What makes us tick

Coates Kokes just celebrated the holiday’s, making it the agency’s tenth since becoming Coates Kokes. We won’t even say how many (32) that makes it in total for a certain founder. This year’s party was at the Oswego Lake House. As you may have guessed, it was right on the lake (which was frozen over and despite many attempts by this author, no one would bust out their ice skates). Food, drinks, more food and a gift exchange occupied the lot of us for a goodly number of hours.

Take a couple plug-in hybrids and a few rooftop solar panels and that’s a recipe for testing the power of renewable energy. Up at Avista, they’re doing just that. These two hybrids are charged by solar panels on Avista’s roof. The website tracks how much juice the cars use and how much the panels produce. Avista is using the data they’re collecting now to be prepared for the time when more and more customers start plugging their hybrids into the grid. The extra dose of sweet Dutch angle on these shots is free of charge. 

Coates Kokes is fortunate to have a number of causes as clients. It’s an area that has become a specialty of sorts for the agency in recent years, and it makes for rewarding work even if it is filled with the pressures inevitably involved when the environment or even lives are at stake. The State of Oregon’s Department of Human Services has recently tapped the agency to help in the fight against the H1N1 flu virus.

Our clients at the City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning & Sustainability came to us for help in shaping a city planning process that is anything but typical. For starters, the Portland Plan is a once in 30-year plan that will set the course for investment in Portland for the next three decades.

Last week the postcard we created for the Portland Plan hit mailboxes around the city—now our model is famous…or at least The Oregonian says so. Reporter Anne Saker calls Mary Frances “Portland’s next top model.” We agree.  Check out the great coverage.

It was a wet ride in this morning. What you can’t see is the pool of water forming at Karl’s feet or the socks he had to wring out. That’s dedication.