Category Archives: Blog

The air here in Ottawa is noticeably crisper these mornings. I’ve been keeping warm with an amazing jacket from Poketo.com and thinking about our natural instinct to nest in the Fall and Winter months. Poketo has become a bit of an obsession around the MediaStyle offices. The site describes itself as “an online destination for…
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I think I can speak for all of us at MediaStyle when I say we’re Apple nerds. While some people might be sad about Steve Jobs’ recent resignation from chief executive at Apple his, I think communicators can learn some important ideas from Steve Jobs. Like thinking of user experience, audience and customers first when…
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Last weekend I saw Page One: Inside The New York Times, the documentary about the influential newspaper. The movie opens with a brief history of print and the sudden decline of print media in the Internet age. Bracing for the Internet fear-mongering that loving portraits of print media usually present, I was surprised by an…
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One of the first people I ever “@ replied” on Twitter was Susan Murphy. I think a lot of early Twitter adopters in Ottawa would say the same thing. She is a rock star in the Ottawa digital scene. And, one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. On her personal blog she has been…
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This brilliant episode of Put This On should be mandatory viewing for many men in downtown office towers. The key lesson: it’s all about proportion. Now, confession time. How are your off-the-rack shirts fitting? And did you buy the right suit, or are you now planning on making a few changes?

Happy Canada Day! This wonderful fountain is in Confederation Park in Ottawa. A gift to Canada from a grateful United Kingdom after WW2. It was formerly installed in London’s Trafalgar Square from 1845 – 1939. The twin fountain was also given to Canada and is now in Regina – dedicated to the founding of the…
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In a city known for spin, weasel words and double-speak a simple release from the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council was a refreshing change this afternoon. In plain language press release, clearly written by a human, and with just 237 words (a mere seven paragraphs) the communicators at CBSC have set a standard for straight talk…
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When the City of Toronto opened up their transit data, developers jumped into the fray and started creating applications with as much TTC information as they could cram into their product. Toronto-based designer, Adam Schwabe was wiser than that. He patiently waited until the TTC released the exact info he really wanted: GPS data tied…
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I’ve been really proud of our pro-bono work with Alex Masek of the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa. He was chosen as the featured youth for the annual B&G fundraiser for 2011, and that honour comes with an opportunity to speak to the crowd. Alex has been with the Club for over 15 years…
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As I mentioned in the last post about hiring, we are a quickly growing communications start up. As I hunt for a strong content producer to help out we are also considering growing this business at a faster pace. We are  likely bringing on another Principal. MediaStyle is digitally connected and integrated. This means that…
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