I decided over the past while that I really don’t like the smell of Dawn dish soap. I wanted to get something unscented, and I heard that ‘The Unscented Company’ is Canadian. Luckily they have a dish soap of their own, so I bought some recently to try. It works great! Just as well as Dawn. It really is so nice to not have perfumes clinging to certain types of dishware like silicone spatulas, pans etc. Also, Dawn was the WORST for cleaning our air fryer basket. Whenever the air fryer was turned on after cleaning it with Dawn, it would REEK of dish soap and I found it disgusting. Not a problem anymore!
Also, The Unscented Company is a B Corp and women-owned which are also pretty cool causes to support.
I was looking for a new dog food brand recently because my dog’s kibble was American. I tried the ‘Inukshuk’ one I saw recommended on here in a different thread. The ingredients seem good and I liked that I could order a sample bag for $5 rather than committing to an entire bag without knowing if my dog would like it because she’s extremely picky. Took about two weeks to arrive in interior BC from when I ordered it.
(My dog does like it, but that’s a pretty subjective criteria. Some dogs are pickier than others.)
The County Bounty: Made in Ontario, pays a living wage, woman-owned, supports Indigenous initiatives.
They make delicious sodas, iced teas, and sparkling water.
I just ordered a whole bunch. Many different flavours, long shelf life, less sugar, and prevents the pain of carrying heavy cans from the grocery store. 👍
Henson safety razor. It’s the only product I ever purchased based on sponsored recommendations, and I actually didn’t regret it. It’s hard to clog, easy to clean, and the minimalist design compared to other safety razors helps with tight spaces. The handle’s grip pattern works better than you’d think too, without scraping flesh.
After using it for about a year, my partner (who uses razors a lot more and has really sensitive and fragile skin) finally worked up the nerve to try it. Now we have two.
To be clear though, it is a luxury product. You can get a quality safety razor that works just fine for half the price, easily. I probably still wouldn’t have grabbed one myself, if it weren’t a Canadian product. You can go for the titanium version if you’re an utter financial masochist.
Was it shoesonhead who convinced you?
I didn’t bite right away, but I was on board the first time it was presented to me, which I think was either by Practical Engineering or Steve Mould. But I might be misremembering and there’s at least a half-dozen other possibilities, what with the sponsorship pricing/bidding ecosystem working the way it does.
(Ad brokers track what “open offer” sponsorships are providing the best value to content creators, resulting in everyone choosing a few top picks. It’s the reason why a single sponsor will seem to blitz the entire space all at once.)
Hmm, interesting. Seems a relevant and contemporary way to advertise for the brands doing it.
I haven’t really analyzed it in depth, but here’s my take based on some content creators talking shop and my own observation of trends:
It seems like a pretty competitive space. It basically covers all non-traditional media, where costs are exorbitant for extremely limited and demographically narrow reach. For the sponsored side, it’s pretty much the engine behind YouTuber being a real career these days - the sort of thing children now aspire to be. YouTube’s own revenue sharing may keep bread on the table - it’s still competitive enough to shut out competing platforms without seriously deep pockets. But sponsorships are the vehicle for economic mobility.
The brokering aspect basically means if you want exposure, you’ve got to aggressively outbid the market average. When you achieve top offer you get swarmed, blow your budget in short order, and then close the offer giving someone else a turn at bat. I don’t know how well that plays out long-term, but it has some nice properties in terms of free market competition.
For example, if you have a smaller marketing budget but are an ethical company making a good product, you’ll still draw business from a minority of influencers too scrupulous to shill for Better Help or Masterworks. And because such people’s endorsements carry more weight with an audience whose trust they’ve earned, those sponsorships are more impactful per dollar spent.
Meanwhile, the less scrupulous influencers are easy to identify because they’re still shilling for Better Help, or making outrageous claims about what a vitamin-laced drink mix can do. Those blitz campaigns also draw a lot of scrutiny, so questionable businesses or products and especially outright scams get found out fairly quickly (like happened with Established Titles). That gives consumers some protection as well, so long as they’re willing to wait for some trustworthy investigative reporting to come out - usually from some channel with relevant expertise or equipment who can get a lot of views for their trouble.
One downside is that middle men position themselves like agents for the talent when all they’re really doing is repackaging open offers and skimming profits. A lot of people just getting started trying to make a career in content creation get scammed. Those scammers will also pressure people into using unethical tactics that the sponsor doesn’t require and may not even condone.
Looks amazing. I just purchased one based on your recommendation
I’ve got one too. It’s probably my third or fourth safety razor I’ve tried, and by far my favourite. I’ve got the aluminum one in blue. I got it as a gift, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have spent the money on it. Like you said, you can get good quality safety razors for far cheaper. But this one is definitely very good.
Dog food - Oven Baked Tradition
Made in Québec, low baked to keep the nutrients intact. Pretty high quality food, reasonable price.
Attitude’s toothpaste!
I just got a box full of Yupik goodies, and I’m as happy as a clam!
You can find Yupik products on Costco.ca too
I had no idea Yupik was Canadian, or for that matter anything more than an Amazon seller. I guess it’s time to give their catalog another perusal.
