What’s Missing From Wegmans? (C-Study)

Posted on August 11, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Wiggs of the Boston Globe.

Last night, we were cross-referencing the brands we follow on Instagram with the brands we follow on Twitter. When we went to conduct a search for Wegmans on IG, this is the page we happened to come across:

What’s wrong with this picture? If you’re like us, you will immediately notice that a couple of things are out of place:

1) Why does a $7 billion company such as Wegmans (which we love to shop at by the way) only have 347 followers on IG?

2) Why do the top 3 photos have absolutely nothing to do with representing the Wegmans brand?

After some further investigation, we came across another “Wegmans” account on IG entitled, “Wegmans Food Markets.” This account has more followers (2,795) than the previous account (347) and a much better logo in their profile picture. However, there are no photos posted on this account at all:

After seeing this, we decided to go to the source, wegmans.com. Hmmm…what’s missing?

After observing what we had come across, we were curious as to why a successful food market and grocery chain such as Wegmans lacks a social media presence on arguably one of the top 3 social media platforms in the entire world. So, we decided to do what we do best…reach out:

They were kind enough to reply earlier this morning with the following:

Although “monitoring the possibilities” doesn’t sound too promising in regards to seeing an immediate Wegmans presence on IG, we’ll be paying attention to their moves on social in the future.

In the mean time, we would love to hear your thoughts. What did you learn from this article?

_________________________

A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group is a brand development agency that specializes in creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. With an emphasis on culture and lifestyle, the primary focus of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group is to help companies adapt to culture and build value between brands and their consumers centered around love. Our social mission is to invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership. We are driven by AMBITION, fueled by PASSION, inspired by INNOVATION, and suckers for STRATEGY!

We Appreciate: Lewis Howes

Posted on August 2, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

When I spoke to my good friend Thomas Johnson Jr. on our weekly accountability call, we spoke about how epic it was for Lewis Howes to interview one of the greatest interviewers of our time, Larry King. I also shared with Thomas the backstory of how I initially came across Lewis and lewishowes.com, through googling one of my favorite quotes, “Live legendary, leave a legacy.”

Thomas encouraged me to make time to appreciate Lewis via social media for all that he has done for us in regards to sharing his greatness with the world and inspiring others to live the lives of their dreams. We appreciate you brother! May all of your success lead you to achieving your future goals of interviewing Will Smith, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Oprah Winfrey. It’s all going to happen very soon. We’re happy to be a part of your tribe and join you for the ride! #ALOVERSAmbition #SchoolOfGreatness

Here’s the video of Lewis’ entire interview with Larry King:

_________________________

(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Cultural Curator, and Social Storyteller. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

The Power of Curated Content (C-Study)

Posted on July 19, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

Photo Courtesy of Daniel Dorsa.

Earlier yesterday morning, while I was waiting at the L.A. Fitness in South Plainfield, NJ, I decided to optimize my time and catch up on the July/August issue of Fast Company magazine. As I was perusing through the pages, I came across an article on page 16 entitled, “Selling Change.” This article was written by Nikita Richardson and features the CEO of DDB Worldwide North America, Wendy Clark.

For those of you who may not be familiar, Clark happens to be named one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People.” When asked the question, “Who would be on her list of most creative people?” she replied, “Students. When you spend time with them, you’re blown away by their creativity. They have such great ideas.” said Clark.

Photo Courtesy of Adweek.

After reading this article, I was immediately intrigued by Clarks statement regarding the creativity of students. Being that I have worked with students in schools in both Miami, FL and New Brunswick, NJ for 5 years now, I know exactly what she means. We can learn so much from observing and engaging with our students in our school systems throughout the country and globally. As I’m in the process of building my tribe and establishing “A Lovers Ambition” as a movement, my background in education plays an instrumental role in regards to everything that I do day in and day out.

Whenever I identify with a piece of content that speaks to me (article, video, podcast, etc), I immediately think of the best way to share it with my audience. Recently, a strategy which I find to be quite valuable happens to be that of curation.

W h y C u r a t i o n ?

Back in May of 2016, we ran an experimental campaign for a few content pieces we curated pertaining to Blavity’s #EmpowerHER 2016 conference in NYC. Our top tweet for the month of May just happened to be the tweet shown below.

Why was this our top tweet? We crafted this particular tweet based on an article that we read on blavity.com. This article featured Feminista Jones, one of the speakers at the conference. After a good read and some quick research, we were able to create and develop a nice piece of copy (“aka” a tweet) which incorporated the following key elements:

An intriguing “lead” question.
The name of the source in which the article originated from: @Blavity.
The name of the interviewee who was featured: @FeministaJones.
The hashtag which was relevant to their upcoming event: #EmpowerHer.
The bit.ly link to their article.

The combination of all of these elements is what led us to receive 9 profile clicks, 10 retweets, 18 likes, and 128 link clicks. In regards to our results, we would say that we were pretty successful. Although our numbers are fairly small, our experiment did allow us to build some brand awareness for A Lovers Ambition. In fact, we did fairly well considering that we had a lot less than 100 followers at the time.

When we are able to effectively curate content that we both identify and resonate with, we are able to gain ground in multiple ways. In our opinion, one of the best ways to curate content is to curate content that is shareable. What we mean by this is to include everyone who is involved in the original creation of the piece of content which is being curated (original source, interviewee, writer, photographer, etc).

Here is an example of how we utilized twitter as a social media platform to create a social storyline for Wendy Clark’s article in Fast Company magazine:

Each person involved in the original piece of content serves as a touch point for potential engagement and interaction (likes, replies, retweets, shares, etc). When we are able to engage and interact with others via common interests, we are then able to build relationships, create opportunities, and exchange value. Essentially, it’s a win win for everyone involved. We believe this to be the essence of effectively utilizing social media in an effort to engage and interact with others. This ladies and gentlemen, is what we LOVE the most about being social!

If you’re interested in hearing more, here’s a recorded audio version of “The Power of Curated Content.”

– Enjoy!

_________________________

The Story Behind: #WeLOVEHubCity!

Posted on May 30, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

Preface!

On July 19, 2015, I asked myself the following question, “Where can we create a global community for those who express an interest in changing the world?” As big and futuristic of an idea as this may sound, please allow me to express how we can begin to manifest our ideal thoughts into ideal actions. Here are the two magic words, “START LOCAL.”

On Saturday May 28, 2016 at 4:18 am, I recorded a voice memo detailing my ideas and thoughts on the impact and importance of starting local. This came after sending an email over to Anand Patel. Anand happens to be the co-owner of Hidden Grounds Coffee, a local business here in New Brunswick, NJ.

In October of 2013, I interviewed Anand for behindthehustle.com. We sat down to discuss both the hardships and successes that come with opening up a new business. Since then, I have made an effort to stay informed of what’s going on at Hidden Grounds.

The email that I sent to Anand was in reference to 365 by Whole Foods, “Friends of 365” program. This is an entrepreneurial move aimed to incorporate a sense of localized, independent, and creative entrepreneurial spirit by installing third-party vendors inside of its 365 by Whole Foods stores. A few minutes after I sent this email, I had an instant epiphany…”START LOCAL.”

Why Start Local? Proximity Matters!

On January 2, 2016, I posted a video of Bryan Stevenson’s 2015 Zeitgeist Minds talk. Here he discussed the importance of being proximate to the problems in our world. “Proximity teaches us things that we cannot learn from a distance” Stevenson says. “When we get proximate to problems, we see things and hear nuances and details that we cannot see from a distance. In order to solve problems and create breakthroughs, we must get very close and inside of the problems that we intend to solve.” Starting local enables us to foster closer and more intimate relationships in the communities which we serve.

I Thought To Myself!

“With so many local businesses, companies, organizations, and schools here in the City of New Brunswick, how can I leverage my talents in an effort to add value to my local community at large?”

Naturally, my first instinct was to go to social media. I went straight to Twitter and Instagram to search for local businesses, companies, and organizations in the New Brunswick area. For some reason, I decided to check out New Brunswick’s Hyatt Hotel on Twitter.

@HyattNewBruns (517 Followers)

After viewing their profile, I immediately thought to myself, “Why does the Hyatt only have 517 followers?” I was then curious to see how much of a brand presence our city government and school district had on their social media profiles as well.

@CityofNewBruns (4,311 Followers)

@nbpschools (268 followers)

Seeing these numbers were highly intriguing! Not only did I begin to see a trend, more importantly, I began to see an opportunity. According to U.S. Census data, the City of New Brunswick’s population is roughly around 57,000 residents. If this is the case, I asked myself the following question: “How might our local businesses, government agencies, and schools do a better job in regards to engaging with our community?”

Living In The City!

As a graduate of Rutgers University, a resident in the City of New Brunswick, and a substitute teacher throughout New Brunswick Public Schools, I feel as though I am extremely proximate to the diverse culture and lifestyle New Brunswick has to offer. However, along with the great potential of our city will come challenges. One immediate challenge that I have observed over the years, is a lack of awareness when it comes to business, community, education, and government initiatives. In a city with roughly around 57,000 residents, how might we do a better job in regards to reaching and engaging with our community?

The Power of Social Media!

In an age where both digital and social media presence move the world, I believe that our online platforms are the single most important places for businesses, communities, schools, and government agencies to connect and meet at scale. This leads me to my BIG ESSENTIAL question:

How might we leverage digital and social media platforms to bridge the gap between business, community culture, education, and government?

Introducing: The #WeLOVEHubCity Initiative!

The #WeLOVEHubCity initiative is a solution to our problem. This initiative is essentially the culmination of the last 5 years of my life. Since graduating from Rutgers University in May of 2011, I have worked on numerous community service initiatives as a City Year Corps member while living in Miami, FL. While in Miami, I also spent my “free” time working as a field marketing rep for Cornerstone Agency. I owe it to Cornerstone for introducing me to the world of branding, entertainment marketing, and promotion. When I returned back to New Jersey in late 2012, I began to work for New Brunswick Public Schools as a Substitute Teacher.

The combination of all of these unique experiences is ultimately what I feel enabled me to develop the #WeLOVEHubCity initiative. My love for culture, community, education, entertainment, and leadership are just a few things that I feel fuel me with the passion to pursue an initiative of this capacity. Through digital and social media curation, our mission is to bridge the gap between business, community culture, education, and government in the City of New Brunswick, NJ.

Where Might We Begin?

Through promoting the usage of the #WeLOVEHubCity hashtag to our businesses, community organizations, government agencies, and schools throughout the city, we are proactively encouraging digital conversation and dialogue on all social media platforms. In turn, this will help to endorse healthy engagement, the exchange of ideas, and the increase in brand awareness for the entire City of New Brunswick. When we curate content generated through the usage of the #WeLOVEHubCity hashtag, we will then share it across all of our @WeLOVEHubCity social media accounts.

Where Might This Lead Us?

Our @WeLOVEHubCity social media accounts will serve as “digital hubs” for the intersection between business, community culture, education, and government initiatives throughout the City of New Brunswick. Imagine a digital community center that serves as the hub of Hub City. Imagine a place where we are proud to share the accomplishments, best practices, and talents in business, community culture, education, and government. It’s a huge win for everyone involved. When we are able to pull together as a collective for the City of New Brunswick, we will also begin to economically thrive across all sectors. This will serve as an inspiration for other cities throughout the State of New Jersey and across the nation!

Collaboration + Partnership!

If you love what you hear, we would love for you to hop on board in some capacity. We understand that collaboration and partnership is essential to the healthy development and execution of ideas. We also know that we have a long way to go and thus will need the full support of the New Brunswick community at large. We would love to begin talks to discuss partnering with the following community leaders:

New Brunswick Public Schools
The City of New Brunswick
Rutgers University
Community organizations
Local businesses

Interested in saying hello? Shoot us a note at hi@welovehubcity.com. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Oh…we almost forgot. Please, spread the word and follow us on social:

Website: welovehubcity.com
Facebook: @welovehubcity
Instagram: @welovehubcity
Twitter: @welovehubcity

Cheers!

_________________________

(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Cultural Curator, and Educator. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

Launches We LOVE: 365 by Whole Foods

Posted on May 26, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

20150611142744-Private-label-orange-juice

Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market via entrepreneur.com.

We first caught wind of 365 by Whole Foods while browsing through Fast Company magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” June 2016 issue. Interestingly enough, we then caught a second wind when Juicero tweeted about juicing at the 365 by Whole Foods grand opening in the Silver Lake section of Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday May 25, 2016.

As they say, “Hearing things twice is just as nice.” (Okay, this may not always be the case) but regardless, we decided to revisit our issue of Fast Company and dig a little deeper into what the 365 by Whole Foods launch is all about!

Photo courtesy of Coley Brown for The New York Times.

Coming in at number 51 on Fast Company’s 2016 #MCP list is Jeff Turnas. Turnas is a 21-year Whole Foods veteran who was appointed to take over the new 365 by Whole Foods helm as president. “With Whole Foods’ same-store sales slightly declining, 365 by Whole Foods is an effort to compete with value-minded stores such as Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, and Fresh Market. These stores predominantly cater to younger and less affluent shoppers” says Sarah Kessler of Fast Company. “365 by Whole Foods is hoping its new brand will appeal to a broader demographic and fit into neighborhoods that might not support a higher-end store.”

365 by Whole Foods will offer a simple design and streamlined products (Whole Foods’ own 365 line) in an effort to mitigate operational costs and lower prices for customers. However, what really caught our attention in particular is 365 by Whole Foods, “Friends of 365” program.

Friends of 365 is an entrepreneurial move developed by Turnas to incorporate a sense of localized, independent, and creative entrepreneurial spirit by installing third-party vendors inside of its 365 by Whole Foods stores. As mentioned by Kessler, “The Silver Lake store features a café by Allegro Coffee Company and a NYC based vegan-burger restaurant, By Chloe” which of course happens to be one of our favorite vegan spots in the city!

According to Kessler, 365 by Whole Foods expects to launch 3 stores by the end of the year and another 10 in 2017. It is estimated from various sources that Whole Foods has signed ~ 16-19 leases for 365 stores around the United States. We don’t know about you, but we’re definitely looking forward to welcoming them to the east coast when the time is ripe (pun intended)!

Do you think that 365 by Whole Foods may turn out to be the youthful version of the traditional Whole Foods for budget conscious health-focused millennials? We guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Word Around The Web:

The 365 supermarkets are intended to appeal to younger shoppers and millennials who value quality foods but often have less disposable income. – Courtesy of Samantha Masunaga at Los Angeles Times

Executives are hoping young people will want to hang out at the store, rather than just shop. – Courtesy of Hayley Peterson at Business Insider

Turnas says the “hangout” factor is what will set 365 apart from its competitors. “Nobody hangs out at Trader Joe’s or Kroger,” he said. – Courtesy of Hayley Peterson at Business Insider

365 has plenty of eye-candy, which may prompt some millennials to get snap happy on Snapchat and Instagram. – Courtesy of Aimee Picchi at CBS News

Whole Foods said recently it has signed 19 leases for 365 stores around the United States. – Courtesy of Lisa Baertlein at Reuters

_________________________

Artists We LOVE: Abena Mansah

Posted on May 25, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

Here’s another talented creative who started following us on Instagram just last week. Her name is Abena Mansah. Abena is a visual artist of Ghanaian decent who hails from the great country of Canada. As soon as we checked out her work, her art immediately spoke to us while simultaneously speaking for itself. So…of course we decided to follow her back! Here’s a link to her personal IG page and here’s a link to the IG page of her shop as well.

According to her account on Tumblr, Abena is in love with flowers and ebony. She really likes to eat quiche and admires the sun. Her favorite book in the bible is Ecclesiastes and she’s open and down to answer any questions you may have.

When we made time to sit down and digest her visual masterpiece’s, we began to notice that a lot of the work that she has been creating fits right in line with Blavity‘s movement.

We’ve been admiring and following the work of Blavity for a little while now. Their mission is to improve peoples lives through partnering with diverse content creators and influencers to help them reach a wider audience, amplify their message, and fund their hustles.

We would love to see Abena and Blavity team up to amplify her artistic expression with the world. We definitely think that more people should be afforded the opportunity to experience her work!

If you get the chance to interact with Abena and Blavity on social, mention us @aloversambition and use the hashtag #ALOVERSAmbition. We would love to join the conversation. – Cheers!

_________________________

(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

7 Days of Wisdom (Episode 29)

Posted on May 22, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

7 Days of Wisdom is an original weekly video series presented by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group and hosted by Aquaus Kelley. Our mission is to foster growth and create a community of success and significance. Through sharing meaningful advice, knowledge, and insight gathered throughout our daily experiences, we aim to empower, encourage, and inspire our community to achieve their most passionate aspirations.

In This Weeks Episode We Discuss:

Work ethic (0:39)
Quotes of the Week (17:22)

This Weeks Resources Include:

_________________________

We All Matter – What Will We Decide?

Posted on May 22, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

Photo courtesy of Doug Benc

Earlier this morning, I read a few pages of Tony Dungy’s, “The Mentor Leader.” On page 107, I came across a story that he shared in regards to his days as a student in junior high school. Mr. Rockquemore, Tony Dungy’s Assistant Principal at Frost Junior High School once asked Tony, “Why would you let anything stop you from doing what you have the ability to do?” It was this question along with Mr. Rockquemore’s willingness to get involved with Tony’s academic and athletic development that changed the entire course of Tony’s life.

The lesson that I learned from this story is not to underestimate the platforms we have to impact and touch the lives of one another. Unless we tell someone or we are told by someone, we will never know the impact that one phrase, sentence, word, or experience might have on us or someone else. I have often heard the phrase, “Don’t forget the “small” people at the bottom when you make it to the top.” In my opinion, there are no small people. We all matter tremendously. The fact that we were all born as human-beings is a miracle in itself. Out of the five kingdoms of living organisms, we are just one species. Let’s not even touch on the various groups of kingdoms. We’ll save that for science class!

Nonetheless, it’s important that we are humble and grateful for the lives that we live. Regardless of who we are or where we are from, there will always arise an opportunity which will allow us to make an impact on another person’s life. This will either be for better or for worse. It is up to us to make the right decision. Now the question is, “What will we decide?”

_________________________

7 Days of Wisdom (Episode 28)

Posted on May 15, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

In This Weeks Episode We Discuss:

Quotes of the Week (0:33)

_________________________

Blavity Presents: #EmpowerHER 2016

Posted on May 11, 2016 by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group

We initially came across the wonderful work of Blavity over one month ago on April 10, 2016. Thanks to Lauren Miller (@cantstayput_), Blavity was brought to our attention when she announced on her Instagram profile that she would be speaking at their inaugural #EmpowerHER conference later this month.

After looking further into the event, #EmpowerHER is a black women’s conference that will be exploring the impact of creativity, leadership, and technology on their daily lives. The extraordinary line-up of women will consist of bloggers, designers, entrepreneurs, and techies who all play a vital role in helping to shape today’s cultural movement.

Blavity’s #EmpowerHER Conference will be taking place in New York, NY on Saturday May 21, 2016 from 8 am to 7 pm at 404 Event Space.

The speakers will include:

Evita Robinson (@evierobbie)
Gabifresh (@gabifresh)
Francheska (@HeyFranHey)
Johnetta Elzie (@Nettaaaaaaaa)
Kelechi Anyadiegwu (@KelechiUjuu of @shopzuvaa)
Lauren Ash (@blackgirlinom)
Lenore Champagne Beirne (@LenoreChampagne)
Luvvie Ajayi (@Luvvie)
Tanya Menendez (@makertanya)
Feminista Jones (@FeministaJones)
Lauren Miller (@LoMillie)
April Reign (@ReignOfApril)

Some of the topics that will be covered throughout the day include:

Using The Internet To Empower Change.
Growing Into Yourself and Creating Community.
Turning Your Side Hustle Into a Start-up.
Pushing Your Boundaries Through Exploration.
Owning and Becoming a Brand.

Here’s a look at the conference agenda and here’s where you can scoop up some conference tickets. Still lurking? Morgan has you covered. Use her discount code “blavityfam” for a limited time only and receive a cool 15% off!

_________________________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: