MAD (Marketing And Design) Nights Dennis Powers

MAD Nights started out as a meetup in Kelowna, BC Canada, focused on content for marketers and designers from the context of living and working in smaller communities (small markets). We've been transitioning to a podcast format. Soon we will be adding an additional thread to the conversation entitled - MAD Nights Big City - where we'll focus on content for marketers and designers living and working in bigger cities (large markets). For now, let's focus on our small market community members...

This podcast episode was recorded October 3, 2018. It was one of 2 conversations we recorded in Vernon BC.

In this episode, we'll be speaking with award-winning graphic designer, Stephanie Tambellini. Stephanie, owner and creative director of Vernon BC based Tambellini Design Studio has over 20 years of extensive experience in all aspects of creative marketing including: graphic design, brand creation/implementation, website design/structure, market research, program management and product production.

This was and engaging conversation with an accomplished award-winning graphic designer running a growing design and marketing firm in a small market. We'll hear her story as a creative professional living, working and growing her business in a small market, like Vernon BC. We'll discuss projects, some good moments, perhaps challenging moments, and even funny moments within some of those projects and important lessons learned while building her body of work and her business over the years.

MAD Nights started out as a meetup in Kelowna, BC Canada, focused on content for marketers and designers from the context of living and working in smaller communities (small markets). We've been transitioning to a podcast format. Soon we will be adding an additional thread to the conversation entitled - MAD Nights Big City - where we'll focus on content for marketers and designers living and working in bigger cities (large markets). For now, let's focus on our small market community members...

This podcast episode was recorded September 27, 2018. It kicked off our 7th season, which ran from September to May each year. 

If you live in a small community, everything is smaller... there’s a smaller pool of investors, a smaller pool of talent, and a smaller number of job opportunities. Or is there?

What if what you believed about your community was wrong? What if you could 10x the economy of your local community? And what if you could 10x your 10x?

At this meetup and recording of this podcast episode, Chris Gliddon inspires and facilitates a discussion around the power of community and collaboration when mixed with entrepreneurship. We talk about ideas, shared inspiration, and thoughts around education, sales, collaboration and how to take action that can stimulate and grow the creative economy in a small community, city, town or village where the opportunities seemingly reflect the size of where we live and work.

Strategic consultant Chris Gliddon has supported a variety of businesses and their products, through storytelling, and community-building strategies. After eight years in management at Disney, Chris co-founded his own company, Nicely Said, with a mission to support entrepreneurs with the growth of their small to medium sized businesses. Chris was the first official “community manager” for Disney's Club Penguin, accountable for fostering the brand's relationship with its sizeable 350 million global user audience. In 2015, he started the Kelowna Slack channel, which has become a virtual private ‘switchboard” for over 1,200 people in the vibrant Okanagan tech community.

One of the best things and probably what we'll miss most from our meetup events were the lively discussions and thoughtful questions that came from the passionate marketers and designers that would attend our events, and this event was no different. Hang in there and follow along and Chris will bring it all back around to why this topic and the resulting conversation was so important... and why it should continue.

This podcast episode was recorded May 22, 2018, at a 4th and final meetup in our 6th season of MAD Nights. In this episode we'll be learning from a designer panel as they share what they've learned from working on their creative side projects.

We'll learn about their side projects and how their side projects have helped their client work and their careers. We'll learn some of the reasons why creative professionals working in marketing and design, how to validate them to see of a creative side project is worth pursuing, and how to keep them going. There are also plenty of tips to get some creative side projects off to  good start.

Our panelists include:

Clint Schnee - Founder + Designer of UXperts Design Inc.

Focused on user experience (UX) design for startups and mid-sized companies and taking User and brand experience to the next level.

Side Project - Third Side of the Coin

John van der Woude - Founder + Creative Director of John van der Woude Designs

Contract designer and creative director, with experience in all facets of visual design including web design, UX/UI design, print design, logo and branding design/strategy, and book design.

Side Project - Hockey By Design

Chris Arlidge - Design Mercenary

Focused on graphic design, creative direction and user experience

Side Projects - The World of Oboru and KarmaCache

Kodie Beckley - Freelancer, and Pixel Pusher at Cheeky Monkey Media

Focused on graphic design (print and web), and media production

Side Project - Feed Me Kittens

If a side project is something you've been considering for your creative career, then join us as we explore some of the benefits and challenges with running creative side projects. Learn from creative professionals working their side projects to see if a side project is the right move for your creative career.

This podcast episode was recorded on Tuesday, April 4th 2018 at our 3rd event in our 6th season of hosting these events... It just took us 6 seasons to get our act together and start recording them as a podcast :)



At this time we were seeing BigCommerce, Shopify, as well as other agencies and technologies, focused on e-commerce investing heavily in resources around Facebook advertising in order to educate their clients on generating online sales through the platform. At the same time we were learning that while spending on Facebook (by brands) increased by 74%, the cost of advertising on the platform also increased by 12%. Algorithms are impacting strategy and results, and even design is being impacted by this newer form of advertising.

Working with clients in our various fields of expertise, the above information proves that it's critically important that we all know enough and stay up to speed with changes with advertising on Facebook's platform. The platform continues to wield considerable power to drastically impact a client's business, and we need to be able to have informed high-level conversations with our clients in order to provide additional value... even if we aren't the experts working in Facebook advertising as a career.

Join us for this presentation on The Power of Facebook Advertising with Leah Mazur of Loop Digital Marketing, and Julia Ufimzeff of AdVenture Marketing. In sharing their experience with Facebook advertising, we dig into the following:

1 - What are some things our clients should consider when thinking about advertising on Facebook?

2 - What are some things our clients should stay away from when advertising on Facebook?

3 - How has the rise of Facebook advertising impacted marketing and advertising and other fields of expertise in the space?

Both Julia and Leah worked for Strawhouse and have since moved out on their own to consult with clients, helping them to strategize, implement, and optimize their Facebook advertising campaigns.

This podcast episode was recorded at our 2nd event in our 6th season. It was recorded back in February 2018 at a MAD Nights event that took place in a craft brewery. How cool is that!

In this episode we talk to Allison M. Markin. With more than two decades of experience in communications, and one of the early adopters of social and digital media, Allison has the attention of over 30,000 followers on her various social media channels to hear latest thoughts on social media, food and libations, and travel.

As a social media marketing consultant and through her company All She Wrote, Allison has helped grow many wineries, distilleries, restaurants and craft breweries in the Okanagan Valley amd Britich Columbia. Her work has garnered accolades as the winner of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association's 2011 and 2012 awards for Social Media Initiative, and an International LERN award for marketing, and the 2014 Penticton Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Hospitality/Tourism.


We talked about Allison's career in marketing and communications, and what it's been like building her career and her business in Penticton, BC. We touched on some of her wins and losses both with the events and key initiatives she's spearheaded and her client work. We also dug into what's got her excited in the business of marketing and communications today which led to a very interesting conversation on social media influencers and "micro" influencers that you have to check out!

This is the very first podcast episode of MAD Nights, but it's actually the first meetup or event in our sixth season of the MAD Nights events. This podcast episode was recorded at an event that took place in November 2017.

In this episode we talk to 3 creative entrepreneurs that have received some measure on validation around building successful businesses in a smaller town or small market. Each of them live and work in Kelowna, BC Canada, and they represent a good mix of agencies and freelance solopreneurs.

Our panel for this conversation includes:

Darren Hull - A commercial, portrait and editorial photographer.

Shae Inglis - CEO and President of Acro Media.

Brent Lachman - CEO of Strawhouse

In this podcast our panelists will touch on their thoughts and experiences around building successful creative businesses and careers, including: doubling down on a niche, scaling a team, growing a business, work-life balance and all of the bumps on the road along the way to success.