that canadian girl

Latest adventures…

  • Links of the week: Media, marketing & brand in today's world

    In the past few days, I’ve read some genuinely interesting articles which I’ve been meaning to blog, but to avoid stale blog entries in my drafts, I’ll just share the links and let you read on.

    Want more? Why not subscribe to my Shared Items in Google Reader?

  • Pepsmedia gets a new look for 2008

    New Pepsmedia site for 2008With the beginning of a new year comes a brand new look for our Pepsmedia website.

    We’ve been so privileged to have the opportunity to work with interesting, open (and sometimes challenging) clients in recent months, and they have kept us so busy that we’d neglected to update our own portfolio.

    I’m looking forward to seeing what 2008 will bring!

  • Travel Blog Carnival: The World Keeps On Spinning

    This week, it is my honour to be hosting the second Travel Blog Carnival, launched last week by Darren at Travel-Rants. Last week, Europe a la Carte‘s Karen hosted the first carnival. Without further ado, here are my favourite submissions this week.

    First, brand new blog J Top Ten publishes the Top 5 biggest comparisons between South California and North California. Having never been, I was surprised by the seemingly significant differences in culture between what’s known to a geek like me as Silicon Valley in the North and the much-caricatured Hollywood further South.

    Next, the Travel Advice and Guides in the Nordic Region blog confirms my suspicion that the Swedes are a bit mad. “Local officials have now given permission for construction of the worlds largest Elk.” Yes, you’ve read this right. An elk, towering 45 meters tall, containing conference rooms, exhibition halls, a restaurant, with an outdoor cafe on top of the antlers, to top it all off. Please, please tell me the exit isn’t at the rear…

    Hole in the Donut’s Barbara Weibel writes this week about her experiences in street crossing across the world. From the madness of Indian streets where there simply are no rules to the unbelievably organised Singaporean roads. I’ll certainly be following her advice when I find myself on a new street corner; “When traveling in unfamiliar places is to watch the locals and do as they do, because they’ve definitely figured out the order of things.”

    And finally, Foxnomad makes his predictions on what 2008 will hold for travellers. Rising airline prices, the advent of greener travel and third-world trips becoming more attractive are only some of his predictions. Only time will tell how close Foxnomad will be! All I hope is that he is wrong about his prediction on the likely increase in terrorist activity on tourist destinations.

    Want to take part in the next Travel Blog Carnival? You can submit any travel related posts which you’ve written in the last 7 days to blog.carnival(at)gmail.com.

  • Blog Topic Challenge: "Favourite tools for getting things done"

    Jane Dallaway suggested that I write about apps that help me get things done. As a Mac user, I love to try out new applications written by smaller developers, so I thought I’d share the list of everything I use regularly, so go have a look at my profile on IUseThis.

    I’ll go in more details on best GTD tools in the near future, for tonight, I’m just checking in and sharing this with you!

    MacHeist Bundle

    While we’re on the topic, I thought I’d flag up a GREAT deal on MacHeist. Ten apps for $49 is simply fantastic, especially since 25% goes directly to charity. If you’re a Mac user, I highly recommend having a look at this offer before it runs out!

  • Blog Topic Challenge: International Boredom Day

    Today, a certain friend of mine spotted a three year old entry on my blog named “International Boredom Day” and suggested I should write an update about it. While it’s not a written suggestion, it’s good enough for me today 🙂

    Indeed, tomorrow, we shall be celebrating 3 years since I pronounced January 9th International Boredom Day. I suppose that on the day I wrote the entry in question, I could’ve done all sorts of productive things but instead had a nap, read a book, lazed around a little. That’s a luxury I hardly even dream of these days! What I’d give for one day where I have time to be bored.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love my fast-paced exciting life and don’t want to give up any of my projects, but there’s a part of me that envies my boss for his two weeks in Sri Lanka spent meditating and doing yoga over Christmas. Sounds like bliss! (Not the yoga part, I would probably break in two if I tried doing yoga, but the meditation, relaxation bit.)

    I have a theory that the older you grow, the faster time flies. I call it the Theory of Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Stuff. (A beer to whoever can place this quote) So in the past 3 years, I’m convinced days have gotten shorter! It’s harder to find time to sleep, and almost impossible to get everything done at work and at home while keeping some sane Me-time every so often for reading an embarrassingly cheesy novel or watching a bad movie like… Robocop or Hackers…

    So while I don’t have an answer on how to MAKE time, all I can say is that International Boredom Day is no longer in existence in my mind.

    This Blog Topic Challenge is turning out to be harder than I thought – especially with the mad evenings we’ve recently had. But I’m still up for it! Entries still welcome to help me make up a whole month’s worth of suggestions!

  • Blog Topic Challenge: "Write about your job"

    As first entry for my infamous Blog Topic Challenge, I thought I’d begin with an elementary and logical first step.

    James Whatley, SpinVox blogger and great friend of mine, suggested that I should “write about your job and everyone you have ever met in your niche industry…” Great suggestion, but there are just too many awesome people I’ve met so I’ll split this into two entries, concentrating on the “write about your job” part first.

    Taptu.com LogoFrom one day to the next, I wear many hats… and wigs… and tiaras. By daylight, I’m part of a great team at Taptu. It’s my first time taking part in the early days of a startup and I’m really enjoying it. There are new challenges every day, which is a refreshing change from previous jobs where tasks were repetitive to say the least (could YOU spend 52 weeks a year sending email newsletters that always say the same thing? I couldn’t.)

    These days, there’s blogging, attending events, handling search engine optimisation (which I love), researching new ideas for the search engine, speaking to our mobile search users as well as our Facebook app users to get their feedback (which I love even more!) and planning future super-secret projects which I can’t tell you about yet… unless you ply me with shiny gadgets, at which point I might just crack. Or not. (But you can offer me shiny gadgets anyways!) 😉

    My job also entails making copious amounts of coffee every day and occasionally teasing Bob about his taste in movies and Lynsey about her Scrabulous choice of words.

    All in all, it’s exciting and challenging. And no, you can’t have my job!

    Blog Topic Challenge: Want to suggest the next topic for me to write about? Leave a comment here and I’ll tackle your topic soon!

  • Going to SXSW? Let it be known!

    If you’re going to South by Southwest in March, let it be known. Add yourself to the wiki list started by Colleen and Adele, two Twitterers I’m following.

    It’ll be a first-time for me, so I’m open to any opportunity to plan to meet and hang out with other bloggers or Twitterers!

    [Update: Durr, forgot the wiki link the first time around. Thanks Mark for pointing it out…]

  • Blog Topic Challenge: A topic a day keeps Vero busy

    Blog Topic ChallengeThis blog has always been fairly adhoc in terms of topics, with the only running threads being technology, marketing, customer service or personal family stuff.

    As an experiment beginning on Monday, Jan 7th, I’ll write a post a day – every day including weekend – on a topic of my readers’ choice. Depending on the topic, I may write a short ten liner post, or go ahead and do some full-on research if it looks interesting (and, realistically, if I have the time), but my challenge will be to post on that given topic every day without fail.

    It can range from topics I’ve already written about where you want to know more, topics you’d bet your hat I know nothing about, or questions about me. Serious, silly, techy, non-techy, it’s up to you.* I’m putting my blog in your hands for a month!

    To some people, 31 posts in 31 days seems like nothing, but this will most likely include some research on bizarro topics if people I know read this blog are anything to go by. 😉

    Make your suggestions for my first few posts in the comments for this post and I’ll begin the Blog Topic Challenge on Monday.

    [* Please don’t make me write about rugby or cricket though, I just can’t understand those sports…]

  • Ottawa New Year 2008

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    Ottawa New Year 2008, originally uploaded by Seamus @ Flickr.

    Last night, we braved the crowds at the Museum of Civilizations in Hull so that we could see the beautiful fireworks.

    Unfortunately, I wasn’t smart enough to bring my camera along and my iPhone would have been pretty much useless in such a condition, so here is one shot taken by a Flickr user.

    Wishing everyone a wonderful new year, filled with new experiences, exciting opportunities and lots of love.

    Happy new year to you all!

    Vero
    xoxo

  • 2007's dumbest moments in business according to Fortune (and me)

    Being the end of the year, everyone jumps in on Top lists, both retrospectively and looking to the new year. Fortune created its list of 101 Dumbest Moments in Business in 2007. From the peanut gallery, I can’t help but comment on their list and add a few of my favourite dumbest moments of the year in business and technology.

    From Fortune’s list…

    8. KFC/Taco Bell rats video in NYC

    Did you really need a video to remind you KFC/Taco Bell is likely to kill you? Apparently, a million people did.

    16. Microsoft’s PR firm sends writer own background document

    Now that’s probably one of my worse nightmares when handling the PR aspect of a project. I’ve never had 13-pages long background files on anyone, but certain short notes which are helpful in remembering how to handle certain difficult people would probably not be received too well, should it fall in the hands of the person profiled.

    17. Cocaine energy drink

    Well, the marketing team can’t say they didn’t see that one coming when they picked the name. While I don’t approve of the choice of name, find another product that can call itself “Censored” or “NoName” yet keep a supposedly cool cachet to it due to its previous name.

    36. Best Buy

    “The state of Connecticut sues Best Buy for setting up in-store kiosks set to a website that looks identical to bestbuy.com but lists higher prices than those they would actually find online.” That was a marketing disaster waiting to happen, and I personally would have put that far higher on the list. For someone to actively commission this mock-site is beyond words. How else do they screw their customers?

    46. Johnson & Johnson throw a hissy fit at the Red Cross for infringement of its trademarked red cross

    Here, J&J’s PR team definitely could have spent a bit longer doing their homework and evaluating how to best put a positive twist, some sort of partnership with the Red Cross rather than getting all uppity about the international symbol of rescue, safety and health being used on First Aid Kits.

    51. Apple threatens to sue a 9 year old for sending ideas

    Here, good ol’ AAPL could have taken a kinder approach to responding to this child. After the public uproar, the little girl received an apology for the otherwise formal and harsh response from the legal department.

    58. Taco Bell “It doesn’t pretend to be mexican food”

    It doesn’t pretend to be edible either, does it?

    59. Radiohead “In Rainbows” available freely

    Fortune gets snipey about it, saying Radiohead will follow shortly with an album called “In Debt”, but TUAW echoes my thoughts – Fortune is utterly wrong in its calculation. Only the labels have been starved from their fat paychecks in this deal, with Radiohead clearing over twice what it usually would on an album.

    65. Verizon Wireless realises it’s not God

    Verizon Wireless attempts to stop messages from a Pro-Choice American association to its own opted-in subscribers, but gets overruled. Good. Mobile carriers are facilitators of communication, not a censorship office.

    70. Circuit City shoots itself in the food badly

    In a cost-cutting exercise, Circuit City shows 3,400 of its best employees the door. Nobody ever taught these guys about the 80/20 rule where a few of your employees either make up most of your sales or, at least, serve as positive motivators for the rest of the team.

    Vero’s list of top dumbest moments of 2007

    1. Twitter claiming upgrades every time it went down.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter, I love their approach and style, and while I’ve never met the team face to face, they all seem like a bunch of people I’d love to work with.

    However, when your community is made up of the cream of the crop of early adopters, you can’t take ’em for a ride, or they’ll head over to The Next Big Thing. So Twitter, in the future, a bit more honesty and transparency would be very welcome when you’re flippin’ us the bird.

    2. Facebook Beacon launches without asking users to opt in first.

    This was a fundamentally stupid mistake. There’s a fine line between giving users useful services and features, and being invasive 1984-stylee!

    I find it shocking that anyone thought they were doing users a service by opting us all in by default. Coming from an email marketing background, I appreciate how difficult it is to convince users to opt-in of their own accord, but sharing this much information without our explicit permission is downright disgusting. As one of the articles on this topic said, what if I was buying a book called “Coping with AIDS”? It’s not all about purple scarves and ruined Christmas surprises, it’s personal lives that could be ruined by it.

    Thankfully, Facebook did well in listening to feedback and sorting the situation as quickly as possible.

    3. Apple plays hard balls over iPhone in the UK, gets fewer sales

    Against any past mobile culture in the UK, Apple chooses to charge a significant amount for the iPhone regardless of the contract it is purchased on. The Register comments on the tumbleweeds rolling by on launch night. Brits and Europeans aren’t blinded enough by Apple to fall head over heels when the deal isn’t good enough.

    Hopefully, Apple will shape up to the culture in the next round of iPhones.

    4. A few idiots rob the blogosphere from Kathy Sierra’s writing and insight.

    I still haven’t forgiven the mean kids who’ve caused Kathy to stop blogging. It may have felt like a funny joke at the time, but their impact is greater than they realise. Her style was unique and enlightening for people in my area of work. It may have been 9 months now since Kathy’s stopped writing but her words still carry.

    What are the dumbest business moments of 2007 in your eyes?