Bringing businesses in front of more eyes is a familiar challenge for Raul Gutierrez. He has spent 30 years helping brands get bigger and grow to respected ranks in their industries. But in 23 years as a resident of Plainsboro, Gutierrez has not seen much progress in the way local businesses were presented to potential customers in the greater Princeton area.
Gutierrez is dedicating his time and professional expertise to help the Plainsboro Business Partnership (PBP) spark more recognition for the wealth of businesses in the township. The PBP is now a part of the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce, adding a new array of resources, business and networking possibilities and a well-established presence to the mix — giving Plainsboro businesses a new face and potentially a new outlook.
On Tuesday, June 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. the Plainsboro Business Partnership along with the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce will host a networking event and business showcase entitled the “Plainsboro Business Showcase” in Fountain Park, just outside of the Plainsboro Public Library. The event is free, a music performance is scheduled, and food will be catered from Plainsboro’s Crown of India restaurant. For a full list of businesses that will be on display, see below. For information on how to purchase a space at the event, call the chamber at 609-924-1776.
Cheri Hennessy Durst, director of events for the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce, said tables will be set up on Fountain Park so businesses have the opportunity to market their goods and services by offering free promotional products, samples and information.
“There is hope that an ancillary benefit of the event will be an increased shopping population, and thus additional revenue in Plainsboro during a summer weeknight,” she said.
An official launch event of the PBP-Princeton chamber partnership took place in April. Gutierrez, as co-chairman of the PBP’s steering committee, has also designed the new logo for the group to make a more pronounced professional statement.
Plainsboro may be small but it contains huge corporate footprints, and Gutierrez says that many of the corporate giants like Bristol Myers-Squibb, Novo Nordisk, Integra Life Sciences, or those along College Road may have picked Plainsboro as a location because of its quiet, somewhat tucked-away feel. But like many citizens he wanted the township to no longer fly under the radar.
“Plainsboro is next to Princeton but never really considered along with Princeton, and West Windsor is considered more prestigious of a location too,” he said.
Gutierrez recalls the early 1990s, when there was not much traffic on Plainsboro’s roads — a stark contrast to his town today. Businesses were more invisible at that time, and there was no organization to push them to the forefront in the town and the region.
It was high time to do something about that, and for Plainsboro the timing has never been better than now. The state-of-the art new hospital and health campus are now open; the 655 bus route is running to connect Princeton and Plainsboro; and the township has stepped up its game in promoting itself through an all-new website and marketing brochures.
Gutierrez sees all the recent events combined with the PBP’s objectives as a form of synergy. Regardless of the reason, more people will be coming through Plainsboro in months and years ahead. “Eventually the employees from major corporations and the new hospital will venture out into our little downtown area, and they should be made aware of what businesses are located here,” he said.
Also, Gutierrez recognized the talented workforce that Plainsboro can boast as another reason why economic development should be emphasized at this time. He credits the township with a renewed focus on creating a business-friendly environment that attracts professionals.
“This is where the mayor has really played an integral role. He and Robert Sheehan (Plainsboro’s business administrator) have worked well with the PBP and the chamber to improve the township’s visibility. The township will have a table at the exhibition on June 12, and they’ve done a tremendous job in making everything available on the township website now. Residents — and businesses — have everything at their disposal,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez was born and raised in the Philippines. His mother was a homemaker while his father was a lieutenant in the military.
A natural talent in design work and graphic art, Gutierrez earned his B.F.A. from the University of Santo Tomas in 1980. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1981 and attended Pratt Institute in New York City, where he earned an M.A. in Communications Design. While he has sisters in California and extended family across the United States, Gutierrez and his wife decided to leave New York in 1989 and move to Plainsboro. The town’s positive attributes not only attracted them, but also convinced them to stay put.
“After 10 years we were leaving the townhouse we lived in, and we began to look at some of the local areas for buying a house — East Windsor and West Windsor in particular. We came to the conclusion that Plainsboro was a good fit for us — it’s well-organized, all of the development seemed manageable, and there was a lot of diversity and affordable housing in the town,” Gutierrez said.
Another reason he and his wife moved from New York to Plainsboro was that they recognized the school system as a strength of the community. However they decided to home-school their only child, a son who is now 23 years old.
Prior to establishing his firm, Gutierrez held leadership positions at international branding firms Siegel & Gale and Landor Associates and architecture and interior design firms such as Gensler and Daroff Design. Gutierrez’s firm has worked with many high-profile corporate clients including AT&T, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Bausch & Lomb, Comcast, Credit Suisse, Dell, Ernst & Young, ING, Lehman Brothers, Lenovo, and the International Olympic Committee.
Two of the top projects that the marketing expert has worked on (and drawn inspiration from) include designing the logo for Dell Computers at a time when the PC industry was hungry for defined branding, and later helping Caterpillar (the construction equipment and engine manufacturer) achieve greater brand recognition.
Gutierrez worked with Caterpillar from 1994 to 2001 on visual systems, signage, print design, and environmental graphics. He played an integral role in transforming a mundane equipment maker into a cache trademark with “CAT” appearing on T-shirts, hats, and especially boots — very fashionable among Europeans, he says.
For “CAT” Gutierrez’s goal was to create a clearer projection of the company’s values, competencies, personality, and positioning. He says the focus was exemplified by the slogan that could also apply to his work in Plainsboro: “It’s not what we make that makes us proud, but what we make possible.”
