Category Archives: Learfield

Long live King Bob!

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Friend and co-worker Bob Feldisch has been with our company about a year longer than I. He’s taking on new duties and the post on our corporate blog is note-worthy.

When King Bob started with Learfield:

  • Ronald Reagan was President
  • Lee Iacocca was pitching K-Cars
  • “The Terminator” was released
  • Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial
  • Apple released the very first Macintosh

Since that time:

  • King Bob has logged about one million frequent flyer miles serving his clients
  • He’s driven over half a million miles across Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Oklahoma
  • He has generated nearly 30 million dollars in sales for the company

This makes a great blog post but you probably wouldn’t see this much imagination and fun in a corporate, inter-office news release. I love the fact that the blog was was the first and –as far as I know– only place this news was posted.

Shoestring video production

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My colleague David produced a 2 minute video for one of our clients recently. His post provides the background. I like the piece because a) it illustrates how easy and inexpensive it is to produce video and b) it effectively tells the story (public health program, in this instance).

David shot the video with a small, consumer-grade still camera (with video setting) and edited with iMovie 08. I should note this was David’s first try and he did it while watching a World Series game.

Any company that has “communication” in their name, better have some people capable of producing a video like this. I have a hunch we’ll wind up doing a lot of these for current and future clients.

Scott Brandon’s affiliate odyssey

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In the 17 years I did affiliate relations for our networks, I was on the road a lot. Typical trip would have started early Monday morning (sometimes Sunday evening) and ended late on Friday. I might have have extended a trip over a weekend once or twice but that was very rare.

The new Endurance Record for an affiliate trip has to go to Scott Brandon, the head of operations for Learfield’s news division. Scott has been on the road –continuously– since September 17th. He’s been in seven states; 45 towns (and counting); covered 4,500+ miles; eaten 13 Chinese buffets; stayed in 8 really bad motels; 4 really, really bad motels; consumed three bowls of beer cheese soup; two glasses of beer (Miller); attended one Packer’s game and lost one iPod. And saw some sights:

“A camel grazing on the side of the road in Fond Du Lac; a giant fish thing in Hayward; and two truckers sharing a one bedroom at the Super 8 in Park Falls. But, by far, the strangest and creepiest was just outside of Phillips, WI. You round a bend and see a field full of… well… concrete people and horses and deer and dogs. Very Adams Family-ish. I walked through the park just to make sure it was really as “chill down your spine” as I thought. It was.” [Photos]

Scott’s long journey comes to an end next week as his affiliate ghost ship comes back into harbor. He’s going to need a lot counseling and time to adjust. We assume he’s working on a book.

OK on XM

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Radio Iowa News Director O. Kay Henderson will be doing a weekly shot on XM Radio’s POTUS’08 channel (XM 130). Few details yet, but looks like her bit will be around 1:10 p.m. Central time. I’ll try to remember to record and share snippet here.

Update 8-Oct-07: And here’s the snippet. Kay gives the low down on the campaign in Iowa to XM host Rebecca Roberts. Runs about 10 min and my apologies for the audio quality. I recorded on the nano, holding the wee microphone up to the car speaker. But this clearly illustrates why the Big Kids can’t get enough of Her Kayness.

Learfield’s original business plan

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In his latest “History of Learfield” blog post, founder and CEO Clyde Lear shares the business plan (below) he put together 35 years ago, when he was starting the company. If you’ve ever started your own business, or think you might someday like to start your own business, you should download the PDF file and read Clyde’s plan (just 27 pages).

This a fascinating look at the very earliest beginnings of what has turned into a multi-million dollar company (Disclosure: the company I work for).

As a blogger, I love that Clyde chose to share this bit of history on his blog. It’s been sitting in his desk for 35 years and now he’s put it out there for employees, friends, family and the world.

Clyde’s First Business Plan (PDF)