Past Winner Stories
Marketing Informatics
www.marketinginformatics.com
MI’s meteoric growth was put in jeopardy on the night of Sunday, April 2, 2006 when straight-line winds and tornadoes ripped through Indianapolis. The same storm that wrecked the Regions Bank building downtown hit the MI facility. Winds completely obliterated a 140-foot section of the wall and damaged about 40% of the building beyond repair.
When the storm hit, the CEO was in Georgia for a conference and the president and operations director were circling the Atlanta airport waiting for the storm to blow through so they could return home to Indianapolis. By the time the airplane delivered them to Indy, the general manager of one department had notified the CEO, left voicemail messages for the other two, arranged for the Marion County Sheriff to dispatch officers to the scene, and was present at the facility at 1:00 a.m. The general manager welcomed the president and operations director to the devastation in the early hours and the MI management team worked through the night to secure the facility and arrange for contractors to be on the scene the same day. They met the employees as they arrived at 7:00 a.m.
When employees surveyed the damage they expected to have pink slips by the end of the day. Instead, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Employees rallied, and for two days worked printing presses and mail machines in coats and gloves while a local contractor erected temporary wooden walls to shield the operation. Bottom line: The company missed four hours of production time and didn't miss a deadline.
According to owner and CEO Bob Massie, the solution to the challenge of the plant’s devastation is the same as the solution to the problem of how to meet an unmeetable production deadline or any other significant business challenge: leadership of a great team, focus on solutions and decisive action.
His management team rallied the employees to clean up the facility while coordinating with contractors to clear away the building rubble and begin construction of temporary walls. The employees, in turn, put themselves wholeheartedly into the task of getting back to production. The CEO canceled the next leg of his business trip and arrived in Indianapolis at 6:00 p.m. -- 18 hours after the storm hit. Employees were still at work, this time finishing the production work that had been delayed by the morning’s cleanup. They were cold and tired, but beaming with the satisfaction that only happens when people overcome adversity as a team. “Of all we learned from this challenge, the greatest lesson was realizing the value of a culture among good people that facilitates the extraordinary,” Massie says.
MI continues to grow rapidly and will be recognized again in 2007 by both the Inc. 500 and the IBJ fastest growing lists.
Marketing Informatics (MI), a full-service direct marketing company that offers market research, data analytics, data acquisition and management, creative services, and printing and mailing, depends on precision, fast turnarounds and deadlines met. A culture that consistently achieves those goals drove growth to 631.8% over three years. MI was catapulted onto the national scene in 2006 when, for the second time, Inc. magazine recognized the company as the nation's 186th fastest growing privately held company. It was also named the fastest growing privately held company in the Indianapolis area by the Indianapolis Business Journal.
MI’s meteoric growth was put in jeopardy on the night of Sunday, April 2, 2006 when straight-line winds and tornadoes ripped through Indianapolis. The same storm that wrecked the Regions Bank building downtown hit the MI facility. Winds completely obliterated a 140-foot section of the wall and damaged about 40% of the building beyond repair.
When the storm hit, the CEO was in Georgia for a conference and the president and operations director were circling the Atlanta airport waiting for the storm to blow through so they could return home to Indianapolis. By the time the airplane delivered them to Indy, the general manager of one department had notified the CEO, left voicemail messages for the other two, arranged for the Marion County Sheriff to dispatch officers to the scene, and was present at the facility at 1:00 a.m. The general manager welcomed the president and operations director to the devastation in the early hours and the MI management team worked through the night to secure the facility and arrange for contractors to be on the scene the same day. They met the employees as they arrived at 7:00 a.m.
When employees surveyed the damage they expected to have pink slips by the end of the day. Instead, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Employees rallied, and for two days worked printing presses and mail machines in coats and gloves while a local contractor erected temporary wooden walls to shield the operation. Bottom line: The company missed four hours of production time and didn't miss a deadline.
According to owner and CEO Bob Massie, the solution to the challenge of the plant’s devastation is the same as the solution to the problem of how to meet an unmeetable production deadline or any other significant business challenge: leadership of a great team, focus on solutions and decisive action.
His management team rallied the employees to clean up the facility while coordinating with contractors to clear away the building rubble and begin construction of temporary walls. The employees, in turn, put themselves wholeheartedly into the task of getting back to production. The CEO canceled the next leg of his business trip and arrived in Indianapolis at 6:00 p.m. -- 18 hours after the storm hit. Employees were still at work, this time finishing the production work that had been delayed by the morning’s cleanup. They were cold and tired, but beaming with the satisfaction that only happens when people overcome adversity as a team. “Of all we learned from this challenge, the greatest lesson was realizing the value of a culture among good people that facilitates the extraordinary,” Massie says.
MI continues to grow rapidly and will be recognized again in 2007 by both the Inc. 500 and the IBJ fastest growing lists.