Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to do some pro-bono work for the Claremont Educational Foundation, designing their 2010 fundraising brochure.

The foundation supports the Claremont Unified School district, providing funding for technology, music & arts programs and general funding to Claremont’s public schools.  We were honored to be able to work with them.

A few days ago we heard from the foundation.  Their efforts have been overwhelmingly successful.  They raised more than $350,000 this year that went directly to Claremont schools.  The funding purchased new technology, restored 16 class sections in grades 7-12 and helped preserve smaller class sizes.  And perhaps most remarkably, in a time or rampant cuts in education, no Claremont School District teachers were laid off this year. 

So, to the board members and sponsors of the Claremont Educational Foundation, congratulations!  Thanks for letting us be a small part of your success. 

We’ve never thought of ourselves as a Madison Avenue style ad agency - but we are apparently getting close to Boardwalk.  A while back, Mike took some photos for a MagLite law enforcement campaign, and just a couple weeks ago one of the photos was used on the gameboard of the soon to be released Monopoly:  Law Enforcement Edition. 

I can’t say we ever expected to see our original photo peering down into the corner of a Monopoly board. 

Should you want to friend Monopoly: Law Enforcement Edition you can do so on its Facebook page, or pre-order your copy today for November delivery. 

For the last few years, Echo-Factory has been doing the photography for Troy Lee Designs’ annual product catalog.  Normally, we leave it to either professional models or the professional Troy Lee sponsored athletes to model the gear.  Lucky for Carl, one afternoon this year one of those models was a no show. 

Carl jumped into action - and more importantly into some Troy Lee gear - and made his sexiest pouty model-face. 

Just last week the new catalog showed up on our doorstep. Lo and behold our very own Carl, looking every bit the badass motocross rider, is prominently featured on page 53.

Carl took the news in stride - immediately scheduling a catalog signing and press conference at our Rancho Cucamonga agency offices.  Sadly, for an Advertising Agency, we seemed to do a rather bad job of getting the word out about the momentous event.

Nevertheless, Carl would like his throngs of adoring fans to know that he’s available for both speaking engagements and birthday parties.  His 7 city catalog tour is scheduled for the fall. 

We’re happy to announce that Echo-Factory has become the agency of record for Allied Anesthesia, an Orange County group of 42 highly respected anesthesiologists.  We pitched the medical group in July, and were selected through a competitive agency review.  The pitch was against other Southern California advertising agencies and Echo-Factory was chosen to be Allied’s new agency of record.

We’ve already started on several projects for Allied, including an initial rebranding.  You can expect to see some of that here in the future.  In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more, check out our press release on our newest client. 

Echo-Factory is happy to call NALMCO, interNational Association of Lighting Management Companies, our newest client. We got to know NALMCO through our involvement with PEERS and our relationships with [P2] and other lighting industry clients. In June, NALMCO put out a RFP for a PR campaign and some advertising materials.  We put together our pitch, and when the dust settled, we were their new agency. 

Our work started out with a rebranding project.  NALMCO has a reputation for offering the most respected certifications in the lighting industry, so we created a logo that compliments that reputation.

NALMCO launched its new logo in July, and we’re currently in the middle of a three part PR campaign, so keep your eyes peeled for more from our new lighting buddies.

The association’s president, Jim Frank, was nice enough to give Echo a shout out in its monthly magazine, LM&M: 

“One of NALMCO’s initiatives is to increase awareness of our association in the energy market.  [...] For this reason, we are in the early stages of image branding and media campaigns.  We contracted with Echo-Factory of Rancho Cucamonga, California, to consult with NALMCO on matters of image and media.  [...]  Some might ask, ‘What was wrong with the old NALMCO logo?’ Or, ‘Why do we need to hire an outside consultant to handle NALMCO media campaigns?’ The answer is that we need to elevate and maintain a stronger and more visible presence in today’s market.  And today’s market needs NALMCO.”

Thanks Jim, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.