Continued: Fliers cut trips to save money

Minnesota business travelers are taking fewer and shorter trips in efforts to contain costs, according to a survey of travel agents by Eden Prairie-based Travel Leaders. More than 50 Minnesota travel agencies reported that 71 percent of their corporate clients have reduced their flying, while 57 percent have cut the length of their trips, and half are now booking 14 days in advance to get cheaper fares.

The survey also found that three-fourths of leisure travelers are using frequent-flier miles to make their trips more economical, while nearly as many are booking only when a promotion or deal is available.

More than two-thirds of the surveyed travel agents reported that bookings were down this year compared with 2008. Only 11 percent said bookings were higher.

The most popular destinations for Minnesotans? By far Las Vegas and Orlando, the destination of 68 percent of leisure and business travelers combined.

A Piper move

Northland Securities, which has designs on being the locally focused full-service securities firm, has a Piper in the fold.

Toby Piper LaBelle, 38, the son of retired Piper Jaffray CEO Tad Piper and grandson of the late Harry Piper, has joined Northland from the local office of Morgan Stanley, along with Jack Armstrong, 44, to establish a corporate client group that will work with the firm's equity capital department to service growth companies and their management teams.

"We've come to Northland to help the corporate client group in a way that my father and grandfather built Piper Jaffray," Toby Piper said. "We're going to endear ourselves to young businesses and grow with them. We'll handle insider sales, stock buybacks and create a wealth management group targeted at business owners," he said.

Piper began his career as an institutional sales trader at Piper Jaffray and worked as a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley.

Northland, started in 2002 by then-managers and employees of the municipal bond business at the former Miller Johnson Steichen Kinnard, has added employees from Piper Jaffray, the former Dain Rauscher and elsewhere to build a stock research, trading and underwriting franchise.

According to Northland's director of equity capital markets, Joe Ali, "Northland will be well positioned to work with companies from the entrepreneurial stage through the eventual liquidity events that reward their equity supporters."

Sunny days

A team of University of Minnesota engineering and architecture students bolt to the nation's capital this week to build their version of the perfect solar home as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's 2009 Solar Decathlon.

The U team will present its ICON Solar House on Oct. 8 on the national mall as part of the contest that strives to highlight sustainable design principles. The ICON house, which will compete against 19 teams from around the country, features an energy-efficient but traditional design for eco-conscious consumers who might not want to live in a "futuristic" house.

The contest, which takes place every other year, was started in 2002 as a way to push solar energy technologies into the marketplace faster.

Soft landing

Call it a loss leader. Magnet 360, a consortium of more than 20 Minnesota marketing agencies, is offering up to $100,000 in free services to large mid-market companies nationally to improve their online advertising and marketing efforts. Magnet 360 will select up to 20 companies that apply for help to improve their respective landing pages, the online spot that encourages visitors to take the next step and become an Internet customer.

Magnet 360 will create a new landing page for the companies it selects and test its creation against the previous landing page. The top three performers will receive a year's worth of services from Magnet 360.

The Magnet 360 Challenge, details of which are at www.magnet360.com/challenge, is supported by Blue Earth Interactive, Haberman, Hello Viking and Valtira. The ultimate goal is to provide exposure to the Minnesota marketing/advertising industry.

DAVID PHELPS, NEAL ST. ANTHONY, DEE DEPASS