ChickAdvisor ~ Press and Media

ChickAdvisor Hosts Recessionista ShopCrawl in Bloor/Yorkville

2009-05-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

Toronto, On, May 27, 2009 - On Thursday June 18th, ChickAdvisor is hosting their 5th ShopCrawl: Recessionista. 100 savvy shoppers will take over the Bloor/Yorkville Neighborhood for a night of exclusive discounts from participating boutiques, followed by an after party with cocktails and snacks, prizes, loot bags and a fashion walk off for the best outfit purchased that night. Tickets are $25 per person and available online.

The ShopCrawl is ChickAdvisor's signature event, hosted in a different neighborhood each time. Past Crawls have been in Queen Street West, Queen West West and Little Italy. ChickAdvisor created a promotional video of their last ShopCrawl.

The Bloor/Yorkville ShopCrawl will be the biggest yet. Recessionista Sponsors include Presenting Sponsor Maybelline New York, Dove, The Body Shop, Nine West, Calvin Klein, Diesel, Over the Rainbow, The Stillwater Spa Boutique, Roots, eleven and Flow Restaurant.

ChickAdvisor.com is a social shopping and reviews website for women, where members share their reviews on products and local services. ChickAdvisor's audience primarily consists of women 18-40 with over 140,000 visitors/month from across North America (source: Google Analytics).

As a company, ChickAdvisor has evolved to become a social media platform helping Brands engage women in a number of on- and offline initiatives that include the Product Review Club, video series ChickChat TV, local events and more.

ChickAdvisor launched on September 2, 2006 by husband and wife duo, Alex and Ali de Bold. It has been featured on CBC Newsworld, GlobalTV, Canadian Business, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, CBC Radio, Media in Canada, and many other national and international publications.

For inquires or interviews, please contact:

Ali de Bold, Co-Founder and President,
ChickAdvisor Inc.
p: 416.616.9522
e: ali @ chickadvisor.com
w: www.chickadvisor.com
w: www.chickadvisor.biz

ChickAdvisor Teams Up With Wedding Expert Cynthia Martyn for New Wedding Series

2009-05-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

May 19 2009: ChickAdvisor.com, Canada's social shopping and reviews website for women 18-40 has announced a new partnership with expert wedding planner Cynthia Martyn for a new series of wedding related content.

Cynthia Martyn is a Toronto-based Wedding Planner & Designer, and Principal of Cynthia Martyn Events Inc. (www.cynthiamartyn.com). Her work has been featured in numerous Canadian & US publications, and she was named one of Canada's top talents by Elle Canada magazine in 2006. Responsible for planning between 20 and 30 weddings a year for many of Toronto's newly engaged movers and shakers, Cynthia is known for her beautiful design & decor and holistic approach to wedding planning - making her events fun, memorable, and unique.

The series will appear as a monthly article feature in ChickAdvisor's shopping section and will provide relevant and fun tips for brides to be on everything from how to plan a green wedding to top Honeymoon hot spots, bridal beauty, and unique ways to personalize your wedding. Advertorial sponsorship opportunities are available in both article and video formats

ChickAdvisor.com is a social media platform with user generated reviews on products and local services with over 120,000 visitors/month from across North America according to Google Analytics.

ChickAdvisor launched on September 2, 2006 by husband and wife duo, Alex and Ali de Bold. It has been featured on CBC Newsworld, GlobalTV, Canadian Business, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, CBC Radio, Media in Canada, and many other national and international publications.

For inquires or interviews, please contact:

Ali de Bold, Co-Founder and President,
ChickAdvisor Inc.
p: 416.616.9522
e: ali @ chickadvisor.com
w: www.chickadvisor.com
w: www.chickadvisor.biz

ChickAdvisor on TechVibes

2009-03-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

Great article by Victoria Revay on Women in Technology and how ChickAdvisor got started.

http://www.techvibes.com/blog/chickadvisors-ali-de-bold-has-great-advice

ChickAdvisor Shop Crawl #4 Takes on Little Italy

2008-10-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

October 2, 2008: On Thursday October 16th, 2008 ChickAdvisor's signature Shop Crawl hits Toronto's Little Italy. Like a pub crawl but for "Chicks", the Shop Crawl provides ChickAdvisor members with exclusive discounts and after hours shopping at select boutiques in hot neighborhoods, followed by an after-party with prizes, snacks and swag.

Being ChickAdvisor's fourth Shop Crawl, organizers anticipate it, like the previous three will sell out. "Our Shop Crawl is a unique activity for our members that incorporates their favourite things; from shopping, delicious food and free swag to bonding with other women," says ChickAdvisor Co-Founder, Ali de Bold. "The value the members get more than makes up for the cost of the ticket."

For $25, shoppers get discounts of 20-25% off at six participating boutiques, expert shopping advice from stylists Giselle Rojo Del Ponte (Where'd You Get That? and ChickChat TV), Olga Barsky (She Does The City) and Christa Jean (Petite Fashionista), a gift bag with makeup from sponsors Maybelline New York and Petite Feet Sample Sales and an after party at Vecchio Frak where they will be treated to free make-overs from Joy David-Tilberg (Makeup Junkie, ChickChat TV), thin crust pizzas, drinks, prizes and a fashion walk-off where the best outfit purchased that night will win a cash prize.

Popular Toronto bloggers are providing gift baskets loaded with $150 - $250 of their favourite products including Anita Clarke of I want- I got, Joy David-Tilberg of Makeup Junkie, Krizia from My Beauty Match, Janine Falcon from Beauty Geeks, and Shannae Ingleton from What Women Want.

Stores participating in Shop Crawl #4 include American Apparel, Girl Friday, Balisi, Lilliput Hats, Ziggy's At Home and Red Pegasus.

Tickets are on sale and already 70% sold out. Women interested in attending can purchase tickets here: http://chickadvisorshopcrawl4.eventbrite.com/

ChickAdvisor Inc is a social media platform with user generated reviews on products and local services, local events, a Product Review Club and a local business directory where companies can create and manage their own listings within ChickAdvisor. ChickAdvisor's social media offerings allow brands to participate on and offline to build relationships with their members.

ChickAdvisor.com launched on September 2, 2006 by husband and wife duo, Alex and Ali de Bold. It has been featured on CBC Newsworld, GlobalTV, Canadian Business, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, CBC Radio, Media in Canada, and many other national and international publications.

For inquires or interviews, please contact:

Ali de Bold, Co-Founder and President,
ChickAdvisor Inc.
p: 416.616.9522
e: ali @ chickadvisor.com
w: www.chickadvisor.com
w: www.chickadvisor.biz

ChickAdvisor Turns Two and Launches New Look

2008-09-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

September 2, 2008: ChickAdvisor.com turns two today and has revealed their much anticipated new look and feel. The new design reflects what the company has learned about their members since launch. "When we first started out we had an idea of who our ideal member would be," says co-founder Ali de Bold, "but now that we know her better, we have been able to give her something more streamlined and chic that better reflects her sophisticated tastes."

The new design has a cleaner user interface that makes it easier to find everything at a glance. Member profiles have been revamped to allow for photo galleries, instant messaging via Meebo, the ability to add and reject friends and other interactive features. ChickAdvisor has created channels that encompass Beauty, Shopping, Wellness, Restaurants, Blogs, Deals, Videos and forums and plans to expand their channel offerings in the near future.

When we first started out we had an idea of who our ideal member would be," says co-founder Ali de Bold,

As part of the launch, ChickAdvisor has unveiled their new video series, ChickChat TV. Backed by Rogers Media and featuring Zipcar, the series is based on discussions that take place in ChickAdvisor.com's popular forums. ChickAdvisor co-founder and host, Ali de Bold, poses tough questions to strangers about life, love and style. The first half of the 20 episode series is now airing in Pizza Pizza locations across Canada and on ChickAdvisor.com. The remainder will air in late fall.

ChickAdvisor Inc is a social media company encompassing user generated reviews on products and local services, local events, a Product Review Club and a local business directory where companies can create and manage their own listings within ChickAdvisor. ChickAdvisor's social media offerings have already attracted large international brands including Maybelline New York, Nestle, Softlips, Lubriderm and CoverGirl.

ChickAdvisor.com launched on September 2, 2006 by husband and wife duo, Alex and Ali de Bold. It has been featured on CBC Newsworld, GlobalTV, Canadian Business, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, CBC Radio, Media in Canada, and many other national and international publications.

For inquires or interviews, please contact:

Alex de Bold, Co-Founder and CEO,
ChickAdvisor Inc.
p: 416.567.9985
e: alex @ chickadvisor.com
w: www.chickadvisor.com
w: www.chickadvisor.biz

ChickChat TV: ChickAdvisor Teams up With Rogers Media for New Video

2008-07-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

July 8, 2008: Rogers Media is the newest sponsor for ChickAdvisor’s latest video series, ChickChat TV. This is the second video series created by ChickAdvisor co-founder, Ali de Bold that poses tough questions to strangers on the street about life, love and style. De Bold’s first series, Where’d You Get That? launched last summer and was sponsored by Slice (formerly Alliance Atlantis).

ChickChat TV is based on the juicy discussions that take place on ChickAdvisor’s popular forums, ChickChat. Questions posed to unsuspecting strangers include: Would you take back a cheater? Who should pay for the first date? Can Dudes be Fashionistas too? The series will air in Fall 2008 on ChickAdvisor.com and Rogers Media properties including their Pizza Pizza network, which have a combined reach of over 685,000 viewers per week.

Viewers will be able to discuss and vote for their favorite episodes online on ChickAdvisor.com. The series, which is also sponsored by Zipcar, includes 20 episodes at 90 seconds each. It is the first of several seasons ChickAdvisor plans to produce.

ChickAdvisor Inc. is a social media company for women created by Canadian husband and wife duo, Ali and Alex de Bold. ChickAdvisor.com features user generated reviews across North America on popular products and local services. Categories include Beauty, Shopping, Restaurants, Wellness and Deals. They also run local events including Shop Crawls, movie nights and a Product Review Club.

Since their launch in September 2006, ChickAdvisor has been profiled in the Toronto Star, CBC Newsworld, Slice.ca, The Toronto Sun, Global TV and many other on and offline publications. They have experienced a 177% growth in the last year and are about to launch a new redesign that will include new features for members and additional advertising opportunities for brands. They are set to announce new social media advertising packages for 2009.

For more information or interviews contact:

Alex de Bold
alex@chickadvisor.com
416.567.9985

ChickAdvisor Launches its Third Local Shopping Event -- The West-Queen-West Shop Crawl

2008-05-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

May 19th, 2008 - Fashionistas, get ready for the shopping event of the year! Back by popular demand, ChickAdvisor.com, the social network community for women reviewing products and services, is revving up for another one of their sensational Shop Crawls on West-Queen-West in Toronto.

For one night only, ChickAdvisor members and friends will be treated to an evening of exclusive discounts from some of Toronto's hippest boutiques on the West Queen West strip between Bathurst and Trinity Bellwoods Park. They will then head to Coca restaurant for drinks, prizes and free swag from participating sponsors.

The Shop Crawl is an innovation of ChickAdvisor co-founder, Ali de Bold. "Our members were asking to get together and meet up as a group and I thought, what could be more fun than a shopping party? Especially if there are some serious discounts involved."

In June 2007, de Bold approached boutiques on Queen Street West asking them to provide exclusive discounts of 20% - 25% and stay open late so she could bring 60 of her members out for a night of shopping. They hosted the first Shop Crawl in August of 2007, and following that success, launched their second in November 2007. CBC Newsworld captured the details of the November event as they were profiling ChickAdvisor for their new show, Fortune Hunters. The Shop Crawls are open to 60 ChickAdvisor members and their friends and has sold out every time.

The Shop Crawl Part 3 promises to be better than ever as ChickAdvisor has snagged 8 of Toronto's trendiest boutiques including: MODA, Girl Friday, Balisi, Charlie, pho pa, COAL - Come Out and Live, Brazen Hussy & Body Blue. Each store will be offering discounts of at least 20% off.

Sponsors providing swag & prizes for the after party include: CoverGirl, Secret, Airplus for Her, Esprit, Dove, Girl Friday and Aliviar Organic and Vegan Spa.

Tickets are $20 each for ChickAdvisor or $25 for non-member. ChickAdvisor membership is free.

ChickAdvisor launched in September 2006 and is a social network for women in North America that revolves around user generated reviews on popular products and local services. The main categories are Beauty, Shopping, Restaurants, Wellness and Deals. ChickAdvisor has been profiled in the Toronto Star, CBC Newsworld, Media in Canada, Slice.ca and many other on and offline publications. It is a Canadian company founded by husband and wife team, Alex and Ali de Bold.

ChickAdvisor.com Profiled on CBC Newsworld's Fortune Hunters

2008-01-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

January 19th, 2008 - ChickAdvisor.com is profiled on CBC Newsworld's Fortune Hunters at 6:30 p.m. EST on January 19th as an up and coming business in the exciting world of Web2.0.

ChickAdvisor is featured in the second episode of the season. Fortune Hunters follows husband and wife team, Ali and Alex de Bold as they prepare for the launch of a new business portal, host a Shop Crawl for their members, and try to earn money for the company while Alex balances a full time career and Ali juggles the final year of her degree in Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson.

Featured in the same episode for the segment, My First Million, is web wiz kid, Albert Lai, the founder of mydesktop.com, and more recently, Bubbleshare.com.

Dianne Bukner hosts FORTUNE HUNTERS, a spin off from Venture and Dragon's Den. Each week a new business is profiled and evaluated by industry experts. The program showcases today's top business trends and how those trends fit into the global economy, as well as how Canadians could cash in on potential business opportunities right here at home.

Alex and Ali de Bold launched ChickAdvisor.com on September 2, 2006. It is a self-funded company that has grown organically across North America with 13 local city editions and over 4,000 reviews from women who love to share their opinions on their favorite products and places locally and online.

ChickAdvisor Brings the Party Offline with the Queen Street Shop Crawl on August 9th

2007-08-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

August 3th, 2007 - On Thursday August 9th 2007 from 6-9pm ChickAdvisor.com (www.ChickAdvisor.com), a social shopping and reviews website for women are bringing the party offline with their first ever Shop Crawl on Toronto's trendy Queen Street strip. They're taking their members and friends out for a night of shopping and partying and they're doing it in style.

Participants will get exclusive discounts and private after hours shopping at boutiques including: Kiehl's, RK, Fraiche, Fashion Crimes, Five on Spadina and Kazuo between 6-9pm on Thursday August 9th. Each shopper will receive free products from brands including Kiehls and Sunsilk and will be entered to win over $500 of fabulous prizes from the shop crawl sponsors including Lipstick Powder, 'N Paint, SpaBoutique, 10 Spot Nail Bar, Love Handles Handbags, RedFlagDeals and more. The best outfit under $100 purchased that night at the shop crawl will win back the cash value. An afterparty at Milestones will begin at 9pm for snacks and drinks, mingling and prizes.

Tickets are 1 for $20 or 2 for $35 and are on sale now.

"It's only natural that we eventually bring our members together to start having fun together in the real world," say Ali de Bold, Co-founder of ChickAdvisor who goes by the nickname MissChickie on the website.

ChickAdvisor.com launched on September 2, 2006 by husband and wife team Alex and Ali de Bold. ChickAdvisor is a user generated ratings website where women can rate a range of products and services on everything from lipstick to liposuction. The site focuses on Beauty, Shopping, Wellness, Restaurants, Blogs and Deals. They have over 2300 members across North America and have been growing organically.

ChickAdvisor recently launched their street fashion podcast, Where'd You Get That? With media sponsor, Alliance Atlantis' Slice.ca. Ali de Bold stops fashionably dressed women on the streets of Toronto and gets them to spill their style secrets. The episodes have been airing over the summer every 2nd Friday on ChickAdvisor.com and Slice.ca. Episode #4, Scrimp or Invest? Will air this Friday August 3rd.

June 21st, 2007 - "Where'd You Get That?" ChickAdvisor.com and Slice.ca Team up on Street Fashion Vidcast

2007-06-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Where'd You Get That? ChickAdvisor.com's street fashion podcast where well-dressed women are stopped on the street and asked to spill their style secrets was the winning pitch at the Interactive Content Exchange in Toronto this March. A favorite with the audience, Alliance Atlantis immediately stepped up to license the content for their Slice network. Six episodes will air on ChickAdvisor.com and Slice.ca over the summer, beginning this Friday June 22nd, 2007. The first episode, Style Icons, asks fashionable women whose style inspires them and how that influences their shopping habits. Viewers will be able to vote for their favorite outfits on ChickAdvisor.com.

Where'd You Get That? is the brainchild of ChickAdvisor co-founder, Ali de Bold. "Women check out each other's clothes all the time and ask each other where they shop. It's a very common conversation" de Bold says, "yet so many shows out there judge women in a negative way and I thought, instead of making fun of people with bad fashion sense, why not highlight the ones who have done it right?"

ChickAdvisor.com is a user driven social shopping website with reviews on Shopping, Beauty, Wellness and Restaurants that launched 9 months ago by husband and wife duo, Ali and Alex de Bold. They also feature content from local bloggers and currently have over 2700 reviews from women across North America.

March 31st, 2007 - ChickAdvisor.com Vidcast takes Grand Prize at CHUM U-Pitch at ICE

2007-03-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

ChickAdvisor co-founder Ali de Bold snagged 1st place at U-Pitch, a user generated content competition at the Interactive Content Exchange (ICE 2007) for her original street fashion concept, Where'd You Get That? The event took place on Wednesday March 21st at Toronto's Carlu Event Theatre. ChickAdvisor won $5,000 in development funds to produce their idea, which they plan to launch this summer.

ChickAdvisor is a social networking and shopping launched in September 2006, by husband and wife team, Alex and Ali de Bold. It is a user-generated website for women to rate the products and services we use every day. It features products and local services ratings across North America and has members all over the world.

Companies were given 3 minutes to present their concepts and were selected by a panel of industry experts hosted included:

* Maria Hale, VP Content Business Development, CHUM
* David Crow, VP Business Development, Radiant Core
* Cate McQuillen, Co-Owner, mememe productions
* James Lewis, Editor, Canadian New Media (Decima Reports)

The CHUM U-Pitch was hosted by CITY News New Media Specialist Amber MacArthur

ChickAdvisor™ Launches First Social Shopping Service for Women

2006-09-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Toronto-based Web 2.0 service lets women review, rate and share favorite products and services. ChickAdvisor (www.ChickAdvisor.com) has launched the first social shopping service for women. The service allows members to upload reviews, rate products and services, and select their favorites to share with others. A platform for women to discuss everything from fashion to healthcare, and from spas to supplements, ChickAdvisor lets women air their likes and dislikes and share the best deals in their cities on the site, as well as on their blogs and social network pages -- including the popular MySpace.com.

TORONTO (PRWEB) September 28, 2006 - ChickAdvisor (www.ChickAdvisor.com) today announced the launch of the first social shopping service for women, which allows members to upload reviews, rate products and services, and select their favorites to share with others. A platform for women to discuss everything from fashion to healthcare, and from spas to supplements, ChickAdvisor lets women air their likes and dislikes and share the best deals in their cities on the site, as well as on their blogs and social network pages -- including the popular MySpace.com (www.myspace.com).

Where can I get my hair done in Chicago without spending a small fortune?
"Women make up over 51% of the online population, yet women and women's interests are underserved on the Internet," said ChickAdvisor co-founder Ali de Bold. "Our goal is to provide a place for women to feel at home online, a place where every point of view is valuable and relevant in some way."

Analysts have noted that social shopping sites like ChickAdvisor get consumers engaged and informed prior to purchase. Because reviews are submitted by peers, rather than by merchants and vendors, participants tend to trust it as less biased and higher value.

According to de Bold, by providing women with a platform where their opinions and expertise are valued and highlighted, women become more visible as they look to one another as trusted, go-to sources for information on a range of topics.

"Across blogs and social networks, through audiocasts, videocasts and beyond, women and men are already having conversations about products and services that are important to them," she said. "If ChickAdvisor can act as a way to connect women with trusted sources, to put conversations around products and services that matter to women into context and help them save money, then we're doing our job."

The sites's local features have launched in Toronto and rolling out to Vancouver, Chicago, Boston, New York, and most of California. Women who register with ChickAdvisor can create their own profile page, write reviews and upload pictures of products and services they care about, and provide online and offline pricing and purchase information. They can also rate the items, choose favorites for their hotlists to share with others on their blogs, use the "blog this" feature to share the reviews they create with readers on their own sites, join ChickChat to talk realtime with other members, and read advice from Ms. de Bold – or Miss Chickie as she is known on the site. The site's City Editors contribute local product and service information and deals. At launch, the site has nearly 600 product and service reviews submitted by women.

A third-generation entrepreneur with a life-long passion for media, Ali de Bold founded ChickAdvisor with her husband Alex de Bold, who launched Canada's most successful online student portal in 1996, ProfessorJones.com. And what about guys? According to the de Bolds, men are welcome too. A special "Advice for Guys" section called the Dude's Corner is available in the site's forums, and women's hotlists make shopping easier for the men in their lives.

"The site is about empowering women," Alex de Bold said, "and men can contribute to that mission too. With that said, we aren't about to lose sight of our goal: helping women share information on products and services with other women."

As part of the launch, the de Bolds are making an active contribution back to the community they hope to serve. ChickAdvisor is recognizing key charities, donating part of the site's future profits to organizations focused on women's issues, such as breast cancer research, The Heart and Stroke Foundation, and charities dedicated to ending violence against women.