The Absolute Truth is a newsletter published by Absolute Marketing Group to assist businesses in marketing their company effectively.

If an economist were to look at Fargo-Moorhead during the last few months of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, he or she would not expect the economy to be holding. A record snowfall, a flood, a recession and a blizzard during a flood during the recession would appear to cripple any market in the country. All the economic indicators would point to doomsday and a faster plummet down to national recession levels. That’s what the indicators would say-schematics and algorithms so cut and dry they resemble any North Dakotan’s lips in January.

As a marketing professional, college educator, business owner and 13-year resident of the Fargo-Moorhead area, I have seen first hand how this region beats the odds, bands together and survives. For a clearer picture of what is going on in our local economy, it’s time these indicators try to figure in more than hard numbers and instead look to the intangibles that prove any market economy can survive under the harshest conditions.

Here is what can’t be calculated. Here is the Fargo Factor.

A Community That Shows Up

No one likes a Monday. But in this area, we’ll take a Monday that’s above zero without wind over a Friday blizzard every time. North Dakota and Minnesota natives learn this steadfast ethic at an early age on every corner bus stop. It carries over into our adult lives where you may need to get up at 5:30 am to shovel out your car, plug it in, let it warm up and safely travel in order to get to work at 8. But you do get to work at 8.

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New Digs

By Jason Jacobson, Project Manager/Writer

Absolute Marketing has moved. Geographically we didn’t move very far from our spot in Moorhead. In fact, we’re no more than 40 steps away from our original location. But in terms of growth, we’ve moved a long way from our humble 600 sq ft beginnings.

The wall we knocked down after our first year to expand our office has been replaced. All of the dorm room amenities in the creative and interactive suite have been taken down. And as much as we loved our Huey Lewis and the News paraphenalia, it was time to say good-bye.

The move has been harder for some here at the office. Mac, for example, took an emotional blow when forced to part with the patio set used as furniture in the lobby. Those green, wire-frame chairs will be missed, but perhaps not as much as the credenza that, like a misguided terrier, has found its way into my office.

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Going Against Green

By Jason Jacobson, Project Manager/Writer

As a marketing gimmick,"Going Green" must be destroyed. People throw around buzzwords like they're a good thing. Living in Minnesota, where mosquitoes could be the state bird, the term buzz doesn't conjure up images of trendy hype. To me, buzzwords evoke fury caused by the thought of my three snow-free months being interrupted by blood-sucking pests.

Before I get pelted by tomatoes, organically grown of course, let me say I am 100% for more environmental ways of thinking and behaving. I subscribe to the ideology that if we have the capabilities to be more efficient and less wasteful, we should be.

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