Sunday Morning Coffee - December 20
December 20, 2009
Sunday morning...a great time to catch up and look ahead. Grab a hot cup and let's visit about loads of things...all in short takes. A little business, a little conversation...the Sunday before Christmas. Hmmmm...what secrets are being told to Santa? (You can increase the size of the images by clicking on them...)
Tick, tick, tick...the word on the street is that former Iowa Governor, Terry Branstad is about to make it official in his bid to return to Terrace Hill where he spent 16 years as the head of state from 1983 to 1999. Meanwhile the media is getting restless. Here is a firm jab written by Sioux City Journal editor, Mitch Pugh who suggests the announcement will be a non-event.
Staying on politics for a minute...this week I was asked to travel to Lee County, Iowa by old friend Don Lucas to MC a big Republican bash they hope to hold in January. I'd have loved to have gone and done the favor for my old Iowa Jaycee friend but can't. It would have been nice to have had the chance to visit with him, Jaycee State Historian "Andy" Andrews and sit down with Mariannette Miller-Meeks who we think will be the first woman elected to congress from Iowa. Just a prediction and a major coup for the Iowa Republicans.
Checking the numbers... It's been three months since our radio station, Des Moines Local...LIVE moved into new studios on the Skywalk downtown and three months since we've been on a new delivery platform On Friday we logged 1,060,000+ listener minutes...not bad for a couple of months. And a huge THANK YOU to the, now 55, hosts that are making this first in the nation live Internet radio/tv station a success. New things coming for 2010! Yep, that's Paul Yeager from Iowa Public Television and the program The Iowa Journal relaxing (ok..working) in our "living room" prior to coming on as our first guest in the new digs.
The "TOP Media Influencer" for consumers in 2009. It wasn't TV, not the newspaper, not radio...it was coupons. 45% of consumers (according to a poll by the Retail Trade Association) were influenced by coupons. A sign of the times and a strong HINT for your marketing plans in 2010. Oh, and Wal-Mart overtook Target (for the first time) in the ranking of the Top Ten Holiday Commercials for the season. Here is the story in Advertising Age by Natalie Zmuda.
I recently got the opportunity to attend the annual holiday gathering of the Des Moines Cycle Club. The club is made up of nearly 600 people from all cycling abilities. Those who climb on a bicycle a couple times a year to those who, even today, are out or cross-training for the Des Moines Racing Team. I had the opportunity to listen to and visit with former Polish racing star and US and Canadian Olympic racing coach Walter Golebiewski(here with his wife Elzbieta). What a thrill for those of us in the room. Born in 1942 in Nazi occupied Warsaw Coach Golebiewski became an international star for Poland in the 1950's & 60's. He then coached the US and Canadian teams and still has a home in Colorado Springs the home of the US Racing Center. For those of you not into cycling...this is sort of like "holy grail" stuff. Very cool. Go ahead, read his bio (above) it's pretty amazing. Coach Golebiewski and Elzbieta live in Colorado and recently purchased a home in Des Moines (son Artur owns the Best Western Des Moines West Inn & Suites.). Welcome to our city!
Staying on Canada for a moment. Here is my son Aaron with what he calls his "Canadian Six Pack". Go ahead...count the bottles of Labatt Blue. I wonder where he gets that sense of humor? By the way...I think I may have switched beer favs...
The Flip! Be looking for more "video posts" in the very near future. We picked one up for our company and it is soooooo simple to shoot and then download images. Still working on getting it right. Here is 30-seconds of something I shot last evening of the kids...how fun. Oh wait...this is for business!
Too busy for Social Media? Read this and do some serious thinking....a tip of the hat to Mack Collier for the "thought start".
OK...that's it for this week. See some business and mostly not. Thanks for coming by. You can keep up with us on Twitter: @MichaelLibbie or @InsightADV. We've got a website and one of those "Facebook Thingys" too. (For the love of the children...become a FAN already!) Have a great Sunday!