Tuesday, March 31, 2009

We made USA Today (Buy the paper 4/01/09)

Marketers find Twitter a tweet recipe for success
Cake decorator Suzi Finer fills in spare time during the workday updating her "status" on Facebook, telling about 2,000 customers about what she's working on.
It's no frivolous exercise: Finer is looking to boost business for her employer, Hansen's Cakes of Beverly Hills, and says that sales are up 15% to 20% since she embraced Facebook as a sales tool in September. "That's even in a recession," she says. "People are still having birthday parties and weddings, and seeing these little bits about cakes on updates get them excited about the possibilities."
TELL US: How often do you post updates to Twitter, Facebook, or other social networking sites?
Welcome to the social world of Facebook and Twitter, where you are encouraged to tell your online "friends" and "followers" about every little thing you're doing Most teens and young adults use the short space to discuss the latest movie, CD or TV show.
Business people — including folks like Finer — find that the updates also work as a valuable sales tool. "It's become even more important than blogging," says Chris Winfield, who runs New York-based 10e20, which helps businesses with their online marketing campaigns. "It's more immediate than a blog post, and if you're trying to get out a message to thousands of people in a flash, status updates are the way to do it."

Just ask Aaron Chronister, who saw his status update on Twitter grab media attention from CNN and The New York Times, and even a book deal with Simon & Schuster. Chronister of Kansas City, Mo., wanted to get attention for his local barbecue club and a unique bacon recipe.
His status post in December got "re-tweeted" by someone else (the Twitter equivalent of forwarding), the media found it, and now he has a thriving ad-supported BBQ blog in addition to a forthcoming book.
It all started with a status update, which he renews about four times daily to his 1,500 followers. "It's an easier way for people to see what's up with you," he says. "They don't have to read an e-mail, or go through all this stuff to filter through. Just a short little 140-character message."
According to measurement firm Quantcast, Facebook averages 78 million visitors monthly, compared with Twitter's 6 million. However, traffic numbers on Twitter are hard to come by, as much of its traffic is on mobile phones.
From his office in Rochester, N.Y., Jeffrey Hayzlett, Kodak's chief marketing officer, updates his status on both Facebook and Twitter as many times as possible during a busy day. He's become the face of Kodak for many Twitterers and Facebookers, as he attempts to give them "a glimpse into my life, which puts a face to the Kodak brand."
Like Hayzlett, Finer is the face of Hansen's. She offers free cake samples to anyone on Facebook, posts celebrity-sighting snapshots and talks about the latest cake she's working on, or just the scent of butter cream.
"I spend about an hour daily on this, in between cakes," Finer says.
Her advice for entrepreneurs looking to boost business: "Don't bother people with sales (pitches) — like 'Come in and see what we have today.' That is so annoying. I don't want a commercial. I'm here to spread the cake love. Write about what makes you happy."
Winfield's business used to consist of helping businesses get better placement on search engines, primarily by working on their blogs and improving their websites.
Now, his staff spends a good deal of their time helping businesses update their statuses.
"It's all about Internet marketing," he says. "If you can catch someone's attention on Twitter, and they go write a blog post about you, someone else might link to it, and that will help your Google rankings."
Matt Rutledge, CEO of Dallas-based website Woot, sends out only one Twitter tweet a day — and it's the only marketing he does.
Woot sells just one item a day and announces what it is nightly via a Tweet and an RSS feed to his website. Rutledge now has 270,000 Twitter followers — No. 18 overall on Twitterholic's rankings, and No. 1 business. Whole Foods Market and Zappos.com are close behind with 263,000 and 262,000, respectively.
He can't point to any measurable sales gains from his Twitter love but says, "It's been enjoyable to watch Twitter grow. For us, with just one product per day, it's really well aligned with a short, micro-summary."
Jason Hirschhorn, who recently resigned his post as president of Sling Media, the online programming arm for Sling, is happily unemployed but eager to broadcast his latest missives on both Facebook and Twitter from two to 10 times daily.
"It's whatever's on my mind," he says. "I love the idea of telling people what I'm thinking about without having to talk to them," he says.
On the plus side, he says he reads their posts as well. "I'm able to ingest a lot more than if I was having conversations with them," he says. "I wonder less about what to read or watch, because they post it, and I value their opinions."


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Saturday, March 28, 2009

Metamorphosis...

The making of a monster...
B.O.B., the gelatinous mound of a monster...made as a cake! From start to finish, this fun cake is just the thing we specialize in...deliciously sculpted creations to enhance your event. It's so much fun to see the steps taken in his creation!












He had a safe journey to the Paramount lot, arriving with plenty of time to spare before the opening event.
Here is a lovely take on a traditional Cherry Blossom cake...









...and here is one of our Sponge Bob creations.









Aloha, baby!


















Monday, March 23, 2009

Only on People.com
Tori Spelling Celebrates Son's 2nd Birthday
By Ulrica Wihlborg
Originally posted Monday March 23, 2009 08:00 AM EDT
Dean McDermott, holding daughter Stella, and Tori Spelling, with son Liam and The Jumpitz Photo by: Albert Michael / Startraks
Cars! Cake! The Jumpitz! After missing his birthday party the previous weekend due to a high fever, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott's son Liam was treated to a car-themed encore on Sunday. Together with his mom, dad, 9-month-old sister Stella and 16 party guests, Liam celebrated his second birthday at his new home outside Los Angeles with the help of toys from the movie Cars, a car-shaped cake (from Beverly Hills bakery Hansen's Cakes) and a performance by his favorite music group, The Jumpitz. "Liam is obsessed with the animated movie Cars," says his mom, "and I made him a little red car racing jumpsuit with a Liam name patch on it." Liam and his friends also enjoyed a blow-up ball pit in his living room and a small petting zoo in the backyard. The Jumpitz, a five-member children's performance group, helped the intimate group sing "Happy Birthday" to Liam before the cake cutting. Says Spelling: "The cutest was when he got to dig his hands into the giant red car cake and Stella was right into it as well!" At the end of the two-hour shindig, guests left with gift bags by Silver Spoons! – each with personalized bag tags by Mabel's Labels.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Schmooze-fest at the elegant California Yacht Club...

The weather could not have been more perfect last evening; a veritable "Indian Summer" night with a glorious sunset. This temperate background was so appreciated, but it really didn't matter.
What did matter was the outstanding event the people at the California Yacht Club put together.
A delicious sampling of some of the most delicious culinary treats greeted us (along with a special bar menu created just for the evening...) ...wow!
Take a peek at what we enjoyed:























































What can I say except magnifico!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

A Very Nice Day...

It's a very nice day for a wedding or two, or sixty-one...yes, we have a lot of wedding cake orders today!

Here is one of our very favorite cake designs for the March 14th Bride...our "Nuptial Bliss" cake with a lavender, white, and metallic silver palette. Gorgeous, and not fondant...purely scrumdidily-umptious!





Just about completed, this psychedelic tie-dye/VW bus-baby is just waiting for our artist to install the butter creme headlights. We love how we are able to get that butter creme so smooth...it looks as though it were almost made of metal!




Fairytale dreams come true, at least the edible kind of dreams. This storybook castle design is one of our most popular themes.
We believe in happily ever after!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

More Oscar-suite press!

Bizbash!
This wonderful organization's site features a cool shot of our Hansen's Cakes table in an article which includes details about the GBK pre-Oscar gifting suite!
Did somebody say "woo-hoo!"?
(oh, that must've been me.)
Thank you, GBK!

But wait...there's MORE!
Hollywood Today....

L.A.s the Place, Advertarium, and SiTV (to name/link just a few!)

Fun times, great people, and tasty cakes...what could be better!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

GBK 2009 pre-Oscar Gifting Suite at the SLS Hotel

We're OK!, You're OK!...

Who made it into the pages of this weeks issue of OK! Weekly? Our fabulous GBK Oscar Gifting Suite cake did, that's who!
Check it out!


Recap-a-dap...

What a night Monday was!
At the Geffen Playhouse's 10th Anniversary Gala, photos were a no-no, however, they did allow us to snap a shot of the cake in it's spot (we opted not to show the two security guards on either side.)

The show was unbelievable...an intimate audience was enthralled by behind-the-scenes stories of the theater interspersed with song and skits. Imagine watching on stage: Dick Van Dye, Carol Burnett, Bruce Villanch, Dana Delaney, Hellen Mirren, Brendan Frasier, Nia Vardelos, Sean Hayes, Kristen Chenowith, Ray Romano, Christine Lahti, Martin Short, Mary Steenbergen & Ted Danson along with MC Gil Cates celebrating theater, Les Moonves & Rita Wilson.
The highlight for me was when Dick Van Dyke closed the show with highlights from Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Bye Bye Birdy! Wow!

The cake was the talk of the room...we heard "thats a cake!" and "I don't believe it" and "lets go see!" over and over throughout the cocktail party. 500 of our fabulous Geffen-logo'd cupcakes were tray-passed along with shot glasses of iced-cold milk (a chocolate tasting was going on at the same time) and there were so many beautiful people and celebs in house that you know the paparazzi were swarming outside (yes, there was a red carpet~!)

Good times!
Just the day before we had participated in yet another bridal showcase...Here Come the Brides event at the Embassy Suites in Glendale. The hotel was surprisingly lovely, with a gorgeous water element and really great decor in their ladies lounge. We give them snaps all around. The engaged gals could not have been nicer, and our fellow vendors were equally sweet. We shared our fresh cake slices with them all ('cause that's how we roll!)


Back at the bakery life went on, business as usual.

Here are a couple of cakes we made for some special people!