Rainn-ing Showpeople
Saturday night. Depot. One thousand seats. Jammed with showpeople of every possible ilk.
There were the obvious. Martina McBride belted out vintage “For The Girls” and Michael Buble kept the art of crooning alive for yet another generation—mostly girls flashing Flikrs—but what the hell, if it keeps “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” banging around in our heads for another 10 years, it’s nothin’ but good.
The remaining congregation? There may never have been a confluence of more talented, creative people in one room, in this town… ever. Richard Florida would have wet himself had he been there, watching the parade of luminous minds milling around under the hundred white umbrellas hanging from the ceiling.
Umbrellas? Indeed! There was one umbrella so large it put the red Travelers Insurance umbrella ad to shame. That umbrella—this umbrella?—no contest and no need.
This night was different. This was about RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (rainn.org). Mostly it was a showcase for courage, and Berit Francis showed us the way. Berit’s young adulthood was turned upside down by a vicious physical violation in San Francisco, nearly twenty years ago. Saturday night was a selfless gift from her, a white paper on offering up your vulnerability and privacy for a greater cause.
The aforementioned assemblage was like a retail wizard's convention. Conjurors, magicians and alchemists peppered the room, which is what happens when you have a Dayton's, Marshall Fields, and Target family reunion. There was new Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel and John Pellegrene who, with outgoing CEO Bob Ulrich, was one of the creators of that Old Dayton’s magic that segued to what we now affectionately think of as The Target Brand. Gary Tobey, the Sergei Diaghilev of Haworth Marketing, flew in from L.A. and brought Buble with him. Haworth President Andrea Luhtanen, who has placed more groundbreaking ad campaigns in more innovative places than anyone in the country, was there with Target’s VP/Marketing Karen Gershman and Creative Director Minda Gralnek (remember Target’s New Yorker issue?). Also, Fame founder Tina Wilcox, events maven Michele Mesenburg, and Dayton's/Marshall Field's veterans John Remington, Katie Erickson, Stew Widdess, Laura Sandall, Anne Pinney, Gail Dorn and Laysha Ward.
Plus: Senator Norm Coleman, Mark Addicks, CMO of General Mills, Tres Lund, Tom, Bill and Jim Pohlad, Win Wallin, Dale Bachman, Richard D’Amico, Deb Hopp, Andrew Duff, Billy Beeson, Bill Popp, Nazie Eftekhari, Dave and Linda Mona, Kathy Tunheim, Monica Little, Gayle Malcolm, Charlie and Sandy Hoag, Dennis McGrath, Betsy Buckley, CCO’s Dave Lee, Sue Zelickson, MSP’s Brian Anderson and on and on…
It was a fandango-a-thon.
The nuclear understatement? Berit was accompanied by her husband, and the only man who could have taken Target from Pellegrene’s hands and possibly done more, Michael Francis, EVP/Marketing. This man is an idea impresario, a catalyst for the extraordinary and civilized light of the first order whose aggregate contributions to this town is a sum we may never fully know.
There was enough energy and velocity in this room to power a metro area. And you know what? It does power a metro.
Ours.
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