//…and I just came to say “hello” 2012. Here’s hoping for more dreams to flourish (including writing here more & being less incommunicado), volunteering time, reality to break me (in a good way), creativity to take center stage and more ways to learn that all that glisters is not gold (thanks, William). Hey, this season’s turkey wishbone tells me I’ve got a chance at fulfilling a few. HNY to all!

// The smartest single cup home brewing system, TASSIMO Canada, battled it out this year against some unlikely holiday characters in 24 charming and festive video spots via Facebook. TASSIMO has grown its Facebook fan following to over 100,000, and increased their website traffic by over 100%. For the holiday promo, TASSIMO’s digital agency Trapeze helped launch a “You can win a Tassimo!” tab on the TASSIMO Facebook page. The brand pits a TASSIMO coffee brewer against characters and objects that fans can vote on to win a brewer. Some are festive-inspired and others are brilliantly random! like the Rock Star Elf, a Crockpot or the Ninjas.

// “Double-D’ers” of all ages came out on Oct 14th for cake, cocktails & cleavage…and to support Rethink Breast Cancer and Boobyball’s 10th anniversary. Boobyball started 10 years ago in support of Sarah O’Regan, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 23 years old – and won her battle.The event is always tons of fun, for a good cause. The goal? Throw one of the biggest birthday parties Toronto has ever seen, while raising money to inspire a new generation of young philanthropists to get involved & create a future without breast cancer. Mission accomplished! You can see previous booby bash pics up on flickr here.

// I always seem to say girl interrupted when I go away for a break because it literally does make me think of how much I get submersed & caught up in daily deadlines. This has been a summer of immense change, introspective thought (always examining my own thoughts), and luckily, tremendous adulation. I will be blogging more consistently come the fall once I’m back from visiting family in Germany, my apologies but patience is a virtue…

// Summer is definitely here and I took a (semi) break from the intense digital world. This is a great find, comps to Marketing Magazine. Canadian savant, or media and culture prophet as MM would say, Marshall McLuhan turned 100 on Jul 21. His knowledge, wisdom and predictions in media and the creation of a “global village” resonate to this day. Enter 2011, and evidence of McLuhan’s insights are still being used to dissect the plays and convergence between technology and a global society. I particularly love one key phrase that sums up one of the only reasons I would take interest in advertising campaigns. McLuhan stated, “advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century.” Even though he rebuked the ad world, he also recognized its significant role in shaping cultures. Check out 5 McLuhan predictions that came true (aka McLuhanisms), here.

Orange RockCorps Echafaudage Orchestra by Orangefr

// UK-based Orange RockCorps produced this amazing scaffolding orchestra in France. Warning – it’s hard not to watch the whole video. Orange RockCorps only offers tickets to music events that you can win, not purchase. Basically, when you give 4 hours to your community with Orange RockCorps, you can get 1 ticket to an event in return. You can also vote on where volunteers will head to next at http://www.orangerockcorps.co.uk. Well-known musicians like Lady Gaga and John Legend have volunteered their time for events like this in the past.

// I might some serious backlash from outing myself by saying I am not an avid Star Wars fan. These creative crayola gems were too well done not to rip though. They were carved by Steve Thompson and posted by Mark Merlot.

// Great video called “Never Stop Learning” on finding, enrolling and retaining prospective students from EducationDynamics in the United States. The company aims to provide in-depth information and valuable tools to help empower students to make informed decisions on the programs and schools that are best suited for them.