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Stephen Colbert’s 3 Favourite Things

There is “so much [comedic] talent out there and not enough time to show it all,” Sandra Bullock astutely said during the People’s Choice Awards. The award-winning star of The Heat and Gravity took home four trophies on Wednesday night, while I sat at home wishing I had her brown wavy locks.

Photo: Latin Times

Kat Dennings, my other favourite brunette Hollywood star, dazzled in her role as co-host. When she quoted fans’ tweets and introduced which song Beth Behrs would sing next, she quickly made that segment a highlight of the 40th People’s Choice Awards. I promised my Facebook friends that I won’t blog more about the dance move Miley popularized last year, so let’s just say Beth’s rendition of Wrecking Ball was epic. Matt LeBlanc joked about singing a song too, but claimed that he couldn’t due to time constraints. The former Friends star then announced that The Big Bang Theory (the show with a Barenaked Ladies theme song) was named Favourite Network TV Comedy.

Kaley Cuoco AKA television’s sweetest newlywed accepted the award for Favourite Comedic TV Actress. She started the year with a bang by wearing a pink Vera Wang dress to her wedding, which she decorated with an upside-down cake hanging from a chandelier. Watching her in the opening sequence on the set of 2 Broke Girls was amusing. Remember, stars are just like us. They’re busy people who care about loyalty programs at Jamba Juice.

Whereas Justin Timberlake spoke about his team in the context of how they’re obligated to deal with his neuroses, Jennifer Hudson brought her sister into the spotlight to emphasize the importance of teamwork and family. “My mother always taught us that without family, you have nothing,” she said. Cover girl material right there. Sponsorship-related pun intended.

Photo: Billboard

Surprisingly, last night marked the first time Britney Spears won her a People’s Choice Award. Britney celebrated her prize and comeback in a dress that screamed Las Vegas style and reminded me how much I want to return to the west coast.

January 9, 2014 by Sarah Prince

Happy New Year

One of my favourite sessions at CM1, Toronto’s first conference for community managers, was led by Ryan Ginsberg from Twitter Canada. His talk focused on how social content strategists can plan ahead for and respond to big moments. This includes holidays and unexpected pop culture spectacles like Miley Cyrus twerking at the VMAs.

Last year, I wrote about how Oreo mastered social media when they were quick to post about the Super Bowl blackout. Oreo’s Super Bowl post was brilliant because their team quickly produced an image with a few words that effectively made millions crave Oreo cookies.

Likeable branded content is simple. Even though digital teams can plan for holidays like New Year’s Eve months in advance, I think a minimalistic execution is optimal. Essentially all you need to do is be engaging and say something to the effect of “Happy Holidays!” with copy and visuals that are aligned with the brand. When businesses create holiday greetings with too many CTAs, they risk appearing obnoxious, as ADP Canada’s Elizabeth Williams observes.

3 brands that understand the power of brevity when celebrating the holidays are Sharpie, Ben and Jerry’s and Holt Renfrew. Look at their Instagram posts to see what I mean:

January 1, 2014 by Sarah Prince

Behind The Scenes: The Extra Plate

Save the Children is an international NGO committed to advocating for children’s rights and supporting children in developing countries. When Save the Children Canada’s PR manager Kirsten Walkom tweeted that she needed an extra set of hands for a video shoot, I responded immediately and spent the day with their production team a few days later.

Many local celebrities donated their time to appear on camera, including fashion designers Adrian Wu and Jessica Jensen, nutritionist Joy McCarthy and Kiss 92.5’s Devo Brown. It was fun to hang out with them in between takes in Liberty Village.

Devo Brown (Kiss 92.5)

Running into Madiha Aziz, a fellow volunteer and competitor at QMAC 2013, was a nice surprise! She says that helping out on set proved to be a good learning experience. “Before arriving on set, I did not know how much the impact of each dollar donated is to the children of Syria. I felt very blessed to get the chance to assist with the production of this video because it will create the much-needed awareness of the critical situation in Syria.”

Madiha Aziz and Wayne Smith (Toronto Argonauts)

Director Ian Barnett’s final product looks great, as it effectively captures stories about children’s fears to inspire viewers to support Save the Children. One key takeaway from the video is that donating only $40 to the charity can go a long way. Check out the video for The Extra Plate below and share your childhood fears on Twitter for a chance to win a prize!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uyd4XFmiYE’]

November 7, 2013 by Sarah Prince

Tuesday With Mitch Joel

Photo: Terry Fallis

On Tuesday I had a chance to connect with some industry peers and see not just any Canadian marketer, but one who’s so influential that he’s verified on Twitter! Mitch Joel, bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and president of Twist Image, was the featured speaker at the Third Tuesday meetup and he was awesome.

Surprisingly, the highlight of my evening was not the opportunity to meet people from Twitter in real life. It wasn’t Mitch’s jokes either (and there were a few). The best part of the event was the feeling I had when left. For the first time, spending two hours in a bar inspired me to be that girl sitting in the TTC’s red seats typing away. That’s why I like going to book signings – you always leave feeling inspired and last night was no exception.

Mitch made an interesting comment: “Writer’s block doesn’t exist. It’s bullshit.” From there, he went on to talk about how he likes to embrace the chance to write wherever and whenever he can, even if that means sitting on the floor at a conference.

September 11, 2013 by Sarah Prince

An Ode to Oreo

There’s a delightful quality to everything Oreo posts on social media. From the Super Bowl blackout to Father’s Day, Oreo creates content that seamlessly weaves in current events without ever seeming obnoxious or sales-y.

The photo they uploaded minutes after the Royal Baby’s sex was announced once again shows that Oreo’s a band who truly gets how to engage through social media marketing. Oreo is all about having milk and cookies. Therefore, placing milk, which is central to their creative, in a baby bottle in honour of the royal family isn’t a stretch. Instead, it’s cute and adds to the loveable quality of the brand and product that makes Oreo cookies a classic snack and childhood favourite.

July 23, 2013 by Sarah Prince

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