Walk into Bier Station and, once you feast your eyes on the tap list and floor-to-ceiling coolers stocked with an incredible variety of beer, you might notice
a large sign to the left of the bar. It’s a beer glass (of course) that “fills” to track this year’s fundraising progress, the result of a creative collaboration between Bier Station and AlphaGraphics Kansas City.
“Our major emphasis for 2017 is charitable giving,” says John Couture, owner/operator, Bier Station. “We’ve made it part of our business plan going forward to see how much we could donate without taking a hit on the business.”
Previously, John and the Bier Station team posted periodic fundraising total updates
on Facebook. They decided they wanted to take a different approach, one that would help people see month-by-month progress while tracking the total amount raised.
“We decided to use a beer glass with our logo, then ‘fill it up’ with beer as we raise money,” John says.
In the meantime, John reached out to AlphaGraphics Kansas City after meeting the team as 2015 recipients of the 25 Under 25 Award.
“I thought AlphaGraphics Kansas City seemed like a cool local company, and I like to do business locally whenever I can,” he says. “I told them that when we had a sign project, we’d love to talk to them.”
Now that an opportunity had arisen, AlphaGraphics Kansas City helped take the lead on the materials used to make the sign.
“I knew we wanted to have some sort of ‘liquid’ portions that would add up throughout the year, but I leaned on the team at AlphaGraphics Kansas City to guide us on what would be best long-term,” John says. “We want to use the sign for several years but also stay within our budget.”
John admits — albeit reluctantly — to also providing initial creative input.
“I explained the concept for the sign the best I could,” he says. “I sent them a terrible sketch and they somehow interpreted it!”
The finished piece is a magnetic material with slots cut into the beer glass. Bier Station’s goal is to hold at least two fundraising events per month, and each month, a slot is filled with a magnetic strip that includes that month’s total. At the top, John tracks the year-to-date total in the cup’s “foam,” which has been laminated with dry erase laminate.
In addition to being a clever tracking and branding tool, the sign also represents just how important community involvement and fundraising have become to Bier Station.
“We believe in giving back when we can,” he says. “So far this year, we’ve raised over $70,000.”
The project also proved to be a start to an ongoing relationship between Bier Station and AlphaGraphics Kansas City.
“The sign was a complicated thing to try and communicate, and it could not have looked better — exactly how I envisioned in my mind,” John says. “If you could see the chicken scratch I sent them, you’d understand what a great job they did. I could also tell they were enthusiastic about the project and what we were doing, and that made me happy to work with them.”
Collaboration, Round 2: A Throwback Book for a Good Cause
John and Bier Station were so happy, in fact, that the opportunity to work on another project soon presented itself. Bier Station hosted Sam Calagione, founder and president of Dogfish Head Brewery, in a special event earlier this summer to introduce the brewery’s new Adventure series of canned beers.
To help celebrate the event, John worked with Dogfish Head, his Denver-based advertising partner and AlphaGraphics Kansas City to create a commemorative book modeled after the popular “Choose Your Own Adventure” series.
“Dogfish Head had an adventure theme to the canned beers, and that’s what got us thinking of a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ book,” John says. “We wanted to write it, make it goofy and feel like one of those old books, but have it be for a great cause.”
Once the booklets were written and designed, AlphaGraphics Kansas City helped guide the layout and production to create an optimal finished product and accommodate the project’s tight timeline.
The result? Another homerun!
“Sam loved it,” John says. “Dogfish Head had stepped up to help a local man with medical bills, and to dovetail that, we raised money for the Ronald McDonald House through the sale of these books. I think we raised around $700, and it was a great way to work with both organizations.”
AlphaGraphics Kansas City has delivered high-quality printing and marketing products and services for more than 30 years. It's not an understatement to say that AlphaGraphics Kansas City can print anything — as evidenced by the recent collaborations with Bier Station. Whatever clients need — from basic print projects like business cards or brochures to large-scale sign or other graphic installations or strategic branding and marketing guidance, AlphaGraphics Kansas City delivers. Feel free to reach out and
let them know what you need!
Image via Bier Station