Yesterday was my lucky day! As I was exploring the world of Twitter, I found out that Kiehl’s was having a contest to win the last invitation to their 160th anniversary private event located at their Montreal store.  The contest was simple, I just had to tweet them the address of their St-Catherine street store before 2PM. I figured I might as well enter; because contests are always fun, and sure enough I WON!

Founded in New York City by John Kiehl’s in 1851, Kiehl’s is a company that sells all natural, luxury products for your face and body. You can find more detailed information about the company on their website: http://kiehls.ca/

The event took place from 6-8 PM at the Montreal store located at 760 St-Catherine street West. Some of the event highlights were the free consultation with Khiel’s ambassadors; cupcakes with QR codes, which when scanned gave 10 people the chance to win their Kiehl’s wish list; a photobooth at the entrance of the store where event attendees could take pictures of themselves with silly hats and boas and receive them instantly to take home; and last but not LEAST the goody bags. Everyone got to take home three products that were referred to them during their consultation, and on top of it were given three deluxe samples.  

The event was definitely a success, and in terms of consumer trends, Kiehl’s dipped into the social media Share Factor and used it well. With flat screen computers set up in store, people were able to sign into their Facebook account, “Like” the Kiehl’s Canada fan page, take a picture with the computer’s web cam and leave a message wishing Kiehl’s a “Happy birthday”. In doing all this, fans were automatically entered to win a weekend trip for two to New York City, they were then given the option to invite friends to like the fan page, or post the fact that they were now fans of Kiehl’s Canada on their wall. The QR codes on the cupcakes were also a great way to incorporate new technologies and trends into the in-store event.

Social media was a large factor in my night at the event, from winning an invite through twitter, to live tweeting throughout the event, and liking the Facebook fan page live from the store I touched all aspects of social media that night! Now I’m keeping my fingers crossed to win the trip to NYC! 

It’s September which means new beginnings! September has always represented new beginnings for me as my life until now was always defined by school. September was my January, and my time to set goals and make resolutions.  This September seems weird, instead of starting school this past Tuesday I went to work, just like every other day since completing my Bachelor’s degree in June.  I can’t say I like this “real life thing”. All my graduation cards advised me, in very creative ways,  to “do what I love” and I’ve come to the realisation that I’m not really doing that, and I’m not really sure what that is.  And so this blog post is dedicated to new beginnings and figuring out what I love to do, this may take some serious time and soul searching which I won’t bother boring anyone with, but when I do find myself and figure stuff out I will post it for all to see.

Neil Patrick Harris started something interesting via his twitter (if you’re a fan of his and don’t yet follow him please get on that: @ActuallyNPH) He began tweeting things he “digs”, basic every day things, from consumer goods to delicious food to great places. I like this idea so here’s a list of things that I love and think are definitely worth my time, money and taste buds:

My Amazon Kindle- I never leave the house without it.
DavidsTea- there is not a day that goes by without a cup/mug of any of my DavidsTeas.
Frozen Yogurt- one of my favourite sweet treats.
Fall Fashions- saving money between September and November is practically impossible with the slew of great fall fashions that hit retail stores.
Fall- forget the fashion the season itself is amazing.
Football Season- the hype is too good to miss out on.

I’ll cap my list at that, until next time.

Laura

These past few crazy weeks have rendered my blog dormant.  After finishing my degree in English literature, and trying to answer the question “what’s next” I’ve been stumped and un-inspired. I searched high-and-low for a new and exciting consumer or marketing trend to share on my blog, but to my dismay I was not intrigued by anything blog worthy.  My inspiration and revelation for this blog post was brought on by none other than my 19 year old sister who has become a Royal Wedding Fanatic—to say the least!  After sneaking into her room, I tripped over a stack of magazines with the beautiful faces of Prince William and Kate Middleton all over the various covers.  I couldn’t help but pick one up and take a gander at what it had to say.  I dedicate this post to all the ridiculous marketing, product development and propaganda that is being created for this wedding.

I must agree that Prince William’s wedding is a big deal, and I knew there would be a fuss over it, but I never thought to this extent. Tabloids have been covering the hoopla around this wedding since the engagement announcement, which is only normal, but when Genral Electric made a fridge dedicated to the royal couple, I was awestruck.  The fridge was just the beginning of an insane influx of memorabilia for the much anticipated event.  After seeing the fridge, I delved deeper to see what other keepsakes were being made for the event.  HELLO CANADA magazine dedicated a spread in their April 18th issue to all the royal wedding souvenirs that have been created. The spread depicts silver spoons, PEZ dispensers, garden gnomes, dolls, fine china, coins, a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle, and the list goes on. With all these trinkets and dust collectors being produced for this wedding, the intimacy of the event loses its value. All this to say that the media and tabloids have turned something so beautiful and formal into some kind of tacky trend—not surprising! Keep your eyes peeled for  #royalwedding trending on twitter in the coming weeks! 

The summer of 2010 brought a new and exciting summer- fun trend to Montreal: self serve frozen yogurt. Before this trend hit Montreal last summer, I had heard of a popular self serve frozen yogurt franchise in the United States called Pinkberry, but that’s about as far as my self serve frozen yogurt knowledge went. The only frozen yogurt that I was familiar with in Montreal was our beloved TCBY.  As the summer air got warmer, I discovered Yeh Yogurt on St-Laurent and dropped in to try their original, strawberry, and blueberry flavours and vast selection of fruit toppings. I was hooked after my first experience at Yeh, which had me craving frozen yogurt all summer long. I soon learned about their Monkland and St-Catherine Street locations which made satisfying my cravings much easier. I always opted for healthy frozen yogurt options like the fruit flavours topped with fresh fruit. When I went back to Yeh this March I was more excited than ever to try their blood orange flavour which ended up being just as fresh tasting and delightful as the rest of their fruit flavours.  

 I recently delved into the world of SwUrl Frozen Yogurt located on Crescent Street, and was impressed with the cool flavours they offered. I went to SwUrl on St-Patricks day and was delighted to try their Lucky Charms flavour which tasted exactly like my childhood-favourite cereal. They also had an Irish Cream flavour to celebrate the Irish holiday. I broke my healthy frozen yogurt streak and topped my lucky charms, vanilla and chocolate treat with Oreos and Smarties.  

With spring just around the corner, and summer on its way, Montreal Frozen Yogurt will be in high demand. I suggest people try both SwUrl and Yeh to get the best of both worlds.  SwUrl has the wild funky flavours while Yeh has the originals you know you can’t live without. 

**click on the logos to be re-directed to their respective websites

How has something as mundane as tea become so popular recently? My answer is David’s Tea. The company which opened its first store in Montreal in 2008 has a variety of teas that not only smell and taste great, but are also beneficial for your health. David’s Tea has managed to create quite a stir in the lives of everyday tea drinkers; because their vast selection of tea makes it harder than ever to choose what your tea time choice will be. David’s tea has got it all, from black teas, to oolong teas, to herbal teas and rooibos teas, to just plain fun-to-drink teas. The Montreal based company puts out a new collection of teas with each change of season. I received a small bag of some of their spring 2011 collection teas, and they were definitely pleasant to the nose and the taste buds. My personal favourite this season is Pink Flamingo, and anyone who loves citrus fruits can definitely relate to my new obsession. Pink Flamingo is a pink tea that tastes like a fruit punch and helps you transcend to sweet spring days when the snow is melted and the birds are chirping. Another awesome tea from their spring collection is Cocomama Lime, this is a caffeinated black tea that’s a little less fun than my Pink Flamingo favourite, but nonetheless lovely. Cocomama lime has more of a neutral taste, but the coconut pieces in it make is sweet, while the lime makes is a little tangier than an ordinary black tea.

David’s Tea is definitely on the top of my new trends list, because they have successfully turned something as ancient and classic as tea drinking into a hot new trend. For more information on David’s Tea visit their website....www.davidstea.com 

Keeping in tune with my advertising themed blog, I felt it necessary to write a post dedicated to the realm of User Generated Content advertising that the 21st century has come to know and love. 

Large corporations and companies have turned to their fans and customers to help create and generate their most outstanding campaigns. When Doritos launched their Viralocity campaign across Canada, it seems as though everyone was excited and ready to create the next big commercial and name the newest flavour. This is one example of the many successful user generated content (UGC) campaigns that have been launched in recent years. UGC, especially in the form of videos, has had a great effect on the world of advertising. In implementing a UGC campaign, a company can cut its production costs while allowing customers to play a role in the growth, and promotion of their favourite brand. Advances in social media have made it easy for consumers to be the judge by liking, tweeting, and reposting their favourite videos, which in effect, optimizes the visibility of a given brand. User generated content is a trend that has proven to be a success in the advertising industry because, it allows the most important stakeholder (the customer) to be the creator, the judge and the promoter, all while remaining extremely cost effective. 

Doritos' launched their most recent UGC campaign with their "write the end" contest. Consumers are given the opportunity to write the end of a Doritos commercial that was aired during the Superbowl, and the story with the most votes online wins. The winner is rewarded $25,000 and 1% of all future sales. 

I’ve seen many creative, eco friendly products  in the recent years of “save the environment” madness, but the one I’m about to  discuss definitely puts all others to shame. “Stop the Water While Using Me” is  a line of personal care products that is organic, eco-friendly and uses its  packaging to promote the salvation of water. The line includes shower gel,toothpaste and shampoo, basically, products that are normally used while the  water is running. The brand displays the perfect example of the fundamental  KISS rule when taking into consideration the design and branding of theproduct. It is a simple product with a simple message and it is conveyed in the  simplest, most obvious way. What makes these products so amazing is that the  simplicity behind their advertising can have a huge impact on such an important  environmental issue. I’m definitely a culprit of letting the water run while  brushing my teeth, washing my hair and lathering my body. Maybe if my toothpaste,shampoo and body wash had the capability of reminding me to shut the water  while using them I would take it into consideration. I think the only set back  to these products is that they may be quite costly as they are 100% organic,but other than that they are definitely something to consider! Hopefully they  smell nice!

The line, designed by German  advertising agency Kolle Rebbe, will be available as of November 2011.  See the video below for more information. 

3D projection mapping seems to be hot news in the Marketing world.  I heard about it a month ago when H&M used this new technology at the opening of their Flagship store in Amsterdam. I decided to delve deeper into this new technology, and searched 3D mapping projection on YouTube, the search procured and abundance of videos of various companies that have used this type of advertising. From what I understand 3D mapping is a mix of production and architectural genius, with an outcome that is crowd pleasing and jaw dropping. While doing some light research, I came across an article about a 4D projection mapping project on the Ralph Lauren flagship store in New York. Ralph Lauren is the first company to have used 4D mapping, they took 3D mapping to the next level, by displaying a fashion show on the building. This 4D project was done to celebrate 10 years of digital innovation in New York, and was definitely something I would have liked to see live.

This new technology takes brand marketing to a whole new level, and it will be interesting to see how it will flourish over the years. 

I’ve never been a gadget girl, and rarely keep up with the newest technologies, but when Amazon introduced their Kindle e-reader, I was intrigued. If there is one thing I do enjoy, it is reading. My fire for reading was newly kindled (pun intended), when Amazon announced their new generation Kindle with Wi-fi.  This new innovation, made the Kindle more enticing, as the first generation Kindle required a usb hook up to a computer in order to download books. The new Kindle requires no usb connection and books can be purchased from the handheld device.

After receiving my Kindle as a Christmas gift I understood what all the hype was about! For starters, the e-ink screen actually looks like a book page and makes reading easier on the eyes. Looking up new words is as easy as placing your cursor in front of the word you would like defined, and the definition (from the Oxford English Dictionary pre-loaded on to the device) is displayed on the screen. Amazon has made sharing your favourite book quotes easier by enabling connection with social networks. Moreover, you can perform searches on Google right from your Kindle. Another great feature is the Kindle’s battery life which lasts up to one month, and although I thought this was most likely not true, low and behold, it’s been almost one month since I got my Kindle and the battery is still working without having to charge it. If you're having problems with your Kindle, the group of Kindle specialists at Amazon. com are very helpful, not to mention Amazon has set up a web page with FAQ's and solutions to any kindle problems you may experience. 

If you’re a book, blog or newspaper reader, I highly suggest the Kindle.

** For more Information check out the Kindle page on amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wireless-Reading-Display-Generation/dp/B002Y27P3M/ref=sa_menu_kdp3w3

As the clock strikes midnight on October 31st, it seems as though people tear their Halloween decorations off the house instantly, and by the evening of November 1st their Christmas lights are up! This anxious behavior is due to a phenomenon that is the RETAIL world.  Having worked in retail since the age of sixteen, I have been well accustomed to Christmas in November. Promoting Christmas in November is a marketing ploy used by retailers to remind consumers that Christmas is just around the corner (but actually in a month). The marketing strategy used to promote the holiday season makes people go a little crazy, and  pressures them to start their holiday shopping really early. Once people see Christmas window displays and catalogues, they feel pressured to put up their Christmas lights (a little too early).


As I was driving home last night I was caught off guard when a house on my street had their Christmas lights on and lit up, and a stack of hay with a pumpkin at the end of their driveway. The image of the Christmas lights and the stack of hay depicted the epitome of the Halloween/ Christmas transition. I really can’t judge people on when they decide to put their lights up; because it all depends on how excited people get for the holidays, but I do think that November 1st is just a little premature.  

Maybe I should learn a lesson from the retail world and start my shopping earlier this year, but my biggest fear in doing so is getting annoyed of the holiday season. Although I sound like a Grinch, I love the holidays but I’m going to give it a few weeks before I begin blogging about holiday traditions and shopping guides.  

Photo: Flickr  creative commons by  brianjmatis