Voting opened Jan. 5 and goes to Jan. 31, 2012. Register an account at http://memelabs.com/eat-st/ then vote daily for your favourite video. So far, Hamilton, Ontario’s Gorilla Cheese is leading the charge with 1,164 votes and counting. Which video gets your vote?

Click this image to download the Eat St. iPhone app and discover street eats near you.

Here’s a quick look at all the food trucks who submitted a video to the contest:

CANADA

Gorilla Cheese – Hamilton, ONT, Canada - @Gorilla_Cheese

Guanaco – Vancouver, BC, Canada - @guanacotruck

Soho Road – Vancouver, BC, Canada - @SohoRoad

Twirlees- Chatham, ON, Canada- @twirlees

Puerto Vallarta Amigos – Victoria, BC, Canada - @pvamigos

Fiasco Gelato – Calgary, AB, Canada - @fiascogelato

Westcott Country Kitchen – Didsbury, AB, Canada - Facebook Page

Hot Diggity Dog – Erieau Beach, ON, Canada

Wandering Bean – Toronto, ON, Canada

WASHINGTON

Streat Food – Ferndale, WA - @streatfood

OREGON

Blues City Biscuits  - Portland, OR - @BCBiscuits

CALIFORNIA

Chunk n Chip – All over, CA - @chunknchip

Dusty Buns Bistro – Central Valley, CA - @dustybunsbistro

Red Oven Pizza – Carlsbad, CA - @RedOvenPizza

Bill’s Hotdogs – San Jose, CA - Bill’s Hotdogs Facebook

Sweiner’s Swiss style hot dogs – San Diego, CA – @swienersswiss

Smitten Ice Cream – San Francisco, CA - @Smittenicecream

Bacon Bacon – San Francisco, CA - @baconbaconsf

Soho Taco – Orange Country, CA - @SOHOTACO

Gourmet Rockstars -Palo Alto, CA - @GourmetRockstar

MOEggrolls – Los Angeles, CA - @moeggrolls

ARIZONA

Luncha Libre – Phoenix, AZ - @LunchaLibre

NEW MEXICO

Oz Patisserie - Albuquerque, NM – @ozpatisserie

TEXAS

Mad dog Underground Cafe – TX

Colibri Cuisine – Austin, TX - @ColibriCuisine

Dogellos – Austin, TX - @DOGellos

Way South Philly – Austin, TX - @waysouthphilly

Create Burger – El Paso, TX - @CreateGoEats

49er Kitchen – El Paso, TX

So-Cal Tacos – Dallas, FW, TX - @socaltacos

Ruthie’s Rolling Café – Dallas, FW, TX - @Ruthiesrolling

Jo Dawgs – Dallas, FW, TX - @eatjodawgs

Red Jett Sweets – Dallas, FW, TX - @redjettsweetsFW

The Bacon Wagon – Dallas, FW, TX - @baconwagon

Nammi Truck – Dallas, FW, TX - @nammitruck

The Butcher’s Son – Dallas, FW, TX – @thebutchersson

Crepe Nation, LLC – San Antonio, TX - @crepenationllc

Rickshaw Stop – San Antonio, TX - @rickshawstopsa

Wing Xpress – Houston, TX - @WingXpress

Bernie’s Burger Bus – Houston, TX- @BerniesBurgers

EatsieBoys – Houston, TX - @eatsieboys

MINNESOTA

Messy Giuseppe – St. Paul, MN - @MessyGTruck

Chef Shack – Minneapolis, MN - @chefshack1

TENNESSEE

Memphis Munchies – Memphis, TN - @Memphismunchies

GEORGIA

Hail Caesar – Atlanta, GA - @CaesarTruck

SOUTH CAROLINA

Alfresco Mobilista – SC - @AlfMob

Hello My Name is BBQ – Charleston, SC - @hellobbq

FLORIDA

Aphrodisiac Ice Cream – Miami, FL - @aphorodisiacice

Papas Tapas MIA – Miami, FL - @PapasTapasMIA

PENNSYLVANIA

Fat Boys House of BBQ - Bethlehem, PA - @fbhouseofbbq

Guapos Tacos – Philadelphia, PA - @guapostacos

NEW YORK/ NEW JERSEY

Chef Johnson’s Johnson - Westchester, NY - @johnsontruck

El Diablo Tacos – Brooklyn, NY - @eldiablotacos

The Cinnamon Snail – Hoboken, NJ - @veganlunchtruck

Mamma Marci’s – Hoboken, NJ - @mammamarci

MASSACHUSETTS

Momogoose – Boston, MA - @Momogoose

Go Fish Food Truck, from Brother Trucker – Boston, MA - @BrotherTrucker

A full list of the winners can be found on the Forrester blog, which is also a great place to flip through some fantastic digital campaigns. We’re also impressed by the other finalists, especially since they are practically neighbours (Blast Radius, DDB Canada, Banyan Branch).

Invoke submitted one of our most successful social campaigns to date on the memelabs platform.

Built for the launch of VH1’s TV show Single and Liking it, a photo contest on Facebook resulted in fans chatting about the show and interacting with the brand’s Facebook page and online entities. We’re so proud of the campaign and believed it was a good fit for Forrester. You can read over Invoke’s submission here.

But sometimes nothing beats the glamour of being on television. That’s why Eat St. partnered with Invoke’s contesting platform (memelabs) and Paperny Entertainment to host the first-ever Eat St. video contest. Street food vendors in the United States and Canada can enter their video audition to be filmed for a segment that may appear on the show. So if you love street food, and know of some quirky vendors serving up some one-of-a-kind grub, be sure to let them know about the Eat St. video contest.

Details

Until Nov. 24, 2011, Eat St. encourages street food vendors to submit a short video about their cart to the Eat St. video contest! Tell us a little bit about your cart and your food to enter the contest, then let your fans and customers vote your way to glory. No video equipment? No problem. Take a quick video clip with your phone. We’re not judging on video quality; it’s all about the content.

Check out the amazing video Paperny Entertainment put together explaining the contest.

To enter the contest

1. Shoot a quick video (5-90 seconds).

2. Submit your video to http://www.memelabs.com/eatst – if you have a full Eat St. App profile, we’ll give you a 10 vote head start!

3. On Nov. 24, let your fans and customers know that voting has begun. Tweet them, Facebook message them, email them or call them and ask them to vote for you.

For more information and to see the contest site, visit http://www.memelabs.com/eatst. If you have any questions about the contest, feel free to email eatst@invokemedia.com.

You can catch up with Eat St. on Twitter (@EatStTweet) and Facebook. Don’t forget to download the awesome app to locate mouth-watering street fare near you.

It is a phrase most prevalent when speaking about television and the integration of digital media. Television fans are already actively engaged in social networks to discuss the latest gossip about their favourite celebrities and argue over whether or not the latest American Idol can really sing. Digital integration leverages this audience to capture their attention with relevant online content.

According to Fast Company,  with transmedia, “elements of a story are dispersed systematically across multiple media platforms, each making their own unique contribution to the whole.” As such, the digital element does not sit alone and must be fully integrated into the strategic outlook of the television show. Fast Company states that transmedia properties “combine cultural attractors (which draw together a highly invested audience) and cultural activators (which gives that audience something to do).” Each medium has its’ own advantages – while Twitter allows fans to interact directly with producers through live-tweets, for example, an interactive game allows fans to fully interact with the brand in a fun and compelling way.

So what is the future of television? Have your say in a contest created by the Cable Center and built by Invoke.

The Cable Center is the non-profit educational arm of the cable industry that seeks to preserve cable’s enduring contributions to society, strengthen relationships between cable and higher education, and unite the industry around serving customers better.

The Cable Mavericks Masters Forum Student contest encourages students to challenge the television paradigm. How would you like to watch television? What should television be like in 10 years?

Take the Technology Challenge by entering your vision in a video of three minutes or less that explains how you would redesign and reconfigure the viewing experience to revolutionize the way we consume video. Feeling crafty? Take the Creative Challenge by pitching an idea for a show in a video of three minutes or less.

Five finalists in each challenge category will have the opportunity to present their entry live to a panel of elite industry judges during a special dinner Oct. 27 held with the Cable Mavericks Forum in New York City.

So how can you run a Facebook contest or promotion without getting the boot? According to Troy Media, the easy answer is: “Your contest must run in a Facebook app, not using out of the box Facebook features.”

Here are some quick tips to ensure that you are running a safe Facebook promotion:

Administer the contest using Facebook applications
While we all would like a quick and simple way to administer a Facebook promotion, the truth of the matter is that it must be done via Facebook Apps, with either a separate tab on the company’s brand page or on an app canvas page. This is to protect and respect users’ data. According to Advit Sahdev, CEO of ODigMa, this means “the information from the promotions entries will not be public, and will remain within the application.” By keeping all the data within Apps, Facebook is better able to monitor and understand the data users share.

Be accountable
This is basically a straightforward terms and conditions guideline. Facebook cannot be held accountable for any of the data or actions that are performed by the page admin as part of the promotion. This includes notifying winners through Facebook messages, chats, or posts on profiles or Pages. If a winner doesn’t receive their prize, it’s up to the business to deliver it. If there is cheating involved in the voting process, it’s up to the business to resolve the situation. Facebook does not want to be held responsible for any mishaps that may happen on the network.

Leave out the spammy action
Businesses cannot use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration/entry mechanism, as a voting mechanism, or to condition registration/entry upon the user. For example, the act of liking a photo cannot count as a participant’s contest entry (or vote) and the act of liking a page cannot condition registration/entry upon the user. Facebook wants to crack down on spam tactics and this policy ensures that user content and the user experience remains authentic.

Facebook Contests We Love
With these specific guidelines, there have been some great promotions and contests that have run on Facebook. Here are a few of our favourites:

Altoids Curiously Strong Awards
The Altoids Curiously Strong Awards are a tribute to the stars of your social network. Created by Evolution Bureau and Wrigley, the awards kicked off with a catchy YouTube music video which then directed viewers to the contest page on Facebook. There they are encouraged to award their friends from one of the 12 archetypical categories including The Like-A-Lot, Food-O-Grapher, and The Lurker.

In just two weeks, more than 1,200 Curiously Strong Awards were given. Their anthem video was a viral hit with more than 400,000 views and the Altoids’ fan count jumped by 9,400 new fans.

VH1 “Single and Liking It” Photo Contest
VH1 and Invoke created the Facebook “Single and Liking It” photo contest using the memelabs platform. Prior to the premiere of the show, fans were able to submit a photo of themselves and their girlfriends out on the town and the submission with the most votes won a trip to NYC with three friends. The application included a gallery of images, an interactive map tracking cities with the most entries and sharing features. The responses were phenomenal – the day after the premiere of the show there were nearly 500 entries. The contest ran from April 19 to June 22. At the close of the contest, there were nearly 6000 entries, over 7,700 comments and over 76,000 votes.

Nike Take Mokum
Nike Running and Amsterdam agency Boondoggle created a promotion on Facebook called Take Mokum that let runners draw a graffiti running route over the map of Amsterdam. They could colour the graffiti by going out running, registering the run with Nike+ and filling the graffiti with their actual KM’s run. Running was seen in a whole new light – from being focused on schedules and minutes to expressing creativity.

The online running club was visited 183,275 times and 220 works of graffiti were created on the Amsterdam grid, coloured with 1,268 Nike+ kilometres.