Svendsen, Gant & VanBeber

I am addicted to HGTV and love watching shows like “Design on a Dime“ and “Flip This House”. I can spend hours pouring through D Home and Elle Decorlooking at beautiful rooms and getting inspired by the beautiful photo layouts. The only problem is, that I lack the confidence to execute any of it.

BelAir Studio and Design is the answer to all of your design dilemmas.  In this month’s March issue, D Home reports, “The brainchild of three design-minded friends—Shannon VanBeber, Cindy Svendsen, and Susan Colvin Gant—the shop and full-service design studio (services range from space planning to complete home remodeling) is filled with handsome case goods, vintage finds, and reimagined treasures. Think steel-framed dining chairs relieved of their tired fabric in favor of hair-on cowhide.

But the real appeal of BelAir lies in the trio’s skillful melding of their distinct aesthetic sensibilities. It’s glam meets classic meets earthy—and the mix works. Mercury glass lamps, metallic-dusted cowhide rugs, and Lucite accessories lend elegance to a rough-hewn four-poster bed, woven baskets, and sturdy leather boxes and bins. Meanwhile, large-scale paintings and items sourced from local craftsmen (including bags, scarves, and table runners from textile designer Elizabeth Anyaa) add a soulful, personal layer to the vignettes.  The end result is a subtle, modern take on luxury, which, in our opinion, is the best possible kind.”

(left) Elizabeth Anyaa with Dee Van Dame (right) LeeAnne Locken with Danielle Vollmar(bottom) Joslyn Taylor, Kyle Knight and Abbe Fenimore

The retail shop, located directly across from Terilli’s on Lower Greenville Ave., opened in December but recently threw a grand opening soiree to introduce itself to the media, bloggers and neighborhood VIPs.  They came to Gangway to help them get all the right people there to create some buzz about this exciting new resource – online and off!

D Home was our media partner at this event – and God bless D Magazine Marketing Director, Mary Poe who ended up leaving the event with a new credenza for her house! I also spied interior design and home decor bloggers Kyle Knight from Knight Moves, Joslyn Taylor from Simple Lovely, Hilary Walker from Hilary Inspired and Abbe Fenimore from Studio Ten 25 fingering baubles and checking out the options.

What I like about the store is that whether you are looking for one great new find, have a beloved piece you need salvaged or re-worked or need someone to come to your house and makeover an entire space – these gals have you covered. It’s a one-stop-shop for all your home design and decor needs. And I am all about ease and convenience at affordable prices. Check them out!  ~Cynthia Smoot

BelAir Studio and Design, 2802 Greenville Ave., Dallas, TX 75206, Hours: Tues-Sat, 11AM-5PM

photos courtesy of Thomas Garza Photography

Henry’s Housemade Hot Sauce ($5.99) is a bit like Chalula and Tabasco but, of course, more delicious! The owners wanted to brand their unique and flavorful creation, so they asked us to design a logo for this new sauce, named after their Labrador Retriever, Henry.  The look needed to be simple and home-grown, not oversold and look too corporate. It was meant to look very local, not global and something your neighbor might be making on the weekends for fun, because it actually is…your neighborhood Bread Winners, that is.

The candidate must be able to think strategically, but be willing and able to roll up your sleeves to help implement the programs we create together. Our firm is unique in that we handle all facets of marketing, social media, PR and event planning for our clients. The benefit of working with us is that you will gain hands-on knowledge and get a lot of practical field experience across all of these areas.

You are:
- Addicted to social media and actively engaged in all the major platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogging)
- Curious, creative and eager to explore the digital frontier and learn new platforms
- A creative thinker
- Meticulous, accurate and deadline driven
- Flexible and ready to wear many hats
- Web-savvy
- Social and love to interact with people on and offline

You will:
- Experience writing and have the opportunity to have your work published
- Gain skills to use social media tools to crowdsource and engage customers to create loyal advocates
- Learn SEO strategy and web traffic analytics
- Create and attend high-profile events

Logistics/ Requirements:
- Minimum of 15 hours per week required
- Must be flexible for occasional night events
- Marketing or Communications major preferred, but other fields will be considered based on experience and/or knowledge
- Must provide own laptop computer

Compensation:
Interns will receive an hourly wage based on experience
Interested? Please contact cynthia@gangwayadvertising.com with a brief introduction of you and your talents and put “Internship” in the subject line.

When you are a small business owner, you wear many hats. Staples was DEAD ON with this new TV spot about “Dave”.  This commercial makes me chuckle every time I see it. I especially love “Dave’s” many incarnations of himself. Kudos to McCann Erickson, New York for creating a brilliant spot!

The one constant about Facebook, is that it’s ever-changing.  By now you’ve probably seen the new Facebook “timeline” format that is popping up on your Friend’s Profile Pages.  You can update the look of you Profile now, or just wait and let Facebook convert it for you. While no formal date has been announced, the rumor is that around the end of January, everyone’s Profiles will be converted to the new look. You can run, but you cannot hide.

The good news is that you will now have a cool new space at the top of your Facebook Timeline! If you’re like me, you’re wondering what the heck you’re supposed to do with it.   Here’s what you do with that big piece of social media property — use a free tool to make it zing.

CoverCanvas makes it easy to quickly create a Cover that is as awesome as you are. When you get to the site simply select “get started” and you’re in.

Along the top of the app, you will see different themes and options. Use your mouse to pint over them and click on the design you’d like to try. The tech wizards have it set up so random PROFILE photos are selected.  So, if you want pics of your kids or family pet, you will have to upload them to your Profile Photos folder first.  If you don’t like the selection the app randomly selects, click the theme image again and it will refresh using different images. You can also decide if you want to include your name, your name plus photos or just photos in the Cover. Done.

Once you upload your photo, CoverCanvas auto posts the photo and a link to their site on your Timeline. You can choose to hide it if you’d like or click “Make Profile Picture” and wa-la. Your new look is complete.

So stop embarrassing yourself with that current Cover and “make it work.”

source

The Catering Team set up a buffet dinner to showcase a variety of food options off their Catering menu and our bloggers and their families joined us for a delicious dinner. The roaming Guacamole Cart that made guacamole fresh at your table was a big hit, especially with the kids. They loved choosing the ingredients to go into the guacamole and helping to mix it all up.

By hosting this on-site event, the Catering Team at On The Border got to mix and mingle with local media, food bloggers, Mommy bloggers and other online influences. They had an opportunity to start a relationship with them and visit about their program in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

Each guest left with a goody bag (actually, it was a goody box) full of On The Border merchandise and collateral materials as a thank you for coming.  The party resulted in 52 tweets from the event, 27 photos being shared on Instagram and Twitter,  and 3 blog posts later that week giving On The Border a combined reach of 75,000+ online impressions from that evening.

At Gangway we connect clients to consumers and businesses to partners. Let us create buzz for your brand!

When planning any event, the devil is always in the details.  It’s even more true when you are playing host to 1,500 people.  You want every guest to feel welcome and special.  We started off with the invitation you see below: a 4×4 tri-fold printed on a beautiful pearlized paper so it glistened when you took it out of the envelope.  The day of the event, we scattered airplane confetti on the tables and had 4-6″ metal toy planes for the kids as they walked into the show, so that every child had a take home toy (and something to entertain themselves with at the show).  We also had American Flags on every table for people to wave as the pilots flew overhead. A great photo opp. presented itself with the arrival of the famous Wells Fargo stagecoach. The stagecoach is always a hit with guests who love to peer inside this original turn-of-the-century coach and view the intricate detailing of the interior.

SMC Dallas Leadership Team

In the two years since the reincarnation of the Social Media Club of Dallas took place, I have had so many positive experiences.  The most important being the friendships and professional alliances formed with many of the Leadership Team and fellow SMC members, including Mike Merrill, Colin Alshimer, Alyssa Gardina, MaryAnne Schweers, Elysa Rice, Cameron Gawley, Eddy Badrina, Victoria Harres Akers, Chris Yates and my personal mentor, Giovanni Galluci.  I have had the pleasure to meet and be educated and entertained by some the social media industry greats like Chris Brogan, Simon Salt, Tim Sanders, Scott Stratten, John Jantsch, Erik Qualman and Jason Falls.

I am honored to have been a part of SMC’s illustrious beginnings and can’t wait to see how the organization continues to grow, expand, change and engage. For more information on the Social Media Club of Dallas, including upcoming events, visit SMCDallas.org