Josh Mishell

I’m a bit of an Ignite junkie. 20 slides automatically advancing every 15 seconds makes for a furious 5 minute talk in front of a boatload of people. I’ve done 5 presentations over the last 2 years, and recently submitted a talk for the upcoming Ignite Boulder in May.

My talk, however, was rejected! While I gave the organizers (many of whom are friends of mine) tons of shit about it, I understand that you don’t always get everything you want. That being said, I’m still pretty pissed off. I have a proven track record of presenting both entertaining and informative talks, and I’m a “Top 5 heckler put-downer”, as voted on by Cosmopolitan Magazine*.

So even though I’m annoyed by the rejection, I have a plan in place to present it anyway – in my own unique way. So suck it, Ignite Boulder! Just kidding, you guys are my pals, and you still run the best Ignite I’ve ever been to.

Here is my submission that was shot down:

I talked at Ignite Fort Collins in 2010 about “How Not To Drive Like A Douche In The Mountains”. My talk was well received, and contained loads of pertinent information about how not to drive like a douche in the mountains.

 

However, two years after the presentation was presented, I haven’t seen a noticeable improvement in how people are driving up in the mountains. So here comes volume 2 of “How Not To Drive Like A Douche In The Mountains”!

 

I love to spend time in the mountains, but also loathe the drive up there when there are douches driving all around me. I will be presenting tips for every driver to improve their alpine automotive skills. The goal of driving is to arrive at your destination in one piece.

 

Trust me, I know that you all have been looking for answers to your deepest, darkest mountain driving questions. Here are some questions I’ll attempt to address in my five-minute chat with you:

 

“When is it a good idea to stay in the left lane, impeding a long line of faster cars behind me?”

 

“I sold my spare tire to a dispensary for a quarter of  a strain called ‘Hawaiian Home-Wrecking Cranial Sledgehammer Maui McWowee’. I probably won’t need it in the mountains, right?”

 

“My tires are basically completely bald, but I’ll probably hold out and get tires in the Spring. Otherwise how can I afford to get a ski pass?”

 

“Is it true that Summit County stinks like broke hippies who like listening to Dub Step?” (quick answer: pretty much)

 

“What are some acceptable & friendly gestures to use for our friends driving out to the Rocky Mountains from Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, & Massachusetts?”

 

“Does 4-Wheel-Drive mean I can go twice as fast as people with 2-Wheel-Drive?”

 

Seriously, this is pretty much going to be the most informative Ignite Boulder presentation that can ever possibly exist, and you’ll leave with some serious knowledge about how to be a better mountain driver. It’s much harder than it looks (and I’m tired of all of you people trying to crash into me all the time).

* There was never, nor will there ever be a vote like that in Cosmo. I did win Hottest Ignite Presenter, though.

I’ll never forget the day. In February 2004, my friend Morland told me about this photo sharing site called flickr. I signed up and uploaded a block of photos on February 10th. That was 8 years ago. For some reason I deleted those images and reuploaded them the next day (maybe because of resolution?). Read more about flickr’s birthday on their blog.

Anyhow, my earliest recorded image is #2375. To put that into perspective, there are currently 6.8 billion photos on flickr. The flickr of old is vastly different than what it currently is. When it was smaller, there was a sense of community that emerged.

They had an innovative flash-based chat and photo sharing area called FlickrLive that allowed you to connect with other users (based off a game they were trying to develop called Game NeverEnding – GNE). I have to say that I still have some really good friends out of those early days of flickr. I also learned a ton about how to successfully launch a product  from watching how the flickr team operated.

The instant I logged into FlickrLive I was greeted by a team of Ludicorp employees, including the CEO, Stewart Butterfield. He reached out to me directly and told me he was a big fan of Medeski Martin & Wood too (which meant he had read my profile before chatting me up). George Oates also was available to chat almost all the time, and we could discuss new feature requests, awesome photos, or even barbecuing. In fact, George & I even started a flickr group together called Bar-B-Q. We made aliases, I built a profile that was Abe Froman: The Sausage King of Chicago and she was The George Foreman Grill.

I learned from these early experiences how to develop a sense of community, which is the unifying force behind all social startups these days. They were lessons that I think about all the time even today. And now that flickr is sadly just a repository of photos that I can share online, I’ll never forget the profound impact it had on me and my career. I’ll post an interview I conducted with George Oates a few years ago next week about how they started building community.

Being a Colorado native, you really get a great view of the cyclical nature of life. Brands were here when you’re growing up, they leave, and then sometimes they come back again. When I was a kid there were Dunkin’ Donuts franchises all over town. Then the “Coffee Revolution” happened, and Starbucks ran everybody out of town – Dunkin’ Donuts, Breuggers Bagels (for the most part), etc. Well, today Dunkin’ Donuts announced 11 new stores are coming to Denver (via the Denver Post).

Not that I think that DD is really all that great, but it reminds me of being a kid and stopping in for a treat every so often. Interesting that it took them 15 years to come back.

Another brand I remember that left for a while and came back was Southwest Airlines. When they were here in the past, apparently Denver accounted for a huge percentage of their delays. As a brand that prides themselves on the fastest plane turnarounds and most on-time arrivals, Southwest left. They finally came back, and as a consumer it’s great because Southwest is today one of the best airlines out there. Not to mention that they’ve been one of the only profitable airlines for the last 35 years.

Pretty much a terrible line to have in a movie, let alone a movie trailer. Then again, I’m not exactly going to watch this for the dialogue. I’ll still probably watch this (admittedly when it comes out on TV).

Marvel’s The Avengers Super Bowl XLVI Commercial (Extended) – YouTube.

As you probably know, I started my own design/marketing/photography/video/social media business called Fermentable Sugar in 2010. One of the things I’m doing in my company is to have a pro-bono client going on at all times. I feel that as a designer/marketer/non-douchebag, I have a responsibility to the community and want to help non-profits that normally couldn’t afford my servicies to raise money for their causes.

My most recent pro-bono client is Empowerment International, a Colorado-based company that helps Nicaraguan children stay in school and out of places like Old Navy sweatshops. My good friends Kevin & Kelly worked with these kids in Nicaragua for the better part of a year, and I was lucky enough to get to visit them. Nicaragua is a beautiful country, but is also impoverished.

I wanted to help Empowerment International in the ways that I was best suited. I built the marketing materials for Empowerment International’s charitable fundraiser on October 8th (posters, postcards, and website). It’s called Mi Camera, Mi Mundo – it’s a photography show & auction. The 40 photos picked were all shot by Nicaraguan children who Empowerment International are working to educate.

Tickets are $35, and all proceeds from the event go directly to Empowerment International. I’d love it if you took a look at the site, and I’d love it even more if you bought a ticket to support a Colorado non-profit dedicated to helping the global community.

Just a quick update to let you know that I’m a contestant in the Ford F-150 EcoBoost Challenge. The Social Media team at Ford is hooking me up with a free F-150 to drive next week as part of the promotion.

The contest has 3 sections, and luckily for me one of them isn’t a swimsuit portion (and probably luckier for you). The payoff is that if you help me win, DENVER WINS FREE SHELL GAS ON SEPTEMBER 3, in a series of flashmob giveaways.

If you want to check out the website I built that’s devoted to this contest, head over to FreeF150.com to learn more. Here are the quick details and info on how to help Denver win.

• Part 1 of the EcoBoost Challenge: The 2011 F-150 with EcoBoost that Ford is giving me averages 22MPG on the highway. I’m competing against 7 other contestants in 7 other markets to average the highest MPG from Monday August 22 through Friday August 26th. I aim to do mostly highway driving.

• Part 2 of the EcoBoost Challenge: Ford is letting people vote once a day on Facebook for their favorite contestant in the contest. Obviously this is me. So head over to the EcoBoost Challenge Facebook Page and vote for me. EVERY SINGLE DAY.

• Part 3 of the EcoBoost Challenge: Planning and executing a successful social event that benefits a local charity. I’m planning a can drive on Saturday, August 27th outside the Rackhouse Pub in Denver, benefitting Denver’s Metro CareRing. Anyone who brings 5+ cans to donate will receive a voucher for a complimentary draft beverage of their choice at the Rackhouse. Ford is hooking me up with a $500 gift card which I’ll be using to purchase $500 in canned goods for Metro CareRing. Help me fill the bed of this F-150 with canned food for people less fortunate than us!

I’ll be posting more often on the FreeF150.com site, and promoting my efforts on Twitter. I would love to have you be a part of this awesome contest!

Ok, so Hwy 34 doesn’t have the same ring as the distinctly American Route 66, The Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1), or Germany’s Autobahn (or Dylan’s Highway 66 Revisited, for that matter). But I contend that it’s as beautiful as any of those other roads.

I went to dinner in Grand Lake tonight with my folks, Aunt & Great Aunt (at the tasty Oa Bistro). I was on my way to try to fish before the sun went down. And while I was traveling back towards my home in Tabernash, the sun was setting. So I figured it was time to take photos instead. They turned out nicely, even though I was using my point and shoot (I so wish I had my fucking SLR with me). The image below this looks better blown up (click it to see a bigger version).

Incidentally, I just read that US Highway 34 starts in Granby, CO and goes all the way to Chicago, IL. I had no clue. It has to be better than driving fucking I-76 to I-80 from here to Chicago – although it is (surprisingly) beautiful through Iowa.

I was also basically on Hwy 34 when I shot those photos on Trail Ridge Road last week (see post below).

I spend a lot of time in the Colorado mountains. I should probably explore places I don’t often go more, and I definitely should take my camera more places. I bought a point and shoot for this reason, carrying my DSLR around all the time has proven to be tiresome. But something with a decent optical zoom and lens that fits in my pocket has been making me take more photos.

Last Friday I had to get from Winter Park, CO to Lyons, CO. The fastest way to go is also the most beautiful way: over Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. I have to say it’s one of the most breathtaking drives in the state.

Saturday at the Underground Music Showcase (UMS) brought more live music to South Broadway. This day was by far the most music packed, at least on paper. I had about 2x the number of bands on my list for Saturday as I had for Thursday. I tried my best to experience as much of it as possible. Here are the highlights.

I won’t be at the UMS today because I’m going to see Bela Fleck & the Original Flecktones and Bruce Hornsby at Chatfield today. But if you’re going, the bands I recommend for Sunday at the UMS are Rob Drabkin, Vices I Admire, John Common, Overcasters, Coles Whalen, Dan Craig Band (super bummed to miss this guy’s set), Busman’s Holiday, Gregory Alan Isakov, Timber Timbre, and The Orbans.

Fox and the Bird, 5pm, Irish Rover

The Fox & The Bird ended up being at the Irish Rover at 5, although I thought it was supposed to be a different band. Sometimes you make mistakes, and those mistakes turn out to be beneficial. The band playing was the Fox & the Bird, a folk band from Dallas. It was no shock to me after hearing their music that Paper Bird were pals of theirs. String band music paired with horns (sometimes) is a nice way to explain their sound. The PA wasn’t exactly working so well, and it was cool that they walked into the crowd at the Rover to play in the middle of us. It was a unique treat at the UMS, I didn’t see anyone else do this at the UMS.

The Photo Atlas, 6pm, Hi-Dive

Another band I liked listening to on my Spotify playlist was The Photo Atlas. Their music in lots of ways reminds me of At The Drive-In. I saw ATDI in Toronto in 2000, and it was just before they broke up. It was a great experience, and good to know there are other bands playing similar music. My favorite banter from the show: “This song is called White Noise, clap along if you know it.”

Pink Hawks, 6:20 Indy Ink

In a few words, Pink Hawks can be explained: Afrobeat, face paint, percussion. They had a song with a chorus of “everyone’s addictied to pain”. I thought they were saying “everyone’s addicted to brains” and that this was a zombie funk band. My friend Rachel told me I was wrong. They were good, but it was SO hot in Indy Ink that I had to check out some other music. Before I left, I saw the hat of the festival: it had a horse throwing golden human shoes at a post in the ground.

Jay J Matott, 6:40 Illiterate Gallery

I wandered next door to the Illiterate Gallery to check out Jay J. Matott & the Arctic. They were on my list anyway, but they were giving out great “fliers” that were really just transparencies with black Buddy Holly glasses & a stylish mustache on them a little earlier. I had to go now. I saw my first cello at UMS. They were a solid 5-piece band.

Old Canes, 7pm, 3 Kings

Old Canes was a solid folk rock/Americana band. I liked the melodica + trumpet melodies a lot. I also “stole” some flash from other people taking photos at this show. It was actually kind of nice to borrow their light, by luckily snapping some photos while they were using a flash 10 feet away.

My Gold Mask, 7:20, Hi-Dive

My Gold Mask was one of the most unique bands I saw at the UMS. They had a drummer lead vocalist. A drummer lead vocalist who is a woman. A drummer lead vocalist who is a woman and also stands up while she drums. Different. Amazing. She has a pretty great voice, too (although there was some insane reverb on the vocals). I liked them a lot.

Patrick Dethlefs, 8pm, Michelangelo’s

Of all the UMS music I listened to on Spotify, I thought 21 year-old Patrick Dethlefs (det-lefs) was the most intriguing. He played a set in a full bar, full of attentive people. He’s got a wonderfully soft and warm voice. In many ways, the warmth of his voice makes his songwriting sound even more honest than it already is. He has a lot of the qualities that I like in Todd Snider’s music. There was a nice mix of originals and covers, the covers included “Dark Hollow” and a really nontraditional version of “Red Rocking Chair”. Patrick also played some nice simple riffs along with the rhythm, nothing too showy but he definitely can play guitar. Something I liked was the unique alternating bass notes on c-shaped barre chords. He told us that he recently released a Daytrotter session, released July 1st. Dethlefs is also playing August 6 at Larimer lounge with celloist Ben Sollee. Great line: “this goes out to all the pretty ladies in the audience. There’s more than one.” #BrowniePoints

If I wanted to start a band, Patrick Dethlefs is the kind of guy I would want to play with.

Snake Rattle Rattle Snake, 9pm Goodwill parking lot

Their music was just “eh”, but I got a nice photo of their set.

Abi Robins, 10pm, Michelangelo’s

Another Singer/Songwriter I enjoyed was Abi Robins. Abi recently relocated to Colorado from Saint Louis. She was a great guitar player who at times played pretty technical riffs and sang at the same time (classy). Her songs were honest and melodic.

Flying Dog Brewery’s previous website was dated, and used a lot of bulky Flash navigation. With a limited budget, we had to do everything we could to update the look and feel of the site, plus redesign the user interface to allow for a better customer experience at our main Flying Dog website (Flying Dog also has a series of supplementary blogs that support the main site). Even though we added more content, the result is a cleaner, more professional and easily navigable site. I was responsible for new design, and we worked with Flatirons Internet for the programming to develop the new flyingdogales.com.

Gonzofest was Flying Dog Brewery’s big party in September 2008. In addition to creating signage, backdrops and other necessities for the party, I shot video throughout the day. This video is part of a series from the whole day’s activities. Many of the videos I’ve created for the brewery are helping us to have over 85,000 total views online.(HD version)

SAVOR video, 2008. Flying Dog Brewery was a presenting brewery at SAVOR, a craft beer and food festival in Washington, D.C. When I wasn’t pouring beer and talking with interested consumers, I shot and edited video about the whole event.

I just got the most recent Magic Hat Brewery newsletter. Overall, I think their newsletter design is pretty slick, and their promotions are pretty solid – centered around music mostly. They also celebrate their #9 Apricot beer on 9/9 every year. I can’t say that #9 is my favorite brew, but I know they sell a crap-load of it. If this is your most iconic SKU, wouldn’t you think that it would be alright to pump some marketing dollars into developing a unique giveaway? Apparently, the Vermont brewery doesn’t think so.

Magic Hat is giving away a #9 cruiser bike.

I know they don’t sell New Belgium up in Vermont yet, but the cruiser is absolutely New Belgium’s marketing territory. In fact, NBB is giving away a cruiser a day on their facebook page (which, as they reminded us about a hundred times last week, has past 100,000 fans – but that’s a different post altogether). To top it off, it looks like Magic Hat is giving away a single cruiser.

I wanted to check out their site to look into the details of this lackluster and uninspiring promotion, but their site is obscenely slow, and I have to apparently log in to even see what the promotion is. I’m not going to take 3 minutes to set up an account  just to see if this is a good or bad promotion. And I bet they’re missing out on a shit load of consumers who think the same way as me.

If I were doing this promotion, I’d drive consumers towards a social network that they already use, like Facebook. We’re all basically logged into Facebook all the time anyway, right? And I would come up with a unique giveaway that would build the #9 brand. In just a couple minutes, here are better giveaways I came up with:

• A year’s supply of apricots for 20 winners
• 10 tickets + airfare to the #9 9/9 event at the Brewery
• Help brew a batch of #9 and take 9 cases of #9 home
• A Magic Hat – some cool hat that you can put on your wall/car/fridge to show off your Magic Hat awesomeness

So these aren’t the greatest, but I came up with four on-brand giveaways in 2 minutes that would build the Magic Hat brand, not just copy another brewery’s most iconic swag item. So put that bong down, Magic Hat’s marketing department and hire some more creative people for your department.

Did I just see a Sam Adams commercial promoting the use of brown bottles? Yes, I did and here it is: (click here if not showing up in your reader)

I’ve been a big fan of the Sam Adams commercials ever since they dropped that awful campaign where Sam Adams was spying on conversations in bars in restaurants.  Jim Koch and has done a great job of promoting his brand and the Craft Beer segment in general by communicating their passion for beer.

But this might be pushing it.  Brown bottles?  The use of brown bottles doesn’t differentiate Sam Adams from any other Craft Beer brands.  Or most other beer brands in general!

The result? I think it undermines the other spots.  Consumers are smart and will say, “Brown bottles? So what?” and have less interest in the other commercials.

Jim – call your agency and pull this commercial ASAP.  There are too many other great things to say about your beer and brand before you have to resort this stuff.  And if you need ideas, contact us – we would be happy to help.

You may have seen the press release about Dogfish Head’s new reality television series on Discovery that’s currently in production. Aside from being a really incredible way to reach a mainstream national audience, this is a great way for DFH to showcase their brand authenticity.

Developing, building and maintaining a brand is hard work. One thing that makes things easier is if your brand story is authentic. There are many ways to show off this (probably-overused) buzzword, and Dogfish Head is taking a step towards solidifying their “off-centered” brand identity. We all know that DFH tries to push the envelope on new brews and almost-forgotten styles, all the while keeping quality at a high level. I see no reason that

Most anyone who has ever met DFH CEO Sam Calagione agrees that he’s a pretty great/inspiring/honest/classy person. I interviewed him for a Flying Dog video at the first SAVOR festival, and he was really nice and was happy to take a couple minutes to chat with me. I’ve definitely met brewers who wouldn’t give me the time of day, and even sat next to a certain brewery owner at a beer dinner who downright treated me like shit, although his wife was pretty nice (you’ll probably have to buy me a couple or 5 beers before I tell you who that was). I’m happy that Sam is such a nice guy, because I loathe douchebags in the beer industry. Actually, the only real negative I have against DFH is that I interviewed for a job with them, and after a 30 minute interview, I never heard from them again.

Most craft brewers send out an email newsletter.  Craftbeer.us subscribes to quite a few of them and reads some of them – but we’re wondering if we’re the only ones.  Please take our poll below and let us know if/how you use them.  We’ll report the results in a week.

I was in an unnamed city last night and went to a “open-mic-style” show that was sponsored by an unnamed craft brewer.  I have been to this show, which happens once a month a few times now and it’s been sponsored by the same craft brewer every time.  And unfortunately, executed the same way every time.

The Good:

• Complimentary beer with the $5 admission/donation.  Ok, good sampling opportunity.
• The brand was mentioned once during the show.  Nice plug.
• There was a banner.

Now, the Bad:

• All of the beer was served in the classic red “keg cup”.  No branding.
• When you walk up to the counter to get a beer, they ask if you want “light or dark”.  No style mentioned and I’m pretty sure that’s not how the brands are represented at retail.
• Needless to say, there wasn’t any description or conversation about the beer happening anywhere at the event.
• There was a banner – but it was in the back of the room (behind the audience) and on the other side of the room from where the beer was being served.

Craft brewers, or even marketing people in general, this is exactly how NOT to execute an event you sponsor.  No one had any idea of what they were drinking.  MAYBE they knew what brand.  MAYBE.  But if they did, they certainly didn’t know what style.  How can you expect someone to go buy your beer after trying it if they don’t know and remember the style?  The result was that everyone was just happy to have “beer” and no one cared what brand or style.

I acknowledge that many craft brewers don’t have the bandwidth or capacity to execute all of these events to perfection.  But instead of knowingly throw a couple keg to an event that won’t be executed – just don’t do it.  Save the money and go buy some consumers a beer at a bar where they will actually know who bought it for them and what they’re drinking.

Widmer is also in the small group of craft brewers who advertise on TV.  Widmer is pretty aggressive with advertising altogether.  Along with TV, they have been running Outdoor and Print for at least a few years now.

Here’s their most recent as.  A whopping 132 views on YouTube at the time of this blogpost.

Zane Lamprey likes to drink. A lot.

He had this HD show called Three Sheets (it’s a travel show about the World’s drinking customs) on the MOJO HD station until it shut down a while back and he’s been shopping it to various networks ever since. Zane posted on his website last week that the Travel Channel has picked up Three Sheets and will consider paying for Zane and his gang to film a 5th season if there’s high viewership on the re-runs.

As a token of thanks to them, Zane is calling on his many thousands of fans to buy a beer for everyone working at the Travel Channel. It’s a great way to have people make microdonations (starting at only $2.00) to the Travel Channel to show their thanks, and can be a powerful tool to get people to conversate about Three Sheets. The added bonus is that part of every donation will go to a charity.

How does this relate to craft beer marketing? Zane tapped the fantastic Maui Brewing Co. to be the beer supplier for this unique and fun promotion. I met Zane at GABF in 2008 and he’s a really wonderful guy, not to mention a very appealing advocate/spokesmodel for brands looking to expand. Maui now gets to be the center of attention for more than 36,000 fans of Zane on Facebook and 16,000+ followers on Twitter.

Here’s what Zane had to say about his partnership with Maui Brewing:

I met Garrett Marrero from Maui Brewing Co. when we shot the “Three Sheets: Hawaii” episode.  I became an immediate fan of their beers and their contributions to the craft beer scene.  Their CoCoNuT PorTer kicks ass!  I want to thank the fans for their continued support through the various networks that “Three Sheets” has been on, Maui Brewing Co. for helping me get great beer from Hawaii to Maryland, and to Travel Channel for putting the show on the network it’s belonged on from the beginning! Finally!  Cheers!

Another great thing about Zane is that he is in the middle of a national comedy tour. If you like to laugh and like to drink (who the fuck doesn’t like those things?), look for him coming to a town near you!

We always find it interesting when Craft Beer brands advertise on TV.  A few weeks back we mentioned that Blue Moon is running some TV ads.  Now, we’ve found that Bridgeport Brewing is running TV in Portland and Seattle.  It’s basically the same spot with different b-roll to localize it.

Here’s the Portland spot:

And here’s the Seattle spot:

TV is expensive.  We gotta wonder if a TV campaign is the right fit from an ROI and branding perspective.  ROI because sales will have to see a significant acceleration for the campaign to be justified.  Branding because no matter how you do TV, it always feels corporate and that’s exactly what craft beer shouldn’t be.

Of course, Bridgeport Brewing is owned by the Gambrinus Company, who used to have Corona’s distribution rights for half the country – and they have historically leaned toward mass marketing.  They also own Shiner and have had pretty good success with that – so maybe they know what they’re doing.

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We found this video ad for Great Divide beer on The Denver Egotist and it’s a little curious.

• Why would Great Divide produce a retro-style video ad?
• Why would Great Divide drop money on video?
• Why did they change the logo?
• Is it all in the name of kitsch?
• Why is the video posted under the Moonship Media YouTube account?

But then if you look a little closer, the comments on The Denver Egotist blog post say that Great Divide didn’t have anything to do with this.

• So did a local agency just do this for their reel?
• Did Great Divide have any creative input into it?
• Why does it have the Great Divide legal line?

What the hell is going on here?