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Interior Design With A Twist: #exhibitIKEA

As the city gears up to host the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, much of the commotion on King St. right now is focused on what’s happening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Everyone’s favourite Swedish home store, IKEA, managed to create some buzz of its own however, by launching a pop up art exhibit at the corner of King and John St.

IKEA recruited four of Canada’s top artists for event: Thrush Holmes, Bruno Billio, David Dixon, and George Whiteside, each of whom drew inspiration from IKEA’s furnishings and decorative items to create installations. Thrush Holmes brought an interesting perspective to IKEA’s product offerings that require self assembly by emphasizing that their packaging can inaccurately reflect their quality. His liberal neon-coloured paint strokes on a cardboard makeshift shack portray his clever insight into IKEA’s business model by relating it to a “don’t judge a book by its cover” message.

IKEA may be a top destination for cash strapped students and newlyweds, but all of their items can be contextualized by creatively integrating them into a home and adding personal touches, as the artists proved at the exhibit by adding personal items to create a homey vibe.

exhibitIKEA had a much more welcoming atmosphere than typical art galleries, thus making it a worthwhile attraction for Torontonians who opted to stay in town rather than escape to cottage country. Without their uniforms, the IKEA sales associates seemed friendlier than usual, although perhaps that’s because there weren’t shoppers bombarding them with questions about measurements, pricing or shipping arrangements.

Installation by George Whiteside, fashion and portrait photographer

Pop up events require a great deal of planning in order to ensure that visitors will be pleased to visit and the brand’s objectives are met. A live Twitter feed of tweets featuring the #exhibitIKEA hashtag, which was promoted on black business cards distributed to visitors, was streamed to four flat screen monitors next to the stacked chairs in the centre of the venue, without sacrificing the atmosphere. IKEA is a modern brand indeed and this live feed was an effective tactic for digital integration that successfully encouraged visitors to spread the word about the event. I initially thought that the screens were showing a collection of tweets from Thursday’s launch party, until I saw that two of my own musings were already on the screen. The sales associates didn’t expect it to be so up to date either, but sure enough, comments by @missprincen were posted shortly after I hit enter on my BlackBerry.

Great job, IKEA. Surprise us again next year?

August 22, 2011 by

Samsung Presents The Midway State and The Arkells

On Thursday night, Samsung leveraged the ever-increasing popularity of pop-up stores to host their second pop-up concert in Toronto’s downtown core. Last August, Metric played for a crowd of about ten thousand outside of Union Station and it seems that Samsung is making these concerts annual events, this time expanding nationwide to include dates in Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal too. The bands delivered stellar crowd-pleasing performances, so I’m glad I went to see The Midway State once again and to hear the Juno award winning Arkells play live.

 

 

 

Through an effective marketing campaign that included a #samsungsecret Twitter hashtag, press releases and a full page colour print ad in the Metro, Samsung invited Torontonians to see The Midway State and The Arkells, no tickets required. The concert was held in a parking lot at Blue Jays Way and Wellington Street West. The twentysomethings living in condos across the street, some of whom made Bristol board signs, were delighted to have a great view from their balconies.

Reaching out to local influencers, such as Casie Stewart and Lauren O’Neil, who are active on Twitter, ensured that the event remained at the forefront of their followers’ post-work plans. Twitter further played a role in generating brand awareness because retweeting Samsung Mobile Canada granted people like myself, curious as to what they would giveaway, a snazzy Samsung swag bag. Well, let’s not embellish their water bottles and pen too much, but all the items were branded in blue colours and Samsung logos. The only item that directly relates to their Android phones and tablet that the event was meant to promote, is a screen cleaner, which is certainly a useful freebie. Everyone at the event was friendly however and the distribution of free water bottles on a humid evening was certainly appreciated.

Perhaps the product demonstrators should have received better training, given that the Samsung representative I spoke to lacked knowledge about the Galaxy tablet’s camera functionality. After watching videographers capture the performances using the tablets, I was interested to see how they worked, but was unimpressed by his brief explanation.

Overall, the pop-up event organized by Communique was a hit and it put the event planning agency on this marketing intern’s radar. I’m eager to see what other exciting events pop up unexpectedly in the city this summer.

August 6, 2011 by

The Stereotypical Western Girl on Twitter

I’ve been thinking about the new Rewd blog at Western and Ryan Dergy’s quest to learn who is behind the @wstrngrl Twitter account. In his article, he proposes that perhaps it is run by Gazette staff because he finds it suspicious “that they got an exclusive interview with @wstrngirl a few months ago.”

Most of the Gazette’s editorial staff identifies themselves as multimedia journalists. Any driven journalist will make optimal use of their resources to get the dirt on an upcoming story when needed and interviewing @wstrngirl is no exception. The creator of the account could easily create an anonymous e-mail to exchange messages with a reporter while maintaining ‘her’ mysterious identity.

Moreover, the Gazette staff operates Canada’s only daily student newspaper and many of its writers are full-time students who write personal blogs. They already have plenty of fun in their office on the third floor of the UCC, while writing editorial pieces and debating each other about hot topics. As for participating in Western’s Twitter community, they share links to new articles, monitor the #uwo hashtag and laugh at what fellow students are sharing.

As a spokesperson for the stereotypical female Western student who wishes Weldon washrooms had full-length mirrors, @wstrngrl has plenty of fame online and offline. Likewise, Gazette writers already have a large readership and do not have the same motivation as the average attention-seeking Western student or business-savvy Ivey folks who want to experiment with social media.

Stereotypical Western Girl

@wstrngirl is a conversation starter and a comedian. The account’s followers don’t need to probe for more info about the person behind the computer screen or BlackBerry. Just read, tweet, and enjoy.

March 25, 2011 by

Driving with Friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUHDFafqykI

I know there was already lots of hype about this commercial right after it aired during the Super Bowl, but it’s still an incredible new technology. I remember reading about some new gadgets that car manufacturers will be adding to the dashboard within the next few years (after I clicked a few links while researching the consequences of texting and driving), but it’s much more powerful when you see what’s already available. This Chevrolet video makes me wonder about what features I’ll have at my fingertips when I buy my first car.

The bachelor’s excitement about a machine reading aloud his friends’ Facebook status updates also demonstrates how much Facebook continues becoming a, dare I say, ‘fundamental’ part of our lives. Surely this will make people who have disabled their accounts second guess this choice and make those who have not yet created an account feel even more out of the loop.

Compared to how thankful I am for having a smartphone and Internet access to occupy me while in waiting rooms, I don’t think it’d be as enjoyable to have a robotic sounding voice tell me what people have tweeted.

You can already listen to whatever artist, song, or radio station you want in the car. Is it really necessary to mute the radio commercials long enough to learn that your friend just landed in Miami while you’re driving around running errands?

February 21, 2011 by

RT @muchmusic has a new #trending TV show.

MuchMusic is continually increasing their social media presence, such as by making their New Music Live (NML) show a trending topic in itself this past week. With their latest show, #trending, now on the air, Shit My Dad Says is less distinguishable as a Twitter-inspired TV show.

The pink graphics on the show’s webpage explicate that it’s a show geared primarily towards female fashionistas who admire MIT grad Liz Trinnear’s style. During her first “shopping haul” segment, Liz shares some great fashion finds with viewers, such as tie-dye tights and jewellery.

Their new show also has an interactive component, wherein they invite viewers to submit their own 5 minute-long videos about what’s trending in fashion and beauty.

#trending reminds me of other local shows that tell viewers about new places to find the coolest knick-knack or accessory, so I’m curious to see how MuchMusic maintains interest on a national scale.

February 4, 2011 by