Writings from Force 5 Basecamp

11/12/20

By Jim Ragosta, Digital Media Specialist 2020 has been a whirlwind for retailers globally. COVID-19 has had a dramatic effect on purchase intent and how/where consumers want to buy goods or services. This whirlwind will definitely impact the upcoming holiday shopping season. From government regulations imposed on brick and mortar retailers to individuals following CDC guidelines to keep themselves and

10/26/20

I know. I know. We’re all tired of hearing about the corona virus nowadays and how it’s affected all of us mentally, physically, emotionally. I’d like to take a different perspective, focusing in on E-commerce and how it’s seems to be flourishing. At the end of first quarter 2020, and leading in to the second quarter of 2020, “brick and

09/29/20

09/28/20

Listen up…Do we have a day for you. Friday October 2nd, Force 5 is hosting two events. If you’re hungry, come on over for one of our “Food Truck Fridays.” We’ll have several local food trucks, including Mexican, Italian, Venezuelan and good ol’ American! Not hungry or don’t have time but wanna support your community? Donate blood. South Bend Medical

09/22/20

By Bob Earley I often drive around our cities and neighborhoods as I go from client meetings, shopping, eating, and just getting away from some of the daily chaos.  Like many of you, work can be very trying and intense. Hopefully, you have a way to have a release from the stresses of work. At our place, we get to

08/31/20

“We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for the truth and both have helped in the finding of it.” Thomas Aquinas I noticed over the last several years, people have become increasingly “amped up”. I’m not sure if it’s because of the political climate,

08/24/20

For nearly 20 years, an Indiana Trailer Manufacturer (because of an NDA, the company name has been changed to Indiana Trailer Manufacturer, abbreviated as ITM) has been producing premium aluminum trailers as the alternative to steel trailers in the Trailer/RV marketplace. Factors like exceptional design and construction with guidance from industry-leading engineers have catapulted ITM to high levels of growth and

07/29/20

By Bob Earley Joe Kernan, former mayor of South Bend Indiana and former governor of Indiana, passed away earlier this week at the age of 74 after battling a long illness. The city, the state, the country, has a void in it. What some people don’t know is how proud we are of Joe for his heroism during his Vietnam

07/21/20

We live in challenging times. COVID-19 has dramatically changed traditional human behavior in a short amount of time, leaving nearly all of us in a trance asking ourselves “where do we go from here?” From a business standpoint, “how is the way I conduct business going to change?” Furthermore, from a marketing standpoint, “how do the side effects of COVID

06/02/20

By Bob Earley For years, I’ve heard that “traditional” media is dying.  Newspapers are gone; tv is being replaced with streaming services. And radio, well… it’s dead, being replaced with services like pandora. So, the power of radio, is it dead? Think again. According to Nielsen’s May 2020 ratings, listenership has steadily grown over the last 5 years. And, the

05/28/20

By Bob Earley I realize that there’s a redundancy in this blog’s title. However, so many people talk about vision, strategies, goals and objectives and yet so many fail one of the final steps: execute. How many times have you sat in planning meetings (and meetings to talk about scheduling the planning meetings), taking copious notes and leave the meeting

05/11/20

Written by Jim Ragosta Live Streaming has been popular during the COVID-19 outbreak, and I refer to “live streaming” in a broad way within this article because there are so many ways to do so. Live Streaming allows people to engage in real time, whether that’s watching your favorite artist perform, obtaining information from a press briefing, or watching your