Bury the Hatchet; Brands Reunited

At some point a big conversation went sideways between two of the town's important brands. Red Leaf Coffee very publicly had much to say about local businesses not being allowed an opportunity to bid for a spot in the local Highlander Festival. The festival organizers hold the decision in a different context, that locals should be allowed to bid, if the spot isn't already filled by a legacy attendee or someone that had first right of refusal and they came to the city council to settle it.

It wasn't until 2 headlines later the executives of Red Leaf realized how loud the conversation had become, and they wanted to fix it as soon as possible. Highlander Festival volunteers had already threatened, after years of service, to quit if not left autonomous by council.

I saw this as an opportunity to stick my nose in the situation. I called first, Red Leaf's Ann Wilson. She is a level headed, wonderful lady. Money can't buy much better executives than her, in my opinion. I found out that Ann shared my view in the severity of the chasm of relationship between the two organizations, so I crafted a plan. After pitching it to the Highlander leader, Veryl Anderson, it was a go.

The proposal was to create a mutual marketing effort, where both organizations support each other. Red Leaf would rename one of their coffee's to the "Highlander Fling". A portion of the sales would be donated to the Highlander Festival.

This helped close the chasmic hatfield and mccoy energy brewing between these two organizations. The Highlander Festival recieved $500 from Red Leaf Coffee! Red Leaf rounded up the purchase share to $500.