August 7 , 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Martin A. Kish
(502) 491-4737 - Office
(859) 351-8420 - Mobile
Blue Moon Helps Redefine ‘Blue Collar’
KAM Teams Up with Blue Moon Artworks, Red7e To Design and Market Line of ‘Chic’ Blue Collar Fashions, Build Employee Pride in Manufacturing
Proceeds to Help Keep Jobs in Kentucky
Louisville – An award-winning jewelry and fashion designer, Martha Brown is ready to focus her talent on a good “cause” – the Kentucky manufacturing industry.
Brown and her Blue Moon Artworks design and retailing firm are creating a new not-for-profit division of Blue Moon called “Go Gear” to create products for the manufacturing industry that instill pride and increase quality of life for all 250,000 Kentucky manufacturing workers.
One hundred percent of the profits will benefit the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and its non-profit Foundation for Kentucky Industry.
“Manufacturing workers have been the backbone of the Kentucky economy for decades, and we need to recognize their importance and value to all of us,” says Brown. “I am so excited and honored to design and market a line of fashion jewelry and clothing just for them and donate all the profits back to the industry through KAM.”
The Red7e advertising agency, which produced ads for KAM that are part of its ongoing $2 million statewide marketing campaign, also developed catchy slogans, some of which will appear on which Brown’s line of fashions: “Makin’ Stuff”; “Manufacturing – Made Here, Not There”; “Manufacturing = Pride”; “Makin’ Stuff. It’s Good”; and “Manufacturing. Prosperity in the Making.”
KAM’s Martin Kish and Sharon Fincel first approached Brown and Red7e with the concept earlier this year.
“Manufacturing careers have been maligned in recent years because of old misperceptions that should have died a long time ago,” says Kish, vice president of marketing and revenue. “To work in today’s advanced manufacturing environment, you have to be very sharp, good at solving problems and very creative,” he says.
“But many people still believe manufacturing is a dead-end career marked by low pay, low-skill workers, and a boring environment,” Kish says. “Nothing could be further from the truth. This new line of fashions will help begin to reverse the image.”
Fincel, KAM’s chief administrative officer, says the new fashion and jewelry line will also help keep manufacturing jobs in Kentucky because all of the profits will go to KAM, which is “laser-focused” on promoting and growing the Kentucky manufacturing industry. “Many of our manufacturers are having a hard time finding qualified workers,” she says. “All of the profits will be used for improving Kentucky’s education system, workforce development efforts and helping members cut costs.”
A few items from the new manufacturing fashion line will be featured in a full-page ad in the next edition of The Goods, KAM’s tabloid newspaper that is being distributed in August to thousands of manufacturing executives, plant workers and other business and education leaders around the state. On-line ordering information will appear in the ad.
As part of the new merchandising program, Blue Moon Artworks is a new promotional sponsor of KAM and its SmartKentucky sm branded initiative. In 2005, Blue Moon was one of the three Kentucky firms chosen as “Kentucky Manufacturer of the Year.”
How can Kentucky manufacturers get involved in the new campaign? “ Because 100 percent of the profits from this program will be used to promote and grow the Kentucky manufacturing industry, Kentucky manufacturers should consider using Blue Moon Artworks as their supplier of choice for all of their corporate merchandising program items,” says Fincel. “All of these items, and hundreds of others, can be imprinted with your company logo.”
Items from the new manufacturing fashion line can be purchased on-line at www.kamanufacturers.com.
About Blue Moon Artworks
Armed with a creative vision and coupled with an extensive education in art, metals and jewelry design, Martha Brown started Blue Moon Artworks in 1996. The initial product line consisted primarily of Martha's signature collection of etched metal ornaments and other "objects d'art". Several of these designs caught the attention of a large Louisville-based insurance company. They commissioned a five-year, 10,000 piece order of holiday ornaments. From that, Blue Moon has grown into an international corporate gift and award company that produces products for major corporations, small businesses and retail outlets.
Blue Moon now carries over 600,000 products, with a special focus on creative and artistic items. They employ artisans in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and China. Continuing to seek new and different items for our product line as well as source new and emerging artists; their goal is to provide clients with the best possible service and selection.
About Red7e
Red7e is a full-service advertising agency known for innovative marketing strategies and breakthrough creative execution. Its annual capitalized billings for 2005 were $18 million, and the firm is made up of 26 professionals. Red7e serves a select list of regional and national clients, including Hilliard Lyons investment brokerage; Baptist Hospitals; Churchill Downs Incorporated and its network of racing properties; Kentucky Farm Bureau; Hillerich & Bradsby Company; the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP); the National Thoroughbred Racing Association; Semonin Realtors; Presbyterian Church (USA); Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2010; Kentucky League of Cities; Greater Louisville Inc.; 1st Independence Bank; Three Chimneys Farm and Jefferson County Public Schools.
The Red7e brand was created in 1998 – the name signifying a new and different approach to advertising agency/client relations. The agency describes its difference as “providing outstanding creative strategies, concepts, and execution, without the usual bureaucracy, bull, or smoke and mirrors.”
About the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers
Established in 1911, the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers is the Commonwealth’s only manufacturing trade association. KAM’s mission is to raise the prosperity of all Kentuckians by protecting and growing our state’s economic engine: manufacturing. KAM proactively works with elected officials, policymakers, chambers of commerce, other associations, economic development experts, the news media, the general public and its own members to drive results through seven branded initiatives: ProsperousKentucky (sm), ProductiveKentucky (sm), FreedomKentucky (sm), SmartKentucky (sm), HealthyKentucky (sm), HonestKentucky (sm) and CleanKentucky (sm). On the web at www.KAManufacturers.com
