Agency Wins Competitive Pitch For One Of America’s Most Respected And Fastest Growing Craft Breweries

Following a competitive review, Solve has been hired by Grand Rapids, MI-based Founders Brewing Company. Named by Ratebeer.com and Beer Advocate as one of the best breweries in the world, Founders is also one of America’s fastest growing craft breweries moving from the 26th to 17th largest craft brewery in 2014.

Founders’ hallmark is brewing complex, in-your-face ales, with huge aromatics, bigger body, and tons of flavor. Several of the brewery’s beers are listed in the top one hundred beers of the world by beeradvocate.com, an independent industry network dedicated to supporting and promoting better beer. Founders’ very first beer was its well-regarded scotch ale, Dirty Bastard. And its most recent full-scale introduction is All Day IPA.

The agency will be responsible for positioning, target audience definition, connection strategy, media buying and messaging across traditional, digital, social and in-store channels. “We’re delighted to partner with Solve. We were looking for an agency that gave us consumer insights, breakthrough creative, and, most importantly, were flat out excited to be on the brand. Their passion for our brand is unmatched,” said Trent McCurren, Vice President of Marketing for Founders Brewing Company.

“We have long been fans of Founders and consider them the high priests of craft beer. We’re inspired by what they do and how they do it. Our team is beyond pumped over the prospect of working with the Founders team,” said John Colasanti, Solve CEO. The agency’s work will begin appearing early in 2016.

by

Award-Winning Designer Joins Fast-Growing Agency

Solve has hired Nick Smasal as Design Director to further enhance the agency’s branding and design product. Most recently Associate Design Director at OLSON, Smasal’s work has earned him recognition from HOW International, Communication Arts, Graphis as well as other national and international honors. Smasal has worked at design shops Bamboo and FAME on brands including MyBurger, Sharp USA and Bauer.

“Nick’s design style reflects a simple beauty,” said Hans Hansen, Solve Executive Creative Director. “We’re excited to put his talents to work for our clients.” Smasal will touch several Solve accounts, including two of their newest brands, Président specialty cheese and Green Giant.

by

“How Did A Four-Minute, Blank Video Generate Over 100,000 Views?” Asks Fast Company and Others

YouTube views were the strongest indicator of an online brand video’s cultural impact for years. To prove the inadequacy of views as a key performance indicator, Solve created a four-minute blank video. The video–with no motion, sound or color–was uploaded to YouTube where it generated over 100,000 views. What’s more, viewers on average made it through 61 percent (or 2:26) of the four-minute video, and 22 percent made it to the end.

“In Solve’s compelling four-minute look at–well, nothing–the fact that YouTube views are a useless metric for measuring what people are actually paying attention to becomes abundantly clear,” reported FastCo’s Dan Solomon.

Solve has pulled open the curtain to reveal how marketers must set and measure progress toward legitimate business goals, not vanity metrics such as video views. Learn more about Solve’s “The Blank Video Project” in Adweek, Fast Company and at Creative Review.

by

Following seven days in one of North America’s premier and most challenging races, Solve client Optum Pro Cycling finished with one of its finest performances in the team’s nine-year history. A victory for sprinter Eric Young in stage four, a victory and yellow jersey for Mike Woods in stage five, second place for Woods in stage six and second overall on general classification, all add up to an unprecedented week for Optum’s continental-ranked program.

“It was a phenomenal week for the team,” said Performance Director Jonas Carney. “We started out slow–we thought Young could win one of the first few sprint stages, but we struggled through them and we were a little down after three days. Then, the guys just cranked it up. It’s by far the best we’ve ever done at a race of this level and we are ecstatic.”

by