It would be an owner’s worst nightmare.  An above the fold picture of rats frolicking in your kitchen in the local paper.  Kudos to Dumpling House’s manager who handled this PR situation well.  The National Post profiled the story of the restaurant that is now temporally closed by the Health Board while the situation can be remedied.  This sort of story has happened in the past and in most times resulted with horrific responses by the owners.  Lots of “No Comments”, “Get out of my face”, and doors banging shut. 

 This has resulted in many occasions with these restaurants closing or an entire slow-down of business.  With the forthright response given by the spokesperson, Dumpling House may re-open to further success and perhaps even a further investigation of the main problem itself - many downtown pockets are full of vermin infestations that need to be addressed by the city as a whole.

Over the past two years, we have seen the expansion - especially in urban centers such as Toronto, of ad spaces being in the least expected areas.  Washroom stalls, gym change rooms, the back of your cab, even your local grocery-store shelf all have been seem as new advertising opportunities.  In his article for The Star this weekend - Andrew Chung explores where these trends are heading.

Tune into Daytime where Ambiance Chocolat will be talking about the sweet stuff on their special Valentine’s Day edition.

Its hard to believe that its been 10 years since the start of Subway’s marketing campaign with spokespeson “Jarod” - but apparently….its true.

 He’s not seen often in the ads much however he is still their recognizable symbol, along with his “fat pants”.  The pants are finally getting retired but like most icons, are taking a farewell 2008 tour.  Makes you wonder if they like Cher will be really gone for good.

The great staff at my client Ambiance Chocolat will be  showing off their new Valentine’s Day Chocolates to Jen Valentine this morning on BT. 

The two have decided to collaborate on developing a new method of developemnt for online ads.

“The resulting tools and business intelligence would not necessarily be proprietary to the two companies but could help propel the growth of digital advertising, they said……..Advertising on Web sites and other digital media like video games has become a large and accelerating business as traditional media like television and print lose customers and advertisers……..This year, global online ad spending is expected to reach $49.5 billion, up 22 percent over last year.”

Read the rest of the NYT article.

This site will keep you updated on current projects and what I’m currently up to. 

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