Yesterday we celebrated our 25th anniversary with some of our friends, colleagues, clients and partners here at MOVE headquarters.  It's easy to get down in the state of the economy and such these days but it was really refreshing to just take a break yesterday and reflect on our history.  We put together a slideshow of photos from the past 25 years and included a list of current and former MOVE employees and the people that we have worked with as partners or vendors throughout our history.  It's a great list of very talented people.  And it was really fun that some of you could make it to the party to celebrate with us.  If you weren't able to, here are some photos to show you all of the fun you missed out on.  And make sure you're here to celebrate with us in another 25! 

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.

MOVE Communications Southern Office, Asheville, NC.

Maybe you have driven through Asheville on the way to Florida. If you had, you would remember it. You probably considered staying. That happens to a lot of folks. They drive through the winding mountain roads, experience the moderate climate, and enjoy the arty, outdoorsy vibe.

When you drive here or fly in from the north – you really get an amazing glimpse of the majestic mountains. Driving through them is breathtaking. Flying over them is almost so grand it gives you a scary feeling. It makes you feel moved that something so beautiful has been created. AND to live and work amongst them has been a special treat. Every day the scenery and the cloud formations change. In the past, rainy or cloudy days seemed sort of depressing, but here the clouds and sky changes make a special light show almost every night.

The people here really are kind and welcoming. You feel the southern hospitality. Coming from the North, at times we feel we are very culturally different but overall people are very interested to talk to us and we have been lucky enough to meet some great people that have some great stories about Asheville and its history. Since not a lot of people are originally from here – most people ask, “Where are you from?” Apparently I have a very distinct accent. I am usually called out on it in the first 10 minutes.  Does Detroit have its own accent?

For those who love to camp, hike, and enjoy the outdoors, you immediately notice all the active things to do. Whether on the Blue Ridge parkway or at one of the many parks or trails, you will not be at a loss for amazing views and fresh air.

The downtown area has quite a personality. The people, the vibe, and the food all provide a lot of character and charm.  Friday night drum circles, the Largest Home in America - the Biltmore Estate, outdoor activities for everyone. This list goes on. If you really want to enjoy it check out the 5-day weekend package going on through the Asheville Tourism association.  And make sure that you make a stop in at the Bolak Estate while you're here. 

This is a shameless plug for something that I care about.  If you don't like helping people in need, stop reading here. 

I've been volunteering with Food Gatherers, the local food bank, for a couple of years now and I'm part of the Grillin' Silent Auction Committee.  What is Grillin' you ask.  It's one of Food Gatherers' big fundraising events.  It's happening this Sunday, June 14th, from 3-8 at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.  Tickets are $50 if you buy them ahead of time and $45 of that is tax deductible.  It's a great event, there's a ton of great food from local restaurants, fun activities for kids provided by the Hands-on Museum, and live music.  Plus there's a fabulous silent auction with some really cool items that we're all pretty excited about.  And it helps a lot of people who need food.  I don't think I need to remind anyone that more people are in need this year because of the economy. 

Click here to find out more about the event and where to buy tickets.  I'll be there all day so stop by the auction area and say "hi!"

Last year I participated in the ann arbor area chamber of commerce Leadership Ann Arbor program.  Part of the Leadership mission statement is to provide "a foundation for the development of a sustainable, vital community whose vision is based upon an informed and committed business community."  The program begins with an orientation and then an overnight retreat.  After that, one Wednesday a month, for the next 8 months the group learns about a different sector of the community including education, health care, local government, community services and others.  It's a very diverse group of people who participate each year. 

Last year I missed the May day, Quality of Life which focuses on arts, sports and other leisure opportunities in the area.  Lindsay, the fabulous director of the program, said that I could come back this year and make it up.  So 2 weeks ago, I tagged along with this year's class.  We started out at Gallup Park for a tour with some of the natural area preservation employees.  I'm ashamed to admit that I've never even been in the part of the park that we walked through.  They're doing a lot of work to restore some of the natural vegetation and get rid of the invasive species that have taken over many of the spaces that we think of as "natural".  Then we headed over to Hill Auditorium for a little tour that included a peak into the organ room.  We also had someone from The Ark, the A2 Summer Festival, and UMS speak to us about their programs that bring some of the best artists to the Ann Arbor area.  Then we headed over to WEMU, the public radio station on Eastern Michigan University's campus.  We are fortunate to have two great public radio stations in the A2 area but WEMU is known for jazz and a focus on local news and information. 

Next we headed to lunch at Pizza House followed by a trip to the Michigan Theater.  At the Michigan Theater we heard some of the background of the theater and movies from Russ Collins, the CEO and exec director.   He and Ron Olson, the chief of the parks & rec division of the SoM Dept. of Natural Resources, were our hosts or tour guides for the day.  We also heard from Amy Milligan from the Neutral Zone about the great work they do providing opportunities for artistic expression and community leadership for the youth in our community.  Amy is actually a fellow alum of the 2008 Leadership class.  Next we headed over to the UofM athletic campus for a tour of the football practice facilities.  We were all pleasantly surprised when Coach Rich Rodriguez came to speak to us.  Finally, we headed over to the Ann Arbor Art Center where we got to paint a mug. 

All in all it was a great day.  I highly recommend the program.  I have lived in Ann Arbor for most of my life but I learned so much about the sectors of the community that I don't come into contact with very much.  And it really helped me expand my network.  I was definitely aware of that when I attended this year's Quality of Life day and ran into a number of people that I know because of Leadership connections.  My participation in Leadership was also the catalyst for me to find ways to get more involved in the community through volunteer opportunities and a city advisory board.  If you can't commit the amount of time to do Leadership, there are other opportunities to get a little of the same experience. Russ Collins hosts the Morning Edition events through the chamber and the chamber has even done a couple of events that are formatted like a mini Leadership Economic Development day.  We're really blessed to have a number of organizations that improve our quality of life and make Ann Arbor a wonderful place to live.

We're MOVING in China.  Don and Carol are in China this week for the graduation of their foreign exchange student, Bruce.  They are doing a whirlwind tour of Beijing, Shanghai, Bruce's hometown, and a few other spots. 

Don's even been able to connect with some of our business contacts proving that we really are living in a global market. 

Stay tuned for more from Don when he returns next week. 

(Top: Don & Bruce running the race insided the Bird's Nest
Bottom: Don, Carol, Bruce & his family in front of the Bird's Nest)

Everyone knows that the city of Detroit has seen better days.  I've heard a number of people say that we Michiganders do some of the worst damage to the national reputation of the city.  In spite of this, there are a lot of people working very hard to turn the city around and return it to a thriving metropolis.  But it's a slow process. 

One of the best examples of this is the election for the interim Detroit mayor, a vacancy created by the resignation of former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick after his text message/purgery scandal.  I really wouldn't have been surprised if either of the candidates, Ken Cockrel, Jr. or Dave Bing, would have won.  It turned out that Dave Bing pulled out a come from behind lead on election day.  But what did surprise me is that only 15 percent of registered voters turned out to vote.  What that says to me is that the voters of Detroit are weary (to borrow the title of a song from Sufjan Stevens, a Michigan native).  They're tired of politics.  And that might be what won the election for Dave Bing.  He's not a politician.  I live in Ann Arbor so I'm not right up in the middle of the Detroit scene but I only saw one campaign ad during the campaign.  I think it was on freep.com and it was one put out by the Cockrel campaign attacking Dave Bing for something, I think it was for being an outsider.  When I heard that only 15% of registered voters turned out, my first thought was "Well, they didn't do very good marketing."  Maybe it's the economy and budgets are tight, maybe it's that it was an interim election, but it seemed like we didn't hear very much about it. 

Just today, I opened up our copy of Crain's and saw an article about how Dave Bing won the election because of the "brand" that he built for himself.  The Cockrel campaign's biggest criticisms of Bing were that he was an outsider and was in with big business.  But Bing's campaign was able to turn those around and brand himself as someone who wasn't linked to any of the negative things about politics in recent years and who would think about running the city like he would run a business.  When we are working with our clients to develop a strong brand we ask ourselves is it "true from the inside out"?  If a brand doesn't represent who you really are, it won't be effective.   I hope for the sake of Detroit, and our state, that the Dave Bing brand is one that is true from the inside out. 

I attended a town hall meeting here in Washtenaw County last night about transportation hosted by State Representative Pam Byrnes.  The event included comments from a panel including US Rep. Mark Schauer, MDOT Director of Governmental Affairs Ron DeCook, and Terri Blackmore of the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study.  I am not a transportation expert by any means but better public transportation is one of the hot topics these days when discussing how to keep young talent in Michigan so I'm interested in what our policymakers are doing to promote it.  

All of the panelists spoke about how important supporting improved public transit was important what it all comes down to is Michigan's transportation funding.  There is a significant risk of losing federal transportation funding in the next couple of years because we aren't reaching the state and local matching levels to keep it.  Ron DeCook presented some of the elements of the Michigan Transportation Funding Task Force recommendations that are intended to increase over the next 5-7 years the level of transportation funding come close to meeting the anticipated funding needs for transportation.  The primary ways that they are looking at increasing that funding are through incremental increases to the state gas tax, vehicle registration fees, and the aviation fuel tax.  I was amazed to learn that the aviation fuel tax hasn't increased since 1929 when it was first implemented.  One of the other things that I hadn't considered about funding is that the more we encourage people to buy smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles and ride public transit, the less gas tax revenue the state will bring in.  I don't think that means we should continue to encourage gas consumption as we have in the past but it means that we're going to have to get more creative about how we fund some of our transportation needs.

It's never easy to get people excited about tax or fee increases but I think that we'd all agree that well-maintained roads, safe bike and walking paths, and efficient and convenient public transportation are all important elements of a desireable place to live.  I'd certainly pay a little more for my registration or gas to not have to pay $200-300 to get a tire fixed after I blew it out on a pothole or to be able to ride on a bikepath to more of the places that I need to go.  I'd love to be able to take a high speed rail line to Chicago for the weekend and not have to worry about getting stuck behind a freight line that has priority over the passenger line.  There are all sorts of benefits for our cities and state if we do invest in these transportation improvements but I think it will be a hard sell when people don't have jobs and are losing their homes.  The other thing is that people just don't know.  I learned about the event from the A2 Chamber of Commerce so I'm sure that a number of chamber members received the same email.  However, there were maybe only 40 people at the meeting and at least 50% were government employees or elected officials.  I think 50% is probably quite conservative too.  As citizens we need to be informed and get involved, especially if we want our state economy to bounce back.  Now is not the time to sit back and feel sorry for ourselves and our state.  Get involved!

MOVE Communications - Asheville. Overlooking the amazing Blue Ridge mountains. I like to call it an outstanding office with an outstanding view.

Many people here claim that they were drawn to the mountains because of the positive energy they feel. I like that. It makes it a positive business experience too. I also like the diversity that is such a big part of this city. I recently read that Asheville is the place to come for a positive purpose.

Eric Wiener, author of The Geography of Bliss, included Asheville in his list of "nine happy places" in the world.

In Asheville, you'll see a unique blend of people--retirees, hippies, musicians and artists, organic earthy types, tourists, etc. Many people even move here without knowing they have a job. They just drive through town and never want to leave. Due to its diversity, Asheville has been labeled "Ashvegas."

I really feel as if Asheville could always be on my list of happy places, especially as I meet more of these great people and hear their personal and business experiences.

I want this to be a "positive purpose" marketing communications office.

Viva Ashvegas! 

Welcome to the MOVE blog.  We’re pleased to be able to connect with you and interact about how together we can better serve our various customers. An idea for you to consider is expanding the scope of “we.”  Here’s a discussion thread on this topic.

Recently I was at an honors convocation at the University of Michigan.  Mary Sue Coleman, President of the University, and several others spoke. President Coleman’s theme was “climate change.”  The climate change she referred to was a cultural change in which new thinking and new solutions for providing better stewardship over our agricultural, water, energy and human resources was needed.  We heard about the need for more farmers who could farm locally and provide sustainable options in collaboration with their communities; the research and application for electric vehicles that is being done at the University in collaboration with GM; and how students from various disciplines collaborated to articulate over 1,000 ideas for new business and community improvements as part of a student-led entrepreneurial initiative. In each of these examples, those involved found new ways to work together and, as President Coleman said, saw the need to “partner or perish.” 

So my encouragement is to look at these difficult times as an opportunity to expand your network and even your definition of what it means to collaborate.  Be part of the climate change where local and global, academia and business, young and old, even competitor and competitor, find new ways to innovate through collaboration.  It will force us to hone our own core capabilities so that we can enter this arena of collaboration as a valued player, and be equipped to move ahead in a more agile and ingenious way, finding new solutions and breakthroughs on behalf of our customers, our communities and our families.  Here’s to the connections.