Images And Messages Projected In Easton

Don’t Yell, Call Sundell’s

Advertising slogan that Sundell’s, an Easton automotive repair business, used in the 1960s and ‘70s

The other night I was watching the documentary, Art & Copy – an interesting and entertaining film on the advertising industry.   Being a writer and public relations and marketing consultant, I rub elbows with advertising day and day out.

Depending on the source, it is reported that the average American sees somewhere between 2,000 and maybe a little more than 5,000 advertising messages a day.  I’m not sure how that number is arrived at – but we surely get hit hard every day.   And when you drive around Easton – in this day of global brand giants – we encounter many of the same messages and logos that the people in Easton, CA encounter. 

I have a big affection for advertising as an industry, profession, art and trade. 

Good advertising conveys the right message, it pulls and induces feeling, it connects with something internal and courses through the hardwiring in our soul; it is frequently nostalgic.   Public relations is, at its essence, relating to the public – and effectively communicating information and an image, and managing reputation. 

Art & Copy got to thinking about images and messages and reputation and Easton. 

Of course, our town has a nickname – "The Shovel Town" – derivative of that at one time the here in Easton produced about 60 percent of the world's shovels. 

Think of Town of Easton’s official seal.  On it is the image of the at the center of Easton, where Center Street and Depot Street meet.  We drive and walk and pedal and run past that monument all the time – the visual of it ingrained in us.   On the monument are the names of the 47 men from Easton who died while in the service of their country during the war. 

A little bit more history on the monument; it has the figure of a Union soldier – and the soldier is facing south; it is one of the few Civil War monuments, honoring Union sacrifice, which includes a Union soldier facing south. 

I suspect, though, that for most people who lived in Easton for, let’s say, 10 years or more, when they think of a public image of the town, it is which is top of mind and paramount.  It is smack in the middle of downtown North Easton, and a grandiose and magnificent example of the design genius of Henry Hobson Richardson. 

It can be accurately said that all the H.H. Richardson buildings here, along with the Frederick Law Olmsted landscape designs in town, are popular images associated with Easton. 

Think of the North Easton Village District, and you think of arches and coppery and sandy and orangey colored stones of the Richardson buildings.  has even incorporated an H.H. Richardson-like arch in its logo. 

and its gates and its baseball field and stands and playground equipment – its basketball court – are all memorable, eliciting in us an ache of nostalgia, a longing.  How about the scoreboard at the park, and the giant oak tree in center field? 

Small businesses in Easton have been inventive with their messaging.

In the 1980s, on Sullivan Avenue, there was a sub and pizza place called Galano’s.   Its slogan was, “A Little Bit of the North End in North Easton.”   Cute.

is located at Joe Correira’s Plaza.  When it opened up, and for probably a year after, it had sign on its front which said, “Big Enough To Serve You, Small Enough To Know You.”  Catchy. 

Many years ago, , had a marketing tagline:  “Kitch-In-Vue Candy.”  A message that told you that the candy was made on site at Hilliard’s, and in sight of customers. 

The colors orange and black, which are the colors, are associated with Easton.  So is the face of a snarling tiger. 

does a good job with its marketing-communications and advertising.   On campus, it uses colorful banners emblazoned with photographs of students accompanied by slogans, including “WE CREATE” and “WE RUN” and “WE INQUIRE” and “WE DANCE.”

I like Stonehill’s logo for its mascot, the Skyhawks – it is a bit whimsical and incorporates a bird and the history of the land on which Stonehill College is located, which in the early 1900s was the site of an airport.   I also liked the old Stonehill mascot, the Chieftains – but it was done away with.  Not sure why.  

Soon after my dad came to Easton in the early 1950s, and started coaching and teaching at OA, he began using a rallying cry, an inspirational message, for the OA sports teams.  “Burning Desire” was the message – and it was enthusiastically adopted and employed in all the sports in which OA competed. 

What are images and messages, slogans and designs, come to your mind when you think of Easton?