Browsing Tag

humour

Q&A With Dustin Brown, Co-Creator Of The Brief

Dustin Brown

Toronto-based advertising and communications agency Elemental recently launched a four-part web series called The Brief. Dustin Brown is a partner at the agency who co-created the series.

Why did you decide to make a web series about agency life?

We have always tried to do promotional pieces about the agency to either attract new clients or new employees, bring on new talent and [create] stuff to show our clients what we’re capable of doing. We have run some campaigns in the past and then when one of our new copywriters came on board, he was a director and had the background. I had toyed around with making a full-length series once upon a time and he had some ideas about how to do a web series, which I had never really explored. We brought these two things together and created these shorts and we just had fun with it. From there, it grew into this four-part series, which is great.

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Grumpy Cat Visits Toronto

Hot On The Street - Grumpy Cat Indigo

Photo Source: Indigo

You know how point and shoot cameras have a ‘kids and pets’ feature? Well, if you like pets and have a camera (or a smartphone!), then head over to Indigo at the Toronto Eaton Centre TODAY.

Grumpy Cat is in Toronto and this is an event you can’t miss if BuzzFeed is your homepage.

Cats are cute and memes are funny. Say hi to the famous cat—no excuses!

Afterwards, find a place to sit down and brainstorm ideas for the perfect Instagram caption. There are lots of seats available at Richtree. Or just go to Aroma on the lower level and order an iced chai latte. You won’t regret it.

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Connect Online For A Better Bottom Line

Establishing a presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is a necessary step in promoting new productions, but it is not enough. Effective social media marketing is complex and posting a few links on Facebook or fun facts on Twitter each week is just the beginning.

Using social media management tools to monitor relevant online chatter and respond to patrons’ feedback is very important. For instance, if there has been more buzz about rude front of house staff than the cast’s acting abilities, but that’s unbeknownst to management, then that’s a serious cause for concern.

To stand out amongst the noise, which characterizes social media, stay up to date about industry-wide best practices and assess competitors’ social media activity. If you want to improve your Facebook page, then find brand pages that frequently share interesting content that has high-quality visual elements and understand the approximate 80/20 split between being conversational and promotional. Viral videos like Will It Blend? demonstrate how easy it is to produce engaging content at minimal cost.

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The Meme-ing of Life According to Second City

Second City Toronto Cast

Second City’s new show, The Meme-ing of Life, which examines technology’s impact on modern relationships, induces nostalgic feelings for a time when people spent more time talking than texting. From sifting through online dating profiles on Lavalife’s website to coping with YouTube addictions, The Meme-ing of Life essentially covers everything in today’s zeitgeist.

One wonderful sketch features a driver (Jan Caruana) intensely frustrated with a border crossing guard (Nigel Downer). The majority of Torontonians seem to have a funny story about discretely indulging in shopping sprees abroad or hiding beer in the trunk, so this is remarkably relatable material. Next time you and your partner drive to the United States and they ask if you have anything to declare, perhaps you should test out the following line as your response: “Yes, officer, our love.”

While it’s easy to bond over stories about crossing the border, few local experiences compare to encounters with sketchy people on the TTC. Another sketch effectively pokes fun at how single people can potentially find love amidst all the smelly commuters. Through interactions that gradually become flirtatious, a man’s efforts to sit in the seat a woman reserves for her purse eventually lead to a make-out session on public transit. Local newspapers are filled with stories of missed connections, so theirs is perfectly suitable for a dating story about Generation Y’s hook-up culture.

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Favourite Super Bowl Commercials

Like everyone else born in the 90s, I can’t wait to hear the upcoming new releases from the recently reunited Destiny’s Child, but I was unimpressed by Beyonce’s halftime show at tonight’s Super Bowl overall. Was it fun to see “Single Ladies” performed live? Sure, but I’d much rather see Shania or Madonna perform at the annual event again.

Watching the Super Bowl ads and reading my friends’ live tweets sure made me crave a cold drink – specifically a Budweiser beer or Pepsi. I settled for a cold bottled Starbucks’ Frappuccino and browsed YouTube to narrow down my top picks from the 2013 Super Bowl TV spts. Sit back and enjoy!

Oreo – “Whisper Fight”

Only indoor voices are used for a fierce argument about cookies. After the cops come, an Instagram campaign is announced.

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