I’ve noticed even in my own every day purchases that my buying habits have changed. New price points or repeated advertising messages entice me to try a new brand. Before I knew it, my brand loyalty had changed. Strangely even in my own tight purse these days, it still doesn’t stop me from treating myself to luxuries such as facials, hair products or restaurants that make me feel good. It’s now more than ever that I am loyal to those people/products/services, so that I am pretty much guaranteed a satisfied outcome. With a smaller amount of play money, I want to get the best experience for my dollar, therefore I am lured by extraordinary service.

Since I am new to Denver, I am not (yet) loyal to any sports teams, so attending a Rockies game is more about catching a tan vs. catching a win. Since boiling in the afternoon heat automatically constitutes a beer or two, I was seeking the nearest vendor when I had the most interesting offer to have my face and feet sprayed with a water bottle while also selling me a beer. Did I look that parched? No — cue Coors Field’s most reputable beer vendor: Brent Doeden aka. Captain Earthman.

He’s not hard to miss: with his trademark baseball hat (complete with pins, beer cans/bottles and alien antennas), colorful clothing and loud, raspy voice, you know when Captain Earthman is nearby. Not yet ready for a beer? No problem…he comes equipped with his misting water bottle, spraying anyone in his path or even dunks your baseball cap in his ice-cold cooler water. And in the event that you need a beer and he isn’t anywhere to be found, he also distributes business cards with his cell phone…so you can call him over and not miss a minute of the game.

Captain Earthman is a Coors Field staple and is continually awarded as one of the top 10 stadium vendors in the country. Although he works at various venues around the Denver area and even Rockies Spring Training in Arizona, you can always catch him at every Rockies game, working hard in the outfield bleachers.

Captain Earthman’s stadium popularity and nationwide notoriety is a representation of the venues he works and the products he sells. He unwaveringly offers service that goes above and beyond, which has me converted to not only always buying outfield tickets, but even forcing myself to drink a Coors Light. In the end, I am guaranteed a great beer, great service, a laugh, a cool down and overall, a great experience.

Can your customers say that about your service? Who is the brand champion on your team? Does your business stand out in a crowd?

-Rebecca Watry, BrandIron Account Manager

Brand Iron believes that as a company we should be not only be proactive with our clients but with our community as well. On Thursday April 16th, I participated along side some of Denver top creative professionals at “The Student Review.” The Review is a design-portfolio review for students from regional colleges and universities co-hosted by Art Directors Club of Denver and AIGA Colorado. This year’s event is focused on students ready to benefit from creative input and only open to juniors and seniors. The Review put advanced design students in front of specially invited Denver Advertising and Design professionals for invaluable feedback on their books. The Review was a great way for Brand Iron to give back to the design community! This participation also gave us a chance to survey the state of the entry-level designers from the area schools, and make connections with emerging talent. I saw some great work coming out for the local design programs and the event also awarded scholarships to the best portfolios. If you are a student be sure to be on the look out for this event next year, it is a great chance to meet face-to-face with industry professionals.

Written by Andrew Hoffman

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