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New tourism ads paying off for city: Ten-second promotions attracting more visitors

When Indianapolis promoters were deciding what to do to lure leisure travelers to the city over summer break, they decided being short and to the point was the way to go. So, the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association partnered with eight area attractions to produce extremely brief television and radio travel commercials. The resulting ad campaign was wellfunded-with a budget $240,000 more than the previous year-and produced stellar results, including more awareness of Indianapolis attractions, more nights spent in Indianapolis,…

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Mortgage-investment flap singes Children’s Wish Fund:

The collapse in value of subprime mortgage securities may look like a Wall Street problem, fueling steep writedowns at some of the nation’s biggest investment firms and costing some corporate titans their jobs. But recent woes at the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund underscore that its tentacles extend all the way to the heartland, even ensnaring the small Indianapolis not-for-profit. The Children’s Wish Fund, which has just four full-time employees, filed an arbitration proceeding this month against Memphis-based Morgan Keegan &…

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INVESTING: Exxon Mobil executive wields incredible power

Power is typically understood by those who wield it and those who operate under it. If I took a survey that asked who the most powerful person in the world is today, there would be two or three common answers. But there is a person who is just as powerful, and perhaps more so, than the few names that immediately come to mind. I am talking about Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil. Up until Nov. 5 (more…

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Billboards enter digital era

Remote-controlled digital billboards are revolutionizing the outdoor advertising industry nationwide, but a city prohibition
against the medium is preventing a rollout here.

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SPORTS: With the football Hoosiers, it’s one play at a time

I just got an e-mail from a good friend inquiring about where (his speculation was the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz.) the Indiana Hoosiers would play their first bowl game since 1993. I responded with the same line I’ve repeated often. When it comes to Indiana football, I never look further ahead than the next play. It’s a lesson I learned 40 years ago, in 1967. I was fresh out of high school. It always was my dream to go…

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Five years after merger, agency out of the woods: Big Brothers Big Sisters moving in the right direction

Big Brothers of Indianapolis and Big Sisters of Central Indiana merged five years ago in hopes of mentoring more at-risk children, but turnover at the top of the organization has made it hard to get the ball rolling. The combined agency has had three leaders since the 2002 merger; revenue, which peaked at $2.3 million in 2003, has been up and down; and one-on-one mentor matches-its core activity-also declined. Despite the challenges, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana finally…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Smooth sailing for Simon, despite economic squall?

Retail pundits are trotting out all the downbeat analogies these days, as they fret that high gas prices and the slumping housing market will crimp consumer spending the rest of the year. As Carl Steidtmann, chief economist at Deloitte Research, put it, “The holiday season will be somewhat Grinch-like.” So it may come as a surprise that some analysts are almost gushing about the prospects for Simon Property Group Inc., the nation’s largest mall owner. As Rich Moore, managing director…

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Fine arts programs prepare students for real world: Artists taught how to deal with galleries, market work

Most fine arts students used to exist in a bubble-running to class in paint-splattered clothing and practically living in their studios, channeling their muse and honing their craft. Once they graduated, those who were driven enough to try to make a living off their talent still had a lot to learn about running a business. But now many universities are doing more to make sure art students graduate with the business skills they need. Local photographer Ginny Taylor Rosner graduated…

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PROFILE: Roundpeg: Narrowing its focus helped Roundpeg find the right hole Networking also makes a difference for marketing firm

Roundpeg Narrowing its focus helped Roundpeg find the right hole Networking also makes a difference for marketing firm Lorraine Ball is a human energy bar who seems to have more ideas than there are minutes in a day. She left her job as vice president of creative services for Conseco Inc. in early 2002 to start her own business focusing on team building and strategic planning for large companies-only to discover that in the post-9/11 world, big companies weren’t investing…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Evaluate today before gauging effects of tax proposal

Gov. Mitch Daniels unveiled a tax proposal Oct. 23 designed to remedy a number of widely held concerns over property taxes in the state. In a nutshell, his proposal reduces property tax collections by one-third and generates additional revenue by increasing the general sales tax 1 percentage point. His plan offers a three-tiered property tax rate-1 percent residential, 2 percent rental and 3 percent commercial-and moves taxation (and perhaps budgetary decision making) from the township to the county level. It…

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VIEWPOINT: Corporate transactions: lose-lose deals

Corporate transactions, such as the sales of Peoples Bank and First Indiana Bank, as well as mergers of utility companies, benefit no one. For example: Retail customers: No evidence exists that consumers benefit from these transactions. Companies might argue that fees and prices rise more slowly in larger organizations, a result of efficiencies, but no proof is available, and the principle of diminishing returns suggests that, at some point, the cost of running a large entity becomes proportionately greater than…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Is your Web site a cost or an investment?

I don’t particularly like to shop, but I like seeing how other people shop, especially online. There are always so many surprises. Of course, the big research is in e-commerce, where buyers spend money online. Studies show the number of people willing to buy online is growing steadily. The Census Bureau shows a consistently upward trendline through August 2007 (www.census.gov/mrts/www/ecomm.html). Most experts seem to believe that not only are more people throwing down their plastic electronically, but established shoppers are…

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Feds OK women’s biz centers: Program wins affiliation with SBA; details on set up, funding to come

After a 19-year run as a pilot program, a national initiative aimed at helping women start businesses finally has earned a seal of approval from the federal government. As an official U.S. Small Business Administration program, the Women’s Business Center concept gains the stability that supporters had been seeking for nearly two decades. And that’s good news for women like Krista Bermeo, an Indianapolis artist who makes melted glass jewelry in her namesake Fountain Square studio. Bermeo sought help from…

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Commentary: Dungy’s book a real eye-opener

I watched the Indianapolis Colts’ Oct. 22 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars with a sense of calm I’d never experienced before while watching a Colts game. It wasn’t because I was certain they were going to win-far from it-or because I had been sedated. It was because I had just read Coach Tony Dungy’s best-seller, “Quiet Strength.” No, I wasn’t “born again” while reading. But I was given a much better idea of how Dungy works and how things are…

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Emmis’ higher leverage ups pressure on Smulyan:

Jeff Smulyan can do almost whatever he wants with Emmis Communications Corp., since the supercharged shares he holds give him voting control, right? That’s the conventional thinking, but there’s a growing crack in his armor. Because of the company’s poor results of late, debt ratios are creeping up, raising the specter that Emmis will be close to violating covenants with its lenders by next May. That won’t happen, Smulyan, Emmis’ founder, chairman and CEO, told IBJ. “We are very, very…

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INVESTING: How to factor weak dollar into investment decisions

The mighty U.S. dollar. There was a time when it really could take you places. When my wife, Sarah, and I went to Rome nine years ago, we felt as if we were stealing clothes from the Italian vendors. We went back a few months ago; the pain was reversed. Our currency is under attack, which is affecting all our lives. Twenty years ago, the United States did a majority of its international trade with a few large European countries…

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White-collar crime has a new watchdog: Indiana securities commissioner aims to educate investors, enforce law

Madison native Chris Naylor on Oct. 5 became Indiana’s securities commissioner. He was appointed by Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita to succeed O. Wayne Davis, who now is a semi-retired legal consultant. Naylor, former county prosecutor in two southern Indiana counties, sat down with IBJ to talk about his goals as the state’s top securities cop. The following is an edited version of that interview. IBJ: What’s your office’s focus? NAYLOR: There are two large areas: investor protection and…

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SPORTS: Discipline on court, disappointment in stands

As an Indiana University alumnus, I guess you could say I’m dissed off. Disappointed. Disillusioned. Disheartened. And I know I’m not alone. There is simply no excuse, no rationale and no justification for Kelvin Sampson’s basketball program to be operating outside the NCAA rules or the NCAA sanctions he brought to Bloomington from the University of Oklahoma. I don’t care that the NCAA’s rule book is thicker than the New York City white pages. I don’t buy that those rules…

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Arcadia Resources HQ lured to city by central location:

Arcadia Resources Inc. CEO Marvin Richardson, an Anderson native and Purdue University pharmacy graduate, said Indianapolis was chosen for the company’s new headquarters because the city’s central location will create an advantage when it launches a new drug-packaging system. The system, called DailyMed, will help patients manage their prescription pills. The company plans to open a distribution center for DailyMed in the near future that eventually could employ 300 or more. Arcadia will move from the Detroit suburb of Southfield….

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IU business incubator partners with Siberian school: Reciprocal visits could lead to high-tech opportunities

After unwrapping his luggage from its seal of shrink-wrap, Mark Long reviewed his notes for the upcoming seminar. He hardly needed them. Long, CEO of Indiana University’s Research and Technology Corp., has spoken many times about how academics transfer their research discoveries to the market. But this was the first time he ever delivered the speech in Siberia. The audience-a group of business and academic leaders-ultimately could help Hoosiers access a treasure-trove of Russian technologies. “They have a lot of…

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