Susan Marvin president of Marvin Windows and Doors, at the Apex launch event. (Photo: Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune)

We had a great opportunity yesterday to help Marvin Windows and Doors launch a new product line that’s a significant move for the Warroad-based manufacturer. The company hosted nearly 200 Twin Cities builders, remodelers and siding experts to introduce them to Apex Siding System.

Apex is the first fiberglass siding on the market, and Marvin’s first foray outside the window and door business. Kind of amazing that nobody has come up with it before, but then no other company has nearly 20 years of experience working with fiberglass in the homebuilding industry, as Marvin does with its highly successful Integrity and Infinity lines of fiberglass windows and doors.

Apex is made from Ultrex, a patented fiberglass product that Marvin manufactures in Fargo, N.D. It’s a completely new, premium product that should have great growth potential. One of the fun aspects of this business is the chance to be involved in product launches like this one. And it’s gratifying to see this family owned, Minnesota-based company extend its leadership in a highly competitive business.

Also fun: the venue for the launch event. Marvin held the event in the Champions Club at Target Field. When we walked out the door, we were in the seats right behind home plate, with a closeup view of the Twins’ dugout. The club was on the road, but it’s still the closest most of us will ever get to Gardy’s work station.

Editor’s note: This is John Reinan’s weekly marketing column for MinnPost.com. To see the original, go to http://bit.ly/aXHLDs.

The opening of Target Field is undoubtedly one of the most successful product launches in recent memory. And make no mistake, it truly is a product– a $545 million product that will generate untold millions in revenue for the Twins throughout its lifetime.

If you’ve been to the new ballpark, as I have, you know that the praise for Target Field is well earned. The team got pretty much everything right, from the biggest things to the smallest. (Although I’ve heard a few complaints about the bathrooms from men, who are shocked to be waiting in line at a sporting event. Women everywhere are laughing.)

Every aspect of the ballpark has been analyzed from every angle, and the media coverage from Twin Cities print and broadcast outlets to date would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if purchased as advertising space.

The Target Field launch reminds me of a saying from my favorite editor. “Writing is like making a salad,” she’d say. “You can’t take wilted lettuce and make it taste great by covering it up with a fancy dressing. And you can’t take lousy reporting and make it into a great story with fancy writing.”

Her point applies to the marketing business, too. As I tell my clients, it’s always easier to sell if you’ve got a great product. Target Field is a great product, and although the coverage may strike some as excessive, you can bet the media interest would have died down by now if the stadium had been a dud.

By the same token, media coverage in general is a lot harder to earn these days than it was even a few short years ago. Most print media have seen staff cuts of at least 30 percent in the last three years; many print publications have cut their news staffs by 40 or 50 percent.

TV and radio news staffs haven’t been exempt from the cuts, either– they’re just not as self-revealing as print. You won’t ever hear Diana Pierce mention the latest cuts at KARE-11 on the 5 p.m. newscast, but they’ve cut plenty.

When massive media cutbacks began in the Twin Cities, I thought it might lower the bar for coverage. The media might be so demoralized and stretched so thin that they’d grab any story pitch you shoveled at them, just to keep the wheels turning.

To their credit, it hasn’t played out that way. If anything, they’re even more selective. A few years ago, a reporter on a slow day might have listened to an OK pitch and followed up on it, just because she didn’t have anything more pressing right at the moment.

Not any more. Everyone is so busy that they’ve really got to pay attention to where they’re using their resources. Getting media coverage for a company, event or product these days is more challenging than ever, and only the best will get through the door.

I’m fortunate to have some great clients who do interesting things and produce excellent products. My batting average on story pitches is pretty good. But there’s no doubt that the media carnage of recent years has made things tougher on people like me– which only underscores just how terrific Target Field really is.

If you’re looking for Fast Horse World Headquarters, you’ll find us in Minneapolis’ wonderful North Loop neighborhood. Home to Club Jager, Cuzzy’s and, now, the Minnesota Twins, this part of town has all the things you like about being in the heart of the city while still having parking spots available when you need them.

A few days ago, I had a hankerin’ to take the camera out and shoot a bit. I love the history that oozes out the old warehouse buildings in this neck of the woods — some converted to offices, some abandoned, some still warehouses. The painted walls, the engraved names of original tenants and the fallout-shelter signs make me think about what this city was like before Starbucks and interactive marketing moved in.

Now that Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins, is open for business (I predict no fewer than 92 wins for our boys this summer), the neighborhood is full of a completely fresh burst of energy. The buzz on game days is incredible. It feels like the last day of school, when the only thing that mattered is how loud you were going to start screaming in just about 15 more minutes…

The North Loop still has a gritty edge to it, as well, but that’s where much of its character comes from. From the run-down buildings to the sex shops to the bustling traffic to the busted glass, you’re sure to see the good and the bad if you get out of your car and take in what the streets and sidewalks have to offer.

Of course, no walk around Fast Horse’s neighborhood would be complete without a jaunt across the lovely (lovelier at night) Hennepin Avenue bridge…

…to Nordeast. I had the pleasure of living in Northeast Minneapolis for a couple of years, and it made appreciate the city as a whole more than I had before (I’m a St. Paul boy at heart, and I don’t care what anyone says, the Nook kicks the ass of Matt’s or the 5-8 Club any day of the week and twice on Sundays). But back to Northeast…

The neighborhood is home to Punch Pizza, Chipotle and many other great lunch-time stops, but Surdyk’s tends to attract the Fast Horse crew with disproportionate frequency. Not for the booze (well, OK, for the booze, too) but for the deli counter inside the separate-but-attached Surdyk’s Cheese Shop. Try the chicken avocado BLT, and while you’re there, take in the nifty wine-bottle “plants” bordering the parking lot.

I couldn’t begin to capture all these neighborhoods have to offer, but I might try in a couple of future posts. For now, check out the other photos I have here.

What are some of your favorite haunts in the North Loop and Northeast?

We update the Idea Peepshow five days a week. You’d be surprised at how uncommon this is among marketing and advertising agencies. Many Twin Cities agencies don’t blog, and of those that do, infrequent posting is the rule – certainly not daily, or even weekly in many cases.

But we believe we should be fully immersed in new media, so for nearly two years, we’ve kept to our Monday through Friday posting schedule. During that time, we’ve slowly grown our regular traffic to more than 400 visitors a day– not dazzling, but respectable. And it’s quality traffic, with a low bounce rate (people who leave the site immediately) and a long average time spent per visit.

Last week, our office assistant mentioned that she had a bunch of photos of Target Field, the new Twins stadium, on her Facebook page. Her aunt works in the team’s front office and had recently taken some family members on a tour of the nearly completed ballpark.

We put up a blog post with Lindsey’s stadium photos, tweeted about it and put a link on our Facebook page. Soon, the hits started rolling in. People were interested in seeing the inside of the ballpark. Before long, we heard from SportingNews.com, which had somehow found out about it and wanted to use the photos on one of its blogs.

The day we put up the original post, we had our biggest traffic day ever, with nearly 600 visitors. And that traffic has held up in succeeding days, as more people pass along the links to our Target Field photos, both on our blog and on the Sporting News site.

It’s not exactly a viral Internet sensation, but it’s boosted our traffic by almost 50 percent, and I think it will have legs– it will continue to draw people to our site for some time to come.

Plus, it’s pertinent to our business. We do sports marketing for several clients, and giving fans a sneak peek at the new ballpark is the kind of thing we’ve done on other occasions as part of an outreach program.

Building Web traffic is challenging, as anyone who’s created a blog or a Website knows. You can always grab eyeballs with something freakish or disturbing– there’s a great appetite on the Internet for bloopers, tirades and the bizarre.

But while posting an obscenity-laden rant or a motorcycle crash on a business Website might garner viewers, it wouldn’t do anything to further the business goals of the organization. Earning viewers with meaningful, pertinent content takes more time and patience.

Nice to see the old Twins characters figure prominently. They'll light up and shake hands at every Twins homer.

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get a private tour of the new Twins ballpark, Target Field. My aunt is the executive assistant to Jerry Bell — the president of Twins Sports, Inc. — and Mr. Bell graciously allowed her to take some family members through the stadium.

After my tour, it was hard to imagine ever seeing a nicer professional sports stadium. It seems as though they have thought of everything! From lounges to food and bars, there doesn’t seem to be a bad seat in the house. The views, accommodations and experience from every seat seem priceless to me.

It’s tough to pick a favorite feature when I am so excited for all of it! No more heading into a bubble on a beautiful summer day. Instead, pack the sunscreen and decide which angle you are going to get the best tan from! The toughest decision to make now will be which of the many stadium bars you want to get a drink from.

Let the countdown begin! 75 days until opening day at Target Field and outdoor baseball for Minnesota Twins fans!

Lindsey in the Twins' locker room

Hot and cold running beer!

From the dugout, looking toward left field

The Metropolitan Club

View from the Metropolitan Club

Another view from the Metropolitan Club

Another view from one of the many stadium clubs

Club seating in left field

Rooftop club view

View from the press box

All the suites are named for Minnesota lakes

Inside a typical suite

Kirby has a bar named after him. There's also a 573 Club honoring the Killer

Inside the 573 Club: the great Harmon Killebrew

Along 1B and RF line

Upper deck, center field