March 3, 2008, Denver, CO - The Presenters and Sponsors of Denver's Making the Brand 2008 have announced a winner. Denver's Making the Brand 2008 is an annual contest designed to re-brand one small, independent, metro Denver-based company, and to educate Denver's small business community about the importance of branding to their continued success.
Renaissance Adventure Guides (
www.raguides.com), a Lakewood-based adventure travel firm, has been selected as recipient of the $20,000 brand and marketing package offered as the Grand Prize in the first annual contest.
"I was so excited when we made our decision," says Beth Boen, owner of CreativeXchange Marketing (
www.creativexchangemarketing.com), who is presenting the contest along with Phases Design Studio (
www.designfiles.net), a local graphic design company, and The Write Stuff (
www.travitthamilton.com), a copywriting company. "Renaissance Adventure Guides is exactly the kind of business we were hoping to award the Grand Prize to. They are a small, local company on the verge of great things, and they have a real commitment to making our community and the world a better place."
The official announcement was made to the public on
9News Mornings during an interview with Renaissance Adventure Guides' owner, Max Young. According to Young, "We're really fired up about this, because it's something we've known we've needed to do for a while now, but weren't sure how to really get the ball rolling. We've been doing our own marketing for a few years, and really didn't have a firm grasp on our branding. It just seemed like the time had come to step up. And then we heard about the contest, so the timing and everything has been just perfect."
Kandra Churchwell, Creative Director of Phases Design Studio says, "Max and Lyle (Phetteplace, co-owner of Renaissance Adventure Guides) are exactly the kind of business owners we want to work with in general, but especially for the contest. They're excited about the process, open to trying of new ideas, and willing to go through the whole thing in front of the entire metro Denver small business community. We think this is going be powerful experience for Renaissance Adventure Guides and the small business community alike!"
The two runners up were also announced: Gift Basket Junction of Golden (
www.giftbasketjunction.com), and M&D Kitting Solutions of Aurora (
www.mdkittingsolutions.com), a mail order fulfillment company. The runners up will receive a branding assessment (valued at $795) provided by the Contest Presenters.
The Grand Prize Package includes marketing research and a marketing plan, a full custom design package (website, collateral, stationery, business cards), as well as brand and marketing messaging (tagline or slogan, web copy and brochure copy). The package will also include printing, SEO services and, if determined necessary by the Presenters, web video, product photography, and billboard advertising.
"All three of the finalists are great companies with a lot of potential," says Travitt Hamilton, owner of copywriting company The Write Stuff. "So it was really tough to pick just one. All of them met the requirements of the contest and they all stand for a lot of the same things that we believe the contest is all about. In the end, it was a choice between three really worthy companies, which made the process exciting, but really challenging!"
Renaissance Adventure Guides' new brand will be presented in June.