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Brinkmann Employees Honor Founder with
25th Anniversary Custom Book by Casey

Employees of Brinkmann Constructors wanted to honor their founder in a special way as his 25th anniversary celebration neared. The firm’s history celebration team met privately with Casey Communications President Marie Casey to brainstorm ideas and concept a plan. Casey geared up to fast-track the research, writing, image assembly, graphic design, printing and hand-binding of a custom volume honoring the 25th anniversary of Bob Brinkmann’s growth from inception to ranking today among the nation’s Top 100 design-build firms.

Having served as marketing communications consultant to Brinkmann since 1986, Casey applied her intimate knowledge of Brinkmann’s personal and professional history and the construction industry overall to craft an inspiring, illustrated narrative of his first 25 years in business.

“There were times when I cried as I wrote, touched by Bob’s enormous impact on our community, his clients and his team members,” said Casey. “He has an amazing legacy that spans his generosity, innate teaching skills, and his extreme dedication and discipline.”

Developing a 100-page, single-spaced timeline as a guide, Casey shaped the book’s outline then drafted the first of seven chapters so her design partners at Studio 2108 could concept the graphic flavor, intended to reflect Brinkmann’s passion for Daniel Boone and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. She also worked with Paper Birds to craft a custom hand-stamped and sewn leather binding. Diligent record-keeping by Casey’s marketing communications firm eased and sped the process with ready accessibility to needed data, photos and other records. Brinkmann’s history celebration team provided highly responsive feedback and quickly tracked down needed details.

“Marie was a joy to work with,” said Kim Racer, a member of Brinkmann’s history celebration team. “Her knowledge of Brinkmann Constructors over the past 25 years is unmatched. There is not another person who could have done such an excellent job so quickly. Her wealth of knowledge and speed were very valuable. The book is fantastic!”

Racer added, “Our colleagues at Brinkmann found this project a wonderful learning experience about the legacy of Bob Brinkmann and our company.”

The final book totaled 80 full-color pages, 11 inches by 11 inches, bound in hand-sewn leather, stamped with Bob Brinkmann’s signature and featuring an arrowhead closure.

Bob Brinkmann received the book from employees at a ceremony on May 9, 2009. Rendered speechless by the gift, he later said, “Wow! It’s amazing to see what we have accomplished in our first quarter-century.”

Historians go to great lengths to preserve important paper documents, but how does that translate in the digital age?  Today’s digital technology can lull consumers into thinking personal treasures are safe from the forces of decomposition.  In addition to regularly backing up files, extra attention is needed when choosing CDs and DVDs to preserve historical documents and images.

Just because a document is saved digitally doesn’t mean it will last.  Much like paper, CDs and DVDs degrade over time.  And because digital technology is relatively new, the life span of an everyday CD is still unknown – but museum curators have been dismayed to learn many retain their content for fewer than 10 years.

What’s a historian to do?  Things to remember when selecting and storing data discs:

• Archival CDs and DVDs are a must for long-term preservation of digital media.
• Discs made with phthalocyanine dye are the most stable.  They appear gold, silver or very light green on the non-label side.  Avoid discs that are blue.
• Label discs with acid-free archival markers.  The acid in typical permanent markers can speed disk degradation.  Likewise, the chemicals in adhesive labels can heat up when in use and destroy stored data.  Labels can also cause unbalance in a disc during play.
• Store discs in a cool (between 39°F and 68°F), dry and dark environment with clean air.

More than 40 marketing professionals discovered new ways to promote their businesses at Heritage Marketing – Using History to Differentiate Your Firm, a presentation by Marie Casey at the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) – Missouri Valley Regional Conference in April 2009.

Casey engaged participants in an interactive session to help them discover the potential power of each organization’s history for marketing efforts, whether aimed at growing the business, attracting great people or enhancing reputations. Many companies and organizations possess historic resources that can be mined for the insights and clarity they bring to current decision-making, marketing, culture-sharing and corporate planning.