It is about that time of year. Back to school, subway packed, frosh week...and TIFF.

I have posted about the festival in the past since I used to work on publicity...but as an outsider this year, and as Film Friday post, I will review TIFF's online presence.

Website: The website is fine. With a target audience ranging from pure cinema lovers, sales people, publicists and well...the talent, the site has to provide all the information that their range of audience needs. And it is all there. But that is it.

The problem though is navigation. Unless you really know the festival and/or the site, it is hard to find the information you are looking for. If you are browsing, it is extremely easy to get lost.

Blogs: The site does have over a handful of interesting blogs with decent content, but again, it is very hard to navigate. You have to continuously 'click' to read more of the post toggling between blogs is onerous.

One main feature they failed to implement quite easily are RSS feeds for their blogs. Yes, they have them other key areas...but not for their rich content. :Z

Star Gazing: A big part of the festival are its stars. There is nothing like being in Yorkville and seeing a famous movie star right in your backyard. So, how about engaging the community and having them send in their celebrity photos. Heck, in the age of camera/PDA phones, this is a free be.

I guess a main reason is because they have the Holt Renfrew Gallery - but one photo a day seems worthless particularily since the photos picked are the same ones we see on the front page of the papers anyway. Come on! You run the festival, give us regular folk an inside look.

Pump up the volume: One item I do like this year is TIFF's use of Y&D square for music and special events. This expands the festival beyond Yorkville and Scotia Theatre. However, nothing is really being done online as an outreach to the public to get them out to these events.

TIFF related, but not TIFF owned:

Facebook Application - now this makes sense. An application that allows you to organize with your friends the movies you are going to watch.

Bevie Wednesday's is the real deal. It all started last year when a bunch of pals and I wanted, yet another, 'established' drinking night.

You see - Thursday's in the T-dot is the known bevie night, Friday's is a little more lax since the working folk are typically tired from the week - but the 9ish bevie is doable. Saturday is all-day bevie day and Sunday...well Sunday is afternoon bevies (afterall, you have to work in the morning).

So where is this going...bevies...online marketing...a post?

I have already designated Friday's for Film...so to keep with the true bevie night, I will focus my posts on Wednesday's on...well...bevies.

So to start things off right. And just like starting a night out right...I will have...oops, I mean write about Gin (yup, I love me some G&T's).

Bombay Sapphire.

Branded Content: I really liked what the site has to offer. From recipes to their advertising to their design competitions - there is a lot of interesting reading that is true to what their brand represents. The videos are great and the ambassador speaking in it stays true to their high-end voice.

Look & Feel: I didn't care for much for how the site looked. Yes, Bombay is all about the blue - but there is just way too much blue for my eyes. It made it difficult to read the content and became distracting when viewing the design work.

Social: The site offered some social features like sharing the page to facebook, delicious, email and digg...but nothing more community focused like, sharing your favourite recipe or your blue design.

Search: A quick google search on gin and tonic doesn't turn up Bombay Sapphire on the first page. Since this is the drink that put them on the bevie map...you would think?

PS. Bevie Wednesday's are in full effect. So, interested in a bevie and it happens to be Wednesday...drop me a line.

I don't need much convincing to watch a movie with Jason Statham in it.

Bad reviews? Bad marketing? I will take the risk.

So far, what I see online isn't too bad.

Site: At first glance the site offers the necessities, wallpapers, downloads. What I really liked was the race experience. It gives me a rundown of the track and car details.

I am not a car or racing enthusiast, but to support the movie - it works and is interesting to play with and get engaged.

Game: They have a simple racing game that lets you challenge your friend. Although the game is really bare bones, it is good enough to go viral.

Bad Search Results: I did a simple search on the movie and the site was at the bottom of the first page. Some simple SEO, SEm and third party buy could have fixed that - even if the buy was just for the first month the movie is out.

My two best friends are Behaviour Analysts - so this is an apology to them if I get this all wrong.

Renita made a freudian slip last week and said the words, Intimate Reinforcement. I forgot what she was supposed to say but that phrase stuck with me.

Intimate Reinforcement - I am going to loosely define as the change in response due the addition or removal of an emotional (maybe unknown, like flirting) response.

For example, the doorman at Holt Renfrew always greets me with a smile, so I always feel welcome at the department store.

The ladies at Beestung Lingerie call me by my first name when entering their store, and I feel welcome and my trust level with them and their service increases.

For the online world, an example could be entering a site, going through a series of strategic pages and it giving me a great offer due to my path. Or, being an online brand contributor and getting 'perks' for being a fan...

This is still a thought-process in progress so let me know what you think.

I know, I know...I blog a lot about Starbucks. I have a love/hate relationship with that brand.

I can't help it. There are six locations for me to choose from by my home and four by my office.

Around my home, they are advertising their latest offer - free wireless Internet access at more than 650 Starbucks stores in Canada! For Bell Sympatico Internet customers.

You get unlimited access by using your Bell ID to login to the Starbucks wireless access points. There's more information at www.bell.ca/wifi (currently that page doesn't seem to redirect properly in FireFox but works in Internet Explorer).

Starbucks customers get more limited access but that still amounts to 2 hours of free Wi-Fi per day by using your Starbucks Card and entering the number on the back to login.

So today, I love them.

Why?
- I am also a Bell customer. This partnership fully supports Bell's new branding to be recognized as Canada's leading communication company. As a customer of Bell - I win.
- I occasionally visit Starbucks with my laptop - so I win again!