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Noonan @ SXSW: Day 3

Rachel Noonan — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:30:34 +0000

All about engagement and Apps baby. The day started with Mashable’s Geek Games. Team #Tigerblood (me and crew) got ready to kick some smarter than thou butt in physical and metal challenges. The room was filled with fun energy of programmers, bloggers and Mashable enthusiast ready to compete for charity. Twister ended up being our maker with a 30 minute round ending with me and a girl from team #hashtag pulling some origami moves out. I broke the record setting game by setting my knee down. Hashtag FAIL. Needing a break from the twister olympics, we headed to a private taping a Comedy Death Ray. A few special guests met us on stage. Paul Rubens and Thomas Lennon for a fireside style chat. I learned Paul Rubens auditioned for SnL many moons ago, got beat out by Gilbert Godfrey, then decided he needed to get his Pee Wee character off the ground or else his career would stall. His loss on SnL was the worlds gain. How happy am I to have been raised in the Pee Wee generation. Sidenote: He is working on a movie with Judd Apatow..YES! Next we hit the Crowdtap Launch party. The promo girls almost turned us away with their Jersey Shore styling. We decided not to judge a book by it’s cover and headed in. A nice girl from their NYC agency took the time to fill us in on what Crowdtap is. Pretty awesome. They threw an amazing party with event photos being immediately twitpic’d with everyone’s @’s, a massive Chocolate Tap and mini corndogs. Before leaving they did an official presentation of their product against a massive screen. Quick, succinct and educational. Congrats Crowdtap on a killer launch. Onto the Milyoni fete. What is Milyoni you say, well (http://www.milyoni.com). Party was quiet, conservative and the same venue as Syncapse. Thanks for the taco. Onwards to the Mashable Party. #mashhouse closed the night out with shuffle board, pool and a great space for creatives to connect. I end todays words with General Electric. They have a white on white neon lit Solar Powered Carousel running during SXSW. It was a beautiful display of harnessing the suns power to make people smile late at night. Like a white horse running through a dark night, it reminded me that all the people at this festival will shape our future. The way we communicate, how efficiently we use our energy resources and how much we invest in the future. Based on who I’ve met so far, looks like the future is going to be amazing.

Noonan @ SXSW: Day 2

Rachel Noonan — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 21:51:47 +0000

I start today’s SXSW blog with a musical reference. Day two was like the Beth Ditto song ”I wrote the Book“. Fast paced, interpretive and tons of fun. Highlights include an interactive session on Visual Storytelling for the Deaf. It was interesting to see how beautifully animated people can be with sign language and the use of visuals to tell a story. They went through some examples of deaf people jokes, the benefits of being deaf and a really cool music video. Check this out (http://d-pan.org/index.php/this-is-d-pan/who-are). Amazing content. My only challenge with the session was ALL of the stories in every form were about deaf issues. It would have been nice to see a story about families, love or teenage issues in an everyday life setting. Onto film; Pen to Paper – Creating Conceptual Marketing Campaigns . Charlie Loft from All City from the UK lead the charge. It was awesome. The whole room worked together to make two movie posters for a thriller. A conceptual poster and one for the hollywood market. We talked about Black Swan and their campaign using both conceptual (link conceptual poster to: http://www.designworklife.com/2010/12/06/black-swan-posters/ ) and mass market creative. Someone in the audience said ” we never saw the conceptual art in the US, I guess it’s because the UK is perceived as a more intelligent audience”. Wow, I wonder why that may be? Watching Loft go through his creative process was fun, unfortunately random people kept killing the flow with really junior league questions. Come on guys, ask those questions on blogs where you can be both lame and anonymous. Next: Keynote. SCVNGR inventor Seth Priebatsch (http://www.scvngr.com/about/team). He talked about how the foundations of gaming can rule the world. Think Groupon, Fab Find, Foursquare, etc. Using time mechanics, group participation. He is on point and quite entertaining with his ever present and unnecessary Oakley Glasses and cartoon like shiny face. Did I mention he is 21 and raised the first million in capital for SCVNGR on his own. Insane. Next was a little comedy repose. I”m not making this up. We saw Dave Foley, Kevin Pollack, Michael Ian Black, Howard Kramer and Brett Gelman all on one stage. INSANE and amazing. Geek jokes were flying! Ok, now party time. We hit a record number of parties, but will only mention two because they ruled. FROG DESIGN hit it out of the park…..OUT OF THE PARK and Syncapse took SXSW party sophistication to a new level with a killer photo booth, custom branded everything and an amazing drink menu. My eyes were bleeding by Syncapse, so I crawled home to grab a few hours before going back into the fray.

Noonan @ SXSW: Day 1

Rachel Noonan — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:44:13 +0000

Got my pass, ticket and party invite ducks in a row and headed to my first panel, Marketing Budgets have gone social- Is it Working? FULL. I head to the next one called Slaying the Four Horseman of the Social-Media Apocalypse. The former social guy from CITIgroup was talking about legal and how to “manage” the conversation and other social challenges. It made me realize a lot of companies are further behind than I thought. One guy asked about how are “we” going to set up ways to respond to the conversation. Really? I wanted to make reference to a client tweet issue we had that was addressed in record time, but I kept my mouth shut. Why would I give the competition intel? Or why wouldn’t I. He clearly doesn’t have a handle on the process, so my words aren’t going to magically educate him on social response process right? Dicussion done and we depart to parties, to blog to meet awesome people. After freshening up, we head into the mix for some social mingling. The Austin Museum of Digital Art threw a pretty decent fete with some homegrown Canadian talent , Alan Majer of Goodrobot showing his wares . A really cool Digital Dj battle kept people movin through the night and well into the AM. As the night was winding down, I could see the next day emerge in my mind. New panels, new people and now learnings awaited. To quote Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s,”It’s a madhouse”. Walking down 6th with a few new friends that’s all I could say over and over. From registration to sponsor activations to mardi grad style parties, there were people, tablets. phones and business cards flying everywhere. An awesome first day madhouse experience on the first day of SXSW.

SPOKE to Sponsor nextMEDIA

Karen Lo — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:07:25 +0000

nextMEDIA is just around the corner and SPOKE is an official sponsor as a “Friend of the Event“. Our Director, Brand Strategy — Rachel Noonan, also joined the Jury for this year’s Awards. Since its inception in 2007, nextMEDIA has been the launching pad for the newest products in the digital media industry and the top networking and business development platform for the next-generation marketplace. Click here for more details. SPOKE’s Founding Partners, Kai Exos and Jeff Greenspoon will present onstage for a Best-of Award! See you on the carpet! UPDATE: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nextmediaevents/5227102715/in/set-72157625521910000/

Amazing 4D Ralph Lauren Light Show

paula.sommerz — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 01:29:46 +0000

UPDATE: Behind the Scenes

Happy 10th, Food Network Canada!

Karen Lo — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:57:27 +0000

November 10, 2010 at 99 Sudbury, Food Network Canada celebrated their 10th Anniversary of culinary wonders in pushing Canadian cuisine beyond maple syrup and peameal bacon. With Mark McEwan, Bob Blumer, Lynn Crawford, Roger Mooking, and David Rocco, amongst others in attendance, the network honoured their celebrity chefs who helped build their wholesome empire with this red carpet event. VIP guests were treated to a sit-down dinner to savour the following dishes: Corbin Tomaszeski’s White Miso and Sake Glazed Black Cod with Shrimp and Daikon Sala Bob Blumer’s Chinese Chicken Snow Cones Mark McEwan’s Seared Yellow Perch with Sweet Creamed Corn ( My favorite!) Roger Mooking’s Cajun Blackened Steak with Sugar Snap Peas and Tofu Frites After dinner, guests carried their bellies back to the party room for an endless supply of Chocolate Blackout Cake and Grapefruit Pistachio Tarts by Anna Olson. Presidential Gourmet, who launched their rebranded website that day, were the official caterers and blessed our palates with their White Wine Gelée and Gingerbread Centerpieces (see our Great Gingerbread Heist on Flickr!) An electric performance by God Made Me Funky set the crowd on funky fire. Photos by George Pimentel, sourced from FoodNetwork.ca. For our exclusive photos, check out our Flickr.

FUBAR II Head-Bangs Toronto

Karen Lo — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:47:44 +0000

SPOKE helped launch FUBAR II on Thursday September 9, 2010 at The Toronto International Film Festival with a traveling street party that filled the streets with Rock, Energy and the Spirit of FUBAR. To kick-off the activation, over 1 million online ads were placed on YouTube and specialty lifestyle web portals. To build buzz, Facebook and Twitter were used to connect fans of the FUBAR legacy and the stars of the film, “Terry & Deaner”. The event took place on a tricked-out Flatbed truck, with vinyl branding and QR codes, alongside a police escorted convoy of Ford F-150 pickup trucks. A live stream was active from 5:OO PM EST, during an on-air interview with Terry & Deaner at The Edge 102.1’s Yonge Street location. Following a tour around Yonge-Dundas and throngs of fans vying for a photo, the loud and wild music by aptly-titled local Hamilton rocker band Monster Truck, continued down Queen West. “The crowning moment? When a hot girl we nicknamed Olive Oil hopped aboard and tore off her shirt while grinding to Black Sabbath’s Die Young. As the crowds grew, the convoy was joined by a bagpiper and FUBAR II’s rowdy cast of characters, including Terry & Dean, Trish, TRON and the film’s director, Michael Dowse. The grand entrance down to Ryerson Theatre for the Midnight Madness Premiere was reminiscent of the AC/DC classic, Long Way to the Top. Following a street-side performance to the endless lineup, the film stars were interviewed to a live streamed online audience of over 5000, following by a crowd surf onto the Red Carpet. PS: THE MOVIE ROCKS!

Mongolian Polo

Karen Lo — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:02:13 +0000

Shanghai Tang is the leading luxury brand emerging from China with a mission to weave the craftsmanship of imperial Chinese tailoring into modern-day fashion. A dedicated advocate for traditions, Shanghai Tang has announced their annual Polo Cup’s return to Mongolia from August 27 to August 29, where Genghis Khan’s warriors once played the regal sport. Polo has been long lost to Mongolian culture but has recently been revived to breed the next generation of world-class polo players. Mongol players play up their heritage by attiring in traditional costumes worn by their mighty cavalry ancestors. With a strong sense of heritage and one of the world’s most breathtaking and well-preserved landscape, this polo match seems promising as an equestrian’s dream come true. Here are some of the event photos from Shanghai Tang Polo Cup’s last visit in Mongolia in 2006.

BFF Toronto Dates Announced!

Karen Lo — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:12:52 +0000

After much anticipation, the Bicycle Film Festival has finally announced its return to Toronto from August 18-22. Friday and Saturday Screenings at THE ROYAL 608 College St. Sunday EMPIRE Screening at CINECYCLE 401 Richmond St. Complimentary valet bike parking will be provided by Toronto Cyclists Union at screening locations. See program details here.

Beefeater 24 Tea Salon @ Brassaii

Karen Lo — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:26:51 +0000

“Like a typical London day, it began with tea” – and what better way for Beefeater 24 to make their debut in Toronto? On July 13, Brassaii was transformed into a whimsical tea salon where Toronto media and elites were invited to taste the London bred botanical gin. The experience begins with greetings from the Red Carpet Lady on the patio and continues with entertainment by the Madhatter, mime maid, and pirouetting ballerinas in the main room. To encapsulate the gin’s original inspiration, the drink menu featured five perfect gin and tea concoctions complemented by giant cupcakes and chocolate domes accompanying other dainty delectables. Here are our favorite moments from the party… Photography by Christian Carter @ SPOKE