Steve Cuno has been in the advertising business in Salt Lake City for more than 10 years. You may have run across some of his work if you take a paper, watch TV or listen to the radio. But his avocation - his passion - is music. He's even recorded an album, "Lemon Meringue."
People around the world will be hearing more from Cuno because as a composer-arranger he has just signed a contract with the Mento Music Group in Hamburg, West Germany, for worldwide distribution of his music.How that came about shows that marketing savvy and musical talent can go hand in hand.
Cuno has studied and performed music in all its variety, from the classics to rock, since age 12. He was commissioned at 17 to compose original music for the Miss Nevada Pageant. Another award-winning piece was played in concert by the Reno Philharmonic. He studied at the University of Nevada-Reno, California State University at Fullerton and Brigham Young University.
But practicality won out. "No one in the `Help Wanted' section was looking for a composer," he said. "So I transferred to the University of Utah, changed my major to advertising, and broke down and graduated."
Cuno is now vice president and director of client services for Smith Harrison Direct, a local direct response marketing firm. And those marketing skills proved useful in attracting the attention of Mento Music. When Mento failed to write after expressing initial interest in his music, Cuno decided to tap his marketing talents.
"I mailed them a tennis ball," he said, "with a letter explaining the American expression, `The ball's in your court.' "
Mento responded immediately, suggesting a deal was forthcoming . . . but more months passed without further word, so Cuno tried again.
"I bought a deck of cards and sent them a winning poker hand, along with a letter asking them to show their cards."
That's when a Mento representative telephoned, from Hamburg, to announce the company was sending a contract.
The result was doubly gratifying: Both his music and his marketing skills are helping to make his dreams come true.