Invoke | Digital Agency

Invoke and Work at Play collaborate on ideathon for The City 2.0 initiative

Justine Yu — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:30:22 +0000

Last week, Invoke and Work at Play partnered together for an inaugural collaborative Ideathon. What is an Ideathon you ask? Similar to a Hackathon, an Ideathon brings a group of brilliant minds together to brainstorm, generate ideas, and come up with a solution to a problem.

Work at Play graciously hosted us in their amazing office in Railtown, Scotiabank Chinatown helped sponsor our food & beverages for the evening, and Food.ee provided the food ordering services to ensure we were never left hungry or thirsty.

The idea for the event first came up when we heard about TED’s The City 2.0 initiative. Every year, the TED Prize is awarded to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 to bring their idea and wish to fruition.This year, TED awarded the prize to an “idea” — The City 2.0. The City 2.0 encourages people to imagine a platform or an idea that brings everyone together, locally and globally. The City 2.0 aims to “combine the reach of the cloud with the power of the crowd, connect leaders, experts, companies, organizations and citizens, share our tools, data, designs, successes, and ideas, and turn them into action.”

Up for grabs is one of ten $10,000 prizes to make our ideas a reality. The idea is for collaborative action on a major issue within our own communities be it urban farming, electric car recharging stations, homelessness, or education, and coming up with a platform, an idea, a technology to work towards improving the situation. You can read more about it here and here.

We began the evening with some opening remarks from Mala Srivatsa, Operations Manager at Invoke, and Anja Haman, COO at Work at Play. Andrew Harnden, CSO at Work at Play, led the group in an icebreaker activity called Photexto Phone. Think of the grade-school game Telephone, but with words and pictures.

Next, we broke off into three teams and spent 2.5 hours in an intense brainstorm session. There were several brainstorming methods being put to use, some more successful than others, and it really opened our eyes to how many different ways you can brainstorm and how certain methods may help or hinder the ideation process.

Do you have a tried and true brainstorming method? Have you heard or seen a method that you’d like to try? Share your ideas with us in the comment section below.

Several great ideas were brought to the table, including one called stARTer. StARTer is a project created to promote local arts while simultaneously helping the environment through recycling. With special stARTer recycling bins put in place, the money collected from recyclables is put towards creating local, public art, all while promoting recycling initiatives.

Another great idea called INReach” was the winning idea from Invoke’s latest Designathon and was further developed for The City 2.0 initiative. The INReach concept aims to engage a buyer into meaningful contributions while keeping the seller accountable to their charitable goals. The goal of INReach is to help individuals reach charitable goals through everyday marketplace transactions while stimulating dialogue and fostering connections within the community. You can view the submission live on the Invoke website here.

The Ideathon was a great collaborative experience for both Invoke and Work At Play. It was an exciting environment to be in with all these great people and great minds coming together to generate creative and insightful ideas. It was also a great opportunity for us to put our client work aside and put our skills to use towards a greater good by tackling local issues in our community.

We’re looking forward to planning more collaborative events in the future. If you’re interested in taking part let us know by leaving a comment below!

Invoke powers new microsite for Moto Guzzi

Kate LeGresley — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:47:46 +0000

Last month we announced Invoke was hired by Piaggio Group Americas (PGA), the North American importer of iconic Italian motorcycle and motor scooter brands Moto Guzzi, Aprilia, Piaggio and Vespa, to help power its interactive marketing strategy. Today we’re proud to announce our most recent project with PGA’s legendary motorcycle brand Moto Guzzi, its new online destination, MotoGuzziOriginals.com (designed and built by Invoke).

The Moto Guzzi Originals campaign was conceived with Moto Guzzi’s new generation of riders and style-setters in mind. Invoke’s designs were used to bring Moto Guzzi’s past, present and future originals to life online, bringing the campaign together with a variety of social tools to empower enthusiasts.

Moto Guzzi will leverage MotoGuzziOriginals.com to invite this new generation of riders to explore its unique heritage and many industry-first innovations of Moto Guzzi motorcycles, as told through the Italian brand’s designers, owners and enthusiasts. And there is a lot to share since Moto Guzzi has been a key player in the motorcycle world since 1921.

The MotoGuzziOriginals.com community is invited to browse and share articles on the blog. Flip through user generated content posted in Instagram and Twitter; the site pulls from these social networks and features the photos in the Gallery section. For instance, fans can read about Miguel Galluzzi, Piaggio’s Advanced Design Director and gain inside knowledge on his thoughts on the iconic Italian motorcycle design and the unique elements that make a Guzzi. Here are a few additional key components to the site. Make sure to check out MotoGuzziOriginals.com and let us know your thoughts.

Moto Guzzi Originals Dialogue
A blog that brings the Moto Guzzi ethos to life with posts written by Guzzi and category experts including Enrico Cantoni, one of the original engineers of the famous Moto Guzzi engine of 1955, the V8 engine in the Otto Cilindri, and Miguel Galluzzi, Director of Piaggio’s Advanced Design Center. A series of Guzzi “like-minded” products, brands and services are also featured on the blog. The direct link to the blog section of the microsite is www.motoguzzioriginals.com/dialogue and fresh content will be added two to three times a week;

Moto Guzzi Originals Gallery
A showcase of user-submitted photos that reflect contributors’ visions of the style spirit and essence that that echo the Moto Guzzi definition of an “original.” Visitors upload their favorites via Twitter or Instagram by using the hashtag #guzzioriginals

Moto Guzzi Model Lineup
Snapshots of the new 2012 model lineup starting with the head-turning V7 Racer, an homage to the extraordinary racing career of the V7 Sport, followed by the V7 Classic, Stelvio 1200 NTX, Griso 8V SE and Norge GT 8V;

Win a Moto Guzzi Vintage Leather Riding Jacket Promotion
Site visitors are given an opportunity to enter to win a vintage leather Moto Guzzi riding jacket through October 1, 2012.

Make sure to check out MotoGuzziOriginals.com and let us know your thoughts.

Brandware and Piaggio Group Americas partnered with Invoke Media who designed and built the Moto Guzzi Originals microsite.

About Invoke
Invoke is an award winning digital innovation company that works with the world’s leading brands to bring meaningful web and mobile social applications and digital experiences to life. Based in Canada, with offices in New York, Invoke has gained national recognition for its accomplishments across a wide range of Fortune 500 brands, including Dove, EA, GAP, Wells Fargo, Jim Beam and the family of Piaggio scooter and motorcycle brands. For more information, visit http://www.invokemedia.com/

Top Mother’s Day apps for last-minute shoppers

Justine Yu — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday. Are you prepared? If you’re like me, you’re likely frantically looking for last-minute reservations to that awesome new brunch joint that everyone is talking about and reading through every blog post that exists on the interwebs to figure out if you should buy her a Kobo or a Kindle.

I recommend you take a deep breath and have a look through the list of apps I’ve put together that will help you get through the next few stressful hours of Mother’s Day planning. From restaurant reservations to flower delivery, these apps have you covered.

Open Table App

Looking for reservations for this Sunday? Open Table is the one-stop solution to find the best restaurant in your area. Open Table is the leading provider of free, real-time online restaurant reservations for diners. The service is available throughout Canada and the USA, as well as Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the UK. Open Table Mobile includes several different apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Kindle Fire, webOS and Windows Phone. Find restaurants near your current location, see real-time availability, and refine your results by cuisine, price, and reservation time.

Jamie Oliver 20 Minute Meals

Still can’t find a last-minute reservation? How about staying in and cooking for mom? Jamie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals app is nearly as good as having Jamie Oliver right in the palm of your hand. Wouldn’t that be awesome?. The app provides 60 recipes with simple, easy to follow steps in addition to the best step-by-step photos you have ever seen. Don’t know how to sharpen a knife? Want to learn the most efficient way to chop an onion without crying buckets? The app provides 21 exclusive videos of Jamie Oliver showing you useful tips, tricks, and kitchen skills to help you along with the recipes.

Cards App

Remember the era when people actually wrote physical letters and used snail mail? No? Yeah, me neither. With the Cards app from Apple, revisit that time in your life and create and mail beautifully crafted, real greeting cards personalized with your own text and photos. Take a quick snapshot, choose from dozens of designs, and customize your card with a personal message. While the app is free, it does cost $4.99 CAD including postage to send your card.

ScrapPad Mother’s Day Photo Journal

Need to pull together a quick present for mom? The ScrapPad app allows you to create a digital photo journal and share it with your friends and family. Using photos from your iPad photo library, you can add text, add themed elements, and create unlimited numbers of scrapbook pages and albums. Upload your pages to Facebook or share it easily via email.

1-800-Flowers.com Mobile Gift Center App

Don’t know the difference between tulips and peonies? Searching for and purchasing flowers has never been easier with the 1-800-Flowers.com app. Select from their best selling flowers directly from your iPhone, purchase it directly through their app with a streamlined browsing and checkout process, and the flowers will be delivered to your recipient on your specified date.

Get the new and improved Eat St. iPhone app

Kate LeGresley — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:00:46 +0000

Discover the best street food in your city with the improved Eat St. App! The new version of the Eat St. App for iPhone is now available for download.

The street food revolution has given rise to North America’s tastiest, juiciest fleet of mobile eateries and Eat St. wants to be your fearless captain.

The new version of the Eat St. iPhone App, developed by Invoke and Paperny Entertainment to complement the popular Food Network television series, can now direct you to the best street food dishes in your city, as verified by the experts — street food aficionados like you. Local foodies can snap pictures of a food cart’s individual dishes, rate them and offer tips for the benefit of locals and tourists. A city’s food carts and dishes are ranked, so users can quickly see the must-try dishes locally, in every city in North America.

Just like in the previous version, the Eat St. App will display local delicacies and the carts that serve them. Integration with Google Maps makes finding your next street meal a breeze. Foodies demanded new features and the Eat St. App is excited to deliver:

• More accurate locations
• More food cart menus
• A “to-do” list of dishes to try later
• More video content from the Eat St. TV series
• The biggest street food database on earth – more than 4,000 carts and trucks!

The iPhone App is launching alongside Season 3 of Paperny Entertainment’s hit TV series, Eat St., premiering at 10pm ET/ PT tonight on Food Network Canada and 8pm on May 15th on The Cooking Channel in the U.S. Discover the most incredible food carts in North America and the UK, and then take it to the streets with the App to kick off your most delectable summer yet.

What are you waiting for? Download the new and improved Eat St. App for iPhone and discover your next favorite food truck meal today!

Electronic reality and Internet merged show the future of the web

Kate LeGresley — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:30:28 +0000

What excites you about the web these days? Is it social apps, gaming, integration? Invoke account manager Peter Lanfear shares what he is excited about online. It’s somewhere where the Internet blends with electronics to create digital inventions and brand utility.

The Agency Breakfast call it “The Internet of Things” or “Web 3.0,” but I feel like there is a better name waiting to be coined.

Take a look at these two examples of companies using digital inventiveness to solve a problem or need and decide for yourselves what you think this tech should be called.

1. Mercedes Benz

Problem: Finding a parking space in a downtown area on a Saturday before Christmas (or any Saturday for that matter).

Solution: A super smart initiative called Active Parking Assist that helps drivers find locations of parking spaces.

How does it work:
During a busy Christmas shopping weekend in Stuttgart a fleet of Merc’s fitted with Active Parking Assist drove around the city looking for parking spaces. A sensor on the Mercedes would scan for spaces between cars (similar technology to reverse parking assist) as it drove past streets of parked cars. Once a space was detected, an onboard Arduino device would generate a tweet saying there was a parking space, while also assigning a Google map url to the tweet. Those people following the twitter handle @MBTweetFleet would then see where potential spaces for parking could be found.

For those unfamiliar with Arduino, it’s is an electronic platform device that can be computer programmed to perform simple tasks. In this case the device was connected to a GPS/GPRS device allowing it to beam out data in the form of tweets.

This video explains it far better than I could. Obviously the technology is far from a bullet proof parking solution, but it is an innovative idea and who knows where it may lead.

The really clever part of all this from a brand standpoint is that Mercedes chose to do something of value for consumers, whilst at the same time cleverly showcasing a new feature of the latest Mercedes. This is very much what brand utility is all about. Traditional advertising seeks to inform or engage consumers purely on the features and specifications of a particular product. The brand utility method offers a different approach — it’s less concerned with feature sets and more with functionality or usefulness. It explores the question how can your products make the lives of consumers better?

In my opinion Mercedes have done a terrific job on answering that.

2. Instaprint

Situation: Capturing a fun moment at a party or event with a camera.

Problem: Wanting a tangible polaroid type photo to take away with you and stick on your fridge.

Solution: Instaprint. A clever box that acts like a photo booth and prints your photo for you.

On hearing news that the Instagram were releasing their API, the tech savvy peeps at Breakfast NY, created Instaprint.

What is it? It’s a nifty and stylish bit of hardware that allows you to print Polaroid like photos of your fave Instagram shots. The Instaprint box is programmed with software that searches for Instagram photos with a certain hashtag or assigned geo location and then simply prints them for you. It’s really as simple as that! This means you can capture a moment digitally using your smartphone and then actually walk away with a physical memento of your party, event, or gathering. Already brands such as Nike, Bannana Republic, Fuse and Gizmodo are using Instaprints for their events. While not available to consumers just yet, the product is available to rent for through Breakfast.

Other examples of where Instaprint could be used include a staff party or product launch event. It would also be a superb offering to people attending Moto Guzzi Motorbike meets or sporting events like Tough Mudder. Based on the above examples, what would you call this type of digital meets product tech?