2013

August 3, 2013 By Luke Schmidt

Kilgore House & Garden Tour Media/Promotion Project

Introduction

The Kilgore House & Garden Tour is the primary fundraiser for the Kilgore Samaritan Counseling Center in Louisville. The Tour is held every May and features six private homes and gardens.

Project Scope

In 2012, the Kilgore House & Garden Tour committee elected to step up its game in terms of promotion. L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC stepped forward to provide assistance on a pro-bono basis. The cornerstone of the project included the development of the Tour’s first-ever promotional web site. The web site provided background information on the Tour, a page dedicated to each home and garden on the Tour, along with an all-new online ticket sales option (linked with Pay-Pal).

Luke Schmidt also led efforts to significantly expand the Tour’s media outreach beyond Louisville. New press packets were developed and new press releases were issued. In addition to working with local media outlets (which included live television broadcasts on three of the four Louisville stations), media outreach for the first time also extended up and down the Ohio Valley with scheduled meetings with news and feature editors. Articles on the event were published in the following publications:

The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise
Evansville Courier Press
Henderson Gleaner
Lexington Herald-Leader
Louisville Courier-Journal
Nfocus Magazine
Sophisticated Living

Additional listings on the event were published in the following publications:

The (Bowling Green) Daily News
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Kentucky Enquirer
Kentucky Monthly
The (Nashville) Tennessean

This effort resulted in a total of 12 articles/listings which reached a potential audience of 847,554 people.

Finally, in addition to the regional media outreach and the new web site, Luke Schmidt also facilitated the development of a new Facebook page for the Tour, which in its first year “liked” 81 regional news publications with potential reach to over 2.3 million people.

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August 3, 2013 By Luke Schmidt

Somerset – Pulaski County (KY) Development Foundation Airline Service Project

Introduction

Since 2010, the Somerset – Pulaski County Development Foundation has been leading a community effort to restore scheduled commercial airline service at the Lake Cumberland Regional Airport (SME) in Somerset. L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC was retained for this purpose.

SME is a modern airport which serves a large part of Southern Kentucky, with a total catchment area population of 413,000 people in 16 counties. SME has a 5,800 foot long runway and a full Instrument Landing System (ILS).

Project Scope

Since starting on this project, Luke Schmidt has worked closely with SPCDF’s Executive Director and various community leaders. Project accomplishments to date include:

Developed new market profile
Scheduled/conducted meetings with several potential airlines
Conducted two market surveys of business and industry leaders in the Somerset, London and Corbin areas
Developed USDOT Small Community Air Service Development grant proposal (2013)

This ongoing project has the potential to substantially impact future economic development efforts in the Somerset region and assist in creating new jobs.

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August 2, 2013 By Luke Schmidt

Hardin County (KY) United

Introduction

Hardin County United (HCU) was formed following the conclusion of the Hardin County Vision Project in 2010. HCU was formed by several community leaders that participated in the vision project and who wanted to continue with the process. HCU was formed primarily to address each of the 24 strategic goals which were adopted in the visioning process, assign a priority to each goal and develop an implementation strategy for each of the goals selected for implementation. L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC followed-up its involvement with the vision project by providing management and consulting services to HCU.

Organization Structure

HCU started with a Steering Committee comprised of around 60 people. The organization was further organized with three subcommittees: Community Development, Education and Governance.

Catalyst for Change

Early on, Luke Schmidt worked with the HCU Steering Committee and developed a logo and a web site, so that the organization would have a central theme and also a portal for information on its projects to be made available to all citizens.

Since its inception, HCU has served as an agent for change. Following-up on the overall vision project theme of unification and the elimination of duplication in the community, HCU Community Development Subcommittee members supported the merger of four previously existing chambers of commerce (Elizabethtown, Radcliff, Vine Grove and West Point) into one new unified chamber – the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce – now one of the five largest chambers in Kentucky.

Community Development Subcommittee members also supported change in the community’s alcoholic beverage laws.

Three petitions were filed in Elizabethtown, Radcliff and Vine Grove (the county’s three largest cities) for local option elections to be held on the same date. Each campaign called for each community to go “wet,” meaning that individuals would gain the opportunity to purchase alcoholic beverages either by the package or by the drink.

HCU was one of the first organizations to endorse each campaign.

Each campaign was successful, thereby achieving one of the primary goals of the 24 strategic goals which were established during the Hardin County Vision Project.

The Education Subcommittee developed and implemented the first-ever mapping campaign of all educational offerings in the community

The goal of this project was to identify every educational offering currently available to all residents in Hardin County. The process started with pre-natal care classes for expectant parents, continued with early childcare development, Kindergarten, K – 8, high school and post-secondary offerings.

The report provided by the Education Subcommittee will be used by economic development professionals as part of their pitch to business and industrial prospects who are interested in expanding to the community.

The Education Subcommittee also embraced the idea of an Area Technology Center (one of the vision project’s 24 strategic goals). Early in 2013, a partnership consisting of the Central Kentucky Community Foundation, Elizabethtown Community & Technical College, Hardin County Schools and Western Kentucky University announced the development of the new Early College & Career Center, which will be located adjacent to the ECTC campus and open for business in 2014.

HCU’s Governance Subcommittee launched an initiative first designed to look into the potential benefits of unified government in Hardin County (again, following-up on the overall unification theme from the visioning process) with its Hardin County Unified Government Project.

L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC was retained to conduct extensive research into unified government. This included site visits to communities that had previously unified, interviews with key groups, an analysis of existing local government structures in Hardin County, etc.

HCU presented the findings of the research project to the community with a series of 24 forums around the county. HCU worked with Members of the Kentucky General Assembly to strengthen the existing statute on unified government in the Commonwealth. HCU also started preliminary work with local elected officials to establish a Unification Review Commission for the purpose of drafting a plan for unified government to be presented to citizens for review and approval.

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August 1, 2013 By admin

Food with Wine Coalition Legislative/Media Project

Introduction

The Food with Wine Coalition (FWWC) is a non profit organization which was established by the Kentucky Grocers Association (now known as the Kentucky Grocers Association & the Kentucky Association of Convenience Stores) for the purpose of educating and informing Kentucky’s thought leaders about the benefits of revising existing state law to allow grocery stores to sell wine in wet and moist counties. At present, 34 states allow grocery stores to sell wine. Six of seven of Kentucky’s border states allow grocery stores to sell wine.

Lifestyles have changed and wine has become a healthy part of a balanced diet when consumed in moderation. Across Kentucky, consumers are asking grocery store managers to sell wine to pair with the food that they are purchasing for dinner. There are three compelling reasons why the law should be changed:

Expands consumer choice and competition in the wine marketplace
Supports Kentucky’s farm families by expanding the number of sales outlets for Kentucky-produced wine and increases the demand for Kentucky-grown grapes
Adds much needed tax revenue to the coffers of the Commonwealth without raising taxes

The FWWC retained Luke Schmidt and L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC for the purpose of developing and directing the project.

Project Scope

As consultant to the FWWC, Luke Schmidt provided the following services to the Coalition:

Designed project scope and established goals
Managed the Coalition; scheduled meetings, established Agendas and conducted meetings and teleconferences
Developed collateral support materials such as one-pagers, project brochure, project promotional video, Web site, etc.
Distributed collateral materials
Conducted outreach to key writers and editorial boards to all daily newspapers, key news talk radio stations and television stations; secured editorial support; served as the spokesperson for the Coalition; developed list of regional grocery industry spokespersons
Developed PR campaign strategy with press releases, op-ed articles; solicit/secure talk radio, television and other media opportunities
Started outreach to key local chambers of commerce, The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and built support for the issue
Developed and maintained the link with the agriculture community, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky’s grape and wine industry
Coordinated outreach to the Governor’s Office and Members of the General Assembly
Coordinated legislation development and sponsorship

Project Results

The FWWC positioned itself to lead the discussion on this issue. Luke Schmidt led the development of various collateral materials which were used to support the Coalition’s position, including a new logo.

The Coalition developed a Web site which contains a wealth of information on the issue. In addition, Luke Schmidt led the development of the Coalition’s promotional video . The Coalition also produced a project brochure which was distributed to industry and legislative representatives.

The Coalition also produced a general one-pager, along with an economic impact one-pager, both of which were distributed to Members of the Kentucky General Assembly and were also distributed with press releases.

As consultant to the Coalition, Luke Schmidt developed an extensive media distribution list and called on over 40 key media outlets throughout the Commonwealth (and adjacent markets in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia) during two statewide media tours, including television stations, talk radio stations, NPR radio stations and all daily newspapers which resulted in hundreds of positive newspaper articles, radio and television news stories. (Many of the newspaper articles and television news reports can be viewed in the Media section on this Web site) Three newspapers endorsed the Coalition’s position. Press releases were issued as needed.

Luke Schmidt called on key local Chambers of Commerce in the Commonwealth’s Top 10 markets. The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce endorsed the Coalition’s position.

The Coalition launched an initial statewide petition drive which included 110 grocery stores and which gathered 56,000 signatures. A follow-up online petition drive secured another 18,000 signatures. The petition drives were supported with unique in-store collateral pieces.

Summary

Luke Schmidt worked closely with a group of grocers which comprised the FWWC Steering Committee. The grocers provided invaluable support, insight and counsel. A true partnership was established. Yet, Members of the Kentucky General Assembly continued to focus exclusively on critical issues such as the Commonwealth’s severe budget shortfall, unfunded pension liabilities, etc., all the while avoiding the controversial issue. As such, the foundation to support legislation to allow grocery store wine sales was put into place; however, the environment needed to pass the controversial legislation remained challenging at best.

The FWWC elected to take this issue to court, challenging the constitutionality of the law. In 2012, U.S. District Court Judge John Heyburn ruled in Louisville that Kentucky’s existing law which outlawed the sale of wine in grocery stores was illegal and further stated that grocery stores should be allowed to sell wine and distilled spirits. The ruling was appealed by the liquor store industry and the issue is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

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July 29, 2013 By admin

Hardin County (KY) Community Visioning Project

Introduction

In 2009, Hardin County, KY (located in the Elizabethtown – Fort Knox Metropolitan Statistical Area) found itself in the middle of a major expansion of Fort Knox – one of the United States Army’s largest posts – with growth in jobs (approximately 12,000 net new direct and indirect jobs), along with an expected increase in population of between 12,000 and 15,000 people. Base realignment (commonly referred to as BRAC) at Fort Knox resulted in the largest economic development project in Kentucky’s history (larger than the initial investments by Toyota in Georgetown and UPS at Louisville International Airport). The impact on Hardin County has been enormous.

In order to capitalize on this once in a lifetime opportunity, under the leadership of Hardin County Judge/Executive Harry L. Berry, Hardin County Government commissioned a visioning project for the purpose of building upon the positive momentum created by BRAC. The project was designed to build upon Hardin County’s strengths and current growth opportunities, identify weaknesses, maximize efficiencies and establish strategic community goals.

L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC was retained to conduct the project on behalf of Hardin County Government and in partnership with the Lincoln Trail Area Development District and the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment.

Project Scope

The project’s methodology included a community strategic assessment (which included analysis of previously conducted studies and interviews with key groups and organizations). Also included in the community assessment was a 30 page confidential key stakeholder survey which was sent to over 100 community leaders representing the agriculture, business, education, government, health care, industrial, military and tourism sectors, and, two community leadership forums.

The project also analyzed benchmark (or peer) counties through research, site visits and meetings with leaders in each community that align with Hardin County demographically in order to determine how these counties approach various issues, such as community and economic development. The benchmark counties included:

Daviess County, Kentucky (Owensboro area)
Lee County, Mississippi (Tupelo area)
Lowndes County, Mississippi (Columbus area)
Montgomery County, Tennessee (Clarksville area)
Warren County, Kentucky (Bowling Green area)

The key stakeholder surveys generated a 73% response rate which provided an accurate snapshot of attitudes and opinions on various key issues. The survey covered the following areas:

Media
Education
Arts/Cultural Issues
Quality of Life/Quality of Place
Downtown Elizabethtown
Economic Development
Community Competitiveness with Other Communities
Fort Knox
Conference/Convention Facilities
Health Care
Transportation
Community Position (Standing/Stature in Frankfort and Washington, D.C.)
Government/The Big Picture

Community leaders participating in the vision process and through the key stakeholder surveys in Hardin County easily reached consensus on a number of broad areas, including:

Strong support for education at all levels
A desire to unify the community in order to leverage its size to improve the efficiency of the delivery of services
A desire to speak with one community voice in order to improve the community’s standing and stature in Frankfort and Washington, D.C., as has been successfully done with One Knox
A desire to eliminate duplication when and where possible by combining groups and organizations in order to improve efficiency and more efficiently market and promote the community
A desire to improve the existing quality of place/quality of life by improving the visual appearance in urban areas, develop new retail opportunities, and change existing alcoholic beverage laws in order to foster the development of new restaurants, pubs and other new dining experiences
A desire to re-develop Downtown Elizabethtown to include new retail, entertainment and residential opportunities which will be unique to the County and will serve as a magnet for young professionals

Project Findings

Based upon the research which was conducted, along with the site visits and discussion from two robust community leadership planning sessions, project participants agreed upon 24 strategic goals, grouped in the following categories for Hardin County:

Education
Community Unification
Community Development
Quality of Place/Quality of Life
Downtown Elizabethtown
Health Care

Media Reports

The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise reported extensively on the Hardin County Vision Project. Many of these articles can be viewed by visiting the Latest News section of this web site.

Path Forward/Hardin County United

The process resulted in the establishment of 24 strategic goals for the next 15 years which touch upon government, education, community development and quality of life. Following the completion of the project, a new organization, Hardin County United, was formed by many of the vision project participants for the purpose of examining each of the 24 strategic goals and developing an implementation strategy.

The first official action taken as follow-up to the Hardin County Vision Project was the development of Hardin County United (HCU).

HCU is an ad-hoc group which was established to formally examine the goals which were established during the Vision Project. HCU started with a Steering Committee comprised of 58 community leaders (including elected officials, business and industry leaders, school superintendents, etc.) and with three subcommittees: Community Development, Education and Governance.

L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC President Luke Schmidt provides management and consulting services to Hardin County United.

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July 27, 2013 By Luke Schmidt

International Bottled Water Association Recycling Manual Project

Introduction

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is a not for profit organization which represents the manufacturers of bottled water in the United States. IBWA is an active organization which addresses such issues as hydration, water sourcing, environmental best practices, recycling, etc.

With the rapid growth of bottled water in the marketplace, concern had been growing about what to do with empty plastic water bottles. IBWA decided that its members (located throughout the U.S.) needed a guide that they could use in establishing local plastic bottle recycling programs in their respective communities.

IBWA retained Luke Schmidt and L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC to develop the Resource Recycling Guide for IBWA Members. Luke Schmidt conducted the research needed in order to develop and draft the Guide. Luke Schmidt also drafted the Guide, working with IBWA’s internal communications staff.

The Guide is a comprehensive look at plastic bottle recycling and also focuses on the 50 largest cities in the U.S. Various recycling strategies are presented along with an extensive list of resources.

Summary

Since the completion of this project, the Guide has been posted to the IBWA Web site for use by its members. Hard copies have also been distributed to IBWA members. The Guide has provided IBWA with an asset that it can share with members of the environmental community and demonstrate its leadership on recycling issues in communities throughout the U.S.

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July 26, 2013 By admin

Addington Field – Elizabethtown (KY) Regional Airport Airline Service Project

Introduction

The Elizabethtown (KY) Airport Board (EAB) operates the city’s municipal airport, Addington Field – Elizabethtown Regional Airport (EKX). The EAB decided to respond to numerous inquiries received from area citizens and businesses regarding the establishment of passenger airline service at EKX.

The EAB initially retained Luke Schmidt and L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC for the purpose of conducting a market feasibility study to confirm the presence of a viable passenger airline service market in Central Kentucky. Following the completion of the feasibility study, the EAB elected to proceed with the project to formally recruit an airline to EKX and again retained L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC to direct the project

Project Scope

The Market Feasibility Study (276 pages) included detailed demographic research into each of the 24 counties in the regional air service market. Highlights of the Study (and the updated market profile which followed) include:

Analysis of Fort Knox travel patterns
Summary of Fort Knox market (current Commands and incoming Commands)
Projected annual passenger enplanements by developing the Origin & Destination Study
Detailed demographic information on Elizabethtown Metro area
Analysis of regional driving distances, costs and times to all regional commercial airports

Additional work on the project continued, focusing on the following areas:

Develop communications/promotion strategy for the airport
Develop regional support for passenger airline service
Address airport infrastructure issues
Recruit airlines to EKX

Project milestones include:

Re-branded the airport by changing the airport’s name to reflect new regional mission
Developed new airport logo and related collateral materials
Developed new airport Web site
Developed concept design for new passenger terminal
Developed an unprecedented level of regional support for new passenger service at EKX along with key support at Fort Knox (included 72 resolutions and 200+ letters of support from government jurisdictions and chambers of commerce from 22 counties in support of EKX’s USDOT Small Community Air Service Development grant proposal)
Began efforts to develop contract military airfares
Started airline recruitment process with formal and ongoing discussions with all major network carriers and one low-cost carrier
Attended the airline industry JumpStart Conference in Pittsburgh
Established a schedule of airline airport charges and fees

Luke Schmidt also worked with the EAB to address airport infrastructure issues. Luke Schmidt facilitated initial meetings with former Congressman Ron Lewis for the purpose of securing funding for an Instrument Landing System (ILS) Glide Slope (which will be installed in 2013). This included multiple trips to Memphis, TN with airport board members to meet with FAA regional officials.

The EAB commissioned a set of concept drawings for a new passenger terminal.

In 2012 and in response to this project, the runway at EKX received a significant pavement overlay which now will allow for sustained operations of 76-passenger Canadair CRJ-900 regional jets for the next 15 years (along with occasional Boeing 737/757 charter flights).

Summary

Significant progress has been made towards the attainment of the goals set forth with this project. This ongoing project has the potential to substantially impact future economic development efforts in Central Kentucky and will assist in creating new jobs.

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July 25, 2013 By admin

Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation Strategic Planning Project

Introduction

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) (now known as Call2Recycle) is a large Atlanta-based trade association which represents the manufacturers of portable rechargeable batteries. The batteries are used in a wide variety of applications, including laptop computers, cordless power tools, cordless telephones, etc. Members of RBRC include such companies as Panasonic, Sony, Varta and others. Batteries manufactured by these companies are used in such applications as laptop computers, cordless power tools, cordless telephones, etc.

RBRC’s primary mission is to facilitate the collection and recycling of portable rechargeable batteries. Since its inception, RBRC-sponsored recycling programs have been responsible for the processing of 75 million pounds of batteries which would have otherwise wound up in landfills. RBRC’s territory includes the United States and Canada.

RBRC has established over 50,000 innovative consumer collection points for batteries at leading retailers, including Best Buy, Office Depot, Office Max, Sears, Zellers and many others. RBRC supports its program with an extensive advertising program. In addition to the retail consumer collection points, RBRC also interfaces with municipal recycling programs, such as curbside collection and drop-off collection programs.

RBRC has also developed partnerships with many of the consumer products companies (such as Black and Decker, Motorola, etc.) which help to support the organization’s goals.

Project Scope

Like many entities, RBRC periodically examines the overall status of the organization and its programs. RBRC decided that it wanted to conduct an in-depth strategic assessment in order to ascertain how its members, senior staff and principal customers view the organization – in terms of its strengths and weaknesses. RBRC also wanted to examine its current mission and vision statements to confirm that both continue to adequately serve the organization. Finally, based upon the findings of the assessment, RBRC also wanted to establish new strategic goals for the purpose of guiding the organization going forward for a period of at least five years.

RBRC retained L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC to carry out this project, which included the following components:

Organizational Profile (structure, finances, internal/external messaging, etc.)
Key Stakeholder Interviews (which included Board members, corporate licensee partners, retail partners, state and municipal recycling officials and senior staff)
Compilation of Organization Strategic Assessment
Leadership Retreat
Final Report

Project Results

During the Key Stakeholder Interview phase, Luke Schmidt interviewed 21 key stakeholders. The interviews included the completion of an extensive survey document prior to the interview. The survey document covered a wide variety of issues/topics relative to the Stakeholder and to RBRC.

The interviews were conducted in-person on a strictly confidential basis in locations throughout the United States and Canada. In order to assure an accurate reflection of attitudes on various issues, each Stakeholder was given an assurance of complete confidentiality with regard to his/her responses. (The intent here is to obtain a fully candid response from each Stakeholder as to how they perceive various issues away from a typical group setting in which many individuals are somewhat reluctant to express how they truly feel on various issues)

Following the completion of the interviews, Luke Schmidt compiled the responses in aggregate form (again, no individual responses were ever shared with anyone at RBRC – either in written, verbal or PowerPoint form). The responses were compiled in a strategic assessment document and presented to attendees at the Leadership Retreat.

During the Leadership Retreat, which was held on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, several Key Issues were identified. These served as the basis for all subsequent discussion. The organization’s Mission Statement and Vision Statement were examined as to their current applicability and both were revised. The attendees also developed 19 short-term goals (to be completed over the next 12 months) and 17 long-term goals (to be completed over the next five years).

Also during the Leadership Retreat, the participants developed strategies (in outline form with personnel assigned to each) for the purpose of implementing the various goals.

Finally, following the Leadership Retreat, Luke Schmidt compiled a Final Report which served as a summary of the action taken during the Leadership Retreat.

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July 24, 2013 By admin

M & G Finanziaria Industriale S.r.l. Market Research Project

Introduction

M & G Finanziaria Industriale S.r.l. (M & G) is a large and well established chemical company based in Tortona, Italy. M & G is one of the largest producers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic resins, with manufacturing facilities located in Europe, the United States and Mexico. The company has other interests related to the chemical industry. The company is constantly introducting new products and technologies to the marketplace.

M & G needed assistance in facilitating the development of a new technology related to solid waste disposal in the United States. However, before it could develop a detailed marketing plan, it first needed to gain a better understanding of the U.S. solid waste disposal system. As such, M & G retained L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC to provide an analysis of the system.

Project Scope

The analysis focused on the following key areas:

Overview – U.S. Solid Waste Disposal System
Overview – Current Landfill Issues
Recommendations for the Introduction of New Technologies

Extensive research via the Web was conducted. In addition, site visits and key interviews were conducted in Louisville and Washington, D.C.

Project Results

Following the completion of the research phase, Luke Schmidt delivered a 120 page report to the client which provided a complete overview of the disposal system, along with recommendations regarding the introduction of the new technology.

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