Browsing Tag

inspiration

How Gastropost Unites Food Lovers

After hearing speakers from Mondelez and Starbucks at QMAC, I started thinking about how fun it would be to promote food and drinks as your day job. Chris Tindal, co-founder of Postmedia Labs, does the next best thing; he oversees the operations of Gastropost.

Since Gastropost’s Toronto launch in May 2012, it has expanded to Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary, and it now has over 10,000 members. Recognizing its success, I was excited to hear Tindal speak about the content strategy behind Gastropost’s growth. Tindal explained that his team’s goal is to inspire people to love their city by encouraging community members to share their expertise.

Gastropost

Gastropost offers anyone with an internet connection and camera the opportunity to share pictures of food with a large audience. The main incentive to participate in Gastropost’s weekly missions is the chance to see your name and photo in National Post. Each mission has a different theme, such as holiday treats or Father’s Day BBQs. Some themes are created based on brand partnerships between Gastropost and CPG brands, such as Kraft.

Anyone can become a self-proclaimed foodie. Gastropost, however, differentiates amateur food photographers by featuring a selection of food lovers online and in the newspaper every week. 50 likes on your Facebook photo of a fancy appetizer doesn’t qualify as a claim to fame in the same way that being in the National Post does.

Gastropost proves that print newspapers still have value, authority and credibility. There’s no doubt about how exciting it is for a photo of your dinner to be featured in one of Canada’s most popular newspapers. Even though Gastropost doesn’t offer any monetary compensation, the personal validation members receive is evidently sufficient motivation to keep the #gastropost hashtag and community alive. “Every week we send people an email to do something and they do it,” said Tindal. How many email marketers can say that?

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Fashion Blogger By Day, Author At Night

 

Man Repeller final

Hot On The Street & Man Repeller

Leandra Medine and I have a few things in common: we’re both brunettes with blogs who love New York. We also celebrate the same holidays, but that’s an inside joke between us.

On Thursday afternoon, I went downtown for a meeting (read: interview) and then created a workspace at Aroma. Meanwhile, Leandra appeared on The Social and chatted with fashion journalists about her new book, Man Repeller: Seeking Love. Finding Overalls.

Eventually my battery drained and instead of finding a new seat with an outlet, I dashed to Holt Renfrew. As for my outfit of the day, my Michael Kors trenchcoat protected me from the rain and helped me look polished and colourful. Have I mentioned that sometimes you can spot me as the girl in the red trenchcoat?

Anyway, FASHION’s online editor Randi Bergman interviewed Leandra and then the book signing began. I was grateful for a fast moving line that still allowed for ample face time with the author. While she wrote a personalized autograph with a gold Sharpie, we talked about Instagram and The Coveteur. It was just another conversation about social media and style. No big deal.

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Tuesday With Mitch Joel

Photo: Terry Fallis

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.

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Margaret Trudeau Educates Western

When Margaret Trudeau visited Western today, she was introduced through a video narrated by George Stroumboulopoulos, an equally well-liked Canadian cultural icon. Margaret, a mental health advocate, was invited to Western for the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Distinguished Lecture series to talk about her experiences with bipolar disorder, which she discusses in her book Changing My Mind (2010).

Margaret began by saying that she acted like a “drama queen” as a child, who was “quick to cry, quick to laugh.” She first experienced minor bouts of depression when she moved out of her parents’ home during university, noting that she missed the balance once she began living on her own in a basement apartment.

Albeit briefly, Margaret mentioned that the pressure of being a public figure didn’t help her feel better because as the Prime Minister’s wife, she was always expected to be graceful and look good. “There’s nothing more humiliating than being locked up in a psych ward, especially when people who don’t even know you look up to you,” she said. Her position as Canada’s First Lady also contributed to her mood swings, as sometimes her social calendar was filled with fancy events, whereas other times she felt more isolated in Ottawa.

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Katy Perry, LinkedIn’s Thinking of You

Music icon Katy Perry, one of my favourite pop sensations, continues receiving credit for inspiring how everyone uses social media. First, she kicked off the summer with a lyric video for Top 40 hit ‘Wide Awake’ by embracing Facebook Timeline’s features to showcase her milestones, such as concerts, magazine covers and awards.

More recently, Wired shared that Katy Perry inspired LinkedIn’s global redesign. According to Wired, “One of the main goals in Project Katy is to create a cohesive experience across all platforms, no matter the device or operating system.” LinkedIn’s team began focusing on their Katy-inspired  redesign project following an update to its iPhone app. Modelling the site after Katy’s success seemed natural to Steve Johnson, LinkedIn’s director of design and web development, who loves following pop culture. Wired succinctly explains that Katy’s “irresistible pop hooks” make her a great go-to when designers need a muse.

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