Gmail Contests

I love Gmail. In fact, I really do love the entire suite of google applications.

I use the Docs & Spreadsheets pretty extensively, I have over 10 calendars I share with various groups of people and over course, this blogger platform.

Catching up on the latest enhancements to Gmail, I came across to contests...both which are aimed at people like me...lovers of the application.

CONTEST #1:
The first is a cross-contest-promotion with the much loved Threadless (whose has a following of their own). You design a t-shirt showcasing your love-in with the email and you have a chance to win some seriously wonderful stuff...including an iPhone! Contest ends August 16th.

CONTEST #2:
The second is a smaller contest...and a small prize. Make a gmail video and post to youtube. Google will rotate a selection of the clips and add the best ones to the video. The final video will be featured on the Gmail homepage and seen by users worldwide. Contest ends August 13th.

What's in the Inbox?

Cleaning up the inbox...here are some interesting emails worth sharing.

- Request for a review of the lastest resto on Church - www.voglieristobar.com
- Marketing positions-a-plenty...and a site to make it easier.
- Profectio's Summer Bash.

Declare Yourself

I really really like this campaign - Declare Yourself. (...although I do stat singing Madonna's Express Yourself, which is not good)

A simple and easy to follow site that encourages 18-year-old's to register to vote for the 2008 elections (USA). The site is filled with lots of media with cutie stars, enewsletter (although this may be very old school for the crowd), send-to-a-friend and buttons for your site. They have also brought in key social media partners like youtube and myspace.

Thanks for the 411 Squandrous.

The Canadian Open

I am going to the Canadian Open on Sunday.

This is my first PGA tournament. And, I'm not going to lie, I am pretty darn excited to see 'Vj'.

So like most events I go to, I like to check out a site with more information, you know; what I can expect to see, hear, experience.
Off to google to search for The Canadian Open...and...um...nothing. The Canadian Open site did not show up on the first page of results. ergh. I have no patience for page 2.

Fortunately, the tickets were right beside me and there on the tix was the site addressthecanadianopen.ca.

...and off I go.

I have to admit, that I don't frequent PGA tournament sites. If I want to know more about any sports information, I would go to espn.com or the sport association. For example, I went to the Jays game yesterday but left after the 6th inning (afterall, they were winning 13-1). I got back into the office, typed in torontobluejays.com and was automatically refreshed with up-to-the-minute scores and highlights. loves it.

There is no such thing on the Canadianopen.ca site. What would I like to see?

1. A huge leaderboard...just like they would have at the tournament.
2. Audio broadcast.
3. On-site video streaming.

Am I asking for too much? Come on sponsors...all this extra digital mean extra marketing for you too. If these are offered on the site = more unique visitors.

Don't go in the water

I grew up on the boarder of the Beaches and the area west, which is now called Leslieville. It was a 5 minute bike ride to the beaches, 8 minutes if you went to Pat's to pick a freezie first.

I know the beaches pretty well. I know the trail, sand and parks really well. I know you do not go into the water...every kid knew that...really well.

I had to laugh when I saw this site. A very sad interactive map-type site that shows you where you are safe to swim, meaning safe from E. Coli and where you are not.

Heading in the right direction, but some issues:

1. The site is updated everyday after 2pm. Hm. I guess there is no foot dipping before lunch.
2. The site is hard to find. Hat tip to blogto.
3. How about a site that kids can comprehend?

What's in the Inbox?

It was a really busy week. Crazy days in the office, out pretty much every night after work and to top it all off, a little scratchy throat.

Who knew the summer would be so busy? When my days are filled, I very rarely get a chance to view my emails....at least the ones who I don't know who the sender is.

So this morning - it was time for a clean-up of some 50 emails I have yet to read (this is very rare for me, seriously).

So what's in my inbox?

- an invitation to meet 4 local farmers at the organic butcher down the street.
- an invitation from Chef Cristian to try out his cooking services.
- an invite to Shelfari - another book social networking tool
- an invitation to closed-beta of Mister Wong, similar to delicious.
- an invitation to kinderfind, a social networking site for parents and childcare workers (why I got this, I have no clue?)

Ah, where to start?

Nikebauer.com - Another online goodie

I caught a glimpse of the Nike Bauer commercial yesterday while watching some of the FIFA U-20.

I am going to be honest, I didn't get it right away. However, I suspect I am NOT their target audience. But, Mark did - and he said it was a similar take to nike+ ...but hockey. Interesting. (I don't think he is the target audience either but he is a on and off again hockey player and serious fan).

Not as fancy as nike+, the site offers three main areas:

1. My Regimen

This is pretty freakin' cool. A way to track you exercises (instead of the old school paper and pen). The best part? You can download it onto your mobile device of choice - iPod, cellphone, PS2...

2. Exercises

Wow! A laundry list of exercises from warm-up to cool down. Complete with video, recommended gear and again...downloadable to your device.

3. The Training Team

Yup, they certainly know their audience. Three memebrs of the training team are from Canadian NHL team.

Next Steps?
A module for entire teams. It would be really cool to track my other team members, what they are doing etc. Afterall, this is a team sport.

Open Table

Grammatically, doesn't make sense. But as an ex-waitress...it was a phrase I heard a lot.

Do you have a table open?
Let me check if there is a table open.
There is a table open on the patio.

I signed up for opentable.com because the bevie wednesday night was getting bigger (JB and I thought that we would go out for bevies every Wednesday no matter what - and if you want to come, come. If not, no worries). Well, it grew on day bigger than we thought - so a resy was required.

I made a resy to Beer Bistro on open table and it was easy. It let you know what time they had available, special requests etc. After that success, I used it for a lunch at Vertical. Another success.

Today, I got an email about summerlicious on opentable. Brilliant. I may not go, but if I did - why not set it up online instead of the headaches of calling.

What makes this special for restaurants?
-It is up to the user to make sure they have their dates and time correct. (I initally got my first use of the site date wrong...but they accommodated me anyway).
-It is hard to find hospitality help these days - why not automate?
-Confirmations are provided via email...don't waste a host's time.

Car Flyers

Where I can remember getting car flyers (when I drove more than now):
- Grocery parking lots
- Rave parking lots (yes, I used to rave it)
- Expensive parking lots in the financial district

Where I see them now (but don't get since I don't drive often):
- Family-type neighbourhoods in the city (but nicer 'hoods)
- Green P's (where it is cheaper to park)
- Yonge Street

Wilco 2007

20070630-wilco
Originally uploaded by chromewaves

The Wilco show was our 4th concert of the week. Yup, it was quite the week...

The first three shows were part of the Toronto Jazz Festival - all taking place at the beautiful Four Seasons. The Wilco show at Massey. (now, my second favourite music venue).

Some small little marketing tidbits that worked:

1. Carrying a large but limited supply of sales goodes (tshirts, CD's posters, etc.) - why? Because the fan, which pretty much all were, will go to the website and try to buy it from there...thus, leading to the purchase of more goodies.

2. Wilco postcards post-show. A little rememberance, something to stick on the fridge, in the office cubicle...etc...spreading the word.

3. Post-show chocolate bars from Hershey's. Whole dark chocolate almond bars (definitely for the mature crowd) were given away to every single person. YUM! It was good too :p

...I am still in music bliss. ah.

sigh.

l'iPhone...
Originally uploaded by dpcom

I just noticed that I haven't posted any pictures on here for awhile. So, here is one I found on flickr.

...someday, one day...anyday...now.