Mighty Theo (Dry-Hopped American Pale Ale)

• Recipe by Theo Daniels
• Brewed on October 2, 2011
• ABV: 5.0%
• IBU: 43
• Grains: 2-Row Brewers Malt (in the form of light liquid malt extract and malto dextrin), Caramel Malt 40L
• Hops: Chinook, Cascade (used during the boil, and added dry to secondary fermentation)
• Yeast: California Ale yeast

This brew poured a nice crisp copper color and had a nice big citrusy nose to it thanks to the dry-hopping (when dry hops are added to the beer as it sits in a fermentation tank at a steady temperature, they contribute mostly to the aroma of the beer). Sitting at an easy 5.0% ABV, the beer was very drinkable (“sessionable” in beerspeak). Due to the awesome presence of American hop varieties (America is known for its hops) the beer was very refreshing, full of bright citrus and pine flavors (classic American hop flavors), with a nice sweet backbone from the malts. While I wouldn’t say this was a “balanced” beer — and it’s not supposed to be — the malts certainly tempered the bitterness, making it finish strong. This was an excellent take on the classic American Pale Ale: smelled great, tasted great.

IPAddress (American India Pale Ale)

• Limited edition kit
• Hops featured: Palisade, Simcoe, Amarillo

We had less information to go on regarding this brew, but it was mighty tasty nonetheless. It was maltier than the Mighty Theo and, as an IPA, was also a little bit bigger in ABV and bitterness. Had some complementary pine and citrus notes to it, but wasn’t as strong on the nose as the Theo because it wasn’t dry-hopped. This tasted like a more “balanced” brew (sweet malts vs. bitter hops) even given the style. India Pale Ale as a style gets its name from early 17th century Britain, when shipments of ale bound for the Far East (hence “India”) were brewed with higher concentrations of hops (which impart both flavor and act as a vital preservative) to help preserve taste and prevent the ale from being ruined by the time it got to its destination.

Personally I liked the Theo better for its bright nose and taste than I did this beer, but others in the office preferred this maltier, more balanced ale. Another observation I had regarding IPAddress is that it had a subtle wheat flavor to it that made me wonder about what yeast was used during fermentation. Or maybe it was just my imagination.

Thanks, MightyBytes!

If you’ve had either of these two beers, we’d love to hear your opinions. Chances are the circle of people who have is quite small, but hopefully we can get some discussion going. My hat’s off to the guys at MightyBytes for brewing some great suds and defying the “smells and tastes like home brew” stereotype with these two beers. It’s obvious that they were crafted with great attention to detail. Learn more about all of MightyBytes brews here.

Coming Soon

I’m also excited to announce that later in the year (early Spring, probably) we’ll be unveiling the first of our own Headstand Homebrews; I’m working on the inaugural recipe right now. Getcha popcorn ready!

Before getting into more specifics, Hope International works through a local DR partner called Esperanza. Here is some information on how Esperanza’s activity in the DR has grown since beginning their partnership with Hope in 1995.

With this background in mind, I logged into our Esperanza partner portal at www.esperanza.org and downloaded several Excel spreadsheets of information: Clients Report, Disbursement History and Financial Summary. Here is what we learned about our investment in 2011.

Clients Report

During the past year, the Headstand Media Bank of Hope provided “Microcredito General” loans to 60 individuals consisting of 5 men (avg. age = 45) and 55 women (avg. age = 39), with an average of 1.5 dependents each. The 60 individuals were all members of local “grupos.” In 2011 our initial investment touched and affected approximately 150 individuals.

Disbursement Report

In 2011, 17 total loans were made through 14 Dominican loan officers at 7 branch locations: La Romana, Santiago, Seybo,Puerto Plata, Samana, Hato Mayor, San Pedro de Macoris.  The total dispersements to these “grupos” were US$13,979.

Financial Summary

Of these 17 loans, 4 have been paid back in full, and 13 are still active. The total repaid capital to date is US$9,363. The total amount still active is US$4,766. If all of the current loans are paid back in full (there have been 0 defaults to date), the bank will realize a US$150 profit from the loan activity. These funds are left in the bank and used to lend to more individuals within groups over a longer extended time period.

Carmen’s Story

Carmen Vargas belongs to a community bank that calls itself “Women with Purpose,” and everything this mother of four does is filled with just that. She says her goal is to provide a better future for her family of six, and to make that possible she took out a small loan from Esperanza, for $150. With her loan, she purchased a used taxi, and although the car isn’t in perfect condition, she says it’s already making a big difference. In addition to the money Carmen earns on taxi fares, her husband earns more money in his shoe repair business as he can now transport more raw materials in a single trip. Carmen says she appreciates the encouragement she and her fellow community bank members receive at each meeting. “The economic benefits of being a part of a Bank of Hope are great,” she says. Carmen uses her taxi not only to provide for her family but also to benefit her community. She regularly transports others to and from their local church, and when emergencies arise, she also uses her taxi to transport her neighbors to the hospital or to get help.

Alejandro’s Story

As many as 40 percent of the clients served by Esperanza, HOPE’s partner in the DR, come from Haiti. Lingering discrimination, as well as language barriers, can prevent Haitians from finding decent employment and these immigrants are frequently marginalized or even taken advantage of. In some communities, called bateyes, companies seek low-wage laborers to harvest sugarcane. The vast majority of these workers are of Haitian descent, leading to higher concentrations of immigrants. The back-breaking labor generates little income—but Esperanza is serving clients in many of these communities. Small business loans and basic business training give many the opportunities they’ve been seeking.

One Esperanza loan officer named Alejandro, serves clients in a batey community. Though Haitians are not highly regarded by most Dominicans, Alejandro is studying Creole on his own time in the hopes of building more trust and establishing better rapport with the clients. Alejandro explains, “This helps to build a more complete relationship between the loan officer and the client because I can interact with them directly … and they can approach me in trust and confidence.”

Summary

Headstand Media is pleased to be associated with this energetic and growing organization in the DR. Even in these difficult economic times, we are so impressed with how our initial investment has been able to touch so many lives in the first year. We value our partnership with Hope International and Esperanza, and look forward to even more progress in providing opportunities for individuals and families to work themselves out of poverty in 2012.

Merry Christmas everyone,
Randy, Steve, Benjamin, Kyle, Matt, Taylor, Megan and Nathan.

The blog post also draws 4  conclusions:

• The Blue Ocean is still HUGE
• The game is far from over
• Holy cow, Android!
• Yes, Apple should be worried; but no, it’s not over, far from it.

I am most interested in the battle between the Apple iOS and Google’s Android. For me it is personal as well as professional. I have been an Apple Mac owner and user since 1997 with my first purchase of a Mac Plus. I have been an Apple owner and evangelist ever since.

However, when I last needed to purchase a cell phone, I selected an HTC Hero running on Android because at that time (2 years ago), the features and performance to price ratio were hard to beat. Don’t get me wrong… I really like the iPhone. It’s user interface, apps and performance is amazing. However, I am completely amazed that even with the release of the 4S, Apple still does not have a 4G phone offering!

For the 4G reason and the reasons listed in this blog post, the next phone I get will probably be the Google Galaxy Nexus.

Photography

One of Spot’s stated goals was to have fresh new imagery that communicated who they are and could be used for both web and print. To meet this need, Headstand planned and executed a day-long photo shoot at Spot’s state-of-the-art facility in downtown Chicago; included in the process was creative direction, collaboration, and post-production work. We were really happy with the results, which were able to highlight Spot’s great space, people, and culture.

Web design and implementation

Central to Spot’s new digital strategy was a brand new website. Based on the scope and requirements of the project, we recommended and built the new website using the WordPress CMS. Our creative team worked closely with the Spot team during the Discovery process and delivered multiple web design concepts, which were then tweaked and honed down into a final design.

Once the design concept was finalized, Headstand moved forward with production and built the custom WordPress theme. We also managed the successful testing and launch of the new website.

Print design

Spot’s company brochure plays an important role in recruiting and communications, and was in need of a redesign. In a similar process as the website designing, Headstand developed multiple brochure concepts and worked with Spot to finalize a new direction for the brochure. One of the most important aspects of the new brochure was that it needed to complement and draw inspiration from the new web design in its look and feel. In today’s technology-centered marketplace, it is critical that print design follow web design and not the other way around.

Writing for the web

Working on a new website and brochure means going through a lot of written content. Spot looked to Headstand Media to both learn its business and create new web and print copy based on Spot’s existing resources. We streamlined and refreshed its core messaging and provided copy-writing and editing throughout the entire project.

More about Spot Trading, LLC

Spot Trading is a technology-focused, proprietary option trading firm specializing in listed derivatives. They understand option pricing and analytics, but also have the experience and infrastructure to maintain a fundamental understanding of the equity markets. Spot excels at both the art—the fundamental analysis—and the science—the quantitative analysis—of trading. To learn more, visit Spot on the web at spottradingllc.com.

With the official announcement of the Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform for Customer Experience Management in June, you may be confused with updated product terminology and wonder how and where the Day CQ products you may currently use fit in the new platform.  To better understand this, let’s take a step back and review how Adobe is evolving the platform.

In a world of always connected, multi-channel, multi-touchpoint consumers, the ability to deliver rich, immersive digital interactions across the many devices they may use to connect to that content has been paramount to any organizations success.  Day Software’s web content management system (WCMS), CQ5 has always been known as a leader in delivering this type of flexibility and functionality.  The integration with the broader Adobe enterprise product set took the CQ5 JCR content repository and made it the core of the new Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform (ADEP), replacing the existing LiveCycle repository.  ADEP also uses the existing Day web applications (now called Web Experience Management) and collaboration tools and extends the functionality significantly by integrating the Adobe Flash, Flex Framework and the powerful Online Marketing Suite powered by Omniture.

So the good news is that as an existing Day CQ5 customer, you will be very familiar with the core tool set as very little has changed for you.  The biggest change comes in how Adobe will package and license the capabilities going forward.

For additional information, you can read:

• Adobe Web Experience Management Solution Brief
• Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform Solution Brief
• Blog post by Tim Anderson, ITWriting.com

What was the Day Software Ignite Conference has now been folded into the Adobe Digital Enterprise Summit. Headstand Media is proud to be a Silver sponsor of this inaugural conference, scheduled to be held October 3-4, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

Join us at the Adobe Digital Enterprise Summit 2011 and:

• See the future of optimized customer experience across all digital channels.
• Discover innovative new approaches and gain competitive advantage for your organization.
• Learn directly from your peers and industry thought leaders, and get inspired.
• Get a sneak peek of Adobe product and solution road-maps

The conference is designed for business and technical leaders who are driving customer experience initiatives within their organizations. From the customer’s point of view, Adobe and their partners will explore how to start  to define and deliver the ideal customer journey. You will leave with the knowledge of how to gain competitive advantage in the new digital world. There will be inspiring keynotes and informative breakout sessions where you will hear from Adobe customers and partners who are behind some of the world’s best customer experiences. Learn more about Adobe CQ5.

If you are already planning on attending this summit, or are interested in joining us, please let us know!

Headstand Media is pleased to announce the launch of a brand new website for True North Venture Partners.  True North Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital company that focuses in early stage companies with disruptive innovations that can reshape socially important industries such as energy, water, agriculture and waste.

True North wanted the website to reflect the essence of the clean technology sectors they are investing in.  Headstand Media provided True North Venture Partners with a new web solution that could also be leveraged for other future portfolio company additions: a design and structure that is easily maintained and scalable as well.

CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The new site, designed and built by Headstand Media, uses WordPress content management software to deliver a custom themed look & feel that reflects the nature of the True North business.

Visit www.truenorthvp.com

Join Ty Snouffer at Headstand Media on June 23, 2011 as he delves into the world of measurement and analytics in the digital space. It doesn’t have to be hard and at this Nightstand you’ll learn:

• How to develop a measurement plan
• The two key questions to establishing relevant Key Performance Indicators
• The difference between reporting and analysis
• Optimizing the performance of your site
• 30 minutes to action with analytics

Guest Presenter: Ty Snouffer

OUR PRESENTER

Tyler Snouffer
Senior Marketing Analyst
Resource Interactive

Ty has an up-beat personality and a witty sense of humor that shines light on every conversation he’s a part of. He’s easy to talk to—and more importantly, easy to listen to when he’s presenting analytics. Simply put, Ty’s dedicated to adding value to online business by converting data into usable information.

This analytical champion is focused on helping clients move beyond click-stream data when they measure their digital assets. Ty holds a mastery of the interpretation of usable data and understands the ins and outs of marketing optimization and web analytics best practices—from the strategic planning down to the technical nitty-gritty. He understands the importance of customizing the tools appropriately to suit business needs but at the same time connects with client teams to present analytics in an approachable manner. He is accomplished on many of the measurement tools you’ve heard of (SiteCatalyst, Google Analytics, WebTrends, Optimost) and many that you maybe haven’t. Ty has been on the Resource team since March of 2007 and currently works with Victoria’s Secret PINK, Venus, The Limited and Sherwin-Williams. He’s driven by presenting unknown insight to his clients and helping them analyze data to justify digital marketing.

Ty lives in the Chicago area, is devoted to his wife, his two daughters and his passion for emotion-provoking music (He will never be the guy telling his kids to turn their music down.). This Pete Townsend wannabe loves new album release Tuesdays and discovering new bands. Ty holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from DePauw University and an MBA from The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business.

Please join us for Nightstand 20

We’d love to see many of our past friends and guests again, and we encourage you to pass on this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from this presentation topic and networking event. RSVP by leaving a comment with your name and company or organization in the comment area below. NOTE: You must RSVP to be added to the attendee list at our building security desk! You will also be required to have a photo ID.

Where and When?

We are pleased to bring you Nightstand 20, an after hours educational and networking event to be held on Thursday evening, June 23rd at 1 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois (photo ID Required). Informal networking begins at 6 PM, with food and beverages provided. Introductions begin at 7 PM followed by our featured presentation and informal discussion until about 8:30 PM. (Attire is business casual to casual.)

We’d love to have you join us!

- Your friends at Headstand Media

RSVP’d Attenders: 19

Presentation

Steve Wilson, Managing Director of Digital Strategy here at Headstand Media, was our presenter. We surveyed the spectrum of Content Management Systems (CMS) available today and investigated some of the pros and cons to each. We looked at both open-source examples like WordPress and Drupal to .NET based solutions, to enterprise level Java-based offerings like Adobe CQ5.

Summary

The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) defines Enterprise Content Management (ECM) as the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization’s unstructured information, wherever that information exists.  Certainly true, but what does that mean in non-techno speak?  Why do organizations invest in this space?

• Brand protection
• Highly decentralized organization
• Extensive product offerings
• Strong need for workflow and to deliver process around approval loops
• Need to deliver content to multiple channels

Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS) also provide organizations with a unified technology platform/framework that allows for leveraging their on-going investments in terms of templates, plug-ins/add-ons, developer and content author expertise.

Watch (further down the page) the Nightstand 19 video to view the complete presentation.

CMS Comparison Chart

View Full-Sized Chart

Watch Nightstand 19