Solid Statements

The city has retained Solid State Information Design to visualize a future urban landscape where waste waster and storm water are managed on far more efficient, natural terms. We're designing a presentation for executive use that shows how cost-efficient, sustainable runoff management could save Seattle money, change the way the city looks and feels, and restore water quality in Elliott Bay and Puget Sound. We're proud to be working with Seattle Public Utilities on a show that will hopefully not only educate, but inspire bold action.

Thanks to the many members of the Houston advertising and public relations community who joined Solid State April 12-13 at our Smith & Wollensky event or at the evening meeting of the Houston chapter of the American Marketing Association. The Solid State partnership enjoyed each and every connection, discussion and exchange of views!

Solid State Information Design is pleased to announce an affiliation with the newly organized Media Experience Trade Association, a consortium of Hollywood and software interests dedicated to encouraging and rewarding better usability -- and more coherent standards -- in digital media products, particularly the user interfaces of new-generation DVDs. We worry that the cultural mainstream now seems to regard new technology as bringing at least as much misery and pleasure, and we support efforts towards "user-centered design" that make technical advances more accessible.

Usability testing -- of web page designs, prototype information displays, etc -- is a key Solid State practice.

Solid State's Tom Farmer moderated a day of expert panel discussions at the META's first annual conference February 2 in Manhattan Beach, California. See more at www.mediaexperience.org.

We're very pleased to announce our biggest expansion news ever. Solid State Information Design welcomes a third managing partner, renowned business strategist and management consultant Darrin Poole of Houston, Texas, and announces the establishment of a Houston office to support better client service on a national basis.

Our freshened website gives you Darrin's background in some detail. Meanwhile, here's the official October 5, 2006 news release:

SEATTLE –October 5, 2006 – Solid State Information Design (www.solidstateid.com), the Seattle marketing company, is pleased to announce the addition to the firm of Darrin M. Poole, a nationally respected Fortune 100 management consulting professional, as a managing partner, as well as the establishment of a second Solid State business office in Houston, Texas. Solid State is also pleased to confirm a new client relationship with Adobe Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADBE) of San Jose, Calif.

Poole brings Solid State a balance of business and technical competencies, combining industry experience in high technology and communications with functional discipline in business strategy, customer relationship management, and IT strategy. As he compiled 18 years of enterprise-level experience with prior employers The Zyman Group, KPMG Consulting and IBM Corporation, Poole guided sales, marketing and business process improvements at some of America’s foremost companies.

“I have a passion for helping companies paint a landscape that’s filled with opportunities to grow their business and increase shareholder value,” said Poole, “and I’m excited to pursue it as a leader of Solid State Information Design.”

Poole joins Solid State founding partners Jodi Swanson and Tom Farmer. His initial responsibilities are to consult on customer care strategies for Adobe Systems and expand the Solid State Houston base.

“Now three interesting, different professional paths converge at the helm of Solid State,” said Farmer. “We’re a veteran of Fortune 100 deep-dive enterprise business consulting, a highly experienced brand and marketing campaign manager, and a former CNN executive producer and corporate media creator. I don’t know of another marketing or communications company with this mix of experience and perspective. We’re better equipped than ever to help leading organizations clarify what they mean in the world.”

“By giving direct access to original insight,” said Swanson, “we strive to provide sound business strategy and communications design to organizations of all sizes. Our new Texas office means we can be more responsive to clients nationwide.”

Solid State Information Design links communications design to research, strategy, and insight for companies in the Pacific Northwest and across the US. Solid State has particular expertise in professional services marketing, financial services, consumer brands, education and non-profit organizations, and technology brand marketing. In addition to Adobe Systems, Solid State clients include Riverside Publishing, the Houghton Mifflin division focused on standardized educational tests; Gonzaga University School of Law; Intava Corp., a digital technology innovator and designer of customer-focused retail screen systems; and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.

Solid State Information Design was founded in Seattle in 2003 and maintains business offices in Seattle and Houston. See www.solidstateid.com. The company is privately held.

Excellent article in the August 7, 2006 NEWSWEEK about the smashing -- and unlikely -- success scored by entrepreneurs Lynda and Stewart Resnick selling pomegranate juice. When they acquired a 100-acre pomegranate grove and set out to market the stuff, only 12 percent of the public knew what a pomegranate was. Today a lot more know -- they'll do more than $90 million in sales this year, and surely you've seen the distinctive, knobby POM bottles on billboards and in stores.

The point is, Lynda Resnick credits her success to research. She's proud to have spent more to date on research ($17 million) than on marketing and advertising ($12 million). And with good reason. Research gives her solid evidence of health benefits to use as POM talking points, shows her new markets (upscale bars, for one), suggests unorthodoz marketing channels (she spritzed celebrity gatherings like the Oscars with gratis POM bottles), and much more.

What Lynda's saying, Solid State is saying. It's so easy to blow a marketing budget. Knowing as much as possible about your product, its perceptions in the marketplace, and reactions to potential marketing tactics made pomegranate juice a hit. The same principle, writ in different ways, works for Solid State clients. From now on, when we advocate research and strategy as precursors to campaign tactics or websites, perhaps we'll keep a POM bottle on the conference table as Exhibit A.   

Solid State is pleased to announce the relocation of its headquarters to the Active Voice Building on the eastern edge of Belltown, just a short putt north of Seattle's downtown core. Music aficionados in town will know our new building as the home of Dimitriou's Jazz Alley at 6th Avenue and Lenora Street. Maybe some of that good music will waft up to us on the ninth floor in the evenings.

Our new address is:

Solid State Information Design

2033 6th Avenue, Suite 990

Seattle, Washington 98121

We have a new primary phone number as well:

206-443-9000

Come up and see us sometime. Or at least call.

Our friends at Jones & Ward PLLC, the Seattle legal firm specializing in personal injury law, have launched their new website: See www.joneswardlaw.com. Solid State contributed branding, design, editorial and technical services.

We are embarking in August on a new national market research study for Riverside Publishing, a division of Houghton Mifflin and longtime Solid State client, which will guide product development efforts.

Congratulations to our friends at Acetta, the Seattle business process improvement consultancy, on a successful start for the company's new Business Clarity Seminar Series -- "Five Common Errors in Process Improvement and How to Avoid Them," featuring expert Alec Sharp. Alec's the acknowedged authority in this field and co-author of the standard text, Workflow Modeling. Solid State coordinated event marketing for the seminar, staged in late July at Seattle's gleaming Grand Hyatt hotel. We continue to work with Acetta on numerous marketing and communications projects.

Don't misunderstand -- we love dogs -- it's just that the rollicking pace of life at Solid State means, er, no dog days.

We're pleased to welcome as a new client Cardiac Strategies of Seattle, home of a new concept in preventive cardiovascular health care, with practices in Seattle and Bellevue, WA. Solid State will be assisting with goal planning and marketing strategy and developing communications plans. We've known and admired the principals at Cardiac Strategies for some time and it's a pleasure to inaugurate a working relationship.

Solid State has completed branding work for N.C. Cuthbert LLC, the leading port and terminal technology consultancy based in New Jersey, and we're continuing on to development of marketing materials.

The new website for Gonzaga University School of Law is up and running; please visit at www.law.gonzaga.edu.  Solid State developed research, strategy, branding, design and architecture for the site, which gives our friends at the Law School in Spokane an entirely fresh face to present to applicants, alumni, and current students.

We're also designing a new website for Acetta, the Seattle business process improvement consultancy serving medium-sized businesses. This deepens our close and rewarding relationship with Acetta, with whom we've been working since autumn 2004. 

We hope your spring is as busy and interesting! 

Jones & Ward PLLC has selected Solid State Information Design to provide branding, marketing and website expertise. The firm has one of Seattle's leading personal injury practices with special focus on maritime law. Partner Ronald R. Ward is a past president of the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA). Professional services marketing is a key Solid State offering, and we are very pleased to enter into an exciting, productive relationship with Mssrs. Jones and Ward.  

Solid State Information Design is delighted to have been selected to provide strategic website design and architecture services to Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington.

The law school has a new Dean this fall: Earl Martin, formerly Associate Dean at Texas Wesleyan School of Law, who speaks of wanting to bring a "sense of entrepreneurialism" to Gonzaga Law and find ways to connect more alumni with the school. Solid State is working on Internet strategies to facilitate that and other relationships with key audiences.

Accredited in 1951, Gonzaga University School of Law is an institution on the rise with increased competition for admission, an excellent career placement record and a beautiful campus on the banks of the Spokane River. Solid State is very gratified to be associated with Gonzaga Law and looks forward to a long, productive working relationship.