| INK STAIN HAPPENINGS |

Ink Stain Inc publishes ifculture issue #4: War for the World: How Novozymes is saving the planet by winning the war for bioinnovation talent. By Joseph Coplans

2010-07-17T16:22:03Z

Ink Stain publishes ifculture #4: An online magazine about companies who have gone beyond the bottom line. This issue -

War for the World:

How Novozymes is saving the planet by winning the war for bioinnovation talent - by Joseph Coplans, co-publisher ifculture.com

As the world struggles to find answers for sustainability issues, Novozymes is providing global sustainability through bioinnovation. Let's begin with their enzymes: Novozymes enzymes help companies reduced their energy costs and reduce dependence on chemicals. Such enzymes are replacing surfactants; they're in detergents to enable lower temperature washes so less energy is needed to warm water. Their second-generation biofuel, an ethanol derived from the waste paper and cardboard supplied by the US Government, is fueling cars in Washington DC, and shrimp farmers are using microbes from Novozymes to produce higher yields free of antibiotics, a boon to the food supply. Add up the Novozymes bio-pharmaceutical, bio-organism and bio-agriculture offerings, and you'll get a 28 million ton reduction in C02 throughout the world. It's bioinnovation designed to help the businesses not deplete the resources they need to stay in business, a breakthrough company positioned to impact the industrial life of the world as we know it...

Read the full article at ifculture.com

Ask anyone who has gone through it: Buying a car at a dealership is like slowly getting mugged. Independent car broker Jeff Vanderwal has a better idea...

2010-05-17T20:34:07Z

Jeff Vanderwal, an independent car broker for VMI Automotive Group, left the system to sell cars the RIGHT WAY and is working with Ink Stain to build a brand based on reversing the "car salesman" image.

Jeff Vanderwall, once an insider to the car dealership system of selling cars, broke away from the dealership system -- a system of car buying he regards as exploitive and manipulative; a way of doing business with people that takes financial advantage of unsuspecting customers through an evolved set of hidden and discreet steps that lead to unnecessary charges and sales pressure.

An onerous and wasteful system based on dealership greed, "the dealership system of buying a car is a highly evolved, scientific trap," says Jeff V.

It's one built to disguise hidden costs and creates the unconscious (and oftentimes overt) pressure for customers to buy vehicles or additional products or services for their cars that they do not need or even want.

So what does Jeff do that is so different than how the dealership sells its cars?

He offers fleet pricing for most cars. That's goes a long way for saving money. He can also offer trade-in pricing that are better than the dealerships. And comparable financing packages -- without the dealership games. And he delivers your car to your front door. How's that for no prices games or hassles?

Some hot cars reserved for Jeff's clients at Jeff's DTC showroom. What do people want to buy? The cars above are on the high-end, but Jeff sells tons of Hondas, Fords, Nissans and Toyotas and Chevys to everyday car buyers.

This is why Jeff feels as if his company is saving people, car buyers, from themselves.

In Jeff's words, the great "deal" doesn't exist -- his company offers a real transaction. Jeff doesn't disguise the fact that he makes a profit, but his customers, his demographic, are the type of people that have zero patience for the hidden pricing games and manipulations of the car dealerships.

Jeff offers simple negotiation terms and excellent service on a personal level. It's a better deal, less hassle, and the financing is provided in the form of real numbers easily quoted over the phone to customers. It's a whole new way of buying a car. It's fewer headaches, less problems; it's better personal attention and it's a service that buyers embrace because they feel they are receiving special attention from a knowledgeable, down to earth, friendly, smart resource.

Colorado Department of Education -- Colorado Literacy Alignment Program, A Meeting Designed by Ink Stain and Partner FutureWave Consulting

2010-03-08T22:10:10Z

Ink Stain and partner FutureWave Consulting, chosen to capture the best ideas at Colorado Department of Education's December and January meeting of the minds.

In December of '09 and in January of '10, The Colorado Department of Education brought together its 35 literacy experts in the field for a day of brainstorming and ideation. The goal was to come up with ideas that would serve to align CDE literacy goals.

The program, created by the CDE and designed by Ink Stain and FutureWave Consulting, was conceived to inspire experts to share valuable ideas and create a way for the CDE to capture and further develop these intellectual breakthroughs for future use in a major report destined for the Education Commissioner's desk.

Ink Stain provided an extrapolation for each idea and a reportage that offered an insight into the consistent intellectual and emotional themes of the day.

"Our goal was to ensure the themes were identified, and not lost to the ether," explained Deborah Scheffel.

As we began to uncover these themes, we noticed that there was no shortage of great ideas in the room. Everyone noticed that there was no hesitancy among these highly informed experts to express themselves, to reveal their ideas and experiences about the entire story concerning literacy. However, a caveat revealed itself: Without a way to consistently revisit these newly captured insights, and without a way to further organize and ACT ON valuable intellectual contributions, many contributors would return home and work in isolation.

Ink Stain is now working with CDE to create a marketing medium that will showcase these newly discovered ideas for the public and for the Colorado Department of Education community of contributors.

Old Chicago Chooses Ink Stain for New Menu Concepts

2010-03-08T21:44:53Z

There are a lot of puns I could use here...that kind of sound like the beginning of a comedy act...

Such as: after this opportunity Ink Stain is really rolling in the dough...or, I finally got to name a calzone after my favorite gangster...
I call it the 'Al Cazone'!

(insert laugh track)

But it was a total blast creating menu concepts for Old Chicago.

"Ink Stain's ideas are fun and different, and that's what we needed for the rollout of several new items on the Old Chicago menu," says Karen Lozano, marketing for Old Chicago and Rockbottom Restaurants, Inc.

Ink Stain transforms CEO's "Edgy" Key Note Speech into Marketing Power

2009-12-08T20:38:24Z

Mr. Gorski's company, Demand Point, does cash extraction for big companies hooked on the idea of Lean Manufacturing--these are companies who believe sacred efficiency begins and ends inside the 4 walls of their factories. These are companies who know better, who know that the the big picture of the Supply Chain plays a critical role toward their bottom lines--yet they can't get their heads around how to make Lean Manufacturing less of a religion, and the overall supply chain a synergistic contributor to their cash flow.

And while Mr. Gorski's key note talk gets them standing on their feet, that key note is the key to Demand Point's powerful concepts, voice and marketing identity.

That speech has the roots of Demand Point's Foundational Story, and Ink Stain has been asked to make it come alive for every marketing medium possible.

Ink Stain's job is to take a highly developed Demand Point Key Note Speech, one filled with salient metaphors, historical examples, anecdotes and case studies, and turn it into a Foundational Story repurposed for every marketing medium used by the Demand Point marketing team.

The one request I received was, "Make it edgy."

I asked the Demand Point CEO, "Can I use the language you alluded to, the "drug" and "religion" similes you used in your speech to describe how people turn to Lean Manufacturing as a panacea?"

"Of course," he replied.

This is going to be even more fun that I thought, I said to myself.

For any kind of thinker who finds the synergy needed to run a large company remarkable, Demand Point's story has got that special flavor of sticky:

It begins with this thought: Companies as prominent as Merc and Sony and Toshiba, Gillette and Sara Lee, John Deere and Ingersoll Rand--might be neglecting the value chain outside the 4 walls of their own factories.
But why?

There are two main reasons why:

First) Lean Manufacturing techniques are used by many as a form of religion. Or, like a cult whose members are fixated on ritualistic productivity.

Productivity sounds good at first, but high productivity creates huge amounts of inventory, and if that inventory isn't sold on time it becomes a cash depleting liability; that inventory goes on sale, it's sold 2 for 1, or it turns rotten on the shelf and gets thrown into dumpsters--and that means Lean Manufacturing, the religion of productivity, is far removed from the realities of the bottom line. This is why many companies are stunned to learn that their high levels of productivity are leading to losses.

Secondly) The quantitative worlds of Math and Science haven't made their way into the popular business culture to influence the myriad details of the supply chain--not just track it and manage what happens outside the 4 walls--but balance the entire supply chain with the manufacturing process to make sure cash is flowing. There's too much that's too hard to track that lives outside the 4 walls of the factory. It's complicated stuff to explain, but consider this:

One of the early founders of Demand Point was nominated for a Nobel Prize in economics--in economics of all things because the demand flow technology has the ability to identify and control the flow of the working capital that is often tied up or held hostage in a company's inventory.

One thing that's certain: Ink Stain will ensure that the compelling vision of Tony's Gorski's key note won't be held hostage either.

http://demandpointinc.com

Ink Stain creates Foundational Story for the Love Denver Colorado Brand

2009-12-07T22:42:11Z

Ink Stain creates foundational story for the trademarked, Love Denver Colorado logo,

Can you find the hidden love?

Ink Stain creates press kit and bios for a very unique Colorado logo...

http://www.lovedenvercolorado.com

"My goal was to create a brand that encourages anyone and everyone--from museum goers to sports fans--to embrace the unique beauty of what the Denver, Colorado lifestyle has to offer," says Eric Baird, owner of ICON, a branding firm, and the former President of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Colorado Chapter. This image is a celebration of a city that has reinvigorated itself. The Love Denver Colorado brand and ecommerce site is for people who love to ski, mountain bike, hike, fish, who love the environment, who love discovering a world of nature in one moment and who love to find themselves in the center of a thriving cosmopolitan experience the next.

A Foundational Story for ubandwellers: design and engineering so our urban homes are both playgrounds and sacred spaces...

2009-12-07T20:39:56Z

Design Entrepreneur Larry Beard jr., interviewed by Ink Stain Inc., Denver, CO, Larry appears pensive but is most likely re-designing in his head, everything within a hundred yards of his gaze in the Hyatt Hotel lobby...there's no stopping him. Everything can be designed better...

urbandwellers website to be released in January 2010.

Ink Stain creates Foundational Story for ubandwellers: Design and engineering, comes together to make our urban dwelling homes into both playgrounds and sacred spaces...

There are a 100 ways to live in an urbandwellers inspired home:

urbandwellers creates water features and full standing light scapes that separate the work and living sections of a home; urbandwellers designs and engineers ultra-customizable storage concepts and kitchen surfaces that won't settle for the generic engineering comprises mass production methods force upon design.

Urban spaces can reveal our love of engineering and design without settling for easy solutions or shortcuts proposed by building developers--at every turn, urban spaces have more to offer--urbanspace-ology has only begun to tap into its own design and engineering potential.

"A small space gives us access to a deeper connection to what we all care about most -- through the walkway of left brained efficiency and through the garden of right-brained imagination.

urbanwellers is Larry's (and his partner Bruce's engineering skills) culmination of refined design skills, sharpened to make urban spaces come alive so they can feel boundless with possibility; because every mood should feel at home, every desire to entertain and every yearning for sanctuary should find fulfillment in the precious space of an urban dwelling.

Design and engineering, comes together to make our urban dwelling homes into both playgrounds and sacred spaces."

excerpt from Ink Stain bio written about Larry Beard jr.

Joseph Coplans Interviewed on 'Your Brand Radio' by David Sandusky for an Entrepreneur Audience

2009-10-30T01:00:48Z

Ink Stain Publishes the Third ifculture.com: When Sparks Fly

2009-10-26T17:30:05Z

Ink Stain is very excited to release ifculture.com's 3rd issue...

Jesse Engineering, in Tacoma, Washington, is one of the few remaining companies making a profit by engineering massive things out of steel. There is no assembly line here, everything Jesse Engineering builds is custom: Massive round modules for the jostle-free carrying of spy satellites, entire bridges, docks and ramps; a massive steel washer for a pulp mill designed to save millions of gallons of water; a degausser (demagnetizer) for a nuclear submarine--all steel behemoths weighing up to 600 tons and fitted together like something between a choreographed chorus-line kick and a precision Swiss watch.

In a pressurized place like Jesse Engineering, it's easy to see why:

Resentments were rampant. Emotional shut-downs led to the destruction of what the leaders cared most about providing, the ability for the Jesse Engineering team to have hope and to have the emotional freedom to tell the truth. One leader, Jeffrey Geller, had a goal to provide people an emotionally safe place to work. Within that safe arena, he would find and cultivate Jesse Engineering's next wave of leaders.

Moe Carrick, who worked with Jesse Engineering for ten years and gave me the emotional and intellectual foundation for this article had a simple request:

Moe was well aware of how easy "wilderness adventures" paint a picture that leads people to believe all problems in a company culture are solved with a simple "day outing."

"Joseph, please make sure that your article doesn't make it look like true culture change is a rafting trip," Moe asked me when I began writing.

Her request was an important one because of certain magazine articles that portray a wilderness engagement as a 'fun outing' where people bond, slap each other a high-five and grab a beer at the end of the day--magazine articles that are filled with "splashy", glossy images of boatloads of people conquering nature for a day. As if we need more of that.

At the heart of Moe Carrick's request was the knowledge that true culture change happens through many engagements that get to the heart of problems. It takes time to accomplish culture change. And most all, the rafting trips are only catalysts to something much bigger...

ifculture.com is the web magazine that brings you timely short stories about leaders who excel as models of culture-based leadership success. Read the Jesse Engineering story...

"Jewelry for the eyes"...Ink Stain chosen to write Optique of Denver's Core Messaging--the premiere eyewear boutique for downtown Denver....

2009-10-06T20:36:59Z

Every day, Madeleine Kruhsberg takes another brick out of conventional Denver's discount eyewear facade.

She does it by offering "artisan eyewear"--the kind of jewelry for your eyes that would make Andy Warhol grin--widely.

On a Thursday morning when I met her at the Denver Metro Chamber, she walked into Leads Group One's room with 10 pairs of eyeglasses placed strategically on her head--then laughed hysterically. Seth Godin preaches hard that entrepreneurs should--at the very least--be memorable. That was her...an amazing spectacle offering beautiful spectacles.

And art--real live artwork--is celebrated in Madeleine's downtown store to complete a full circle of appreciation for the precious things in life. It's art, the art of seeing, the art of life, the art of living downtown...the art of standing out.

"The first impression we have of each other," she told me during our interview, "is what occurs when we first lock eyes with a new person."

It makes perfect sense. Your glasses should celebrate a vision, and celebrate the art of seeing.

Art&Anthropology and Ink Stain with Idea-360 create a VISION FOUNDATION map for Colorado Organization on Adolescent Parenting, Pregnancy and Prevention (COAPPP)--

2009-09-25T00:38:56Z

Ink Stain has teamed up again with Denver's Art&Anthropology and Idea-360 to provide a vision and road map, a new ideation framing method and new focus for the Colorado Organization on Adolescent Parenting and Pregnancy and Prevention.

In plain language, COAPP provides education, programs, research, and data for sexual and reproductive health in Colorado. COAPPP's work reaches everyone--from teens, young mothers, families and educators to lobbyists.

What I was most impressed with was the depth of involvement from COAPPP's staff. The stories they told about how they help others went to the core of what's needed to form healthy communities--the stories from the dedicated staff demonstrate just how empowering and valuable this kind of work is in the State of Colorado.

Ink Stain and Idea-360 create a vision foundation for a Keller Williams star agent; a personal leadership vision for entrepreneurial real estate excellence.

2009-09-19T21:41:53Z

"Real Estate is in a state of reform," says Sam Wilson of Keller Williams. "And I intend create a vision of leadership that allows my clients to experience unprecedented support and expertise."

For Wilson, a prolific independent agent working under the Keller Williams banner, the real estate industry is ready for a major overhaul and reform. Wilson is developing a leadership style that will serve as model for the entire real estate industry.

Map and leadership program design by Joseph Coplans of Ink Stain and Janine Underhill of Idea-360.

Janine Underhill of Idea-360

Janine Underhill and Sam Wilson

Ink Stain Publishes Some Ink in the New Contango Magazine--An Ultra-niche Retro-politan Newsprint Publication Targeting the Curious Minded

2009-07-23T22:00:20Z

Ink Stain publishes some ink in the new

Contango Magazine...
An ultra-niche retro-politan newsprint publication

targeting the... curious minded

(Derek Brou, publisher of Contango takes a closer look at some article submissions)

Derek Brou, publisher, asked me over a glass of wine one night (as he adapted a Tom Waits song for acoustic guitar--not an easy thing to do, BTW)--if I thought enough people in Denver would respond to a magazine whose tag line was, "Where artists dig for inspiration."

The obvious answer was to start the magazine and see who picked it up. Derek became a publisher to answer his own question. He calls his magazine: Contango.

It's a lot like the early 1970's counter-culture publications I used to sneak a look at--the forbidden ones--in the funky readeries I would slip into when in San Francisco on vacation from sub-suburban Los Angeles with my fam.

I remember the drawings and the images most of all in these pubs; they were wild and strange, like upheaval's allegory in black and white; the subjects were always in mid-scream or locked in a trance; they were the characters of an Aquarius ethno genesis: the far-out, urban tribe of talented freaks, cartoonists and writers and poets who had created an alluring world of inky arcanum, social crit and who re-casted pop-culture iconography into tools for anti-establishment political satire.

It was all over my head, but I knew something great was going on. Add the perfunctory Sandlewood aroma as icing on the experiential cake. Always, I would get ushered out of these SF underground bookstores by the concerned grip of a hippie hand.
"You're a bit young, chum. This material is for adults, K?"

I would play dumb and scramble to find my family playing tourist close by--now beginning to wonder if they'd have to scour the Upper Haight to ever see me again. I would forever try to figure out what made those 70's bookstore counter-culture publications roar so compellingly in mind...

    What made those independent and counter-culture, basement publications so intoxicating? Their rawness. Their homemade-ness.Their lack of commercial savvy and nakedness of ideas. They were a cosmic garden where minds were denuded of convention, where ideas ran streaking, where the voice of a new power of expression got published on the big cheap. It's almost strange to see Contango out there subtly chanting "death to the gloss, death to the formula: restaurant review, hot girl, handbag, repeat--take a seat!"

    Perhaps that's what Contango is to me: the fulfillment of an incomplete memory of a counter-culture magazine that I wasn't supposed to look at but one I write for occasionally. But Contango isn't counter-culture. It's a read for an over the counter culture looking for less to buy and more to buy into.

    Because my imagination runs wild with Contango just like it did when I was a kid. I know what's behind the curtain now. It's a playground. Just like I always thought it was.

    And for this issue I wrote about Marty Gregg's playground, the owner of ArtHouse and his prolific personal journals: Drawings From the Empathetic Unconscious: The Journal of Marty Gregg, How Denver Buildings Learn to Shake Hands, and What Jet Engines Really Look Like.

Marty has designed wayfinding for the Denver Art Museum, Children's Hospital and Denver Public Library. He knows what goes on in the unconscious minds of passersby. He knows because his journal, the playground, gives him access to it.

Building a playground for yourself allows new things come to life. If you don't have your own playground yet, crack open a copy of Contango. It's the sandbox where you can dig for inspiration.

Ink Stain and Futurewave Consulting create "Collaboratory"--Making Sustainability a little more 'hands-on' in North Carolina

2009-07-21T03:40:36Z

On May 21st, I flew to Durham, NC to join the Futurewave Consulting crew for a "collaboratory" designed to discover new possibilities for future sustainability growth in NC.

We brought together a large microcosm of sustainability activists in NC.

People came from all sectors, from nonprofits, foundations, universities, government agencies, associations and businesses--to work toward developing a comprehensive, accessible network of support for creating, growing and attracting sustainable companies in North Carolina.

"This is fascinating, thought-provoking material," Katy Ansardi told me when I handed in the completed Futurewave report.
Katy is the Director for Sustainable North Carolina Business Council, an NGO dedicated to accelerated adoption of principles and practices that optimize economic prosperity, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship in North Carolina.

Massive "Cave Paintings" from Ink Stain Partner Idea-360, for AFCP

2009-07-21T03:39:07Z

Association of Free Community Papers Re-tools its Offering with Ink Stain

Massive "Cave Paintings" from Ink Stain Partner Idea-360, Provides the Big Picture

The Association of Free Community Papers helps publishers of nearly 3,000 free-circulation community papers--publications that reach nearly 45 million homes weekly--build their advertising revenues.

"I'm literally seeing how our offering can come together more effectively to benefit our members--it's happening right before my eyes, and it's amazing to see", said Craig McMullin, Executive Director for the Association of Free Community Papers.

This realization came during AFCP's discovery engagement with Ink Stain, HeyDay Creative and Idea-360, for new AFCP strategic messaging, to invigorate AFCP's web language and web conversion rates.