Global Greengrants Fund came away with two Gold Awards from the the Council on Foundations. The awards recognize excellence in communication strategies that advance the grantmaking goals of the foundation. Global Greengrants won a Gold in the Annual Report category, and a Gold in the Special Report category for a brochure focusing on the issue of water. Vermilion has long been a partner of Global Greengrants and designs all of their communication materials. A new website will be launched in the spring.

Josh Hill, Vermilion’s seo and social media guru, and I made a presentation at the Craft Beer Conference last week in Chicago with the title “Social Media: Creating Community in Real Time.” It was a standing-room only crowd of 500 or more, and the audience couldn’t have been more attentive. When Josh asked how many were already using social media, nearly every hand in the room went up. The talk showed the staggering growth of Facebook fans for many of the top brewers, and profiled five exemplary social media campaigns. Including was promotion of Magi Hat’s Mardi Gras, Dogfish Head’s “Beer and Benevolence” program for Habitat for Humanity, Stone’s remarkable “Stone Beer Week” introducing the brand to Chicago, Mountain Sun’s promotion of its ever-popular Stout Month and Chop contest, and Bell’s mouthwatering introduction of its annual summertime Oberon.