[YouTubeUlar] <— 6,332 On March 5th, 2013 the Yard House decided to drop a new series of videos to support their "We Are Yard House" campaign they started a year ago. I'm not going to lie, this is rejuvenating to me because I feel as if Yard House was a dying brand in my book following their $585 million dollar sellout last year to Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V’s).

At the turn of the century the Yard House was iconic into where I conducted a lot of business due to it’s atmosphere, music, beer and former leader Steele Platt. Steele created a very unique environment based on good music and beer. His automation ability to control all the music at all times in all of his restaurants using an iMac and MegaSeg was revolutionary and ahead of it’s time – kind of like his first restaurant project, the Boiler Room at the Tivoli in Downtown Denver.

Kids, you have to remember this was before your iPhones, iPods and iTunes and way before Apple owned the world. Free wireless internet was all the rage and to see someone who believed in technology (and beer) the way we do was refreshing. I remember emailing Steele from his Colorado Mills Yard House (opened in 2003) thanking him for the awesomeness he was creating, and I’m pretty we sent him an original iPod as a friendly gesture on behalf of Apple Rockies.

We eventually quit populating our bodies into the Yard House as time wore on… they initiated a 45 minute time limit on their free internet, removed the option to drink out of a full yard glass, and honestly – I think it just became a little too popular and busy for us. In no way is that a bad thing in business, but it certainly is difficult to maintain the same “cool” experience to your initial users as you move forward with sizing.

I have nothing against the Yard House, I just feel as if they haven’t reached out to me lately and their new “We Are Yard House” campaign finally fills that void. These stories are long enough to demand respect, which good work is granted, but short enough to keep my attention clicking through them.

[Bringing the Beats to Yard House] <— 1,579 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnAY81xIWL4 [Beer Head] <— 1,767 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iecTCKUIEkU [We Are Yard House (2012)] <— 26,932 If I were to re-open my creative services, these are the kinds of videos I would be producing. They are very similar to the Apple videos I've done in the past... only with cooler toys, cameras and shot options now :) [Steele Platt – Yard House bio]
[Steele Platt – Boiler Room – King of Kegs]
[Yard House $585 Million Acquisition]