Brick and Click

'One Hour Summer Bash' in Warrenton VA Serving Up Free Chick-fil-A

NEWS RELEASE:  Warrenton, Virginia based businesses One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning of Northern Virginia, Mister Sparky of Northern Virginia, and Rhino Roofing System are picking up the lunch tab for a full hour, 12-1pm, on Wednesday, June 22nd at the Warrenton Chick-fil-A.  Anyone can stop by the One Hour Summer Bash (event on Facebook here) and enjoy a free combo meal after filling out a short voucher, which will be handed out on location, and is also available in PDF format (block of four vouchers) via this link:

Download OneHourSummerBash_ChickfilA_Voucher2011

Judging by the popularity of previous One Hour lunch events, this 'Bash' is sure to be a jam packed, fun-filled gathering of Chick-fil-A fanatics .  The Chick-fil-A cow, always a hit, will be on hand for mixing, mingling and picture taking.  Freebies/schwag will be handed out, in addition to the fabulously tasty free food, and Warrenton police will do their best to keep traffic back-ups to a minimum (planning your arrival and parking strategy ahead of time is recommended).  Jared Dean, owner of One Hour NoVA, Mister Sparky NoVA and Rhino Roofing, says the event "is an opportunity to give back, in a fun way, to our community.  Business is so consuming that we often forget to stop and take the time to only think of others.  Sure we think of our clients every day while repairing their homes, but taking time and only thinking of them by breaking bread together, so to speak, takes us back to what life truly is about - community.  God Bless you all, and have a great summer!". Notable: Mr. Dean will assume the role as Brand President of One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning next year, representing more than 200 franchise locations across North America.

And finally, to take things up another notch over the next two weeks, 2 people will have the opportunity to win Free Lunch for a Year (52 combo meals!!) at Chick-fil-A.  To be eligible for the drawing, go to this special Tab on the One Hour Page and follow the simple instructions (for Northern VA residents living in service area of businesses involved in Summer Bash event. Complete contest rules at bottom of Tab).  The 'Free Lunch for a Year' contest is being held exclusively on Facebook (with no affiliation to Facebook).  The two winners will be chosen by random drawing on Friday, June 24th at approximately 2pm at the Warrenton Chick-fil-A.  If you have any questions about the Free Lunch Bash on June 22, or the Free Lunch for a Year contest on Facebook, feel free to post them in the comment section of this post.  

Twin Tech 2 Party a Smash Success

This is a Qik video I took with my Nokia N95 at last week's Twin Tech 2 party at a club called the Avenue in Washington DC (more than 1000 showed).  Peter Corbett, CEO of iStrategy Labs, who co-hosted the event, played tour guide for a few minutes.  Peter understands better than most the power of social media (he's one I closely follow, a 'wired one' who's one of the first to discover trends and new, usable technology).  He also understands the value of getting out from behind your laptop and pressing the flesh, and his Twin Tech parties are great examples of the hunger that exists for 'in the flesh' networking.  It was great to see a wide range of ages and types at the party.  The New Web is not just about the Net Generation (Y on down).  It's about older generations (upper X and Boomers) learning from the young guns, and applying new trends and techniques to integrate traditional Brick (and mortar) and Click (online) efforts.

This short video is an example of the newest type of social media:  live streaming video from a mobile device.  When I first shot the video - which again, is from a high end smart phone - it transmitted live via AT&T's Media Net network.  The video goes directly to a platform called Qik.com, and you can choose to have a message sent to other social networks to alert friends on your network that you're broadcasting live.  In this case, I simply hit the number '55' and a short message was sent to my Twitter stream, inviting followers there to join in and watch the video.  And one step further, if all goes well with the video (and this is not always the case, as it's still a new capability with flaws), people watching the video live can actually send text messages to my Nokia phone and interact with the video interview and conversation. 

Once the video is stopped, it automatically archives itself to my Qik profile, and I can then choose to upload it to other video platforms, like YouTube.  Once on YouTube, I can choose a feature that enables the video to be 'imbedded' in any Typepad blog I choose. 

While at the party, I also took pictures (here's another, and another) with my Nokia and sent them to a location-based social network called Brightkite.  Again, my Twitter followers get a message that I am at a certain location (the Avenue, Wash DC, etc), and with Brightkite, it shows a Google map of where you are, and any pictures you upload. 

All of this is part of the cutting edge of the social media, Web 2.0 revolution taking place each day.  New technologies and web platforms are appearing all the time.  I'm always on the lookout for trends and interesting advancements, especially ones that can transform Main Street.  So take what I've described here and realize that any small business owner or employee can transform him or herself into a one-person social (multi) media marketing force.  This is not just about college students snapping pictures and shooting video of parties.  It's about a transformation that's still in its infancy that's empowering small business to think and act in big and new ways.  Are you part of this revolution?