Colorado's first MMJ PR shop opens its doors

Let's all take a few seconds to get the weed jokes out of the way, then marvel for a bit as we find ourselves in one of those "the future is now" moments. If you ever imagined that you'd drive down a Denver street and see medical marijuana dispensaries everywhere, then surely you imagined the corollary: a day when all those stores would need their own communications firm. Enter Grow Room Communications, who announced their Colorado opening this week.

A release on PRWeb (there was no direct contact info on the release) positions Grow Room Communications as the "...first and only business development and public relations firm exclusively focused on the medical marijuana industry..." Washington, D.C. and 14 states have MMJ dispensaries, and they're stating a willingness to work with any and all.

Has MMJ really grown up so fast? It seems like just yesterday that these stores started opening, but it looks like market maturity is on overdrive. We're looking forward to seeing how it all turns out in this strange new world. In the meantime, where did we put those rocket slippers we bought yesterday?

Mayor Hick's "cold shower" ad makes Gawker Media political ad roundup

Regardless of which camp you fall into, political ads can provide a degree of entertainment — especially if someone at Gawker Media is willing to wade through them all and compile the best ones. Among the honorees was John Hickenlooper's "cold shower" spot:



Pretty tame by today's declining standards. Our creative director gives points to the Hickenlooper camp for their use of color and typography in their overall campaign identity. He found it a refreshing change from the usual block type and red-white-and blue color palette. Do you believe any other local political work belongs on the list?

Jeremy Fulco's dual roles bring Creative 303 and Player's Bench closer to the customer

As content manager for Creative 303, Jeremy Fulco is responsible for gathering and managing all text and images for every client deliverable. But on evenings and weekends, he laces up for Creative 303 client and Denver-based hockey retailer Player's Bench as a sales associate. Like the rare player on the ice who can skate like a forward or a defenseman, Jeremy provides a critical link between agency, client and customer that is bound by the glue of hockey passion.

A former college player from Michigan, Fulco landed the sales job at Player's Bench not long after coming on board here at 303. The advantages were obvious: his in-the-trenches view of what customers were responding to gave him insight into our efforts to boost online sales at PlayersBench.com. And Jeremy's rapport with Player's Bench leadership helps Creative 303's design team be more responsive to client feedback, which shortens overall creative production time. Player's Bench CEO Rick Boh and COO Mike Callahan are, like Jeremy, former players. Culturally, the company prides itself on being a "by the players, for the players" retailer whose employee immersion in the sport results in a better consultative buying experience.

"Being in the sport takes over your mind, body and soul," says Fulco. "To have that connection with your client and their customers gives you a deeper understanding of and commitment to the relationship."

It's the perfect alignment of individual interest and team strategy, and a prime example of how boutique creative agencies can forge the intimate local bonds that keep teammates like Jeremy in service to their passion and in touch with the needs of two critical audiences at once.

DC Shoes branding officer turns personal passion into viral gold

We came across this sick viral for DC Shoes. It's not hard to see why this video turned into a marketing coup for the brand. It definitely made that empty parking lot across the street look totally different. Check out the video, and an accompanying article from Ad Age below:

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Five years ago, DC Shoes founder Ken Block decided he needed another challenge beyond being his footwear and apparel company's chief brand officer. So at age 37, he embarked upon another career: rally racing. But it wasn't just a lark. Mr. Block, who oversees product design and development as well as marketing, was actually good, winning Rookie of the Year honors on the Rally America circuit, and getting a sponsor in the process.

But the rally-racing marketing executive also recently gained fame with another, perhaps dubious, honor, as having made and appearing in one of the top 10 viral ads of all time.

Read the rest here...

Senior creatives leaving big shops to start boutique agencies

This NYT article about top-level creative talent leaving big agencies to start their own projects struck a chord here at Creative 303. Our CCO and founder John Meyer — who also bailed on a big shop to start Creative 303 — found it quite resonant. Excerpt below...there's also another great article on the same subject over at Ad Age. Enjoy!

Co:, with a colon, is the name of an agency being opened in New York by Ty Montague and Rosemarie Ryan, who surprised Madison Avenue in March by disclosing that they would leave their senior posts at the giant JWT for an entrepreneurial venture. The name — perhaps one of the pithiest for any agency — is meant to suggest the Co: business model by evoking words like co-creation, collaboration and co-venturing.

Fittingly, Mr. Montague and Ms. Ryan had been co-presidents of the North American operations of JWT, part of WPP; she arrived at the agency in 2004 and he joined a year later. Mr. Montague had also been chief creative officer for North America. They joined a lengthy list of top executives of large agencies who have recently left to open their own shops, take ownership stakes in smaller agencies or, in some instances, quit advertising.

Artist Laurie Maves interprets Creative 303 in original painting

Creative 303 recently commissioned the amazing Laurie Maves to paint a piece of artwork for our office. We sought her out because of her unique, fresh, and timely perspective on the work she does. In her own words: "I believe artists have a special responsibility in creating art to be as green as they possibly can, and use their own creativity to explore new ways of presenting the mundane and ordinary to the world in new and challenging ways."

That kind of perspective really drew us to Laurie. Check out the finished work below:

John Common adds musical shine to Ignite Boulder

We sent our social media intern @eric_alex to look in on this week's Ignite Boulder, which dares some of the most brilliant, insightful and outrageous people in Colorado — from teachers to waitresses, ad geeks to meteorologists — to meet Ignite's one major requirement: be interesting. The presentations are often over the top, as you can see here:

Probably the coolest part of the whole experience was the intermission performance by John Common and the Blinding Flashes of Light. Our friends over at bieMEDIA and 511 Productions worked with him to create a promotional video in January for the release of his latest album. It was humbling to get the opportunity to see him and his amazingly talented band perform.

Overall, a great night of fun with some of the most interesting, unique, and creative people in Colorado! We'll definitely be hitting up the next one, as well as the smaller but equally awesome Ignite Denver.

Check out some of the amazing photos taken by @bradcrooks here.

Creative 303 too busy creating for clients to create for ourselves

Sorry we've been MIA — there have been some big changes here at Creative 303 and a ton of new business that has kept us constantly on the move. We've finally found a moment to breathe/blog, so here it is. We'll be updating you on all the latest Creative 303 news, so look out for new posts this week!

WPP Ogilvy apologizes for BP

As BP's efforts to end the 40-day-old oil spill still show no signs of success and the Obama administration announced a criminal and civil investigation into the spill, the company is promising it "will get it done" and "make this right" via print advertising.

Since late May the company has been running full-page ads on a consistent basis in major daily news publications such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Washington Post. It has also been running local ads around the Gulf states with information on the clean-up effort and how to contact BP, a spokesman for the oil giant said. The spokesman wasn't sure how long the print campaign would continue but said the company's communications plans were still "evolving." WPP's Ogilvy, BP's creative lead agency, which did not create the print ads, referred calls to the company.

Top Three Beer Companies post decline first time in 28 years. Wow.

The $100 billion U.S. brewing industry is staggering into its crucial selling season from its weakest position in years. Sales for 11 of the biggest brands fell in the four weeks ended May 16, according to SymphonyIRI, and only four of the top 30 -- Keystone Light, Modelo Especial, Yuengling and Pabst Blue Ribbon -- posted gains. Meanwhile, despite massive measured-media support, category titans Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite all declined.