Alex Reid

On Wednesday, LOFT — a brand owned by Ann Taylor Inc. — posted pictures of a typical catalog model in the brand’s new silk cargo pants on its Facebook page. Soon after, several fans began complaining that they wished the fashion company had posted photos of “real women” to display their goods.

In response, the very next day, LOFT posted several photos of their employees wearing the same clothes. The female employees were picked from the company’s design, styling and marketing staff and their body types ranged from size 2 to 12, and heights from 5?3? to 5?10?.

Fans were instantly pleased that they were being listened to, even if some ironically didn’t think the clothes were flattering on the “real women”.

This is a great example of how companies should be utilizing the Internet, not just using the web to distribute information, but remembering that communication is a two-sided street – you have to listen, not just talk, to have an effective conversation.

CBS News reports about the security risks associated with copy machines.

Brian Bowman

Organizers of the Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC) pulled off a stunt this morning in Vancouver, strangling sculptures of fish and birds with gigantic plastic six pack rings to highlight pollution from plastics.

The PPC want to eliminate single use plastics and its impact on marine and wild life, pointing to the horrendous Great Pacific Garbage Patch as an example.

Special kudos go to award-winning Vancouver ad agency Rethink (they went national with a Toronto office just recently) which worked up the smart idea with the PPC.

The Federal government via MP Shelly Glover and the Province of Manitoba via Trade Minister Peter Bjornson have announced a shared funding boost of $1.8 million to Manitoba Music (which New Winnipeg Media is a corporate sponsor of) – a not-for-profit industry association designed to help local artists and companies market their music beyond Manitoba’s borders.

The money is part of a four-year plan under the Canada-Manitoba Western Economic Partnership Agreement (WEPA), in which both the Province of Manitoba and the Government of Canada are contributing $25 million each over four years to “to strengthen economic activity and improve the quality of life in western Canadian communities.”

The International Telecommunications Union reports that there are 4.6 billion cellphone subscribers world-wide, a trend that outpaces Internet connectivity rates.

It should be noted however that “subscribers” don’t equal “people” as some individuals have multiple phones. For example, both Israel and Italy have 1.3 cellphones per person. It was nearly a decade ago when Motorola found in a study that one in ten subscribers had a second cellphone for engaging in “extramarital affairs or clandestine business dealings”.

It is the developing countries that are seeing more cellphone usage because of its price thanks to steady competition (far better than Canada); the study says 57% of people in those countries are using cellphones.