Word’s gotten around about a new partnership FINE’s formed with TAG Consulting that aims at an increasingly important part of the branding and digital communications world – employer branding. And now it’s gone public with the launch of the new placeholder site at  http://www.employbrands.com/ which hints at a greater Employ Brands site to come.

The partnership name – Employ Brands – sounds a bit like the category of employment marketing and a bit like an exhortation to use branding. Fitting, because that rare combination is exactly what the partnership entails. We’re going with the tagline “The Next Generation In Employer Branding”. And we’re reminding people, “you’re brand is a promise, and it all starts with the people who keep that promise.”

Here’s the deal. A lot of people don’t want to work for big companies anymore. But big companies need great people to survive. And so they’re having to figure out lots of ways to rethink their ways, both real and perceived, to compete for the best talent, particularly in the younger “Generation Y” age groups. That, of course, increasingly means recruiting folks in the digital realm. So employer branding is going to remain a hot topic for some time to come.

The Employ Brands partnership positions us to compete for the totality of company’s employer branding and recruiting business, from consulting about brand positioning on through to building employment websites and campaigns. TAG brings a lot of expertise in the specifics of building these programs for folks like Accenture and HSBC, and includes executives from CareerBuilder, Ann Taylor and Google-funded Intern.com, and an Advisory Board stocked with experts and leading leaders. FINE, of course, brings all the magic of creating outreach and designing destination sites and all that stuff we do. It’s a match made in employer branding heaven.

In some ways you’ll find that employer branding is taking on the same qualities as branding to consumers, in terms of requiring compelling creative and marketing. Then you realize that attracting perfect employees is more important than just finding an average customer. And the product you use to attract them is their entire livelihood and lifestyle.

So check out the new placeholder site at http://www.employbrands.com/ and the Twitter feed @employbrands and stay tuned for the full site launch in the coming weeks.

Consuming a product has both tangible and intangible implications. Though the digital realm, rather consistently, suffers from the lack of tactile reward there are rare cases where one can imbibe enough of a notion to feel uniquely sated. We look forward to introducing you to one of those experiences through which we hope to imply an olfactory impression and a more deeply felt craving; bottled and corked by passionate craftspeople in the Pacific Northwest.

Presented below, in its entirety, and for your convenience, the press release for the Columbia Crest Cork & Fork Mobile site, with our favorite sentence bolded down below in paragraph 5 or 6, so you don’t miss it.

Columbia Crest Winery Launches Wine and Recipe Pairing Mobile Site

PATERSON, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Columbia Crest Winery, producer of Wine Spectator’s No. 1 wine for 2009, today announced the official launch of Cork & Fork, a free wine and recipe pairing mobile site. The site features exclusive recipes from Chef Bobby Flay, wine pairing recommendations, a unique shopping list feature and easy entertaining tips. The site can be accessed by any Internet-enabled phone at corkandforkmobile.com. The content also is available online at columbiacrest.com/entertaining.

“For me, adding wine to a meal can enhance the overall dining experience, so I’ve enjoyed partnering with Columbia Crest on Cork & Fork to provide our fans with fantastic pairing ideas”

Cork & Fork presents users with the option to explore recipe and wine pairings in three easy ways. The first option is to browse by menu, which provides a range of four-course menus (appetizer, salad, entrée and dessert) that are comprised of Bobby Flay recipes and planned by the chef. Each course is expertly paired with a Columbia Crest Grand Estates wine. The second method is to browse all recipes by course, making searching for one special recipe or designing a custom menu simple. The last option is to search available recipes by the wine they pair with best, perfect for when a meal is to be planned around a favorite varietal. For those looking to learn more about different wine varietals, background on each is provided. All recipes include a difficulty rating and allow for the number of servings to be changed, based on one’s needs. Additionally, users can reference entertaining tips from Flay when planning a gathering.

“For me, adding wine to a meal can enhance the overall dining experience, so I’ve enjoyed partnering with Columbia Crest on Cork & Fork to provide our fans with fantastic pairing ideas,” said Flay. “I hope Cork & Fork users find that the provided recipes, wine pairings and entertaining tips lead to memorable and enjoyable dining experiences.”

The recipes can be added to the user’s “Shopping List,” a feature that stores selected recipes in an easily accessible list for future shopping trips. When the list is accessed and a recipe is chosen, the user is presented with a complete grocery list for the recipe, adjusted to the number of preferred servings. The shopping list features grocery item boxes that can be checked off to make keeping track of what already has been purchased easy.

“Since beginning Columbia Crest’s partnership with Bobby Flay three years ago, we’ve provided consumers with new and exciting ways to enjoy Columbia Crest Grand Estates wines by pairing them with recipes he created exclusively for the winery,” said Miles Johnson, senior product manager for Columbia Crest. “Our customers, like so many people, are looking to source information conveniently and quickly via mobile devices, delivering this information in an accessible manner was an obvious choice for the winery.”

The site was designed by FINE Design Group, a West Coast digital branding and technology company.

In 2007, Columbia Crest and Flay announced their partnership to demonstrate how simple it is to have a great food and wine experience, everyday. The following year, Columbia Crest and Flay launched the first “Flayvors of Washington” contest and followed in the successive year with a second contest that brought two semifinalists to New York to compete in a face-off cooking challenge, judged by Flay. In addition to the contests, the partnership has included Columbia Crest Grand Estates print advertising campaigns, starring Flay, as well as recipes and wine pairings created by the famed chef.

About Columbia Crest

Founded in 1983, Columbia Crest has grown from a small winery in a relatively unknown wine region to one of the most significant wineries in the U.S. and a major force behind Washington state’s emergence as a world class wine region. In 2009, Wine Spectator magazine named the Columbia Crest 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon the No. 1 Wine in the World on its Top 100 list for 2009, the first time a wine from Washington state has received the ranking. The wine was selected from more than 17,000 wines tasted by editors throughout the year. Over the past 12 years, 15 Columbia Crest wines have been named to the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list. More information about the winery can be found at columbia-crest.com.

Follow Columbia Crest online at:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/columbiacrestwinery

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/columbiacrest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/columbiacrestwinery

About Bobby Flay

Chef Bobby Flay’s critically acclaimed restaurants include New York’s Bar Americain; Bobby Flay Steak in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City; three outposts of his famed Mesa Grill in New York, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and The Cove Atlantis in the Bahamas; and Bobby’s Burger Palace in Smithtown, N.Y., and Monmouth, N.J. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute, Flay also shares his enthusiasm for food through his cookbooks; his latest, Burgers, Fries and Shakes, was released in April 2009. He hosts a variety of national programs on the Food Network, including “Throwdown with Bobby Flay.” Flay regularly informs audiences about seasonal, fresh dishes and ingredients as a food correspondent for “The Early Show” on CBS.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6393370&lang=en.

Check out Dan Tynan of PCWorld’s interesting article about the many ways technology subtly influences the way we think and interact with the world on MSNBC.com. You’ll find yourself realizing how much technology changes your expectations and perceptions. Ever get angry at your car because it didn’t successfully complete a bluetooth-enabled phone call and think to yourself “wait a minute, I just yelled at my CAR because it failed to make a PHONE CALL.” Every once in awhile, you have to stop and think about the things you’re doing with technology, or they quickly become so ingrained that you can’t imagine life without them. Think about that the next time your laptop is down for repair for 2 hours and you’re all alone with your thoughts, a pencil, and some paper.

Our little quote contribution to this article comes in the paragraph “Where’s the undo button when you really need it”

One of life’s great tragedies is that it lacks an Undo button. But that doesn’t stop people from trying. Josh Kelly, a principal of Fine Design Group (who possibly spends a little too much time inside Adobe Photoshop), can relate.

“All of us who work a lot on computers have become very accustomed to the shortcut that allows us to ‘undo’ our last action,” he says. “I’ve literally had situations on the phone where I’ve said something, or I’ve made a wrong turn while driving, and I’ve thought ‘I’ll just undo that with a keystroke.’ I’ve also decided to do things thinking that I’ll just undo them if they don’t work out. All of these things can be undone, but sometimes with considerably more effort than pressing Command-X.”

We could not be more proud to say that the mouth that graces p. 44 of this month’s Wired is that of one-time employee and FINE friend Mike Hu. We knew Hu’s time would come.

If ever there was a winery that blends well with the interactive space, Conn Creek is it. A boutique winery in the Rutherford District of Napa Valley, Conn Creek sources fruit from nearly all of the Napa Valley’s 15 renowned AVAs to for their Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-style wines. But their growing claim to fame is their AVA Barrel Blending Experience, where visitors get to play winemaker and create their own custom blend from the diverse Napa Valley winegrowing regions, then take home a bottle to impress friends and relatives.

The new website at http://www.conncreek.com extends the Conn Creek experience online. From the opening Flash slideshow that establishes the brand, to an interactive map of Napa Valley AVAs (suitable for bookmarking at http://www.conncreek.com/Vineyards/NapaValleyAvas) to the extensive section on the unique on-site blending experience:

- learn about the blending experience: http://www.conncreek.com/AvaRoom/BlendingExperience
- view the blends other aspiring winemakers made: http://www.conncreek.com/AvaRoom/BlendGallery
- read more about each blend, and share yours (or anyone else’s) blend on Facebook, Twitter, and more
- submit the blend you made in the winery to show up on the site (if it’s approved through the admin) http://www.conncreek.com/Blends/ShareYourBlend

Stay tuned for the impending iPad kiosk to further enhance the blending room experience. Until then, happy blending!

Welcome, young Mr. LaRoe.

At last, we begin to reveal some of the work FINE’s been doing for Apple, with last week’s unveiling of the iPhone Quick Tips series.

The FINE-produced iPhone Quick Tips videos introduce you to all the basics and advanced nuance of the obsessively designed Apple iPhone, in a series of meticulously crafted video shorts now available on iTunes and Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/business/theater/

The iPhone Tips follow on the heels of the ongoing and hugely successful Mac Quick Tips series, also FINE produced.

So, how has this new wave of video content been received? Here’s a couple indications:

1. Within 3 days after launch, iPhone Quick Tips were ranked as the #4 most popular download out of all of video podcasts on iTunes!

2. In the iTunes Technology section, iPhone Quick Tips ranked one notch behind Steve Jobs’ keynote address as the #2 most popular download!  And note that the Mac Quick Tips were #3!

It all looks so seamless to you. By the time you see your website, mobile app, CMS, or other incarnation of digital magic, it’s veritably error-free, enviably attractive, and fully functional in all 50 states and beyond. What we haven’t told you during the sales meeting, or in subsequent presentations and interactions, is that we employee a futuristic robot called The Resolvatron to assure this outcome. It’s from the FUTURE.

The Resolvatron is in the midst of a multi-year beta that began in the year 2091, under the oversight of several shady government agencies whose acronyms we cannot even share, except to say that there are both vowels and consonants in them. Forget we even told you that. Read the rest of this entry »

Langan Engineering and Environmental Services works on big, award-winning projects around the globe. And their new FINE website is emerging as one of their most notable projects in recent months. The site was just awarded the 2010 ZweigWhite Marketing Excellence award for best website. This award recognizes the finest outreach efforts in the architecture, engineering, and environmental services industries.

The winning review  [download PDF HERE] acknowledges facets of design, technology, and effectiveness – beyond “sophisticated colors and clean layout”, or “dynamic Flash-driven portfolio”, it’s most gratifying to read that the site has nearly doubled traffic since launch, and that “the personal tour capability has revolutionized Langan’s ability to tailor the experience of a particular client.”