This year we joined Think Local First.  We're excited about the potential to work with other local companies and be a part of the success of these businesses as they enrich our community.

Recently I had another experience of thinking local first.  I attended a Career Expo at the University of Michigan's School of Art and Design.  Thanks to U of M's career development coordinator, John Luther, I had the great pleasure of interviewing communications artists on the cusp of graduation who are now looking for employment.  Each has almost completed a very fine program that develops gook thinking as well as good creating. 

I was at the career day because we're looking for new talent.  Over the years we've had significant success through our internship program with students like these.  In some cases we were the launch point to a first job elsewhere and in some cases that first job was with us.  One of the great things for all MOVIANS--intern, strategic partners or staff--is that we have the opportunity to work in the very eclectic and multi-disciplined field of integrated marketing communications.  This diversity of approaches and talent was exemplified for me by the variety of skills I saw in the portfolios of the seven artists whose work I reviewed that day.  Each was inspired by an interest of theirs which led them to develop a capability in some aspect of the business to further this interest.  For one woman who had a passion for running (she qualified for the Boston Marathon) it was applying design skills to generate an interactive training calendar for marathon runners.  For another it was applying information management and type execution to better communicate with new immigrants.  For another it was her love for the theatre that led her to create show posters. 

But after finding should come doing.  So we chose a partner team to work with us from this group of seven whose skills matched the requirements for an R&D project for one of our customers.  We got together at Espresso Royale on U of M's campus, brainstormed how to refine the concept, built a better structure to express these developments and then went into production.  After a few back and forth refinements we had a prototype we could show to the client on a mobile device. 

The moral of this story: There's a lot of talent in our community.  Consider how you can open up to more of it.  I think you'll be pleased, as we are, with the outcome.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend an open house sponsored by the  Ann Arbor & Ypsilanti Area Chamber of Commerce (thanks, Chamber) at Zingermans. (www.zingermans.com) 

Zingermans is an Ann Arbor-area business that has been intentional about being authentically local.  But this local brand has also opened up its business model so that it can touch the full world of its customers.  It has accomplished this by starting new concepts around the Zingerman's quality food approach.  By keeping these businesses local it has created something uniquely authentic while expanding reach through mail order and internet sales.

The open house took us to 7 stations that represented some of Zingerman’s current family of businesses— the Bakehouse,  BAKE! with Zing,  the Creamery, Catering, Mail Order, Coffee Company and Zing Train (a training business.).  At each station you felt the same enthusiasm and heard the same message from the people who were working in the different businesses—“we love it here because we’re working with great people, living out a terrific company culture, working on exciting business ideas" each of whose goal is to provide unsurpassed service and quality food products to its customers.  It’s a winning combination.  And it’s infectious. As a customer you leave feeling energized by the experience and renewed in your loyalty to the Zingerman's brand.  For many of us residents of Washtenaw County it has become “our Zingermans”. 

The "local" theme connected to another conversation I had when I met a new colleague in our industry, marketing communications.  He hails from Kentucky.  I asked him if he knew Wendell Berry and he said, "definitely."  Besides Zingermans, perhaps the advocate for local business initiatives that has had the greatest impact on me recently is writer, philosopher and farmer, Wendell Berry.  (http://brtom.typepad.com/wberry/). For many in the local food movement he is a household name.  From his Kentucky farm he has written about the need to nurture the local community through stewardship of the land and relationships built on local food production and distribution.

  So when our executive team was wrestling this week with our own growth strategy as an integrated marketing communications agency and weighing what risk reward we should undertake, we referenced this concept—local jobs for local strategic artists.  It is a worthy endeavor.  Because when we as strategic artists at MOVE—those who by creativity and common sense generate income—can employ others of a similar gifting, we can join together with others to build and enrich the larger community. 

For all of you business leaders who are asking yourselves, especially in these economically challenging times, why you’re doing this—perhaps local jobs to enrich the local community will be a compelling reason for you.  And for you workers—consider staying local (especially after you’ve done New York, L.A. and Shanghai) and help build a life locally that, through its richness of spirit and excellence of product, can still have impact globally.  See you in the neighborhood.

 

This year’s Design Forum, "The Renaissance of Design", with host sponsor Johnson Controls and supporting sponsors Microsoft and Autodesk, brought a breath of much-needed fresh air to an automotive industry weighed down with the burden of financial woes. 

 After a year’s hiatus, the event re-launched at College for Creative Studies' A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education. A fabulous 144 million dollar renovation of a former GM building in mid-town Detroit, it will soon house creative studies programs for students from sixth grade through graduate school. As part of the developing creative corridor in the city it proved a welcoming setting for over 350 attendees. 

The day launched with David Muyres' presentation (his title identifies him as "Agent of Transportation Change") calling for a new approach to developing complete mobility solutions. He reminded the audience that we went into the last century with people asking, "Why do we need a faster horse?" and shouldn’t enter this century asking, "How do we make a faster car?" He shifted the discussion to looking at transportation as a way to meet the basic need of people moving themselves and their goods from Point A to Point B. Based on this focus, he challenged the design community to develop an integrated mobility systems approach that would create a new plan for transportation in the United States. This plan would respond to consumer demand for greater connectivity, energy savings, and a variety of vehicle types based on use, including "car as appliance"; and that would incorporate many modes of transportation -- from high-speed rail, to shared vehicle ownership models,  to pod cars to bicycles for rental throughout urban areas. He complimented the members of the design community for applying their ability to balance all of the concerns of business, safety, style and technology and for bringing the automotive industry to a mature state. But he challenged them to focus these same abilities toward mobilizing an American transportation revolution. One example he posited would be for the newly reorganized GM to move from being the General Motors Corporation to the General Mobility Corporation.

A set of panelists was up next. These included:

• John Wendl, Content Director at Turn 10 Studios, who introduced the incredibly cool video game application of the Forza Motorsport franchise. With partner Microsoft they’ve taken CG, User Generated Content (UGC), and social media, using X-Box live, to a whole new level.
• ICON Aircraft’s COO, Steen Strand, presented its ICON A5 that leveraged "world-class design to make recreational flying more appealing and accessible."
• Bruce Campbell, VP of design for Nissan Design America, who led the design efforts for the new Nissan 370Z, Maxima and Rogue, said that the automotive industry has become caught in sameness and needed to press toward a renaissance in design. "With globalization we're simply copying. The economic fears are driving this sameness. We need to design not just for the business concerns, but we need to design for people." In this regard he said "we need to create regional looks, take advantage of the fact that electric is here." He concluded with this call to action: "Be bold, step out. Hit the reset button every day. Reset design and lead the way with creative."

Key-note speaker Ralph Gilles, head of Chrysler design and CEO of the Dodge Brand built on this momentum and called on the audience to "campaign the change" in design. He gave a very frank, funny and engaging presentation -- the kind of presentation that made you feel, "Yeah, there’s a community here made up of some very smart, hip, approachable people. Together we’re going to create something cool, now that we’re getting through all of this turbulence."

He framed his comments with a number of introductory quotes, including this one from Freeman Thomas, now at Ford as Director, Strategic Design for North America: "Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, and comes from collaboration and trusting intuition."

The current temptation, he said, "is for everyone to aim for the same center" of the target. It’s creating a lot of me-too looks. While vehicles do arrange themselves within specific "visual imprints," the designer’s job now is both to look for the soul in these icons and also to create the next icon. "Branded design is everything. You still need to create the soul and you create the soul by design."

He pointed out some 10 to 12 silhouette prints including two new icons -- the Prius, establishing the line for the energy efficient aerodynamic vehicle; and the Smart car for the urban small car. He commented that his team was keeping a keen focus on the Millenials, a group that prides themselves on diversity but who are all looking for connectivity and an active interface. In this regard he said going forward, "technology will be the trump card."

In signing off, he thanked his alma mater, CCS, saying that "education is working" and encouraged the new designers to, "be respectful, but speak your mind. You have to campaign the change."

The day ended with Richard Chung, Vice President Design, Asia Pacific, Johnson Controls Automotive Experience, who brought a further global perspective. He shared that in the last 24 years since Johnson Controls entered and has dedicated itself to, the automotive business, it has grown to be a leading global supplier, with eight design studios to serve its customers. He pointed out that in China, his area of focus, there was no real culture built around the automobile and that this was a historic moment to influence this exploding market of first-time buyers. As a recent example of Johnson Controls innovation, he highlighted the recent re3 global design demonstrator as breaking away from the expected and helping to shape what is next.  MOVE supported Johnson Controls by helping develop the marketing creative for the re3 and the video presentation promoting it at Design Forum. 

You can catch more on this event by going to autoweek.com or downloading their iPhone app at the iTunes store. 

From all of us at MOVE, hats off to all who threw this party and who attended. You set a great tone for what surely will be a better year than the last. So as you look toward the year ahead, in your area of expertise, challenge yourself. Be part of the renaissance—keep creating.

 

All of us are doing more on-line every day, every minute, every tweet.  As you're thinking about your online presence as a company, it's helpful to have a framework to consider.  Our colleague Casey Frushour of Casey's Head forwarded us this summary of guidelines from Smashing Magazine called "Design to Sell: Eight Useful Tips to Help Your Site Convert".  It's a great distillation that's worth  glance.  Here's a taste. 

 

At this moment, there are prospective students who are the right fit for your college or university that are yearning for someone to engage them in discussion on questions that matter to them.  They may not even know they are waiting, but when they see you stimulating a dialog in their area of passion and inquiry, like a match to dry tinder, their interest will ignite.  And you will have begun to build a relationship that, because it is based on common interest, has intrinsic value and directed purpose.

So, how can you start this dialog?  A robust way is to connect online through a Discovery Microsite.  Here, the student has an opportunity to engage in a faculty-led discussion blog, connect to a professor, student or alumni, learn more about your distinct approach, and click to apply.

You can drive traffic to this site through online banner ads, Facebook or Twitter references, or through traditional print, radio, T.V. and outdoor media.

In future blog entries, we’ll talk more about how these work.  In the meantime, ask your current students about what issues they are most interested in; then ask yourself which of these topics most align with your core expertise as an institution.  When you find that intersection, you will learn where you should begin the dialog with your prospective students of fit.

This weekend I'm participating in the Chicago Triathlon.  I'm doing the half triathlon (or sprint), so I'm only half a her or depending on how you see it, half a nut case!

Anyway, in an email I received about the race was a sponsorship notice from Toyota.  Here's a bit of the copy:

Be sure to stop by the Toyota Engines of Change Zone and check out the 2010 line-up of Toyota Hybrid vehicles including the all new 3rd generation Prius.  Learn how you can be an Engine of Change.  Sign up to win free prizes and tell Toyota the reason why you're a Triathlete or a fan and they'll plant a tree on your behalf. 

Notice that they've tied they Toyota brand to a current issue that is top of mind for the primarily 20 to 45-year-old age group who are competing in this event.  Also, notice that because Toyota is active in this area, as a brand it is becoming part of the story of these athletes as they participate and then afterwards when they find out about their tree. 

Each of us as business-people should consider how you can support the issues that are on people's minds and then plug in so you become part of their stories.  When you do, and it comes time for them to make a purchase, wouldn't they consider those who reflect their concern to make a better world?

And don't let limited funds stop you.  Just start showing up at places doing things you care about, you'll eventually be noticed and appreciated.  Be part of the engine of change.

P.S. You can check out my progress here.

July 3, 2009, marks our 25^th Anniversary as a company.  Twenty-five years ago I went down to the Washtenaw County Building in Ann Arbor and filed a d.b.a. of Donald Hart called Hart Productions.  At that time I had no idea of the adventure and trial I was inviting my wife and family into.  Thank goodness!

  

Over the past 25 years, we’ve changed our name from Hart Productions to Hart Media Group to MOVE Communications, but all along the way we’ve endeavored to help our clients move ahead by moving hearts and minds.  Our core ability is to distill the essence of your story and express it through the right idea.  Within the communication arts we work as strategic artists to glorify God, provide for our families and enrich the human community.  We hope we’ve helped to shape a better world by connecting people to people, and people to brands.

 

And to some of those people, our customers and colleagues…

 

In business, nothing happens without a customer.  In our case, our customers are primarily other businesses. It is because of your initiative, skill and determination to deal with all the ambiguities of this thing called business that products and services are brought to market. We honor you for what you do for communities in Michigan and around the world.  And we thank you for commissioning us to do some of the work that has helped you succeed.  It has been a privilege working together.

 

Equally true, without people a business would not go and grow.  And here we want to highlight our great debt to employees and supplier partners.  Through the years, your skills of insight and creativity, practical know-how and human sensitivity have seen us through the inevitable ups and downs, fires and floods of business life.  Thank you for coping with our quirks and mistakes, for filling in the many gaps and lifting us on your shoulders.

 

Robert Greenleaf, in his work Servant Leadership, points to Jesus as the consummate servant leader—because his life and mission epitomized love of God and love of neighbor.  It is this model that we’ve endeavored to emulate and hope to grow in going forward.  Greenleaf expresses the test of servant leadership this way and invites businesses to take the test:

 

“Do those served grow as persons?  Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous and more likely themselves to become servants?  And what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or at least will they not be further deprived?”

 

We hope we’re passing the test.

 

As I look back over the years, I also “know with my knower” that it was God and his great goodness that has sustained us as we follow him.  We have at times been stretched to the absolute limits of what our family could sustain, but always, always, there has been a divine mercy to carry us through.

 

May all of us move ahead with that confidence—knowing that the best is yet to come.

In As Good As it Gets, Melvin Udall, played by notorious happy talk actor Jack Nicholson, has a great line that expresses what all of us in the business world have felt at some time in the midst of a pressure-cooker work week.  It’s the retort you’re dying to blurt out when someone adds another straw to the proverbial camel’s back—“Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here.”  If you realize that you’re about to rip someone’s head off, take that as a sign that you need to experience a little work life balance.  Invite yourself out to lunch, take a half day off, go dig in your garden, or in my case, go ride a unicycle.  You’d be surprised what a little break can do to get your equilibrium back.  Good job, keep going. 

Just yesterday, our creative lead, Jamie Bolak sent me an excerpt from a blog she follows, Brand Like a Rock Star by Steve Jones.  “Know what makes you unique. Know what makes others unique.  Carefully use those differences to create something incredible.”

This is great advice, but at first, answering the “unique” question can be daunting.  How can you say you are uniquely “the leader” or “most creative” or “most efficient” or “most cost-effective”?

Here’s a tip to help you over this speed bump: Don’t begin by trying to stake out something to which you alone can lay claim.  Instead, start with what is specific—to you and to your customers.  When you start here, a picture of who you are now and who you aspire to be will begin to take shape.  As you dialog about these specifics with your team, it will become clear what makes you distinctive, and yes, in fact, what makes you unique.

Let me give you an example by using MOVE Communications.  We are a marketing firm with offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Asheville, North Carolina. (Hey, how many Ann Arbor agencies have offices in Asheville—or Asheville agencies with offices in Ann Arbor?  We’re starting to sound unique already.)

As a team, we see ourselves as strategic artists—“strategic” meaning we look at the big picture and work from a plan—“artist” meaning we can touch people’s minds and emotions through creative work.

This coming July 3rd will mark the date that we started in business twenty-five years ago (our first job was for Dominos Farms) as a video film production company, so we have strong roots in storytelling through motion pictures.  Over time, because of our ability to distill complex information into a clear message, our customers asked us to begin thinking strategically about how they could take these messages to their customers using venues in addition to video or film.

How do we accomplish this?  We have a fundamental belief that finding the right idea is the key to moving the hearts and minds of people so that they become loyal to your brand and repeatedly purchase your products or services.

We follow a process called Integrated Marketing Communications.  Through this approach, all the disciplines of research, brand development, advertising, e-marketing, media relations and point-of-sale events and promotion build off one another, resulting in greater impact.

We begin any engagement by listening to the voice of your customer and discovering their needs and preferences.  In this phase, we work with one of our key strategic partners, David Baker of Baker Strategy Group.  With David’s support, we distill essential recommendations for achieving your objectives and articulate a promise that you can make to your customers.  We then connect your customers to this promise through the right idea expressed in a fresh, compelling, creative manner.

We have ten people in our core team and about fifteen other key strategic partners that compliment our core skills—in strategic planning, ideation and design, and our expertise in video, web and flash production.

Our industries of focus are automotive, education, alternative energy, publishing and non-profits.  In the non-profit sector, we have a particular strength in servicing faith-based organizations.

The MOVE global perspective is shaped by having traveled to Japan, India, France, Germany, Jamaica, Haiti, and Guyana on behalf of our customers and by the fact that we are on-line or on the phone in conferences across the nation or to Europe or Asia weekly.

We are “people persons.”  We love meeting people and getting to know them.  It’s likely that’s why we are very customer-service oriented and enjoy a number of customer relationships that extend over a decade and include organizations like Johnson Controls, Zondervan, ProQuest and the University of Michigan.

Want to get more of a feel for what makes us specific?  Visit our website to see our work and our bodies in motion (yes, we “move” here).  Or better yet, stop in at our offices in Ann Arbor or Asheville.  You’ll love the daily humor and inspiration postings from Texas born-and-bred Linda Weatherly in Ann Arbor, or the office mountain vista that Jamie Bolak can show you in Asheville.  After a drink of Absopure water, we’ll sit and talk about how you are specific, and therefore unique…then we’ll go tell the world!

I would like to begin this entry by giving a “shout out” to Dan, the Assistant Trainer at Panera on Jackson Road in Ann Arbor.  Not only did he assist me in getting a dozen very delicious hand-picked bagels for our team last Friday, he taught me something just before I left about shaping a company culture. 

I saw his name badge with his title included and I asked what he thought about training.  “You’ve got to train every day,” he said. “People may have worked here for three years and be very good at what they do, but they don’t know all the jobs—so there’s always something to learn.” 

When he said “every day” something went “ding-ding” inside me.  To shape an atmosphere—a culture—a “way” that you do things, there has to be support and reinforcement every day.  In our particular situation at MOVE, we’ve had a culture where an entrepreneurial “jump in and figure it out” attitude was valued.  We haven’t really had a prevailing culture of training—of equipping people with the preparation they need to fulfill roles that work inside a process.  We are now addressing that issue and working to develop a culture of learning—where instruction is taking place somewhere in the company each day--and every day each individual is conscious of learning as part of this approach to continuous improvement. 

One client of ours that does very well in this area is Ductz, the nation’s leader in indoor air quality.  They work regularly to build culture, especially a culture of training.  If you’re interested in finding out more, I’m certain that John Rotche and his team can give you some tips.  Also, check out ZingTrain, the Zingerman’s training and culture-building company. 

So, my thanks to Dan for his “teaching” moment—the “value added” along with my dozen Panera bagels.  And to all the rest of us, here’s to building our diverse cultures each and every day!