8-3-07mill

Greetings!

It was promising to be a beautiful day. The annual Wellness Place charity golf outing was in full swing. The Pepper Group does some pro bono work for Wellness Place and George (our VP) and I attend the golf outing every year as their guests.

If you haven’t heard of Wellness Place in Palatine, it’s a community-based, non-medical facility where people living with cancer can gather for education, encouragement and empowerment—at no cost. If you have a friend or relative who is battling cancer, I highly encourage you to have them check out their Web site.

Anyway, back to the event. This is probably the coolest golf outing I’ve ever attended. It’s held at Twin Orchards in Long Grove, a legendary private club. We have a scrumptious breakfast buffet, fore caddies (they run ahead and see exactly where our shots enter the woods...rake the traps we visit frequently, etc.), refreshments throughout the course, cocktail hour, filet mignon dinner and auction. Oh, did I mention the warm brownie sundae?

One of the coolest things is Twin Orchards’ locker room. This is like the absolute heaven of locker rooms! Oak lockers, card room, attendants who don’t miss a beat, and you can grab an iced-down beer on your way to the granite and teak showers.

As I arrived that morning, I headed for the locker room to change. Through the labyrinth of lockers I finally found the right aisle. At the end is George, already changed, but something was up. He had the biggest smile in the world. It was that “I know something that you don’t know and you're going to love it” smile.

With a well-placed single finger he eased the locker door closed and I then noticed the engraved brass nameplate. Could it be? The regular member who graciously gave up his locker for this outing was Michael Jordan! At first we thought it could have just been a member with the same name who actually was a middle-aged white man who owned a string of dry cleaners, or something. But the locker room manager confirmed that it was indeed, MJ.

And the promise of that beautiful day was already complete for these two duffers. We would have a story to tell for the ages. We sniffed Michael’s shoes!

Tim Padgett
tim@peppergroup.com

(See pictures below)

“The secret of greatness is simple: do better work than any other man in your field - and keep on doing it.”
—Wilfred A. Peterson

“I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying.”
—Michael Jordan

George's Going to Market: You Have Google in Your Pocket

Did you know that you don’t need an iPhone to find the closest Sushi restaurant on your cell phone? In fact, the cell phone you’re using right now can tell you, as long as you know how to send and receive a text message. If you don’t know how to text yet, here’s the reason to learn!

Google Mobile is currently in Beta, and it is a sweet tool when you’re away from a computer and need information. The way it works is simple—you simply send a text inquiry to 466453 (‘Google’ on your keypad) and Google will text you back with results.

What can you find? Here are just a few examples: The status of your flight, the weather in Dubai, local movie listings, sports scores, stock prices, driving directions and more—including, of course, the closest Sushi restaurant.

Want to try it? Visit www.google.com/mobile/sms or simply text the word ‘help’ to 466453 (‘Google’) and Google will instantly send you a text message back with simple instructions and search tips.

If you like that, you’ll love this. Do you have a web-enabled phone? Visit www.google.com/mobile. You can download an entire suite of tools, including Google Maps complete with satellite imagery and traffic! And, if you get really bored, you can watch YouTube videos until your eyes hurt.

There’s a lot to know about the most powerful technology force on the planet. Like Google Mobile, it can make your life easier. But knowing more about Google can also make your company money—like how you can improve your website’s ranking, or how you can take advantage of local search technology. Pepper Group stays at the forefront of these marketing opportunities and we have a number of options and simple programs that will help drive more profits to your business. Feel free to give me a call to talk about it.

George Couris
george@peppergroup.com

Todd's Tidbits: Sometimes 100% Just Isn't Enough

For the past 14 years, the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation has organized the Bicycle Commuter Challenge because Chicago is home to some of the worst traffic congestion in the United States and commuting by bicycle is a great way to combine exercise and transportation. Participating organizations received a packet of materials including a How-To Guide an maps to help employees plan safe, efficient commuting routes. To be eligible, participants had to commute by bicycle for part of or all of their trip during the week of June 9 through June 15.

After five straight years of winning our Business/Non-profit, 5-24 employee category, we again mustered up 100% participation from members of the Pepper Group. The 2007 contest saw a 58% increase in organizational participation over last year as more than 2,700 employees from 205 companies in the Chicagoland area took part!

We seemed set to retain our championship in 2007 by again having all of our employees ride at least a portion of their commute to work. A couple of us reached into the backs of garages to pull out loaner bikes so that all could participate. Routes were planned for those who needed help and a few meet-ups were coordinated to make it as much fun as possible.

The competition has gotten fierce though, and even 100% isn't always good enough. Our congratulations go out to Design Integrity, the company that equaled our 100% participation, and won our category via the number-of-employees-tiebreaker. Now that's an impetus to grow our company! We did receive a very nice award for achieving 100% participation this year at the July 27 Awards Luncheon though and everyone who participated had fun and helped keep the air a little cleaner.

Todd Underwood
todd@peppergroup.com