There is always a lot of discussion regarding where it is best to shop. We often see campaigns telling us to buy locally owned, but how much difference does it really make?
The majority of consumers look for the cheapest prices when shopping, or the store they perceive to have the lowest pricing. While it feels great to save a few dollars on a shopping trip, lets take a quick look at the actual cost of buying cheaply.
It only takes the most basic economics to figure out that larger chains and box stores can usually undercut the prices of an local or independent store. Here is where it gets tricky, larger stores do incredible amounts of market research to figure out what products people price compare most often, then they make sure those items are priced low, and they make up for these loss leaders in other hidden expenses.
But lets look at the cost apart from the bottom line of your bank statement. What most people don’t think about is the costs to their local community, the environment and their country’s economy. I find it ironic that the same people who talk the most about recession and economic downturns typically tend to be those the most guilty of causing the problem.
Every dollar you spend locally, in a locally owned businesses more than triples in its monetary benefit to your local economy. Local business owners are making long term investments in their/your community, the least we can do is support them and in turn support our own community. The more your purchase locally, the more it also reduces our impact on the environment. Every product or service we import, burns fossil fuels and costs money to transport. Really no matter how you look at it, buying locally is a win-win. The cost of not supporting local companies is simply too high; we voluntarily destroy the future of our own community and country.
I recently got married and I challenged myself to see how much I could support friend’s businesses and local businesses. Where are you shopping?
Check out some people who helped me out with the big day!
This summer, if you are fortunate enough to visit Ottawa, I highly recommend visiting the National Gallery of Canada to see the Pop Life exhibition. It runs from June 11- September 19th.
As it states on the National Gallery website, Pop Life: Art in a Material World explores the complex relationship between contemporary art, marketing, and the mass media that has evolved since the 1980s when Andy Warhol’s uttered his provocative maxim that “being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art.” The exhibition includes over 250 various mediums from paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, videos, and installations created over the past 30 years. Very cool!
I am most interested in the Damien Hirst performance exhibition featuring twins. The gallery is recreating the 1992 performance where Damien commissioned a set of identical twins to spend time sitting in front of his trademark spot paintings. Dressed in identical clothing, the twins could do various things, as long as their actions were mirroring each other. The original performance was about “surface appearances, individuality, and making a scene”.
Being a twin myself, of course I wanted my sister and myself to apply! How awesome would it be to be a part of the artwork at the National Gallery of Canada! My sister is going next week to see the exhibition.
Other featured artists include Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Peter Nagy, to name a few. Visit the gallery website for more information.
If you are not able to go to the Gallery before the exhibition closes, you should go to the online store to order your memorabilia. I think I’d like to get one of the Pantone mugs, or the Keith Haring Radiant Baby watch.
It’s summertime and you know what that means – summer holidays! I had the best vacation last week. I went to Minden (near Haliburton) and spent my days relaxing by the water on South Lake while spending time with close friends. I noticed that on long drives I like to read the signs that are dotted along the side of the highway – they are good reading material! While driving back through Bancroft, I decided to try find the Tim Horton’s, which was harder than it sounds. While I was sitting in the drive-through I saw the Be Realistic Not A Statistic sign we designed for the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit. What a nice surprise! That’s not it, though. I also saw another sign we designed while driving South on 62 towards Belleville – Speeding Costs You Deerly (another Health Unit initiative). Very cool. It’s nice to see the work we do actually put to use out in the public. It made me feel good. Needless to say I took pictures of both for you to view. I hope enjoy the rest of your summer!
One of my favourite resources, Colourlovers is offering something very cool. Have you ever wanted your custom designs printed onto high quality fabric? Well, now you can! They have partnered with Spoonflower, an on-demand fabric printer that allows people to design, print and sell their own fabric designs. This is perfect for all you artsy types – you know who you are. Why not have your favorite designs printed onto fabric instead of paper! I’m thinking … I need new wall art…and curtains…and pillows….the possibilities are endless! I like how print design is overlapping with interior design today.
Browse any pattern on ColourLovers to purchase it in fabric form, or visit the Spoonflower site to check out all they have to offer.
As their website states, Spoonflower digitally prints using eco-friendly, water-based pigment inks on natural fiber textiles. No additional chemicals are used in the printing or preparation process. I love it!
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Yesterday, Mashable featured a piece on a new video where a “Guy Walks Across America” that is quickly hitting viral status. At first glance, it seems like a project that can be considered a work of art. I have a hunch that this may be a subtle marketing campaign, but you be the judge:
A clothing/fashion store opened last June in Times Square. What caught my eye was the way they created a billboard that not only drew a crowd, it (at least on some level) interacted with them. From NYClovesNYC:
“The enormous store provides Times Square with a high-tech 61-foot digital billboard featuring virtual models who interact with the mesmerized crowd in front of the store, sometimes taking a Polaroid photo of the crowd and showing it to them, or picking up an individual from a crowd and turning him into a frog by a kiss or dropping him into a shopping bag.”
Who doesn’t like cupcakes? I’ve been watching a new reality series on W Network called Cupcake Girls and I’ve found it very entertaining! The show is about a couple of girl friends (best friends Lori Joyce and Heather White) who started a cupcake business in Vancouver without a business plan, and without any baking experience. Craziness! However, what they do have is marketing and branding experience, and it shows. What initially caught my eye in the show was their branding. Everything is consistent and catchy, from the sign and awning on their storefront to the interior design of the store, as well as their print and promotional materials. Everything works well together. I was just reading an article about them in the June issue of the Globe and Mail Your Business magazine, and decided to check out their website.
It’s fun just like everything else. The Cupcakes Facebook page is well utilized also. Of course, I became a fan (They let me know that they are looking to expand in Ontario!) Their successful marketing and branding campaign has worked. Last year they spun off three franchises while maintaining their three corporate stores. Congratulations, girls! If you haven’t had a chance to check out their show, I suggest that you do – they are hilarious! See them on W network Sunday’s at 9pm. Let me know what you think!
Hi everyone! This post is especially for those of you following us in the Quinte region. This Sunday, the team over at JB Printing is holding a very special event to raise money and awareness for Sarcoma, as part of the International Sarcoma Awareness Week.
What’s a Step & Fetch? We’ll let Tamara, from JB explain:
The walk starts at Quinte West City Hall at 1 pm, weaves throughout Trenton and then ends at JB Printing. Participants collect Sarcoma Fact Cards along the way, once back at JB Printing, the fact cards turn into tickets for chances to win some FANTASTIC door prizes!
Please come out for this ALL ages, Rain or shine event! There will be great food, awesome prizes and a delicious bake sale! If you can’t make it to the walk, come out for the BBQ & Bake sale! The Whystle Dawgs Band will be performing too! Hope to see you there!
Call or email me for details; 613-394-3245, artwork@jbprint.com
Thanks!!
Tamara (from JB Printing)
Registration is FREE, and it’s open to all ages. It sounds like a blast! Make sure to check it out, support a good cause, and have a tonne of fun along the way.
I will have to agree with Iain Tait, Wieden + Kennedy’s Global Interactive Creative Director , when he says, “In a way there’s nothing magical that we’ve done here, we just brought a character to life using the social channels we all use every day. But we’ve also taken a loved character and created new episodic content in real time.”
They used many of the principals for social media success that have been discussed thoroughly around the internet. This campaign engaged consumers, added value to their lives, was created in a human voice and was done in a timely fashion. Let me explain:
Engage Even if the personalized was response wasn’t written directly to you, it still felt like he was in your bathroom answering questions.
Add Value This is something that consumers had never seen before, a global national brand reaching out to its consumers through a ‘brand mascot’. You simply HAD to tell all your friends that would care!
Human Voice Even though it was a global-national brand, it felt more like a simple sketch comedy bit. It felt real, it felt human.
Timely The fact that these responses were sent out in real-time is unbelievable and makes this campaign a huge success – it was about conversation.
I am hard-pressed to call this campaign a success, yet. I would still want to see how this campaign had an impact on sales before we start creating case studies that will be looked at until the end of time. I have no doubt that there is a positive influence on the bottom line, but at the very least I think this campaign has reinforced the “new and youthful” revival to the Old Spice brand. I also believe that this has opened up a chasm of potential in how brands can now communicate with their consumers.
I thought it was pretty clever at first–salt as dandruff–cool concept. Then I thought “Wait a minute, who is going to put that on their food?!” I mean, they put these in restaurants. What restaurant wants something so unappetizing on their tables? I can’t imagine how this would be good for business (at least for the restaurant).
To me, this is an example of a concept that although clever, just misses the mark. I would be interested to hear what others think.
(They let me know that they are looking to expand in Ontario!) Their successful marketing and branding campaign has worked. Last year they spun off three franchises while maintaining their three corporate stores. Congratulations, girls! If you haven’t had a chance to check out their show, I suggest that you do – they are hilarious! See them on W network Sunday’s at 9pm. Let me know what you think!
Engage Even if the personalized was response wasn’t written directly to you, it still felt like he was in your bathroom answering questions.
