Author: Chris Galford

LUMIS Marketing helps Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center reach Ohio schools to support athletes

With the aim of fostering sports and supporting athletes at all levels in local communities, LUMIS Marketing worked to team up the nationally renowned Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center in Ohio with a local high school in a mutually beneficial partnership.

For Crystal Clinic, one of the largest orthopaedic clinics in Ohio, caring for sports injuries is a focus of the business. In that regard, forming a partnership with Perry High School located in Massillon, Ohio, to support their student athletes was a natural fit. The high school athletic department benefits from the clinic’s financial contributions for their boys and girls indoor and outdoor sports programs year-round.

In this way, according to Jeff Salamon, president and creative director of LUMIS Marketing in Arkon, the clinic connects with its communities and builds a reputation with the citizens it’s serving even before they need a hand getting back on their feet after an injury.

“Whether you’re hiking or playing on an over-50’s soccer team, or a baseball/softball team, you’re still an athlete,” Salamon said. “You still have a competitive draw. You need to take care of your body.”

LUMIS handles Crystal Clinic’s marketing development and has proven a close and dedicated partner over the last five years. Through working with DistrictWON, an Ohio-based marketing consultant that builds community ties by linking company brands with schools, LUMIS has promoted the clinic’s name to high school sports teams, engaged with schools, and the communities important to its physicians and therapists.

“We’re involved from high school sports all the way up,” Salamon said. “It’s not a one and done. We look at the importance of sports in life. It teaches you how to win, how to lose gracefully. We like the whole concept at the high school level.”

At Perry High School, the athletic department faculty manager, Brad Fox, noted that the partnership with Crystal Clinic has yielded positive feedback throughout the community. He noted handouts received from Crystal Clinic are used to inform students and their families to exercise each day, and the contributions from Crystal Clinic go right back into their teams and student athletes.

“The support we get from Crystal Clinic is vital to our high school community,” Fox said. “Parents today want options when it comes to athletic injuries and injury care.”

At this point, Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center has 20 locations and employs more than 1,000 professionals, so local touches like this help it stand out and stay engrained in its communities. It and its Crystal Clinic Plastic Surgeons division today have offices in Canton, Cleveland, Ashtabula and Westlake, among others, sprawling its reach statewide.

From LUMIS Marketing’s perspective, this type of partnership is special, but not necessarily new. The company has been doing fan engagement, sports engagement, and sponsorship for years. It’s a different scale of engagement than its work with organizations such as the PGA, Kent State University or the Akron RubberDucks, the Double-A Minor League Baseball Affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, for example, but according to Salamon it’s all about making the right connections. Perry High School is the right place for LUMIS and Crystal Clinic.

And these engagements are not meant to be one-offs.

“We have our identity there to let them know we’re there,” Salamon said. “We not only have our names in the gymnasiums, we’re out on the field. Some games we’ll toss out therapy balls for the fans at school games. We have tables set up with information, so that if they ever need us, they’ll know we’re there.”

Rocky River, Ohio-based DistrictWON creates meaningful brand connections within local communities through marketing partnerships between businesses and high schools. For more information on how to reach high school students, parents and administrators in a way that truly makes a difference in the community, visit https://www.districtwon.com, https://www.facebook.com/districtwon, or follow https://twitter.com/districtwon on Twitter

Farmers Insurance Agent Medsker honors Raymore-Peculiar High School with support from the heart

As a graduate of Raymore-Peculiar High School in Peculiar, Missouri, Farmers Insurance Agent Mike Medsker has made it one of his life’s missions to give back and watch the community’s potential grow.

Medsker has lived in the region his whole life; he graduated from Ray-Pec in 1997 and went on to marry a fellow graduate. Since launching the Michael Medsker Insurance Agency office located in Raymore nearly 8 years ago, Medsker said he has tried to use that position to honor the youth community, support Ray-Pec’s athletics program, and encourage service. That’s taken several forms over the years, both personally and professionally, from coaching to monetary contributions to the school.

“That’s where my heart lies,” Medsker said. “Whether it’s on my coaching side, or sponsoring events at Ray-Pec, from their baseball to their basketball program. I try to sponsor as much as possible. If I can afford it, I try to jump on it and do it.”

Before he started at Farmers, the local agency’s prior owner had introduced the concept of Players of the Week for the school and its Ray-Pec Panthers. Medsker continued that tradition, highlighting what he called “Making a Difference” (M.A.D.) players. Although sports provide the opportunity, it’s not a moment that is about athleticism, per se.

A player of the week, Medsker said, is “a kid that does something outside the ordinary, something for their community – holding doors open, tutoring, activities outside school. We do that for boys and girls basketball – on top of monetary help.”

Fundraisers, donation opportunities, raffles, sponsorships – Medsker’s help has taken a lot of forms.

His contributions also have helped buy equipment, according to Joyce DeBrot, president of the Athletic Booster Club for Raymore-Peculiar High School, and therefore helped local athletes compete.

“This year’s essential equipment includes practice and game day basketballs, travel bags, and partial assistance in new soccer goals,” DeBrot said. ”The new equipment is critical in the safety of our athletes to help prevent unnecessary injuries while protecting our goal during girls or boys soccer games. Any upgrade is a boost to morale for the officials, trainers, coaches, athletes, and especially the parents or guardians.”

Some of that goodwill inevitably comes back around. According to Medsker, a majority of his agency’s new business in the area has come from local families. The community has been positive in its feedback, and his agency has received thanks for its support. This is particularly important for Medsker, as the insurance business is one built largely on word of mouth.

With that in mind, Medsker’s insurance agency and Farmers Insurance teamed up with marketing consultant DistrictWON to help form a partnership with Ray-Pec high school and spread its brand message. The insurance agency is promoted through PA announcements at the school and at tournaments, with banners at school events, and through opportunities for Medsker and the community to interact one-on-one.

“We get to be out there a lot in the community and the community gets to see that, and they’re always thankful,” Medsker said. “And then if the time comes and they need insurance, they realize the money we make off them, we’re trying to give back. They know it’s from the heart.”

That, as Medsker put it, is the whole play.

“Thank you, Mike Medsker and Farmers Insurance for your continued reinforcement to the Ray-Pec Athletic Booster Club’s goals of getting the important work done for the safety of our athletes,” DeBrot said.

Evergreen Kia backs the movement of athletes at St. Rita of Cascia High School

Sometimes helping one’s community can be as simple as a short drive down the road – which is how Evergreen Kia in Chicago ended up contributing to the athletic potential at St. Rita of Cascia High School.

This marks the second year that Evergreen Kia has backed St. Rita with a monetary contribution as part of the larger Kia focus: Movement that Inspires. According to Maurice Bird, general manager, the choice was a no-brainer. St. Rita is just up the same street, on S. Western Ave. in Chicago, and is a local high school with connections throughout the community.

“I know there are a lot of expenses,” Bird said. “I’m sure it will support uniforms, catering, events. These kids can eat a lot, and so can adults.”

Curtis Price, athletic director for St. Rita, characterized Evergreen Kia as a community leader, whose support will benefit coaches and student-athletes alike. Indeed, Evergreen Kia has been part of the community for 21 years, serving customers throughout Chicago, Oak Lawn, Berwyn, Blue Island and Orland Park. St. Rita is but the latest pillar of the community to which it has leant support.

“The program gives the athletic department an extra resource to help with the uniforms and equipment for the student-athletes,” Price said of the partnership between the local business and high school created by DistrictWON, a Rocky River, Ohio-based marketing company.

In return, Kia vehicles, including sports cars, family vehicles and more, have parked outside the high school for visibility during special events. On top of handing out business cards, this helps Evergreen Kia get its name into the community, and lets the public see that it gives in return. Take the Kia Telluride, the company’s flagship model, for example. With seating for up to eight and room for hauling sporting equipment, the displays help Evergreen Kia show parents ways to make other aspects of moving their kids to events a bit easier.

“Most of our business is word of mouth and repeat customers,” Bird said. And that word of mouth has spread following its efforts at St. Rita. “We’ve had several customers stop by saying they saw our vehicles at the games and appreciate what we do at the school. I think it’ll grow more down the line and help grow more relationships in the future.”

The hope is to make the partnership a longer-term one, and Bird signaled his intent to make similar contributions each year.

For Kia in general, Movement that Inspires was a message that formed to focus customers on more than its cars, but on the movement at the heart of its company. According to the company, it’s about connecting people with one another and helping them move from location to location, bridging physical and emotional distances along the way. For the individual, that phrase takes on other meanings, though.

“One of my philosophies is that our coaches and student-athletes have a great experience while participating as athletes at St. Rita,” Price said. “We encourage our student-athletes to develop the necessary traits that will lead them to become leaders in their communities.”

Likewise, Bird looked at the slogan as one that, at its core, is about building up a community. The movement, in his view, is inspirational.

“Hopefully the movement that inspires means coming together as a group, and hopefully we can inspire those around us to bigger and better things in life,” Bird said. “Hopefully that message passes onto students and their schools and athletic teams.”