Live From Portland Vol 1: The Cascade Live Sessions

If you missed out on our brandlive sessions over the past few weeks, too bad.

Okay, just kidding. Hopefully, you'll be able to join our next live broadcast. Or, if you'd like us to set up a demo for you, just let me know.

brandlive is easy to set up and even easier to use. The brandlive videos below are obviously missing from their normal exterior skin. Here is a sample of the new Cascade Live environment (which we refer to in the videos).


Each of these presentations were directed towards different audiences as you will see from our session location and message. So check them both out and let us know what you think. We love feedback.

4/23 Product Demo
(Video begins after a moment of set-up w/ a cameo from yours truly)

4/27 Professional Services Demo
(2nd of 2 sessions)

Please feel free to send any brandlive questions or inquiries to us at the Cascade site.

Portland Vies for Google's Heart with...Hops?!

They say the best way to win a man's affection is through his stomach. So then how does Portland win the affection of one of the most popular tech companies in the world?

Beer!?
Gigabit IPA, invented by master brewers at Hopworks, is one of the ways Portlanders hope to entice Google to choose our city as the test site for Google Fiber, their ridiculously fast high speed network. For a video with the brewer and more info on the beer, please visit Silicon Florist's post on the Google phenomenon.

The tech giant has had over 200 cities respond to their RFI, and we're not the only ones with an over-the-top sales pitch.

• Peoria, IL - Deemed "Google Day" as a new city holiday and recorded a song "Google It Now"
  
• Grand Rapids, MI - Organized a large support group and steering committee, created a YouTube video, and has the largest facebook group (over 22,000 strong) supporting the city's bid. Oh yeah, the city also organized a huge rally earlier in March where people joined hands to create a "Human Fiber". These guys are pumped.
• Duluth, MN - Not to be outdone, Duluth is hosting "Googlefest" (read more in the link below). Mayor Don Ness took it to a new level and plunged into the freezing waters of Lake Superior to show his devotion to the city's Google Fiber bid.
  

Check out this Fast Company article "Cities Go Gaga for Google Fiber..." with videos and more stories on the lengths cities are going to in order to win Google's affection.

Cascade Invades the Serotta HQ

In a recent trip out east, Ben McKinley, at the envy of cyclists, stepped foot in Serotta's headquarters in New York to tour their operation and discuss the launch of the bike manufacturer's new website on Cascade's Evergreen Platform. Serotta's new site, www.serotta.com launched earlier today with a ton of awesome features, including a video giving you a look into what Ben witnessed first hand on his tour. On the site, Cascade helps bring to life the intricate science and production capabilities that go into building a custom bike. Whether you examine the technological aspects or thought placed into the size and fit system, Serotta's attention to detail is astounding.

Although the majority of Serotta's magic is done on the production floor, a substantial amount of business operations lives online and is done behind the scenes. By placing their site on Evergreen, Serotta can easily update their new online environment with reactions to the world of cycling, news on Serotta products and technology, and new opportunities. One awesome feature soon will allow both employee and customer access to production status of bikes. With this service, you'll be able to track what stage of production your bike is in similar to how you track your package with Fedex, UPS, etc. Pretty cool!

Serotta.com is as focused (if not more) on portraying their brand story (i.e. company heritage and production strategies) while promoting the community aspect of the company rather than their bikes. We [Cascade] see this strategy becoming more and more prevalent with sites built on the Evergreen platform but that is a topic for another day.

Filming the Cascade Web Development Story

Ben McKinley, Cascade's fearless leader, is making his big screen debut on April 27th. It might not be in the venue you're imagining, but I'm sure it'll still be on a large screen.

Spirit Media stopped by the office earlier this week to film a short movie they'll be showing at the Portland Business Alliance's Annual Meeting. The film highlights the importance of innovative companies in Portland. Kerry Tymchuck of the PBA sat down with Ben (along with the cameraman, Spirit Media crew, and the individual holding the light reflection thingy) for an interview about Cascade and the business environment in Portland.

We were more than happy to have Spirit Media and PBA at the train and sincerely thank them for including us in this event. It is a great honor to be noticed as one of the many innovative companies in Portland, and we genuinely appreciate the exposure.

If you're interested in attending the Annual Meeting and claiming front row seats for the movie, please visit the PBA site. We'll try and obtain a copy of the video for those of you who can't make it. Stay tuned...

Cascade and Dreamworks Hit the Big Screen

Dreamwork's newest animated film "How to Train Your Dragon" topped the box office this past weekend earning $43.3 million. Could this be in part to Cascade Web Development and AMP Agency's website promoting the film? We'd like to think so...or at least hope.

"How to Train Your Dragon" is a film about Hiccup, a scrawny young Viking, who befriends the very dragons he's been training his entire life to fight. With the plethora of marketing channels available today, Dreamwork's called upon Boston's AMP Agency to create a promotional website that would engage the audience and allow them to interact with the film. AMP Agency came up with a great idea, called upon Cascade for the development of the site, and train-your-dragon.com was born.

The collaborative effort resulted in a vivid contest site that asked amateur filmmakers (amateur might be a stretch) to submit a short video of their best dragon taming skills. Dreamwork's employees judged the submissions earlier last month sending 3 grand prize winners to LA for the premiere of the film on March 21st.

All of us at Cascade are extremely excited about the success of the site and the film, and, apparently, others are beginning to take notice as well.

The Portland Business Journal wrote a great article in Friday's edition, about our experience working with AMP and the development of the contest site. It just hit newsstands this morning but, for a sneak-peak, check out this sample at the PortlandBusinessJournal.com.

Go grab a copy of today's Portland Biz Journal for more info or check out the news article on the Cascade site for an inside look.