As mentioned previously, MediaStyle decided to give our video equipment a workout by producing a mini-documentary on one of our favourite local brands, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co.

Beau’s Co-Founder Steve Beauchesne and Creative Director Jordan Bamforth were gracious enough to sit down for an interview at the brewery to discuss branding, working with family, and supporting community. Oh, and beer. There’s plenty of beer involved, as you’ll see.

Watch the full 8-minute documentary below.

The video is being simultaneously blogged today by our friends at Apt613 and OpenFile.

Let us know what you think in the comments, or suggest some of your own favourite local brands that MediaStyle could spotlight in the future.

Banner image courtesy Greencolander

Here is a teaser for the video, which will be an interview with co-owner Steve Beauchesne and designer Jordan Bamforth. Enjoy!

I interviewed Rob at Northern Voice about his company and how the social web can use a laugh every now and then. (I should note that in former lives we worked on the same NDP election team, he was the dashingly funny speech writer who swanned in with brilliant bon mots – I was the rumpled press flack in the corner with the cell phone smoking a pack-a-day. At least that’s how I remember it. And, yes I’ve since quit smoking.)

Interview with Rob Cottingham from Ian Capstick on Vimeo.

The store is a nostalgic favorite for many. One friend online recently tweeted that “That was one of my favourite stores in Ottawa growing up! A small piece of modernity in what was (once) a small town.”

Special thanks to @shawndearn for editing this video.

Modern furniture icon gets makeover from Ian Capstick on Vimeo.

Ryan Taylor is a fair trade jeweler. No, it’s not an oxymoron. It’s just really not that common.

The standard business model in the mass-market jewelry business is to design your wares to appeal to the lowest common denominator, source and buy materials as cheap as possible (regardless of the long-term social impact), then sell the jewelry at the highest price point.

Ryan’s business model at The Fair Trade Jewelry Company reverses the unsustainable model.

Ryan sourced his materials. That’s not easy, considering there are only a handful of artisanal mines left in the world. His research lead him to the Choco rain forest in Columbia. He uses only certified Canadian diamonds for his engagement, bridal, and custom rings.

As he builds his business–literally renovating much of the Parliament Street store himself–he does it in an open, sustainable, and transparent way using the internet to open his workshop to the world.

Philanthropy runs to the core of his business, so much so that people volunteered to help him renovate his shop. His community of Cabbagetown loves him and he rains thousands of dollars on the Daily Bread Food Bank (along with his other HoHoTO cohorts) and War Child.

Why do I tell you all of this?

Because, Ryan didn’t vote in the Toronto-Centre by-election.

You might be getting a touch pissed off at our fair trade jeweler. Or maybe, like some some in Ryan’s online community, you are downright angry. You might be saying to yourself, “He is so socially conscious, so committed to his vision, so cute, so smart–but he didn’t vote? What’s wrong with him?”

Be careful before you write him off as a democratic laggard. Ryan is a highly engaged citizen. Politics isn’t engaging him. And this isn’t just Ryan. It’s the demographic that academic Richard Florida has defined as the “creative class”.

Perhaps the problem isn’t with Ryan. Perhaps the problem is with politics. The robust partisan pugilism turns off voters. The goal of some political strategies is to turn off voters–perhaps not entirely intentionally–but it’s most certainly the outcome of playing “wedge issues” and dividing to conquer a majority in the House. Negative ads work, but not on all people. Most often they work to keep voters home, depressed about the state of discourse in politics.

Jesse Hirsh’s work has informed my ideas and opinions about technology, politics, and how the intersection of both sits a deeply rooted orthodoxy. I’ve learned that you need to look past your own personal beliefs and long held “truths” to ask if there is a better way.

I’ve long been an advocate of voting reform. I prefer mixed-member proportional systems. I think they work more often that not. This isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Why not? Sadly, Ontario, PEI, and BC have all rejected voting reform. So this means people who want change in politics need to be open to incremental voting change.

In Australia they force you to vote.

Greece, Serbia, Ukraine, all have variations of “none of the above”.

A political party exists in the UK for the sole purpose of recording the votes of the disgusted.

The Globe’s Doug Saunders pointed me to trends coming from Switzerland and India showing lowering voter turnout as average income rises. Both, as he called them, “relatively successful democracies”.

This post is ostensibly about voting, but perhaps my real message is that we are informed by the people who surround us. Wherever they are.

If you want to know more about why Ryan didn’t vote, visit this post on his personal blog. Join in the conversation there by submitting a response to his query at the end of the post. Ryan is attending ChangeCamp Toronto armed with this human data from the creative class.

Breaking down my own personal orthodoxy I’ve reconsidered my own long held view on non-voters. I now understand why some people aren’t voting. But, the rights of a citizen come with obligations as well. Voting isn’t the only measure of a persons commitment to democratic society. It’s only one expression of it.

Just engage. Vote or don’t vote. Commit to engaging with your community.

Personally, I know that not voting isn’t an option for me. But. it might be a legitimate option for others. Who am I to judge?

Should people be forced to vote? Should people refuse their ballots, spoil their vote, or join a political party?

A week away from the blog is forever in online time. But, it was with good reason, so I hope you’ll forgive me. MediaStyle recently wrapped up our largest sponsorship and event to-date: Planned Parenthood Ottawa’s Magic Boxes. It was a glitzy gala for the 45th anniversary of Ottawa’s best pro-choice sexual health organization.  We are proud to have helped raise over $10,000. I worked closely with the Planned Parenthood Ottawa staff for over three months and sourced materials from over twenty vendors to create a total transformation of the Cube Gallery. Over the holidays, we’ll be creating a full case study and showing readers (and other Planned Parenthood chapters) how to create similar events.

Here is how Ottawa Citizen reporter Caroline Philips saw it in her Around Town column:

Do You Believe in Magic?

It was a night to step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and feast your eyes on the most amazing of entertainment, leaving one and all amazed by the fire spinning and hoop dancing, not to mention the sexy circus cabaret girls seen sashaying through Cube Gallery at Planned Parenthood Ottawa’s Magic Boxes bash.

The circus-themed 45th-anniversary party was brilliantly executed by organizer and sponsor Ian Capstick of MediaStyle, from the handy-dandy serviette-skirted server to the time-lapse Ferris wheel photo footage.

The evening featured 45 wooden boxes, decorated by artists and celebrities, for guests to bid on. There were boxes from Cathy Jones, Dr. Henry Morgentaler, and Rick Mercer. Capstick had bumped into Mercer on the ferry to the Toronto Island airport and got him to commit to doing a box. It came with tickets to see the Rick Mercer Report season finale, plus return flight and accommodations.

Gallery owner and artist Don Monet painted a “Round Lake Cubed” box. CPAC host Catherine Clark, who was event patron with her mom, women’s health advocate Maureen McTeer, spruced up a box with her three-year-old daughter, Alexandra. “I turned my head for 30 seconds and when I looked back, there was glitter glue everywhere,” Clark chuckled.

Also seen were Planned Parenthood’s executive director, Jeanette Doucet, board president MaryAnn Notarianni, and emcee or “ringmaster” Kimothy Walker with a riding whip. The evening raised roughly $11,000. (Photos here)

In a bold move a Vancouver-based company is turning the traditional business model of a consultancy on its’ head. Social Signal CEO Alexandra Samuel explains in her blog post announcing the move:

“We’re taking the intellectual property we’ve generated and gleaned from Social Signal’s four years of consulting, strategy and development and making it available for free online, under a Creative Commons license.”

She puts the decisions leading to the creation of #opensoci (the Twitter hash tag for the initiative) in context with a post at the Harvard Business review website titled “Will Social Media Consultants Practice What They Preach?” where she writes:

“The best social media consultants lead by example. Consultants and agencies that promise to unlock the secrets of the social web need to stop selling transparency and authenticity, and start living it. And the companies who buy their services–the communications and marketing professionals who face the tough job of selling transparency within their own organizations–need to insist on the same level of transparency from their suppliers.”

Both of these Social Signal posts are well worth your time.

This week MediaStyle.ca moved into an amazing co-working space in downtown Ottawa. This brings us a little closer to the action, a professional meeting, access to super flexible event space and a great community of other small businesses, social enterprises, tech companies and start-ups to learn from.

MediaStyle will be offering some workshops and training out of The Code Factory, if you are interested please email me. I’ll blog more about my co-working experience as we settle into the new digs. If you are interested in the co-working movement here are a few resources:

• Globe & Mail article featuring The Code Factory: A desk, a phone and an end to isolation
• Business Week: Where the Coffee Shop Meets the Cubicle
• Official Co-Working Wiki
• Wikipedia Resources

Zen Kitchen has generated a lot of positive buzz in Ottawa. It’s the newest addition to the resurgent Chinatown area of Ottawa. In this interview, Dave and Caroline talk about how building a community for their food was crucial to success. They used community dinners – large group, small fee parties – where Chef Ishii cooked up a storm and developed a following.

This dynamic team also asked their supporters to make their restaurant a “Community Supported Restaurant”; selling certificates for future dinners – or “steaks” in advance of opening allowed them to raise the cash-flow required to open a restaurant. The chef and her partner also talk about the communications tools they are using to promote the vegan gourmet restaurant – not the least of which is an upcoming TV show.

MediaStyle.ca interviews Zen Kitchen from Ian Capstick on Vimeo.

Interview with Don Tapscott for Rabble.ca from Ian Capstick on Vimeo.