Insights:Ales and Alarms

We had an alarming meeting at Insight Marketing Design’s world headquarters on June 5th. Instead of one of the many marketing-related disasters that can happen at any time, like forgotten layouts, dropped internet connections or serving very old coffee (shudder), we almost had a real natural disaster.

In the middle of discussing what will be a very socially important assignment, alarms started ringing. Alarms from everyones’ cell phones in the meeting, alarms on the radio that is constantly playing in the art department (the radio stations are rotated daily from country to rock and everything in between), and even sirens posted on big poles throughout Sioux Falls.

Yes, it was a tornado warning. By the time we took the few steps from the conference room, our crack digital team had the real time radar of the storm flashing across computer screens and we all headed to the building’s basement. For those who haven’t visited our office, we are located in an old railroad building that was built like a concrete fortress, probably the safest place you could seek shelter.

Fortunately we only received heavy rain, winds and hail. Of course, the client wanted to know what we were going to do to top the excitement of this meeting and naturally we promised work that would really (and safely) blow them away.

So just a reminder to our friends to take weather warnings seriously and if you’re lucky enough to work at Insight, you get to go out for beers at Monk’s House of Ale Repute to celebrate doing the right thing during a storm.