All Kirk Sellman wanted was to play with his 3-year old again

For over a decade, Kirk had put up with numbness, first in his feet, then his legs and finally all of his lower organs. But for over a year, things were going south rapidly. He fell often and fell hard. He frightened his 3-year old, and was in fear for his life. When the neurologists and neurosurgeons at USC examined his CAT scan, they found a tumor that had compressed his spinal cord to the thickness of a ribbon.

Kirk relates this experience of facing the consequences of a thoracic vertebra 7 level schwannoma, and his treatment, a gross total resection of the tumor by neurosurgeon, Patrick Hsieh, M.D. Graphic scans show the extent of the damage done by the tumor and the relief that Doctor Hsieh and his team were able give Kirk. More than just the ability to stand, and walk and regain control of his body. He was able to rebuild his life and rejoin his family.

This is just one of thirteen videos that Pasadena Advertising Marketing and Design produced for the USC Keck School Of Medicine: true stories of normal, healthy people whose everyday lives were suddenly shattered by catastrophic medical emergencies no one could predict or prepare for.  The patients themselves tell their stories of survival with the help of their doctors: the neurologists, neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons of the Keck School of Medicine at USC.
This is the kind of information my wife and I wished we'd had when our daughter’s life was nearly ended by a brain hemorrhage in Scotland in 2007. We spent hours pouring over the Internet scouring all the information we could find on aneurysms and the treatment, coil embolization. Most of what we found was so arcane and technical that we could not truly grasp what was happening. We created these videos for people like us – people who need immediate answers, to urgent questions, in idioms they can easily understand.
With these videos at their fingertips, patients, friends and families dealing with life threatening neurological threats will finally have a place to turn for practical answers that they can understand.

These videos were conceived and produced by Tony Nino and Suzanne Marks at Pasadena Advertising Marketing Design.
The director and DP was James OKeeffe and the editor was Peter Bayer.

Annie Nelson - Her World Changed in a Breath

Annie remembers the day a blinding headache, vomiting and loss of balance sent her to the emergency room and began a day of terrifying revelations. Her doctors could not control her symptoms, and couldn't find a cause until CT scan revealed a massive acoustic neuroma, eighth cranial nerve brain tumor that was literally crushing her cerebellum. The doctors immediately scheduled surgery, and advised her to get prepped immediately. She said no.

Annie is a fighter, an activist and the founder of the American Soldiers Network dedicated to raising awareness for the needs of our veterans, our injured soldiers, their families and the challenges they all face during the reintegration process when they return from Iraq and Afghanistan. She takes nothing for granted. She tells how she immediately called on friends and colleagues and found one of the premiere neurosurgeons in the country, Steven Giannotta, M.D. at USC, and convinced him to see her right away.
Dr. Gianotta explains how her tumor, while benign, had grown so large, and was impinging on so many vital nerves and tissues, that only a surgical solution, a retrosigmoid craniotomy, was viable. His task at this point was not merely to save her life but spare her facial nerves
This is just one of thirteen videos that Pasadena Advertising Marketing and Design produced for the USC Keck School Of Medicine: true stories of normal, healthy people whose everyday lives were suddenly shattered by catastrophic medical emergencies no one could predict or prepare for.  The patients themselves tell their stories of survival with the help of their doctors: the neurologists, neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons of the Keck School of Medicine at USC.
This is the kind of information my wife and I wished we'd had when our daughter’s life was nearly ended by a brain hemorrhage in Scotland in 2007. We spent hours pouring over the Internet scouring all the information we could find on aneurysms and the treatment, coil embolization. Most of what we found was so arcane and technical that we could not truly grasp what was happening. We created these videos for people like us – people who need immediate answers, to urgent questions, in idioms they can easily understand.
With these videos at their fingertips, patients, friends and families dealing with life threatening neurological threats will finally have a place to turn for practical answers that they can understand.

These videos were conceived and produced by Tony Nino and Suzanne Marks at Pasadena Advertising Marketing Design.
The director and DP was James OKeeffe and the editor was Peter Bayer.

Doing businesses good

Over ten thousand visitors gathered for the wildly popular “Make Music Pasadena.”

On Wednesday August 17, at our OPMD first Marketing Committee meeting after measuring the success of “Make Music Pasadena,” we held an informal roundtable on the most effective ways to attract and retain customers. As the head of Marketing, I was specifically interested in how OPMD’s efforts were making the merchant's efforts easier. But we didn’t exactly ask that question. Thank goodness.

We asked, “What has worked best to attract and retain customers for your business?” The overwhelming answer was “Customer Service.” All the merchants around the table agreed. Everyone was eager to share what had worked, and, even more emphatically, what had not worked for them in their own businesses. This promised to be much more interesting that what we had originally intended, so we listened and learned.

“Paying attention to the little things,” was a common theme shared by business owners and managers from the diverse group at the table from The Melting Pot restaurant, Lula Mae boutique gift shop, Vertical Wine Bistro, Le Grand Orange Café and the One Colorado development. Another common theme was rewarding locals, residents and employees alike who spend time in Old Pasadena. The more personal the approach, the better.

On the other hand, impersonal discount aggregators such as Groupon were roundly dismissed. Customers who came in to use their Groupon discounts were almost never seen again. To make matters worse, the merchants only received 25% of the value of the service or merchandise and the 8 ½ x 11 computer print-out coupons were perceived as tacky and awkward to use. According to Online Media Daily, we weren’t the only people to notice.

Personal coupons, and targeted neighborhood discounts such as Lula Mae’s “Lula Bucks,” Le Grand Orange’s Monday and Tuesday Neighborhood Nights, Vertical Wine Bistro’s Burger Night Thursday and Melting Pot’s Rewards Program paid off consistently with a wealth of return customers. And unlike Groupon customers, local customers taking part in local restaurants' promotions tipped their waiters.

When we finally asked our merchants if the OPMD events helped them, they were effusive with their praise. “Make Music Pasadena,” “Pasadena Restaurant Week,” “Summer Film Festival” “Happy Hour Week” and our “Art Night” entertainment had all positively affected business. Everyone was excited about the “Locals Only Thursday” promotion running in September and October. In fact over 50 Old Pasadena businesses have signed on to be a part of it.

Personal touch. Customer Service. Catering to friends and neighbors. As much as we at OPMD would like to believe that we are the driving force in Old Pasadena business, apparently doing good business is still what does businesses the most good.