So I usually have a pretty lively Superbowl party and this year I decided to evolve it further. One of the highlight of my party 2 years ago was that Mill Street Brewery and a few other companies sponsored their product for the party. I thought this year I would take this to the next level and see how I could expand this, hence my Social Media Influencer Superbowl Party. This year I am actively soliciting sponsors for the party, to put their product in the hands of Toronto social media influencers while watching the game. It is the hope that people at the party, will Tweet, Facebook and share products they like during the party while watching the big game. We have our first sponsor Hollywood Gelato, that will be providing Gelato for the event. Looking for Sponsors We are looking for a variety of sponsors, whether it be food, drink or swag. If you want to share your product with social media savvy people this is your chance. Contact me at joseph@jpuopolo.com Sponsors Hollywood Gelato is a favorite of mine. We have been going to them for years to get amazing Gelato.At Hollywood Gelato we are proud of creating innovative, fun, delicious and authentic gelato. Developing new flavours is a science that takes time, dedication and persistence. We have over 200 recipes in our repertoire and are continuously adding more. Of these recipes you will see 22 of the top selling flavours in our display case. Follow @hollywoodgelato St. Louis Bar and Grill is a Mainstay for wings and BBQ in the city.St. Louis Bar and Grill 528 Yonge St, 595 Bay St and Fairview Mall locations are the best places in the city for Wings, Ribs and Raptors Games. If you are a NBA fan, this is on the only in the city that shows more love for NBA.Follow @stlouiswings I just learned of Black Oak and their great craft beer.Black Oak has been brewing award winning beer since the last millennium! We make slow brewed, all malt, authentic hand crafted beer that’s true to style. Focusing on quality, character and consistency, our Pale Ale and Nut Brown are gold medal winners at the Great Canadian Brewing Awards. We also make seasonal beers in limited quantities, each suited to the season they represent.Follow @BlackOakBrewing Dufflet has been providing me with cakes for years for all my family events.Eat More Cake! Dufflet Pastries’ 3 locations are renown as Toronto’s source for fresh baked desserts that are hand-crafted from scratch using no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives. Along with signature cakes, chocolate confections, and sublime wedding & celebration cakes, Dufflet cafés also offer light lunches and...
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After our crazy adventure to New England, me and my dad decided to keep the insanity going by flying to San Francisco. So after a crazy trip we got to watch the game. Now it was definitely a wet one, but an adventure we will never forget. There was an incident at the game, but it we were still able to have a great time. Thanks to Tom Petty, a California original lending some music to the video. This music is not owned or created by...
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I recently returned from San Francisco, a city I consider my home away from home. I was there with friends and family to watch the 49ers vs. Giants NFC Championship game on January 22nd,2012 . We arrived at the game early and got ready for the game. The game was quickly soured by an incident in our section. Usher 137 (whose voice is featured in the video I am about to show you) created a mini police state in our section 36/38. She was constantly yelling at people that were in her opinion “excessively standing”. This highly subjective component of the fan code of conduct, was in my opinion not only being abused by the Usher, but was creating a experience that ruined the feel of an amazing playoff game. Having just come from the game a week previous the Patriots vs. Broncos where people were constantly standing, it felt totally out of place and inconsistent with a playoff game. I will state honestly that I did not know what provoked this incident, but having been to over 10 NFL games previously (in cities across the country – Oakland, Buffalo, Foxboro and even Toronto) I have never seen a police response like this, which is part of the reason that I am writing this post. I can say in all of my dealings seeing the SFPD they have accorded themselves with professionalism and compassion. This, however, really shocked me. The police, after not being able to get the person in question to leave their seat, proceeded to club the subject repeatedly. Everyone in our section was aghast at this. I grabbed my video camera to capture the tail end of it. What I captured was an office taking multiple swings at a seemingly unarmed with a blunt weapon in an apparent attempt to remove the man from his seat. I have seen drunk fools removed from their seats before at NFL games, but I have never seen anything like this. I was then accosted by the Usher 137, who yelled at me for recording this on video at the end of the video, seemingly knowing that she had precipitated this incident to spiral out of control with her attitude. For the rest of the game, Usher 137 continued to harass and intimidate paying fans who were there to cheer their team to a Superbowl. She seemed to relish her position of power and was using it to lord over people there just looking to have a good time. Now those saying that I am just doing this to get attention, I first attempted to go through the official channels to notify the right...
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In a totally spur of the moment occasion, it was decided that me, my brother and dad would travel to New England to watch the Broncos face off against the Patriots. We all made a pact to eachother, that we would look for any opportunity to do something cool together and create memories with each other. Memories were definitely made on that cold night. The aura of Tebow was in the air, but it wasn’t enough to stop Tom Brady and the Patriots from crushing them. We had so much fun that we decided to book another flight to San Francisco to see the game next week versus the Giants. Crazy I know, but crazy is what I do best. Here is a little video I shot. Sorry for the crappy camera work, it was freaking cold out there. Thanks to Axel Rose, Slash and the rest of GnR for the music. Random shots of us Tebowing...
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In 2011, social media had its share of growing pains. Large brands and corporations took to social media in force to try to find footing in this expanding medium. Some brands found success, while others found peril and new PR nightmares. One person who has helped brands navigate the proverbial social media minefield is Amy Jo Martin. She is the founder of Digital Royalty, a social media firm that has set itself apart by helping A-listers find their social media voice. Amy works with people like Dana White of the UFC, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson of acting/WWE fame and brands like Nike and Fox Sports (and now Joel Stein). Her specialty is working with organizations or individuals and making them look good online. Since the online world is in perpetual flux, I wanted to get Amy’s take on the social media landscape for 2012. Here were a few key trends Amy said we should look out for in 2012: 1. Social TV Integration Many shows have already begun to integrate social TV, either through polling or integrating social elements within the show. See my example of how both the UFC and WWE are integrating social media into their programming. Social media played a pivotal role in the last presidential election, and it will likely be more integrated into political broadcasts. As each news channel fights hard to keep their viewers engaged, networks like CNN and Fox have made significant strides to engage their audience, although some would argue that this social media integration has come at the expense of hard-hitting journalism and analysis. 2. TV Is Going Online in a Big Way 2012 will be the first time that the Super Bowl will be streamed live to the world. Since the Super Bowl is generally viewed as the mother of all advertising spectacles, it will add a new dynamic into the digital component to advertising and social media integration. 3. Facebook Credits Take Center stage Facebook in 2012 has the potential to project its power and truly take Facebook credits into a viable currency. Amy puts it quite well when she says “they’re building an online destination we’ll never need to leave, and my guess is they’re only about 8% of the way through their product roadmap.” 4. Big Business Has Woken Up The way corporate entities approach social media is shifting. Many companies realize that setting up Twitter, YouTube and Facebook accounts is not going to cut it as their social media strategy. Brands will need to seriously shift their perspective by treating social channels more like communication channels and less like an advertising channels in order to make a difference. From my perspective...
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I wanted to celebrate my wife Laura Puopolo‘s birthday in a unique way. I got this idea from Renee Warren and her Fiancée Dan Martell. I worked with my cousin Alysha who is an amazing illustrator to create something a little bit different to honour Laura’s big 30th Birthday. Click on the infographic below to learn a bit more about Laura’s amazing life so far...
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A year has passed, and our little girl has just turned one. Last year at this time, we were patiently waiting for our little girl to arrive and didn’t realize how much our lives were about to change. Much like the rest of the year, Anna’s birthday was celebrated with family and friends. The amount of love, care, support that we have received has been tremendous and so unconditional. This, I think, is due in part to Anna’s infectious personality. She truly comes into a room and charms everyone with her eyes, her smile and her personality. This year has not been without its share of ups and downs. The highs of watching Anna taking her first steps have also been counterbalanced with the stress of her surgery and everything that followed. The reality is that we have entered into an amazing roller coaster, with the highest highs and the lowest lows. Parenthood is an amazing journey and it has only just begun. Our family will change and continue to grow, and we know that this unforgettable year will be followed by many more . I think my wife Laura said it best when she said: One year ago today, I was in the hospital about to give birth. Anna joined us at 12:37 am on January 9. I can’t believe my baby is one! What a year it’s been – joy and frustration, laughter and tears. I wouldn’t change a minute of it! We love you...
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Rules of Customer Service and being a Good Customer I decided to take the week after Christmas off this year, as I usually do. This has become an annual tradition to help me recharge my batteries and get ready for the next year. This year, as usual, I got a raft of gift cards for Christmas and this week I went to brave the horror that is after Christmas shopping to look for some bargains. This year, I have taken a ton of pictures. In fact, nearly 5000 pictures since I got my new camera. Just this Christmas alone, between my camera and video camera I created over 10 gigs of content. I decided to go into a chain of camera stores, Henry’s. This chain has a huge selection and while I got my camera at Vistek, my gift card was for Henrys. Admittedly I am not the world’s greatest photographer (big shocker there) but I still have a lot of pro gear and am getting better with it all the time. I usually keep my camera on auto focus and let it do the work. I went to go look at lenses, and quickly felt belittled by the clerk who wanted to show off how much more he knew about my camera than I did. I was in the shop and probably would have dropped nearly 1000 bucks on a new lens had the clerk not made me feel like I was a 10 year old. There I was, a customer with a 200 dollar gift card to spend in this shop and he couldn’t close the sale. It got me thinking about good customer service. On the flipside, customers can be rude and belligerent themselves. They lie, and manipulate in-store policies to get something that they probably shouldn’t receive. During Christmas shopping I had to tell a fellow customer to stop being a dick when he berated a clerk for something that was clearly not her fault. This is a set of rules I have developed for both customer service and for the customer to follow: Rules of Customer Service Don’t belittle the customer – It is your job to know more than the customer. That said, don’t make them feel like they are 5 years old. You need to be relatable, helpful and human to the customer. Work on behalf of both the customer and company – You need to operate for the best interests of both the customer and your company. You are the liaison between both groups and will earn a lot of loyalty and esteem if you try to find creative solutions to...
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I wanted to surprise my family by bringing home my brother in-law (Bryan) and his Girlfriend (Shannon) for home Christmas. They moved away to Nova Scotia 10 months and the family last saw him 6 months ago when visiting. No one had any clue he was coming home for the holidays. This was the video I shot of them coming home to celebrate the holidays and the surprise when everyone found out he was home. Note: Michael Buble didn’t give me permission to use the song, I hope he understands. He seems like a pretty cool guy 🙂 This video was created purely to share our Christmas...
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I got to sit down and interview Dana White ahead of UFC 140. The event takes place on December 10th in Toronto, Canada and like every UFC event, heavily hyped via social media. Over the past 3 years, Dana White and the UFC have built a very strong social media presence. I wanted to speak to the head of the UFC himself and get some more detail on what he thinks of Twitter and other social media tools. Dana goes on to outline how he got into Twitter, how he uses it to help his business, what are the pitfalls and benefits. Amy Jo Martin of Digital Royalty, who helps build social media strategies for business such as the UFC had this to say about Dana White and his use of Twitter. “Dana White was the first sports executive to see the power of these new communication channels. From day one, Dana and the UFC have treated social media channels as a dialogue vs. a monologue.” Digital Royalty...
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