Colorado Springs Criminal Defense Attorney

We are proud the announce the launch of colorado springs criminal defense attorney Sarah Christensen's new website. Ms. Christensen practices felony and drug posession defense among many other specialties. Her website is available at http://www.springscriminaldefenseattorney.com/.

Denver Assisted Living

We just launched a beta version of the Denver Assisted Living Guide. The site can be found at http://www.denverassistedliving.net/. This website helps guide users through the process of finding an assisted living facility in Denver for either themselves or their loved ones. If you own or manage an assisted living center in Denver, this website is an excellent source for referrals.

Geoffrey S. Gulinson Website Completed

We have completed the Denver personal injury attorney site for Geoffrey S. Gulinson and Associates, P.C. Geoff had a really interesting challenge for us. In addition to his law firm's website, he also wanted to create a searchable database of Colorado resources his injury clients could use to find assistance while they went through litigation. Some of these resources included rental assistance, medical providers, food, shelter, and resources for injury victims with children (such as Toys for Tots and Coats for Kids). To do this we created a database using MySQL and wrote code to retrieve topic, county, and city specific information with PHP. The end result is an easy to navigate resource for those needing assistance in Colorado. We applaud Geoff for his dedication in helping his clients in as many aspects as possible. It is already apparent that this community resource is a valuable tool.

Valet Ticket Advertising

We just launched a new website for valet ticket advertising company ValetAds. Valet ticket advertising reaches the educated and affluent where they dine, shop, and play. Valet ticket advertising also cuts through the clutter often found in tradional advertising. If you are looking for a new way to reach the educated and affluent, please visit ValetAds.com.

Video Settlement Brochures

Video Settlement Brochures
We have just launched a new Law Father website related to Video Settlement Brochures. Please contact LawFather.net to learn more about their legal marketing services.

Marketing to an Older Demographic

The US Census Bureau predicts that by 2010 13.1 percent of the population will be 65 years old or older. North America’s is the second largest population of that composition, next to Europe. Demographers examining age-structure note that a population is considered old if more than 10% of its composition is made up by those who are 65 or older. By these standards it is obvious that the US population is aging, and quickly. 14.1 percent will be 65+ by 2020 and a whopping 17 percent by 2030! This means that by 2030 over 1 in every 6 people in the United States will be 65 or older. It is estimated that the 65+ population will start to decline after 2030, but not nearly as fast as it rose. This means the issue of an older population (who may or may not be reliant on the younger population) will be one we will all be facing for some time to come.

This "coming of age" presents some interesting challenges for marketers. Economists note a number of financial concerns related to this growing older population. Among them is the fact that if money continues to flow the way it is currently, with fewer and fewer young people emphasizing saving over consumption in their lives, a majority of the country's wealth will belong to the 65+ demographic in the next 10 to 20 years. With that being said it seems obvious that the importance of establishing emotional and sustainable relationships with baby boomers now may be the ticket to growth in the future. Also of extreme importance for companies and marketers will be staying keen to the needs of this population as it evolves and grows older. If your business model sells kitchen faucets to fresh out of grad school DINKs (dual income no kids), you may also want to add a line of easy in/out tubs if you want to see your business continue to grow 10 years down the road.

Kiel, Trueax and Gold, LLC Website

We have launched the Colorado Workers Compensation legal website for the law firm of Kiel, Trueax and Gold, LLC in Greenwood Village, CO.

Attorney David Chase Website

We are pleased to announce the launch of Securities Fraud Defense Attorney David Chase's website. Mr. Chase is working with Law Father on a series of legal websites that demonstrate the specialized areas of his securities fraud practice. Visit Attorney David at http://www.securitiesfrauddefense.net/.

House Candidate Tom Russell Website

Luther Media is excited to announce the launch of Colorado House District 6 Candidate Tom Russell's website http://www.votetomrussell.com/. Please take note of the custom video media center. Luther Media has added web video to our offerings, including 1080i high-definition shooting and production.

Runway Clothes Consignment's Website

Luther Media has had the pleasure of working on Evelyn Stephens' latest inspiration Runway Clothes Consignment, which Luther Media helped launch with Evelyn in December of 2007. Evelyn has a distinguished 30-year career in high-end retail, working with a long list of designers, including Adolfo, Bill Blass, Oscar de La Renta, Alberta Ferretti, Carolina Herrera, Linda Allard, Judith Leiber, Carlos Falchi, Dana Buckman, Calvin Klein, and Geoffrey Beene.

RunwayClothesConsignment.com offers an opportunity to either empty or fill your closet by providing an easy to use online market place for buying or selling used fine designer clothing. RunwayClothesConsignment.com also offers a strong marketing program that supports sellers by generating more traffic to the website through creative marketing initiatives.

If you are looking to buy, sell, or consign used designer clothing online, please visit http://www.runwayclothesconsignment.com/ or email Evelyn at evelyn@runwayclothesconsignment.com.

Meme Marketing -


Richard Dawkins coined the word “meme” in his 1976 book titled The Selfish Gene. The word meme (according to its inventor) refers to “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation (2006).” The Journal of Memetrics (2007) states that “a meme can be defined as an information pattern, held in an individual’s memory or in an outside artifact (e.g. book, record or tool), which is likely to be communicated or copied to another individual’s memory.” The journal includes examples such as ideas, technologies, theories, songs, fashions, beliefs, values, and behaviors. Those that write on Memetrics say memes differ on their level of “fitness”. Weaker memes eventually die and are replaced by the healthier, heartier memes. The basic model for meme life and death is straight from the writings of Darwin. A weak meme is destroyed or over run by a stronger, more survival able meme that takes its place. Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” is applied to memes as cultural transmissions. Those memes that pose a superior ability to be replicated will be replicated, whether historically accurate or not. In Darwinian biological science, an organism reproduces the genes that are best suited for the organism’s survival and voids the rest. In the study of Memetrics, human society is the organism which selectively replicates healthy memes and discards the weaker memes. Through generations the competing memes fight each other for replication. They replicate and continue to move through generations per the “survival of the fittest” model. How could the idea of memes be incorporated into advertising and what would an advertising model based on Memetrics look like?

Additional Reading on Memes Found Here:

Journal of Memetrics (2007). About Memetrics. Retrieved 07/21/2007 from http://www.jom-emit.org/

Dawkins, Richard (2006). The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition. Oxford Press.

Emotional Branding: A Brief History
by Travis Scott Luther - President, Luther Media
http://www.luthermedia.com

Emotional branding is defined in a 2006 American Marketing Association Journal of Marketing as “a consumer centric, relational and story-driven approach to forging deep and enduring affective bonds between consumers and brands (50)”. In 1943, after leaving Roosevelt’s Farm Security Administration, Roy Stryker took a job with Standard oil. His assignment was to document the benefits of oil on everyday life in the United States. But Stryker wasn’t just merely documenting everyday life with the over 100,000 photographic imagines, Stryker wanted to take the kind of photos that, from what he said, “can comprehend what a truck driver, or a farmer, or a driller or a housewife thinks and feels and translate those thoughts and feelings into pictures that can be similarly comprehended by anyone” (The Photographers). From 1943 to 1950, Stryker enlisted the skills of the best photographers of the time. Stryker made sure they were well-informed about their assigned area, its people, economy and even its politics. He often gave his photographers books to read and would encourage them to look at assignments in new and different ways. Stryker felt that an educated, sensitive photographer would produce images that "would mirror both his understanding and his compassion." Through Roy Stryker, Standard Oil wasn’t just collecting a socio-geographic portrait of the time; they were in fact building a consumer-centric, relational, and story-driven approach to forging deep and enduring affective bonds between consumers and their brand. Click here to read the rest of the article....

The Importance Of Those “Little Governments of Neighborhoods”

by Travis Scott Luther - President, Luther Media http://www.luthermedia.com

Non-profits are the new frontier in self-governance and accountability for citizens of a country where the government has whittled away at the country’s social welfare and consumer protection programs.

In his 1990 preface to Strong Democracy, Barber (1984) was already saying about the 80’s that “a decade defined by greed, narcissism, and hostility to big government has produced an interest in community service and an affection for the little government of neighborhoods and towns” (pg. xxiii).

The United States government has privatized most industries in this country. This privatization has taken over social welfare programs such as health care, prison systems, and control over our countries natural resources. This corporate take over has made access to these programs and resources available to only those who can afford them instead of access being available to those who need them. Government officials have bent to pressure lobbied against them by the big businesses that now supports their campaigns. Government has removed most federal restrictions on the cost of access to these resources. Government has also reduced funding and the authority of federal safety agencies such as OSHA, the FDA, and the EPA. This has allowed dangerous drugs to be rushed to market, VIOXX for example, and corporations to continue to do business that pollutes our environment.

Citizen action groups are those “little governments of neighborhoods” Barber was speaking of when he wrote Strong Democracy. They are using their tax exempt status of a 501 (c) (3) tax shelter to set up shop and educate consumers about what they are facing today and may face in the future. Non-profits are working in the legislature to use the power of the vote over the power of the dollar to motivate law makers to act responsible. Non-profits are forming large membership rolls of supporters and are the collective voice of area voters. Non-profits can organize and control what big business still cannot buy; a citizen’s vote. As non-profits’ voices become stronger, they can shift more power from money and big business to citizenry and votes. This is because effective non-profits are getting out the vote and no politician can stay in power long without the support of their voting constituents. Non-profits are smart to organize those constituents and threaten irresponsible law makers with a drought on votes and support.

Thirteen years after Barber said coming was an accelerated interest in community service, he wrote in his 2003 preface that “the informal strong democratic forces that are both responsible for Rights Watch, Transparency International, Attac, and MoveOn, suggest that global governance is more likely to emerge in time from the work of citizens and their civic organizations rather than from governments or international agencies” (pg. xviii). Barber seemed to be on to something 13 years ago when he predicted the boom in non-profits that now sees 2.5 billion dollars a year donated from private citizens to Colorado non-profits alone. Over the last 10 years non-profits have proved themselves a necessity for consumer protection in the United States. I would predict that Barbers 2013 preface will see them populating, protecting, and educating the entire world.

Careering and Re-Careering for the 90’s?!?!?

by Travis Luther

Nope, this isn’t an old edition of the newsletter. That’s the title of a book I purchased
recently at the Auraria Campus Library. Once a year they weed out their collection and for $3 a bag, you can buy some of the most interesting crap printed in book form. But, as the 90’s are fast approaching, I thought it best I get on board and….wait a second. The 90’s are long gone, especially in dog years. What I found interesting enough about the book to buy it, was it’s timeless advice, which the book touts will give you “skills and strategies for shaping your future”. Doing a little research, I found the author has a plethora of other career books on the market, including ones related to Re-Careering for the 80’s and recently one subtitled Re-Careering in the New Boom Bust Economy. Obviously, there is a lot changing from decade to decade in terms of positioning yourself for the next big wave of career shake-ups. Or is there? It appears from all of the books on the market that the only stable occupation form decade to decade is a career as a career author!

Now before you all run out and trade in your PDA’s for typewriters, I wanted to point out that some things are timeless. I’ve looked into other career books by other career authors (that’s why this newsletters a little late this month, I was buried in them) and no matter what decade you’re Careering or Re-Careering for, there are some consistent great points from all the books to bear in mind. The points below are some I have gathered and some of my thoughts on what they mean today. Even if you are quite pleased with where you are at, these items can help elevate you in your current position.

Choose Your Future
I have a little brother who, for a very long time, let life happen to him rather than making it happen. I was constantly telling him “Matt, you have to stop moving up and down and start moving forward.” As long as he continued to borrow money from me, he had to listen. He grew very tired of that and I’m happy to announce he will be graduating from college this June. The point is, it’s a lot easier to sit around and complain about what you don’t have than to work hard to get it. From Good to Great talks about the difference between a Show Horse and a Work Horse. Nothing you want from life comes from looking pretty. You have to get up every morning and plow that field.

Discipline your Thinking
This is a hard one. You are what you eat and what you think! A good baseball player has a .250 batting average. That average is good enough to earn millions of dollars a year in the MLB but it also means that that player only gets it right 25% of the time! The other 75% of the time he’s striking out or flying out to the outfield. You have to believe that every time you take a swing, you’re going to knock one out of the park. No matter how many times you’ve struck out or popped out, when someone hands you the bat, you better be ready to earn those millions! You have to spend time in the batting cage, envisioning those home runs. You also have to practice your celebratory laps around the bases so you don't run into anybody or trip (be a humble player). And you have to remember to get right back to the dugout, because in not too long, your going to be up to bat again!

Choose the Right Resources
I believe it was Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, who when once asked about his success replied, “Hire people smarter than you and then get the hell out of their way.” I believe the best resources are people. No interview is ever as scary for the interviewee as it is for the person who has to do the hiring! You have to make smart hiring decisions. You also have to choose and pursue leaders in the company that you can surround yourself with. I am only a good guitar player because I surrounded myself with musicians who were MUCH better than I.

Take Initiative: Empower Yourself
NOTHING makes me happier that an employee with an idea and a plan. Even if that employee has 99 bad ideas, never discourage them from thinking. Eventually they will stumble upon something brilliant! Why? Because their always thinking about ways to improve the company. Take initiative to develop the projects you want to work on. Do the very best at what you’re assigned and then don’t be afraid to approach your boss because you’re worried they’ll think your stupid. A good employer needs thinkers, not just doers. Empower yourself.

Marketing Insights from Travis Luther, President - Luther Media


“All Marketers Are Liars:
The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World”

The title above is from what has become one of my favorite books by Seth Godin. Some of you who do not recognize Seth’s name may recognize the title of his most famous book “Purple Cow.” In “All Marketers are Liars,” Godin insists that successful marketers don’t talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want to believe. The inside cover of this book reads “This is a book about doing what consumers demand—painting vivid pictures that they choose to believe.” Every organization—from non-profits to car companies, from political campaigns to wineglass blowers—must understand that the rules have changed. In an economy where most people have an infinite number of choices (and no time to make them), every organization is a marketer and all marketing is about telling stories. Godin concludes that marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview, a story we intuitively embrace and then share with our friends. How much time do we spend thinking about our consumer bases world view rather than our own company’s features or benefits? Maybe not as much as we should. But how do we find ways to make emotional connections when financial ones seem to be less and less important? Maybe we should first consider that since we work with a luxury demographic, the money is already there to spend. Our demographic doesn’t want to tell their friends how they ripped us off and got out of our store with a killer deal! They want to tell their friends a story about being treated like royalty, how someone opened the door, called them by name and welcomed them in!

Here’s an idea for those of you in Real Estate:

At your open houses, put some coffee on and bake some of those prepackaged cookie dough cookies or rolls every hour or two. Put on some easy & quite music and “tell the story” of what your customer’s new home will smell like Saturday morning as they prepare for their weekend. Sit down at a big kitchen table and share those cookies with them and “tell the story” of gathering with friends in their new dining room. Walk up and down the street and talk to the neighbors and find out who moved in when, where their kids go to school, when John Smith two houses down plans on fixing that lawn mower in his yard. Tell your open house visitors the “story” about the neighborhood. Not it’s history, but what it is now. Are homebuyers really as concerned with 1.5 vs. 2 bathrooms? I think their really concerned with what their world looks like every morning when they wake up.

And this applies to everyone:

Does your showroom smell like your service center? Do service professionals march in and out of your showroom? What story does that tell? Does your showroom tell a story about new cars or the broken ones in the service garage next door? No matter how nice your showroom and how comfortable you try and make a customer feel, the biggest thing they will remember about their experience is the inconsistencies. Everything could have been perfect EXCEPT the banging of a tire iron from your service shop next door. Finding a way to limit those distractions, smells and inconsistencies will help write and improve your “story.”

Seth Godin starts his book with these words I will end with…

“Don’t just tell me the facts,
Tell me the story instead.
Be remarkable!
Be consistent!
Be authentic!
Tell your story to people who are inclined to believe it.
Marketing is powerful. Use it wisely.”

From Travis Luther, Luther Media - Something to ponder about the New Ceo's.....written by Thomas Frank

"The corporate takeover of life is coming; in fact, it's already happened. But what makes the culture of the businessman's republic so interesting is not that it demands order, conformity, gray clothes, and Muzak, but that it presents itself as an opponent to those very conceptions of corporate life. Those who speak for the new order aren't puritanical; they're hip; they're fully tuned in to youth culture; they listen to alternative rock while they work; they fantasize about smashing convention. Business theory today is about revolution, not about stasis or hierarchy; it's about liberation, not order."