Who cares... (how you grow things)?

What do you wish there was more of in life? Those things that you think could or do make the world a better place? The simple things like street musicians, good restaurants, mom and pop shops... What is it?

I ask because I have too often observed those things that make life sweet and done little to see them grow or flourish. More often than not I have taken them for granted and assumed that they will always be there, but that isn't true. Things that make life sweet sometimes get overlooked or crushed by the bigger and more efficient. In recent history one of those things that has started to go away is privately owned businesses with the ownership team intact (specifically companies that are not publicly traded). I am speaking of those companies that (often) care as much about their profits, as they do their product, customers, and employees. Seeing more private businesses grow that contribute to their local communities and have an interest in maintaining culture and quality of life in America for the middle class is a passion of mine. I consider them the centerpiece to a strong healthy economy. So over the years as I have watched more and more of them go away, I had to stop and ask what can I do to help them grow?

While pondering the thought one day the words of a wiser friend than myself came to me, "if you want more of something in life, feed it" (credit: Gary Wasserman). Those words drove me to look at what I can do to help grow the things I want to see more of in the world. That drive was shaped into a mission and that mission morphed into a company (Endless Media) with a vested interest in taking the power the social-digital age (or the Digitorial Era) to private businesses and help them compete in the corporate advertising playground (watch Story Wars and learn more about powering your business with social). In making the choice to only work with privately-owned companies we have marginalized ourselves and the scope of our client base, but it is worth it. Our clients are the best ever! They love what we do for them and we love doing great work in return.

Recently, we had the opportunity to do just that with our client Granite Industries out of Archbold, Ohio. After meeting the ownership team who's been in manufacturing since their grandfather started in the 1940s. We knew that I had found one of those rare gems that offer more to the world than their product and we're very proud of what came from it (see our work with Granite here).

From creation thru production, we worked with the team to focus on creating a few key outcomes. First, clarifying the overarching story of the Granite Industries brand in Who is Granite. Second, we worked to bring clarity, uniqueness, and separation to the other brands under the Granite umbrella in Overland Carts & American Carts. Next, we wanted to take advantage of the production opportunity to feature one of their best selling items the Power Snappy and bring clarity to what it offers the consumer. And finally, we wanted to create a piece that identified Granite Industries as uniquely 'American Made' in Made in the USA (my personal favorite). Each of the pieces came out better than we could have expected and we're very proud to have been able to create them for the team and work-family at Granite Industries (see more on our case study).