The return of my mother and my brother from their time in Hong Kong, my productive breakfast at Lole Atelier, and a 5 minute conversation with a really nice dog owner with a 4-month-old black shiba puppy has been rejuvenating in a way I never really seem to expect, which is good, since it wouldn’t be so effective if I expected it to happen.
Highlights from:
Matt Archambault: Social media and branding
Incorporating the sales of a skincare/fragrance line is something I didn’t really expect out of a restaurant, and I certainly don’t go and eat out for the perfumery discoveries I might find in the bathroom. It is, however, always nice to stumble upon some stuff you’ve never tried before, and to find out they’re not only e-commerce, they’re also rather close by.
I visited Osteria/Talde with my boyfriend riding on the buzz of the foodie crowd that extended from conversations in the depths of Isakaya MEW in Midtown, to the patrons around Dale Talde’s original restaurant in Park Slope to, of course, the artists of the Jersey City neighborhood it’s in the process of opening up in as I write this. I’ll write more about the food when the other half opens up, and I decide to write that big post about Jersey City hipsterification (said with love. They serve a freaking kale salad and their other salads have grains in them. Not hating, it was delicious.)
This was our table. And then they moved us because it was too small for the food we picked out. And then I stopped taking pictures because I was hungry.
The place is also proceeded by Carrino Provisions which is a little gourmet market that sells meat, cheese, and…bath products. It’s rather interestingly placed in the store; it’s in a bad place if you’re coming in, since it’s on a shelf facing inward against a wall next to the entrance, but it’s in a great place if you’re leaving. The soap in the bathroom is also their rum hand + body wash, which is interesting and lovely smelling, with the main draw being the rum, and when a patron leaves, they face the shelf with Malin + Goetz on it on the way out. They also sell their lime body lotion, alongside the rum soap and body lotion. I tried. I liked. I’m penciling in Malin + Goetz for a visit.
Actually called: Wix Breakfast: Life Attracts Life- Give Your Brand a Personality Boost! 
School’s getting closer, so I decided to retrain myself for it by going to bed ridiculously late and waking up ridiculously early for a lecture! Yay! I found it on Eventbrite while browsing and took a chance.
And I’m really glad I did. It was a really interesting seminar, a little on the short side, full of little tips I would have never thought of, like how important emotional touchstones, big and small (“anything from a big brand experience to a tweet”), are to a customer base. There are tons of examples of these connections with consumers that I can think of. Some smaller gestures include Xbox’s (T, F) and T-Mobile’s (T, F) avid usage of their twitter handles and Facebook support apps to annual events like Krispy Kreme’s Day of the Dozens, Talk Like a Pirate, and National Doughnut Days. Everyone remembers larger political gestures like Oreo’s support for gay pride, to well-established, company-wide policies like Starbucks’ C.A.F.E Practices (they work with Conservation International to keep the farming sustainable) and TOMS Shoes policy of donating a pair of shoes for every pair purchased. All of them work to improve the perception of the brand and endear its consumers to it, while actually decreasing a little of the bad in the world at the same time. And of course, little gestures like that are key for small business owners to create their own communities; Milk Sugar Love’s content on their Facebook page regularly attempts to engage users with questions and relatable expressions.
(Full article and the Top 3rd diagram on the site!)
Hellman’s, New Jersey, seriously?
And what is New York’s top Googled brand? I don’t recognize it at all!
Oh Maine…
Pomelo girl thoughts 