Last Thursday, the whole kitestring gang attended the #140 Conference Ontario. The conference was the first of its kind in Canada and brought together many familiar faces, from the world of social media, to share their stories! kitestring took this opportunity to perform a short skit, Real World 101, poking fun at social media platforms.

The crowd seemed to love us as they laughed the whole way through! Plus, #kitestring became a trending topic on Twitter that afternoon! We were even bigger than Justin Bieber in the Twitterverse that day! That’s huge! Thanks so much to the organizers of the #140 Conference Ontario for inviting us, we had a blast! You can watch our short skit in the video below (we’re at about 03:12)!

Video streaming by Ustream

The #140 Conference is only one week away and we’re getting excited!

On September 15th, the kitestring gang will entertain and inform the audience of the #140 Conference in Kitchener! The #140 Conference is the first of its kind in Canada and will explore the  power of the internet and how real time social media sites have changed the way we respond,  react, and think on a day-to-day basis.

We’re very excited to perform a short skit poking fun at social media platforms. In our quirky and quick comedic skit, Real World 101, Professor Chambers will attempt to teach students like Tina Twitter and Freddy Foursquare the sometimes forgotten ‘real world’ skills in a counselling classroom.

kitestring will share the stage at the sold out event with popular social media influencer, Amber Mac and UnMarketing’s Scott Stratten.

See you there!

Want to win a  “Night Out in Westdale!”?!?!? All that you need to do to enter this contest is to fill out this short survey here. This should take only five minutes of your time.

This survey is intended for folks that live in the Greater Hamilton and surrounding areas who are either aware of the Westdale neighbourhood but have never visited, those who have visited before, and even those who live in the area.

All of the information provided will be kept confidential and will be used solely by kitestring creative branding studio to help better reflect Westdale Village’s brand.

If you have any questions, please contact meg@kitestring.ca

If you’re like us, you like to unwind at the end of the day with a (insert alcoholic beverage of your choice here).If you’re like us, we need you. We need you to talk booze. We need you to talk booze while tasting booze. Ok, maybe not at the same time. But one after the other. (Responsibly. Because you’re 19th birthday was probably a decade ago and there’s no longer an excuse for “sloppy” on Monday evening.)

This speakeasy market research is so exclusive, we can only have a certain number of people of the right demographic over to taste cool beverages and talk about them with the kitestring research team.

Want to come? Fill out this quick survey.  kitestring will contact those who apply and meet the demographic criteria. You’ll be well fed and watered. You’ll leave with swag and more booze. You’ll also end up playing a role in the rebranding process for one of kitestring’s clients.

Here’s the deets, including when you’ll need to be available:

BOOZE TALK: A Market Research Speakeasy is on a Monday evening, but we can’t say here which one because it’s a Speakeasy. And Speakeasy’s are secret.

Have a question? Email meg@kitestring.ca

Local fashion enthusiast, Andrea Malick, approached the kitestring team to create her brand when she decided to open up a women’s jean store in the James St. S district. Everything from Rivet & Tailor’s brand name, visual identity and brand elements are inspired by the Victorian heroines of novels past – from Emily Bronte to Jane Eyre and Josephine March of Little Women. Old books and libraries alike were brought together when thinking of her brand’s story. Rivet & Tailor will celebrate its grand opening on September 17th! Check out the store and its beautiful storefront sign at 136 James St. South!

There is no question, Gmail is a great e-mail client, and Labs makes it ever better. Recently they launched a feature that allows you to have a “Preview Pane” when reading e-mail. This keeps a listing of all your e-mails on the left (or top), and the contents come up on the right. It’s more like the Tablet version of Gmail, or like a desktop client.

Here’s how you do it!

Click on the little gear in the top right hand side of your browser, and choose “Labs”

Find the one called “Preview Pane”, and Enable it.

Now, when you get back to your Inbox, on the top right hand side, you should see a drop down near your message count and previous/next buttons.

Click on the down arrow, and you can then choose how you want your preview pane to appear, No Split, Horizontal Split, or Vertical Split. For larger screens, the Vertical Split is very nice!

Enjoy!

After I heard about Madison Lord’s lemonade stand’s cooler being stolen, I suggested to the kitestring team that we step up and help out. Turns out, some of our good friends also had the same idea! With the power of social media, we rallied our followers and the kitestringers came together with Mark Scutella (of Pinstripe Painting) to provide 10-year-old Madison with a brand new lemonade stand! I got to help paint it and everything!

The Cossart Exchange is also going to provide Madison with free entrepreneurship classes – she’ll be the youngest person to ever go through their program! Plus, she’ll get to sell lemonade for charity at the Ottawa Street Sew Hungry: Food Truck Rally! Tomorrow everyone is getting together at the kitestring studio to present Madison and her family with the new lemonade stand and the big news! There will be lemonade and cookies to celebrate! We’re so excited!

Wanna come?

Contact meg@kitestring.ca or margaret@kitestring.ca and let us know!

I think the most common complaint I hear about a Smart Phone is the horrendous battery life. Here are a few tips to keep you going and maybe even make it through the day:

1. The biggest drain on most phones is the big, bright, beautiful screen. Some phones have an auto-brightness settings that will dim the screen based on the lighting in the room, which somewhat works, but the best solution is to lower the brightness to something that works for you.

2. Turn off vibrate. It takes a lot more to vibrate the phone than to ring. And turning the ringer down a bit may help too.

3. Manage your background apps. If you have three different Twitter applications, all checking in the background every ten minutes, this will drain your battery more than necessary. Shut down or turn off automatic updates on unnecessary applications. Maybe have your Facebook and Twitter apps check for updates every hour instead of every 2 minutes, no matter how popular you are. Also, turning off push notifications for unnecessary applications will make a difference.

4. Lay off on the Wi-Fi. If you don’t really need anything data-intensive, turn off your wi-fi. You most likely have a fairly good data plan that should be find for simple e-mail and other small things. If you are not near your own Wi-Fi hotspot, the phone will constantly try to find and connect to a signal, which is bad for the battery.

5. Turn off the GPS/Location Services. Again, this will try to connect when you don’t need to.

6. Buy a second battery. You can then easily swap it out when your first one dies. But, like propane tanks on a barbecue, chances are you’ll end up with a big steak on, and two empty tanks…so make sure you charge them!

Most Smartphones are going to be somewhat rough on a battery though, as they get more and more powerful, and do more and more. If you’re going to do a lot of talking, play a lot of Angry Birds, and surf the web, expect to have to charge your phone throughout the day, and always carry your charger with you.

These are just a few tips I could think of. Anyone else have any tips they can share?

Like most Canadians, I’m not really sure what to make of this week and it’s only Wednesday. Earth quakes, tornadoes and the death of an inspiring political figure  make me feel like my none-too-pleased little sister on the spinning swings at Marine Land: “Stop the world! I want to get off!”

Like most Canadians again, I wish I had more time to read. So, I know I’ve only got about five pages into Connected by Drs. Christakis and Fowler, but in that short minute it took me to get that far before I fell asleep it offered  a concept that made me want to “hold on for one more day.”

So in this book, these cool docs are suggesting that our humanistic tendencies propel the formation of social networks. Yes, yes, we’ve heard of “Pay it Forward,” but this is a little different. Here’s an example, however unrelated: If our friends, friends, friends are gaining weight, you’re more likely to get fat too. Chapter One:  “The Butterscotch Ripple Effect.” I joke, I jest. That’s not the name of chapter one.

But this notion can be applied elsewhere to other “good” activities we share with our networks. For example, I was never much of a political person, but during the last election my social networks began exposing me to all kinds of ways that my vote truly counts.So I became more educated on political parties, and I think I made my first vote that wasn’t heavily influenced by looks alone this time around. Oh, admit it. You did too! *see “Left”, literally.

Another great example of this “butterscotch ripple effect” is Stuart Thursby’s, Art Director at Proximity Canada, timely tribute to the late Jack Layton (see image at top of post). Almost instantly after the release of Jack’s message to Canadians, Stuart created and shared these posters, turning a hopeful legacy for a nation into visual beauty.

Like many of us, I too am now inspired to be a better Canadian. Maybe we could all influence one another so we don’t forget how we feel right now by sharing on our social networks. Maybe this sounds like the study of twitter communities through rose coloured glasses, but lets give it a spin!

Be loving, hopeful, and optimistic… and then don’t forget to share it.

As I made my way down the journey of having our first child, my husband and I spent hours and hours discussing (debating, arguing…) over what to name the new little boy that was about to enter our world.

“too stuffy”

“too kiddy”

“too dated”

“too trendy”

the debate went on and on…

When we finally agreed on Jack – it put a smile on our faces. We knew it was going to be the right handle to take our munchkin from newborn cuteness to rockin’ old man that I’m sure he’ll be!

Back at the studio, we also have the opportunity to assist many entrepreneurs craft the perfect name and breathe life into their new business or venture.

And, just like naming our children, we take this task as no small undertaking! After all, your brand name is often the first interaction that your business has with your audience. It must peak interest, stick with them and reaffirm your brand promise (for starters)…all within a name!

Often times we have clients come to us and announce, “I haven’t done anything but, I have a name!”.

Eeek! How can you have a name without having determined your brand character, objective and promise?!? How is this random name going to be the brand spokesperson out there in the market, working hard to gain you recognition in the marketplace? (Can we say ‘square peg in a round hole?!’)

Don’t dismiss the power of a brand name too quickly before reading the following example:

On my travels, I’ve come across a business named “Almost Perfect Frozen Food”. Really? Almost perfect? Is that what you want me to feel as I drive by contemplating whether or not I should stop in? No thanks, I think I’ll pass!

And, as quickly as the car passes by, I’ve made a judgement on the brand! To be fair, I want to assume that they *must* have intended to communicate ‘as close to home cooking without cooking’. (My mind went to the food that you pop in the freezer with the hopes that you caught in before spoiling…the last ditch effort of extending its life just a wee bit longer…)

So, the big lesson here…please, don’t go about naming your business with a willy-nilly, gut feeling. Not because ‘it sounds nice’, or ‘its named after my pet’.

Do yourself a favour – be strategic and craft it to reflect the brand you want to present into the marketplace, one that will speak to your audience, stand the test of time and, leave them with an instant positive impression!

Almost perfect frozen lasagna, anyone!?