Heading to Sasquatch this weekend? Our Associate Creative/Interactive Director, Mike Grigg helped design one of the posters this year! We’re not sure if we are sold on Fatal Lucciauno’s music, but the poster is pretty rad.  If you missed the exhibition of all of the 2012 Sasquatch posters last weekend, be sure to check out all of the posters designed by local and national recognized artists at http://sasquatchfestival.com/gallery/detail/2012-sasquatch-posters. 

CAST IRON STUDIOS

Last week 206’s PR team helped Heavy Restaurant Group, the people behind Barrio and Purple Café, announce some tasty news. Cast Iron Studios, a brand new event and culinary activity space located in the heart of downtown Bellevue, is officially open for business! The venue was designed to host private events and serve as Heavy Restaurant Group’s catering services hub. Here at 206, we are most excited about Cast Iron Studios’ specialty food and wine workshops led by the company’s cast of culinary experts, including A History of Whiskey led by the bar manager of Lot No. 3 and Pacific Northwest Cuisine, taught by Heavy Restaurant Group’s Executive Chef Harry Mills. Check out Cast Iron Studios and view a complete list of upcoming workshops at www.castiron-studios.com.

Sleeping in is overrated! This past weekend we spent our sunny Saturday morning pulling weeds and laying mulch along 15^th Avenue at Volunteer Park! Miss Katie D’Amato, one of the star Senior Account Managers here at 206, who also serves on the Board of Directors for Seattle Works, helped organize a team of 206ers to participate in Seattle Works Day, a one-day event that encourages folks to get out and work together to improve Seattle through various service projects. Manual labor may not be our forte, but getting down and dirty at Volunteer Park was actually a lot of fun and our lunch of burgers and beer at 22 Doors tasted even better after all of that hard work. Seattle Works is an excellent way to get involved in the community, so check out www.seattleworks.org and maybe we’ll see you in the weeds next year!

We are a pretty dog-crazy group here at 206, so it only makes sense that we would have a dog treat company as a client. Meet Blue Dog Bakery- one of our newest clients that we (and our pups) love! They’re headquartered right here in Seattle and bake up some of the best all-natural dog treats around. The treats are made with human-grade ingredients, and they aren’t kidding around. During one of our first meetings, the Blue Dog Bakery team popped open a box to snack on and even convinced us to give them a try too! While we tend to stick to people-food, we are excited to be working with such a fun company. 

Check out this article featured in the Puget Sound Business Journal last week! 

After many months of planning for the first annual IN-NW Social Engagement Conference, we can proudly report that it was a huge success! Thanks in large part to the hard work of Nikki Balcerak, Mark Gunderberg and the rest of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the turnout of attendees and special guests exceeded first year expectations.

 The day-long event at Showbox Sodo featured a lineup of notable guests including Alexandra Wheeler, Director of Global Digital Marketing for Starbucks, Peter Wilson, Engineering Director at Facebook, and Robert Pietsch, Director of Sales for Twitter, and lunch provided by two of Seattle’s finest food trucks, Marination Mobile and Skillet! As one attendee reported, the “undeniable rock star of the morning” was Ben Huh, founder and CEO of Cheezburger Network, who gave an inspiring lecture on the power of the internet to bring about change and the importance of protecting it. In light of recent events surrounding the overturn of SOPA/PIPA, this topic was particularly relevant to the industry.  There was certainly no shortage of insightful blurbs in Huh’s presentation, many of which were Tweeted by audience members within seconds.

After lunch, crowds stuck around to learn about social media’s impact in the world of non-profit and the best practices for brands to utilize the internet during crisis management. Last but not least, the music panel brought Sir Mix-a-Lot and John Roderick of The Long Winters front and center to discuss the role of social media in the music industry. 

We’re still trying to catch our breath and absorb all the nuggets of knowledge IN-NW imparted, but we are already excited for next year! A big thanks to all who attended, presented, catered, sponsored and tweeted! It’s not every day we get to put on an event that becomes a nationally trending topic on Twitter, but we think we could get used to it.

Colleen Ando ladies and gentlemen!