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Greensgrow Farms and Rex 1516 Present a Southern-Style Shrimp Boil to Benefit the Greensgrow Community Kitchen
Greensgrow Farms, the area’s nationally recognized leader in urban farming, will be hosting a good old-fashioned shrimp boil on Saturday, August 16, to raise funds for the Greensgrow Community Kitchen! Philadelphia’s home for Southern-inspired cuisine, Rex 1516, is a proud sponsor of the event – Chef Justin Swain will be commanding the kitchen, along with Chef Carolynn Angle of Standard Tap. The southern-style feast will include sustainably, wild caught Louisiana shrimp, corn, potatoes and sausage, dirty rice, and summer fruit cobbler. Vegetarian options will be available. Philadelphia Brewing Company will be on hand and on tap.
There will be live music from Zydeco-A-Go-Go!, and a raffle – local restaurants, businesses, vendors and artists have donated gift cards for the winners. The featured raffle prize is “An Evening with Mary,” Greensgrow’s illustrious founder and former chef, who will host a dinner party in her home.
“Greensgrow is at the center of Philadelphia’s most dynamic food producers and businesses,” said Chef Justin Swain. “I’m thrilled to bring my food to such a great event and to support such a worthy cause.”
The Greensgrow Community Kitchen is a bustling culinary center that serves as a business incubator and demonstration kitchen. Community members hone their skills in everything from canning, fermenting and bread baking to cheese making, while chefs from some of Philadelphia’s best kitchens host cooking classes. It is home base for some of the region’s most innovative, delicious and sustainable mobile vendors, and has given a leg up a talented group of clients and instructors that have gone on to success with projects of their own.
The event will take place from 5:00 pm to 9:00 p.m. at Greensgrow Farm, 2501 E. Cumberland Street. Tickets for dinner, dessert and live music are $40 per person; the VIP ticket, which includes reserved seating for dinner, happy hour catered by Greensgrow Community Kitchen tenants and Little Baby’s Ice Cream, a Greensgrow pint glass and a limited run Philadelphia Brewing Company Beer, are $60 per person.
For more information, visit greensgrow.org/shrimpboil.
Branding is one of the most important aspects that any business owner, service provider or entrepreneur should invest time into. An effective brand strategy will give you a major edge in rising competitive markets. Your brand is a promise to your customers and provides them with familiarity, trust and a long-lasting relationship.
Simply put, your brand tells customers what they can expect from you, your products and your services while differentiating your brand from your competitors’. Developing your brand strategy allows you to figure out how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on communicating to and how to deliver your brand messages. Creating a consistent brand that the public will see is crucial to your livelihood because it has a great impact.
Some questions you have to consider when developing and maintaining your brand involves:
Starting a branding strategy may be difficult if you try it alone, however, branding services are available that offer proven success. Allowing an outside marketing company to establish your brand can vastly improve your business or service because they have the resources and experience to fully execute a well thought-out strategy. Having a team that can formulate, design and perform an integrated brand strategy can turn ideas into reality – thereby getting results.
Creative ideas are the driving force to a great brand by knowing what the market likes to see while backing it up with quality products and services. Sending positive messages to your customers will enhance the brand and create that customer loyalty you need. Establishing a brand identity – internal and external – can reinforce consistency and image.
Some elemental principles of brand identity include:
Whether you are just starting up a business or have a well-seasoned company, branding should be held to the utmost importance.
What is a workout without an awesome playlist? The right beat can help you go that extra mile or two. That’s why SWEAT Fitness is taking full advantage of the long list of concerts coming to the Philadelphia area this summer.
This July and August, come sweat it out at SWEAT Fitness’ summer concert themed cycling series. These hour-long classes, from July until August, will feature hits from specific genres or artists that are coming to Philadelphia this summer. The 2014 summer concert line-up is jammed packed with Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, Queen, Beyonce, Katy Perry, and many more. The instructors will have you pedaling to anything from boy bands to old school hip hop. Not only will you be getting a great cardio workout; you’ll feel like you’re front row at the concert without the hefty ticket price.
Classes will be free to members and $10 for non-members (they can try their first for free). Summer cyclists can also make a $50 donation to City of Hope, which is one of only 40 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers nationwide. In exchange for the generous donation (of which %100 of proceeds will go to the cause) they will receive unlimited classes in the summer series. They will also receive a bag of lifestyle products, featuring brands like Redken and Essie, valued at over $50.
All cycling classes will take place at all eight locations at the normally scheduled times during the summer, see the full schedule below. The series will conclude with a big celebration and classes themed around the Made in America (MIA) Labor Day music festival. On Wednesday, August 27th, cycling classes at each gym will pedal along to artists from this year’s MIA lineup like Tiesto and Kanye West.
The 6:30pm MIA cycling class at the Arch Street location will feature a LIVE DJ. Cyclists will also be able to enjoy wine and snacks after their workout. SWEAT is asking for a minimum $5 donation to City of Hope to attend this special event.
This Summer, East River Bank will host its very own social media competition, “Spend a Little, Save a Little.” Beginning on July 8th and continuing throughout the months of July and August, Penny, the East River Bank piggy bank, will be hiding throughout the city of Philadelphia. Each Tuesday Penny’s picture along with clues of her Philly-centric location will be posted on East River Bank’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Everyone will have a chance to win an assortment of gift cards by guessing Penny’s location in the form of a comment using the hashtag #SaveWithPenny. Winners will be chosen at random to win ten dollar gift cards from local businesses like Joe’s Steaks + Soda Shop, Rita’s Water Ice, Winnie’s LeBus, Franklin Fountain, Geno’s Steaks and Independent Philly. Winners will be announced each Monday under the comments section of the previous week’s photo.
On Labor Day, Penny will be hiding somewhere in the city. The first person to follow the clue, find Penny and return her to the nearest East River Bank location will win the Grand Prize of a $50 gift card to Scout Vintage in Old City.
So be sure to brush up on your Philadelphia trivia and good luck!
Today, Mashable, now in its fifth year, is celebrating Social Media Day with everyone around the globe. Since its inception back in 2010, Social Media Day has proven to be popular and has continued to grow, just as the medium itself. In collaboration with Mashable, cities across the world, have taken things further to get the day officially recognized from local city governments.
“Social media is clearly celebrated and scrutinized on a daily basis, but Social Media Day is a moment for everyone to take a step back and reflect on its broader impacts,” said Ryan Lytle, contributor for Mashable.
With an array of platforms such as: Twitter, Facebook, Vine, and Instagram; social media has become an integral part of our culture. Whether it’s gathering information for a new project, getting customer feedback, helping to bring back a group of schoolgirls or simply sharing what you had for breakfast (which happens quite often), social media is here to stay.
Be sure to follow @Mashable to keep up with various social media day events occurring around the world. In honor of the celebration, share with us what you/your city is doing to celebrate! Happy Social Media Day from Neff Associates!
If you own or manage a Philadelphia area business and are looking to increase your web traffic, you may have heard of inbound marketing. Many marketing agencies in Philadelphia have begun to urge their clients to focus on inbound marketing rather than more traditional online advertising in order to improve their web presence, bolster their SEO, and ultimately grab more customers. But not every agency does a good job of explaining what inbound marketing is or how it helps. Inbound marketing is a little counter-intuitive, so let’s look at the basics.
What is Inbound Marketing?
Inbound marketing is a general term for marketing that invites customers (and potential customers) closer to the company and its brand without directly selling to them. For example, if Coca Cola creates a video series about surfers on its website, that’s inbound marketing. Properly promoted, people will come to watch the video without necessarily thinking about the fact that they’re visiting the Coca Cola website. The video itself doesn’t try to sell soda, it only serves to bring people in—inbound—to Coca Cola’s website. That makes inbound marketing fundamentally different than traditional advertising, which can loosely be called “outbound marketing.”
Why is Inbound Marketing Better than Traditional Advertising?
In outbound marketing, you try to get your message out to consumers wherever they are: on radio, on TV, or with a guy in a polyester suit knocking on their front door. An online example of outbound marketing would be banner ads on a website. Outbound marketing can work, but it’s invasive – and consumers make an effort to avoid it. With inbound marketing, they voluntarily choose to spend time on your branded website, essentially giving you permission to market to them.
How is it Done?
So what do you have to do for inbound marketing? Make valuable content. Valuable content is something people are seeking (even if they aren’t seeking your brand) and that they will want to consume (even if they don’t plan to consume your product). Informational blog posts, viral videos, funny social media posts, how-to videos, and vlogs are all valuable content.
The results can be big and because you’re making the content people want to consume, traffic rises. That’s the big one. Since more people link to you, you may also bolster your SEO through inbound marketing efforts, and your social media base will probably grow. All of these factors combine to lead more web visitors to convert.
Not all marketing agencies in Philadelphia have experience with inbound marketing. Choose one that focuses on inbound and you can see massive growth in your web presence—and sales.
Logos have always been an important part of a brand identity. When done correctly they intentionally communicate to customers and become the mark that represents a company. It’s a first impression, and when the competition is in print, on the air and on the web, those first impressions are important. Apple is clean and understated, Harley Davidson is rugged and tough and Stride Rite is playful and geared toward children. Even if you weren’t familiar with the brands these characteristics are completely visible in the logo.
With all this weight placed on logo design, it’s a process where corners shouldn’t be cut, but there is a huge pool of websites urging people to take a quick way out of proper logo development. They boast that they can develop a logo in 24 hours or make the process convenient by letting customers choose from a kit of premade icons. The end result is usually dated, poorly constructed and identical with dozens of other logos on the market. The process for logo development is one that takes a lot of thought and time. If someone is building a logo in 24 short hours, chances are the logo isn’t getting enough of either. A first impression and timeless visual mark deserve consideration with these key principles in mind.
Simple
A logo should visually represent the phrase “quick and to the point”! It should be quickly recognizable and not muddled with unnecessary bells and whistles. Clear communication is key and it lends itself to keeping the logo adaptable.
Adaptable
A successful logo needs to work well on mediums outside of just business cards and storefronts. How well does it translate at several feet large on a billboard? How about as a 16×16 pixel favicon on a website? A logo’s success can be measured by its ability to be expanded and broken down while still communicating.
Appropriate
A bright, multicolored palette may not work for a law firm logo and a dark, somber typeface wouldn’t do a great job of representing a children’s toy; they wouldn’t be appropriate. Paying attention to color and typeface may seem subtle, but a lot of miscommunication can happen when the appropriateness of these elements aren’t considered.
Logo development is a process that deserves thought, not a quick fix. When making a logo, make sure to go a route where these three principles will be considered!
REX 1516’s Executive Chef Justin Swain has put together an exciting warm weather menu inspired by summer BBQs. With old favorites (like the Crawfish Pot Pie and Mac N Cheese) and new additions (many created with the help of their brand-new, in-house Southern Pride smoker) Chef Swain has put together his best menu yet, which launches this weekend!
“This was an opportunity for me to create a menu inspired by the South as well as Philadelphia,” says Chef Swain. “This is the food I love to prepare and eat myself – I can’t wait to share it with our guests.”
Some of the new favorites on the starter menu include: Scrapple, house-made with ham hock and smoked pork shoulder, (rather than the standard questionable pig parts) it is served pan fried, over sage grits and topped with a poached egg and red eye gravy for $9. Fans of the annual crawfish boil will enjoy the new Crawfish Pan Roast with whole crawfish, clams, Andouille sausage, red bliss potatoes, corn, garlic butter and sourdough bread for $13. Vegetarians will rejoice over several new dishes on the menu, including the refreshing and unique Gem Lettuce salad with whipped goat cheese, pickled blueberries, pear, toasted granola and an orange-ginger vinaigrette for $10.
For the main dishes, Chef Swain counts the new Memphis Pork Shank among one of his favorite additions. The Berkshire pork shank is smoked in-house, glazed with Memphis-style BBQ sauce and served with brisket burnt end baked beans, blue cheese coleslaw and a Martin’s potato roll for $24. As many guests are anxious to know, the fried chicken is back! Chef Swain’s famed sweet tea brined Fried Chicken is lightened up for this new menu (if that is possible). The drum and thigh are plated picnic-style with a buttermilk biscuit, red bliss potato salad and a house-made smoked Sriracha sauce for $18.
The dessert menu is also getting a makeover with three brand new additions! While the beloved Milk & Cookies will stay, Chef Swain is adding several new options perfect for warmer weather. First up is the Carrot Cake with maple cream cheese icing, a pistachio gianduja and pistachio-carrot cake ice cream. Next is the Parfait, a dark chocolate pudding with peanut butter sauce, chocolate cookie crumbles and chocolate whipped cream. Last, but certainly not least, is the Fruit Soup, the combination of strawberry-rhubarb jam, lemon curd and vanilla ice cream is completed tableside and topped with strawberry mint tea and champagne. All three desserts are $8. To go with these sweet endings, REX 1516 now proudly serves local favorite small-batch roaster Rival Bros Coffee.
REX 1516 offers both indoor and outdoor dining and is open nightly for dinner and Saturdays and Sundays for Brunch. For reservations please call 267-319-1366.
