Can't Get Enough

Although it seems I barely have time to update this blog, I've decided to start another blog more focused on something I really enjoy. No, not soccer. No, not golf. No, not Coke. Give up? It's going to be The All Things About Marketing Blog!

I love marketing and everything about it. I like contests, commercials, activations, sponsorships, etc....and what I really like about them is offering my own opinion on them!

So come on and check it out. It doesn't look amazing yet as I just put it together, but you'll definately want to bookmark it to keep on top of all the fun and crazy things going on out there in the marketing world!

Go there...right now....right here!! Why are you still reading? Click the link already!

News Flash

The national Tim Hortons office just phoned me and confirmed my worst fears...Tim Hortons is switching to Pepsi. Now I'm just wondering if Wendys will switch as well since they are owned by the same company.

Let the boycott begin!

Halifax Here I Come

It is actually quite a ways away yet, but I found out on the weekend that our company is putting on next year's Canadian Sponsorship Forum in Halifax. Every year we put on this forum and we partner with a major event which makes the forum very exciting...although with the amazing speakers we have the forum is amazing on its own (little plug there!). So can anyone guess what major event is happening in Halifax next year in May? (hint: look at the picture)

That's right! It's the IIHF World Championship. Our company is partnering with them and I will most likely be in Halifax for this great event. The best part is that we also get to go to one of the games. Any guesses which one? (long pause) It's the Canada vs USA game! Now truthfully I'm not even that big of a hockey fan, but it will still be cool to be able to be there for this game. I'm just hoping that some of the big name hockey players don't make the playoffs so they will be there to play.

So if you want to join me, sign up for the forum here (once the new website is up) and I'll save you a seat at the game!

One Big Party

I made it back from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and it felt good to be back in my own bed again. There were so many celebrities there like Brad Pitt, Angelina, Matt Damon, Kevin Bacon...and I didn't see any of them! Actually I think they all left earlier in the week, except for Kevin Bacon who actually was downstairs in the theatre while we were watching George Clooney's Michael Clayton movie on Friday night. I had an amazing time in Toronto and really the entire trip can be summed up in separate phrases: NO SLEEP; FREE; COLD

NO SLEEP

In case you forgot I was at TIFF because our company was putting on the Canadian Sponsorship Forum and were partnering with TIFF for it. So during the day I spent all my time attending sessions, helping out where needed, meeting delegates, etc. Then in the evening it was just party, party, party! I was out partying every night until somewhere between 2:00am - 3:00am. That wouldn't be so bad except that I had to be back down at the forum and working again by 6:30am -7:00am. This basically meant no sleep, but it was worth it.

The first night we went to a party with just our delegates to Casa Loma. This was an old historic castle and was pretty cool. ET Canada was using the castle to do some filming so there was a lot of ET stuff around. When we left I even saw Cheryl Hickey up on the outdoor stage doing her show.

After that party was over around 9:00pm we went back to the hotel, hopped onto another bus and went to the after party of the movie premiere New York City Serenade. It was sponsored by Audi and Hello Magazine and it was packed in there. It was a great party and after leaving I also got a gift bag, but it mostly had girl things in it like shampoo, a hair straightener, a book, etc. Not too much I wanted. (Yes, the picture below is of a co-ed bathroom with a glass wall with water running down it!)

On Saturday night we watched the closing night movie Emotional Arithmetic and I was so tired I dozed off for a bit. After that it was off to the Official Closing Night Gala party at the Harbourfront. I finally made it back to the hotel around 3:00am and back to my room by 3:45am as we all just hung out in the lobby for a while. Needless to say, there was very little sleep.

FREE

The coolest part about all the parties was that everything was free. Every party we went to had free food and drinks and some people took full advantage of it. Not being much of a drinker I stuck mostly to Coke, Sprite and Red Rain (similar to Red Bull). The problem with the food was that it is mostly appetizer type food and so although you are eating all the time you don't really feel full. There was some larger type food around. At the Cosa Loma party there was curry chicken which was really good. At the closing night gala there was a lot more including mini burgers, spicy chicken, crepes, lamb stew, cornbread, etc. It was really good but the lineups were really long and so Ididn't eat much until much later in the evening.

COLD

Somewhere along the line someone forgot to tell all of us that the closing night gala party was going to be outside...right along the harbourfront! This meant all the cold air from off the lake was blowing right into the party area and it was COLD. Most of the girls were wearing cocktail dresses and were instantly freezing. But after people started drinking they started to forget about it. Also, most of the guys instantly lost their suit jackets and the girls were wearing them to keep warm!

Later on in the night I decided it was time to warm up and wanted to sneak into the VIP lounge which was indoors. Another guy and I went over there and noticed that security wasn't really checking people for wristbands so I walked right on by them and nobody stopped me. There was practically no one in there so I ate some food (no lineups in there!) and then the other guy came in too. I noticed a back entrance leading out of the area and asked one of the server girls what was back there. She told me the kitchen. That's odd I thought as I saw people coming and going from near there. Then she told me that I should go upstairs to the VIP lounge which was much nicer, which was also through that back entrance. I glanced down the hallway towards the staircase that led up to the next floor where the VIP lounge was. There were two big security guards blocking the stairs and checking people for blue bracelets before they were allowed up there. I put my thinking cap on and decided that I had to get by them either with a distraction or by pretending I belonged there.

Then it hit me. We grabbed a drink each and when the server girls went from the kitchen to the upstairs we followed right behind them. We walked right past the security guards and they never stopped us as they figured we were with the girls. It worked like a charm and we were up in the VIP lounge. It was much warmer in there with nice white couches, etc. I went out to the deck and they had a table with marshmallows on skeweres. Then the girls roasts the marshmallow for you over a flame and you can then dip it in either dark or white chocolate with some sort of alcohol in it. It was really good! We didn't see any real famous people up there, but then again I wouldn't recognize them anyway so there could have been.

Finally we left and went back to where everyone else was. The party ended shortly after and we all went back to the hotel. It was great to get back into my bed again!

Overall it was an awesome time there. Too bad I didn't see more celebrities, but maybe next time!

Wanna Go to the Grey Cup?

Anyone out there want to go the Grey Cup? And I don't just mean get tickets to the Grey Cup as that is really just a small part of it. Going to the Grey Cup means going to experience the whole thing!

Chunky Soup is giving away a Grey Cup experience to some CFL fans and I think Saskatchewan fans have the edge. Maybe you'll see when you read the contest details from Marketing Magazine:

The contest was inspired by the tradition of pre-game “tailgate parties,” and focuses on Campbell’s Chunky Soup brand. To enter the contest, consumers must submit a video or photograph, along with a description, of their own tailgating activities to the contest microsite, cbcsports.ca/tailgate.

The submissions will be judged by a panel comprised of representatives from the CFL, the CBC’s football broadcast team and Campbell’s. Some submissions may also be aired on CFL on CBC pre-game shows, which are sponsored by Campbell’s Chunky Soup.

So there you go Saskatchewan Roughrider fans! It's time to show Canada what a real tailgate party looks like! Of course, I've never actually been to a tailgate party, but if you want me to appear in your video let me know and I'd love to make a cameo. All I ask is that if you win...take me with you!

Michael Clayton Trailer

So why am I posting this movie trailer? Well, it just so happens that this is the movie I will be going to see at the Toronto International Film Festival. Our company is hosting the Canadian Sponsorship Forum and we are partnering with TIFF to put it on. It should be a fun time and hopefully I get to go to a few fun parties...maybe George and I will even sit together at this screening! I'll let you know how it all went when I get back.

Something Has To Change

For the last few years I have seen our University of Saskatchewan Huskie soccer program say the exact same thing over and over. "We need to get more fans in the stands," says Bryce Chapman. "We need to tie our team into the community and get the young soccer kids out to the game," he keeps saying. Now that Tom Lapointe has become the new women's head coach it has turned from a solo into a duet with both of them singing the same song. It would be music to your ears...if anyone actually listened.

Which of course they don't. And the reason I know they don't listen is that although the same song is sung over and over I never see any changes made....and by they I mean the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) and Huskie Athletics. I totally agree with the lyrics to Bryce and Tom's song, it's the system that has to change. Now I don't know for sure who makes up the schedule for the season, but whoever it is, they are part of the big problem.

The problem is that they schedule the games at a terrible time: Friday at 12:00pm for the women's game and then 2:00pm for the Men's game. Now I don't know about you, but I have to work on Friday afternoon until 5:00pm. I think the majority of the people in Saskatoon, including all the kids that play soccer, are busy Friday afternoon and cannot make a game at 12:00pm.

You don't see this with any other sport. Football always plays their games Saturday afternoon at 1:00pm (with the odd exception of a Friday night game under the lights). Volleyball and Basketball is always played on Friday and Saturday evening starting at 6:00pm. All ideal times to go watch the game with your family.


Now I realize soccer is a little different. Basketball and Volleyball always play double headers against the same teams...one game Friday and one Saturday. Soccer plays one game on Friday and then that team travels to another university nearby and plays them the next day. This travel time may affect the scheduling, but it can still be worked around.

Here's what I suggest the schedule should look like:

Saturday afternoon 12:00pm - Women's game
Saturday afternoon 2:00pm - Men's game (remember, we have lights at Griffiths so this is fine)

Sunday afternoon: 12:00pm Women's game
Sunday afternoon: 2:00pm Men's game
Teams then travel home after the game.

This schedule change would allow local kids and families a chance to actually see the team in action. This would not only inspire the players as the stands would be more full, but it might help the soccer coffers through the small $5.00 admission charge to get in and maybe one day we could actually offer some scholarship money to the players.

I'm tired of all the talk and no change happening. The truth is that until those Friday afternoon games are rid of the soccer program will never truly be able to engage the community and attract the large soccer crowd this city has.

Boston Pizza Going Downhill

Reading in a current Marketing Daily email I receive I found out that Boston Pizza is looking at getting rid of its agency DDB Canada. Now I have nothing against DDB Canada (except for those fat yellow and blue guys), but those ads they have been coming up with are terrible. I didn't like the one with the gigantic hands family because I kept thinking that if I ate there my hands would look like that. Then they pulled out the Louie the Sasquatch ads. Right from the start I thought that was a terrible idea. I mean seriously, do you want to eat in a restaurant with a sasquatch that sneezes everywhere because he smells pepper? They were trying to appeal to families with those ads but clearly missed the mark. The only time I think that ad could have worked was back in the 80's when Harry and the Hendersons came out.

Now I haven't eaten at Boston Pizza in a while and with terrible marketing like that I'm not sure I will any time soon...but I think I'm also a little biased. Boston Pizza used to be good back in the day and I loved it...then they turned to Pepsi and everything went down hill. You do the math...I have!

When the Going Gets Tough...

Last week I was at my younger cousin's wedding down in Swift Current and the pastor talked about how it used to be that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And how now it seems like when the going gets tough, we just walk away. The proof is in the pudding when you read this article on how more couples are getting divorced after 30 years of marriage (linked via this guy's website).

Now this post isn't about marriage or divorce and no, Shiela and I are not having marriage problems. It just got me thinking about this saying and how I hadn't heard it for a long time and yet it is so true. It reminds me of another saying, that nothing worth doing is easy to do (or something like that).

I like it when things are easy. It's great when someone walks up and hands you something for free. I like it when I am good at something and don't have to work to be good at it. I like it when things are done for me and I don't have to do them. Reading this as I type it makes me sound really lazy, but that's not true. I'm sure everyone else would agree that they feel the same way a lot of the time...who wouldn't? I often look around at the people I know and are amazed at how good they are at things...whether it be carpentry, wood working, real estate deals, financial planning, website building, music playing, etc. I look at myself and wonder what I can do. I'd love to start my own business and people tell me to just do it, but it's tough to start a business when you don't have a skill people want or need.

I think that saying also stems further for me. I'd love to lose some weight and get back in shape like I was in high school (or at least close to it). I'd like to be wealthy. I'd also love to have a closer relationship with God than I do. The thing is that none of these things will come true without putting some work into it.

I had a great time listening to an old Delirious album on the way back from Swift Current as I drove home alone and the two songs I played many times were All I Want Is You and Obsession. Spending that time with God was great as I was able to just sing the lyrics to the song Obsession.

So I'm not sure what this all means, but I guess I'm just doing some soul searching and writing as I think. And there is never a better time than the present to get going on all this stuff. So as the lyrics to All I Want Is You say, I think it's time to put on my God shoes/ And do what I'm here for/ Raise the flag again.

C95 Really Big Wedding

If anyone listens to C95 in Saskatoon you have probably heard about their new big thing...the C95 Really Big Wedding. I think this idea is wrong and feel sorry for the couple involved.

I was listening to the radio when it all happened. C95 had a big surprise coming up and it ended up being this guy proposing to his girlfriend on the radio! Ah, that's a neat idea I thought to myself. Then, Shauna said there was another surprise for the couple...C95 was going to pay for the whole wedding, or at least a lot of it. They were going to play little contests each week and if the couple won the contest then C95 would pay for more of the wedding. As it turns out, I think C95 is now paying for all of it.

At this point in listening I was not impressed. The poor couple is on the spot asking if they want C95 to pay for the wedding. Well, of course they did, who wouldn't? And I'm glad C95 is doing it. The problem I'm finding is that C95 is doing it all just for them and according to their plans. For instance, the wedding is taking place at 8:00am on Sept 21! Yes, that is 8:00am in the morning! They want it at 8:00am just so it can be on the morning show. Now I've been married before and I know that it takes a while to get ready in the morning with all the hair do's, etc. and so if the wedding takes place at 8:00am in the morning I doubt any of them are going to sleep the night before. C95 was also a part of everything else involved in the wedding. They planned the wedding dress shopping, the stag, the stagette, etc. What ever happened to having the best man and maid of honour plan those things? They also only had about 1.5 months to plan it all , send out the invites, etc!

In my opinion, I think C95 is butting in the way of this whole thing and this poor couple is having to abide by all of the C95 rules to get it paid for. I think some things are just not worth it.

What do you think?