We just launched the beautiful new website for Minnetonka Moccasins. It was a team effort combining the design chops of Wink and the strategery of Good People Branding. Great client, fabulous team and most importantly awesome products.

Don't worry, we love social media too. It's great for brands and, let's face it, it's great for people. It's even hard to remember a time before Facebook and Twitter. But, there is this little communication channel we marketers have a love / hate relationship with and that is email. We (SBC and Good People) are in the beginning stages of developing an email platform for Cherokee USA and already we are seeing great results. Move over 140 characters - we are going to write an entire paragraph! Ahhh...

Content Strategy. Yep, that's what we did for Park Nicollet for most of 2011. Taking 2400 pages of content and prioritizing it into 600 pages of the most critical information to help patients have a better experience online. Phew!

__"The more we learn about the human brain and about collective intelligence across the species, the clearer it becomes that physical proximity and a work environment that supports and promotes interaction are essential components of collaboration."
— Herman Miller

As a small business, I'm a big believer that working from home does NOT work. So in the beginning of my journey as a solo-prenuer three years ago I looked for ways I could leave the house and get work done. Lucky for me there was a movement underway spearheaded by Don Ball and Kyle Coolbroth to create a co-working space in downtown St. Paul called CoCo — a co-working and collaborative space. CoCo has always attracted really smart, innovative people that, like me, work best in creative spaces.

I've had my own office for over two years now in a historic building that keeps me inspired on the days that I don't have client meetings and just need some quality thinking time. But this year has me scratching the itch again, longing for a physical space that encourages collaboration. CoCo has launched a second location in downtown Minneapolis in the former Grain Exchange building and it's nothing short of spectacular and hands-down inspiring. Big vaulted ceilings, beautiful natural light and a great playlist. At CoCo, grain has long been replaced by ideas and technology and I think I just might be interested in doing a little trading in 2012.

- betsey

From the CFDA. Love.

The title says it all and thank goodness for Pinterest! As a design geek it is really hard to prioritize what new shiny tools to pay attention to. I was a beta user of Pinterest and continue to use it regularly for inspiration. Uncluttered, simple and beautiful for the modern scrapbooker.
-betsey

We work on the annual MIMA Summit bringing together over 1000 digital professionals from around the country. Phew!

Post- (pronounced Post Dash) is a Minneapolis based handbag company run by two wicked smart designers Lois Eliason and Katie McShane. Lois and Katie met in graduate school and share a passion for design and Art History. They make high-quality handbags all manufactured in the USA. We built their website using Shopify as an affordable ecommerce platform so that the company can grow nationally. 

Yes, we know. The latest Brooks Brothers catalog takes a lot of inspiration from the famous preppy handbook Take Ivy but rather than roll our eyes, this catalog has us swooning. Great photography, creative styling and best of all? It's from a brand that stands the test of time. A+

Summer camp. Visions of happy kids swimming, singing, camping and being eaten by bugs. But in recent years summer camps have really been hit by the economic downturn. Nationwide, camps are closing but amazingly there are some that are surviving, and even thriving. What's the secret? Good marketing. The smart camps are leveraging their websites, video, search and even social media. They know that to stay top of mind they have to demonstrate relevancy in today's fast-paced world where decision making happens in micro-seconds. These summer camps also know the importance of keeping their alumni engaged as part of the marketing process because those timeless stories of  "when I was a camper" are priceless and help seal the deal. Bottom line? No matter what your business is, you need to create a marketing plan that leverages the latest in digital with the magic of storytelling.