Kirsten Mickelwait
Writer and Editor
Kirsten Mickelwait (707) 815-2909 kmickelwait@comcast.net
For more than a decade, I’ve
worked as a copywriter and editor, providing ad copy and marketing content to high-tech, educational and health-care institutions, nonprofits, wineries, and other businesses. The following excerpts represent a range of clients, marketing objectives, and writing styles. If you’d like to see the complete text of any of these samples, or additional examples of my work, just ask.
Content Online Marketing for a Mixed Audience.........................................4 Lenovo Touch Online Campaign Co-branding with Two Ad Campaigns............................................12 Koret Foundation Advertising Overhauling a Newsletter..................................................................16 Koret Foundation’s Koret Report Reinventing a Corporate Identity.................................................... 24 Tragon Capabilities Brochure Stating the Case for Health Care.....................................................32 Cedars-Sinai Casebook Fundraising for a Nonprofit Museum..............................................40 California Academy of Sciences Telefund Brochure Web-Writing for a University........................................................... 48 The Campaign for Berkeley Website Guiding the Food and Wine Enthusiast...........................................52 Decanting Napa and Sonoma Guidebooks
Lenovo Touch Online Campaign I worked with a digital agency to create the online campaign for Lenovo’s new line of touch and type computers. The challenge was to reach two demographics: “touch natives” (aged 18 to 24, who instinctively use touchscreen devices) and “touch learners” (aged 35+, who are still used to a keyboard). We created the graphics in HTML 5 with “hot spots” to illustrate particular features.
LENOVO CONFIDENTIAL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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2012
LENOVO CONFIDENTIAL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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2012
LENOVO CONFIDENTIAL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Koret Foundation Advertising I contracted with a creative agency to help conceive of a new look and concept for Koret’s advertising. We launched two campaigns: The first, which focused on Koret’s own funding strategies, employed a series of related headlines to demonstrate the foundation’s impact in the community. The second, which promoted Koret’s Jewish Peoplehood Initiative with its sister foundation, Taube Philanthropies, featured photos of local Jewish thought-leaders accompanied by their quotes. We deliberately co-branded the two campaigns to reinforce Koret’s messaging.
The Koret Report Working with an outside designer, I created this eight-page, tabloid-style newsletter from scratch for the Koret Foundation. The engaging copy and heavy use of photos enabled us to tell the stories of our grantees in more depth. Each issue featured a specific giving area such as youth programs or museums.
KORETReport SUMMER 2012
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE KORET FOUNDATION
WWW.KORETFOUNDATION.ORG
EXPLORING
MUSEUMS Extending the Historical Narrative
The Magnes Reborn
The Koret Foundation recently announced a new $3-million grant to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Poland — one of our most ambitious projects to date.
From humble beginnings, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life has been transformed into a state-of-the-art cultural and research institution with a new home in Berkeley’s arts district.
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Reaching Out to the Next Generation In recent years, Bay Area museums have begun targeting a new demographic: young professional adults who don’t typically attend exhibitions. We present a roundup of “next generation” programs that are redefining the museum experience. Page 6
KORETReport
The Magnes Reborn Depression-era frescos within Coit Tower. The full collection complements other rich campus holdings related to Jewish scholarship and is a natural resource for researchers, including UC Berkeley’s students and faculty. Two courses are being taught at The Magnes in 2012 and 2013: Music in Israel and Performing Texts: Music, Liturgy and Jewish Life. In addition, the first annual Magnes Fellowship in Jewish Studies has been awarded to a UC Berkeley graduate student for a year-long research project in 2012-13. Full research access to the collection will become available in the fall of 2012.
SUMMER 2012
Starting Small
You might call it “The Little Museum That Could.” When it made its glamorous debut on January 22, 2012, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life showed no evidence of its humble beginnings. Named after the prominent 20thcentury Jewish leader Judah L. Magnes, it began in a $75-a-month loft over an Oakland Theater. Today, the state-of-the-art institution is the first of its kind in the world: an expansive collection of Jewish art and artifacts in an academic environment. It is already setting a precedent, with its innovative new facility and close affiliation with UC Berkeley, Located on a prime block between downtown Berkeley BART and the UC Berkeley campus, the new 25,000-square-foot Magnes will serve as museum, research center, academic library, and social/cultural hub for the Jewish community. The
sleek space – which occupies the site of a former printing plant – includes a gallery, auditorium, conference rooms, and a research room. The new building is smack in the center of Berkeley’s thriving arts district, surrounded by other cultural organizations such as the Berkeley Rep, the Jazz School, The Marsh, Aurora Theater, and Freight and Salvage. A Magnet for Scholars In addition to its array of paintings, ritual objects, rare manuscripts and books, textiles, and musical recordings, some of The Magnes’ bounty resides at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, including a stunning collection of documents that comprise the Western Jewish Americana archives. A notable recent acquisition is of sketches by the late San Francisco muralist Bernard Zakheim, who worked with Diego Rivera and oversaw the
The Judah L. Magnes Museum was founded in 1962 by Berkeley educator and collector Seymour Fromer and his wife, Rebecca, who built the collection by rescuing artifacts from endangered Jewish communities in such far-flung spots such as Egypt, India, Czechoslovakia, and Morocco. Their passion resulted in a collection of 15,000 objects from the Jewish world, all of which was housed in an 8,500-square-foot mansion on Berkeley’s Russell Street. For many years, the museum’s supporters tried to envision a sustainable future and a new building. In 2003, Alla Efimova – a Russian-born historian, author, and former lecturer at UC Berkeley’s department of art history – was hired as director; in 2007 she was joined by Italian-born curator Francesco Spagnolo, a scholar of Jewish studies, musicologist, and former lecturer at UC Santa Cruz.
JUDAICA MAGNIFICA Berkeley, California
All photos courtesy of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. Pictured, left to right: A trunk from the Rosenberg Family collection, 20th century; Stereographic Cards of Temple EmanuEl in San Francisco, circa 1865-1880; The Story of Hannukah, by Ori Sherman, USA, 1985.
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T H E I M PA CT O F S T R AT E G I C P H I L A N T H R O P Y
“The new Magnes is inspiring new research by adding to the canon of Jewish studies. We encourage scholars and artists to interact with one another in a think-tank-like environment, and then present their research results and artistic expressions to the public.” Alla Effimova, Director, The Magnes Collection The Power of Collaboration The issue of funding, however, was still problematic. In 2010, Tad Taube, president of the Koret Foundation, approached his philanthropic colleague Warren Hellman and together they brokered a deal in which the entire collection was donated to UC Berkeley’s prestigious Bancroft Library, becoming The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. Meanwhile, the institution was reconfigured as The Magnes Museum Foundation, a supporting organization of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Endowment Fund and the East Bay-based Jewish Community Foundation. Its primary purpose now is to
perpetuate the legacy of the museum by supporting the programs and operations of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. The Koret Foundation joined forces with the Taube Family Foundation and the Hellman Family Foundation to jointly grant $2.5 million, guaranteeing operating funds for the first five years to help the new museum reach financial stability. Combined with proceeds from the sale of the former facility and UC Berkeley’s rich academic research resources, The Magnes was revived. Since opening in January, it has already hosted numerous talks, lectures and symposia. Current programming partners include the Jewish
UPCOMING MAGNES EXHIBITIONS FALL 2012
The Inventory Project
FALL 2012
Jewish History 101 in Art
FALL 2012
Jewish Typo/Graphics
SPRING 2013
From Another Neighborhood: Jewish Life in Kerala, India
FALL 2013
Geolocation: 100 Objects From the Jewish World
Music Festival, Lehrhaus Judaica, The Marsh Theater and other local institutions. “We’re delighted to have played a role in The Magnes’ rebirth,” says Koret President Taube. “By leveraging our resources, we have maximized its potential. it is well positioned to become a nexus of scholarly investigation, as well as a celebration of Jewish life and culture.”
Pictured clockwise from top left: A young woman’s vest, brooch, and bridal headdress ornaments, all from Djerba, Tunisia; postcard, New York, 20th century; gold locket, 1904; Passover Seder plate, Germany, 17th century; Underwood Manual Typewriter for Hebrew and Yiddish, New York, 20th century.
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KORETReport SUMMER 2011
THE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF THE KORET FOUNDATION
WWW.KORETFOUNDATION.ORG
MARK The Autobiography of a Literary Lion
Core Jewish Values: Reboot, Rediscover, Re-imagine
A Cross-Pollination of Cultures and Funders
Published exactly 100 years after the author’s death, the first volume of The Autobiography of Mark Twain has made national news since its release last fall.
Koret’s Jewish Peoplehood Initiative is helping to re-imagine the religion’s culture and traditions, making them meaningful for new generations of Jews.
San Francisco’s Fillmore neighborhood has undergone a new renaissance as the Historic Fillmore Jazz Preservation District.
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KORETReport
SUMMER 2011
In All Its Glory: The Autobiography of a Literary Lion
From the covers of Newsweek and The New York Times to a segment on PBS’s NewsHour, The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume I has made national news since its release in November 2010. The 736-page book—edited by UC Berkeley’s Mark Twain Papers & Project and published by University of California Press— quickly achieved top spots on bestseller lists of both The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Clemens felt that he had invented a new form of autobiography: “Start it at no particular time… wander at your free will all over your life; talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment; drop it the moment its interest threatens to pale; and turn your talk upon the new and more interesting thing…”
It’s an outcome that few academic researchers and editors even dream about: After spending more than four decades laboring over every fact, word, and comma of the renowned author’s memoirs, general editor Robert H. Hirst and his staff are now rock stars in the rarified world of literary publishing. Since its release—exactly 100 years after Twain’s death at the age of 74—the first volume of the planned trilogy has remained a national bestseller, with nearly half a million copies in print.
The book’s raw materials were bequeathed by Samuel Langhorne Clemens—who chose Mark Twain as his nom de plume—to his daughter, Clara, upon his death in 1910. Clara, in turn, donated them to UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library in 1962. Among the collection of about 20,000 items was a series of “Autobiographical Dictations” made over the last 35 years of Clemens’ life. The manuscript comprised more than 5,000 pages and half a million words—if stacked vertically, it would stand over twelve feet high.
Private support was essential in augmenting federal and UC funding for the project, and the Koret Foundation was a major funder of the autobiography’s first volume. Its $600,000 matching grant was responsible for $1.2 million in private gifts—27 percent of the project’s $4.5 million budget.
According to chief editor Harriet Elinor Smith, “The text was not a conventional, chronological narrative, but rather an enormous pastiche of daily impressions and memories that range all over his life in whatever order seemed interesting to him at the time.” In fact, Clemens felt that he had invented a new form of autobiography: “Start it at no particular time… wander at your free will all over your life; talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment; drop it the moment its interest threatens to pale; and turn your talk upon the new and more interesting thing…” This edition is the first to strictly follow Twain’s original intent, to include only those texts he wished included, and in the order he wanted them.
Above, left to right: Cover of the new autobiography, published by University of California Press; Mark Twain’s daughter, Clara; a postcard of Mark Twain on the decks of the USS Mariner.
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Clemens stipulated that the full autobiography should not be published until at least the centenary of his death. “At that distant date the things which I am about to say will be commonplaces of the time, and barren of offence, whereas if uttered in our day they could inflict pain upon my friends, my acquaintances, and thousands of strangers whom I have no desire to hurt, and could get me ostracized, besides, and cut off from all human fellowship.” University of California Press now expects the autobiography’s second volume to be in stores by 2013 and the third by 2015. Strong sales from the first volume will be used to create an endowment to increase editorial support and cover other costs of research and publication. “Until now, no one has ever seen it in all its glory,” Robert Hirst says of the unprecedented literary project. “I consider it a major triumph to be able to make a manuscript of this importance available to anyone who wants to read it. We are grateful beyond words for the Koret Foundation’s support, without which we might never have been able to complete the work.” Learn more about the Mark Twain Project at: http://www.marktwainproject.org/
KORETReport
Reaching Out to the Next Generation Traditionally, museums have been conceived for adults or very young children, with exhibits designed to attract either the sophisticated art or history-lover or the curious under-ten set. In recent years, however, Bay Area museums have recognized that they are missing a valuable demographic: the young professional adults who don’t typically attend exhibitions, but represent their future supporters, board members, and ticket buyers. For a variety of reasons, San Francisco is slowly shifting from a middle-class city of families to a town of affluent singles, as families migrate to
SUMMER 2012
CONTEMPORARY JEWISH MUSEUM
less expensive housing in the suburbs. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, San Francisco has the lowest percentage of children of any large city nationwide. So it makes perfect sense that a range of local organizations are featuring afterhours social-networking events designed with young adults in mind. Most provide music and cocktails, all offer an intriguing opportunity to engage with their programming in new and exciting ways. “Museums and other cultural institutions are increasingly recognizing their roles as anchor
THE EXPLORATORIUM
institutions in the city,” said Adam Hirschfelder, Koret Senior Program Officer. “By reaching out and creating special programming for the young professional demographic, these institutions are embracing a broader role in the community. What is most exciting about these efforts is that they have become part of how these organizations operate and plan for the future.” The Koret Foundation is pleased to be a part of this creative trend. Here are a few of the museums we fund that are reaching out to the next generation.
SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART
EVENT
Contemporaries, RitLab, Art Flash, Mixtape
EVENT
After Dark
EVENT
ArtRage
WHEN
Thursday nights 6 pm to 9 pm
WHEN
First Thursday of the month, 6 pm to 10 pm
WHEN
Selected Thursday evenings, 7 pm to 10 pm
¢
HOW MUCH
$5 to $15, more for Contemporaries events
¢
HOW MUCH
$15 (free for members)
¢
HOW MUCH
$5
i
FOR MORE INFO:
i
FOR MORE INFO:
www.exploratorium.edu/ afterdark
i
FOR MORE INFO:
www.thecjm.org/contemporaries
The CJM engages young adults through a variety of year-round events and programming. The Contemporaries, supported by Koret, are young professionals and art enthusiasts who collaborate with the museum on a dynamic array of social, educational, and philanthropic events, including the CJM’s signature annual “Out of Order Seder.” The museum also engages young adults through a variety of other year-round programming and events. These range from quarterly do-it-yourself (DIY)-inspired “RitLab” workshops to “Art Flash” gallery chats with curators and exhibiting artists to the Museum’s “Mixtape” series, in which artists, designers, architects, environmentalists, and other innovative thinkers come together for a live mix of short and captivating talks.
After Dark, launched with funding from Koret, combines aspects of theater, cabaret, gallery, and science experiment. Each evening showcases a different topic—from music to sex to electricity— but all include a cash bar and film screenings, plus an opportunity to play with hundreds of hands-on exhibits and mingle with scientists, artists, musicians, programmers, and designers. After Dark might present a live performance, a provocative film, interesting music, or cuttingedge technology, all of which creates an intellectually stimulating playground for adults.
Live entertainment and DIY art activities connect “ArtRagers” to the exhibitions while inspiring creativity and social interaction. DIY art stations offer “renegade craft” activities for grown-ups, and guests can pose with their creations in a digital photo booth, with the results live-streamed onto screens in SJMA’s lobby and posted to its Facebook and Flickr feeds. Many ArtRagers use their event photos as their Facebook profile photos – a powerful indicator of their new connection to SJMA.
OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Most events for young adults at the CJM take place on Thursday nights when the Museum is open until 9:00. Admission ranges from free with the price of admission ($5 after 5:00 pm on Thursdays) to $15. Separate charges apply for events hosted by the Contemporaries.
“By reaching out and creating special programming for the young professional demographic, these institutions are embracing a broader role in the community.” Adam Hirschfelder, Koret Senior Program Officer
www.sjmusart.org/event/ art-rage
EVENT
Summer Nights
EVENT
Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences
WHEN
5 pm to 9 pm
WHEN
Every Thursday night, 6 pm to 10 pm
¢
HOW MUCH
Half-price museum admission (free to $12)
¢
HOW MUCH
$12 ($10 for members)
i
FOR MORE INFO:
i
FOR MORE INFO:
www.calacademy.org/events/ nightlife
www.museumca.org/ summer-nights
The newest program of the group, Summer Nights at OMCA debuted this season, held on the final Friday of each month from April through October. The program features special evening hours, halfprice admission, extended gallery times, book signings at the OMCA store, and classic 1968 film screenings in Oak Street Plaza under the stars. In conjunction with the Museum’s exhibit focusing on that pivotal year in the Bay Area, the classic films include Bullitt, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and Revolution. From April to July, Amoeba Music DJs are also spinning ‘60s inspired sets on the Plaza.
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Each week, more than 2,000 people attend the Academy’s popular NightLife series, where they can dance to a live band or DJ, sip exotic cocktails, and explore exhibits, aquarium displays, and special planetarium shows. Weather permitting, telescopes are placed on the “living roof” for stargazing. Special themes have included robots – featuring RoboGames and OrbSWARM, comedy night with the screenwriters of Night at the Museum, shark experts, and wine education (with tastings, of course).
T H E I M PA CT O F S T R AT E G I C P H I L A N T H R O P Y
Courtesy of the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
Never a Dull Masterpiece The Art and Life of Gertrude Stein
Courtesy of the Yale Collection of American Literature
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
“It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.”
A highlight of the SFMOMA show is this iconic portrait of Gertrude Stein by Pablo Picasso. “I have always noticed that in portraits of really great writers,” Stein wrote, “the mouth is always firmly closed.”
With her brothers Leo and Michael, Michael’s wife Sarah, and her partner Alice B. Toklas, Stein took a leading role in the avant-garde arts scene in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. As a writer, her experiments in language reflected what her Cubist painter friends were exploring on canvas: She broke new ground using deconstruction and repetition, creating such memorable lines as “rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.” Her original, interdisciplinary approach came to life through collaborations in opera, ballet, music, theater, and writing that redefined their genres. Henri Matisse’s “Femme au Chapeau” created the controversy that led to the birth of the modern art movement known as Fauvism.
“A masterpiece may be unwelcome,” Gertrude Stein was fond of saying, “but it is never dull.” The same could be said of this Bohemian priestess who became one of the most influential American artists of the last century. This spring and summer, the Bay Area has been celebrating Stein and her remarkable legacy with collaborative shows at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM). The Koret Foundation has been a leading funder of both exhibits, encouraging creative collaboration among our cultural institutions.
Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories at the Contemporary Jewish Museum is the first major museum exhibition to fully present Stein’s life, work, and relationships. The exhibit provides an intimate look into her writing, arts patronage, and unorthodox lifestyle, as well as ways in which her contributions have influenced many generations of writers, artists, musicians, and performers. As a result of the show, “Our admission revenues have ranked the fifth highest since the museum’s opening in 2008,” says CJM Director and CEO Connie Wolf. “Attendance at our public programming has far exceeded expectations, and many programs have sold out.”
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Stein with her lifelong partner, Alice B. Toklas. “Nature is commonplace. Imitation is more interesting.”
As collectors, the Steins established a new standard of taste for modern art and promoted the careers of the emerging artists they befriended. SFMOMA teamed with New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Paris’ Réunion des Musées Nationaux to create the world premiere of The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. The major touring exhibition gathers approximately 200 iconic paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, and illustrated books as well as a rich array of archival materials. A centerpiece of the show is Matisse’s Femme au Chapeau (1905), part of SFMOMA’s permanent collection, which originally created such a scandal that observers tried to scratch off its paint. In conjunction with the exhibition, SFMOMA’s Live Art program restaged a production of Four Saints in Three Acts (1934), composer Virgil Thomson’s experimental opera based on Gertrude Stein’s original play that became a Broadway hit. Related programming has included films, lectures, performances, poetry slams, art classes, and courses taught through UC Berkeley Extension. Learn more about these Koret grantees at: http://www.thecjm.org/ http://www.sfmoma.org/
Tragon Capabilities Brochure This high-end piece was designed to re-invent a sensory testing firm that was struggling with an outdated image in the market-place. As the sole writer, I worked with Pentagram Design to develop the creative concept. We gave the client an interactive format to engage the readers, who range from marketing executives to research and development specialists. The 50-page brochure includes small booklets or fold-outs contained within each spread to heighten the reader’s interest.
Get Inside the Mind of Your Consumer
Why Tragon? Because we listen to your consumers. We’re in the business of finding out not only what they want, but why. We’re different from other sensory and market research firms because we get inside the minds of your customers and listen to them, in their own words, rather than filtering through “trained experts” and pre-approved jargon to describe your product’s qualities. We believe that your consumer is the besttrained expert you’ll ever have. We know how to take an up-close, quantifiable look at the human sensory experience and transform it into something that can be measured, controlled, and improved to achieve your goals in the marketplace. How will consumers use your product? Why is your product not selling well? Where is the gap in your product line, and what’s the perfect fit for that gap? We don’t know yet, but we’ll find out.
Since its founding in 1974, Tragon has led the field of sensory evaluation. Our scientists, technologists, and marketing specialists pioneered many of the methodologies considered industry standard today. We’re on the leading edge of innovation, designing techniques and creative solutions to each of our clients’ particular needs, with approaches grounded in hard science— not unproven gimmicks. We’re ready to partner with you to design research that unlocks your product’s most challenging marketing problems. And we’re fast and precise. Our state-of-theart technology, such as direct-data entry and interactive online monitoring, enables us to give you the most exacting and timely results possible. For three decades we’ve helped businesses around the world define and improve their position in the marketplace. Now let Tragon do the same for you.
Perhaps you’re a manufacturer of sporting goods. You’ve built a strong brand name on overall performance in the field, but your company hasn’t made a basic running shoe that meets the expectations of your broadest customer base. Or you may have been so focused on design elements, you haven’t thought enough about your end user. Is the shoe designed for the casual jogger or for the professional runner? If you’re a typical manufacturer, you may have been getting feedback from an elite athlete, not from your everyday runner. Who’s going to purchase those shoes? Who do you want to purchase those shoes? Tragon will find out how your target consumer experiences your product.
How does the How should the tread respond to different surfaces?
Where should
width affect
the runner’s foot
performance
feel the greatest
and comfort?
impact? What is the proper absorption for this kind of shoe?
The average consumer of running shoes buys a new pair every three to six months. That’s the good news. Your customers are buying for style, an identifiable brand name, but once they wear the shoe, they won’t buy it again unless the choice works for them. If you’re not designing the shoe specifically for amateur runners, you will have invested your resources in branding, not in the consumer’s personal experience with the shoe. Repeat purchase is what it’s all about in this business, and by now many running stores will no longer carry your brand. So despite a strong brand image, your product could be lagging behind in the race to dominate market share. How should
What are the most
the design of a
appealing colors for your target
women’s shoe differ from that of
How well does the
a men’s shoe?
material breathe? Where should the
How much should
reflective surfaces go?
it breathe?
customer?
Tragon begins by identifying key usability issues in early product exploration. What is it about your shoe that’s causing buyers to go elsewhere? What’s working and what’s not? We involve the consumer early on to shorten the product development cycle. We identify your primary competitors, usage situations, and consumer behaviors. At Tragon, we take the process far beyond the standard focus group that lasts for a couple of hours and returns soft and unquantifiable impressions. We conduct multiple testing sessions to identify your product’s key challenges–such as How easily do the laces tie? What material keeps What is the condition of the interior cushion after running a mile? Five miles?
What are the ideal dimensions in the toe box, relative to the width?
them tied snugly?
fit, performance, style, or wear. We conduct consumer immersion testing, giving our subjects specific tasks to perform before, during, and after their discussion sessions. Our test subjects not only try the shoes on, they take them home, run with them, carry them in a gym bag, and even bring back other running shoes they like better. By using real people to interact with your product in real situations, we give you an invaluable conversation with your target customer. Consumer participation provides a view into the market’s unmet needs, and new ideas can be discovered. How durable are the materials over time? How much padding is needed at the ankle?
Cedars-Sinai Casebook For Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s $350-million endowment campaign, Discovering for Life, I partnered with another writer to produce the text for this 44-page casebook aimed at major donors.
8700 Beverly Boulevard, Suite 2416, Los Angeles, California 90048 tel 310.423.3661 fax 310.423.8244 www.cedars-sinai.edu
a passion for life Where does discovery begin? Is it under a microscope, sparked by a flash of insight? At a patient’s bedside? Is it born of curiosity? Of compassion? At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center—where breakthrough biomedical research and compassionate care evolve together—discovery flourishes in many places, from laboratory to clinic. But it begins in the heart. Today, more than 700 leading-edge research projects are exploring the human body at a molecular level and testing therapies with the potential to transform lives. No matter how advanced the science, we measure its value in human terms: a new baby, a track coach, a gifted singer, a grandmother who works wonders in the kitchen and dispenses wisdom in the living room. Our work grows from human inspiration and a passion for life.
the quest for discovery We are poised to pioneer the next generation of biomedical breakthroughs. Yet our quest will not advance without the support of people who share our vision. Through Discovering for Life: The Campaign for Cedars-Sinai, we invite you to partner with us to translate research into cures. This $350 million endowment campaign will provide ongoing support for biomedical research and ensure that we can continue to find cures and treatments for some of the greatest health threats of our time. In the pages that follow, you will learn about the challenges our campaign addresses. You will hear from Cedars-Sinai people—patients, scientists, physicians, philanthropists—who are devoted to improving and saving lives or have directly benefited from our research. Their stories reveal a timeless truth: Life is a gift. The opportunity to invest in it is a privilege, a joy, and a responsibility we all share.
Dr. Beth Karlan searches for answers at the molecular level. “I’ve always been fascinated by what distinguishes a cancer cell from a normal cell,” she says. “What’s the underlying difference when you look under the microscope? What are the genetic triggers? And how does this information affect how we treat cancer in individual patients?” Dr. Karlan began studying cancer tissue samples derived from patients during surgery in the early 1990s, in an effort to discover new targets for therapy and early detection. Under her leadership, the Women’s Cancer Research Institute works side by side with Cedars-Sinai’s patient care programs and services to bring the most innovative laboratory discoveries directly to women with breast and/or gynecologic cancers. “One of the privileges of being in academic medicine is the ability to seek and discover new medical truths, to constantly ask ‘why,’ and to strive to reduce human suffering,” she explains. “At Cedars-Sinai, we build on each discovery with knowledge from decades of experience. To have the resources to conduct research at the scientific forefront and then provide state-of-the-art care—that’s the very definition of translational research.” Thanks to advances in molecular biology and hundreds of clinical trials, we are entering the age of individualized cancer treatments. Dr. Karlan predicts that reliable screening tests for many types of cancer will be available in the next five to ten years. Technology is on the cusp of personalized therapies based on the patient’s genetic history and risk factors. Research, education, early detection, prevention—all are key to overcoming the challenges of cancer.
“We’ll be able to reclassify cancers not just by looking at them under the microscope, but also through detailed genetic analysis. We’ll customize treatments for each patient that reduce toxicities while improving outcomes.”
discovering for life 11
making history . . . The Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute’s exceptional innovations in the field of oncology and cancer treatment include:
• Building a state-of-the-art cancer clinical trials unit at the Board of Governors Center for Cancer Research • Developing technology that delivers cancer drugs past the blood-brain barrier • Opening a dedicated center for breast cancer testing, treatment, support, and education • Creating one of the oldest and largest tissue banks of its kind, which provides valuable samples and clinical data to cancer researchers throughout the world • Pioneering the use of minimally invasive surgery for lung cancer • Launching the Spielberg Family Center for Applied Proteomics to guide doctors in choosing the most effective treatment for a patient on an individual level, through a broad-spectrum study of proteins
. . . on the horizon Your support will enable our biomedical researchers to continue exploring cancer prevention, treatments, and cures through innovative approaches such as:
• Finding ways to block cancer growth by turning off signaling pathways • New gene therapy techniques to treat malignant brain tumors • Technology to detect precancerous conditions and early cancers without surgery or biopsy • Using micro-satellite probes to pinpoint the location of tumor-suppressing genes that undergo changes when cancer strikes. • The development at the Sumner Redstone Prostate Cancer Research Program of a new class of drugs that attack cancer cells—but not healthy cells
cancer It happens like this: You are in the midst of life, thinking about your job, what’s for dinner, or the new shortstop on the Little League team, when someone in a white coat looks you in the eye and says the word, “Cancer.” Suddenly you know the fear these two syllables can bring. This year alone nearly 1.5 million men and women in the United States will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. More than one-third will die from the disease. Yet today there are glimmers of hope. Cedars-Sinai’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute is leading the way in the rapid translation of science into lifesaving treatments for cancer. Advanced techniques and drug therapies move quickly from the laboratory to our patients, giving them every possible advantage—and generating new approaches that can be shared worldwide. Gifts to the Campaign for Cedars-Sinai will endow biomedical research that expands the care options and renews the hope of cancer patients everywhere. With your help, we can quicken our pace.
discovering for life 13
California Academy of Sciences Telefund Brochure I was a regular writer for the new California Academy of Sciences’ $460-million capital campaign. This 12-panel, fold-out pamphlet was sent as a follow-up to every Academy member who had received a telefundraising phone call. As with most of the Academy’s collateral, the tone is lively, playful, and family-oriented.
Sumne Age 12 Wants Or May
Star-gazers. Butterfly buffs. Penguin pals. Dinosaur fans. People who know the greenest answer to “paper or plastic?” (Cloth. I brought my own.) Lifelong learners. They’re all Life enthusiasts— and they all have a home at the new California Academy of Sciences. You, too. Meet a few friends. Then tell us, “What’s your Life story?”
Sumne insects Ants: H wait to the new more in school, leafcut It’s a rh
uin pals. the stic?” ng asts— ew You, l us,
Sumner Hearth Age 12 Wants to Be an Entomologist. Or Maybe a Lepidopterist.
Joa Ac Sp
Sumner Hearth got hooked on “social insects” at the Academy’s exhibit Ants: Hidden Worlds Revealed. He can’t wait to visit the rainforest dome when the new Academy opens. “It’s much more interesting than science at school,” he says. “Does school have live leafcutter ants or a giant aquarium?” It’s a rhetorical question.
Joa mo wo sh the thr an Pre “Be pla
Joann Franklin-Knox Academy Docent and Donor Space Maven.
social it e can’t when much t ave live um?”
Ja Af Al
N wh is Al co no da ch gl th Joann follows dark matter. And plenty more. In 15 years as a docent, she’s worked harder than at any paying job she ever held. But she loves explaining the natural world, especially evolution through cosmology (study of space), and astrobiology (life in outer space). Preserving our own planet is a priority. “Because we haven’t yet found another place to go!”
plenty he’s ng job laining olution ace), pace). priority. another
Jahleel African Penguin Alpha Female. Boss of the World.
D A H
Named for a South African island where her species originates, Jahleel is matriarch of the penguin colony. Although the African penguin is considered at risk for extinction if not protected, Jahleel spends her days eating fish and playing tag with children on the other side of the glass. “Want to find me? Look for the white band on my left wing.”
A th w 40 cl lik ot up A w no su
d.
Dave Chan Aquatic Biologist Has Net, Will Travel.
d hleel ny.
Lu M W for
Lu Ac na sta on the se ex Lu my
if r with
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Among Dave Chan’s many titles at the Academy is fish wrangler. His ribs were once nearly broken by a speeding, 40-pound yellowtail while he was cleaning a tank. “There’s no place like this,” he marvels. “Like so many other Bay Area natives who’ve grown up visiting on school field trips, the Academy will always be a place of wonder and discovery for me.” When not in a wetsuit, Dave loves to eat sushi. Especially the yellowtail.
Okay, it’s a cool building—but what happens inside is even more exciting. Education. Research. Learning. Thinking. Fun. There’s a story about Life in every square inch of the place. calacademy.org/newacademy
Can you find a star?
Wha
Hey! Look at that! At the new Morrison Planetarium, built over the 212,000-gallon living coral reef tank, and designed to imitate the 23-degree tilt of planet Earth, you’ll see the Universe and solar system develop around you. There it is— Alpha Centauri, just 4.3 light years from our sun.
Better ye in the fo (Borneo flooded Academ flowers, ants, glo Ride the the Cos Amazon count th
what xciting. Thinking. n every
What color is a rainforest?
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Better yet, what colors will you find in the four rainforest environments (Borneo, Madagascar, Costa Rica, flooded Amazon) in the new Academy? Deep purple princess flowers, coffee-brown leafcutter ants, glowing day geckos, and more. Ride the glass elevators from the Costa Rican canopy to the Amazonian forest floor—and just count the colors.
500,000 that que immerse and colle listen to microsco sky. Teen science Post-gra side by s Ph.D. res will help of citizen
The Campaign for Berkeley Website The challenge in writing for websites is to write succinctly and still remain compelling. Here are just two examples of case summaries I wrote for about 25 academic units participating in UC Berkeley’s new $3-billion endowment campaign, each under 100 words. The target audience is potential donors at every level.
TheThe Campaign Campaign for Berkeley for Berkeley College College of Engineering of Engineering Making Making a world a world of difference of difference From the the early detection of rare cancers to finding newnew sources From early detection of rare cancers to finding sources of clean, renewable energy, the the faculty andand students at Berkeof clean, renewable energy, faculty students at Berkeley’sley’s College of Engineering are are changing our our planet for the College of Engineering changing planet for the better. OurOur stature as aas leader in technological innovation andand better. stature a leader in technological innovation the the education of highly qualified engineering talent is based on on education of highly qualified engineering talent is based Berkeley’s ability to recruit the the brightest minds in the field, thenthen Berkeley’s ability to recruit brightest minds in the field, to support theirtheir teaching andand research. Generous private support to support teaching research. Generous private support willwill playplay a critical rolerole in Berkeley Engineering’s capacity to to a critical in Berkeley Engineering’s capacity educate leaders, develop newnew technologies, ignite the the economy, educate leaders, develop technologies, ignite economy, andand make a world of difference. make a world of difference. Campaign giving opportunity highlights Campaign giving opportunity highlights Endowed faculty chair Endowed faculty chair Berkeley graduate fellowship Berkeley graduate fellowship Undergraduate scholarship Undergraduate scholarship Endowed general funds Endowed general funds Undergraduate lab lab renewal Undergraduate renewal
For For More Information: More Information: College Relations College Relations College of Engineering College of Engineering University of California, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley 208208 McLaughlin HallHall # 1722 McLaughlin # 1722 Berkeley, California 94720-1722 Berkeley, California 94720-1722 510.642.2487 510.642.2487 coe.berkeley.edu coe.berkeley.edu Make an online gift gift to the College of Engineering Make an online to the College of Engineering
Campaign for Berkeley TheThe Campaign for Berkeley School of Optometry School of Optometry TheThe vision to serve vision to serve Today, the majority of blindness is preventable or curable, Today, the majority of blindness is preventable or and curable, and treatment for macular degeneration, a leading cause of cause blindness in treatment for macular degeneration, a leading of blindness in seniors, is on the horizon. Yet there is a tremendous need for eye care seniors, is on the horizon. Yet there is a tremendous need for eye ca among our underserved communities, particularly children and the elamong our underserved communities, particularly childreninand the derly. Berkeley’s School of Optometry has long defined excellence derly. Berkeley’s School of Optometry long defined excellence optometric education. Our Doctor of Optometryhas program is renowned education. Our Doctor Optometry program is renown for optometric its close integration of curriculum andof clinical application. At the fortime, its close integration of curriculum and clinical At th same the school consistently advances vision science application. with an impressive arraythe of faculty innovative teaching and research same time, school whose consistently advances vision science with an keep Berkeley’sarray Optometry School at the innovative forefront of teaching its peers. and research impressive of faculty whose keep Berkeley’s Optometry School at the forefront of its peers.
Campaign giving opportunity highlights Endowment for graduate student support Campaign giving opportunity highlights Endowment for faculty research and training
Endowment for graduate student support Endowment for faculty research and training
For more information: Tammy Spath information: For more Director of Philanthropy School of Optometry Tammy Spath University of California, Berkeley Director of Philanthropy 302 Minor Hall # 2020 SchoolCA of 94720-2020 Optometry Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley 510.642.2643 302 Minor Hall # 2020 tspath@berkeley.edu Berkeley, CA 94720-2020 optometry.berkeley.edu
510.642.2643
Make an online gift to the School of Optometry tspath@berkeley.edu
optometry.berkeley.edu
Make an online gift to the School of Optometry
Decanting Wine Country Guidebooks This series of 100-page, regional guidebooks was developed to showcase high-end food, wine, and hospitality resources for the wine-loving tourist. As the sole writer on this project, I developed the editorial format and voice, interviewed participating members, and wrote all copy.
Deborah Jones Photography
Yountville
frenchlaundry.com
6640 Washington Street Yountville, CA 94599
944-2380
Chef de Cuisine Corey Lee, a recipient of the James Beard Rising Chef Award, oversees a menu which features signature dishes such as oysters and pearls and sweet-butter poached lobster. Each course is the accumulation of hours of commitment and is so intricately combined that one marvels at their flavors, textures and artistry. “Respect for food is a respect for life,” Keller has said, “for who we are and what we do.”
7 0 7
Ruth Reichl, restaurant critic for The New York Times, has called it “The most exciting place to eat in the United States.” She was talking about The French Laundry, and her sentiments have been echoed by the praise of critics and guests worldwide. Chef/owner Thomas Keller’s culinary artistry and unrelenting respect for top ingredients have made him widely regarded as America’s finest chef. Most recently, the French-based Michelin Guide bestowed three stars to both The French Laundry and Per Se, Keller’s restaurant in New York City, making Keller the first and only American-born chef to have two three-star restaurants since the guide’s inception in 1900. Keller purchased the restaurant in 1994 after discovering the building, a 1,600-square-foot structure of river rock and timbers that was built in 1900, in north Yountville.
Reservations Two Months to Calendar Date
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Sebastopol
paulhobbs.com
824-9879 7 0 7
Robert Parker, Jr. has called him a “truffle-hunting dog” for his uncanny ability to identify premium vineyards and named him “Most Important Winemaker in California” in 2004. Paul Hobbs is also one of the very few to garner a perfect 100 points from the renowned wine critic. For the past thirty years, he honed his skills as a winemaker and consultant to leading California wineries; he also shares his expertise in Argentina, Chile, and Hungary, where he is changing the landscape of viticulture in those countries. But his home-base is here in Sonoma County, where Paul Hobbs Winery creates small-lot, vineyard-designate wines – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet – from select vineyards in the Sonoma and Napa Valleys. His vision has resulted in complex, structured wines that come from a marriage of Old World principles and a modern Californian sensibility. The fourteen-acre Lindsay Vineyard, located in the Russian River Valley, is planted to five clones of Pinot Noir. The meticulously hand-crafted techniques in Hobbs’ gravity-flow winery include native yeast fermentation, aging in French oak barrels, and unfined and unfiltered bottling. “I describe my winemaking style as modern classic,” Hobbs says. “Making wine, like living well, is a balance of experience and intuition, discipline and discovery.”
3355 Gravenstein Highway North Sebastopol, CA 95472 Mailing list members, by appointment only
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