Loving this place, Q&D's chief issues challenge to businesses

Moved by whimsy as much as a desire to freshen the "We Love This Place" campaign, employees of the Rose-Glenn Group in Reno last summer installed 30 signs around downtown encouraging folks to park their egos or cautioning that they are entering a no-frowning zone.

Norm Dianda, the president of Sparksbased construction giant Q&D Construction, likes the little signs so much that his company paid to install them around a couple of its recent projects.

And Dianda last week challenged business people who attended the annual banquet of Western Industrial Nevada to further step up the effort.

His company installed a handful of the signs around the new campus it's building for Saint Mary's in downtown Reno, and it helped install them at the new Bishop Manogue High School as well.

At the high school, students chose their own slogans "Walk the Walk," for instance, and "Make a Difference." "It's a great way to maintain neighborhood pride with a little humor," says Sheila Hlubucek, a spokeswoman for Q&D.

"We're still small town.We're nice to one another."

Dianda's challenge is a good boost for the campaign that's an outgrowth of the "We Love This Place" effort that's evident in logos and vehicle decals around town, says Valerie Glenn, president of Rose-Glenn.

"It's pretty cool," she says."Having someone like Norm Dianda and Q&D behind this is a wonderful extension of the whole program."

When Stan Byers, the creative director of the Rose-Glenn Group, developed the signs, he thought they'd work best when they'd be seen by pedestrians walking by.

And Dianda, whose company already has installed some of the signs outside its corporate office, says parking lots would be a good place to begin.

Hlubucek says Q&D is especially eager to find other businesses to help spread the program through Sparks.

The initial signs cost a little under $100 each to produce.

The campaign has been honored in regional advertising competitions and has drawn attention as well from national advertising groups.