Fashion Friday: Traditional German Drinking Hats

On Thursday afternoon I joined my Toronto Tribal DDB/Radar DDB colleagues at a local pub to wind down the work week. After ordering a pint of Labatt Blue, the owner of the bar brought over some samples of a German wheat beer, and told us that if we ordered a pint we'd be entered into a draw to win an authentic German drinking hat as well as a sausage on a bun.

I liked the sample, and was planning on ordering a pint of the beer anyways when the waitress told us that the owner was mistaken: I wasn't entered into contest to win the sausage and hat. They were included with the beer!

As Ed Lee pointed out, this is one particular case where these types of free promotions were worthwhile for the brewery: I Tweeted about it (mentioning Jens and Malte in my Tweet, two German friends who are probably likely to at least try drinking this beer if they hadn't already), and Ed posted a picture of the deal on his influential and widely-read gastronomy/business blog "Marketing Chef."

So how was it?

The sausage was well cooked, with a great sauteed onion and mustard topping.

The beer, Weinhenstephan, was amazing.I'm a fan of these "Weiss" beers and this one was particularly good. I'd definitely order it again, even without the promise of a hat and sausage to accompany it.

And the hat? Pretty awesome.

It might not become part of my everyday wardrobe, but I like to think I pull it off pretty well.

What do you think? When is the right occasion for wearing a traditional German drinking hat? And what do you think about theses types of give-away promotions? Are they worth it?

-Parker

PS: Thanks for reading another edition of Fashion Friday on BlogCampaigning!

27 Random Pictures

A few months ago my external hard drive died, taking with it years of data and photos. Fortunately, I was able to get most of that information restored. As I started sifting through all the photos (the organizing file structure was, unfortunately, unable to be recovered), I decided to upload some of them here on BlogCampaigning.

And so here you go: 27 photos from sometime in the past 5 years of my life.

Enjoy.

-Parker

A Double Dose of Thirsty Thursday

In the next few weeks, we have not one but TWO rock-solid Thirsty Thursday events coming up!

Thirsty Thursday May Madness

When: Thursday, May 20th at 6:00 pm

Where: The Central (603 Markham Street, Toronto)

What:  Join us for another edition of Toronto's favorite PR meet-up.

This informal affair will be a great chance to work on your pint-raising form ahead of summer patio season.

We've booked the foosball room upstairs at The Central for this event. Apparently, there is a small patio off of it for those of you that like fresh air and/or cigarettes.

As usual, Chris Clarke will get there early to hold our place. Feel free to show up at 5 to hang out with him, or anytime after 6 to see everyone else.

We hope to see you there! Confirm  your Attendance on the Thirsty Thursday: May Madness Facebook Event

Thirsty Thursday Goes Gunning

When: Saturday, June 5

Where: Target Sports Canada (Gormley)

What: That's right: Thirsty Thursday is getting out of the bar and into a limo bus for an afternoon at one of North Toronto's finest shooting ranges.

The cost will be approximately $100, and includes transportation via limo bus from a central location in downtown Toronto (probably Bloor and Spadina) to the shooting range (Richmond hill) and back (I don't even really know what a limo bus is, but it sounds sweet and we're getting a decent deal on it).

This $100 also includes usage fees and ammo for 9mm, .40, .45, a few other handguns, and some shotguns. Rifle ammunition is not included.

Thirsty Thursday Co-organizer Rick Weiss said that they'll do "a little safety course at the beginning."

Afterwards, we'll be going out for beer and cheeseburgers (and/or hot wings) at a venue in downtown Toronto TBD (any suggestions?)

Confirm your attendance on the Thirsty Thursday Goes Gunning Facebook Event and we'll be in touch to sort out the little details.

Will you be there?

Autumn In Toronto and Ottawa

Since it's Friday, you're probably getting things tidied up for the weekend and looking at your schedule for next week. If you're in Toronto not doing anything on Tuesday, September 16 then stop by Fionn McCool's to hear from the people behind AideRSS. Ilya Grigorik, Co-founder and Chief Technology Office, Jim Murphy, VP Development, and Melanie Baker, AideRSS' Community Manager will all be present.

This is the first Third Tuesday Toronto event of the new year, and it should be a good one.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend as I will be in Ottawa speaking about Social Media Releases at the Social Media for Government conference.

I'll be in the nations capital from the 15-19 of September if you're there and want to grab a beer and talk about how little I care about the rivalry between the Sens and the Leafs.

-Parker

Join Us For A Drink On Thursday

That's right, Toronto's finest young communications and PR kids are getting together for a few extra-casual beers at the Green Room this Thursday at 6:30pm. It's always a great time, so check out the Facebook Event for the deets and sign up. Or just show up.  I might even shout you a beer.

See you Thursday!

-Parker

PS: Europe is about five hours ahead, so you better believe that Jess and I will be calling our blogmates Espen and Jens!