About us
The Trolley Group is a growth partner for B2B companies from $2M to $50M and up. We help you attract more of the right clients and keep them longer, through strategy, marketing, films and software.
Where we are from
We are based in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the hometown of Fred Rogers. That is not a coincidence. It is the foundation of everything we do.
Matthew Fridg's route into media began with Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, where the magic of cameras and storytelling caught him as a kid. That spark led to an Emmy-winning career in filmmaking, and eventually to building a company guided by the same values Fred Rogers embodied.
This is not just geography. It is how we work.
The commission
Our work is guided by what we call the Mister Rogers Commission, taken from Fred Rogers' speech on his induction into the Television Hall of Fame.
Those of us in [media] are chosen to be servants. It doesn't matter what particular job, we are chosen to help meet the deeper needs of those who watch and listen, day and night. Life isn't cheap, and [media] needs to do all it can to show and tell what the good in life is all about.
But how do we make goodness attractive? By doing whatever we can to bring courage to those whose lives move near our own, by treating our neighbor at least as well as we treat ourselves, and allowing that to inform everything that we produce.
We all have only one life to live on earth and, through [media], we have the choice of encouraging others to demean this life or to cherish it in creative, imaginative ways.
That mandate shapes what we make. We build strategies and tell stories that celebrate the good in life, and help our clients do the same.
Why we exist
They built something real and they should be proud of it. But somewhere along the way the business started running them instead of working for them.
They are exhausted, and the one thing they always wanted to do keeps getting pushed to someday.
We started The Trolley Group because it does not have to be this way. A well-run business should create margin, whether that is time, space, energy or money, for a fuller life. For owners, for teams, for towns.
What we hold to
Excellence
Integrity
Service
Who you would work with
Matthew Fridg, Founder. An Emmy-winning filmmaker with a master's degree in pastoral counseling, which is a stranger combination on paper than it is in practice: both are about paying attention to what someone actually needs rather than what they first asked for.
Before this he built Headspace Media through the pandemic, and learned firsthand that revenue growth does not equal freedom. That experience is why this company is built the way it is.
He wrote about it in Why ‘Margin for Life’ matters more than revenue.
The standard
Most companies deliver one or the other. Agencies that get results can be a nightmare to work with. Partners who are pleasant to deal with often underdeliver.
We call these our irreducible minimums, and they are the two things we will not trade off against each other.
Includes a free marketing audit.
