It’s reading week for Ontario’s university students. While I took the VIA Rail from Canada’s London to Toronto, hundreds of designers, editors and buyers travelled overseas for London Fashion Week.
Watch this video to see how Topshop employed Google+ features to produce an innovative fashion show:
[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TAF9OfL99g’]
Anyone need a shopping buddy?
Full article about the campaign available via Fast Company.
After Blockbuster closed its doors, Urban Outfitters seized the opportunity to open its first London, Ontario location. Transforming the former video rental store into an urban shopping paradise required over eight months of construction followed by final touches done by the chain’s visual display team.
Their extensive preparations certainly paid off and district manager Sarah Leising is more than pleased with how the 8,000 square foot space looks now. Eager to see London’s students visit and shop with friends and family, she’s confident that the store’s uniquely “eccentric” environment will make it a hot spot on Richmond Row.
Although Urban Outfitters has grown to become an international chain, Sarah emphasized that they make an ongoing effort to be “culturally relevant,” such as through collaborations with local designers and organizations.
To connect with London’s music lovers, the store is hosting a grand opening party on Thursday February 7. The Elwins, Eternal Summers and Richie Blackz will perform on the second level from 6-8 PM. Get there early!
Sales associate and MIT classmate Stephanie Edwards is excited to work there, knowing that she can be herself and have fun on the job. Her co-worker Monique told me she’s equally jazzed about her part-time job because she likes the store’s alternative vibe and the flexible dress code for employees.
I’ve shopped at Urban Outfitters in Washington, Las Vegas, New York, Montreal and Toronto, so I can attest that Urban Outfitters has a great selection and I’m excited to monitor new arrivals at their London store.
After my last exam of the semester, I took the earliest train to Toronto the next morning, eager to finally pick up a new phone. Though my excitement was interrupted by a transportation-related delay, the shopping experience that followed was unlike any other. I finally got to browse though Yorkdale’s new extension, including Canada’s first Microsoft store, which was great because I’m a PC.
Photo Source: Mashable
Buying a black 16 GB iPhone 5, which’ll be protected by a black OtterBox Defender, was a fantastic way to start my winter break. The case is so mightily thick that my friends have been teasing me about how the phone looks, but having peace of mind makes it worthwhile. During the initial activation of my phone, it was immediately apparent that using it is as intuitive as people say. Once my contacts were transferred from my BlackBerry Tour 9630 (3 years old, with a trackwheel!), I could proudly call myself an iPhone owner.
I’ve had a lot of fun downloading and testing out apps. Here’s a list of 20 apps I recommend, sorted categorically:
Social Networking & Photo: Twitter, Facebook Messenger, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Skype
Entertainment & Music: Flixster (w/ Rotten Tomatoes), GetGlue, Cineplex, Shazam, IMDB
It’s one thing to “Like” a store on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
It’s quite another to learn about how Zellers uses social media while in Liquidation mode.
Name: Jennifer Zedic
Position: Director of Marketing – In Store and Social Media
Employer: Zellers
Education: Fashion Marketing and Merchandising, Ryerson University
Favourite Zellers purchase: Pure by Alfred Sung knit scarf (I liked it so much I bought 5 different colours!)
Professional role model: Heather Reisman – Indigo: I love how she has taken the book store and made it a shopping experience and how she did not back away from technology when it threatens the business, but instead embraced it. She has built a strong and reliable brand and owns the market in Canada.
What makes Zellers a uniquely Canadian store?
History and memories only found in Canada make Zellers a uniquely Canadian store. The fans’ comments from our Facebook page talk about their experience with Zellers growing up in Canadian communities and how the great Canadians who work at those stores made a difference in a lot of their lives.
How has the marketing department’s role and responsibilities changed since learning that Zellers stores will close?
The marketing team is focused on continuing to build great flyer deals that our customers are expecting. We have pulled away from other forms of marketing, such as TV, radio and specialty print but maintained our flyer program and invested heavily in social media. For our Liquidation stores, we are using an extensive amount of ROP’s in local markets to highlight the weekly deals to the customer.
How does Zellers decide which social media channels are worth the investment?
Social media strategy for us is to provide information to the community on what they want to hear about as it relates to Zellers. We chose to invest in Facebook since it is the best way for us to communicate to our customer on a more personalized level and to the largest audience.
When a teacher encourages students to pursue their passion, their influence deserves to be recognized and shared. The Our Kids Private School Expo blog hop provides a great opportunity to express why my media studies teacher, Alice Trachimovsky’s classes are among my best high school memories.
Once I saw how Mrs. T handled a group of immature boys while substituting for one of my grade ten classes, I knew she was a woman from whom I wanted to learn. The following year in grade eleven, her exciting creative assignments ranged from a shopping mall analysis to a full-fledged public service announcement campaign, for which I learned how to create a teaser. Leading enjoyable discussions is one of her specialties, especially when it comes to Lady Gaga and Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Her observational humour always piqued my friends’ interest in how the media industry operates, making it unsurprising that many of my high school classmates study MIT at Western now.
Smaller classes make it easier to form meaningful bonds that promote keeping in touch post-graduation. Three years later, Mrs. T and I still meet for coffee every summer to catch up (most recently at Aroma).
Mrs. T always supported my ambitions to ensure Hot On The Street lived on after its print editions and I’ll never forget when she challenged us to summarize an article in 140 characters.
A magical formula doesn’t move private school students from school A to first choice university B, and then onto dream job C – teachers play a fundamental role in helping students get there.