Page 3 - Marketing Times v1

WE ARE ALWAYS IMPRESSED
BY PEOPLE WHO SEE A BIGGER PICTURE, A BIGGER VISION, OR A BIGGER OUTCOME. It’s easy to look around and see these companies, or individuals, and forget that they started with humble beginnings.
The Dendrinos brothers brought their family’s pie business, founded by their father in the 1920s, to Traverse City in 1963 with a primary market focus of selling pie slices at truck stops, only to create today’s pre-eminent brand of pies. Chef Pierre is still that world-class brand.
Paul Britten was a sign painter, trained as an architect, who launched the rst national banner production company. When you watch NASCAR, visit Disney or Wrigley Field, or see New York’s Plaza Hotel wrapped in a mirage of itself (during an exterior renovation), you’re seeing a really big vision that started and delivered in Traverse City. It is a vision that
is still taking shape.
Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine
launched in 1981 when Grand Traverse
County had only 54,900 residents – we’re closing in on 100,000 now – and was a result of Deborah Wyatt Fellows’ bigger vision. All successful city and regional magazines had much larger market bases – for advertisers and subscribers – but Deb lived, breathed, and felt the passion for our region. She succeeded by delivering very high levels of photojournalistic excellence and story-telling quality. Her vision outpaced the market’s potential. Her reality is bigger than the market’s possibility. While we appreciate the beauty of every issue, Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine is highly regarded nationally. Deb’s team regularly wins national awards from the International Regional Magazine Association (IRMA) and the City
and Regional Magazine Association (CRMA)
versus much larger magazines, larger staffs, and larger budgets.
Finally, Hagerty is a big deal in Traverse
City because of its economic and philanthropic footprint. But when the Hagerty family decided to focus their future on insuring collectible autos, their vision expanded nationally and internationally. No longer were they thinking
or behaving like a local insurance rm.
Leading off this inaugural issue of Traverse City Marketing Times is a similar story. Bob Goff founded a regional printing company in 1969. Village Press is now the second largest consumer magazine publishing company in Michigan,
and the largest foodservice marketing execution company in the country. After growing up in Lansing and attending WMU’s Printing and
Paper Science program, Bob wanted to start
his family in Traverse City. He started making sales calls with photos of the equipment he
had yet to buy. You can’t do that unless you
see a bigger picture, vision, and outcome.
We’re grateful for these visionaries, who many would also describe as risk-takers. Though these intelligent businessmen and women certainly understood the risks, they set their sights instead on the potential.
In each case, it has been a terri c outcome. Their determination and ability to take on these initiatives is a tradition that exudes
the highest of standards and business practices, ones we continue to meet with fresh visions of our own. 
Vision
BY DAVE MOORE & SCOTT LIZENBY
J. Scott Lizenby, CFO
and Dave Moore, President VP Demand Creation Services
Though these intelligent businessmen and women certainly understood the risks, they set their sights instead on the potential.
Fall 2014 • Traverse City Marketing Times 3
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