Congratulations to Mayor Ardis and the many volunteers supporting the city-wide anti-litter campaign. Their mission is to eliminate trash in Peoria. Steve Peirz got the program running by spearheading efforts that addressed litter, both proactively (education) and reactively (cleanups around the area). And to get started, Steve approached Converse to donate services to develop a campaign logo, posters, outdoor ads, etc. Thanks to the efforts of Steve and those like him, the campaign is gaining momentum with an ultimate goal of obtaining the award of the United States’ cleanest city, where other cities will visit to see how we did it.

Congratulations to our client Archer Daniels Midland Company, which together with its partners recently broke ground on a 7,500-foot-deep well that will safely store carbon emissions underground, reducing its environmental footprint while advancing a promising technology. Converse helped ADM communicate the story of this significant project by designing and editing an informational brochure, and by concepting, designing and writing a full-page, four-color advertisement for two Washington, D.C., publications.

Converse continues to co-sponsor Bradley University’s entrepreneurship program by encouraging and educating aspiring entrepreneurs in the creation, start-up and early stages of launching a potentially high-growth business. Since its inception in 2006, the Project Springboard competition has been bringing students real-life business planning experience and the opportunity to win cash and services valued at over $120,000 to help them successfully launch their new business venture.

Congratulations to our client, Caterpillar Inc., which recently produced its 50,000^th Off Highway Truck. The 100-ton 777F truck left the Decatur, Ill., manufacturing facility destined for Colombia, where it will go to work in a coal mine. Converse helped the Caterpillar team take advantage of this milestone by developing messaging for press releases and advertisements, creating a document to serve as an internal resource for accessing information and messaging related to the accomplishment, and writing a script for a video about the achievement.

The spring issue of Viewpoint: Perspectives on Modern Mining, produced by Caterpillar Global Mining with writing and design by Converse Marketing, was just released and distributed to more than 40 countries. The magazine showcases best practices in the mining industry, such as haul road design and watering; safety issues like operator fatigue; environmental topics such as clean coal technologies; and industry events like MINExpo 2008. Featured mines have included sites owned and operated by global companies Newmont Mining, Freeport-McMoRan, Xstrata, Phelps Dodge, BHP Billiton, Vale Inco, Drummond and LKAB. Articles are translated into French, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian. Electronic copies are available at www.cat.com/viewpoint.

The RLI Corp. 2007 summary annual report, produced by RLI with writing and design by Converse Marketing, recently earned accolades from two advertising and communication organizations.

The League of American Communication Professionals (LACP) named the report—"At RLI, we're different. And that's good for you"—the Number 1 report in its class and one of the Top 100 annual reports of 2007.

Going up against more than 3,000 submissions from around the world, the report earned perfect scores in its letter to shareholders, narrative, financials, message clarity and information accessibility. Among competitors in the insurance industry, the report took the top prize, "platinum," for the second year in a row.

The report also earned two awards at the Peoria Ad Club's annual Addy Awards competition. In addition to a Gold Addy, the report was selected for a Judges' Choice Award, a unique citation that identifies the report as one judge's favorite entry among all the submissions. The report now moves on to the district competition, which includes submissions from Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.

The ADDY Awards are conducted by the American Advertising Federation, a not-for-profit industry association, through its 200 member advertising clubs and 15 districts. The program honors excellence in advertising and cultivates the highest creative standards among advertising and marketing professionals. It is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry.

Caterpillar Inc. leads the market in large mining trucks. Together with Converse, the company’s mining division produced a 24-page brochure highlighting its history of quality production, leadership in performance, dedication to safety enhancements, commitment to the environment, variety of size options, focus on operator comfort, and unmatched global dealer support network. The brochure was released at MINExpo 2008 along with an accompanying video showcasing the behind-the-scenes efforts and ingenuity of this successful team. In addition to receiving high scores from potential customers when measured for effectiveness and impact on buying decisions, the brochure and video received industry recognition for being best-of-class marketing materials.

Together with Caterpillar Inc. and a team of global organizations, Converse helped produce the largest Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC) conference in the world during MINExpo 2008 in Las Vegas, Nev. More than 400 customers, dealers and HSEC experts attended the event, where they had the opportunity to gather with mining professionals from around the world; view displays from Cat customers, Caterpillar groups and industry experts; learn best practice solutions from other mining companies, such as Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Newmont, Freeport-McMoRan, Vale Inco, Thiess and Barrick; and engage in facilitated discussions addressing industry challenges.

Congratulations to the Community Workshop and Training Center for another successful annual dinner. Miss Iowa was the key note speaker discussing her determination not to let cerebral palsy limit her ability to dream and reach her goals. Converse Marketing was honored to receive the annual Business Partnership Award for contributions to CWTC’s quest for communication excellence.

Converse Marketing was recently selected by the City of Peoria to develop a new logo for the city—and to engage the entire community in the process of developing and in selecting the final logo.

We began by learning what Peorians value most about living and working in Peoria. We conducted extensive personal interviews, a number of community focus groups, an open town meeting, and even created a special Website for community input. Nearly three hundred people participated in the early stages of this process. We then tabulated this information and used is to craft a brand strategy and creative platform for the development of the logo.

We met numerous times with a representative committee that acted as a sounding board to help further focus this message and then designed a total of 64 different logo concepts—consisting of a wide range of approaches and styles, from contemporary to literal, historical to progressive and everything in between (see the original concepts). The committee helped narrow down and further refine these selections, which were then presented in person to every member of City Council.

Currently, eight logos have been selected by the process and are now being presented to the public via in-person, man-on-the-street style surveys (with hundreds of Peorians throughout the city) and through an interactive voting Web site at www.logopeoria.com. All community input will be tabulated and then used by the City Council in making their final selection.

Once a final logo has been selected, Converse will develop a comprehensive logo implementation and style usage guide, which will include examples and recommendations for how the new logo should be launched, applied (stationery, cards, uniforms, trucks, signage, etc) and maintained by city staff.

Converse is pleased to announce it will be the consulting partner and agency of record for St. Louis-based AirStructures WorldWide (AWW) and its parent company, Johnson MarCraft, a national manufacturer of heating and air conditioning equipment. We recently hosted the companies' executives in an all-day strategy meeting at Converse' offices. "Thank you for your hospitality," wrote the Director of Marketing and Administration. "From the moment you step through the doors at Converse Marketing, the message is 'first class.' Visiting your facility was not only a mentally stimulating, motivational experience; but it was a visual feast for the eyes and the soul.

Converse is writing, designing and programming Web sites for several new clients, including sites for SouthBar Club on Harbour Island, Bahamas; The Library Channel, Champaign, Illinois; and Kickapoo Creek Winery in Central Illinois. It also congratulates employees for the launch of its new corporate site, www.conversemarketing.com

Converse announces the launch of a new Web site (asd.net) for Advanced System Designs (ASD), an information technology consulting firm headquartered in Central Illinois and serving clients around the country.

Congratulations to the Peoria Chiefs, a Converse client, for winning the 2005 Midwest League Larry MacPhail Promotional Trophy, which recognizes top promotional and marketing programs for the past year and is judged by all the presidents and general managers in the Midwest League before advancing to national competition. The Chiefs also set franchise record attendance at O'Brien Field, producing the fourth largest attendance growth in all of Minor League Baseball, excluding the Mexican League.

Dr. Peter Couri and Suzette Boulais of Peoria Arts Partners are working with Converse Marketing to launch a publication featuring public art in Peoria.

Converse is proud to have worked with Caterpillar on its 2004 annual report, which placed first in its category for the third consecutive year in LACP's annual report competition. Overall, the report placed 36th out of 1400 entries submitted from 17 countries.