Browsing Tag

shopping

iPhone Transition and Recommended Apps

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

Continue Reading

December 30, 2012 by

Behind the Brand: Zellers

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.

Continue Reading

October 17, 2012 by

Back to School Inspiration

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.

Continue Reading

September 6, 2012 by

Behind the Brand: Sears

It’s one thing to “Like” a retailer on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

It’s quite another to learn about who promotes which clothes belong in your closet.

Name: Robin Vengroff

Position: Styling Sample Coordinator

Employer: Sears

Education: Fashion Communications, Ryerson University

Favourite blogs: Worn Fashion Journal, The Man Repeller, Jak and Jil, Garance Dore, Style Rookie, ModCloth, Refinery29

Favourite mobile app: The Collection – New York Times Fashion

Style icon: Iris Apfel, Jackie O, and my Grandmother

Professional role model: Grace Coddington (Creative Director of Vogue), Alexa White (of W) and ModCloth.com founder Susan Gregg Koger

In 140 characters or less, why can we be optimistic about the future of Sears?

Sears is focusing on gaining back the trust of its customers. It’s a matter of getting back to basics, and putting value and quality first.

What do you enjoy about working for a retailer, rather than a fashion designer or magazine?

Working for a retailer was a big to do on my fashion professional checklist for a number of reasons. I think that the experience I have had in working from both other perspectives was not really fully developed until coming into this environment. Seeing how initiatives get put into place in this kind of world is so different. I like this environment because it pertains to the realistic expectations of shoppers. Fashion magazines are about taking clothes and making them into a story to portray a theme for the season. And working for a boutique fashion designer was geared towards pleasing a very particular kind of customer and style. In this world of mass retail we also develop and market brands and a story or theme for the season, but the customer base is so much larger that I felt that it was extremely important to me in my career to understand that relationship as well.

Sears in particular was enticing for me to work for because it presented a lot of opportunity for growth within company. As a company Sears is very nurturing of its own talent – there are programs in place like the Future Leaders Program for Buyers that trains and develops the skills of employees.

Continue Reading

July 27, 2012 by

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