Dirt Rag Mag

Dirt Rag Mag

Our little Jeffco bike race is growing up so fast!

Just this past month we were featured in the summer issue of Dirt Rag Mountain Bike Magazine. The article highlights some great photos of the first-ever Golden Giddyup in September of 2016, but also delves into the event’s origin story: a scrappy band of neighborhood mountain bikers taking on the seemingly-impossible challenge of holding a mountain bike even in Jeffco Parks Open Space, and the natural disaster that opened up a window of opportunity for them to make it happen.

The article isn’t online, but you can check it out by picking up your copy of Dirt Rag wherever reputable magazines are sold.

Keep Colorado Local!

Keep Colorado Local!

You’ve heard of shopping local, but voting local might be next.

In March, over 100 Coloradans from craft breweries, local vineyards, distillers, and local businesses got together at a local liquor store. No, that’s not the start of a joke. It’s the start of an effort called Keep Colorado Local.

KCL_presser-group-shotThe Keep Colorado Local coalition represents over 1,000 local businesses. These independent businesses joined the Keep Colorado Local campaign to fight out-of-state corporations and keep them from changing our liquor laws and allowing chain stores to sell alcohol. OnSight is proud to build this effort and grow a coalition to defend local businesses, preserve public safety, and protect Colorado’s craft culture.

These local businesses are working on this issue together, because it could be on your ballot sometime soon. Out-of-state corporations are gearing up for a ballot measure in the 2016 election, and Colorado businesses aren’t wasting any time to spread the word about the dangers of alcohol sales in chain stores.

The Keep Colorado Local campaign keeps the focus on the businesses, people, and Colorado culture that would be hurt. As many as 700 local stores would be put out of business, and we’d lose over 10,000 jobs. Our craft selection would be completely watered down, and the small brewery or distiller would lose out on shelf space because chain stores prioritize mass-produced products. Alcohol in chain stores would also mean easy availability for minors to steal or illegally buy alcohol.

Onsight is building a strategic campaign to share this message online, in businesses and in the news:

Homepage features quick links and key messaging.

Homepage features quick links and key messaging.

Web Site

The Keep Colorado Local web site features a dynamic homepage with a mobile-friendly layout. The online home of Keep Colorado Local is designed to feature key information and house an expanding archive of stories, voices, testimonials, videos and tools for supporters as the campaign grows. Check it out and sign up for updates at KeepCoLocal.com.

Social Media

The Keep Colorado Local social media hubs work seamlessly with our web site, encouraging readers to move in between our online portals, learn more and share our content with their friends.

Testimonials from business owners, for example, are featured on “The Culture” section of the web site with buttons to make sharing that content on social media as easy as possible. These testimonials are also featured in our social media posts, encouraging readers to visit the website and view more.

You can stay up-to-date with Keep Colorado Local and our coalition partners on Facebook, Twitter and our email updates.

Print Collateral

From stickers to palm cards, table tents to coasters, bottle-hangers to window clings, and much more, OnSight is providing coalition partners with the visibility tools they need to spread the word and grow our Keep Colorado Local team.

KCL web screenshot

Point of sale and outreach materials available for download and order on the KCL web site.

KCL signage

Custom banners and point-of-sale signage

Outreach collateral materials

Outreach collateral materials

KCL bottle tags.

Bottle tags.

 

News

Over 100 people from local businesses gathered at Argonaut Liquors in Denver to launch Keep Colorado Local and deliver a clear, united message: alcohol sales in chain store would harm local businesses, Colorado’s economy, and our craft culture.

Onsight works to facilitate communication with the press and ensure that the Keep Colorado Local coalition’s efforts are in the news:

Fox31: Liquor stores, brewers join forces to keep alcohol sales out of grocery stores (video)
Liquor store owners and breweries are joining forces to fight an expected ballot proposal that would allow supermarkets in the state to sell alcohol. The store owners and breweries are calling their campaign “Keep Colorado Local” as a way to keep alcohol sales out of big-store supermarkets.

Durango Herald: Beer and wine in grocery stores? Brewers, vintners, distillers and liquor store owners oppose effort
Brewers, distillers, liquor store owners and vintners are not toasting a proposed ballot initiative that would allow the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores. They stood together at a news conference Thursday at Argonaut Wine and Liquor in Denver where the Keep Colorado Local coalition expressed concerns about the initiative led by larger retailers.

Denver Business Journal: Opposition launches campaign against full-strength beer sales at grocery stores (video)
Colorado’s first ballot-issue battle of 2016 is underway, and it is about beer.

A coalition led by the Colorado Brewers Guild and the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association kicked off the “Keep Colorado Local” campaign on Thursday, hoping to defeat or avert a potential ballot measure that would allow grocery stores to sell full-strength beer and wine.

Westword: CRAFT BREWERIES, LIQUOR STORES RALLY TO FIGHT GROCERY STORE BEER SALES INITIATIVE
For the last few years, Colorado craft breweries and their allies at local liquor stores have worked on convincing state lawmakers to keep grocery and convenience stores from being allowed to sell full-strength beer, wine and booze. Now these small and medium-sized businesses are cracking open a consumer campaign in advance of a possible effort by the supermarket chains to take their case directly to voters in 2016.

Bringing climate to the forefront of Colorado politics

What do farmers markets, pumpkin carving, fog machines and smokestacks have in common? All were utilized by the OnSight team in the name of bringing climate change to the forefront for Colorado voters. This past fall, OnSight teamed up with NextGen Climate Colorado with the goal of making the issue of climate one of the top issues voters consider at the polls. How? By attracting earned media, organizing a stunt or two, and packaging creative content.

Over the course of nearly four months, the communications team was able to introduce and establish NextGen Climate with Colorado’s press corps, create an online presence and produce a steady stream of social media, blog content and videos, and develop and deliver localized messaging in regards to the 2014 senate race. During this time, the NextGen Climate Colorado team was able to establish itself as a serious player in Colorado politics and regularly influenced questions asked of candidates during debates and in coverage altogether. On multiple occasions outlined below, the team rose above the campaign season noise to receive earned-media attention amid stiff competition for coverage — notably during the Denver EPA hearings, the Club 20 Debates, with Cory Gardner’s House of Deception which coincided with Michelle Obama’s visit in Fort Collins, and the placement of the state director’s op-ed in the Denver Post.

Here’s a look at some of our favorite for NextGen Climate Colorado:

Videos:

News Clips:

9News: EPA hearings turn Denver into political stage

Denver Post: Demand candidates take action on climate issues

 

 

Investing in the Future of Beer

Earlier this month, OnSight assisted Anheuser-Busch and the Anheuser-Busch Foundation in hosting a press conference to announce a $250,000 gift to Colorado State University’s Fermentation Science and Technology program in Fort Collins. This program, launched in the fall of 2013, is the first of its kind in the region, and only third in the nation. Anheuser-Busch has worked to foster a partnership with the department since its development with in-classroom visits, an inside-look at the brewery, and now this sizable donation.

Despite some uncooperative weather, CSU students, faculty, regional public figures and Anheuser-Busch employees joined us for the conference at the A-B Brewery in Fort Collins and enjoyed snacks and beers after the check presentation.

Here’s a roundup of key coverage from the event:

 

Northern Colorado Business Report: Anheuser-Busch donates $250K to CSU fermentation program

FORT COLLINS – The Anheuser-Busch Foundation today donated $250,000 to Colorado State University’s Fermentation Science and Technology program, to fund the renovation of academic space and the hands-on lab at CSU.

A bachelor’s degree program in Fermentation Science and Technology was launched in 2013 as part of the school’s department of Food Science and Human Nutrition in the College of Health and Human Sciences.

Coloradoan: The Anheuser-Busch Foundation donation will boost fermentation studies at CSU

Brewing giant donates $250,000 to help improve academic, lab space for the fledgling Fermentation Science and Technology program.

The gift will fund the renovation of academic space and the hands-on lab at CSU. Before a crowd of university and local officials, representatives from the brewery emphasized Anheuser-Busch’s commitment to community involvement, and praised the accomplishments of the university and its new program.

Coloradoan: Anheuser-Busch to donate $250,000 to new CSU program

The Anheuser-Busch Foundation has announced that it will donate $250,000 to CSU’s new Fermentation Science and Technology program.

“Anheuser-Busch and Colorado State University have a shared commitment to excellence and the desire to always keep moving forward,” Kevin Fahrenkrog, general manager of A-B’s Fort Collins brewery, said in an email. “We’re excited to extend our community partnership and look forward to sharing additional details next week.”

Purchasing Insurance has never been easier (Coming Soon!)

Purchasing Insurance has never been easier (Coming Soon!)

Connect for Health Colorado is preparing to open for business in October of 2013.

OnSight’s work with Connect for Health Colorado continues as the insurance marketplace prepares to open in October of this year. Last week Colorado’s Department of Insurance announced that eleven insurance carriers will participate in the state health marketplace. More health care options for Coloradans is a great thing, and we’re excited to to help Connect for Health as they get ready to launch.

Through Connect for Health Colorado, consumers will be able to choose from many health insurance carriers at competitive rates. Prices may be even lower for many Coloradans because of new financial assistance available only through Connect for Health Colorado.

Participating carriers include All Savers Insurance Company (part of United HealthCare), Anthem, Cigna, Colorado Choice, Colorado HealthOP, Denver Health, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, New Health Ventures and Rocky Mountain Health Plans. The health care plans are all designed to be sold only on the exchange, and include doctor visits, hospitalizations, maternity care, emergency room care, and prescriptions.

Connect for Health Colorado kicked off its public outreach campaign with TV and print ads. Groups may request a speaker from the organization to learn more about the health care marketplace, and representatives from Connect for Health Colorado will begin visiting communities around the state this summer.

Individuals and small businesses in Colorado will be able to start shopping for health care this October, and coverage will begin January 2014. Click here to learn more about Connect for Health Colorado.

In spite of blizzard, OnSight pulls through for Electrification Coalition

In spite of blizzard, OnSight pulls through for Electrification Coalition

Representatives from the City of Loveland, the City of Fort Collins, Colorado State University, and Drive Electric Northern Colorado participated in the ground breaking to install a public charging station at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.

Fewer things put a stop to a media event (or any other event, for that matter) faster than a blizzard. Despite a rather uneventful winter, Mother Nature decided to pummel the Front Range with its largest snowstorm of the season on Sunday, February 24th. Children around the region feverishly performed snow-dances in their bedrooms in hopes of a day off from school. But the staff at OnSight Public Affairs and the Electrification Coalition were still hard at work, collective knots in their stomachs growing tighter and tighter as each inch of snow fell. The launch of a new electric vehicle initiative in Northern Colorado was just one day away.

But by 8:00 a.m. on Monday, the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery was already bustling place. Microphones were checked. Electric cars in the lot were cleared of snow. As guests arrived for the conference, OnSight staffers twiddled their thumbs and contemplated whether or not the media would show up at all after Snowmaggedon 2013.

But one by one, media crews trickled in. And by 9:00 a.m., more than three news stations, a handful of regional papers, a public radio and a local cable network were represented. Despite the odds, the work of the OnSight staff (especially, media relations extraordinaire, George Merritt) paid off, and the media event ran without a hitch.

Here’s more information about Monday’s launch:

State’s First Electric Car ‘Fast Charger’ Arrives in Northern Colorado—KCNC
Initiative to push for electric cars launches in Northern Colorado – Loveland / Longmont
Partnership aims to make Northern Colorado leader in electric vehicles – The Denver Post
Drive Electric Northern Colorado Hopes To Spark A Revolution – KUNC
Electric Cars Stealing the Attention of Fort Collins and Loveland – NOCO5
Drive Electric Northern Colorado launched today by CSU, Loveland, FC – Innovation News