TwoTone Creative: The Road to Remarkable

At TwoTone, nothing we do is...standard.

For those who aren’t in the know (or don’t spend their time scrolling through TwoTone’s social media—you’re missing out), TwoTone hosts an annual event for our team which we call Vision Day.

It’s a day the whole team looks forward to because in a world filled with AI overlords and HR-sponsored “team building activities,” the idea of getting together with people you actually enjoy being around for a day of fun, competition, and purpose is a rare and glorious thing. 

It’s a full day that has been known to end with sore smiling muscles, busted toenails, and even a visit from the Iowa DNR...because apparently archery isn’t allowed in certain state recreational areas. Who knew, right?

We’ll see you at sunrise. Or 8:25am. For some reason, to members of our all-star team, the two might as well be the same. 

Our thoroughly under-caffeinated crew loaded up into what some afterwards referred to as a “majestic* bus” and headed to an unknown destination at 8:25am sharp. Some of our seasoned and intrepid Vision Day alumni even showed up early—earning instant and mysterious “points” for their team in the process.

What’s that, you say? You think points and competition are silly and unbefitting of corporate life? Keeping score just creates winners and losers?

In that case, we suggest you stick with your current employer. Folks here at TwoTone like to win. 

*Update: It turns out Majestic is just the brand name of the bus service, not an adjective of endearment. Nevertheless, we found our time to be thoroughly majestic on the Majestic Bus driven by the incomparable Brenda.

**Brenda is seriously the best bus driver we have ever had. She was so fun and did such an excellent job parking in this one spot downtown that caused the head cook at the nearby restaurant to come out, pinch his fingers to his mouth, and flick them in the air...it was a literal chef’s kiss parking job.

As the team unloaded in downtown Des Moines, the air was thick with excitement and moisture—it was Iowa in July so the humidity and temperature were both set to hit 95 at some point that day.

The team exited the bus and split into two pedal-powered teams. The first challenge of the day involved 15-person pedal vehicles and the dream of every social media strategist—downtown photography!

The team powered their way to multiple stops around Des Moines, staging and snapping photos as they went. All the while, enjoying time together, laughing, and flexing their creative muscles to create the best shots at every stop.

When they finished their photography run, they were warmed up and ready for some fresh perspective. Photo judging would have to wait.

The Ruan building downtown is host to a prestigious 34th-floor event space—the Des Moines Embassy Club. 

If you were a CEO looking to give your team some fresh perspective and an upscale experience, this is where you’d take them. 

If you were a CEO who thought that a simple pep talk over some cold drinks in a swanky setting would be enough to make your point...you’re not our CEO. 

Within minutes, as the team looked out over the golden dome of the Iowa State Capitol building, a plane flew by towing a sign:

The shock was instant. The reaction from the team was loud and excited. A few team members started crying. 

And as the team watched that plane repeatedly circle downtown Des Moines, text messages and DMs started flooding in from around the metro. 

The message was received internally, too. As the story started being told of Jenny wanting to do the plane idea, it was a case study for all of us. 

She had the idea.
She researched how much it would cost.
She worried it would be too much.
She worried it wouldn’t send the right message.
She had people on our team tell her to do something else.

Isn’t this the story of everything we do that matters? It starts with a great idea, but inevitably, every possible reason not to follow through creeps in until you decide to go with the “safer option.” 

Message heard. Over and out. 

Flying a plane in front of the team was certainly a tough act to follow. As Tom Petty would say, “coming down is the hardest thing,” but fortunately for the TwoTone team, we were coming down to a familiar place—a place where the best memories were always made: SKATELAND.

To those who didn’t grow up in Des Moines, we apologize in advance. Your childhood must have been a sad one without Skateland—the metro’s finest rollerskating rink. 

After a brief bit of warm-up skating, the games began. 

Literally. Some of the team who felt uncomfortable on skates were encouraged to play road- and transportation-themed board games in an effort to score points for their teams.

The skating contingent, on the other hand, had decided they hadn’t worked up enough of a sweat during the pedal-bikes and opted to compete in a relay race and a brief game of roller-limbo.

There were a few bruises and a skinned knee or two, but we all made it to lunch* in one piece. 

You might be tempted to ask what we learned from this trip down memory lane. Perhaps “lane” is the operative word, because everyone knows that memory lane is a one-way street headed toward, “The Fast Lane.”

*Lunch was at Fiesta Mexican Restaurant on Grand Ave. The food was phenomenal (as always) and the service was perfect (as always). If you haven’t been, go now, and tell Tiny that TwoTone says “Hi.”

As the team continued to compete in TwoTone Trivia throughout the bus ride to our next stop, a liability form was shared via Slack. Many such forms had already been shared, but this one referenced some new risks like, “fire, explosions, and lack of immediate medical care,” as well as, “potentially serious injury or death.”

Yikes! We might as well go sky-diving given that lineup of dangers—and given the plane from earlier in the day, it would be totally on-brand, right?

Instead, what awaited us was a truly unforgettable time racing electric go-karts at K1 Speed. 

Some members on the team began hyping their own driving prowess before and after their racing heats, but one quiet and humble driver quickly emerged as the front-runner for the TwoTone Grand Prix. 

This driver is beloved here at TwoTone and has been affectionately dubbed “EP” which is short for “European Paul.” The story* behind his nickname is just like every other nickname story—it doesn’t really make sense, but it sticks and never gets old. Just ask one of our other team members who is known in some circles as “Filthy J.”

What we didn’t know before this day was that EP must have spent a bunch of time on the Autobahn during his time in Europe because this dude is FAST on the track.

Try as they might to dethrone him, no one was able to out-race EP, including the copywriter who is begrudgingly typing this sentence right now. 

*Here’s the story: Once upon a time, Paul went on a trip to Europe with his wife, and we started calling him European Paul. The end.

As the team arrived back at TwoTone HQ, it was clear that the day had been a success. The hours spent planning a day that would be talked about for years to come were well spent.

With what little energy we had left in our tanks, we finished the day strong.

First up: Legos.

During our downtime at K1 Racing, we had the three teams each attempt to build a Lego set, but each team was given a different level of information. The first team had the instructions, the second only had the box, and the last team had just a bunch of Lego bricks and nothing else.

Each team finished with some approximation of a racecar, but the object lesson for everyone as we looked at the products side by side was that process matters. When you remove the structure, even the most creative teams hit walls. Innovation is important, but systems keep us moving forward.

Next was the point tally.

Every pedal pub photo stop, every trivia question, every lap at K1 had counted toward the leaderboard. In the end, we crowned the day’s champions, while also handing out individual MVP awards to team members who went above and beyond. 

Last but not least, Words of the Year.

We love words here at TwoTone, and each year, every team member is given a word to focus on as they seek to grow personally and serve our clients well. This year, Jenny picked a word for each team member and wrote them on custom Vision Day paper airplanes—many of which are now sitting on desks as a reminder of a day that won’t soon be forgotten.

And that’s really the point of all this, isn’t it? To create a meaningful moment that will be remembered—something so outside the ordinary that it becomes something that makes us an even better team but also speaks to each of us individually. 

It’s two sides of the same coin—or maybe two wings on the same plane.

As a group, we got to do incredible things together, and as individuals, each person had the opportunity to showcase their unique gifts: