Michael Gauthier must have been proud. This past weekend the natural ice rink that Professor Gauthier and his environmental science students built (with the help of volunteers, community members and Home Depot, among others) finally officially opened.
We first came across Gauthier and his rink in the fall during one of our weekend city hikes.
This past Family Day long weekend, I attended the Stars show at Toronto’s historic Danforth Music Hall. The opening act was Hey Rosetta! from Newfoundland.
It was the first time seeing any of these bands live as well as attending the Danforth Music Hall. and I came away both pleased and excited.
Stars are a favourite local band that has been making waves both here in Canada and around the world for their fun pop anthems and energized live shows. Their 2012 album, The North, is in heavy rotation on my laptop. And they did not disappoint the thousands in attendance.
Hey Rosetta! are the “new kids on the block”. And I came away more than impressed. So much so that I truly believe that they are going to be one of the biggest indie rock bands in the world. Think the same level as Arcade Fire. They have a ways to go but there was something about them that impressed me.
Maybe it was the impressive vocal range of lead singer and songwriter, Tim Baker. I don’t want to jinx anything but he kept on reminding me of Coldplay front man, Chris Martin. Or maybe it was the durability of Romesh Thavanathan who played guitar, cello (I think) and guitar. Most likely it was that any band who has a french horn featured in multiple songs is a winner in my books.
Stephen Colbert left The Report to play the straight man in late night television. Jon Oliver took his talents to HBO. And even household favourite David Letterman is leaving late night.
Today, Jon Stewart announced his retirement from The Daily Show. This dramatic change in the television landscape opens the door for both fresh new voices as well as his “conservative” critics to fill the void.
I never did watch The West Wing when it first ran on TV. However, because of the miracle or Netflix, I am now watching The West Wing. It took me a few episodes to get hooked. But I am so glad I was “patient”. The West Wing is one of the best TV shows ever. And Toby Ziegler is one of TV’s best characters.
All last week, the Canadian marketing and advertising world was busy showcasing the most popular campaigns and innovations at FFWD 2015, or Advertising and Marketing Weekin Toronto.
Twitter Canada played host to a session titled, “140 Characters and Beyond: Exploring The Power of a Tweet.”
I was recently reminded of this short interview I did with Jon Sinden. Sinden is now the VP of Marketing for Beerlicious. His most recent gig before that was building the social and digital properties for Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment (MLSE).
This particular interview was conducted in the press box high above center ice at the Air Canada Centre which is home to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.
We chatted a bit about the role of digital and social in bringing fans closer to the action. I hope you enjoy!
This week Toronto is playing host to Advertising Week – Canada. And I’m excited that our company, Catalyst Canada, is producing 5 original articles this week. Here’s the one that I was tasked with writing:
“Over the past 10+ years we have witnessed the rise of social media and social networking. What once was the domain of individuals quickly became a hybrid of brand marketing and personal posts. Today we have come to expect zero organic reach for brands on Facebook. And while brands continue to see reach on Twitter, many have opined that Twitter may follow Facebook’s lead as it continues to monetize their platform.”
Recently, Facebook announced changes to their News Feed algorithm. Again. They’re always making changes. Sometime users hate them. Most of the time, brands are left scratching their heads. Marketers see change as an opportunity. Here’s the piece I wrote for Catalyst Canada:
“According to the most recent numbers Facebook has made publicly available, more than 19 million Canadians are logging on at least once every month with 14 million of us checking our news feed every day. Add to that the brand updates from the hundreds of thousands of brands and companies on Facebook and the average user has more than 1000 status updates in their newsfeed when they login.”
I love Twitter. Ever since the days of sending and receiving tweets on my Motorola flip phone via SMS. I also happen to work with the platform on a daily basis. I teach Twitter Marketing at George Brown College here in Toronto. I also help brands understand how to use Twitter from both an organic and paid perspective. It’s really quite interesting. And my work is both fun and rewarding. To be able to help brands increase their reach and achieve goals on my favourite communications tool is very exciting!
There are times when I do use the product where I come away scratching my head. Why would a brand be on Twitter and stay quiet? It’s like having a store and never opening. Or a phone number but never answering a call. An email address but never replying. If you’re a brand and you’re on Twitter you better believe that your customers and potential customers expect you to reply and engage. Especially, if these people are asking for help. I present to you exhibit #1:
@petsmart we got a betta fish for Christmas. We have a 1.5 litre tank w/ filter. When filter is on the fish seems to struggle. #help
Here is my closing remarks: Don’t be cute. Stay on brand. Be entertaining. And don’t play baseball if all you know is hockey. Make sense? Here’s my final exhibit. Exhibit #2:
