The 156-year-old Terre Haute company that quietly churned out nothing but its trademark baking powder for more than a century is now serving notice to General Mills’ Bisquick and other well-known brands that the status quo is dead.
The Indianapolis Colts are giving sponsors a chance to help design the interior of Lucas Oil Stadium. The newly announced sponsorship packages, which parcel out naming and design rights for 12 parts of the stadium, are expected to generate up to $10 million a year for the franchise.
Local officials have lured another sports-related company here and taken a huge step in assuring the NFL Scouting Combine stays in the city long term. National Football Scouting and sister company National Invitational Camp, which operates the Combine for NFL team owners, moved its headquarters in August from Tulsa, Okla., to Indianapolis. NFS and NIC moved into the Pan Am Plaza office building, across the street from the RCA Dome, where it has held the Combine since 1987. NFS also…
Twenty years ago, the only thing coming out of Red Gold Inc.’s small Orestes plant was diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato puree. The processor now makes products that sell in all 50 states and 16 countries under its brand or private labels.
The leanest aspect of lean manufacturing is moving from the shop floor to the accounting office, where a new recordkeeping system is gaining a following. Proponents of so-called lean accounting say it’s better than traditional accounting at measuring the cost savings and efficiencies of lean manufacturing, a business-improvement strategy that shortens the time between customer order and shipment. Instead of simply looking at inventory levels and sales numbers as traditional accounting does, lean accounting measures things such as worker productivity…
In the last year, Emmis Communications Corp. Chairman Jeff Smulyan has led efforts to sell his company’s television stations, change radio formats, reduce debt and take the company private. He even proposed using company funds to buy a Major League Baseball franchise. Now, after his recently failed attempt to buy the Indianapolis company, many Wall Street analysts and investors are wondering what Smulyan might do next. Some industry experts believe the only way for Smulyan to do what’s best for…
Increased oil and natural gas prices are hammering many manufacturers, but Franklin-based Grimmer Industries Inc. is flying high. Grimmer specializes in making Hurricane brand air compressors and compressor boosters used in oil and natural gas well drilling and aggregate mining.
Tom King thinks its time to run the not-for-profit Indiana Sports Corp. with a for-profit mind-set, a change that could radically alter the organization credited with implementing the city’s amateur sports strategy.
Local stations have had video news content on their Web sites for a while now. But broadcasters are now devising plans to develop original content that essentially could allow a station to broadcast multiple channels through the Web.
Smoke coming from the Indy Racing League’s business model indicates it’s leaking oil. Two IRL teams recently folded and at least two more are in serious financial distress. Television ratings and race attendance is either flat or trailing last season.
Advertisements beamed to golf carts are showing up at Hoosier courses courtesy of an Arizona firm that’s delivering a new revenue stream for courses and a wealthy demographic for advertisers. Eleven Indiana courses, including Heartland Crossing Golf Links and Brickyard Crossing Golf Club, have purchased the system offered by ProLink Solutions LLC. Golf carts at those courses feature a global positioning system that displays course information and advertising. Larry Bain, ProLink president and CEO, said his company can deliver a…
The Race 2 Replace bicycle race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at first appeared to be just another local fund-raiser. Now, the Lance Armstrong-backed event put on by the professional cycling team he co-owns appears to be rolling up enough momentum to have a significant economic impact on Indianapolis. IMS President Joie Chitwood is calling the Aug. 12 race a “historic day at the track.” Race 2 Replace promoters said the IMS’ first-ever bicycle race is poised to become an…
Indiana Ice owner Paul Skjodt is rolling out a plan to build a 5,000-seat hockey arena in Hamilton County to keep his team skating into the black. If he pulls it off, he could be the first franchise owner to achieve long-term financial stability in Indianapolis’ seven-decade hockey history. To fortify his effort, Skjodt recently hired a vice president of sales and marketing-someone with experience launching new arenas-and launched a grass-roots marketing campaign he hopes to parlay into profitability. Skjodt,…
Russ Dodge is used to scaling cultural barriers. For 17 years, Dodge, who is white, was a sales manager at WTLC, one of Indianapolis’ top radio stations targeting blacks. Dodge was central in numerous community outreach efforts at WTLC. As the new general manager of two Indianapolis Hispanic radio stations, Dodge is attempting to hurdle not only another cultural divide, but a language barrier to boot. Dodge, 54, took the helm of WEDJFM 107.1 and WSYW-AM 810 in April, and…
One local television station is preparing for a radical format change, and there’s talk that another station could be for sale. Officials for Chicago-based Tribune Co. are sending mixed signals about the possibility that its two Indianapolis stations-WTTV-TV Channel 4 and WXIN-TV Channel 59-are on the block. Meanwhile, Rhode Island-based Lin TV Corp. confirmed that a major programming change is on the way for its WNDY-TV Channel 23. Tribune Chairman and CEO Dennis FitzSimmons’ recent proclamation that the media company…
Officials for the WTA, which represents women professional players, and the ATP, which represents men, are considering shortening the lengthy tennis calendar by imposing a short offseason-possibly a three-week, midyear respite that would collide with the RCA Championships.
Since purchasing Escient Solutions in early 2003 and changing its name to Electronic Evolutions Inc., Mike Alley has increased revenue 35 percent, to $6.5 million. That’ll be small potatoes if Alley’s dreams for the company pan out. Alley, former Fifth Third Bank of Central Indiana president and CEO, wants to be a consolidator in the fragmented electronics and automation design and installation industry. Toward that end, he partnered in late June with electronics industry veteran Daniel Knotts and formed E2…
The Indianapolis Colts in early July will unleash its most aggressive marketing campaign ever-even though demand for tickets, club seats and corporate suites at its RCA Dome home exceeds supply. The push is all about the future. Billboards around the state will proclaim that those who want to see games in Lucas Oil Stadium when it opens in 2008 “better not wait until the dust settles,” said Tom Zupancic, Colts senior vice president of sales and marketing. Some radio, television…
A small Indiana firm is looking to become a big player in the emerging radio-frequency-identification market. Carmel-based BlueBean LLC is one of a small but growing number of firms nationally that provide consulting services to companies trying to set up systems using radio frequency identification-commonly called RFID-tags and readers. BlueBean in April acquired Mishawakabased www.rfidsupplychain.com, which sells RFID hardware and software online. The acquisition also provided BlueBean rights to a bevy of other domain names, including www.rfidhealthcare.com, www.rfidpharma.comand www.rfidfood.com. The…
In only its second year, a unique Indianapolis equestrian competition is gaining a following among equine enthusiasts well beyond Indiana. And organizers already are planning to expand the event into one of the nation’s largest hunter/jumper competitions. Craig Dobbs attracted nearly 400 horses to the inaugural Circle City Equestrian 500 last year, even though he began preparations only five months beforehand and had no marketing budget. This year, Dobbs said, more than 600 horses will compete at the show at…
