So we’ve been back from Los Angeles for a few weeks now and know that it’s now time to do something with the experience we had. Yes… the big M. It’s time for some marketing so that people can actually know we exist!
We had a great time at the “Oh Canada Premium Gift Lounge” at the Golden Globes. We met some incredible people… and not just the celebrities, but our fellow vendors as well. What was really interesting and amazing to see was just how many of the participating businesses were owned by women. I’d say almost 3/4 of the businesses that participated were owned/run by women. Go girl power!!
We had arrived into Los Angeles late on our first day due to a 2.5 hour delay in Edmonton. So, I was already anxious upon our arrival! We still had to purchase everything we needed for our gift lounge display in L.A. (so we’d avoid shipping costs from Canada) and one of those items needed was a full length mirror anyway (we certainly didn’t want to start dealing with shipping a mirror all the way to L.A.)! So, part of the “let’s arrive early” plan was to go shopping for our display. And where did we go? Why Targét, of course!
If I do say so myself, we did an amazing job (shopping IS one of my strengths!). We needed a full length, stand alone mirror – check; we needed something with height for a few of the mukluks to sit on – check (got a couple of glass cake stands); and we needed 3 display shelving stands to show off our wares – bust. Couldn’t find a thing! Fortunately, a lightbulb went on in the lamp aisle. There, on the display shelves, amongst many “not so much my taste” lamps was a floor lamp that would soon become our display shelving. It was a brushed nickel stand with three frosted glass shelves and a lamp shade wrapped above the top shelf. Why not cut the wire, pull out the light and remove the lamp shade? Well, that’s exactly what we did. It worked out amazingly! We bought three of them and, not only did they look fantastic, but they took only 5 minutes to put together… without tools! That was great news for us, considering we had just 3 hours in the gift lounge to set up our display.
We arrived first thing in the morning on the opening day and were able to get a stellar spot in the lounge. Between our signage, some decorative ribbon, our new mirror and, of course, our three new shelving displays, our table looked pretty darn good. Here’s a photo of Mara and I in front of our display at the Oh Canada Premium Gift Lounge (note one of the display shelves to the left of Mara… I know… I’m sickeningly, overly proud of the shelves. I have a problem.):
The doors opened that first day (Friday, January 17, 2010) at 10:00 AM and then began our fun-filled, exciting, surreal and totally exhausting day (it’s hard being “on” for 8 hours straight). Thank God we were at least selling a comfy footwear product, otherwise my feet would have been killing me by the end. Instead, my feet were totally fine… my brain hurt, but the feet were perfect!
We had brought with us 17 assorted pairs of mukluks. The plan was not to gift them then and there but to take orders and ship them to the celebrities for free. The thought was that, this way, each person would get the exact pair they wanted (rather than getting whatever was left in their size) and, hopefully, actually wear them as a result. We only offered free mukluks to a select few (we gave away 17 pairs in total) but gave $100 off gift cards to everyone else who came by our table.
Okay, time for some photos! We just got our picture CD from Wire Image (you can see most of the photos online at wireimage.com) so here are some of the highlights of the trip:
Meeting Neve Campbell! Oh, how I used to love watching the Salinger family in “Party of Five”… and the “Scream” movies… all part of my mid-90’s, university years memories. Neve was so nice – low key, down to earth and absolutely beautiful. She just received her pair of “Tall Gummi Grey Fur Candy” Sweet Pedtooties mukluks the other day!
Meeting Catherine O’Hara. I adore this woman! Not only is she a brilliant comedic actress (SCTV, Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show, A Mighty Wind) but she was so fun, energetic and genuine. I’m a big fan of hers (and I married into a family of die-hard SCTV-aholics) so I was so excited and honoured to meet her! She designed her very own unique Sweet Pedtooties mukluks – Tall Candy Apple (green) Candy mukluks with brown fur. We just sent them off to her last week and they looked gorgeous!
Meeting Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen in the Twilight films). Now, I recognize that the Twilight novels are written for “young adults” and the films are made mostly for teens… but I love them all! I remember reading the series one after the other – boom boom boom. I couldn’t put them down (my husband half joked that the kids would be climbing the walls around me, with knives and scissors in hand… and I’d have my nose buried in a Twilight book saying, “yeah… that’s great girls.”). I’ve loved the movie series so far, as well… so meeting Ashley was a thrill. She was so sweet! I honestly can’t think of a better word to describe her. And gorgeous! I’m not posting the picture of Mara and I with Ashley since we look fat and hideous in comparison! She loved a pair of Tall Gummi Grey Candy mukluks (seen in picture below) so much that she asked if she could take them with her right then. They fit her perfectly and she said, “Can I take these? I’m going to Germany on Monday for a film shoot for a month and I’d love to take them with me.” Ummmmm…. let me just let that marinade for a second… ugh…YEAH! Take them! Take them! Take them!! (we, of course tried to sound less desperate than that). So, she and her assistant each took a pair with them and we couldn’t be happier. I’ve been scouring the web looking for photos of Ashley in Germany and haven’t been able to find any so far. So, if you see any photos of Ashley Greene in her Sweet Pedtooties mukluks, please let us know.
Meeting Deidre Hall (Dr. Marlena Evans of Days of Our Lives)! Okay – this was my soap opera, people! Back in the days when I was addicted and watched it every single day… when Stella threw Marlena in the pit, when Marlena was the Devil… and I got to meet Deidre!! She was so lovely. Happy and warm. It was a true pleasure to meet her. She chose a pair of Tall Black Licorice Fur Candy mukluks, which were delivered to her yesterday. We hope she loves them!
Well, I think I’ve written more than enough for one day (probably enough for a month) – so I’ll stop here and continue later.
In the meantime, please join our facebook page and follow us on Twitter (which we’re still trying to figure out)!!
