The view from here. 2/19/10

I am going to start what I can only hope will be an ongoing article for the Nelscolicious blog;

The view from here.

If anything interesting passes by my office window here at our new location on the beautiful Lakewalk of Duluth, I'll snap a picture and post it here to share.

The Big NelsCo Move

Bill Nelson, President of Nelson & Company Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations (NCO)—announced today that the company has relocated to Canal Park’s historic Endion Station building.  “We are thrilled the city selected Nelson & Company as the tenant of the Endion Depot.  We couldn’t be happier to move our growing agency to a building that’s such an important part of Duluth’s history.”   The Depot, built by the DM&IR in 1899, was located at 15^th Avenue East & South Street and was moved to Canal Park in 1985 due to the expansion of I-35. 

 

“While we loved our space in the Wirth Building, we outgrew it,” said Nelson.  The new space is an investment in both clients and staff, and offers NCO the opportunity to entertain clients and inspire creativity in a beautiful new location on the shores of Lake Superior.

 

Nelson & Company, which celebrates five years in June 2010, blends sound marketing fundamentals with alternative methods to provide clients with creative, budget minded, and results-oriented work rooted in strategic thinking. Offices are located in the historic Endion Station, 100 Lake Place Drive, Canal Park—Duluth, Minnesota. Office: 218-722-7575; Fax: 218-722-1705; Web: nelson-company.com.

2010 Updates

Although 2009 was slower than normal for just about every industry, the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 have been going strong for Nelson & Company.

A few of the bigger projects that we have been working on include: the IntensaFIRE, No Scope, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northland website, and the ever-growing Downtown Duluth Dining Directory, the pet project of Nelson & Company.

The IntensaFIRE and No Scope are two products created by BGR Mods, a national gaming modification company. The IntensaFIRE modifies XBOX 360 wireless controllers (CG and Matrix), allowing gamers to control 5-mode sleeper settings, including a customizable user programmable mode. It uses the existing Sync button to toggle modes on and off. Advanced users have the option of adding a button to a prefabricated area on the IntensaFIRE.

Usable in all XBOX 360 games, including gamer favorites: Left 4 Dead, the Call of Duty series, the Halo series, the Gears of War series, Street Fighter, and any other future first person shooter or fighter games. The IntensaFIRE promises to bring your play to a new level. The product is made and assembled in the USA, is lead-free and 100% recyclable, and retails for $29.99.

The No Scope is a removable and reusable cling/decal that is applied to your TV screen without leaving residue. It is used for first person shooter games. The No Scope replaces the scope of your gun and allows the gamer to increase headshots, hurl grenades with accuracy, and run freely without having to scope in. One package includes 5 clings and retails for $4.99.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Northland will be launching their new and improved website in the upcoming weeks. We have completely redesigned the site so it is user-friendly, interactive, and contains the most up-to-date information. Club members, parents, donors, and partners will greatly benefit from this project. Details about the launch will be announced via press release.

In May 2010, the second edition of the Downtown Duluth Dining Directory will be available. The Downtown Duluth Dining Directory was created in the Spring of 2009 as a result of us (Meagan, Dann, Cheryl, and Bill) trying to decide where to eat lunch. And so the DDDD, as we like to call it, came to be.

The DDDD includes all dining locations in the Downtown area. It is distributed to all Downtown offices, tourist attractions, and hotels. Each restaurant receives a free line listing with the option to purchase an ad. A portion of ad proceeds is donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

We have begun selling ads and are anxious about this year’s launch. Check back for more details.

Duluth Festival Opera takes a fascinating visual approach to Augusts concert performance of Puccini's La Boheme

Our client, Duluth Festival Opera, is planning an innovative approach to their upcoming concert production of Puccini’s perennial favorite, La bohème. In an effort to remain cutting-edge, artistic director Craig Fields sought an innovative approach to this concert presentation, which is a departure from the full productions of the past three years. It was important to Fields that this concert-style production contain a beautiful visual component, since it would be staged without the sets and costuming that are used in fully-staged productions.

Fields began exploring ways to introduce dramatic visual excitement and along came a fortuitous discussion with talented illustrator, Mike Reed. A fascinating idea emerged: to have Reed draw the performers, their gestures and his impressions of their work during the performance. Seated on stage, calling on his quick eye and imaginative hand, Reed’s impressions of the artists would be projected onto a large screen, providing a visual commentary for the audience during the performance.

Fields believes that the effect of the changing visual images will reinforce the dramatic momentum of the music and that the loose style and sparsely detailed nature of quick sketches will give the audience a chance to compare their own impressions with those of the artist. The work of the musicians, the singers and the visual artist will all be channeled into the same time and space as each responds to the powerful music of Puccini’s score. It may even be an exciting new way to solve an age-old problem by creating ‘musically-inspired’ visuals for opera presented in concert.

For tickets or information call 1-800-628-8385 or 218-727-4344 or go to www.ticketmaster.com

BGRMODS- Bringing Mods Mainstream with IntensaFIRE

Stick this in your controller and smoke ‘em!

Duluth, MN (08/10/09) – Coy Christmas, President of BragGame Rights, Minnesota’s only licensed console gaming host location, has revealed a new company – BGRMODS, LLC, which will offer gamers the latest in mods. The first product to come out of BGRMODS is IntensaFIRE.

According to Christmas, “We saw a need in the gaming market. Console and accessory modification is a large part of the gaming world. The problem was that gamers buy mod kits for their controllers only to find out they were too complex to assemble themselves. So we partnered with an engineering team to get a product to the gamers that eliminates the technical curve, and offers more than the standard mod kit does.” The product is made and assembled in the USA, is lead-free and 100% recyclable, and retails for $29.99.

The IntensaFIRE modifies XBOX 360 wireless controllers (CG and Matrix), allowing them to control 5-mode sleeper settings, including a customizable user programmable mode. It uses the existing Sync button to toggle modes on and off. Advanced users have the option of adding a button to a prefabricated area on the IntensaFIRE.

Usable in all XBOX 360 games, including gamer favorites: Left 4 Dead, the Call of Duty series, the Halo series, the Gears of War series, and Street Fighter, and any future First Person Shooters or Fighter games, the IntensaFIRE promises to bring your play to a new level.

“4-mode sleeper mod kits exist. Dual rapid-fire mod kits exist. The IntensaFIRE mod kit has both. There are pre-fab controllers on the market, that do some of what the IntensaFIRE offers, each controller going for well over $100. We offer a 5-mode kit that is extremely simple to install, taking no more than 3 minutes with minimal tools, for about a quarter of the cost. Other mod kits require drilling, wiring, and deconstruction of your controllers. The IntensaFIRE only needs a few existing points of glue to connect the IntensaFIRE flex board to the controller and you're ready to go! You also get blue and red LED’s to identify which mode you’re in, at no extra cost,” says Christmas.

The product will be available at local independent dealers beginning September 7, 2009, but will premier at Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), in Seattle, WA September 4-6. For locations and more information visit BGRMODS.com.

Volunteering in the Northland

With the recent interest in volunteering surrounding Extreme Make Over visiting the Twin Ports, it's worth mentioning some of the other year-round volunteer based organizations. Keep the love coming! One organization in particular, Western Lake Superior Habitat for Humanity, could use your help. Recently, our own account manager, Meagan Campbell, volunteered with faculty, current students, fellow alumni, and friends of UW-Superior.

The group spent a Saturday helping with a variety of projects at a current Habitat for Humanity site in Cloquet, Minnesota. Daryl Yankee, Director of the Western Lake Superior Habitat for Humanity, worked with the UWS group and taught them a thing or two about building homes. He is a firm believer in Habitat’s mission and demonstrated his commitment by digging the trenches alongside the volunteers. Check out the website to find ways to be involved.

https://www.habitat.org/cd/frame/frameset.aspx?url=www.habitatduluth.org

Cheryl & Audrey on Fox21

Senior Account Manager, Cheryl Zupec, and her daughter Audrey were featured in a segment on Fox 21 news at 9. The story focused on Chery'ls kid-centric yoga class that spawned from her days doing yoga with her infant children at her side.

Audrey does a fantastic job showing how she helps her mom's class out in the segment, and almost steals the show from Cheryl.

The clip and corresponding article can be found here: