Help Save a Life Today!

Every now and then – a very small project with a very big heart and purpose comes along!  BSL was really honoured to work together with the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa recently to help create the “Know What to Do – Preventing Youth Suicide” K-Card.  Quite simply – if you know of anyone that is experiencing any of these signs – this pocket-sized guide very clearly helps you know what to do next! 

For more information go to www.facebook.com/preventingsuicide

KNOW WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

• Changes in behaviours, friends or normal activities
• Changes in physical health and/or hygiene
• Low energy, poor concentration
• Declining school performance
• Increased absenteeism
• Marked personality change
• Increased risky behavior
• Prolonged negative mood or attitude
• Preoccupation with appearance and/or body image
• Comments about feeling worthless, helpless or hopeless
• Comments about suicide and/or dying

Copies of the guide can be ordered from the Ottawa Public Health Information Line at:
 613-580-6744  613-580-6744
TTY: 613-580-9656; Toll Free: 1-866-426-8885Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm 



BSL's 'Exquisite Corpses': Way More Fun Than it Sounds

On January 25th, BSL inaugurated its new social committee at nearby Alpha Soul cafe in Ottawa's Hintonburg neighborhood. The committee kick-started its term with a spirited brainstorming session on everything from possible group outings to party plans for the upcoming retirement of a colleague.

A surreal experience
Among the many state-of-the-art idea generation tools that the team employed that evening was the always-fun 'exquisite corpse' game (also called 'picture consequence'). Invented by early Surrealists, the exquisite corpse is a collaborative method by which an image or text is assembled from parts made without any knowledge of the whole.

In our case, the goal was to create characters by having one person draw the head, another draw the body and another draw the legs. Because the sheet of paper was folded after each portion was finished, later participants had no way of knowing what had been drawn before them - which led to some... ahem... interesting results.

More madness than method
Judging by our illustrations, it is hard to tell how this was supposed to tie into planning staff events or how it can even be of any use at all to BSL. Actually, we're probably still very far from using this mad method on any of our clients' projects - unless some of you request it (hint, hint).

On the other hand, it was definitely a lot of fun to sharpen our creative chops on a non-work-related assignment. The democratic and mostly anonymous process removed all sense of competition and helped loosen the rigid thought barriers that we sometimes impose on ourselves. If nothing else, making exquisite corpses was a great team-bonding exercise that all of us would want to do again.

My advice is to go ahead and try the game with friends and/or colleagues (template available below). All we're asking is that you make sure to share whatever Frankenstein-like creatures you put together.

We don't want to be the only ones with weird corpses in our digital closet...

Organization 101 – Lesson 2: Managing Your Inflated Inbox

Being organized is a lot like getting in shape: most of us fantasize about it but very few actually make it happen. Luckily, it’s a skill that can be learned - by anyone, in any profession - and that usually shows results pretty quickly. My mother was an organized person, so I was fortunate to learn a few tricks that have served me well over the years.

In this article we tackle a big source of stress… The inflated email inbox!

As mentioned in my previous post, the key to organization is to be in control, aware and proactive. This is especially true if you are to keep emails from getting in the way of your other day-to-day responsibilities. Here are my 4 steps to success:

1. Write efficiently
Always try to be precise and to the point when answering emails - without sacrificing clarity or basic courtesy, of course. You can also save time by copy-and-pasting relevant parts of past messages. No one will notice, don’t worry…

2. Folders are your best friends
I personally create folders for everything: paper folders for hard copies, digital folders for soft copies. Everything gets its own place. Folders can even be used to separate work that needs to be done right away from less urgent projects.

3. Do it NOW!
Emails that stay in your inbox for more than a few days will often end up staying there for much longer. This then forces you to write an uncomfortable "I'm so sorry to get back to you so late" message (we’ve all been there).

My rule is: if an email is opened, it must then either be a) replied to, b) filed away, or c) deleted. And if I can’t act on one of them right away, I always make sure to keep it marked as “unread” – just to keep the pressure on...

4. Tomorrow is another day
Take some time at the end of each day to review and clean up your inbox. File every email into the appropriate folder, highlight the items you still need to address and delete the ones you don’t need anymore. If possible, I try not to leave the office without deciding which unanswered emails I will commit to taking care of the next day.

I hope this helps! Stay tuned for the third installment of Organization 101: Orderly Work Space = Productivity

BSL Live at CES 2012: What Happened in Vegas…

It’s not true what they say. Sometimes what happens in Vegas gets posted on YouTube shortly after. That was certainly the case when BSL joined high-profile clients Alcatel-Lucent and QNX at the Consumer Electronics Show in Nevada last week.

The CES is the largest show of it’s kind in the world. There were some truly spectacular things on display, and — with over 150,000 visitors — you can imagine things got pretty crazy!

ALU and the ng Connect program were there to show off some innovative new service concepts driven by broadband and cloud-based services — and to demonstrate how these can enhance consumer electronic devices and the end-user experience. Their impressive booth featured the Connected Service Vehicle, Gametime Media Table, and physical fitness solution called The Avatrainer.

BSL was there to produce daily Live at CES videos and to support ALU’s social media presence for the event. The videos take viewers behind the scenes to provide a dynamic insider’s view of the show.

Sean Cusson, our Motion Graphics Director, went beyond the call of duty with an intense production cycle that saw him shooting with host Jason Collins in the morning, editing and assembling footage during the day, and having final video produced and ready to push out the next morning. Rinse and repeat. Two videos in two days, with another on the way.

If that didn’t keep us busy enough, we also shot a video for QNX. The software company put one of its powerful, feature-rich real-time operating systems to work in an innovative partnership with Audi.

All in all, an action packed outing in the desert for us. We shot four videos and a heap of photos, met some amazing people, and did some great work that excited our clients. Have a look for yourself.

Cat’s Officially Out of the Bag: NAC Presents Launch Event

Some of Canada’s best-kept secrets are about to get exposed for all to see.

NAC Presents is an exciting new initiative showcasing some of the nation’s most vibrant, relevant and fresh performers. It gives emerging artists and established icons alike an opportunity to shine on the national stage.

On September 22nd, the NAC officially launched the all-Canadian performance series. The inaugural season features the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Jean Leloup, Gordon Lightfoot, Dala, Sarah Slean, Dan Hill, Sam Roberts Band, The Sadies, Sophie Milman, 7 doigts de la main, and many others.

In preparation for launch, BSL developed the season brochure, event signage and an energetic launch video. (The video’s paper animation was created by BSL’s very own emerging artist Megan Turnbull.)

So far, so good! Response to NAC Presents has been enthusiastic.

BSL continues to work with the NAC in marketing all individual performances.

BSL Wins Three Davey Awards

BSL is very pleased to announce that we have won three silver 2011 Davey Awards*, in the category of Online Video. The first video that was recognized is the Iridium Extreme video, which won in the categories of ‘Graphics’ and ‘Other’. These honours come on the heels of the Iridium Extreme launch just over two months ago, and serve to affirm the many days and nights of hard work that went into the final piece. The third award was given to the ng Connect Solution Concept videos, an exciting three-part series that was the result of an extraordinary team effort in late 2010. We are tremendously proud of both videos, and are truly grateful to our clients for giving us the opportunity to produce such award-winning work.

*The Davey is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a "Who's Who" of acclaimed media, advertising, and marketing firms. IAVA members include executives from organizations such as Condè Nast, Michael Kors Inc., Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Microsoft, HBO, Monster.com, MTV, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sotheby's Institute of Art, Victoria's Secret, Howcast and many more.

A Simple Force

I love this ad! And I am not the only one, having been watched close to 44 million times on youtube I don't think I am alone. It has garnered tons of hype and praise from industry people and audiences alike. It is clean, simple and memorable, contrasting the traditional high production and special effects that dominate this advertising market. It takes one of the most iconic brands and one of the biggest movie series in the world and through humour and emotion it shows off one clear selling point to the car. Advertising doesn't get much better.

How To Create Your Own Mayor - Foursquare for Businesses

By now you've heard of the basics of Foursquare, from a user standpoint.
Now it’s time to review the platform from a business perspective. More specifically for those who have a brick and mortar type of business. Sorry e-businesses, this part of Foursquare is not for you. There is an option for Brands, but more on that another time.

This nifty little video explains the basics but the process is fairly simple: With an account set up you just need to a) claim your venue b) create one or many specials, and then c) monitor your results.



Claiming your venue
Go to the Foursquare page of your business by finding it in the search, or adding your location into the system and then follow the link that says "Do you manage this venue? Claim here." It’ll walk you through the rest of the steps to confirm that you are who you say you are.

Creating specials
Once your venue has been confirmed, you can start to craft your specials, there are many types of specials available but they fall under two main categories: Attract new customers to your business and Encourage loyalty among your existing customers. Both have their advantages depending on what results you are looking for. See the images below for more specifics.

Monitoring your results

As the venue manager you have several real-time statistics available to you:

• Total daily check-ins over time
• Your most recent visitors
• Your most frequent visitors
• Gender breakdown of your customers
• What time of day people check in
• Portion of your venue’s foursquare check-ins that are broadcast to Twitter and Facebook

The trick is to use the information that you gather to help tweak your specials to help with your marketing goals.

With a few simple steps, you can be well on your way to attracting new customers and rewarding the loyalty of those you already have.

Have any of you already created a Foursquare special? Let us know about it in the comments.

BSL Gets Reel

Over the last two years BSL has been rapidly expanding its capabilities in video production. So much so that we now have an official in-house video department, equipped with some of the best talent in the city, and the state-of-the-art tools to go along with it.

From original concept development and scriptwriting, to talent sourcing and location scouting, to shooting through to final editing and production – there isn’t a whole lot we can’t do here at BSL. And we’ve got the hardware to prove it! In the last two years, some of our top video projects have won us two Telly awards, two Communicator awards, a Davey award, a W3 award and a Platinum Creativity International award.

Video is more than just a communications tool. It is becoming the communications tool, and we can’t get enough of it. Check out our new demo reel for some highlights of what we can do now.

BSL Helps Iridium Dawn a New Age in Communication

Anthropologists used to judge how far a civilization has come by the sophistication of its weapons. While this is still a primary meter stick for our progress, there are other, more relatable categories of measure that have emerged – proving that we’ve come a long way, baby.

Nothing says progress like the way we communicate. Communication is a vital part of our lives, our jobs, and even our safety. The more progress we continue to make, the more possibility lies ahead for what we can do next.

BSL is fortunate to have a client that is at the forefront of this kind of progress, and we’re celebrating a pretty awesome milestone this week: the launch of Iridium’s new communications powerhouse, Iridium Extreme. While it may look like just a simple satellite phone – news is traveling fast that this thing is truly revolutionary.

Iridium Extreme is the first satellite phone EVER that can track your location online, from anywhere you are on the planet. And since this is Iridium, we do mean anywhere. As the world’s toughest, most rugged satellite phone, it lets users keep their family, friends and employers up to date under virtually any conditions, all over the world.

On top of being a reliable satellite phone and a mobile tracking device, Iridium Extreme also has accessories that create instant Wi-Fi hotspots, anywhere. This means never having to say goodbye to your smartphone, tablet, or laptop – even if you’re scaling a mountain, crossing the desert, or just in a dead zone at the cottage.

Iridium Extreme marks the dawn of a new age. An age with fewer limits, and greater possibilities for what we can do and how we can interact. And for communications junkies like us – we see nothing but extreme potential.

Check out the official Iridium Extreme video, created by BSL.