By Published On: June 23, 2020

Everyone knows what happened to George Floyd on Memorial Day. In Minneapolis, the following days erupted in protest, most of them peaceful, some of them not, all of them meaningful. It was surreal to see our city burn and to watch on television as our adopted second home in Atlanta was faced with the same. We heard from clients, especially our friends in Georgia, both personally and during the online meetings that have become commonplace due to 2020’s other major disruption. Those early conversations were primarily centered around concern and hope for each other’s safety, as well as ideas rarely heard in corporate communications like justice and humanity.

Each of us on the d.trio team has had individual experiences with the events of the last couple of weeks. Some of us live in or near the areas of the city most affected by the physical fallout of the protests. Some of us have relatives or friends involved in local activism and government. All of us work for a small business with a big heart. We are all safe. Our business is safe and we are working as hard as ever. But we have all been affected.

This week looks different in Minneapolis, as I’m sure it does everywhere. During a meeting, a client asked us how things were going. The answer was somewhat harder to give because thinking of our own safety right now just feels very shallow. What we told him went beyond a canned business answer. That’s because it’s harder to be purely professional these days when there are so many more important things to talk about. Yes, the violent protests have ended. Yes, clean-up efforts and community support initiatives have risen up to try to help those who have lost their businesses, or their access to grocery stores, pharmacies, and public transportation. Yes, the city and state governments are talking about change. And yes, we can be proud of those efforts. But it’s important to be sure that while we sweep the glass and debris from our streets, we should not allow the core issues that spurred these events to be swept under the rug.

Now is the time to continue the conversations that started two weeks ago—the ones we should have been having for a very long time. The difficult, long-overdue conversations about justice and humanity and real, lasting change that benefits all, and what we can do to make sure our eyes, ears, and hearts stay open. Because what happened here was not about one man or one murder. And it’s not somebody else’s problem. This belongs to every single one of us.

A wealth of information for our financial services clients

d.trio is deeply rooted in the financial services industry and as always, we’re on top of the latest industry marketing trends. So, to help our financial clients, we’ve compiled information and resources that may be helpful as they work through their marketing challenges. In the financial services industry? See what others are doing and learn how to best communicate with your customers and prospects by visiting our financial services resource page.

Exciting new projects in the works

As new leads continue to bubble up, we’re busy kicking off projects and working on proposals for several clients, including:

  • A new B2B lead generation campaign for an international manufacturer of digital printers. The campaign will include email, ad retargeting, SEM/Google Ads, a landing page with lead capture, and website visitor retargeting. We are working through the research phase and will begin creative development soon.
  • An exciting proprietary new product launch for a large local manufacturer, including product branding, story, and messaging—along with some potential website work and a campaign to market it.
  • A launch of a new ecommerce tool with a marketing adoption plan including instructional videos, an email series and paid media to announce and promote the new online tool.

Grab your Grab & Go bag

We’ve put together handy Grab & Go bags to help keep our clients safe while traveling or simply going the grocery store. Each bag includes a washable cotton face mask, (handmade by a woman who lost her cleaning gig due to COVID-19), a 2-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer, alcohol wipes, small cleaning cloths, and a packet of Kleenex. The masks come in four designs with sizes ranging from small (houndstooth only), medium (green stripe, black, or black stripe) or large (black or black stripe). Extra masks are available upon request. There is no charge for these bags. Clients can request their Grab & Go bag at GreatIdeas@dtrio.com

AFTER HOURS

Danette spent some time with her family in Madison doing some of her favorite things – cycling, cooking, and conversing over adult beverages. They followed social distancing rules as best they could, but may have broken a few along the way.

Instead of driving somewhere for a vacation, Fred is gonna walk there. He’s logged 250 miles (and counting) on his daily walks since the quarantine started. Time for a new pair of shoes.

Tim has been busy with the family. Finn and Miko got major haircuts after weeks in quarantine. The boys tried fishing for the first time – successfully! And Finn celebrated turning five (WHAT?) with at least five different birthday celebrations. Social distancing sometimes means more cake events are required.

Melinda’s daughter Payton is engaged! The surprise proposal happened at Melinda’s house earlier this month. Payton works in digital marketing and Jordan serves full-time in Security Forces for the 133rd Airlift Wing. The couple lives in Richfield, MN, and are planning a destination wedding for January of 2022.

Virtual Escapes

Sam sat in (virtually) on three comedy shows put on by Minneapolis’s own ACME Comedy Club. They used Zoom to gather up to 300 people in the same voice chat. ACME encouraged folks to turn their mics and cameras on to help the comics be more organic and responsive with their comedy. There was some great comedy, fun awkward moments, and laughs all around. Online shows are still being booked into July. Tickets can be purchased at: acmecomedycompany.com

Mark attended a virtual tour that was broadcast live from Italy with the organizers of the world-renowned street art festival, Artisi In Piazza. Because the festival was canceled this year, the speakers talked about the event and showed pictures and videos from past years.

Carol puzzled her way through an online escape room with three of her friends. Led by an online guide using video conference, they worked together to successfully escape the Grimm fairy tale forest with four minutes left on the clock. There are a variety of virtual escape room options available to test your skills.

About the Author: cat-tonic

cat-tonic
Born of curiosity and enthusiasm, we’re a scrappy group of smart, passionate marketers who work hard and play hard. We show up every day and fight for our clients who are making the world a better place. We listen with curiosity, explore deeply, ask hard questions, and sometimes put forth ideas that might make you squirm. Because we believe the status quo is good for growing mold but not much else. The way we see it, change is the way forward and the magic happens when curiosity, math, science, instinct, and talent intersect.
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