Press Release - Lenity Group Rebrand

A NEW NAME, AND A FRESH APPROACH TO SENIOR HOUSING PLANNING AND DESIGN

Lenity Group Brings a Fresh Approach to Senior Housing Planning & Design

2010 Marked a new beginning for Lenity Group, a Salem-based senior-housing planning and design firm. Principals, Kristin Newland, Marcus Hite, and Dan Roach, AIA took the helm after Cliff Curry, a long-time Salem and Bend resident, retired in December from his role as President of Curry Architecture.

Curry founded Curry Architecture nearly 30 years ago. Together with partners such as Holiday Retirement and Colson & Colson General Contractor, Inc., Curry and his team built a legacy in the senior living industry launching over 350 successful senior housing facilities during his career.

Lenity Group provides a simplified approach to senior housing development by offering planning, design, architecture, engineering and construction services under one roof. The firm employs 15 staff including architects, a professional engineer, draftspersons, land use and permit specialists, a senior title officer, construction administrators, and support staff.

Lenity Group provides a simplified approach to senior housing development by offering planning, architecture, design, and construction services under one roof. The firm currently employs 15 staff including architects, a professional engineer, draftspersons, land use and permit specialists, a senior title officer, construction administrators, and support staff. They also partner with the Tumalo-based branding and graphic design firm, Studio Absolute, to establish a competitive and unique brand for each new senior living facility. Seeing to these details sets Lenity Group apart as full service planning and design firm.

“The skill set, experience, and longevity of our team in the senior living industry allows us to move through the details with agility. From initial negations through construction, the process is completely streamlined. Our 30-year industry partnerships make it possible to offer comprehensive services with very competitive pricing for our clients.” Kristin Newland, Principal

Lenity Group partnered with the Bend-based branding and graphic design firm, Studio Absolute, to launch their new name, brand identity, and website. You can visit the new Lenity Group website at www.lenitygroup.com, or contact Kristin Newland at Kristin@lenitygroup.com or 503-399-1090 for more information.

It's Friday afternoon and Russ and I are sitting here in the new studio updating our website. After a week of corporate naming, design meetings, and public presentations - not to mention hyper-speed wedding planning - the desire to be creative is wrestling with a greater desire to get out and enjoy the emerging sun and start the weekend.

That said, I thought I'd give the blog a little bit of love in hopes that it would warm up my typing fingers and inspire me to draft some clever new copy explaining the who, what, and why of Studio Absolute.

The move back into entrepreneurship has been paved with serendipitous meetings and fast friendships with truly wonderful people. Russ and I are planners by nature, but by allowing our clients to shape the business model as we go along, we are building a design & marketing firm that is flexible, agile, and approachable - characteristics you wouldn't necessarily expect from a traditional advertising agency.

Recently Seth Godin (my idol for all things marketing related) asked the question: What could you do differently with your business that would be so remarkable, so unique, that people would literally stand in line to work with you? I think the first step in discovering that answer is to look for the pain points in the industry - what does your competition do that you could run circles around? Not just improve on - but completely blow out of the water!

I was thinking about that McDonald's commercial that shows the two designer-types with their trendy glasses and metrosexual shirts sipping lattes in an upscale coffee shop. One of them mentions McDonald's now serves (supposedly the coffee shop equivalent, but let me tell you - they are disgusting) lattes, but minus the stereotypical attitude. It's a revelation! You can enjoy a fancy mocha - prepared by a real barista - even if you're not wearing designer jeans!

In terms of what makes Studio Absolute worth standing in line for - we demonstrate from start to finish that every project is an opportunity to build a long term relationship with a real person. We feel blessed that all of our clients thus far have made that an easy task simply being likable individuals! When they come to our studio for the first time, they'll meet two normal people that are genuinely excited to hear about their new product, service, or company name that requires a bright and shiny presence in the world.

Well, that felt good. Now back to the website where I've got to sum that up cleverly and in a tiny fraction of my manifesto here!

Insomnia

This is my first ever post to Studio Absolute's blog. It's a significant day - one that I've been putting off mainly for lack of words, but also for the sheer lack of understanding behind the blogging mentality. I never kept a diary or journal when I was growing up - it just seemed pointless to recap what I already knew about my day or how I was feeling. I was there, you know? There's also this thing about the word "I" that "I" have to come to grips with if "I" am going to amount to any kind of blogger. I usually read over my emails and letters and count how many times I've said it (I)... and if it's anywhere near the number of times I've used it in the last two sentences alone, a major rewrite is forthcoming.

So that said, the one thing I have now that I never had as a kid, is insomnia. Big, fat, insomnia - which explains why there wasn't a need for a diary growing up. I simply slept, and dreams would carry my thoughts from my heart, through my brain, and dispel them out into the universe with one clean swipe off the whiteboard. Now that the universe is Web 2.0 savvy, I guess it's time I find a new, more relevant way of communicating with it than simply sleeping my day off.

Dear Blog, would you like to know what's keeping me awake tonight? Where to start... The clock taunting me ("It's 12:56, 1:00, 1:30... you know you've got a meeting at 7:00... what do you think you're doing writing a blog at this hour!?"); the unrelenting pressure of starting a new business; wondering where I will find the time to create the forms, the plans, the web content - all the necessary business evils that are so important, yet so hard to stop and DO; the desire to help our team grow while cultivating passion for what they are naturally, and uniquely gifted at; wondering how I could have forgotten to take a critically important medication for over a week - wait, oh yea, I HAVE TONS OF STUFF ON MY MIND!

Well there it is, dear Blog. I hope that unlike all the diaries and journals I've written only one entry in and then abandoned, that we actually meet again.

Good night.