The Survey Says…
I often like to engage in micro surveys as I’m traveling (it’s a habit and I’m seeking help for this condition). On a recent trip to Chicago to attend the AAF Edge Effect conference, I found myself on a morning express commuter train from Arlington Heights to downtown.
In the “old days,” you might have seen the entire car filled with people reading the morning edition of the newspaper (yes, there was an evening edition for the ride home). Today, most people were looking at their phones at one time or another. Of this small, one-train-car sample I found:
- 15% of the people were reading the morning newspaper
- 25% were wearing headphones
- 7% were working on a laptop
- 50% were actively engaged on their smartphones
Sure, the world has changed, but in this microcosm of Midwest commuters it is easy to see how fragmented we all are. The lady in front of me was playing her video game. The gentleman to my left was listening to Pandora. The man in front was emailing. Digital, print, audio and nothing at all were present and accounted for—except for books. Not one was found. It will take more research, of course, and many more rides to downtown Chicago, but my initial findings show that we live in a fragmented world. Shared experiences are less likely to happen, so they need to be more celebrated when they occur.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
