7/8/11 by Jaime Borschuk, Interactive Design Manager
Did you know that Metromint is having a Summer Splash Sweepstakes? Since Metromint has no sweeteners or calories, and since the real mint offers a cooling feeling more refreshing than plain water, we consider it perfect for summer hydration. We can also easily picture our style savvy fans carrying a tote bag of cool stuff to the beach, including an iPod Touch, a Kindle, a Goorin Brothers Fedora, Ray Ban shades, Kiss My Face sunscreen, and, of course, ice cold Metromint.
7/14/10 by Jaime Borschuk, Interactive Design Manager
This year Metromint decided to make a 30 second video spot to run online as part of our summer ad campaign. While discussing possible ways to summarize the product in that small amount of time, we wondered what our fans would say.
We have great fans who say great things about Metromint, and we thank you for your endless phone calls and emails. All of your experiences with Metromint bring new excitement and associations to the brand that we can't always come up with on our own. In addition to making our own video about Metromint, we wanted to know what YOUR videos would look like, and so we ran The Metromint Very Short Video Contest, for which we challenged YOU to make a video about your experience with Metromint that was at most 25 seconds long.
For this contest we decided that we would review the entries ourselves and hand pick 5 that we felt fit the brand, told a story, and held entertainment value. From there, we would let YOU vote on which video would win the grand prize, a 32G iPad, and 2nd Prize, a $200 Apple gift card.
We were impressed and delighted by the quality of submissions we received. It was difficult to narrow the entries down to just 5 finalists— we wanted to change it to 10!— but those were the rules. Below is a playlist of our top 5. Congratulations to Colton Phipps, who was voted Grand Prize Winner, and Jonathan Mann, voted 2nd place!
You can see more entries on our YouTube Channel, and soon on the Video Jukebox I'm building for our homepage.
While the video contest was going on, we were busy building our own 30 second piece. It would be an animation! Instead of outsourcing this whole project to an agency, we decided to take a smaller scale approach.
Metromint Creative Director Jon Weber provided the initial concept and storyboards, and animator Alexander Tarrant brought the imagery to life. Metromint's Marketing Coordinator Jenn Chan, Founder Rio Miura, and summer temp Justin Sedor (in this order in the photograph to the right) worked together to develop and mix the music and sound effects that would accompany the voiceover we produced with the help of Voice One.
And the final product? Here it is! Our 30 second Metromint piece is now airing on Hulu for the next few weeks, along with select user generated content from the video contest. We like how our piece turned out, and we hope it succeeds in introducing our story.
On Friday, April 9th, San Francisco's ARC Gallery was delighted to showcase the work of visual artists who maintain art studios in the up-and-coming SOMA neighborhood. The exhibition featured representative artwork of 65 of the almost 100 artists who participated in the spring Open Studios eventApril 16-18.
Over 400 enthusiastic art collectors attended on this beautiful and warm city evening, which did not go unnoticed as it had been raining all week! Guests were able to enjoy entrees provided by an international food court outside, courtesy of the newest San Francisco trend: mobile gourmet food carts, including Pizza Politana, a wood-fired pizza oven built on a trailer. Inside, guests enjoyed artwork and drinks provided by Jade Winery and Metromint water.
ARC was proud to be able to present the work of their neighbors.
Thursday, December 3 Columbia College Chicago hosted its third Loophole concert. The event was sponsored by the Student Programming Board, AEMMP Records, and Metromint. It featured student bands Carbon Tigers,Truman & His Trophy and alumni Netherfriends. The concert is part of a new series the Student Programming Board has been working to develop this year. They help promote student musicians, up and coming Chicago acts, as well as smaller touring acts on campus and give them an opportunity to perform in Chicago for a artistic minded audience.
Loophole was happy to have Metromint as a product sponsor for the concert. Most of the |events on campus are dominated by energy drink sponsors and Loophole was proud to offer a healthier alternative to the norm. Students had mixed feelings when presented with a different and unexpected option. Students that loved it, really loved the water. While some others found it simply strange, not quite used to it and not sure what to make of it. But regardless of initial reactions most everyone came back for more intrigued by the unusual take on water and curious to sample the other flavor options! Students kept cool in the warm room with the minty flavored waters as they bobbed their heads to the music.
This Halloween, Metromint held an online costume contest for our fans. We were happy to receive a number of costume photos from enthusiastic fans and, though difficult, we narrowed it down to one winner: Jenikah. Jenikah spent a week making this beautiful peacock costume by hand! These photos show the costume modeled by Megan Jade:
The Metromint office also held a costume contest among employees. Founder Rio Miura and President Scott Lowe awarded the grand prize of 1 paid day off to Jenn Chan, who wore a Bruno inspired Velcro suit that kept her warm, uncomfortable, and sticking to everyone and everything all day long. Yours truly was declared the 2nd prize winner of a $75 gift certificate to Whole Foods for my Alladin Sane-era version of David Bowie's alter ego Ziggy Stardust, which Metromint President Scott Lowe deemed as "solid." Honorable mentions went to Kiyoe Nakazawa's cheerleading costume, and Tessa Phosrithong's Vampire costume. Go team!
5/13/09
by Michele Thorne, Wellness & Outreach Director
A few weeks ago Jaime, Jenn, and I decided to get out of the office for our Monday morning team meeting. We took a field trip around the corner to Brickhouse restaurant and met over a light breakfast.
The sun was shining beautifully through the big windows and we sat right up front to bask in it. As we were discussing our current projects, I looked up to see three beautiful paintings on the wall, one with a Metromint bottle painted in as one of the subjects. The paintings were created by Hiroko Sakai. She is native to Japan, but lives here in SF now. I decided to interview her via email.
MT: How long have you been painting? HS: I’ve been painting since I can remember, but my professional art career started in the early 1990’s. In the beginning of my career, I forced myself to “never say I can’t”. Whatever project I got, the first thing I would say is “OK. I can do it!”.
MT: What brought you to San Francisco? HS: Well, I was in Japan working when I had a medical condition that landed me in the hospital. During that time, I met a man (who was from America) and he encouraged and supported my healing. We had a whirlwind romance and we married in Japan. Shortly after, I moved to San Francisco. I was pregnant when I moved here and it was a huge change. My relationship became abusive and I knew I had to leave. I went to the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco with my 4 month-old baby, which saved my life.
MT: How did you get back to painting after that? HS: I began drawing to sweep out my stuck emotions which had piled up inside. At first, my sketches were colorless, and then one by one, they slowly came back to my paper. My art was healing.
MT: What was your inspiration to include Metromint in your painting? HS: I always enjoy doing something fun and playful in my paintings; adapting edgy and/or traditional elements with things that people feel common or familiar with. The painting you saw in the café is called “Mystery” and the inspiration was a parody of the famous statue “Venus de Milo”. I thought it would be fun to add some modern imaginations on her lost arms. Then, I thought Metromint is one of the things that represents a modern, fashionable girl’s life.
I would like to thank everyone who submitted a poem or video to us for this contest! It was hard for us to narrow it down to 3 winners, so we chose 3 written haikus and 2 videos. Without further ado, here they are:
Cooling sensations
Metromint tickles your tongue
No sweeteners, just love
--Charlene Jennings
Sorry, Valentine.
Metromint has won my heart.
I sip. I sigh. Love!
--Patricia Gilmore
On Valentine's Day
Fill my bath with Metromint
Then leave me alone.
--PF Dumanis
1/15/09 by Michele Thorne, Wellness & Outreach Director
Every now and again I have to bring my son to the office. It's not because he just wants to hang out with me, nor is it because there is anything especially child friendly about our office. When he is here, though, he finds a way to be creative, and it is inspiring.
With palettes of Metromint and Metroelectro, boxes for sending out samples, and of course desks and people, our office doesn’t seem at first sight to be the most creative place. It is a loft with cement, bricks, high ceilings…but there is something. You can feel it when you walk around. Maybe it's the skylight, or maybe it’s Rio's energy, but whenever employees' kids are here, they are moved to create and inspire us too.
If you ever come to our office, which is often mistaken for a café, you might notice a handful of drawings made by our children. If you come on a day when one of them is here, you might see a Metroelectro roboticon with a hydration laser and extra Metromint energy packs! It is amazing what a little imagination and some tape can do!
11/19/08 by Michele Thorne, Wellness & Outreach Director
It is not everyday that I get personal notes, but now and then I will receive a handwritten note from a fan, and I love them. I recently noticed a thick, personalized envelope in my mailbox and, when I opened it up, I was completely blown away! Inside were 16 handwritten thank you cards from the John Marshall High School5th Period Culinary class students, taught by Ms. Andrea Phillips in Los Angeles, CA. My favorite detail: The cards were created from old cooking magazines.
As if it could get any better than that, the letters were more than a friendly communication. Ms. Phillips let me know that the students’ letters actually help JMHS meet many of their educational standards and school wide learning goals to help the students become effective communicators. One of the letters was from a student named Josue O. who says, “Thank you for giving us some of your product. My favorite was the Lemonmint. I am also glad you gave us this water because both mint and water reduce stress and tension. I’m glad because I’m always studying for tests.”
We wish you all stress-less tests, and to all the culinary students at JMHS, YOU ROCK!
