Who would have ever thought that after a few attempts at making your own home/office brew that we could sit down with our team, identify a client that we would LOVE to work with and then WIN them? Brooklyn Brewery, with its headquarters in Williamsburg Brooklyn, has just signed Blenderbox to be their 2010 Digital Agency of Record. Brooklyn Brewery was started in 1987 By Steve Hindy and distributes a number of their signature brews in 14 countries and growing. Blenderbox welcomes the opportunity to work with such a well known and respected brand. With it’s identity instilled by Milton Glaser, best know for his I Love New York campaign, Brooklyn Brewery will be a great brand to add to the Blenderbox client Roster. We look forward to some inspiring brainstorming sessions catalyzed by a Brooklyn Lager or Cookie Jar Porter!

The NYTimes is trying its best to codify what young twenty-somethings have been doing for decades into a new hipster “lifestyle”, one that’s so integral to Williamsburg’s very infrastructure that you’d think we were literally watching business dry up as a result of mom and dad tightening their wallets. Gawker stalks the hipster grifter not because it’s a particularly interesting story, but because she represents that girl we’ve all met at one point or another in our lives (and no matter how they try to convince you that this girl could only exist in Williamsburg, believe me, she exists in every city on this earth). I’ve lived here for over 4 years, and sure I’ve seen a lot of hipsters hanging out at coffee shops in the middle of the day, and I’ve wondered to myself “What do these people <i>do?!</i>” I’m sure people asked the same question about me while I made my way through grad school, enjoying leisurely weekday brunches with my Powerbook. (I guess a student loan is sort of like a trust fund, except with actual responsibility.)

But you know what else I’ve seen? Successful people moving in from the city, college grads just starting out their careers and working their butts off, people like my sister, my friends, and me, who have been working for years and are finally starting to see the payoff, and lots and lots of local businesses. In a 4-block radius of my house there are three small studios, two groceries, a wine store, and a new Brazilian restaurant, all opened within the last two years. I find it really hard to believe that this was all funded by mom and dad. And as someone who lives behind that row of condos on McCarren Park, I can tell you that they are at about 30% capacity – so don’t tell me that was funded by their parents’ either. You see the truth is, there are actually a lot of really hardworking people who live here, and increasingly, hardworking people who work here too. This myth of a neighborhood inhabited by spoiled, grungy trustafarians may be fun to talk about, but it just doesn’t do the neighborhood justice.

When I first heard of Blenderbox, it was because they had just won a web award for their agency site. An interactive agency in the Burg! It made so much sense. While some of my friends and classmates were still laboring under the delusion that Williamsburg was a place where only the uber-cool, fashion-conscious, trendy hipster could hang out, I was starting to see the truth. This neighborhood is full of interesting people who are actually doing and making really cool things. They’re artists and techies and designers and entrepreneurs. They work hard, they make a living, they start their own businesses. Blenderbox was just one example of what I was seeing all over the neighborhood. I bookmarked the site and saved it for later. That was two years ago.

Created by the Brooklyn Business Center, the Brooklyn Business Summit is dedicated to providing a “progressive venue and agenda for small business owners and entrepreneurs looking to become small business owners”. After building three successful businesses, Jason has gained extensive insight into creating and maintaining quality relationships with his clients and customers, insight that he shared with 50 small business owners at Wednesday’s Customer Satisfaction & Retention workshop.

Cutting through the traditional Customer Relation jargon, Jason mapped out a simple and effective guide to securing customer satisfaction using a modified version of the “Blenderbox method” — Listen, Think, Create, Deliver.  By listening to your customer’s needs and desires, making your service memorable, and maintaining a personal involvement in your company’s client relationships, you can positively shape the perception of your company and generate quality business leads.

The message is simple, should business owners wish to embrace it:  listening to what your clients have to say about your methods and addressing these critiques in your process is always the most effective way to keep your clients happy and your business booming.

While the next Brooklyn Business Summit has yet to be scheduled, video of Jason’s presentation will be available on their site soon, so keep checking back for more details.