Wigley and Associates » Client updates

Detroit Revitalization Fellows blog site launches

Griff Wigley — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:37:00 +0000

It was way back in September, 2011 when I had a celebratory lunch in St. Paul with my colleagues, Curt Johnson and Jay Walljasper. We’d been given the go-ahead by the Kresge Foundation on our proposal to assist the Detroit Fellows “in the effective use of telling their stories and sharing their experiences through blogs, Twitter, social media, articles, personal essays, op-eds, video scripts, spoken presentations, and other media.”

That’s quite a laundry list but the basic idea is a simple one: use media of all kinds to give the work of the Fellows as much impact as possible.

We now have the website up for the Detroit Fellows project. I’ve been working closely with one of the Fellows, Eric Anderson, on the creation of the site.

The site has a Fellows group blog where they’ve started blogging and where Jay has published some of his Fellows’ profiles. We also have our own Citiscope/Detroit Fellows blog where Curt, Jay and I now have our initial blog posts up.

My job is to offer coaching to those Fellows interested in using social media tools as a way to leverage their leadership. We’ll focus mainly on blogs and Twitter.

I’ve been speaking to each of the Fellows by phone in the past couple of weeks to introduce myself, learn more about their work, and give them a quick overview about the kinds of things my coaching would involve. I hope to start working with a small group in April.

I’ve been coaching leaders in the use of blogs and other online tools since 2003, but this will be the first time I’ve taken on a group of community leaders. I’m looking forward to it.

New blog site for Countryside Animal Hospital & Kennels

Griff Wigley — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:27:00 +0000

I’ve been working with veterinarian Dr. Rich Lorang and his wife Virginia Lorang to revamp the website for Countryside Animal Hospital & Kennels. The clinic and newly acquired kennel operation serve the cities of Dundas and Northfield as well as the surrounding Rice County area.

Dr. Rich has begun to blog, along with staffer Jess Renderos. You can also visit the Countryside Animal Hospital & Kennels Facebook page and follow Dr. Rich Lorang on Twitter.

Special event site for the TTC: the Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro

Griff Wigley — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 03:12:00 +0000

Long-time client Trials Training Center is hosting a special motorcycle competition in August, the Tennessee Knockout Enduro. Its two main sponsors are Kenda Tires and Monster Energy so, like most competitions of this type, it’s branded this year as the "Kenda Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro, fueled by Monster Energy."

We’ve given the event its own page on the TTC website, with the special domain name mapped to it. We’re using the TTC blog to post event updates, with a special tag phrase and special RSS feed. We’re also using the existing TTC Twitter account and TTC Facebook page for additional promotion.

NATC: new MotoTrial website and blog; also on Facebook and Twitter

Griff Wigley — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 04:03:49 +0000

The North American Trials Council (NATC), home of the NATC/AMA US National MotoTrial Championship Series and the US Trial des Nations Team, has a new site with a new name:

MotoTrial.us

The old domain names for the NATC and US TdN will be redirected and eventually discontinued.

I’ve been working with NATC CEO Brian Behling on the site. Brian is now blogging and is ramping up with both NATC MotoTrials on Facebook and NATC MotoTrials on Twitter.

New blogsite for EnduroTrial 2010

Griff Wigley — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:04:00 +0000

I’ve been working with my long-time client, the Trials Training Center in Tennessee, to set up a separate blog site for the AMA EnduroTrial Championship this fall. We launched it today.

The EnduroTrial is an off-road competition which is designed to test the rider’s overall off-road riding ability by incorporating some of the technical riding skills associated with observed trials into an enduro racing format.

Client meetings in Northfield: The Citistates Group; the DeKruif for Senate 25 campaign

Griff Wigley — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:56:00 +0000

My consulting business brings an infusion of $1.65 to downtown Northfield most days, depending on where I have coffee. Last week I was happy to ratchet that up a bit with two client meetings at the HideAway CoffeeHouse and Winebar.

The principals of The Citistates Group paid a visit to Northfield on Wednesday to meet with me and Northfield web designer Sean Hayford O’Leary. Sean and I have worked with Neal Peirce, Farley Peters, and Curtis Johnson for years but had never met with them F2F.

On Thursday, I met with Republican-endorsed Senate 25 candidate Al DeKruif and two of his campaign volunteers, Daryl Bauer and Brian Wermerskirchen. I’m working with them on social media-related activities for Al’s campaign.

The first time my consulting business had a huge economic impact (dozens of dollars!) on downtown Northfield was in the summer of 2004 when a group of Brits from the Blair government descended on the Contented Cow, desperate for British beer. They returned with some colleagues in the summer of 2005.

Blog site: Mark Murphy for Sheriff

Griff Wigley — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 02:52:00 +0000

I’ve been working with Mark Murphy the past few weeks on his Mark Murphy for Sheriff campaign blog site. Mark is running for Sheriff of Rice County Minnesota. He’s currently a Sergeant with the Northfield Police Department.

New liquor blog for City of Eden Prairie, MN

Griff Wigley — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:14:00 +0000

The City of Eden Prairie, MN has been a client since early 2003 when I helped City Manager Scott Neal get going with his blog. Fire Chief George Esbensen started his blog in early 2005, and the EP Police Department started their blog in early 2009 (after former Police Chief Dan Carlson retired along with his long-running blog).

The latest to join the City of Eden Prairie blogosphere: the Eden Prairie Liquor blog, launched last month by communications staffers Joyce Lorenz and Katie Beal, with the managers of the EP municipal liquor stores doing the blogging: Mitch Dean, Tammy Wanchena, Holly Smith, and Tana Wold.

Blogsite revamp for Club 95

Griff Wigley — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:34:00 +0000

Waaaay back in April of 2003, I set up a blog site for the Club 95 restaurant in Hixton, Wisconsin, working with then-owner Steve Kirschner. Jerel and Jen Gunning bought the restaurant from Steve in 2004 and Jerel took on the blogging duties.

In September 2009, I set up a blogsite for Re-Pete’s Saloon & Grill in Black River Falls, Wisconsin which Jerel and Jen had recently purchased. Jen has assumed blogging duties there along with one of her employees, Jamie Bailey.

We’ve now revamped the Club 95 blogsite, converting it from Blogger to WordPress and using the Atahualpa Theme by BytesForAll. Jen and Jamie will likely be taking over blogging and web upkeep duties.

A new blogsite for First Congregational Church of Cannon Falls

Griff Wigley — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:52:00 +0000

I’ve been working with First Congregational Church of Cannon Falls Pastor Barbara Martin and her technology team to convert their web site to a blog site.

The site is build on WordPress using the Atahualpa Theme by BytesForAll.

We created three custom banners from parishioner photos. The banners randomly display as one clicks on different pages of the site.

Rev. Martin began blogging on March 15.