“Know what’s in your dough” is one of the themes of the new Rudi’s Organic Bakery website we’ve just launched. The site provides a clear look at their many organic breads, muffins, buns and rolls. Also featured are the great-tasting new gluten-free breads, a growing category in the bakery aisle. The comprehensive Store Finder makes it easy to see where Rudi’s products are sold. We had a great time extending to the web the clever new brand developed for Rudi’s by the terrific folks at Sterling Rice Group. The sunny, optimistic, “let’s not take ourselves too seriously” brand update smartly moves Rudi’s into the mainstream, while retaining all the charm and values of the original.

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.

A huge congrats to Boulder’s Mountain Sun and especially to head brewer Brian Hutchinson, who was crowned “Alpha King” last Friday in Denver. His “Hop Vivant” Imperial IPA took first place in the 2009 Alpha King challenge — recognizing the best “hoppy” beer in America. This is a major big deal in the beer world, and all the more amazing that this is the first Colorado brewery to win the accolade. According to Kevin Daly, owner of Mountain Sun, four hops are used, including the whole flower, to create the brew. Vermilion’s Josh Hill, who was with a big Vermilion gang at the fantastic Great American Beer Festival this past weekend, (put on of course by our client the Brewers Association), and who was taking copious notes on all of the 40 beers he tasted, rated it by far his favorite. Of course, it was the last beer he tried!