Megan Siegel

Kmart's Ship My Pants Ad

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:18:54 -0400

FITC 2013

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 19:28:30 -0400

Last year I was lucky enough to win tickets to FITC from Ladies Learning Code. I had never heard of FITC and when I looked it up, I wasn’t sure if it would benefit me in any way. I didn’t feel like it was relevant enough to request the days for the conference, so I booked it as vacation. I thought “what the hell, I’ll try it out, if I don’t like it then I’ll have a staycation.”

Well, I loved it.

I was expecting a developer nerd conference, but this conference was welcoming to all different types of nerds!

My job title is manager of content and social strategy, but if I could summarize what I do in two words, I would call myself a digital creator. I create so much content that sometimes it is hard to be inspired and excited about creating another tweet, post, strategy, photo, etc. This is where FITC comes in. Last year after the conference I left refreshed and more excited about my industry than ever. I think I’m due for another round of FITC-induced inspiration and would love to be part of the 2013 women’s initiative.

What I learned at SXSW 2013

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:36:00 -0400

Finally my scattered thoughts/observations from SXSW interactive are immortalized on the web. The conference was overwhelming and I’ve had a hell of a time compiling a coherent post. Here’s a bit on 8 key things that stood out as themes of the conference:

Twitter + TV + Gaming + IRL = A new media experience
The media consumption process is changing––the lines are becoming blurred and it is becoming a new experience. Youtube celebrities are becoming TV celebs and making appearances at real life events. TV viewing is being enhanced by live-tweeting or apps that keep you glued to your couch even during commercials. We are switching mediums without noticing and most of us are using more than one device at a time. It’s going to be interesting to see how brands take advantage of these and lifestyle changes.

Brand fans are the new marketers
How ‘influential’ are influencers really? Are they more influential than a legitimate fan of your business? Brands are shifting from paying influencers to post on their blogs to trying to uncover true fans. These fans will have more sincere and interesting things to say about your brand.

People don’t like marketers telling them what they’re going to like. This is why having brand fans spreading our messages is so much more effective. As time goes on, we are starting to have to get more creative with our influencer outreach.

Memetics
AKA the study of memes. There are three things you need to create a successful meme:
1. Relevancy.
2. Timing.
3. LUCK.

Once something becomes a meme, it’s fair game to repurpose and have a little fun with, but they’re really only ever safe to repurpose for the web. Radio and print campaigns often take months to produce. By the time your ads go live, the rest of the world will have moved on to the next meme. Except Grumpy Cat. He’ll be around forever.

Laugh at yourself
Ben Huh of I Can Has Cheezburger and many others at SXSW emphasized the importance of incorporating humor into your brand, especially on social media. Think of a brand as a person. If someone is serious ALL the time, they’re boring. If they joke ALL the time, you won’t take them seriously. You need to find the balance for your brand.

The rise of the visual web
As Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, etc. continue to grow, so does our desire for images and videos across all platforms. Remember, a picture says a thousand words.

3D printing is the future
There were a lot more hardware-related demos, seminars and even keynotes at this year’s SXSW than other years. From Kickstarter success OUYA gaming console, to Memoto, the life blogging camera, SXSW is beginning to realize that us social media folk are not only concerned about the software, but we’re thinking bigger-picture with hardware we’re using as well. The piece of hardware I noticed more than others, however, was the revolutionary MakerBot desktop 3D printer.

In the SXSW opening keynote, Bre Pettis of MakerBot announced their second product, to be released to the public in November: the Digitizer. The Digitizer is a 3D digital scanner which allows you to scan items, store the 3D file and print it at your convenience using your MakerBot replicator.

The more I think about these two products, the more opportunities I see. It kind of makes my brain hurt.

SPACE is big right now
At least 15 panels at SXSW focused on space travel, space exploration or just space in general. Elon Musk, Ron Garan, Dr. Mae Jemison and even Levar Burton made appearances at the conference. I didn’t attend any of the space-related talks due to lack of any sort of relevancy to my job, but the sheer number of space-related sessions surely means something, right?

Advertising EVERYWHERE
Everywhere I turned, someone was handing me a card, an invite or asking me to download their new app. Lots of them seemed to be checkin-based and most of them got drowned out by the big guys. Vice obviously made a huge impression by having their own tent/venue running most of the day, every day. Samsung, however, had the biggest impression on me. Whenever my phone was almost dead, I just had to tweet them and they’d bring me a new battery. Not to mention, their space was unicorn apocalypse themed….

All in all, I had a great time, learned a lot and left physically exhausted but mentally refreshed. I’m excited for what the next year holds for my industry.

The stupidest bikes I've ever seen

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:34:00 -0400

FLIZ pedal-less bike

This bike just makes me angry and is something that definitely doesn’t need to exist. “Hambrock and Spetter explain that their goal is to create a more environmentally friendly transport for crowded urban settings. It’s unclear how the prototype is an improvement over conventional bicycles, which also do not generate pollution and are less physically demanding than the Fliz.”

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Here’s a video of it in action:

Smallest working bike

This might be stupid and it’s definitely not the most practical bike, yet somehow I find it impressive that the guy can actually ride it. You know what? I’m moving this one from the ‘stupid’ category to the ‘awesome’ one.

Forkless bike
What in the hell? Just why? Forks are there for a reason.

As you’ll notice, bikes haven’t changed a whole lot over recent years. Bikes are something that, from a high level, have more or less been figured out. Since basic, functional bikes have secured their place in the world, people are now making them forkless or pedal-less so you have to HANG from the FRAME? I appreciate the creativity, but let’s spend some time focusing on using creativity to improve the safety and efficiency of current bike technology.

Have you seen other dumb bikes out there? Leave it in the comments.

SXSW Schedule

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:06:00 -0500

Tonight I’m off to Austin for SXSW. I *finally* have my schedule (somewhat) nailed down, my packing done and generally my shit is together. At least I hope it is. So here are some PDFs of my schedule in case you care/are down there and want to meet up/have any tips on how I can make it better.

Friday
Highlights: Adrien Chen & hopefully getting into the Evil Dead Screening.

Saturday
Highlights: John Ceno (WWE), Al Gore, SXSW Comedy.

Sunday
Highlights: Andy Rubin, Guy Kawasaki, Matthew McConaughey (??), Nate Silver, more comedy.

Monday
Highlights: SHAQ, my husband JOSH TOPOLSKY, Ben Huh, new Rob Zombie movie.

Tuesday
Highlights: MG Siegler, Matthew Inman, and hopefully catching some music. Specifically Kendrick Lamar. Fingers crossed.

Restaurants I’ve been told to hit up:

Juan in a Million
Torchy’s Tacos
Franklin BBQ
The Salt Lick
Magnolia
Jackalope
Jellow Jacket Social Club for local brews
Taqueria Don Mario

I’ve been slacking on travel lately, so it’ll be nice to get out of Canada, and hopefully have tacos and BBQ for breakfast, lunch and supper. Apologies for SXSW probably monopolizing my feeds for the next week, I’ll try and post relevant stuff so as not to annoy y’all.

And I want to do this ^^ at least three times while I’m there.
See you soon, Austin!

Missed Connections

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:34:00 -0500

Oh, just spending my Sunday night responding to Missed Connections that were clearly posted by a friend from our party last night…

End the captcha agony

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:13:00 -0500

After my Book of Mormon Ticketking captcha rage this morning, my faith in online human verification tools was restored when I found this. Can we all just use Are You a Human? instead of traditional captchas? Please?

I get paid to bike to work

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:14:00 -0500

Global News stopped by my office yesterday to do a little piece on our Bike to Work incentive program. We used to get $2/day for riding, but it has recently increased to $5/day. We also have locker rooms, showers, bike tools and secure indoor bike parking.

Watch the video (I’m in it!!) for a full tour.

redeyednblue: Super rad antler handlebars by designer Taylor...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:14:07 -0500

redeyednblue:

Super rad antler handlebars by designer Taylor Simpson

Pinterest board organization

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:46:00 -0500

As I was pinning last night, I realized my board categorization was much too vague and my boards were getting a bit unruly and decided to reorganize. I’ve known this would have to happen for quite some time now, but after two sick days and an intense Shameless marathon, I finally spent some time with it.

First-time Pinterest users note: be specific with your boards when you first create them. If only I knew back then what I know now! I split my clothing wants into shoes, bags, accessories and clothing. I split my recipes into sweet and savory. This is something that I probably should have done right from the start. However, having too many boards to start may leave them sparsely populated. It’s a fine line.

I probably should have gone even more specific into coats, tops, bottoms, appetizers, mains, desserts, etc. But we’ll leave that for the next time I feel my boards are getting out of hand.

Now… doesn’t this look better?

There are good people on the Internet!

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:48:00 -0500

As we all know, iPhone users had access to Instagram long before us Android folk. Because of this, an iPhone user snagged my handle before I even had the chance. This frustrated me more than I care to admit and after about six months I left a comment on the guy’s latest photo. Around three months later, he replied:

So now instagram.com/seagell is mine! I have total username consistency across all platforms and I am happier than I care to admit.

Thanks random dude from the Internet, you made my day.

Dog/Pig Playtime

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 16:04:00 -0500

I could watch these guys play all day long.

My parents’ house is so entertaining.

Peace All Around 2012

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:10:00 -0500

It’s the beginning of my second year of Top Drawer Creative and once again I’m proud to be a part of the annual holiday message we send to friends and clients. If you watch through to the end you’ll see that instead of giving out cards and gifts, we’ve given the gift of water to some of those in need.

This message captures a bit of every one of the folks I work with and it’s shot at the beautiful beach down the street from our office. It’s nice to show off all the faces that work behind the scenes at Top Drawer.

View it on Peace All Around site.

Last year’s was fantastic as well.

Mercy does it again

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:16:00 -0500

The guy who made my messenger bag has recently upped the ante and is pumping out a ton of new amazing product. Mercy is always posting teasers and limited run product on Instagram. Today Rusty even made a 1/2 inch key clip just for me after I asked if they make one narrower than 1 inch in a comment.

Thanks Rusty, you’re awesome! And fast, passionate, creative… the list goes on.

I also quite love this bag.

I highly recommend following Mercy on Facebook, Instagram or create a custom bag on their website.

Video: Fixed to Hogtown

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:45:00 -0500

Biking from Sudbury to Toronto in October might have been a bad choice, but we did it and we made a video. Thanks to Doug and Matt for being my road pals and for putting this vid together. Also for motivating me when I wanted to bail on day 3.

Enjoy!

New IE marketing gold

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:04:00 -0500

The new IE marketing is SO GOOD I don’t even know where to start.

From this vid, I went to karaokewebstandard.org and then from there I clicked through to land on their Tumblr, The Browser You Used to Hate.

It’s amazing to see IE not taking themselves TOO seriously, recognizing that they were the browser that was only good for installing OTHER browsers, and addressing the fact that they were the butt of a lot of jokes.

This campaign has karaoke jokes, fixie jokes, makes fun of Farmville and food trucks. They certainly know how to market to the Megs of the world. Comebacks come in all shapes and sizes, indeed.

Let’s hope the product lives up to the marketing. (It probably won’t.)

(Thanks Doug for the h/t)

5 reasons to love YNOT straps

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:42:25 -0500

I picked up some YNOT straps for my Leader and have nothing but love for them. Not only are they amazing foot retention, tight-fitting, easily adjustable and practical—they do lots of other things too:

1. They come in all kinds of fun colors like camo and RAZZLE.
2. They make the install process easy with this video.

3. Local, handmade, innovative, quality products from a team of super solid people.
4. They make lots of other things like bags, u-lock holsters, laptop sleeves and more.
5. They team up with OTHER local businesses to sell fun products.

BONUS REASON: Best of all, they’re made of fabric so they don’t ruin your shoes!!

Buy YNOT straps online or at lots of shops worldwide. Or drop by their office at 500 Keele St. (unit 102) and pick them up IRL.

So I found Morgan's ghost

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:50:00 -0500

My roommate is convinced our apartment is haunted and now I know it’s our unicorn piñata. I started watching Paranormal Activity 3 AND THERE IT WAS.

St. Thomas University

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 11:46:00 -0500

For some reason, my alma mater asked to use me in their 2013-2014 recruitment materials for the Communications Programme.

Although I don’t like spelling it that way, the Program(me) did teach me a lot and combined with their Journalism and Media Studies Program(me)s, got me where I am today.

If you’re on the East Coast, or if you’re looking into schooling somewhere totally amazing, I encourage you to check out St. Thomas University in Fredericton, NB. Super small class sizes, great professors and lots of cheap, delicious beer to be had.

I was the first class eligible to graduate from the STU Communications Program(me) and since then they’ve made a whole bunch of changes and improvements. Jeffrey Carleton knows what’s up.

This song has been stuck in my head for 3 days. It’s...

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 11:50:00 -0500

This song has been stuck in my head for 3 days. It’s catchy, cute, funny and guess what—it’s an AD!