Reuters- “Branding agency recognizes top brand champions in business, politics, sports and entertainment”

Bloomberg Businessweek- ”Brand Iron Launches ‘Brand Champion 100′ List”

Business Review USA

MarketWatch 

Denver Business Journal 

PR Newswire 

The Street 

A starter’s guide to understanding the buzz

In this brief guide, we will shed some light on the fastest-growing sector of social media.

I like to think that I’m an early adopter of technology – but truth be told – I like to see if things have the staying power to outlast the initial excitement. One of my criteria is: do they add enough value to my everyday life aside from just being new. I joined two of the front-running location-based social networks last month (Foursquare and Gowalla). With about 4 weeks under my belt, I wanted to share what I’ve learned both from a branding and marketing perspective and a consumer perspective.

First – a little background on location-based services. If you have a smart-phone, you have access to applications that use GPS in order to locate your device and provide location-based insight. The two main categories are:

Social Review Sites: These provide consumer reviews of the places nearby.
Yelp
WHERE
Geodelic
Tell me where

Social Check-in Site: These allow users to check-in, post pictures, status updates, etc.
Facebook – new feature
Foursquare
Gowalla
Blockchalk
BrightKite
Whrrl
MyTown

As a user – this is what you need to know

● Cool application for seeing where your friends are

A couple quick scenarios: Say, I’m at a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and I check-in. My friend, Mathew, is also at the concert and he sees that I checked-in. He calls me up and we meet-up after the concert to grab a beer at our favorite neighborhood bar.

I’m visiting a new city where my friend Sherri lives. I know she has good taste in vegetarian restaurants – so I check her profile to see what restaurants she’s checked into recently.

● Not as creepy as you might think. Sites like www.pleaserobme.com DO bring up some great points about over-sharing, but just keep your contacts to people you consider friends in real life.

● Get rewarded. Some retailers give special perks to loyal Foursquare, Gowalla, etc users. You are seen as their brand advocate.

As a marketer – here are the opportunities:

● Gain a loyal following of consumers who are “on the go”

● Influence their purchase when they are close to the register

● Offer up a special for all check-ins

● Offer an extra-special discount or freebie for the “Mayor”

● Learn more about your patrons (which locations and when the check-in)

Hope that helps as a brief introduction. As of June 2010, Foursquare reported that it had 1.6 million users. Plus, with Facebook’s new location-based tagging – I think it’s safe to say that this new sector of social media is here to stay (at least until the next big thing).

Consider location-based services as a part of your overall online presence. Brand Iron can help you leverage this new trend to drive revenue with a very specific (and growing) target audience.

Brand Iron has just completed the redesign of The Nesbitt Group’s website. This included a creation of new messaging, new look and feel and the integration of the WordPress platform. The use of WordPress has been very beneficial to our client’s performance needs with their new site. These benefits include:

1. Ability to update content and new pages in-house.

2. Greater visibility to search engines (SEO).

3. Quick and easy to update clients with up-to-date news (blog).

4. Ability to easily add new functions to your site (plug-ins).

Check out http://www.thenesbittgroup.com and see the power of WordPress. It might be a great fit for your companies needs.

Hi

It’s been a few months since my first day here at Brand Iron, (41 days to be exact) so while a little delayed, this technically serves as my introduction post.

The professional-me snapshot:
My early agency existence sprouted primarily public relations and social media experience. With a few shifts on the marketing scale over the past several years, I had a good feeling from the get-go about the awesome opportunity Brand Iron offered to continue down this path. Joining the team as a Brand Wrangler, (in Google Translate terms, think – account manager) I right away took the reins of the race horse that was my client project list.
My days were busy at the onset but great nonetheless. In fact, I’d like to take this second to say how rad the team is here at ‘the ranch.’ It’s always a transition to start somewhere new – getting ingrained in the processes, adapting to the culture, absorbing the general agency practices – but starting with day one I was embraced by this group. A collective mix of talent and passion, I realized it almost instantly. Things are different here. Hard work doesn’t come easy but here, it’s done well because the people love what they do. In short, I thought (and shared with others), ‘this is awesome.’

And now a few other things:
As a Colorado-native and former-Denver dweller, I recently (re)relocated back to the Mile High city, after being in Boston for a bit. Living just up a square from Harvard and a stone’s throw from the Charles River, I worked with PR firm Porter Novelli while there. From traffic and digital mapping to B2B software to commercial printers, I supported a list of technology companies through PR and online marketing. After my return, I spent a few months with the Denver Film Society as a part of the media relations team to promote the 32nd Starz Denver Film Festival, before saddling up with Brand Iron. Among many things, a definite high point of 2009 was investing in some serious mat and mental time to become a certified yoga instructor. Whether in the studio or at the office, the practice keeps me grounded.
Now that the weather has turned, I’m stoked to be back near the Rockies. White water rafting, baseball games (let’s go Sox!), and hiking – have set a goal to conquer my first 14-er this year – will fill the summer’s when-not-at-Brand-Iron activities list.

And in the meantime, you’ll find me, along with the rest of the crew, doing what we do at our sweet new digs on 24th and Larimer. (More on that soon…)

-Abbey O’Neal, Brand Wrangler

My name is Heather Sundell and I am the newbie here at Brand Iron, it’s been almost a month since I started here as an Intern. I clock in at about 25 unpaid hours a week. Why? Because it’s awesome place to work.

A little over a year ago I became an economic cliché and was let go from my job. (Let the somber violin concerto commence.) After a few months of frantic job hunting and questioning my entire past 23 years of existence, I decided that a change was in order so I picked up my entire life and moved from the only home I had ever known, Los Angeles, to Denver.

Despite the change in location, I quickly started to realize that my English degree from the University of Southern California (no matter how prestigious the football team) was, as so many peers predicted, quasi-useless.

Apart from my education, my prior jobs in online marketing and web management weren’t exactly the directions I wanted to go. I began to rethink my strategy. I would have to go back to square one and offer my services as an unpaid intern.

So, here I am learning the agency business and I couldn’t be happier. Brand Iron is a wonderful company, and I feel so fortunate that I was given a chance to learn and grow in the branding and advertising industry with such friendly, knowledgeable co-workers.

The biggest challenge small businesses face today continues to be operating in a sluggish economy. As a small business ourselves, and despite economic conditions, Brand Iron continues to thrive. Last year was a record year for the company. We attribute our success partly to our willingness to face this challenge head on. Rather than cut back on sales and marketing efforts to save cash, we recognize that now is the best opportunity to market our business. It is a chance to separate ourselves from others, so we continue to be aggressive in its business development and marketing.

Brand Iron’s management philosophy centers around a team-oriented approach made up of individuals who understand and embrace an entrepreneurial spirit. Our firm is made up of individuals who subscribe to this approach. Inherently, this type of spirit produces strong accountability, team work, creative thinking, problem solving and a win-win attitude. This approach ultimately leads to producing outstanding results for our clients.

Exemplary customer service is another essential piece of the foundation for any successful business operation. It may sound obvious, but Brand Iron is committed to demonstrating outstanding customer service from the outset of every client relationship. You would be surprised at the number of businesses out there who don’t put much emphasis on customer service…they operate as though it is a given. Unless you focus on it, the concept gradually slips away. From our initial “Brandstorming” session with every client, we map out clearly defined goals and objectives, detailed time lines and create accountability methods (for both the agency and the client) to ensure success. The final step of our 7-Step Process — “Running the Ranch” – ensures that we monitor progress in all client relationships and demonstrate goal-oriented success. Internally, our Client Services team meets regularly to ensure client relationships stay strong and that we deliver a solid ROI.

-Jim Miller, Public Relations

Last week we skipped out on a day at our desks and spent the afternoon at Coors Field for a Rockies Game. We also enjoyed lunch at the local brewery next door. After filling up on good food and local beer we walked across the street to Coors Field, lathered on the sunscreen and cracked open some peanuts (The perks of working at 2240 Blake Street), all the while becoming happier and more productive workers.

These “BI Fun Days” have become an important part of the work culture here. It may sound counterproductive to take your employees away from their e-mails, calendars, and reports but we’ve found it to be quite the opposite. These fun days have brought several benefits to our office, and in turn to our clients. Here are some of those benefits:
1. Enhancing communication, chatting over beer and peanuts has turned into a great way for us to get to know more about one another’s personalities, habits, and characters, fostering more positive communication.
2. Building Morale, getting out in the sun not only does the body good, but the mind and spirit as well. Healthier people are happier people, and happier people are just so much better to work with!
3. Team Building, gathering around a lunch table versus the conference table changes up the entire dynamic of the BI team, being together in different places and different situations allows a chance to enhance the feeling of being part of a team. Laughing with someone makes it easier to work with someone.
4. Sparking Creativity, we all know too well what it feels like to run into a creative block, being stuck at your desk, staring at the same project for hours is bound to make anyone hit a wall, by spicing up the atmosphere we get a chance to revitalize and spark up new ideas.

When a client walks in our office we want them to feel the positive energy. We want them to feel like this is a team they want to work with. The BI Fun Days have helped us maintain a work environment that people enjoy coming into every single day. And that’s worth more than money can buy. Fun at work is possible, and sometimes even necessary.

At lunch the other day at the Blue Bonnet Café in Denver, Colorado (not a client by the way), this very warm and friendly gentleman approached me and my guest at lunch. Gary was his name and he expressed his true desire to make sure we were having a great lunch and if we needed anything, please let him know. He also communicated his sincere thanks for coming in today and eating at his restaurant. This isn’t a once and awhile occurrence, Gary does this all the time, making sure all his guests are treated well and taking care of. I eat there regularly and Gary is always there taking great care of his guests. Gary is an example of a true brand champion. He exudes customer service and appreciation of the people that come to dine in his restaurant. Whether you run a restaurant, a one-person company or a multi-billion dollar company, we can all learn from his approach to leading and “riding” for his brand. We can all get out in front of our clients and communicate our brand’s value and what it stands for. Customers enjoy hearing from brand champions. Let’s all lead our teams as brand champions to communicate and deliver our company’s value. “Hats Off” to Gary and his restaurant, the Blue Bonnet Café, in Denver, Colorado.

Written by Michael Doyle, President of Brand Iron

Budweiser American Ale

I first came across this television advertisement for Budweiser American Ale a few Sundays back while watching NBC Sunday Night Football. They are marketing towards their target audience, good start. During the commercial I found it interesting that a Dutch owned company’s (InBev) first new product launch will be called Budweiser American Ale. It made me think, “What are they trying to say?” Is this beer more American than the beers they made in the past? Is it more American than its competition? Or are they just trying to get across that “we are still America’s beer.”

This made me analyze what was said in the commercial. They used Words like “savor” and “new friends”. At the end of the commercial they used this interesting line, “not just a new beer, it’s a whole new ale.” This is definitely an attempt to gain greater market share in the growing micro-brewery market. The scene for this ad was in a local pub or tap house much like Falling Rock Tap house in lower downtown Denver.

They have also launched a website for this new product, which is not uncommon for something new to any market. I did find it interesting that it was the ninth listing down on Google when I searched for “Budweiser American Ale.” It also did not have Google AdWord® support. This led to question, “are they really trying to market this beer to the public?” You would assume it would have been one of the first three in my Google search, if they were truly marketing to the public.

At Brand Iron, we have had clients who use us for their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) needs. For example, our company, Brand Iron, is the first one on Google on both the search and the Sponsored Links (AdWords®) section.

I guess Budweiser could use our Web-O-Nanza service at the very least. So if you are reading this InBev/ Anheuser-Busch give us a call to help brand and promote your new product.

America.

Side note: I found this article from the Guardian, a British news source, to be interesting. This was before the Dutch owned company purchased Anheuser-Busch. The summary goes as follows: during the 2006 World Cup, approximately 1000 Dutch football fans were forced to remove their lederhosen in order to gain access to the stadium. The pants had the name of a competing beer (Bavaria) printed on them. FIFA made the decision in order to secure the right of Budweiser, the official sponsor, to advertise exclusively and to prevent ambush marketing by non-sponsors. Bavaria is not a brand of InBev.

Written by Mike Slife