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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Beth Ewen
March 2003

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Associated hunts for more acquisitions

Associated Bank Minnesota
is on hunt for more acquisitions,
CEO says

Small-business owners who like their banking the way it is, take note. At least one aggressive bank acquirer, Associated Bank Minnesota, is looking for more local banks to buy.

John Kimball, the bank’s Minnesota CEO in Mendota Heights, says there are more than 20 independent community banks remaining after a wave of mergers over the past several years, and his bank considers them acquisition targets. “As those opportunities come up, we’re interested,” he says. He wants to grow market share to 10 percent from 2.5 percent now.

Green Bay-based Associated entered Minnesota in 1999 by buying Bank Windsor, Riverside Bank and BNC Financial Corp. In February last year it bought Signal Bank, its largest Minnesota purchase to date with $1.1 billion in assets.

Kimball says he knows that smallbusiness owners usually don’t like to change bankers, but adds that most of his 400 employees remain the same since the purchases. He also says Associated bankers make decisions locally, not back at headquarters.

John Kimball, Associated Bank: 651.554.8634; john.kimball@associatedbank. com