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The Elbert Files: A wobbly stock market

The Dow: September is historically a volatile month for investors, but it’s hard to imagine it being worse than August this year.
The Elbert Files: East Village history

A nomination that recently placed a four-block commercial area in the East Village on the National Register of Historic Places contains many interesting nuggets.
The Elbert Files: Putting lipstick on a pig

Gov. Kim Reynolds has created an interesting distraction from Iowa’s dirty water problem.
The Elbert Files: Trump’s ‘memory hole’

I was standing on the Grand Avenue bridge surveying the site of the future federal courthouse when my friend K.C. joined me.
The Elbert Files: Carnegie and Mom

My mother was born the day after Andrew Carnegie died, not that they had much in common beyond the fact that both were born at home in sparse surroundings.
The Elbert Files: A Lustron home story
The Elbert Files: Iowa’s tax windfall
The Elbert Files: The MLK bypass story

The next time you’re south of downtown on Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, imagine what the area would look like if the road had been built as an elevated, six-lane expressway, like Interstate 235, instead of as a graceful boulevard.
The Elbert Files: Ike and the 1950s

“When people my age get nostalgic, the place we often go to is the 1950s.
The Elbert Files: How to defeat Joni Ernst
The Elbert Files: Ten years later
The Elbert Files: Snyder's Capitol stories
The Elbert Files: Caucus confusion 2020
The Elbert Files: City Hall steps up
The Elbert Files: O. Kay Henderson
The Elbert Files: An unusual mentor
The Elbert Files: Punishing the vulnerable
The Elbert Files: Brokered conventions
The Elbert Files: Finding the future
The Elbert Files: Brooklyn
The Elbert Files: The economy moves on
The Elbert Files: Creating links

The Iowa state Capitol is 1.6 miles from Meredith Corp.’s downtown campus. I measured the distance recently to get a feel for how Des Moines has changed in the three decades since the Des Moines Vision Plan was created.
The Elbert Files: Hoiberg, Ferentz trivia

My longtime colleague Dan Piller makes a tongue-in-cheek argument that he put the idea in Fred Hoiberg’s head of coaching basketball at the University of Nebraska. He could be right.
The Elbert Files: The next 578 days
The Elbert Files: 13 dangerous words
The Elbert Files: Iowa’s solar shame
The Elbert Files: Iowa's tax troubles
The Elbert Files: Heroes: Marshall, Story, Warren
The Elbert Files: Organic farming facts
The Elbert Files: Too many democrats
The Elbert Files: A school finance problem
Elbert: A good caucus question
The Elbert Files: It's time to break up Gannett
The Elbert Files: Electric vehicle conundrum
The Elbert Files: Karns, Cochran and Brown
The Elbert Files: What bankruptcies tell us
The Elbert Files: Tell-all Trump books
The Elbert Files: A formula for success
Elbert Files: Blowing up Iowa’s caucuses
Elbert Files: A great escape from reality
Elbert Files: Letter to a granddaughter
Elbert Files: Our game-changing economy
The Elbert Files: Krause building soars
The Elbert Files: Searching for 'better angels'
The Elbert Files: A brief history of footgolf
The Elbert Files: State benefits from 'tax cuts'
The Elbert Files: E15 Won't Solve Problems
The Elbert Files: Hubbell vs. Reynolds
The Elbert Files: Is Steve King support fading?
The Elbert Files: Bringing women downtown
The Elbert Files: Family tales: How we got here
The Elbert Files: We expected better of UI
The Elbert Files: Our immigration enigma
The Elbert Files: Tax win for D.M., W.D.M.
The Elbert Files: Why Trump needs Russia
The Elbert Files: Insurance is key to NRA future
The Elbert Files: Fruhling made history fun

My friend Larry Fruhling wrote one of the best newspaper corrections ever.
The Elbert Files: Low dollar is ally in trade war
The Elbert Files: Distilling Kaul’s free spirit
The Elbert Files: Playwrights expose Steve King
Elbert: Bob Ray’s thoughtful legacy
McLellan: How to say, ‘I’m sorry’

In last week’s column, we examined the reasons why more brands are feeling the need to apologize in a very public and expensive fashion these days.
McLellan: Era of ‘we’re sorry’ advertising
Elbert: Understanding Hoover
Elbert: K.C.’s vision for D.M.
The Elbert Files: Finding Grant Wood
McLellan: You need to care about GDPR

Have you noticed the barrage of emails you received in the last week about changes in privacy policies?
McLellan: Are you forgetting xennials?

For the past several years, the world has been obsessed with the millennials. Employers grouse about them, marketers try to understand them, and Gen X parents hope their kids don’t become the stereotype.
McLellan: Time to double down?

If your business is like the majority of organizations in Central Iowa, things have been pretty good. Sales have been more plentiful and come a little easier. In fact, if you’re having any trouble at all, it’s hiring and keeping the right employees to serve all of that business.
McLellan: Where are you listening?
McLellan: Service needs human touch

My dad passed away a few weeks ago and, as executor, I’ve been making a lot of official phone calls to everyone from the Social Security Administration to Hyundai where his car lease was financed.
McLellan: We still aren’t wowing customers
McLellan: Should your company brand be on Instagram?
McLellan: Email marketing persists
McLellan: Facebook changes are coming
McLellan: Subscription trend grows

You can subscribe to just about anything today. I can remember, as a kid, that one of our neighbors got a fruit of the month shipment.
McLellan: Use your marketing voice

In last week’s column, I offered some evidence that voice is one of the most significant trends we marketers have had to face in a while.
McLellan: Are you in good voice?
McLellan: The cost of disregard
McLellan: Convenience equals currency
McLellan: Slow down when building trust
McLellan: How businesses can avoid the social media storm