Washington Business Spring 2019 | Washington Business | Page 30
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AWB brought it back for a second round of ads — with stories that bring to life the power of private
enterprise.
“Washington employers have great stories to tell and we’re privileged to share just a few of them in this
campaign,” AWB President Kris Johnson said at the launch of the current campaign, which runs through July.
The goals of Grow Here are two-fold: To highlight the “why” that motivates Washington companies and share
the employee experience within those businesses. And, to remind people that Washington state’s competitiveness
— its ability to attract and retain employers — is critical to an economy that works for all residents.
“Washington employers have great stories
to tell and we’re privileged to share just a
few of them in this campaign.”
— Kris Johnson, president, AWB
At A Glance
AWB launched the first Grow Here employer image
campaign in 2016.
The 2017 Grow Here campaign was a finalist for the annual
PR News Platinum Awards, receiving recognition in the Public
Affairs category alongside some of the globe’s top brands
and public relations firms.
Grow Here is the association’s first multi-media, multi-
million-dollar ad campaign to highlight employer
contributions across the state and share why it’s important to
protect the state’s competitiveness.
This year’s ads tell the positive stories of three homegrown
Washington employers — MOD Pizza, Lampson International
and Alaffia.
Previous Grow Here campaigns featured Nucor Steel Seattle,
Rite in the Rain, The McGregor Company, M3 Biotechnology,
Schilling Cider, Seattle Chocolates, Ecochemical, National
Frozen Foods and Alaffia.
To learn more, or contribute to Grow Here, contact AWB Vice
President, Communications Jason Hagey at [email protected]
or 360.943.1600.
GrowHereWashington.com
30 association of washington business
business as a catalyst for good
To illustrate the Grow Here goals, AWB takes a closer
look at three very different companies and how they are
improving lives and supporting communities — here and
around the world.
A fast-growing company, MOD Pizza, is giving justice-
involved individuals and those recovering from addiction
a second chance to gain meaningful employment and
rebuild their lives.
In Kennewick, Lampson International, the company
that builds some of the largest construction cranes in
the world, has helped build the community by donating
crane services to construct buildings such as the local
high school sports stadium and to lift hydroplanes
in and out of the Columbia River during the annual
Columbia Cup races.
And in Tumwater, Alaffia, a fair-trade skin-care product
manufacturer, is waging a war against poverty in the small
nation of Togo, West Africa, one job at a time.
Tim Schauer, president and CEO of MacKay Sposito
and AWB’s board chair, said the Grow Here campaign is
helping to change the public’s perception of business by
shining a spotlight on business leaders who care about
more than just the bottom line.
“They represent the best of what we can be,” Schauer
said. “The Enrons of the world, those are the exceptions.
Most businesses are run by real people who have more
goals than just making money.”
Ally Svenson captures the sentiment perfectly in the
MOD Pizza ad, Schauer says, when she declares the
company is “unapologetically for profit,” but its purpose
is to “make a positive social impact.”
“These two things are not mutually exclusive,”
Schauer says.
It’s a point also illustrated by the quiet, but monumental,
work that Tumwater-based Alaffia is doing in West Africa.
The company has a host of initiatives under its Women’s
Empowerment Project that support Togolese women and