One evening not long ago, I was in Shanghai, China, sitting outside enjoying a glass of wine and the view of the river in the early evening light. Not that it was a quiet scene by any means, as the river was busy with the traffic of oceangoing freighters, private craft and picturesque fishing boats, along with well-lit party boats running from one side of the river to the other and back. Then, amazingly enough, along came a tug pulling a barge on which sat a high definition screen that must have been at least 30 feet by 20 feet in size. The screen was displaying commercial messages in all their beautiful full-color, high definition glory. That certainly caught my eye! Those advertisements completely stole my attention away from the river traffic, the otherwise intriguing architecture across the river and the activity of the people around me. It certainly made me think about the efficacy of a message well displayed.

Which brings me to this month’s issue featuring creative ways in which to send your advertising message. I grew up with advertising in print—newspapers and the occasional magazine, radio spots (obviously AM radio in those days) and TV during high-viewing hours (someone should have thought of  utilizing those late-night test pattern times for product advertising).  Today, with the Internet, 24-hour television coverage, satellite capabilities, and more, we’re bombarded with advertising messages every day. That makes the art of sending your message ever more important.  How do you make it grab the public’s attention?  How do you make it stand out?  How do you make it affect the person or the entity you hope to target?

I also want to briefly mention last month’s Business/Sports Luncheon, with speaker Steve Garvey.  Once again it was a phenomenal success, thanks in a major part to our sponsors Dean Trailways, Capital Regional International Airport, Shaheen Chevrolet, Willingham & Coté, McLaren Health Plan, Ingham Regional Medical Center, Greater Lansing Sports Authority, Eagle Eye Golf Club, and WILX-TV 10. A special thanks goes to my staff, headed by Stacy Adado, who do so much to not only make certain this is done on time in an effective, organized manner, but also to assure each event is meaningful to everyone who attends.  Because we believe it’s very important to bring in an outside perspective occasionally, we will be doing this again at our Strategic Business Luncheon this coming spring. Thank you to everyone who was a part of the event, especially Steve Garvey, who delivered an interesting,        relevant message containing so many entertaining antidotes about his career and the people who have been involved.

Thank you for reading our magazine again this month and for being a part of the mid-Michigan economic structure. Keep up the good work—there are a lot of interesting stories out there and a lot of successes.

		Chris Holman Publisher