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June 3, 2020
FACES & PLACES

In partnership with Four 3rds Creative, the Fort Worth Chamber has launched a virtual series highlighting local nonprofit organizations as they discuss their challenges, as well as ways that viewers can help right from their homes.

Featured nonprofits so far have included Cook Children's Health Foundation, Presbyterian Night Shelter, and ACH Child and Family Services.

Watch the full series here.
PRESS YOUR LUCK
Click on the links below to enter for prizes
Double bogey on Mr. B: Guilty as charged. Mr. B absconded with a giveaway last week – a Charles Schwab Challenge swag bag – and gave it to his son, No B Good, who works at golf and has a part-time job at Fidelity Investments , or vice versa. Long-time PR prince and Colonial tournament marketing master Britt Todd of the Todd Company , got wind of the theft, reported it to B2B Insider editors and this could be the last newsletter ever. Next week’s tournament, the first since the PGA’s March shut down, will have seven of the top 10-ranked golfers in the world (Nos. 1-3—McIlroy, Rahm and Koepka) and former champs Mickelson and Spieth, among others. No fans on site, but millions on air and it’s primo marketing for the city, Schwab, Colonial and the golfers. You’ll look primo with this swag bag from Britt and tournament director Michael Tothe that includes two Charles Schwab Challenge hats, a tournament pin flag autographed by champ Kevin Na and a Ryan Palmer Foundation t-shirt.

(BTW, it’s not too late to register for Friday’s annual  Chamber Charles Schwab Challenge Colonial  Preview Q&A. It’s a first as a webinar and you can participate from 11 a.m. to noon. Steve Sands, host and commentator for the Golf Channel and NBC Sports, will interview 12-time PGA champ Zach Johnson. Zach has won twice at Colonial, in 2010 and 2012. Register here, and those that attend will receive a complimentary ticket to attend the 2021 Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial.)
Guy Like Me:  He won’t be able to take you out to a dancehall and there won’t be girls from Texas carrying on in the front rows. But it will be PAT GREEN, live in concert this Saturday night at 5 and 9 p.m. in the third of four nights of the  Texas Rangers’   Concert in Your Car   series at Globe Life Field.   The team said the concerts are "designed to give music fans the live show experience while maintaining social distancing." You stay in your car, leaving only for the restroom. No grilling, no tailgating, no concessions and no dancin’ unless you are playing Twister or have a flatbed. You can bring food and drink; you must be 21 to drink alcohol.  SBL Architecture , which designed  B2B Insider,  many -- ok, most -- area healthcare facilities and off-season fixes to Globe Life Park, where SBL offices when it isn’t Sheltering. Long-time pals Michael Barnett and Jaime Pacilio put down the green to see Green and have a spot for you at the 9 p.m. show. 
Perfect brew: Packaged coffee purchases were up 70 percent through April because of the effects of COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place and hoarding. Through May, daily coffee consumption was up 13 percent, third only to alcohol and Melvin’s donuts. Coffee is so integral to our daily lives that Colombia’s Juan Valdez is up for Time’s Person of the Year. Alpha Industries is a mill-wrighting and heavy steel fabrication company working in the food and beverage industry. Its specialty is coffee processing, roasting and production equipment. Jason C. Scoggins’ specialty is putting together quarterly coffee packages for B2B Insider , though his boss probably/hopefully has a different thought on Jason’s specialty. This quarter, we’re bypassing the accessories and going straight for the coffee, $50 of rich, dark Lively Up Marley coffee from Mother Parker’s Tea and Coffee.
Congratulations to the May 27th
Prize Winners:

  • Kim Satz, TCU
  • Bill McCoy, Bank of Texas
  • Jennifer Smith, Fossil Rim Wildlife Center
HE SAID, SHE SAID, THEY SAID
You can run, you can’t hide: Geofence is a “virtual” perimeter. Kenn Scott of Avadel Agency says geo-fencing with Facebook marketing is “so precise we bombarded a CEO’s office until we got noticed.”
We got us the 2021 Super Bowl! Got you, hook, line & sinker. But, the best of the best will be here and on Lake Ray Roberts March 19-21 for the 2021 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic. The spectacular 200-exhibit Expo will be in Will Rogers Memorial Center and daily weigh-ins at Dickies Arena. Recent Bass Classics have drawn about 120,000 fans. Previous tournaments on Lake Ray Roberts regularly require anglers to average at least 5-pounders to win. Congrats to Visit Fort Worth.
Low-cost, smart marketing: Susan Shaw of her namesake insurance company, is marketing her clients with videos. She visits them, features the workplace and the people using her phone, and posts on her social media pages. She also sends a copy to the client. The goal? She says it is to get non-clients (and Mr. B) to hear that story and think, “Man, my agent never did that for me."
Preserve my business, please!  At 39 cents an hour, Mr. B makes too little to have qualified for PPP money and too much for unemployment.  Preserve the Fort,  though is just right. Fort Worth has set aside $10 million, partnered with the  United Way of Tarrant County  and aligned with all the  Chambers  to get preservation dollars to  Fort Worth  small businesses (1-to-250 employees). Half the money is for minority-owned businesses and those in Neighborhood Empowerment Zones and Designated Investment Zones. Funds can be used to reimburse the costs for required closures, voluntary closures to promote social distancing, or decreased customer demand. There is some paperwork and, in some cases, your first born. But it’s doable and get in line behind Mr. B. We have until   11:59 p.m. Monday, June 8   to apply .  The funding levels are:
  • Fewer than 5 employees … $5,000.
  • Six-to-25 employees …$7,500.
  • 26-to-50 employees … $10,000.
  • 51-to- 250 employees … $50,000.
Advertise now? Kim Davis of adsposure obviously would answer “YESSSS!” Here’s her reality: “A lot of people have marketing budgets; the uncertainty seems to have many on hold. I feel it will come back once there are more definite signs of people actually getting back out ... I’ve had a bunch of advertisers tell me they will need to re-engage by fall.”
Job opening never expected to see online: Fort Worth Zoo is looking for an elephant keeper.
“Budgets are not a four-letter word. A zero-based budget is positive permission to spend.”



--Nikole Dickman, founder/owner
Envoy Managed Services
Y’all means … drive to Fort Worth: Bob Jameson, President and CEO of Visit Fort Worth , on a Chamber webinar, says the promotional/tourism group is taking baby steps, “like green shoots popping up from charred earth.” He says local hotel occupancy percentage during May climbed into the low 30s. Soon, when appropriate, he says Visit Fort Worth will market to the Texas “drive market” and road-trippers. The next big messaging step (and no timeline, for this) won’t occur until business meetings and conferences are allowed to take place.
Won’t chicken out: Barbara Lundgren, senior veep of Marketing and Development for Meals On Wheels of Tarrant County , is wheeling for meals herownself. She’s determined to bring the Schisslers and Chicken Salad Chick to Mansfield. Barbara says her mom “brought Braum’s to Mansfield in the ’80s.”
Extended to online learning: Julie Lovett, Associate Director of Extended Education at TCU , has moved most of its course offerings online, even ones for the senior Silver Frogs. Biggest and most difficult move was the large Advanced Placement Summer Institute for AP teachers.
Semi-relaxed? AC Hotel Fort Worth is not scheduled to open on 5th Street downtown until (maybe) Sept. 14. GM Aaron Oquendo already had been working remotely, but says don’t worry, “I’ve got plenty to do.” AC is a full-service hotel with European roots.
AA still flies high: People haven’t been flying, so American Airlines has its own struggles. But that hasn’t stopped team members from helping out in the face of COVID-19. Employees fed 15,000 Dallas school children and donated 2,000 tons of food to area food banks, hospitals and non-profits. In Grapevine and Irving, healthcare professionals have been fed; in Fort Worth, they have received home-made masks.
UPCOMING EVENTS
To comply with Tarrant County's recommendations on public gatherings, our in-person programs are currently on hold. Please see our upcoming virtual resources below.
Friday, June 5
Charles Schwab Challenge Preview
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