gifts

I’ve got two stories to share for you today.

The first I bring to you because I’m hip and fashion foward.  Following our friends from Down Under, I participated in the newest non surgical cosmetic trend; Eyelash Extensions.  Aparently already very popular in Australia, I had never heard of eyelash extensions, but the lovely ladies from YouWish Events (see their last event that I helped out with here) provided me with a gift certificate and so I thought what the heck.

Ashley Bergeron, talented specialist and make-up artist, was my pilot on this adventure.  She actually learned how to apply eyelash extensions while visiting Australia, so I felt like I was getting the real deal.  While half way through the two hour process I asked her if she was glueing the eyelashes to my lid to which she replied “No!! You thought that’s what I was doing and you allowed me”, and then I felt sort of ridiculous and asked her to walk me through the steps since I literally had no idea what was going on.  Each eyelash extension, she explained, is glued to an invdividual lash.  The ones she was applying to me were synthetic however mink lashes were also an option, should you be married to Jay Z and have a name that rhymes with Meyonce. As an added bonus you could also apply sparkly, or coloured lashes, should you be involved in employment that requires you to take your clothing off.  She told me the lashes would last for about 3 weeks and just eventually fall out with my normal lash.  I’m sitting here at 3.5 weeks and I still look like a movie star.  I also haven’t had to apply make up in these last three weeks since they already look so extravagant, which means I’ve been able to sleepf or an extra 5 minutes in the mornings.  Check them out:

The second story is a little bit about my dad.  He’s hardworking, sometimes incredibly immigrant, super sweet and knows more about hockey than anyone in the entire universe.

I don’t know how, I don’t know why but for some reason when it comes to the game our country loves, my dad can tell you anything about it.  He knows little details about games from the past, he never misses a current shot and he can predict what’s going to happen in NHL of the future.  He doesn’t play, never has and probably never will, but there’s some sort of crazy sixth sense going on.  Any time an announcer, or so called “hockey connoisseur” says anything about a stat, a player, or a game, my dad has already said it.   Before our beloved Senators entered into the playoffs, I was at the Sens/Hurricane game with my brother, my dad and some family friends.  We were in the second period and the Sens were losing but then a goal was scored.  Everyone rose up to their feet, present company included, screaming and cheering.  Hugging strangers, clinking over priced beers and general loud noises of no comprehension.  I looked over to my dad, sitting beside me, who hadn’t budged and I almost felt a pang of embarressment, like he wasn’t supporting our team for some reason.  He looked at me and said “It’s not a goal”.  Right after he said it, like clockwork, the refs made the call.  The goal was being reviewed.  I sat down beside him and he told me that the goal was deflected off the players shoulder so they wouldn’t give it to them.  It took my dad 30 seconds to tell me that.  It took the NHL officials, 5 minutes of talking, then sending it to Toronto for 5 more minutes of review, to then confirm what my dad had already known.

It’s crazy and it always happens.  So what I’m saying is, if you would like a consultation for your hockey pool, I’m charging 15$/hr to talk to him.  Fire me a text

***Ashley Bergeron is taking new clients for not just eyelash extensions (which I highly reccomend) but also for make up aplications.  Call her at 613-857-4472 or email her at ashleybergeron@live.ca**

Cheers

We are Family

Here’s a pathetic and cliche post for my Badvertising family.  It’s been a chaotic, ridiculous rollercoaster and I’d like to just pay tribute to a few things.

1.  We may not have been as diligent or as serious about school as the year before us or after us, but I’m willing to bet that we had the most fun.

2. I don’t care what anyone says, the best remedy for nerves before a presentation is a single shot of tequila.

3.  I’ve never had so much fun with an eclectic group of people as I have with you guys.

4.  If you post a note about anything in the lab, it will get exploited and reproduced a hundred times over.

5. All nighters.  Thanks to you I flushed my phone down the toilet.

6. Puns are ALWAYS funny.

7. Polaroids, Bands, Rap songs, New York, Car rides, Burritos, and so much more

I could go on forever but I won’t. This program has been the most stressful and simulteanously the most fun thing I have ever done. I love you guys, I hope this isn’t the last of our badvertising adventures!

For the Land of the free…..

You can literally talk about anything online.  Unless you’re my mother, she still prefers using the telephone.  Anyway it happens, freedom of speech is the most abused parts of the constitution.  Everybody believes that what they think is right, all the time and everyone also believe that they should have the ability to share that thought.  And what better way than on the information super highway (that’s the internet).  Facebook still strikes me as one of the most brilliant exploitations of the human nature.  Every time I sit and think about all those relieved customer service representatives, who previously had to sit and listen to all complaints ever made, it brings a smile to my face.

 

I know people who tell me they hate facebook.  In reality, what they actually hate, is everyone else’s opinion.  Twitter (where you can say what you want in shortform), blogs (where you can say what you want in long form),youtube (where you can be an idiot and make money), the pure ability to leave comments places, all fall under the same category.  Look at me, listen to me, and hear what I have to say!   As a human being, we have this egotistical way of thinking, in which we think everyone needs to know what we are doing, where we are doing it and most important how we feel about that.  And it’s this understanding that differentiates good brands from bad brands.  In class we looked at all the wonderful ways this online speech has profited brands.  Everything from Old Spice to Nike has been taken online and given to the “people”.  The advantages are great but you can’t ignore the fact that there are several disadvantages to.  In a world where you can say anything…..you can say anything.  Negative comments are inevitable, ever hear the saying “If something good happens to you, you tell one person, if something bad happens you tell 10”.  If you’re not going to dedicate a full time social media employee, you might as well abandon ship.  The challenge we were presented was to find a social media situation that failed.   Enter the case of Ellen DeGeneres and JC Penney Vs One Million Moms.

Ellen DeGeneres, the beloved daytime show host, who makes me laugh and dance every morning, recently partnered up with JC Penney to provide opportunity to those in need.   This group called One Million Moms found out about this partnership spoke out against this partnership, saying that because of Ellen DeGeneres’s sexual orientation (she’s gay for those who don’t already know) this move was bad for JC Penney.  They claimed that mothers who had “traditional” values would no longer shop at JC Penney.  The backlash that came out (excuse the pun) due to these comments was inspiring.  The news coverage was fantastic, with several newscasts and groups defending Ellen but the biggest support came in the form of social media.   The “One Million Mom” facebook page was overwhelmed with other mothers supporting JC Penney and condemning this homophobia.  Not to mention, hundreds of “One Million Moms Against” facebook pages that sprung up.
Read more about this here

A couple other really great examples of Social Media Fails on this website.  I laughed a lot at the Quizno’s situation.  Here.

The conversation is happening, that’s inevitable.  I’m as guilty as the person sitting beside me on facebook.  Where the brands win, is when they participate and most importantly, listen.

Cheers

Did you know that guerillas are vegetarians?

As lovable as they may seem, today’s post is not actually about animals.  It’s about guerilla marketing.    Guerilla marketing is an in your face, out there kind of advertising that is creative and hands on.  Guerilla marketing is when a brand/company takes it to the street.

Advantages?  They seem endless at first.  The opportunity to be creative , bigger than print. Radio or TV.   Guerilla marketing essentially has no “size” restricts to it.  If it is in your mind, then it can be in real life.    Guerilla market cuts through our everyday clutter.  I mean who isn’t going to noticed a giant golf ball on a car, even while you’re simultaneously thinking about what to make for dinner, when to do laundry, and what deadline you just missed on your way to work.  Most of the time with guerilla marketing you have the opportunity to touch your consumer.  I’m compelled to put a lot of music video breaks in here.  How about one;

Anyway, this isn’t a poster that people are flipping through, this is an actual in your face, grab it, feel it thing.

Now doesn’t that sound genius.  Let’s not get too caught up though.  There are a couple disadvantages to this kind of advertising.  Your message can be missed.  It’s easy to just make something cool, and be satisfied that it’s cool.   For example most things those hipsters do.  Or Urban Outfitters, who capitalize on things that weren’t cool and charge you lots for it.   Anyway it isn’t enough for something to be cool in guerilla marketing, it’s got to make you understand either the brand or the product.  If you’re looking at something and questioning wither it’s an ad or just someone’s garbage, there’s an issue.

It’s an unfortunate thing to say, but I can’t honestly think of any guerilla marketing that I’ve been exposed to.  Not to say it doesn’t exist here, I just haven’t had the pleasure of skipping along one.  That being said, good guerilla marketing does exists and here are some examples:

I’m a nerd so I really loved this Marie Antoinette ad.  I think it’s clever and it completely makes sense.  A perfect example of the guerilla marketing done well, the user leaves with an understanding of what is going on here.  And the real Marie Antoinette fan will appreciate the subtle humour and irony going on.  And it doubles up as a “photo op” which is a dream come true for most advertisers.

Another great post, maybe because I consider myself a really good air guitar player.  But what a great way to really attract the actual music lovers of life.  The only small downside I see to this is if you were in a rush you would dismiss this as a bike rack and not really look at it.

HERE

So how does this type of advertising keep going?  Well for one it’s a fantastic way for  to keep creativity growing, it’s also effective in terms of pricing and mass communication.  It gives us something to talk about besides not remember last night and what Internet law is going through.  It needs to get more specific, which I’m not worried about happening.  Advertisers can watch their consumers better, and facebook is going public which means sooner than later advertisers will know intimate details of where you will be and when you’ll be there.  You would never put a “gold chain” hanging in a neighborhood that doesn’t suit it and that’s only the beginning of how specific things can get.  We’re also going to start utilizing more space, which is a little upsetting in ways.  Canvas’s used to be limited to billboard but I’m sure in the future nothing is going to be off limits.   As long as we keep saving the tigers, I guess I’ll deal with it.

Cheers

There’s an App for that

A catchphrase as powerful as “That’s what she said “.  When apps first became “popular” we associated them strictly with Apple, with such a powerful sentence to accompany them it was hard not to.  Unless you were that nerdy guy waiting for a table at Montana’s the other day, who had a thing or two to say about his disdain for the Apple world.  Anyway we know apps as Angry birds, or facebook, and since other phones and gadgets have jumped on this train, apps can be installed on anything you hold close to your heart.  In some cases I think my sister’s blackberry is actually the only thing keeping her heart beating.

In our last “Trends and Issues in Advertising” class we discussed apps in a more specific way.  Those which are Branded Utlities.   These branded utilities are applications that the user interacts with, outside of the brand itself, which allows you to do something other than what that brand actually does in store.  Holy mouthful.  Think about your bank.  What do you do in your bank, besides gawk at the cute tellers (and thank you RBC for only hiring male models at my branch)?  Give and get your money.  The latter seems to happen surprisingly less often.    Anyway branded utilities are advertising/brands most recent and hopefully most effective way to keep you in love with them.

I’ve got a few that I can rave about.  At the risk of sounding like a complete nerd I have to tell you how amazing the Ottawa Public Library App is.  Thanks to my friend Chelsea for telling me all about it.  This app, beautiful and easy to navigate, let’s me request books, tells me when they’re in the branch of my choice AND best of all lets me renew books without leaving my big comfy couch.   The food network is another beautiful, not to mention delicious, app.  I tell them what food I have, or what meal I want to prepare and at my fingertips are bazillions of recipes, pictures and reviews.  It also allows me to store my favorite ones and go back to them whenever.  Finally, if you don’t know how I feel about Glee just go away right now. The “Glee News” app let’s me keep up with everything Glee, all the time and I couldn’t ask for anything more, expect maybe getting to be on an episode.   I hear great things about the Starbucks app and I guarantee you that if I drank coffee, and didn’t mind spending a months worth rent on a caffeine fix, I’d probably download it.

Mashable put out a list of awards where they named their favorite apps last year.  Here’s their verdict:

Best Branded Mobile App

This category honors the readers’ choice for the best mobile app created specifically by a brand for consumer use on either a smartphone or tablet.

▪   Robbie Williams App

▪   Super 8

▪   Domino’s Pizza USA

▪   KRAFT iFood Assistant

▪   Titan HTSE

▪   GEICO BroStache

▪    Glee by Smule

 Read all the awards here

I have no idea what the “Robbie Williams App” is but I’m going to download it and give you guys some feedback next week.  My guess is it’s going to be awesome.

I would seriously love if I could get an accurate gas price app.  I have one that seems to always be incorrect.  I think I’ve wasted more gas getting to the “cheapest” one and realizing that the app was wrong.  And then sitting in my car in the cold, because I don’t want to waste more gas running the heat, just getting angry and looking like that crazy girl.  And for the love of god would Algonquin College please create an app where I can submit my blackboard assignments at midnight the day before it’s due from my bed, instead of having to open my laptop.  We’re all thinking it; I’m just saying it out loud.

Cheers

Cheers

The King is ringing the doorbell

Not the british king, but if he’s planning on showing up please bring his son (the single one).  Today’s Weird World  story comes to you from our neighbours on top.    Burger King chains in the states have started to deliver.  Isn’t that exciting in the world of making fast food get to you….faster?  Let’s ignore the negatives for a second (I though we were working towards a healthier America) and consider some positives here.  There is going to be a need for delivery boys, which means all the recently licensed teens can get off the couch and make a couple bucks.  And we’re making room for some serious inventions, like the thermal bags to keep the food warm.  The 2$ delivery charge is probably going to do wonders for the economy, and heck I’m sure Pizza Hut was looking for some fair competition.  In fact I’m getting a tingle for a whopper.   And since I live 10 minutes away from Burger King, I can get that burger in my hungry lazy mouth in no time at all.

Read the story here

I also want to talk about the beautiful and elegant return of traditional entertainment.  I’m sure that you’ve all witnessed Burlesque coming back full force in our every day lives, from exercise classes to fashion.  I’d like to push for a traditional circus to come back.   I want elephants and I want tigers and I want it done tastefully.  Animal rights and everything in place, I feel like it could be glorious.  I had this photo sent to me while discussing the traditional circus and I think it says everything about what it should be: PHOTO There’s a world of things that are beautiful about that photo, but I hate to ramble.  Just enjoy it kay.

Cheers

I think it’s about time we stop caring if she ends up with the guy!

I know I only just told you about “Weird World Stories” but I’m throwing another new segment your way, as per the request of Theresa Forman, our brilliant new teacher in “Trends& Issues in Advertising”.  After each class I’ll do a little review of our content and throw in my always sharp and sometimes witty opinions.  Here goes;

This class we played a “demographics vs psychographics” game where I was able to proclaim proudly that I have a twitter and that no one really knows if Hunt Club is considered suburban or rural.  More importantly it really emphasized that if you’re a guy it doesn’t matter as much as if you’re a guy who wears blue socks to the bar on friday night.  Where as advertising used to be an intrusion to people, interrupting their daily soap opeara, now we can get relevant.   A fan of the show Glee is more likely to go to a website promoting this weekend’s karaoke joints than to NFL scores regardless of gender or age.

The above is a TED talk by Johanna Blakley, talking about how social media is leading to the end of gender.   What she means by gender is really that instead of selling baking goods to women and tools to men, advertisers can now sell baking goods to people who like baking, and work tools to people who are handy at home (and if you are please give me a call).   Not every girl likes chick flicks (I personally have never been a fan), which doesn’t mean that they are going away any time soon, it just means that you will be advertised about it, if it’s your thing. Every time you talk about what you like online, advertisers can see it and can respond properly.  She also spends a good share talking about the fact that women have a larger social media presence than men.  Some may find this shocking, I didn’t.  Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a girl, or that I seem to mostly have girls as friends on facebook.  Really I think it’s deeply rooted in our uncontrollable urge to express our feelings in every aspect of our life.  That’s why we see posts and tweets like “Just made a peanut butter sandwich” and “Wearing my new shirt from forever21 to Cabin tonight”.  That’s why girls post more pictures online, and although we’re reluctant to say it, it’s why we spend more time looking at others’ pictures.  I’m not being sassy, I’m equally at fault.  There’s also the argument that a lot of women are still playing the traditional housewife role and have more time to go online.

An example I’ve recently noticed is Lego’s introduction to “LEGO friends” which is a new line of lego specifically targeted for girls.  We started selling them at a mega corporation toy store that shall remain nameless where I work, and I’ve also been reading all about it on marketing blogs and such.  The big deal here is that for the first time, targeting girls in a typically boy toy is not just about making the product pink.  There was some serious insight and research as to what would actually make a typical girl play with LEGO.  All the “friends” and their accessories relate to the findings that were discovered during this research.  Maybe hot wheels will follow close after.  Check it out

What does this all mean?  Well in short for advertisers, it’s time to get clever, get deep and get precise.  For the rest of you, keep at it and your demands shall be met.  Oh and don’t worry, I don’t think chick flicks are going anywhere as long as Robert Pattinson is around.

Ps: I think the return of traditional is coming back in full force, take the powerful re institution of Burlesque style as an example, but more on that next time.

Cheers

Ah the first post of 2012

Welcome to the new year, I trust you all had a spoiled holiday, Santa always treats me to my favorites.  I avoided the traditional “party till I blackout” New Years Eve shindig and instead spent a quiet drama-free, no bullshit night with friends, food, ice wine and Donnie Brasco.  Now onto business

In an increasingly selfish attempt to expand the number of interested visitors I’ve decided to start a new segment I’m going to cleverly  name “Weird World Stories”.  As you may have guessed, I’ll find a weird or interesting story from around the world and just tell you about it.  This way, next time you are gathered at the office water cooler or school overpriced vending machine, you’ll have a cool story to tell.  Cool is a relative description.  You don’t even have to give me credit for it.  Shall we;

Today’s story comes from Australia.  It seems that America’s least favourite bird, the pigeon, is creating quite the buzz.  For some medical reason beyond my head, all these pigeons have caught a killer virus that is just wiping them out.  This is not only problem in the ecological factor of things, but it seems that Australians participate in pigeon races and professional pigeon shows.  Perhaps someone should mention this to that lady in Home Alone 2.   This is  also a problem because they can’t control the vaccination of  unregistered pigeon keepers, what they call “Fringe pigeon people”.    If you’d like to donate to this vaccination I feel responsible to informed  you that there is no link on the story to do so.  I’m sure you can hop on a quick 24 hour plane ride and just do it in person, Porter airlines in the midst of a fantastic 50% off sale.

Anyway, this virus hasn’t affected places where pigeons seem to be a problem rather than a prize (such as New York)  but I’m sure they’ll have it under control before it gets there.  Also there is a concerning paragraph in this article in which they mention a man smuggling two pigeons taped to his legs on a flight from Dubai.  And I can’t even bring my hand sanitizer.

Cheers,

Read the full article here

It’s snowing on wordpress

What a lovely little touch.  Snow is nice when it’s digitally on the computer screen because it doesn’t make a mess or hinder my driving skills.

Anyway I have a review for you today.  I was taught in Presentations skills class that in order for you to appreciate my review I must validate myself for you.  Is the fact that I attended what I’m about to review enough validation for you all?  How about the fact that I have yet to disappoint you?   Hopefully that’s enough because I’m moving on anyway.  If you are looking for something unconventional and beautiful to do in Toronto I urge you to check out Against the Grain Theatre.  Against the Grain Theatre brings you Opera and Music shows without the stigma of them.  Which means they are preformed in a dingy bar, and modernly adapted for your viewing pleasure.  I don’t know how many times I’ve been sitting in an Opera thinking, it would be nice to have a martini in hand right now, ( I don’t drink martinis but you get the picture).

This last weekend I was fortunate enough to see their performance of “La Boheme” at the Tranzac Club, which was a small bar with an autographed photo of Cory Montieth on fridge.  I sat down near the right side and was breathtaken from the very first moment.  Joel Ivany brilliantly directed and adapted “La Boheme” so that even if you went in with no previous knowledge of the story line, you quickly caught on.  The whole show was sprinkled with surprise performances and full space interaction.  And there’s nothing quite like the goosebumps you get from a partnership of only a piano and a powerful voice.  I’m not ashamed to say that Miriam’s portrayal of Mimi brought a tear to my eye, a quick glance around the room ensured me I wasn’t the only one.   I may never truly go back to Opera the old way.  Anyway keep checking out the website for upcoming performances and enjoy the experience yourself.

In traditional sharing mode, I leave you with a nice video for the weekend:

Cheers

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.

What a suitable quote from George Bernard Shaw. I like a lot of things but I love only a few. A good meal is up in that list. Which is why I was beyond thrilled when I went to the talented Dwayne Browns‘ studio and found out it was a food photo shoot.

The day was spent with Dwayne, his assistant Matt, Clare from Fifty and Jarrah the brilliant food stylist of the day. The fantastic thing about food photo shoot is that not only your mouth waters but so do your eyes (and not in an “I-just-cut-up-an-onion” or “I-just-watched-Hardball-alone” way but more of a “wow-I-had-no-idea-food-could-be-so-beautiful” kind of way).

Also important to note is that when you see a dazzling shot of triple cheese tortellini in a rose sauce, that it took extensive time and detailing to make it look refined. It was so fascinating to see everyone working together to get that perfect look.

Might I also add that I was lucky enough to get to sample all the plates being made and everything was just as delicious as they looked! And then Clare brought us some fantastic gourmet cupcakes.

Thanks to everyone for that day and Cheers.