Thoughts from the Shop: We’d Like to Thank the Academy…

Posted By V is for Victory . March 8, 2010

There were the good times, and there were the not so good times, but (most of us) made it through, and now we have much to discuss.  This is what we thought of the 82nd Academy Awards:

On Avatar:• I couldn’t help but think that there (more)

Clogs on Blogs

Posted By V is for Victory . March 5, 2010

Fall 2009. Paris. The spring/summer 2010 Chanel show. Lights dim. Music starts. The first model steps out and begins her dreamy nonchalant strut though the fabulous faux Chanel barn. A quiet murmur sweeps through the hushed crowd.“…are those (more)

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http://www.facebook.com/TropicanaCanada#!/TropicanaCanada?v=app_4949752878 

 

Tropicana shed some light (and plenty of OJ) on the permanent darkness Canadians living up north deal with during winter months.   First a Facebook group complete with photos and videos, and now their top TV spot, we checked it out and compiled our thoughts:

    “ A cute idea, but not sustainable. It’s not like they’ve leave the article sun plugged in forever. Or during the times of darkness in the Arctic.”

    “It’s also unlikely that the local stores even stock Tropicana. And I don’t even want to know the eco-footprint on this little gem of an idea.”

    “It’s made a lot of the industry blogs: I think you guys are bang-on re: sustainability and carbon footprint.  Also: while the final execution does look cool, the whole thing somehow feels really forced to me.”

    “But it’s a good ‘forced’.  It simply connects with the brand and tells a nice story for the viewer.  Instead of donating money or time to a cause, they delivered an interesting experience to the folks up north and, in turn, delivered an interesting experience to us.” 

    “Happily they’re doing this through a real event, done docu-style and it’s a fairly authentically positive feeling all around. I liked it the moment I saw it on Creativity and, you know, I’m wild for the modern ads that are grounded in core human truths.”

     Summary:  Thoughtful and inspiring, but with practicality an issue.  They made people happy on an artistic level, but the faux sun won’t stay forever and the free juice will run out. 

    On a note closer to the basics:

    “Getting sick of hummable little folk ditties as soundtracks though.”

     As well, to gain a little more insight; some comments from the Facebook group:

    “I cannot believe how unauthentic and frivolous this is. For the sake of the connection of an ad to your tagline, you disrespect the situation in which a community lives in, in northern Canada by “brightening one day” with a balloon. So the next day, the place is back in darkness (actual and metaphorical) and the Tropic…”-Maya

    To the response of…

    “There’s always someone to make a good deed look bad! I think it was wonderful to travel so far to brighten someone’s day, even if it was only one day!!”! -Dinah

     

    Seems the thoughts are like night and day…

Thoughts from the shop: Tropicana Replicates the Sun

Posted By V is for Victory . March 4, 2010

http://www.facebook.com/TropicanaCanada#!/TropicanaCanada?v=app_4949752878 

 

Tropicana shed some light (and plenty of OJ) on the permanent darkness Canadians living up (more)

Epic Fail

Posted By Ashley Rubenovitch . March 4, 2010

After a full and easy going day, there typically isn’t any legitimate reason to feel tremendously anxious. And yet, this week I have found myself with token symptoms of chronic anxiety: restlessness, indecision, hot flashes, paranoia…  I (more)

Cloud Free Agent Espresso Bar

Posted By pariahmike . March 3, 2010

It’s a mouthful of a name but it’s also a mindful of an idea and it’s here in Toronto, on Queen West, just across the street from CAMH.

 We walked in the door one early morning, after having dodged a few of the walking wounded from the area, for a meeting (more)

iPad. Going, going, not quite gone…

Posted By Youthography . February 24, 2010

This past week we put a call out to our Youthography Community to get a sense of what young Canadians are thinking about Apple’s much esteemed and much maligned iPad. Here at Youthograhy, we wanted to know if Canadian youth are feeling similar to all the pundits out there (more)

We Heard That! Wind Mobile.

Posted By Youthography . February 18, 2010

Welcome! This is the first of a series of monthly mini-reports “from the front” of the media and communications battle for the hearts, minds and wallets of Canada’s younger citizen-consumers brought to us by our friends at Youthography. On a monthly basis Youthography (more)

We Heard That: The NFB

Posted By Youthography . January 29, 2010

Every Friday, we’ll be disseminating the information collected from our weekly pulse check to young Canadians active on our Youthography Community. This past week’s we asked them about the NFB and it’s relevance (more)

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After months of speculation that Adam Giambrone, chairman of the TTC, would enter the Mayoral race in Toronto, a viral miss (or perhaps even mess) staring Giambrone himself is setting Torontonians a flurry.  The video satirically shows an eager Giambrone “training” for the Mayoral race, if you will.

It appears the Giambrone camp is looking to strengthen his public image, particularly among youth, after increasing pressure and criticism of the TTC of late.  Most recently, the snoozing TTC collector twitpic which hit the interwebs last week.

While being viral online seems like an easy and foolproof method to get in touch with young people, the fact remains that youth are much more practical than people give them credit for.  We see this again and again in our research here at Youthography.  For the Giambrone camp to think that young people are so flighty and distractible that an un-funny viral video would trump something which affects their daily lives, like say, poorly managed TTC, is quite out of touch with reality. The bottom line is that a mediocre viral video will not and cannot overshadow Giambrone’s reputation with the TTC.

The general out of touch-ness of Giambrone’s strategy really makes us, and young people all over the blogosphere, wonder – does this guy even get it?  In addition, the immature tone of this video begs the question, is Adam Giambrone actually “Ready”…or maybe not?

Written by Kanan Korthari, Manager – kanan@youthography.com

Adam Giambrone is “Ready”…or maybe not

Posted By Youthography . January 29, 2010

After months of speculation that Adam Giambrone, chairman of the TTC, would enter the Mayoral race in Toronto, a viral miss (or perhaps even mess) staring Giambrone himself is setting Torontonians a flurry.  The video satirically shows an eager Giambrone “training (more)