TA Loeffler and Flat Stanley visit Applecore

Applecore's team was delighted to have adventurer and Everest climber, TA Loeffler, visit on Friday. She brought with her a special guest: Flat Stanley, who will be climbing with her in March this year in an attempt to summit Mount Everest - a first for Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley is a flat character that travels all over the globe and writes about his travels and collects photographs as part of an education initiative on behalf of K-12 students. A school in Corner Brook, Newfoundland approached TA with a request to take Flat Stanley with her on her arduous training schedule and on the expedition planned to start at the end of March.

Applecore has been sponsoring professor in Outdoor Recreation, TA Loeffler on expeditions to 6 of the world's 7 tallest peaks and our flag will travel with TA once more on her second attempt to summit Everest.

TA's inspiring message to our team on Friday again asked the question of what our individual and collective Everests are. She shared her lessons from high places - wisdom collected about holding the vision of the the peak while taking the steps - with Applecore's team who has been supporting her marketing and PR online and offline since 2005. Visit TA's website for more photographs and information.

TA Loeffler and the Applecore flag at the summit of Mount Elbrus in Russia, Europe's highest peak.

Summit of Kilimanjaro 2008, highest peak in Africa.

Ojos de Salado, Chile, highest peak in South America.

Not a flag this time, but an apple that mysteriously disappeared from our board room - on the summit of Aconcagua in Argentina.

Applecore Joins WEConnect

Applecore Interactive has become certified by WEConnect Canada as a Women Business Enterprise. This process lists Applecore Interactive as a certified supplier of web and interactive marketing services with multinational organizations and government in Canada and the US who seek to purchase services from women-owned businesses. Says Deborah Bourden, Applecore CEO: “These large organizations have a mandate to diversify their supply chains. As a certified supplier Applecore Interactive is excited about these new partnership opportunities.”

Learn more about WEConnect Canada.

Health Care Foundation Virtual Tree of Memories launch with NTV

Sharon Snow interviews Catherine Barrett and Lisa Gushue from the Health Care Foundation during the launch of the Virtual Tree of Memories on the Foundation's new website. Watch for Applecore's Trent Skanes giving a demonstration on how to donate to the fundraiser online.

We were thrilled to be included! Our offices were in full holiday regalia for the event--and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Thanks to NTV and the Health Care Foundation for the opportunity.

CWT Harvey's Travel Refreshes Website

CWT Harvey's Travel is a travel booking agency that offers many unique and valuable services to its travelers to ease the stress of trip planning. The company operates from 22 offices throughout Atlantic Canada, with their headquarters in St. John’s.

As leaders in corporate, leisure and group travel, their website needed to be streamlined to better suit that identity. And now, the refreshed online face of Harvey's Travel is complete! Clean, bright and a dream to navigate, the site now reflects the fast-paced, fun world of travel. Refitted with a newly designed Content Management System, updating the freshest vacation offers in a timely fashion has never been easier.

With bright colors working alongside the streamlined interface, the website now better reflects the personality of Harvey's Travel: on the one side, an exciting, helpful place to plan a memorable vacation, and on the other, a professional, accommodating resource for the seasoned business traveler.

Check out the finished product here.

Why Your Company Needs a Website

Applecore Interactive CEO Deborah Bourden was a guest on Roaring Women Radio this weekend, discussing the importance of company websites and figuring out why your company needs one.

Find the interview here.

Interactions Issue 4 is Out!

We just launched our fourth issue of the Applecore newsletter, Interactions. It's filled with lots of tips and tricks for navigating the tricky terrain of businesses online and off, including learning opportunities and workshops. The central theme of this issue is passion and energy, and how the two work together to guarantee the output of your very best self. The topics this month:

Creating a Community: profile of local businesses doing it right online

Complimentary Workshop: Expanding Your Digital Footprint

St. John's Events (October)

This is your chance: why not sign up now and get in before the next issue? Make sure you're in for the latest in interactive tips, brand secrets and design innovation!

Watch this space for the announcement of our Interactions archives.

See What’s Fresh in Logo and Branding for 2009

by J. Butler, Content Development Specialist

Branding has always been one of our passions, so we keep on top of industry-wide trends. Our art department gives us the scoop on what they’ve noticed has become the new hot trends for logo and branding in 2009.

The Circle of Life

Circular patterns have become the new staple in logo design. There’s a reason why these are so popular: they’re simple, effective, and transfer well to other mediums, like business cards, billboards or even television.

Don't Delay the Overlay

Mixing 60s flair with modern technology, these logos pop in a sea of minimalist monochrome.

A One Line Drawing

Intricate and bold, these logos create a dynamic image for a brand that implies constant motion and never-ending connection.

The Linking Letters

Modern and sleek, interlocking the letters create a bold pattern from a key part of a company: the name.

Fun With Shapes and Space

These logos use negative space as part of the letter, forming a deeper meaning with the imagery. These are clever in execution, but also offer a multi-layered brand experience.

Off-Set Color

Retro and chic, these logos hint at a sophisticated, intentional sloppiness that can add charm and urban style.

Illustrate Your Point

Traditional and fun, using an illustration places your brand as part of an established, timeless aesthetic.

All logos courtesy the artists at Logo Pond.

Turning the Bad into Good: Using Online Feedback to Help Your Business

by J. Butler, Content Development Specialist

It’s a fear that keeps a lot of businesses, big or small, offline: what happens when you bring your company on to the World Wide Web? Whether it’s through social media or a website, the reality is that going online can feel like losing control over how your business is seen or heard.

This can be especially true when it comes to feedback. Hopefully, most feedback would be positive, chances are sooner or later your business would see the unthinkable: negative feedback online, in a very public forum.

Your kneejerk reaction may to ignore it or delete it, but you’d be missing out on a great chance to connect one on one with a customer. So why not turn a bad thing (negative feedback) into a good thing: showing your customers how much you care.

Responding head-on to negative feedback gives you a chance to not only redeem your company but also fix whatever went wrong. Offering a solution tells your customer that you are accountable for your product or service and also shows you really believe in what your business is trying to do. Ignoring or downplaying any problems that emerge could suggest something to your customers you don’t want to suggest: namely, that you stopped caring about them the minute they gave you their business.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you own a paper business, Sterling Paper Co.—it could be a small 10 person operation or a large, multi-level corporation. A customer (Mr. Smith) leaves a negative but fair comment on your company blog, explaining that not only did their order arrive a week late, but the boxes had been badly damaged in transit!

From here, you can really only do one of three things:

1. Ignore it, delete it or block the sender.

2. Respond, but defensively (that is, blame the problem on the post office or a heavy backorder)

3. Address the problem, find a solution and satisfy your customer:

Dear Mr. Jones,

I was sorry to hear of the damage that occurred to your order while in transit. We always try to package our goods carefully so they arrive in perfect condition, ready to be enjoyed. Thank you for notifying us of this problem, as I will be looking into the packing or your order to ensure it does not happen again.

Sterling Paper Co. prides itself on ensuring the satisfaction of each customer. If you will agree to send the damaged goods back, I will arrange for a new delivery to be shipped to you free of charge, as well as a 15% discount for any future purchases.

Sincerely,

John Johnson

Sterling Paper Co.

This response accomplishes the following:

• It will help the customer feel that his or her problem has been heard and acknowledged.

• It shows you are accountable and eager to fix problems to guarantee great service.

• It shows you believe in your product or service, enough to offer not only a replacement but also a discount.

• It maintains a professional, courteous demeanor that will reassure your customer

• It builds your reputation as a company that cares about what people are saying about them, and is willing to help their customers.

Obviously, it’s up to your business to determine what kind of compensation (if any) you will offer your unsatisfied customers. This example is meant only to illustrate the great gains your business can make online if you choose to listen to the feedback your customers are giving you.

Remember the old adage: a happy customer may tell two people. An unhappy customer will tell twelve. Which would you rather have talking about you?

Wanted: A Brilliant Technical Mind

Applecore is currently accepting resumes for a Senior Web Developer position in its Technical Department. We are always interested in connecting with creative, technical and strategic minds. Forward your résumé and portfolio to careers@applecore.ca.

Applecore's vision has always been to be a great place to work and a great place to do business. Want to be a part of it? Click here for the Senior Web Developer job description.

TA Climbs Mount Elbrus!

On July 12^th, 2009, Memorial University professor, adventurer at large and dear Applecore friend Dr. TA Loeffler successfully reached the summit of Mount Elbrus at 10:23 Russian time, the highest peak in Europe.

A huge congratulations to TA, seen here planting the Applecore flag at the top of Mount Elbrus.

In the wee hours of the morning, seven of their group of eight attempted their summit climb and five of these (including TA) were successful. In a conversation via satellite phone, TA said she was thrilled with the amazing progress her team had made, and that the weather was “very windy and cold.” The team made it safely down the mountain and TA was back in St. John's by Sunday, July 19th.

e-Newsletters and Your Company

Very recently, we launched our company newsletter, Applecore Interactions, with three issues to date and many more to come. And really, what better time to bring it up: the e-newsletter is a subject that needs a little love.

First of all, it’s a great way to keep in touch with your customers. An e-newsletter keeps the connection you’ve built with your customers lively, and will hopefully give them a valuable taste of your expertise that leaves a favorable impression in their minds.

Plenty of readers still prefer e-Newsletters over the headlines-only approach of RSS feeds. A newsletter allows you a lot of creative freedom, and with formats that are often are a lot easier to digest.

Many businesses have struggled with the real purpose of a newsletter, both in current email format and its older paper cousin. What kind of information should it contain? How much are you writing for you…and how much for your company?

Of any good newsletter, 20-30% is promotion and news about the company. Beyond that, the most important thing is to always keep the reader in mind! It should be informative, entertaining and most importantly, worth their time! Offer articles that tie closely in with your line of business and suggest your company’s expertise in your field.

Newsletters give great feedback: you can keep track of the open rate, giving you exact numbers of how many people your newsletter is reaching. Make sure you give credit where credit’s due, linking to the full text of any article you mention or allude to—including your own blog or website!

Why not sign up for Applecore Interactions, our exclusive company newsletter? It’s full of great tips and tricks, as well all the things we stumble across in the interactive world.

Our Very Own Prince of Pop

Last Halloween, one of our web developers at large Gregory Pike made a video with his friends as a surprise for a big Hallow's Eve bash. It was a remake of Michael Jackson's infamous Thriller video, filmed entirely on location in St. John's, with Mr. Pike as the leading man. It was an office favorite for a long time. We thought the story ended there, but we were very mistaken.

It was eventually posted to Facebook, then YouTube, and this week, it caught the eye of a CBC producer. Before we knew it, he was asked to take part in a story about Michael Jackson tributes in the wake of the pop star's sudden and tragic death last week. Next thing you know, he's appearing on CBC's The National, busting out some pretty hip moves and making us awfully proud.

See the National clip here.

So here's a big congratulations to Greg! Not only is it great to see one of our own recognized, anything that calls attention to the wit, talent and creativity of Newfoundland's residents is a very good thing.

Note: this picture is just a joke. It was cooked up by the Art Department for the occasion.

The Thriller Video

Part One

Part Two

Victory is Ours!

Our venture up Signal Hill was a great success—everyone managed to make it up the hill with minimum difficulty, and to top it all off, there was birthday cake with the most delicious cream cheese icing waiting for us at the top.

Fresh off the presses (or would that be the USB port?) here are some pictures from the AI 4 TA walk yesterday!

The boys making their way up Signal Hill.

Wilma presenting the crucial element--the birthday cake.

TA blows out the candle and makes a wish. True story: the wind (notoriously high on the Hill) probably makes this the worst place to blow out a birthday candle west of a sand storm. But TA managed to get hers out just before the breeze took it!

The whole team. Congratulations on the summit!

Counting the efforts of everyone involved, 74 walks up Signal Hill were completed. A feat that TA insisted was at least the height of Mount Everest. And I guess if anyone would know, it would be TA! A big thanks to everyone who took part. Donations to the Canadian Prostate Cancer Network can still be made here.

AI Supports TA!

Just another adventure for Applecore’s longtime friend TA Loeffler. Starting at 12 noon on June 24^th (which just happens to be her birthday) TA Loeffler will be climbing Signal Hill 10 times to raise funds for prostate cancer research. In addition to spreading awareness, this is also the final preparation for TA's forthcoming effort to summit Mount Elbrus (Europe's highest peak) an adventure that will be beginning in July. You can read all about that particular adventure at TA’s website.

If there’s one thing Applecore can get behind, it’s a good cause, so the entire office will be joining her on the last leg of her climb. We’re excited to play even a tiny part in such a useful, awareness-building cause… and we’ll definitely be snapping a few pictures after we’ve finished the climb!

TA is inviting us to join her for a leg of the walk or two (which takes about 20-25 minutes) and wear sky blue (the awareness colour of prostate cancer). TA is also asking well-wishers to consider making a donation to the Canadian Prostate Cancer Network in lieu of a gift or card.

As extra incentive, birthday cake is waiting at the top. Check back here for the wrap-up!

Join the Facebook event.

Learn more about TA Loeffler.

Donate to Canadian Prostate Cancer Network.

Launch of the Canadian Breast Cancer Tour for the Cure

At ten o'clock this morning, our own Deborah Bourden will be kicking off the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Tour for the Cure on the steps of the Newfoundland House of Assembly in St. John’s. Joining her will be the Hon. Danny Williams, Hon. Ross Wiseman (Minister of Health and Community Services), Nancy Margeson (CEO, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – Atlantic Region) and emcee Betty Ann Vater.

The Tour's goal is to raise awareness about something that affects a large portion of women and their families --a problem that's largely preventable. Screening rates in Atlantic Canada are at a low, something that's true of Canada at large, but the reality is that early detection is a woman’s best defense against breast cancer.

The Tour for the Cure hopes to spread awareness about that and wants to have 85 percent of eligible women in Atlantic Canada screened regularly for breast cancer by 2010. Head down if you get a chance, or even just check out the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation website to see how you can make a difference.

Best of luck to a wonderful cause!

June 1-7: Tourism Awareness Week!

This past week has been something that naturally catches our eye: June 1st - 7th is Tourism Awareness Week, sponsored by Hospitality Newfoundland & Labrador. Tourism is such a huge industry—not only internationally, but online as well. Not to mention that it’s always been such a vivid factor in the economy of Newfoundland & Labrador.

The week was host to many talks and seminars about the direction that the tourism industry is moving in, capped off with a luncheon on the 3rd attended by the Honourable Clyde Jackman, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. Spreading tourism awareness is an exciting topic, especially since there’s never been a better time to spark conversations about the future. The industry has been taking huge steps online, embracing social media and interactive communities.

Of course, Applecore had to get in on the action as well. We were so inspired that we've written an article on that very subject, to be published in the St. John’s Board of Trade Business News Magazine. We decided to tackle the subject of social media and why it works so well withtourism, since it’s a topic we’re exploring every day. Social media—things like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and peer reviews—are making amazing leaps in the industry and shaping the future of how people travel.

Check back next month for full details, but here’s a teaser for now: the future of social media and tourism relies on being flexible, transparent and ready to have a conversation with potential travelers. How can you prepare?

To be continued…!

Uploading YouTube Backgrounds

By Gregory Pike, Web Developer

As it stands right now, YouTube really limits your ability to control to appearance of your Channel. A Channel owner has no more than the power upload a background and change a few colours. Many developers have come to realize the power of using backgrounds to define how the channel appears (take Applecore's YouTube channel for example) but even that has major limitations.

To change this, you'll want go to your Account, and find Channel Design. You should see a screen like this: 

 In order to set a background on your YouTube channel, first you need to upload the image directly to the YouTube server. Unfortunately, this means they control a number of factors. The image has to be a PNG, JPG, or GIF and it has to be less than 256kb in total file size. When you upload a file it will be converted to JPG and compressed.

Scroll down the Channel Design page, and you should find this option: 

Browse and upload your image (which should fit the restrictions). But even if you follow all of these guidelines you may still encounter this error:

 “Please upload a valid background image.”

Now, the file we were uploading was not only a PNG but it was also only 37kb (we also tried a JPG for good measure). We were left trying to figure out what could have caused this error.

After much searching and double checking, we found it. There seems to be a hidden restriction on the dimensions of the background image. We continued to receive this error as long as our background was 2400 x 4800 pixels. When we scaled the background image back to a height of 3600 pixels, we had zero problems uploading it as a background for our YouTube Channel.

So when you go to upload your own background, keep this mind if you encounter that dreaded error message. It will save you valuable minutes of your time you'll never get back. 

Google Does it Yet Again

by J. Butler, Applecore Content Development Specialist

Google has become such a mainstay that it would hard to remember a world without it. In fact, the day that we all knew Google wasn’t just the latest technological trend probably came sometime in July 2005---when “Google” entered the English language as a verb:

goo·gle • \gü-gəl\: to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web.

 These days, Google is consistantly the leader of the pack when it comes to innovations. In late 2006, they bought the online video site YouTube for US$1.65 billion in stock. Come September 2008, Google launched Google Chrome, its own web browser.

Late last year, Google announced the introduction of Google Flu Trends, a service that will take the IP addresses of users searching for flu-related queries, compile them, and track the active areas of flu outbreaks weeks before the official data from the Center for Disease Control is released.

As of May 2008, Hitwise reports that Google is the most used search engine on the web accounting for 68.29% of all US searches, way ahead of the closest competition—Yahoo, for example, trails behind at 19.95%. But did you ever stop to think about the path Google took to become the household name that it is today?

Older search engines would only rank the importance of a site by how many times a search term appears on it—if you searched for “apple pie,” you’d be given pages based only on how often “apple pie” appeared on the site…not based on the overall quality level.

But Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two PhD. students out of Stanford University, had a bigger dream: to devise a ranking system that could accurately reflect the relevance and quality of a website.

And so, in January 1996, Google began as the research project of two students. The germ of their idea was a search engine that could create a more accurate ranking system by looking at the relationships between websites rather than just the web content alone. Revolutionary? We think so.

After much testing, the company was incorporated as Google Inc. on September 4, 1998 (making them Applecore’s slightly older brother). Their unofficial corporate motto? “Don’t be evil.”

            Google’s approach paved the way for Search Engine Optimization (or SEO). Search Engine Optimization is just what it sounds like—it’s enriching a website with the right tools (like keywords, links and content) to place it higher in the page rankings of Google and other search engines. Using SEO properly is two parts science, one part art, helping to achieve top rankings organically (at no cost). SEO has transformed into an incredible tool for attracting both the right kind and the greatest volume of traffic for a website.

It’s an exciting wait to see what other innovations Google will cook up next, because with every new invention comes inspiration from seeing people be their most creative, most insightful selves. 

Mozilla CEO: Ties with Google 'complicated' since Chrome

December 21, 2008 (Computerworld) Mozilla Corp. has a "reasonable" relationship with longtime partner Google Inc., but it's gotten complicated since Google launched its own browser, according to Mozilla's chief executive.

"We have a fine and reasonable relationship," John Lilly, Mozilla's CEO, said in an interview last week. "But I'd be lying if I said that things weren't more complicated than they used to be."

Responding to questions about Mozilla's take on the upswing in browser competition, Lilly also knocked another rival, Microsoft Corp., for dismissing attempts to boost browser performance as merely a "drag race."

"It's a pretty good time to be a browser user," said Lilly. "There are more smart people hacking on browsers than in a long time. But when I hear Dean [Hachamovitch, general manager of Microsoft's Internet Explorer] say JavaScript performance is for crazy guys to worry about, then that worries me."

[ Read Entire Article ]

100 top sites for the year ahead

The online world has changed dramatically even since we last drew up a list of 100 useful sites in December 2006. In the interim, there has been a revival of the browser wars - with Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari making surprising inroads into the Windows monopoly, and offering a new vision of what browsing can be like.

Many of the sites listed here were not available when we did our last list; although longevity is a mark of pride online, it is difficult for companies set up in the 1990s to reinvent themselves quickly enough to take advantage of new technologies. Although of course rapid change brings casualties too: it's possible that with all the economic turbulence going on that some of the sites here won't be around in a year from now, or that their now free services will have become paid-for. That doesn't diminish their usefulness, though; it just underlines their determination to survive.

...

So here are our 100 revised best sites to see you through the next couple of years. They're organised roughly along those lines.

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