s long-standing commitment to the arts – Rhode’s project.

In contrast to the renowned BMW Art Car Program, where artists are commissioned to apply artwork to the car’s existing structure, Rhode was given a car to create an interaction that was documented by Jake Scott of RSA films. Like in the BMW Art Car Program, the car acts as a catalyst for creativity but in an entirely different, transient way.

From a tower 30 feet above his canvas laid out on the floor, Rhode choreographed the movements of an all-new 2009 BMW Z4 Roadster and used a remote control device to direct when and where colored paint was sprayed onto the tires which marked the canvas. Scott, from 40 simultaneous camera angles, captured the interaction between the artist, the BMW Z4 Roadster and its driver, at Los Angeles’ Downey Studios. Rhode’s paintbrush (the BMW Z4 Roadster) and Scott’s video footage of the action will also be part of the installation at Grand Central Terminal. Scott’s footage will be shown in high-definition on a 16' x 9' screen.
Rhode has characterized his role in the project as a "creative navigator," expressing the fun relationship between the artist, design and technological advancements. "As an artist I am always keen to collaborate with other disciplines like dance, music and now film," said Rhode. "I’m a pure car enthusiast. But I also liked the idea of going through childlike actions to create a painting that is a way to engage with technology and design."

Visitors to www.bmwusa.com can view a special "making of" film clip, which shows the entire creative process behind Rhode and Scott’s collaboration, as well as detailed information about the BMW Art Car program.

Corporate Communications
BMW of North America, LLC.

Czarnowski Teams with Electrolux

Electrolux Earns Exhibitor All-Star Award
Category Electrolux Awards ExhibitorThe marketing team at Electrolux Major Appliances, North America—Lisa Rowland, April Perez, and Sharon White—have been recognized with an EXHIBITOR All-Star Award. This annual program, sponsored by EXHIBITOR Magazine, honors trade show exhibit managers who have developed innovative solutions that have improved their companies’ programs dramatically.. The E-Team created the award-winning program to support Electrolux’s entrance into the mass premium segment of the U.S. appliance market. Electrolux fueled the debut with a press release and event announcing Kelly Ripa as Electrolux’ new spokesperson—supported by new TV commercials. The event team’s contribution—a tasty experiential exhibit at KBIS—brought the launch to life for kitchen and bath industry designers, retailers, press and consultants. The luminous exhibit, designed by Czarnowski, played on a commercial entitled “Cupcake Queen” and enabled visitors to Experience Electrolux through hands-on encounters with its products. Electrolux staff baked and served fresh-baked cupcakes to attendees during KBIS, sending an irresistible aroma wafting through Chicago’s McCormick Place. Attendees experienced Electrolux’s Luxury-Glide™ oven racks and shelves, and its Luxury-Close™ doors by taking cooled cupcakes out of Electrolux ovens. Attendees also helped themselves to water and ice-cream from Electrolux refrigerators and freezers—an activity that showcased the units’ impressive storage capacity and Electrolux’ Luxury-Design™ Lighting. Exhibit design highlights included: a circular glass walkway with an illuminated inset display area which showcased hundreds of pastel-frosted cupcakes; a large lit fabric cone shaped like a wine glass rising from within a wall of wine bottles; and custom light fixtures created from wine glasses. Electrolux’ presence at KBIS resulted in nearly 7,000,000 media impressions. Attendees were also satiated by the exhibit. Nearly 5,000 cupcakes were served. At the close of the show, only crumbs remained!

Client Spotlight - Philips

This is another reason "We Love What We Do!

Czarnowski played a major role when Philips North America hosted two events to showcase its new acquisitions in front of a VIP audience including the Royal Philips Board of Management and Supervisory Board.

This was the first time the Netherlands-based Supervisory Board ever visited the United States. Czarnowski created the Philips Marketplace, which showcased new acquisitions and top performing business lines via seven display stations. The stations (four health care stations, two lighting companies, and Philips Research) took the form of large, glowing cubes, illuminated by a variety of Philips lighting products.

Members of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board toured the stations and received in-depth informational presentations from representatives of each business line. Low ambient light levels added to the cubes’ dramatic presence. In addition, Philips held a Town Hall Meeting, which Czarnowski produced. The Town Hall Meeting provided an overview of Philips present and future endeavors and a forum for Q&A. The room was draped in white and accented by soft Philips blue spotlights. Plasma screens with custom graphics lined the perimeter.

The events, which took place August 25 – 29, also recognized Philips’ 75th anniversary, and the relocation of its U.S. corporate headquarters from New York City to Andover, Massachusetts. Members of the Philips Board of Management and Supervisory Board left energized about Philips’ future.

Designed and Produced by: Czarnowski