Warning. What you’re about to read is filled with pride. It is an unabashed and completely shameless exercise in self-promotional shout-outs. But forgive me: I am very proud of some folks at Hammock Publishing and, well, I’ve warned you.
There’s a saying that if you want something done, give it to a busy person. When we recently got the opportunity to revamp and relaunch a magazine for a new client, The Marine Corps League (founded in 1923 and the only federally chartered Marine veterans organization), I “volunteered” several already busy people: an editorial team led by Bill Hudgins and creative director Susie Garland. Designer Kerri Davis (and the rest of the design squad: Lynne Boyer, Carrie Wakeford and Sandy Mueller Shelstad) charged into the project, as well. Also, intern Matt Kelley — a recent Vanderbit graduate — was drafted into service when we learned that he’d spent a year in Navy ROTC and has an encyclopedic knowledge of military history. (John Lavey and I we’re cheerleaders from the peanut gallery.) The team produced the first issue of the magazine in just seven weeks, from creative presentation to rolling off the presses.
I can’t say enough about how extraordinarily helpful Mike Blum, the League’s Executive Director, was. He repeatedly spent all the time with us we requested in helping us understand what the League is all about, and, more critical, to school us on the Marine Corps and Marines. Collaborating with Mike and sitting down with Marine Corps League members was critical to the process. Mike also challenged us with a healthy dose of skepticism — a not unfamiliar skepticism we often greet with new clients. He didn’t think a bunch of non-Marine publisher-types could ever “get it” enough to produce a magazine that would ring true with League members. Especially, this fast. I kept telling him that the key to producing a great magazine was for us to listen and absorb and listen more — and then not only “get it,” but, more importantly, to get out of the way of the conversation taking place among the only folks who matter: the members of the Marine Corps League.
(Left: The “before” magazine.)
Within moments of our first meeting with officials at the League, we heard the expression we’ve heards hundreds of time since: “Once a Marine, Always a Marine.” The more we listened and learned, the more we saw that the League and its programs embody that. Bill Hudgins and I mentioned the project and that motto to a number of veterans from services other than the Marines. Every one of them said something like, “You are a Marine for life. I wish we had something like that.” After that initial meeting, the crucial question in our minds and in Mike’s was how we could get out of the way of that message, one of pride and loyalty that knows no bounds.
Our mission had several objectives: Transition from the current publisher, increase frequency, revamp the editorial mix, redesign the publication. We also made a recommendation to do something rather radical: to rename the magazine Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League,” after the Corpsﾕ motto, Semper Fidelis — “always faithful.” Mike, who uses the expression in all correspondence and to end each conversation, was supportive of the recommendation and helped us tweak the exact wording of the title. He also guided our incorporation of “Once a Marine, Always a Marine” into a theme expressed throughout the magazine.
A highlight of the process was Mike’s approval of our attempts to “get it” in our meeting to present him our recommendations. After seeing our ideas, he declared: “Welcome aboard and OOORAH!” ﾑ- an exclamation not often given non-Marines. We were humbled. We were also highly ﾉ motivated. Our press date was only seven weeks away, and we had three other magazines and a host of newsletters moving through at the same time. It was truly all-hands on deck! The Hammock team burned a lot of midnight and weekend fluorescent during those seven weeks. Colleagues from other projects pitched in to help when they had spare time. Editors and writers roughed in some layouts to make it easier for the real designers to work with accurately trimmed copy. Our ace circulation and office management staff juggled multiple circulation and distribution challenges. The production team solved numerous printing and production issues, and pre-pressed the layouts into shipshape files that would require minimum if any tweaking at the printer.
Despite the pressure not only to meet deadlines but to refine designs on the fly and polish copy until it shone like a pair of boots at inspection (I apologize for the military metaphors). Despite the tension that always accompanies the launch of a magazine — and despite the inevitable glitches and computer hiccups — everyone worked in close harmony. Challenges arose and the team here met them head-on. They thought we were busy before, but they fit Semper Fi into our workflow brilliantly.
Mike Blum gave us another “Oorah!” when he saw his first copy, and as the issues arrive at members home, we’re hearing from them, too. Mike spent a lot of time and effort alerting members to the change, and from the early feed-back, it is a welcome change. It makes us proud to now be a tiny part of the history of this storied fighting force and to be exploring its rich traditions and extraordinary camaraderie.
And it makes me proud to work with such a great group of folks.
Were always proud of the work we produce along with our clients. But its nice to be recognized for those effortsespecially when the group doing the recognizing is comprised of industry peers.
The Custom Publishing Councils Pearl Awards were announced last week and MyBusiness magazine (the member publication we produce for the 550,000 small-business members of NFIB) won the top award in the Editorial Excellence category for magazines with circulations of more than 125,000.
Woo hoo!!!!…ok, back to work.
From Hammock editor Bill Hudgins:
Serendipity: finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else. One of my favorite words, it sounds like it belongs in an Ogden Nash poem. Im especially fond of it now, as a chance story assignment for a client has given me a new lease on life.
Back in summer 2005, I wrote a newsletter article for one of our clients, StoneCrest Medical Center, about a new procedure that uses a CT scanner to measure the amount of calcium in your hearts arteries basically, how much, if any, hardening of the arteries you have. This in turn can indicate how likely you are to have potentially nasty clogs in your pipes.
Cool, I thought. Im over 50, have regular checkups, and I try to exercise and eat right, but my family has some heart disease history. Can’t hurt to get one. I live near another TriStar Hospital that offers the test and took it there. Took 10 minutes less time than registering and I didn’t have to skip breakfast or even put on a hospital gown.
The results were not what I expected. Instead of clean plumbing, the test ranked me in the low end of moderate hardening in a couple of spots. My doctor recommended a cardiac stress test to find out precisely what was happening in there.
Aside from having to postpone breakfast and that all-important first cup of java for several hours, the test was not bad. All my Stairmastering made the 12 minutes on a treadmill pretty easy. The cardiologist was encouraging but said the many photos they took of my ticker before and after would tell the tale. Just in case it came out bad, afterwards I indulged in a fair number of foods that might soon be off-limits.
This story has a happy ending. The stress test was negative, which is positive news. I still have to do what I can to keep the hardening at bay. But I can quit worrying about this and go back to a more immediate threat to my health: my daily commute on I-65.
I can only hope that the article that I wrote for our client’s newsletter will help someone else.
From Rex Hammock:
At the Folio Awards on Nov. 1, we learned this Ride magazine cover had won a Silver Ozzie in the non-profit/institutional/custom magazine category.
“It’s nice to be recognized by one’s peers,” as they say in the awards world. The Ozzies are a big deal in the magazine world because they recognize the best design of the year.
I’m very proud of our design team’s consistent performance in the Ozzie awards and am especially proud to learn that a cover from one of our magazines, Ride PWC, is one of three finalists for this year’s Ozzie for Best Cover (association, institutional or custom magazine — it is the official magazine of the American Watercraft Association). Being a finalist in this category is a great honor and I have great hopes that this particular cover wins the Ozzie.
I wouldn’t usually say this (I’d be blowing my “humility” cover), but I’m especially proud of this cover as it knowingly breaks many clich rules of “cover design” yet with great craft and success displays how powerful a medium magazines can be.
The interplay of photograph, typography along with the juxtaposition of words and images all connect in telling a wonderful story.
It makes me want to be down there, riding that PWC across the “R” and off into someplace great. I can just imagine those folks in the cars wishing they were on that PWC. I know the cover connects powerfully with the magazine’s readers in a way that only a PWC enthusiast can truly appreciate.
At Hammock Publishing, we think our job is to help our clients tell their stories. Some people may call this “branding.” We call it storytelling.
This is one of those times when I am not only amazed at how well our team helped tell the AWA & PWC story, they created a classic tale.
At the invitation of one of our favorite national publications managers (Faye Porter of NFIB), Hammock once again was a sponsor in this year’s Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation’s Race for the Cure.
Thousands of walkers and runners turned out on Sunday to walk in celebration, memory or support of women fighting breast cancer. Hammock purchased a sign in Susan’s Garden, one of the many activities set up at MetroCenter’s Business Park where the race took place.
Five Hammoratis (Barbara not pictured) laced up their sneakers and joined the 5K race. Though all are avid athletes, four decided to walk instead of run the race (out too late celebrating Vandy’s 4-0 season?). Celebrity gossip diva Lena Basha (the only one from the group who ran) got a taste of stardom herself when she was recognized by a fellow racer, who witnessed Hammock’s impressive victory in last week’s 12th Annual Nashville Adult Literacy Council Corporate Spelling Bee.
The Race for the Cure raised more than $400,000.
One of our clients is the American Watercraft Association , for whom we publish Ride Personal Watercraft Magazine. There’s a section in the magazine that is a joint project between AWA and Shawn Alladio, a world-renowned water safety and rescue trainer. In the days following Hurricane Katrina, Alladio and several colleagues went to New Orleans to assist in rescue efforts; their experience was chronicled by The New Yorker Magazine.
Hot of the presses is Hammock Publishing’s new collaboration with Conferon Global Services: The CGS Guide to Room Block Management. The 64-page resource details the best practices of the industrys leading meeting planning firm, drawing on its collective wisdom of 35 years of experience.
Because successful room block management is one of meeting planners’ toughest challenges, the CGS Guide breaks down the process for veterans and novices alike. The publication gives strategies for compiling group history, selecting a site, determining room counts, creating the proper mix of hotelsall while ensuring that meeting attendees are satisfied and associations remain on firm financial footing.
Hilton Hotels, sponsor of the Guide, shares cover billing with CGS. They will unveil the new publication at this weekend’s annual meeting of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) in Nashville.
From Jamie Roberts (on behalf of the Hammock folks who attended last night’s Excel Awards presentation in Washington, D.C. — the annual awards of the Society of National Association Publications):
Hammock Publishing had a great night at the SNAP awards gala.
MyBusiness looked smashing on screen as the Bronze award was announced for General Excellence. Plus, there were lots of audience laughs when the title was announced for MyBusiness’ award for feature writing, “The Secret Life of a Tightwad.”
And here are the judges’ comments for our two Gold award winners:
Ride (Most Improved)“The winners were so far above all contenders that the judges did not choose a bronze winner. It was difficult to choose between the two top winners, but Ride’s redesign took advantage of dramatic photography, improved writing and daring design. This is a magazine that truly knows its audience–jet-ski enthusiasts. It is a publication that is as exciting as its sport.”
American Spirit (Design Excellence)“Overall the design, while conservative, in consistently classic and elegant. The photography is beautiful, strong and provides images relevant to the content. The cover images relate well to the cover story. The feature layouts benefit from a good use of color and an interesting selection of text for the headlines and decks and pull quotes. The print production quality is excellent.”
Forget the fact that half the country is still freezing and parts of the West Coast are, tragically, turning into goop too thick to drink and too thin to hold up houses. Spring is SO close, and the hot-off-the-press March-April issue of Ride Personal Watercraft Magazine makes waiting even harder. We publish Ride for the American Watercraft Association (AWA).
For this issue, Editor Bill Hudgins pried himself away from 500 hours of bowl games on New Year?s Day to go riding with some local folks on Old Hickory Lake, near his home in Gallatin, Tenn. “It was about 60 degrees that day, but was sleeting just a couple days earlier. That’s what passes for winter here,” recalls this one time Manhattanite.
Covering the wide world of watercraft, our writers and editors spared no effort to find cool places to ride. One of them gaped in awe at 50-foot-plus waves in Hawaii, while others found out that South Dakota is a great place to take a PWC vacation, and that watercraft can help keep beaches from eroding. And they met an 87-year-old woman who outruns riders a quarter her age. Who knew?
Ride is available as part of an AWA membership and also at AWA-supporting PWC dealers.
A detail from a quilt in the DAR Museum collection graces the cover of the March-April issue of American Spirit, the award-winning, bimonthly magazine we publish for the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).
Unlike Hammocks own Lisa Ask, an aspiring quilter, I couldnt sew if my life depended on it, says American Spirit Editor Jamie Roberts. Still, I was inspired by the collection of 19th century quilts featured in this issue, and even more so by the patriotic quilts and samplers on display in the DAR Museum’s current exhibition.
Not everyone can make it to Washington for a tour of the DAR Museum. That’s why we make it easier to see inside the museums impressive, unique collection with our new department, National Treasures. (NOT to be confused as a plug for Nicholas Cage’s latest movie.)
There were other ways that our ancestors captured images of their lives, and one of those crafts lives on in the hands of a modern artist practicing the classic art of silhouette portraits.
Speaking of ancient arts: Bestselling author Dan Da Vinci Code Browns forthcoming novel is about secret societies. American Spirit takes a closer look at one such societythe Freemasons and digs through the myth and misunderstanding surrounding the controversial group.
But what about women? An excerpt from Gail Collins’ book, Americas Women, gives just a glimpse of how much there is yet to re-learn about women and early America.
Information on how to subscribe to American Spirit is available at the DAR Web site .