As summer nears its “official” end, several colleagues and friends of mine were talking last week about their kids returning to school and what that meant to them as a family. They discussed their summer 2010 activities which included weeks of vacations, planning fun events such as sports camps, camping and all the other family fun that many experienced during the summer break. They also all saw it as the end of summer and summer child-like fun.

While I understood the conundrum of my friends, especially since most of their children are pre-teen and still enjoy family vacations, it made me ponder about the summer that we at H+A had just enjoyed and the activities that made it great.

Summer's over, so we can hang up the flip flops.

As summer began, we were beginning to see economic factors in a much more positive light. We had started strategic implementation on a few projects and had a few more in the pipeline.  New staff had joined our team and started building strong client relationships, and starting to positive dividends. But, most noticeable to us were the client projects that were rapidly becoming like the summer weather in Chicago, HOT!

This projects included, the CHA Craft and SuperShow, Dance Chicago's Billy Elliot partnership event, an ITT new product rollout and also the ITT social media programming. Why were these so hot?

• Global Product Roll-Out: Creating the communications plans for the new innovative Commercial and Residential Pump line brought new inspiration and vigor to our global team, but the coup de gras was developing creating a Virtual Press Conference and exceeding editorial goals by 200%.
• Successful International Event: Over 10,000 craft professionals attended the Craft & Hobby and Trade SuperShow from 13 different countries as far away as New Zealand, Brazil, Denmark, Great Britain, Bermuda, Australia, Israel, Canada and Mexico.
• ITT Social Media: We launched a multi-faceted social media program (http://www.itthowpros.com) that promises to connect and engage our client with thousands of new customers, media partners and industry thought-leaders.
• Dance Chicago: For the first-time ever, Dance Chicago partnered with Broadway in Chicago for a fundraising and awareness campaign. Billy Elliot, the Broadway hit musical and Dance Chicago used a dance-inspired synergy to work together to promote dance.  We also worked with Dance Chicago to create a benefit performance for victims of June’s tornado that devastated Streator and areas throughout central Illinois.  The benefit is in a late September and will be a great way to start fall.

So, as I told the friends and colleagues as they waxed nostalgically about the past summer, and the kids returning to school, “It’s great the kids are back in school, now get to work because summer is over!"