This is an optional subhead

At the time, the vodka market in Austin market, where High Desert was based, was a particularly competitive one. But Logan and Ryan had a handful of key advantages that set them apart. For one thing, as the new flavor on the block they were fresh and different, a new jolt to the vodka space. For another the cactus element gave them a unique aspect that allowed them to straddle both the vodka and tequila markets. For another, the prickly pear aspect—and the method of farming they employed—proved to be highly sustainable so their story included the angle of a renewable resource.

In a stroke of luck, the pair had met Roberto Garfias, a farmer who owned 7,000 acres in San Luis Potosi, a small colonial town in the highlands of central Mexico. Even luckier, years earlier Garfias had had the foresight to plant thousands of acres of prickly pear cactus.

“He literally had a forest of prime prickly pear cacti on his property,” Springer said. “Thousands of acres of thirty to forty foot trees everywhere. Thank god for Roberto. He really is the unsung hero in this venture.”

This is an optional subhead

At the time, the vodka market in Austin market, where High Desert was based, was a particularly competitive one. But Logan and Ryan had a handful of key advantages that set them apart. For one thing, as the new flavor on the block they were fresh and different, a new jolt to the vodka space. For another the cactus element gave them a unique aspect that allowed them to straddle both the vodka and tequila markets. For another, the prickly pear aspect—and the method of farming they employed—proved to be highly sustainable so their story included the angle of a renewable resource.

In a stroke of luck, the pair had met Roberto Garfias, a farmer who owned 7,000 acres in San Luis Potosi, a small colonial town in the highlands of central Mexico. Even luckier, years earlier Garfias had had the foresight to plant thousands of acres of prickly pear cactus.

“He literally had a forest of prime prickly pear cacti on his property,” Springer said. “Thousands of acres of thirty to forty foot trees everywhere. Thank god for Roberto. He really is the unsung hero in this venture.”

This is an optional subhead

At the time, the vodka market in Austin market, where High Desert was based, was a particularly competitive one. But Logan and Ryan had a handful of key advantages that set them apart. For one thing, as the new flavor on the block they were fresh and different, a new jolt to the vodka space. For another the cactus element gave them a unique aspect that allowed them to straddle both the vodka and tequila markets. For another, the prickly pear aspect—and the method of farming they employed—proved to be highly sustainable so their story included the angle of a renewable resource.

In a stroke of luck, the pair had met Roberto Garfias, a farmer who owned 7,000 acres in San Luis Potosi, a small colonial town in the highlands of central Mexico. Even luckier, years earlier Garfias had had the foresight to plant thousands of acres of prickly pear cactus.

“He literally had a forest of prime prickly pear cacti on his property,” Springer said. “Thousands of acres of thirty to forty foot trees everywhere. Thank god for Roberto. He really is the unsung hero in this venture.”

“Hey, let’s make a beer” … is typically one of those smart ass brainstorms that gets casually floated by Carl the junior associate at every creative kickoff, and promptly rejected. Especially when the client is in the financial services industry and has no obvious reason to make a beer, Carl.

But when IEX came to Goods & Services to look into ways of increasing brand awareness, wouldn’t you know it, by god this time Carl was on to something.

Other than money, apparently there are fewer things traders love more in the world than beer. It’s the perfect end of the day wind down. It’s a great team building lubricant. And, as it turned out, IEX’s CEO Ronan Ryan is a huge beer connoisseur who has stocked every IEX office kitchen to the rafters with various kinds of craft brews.

So when IEX hired us to be their creative team, we sat down with their marketing team to dig into the factors at play. As we considered IEX’s desired goals and the creative challenges and possible solutions for each, ultimately “Let’s make a beer” started to make a lot of sense for many reasons.

Making a beer was a clever way to literally put that liquidity into people’s hands and create a tangible (some would add delicious) good out of an intangible, decidedly flavorless idea.