DENVER INC.: Kansas tries its hand at poaching

Jane Hoback & Gil Rudawsky

Published December 1, 2007 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Special to the Rocky

For $4,500, the Ski Train to Winter Park will prepare a special car for business retreats. Included in the price are a breakfast buffet and apres-ski cocktail for up to 50 people.

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First, it was North Dakota. Now, it's Kansas trying to horn in on Colorado's business and residents.

A news release went to Colorado this week touting the benefits of holding corporate meetings, retreats or holiday celebrations in Kansas towns. Naturally, Kansas City is on the list, but the release also heralds Emporia, Hays, Lenexa, Olathe and Salina.

"Brimming with fun and steeped in Mid-West friendliness, the cities of Meet Kansas! offer planners a unique change of pace for small meetings, corporate retreats and special events," exclaimed the release prepared by Kansas officials. Handling the campaign is Denver-based PR firm Kruzic Communications.

Last month, North Dakota hosted an event in Denver to try to persuade Coloradans to give up the Rockies for the Peace Garden state. Nebraska and New Mexico also have made the rounds here.

Retreat on the rails

It's no Kansas, but yet another group is trying to get people out of their staid boardrooms and into more interesting surrounds.

The Ski Train has created a "Retreat Presentation Car" for business meetings, team-building events, continuing education classes and social gatherings.

You could do business on the way up to Winter Park, continue talks on the ski hill and finalize details on the way back to Denver.

The train car accommodates up to 50 people and comes equipped with an elevated podium and a laptop-ready audiovisual system, including a flat-screen monitor.

The $4,500 charter price includes a breakfast buffet in the morning and an apres-ski alcoholic beverage for each passenger and snacks.

The train/meeting car will launch Dec. 27.

Bartenders usurped

Molson Coors had the dubious honor of making New York Times columnist Stuart Elliott's annual list of 20 questions about advertising, marketing, media and popular culture.

Elliott's first question went to the Golden brewery's ad campaign.

"As strange as it is for brewers and distillers to sponsor auto racing, how much stranger is it that representatives of the Coors Light brand sold by Molson Coors gave away key chains with can and bottle openers, decorated with Coors Light Racing logos, in a bar?"

Marketing makeover

You don't get much for free these days, especially if you are nonprofit. But a local ad agency is trying to do its part.

Idee-Force (ee-DAY-force) is working with the Denver Office of Strategic Partnerships to award one lucky Denver-area nonprofit organization the opportunity to change its image. Idee-Force and the DOSP are sponsoring Extreme Marketing Makeover for Nonprofits. It's the third year of the competition.

The lucky winner will get new marketing materials, including a new identity system (logo, stationery and brand standards,) Web site, brochure, e-mail newsletter template and public relations tools.

The marketing package is valued at $25,000.

For information, go to Idee-Force.com/Makeover Application.

High-priced slogans

And in the half-off department, Fort Collins-based Burns Marketing Communications is looking to Europe - and perhaps Asia - to make a fast buck.

President Mike Burns points to the unveiling this year of the $800,000 Olympic logo for the 2012 London Games - to laughs heard 'round the world - as well as Scotland's new $250,000 tourist slogan: "Welcome to Scotland."

Sensing an opportunity, Burns decided to offer a one-time-only special to any country's office of tourism.

"For half the price of the Scottish deal, $125,000, Burns can develop custom slogans that are guaranteed to bolster any country's tourism dollars," Burns said in a news release. Some examples:

"Come to Italy."

"Visit Germany."

"Come to Romania."

"Visit Norway."

Burns also sees expanding to Asia with:

"Visit Japan."

"Come to China."

"Visit Korea."

"Come to Thailand."

A resident no longer

Former Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert has severed most of his ties here.

Property records show he sold his 3,254-square-foot townhome in the Country Club area for $1.275 million in September.

The property near the Cherry Creek Shopping Center was owned by the Margaret Notebaert trust, named for Notebaert's wife.

Notebaert also stepped down this fall from his board duties with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, a center official confirmed.

Notebaert announced his retirement last summer. He said then he planned to spend the bulk of his time in the Midwest with his children and grandchildren.

He has offered to help the city prepare for the Democratic National Convention this summer. Notebaert was co-chairman for fundraising efforts when Chicago hosted the convention in 1996.

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