Steve Abrams
Steve Abrams, co-founder and marketing and events manager of Mill Street Brewery, is always looking for innovative ways to “drive liquid to lips.” Abrams executed about 240 events in the last year, double the amount of the previous year. He is currently preparing for the Toronto Festival of Beer at Fort York, and just wrapped Luminato, Toronto’s Festival of Arts & Creativity, where Mill Street Brewery ran an outdoor beer garden. Abrams has been with Mill Street Brewery since December 2002, when he founded the company with Michael Duggan and Jeffrey Cooper.
Rentals/Props/Decor: "Unit 11 created an amazing gallery for us [during Luminato]; they created an outdoor gallery space, and built our bars and displays for us. They created a 10 by 10 area with walls that were lit. We had a T-shirt design contest for Luminato so we displayed the shirts and the winning T-shirt. There was also a 50-foot bar that they set up and dismantled for the event. They’re really clever guys who work quickly and come up with great work."Transportation: "We’ve used Magic Bus Company for a few years. If we have customers we want to entertain, we use their buses to pick us up and drop us off. They have old buses they graffiti or paint, and are always reliable and on time."
Event Design/Production: "KPMB Architects is a high-end architectural firm. They designed the 50-foot bar that Unit 11 built for Luminato and decorated the event space with giant weather balloons strung with string. It was a huge endeavor, but they pulled it off, and it was beautiful. The balloons lit up, like orbs that changed color."
Printing: "Global Printing Enterprises prints mostly banners and specialty banners. With quick turnaround and great pricing, they go the extra mile. They do a lot of work for Broadway, they print the banners and then ship them down. They do work across the nation and don’t charge an arm and a leg for one banner. They made custom barricade covers for us once, branded with our logos. I drew a picture and they came back three days later with the barricade cover. They've also created a 60-foot black backdrop out of vinyl screened with our logo and installed it for Luminato."
Public Relations: "We haven’t used Flip Publicity yet but I’ve seen their work and really like what they do. I watched them in action at North By Northeast [Music and Film Festival & Conference]; they organized the guest list and got the people they wanted there. But I recommend Paradigm Public Relations for corporate product launches. They’re very reliable, in budget, and will tailor to your needs."
Rentals/Props/Decor: "Unit 11 created an amazing gallery for us [during Luminato]; they created an outdoor gallery space, and built our bars and displays for us. They created a 10 by 10 area with walls that were lit. We had a T-shirt design contest for Luminato so we displayed the shirts and the winning T-shirt. There was also a 50-foot bar that they set up and dismantled for the event. They’re really clever guys who work quickly and come up with great work."Transportation: "We’ve used Magic Bus Company for a few years. If we have customers we want to entertain, we use their buses to pick us up and drop us off. They have old buses they graffiti or paint, and are always reliable and on time."
Event Design/Production: "KPMB Architects is a high-end architectural firm. They designed the 50-foot bar that Unit 11 built for Luminato and decorated the event space with giant weather balloons strung with string. It was a huge endeavor, but they pulled it off, and it was beautiful. The balloons lit up, like orbs that changed color."
Printing: "Global Printing Enterprises prints mostly banners and specialty banners. With quick turnaround and great pricing, they go the extra mile. They do a lot of work for Broadway, they print the banners and then ship them down. They do work across the nation and don’t charge an arm and a leg for one banner. They made custom barricade covers for us once, branded with our logos. I drew a picture and they came back three days later with the barricade cover. They've also created a 60-foot black backdrop out of vinyl screened with our logo and installed it for Luminato."
Public Relations: "We haven’t used Flip Publicity yet but I’ve seen their work and really like what they do. I watched them in action at North By Northeast [Music and Film Festival & Conference]; they organized the guest list and got the people they wanted there. But I recommend Paradigm Public Relations for corporate product launches. They’re very reliable, in budget, and will tailor to your needs."
