Toot! Toot! Off to the Brewery...

Our Public Relations class had the opportunity to go to Steam Whistle Brewing in Toronto on Thursday, September 22nd. I was quite amazed that this beer is Canadian and that it has so many unique features about it.

I was really interested in the Steam Whistle Brewing's Green Initiatives:

1) All Natural

2) Green Bottles, Green Planet

3) A Friendly Way To Party

4) Our Bullfrog Powered Brewery

5) Cleaner Fuel for Cleaner Air

6) Keeping Cool

7) Steam Heat

8) Energy-Efficient Equipment

9) Energy-Efficient Lighting

10) Waste Diversion

Can you believe this! This is great that they advertise this. I think it really shows that they care about the community and to be a part of it.

We went for a tour through the plant with our lovely tour guide, Jiv. I learned so many things about this ONE beer that they brew. Steam Whistle slogan is DO ONE THING, REALLY, REALLY WELL. Their focus is, one beer that Canadians are proud of!

If you have a chance, take a moment out of your day and take a tour at Steam Whistle Brewery!

KISS and a hug!

When I heard the band KISS was coming to Oshawa, Ontario, I couldn't believe it! I didn't even

know that they still toured.

This is a band that got together in 1972. They had band members come and go and then they took a break and didn't get back together for 17 years! In 1998 all original band members came back for reunion tour. Over their career, KISS has sold over 80 million albums, making them one of the most successful bands worldwide.

At the beginning of this year, KISS asked fans to go to their website and vote to have their home town a part of the band's next tour. Oshawa finished first on the website but when KISS released the dates for "KISS ALIVE 35" tour, Oshawa wasn't on it! The city was in outrage and the media took a hold of it and ran.

They had Gene Simmons mad at the media for blowing it out of proportion. "I'm really pissed off at the media for creating this nonsense," Simmons said.

The fans and politicians in Oshawa were so upset and thought that this was all done on purpose. Eventually the band announced that they were going stop in the city on October 7th.

"The KISS organization is fulfilling their commitments, the media recognized that Oshawa was a victim - and they performed their role quite responsibility - and I think at the end of the day that it is a win for everyone," said Oshawa Mayor John Gray.

So in the end Oshawa did get KISS to preform in their home town at the General Motors Centre. I had friends go and say that they put on an amazing show and that they still have it after all these years!

I think KISS did the right thing by going to Oshawa and they will have more fans because of it!

Social Media on the rise...

More and more companies are using Social Media. So why not have a job that is only for Social Media? Hire someone that only takes care of all your Social Media in your company? We could call them a Social Media Specialist! This person would update your website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and any other Social Media outlets. Also monitor trends and discussions.

This would be a great way to get every company out in the internet world without too much of an effort. If only all companies would do this and not have to worry about delegating who is taking care of the web updates and who is taking care of the company blog and so on. You see what I mean, you have one person do it and you don't have too many hands in the basket. It will be interesting to see where Social Media is in a couple of years. It would also be interesting to see what companies do get into Social Media and which companies choose not to and where they will be in a couple of years!