Western United States

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2 Branding is an essential business success tool, and signage is a powerful branding device. According to brand consultant and Yescozette designer Randall Smith, branding is everything that creates a perception or feel about a company in the minds of its current and prospective customers. It is much more than a logo or catchy slogan. A company s brand helps define what the business is, what it stands for and why customers should place their faith in its products or services. Signs are an important branding tool for today s businesses. In fact, the United States Small Business Administration has devoted a significant portion of its Web site to them ( Signs are the most affordable means of advertising for many businesses... says the SBA. The agency also points out that new developments in electronics, lighting, plastics, and paint enable today s signs to achieve the same visual effect as four-color magazine advertising. YESCO has been helping businesses create, enhance and update their brands with quality signs since In this issue, we look at how we have recently helped businesses large and small utilize the power of signs to achieve their branding objectives. Western United States Re-branding 95 Maverik gas-and-grocery stores throughout four western states with the chain s new Adventure s First Stop theme was an adventure in itself. The project was a key element of Maverik Country Stores, Inc. s rebranding initiative, shifting the chain s image from that of a country store to a high-energy activity stop-off for outdoor adventurers. The new signs, the mountain/adventure motif and the sporty red and green palette make it clear that Maverik is Adventure s First Stop. YESCO s part in this re-branding project demanded the coordinated resources of five divisions and seven branches, spearheaded by Brian Brown of YESCO Ogden. It involved a wide spectrum of tasks, from manufacturing and installing 130 new sign faces to designing, building and installing a new freeway sign with Maverik s first electronic message center. Ogden, Utah Washington Boulevard, Ogden s main thoroughfare, is prime territory for advertising. YESCO Ogden proposed a big, bold sign that would invite customers to Hertz s nearby car sales location. Our sign professionals delivered a lot of bang for this well-known company s marketing dollar with a 14-foot by 48-foot outdoor advertisement. During the day, the Hertz name jumps out at passersby. At night, it lights up for all to see. 2

3 Reno, Nevada Lynne Keller, general manager of Reno s Gold Dust West Casino- Inn, knows that image is critical to success, regardless of the business s size. That s why she wanted to create a fresh, upscale image for her popular local casino with new signs and remodeling. Wooed by the designs proposed by YESCO Reno, Lynne gave us the go-ahead to enhance Gold Dust West s brand with this double-faced pylon sign and nine sets of wall letters. West Los Angeles, California Creating highly visible brand identification for ING DIRECT s first location in Southern California should have been easy. After all, the financial services organization was moving into a nine-story building on Santa Monica Blvd. at the junction of the 405 Freeway. ING DIRECT was concerned it might not be able to have the size and type of signage it desired. Then YESCO Los Angeles got involved. The client said, "If you can get our signage on the north elevation, you re good. If you can get our signage on the south elevation, you re miracle workers." Thanks to our permitting specialist, who worked successfully with the local government for approval, we did both. YESCO s engineering department also played a pivotal role, designing a barely visible racking structure to attach the signage to the glass building. Boise, Idaho When Zions Bank decided to enter the southern Idaho markets of Boise and Twin Falls, it chose YESCO to create the signs for four new branches. The bank s brand of understated quality and security was already well established, but the first branch built in Boise required signs with a historic flavor. Our design melded Zions Banks carefully drawn corporate identity with a historic overlay in a way that earned thumbs-up reviews from bank personnel and community members. 3

4 Sandy, Utah Want to get attention and highlight your brand? Place a 100-square-foot video screen where everyone traveling north and south on the busy I-15 freeway can see it. That s what AT&T Broadband had in mind when it hired YESCO Salt Lake to build, install and maintain a freestanding sign that would put a full-color LED screen in front of tens of thousands of people every day. YESCO Salt Lake s design director, Christian Biersdorf, designed the high-impact sign. Chandler, Arizona Mercedes Benz is one of the top branding companies in the world. Its logo and hood emblem are universally seen and recognized. Mercedes Benz of Chandler, Arizona, recently asked YESCO Phoenix to create a 10-foot-diameter hood emblem to serve as the focal point of its upscale showroom. Creating and installing the oversized replica of the emblem which required laminating brushed aluminum skin over a foam core with curving bevels demanded ingenuity and white-glove precision. 4

5 YESCO TURNS IN GOLD MEDAL PERFORMANCE Phoenix, Arizona A sign doesn t have to be huge to be noticed. Ryan Gillis, the owner of Phoenix s Western Pizza, wanted classy little front and back signs that would enhance the eatery s brand and say, Here we are come on in! The YESCO Phoenix design team worked with the client s logo and lettering style, overcoming the challenge of making tight bends in small neon letters to create signs that match the pizza parlor s interior décor. YESCO was honored to be selected as an official signage vendor involved in the "LOOK of the Games" for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The monumental undertaking involved a diverse spectrum of projects from the building wraps that draped 13 of the city s prominent high-rises to the Olympic rings that spanned 600 feet of mountainside overlooking the valley; from over a dozen high towers to 1,200-plus flagpoles. Teams of design, fabrication and installation experts from several YESCO divisions contributed to the success of this historic endeavor. YESCO installers put the finishing touches on a 30,000-square-foot Olympic building wrap high on the side of a downtown high-rise. YESCO fabricated and installed a dozen 60-foot-high towers at various Olympic venues. This 100-foot-tall Olympic tower was installed by YESCO in the center of downtown Salt Lake City. The view that over 3 billion television viewers saw during the games: YESCO designed, engineered and installed the 600-foot-wide Olympic rings and the spectacular building wraps. Arvada, Colorado For the Northridge Center in Arvada, Colorado, it was time for a signage makeover. The center s two outdated entrance signs created negative branding appeal the kiss of death for today s retail environments. YESCO Denver s award-winning designers, working closely with the developer, produced new entrance signs that give the center an upscale new brand. 5

6 CHINO SPECTRUM TOWNE CENTER The Chino Spectrum Towne Center project required 10 signs for the shopping center and its major tenants. To achieve the desired branding effect, the quality of design, fabrication and installation of the signs had to be the highest quality. Vestar Development Company chose YESCO. The design group at YESCO Los Angeles worked closely with Vestar to produce the brand-reinforcing signs. HARRAH S RINCON CASINO AND RESORT The new Harrah s Rincon Casino and Resort in Valley Center, California, marks another milestone in YESCO s successful relationship with Harrah s Entertainment Inc. one of the premier companies in the gaming world. We integrated a full complement of interior signs, exterior directional signs and the impressive pylon sign to strike the perfect blend of form and function. 6

7 EAGLE RIVER Take a slab of granite, run a sparkling waterfall over its rugged face, and use those natural elements to create a sign for an upscale, mixed-use development. That s exactly what YESCO Boise did in Eagle, Idaho. Eagle River owner/developer Chuck Carlise asked us to produce signs that would brand the project, enhance its image and create a unified look using natural materials. Our designers worked closely with the developer s architect to execute his design. STANDARD PLUMBING SUPPLY Standard Plumbing Supply is a second-generation, family-owned business with 40 stores in the Western states. When the company moved into a large facility that formerly housed a building materials supplier, its owners wanted to get the word out. That was easy, thanks to its prime location just off Interstate-15 in the Salt Lake Valley. The twinpole pylon sign, complete with a full-color LED message center, is part of the location s rebranding package. Standard Plumbing Supply is currently celebrating its 50th year in business. GOLDEN PHOENIX HOTEL CASINO The Golden Phoenix Hotel Casino, formerly Reno's Flamingo Hilton, reopened early this year after a major conversion. YESCO Reno refurbished all exterior signs, transforming the old flamingo feathers to phoenix flames. The resort's managers were so impressed with YESCO designer Dave Baumgarner's rendition of the phoenix that they adopted it as their logo. What began as a signage design feature is now used universally on the hotel-casino's brochures, ads, stationery and other logo applications. 7

8 ALADIN HADZIKADUNIC: AN AMERICAN STORY The story of Aladin Hadzikadunic, YESCO engineer, is the story of what is best about America and the people who come here to build new lives. Born in Croatia and raised in Bosnia, where he earned a university degree in mechanical engineering, Aladin spent one very, very long year of compulsory service in the Yugoslav National Army. He was stationed in a Serbian military camp. The war in Croatia and Slovenia broke out just before his discharge, and followed him back to Bosnia in 1992, where his city, Banjaluka, was soon occupied by the Serbian army. I wasn t able to walk the streets at night for fear of being arrested as a non-serb, recalls Aladin. Fortunately, the Red Cross organized convoys to escort people to Croatia and he was soon able to leave. His friend and future wife, Nediha, had left a month earlier in the first convoy. Croatia turned out to be a hostile environment for Bosnian refugees. I hit rock bottom there, explains Aladin. I was left with $20 and I needed $100 to pay for my apartment. As a refugee, I couldn t get a job or support from social services. Again, I was afraid to walk the streets because of police raids. Nediha s family sent her some money and she helped me survive. Aladin knew he and Nediha had to get out. He was able to obtain Croatian citizenship and a passport. This was crucial because European countries had virtually closed their doors to people with Bosnian passports due to the war. After 15 difficult months, Aladin fled to Germany. Once there, he threw away his Croatian passport, showed the authorities his Bosnian passport, and appealed to them to allow him to stay as a refugee. Aladin was given one small room in an old, cockroachinfested hotel crowded with other Bosnian refugees, along with $300 a month for food and clothing. He forced himself to get by on much less than that and sent the rest to Nediha. As a refugee, he was not able to find a job or go to school, even though he learned the German language. According to their plan, they were able to get Nediha out of Croatia six months later. They lived like that for three years refugees in Germany with no way to improve their situation and nothing to call their own. But they did have hope: America. The resettlement process to leave Germany and enter the United States took 2-1/2 years. In June, 1996, Aladin and Nediha arrived in Salt Lake City. Here, their situation improved radically, even though Aladin spoke only a little English and Nediha spoke none. They received refugee assistance for three months, moved into a one-bedroom apartment and took classes to learn English. Three months after arriving in the United States, Aladin was hired by YESCO Salt Lake s Plexiglas department. He was surprised by the acceptance and kindness everyone showed him, even though he was still struggling with his English. After a year, he signed up for some computer drafting classes. His plan was to license as an engineer. When one of YESCO Salt Lake s drafting people left the company, Aladin was offered his job. By taking some additional college courses, Aladin was able to have his engineering degree from Bosnia accepted in the United States. In 2001, Aladin passed the Fundamentals of Engineering board exam and later passed the Professional Engineering boards. A few months after Aladin passed the board exam, he was transferred to the corporate office, where he worked with Benjamin Jones, YESCO vice president and chief engineer. This allowed Aladin to fulfill his licensing requirement of working under a licensed engineer for four years. I have great friends at YESCO, says Aladin. They help me a lot more than any others in my life. Many of the good things that have happened to Nediha and me wouldn t have happened without them. Nediha echoes her husband s feelings. After what we have gone through, you can imagine how appreciative Aladin is to have the opportunity YESCO has given him. I think it was meant to be that Aladin and YESCO got together. It s important to have people who believe in you. According to Ben, Aladin deserves the faith he has placed in him. He is a delight to have here, says Ben. He s extremely competent, intelligent and detail-oriented. He s marvelous at working with others and he works hard. While he studied for exams, he would often be in the office until after midnight. Today, life is good for the Hadzikadunics. Aladin is enrolled in a master s degree program in engineering at the University of Utah and continues his work at YESCO. Nediha, who earned a law degree years ago in Bosnia, works as a secretary and property manager while taking college courses to prepare to apply to law school. Both became U.S. citizens last March and are happily living the American dream. We own a condominium, two cars and everything else we could only dream about when we were poor refugees, Aladin points out. I don t have the words to describe how grateful I am. Arizona Bullhead City Branch 1140 Interstate Pl. Bullhead City, AZ (928) Flagstaff Branch 5702 E. Railhead Ave. Flagstaff, AZ (928) Kingman Branch 1309 E. Jackson Kingman, AZ (928) Phoenix Division 6725 West Chicago St. Chandler, AZ (480) Tucson Branch 4110 South Longfellow Ave. Tucson, AZ (520) AZ Contractors License No California Los Angeles Division 1443 S. Cucamonga Ave. Ontario, CA (909) Sacramento Branch 1015 North Market Blvd. Ste. 8 Sacramento, CA (916) CA Contractors License No Colorado Denver Division 3770 Joliet St. Denver, CO (303) Grand Junction Branch 2393 F1/2 Rd., Unit 1 Grand Junction, CO (970) Colorado Springs Branch 3626 North Stone Avenue Colorado Springs, CO (719) Idaho Boise Division 416 E. 41st St. Boise, ID (208) Coeur d Alene Branch 5000 E. 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