1909 DIGITAL is an academically “Evocative” brand name. It’s slightly mysterious. When done right, an evocative name should cause people to ask, “What does it mean?” Things have gone just as planned for us. The story behind 1909 DIGITAL has inspired us from day one. It has built meaning into our brand and it’s let us share our values more frequently. Often we only have the opportunity to share the surface-level story behind our name. I’m eager to dig deeper into what 1909 DIGITAL has meant to us living and working through the events of 2020 and now as we embark on 2021.

More than a quote

The main source of inspiration for our business is a quote from former Indianapolis Mayor Charles A. Bookwalter, “I am, myself, a citizen of no mean city.” This quote is inscribed on the cornerstone of Indianapolis City Hall, which was laid in 1909.

“No mean” was used frequently at the time to describe something as impressive, or not insignificant. The line itself originates from Acts 21:39, in which Paul describes his home Tarsus: “I am…a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.” Not so bad, comparing Indianapolis to the home of the Apostle Paul, Cleopatra, and Mark Antony, right?

Beyond that, in 1909 “No Mean City” was the theme for Mayor Bookwalter’s political campaign. The front page of the Indy Star on July 28, 1909 showed a photo of the cornerstone ceremony with a banner hanging above the Mayor that reads, “Stand up for Indianapolis. No Mean City.”

Juxtaposing then and now

There’s something about placing opposite ideas side-by-side that’s intriguing. We weren’t the first to bring the idea of Indy being “No mean city” into the present day. The quote saw a resurgence as a community touchstone for LGBTQIA rights in the wake of the 2015 RFRA legislation and resulting “Indy Welcomes All” campaign. It was at that point that Indy being “No mean city” took on a whole new meaning. We are literally not “mean,” and all are welcome here.

Because other local groups have used the phrase for publications and initiatives, we chose its historically significant year for our brand name—1909. But it’s essential that we invoke the idea that contemporary and future ideals are our priority. This is why 1909 DIGITAL came to be. We’re proud of our humble Hoosier roots and also focused on the progress of our time, digitally and otherwise.

Lessons of 2020

The first year of our business coincides with a year no one will soon forget. At its worst, 2020 has numbed us to increasingly dire news and has normalized grief. At its best, the digital distance has humanized us and brought people closer together. Our core value is to be transparent and authentic humans. We’ve built a true “work fam” to keep us sane.

At the same time, we were deeply impacted by the progress and pushback resulting from Black Lives Matter and other BIPOC initiatives. As a business and on a personal level, there is power in understanding what you don’t know, in realizing that reactive response is not enough, and in learning what actions to take to truly make a difference. Most importantly, we’ll never stop learning.

I’m trying to do my part to take a second look from another less privileged perspective. In looking at the July 27, 1909 Indy Star photo of Mayor Bookwalter’s cornerstone-laying ceremony, it’s easy to see the exuberance and hope in the crowd. Look again and you’ll see that the crowd is made up of only white faces. We appreciate the positive connotations of Mayor Bookwalter’s 1909 “no mean city” quote. But what did that look like for the Black population in Indy at the time?

What was happening in 1909?

It is through this lens that I began to look specifically at what the year 1909 was like for communities of color in Indianapolis. To truly understand the significance of our company’s namesake, we need a full, rich context. Not just the whitewashed front pages of the early 20th century. Here’s what I found:

• In late 1909 Madam CJ Walker was preparing to move her thriving hair care business to Indianapolis from Pittsburgh. She settled in the Indiana Avenue district in 1910 and by August had 950 sales agents. She later became America’s first female self-made millionaire.
• The 1909 opening of the Indianapolis Speedway didn’t involve the local Black community at all. In fact, in August of 1910 Louis Chevrolet essentially forbade the famed boxer Jack Johnson from running an exhibition race at the Speedway, stating, “If…management cannot confine itself to automobile racing without bringing a negro barn-storming pugilist, I believe it is time for the white drivers to quit the game on that track.” Papers as far off as St. Petersburg, Florida reported on this with surprise because northern cities like Indianapolis had the reputation for being friendly to Blacks.
• The town of Speedway, Indiana was developed only a couple of years later in 1912. While the neighborhoods were optimistically intended to support the industry around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, they also included racially restrictive covenants banning Blacks from living there.
• On the other hand, Indiana Avenue was the buzzing center of African American daily life and culture in Indianapolis. In the decade prior to “The Avenue’s” Jazz-Era heyday, 1909 was a time of budding businesses. The Indianapolis Recorder, the longest-running African American newspaper in Indiana, made its home in and around Indiana Avenue since 1895. It’s still thriving today.
• Indianapolis’ “Major” Taylor was a successful professional bicyclist at the height of the late 19th century bicycle craze. He was nationally and internationally known, becoming the first African American to win a world cycling championship. Taylor’s last professional race was in France in 1909. He retired in 1910 at the age of 32, pointing to the physical and mental strain of racial discrimination as a reason for stepping back from his career.

So let’s go back to that phrase that Indianapolis Mayor Bookwalter stated on July 27, 1909: “I am, myself, a citizen of no mean city.” The quote survives from a time before things got a lot worse: before the revival of the KKK, before the term “redlining” existed, before mass incarceration, and many other atrocities. It lives in a time before things started improving: before Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream, before interracial marriage was legalized, before our first Black president, before Black Lives Matter became a spoken mantra. Indianapolis has seen progress. Indianapolis still has a long way to go. That’s the juxtaposition. The good and the bad. The past and the future. It’s our job to move forward with eyes open.

Before and After and Around

As a maker, thinking about meaning constitutes a pretty significant chunk of what I do. Often this translates to spending time with a work of art and attempting to put language to its web of ‘what’ and ‘how’ and ‘why’ sort of questions. While this is certainly part of the design process, what I love about visual strategy and marketing is getting inside the minds of the people we work with to understand the things that drive them.

With this knowledge, I get to immerse myself in the doing — finding the typeface that communicates a brand vision before any words are even read, determining what palette of colors will evoke the character of a business, selecting from the endless possibilities a mark that will represent core values: the logo. Research is undoubtedly one of my greatest pleasures, but this is very nearly equaled by the joy that getting into the details brings — finding the personality of a letter or the nuance of a particular blue. At my core I’m an introvert who loves exploring the way other people experience the world: reading psychology and learning about the way we think — certainly — but also the way we feel, before and after and around thought.

Lessons From the Field

If there’s one thing creative work has taught me, it’s that the path is rarely a straight line. In fact, Damien Newman’s ‘Design Squiggle’ on repeat might better describe the way I’ve lived my life and how I became part of the 1909 team. Following a highly academic and interdisciplinary university training in Aesthetics, I was fortunate to work with great museum educators at the Dallas Museum of Art. Before long I discovered I still had much to learn and made the decision to return to school, finding my way to small institutions dedicated solely to the study of art and design: the incredible Kansas City Art Institute and renowned Cranbrook Academy of Art. At Cranbrook — the “cradle of Midcentury Modernism” — I was surrounded day in and day out by incredible design, powerful mentors and peers, and an ever-expanding horizon of creative practice.

Through my focus on sculpture and the study of space I found installation, which became activated by performance, which took on new life through video, which taught me the potential in photography, which eventually exploded into a curiosity about all things digital as well as an emerging sensibility of craft. Shortly after — as an instructor — I found myself encouraging students daily to ask themselves not simply what things mean, but how they mean, to commit themselves to learning how to see. When my partner took a new job that required us to relocate, we decided there might be as yet unexplored opportunities. After years working with students in the studio, the stars aligned as the leadership at 1909 found that someone with my experience might be useful to have around.

One of the incredible things about 1909 is that each member of the team is more than the sum of their skills. To be sure, as Branding and Design Manager the decade I spent in formal training, my literacy with tools and software, and my passion for culture and the designed world constitute a critical part of what brought me to the team. But — I believe — it is my experience in museums and gallery spaces, my enthusiasm for collaboration, or perhaps simply my ability to ask questions and take the time to understand the answers that have value. I joined 1909 because the excitement of developing and implementing visual strategy is matched by a commitment to authenticity in business: we embrace our own humanness and get to partner with clients who share this vision, all while doing great work.

In the Studio and In Real Life

Outside of digital marketing I am most myself in my personal art practice. With a degree in sculpture and years spent teaching digital photography, I suppose it’s natural that my interests would converge where the spatial and virtual meet — digital environments and architectural sites. These projects — such as the recent timber frame church enclosed by immense coral I’ve animated — also allow me to explore my relentless fascination with extreme music and magical realist fiction. While melodic death metal or the grace of a Calvino vignette aren’t always literally present in my work, sagas and poetry are embedded in its genealogy. The constructions that populate my digital landscapes embody human values and character drawn from this material, as well as their narrative strategies. When I really think about it, I’ve always enjoyed puzzles and making order (or finding it, depending on your ideological bent) and perhaps my Rubik’s cube collection tells the whole story.

Although I spend a lot of time with screens, some of the most important parts of my life thankfully remind me to step away: running, climbing, and — best of all — parenting an incredible and curious daughter. Having the opportunity to be present for these moments has taught me a lot about meaning (thinking about meaning constitutes a pretty significant chunk of what I do, after all) and little else is as pleasurable as great conversation over great coffee. I hope our paths (demonstrably not straight lines) intersect and we’re able to share a little of both!

On November 4, 2019 in a bar on the northside of Indy, three friends excitedly signed some mundane paperwork to make 1909 DIGITAL a real, live LLC.

That was the easy part.

Our goals at the time were simple.

• By End of December 2020 we aimed to:
  • Make enough money for the three of us to work full time on the business.
  • Have 1 additional full time team member (2 would be fantastic!)
  • To accomplish this we’d need 11 clients at an average monthly rate.
• In 2021 we aimed to have a full team.
• In 2022 we aimed to have a brick and mortar office.

Well, we smashed those goals.

• Within six months 2 co-owners were working full time
• Within six months we had 5 contractors working nearly full time
• We are now a team of 11, with all 3 co-owners working full time, 1 full time employee, and 7 contractors, hitting our 2021 goal well within 2020.
• We have 11 clients and have flown by our average monthly rate by 20%.

This year has been a rollercoaster of emotions, proud moments, and virtual camaraderie. While we are thrilled by the success of 1909 DIGITAL, we know without a doubt that we couldn’t have gotten here without the small army of friends and colleagues who supported us every step of the way.

From the first days that Jarred, Brandon, and I brainstormed the human-centered approach behind our business model, to the eerily relevant ways that philosophy has now guided our clients through the harrowing days of the pandemic, we’ve watched our hearts and our guts guide us in the right direction. This isn’t possible without connecting with our networks: colleagues with whom we seek advice, share the work, and give back. These are just good people. We’re lucky to have surrounded ourselves with these amazing humans (and their businesses) who deserve our thanks. By sharing what they’ve done for us, we’re actually sharing our story.

The Early Days

• Julie Heath, Jess Ernsberger, and the entirety of The Speak Easy family, THANK YOU.
  (Also, “thank you” to my longtime mentor Richard McCoy who encouraged me to connect with this community when striking out on this adventure.) This Broad Ripple co-working space welcomed us in during our first months from November to February—before the pandemic hit—at a crucial time for our business development. We networked with community members, received mentorship and much-needed encouragement from Julie, brainstormed as a team daily, and held meetings with clients. It legitimized us when we needed it most. And I’ll never forget Julie telling me that 1909 was one of her quickest success stories. She not only gave us a “home,” but the strength to keep going.

 

• To the designers who helped build the 1909 DIGITAL brand identity, THANK YOU.
  A series of local designers and artists are behind the 1909 brand, including Isaiah Johnson, who developed the 1909 DIGITAL logo and palette that references Indianapolis and Monument Circle. Local Indianapolis photographer Paul D’Andrea is responsible for capturing our personalities in multiple photoshoots, and Marc Ertel perfectly applied the look and feel of the 1909 brand to the design and layout for 1909digital.com. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to so clearly illustrate who we are on a day-to-day basis.

 

• To our fellow agency friends who are twenty steps ahead of us, yet standing beside us, THANK YOU.
  • I was lucky to somehow get one run-in and two meetings with Rocky Walls (12 Stars Media) in a pre-COVID world. Rocky is a master storyteller, and he patiently listened as I practiced my novice pitch, articulating our differentiators at a time when we were fine-tuning them by the day.
  • We surely won’t forget the literal back-of-napkin sketches that Josh Brammer (Lantern) walked us through as we chatted about business models and productization over burritos. Being the historian that I am, I’m sure I have those napkins somewhere…
  • Having a superhero friend like Colleen Dilenschneider (IMPACTS) is an actual gift. She humbly stands by my side while sharing her lessons learned, affirmations, and super-detailed metaphors. (It’s probably why my management style is infused with ridiculously over-the-top metaphors. Sorry team!)
  • During one of our lowest moments at our previous employer, Si Alhir (Transformation Leader), had our backs and believed in what we could be. He saw a bright future when, for us, it was hazy and distant. Months later, he built up our confidence when we needed it most.

Growth in the Times of COVID

• To those who’ve recommended clients to us, THANK YOU.
  We can’t underestimate the value of those who have the understanding and faith in our abilities to point friends and colleagues our way. This includes Ryan Dodge, who is essentially our #1 business lead generator in Canada. We are immensely grateful for you and your insights for our team. Coach Kate Livingston, we so value you, your advice, and thoughtfulness. I also treasure your friendship and the initial momentum you gave me in Austin to take the leap. 1909 truly wouldn’t be here without you. Neal Stimler has a knack for knowing 1909’s pitch almost better than we do! You seem to always have our name swirling in the back of your mind while playing your own biz dev game. Melanie Allen and Meghan Martin of Green Loop Marketing were the first agency to pass a prospective client our way—a client who became a 1909 cheerleader in her own right, Ali Cudby of Alignmint Growth Strategies.

 

• To the friends and family who remind us we’re badass, THANK YOU.
  These are the people who quite literally pop up with a random message without prompting and say, “You’ve got this.” It’s that sort of support that carries us through. Like my former officemate and source of calm in the midst of every dumpster fire, Matt Todd. There are my Indy bloggers who are my constant support system, like Bryana Schreiber, who is always the first to cheer us on. Or the legends of mom communities in Indy, Katy Mann and Jeanine Bobenmoyer, who will be there for a virtual vent or brainstorm session at the drop of a hat. Or the humble yet famous-in-his-own-right Creed Anthony, who will always make me feel like he is my biggest fan. Then there’s Dr. Sam Juett, who has become like everyone’s adopted dad on team 1909, even though he’s just Jarred’s dad, and even though he’s a world away in Tunisia.

 

• To the clients who’ve gone on the journey with us, a big giant THANK YOU.
  As quarantine hit in late March and everything became “real” for businesses, we had two unforgettable weeks accomplishing 180-degree flips on four client strategies. We helped turn the Chicago School of Musical Arts from after-school classes into a virtual community in nearly 72-hours. We launched Christel House International’s annual fundraising campaign with an entirely new message focused on getting technology to kids globally, now. In a single blog, we aggregated hundreds of online museum experiences at a time when the world was craving digital culture, ensuring Museum Computer Network’s relevance at a time when countless museum staff were losing jobs. We helped the Islamic Medical Association of America clarify and shift messaging as their doctors became the frontline of the pandemic even in the midst of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the holiest time of the year. And that’s just four of the 15 clients we’ve had the joy of working with this year. We appreciate the trust each and every one has put in our team as we’ve dug deep with strategy, had tough talks to get through trying times, and built one-on-one relationships to smash goals.

The Work Fam

• To the 1909 team members who’ve joined us along the way, THANK YOU.
  Of course original Co-Founder Brandon Williams deserves a special shout out. For six months, he worked tirelessly to develop documentation, finetune messaging, and pitch to prospects. While new opportunities took Brandon’s path in a different direction, we wouldn’t be 1909 DIGITAL without the foundation he helped us lay. Our first additional team member was college senior Vince Gulliver who committed volunteer hours at a key moment during tight capacity. He then grew to become our first part-time contractor. Ben Peterson was our first Project Manager who kept us organized, kept our accounts on track, and had a great knack for writing to-boot. The joyful and immensely-connected Sierra Holmes helped take 1909’s street cred up a notch with her nationally-recognized digital strategy skills and social media engagement experience. We had a powerhouse social content team over the summer, when Lucy Redoglia joined us—her Metropolitan and Webby-award-winning reputation preceding her. And Jesse Smith brought skills to our team that allowed us to redesign and optimize a number of client websites when this need became a top priority.

 

• To our current team, who’ve wholeheartedly embraced being authentic, transparent, and human with us, THANK YOU.
  • Chris is that steady voice that arrived at precisely the right moment. Jarred and I are lucky to now officially have you as a co-owner of 1909, and where would we be without you balancing us out? Thank you for your willingness to step up and lead, for embracing our vision, and taking it to the next level.
  • Eli, your sincere and constant enthusiasm is infectious. With every Slack-moji reaction or video chat grin and thumbs up, you’re the glue that holds our all-remote team together.
  • Jason, you made sense of our many attempts to make sense of our project management. I thought I was pretty organized until I met you, and that’s just one reason why you’re exactly the perfect fit for 1909.
  • Alli, we’re lucky to have you not only for your creative writing skills, but for your love of lifelong learning. For you, the sky’s the limit, and we’re happy to catch hold of your energetic coattails.
  • Mary brings a subtle wit and a giant heart to team 1909. Your wisdom is invaluable and experience applicable to so many aspects of our team. Somehow you know exactly when to be perfectly polished and then drop the best zinger of the day, every time.
  • Samantha, you’re our superhero who gets the job done, even with a whole other job! Your list of digital marketing skills is endless and also in-depth. Thank you for being our go-to brain for so many things.
  • Logan, you are the brilliant artist and designer anyone would dream to work with. You have worked so hard to bring excellence and professionalism to our client relationships in ways only you could.

 

• And finally, to our partners and spouses—Jess, Dominic, Elizabeth, Laura, Kelli, Kovit, Devin, Brad, and Stefanie—THANK YOU.
  You have been immensely patient with virtual “agency life.” While we espouse a hard core philosophy of Family First-Health First-Mental Health First, it doesn’t mean that it comes easily. We’re all living through an “always-on” digital culture that we each personally have to regulate. We promise to try to loop you into more Slack and Google Meet inside jokes in the future. Also please let the team see more kids and puppies. They’re always welcome.

For everyone who has made it this far, thank YOU. As you can see, our first year has been filled with many friendly faces and supportive colleagues. It’s impossible to consider a version of 1909 without them. One thing’s for sure, we’ll continue paying it forward. We can’t wait to see what year two will bring for 1909, and what we can do to repay this support to our network, colleagues, and friends.

What Drives Me

“Wow, umm, no thank you.” That was my response when my then fiance, now husband, asked me to pace him in a 100k race. A few things about me: I’m pretty laid back, I like reading good books, and I do not run long distances. I knew he was passionate about running and this race was important as it would be the longest race he had run (at that point) and a training run for an even bigger race. As a former athlete, I knew the dedication and passion it took to set long term goals. Seeing how driven he was made me want to help him reach that goal. So I did it. I ended up pacing him for 50k of his race and, while I wasn’t much of a distance runner, I pushed myself to do new things- hard things- to learn an appreciation for something new. I can also tell people that I ran my first marathon AND ultramarathon at the same time, so that was a win for me as I hadn’t competed in sports for years at that point.

Since that time, I’ve learned a lot about myself and what drives me. I like passionate people, I like learning new things outside of my wheelhouse, and I like making big things happen.

Marketing is a great fit for me because there’s so much opportunity to think big, strategize, make a plan, test that plan, then tweak that plan along the way to reach goals. There’s so much room for creativity while using processes and procedures to do cool things. 

Bringing Drive to Digital Marketing

Now almost a decade out from that “fateful” race, I have spent my time not running, starting a family, and working as the Head of Marketing for a natural sciences museum. I love museums. They are full of fabulously smart people, fantastic collections, and provide endless opportunities to learn. Museums also have a reputation for being highly academic and because of that, they sometimes feel unrelatable or out of touch with what’s currently happening in the rest of the world. For me, that was an exciting challenge. I had the opportunity to reimagine our marketing strategy away from just promoting visits to the museum into thinking about how we could interact with the public on a regular basis through blog posts, social media engagements, and emails full of exciting experiences. Taking our focus away from a one-time visit every few years to an institution worth engaging with meant constantly reviewing what we were doing and tweaking our work to meet goals. We grew our digital platforms and we were able to form an online community to reach our current and potential visitors while also learning who we weren’t reaching. It was truly a labor of love!

In all of my professional experience, I have been so fortunate to work with passionate people while doing what I love. And that’s what drove me to 1909 DIGITAL. In a year unlike any year I’ve ever experienced, I am fortunate enough to work with some wickedly smart people who are not only talented in what they do, but they dream big, they solve problems, and they are passionate about their work. I am so honored to be part of this team and I look forward to meeting YOU (our current or potential clients) and helping YOU reach your business goals with us, a team of industry professionals, dedicated to doing big things with a good strategy and a solid plan. 

And if you’ve read this blog post and wondered if I only think of processes, procedures, and strategies, the answer is yes and no. I also LOVE the natural sciences and I keep up to date with new research coming out of colleges, museums, and universities and add that knowledge to conversations regularly. I’m also an amateur gardener and I’m learning to cook new and interesting things from the cookbooks I regularly read on the weekends. That’s normal, right?