Updates, announcements, and miscellanea from the folks at smashLAB. Refreshed sporadically, and sometimes mildly self-aggrandizing. (Hey, we need to do this somewhere, don't we?)
Mobile usage is skyrocketing. In 2011 alone, subscriptions grew from five to six billion worldwide; meanwhile, global mobile traffic has more than doubled every year for the past four. In spite of the demand, curiously few tourism websites are mobile-ready. Tourism Langley recognized this need, and asked us to help them craft a better experience for travelers. Continue reading: Tourism Langley Embraces Mobile to Better Service Travelers
Design is all around us, from street signs to your umbrella. But what about those behind it? Should we see them in their work? Hear Ryan talk about the designer’s role and what he feels constitutes “good” design.
It seems paradoxical, doesn’t it? An ad agency (well… digital, but same difference) that has issues with consumption. Nevertheless, it’s who we are: a group of communicators who feel that our culture is sometimes a little “out of whack.” Maybe it’s just us, but we think life is about more than the things one owns.
Continue reading: What Kind of an Ad Agency Doesn’t Want You to Buy More Stuff?
We’re delighted to see two of of smashLAB’s projects for Tourism Vancouver receive recognition at this year’s Adrian Awards. InsideVancouver.ca received a Platinum Award in Digital Marketing, an honor offered to only a handful of winners each year. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Specialist Program added a Bronze Award to its growing collection, in the Mapping & Location Marketing category.
Darren Johner accepted the Platinum Award alongside Jeff Senior, the EVP of Marketing & Sales for Fairmont Raffles Hotels International and Global Chairman of the Board for HSMAI. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Continue reading: Tourism Vancouver and smashLAB Take Platinum and Bronze at Adrian Awards
When someone mentions “heli-skiing,” it often evokes images of stunning mountain vistas, untouched runs, and deep powder. What some might not think about, however, is the amount of work that goes into making each excursion happen. So, what does it take to run a heli-skiing operation?
Our client, Crescent Spur Heli-Skiing, wanted to offer an inside look at what happens behind the scenes. To do this, a few of us travelled up to their lodge and filmed, on location, for a week. We then produced ten short videos that covered everything from the food they serve to their (rather notorious) lodge dog.
Continue reading: There’s More to Heli-Skiing Than First Tracks and Fresh Powder
Over the past few months, we’ve had a lot of fun running the Culture in Vancouver campaign for our client, Tourism Vancouver. To raise awareness of local arts and culture, we promoted a sweepstakes and events calendar through online advertising, extensive blogger outreach, and social media. The result? Nearly 100 million impressions across our target audiences in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest region, and over 11,000 sweepstakes entries.
We particularly enjoyed seeing the prize packages come to life, when a lucky few received backstage access and tickets to some of Vancouver’s most popular venues and events. These ranged from cheering on the Canucks at Rogers Arena, to exploring the private archives of the Museum of Anthropology, to attending the opening night of a Tony award-winning play. Watch the videos for an inside look at each truly unique adventure.
The Stage Experience: Nicole and Hannes go behind-the-scenes
Continue reading: Experience Incredible Culture in Vancouver
In the November issue of Applied Arts, Canada’s visual communications magazine, our Creative Director @karj explains why a return to more traditional campaigns could help social media marketers achieve real results.
Charlatans. That’s the word I’d use to describe many in social media marketing. My bet is that you don’t disagree with me, and are also somewhat fatigued by the legions of “professionals” seriously referencing themselves as gurus and mavens.
At another time in history, I gather these folks would have been equally happy selling us pet rocks, and fallout shelters for our backyards.
Continue reading: Start Saying the “C” Word
Organizations often look to agencies to spread their messages, believing there’s a simple recipe for success. Is this realistic, though? In the following video, Eva offers an inside look at how smashLAB works to deliver results for their clients.
Developers seem to fixate on the tiniest details, spending countless hours refining bits of code. But what drives them to do this? We’ve created a series of short films to offer our perspective on these types of questions. Here’s the first one to start you off—take a look at what captivates Brad as a developer.
In helping our clients establish their blogging strategies, we’ve repeatedly run into the situation where it made sense for an organization to have more than one blog. Often, this is due to departmental requirements, or simply the need to target different audiences.
Usually, each blog would have its own domain name and theme to suit the subject matter. While WordPress now includes multisite functionality that allows for the creation of networks of such sites within a single WordPress installation, it requires additional configuration and increases complexity substantially. Although this is an appropriate solution in many cases, at other times it can seem like overkill. Continue reading: How to Manage 1,000 Websites from One WordPress Dashboard
