Congratulations to my best friend

My best friend Dana, married a wonderful man named Daniel. For years, I have been calling her double dee ( for obvious reasons ).  Now she is a happily married true double dee. Dana and Daniel Dallmann, yes double dee indeed.

I had the honour of being her photographer. The wedding was a small, but a beautiful ceremony of only 20 guests that took place in their home with a dinner reception at The Keg. I am proud of how much work she put into it though, it was absolutely gorgeous. I am so grateful to have her as my maid of honour for my upcoming wedding, I know everything will be equally as beautiful.

I do regret however, being a full-time college student, the lack of help I had to offer her. At least I took beautiful photos with the use of the college's SLR camera rentals. My plan as a wedding gift to Mr. and Mrs. Dallmann, is to create a wedding album for them. Seeing as I took over 600 photos.

I enjoyed every minute of it and used the opportunity to design a little photo essay for my last assignment in CreComm of the year as well.  And I would like to share it here on my blog.

Graduating and thirsty for more

Graduation is a mere four and a half weeks away and I am ready to accept the challenge. In these last two weeks before our last internship in the Creative Communications program at Red River College, we still have many looming deadlines and heavy projects to complete. In the midst of completing a professional portfolio, a web portfolio, a series of photography assignments, a mini documentary and a sponsorship package for a non-profit organization, I had to design an ad for brand... me!

I had some fun with this assignment and turned it into something that shows a bit of my creativity. I have been told that I do in fact look like a lion. Yes!

Photos courtesy of Melissa Marlatt

And here is a little something extra to add to the fun, a sample of what we do in photography class.





















~Jenn

Knorr - Bring "Salty" back - the reason behind it

“Salty” has been the mascot of Knorr Sidekicks for over a year. The audience loves him. Since “Salty” left due to 25 per cent less sodium found in Sidekicks in 2009, Knorr has started a Facebook and Twitter for fans to communicate with the lonely character.

Although the commercials continue with the latest; “Pep” is on the search to bring back his friend “Salty”, Knorr has yet to bring him back. The audiences continue to have a connection with the little guy - but how long will it last? Does the audience really like the idea of Knorr having a sad mascot?

It’s time to bring “Salty” back. He has been gone for too long.

In the first commercial, when “Salty” left in 2009, the song was just as important as the story. Michal Bolton sang, How am I supposed to live Without You. The song was a great fit, influencing the mood that Knorr was attempting to pull off throughout the audiences.

The ‘Next’ ad, (an assignment in advertising class) "Bring "Salty" back features a song by Michael Bolton again. “Salty” left with Michael Bolton and so he should come back to Michal Bolton as well. It may have a beneficial impact. The song perfect for “Salty’s return is All for Love. It invokes that same feeling, but this time of joy and happiness for the little guy. He found his way home.

Oi there!

So I've been a busy bee! I am pleased to say that my documentary, Hauntings of Manitoba is complete and it was a whole lot of fun!

In addition to my regular course load, including finishing up the campaign for MALA that the advertising and PR majors are working on, I have been doing some social media work for my upcoming work placement (internship) in April.

To jump start it, Cocoon's innovative sofa line, Oi Furniture has presented their pitch on CBC's Dragons' Den and it will be airing next Wednesday, March 9th at 8:00 pm.

I have been excessively tweeting, more so than ever before about the upcoming televised pitch in an effort to bring attention and awareness to our local talent.

I feel privileged to be involved and have been communicating back and forth with the agency about upcoming ideas. I feel passionate about the agency and what they do. So as busy as I am, it doesn't feel like extra work at all.

Check them out at the WIRED Store in NYC 2010



Follow them on Twitter!
Oi Furniture
Cocoon Branding

Stuff from The Winnipeg Paranormal Group ... pretty cool

It is widely accepted that there are four main types of hauntings:

Check out their website Winnipeg Paranormal Group

Type 1: Residual Haunting

These types of hauntings are impressions in time that have been imprinted on the place that is haunted. Think of them as pieces of a movie that is stuck on repeat. They play through at the same time of the day over an over. They are not aware, nor can they interact with anyone or anything physically around them. Remember, they are nothing more than a scene in a movie, they cannot hurt you. They exist solely as a fraction of time, stuck on a loop.

Type 2: Intelligent Haunting 

These types of hauntings are due to the spirit of a person or animal that has not, for some reason, crossed over after their death. These hauntings involve a spirit you can interact with. they are aware of you, and interact with you via, sounds, touch, smell and posibly sight. When you ask them a question, they are capable, though not always willing, to reply.

Type 3: Demonic Haunting

These types of hauntings are extremely rare. These spirits are non-human and very violent. Signs of demonic haunting include a strong sulfuric odour, growling noises and physical contact including pushing, hitting, shoving and scratching. The main goal of a demonic haunting is to emotionally break down a person.

Type 4: Poltergeist Haunting 

The term 'Poltergeist' is German for 'Noisy Ghost', which is an accurate definition of this type of haunting. This spirit or entity is usually much more destructive than a traditional haunting. Poltergeist is a series of events that appear to be that of ghosts, but are generated within the depths of the mind of, usually, a young woman. These events are created without the woman's awareness. Some common activities include thumping, moving objects, banging, or object-throwing. 

Social media does matter

It's mazing how something as small as social media can make a huge difference in the world we live in. It seems that nowadays everyone wants to amp up their use of social media, but many companies don't have the time. Social media to most seems more like a hobby than a communication tactic. I am sure many people take social media for granted, and I was one of them until today.

I had a scheduled meeting today/interview with Winnipeg innovative branding and advertising firm, Cocoon Branding Inc. At the interview, Kyle Romaniuk, owner of Cocoon and I discussed a possible internship within the company for a three week period in April, as part of my curriculum for the graduating year in Creative Communications at Red River College.

The interview was different than any other interviewing experience I have had before. I was asked to bring in samples and present them. The funny thing is that in our advertising class at Red River College, we were asked to bring in three portfolio samples on Monday. That being said, what I brought in to Cocoon wasn't exactly a portfolio. Still, I presented each sample and gave a few descriptions. I was surprised that the most well received piece was the mock-up of an ad I cut and glued for Lush in last year's magazine project. I was given some interesting insights to the concept during the meeting today and will continue to keep this "handmade" ad as a portfolio piece.

Lush ad - second image

We spent an hour discussing my work, Cocoon's work and my future goals. I showed him a top favourite Super Bowl ad, discussed the Knorr Sidekick's "Salty" capaign ( a favourite of mine) and discussed the MALA campaign I am currently working on. MALA, the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects has asked the PR and advertising majors in Creative Communications to come up with an awareness campaign for their organization. I discussed our "big idea" with Kyle and he gave me positive feedback.  I appreciate all of the advice Kyle has given me and plan to implement what I can.

I am pleased to say that I will be interning at Cocoon in April, a goal of mine for quite some time. I appreciate the opportunity to learn at a higher level and experience new ways of advertising, marketing and branding. I think Cocoon and I are on the same page. I just wrote an electronic publication to be designed as a downloadable app for the iPad, and Cocoon just did a similar app-like campaign for Grant's scotch whiskey.

In addition to the internship, I may have something extra to offer them. As part of our curriculum in the Creative Communications program, we have to maintain a Twitter account, a LinkedIn and a blog. Funny, you wouldn't think that your school would want you to use social media in class. I never thought this skill would benefit me in my future career. However, I was asked today to come up with ideas to help drive a following on Cocoon's Twitter. I find this to be an interesting task and have already thought of other ways to drive people to connect with Cocoon.

Looking forward to April!

~Jenn

Favourite car Super Bowl ad of 2011

Nope, it's not the Volkswagen Darth Vader one ( although it did make me laugh). This year, the Chrysler ad is my pick of the year. Maybe my infatuation with Mad Men has gotten to me, but I have always enjoyed old Hollywood-style anything. This ad, reminds us of how driving a car used to be. It's classic.