September 3, 2010—Are you ready for some football?
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After about a week of living in the basement, our PR department has settled into its swanky new digs! The space has been completely transformed. Check out the photos below, and look on our Facebook page for more!
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Barbie mentioned a couple weeks ago that Miller Brooks is diving into the world of alternative workplace strategies, and our PR department is getting to benefit from it this week!
We’re getting all new furniture and a new layout from KimballOffice. While the transition is happening, PR will be working in the basement. We can’t wait to see the final result!
Check back throughout the week as we share photos of the action. We’ll also share photos on our Facebook page!
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Over the next few weeks, there will be some exciting office space changes going on here at Miller Brooks. Part of the first floor (primarily in our PR department) is getting a makeover using some wonderful Kimball® Office products. It is our first “physical” dive into the alternative workplace strategy (AWS) arena.
AWS is a fundamental transformation in the way work is organized, managed and performed. Almost 25 years after the first mention of AWS, we are beginning to see it carried out in some of the largest companies around the world. Central to this transformation are technological advancements that allow a highly mobile, agile and widespread workforce to conduct business anywhere at any time. Real estate cost pressures are another force driving AWS. A more remote workforce utilizes less office space, but can accommodate more employees.
Companies are embracing this fundamental shift to completing work, by scaling back on office footprints and demanding flexible, mobile and scalable furniture solutions that can easily be adjusted up, down or reconfigured as needed. The office of the future brings people together, in an effort to foster collaboration and innovation.
Technology is also playing a critical role in enabling people to work from remote locations whenever face-to-face interaction isn’t necessary; even then, new forms of high-tech virtual telecommunication technology is proving to be a great alternative to face-to-face communication.
One trend related to AWS involves allocating more space for teaming and casual areas: places where people can gather to brainstorm or socialize. A recent Gensler survey found people spend 32 percent of their workdays (more than 2.5 hours per day) collaborating with others. These casual gathering spaces drive demand for more soft seating and marker boards to support team activities.
We’ve also seen an increase in demand for smaller conference rooms that can serve as multifunctional spaces: small team rooms, spaces for private conversations, or areas to focus on work that requires a high level of concentration.
Another offshoot of AWS includes lower panel heights and mobile, flexible furniture. According to research conducted by Judith Heerwagen, a Seattle-based environmental psychologist, 80 percent of office interactions are unplanned and occur as a result of one employee visually monitoring the availability of another employee.
Intrigued? You will be able to see all of these elements in action here at Miller Brooks very soon. Stop by anytime after August 9th and check it out!
Tags: Communication, Design, Miller Brooks, staff
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You may have already seen them around, because we immediately put them to work, but I wanted to make sure we formally introduced the newest members of the Miller Brooks team! Check out our three latest arrivals.
Matt Gonzales, Copywriter
There are some who are simply born writers. Describing himself as “obsessed” about writing music reviews from the time he was young, Matthew’s passion for writing—and the arts—is innate. His skill set is unique, woven from experience gained as a journalist and as an advertising copywriter. Matt brings over nine years of writing experience to Miller Brooks, from writing stints at two agencies to being a reporter/special sections editor at The Indianapolis Star, to content editor at Indy.com, to freelance advertising/marketing and journalistic writing endeavors. His articles have appeared in publications including Indianapolis Monthly and Go, the in-flight magazine of Air Tran—and many a music review have appeared on popmatters.com, an international magazine of cultural criticism.
A native of Muncie, Indiana, Matthew obtained his B.A. in English from Ball State University and now is continuing graduate studies in digital storytelling. He and wife Amy are still newlyweds, and reside on the northeast-side of Indianapolis. Matt would rather eat Asian food over American food any day—and every day. That affinity grew from his nearly two years in Asia, where he taught English as a second language. He still utilizes those skills in his volunteer work for Indy Reads. He competed in his third mini-marathon this past spring, and Matt was likely brainstorming as he pounded the pavement.
Taylor Graves, PR Account Executive
After living a majority of her life in San Diego, and then working there for 1-1/2 years, Taylor moved to Indiana. On purpose. (In January!) Some may find that a bit unbelievable, but Taylor actually missed the seasons she discovered while attending Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Taylor ventured far from home to attend the school so many in her family called their alma mater. After receiving her B.A. in Mass Communications, she returned to San Diego for her first job as an account executive for a public affairs firm that she had interned with previously. From there, she became a PR and event coordinator for the Raymond J. Lucia Companies. Yearning for a change, and a return to the Midwest (where the seasons—and her boyfriend—live), Taylor joined Miller Brooks.
Living in downtown Indy, Taylor keeps busy with the downtown buzz, as well as being an active member of the Public Relations Society of America, serving on the programs board. She struggles over her love-hate relationship with running, enjoys drama television over reality any day, and loves to recall the semester she spent in Luxembourg—where she went skydiving over the Swiss Alps.
Cheryl Meininger, Creative Director
ConAgra Foods. Kellogg’s. Domino’s Pizza. Cheryl brings her experience working on world-class brands like these to Miller Brooks. As vice president, executive creative director and creative director at top agencies in Cincinnati, Chicago and Minneapolis, Cheryl has led creative teams through print, interactive, television, outdoor and social media strategies that produce successful results for clients. One of her favorite client memories to date? Filming a commercial for Sunny D off the coast of New Zealand, with a ship full of pirates—while stunned onlookers passed by.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cheryl graduated with a degree in graphic arts from ACA College of Design. Her love of travel has taken her beyond relocation in the United States to destinations like Europe and Argentina. Although her dreams of exotic careers varied, she gave up her “lounge singer in a red dress” aspiration for the demanding world of advertising. When not strategizing for clients, Cheryl enjoys reading, and watching karate and sci-fi movies.
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One year ago, I wrote an article reflecting on my personal progress since participating in the first Earth Day 39 years ago. The results were disappointing to the extreme. So I committed to doing something about it.
I embarked on a campaign to make our life more energy-efficient and more ecologically responsible. I had no idea what this would entail, or how easy or difficult it would be. Here’s what I have done and learned in 12 months.
As I mentioned in the first article, we managed to do the easy things long ago—things like recycling paper, plastic, glass and metal; replacing incandescent lights with compact fluorescents or LEDs.
By examining the bigger issues like energy and water consumption, gasoline consumption in our cars and the quantity of solid waste that was being recycled, we began to see that there was so much more that needed to be addressed.
Searching in vain for a remodeling contractor that could guide me through each phase of getting our home more environmentally friendly, I finally decided to try to do it myself—not the actual work, mind you, just finding and managing the various specialists required to make things happen.
I had heard and read about “blower door tests” that help determine how and where your home is leaking conditioned air and letting outdoor air in through the wrong places. It is a great way to begin a project because you get a clear picture of your home’s walls, roof and foundation. It didn’t seem to make sense to start the project by putting in high-efficiency heating and air conditioning if the home was leaky and under-insulated.
In fact, when I spoke with Ray Dicks from Climate Systems in Atlanta, Georgia, he confirmed that finding problems and fixing the building’s exterior walls (including insulation) was the best way to begin.
So Ray gave my home a thorough inspection, checking all the attic areas, walls and foundation. He took infrared photos, conducted the blower door test and checked the ducts for leaks. What he quickly determined was that my home was leaking like a sieve, letting more than twice the recommended amount of air be exchanged daily.
Armed with his detailed analysis, I hired a painting contractor to seal the leaks inside and out. Then I had blown-in fiberglass insulation added to the attic areas, and spray foam insulation added around the entire home where the stud walls attached to the foundation, which was the major source of air leakage.
I had mixed feelings about using the spray foam insulation but was assured by the contractor that the long-term energy benefits would more than offset the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the spray foam. So we went ahead with it.
Next on the list:
But, the whole time all this was going on, I was also researching the big money issue: the HVAC system. I landed on geothermal as the best choice. But soon realized that it was more complicated than just putting in a high-efficiency furnace. I had to deal with a more complex system that required “ground loops” to be drilled deep into the ground so that heat could be exchanged with the consistent temperature of the earth, then piped back into the heat exchanger.
For over six months, I researched my geothermal options, settled on a contractor to install the system, and now have waited throughout the winter and probably into mid-summer for the ground to be dry enough to allow for the heavy drilling equipment to drill without sinking into the wet soil. Hopefully, sometime mid-year I will have geothermal heating and cooling my home, and providing plenty of hot water as well. Stay tuned.
Now I know why the newspaper articles, blogs and magazines that talk abut how easy it is to be green ignore the truly big issues: they are complex. Making an old home energy-efficient and more sustainable is no small task.
1. Finding a knowledgeable resource is easier said than done.
For starters, I couldn’t seem to locate a single building professional resource who could provide the knowledge and expertise to handle all of the things I needed to have done. I think there is a tremendous business opportunity here for the construction industry to get serious about focusing on the 116 million existing U.S. homes that need to be brought up to a higher efficiency standard.
In fact, if all homes built before 2000 were just brought up to current building codes for thermal efficiency, residential energy consumption would drop by 22.5%, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
2. Test your home first to evaluate its needs.
Every home should have a blower door test done by a qualified technician to determine the “thermal health” of the home… and to know exactly what needs to be addressed. In my case, I learned that sealing the right places, inside and out, and adding insulation, made the home instantly more comfortable and energy-efficient.
3. Take time to do your homework when choosing contractors.
I also learned about the need to talk to several contractors about every improvement, as the degree of experience, recommendations and pricing can vary widely. Like any other kind of purchase decision, the more you know, the better decision you will make.
4. Patience (while frustrating) is a virtue.
Everything takes longer than you’d expect. But the time invested is worth it. I expect energy costs to continue rising, so investments in energy efficiency now will pay me back over the coming years. Plus, I’ll have the added benefit of knowing that, by reducing my energy consumption, I’m doing my bit for a sustainable future.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned is that by focusing on these green initiatives, I became more in tune with my home, inside and out. I began to appreciate how it functions, and how important it is to take better care of its various “operating systems” than I had in the past. I feel much more connected, more centered, knowing that it is beginning to operate at a higher, greener, more sustainable level.
Tags: current events, How to, staff, sustainability
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I ran across this article on Friday on the Marketing Profs Daily Fix blog and thought it provided an interesting perspective — one that might be worth considering differently.
“Entitled” Gen Y: How They Add to the Integrated Hybrid”
What are the first words that pop into your head when someone says Gen Y? Go-getter, enthusiastic, tech-oriented? Entitled was more than likely among the more colorful adjectives. Those ‘My Kid is an an Honor Roll Superstar’ bumper stickers really went to our heads.
So, why should you want Gen Y on your marketing or public relations teams? Besides the obvious need for molding, educating, engaging and reverse mentoring, Gen Yers bring unique perspective to the table; those willing to research and learn know how to network and revitalize campaigns.
Check out the rest of the article at the link above. What do you think? Do you have a conscious strategy in your office for using the strengths of your Gen-Y colleagues? Should you?
Tags: Communication, Marketing, staff
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She may be a small town girl at heart, but Lisa Miller (nope, no connection to Tom) brings big media experience to Miller Brooks. After graduating from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with two degrees—Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies and Spanish—she started out as a media research analyst, and then an assistant media planner in Detroit. She soon moved to Chicago, where she focused exclusively on online media as assistant and then interactive media planner on accounts like Boeing, Dow Chemical and Hampton Inn. The stress of Chicago living drove her to Indianapolis, and Miller Brooks.
Despite her big city experience, she’ll always love her small town roots. Charlevoix, Michigan is a small resort town of 3,000 that blossoms to 30,000 during the summer months. She grew up there with her two sisters, and returns whenever she gets a chance. Her boyfriend, Ricardo, happened to run a race through her town, and they’ve been together ever since. When not planning online media strategies, Lisa loves to run, read (she’s breezed through the Twilight series), baking and decorating baked goods, and volunteering for her boyfriend’s track and field team, the Indiana Invaders.
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Our little corner of Zionsville (like the rest of central Indiana) was blanketed with snow yesterday. That fresh white powder was just begging to be disturbed!
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