Buzz

Minneapolis-based Blu Dot, purveyor of modern furniture, created a Twitter-based contest that had participants scrambling for virtual seats.
 
Based on the children's game of musical chairs, the promotion rewarded participants for Tweeting a specific phrase that appeared on the company's microsite during a specified time. Up-and-coming band Doppio played a tune and when the music stopped, the Tweeting began.
 
Over a period of 10 days, the number of "spots" dwindled until one winner got a real-world chair as a prize.
 
As reported by online marketing publication ClickZ, the game was developed by local creative agency mono, and significantly boosted Blu Dot's number of Twitter followers. 

According to a recent article in Recycling Today, Minneapolis-based Pioneer Industries International opened its eighth location at the end of November.
 
Pioneer is one of the largest privately owned recycling firms in the Midwest, and its newest location in Milwaukee will offer a range of processing services, including recycling of packaging materials and metal.
 
In addition to Minneapolis, the company has operations in Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and other Midwestern locations.
 
Talking to Recycling Today about the recent expansion, the company noted that the "principles of excellent customer service, strong end-user relationships and being a true sustainability partner to its customers resonate within this new venture just as it did before."

Travel + Leisure magazine recently polled readers about their favorite cities across the country.

People ranked 35 cities according to food, people, nightlife, and more.

Survey results show that Minneapolis and St. Paul have the best ratings in public parks and outdoor access, summer, cleanliness, intelligence, and home décor and design stores.    

However,the Cities are among the worst for winter, spring break, and New Year’s Eve, the article states.  

Cities in different climates are starting to resemble each other in unexpected ways.

A New York Times magazine story talks about the increasing similarities between Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Baltimore: “Scientists think that cities are starting to look alike in ways that have nothing to do with the proliferation of Starbucks, WalMart, or T.G.I Fridays,” the story states.

Landscaping plays a major role in this. It’s about “the choices we make every spring when we emerge from our apartments and homes and descend on local garden centers.”

While Phoenix has more lakes today than it did in the past, Minneapolis, known for its lakes, “is becoming drier as developers fill in wetlands,” it states.

Cities are “becoming more like one another ecologically than they are like the wild environments around them.”

This, says the piece, is hopeful in that it indicates that “a sprawling metropolis built in a desert might actually offer a path toward something like sustainability.”  

Digital coupon distribution is increasing quickly, according to analysis by Minneapolis-based Marx, a division of Kantar Media that tracks consumer promotions.
 
As reported in Supermarket News, websites monitored by Marx showed a 30.5 percent increase in digital coupon "events" during the first nine months of 2012. Those sites include several large supermarket and drug store chains.
 
It's likely that consumers were responding to more offers; nearly 700 manufacturers distributed digital coupon offers on the websites during the first three quarters of the year, with food categories showing the largest increase.
 

As reported by MSNBC and several other media outlets including Good Morning America, Today, and the Huffington Post, a retiring Bemidji grocer decided to transfer ownership of three stores to his employees, beginning January 2013.
 
Joe Lueken, owner of Lueken's Village Foods, received multiple offers from large grocery chains as he pondered retirement, but chose to implement an employee stock ownership plan instead, giving the stores to his roughly 400 employees.
 
“My employees are largely responsible for any success I've had, and they deserve to get some of the benefits of that," Lueken told the Star Tribune. "You can't always take. You also have to give back."

Two Minneapolis authors recently won National Book Awards, a prestigious designation that highlights the rich literary culture in the state.
 
Louise Erdrich won for her novel "The Round House" and William Alexander won for his debut young adult novel, "Goblin Secrets." As noted in The New York Times, Erdrich's book centers around a teenage boy's effort to investigate an attack on his mother on a North Dakota reservation.
 
Speaking to the newspaper, Erdrich said the novel is about a huge case of injustice, and focuses on the violence that can happen on reservations. The Times adds that in her acceptance speech, the author noted: “If this prize means anything, it is that small stories in so-called hidden places matter because they implicate and complicate what we consider to be the larger story, which is the story of people who do have political and economic powers.”

Audit, consulting, and tax services firm Deloitte released its annual ranking of fastest-growing technology companies, and three Minnesota businesses made the list.
 
SPS Commerce, Knowledge Marketing, and Outsell all showed strong revenue growth over the past five years. In creating the list, Deloitte looked at both public and private companies, and considered growth from 2007 to 2011.
 
 The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 is now in its 18th year, and is considered one of the most notable indicators of technology business health. Innovative companies in a range of industries are considered, including hardware, software, life sciences, telecom, and clean technology.

In a Minnesota 2020 blog post titled “A tale of two bike cities,” guest blogger Amber Collett compares biking in Minneapolis to Portland, Ore., where she recently relocated.

She touches on how both cities have made a name for themselves with more and more bike infrastructure and a growing cycle culture.

Bike boulevards differ from place to place, with Minneapolis having roomier lanes, she says.

Portland has more of them, plus protective boxes at traffic signals that keep bicyclists from breathing in exhaust.

She turns to Steve Clark at Bike Walk Twin Cities to find out more about how the two cities compare bike-wise. He’s quoted saying, “Minneapolis has been trying to catch up to Portland in terms of on-street facilities where certainly Portland has led the way with some of the nation’s first and finest bike boulevards and miles upon miles of bike lanes.”

That being said, visitors from Portland “quickly become very envious of our off-street trails--particularly the Midtown Greenway which is basically a freeway for bicyclists and provides separate space for walkers and joggers too.”

A recent Star Tribune story highlights art as a successful development tool in a number of St. Paul building projects.

While in the past, artists may have been viewed as “a mysterious and crazy bunch,” today they’re sought out by the city to help make development plans, the story states.

They’re seen as “innovators who can fill hard-to-adapt historic structures like the long-vacant Schmidt Brewery and turn them into vital and lively corners of the city once again,” the story reads.

Renovation plans for the Schmidt Brewery, for example, include studio, gallery, and performance space. The place is also a part of a developing Midway arts district.  

Mayor Chris Coleman says in the story, “I look at every thriving city in the country and there's a thriving arts community within it,” adding, “It helps shape investment decisions. Things are enhanced.”

Travel + Leisure magazine named 13 U.S. neighborhoods as top examples of ethnic food destinations, and St. Paul's Frogtown got a nod for its Hmong specialties.
 
Minneapolis and St. Paul are home to 30,000 Hmong, the largest community outside of Southeast Asia, and their restaurants are clustered along University Avenue, the article says.

Also in the area is the Hmong Cultural Center, as well as a farmers market where Hmong and other Southeast Asian immigrants shop and eat, Travel + Leisure noted.
 
The article adds that other top neighborhoods include ones in Houston and D.C., cities that are home to large numbers of Indians and Ethiopians, respectively.
 
"[An] open mind and sense of adventure helps when exploring these communities, which can be a little gritty and less accessible than touristy Little Italys," the article's writer notes.
 

Grand View Lodge is among the top resorts in the Midwest, according to a recent round of Readers' Choice Awards from Condé Nast Traveler.
 
Located in the Brainerd Lakes area, the resort came in at No. 4, and was the only Minnesota resort on the list. Topping the list was the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, which beat out Grand View Lodge by only about two percentage points.
 
The lodge, opened in 1916, sits on Gull Lake and features cottages, cabins, and a spacious main lodge, all with a log-cabin, Northwoods feel. The lodge also features a spa, championship golf course, and several restaurants.

A recent piece in the Harvard Business Review examines the local business community's stand this month against a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Minnesota.

Business leaders made the case that this piece of legislation would negatively affect everything from employee retention to workforce diversity, the article states.

Fifty current and former CEOs took out a full-page ad in the Star Tribune a week before the election this month, voicing their opposition.   

“Business executives know a winning brand proposition when they see one. Which is why they stepped into the political arena this year to defend the community values that have helped make Minnesota one of the most economically vital and livable states in America,” it reads.  

St. Paul resident Nicholas David has been named one of the top 12 contestants on NBC's reality TV show The Voice.

It’s quite a feat because “Getting onto The Voice means you have to rely solely on (wait for it...) your voice while a team of celeb judges decides whether or not they'll turn their chair around and offer you a spot on their team,” a City Pages story reads.

His recent performance on the show of Barry White's “You're the First, the Last, My Only” is described as "raspy, passionate, and unique."

David doesn’t fit the “usual pop-star mold,” the story goes on to say. “When most of the other singers on the show merely gush about how crazy and amazing it feels to be on The Voice's stage David talks about inspiration, his 'gal' and his kids,” it states.

Livability.com, which profiles the best places across the country to live and visit, has an entry about Minneapolis.

The site characterizes Minneapolis as “a center for business, arts and professional sports,” with Fortune 500 companies, a strong theater scene, and the Twins, Timberwolves, and Vikings. Forbes has also named it as one of the safest cities nationwide, it adds.

The city’s workforce and parks are also highlighted on the website, while local landmarks are featured in the photo gallery.

“With so much to offer, Minneapolis has received numerous accolades,” the entry reads.