Browsing Tag

tweet up

Eat, Read and Discuss: Amor Towles Tweet Up

As I’ve said before, what’s a Toronto visit without an Indigo event? This time my trip home coincided with another Indigo tweet up at the classy downtown French restaurant Biff’s Bistro. I was one of four winners selected to have dinner with the bestselling author Amor Towles, who was in town for the International Festival of Authors.

Amor Towles’ debut novel Rules of Civility (2011) has been well received by critics whose praise matches my impression of him. Rules of Civility‘s 1930s New York setting led the tweet up attendees to discuss history, including commentary about how students learn about previous decades through textbook summaries, often leading us to generalize how people lived in the past.

Grey nails for dinner in Biff’s Grey Room

The tweet up was organized by Indigo’s events team and Penguin Group (Canada), Amor’s publisher. Amor sat in the middle of the table, making it easier for everyone to ask him questions. Amor primarily works in investments in New York, so his stories about writing the manuscript and approving the final content while juggling a full-time job on Wall Street was interesting to hear about.

Although the earlier topics of conversation were directly linked to books, such as Kobos, reviews and book clubs, I enjoyed when the discussion shifted to marketing. It was nice to talk about word of mouth marketing as it relates to publishing and learn about how often the avid readers at the table make decisions based on friends’ recommendations.

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Next Top Role Model

Elizabeth Bromstein, who earns a living commenting on celebrities, work and love, yet refrains from gossiping over dinner at the Spoke Club. Elizabeth’s published work reflects her wit and intelligence that earned her a spot on this list, but my favourite memories with @missbromstein involved meeting in person to discuss Twitter, food and life.

Hilary Duff, Hollywood’s eternal good girl whose [extended] team coined the term ‘momager’ and eventually married a Canadian hockey player.

Kelly Cutrone, a PR pro known for succinctly spreading the message Normal Gets You Nowhere. Both her books gave me a lot to think about – enough material for a term paper about The Culture of Celebrity. I’ll never forget when she pegged me as a journalist, or her knack for bringing people together.

Kelly Cutrone (May 2011)

Lauren O’Neil, a professional internetter and online creep with FIMS training at Western as well. She’s made the rounds helping brands improve their social media, running around Toronto to share insights, and then wound up at CBC, true to her roots in journalism. On a side note, it’d incredible to get us, Julie Geller, Matthew Stradiotto and Jerry Seinfeld in the same room and determine Ms. O’Nizzle’s ultimate job title. Patrick Thoburn can moderate.

Shania Twain, whose motivational life story and lyrics taught me the word ‘prerogative’ once upon a time when I played ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman’ over and over again on my desktop karaoke software. Many thanks to the Toronto Star for organizing a contest to meet her in 2005, which marked the beginning of my winning streak, and to my pals at Indigo for reuniting us in 2011. I still don’t have a photo with her, but 3rd time’s the charm.

Tomorrow I’ll be of legal drinking age in the U.S. & Canada, so message me when you’re free for a champagne-inspired tweet up.

Cheers!

Behind the Brand: Mirage Resort and Casino

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

It’s quite another to learn about who writes those updates.

 

To debut the Behind the Brand series, Danielle Deremo shares advice about social media marketing.

Danielle Deremo

Name: Danielle Deremo (@SuperDaniYell)

Position: Social Media Specialist

Employer: Mirage Resort and Casino (MGM Resorts), Las Vegas, Nevada

Education: Hospitality Administration, Northern Illinois University

Professional role model:

It would have to be Kristalina Steininger, (@kristalinas) she took me under her wing when I was an intern at MGM Grand and she was Assistant Manager of Food & Beverage Marketing. She introduced me to social media from a brand’s perspective and taught me the rules of the road when it comes to representing a business in the Web 2.0 arena. Since I’ve moved on from my internship and began working at The Mirage, she has been a close friend and mentor of mine.

Favourite Blog:

As a big foodie, I really appreciate My Drunk Kitchen and The Kitchn. I get all my entertainment from MDK and all my recipes from reading The Kitchn!

Favourite mobile app:

Besides the regulars of foursquare, Facebook & Seesmic for my Twitter accounts, I am a big fan of Reddit Is Fun, SoundHound, and Path. And although it’s not an App, I’m becoming severely addicted to Pinterest.

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Second Helpings, Please!

After two days of enjoying some of the best recipes in Second Helpings, Please!, a staple in any Jewish home, with my family, I tasted new concoctions by Chef Jason Bartenger at the Oliver and Bonacini Canteen in the TIFF Bell Lightbox. There, I reunited with ladies whom I’ve affectionately categorized online as the “Indigo Tweets Crew”. For this reunion dinner however, there were not even any Indigo employees present! They were greatly missed though, especially by those of us who hadn’t seen Captain Awesome (aka Cammy, the author of @indigogreenroom tweets, who arranges for fans to meet celebrities across Canada) at the Word on the Street Festival last weekend.

Jennifer, a librarian technician at Humber College who made tonight’s reservations, showed off her new “practical, yet sexy” pumps from Naturalizer, which received the group’s stamp of approval for being stylish too. If only I had been on the other side of the table to capture it on camera when she pulled one off to show us… That was a funny moment, right there in the restaurant on a Friday night. Oh well. It just goes to show you how after meeting each other only once or twice at Indigo events, we already share a great camaraderie.

The reunion dinner couldn’t have been scheduled much later in the fall because after exploring all that Toronto has to offer, including a gig working at CTV, Elizabeth is returning home to Newfoundland this week! Hopefully she’ll be able to squeeze in a trip to the theatre to see Kim Cattrall on stage, which is on my to-do list as well, time permitting. It has already been agreed that a tweet up will be built around her next visit to Toronto. Plus, I just documented it, so now it’ll for sure have to happen!

 

 


 

 

Oh yes, and then there’s the food, i.e. the scrumptious platters that Chef Bartenger delivered to us himself, accompanied by detailed explanations of the ingredients and preparation. There’s a reason we returned to eat at the Lightbox and it wasn’t just because of the chef’s good looks.

Tonight marked the first time I’ve ever had a beet salad and liked it and I wasn’t alone in loving each piece topped with Greek yogurt and granola.

 

 


 

 

Servings of flatbread, chicken pate, steak tartare and frites with grated cheese were also slid down the table in between us and enjoyed by all. At this point, the menus doubling as placemats beneath our plates had been nearly forgotten about, but we continued to indulge by ordering beef brisket sandwiches, scallops and desserts, including a root beer float. The float was also served to an eleven year old birthday girl upstairs who apparently has impeccable manners and an excellent vocabulary, or at least that’s the word on the street.

 

 


 

 

There was some conversation about book signings, recent purchases and the new augmented reality interactive experiences offered by Indigo, but there was surprisingly little talk about social media at all this time. We were simply 8 friends gathered in downtown Toronto, unwinding at the end of the week and enjoying each other’s company before returning to our regular routines as students, young professionals, teachers and mothers.

At the the end of the evening, as we reached for our coats and decided to institute our tweet up as a quarterly event, Jennifer generously offered tickets to a blogger event. Things like that just don’t happen in London, Ontario, nor does the event Word on the Street I’m afraid.

 

 


 

Marketing professionals are continually seeking ways to make their initiatives appear organic. There’s something quite authentic about women feeling inspired by a corporate-sponsored event to coordinate their own that’s equally as intimate as the first by using the tool that brought us all together in the first place: Twitter.

Another First From Indigo

From a heads up on contest giveaways to exclusive invites, I’ve truly been enjoying all that Twitter has to offer, including the opportunity to connect with people in real life who I would have never met otherwise.

Indigo’s first tweet-up get together in February epitomized the power of Twitter when Cammy (@indigogreenroom) invited 9 of his loyal Twitter followers to an exclusive fun-filled evening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The tweet-up brought new meaning to the term ‘reading week’, which had brought me home to Toronto at the time, as it shows how reading is not merely a solitary activity; it brings people together.

Given that the event took place back in February, I won’t go into much detail about the event, except to say that I met some lovely ladies that evening and enjoyed the opportunity to meet Cammy in person! Chef Jason Bartenger served some delicious treats at LUMA, including this tasty desert pictured below:

For more insight into the Indigo tweet-up, you can check out Sara Hamil’s rave review, from which you can learn why Ivey should consider creating a case study about Indigo’s thoughtful marketing strategy.

As much as I love Indigo, someone else scrawled this on an Indigo notebook for the record. On a previous page, you can find other girls named Sarah doodling their name with the pencil. It’s such a common name!

After brainstorming similar events geared towards bloggers and trendsetters while working at Matchstick, I finally was able to attend a fall preview tonight at Indigo’s headquarters downtown at King and Spadina.

Walking into the brightly lit room on the sixth floor, I found a room filled mostly with women, all of whom were booklovers and Indigo rewards members. For the first time, Indigo granted rewards members the opportunity to preview Indigo’s fall lifestyle collection, just hours after opening their doors to magazine editors and TV show producers. Lack of media accreditation aside, everyone seemed pleased to mingle and browse while munching on appetizers from Chef Michael Smith’s recipes.

While librarians discussed the potential looming strike, teachers and students tried to hide their anxiety about going back to school and Indigo employees worked the room to chat up event attendees about Indigo’s reward programs and stunning new products. It wasn’t salesy at all, but ideally they should have introduced guests to each other rather than approaching them individually without helping them to forge new connections. Then again, it’s more difficult to make that happen without the luxury of a private dining room, like there was at the tweet-up.

My friend Cora, an English major, is eager to start reading the book by Phillip Roth she received in her gift bag!

Speaking of giveaways, one of my lucky friends from the Indigo tweet-up took home a new touchscreen Kobo e-reader and other guests will soon delve into The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which is a highly anticipated book according to Indigo’s team. Check back soon to see which purchases will be bought with my Indigo gift card!

I must also discuss the strategic layout of the room used for the fall preview event. Entering the room mirrored walking into a foyer at a neighbour or friend’s home, whereas this is usually where you would find a branded step and repeat used for photography. The most sales-forward component was a display of leather Kobo cases, but for a company responding to consumers’ adoption of digital readers, that was to be expected and nothing was lost as a result.

The entire room maintained a good balance that showcased how Indigo’s products can be used to create either a classic, sophisticated look throughout your home or quirky, fun atmosphere, depending on the decorative items you prefer. For example, you can easily add colour to a home office with accessories as small as yellow moustache paper clips!

You likely wouldn’t expect such playful decor in a professional setting, but there’s lots of room to experiment with Indigo’s merchandise. For instance, their eco-friendly message wasn’t limited to the tote bags in which goodies were distributed at the end of the night, as a transparent display case set on a desk held pop tabs. Some collect these to donate to charities, while others use them to accessorize I suppose! Meanwhile, vases of flowers and throw pillows offered a feminine touch, while sleek picture frames and modern clocks had mass appeal.

Leaving the event, I realized I may need to return a lamp I bought for my apartment in London because Indigo clearly has a better selection than I realized!

Thanks again to the Indigo team for another great event. Fortunately there were no wristbands required for entry this time!

Waiting in line to meet Shania Twain at Indigo