Social Media Week Cross-City Challenge showcase unification of the food truck and technology communities  

The street food revolution has given rise to North America’s tastiest fleet of mobile eateries and social media has been one, if not the main driver in helping revolutionize the food truck industry. To further unite the food truck and technology communities while showcasing how both have embraced social media to further the street food movement, Invoke Media has teamed up with Social Media Week Los Angeles to host the Social Media Week Cross-City Challenge. The challenge will be held during Social Media Week Los Angeles, September 22-27, 2012.

“The food truck community is not unlike the tech-forward, social media community and in fact often straddle the two worlds seamlessly. Amateur foodies look to their devices and social networks to share their foodie experiences, swap tips on how best to enjoy their meals, and share photos of their most recent delicious adventure,” said Dario Meli, Invoke Co-CEO and  Board of Advisors for Social Media Week Los Angeles. “Food truck vendors have taken to Twitter and Facebook by storm to spread the word out about their unique cuisines and their ever- changing locations. These social-savvy groups of hyperconnected influencers epitomize Social Media Week’s core mandates: content, collaboration and conversation.”

Invoke Media is a digital innovation company that created the Eat St. application with Paperny Entertainment to complement the popular Food Network television series. Through its work with Eat St. the company has leveraged mobile and social technology to help food trucks engage with local consumers and build out their business. Through the  Social Media Week Food Truck Cross-City Challenge these technologies will be harnessed in four specific cities – London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Vancouver – to showcase just how the street food movement is being driven by social savvy consumers and vendors alike. Social Media Week Los Angeles is part of Social Media Week (September 24-28), a worldwide event that takes place in 14 cities and explores the social, cultural and economic impacts of social media.

How The Challenge Works
The Social Media Week Cross-City Challenge is built around sharing your favourite street food finds and feasts through tweets. Social media savvy food lovers in London, Chicago, Los Angeles or Vancouver can enter to win while rising to the cream of the social media crop. Participants who post text based tweets will receive 10 points. Twenty extra points will be allocated to tweets that include a photo (uploaded via any means including Twitpic, Lockerz, Instagram etc.) and 25 additional points will be allocated to tweets generated directly from within the Eat St. App. The Most Valuable Player (and prize winner) will be the person who shares the most street food tweets in their city!

Rules of the game
1. Tweets must be shared to @eatsttweet
2. Tweets must include your city’s designated challenge hashtag:

●      Vancouver – #eatSMWVAN

●      Los Angeles – #eatSMWLA

●      Chicago – #eatSMWChicago

●      London – #eatSMWldn

3. Tweets must include the food truck’s name or Twitter handle

Prizes
Most Valuable Players in the Winning City will receive:
Grand prize (1st place): Eat St. Prize Pack + $300 Whole Foods (US/CAN) or Marks & Spencer (UK) Gift card
2nd place: Eat St. Prize Pack + $200 gift card
3rd place: Eat St. Prize pack + $100 gift card

Remaining City’s MVPs
1st place: Eat St. Prize Pack + $200 gift card
2nd place: Eat St. Prize Pack + $100 gift card
3rd place: Eat St. Prize Pack + $50 gift card

Additional prize categories:
Best photo of a food truck (to be judged by individual SMW teams)
Winning city’s best photo winner: $100 gift card
Remaining cities’ winners: $50 gift card

Best photo of a street food dish (to be judged by individual SMW teams)
Winning city’s best photo winner: $100 gift card
Remaining cities’ winners: $50 gift card

About Invoke Media
Invoke is an award winning digital innovation company that works with the world’s leading brands to bring meaningful web and mobile social applications and digital experiences to life. Invoke was founded by David Tedman, Dario Meli and Ryan Holmes. Together the three developed the leading social media dashboard HootSuite and built the first two million users in HootSuite’s first 24 months. Invoke’s deep industry expertise and successful track record of leading multichannel digital strategies for global brands such as NBC, The Walt Disney Company, Dove, EA, GAP, Wells Fargo, ViaCom, Jim Beam and the family of Piaggio scooter and motorcycle brands. Invoke is based in Canada, with offices in New York. For more information, visit http://www.invokemedia.com/

About Social Media Week Los Angeles
Social Media Week Los Angeles is part of Social Media Week (September 24-28), a worldwide event that takes place in fourteen cities and explores the social, cultural and economic impacts of social media. Its mission is to help people and organizations connect through collaboration and the sharing of ideas and information at free events around the world. Social Media Week Los Angeles (#SMWLA) specifically emphasizes how the city is the creative capital of the world, bringing together innovators of the Los Angeles community