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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Have businesses given in to security anxiety?

According to the mainstream media, no sooner is your precious data placed on a hard drive than it’s promptly vacuumed off through a hacker’s hole and inserted into some miscreant’s illicit schemes for world domination. I admit I’ve advocated for computer security for years, but that was because most companies’ idea of security is to hide the backup CDs in the coffee creamer box. I never meant to contribute to the panic that seems to have gripped the American population…

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Radio tests HD waters: Indianapolis on leading edge of ‘revolutionary’ technology

And more are coming. Indianapolis is leading the charge toward high-definition radio, thanks to the strong presence of national players such as Emmis Communications Corp. and Clear Channel Communications, which operate a total of seven stations here. But the technological revolution reaches far beyond our airwaves. Industry experts call HD the most radical change in the radio landscape in 50 years, despite the fact that few listeners have the special radio receiver necessary to tune in the new channels. “We’re…

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SPORTS: High school hoops border war reduced to a scuffle

Often, when I’m asked to give talks reflecting on the success of the sports initiative in Indianapolis, I use summertime as an illustration. Back in the old days-and you know you’re getting old when “old days” refer to anything pre-1970-Indy’s June-July-August sports menu could pretty much be written on a single page and in large type. Once the Indianapolis 500 came and went on Memorial Day, about the only thing to do was wait for the start of college and…

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Hilbert estate drawing some offers: Letterman, Babyface, Judd not interested

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning passed on a chance to buy the Carmel estate built for Conseco Inc. founder Stephen Hilbert that’s on the market for a cool $20 million. Pacers forward Jermaine O’Neal also rejected the opportunity a couple of times, real estate broker Dick Richwine said. Nearly a year after it went up for sale, the Carmel property labeled the most expensive home in Indiana is still searching for the right buyer. But a recent flurry of interest and…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: We want to count jobs, but what’s the best way?

Americans like to keep score on things. And in the realm of economics, there are plenty of things to keep score on. But the economy is a huge, often unwieldy beast, and the data we use to track it are often quite a bit fuzzier than the rows of hardlooking numbers in the graphs and statistical reports we digest would make it seem. In fact, as the old joke goes, we economists like to present growth rates out to two…

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Vontoo finding its voice: Phone message marketer modeled on ExactTarget blends local, Indian talent

During his January trip to Bangalore, India, angel investor Robert Compton dreamed up dozens of ideas for high-tech business. To keep costs low, he planned to base each in Indiana, but outsource some work to the fastdeveloping nation’s famously inexpensive software talent. Now, only five months later, Compton is concentrating on just one: a startup IT company called Vontoo Inc. Based in Indianapolis, Vontoo will allow marketers to send audio messages to thousands of phones in a particular demographic, then…

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Making a splash: Delta Faucet aims for hip and handy with unique rebranding campaigns

Delta Faucet Co. has succeeded in luring fashionistas to its high-end line. Now the company wants to coax weekend wrench wielders into buying its most-affordable faucets. The Indianapolis subsidiary of Michigan-based Masco Corp. is launching its second major branding overhaul in two years. And Delta is again taking the account from a big-city ad agency and handing it over to locally based Young & Laramore. Young & Laramore, one of the few local agencies focusing almost exclusively on national brands,…

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NOTIONS: A tale of two kings and one fortunate kingdom

For the fifth year, some colleagues and I have penned comedy for a cause. The Indiana Repertory Theatre, which usually chooses its playwrights more carefully, erred again by soliciting our scriptwriting “talent” for its faux-radioshow fund-raiser. So on June 3, a cast of Indianapolis celebrities-from the media, not-for-profits, government and business-donned makeshift 17th-century garb, mounted the Indiana Roof Ballroom stage, and hammed up “Shakespeared: A Midsummer Night’s Scheme.” Our tall tale featured two kings-Mitchard and Bartholomie-trying to outdo each other…

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In midst of sale, Marsh rolling out new slogan: Grocer says it’s the place to ‘Treat your family well’

Executives at Fishers-based Marsh Supermarkets Inc. aren’t sitting on their hands, despite signing an offer a little more than a month ago to sell the grocery chain to a private equity group in Florida. For the past two years, they’ve been scratching away on flip charts coming up with a new brand. And they figure they might as well put it to use. They launched the new identity last month with the help of Dallas-based Ivie & Associates Inc., an…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Motor-vehicle jobs: a path to the future?

Would landing a new Honda plant be a plus for the Indiana economy? You bet it would. In fact, it’s hard to think of any similar-size investment that holds the same immediate potential for supporting additional jobs beyond those inside the plant walls. The project scores well on just about every objective measure you can come up with to assess its attractiveness. It draws on skills and occupations Indiana already has. Its activities hold great promise for new business for…

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Kroger shops for land: Grocer gathering property for full-size downtown store

Downtown residents might finally get their second full-service grocery store. Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. has purchased an acre of land immediately west of its store near the intersection of 16th Street and Central Avenue in hopes of razing the existing store and replacing it with a new, and much larger, grocery. “We would like to build a brand new store that incorporates all of the amenities that [we] have at our newer stores,” said Jeff Golc, a Kroger spokesman. Neighbors are…

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Diving for Dollars: Carmel water park looks to make splash by soaking up naming-rights deals

Carmel water park looks to make splash by soaking up naming-rights deals Carmel Clay Parks and Recreation has a novel business plan for the $55 million Monon Center at Central Park project that includes selling sponsorships and naming rights for its 10-acre water park and other attractions, possibly even for the entire venue. The mammoth development-which will feature meeting space along with sports facilities, including the water park and fishing lagoons-is under construction and won’t open for nine months. But the…

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Golf club member tees off investors: Lawsuit over $7.4M in losses casts light on little-regulated world of penny-stock promotion

By the time he graduated in 1985, Tony Altavilla ranked third in career touchdown receptions at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, an all-male institution that likens itself to the best conservative liberal arts colleges of New England. His star rose again recently, when the member of Carmel’s Crooked Stick Country Club led a committee that helped the Pete Dye-designed course score the 2009 U.S. Senior Open Championship. But the Wabash man and golfing buddy of the affluent now finds himself in…

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Firm finds direct approach pays off: Marketing Informatics, part of hot industry, sees revenue rise by $28 million in 3 years

Bob Massie came to Indianapolis in 1985 to preach the Word of God. Twenty-one years later, he’s spreading the messages of Indiana businesses, not from a pulpit, but through direct-mail advertising. Massie is shepherding a fastgrowing flock of clients. His company’s revenue has grown from $1.86 million in 2003 to a projected $30 million this year. The growth of Massie’s firm, Marketing Informatics, reflects the growth of the industry. Directmail advertising is growing more than 15 percent annually, according to…

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“No habla ingles”: Immigrants who want to advance find many programs to help them learn English

No habla inglesImmigrants who want to advance find many programs to help them learn English Osvaldo Escobedo was hungry to learn English. It was bad enough when he couldn’t advance at the Nissan Motor Co. plant in Aguascalientes, in central Mexico, because he couldn’t converse in the business language of English. Later, when he came to the United States, he couldn’t eat much more than what he could pronounce. “When I go to restaurant, I ask [for] ‘coffee and doughnuts….

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SPORTS: Two Sams make most of their day at the Brickyard

We often hear the sad refrain that the Indianapolis 500 “isn’t what it used to be.” I would concede the point, although, after last week’s scintillating victory by Sam Hornish Jr., the pendulum unquestionably is swinging back in a positive direction. And while there may be fewer people in the seats and, certainly, fewer drunks in the infield, it remains the largest single-day sporting event in the world, which is a fact and not a marketing slogan. Sometimes you have…

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Marsh merger muddied: Federal filings show grocer wants to ponder richer offer, but legalities might prevent it

A new federal filing suggests Marsh Supermarkets Inc.’s board wants to negotiate with a second potential buyer, even though it’s already agreed to be sold to a Florida private equity firm. The original buyer, Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sun Capital Partners, says merger talks with the new suitor, a partnership between Dallasbased Cardinal Paragon Inc. and New Yorkbased Drawbridge Special Opportunities Advisors LLC, would violate the agreement already in place unless Sun Capital grants Marsh permission to enter the discussions. And…

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Museum’s battle plan: Conner Prairie seeks boost from Civil War re-enactment

There were no Civil War battles fought in central Indiana. That won’t stop 400 soldiers in inhumanely hot wool uniforms from re-enacting a massive battle June 10-11 at Conner Prairie. Confederate and Union flags will wave. Brass instruments will sound. Cannon blasts will shake the trees. Sixty armed men on horses will lead the charge. The fighting will last less than an hour each day. The Hamilton County living-history museum hopes the economic effects last much longer. With the 150th…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s tax phone, Internet, TV usage

Felicity Futenmouth and I went to graduate school together. Her career in economics focused on consumer services provided by such first-class firms as MegaMedia, MegaMarkets and MegaMercenaries. We became reacquainted lately at our class’s 35th reunion. Over a nightcap of hot chocolate and biscuits, she enticed me with a coy question: “How do you feel about local taxes?” “I am all for them,” I responded. “If you don’t have local taxes, you don’t have a strong claim on the responsibility…

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Executive Pay Special Report: WORTH IT?: Top brass still collects big packages, but ties to company performance grow

Michael Doar once had to give back part of his salary. How times change. Now CEO of Indianapolis-based Hurco Cos. Inc., Doar offers more bang-for-the-buck than any chief executive in the state, according to an in-depth study of salaries and shareholder returns by IBJ. One would shudder at the t h o u g h t o f Hurco’s board asking Doar to forfeit a penny of his modest salary, as he did one year in the ’90s when the…

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