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Summer Update: What we have been up to!

In July, we had the opportunity to help introduce Colorado to Open Blue Cobia, a sustainable fish farm located off the coast of Panama. We hosted a well-attended event at Denver’s own Beast and Bottle with special guest Governor John Hickenlooper. Governor Hickenlooper was first introduced to Open Blue Cobia at the Biennial of Americas and had the opportunity to visit the farm in Panama this past year.

Open Blue is the world’s largest deep-water, open ocean fish farm and the largest supplier of Cobia fish. The event served as the official launch of Open Blue Cobia in Colorado, which has embraced the sustainable fish. In addition to Beast and Bottle, Open Blue Cobia can be found at Mercantile Dining and Provisions, Bittersweet and Panzano. The fish can also be purchased at Tony’s Market in the Denver-area, Clark’s Market in Snowmass and Divine Fish Market in Montrose.

 

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Open Blue Cobia Team posing with Governor Hickenlooper

 

The special menu included: Cobia Ceviche, Cobia Unagi and Pickled Beet and Cobia Salad. Guests also enjoyed a special virtual reality (VR) experience that allowed them to dive into the world of the Open Blue Fish Farm both by air and by sea.

 

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Brian O’Hanlon (Open Blue), Governor Hickenlooper, Chef Paul Reilly (Beast + Bottle)

 

 

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Governor Hickenlooper enjoying the Open Blue VR experience

 

Open Blue was featured in a segment on Fox 31 Denver.

http://kwgn.com/2016/07/20/open-blue-cobia/

In September, we helped the frozen fruit snack company Froozer launch its Froozer Fuels Fund, a campaign designed to help address the issue of childhood hunger. To kick of the Fund, Froozer pledged to donate up to $100,00 of product per year for the next 10 years (for a total pledge of $1 Million worth of product) to Food Bank of the Rockies in support of their partnership with the Boys and Girls Club’s Kids Cafe program, which provides healthy snacks to children in need.

 

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The Froozer Team and Mayor Hancock celebrating the Froozer Fuels Fund

 

The Stasko Agency coordinated a press conference at the Vickers Boys and Girls Club in northeast Denver with special guests Mayor Hancock and entertainer DJ Cavem. Participants in Boys and Girls Club after-school programs attended and had a total blast trying Froozer’s healthy snacks.

 

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Mayor Hancock addressing the children at the Boys and Girls Club

 

Froozer was featured in a segment for Fox 31’s Colorado’s Best with Paula Haddock and Joana Canals. Paula also included Froozer in a Facebook LIVE video which has a special cameo by The Stasko Agency!

We look forward to working more with Froozer in 2017!

 

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Local Purple Door Coffee Hosts Luke’s Diner Pop-Up Shop for Netflix Revival

The Stasko Agency checked out the Luke’s Diner Pop-Up Shop at Purple Door Coffee in Five Points yesterday morning. The Pop-up shop was a way for fans to interact with each other and share photos on social media for the Gilmore Girls air-date birthday celebration. The Pop-up was hosted by Netflix to promote their revival of the beloved Warner Brothers show. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life will premiere on Netflix, November 25th just in time for the holidays. Fans enjoyed free coffee courtesy of Netflix and could take photos under the iconic “Luke’s” sign.
Pop-up shops like this one are great options for companies/brands to interact with their fans and other local businesses.
Denver7 was also there to capture the fun and shared a video for their nightly news segment!
Fans heard about this event through sources like 9News, Facebook news and sites like EntertainmentWeekly.com and HuffingtonPost.com 
 

 

The iconic sign from the show.

 

Netflix encouraged fans to post about the Pop-up on social media.

Promotional material on the free coffee cups for the Revival

 

Channel 7 News Cameraman taking B-roll. 

 

 

 
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The Stasko Agency Welcomes Samantha Cox as new Assistant

Hello Everyone!
My name is Samantha Cox and I’m happy to introduce myself as Lu’s new personal assistant at The Stasko Agency. I have a BA in Cinema Arts and Sciences from Columbia College Chicago with a concentration in Writing.  I am thrilled to be able to bring elements of my degree into a creative setting while also utilizing my years in customer service. I grew up in Greenwood Village, CO but I recently moved to the highlands in August 2015. It has been a delight to work with Lu on many local clients and have gained a passion and appreciation for my new community. I look forward to the opportunity to grow professionally with Lu and the Stasko Agency while helping the agency move towards the future.
Currently, I am working on October/Halloween event planning and promotion for Latigo Mexican Restaurant. We are excited to create new yearly events for one of Denver’s best restaurants and we hope to see you at one of our fabulous events!

 

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Fat Jack’s is on a roll!

 

Earlier this year, the Stasko Agency became the agency of record for Denver based Fat Jack’s Subs. The timing for a public relations program couldn’t have been better for Fat Jack’s and its co-owners, Kyle Fabra and his wife Brook.

 

 In March, Fat Jack’s opened a new store at 450 Broadway. This was the second new Fat Jack’s to open within the past year. (The first new store was the shop at 2736 Welton Street in Five Points, which launched last summer.) Just as the Fabras were preparing to open the Broadway store, they learned they would have to evacuate their LoHi location in Dickenson, to make way for a new development. Fat Jack’s was one of several businesses that were told to evacuate the site.

 

 Fortunately, Kyle got to work right away to find a new location in LoHi and was able to lease a spot just one block away at 3326 Tejon Street (next door to Western Daughters Butcher Shoppe). The Fabras opened the new LoHi spot in mid-July.

 

 Additionally, Fat Jack’s was approved to open a new concept store on the Auraria Campus. This will be the seventh location for the eatery, where in addition to offering its delicious sandwiches made of the freshest ingredients, it also will offer Little Man Ice Cream by the scoop, Cinnaholic Gourmet Cinnamon Rolls (100% Vegan), and a yet-to-be-named provider of organic/fair trade drip coffee.

 

The word about Fat Jack’s is getting out there, and we don’t think it could happen to anyone better than Kyle and Brooke Fabra.

 

 The Denver Post, June 21, 2016

 

Business Q&A: Fat Jack’s Subs

 

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/21/business-qa-fat-jacks-subs-denver/
Westword, Friday, June 10, 2016

 

Fat Jack’s Supersubs Finds New LoHi Home and Expands to Auraria Campus

 

http://www.westword.com/restaurants/fat-jacks-supersubs-finds-new-lohi-home-and-expands-to-auraria-campus-7991585

 

The Denver Post, May 22, 2016

 

Fat Jacks’s Subs to Open on Denver Auraria Campus

 

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/05/05/fat-jacks-subs-to-open-on-denvers-auraria-campus/
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The Value of Community Events

Ever since I was a little girl, community has been important to me.  Growing up on a street that at one time had over 50 kids to play with, I learned at an early age that getting to know your neighbors was an important part of how to build a safe and inviting community.  I have carried this bit of knowledge with me throughout my life and career as a publicist.  With each and every client, I am always trying to figure out how to help them build community and expand awareness of their business.  Helping clients determine how to best connect with their clients, resources, neighbors, and community members has yielded powerful dividends both in terms of generating media exposure and driving sales.  
Events provide a perfect opportunity to connect to your local community. Since I’ve coordinated many events for both clients and on a volunteer basis, I thought it would be helpful to outline some of the key points that can mean the difference between success and failure. 
Know your audience. The first step in planning any event is to decide who your core audience is and how to best reach that group. A good way to identify your audience is to ask who might benefit most from the event. For example, consider a walk/run fundraiser for a local animal shelter. The ideal audience would not only include animal lovers, but fitness enthusiasts as well. So, to draw that crowd, you might consider partnering with a neighborhood gym or local running clubs. 
Several years ago, I helped launch the Lower Highland Annual 4th of July Parade and Family Picnic. We knew drawing families was going to be crucial, so we targeted an influential mommies group who we knew would spread the word about the event. The strategy worked and the parade is now a neighborhood tradition that draws hundreds. 
Market widely. Depending on just one communication channel to promote your event can lead to low attendance. I utilize a variety of methods to get the word out – from social media postings to calendar listings in local event sites to pitching stories to media in advance of the event. This past summer, I helped organize the 50th anniversary of the West Powers Avenue Block Party – a reunion of a gathering that has been happening since my childhood. I knew tracking down all my old neighborhood pals would be a challenge, so I started with Facebook by creating a private page for former neighbors.  For the folks who weren’t on social media, I created a flyer that I mailed out, using addresses collected from the older generation of attendees.  It was amazing how many we found using both of these methods.


    
Increase your odds of success. Another way to guarantee good attendance is to recruit a club or organization with many members and a natural interest in the event. Cub Scout and Girl Scout troops are a natural fit for kids-focused events. Youth sports teams and neighborhood associations are also good options. For the 4th of July parade, I recruited the local junior roller derby team to participate. Their costumes and skills provided a great visual for the parade and the team got great exposure from the event, using it to pass out information about upcoming bouts. 
Enlisting local businesses can also be a good way to attract crowds because those merchants will help promote the event to their customers. They can also serve as a good source of financial support. This year, I helped raise over $6,000 in just two days for the parade, thanks to the generosity of the Lower Highland Merchant Group, which I helped co-found in 2011.
Make it fun. Of course, your event won’t be judged by attendance alone, but by the experience you deliver. One way to do that is create an activity or task that will immediately get your guests engaged in the event. For the 50th reunion, we played the “Who Am I” game, which involves putting the name of a “famous” person on each person’s back and having each individual guess the name on their tag.  Since it had been a long time since we had seen each other, this ice breaker was a huge help. I think it is important to do this at most events. It’s fun, and gets people talking.
Publicize your event. Even though I was one of those neighborhood kids attending the 50th Anniversary of the block party, I put my “publicist” hat on to make sure the media knew that this was a special event and one not to miss!  You can read about it here in the Littleton Independent. 
I also used my skills to gather coverage of the 4th of July Parade, which was highlighted in The North Denver Tribune.

If you don’t have the money to hire a publicist or you don’t have one volunteering for your event, there are other ways to gain exposure. The Denver Post’s YourHub section provides a lot of community coverage. I also suggest researching who to contact at your local paper since those publications play a key role in informing the community about what’s happening. Submitting your event to one of the local lifestyle magazines, such as 5280 or 303 Magazine is also a good strategy to attract attention. 
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VP Joe Biden takes a lick of Little Man Ice Cream

Image provided by NBC Philadelphia.

Vice President Joe Biden paid visit to Denver recently to discuss college and the economy with Mayor Michael Hancock. The VP and the Mayor took a break from all their hard work and headed over to Little Man Ice Cream for a creamy and delicious break.  
 
The Stasko Agency has been the agency of record for Little Man Ice Cream since its very start. We are pleased to see such a well-known and highly respected public figure paying a visit to the iconic ice cream shop.

 

Image provided by CBS Denver.
Vice President Joe Biden paid visit to Denver recently to discuss college and the economy with Mayor Michael Hancock. The VP and the Mayor took a break from all their hard work and headed over to Little Man Ice Cream for a creamy and delicious break.  
 
The Stasko Agency has been the agency of record for Little Man Ice Cream since its very start. We are pleased to see such a well-known and highly respected public figure paying a visit to the iconic ice cream shop.
 
 

We are so happy for this small mom and pop shop to have so many big successes. For more of what’s going on at Little Man Ice Cream, check out there calendar and press pages here.

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DIBS: Raising the Real Estate Bar

 

The Stasko Agency is a proud representative of the Denver Independent Brokers or DIBS, as it is known. For years they have been an outstanding resource for our other real estate clients. DIBS consists of 50 participating companies with a grand total of 80 members that range from brokers to a wide variety of real estate affiliates. 

Being an eclectic group of small independent firms benefits both the client and the group’s members. For clients, having so much insight from so many different angles, experiences and skillsets provide more perspective and better decision making. For the members, they have an opportunity to absorb new knowledge and explore new opportunities in the field. 
 
Although they maintain a professional business practice, DIBS meetings are not short of any entertainment. They keep work fun with a little bit of playful banter and a lot of laughs! 
 
For more information of DIBS please visit their website at http://dibsonline.com/.

  

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LoHi 4th of July Parade and Family Picnic Thrives Thanks to Community Support

This past weekend marked the LoHi Neighborhood’s 8th Annual 4th of July Parade and Family Picnic. The Stasko Agency has been involved with the fundraising for this event, helping to make it happen each and every year since its inaugural event in 2008. The event has become a great tradition for people of all ages in the LoHi Neighborhood and has continued to flourish over the years. Of course, that success would not be possible without numerous generous donations made by many of our LoHi Merchants. The LoHi Merchants who stepped up to show their support were, as follows:

  
We would like to thank all of the LoHi Merchants for their generous contributions. With your help we raised $5,350 in just two days. WOW!

 

 

The parade  and picnic featured a marching band, bouncing castle, and a 100 foot long sundae provided by Little Man Ice Cream.   
We hope you made it out to enjoy the fun this year, but if not, we’ll see you next year.

 

 

 
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‘Tis the season for ribbon cutting ceremonies

 

Summer is certainly the time for barbecues, relaxation and fun in the sun. And if you’re anything like the City of Wheat Ridge, it’s time for ribbon cuttings. In the past few months Wheat Ridge has hosted ribbon cutting ceremonies for Clancy’s Irish Pub, Hopper Hollow Park, Grammy’s Goodies, and – the two most recent – Sprouts and Starbucks.  

The new Sprouts and Starbucks took over the lot on 38th and Kipling, giving the area a refreshing new look and vibe – something the neighborhood has been looking forward to for some time now.  
 

 
 
In addition to the new shopping center and popular coffee shop, the 6.3 acre project is also now home to MorningStar Senior Living Center. The center includes 64 units and includes a memory care center for their residents. The new development gives a fresh and inviting look to the corner and adds to the essence of Wheat Ridge. Read more about what the Denver Post says about MorningStar, Sprouts, and Starbucks Grand Openings here. 
 
See you at the next ribbon cutting July 29th at 3:00 p.m. to welcome Wheat Ridge Learning Academy into the neighborhood. You can read more about the Wheat Ridge Learning Academy here.


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The Stasko Agency welcomes new summer intern Tayler Latham!

Hello Everyone!  
 
My name is Tayler Latham and I’m happy to introduce myself as Lu’s summer intern over at The Stasko Agency. I am about to enter my senior year at Colorado State University as a Journalism Major with a concentration on Public Relations and a Business Minor. Through my studies at CSU, I have obtained skills pertaining to news writing, social media management, and PR. I spent this last semester interning for the Walt Disney World Company in Orlando, Florida. There I was able to connect with marketing professionals, enhance my social media skills, and get hands on experience in the corporate world. I met many amazing people and had many unforgettable experiences and I’m excited to bring what I learned into my future endeavors.  
  
 I’m thrilled to start this new adventure with Lu and The Stasko Agency. I look forward to applying knowledge from my college courses to the real world and absorbing all the tips and tricks Lu has up her sleeve.   
 
Currently, I am working on the social media for the City of Wheat Ridge and press for the Highland’s 8th Annual 4th of July Parade and Family Picnic at Hirshorn Park. I can’t wait to see what all this internship has in store and look forward to meeting and working with you all. 
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