Browsing Tag

McDonald’s

Movie Review: The Founder

As soon as I saw a transit ad for The Founder, I knew I had to see it and I was right. It was fantastic. The Founder, starring Michael Keaton, focuses on the early days of McDonald’s and explains how Ray Kroc transformed a burger shack in California into an international institution. This portrayal of Ray Kroc’s life deserves to be nominated for awards and win.

Ray met the brothers behind the original McDonald’s while selling mixers. He was impressed by their story and observed that their cooking process was like “choreographing a crazy burger ballet.” After learning about their speedy system for serving fast food, which they called a “symphony of efficiency,” he convinced them to open franchises under his leadership.

January 22, 2017 by Sarah Prince

Instagram Inspiration: Happy New Year

Many top brands were eager to help consumers ring in the new year. Overall, I noticed that brands posted more GIFs and short videos this year, which signals progress. Last year’s round up included only three posts and this year’s list includes three categories to help marketers with content development on Instagram.

I hope you’ll bookmark this for future reference and maybe even print it in colour to discuss at your next brainstorm meeting!

Inspiration for Small Businesses

While evaluating posts in my feed, I looked for simple posts that small business owners can learn from and treat as templates for future holiday posts. With the right stock photo and some text overlay in a program like Adobe Photoshop, a post that looks like this one from Aroma is fairly easy to create.

January 2, 2015 by Sarah Prince

Coffee With Michael Bregman

A few months ago, I wrote about drinking tea with Carly Rae Jepsen. We didn’t meet at DAVIDsTEA to catch up like old friends; we simply posed at a meet and greet. Drinking coffee with Second Cup’s chairman Michael Bregman was kind of similar. It wasn’t a one-on-one information interview, but rather a breakfast event where he spoke and young professionals listened intently.

In hindsight, Michael’s talk was similar to Annie Young-Scrivner’s keynote at QMAC 2013. At the time, Annie was President, Starbucks Canada and now she is President, Teavana. On both occasions, Michael and Annie succinctly shared their views on coffee consumption, inspired advice-hungry audiences and left enough time for questions.

July 6, 2014 by Sarah Prince

On The Radar: Starbucks

Love struck with a Starbucks barista? You’re in luck! Soon you can show your appreciation (or affection) with a smartphone. Starbucks is rolling out a new digital tipping function for its mobile payment app next summer, as well as through Square for U.S. customers. (Source: CBC)

Starbucks has begun testing 500 sq. ft. drive-thru and walk-up shops run by only a few employees that offer the full Starbucks menu. In an effort to go green, the new LEED-certified coffee shops in the pilot program are hyper local, whereby the design materials are sourced from within a 500-mile radius. The McDonald’s at Richmond and Dundas in London has a walk-up window, but I haven’t seen anyone use it. That said, I’m sure Starbucks’ sophisticated design will make these new venues a nice addition to modern cities. (Source: Fast Company)

Eager to please their most well-known clientele, Starbucks crafted a personalized cup for Demi Lovato by writing her name inside a star resembling her new place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Fans pleaded to Starbucks via Twitter, with the hashtag #putdemisnameonastarbuckscup and Starbucks responded, as seen below. Hopefully other patrons didn’t wait longer in line while baristas designed it. (Source: Twitter)

October 9, 2012 by Sarah Prince

Watch Your Language, Girls!

McDonald’s Canada’s Originals and Lisa Kudrow’s Web Therapy are only a couple of web series garnering lots of online attention and buzz. I just caught the first episode of Shit Girls Say and now I understand why it deserves a place on everyone’s YouTube playlists – male and female viewers alike.

December 13, 2011 by Sarah Prince