#there are many other groups that have proved the industry is heavily profitable

[sanstropfremir]

pls do talk more about b*s and their current image (censoring because if you don’t have great things to say i don’t want you to be attacked by their crazy stans :))

i always bring this up when i talk about them but it’s really :( that they are the way they are now. like i was a fan because of their hyyh era and their songs about the troubled youth. and of course they can’t stay in that image forever (because we all grow up and it would just be v fake if they tried to continue it given their status and wealth now.) it’s just disappointing that they went down the ‘safe, disney image’ and are releasing generic mainstream pop songs people will forget after a couple listens. i’m no longer a fan of them now but yuh.

also not to mention how they essentially made kpop boring for me now lol i wish companies had fun with their music selections instead of aiming for whatever b*s has. like we will never get a group like orange caramel again (i know wjsn chocome’s concept was similar but it just didn’t feel the same. you talked about it before and i wholeheartedly agree with ur points.)

thank you for the consideration of censoring the name but honestly i'm not that worried about it. i do however find the increasingly creative ways people censor it to be extremely hilarious so keep it up if you would like.

i addressed most of the first part of your ask in the second part of my response here, this is now the third installment in a series, somehow. (the first part is here).

not to level this at you in specific anon, because i know a lot of people share this sentiment of kpop being 'boring' now, and while there is an element of this that is influenced by bts, and although it is true we aren't getting the same level of wild that produced orange caramel, there is actually interesting and kinda weird stuff happening in kpop; it's just not by the groups that are getting the most attention. dreamcatcher has been out here doing horror rock since their debut in 2017. onf has put out two excellent summer pop tracks with fun and stupid genre mvs. i love this recent ghost9 track. i'm obsessed with the instrumental in the chorus of bdc's moon walker. just b debuted last month with a strange bang yongguk track and a very 2013 feeling mv. here's another weird and fun boy group debut, blitzers. a.c.e have put out favourite boys, the fave boyz remix, down, and higher as their last four releases which all have the most coherent and well designed concepts in the last year. and while i'm at it i might as well include take me higher and undercover. oneus put out a mad max themed performance video randomly for no reason like three weeks ago. the rest of the industry were cowards for not following up on to be or not to be with a shakespeare comeback wave. rip onlyoneof but they gave us a whole three week comeback of dick grabs. hanya brought my attention to this weird as shit debut track from a group that has now totally disappeared. knk's sunset exists. we moved on way too fast from the mv because taeyang was being cunty on music shows but sf9's teardrop has probably some of the most interesting shots in a kpop mv in the last several years. and we definitely moved on too fast from my favourite just some guy and goofy movie character woodz's feel like.

i think it's pretty fatalistic to view bts as having singlehandedly made the industry boring because honestly......i don't think they have. if you want to talk about the downturn to plainclothes styling....well that's shinee's fault. and the general trend to less dramatic fashion and visual tastes is not exclusive to the kpop industry, it's been a whole cultural trend. the mid to late 2010s were the rise of 'normcore' and we haven't burst the bubble yet. bts is just reflecting trends happening in the wider world, and in particular the western one. for the most viewed kpop mv of 2020 dynamite did....what exactly? it didn't really spawn any significant copycats in terms of sound or aesthetics, with the exception of maybe superm's we do if you look at it a bit sideways. although this is one of bts' better styled mvs, 70s retro did not make any resurgence in kpop styling, EXCEPT in magazine and fashion shoots, which it was already doing in the west. taemin's criminal was significantly more influential; i can think of at least three different male soloist mvs that borrowed heavily from it. honestly i think stylists and groups are trying to steer as clear as possible of whatever aesthetics bts uses, lest they accidentally doom themselves to a (perceived) slighted fanbase. plus, there's been a pretty sizable resurgence in contemporary hanbok styling, so even though there is a lot more outward attention going to things like international promotions for other groups and whatever the hell sm keeps trying to do with nct, i think a fair amount of companies are interested in maintaining the koreanness of kpop while facilitating broader global access.

and honestly, bigger acts have also put out interesting things in the last year. we did all see taemin's back to back release roster for ngda right? criminal? idea???? advice???????? fuck, chocolate was barely a year ago. whatever your opinions on yunho are, thank u is fucking brilliant mv. sunmi's tail. lie to me and tell me the mv for you can't sit with us isn't fun as fuck. i dunno what the hell the new nct127 song is gonna be like but the teaser photos and mood sampler are weird as hell and i'm absolutely interested. he's only kpop adjacent at the moment but jackson's 100 ways and lmly are really sharply produced low budget mvs with clean and interesting visuals. maniac shot to the top of my most listened immediately after it dropped because lia kim AND those slick horns in the instrumental???? ten's paint me naked was not at all what i was expecting but it's still fun as hell and has a pretty unique aesthetic.

the tldr of this whole three parter is this: bts has always been reactionary to wider cultural trends and that's been how they've made it this far. yes their influence on the industry looms very large because of the predominence of them on the scene, but it's mostly in the perception of kpop rather than in the artistry of it.

i don't think any company is going to be able to achieve what bts and hybe have, which i think is fine. they're the scale tipped too far. hopefully by now most companies have probably noticed that they don't need to cater to the western market so hard, and that it's probably not a good idea to offer their artists up on the racist chopping block of the western pop scene. you can market to an international fanbase without trying to gun for a grammy or for billboard or whatever. creating interesting art should be at the fore, not numbers goals. but we're just gonna have to wait and see what happens in the next year or so.

[fr-economics]

A Brief History of Neoliberalism  #2

Here's the second post in which I summarize and discuss David Harvey's A Brief History of Neoliberalism. In this post, you'll learn:

how a specific group of people plotted to advance neoliberal theory and ideology

how the U.S. created the Iraqi and Chilean governments to benefit the wealthy

the historical events that led to the adoption of neoliberal policies

how the Darkest Timeline emerged, as the 1% started to consolidate political and economic power

Please feel free to ask any questions. This post is longer than the previous one and this material is a lot to take in.

Chapter 1: Freedom’s Just Another Word...

The founding figures of neoliberalism specifically aimed for neoliberal thought to become dominant. In order to do this, they advanced a “conceptual apparatus,” as Harvey puts it, that appeals to our intuitions, instincts, values, and desires.

They aligned their theory closely with "political ideals of human dignity and individual freedom." These were, of course, threatened "by all forms of state intervention that substituted collective judgements for those of individuals free to choose.”

So who were these founders? In 1947, Austrian political philosopher Friedrich von Hayek and a group of advocates (including Ludvig von Mises and Milton Friedman) created the Mont Pelerin Society. They called themselves neoliberals after liberalism, in the traditional European sense, because of their (supposed) commitment to personal freedom, and neoclassical economics from the 19th century.

In the 1970s, advocates of neoliberalism aimed to garner financial and political support, such as in think tanks and academia (most notably, the University of Chicago). The theory also gained credibility "by the award of the Nobel Prize in economics to Hayek in 1974 and Friedman in 1976."

The Creation of Neoliberal States

According to Harvey, a neoliberal state is "a state apparatus whose fundamental mission [is] to facilitate conditions for profitable capital accumulation on the part of both domestic and foreign capital."

The promotion of "freedom" was used as a key justification for invading Iraq by President Bush. However, Bush had no intention of actually promoting the well-being of the Iraqi people. In 2003, Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, promulgated orders for "full privatization of public enterprises, full ownership rights by foreign firms of Iraqi businesses, elimination of nearly all trade barriers" and more. However, the labor market was strictly regulated. Strikes were forbidden in key sectors and the right to unionize restricted.

Some argued these orders violated the Geneva Conventions, "since an occupying power is mandated to guard the assets of an occupied country and not sell them off." However, "they would become legal if confirmed by a ‘sovereign’ government." The interim government appointed by the US was given the power to only confirm the existing laws, not edit them for the benefit of the Iraqi people.

We've seen this creation of a neoliberal state under the "coercive influence of the U.S." before. This famously happened for the first time in Chile in 1973, when Augusto Pinochet enacted a coup against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. This coup was backed not only by "domestic business elites threatened by Allende’s drive towards socialism" but also by U.S. corporations and the CIA.

This coup violently repressed and dismantled leftist social movements and popular organizations, such as community health centers. Pinochet then brought Chicago-trained economists into the government. Since the '50s, the U.S. had funded training of Chilean economists there "as part of a Cold War programme to counteract left-wing tendencies in Latin America." These economists "privatized public assets" and "opened up natural resources to private and unregulated exploitation." They also facilitated direct foreign investment.

Why the Neoliberal Turn?

After WWII, the aim of the "restructuring of state forms and of international relations" was to "prevent a return to the catastrophic conditions that had so threatened the capitalist order in the great slump of the 1930s." The new post-WWII states all accepted that "the state should focus on full employment, economic growth, and the welfare of its citizens, and that state power should be freely deployed, alongside of or, if necessary, intervening in or even substituting for market processes to achieve these ends.”

Keynesian policies were widely deployed to meet these goals. States regulated industry and constructed welfare systems, including healthcare, education, etc. State-led planning and even ownership of specific sectors were not uncommon. "This form of political-economic organization is now usually referred to as ‘embedded liberalism'," and it delivered high rates of economic growth in the '50s and '60s.

However, by the end of the '60s, problems emerged. Unemployed and inflation surged, causing "stagflation" well into the '70s.

One potential solution was to "deepen state control and regulation of the economy." "The left assembled considerable popular power behind such programmes," even in the U.S., where even Republican President Nixon oversaw a wave of regulatory reform, including creating the EPA. There was an "emergence of a socialist alternative to the social compromise between capital and labour" and "popular forces were agitating for widespread reforms and state interventions." This was obviously a threat to ruling elites.

Elites were also threatened by reduced economic growth in the ‘70s. U.S. control of wealth by the 1% plunged during this decade. Implementation of neoliberal policies in the ‘70s, such as deregulation under President Carter, helped the income and wealth of the 1% so much that some writers "have concluded that neoliberalization was from the very beginning a project to achieve the restoration of class power." "...Increasing social inequality [has] in fact been such a persistent feature of neoliberalization as to be regarded as structural to the whole project."

However, keen observers of American politics in the past couple of decades will note that there's often a tension or outright clash between actual neoliberal theory and what neoliberal politicians implement. There is even a tension within neoliberalism itself. For example, distrust of the state's intervention sits alongside the need for a coercive state that will enforce private property rights. Harvey says, "when neoliberal principles clash with the need to restore or sustain elite power, then the principles are either abandoned or become so twisted as to be unrecognizable."

Harvey concludes that the "theoretical utopianism" of neoliberal theory, meaning all that talk about human freedom and individual liberty, "primarily worked as a system of justification and legitimation for whatever needed to be done to achieve" the restoration of class power after the crisis of the 70s.

The Reagan Administration

Reagan's presidency was preceded by "the Volcker shock" in 1979. Paul Volcker, chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank under President Carter, promoted "a policy designed to quell inflation no matter what the consequences might be for employment." This was in contrast to Keynesian policies that aimed for full employment. By steeply raising interest rates, Volcker jumpstarted a recession "that would empty factories and break unions in the US and drive debtor countries to the brink of insolvency."

Reagan himself, starting with the 1981 air traffic controllers' strike, began an "all-out assault on the powers of organized labour at the very moment when the Volcker-inspired recession was generating high levels of unemployment (10% or more)." This began the long decline in wages, and was accompanied by massive deregulation in many industries and huge tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy—the top personal tax rate was reduced from 70% to 28%.

A series of events had begun in the '70s which came to a head in the '80s. The OPEC oil crisis of 1973 led to Middle Eastern oil-producing states being pressured militarily by the U.S. to funnel their wealth through New York investment banks. These banks needed new outlets for this influx of funds, and turned their predatory gaze towards foreign governments.

Previously, the U.S. exerted military pressure on various nations to meet its own financial needs, and primarily exploited raw material resources or cultivated specific markets. However, the New York investment banks became more active internationally by lending capital to foreign governments. Developing nations were "encouraged to borrow heavily... at rates that were advantageous to the New York bankers."

However, since the loans were in U.S. dollars, any rise in U.S. interest rates "could easily push vulnerable countries into default," leaving the banks exposed to huge losses. This was proved when the Volcker shock drove Mexico into default in 1982. Reagan's administration oversaw the pioneering of structural adjustment, in which the IMF, World Bank, and other lenders rolled over debt in return for the debtor countries implementing neoliberal reforms, such as cuts in welfare, privatization, and reduction of labor protections.

Remember that tension between neoliberal theory and practice, though? If free market principles were truly implemented, then the lenders would be on the hook for the loss if their borrowers default. They took the risk of lending, so it's their problem. However, in this case, borrowers are forced by the U.S. to repay their debts no matter the consequences for the well-being of their people.

The Meaning of Class Power

"While neoliberalization may have been about the restoration of class power, it has not necessarily meant the restoration of economic power to the same people." There are several trends under neoliberalism that reorganized what it meant to be part of the upper class.

First is the fusion of ownership and management of companies, for example, CEOs being paid in stock options. Stock values are then prioritized rather than production. Second is the reduction of the gap between capital earning dividends/interest and production/manufacturing. Large corporations became more financial in their orientation. An example of this is car companies opening departments to finance car purchases, instead of simply making cars. Mergers helped spur this trend, creating larger and larger diversified conglomerates.

There were also new innovations in financial services, creating "new kinds of financial markets based on securitization, derivatives, and all manner of futures trading." "Neoliberalization has meant, in short, the financialization of everything." Finance's tentacles became embedded in all areas of the economy as well as the state, and companies became more profitable not through gains in manufacturing, but through increased financial services.

All of these changes allowed "new processes of class formation to emerge," for example, the creation of tech millionaires and billionaires who got newly rich on new technologies, as well as newly acquired wealth through creation of conglomerates.

[sierraninerseventwozero]

Moscow's mercenaries: How Russia is swelling the global market for private military companies

Moscow is increasingly using mercenaries to expand its spheres of influence.

Analysis: In an era of increasingly privatised warfare, Russia is spearheading the use of mercenaries to expand its influence.

What do we think about when we hear the term 'mercenaries'? For the president of Mozambique, the word has only one meaning - control - and he is willing to pay handsomely for it.

Filipe Jacinto Nyusi has two problems; the unrest in the troubled but resource-rich Cabo Delgado region and the jihadists who are taking advantage of it. The conflict has been ongoing since 2017 but escalated in 2020 following a series of gruesome attacks. Over 420,000 people have been displaced in the mainly Muslim province.

To deal with the growing threat, the Mozambican leader made offers to several private military companies. In the end, he chose a shadowy mercenary outfit with alleged ties to the Kremlin, the Russian Wagner Group, who said they would get the job done quickly.

However, the plan did not work. Several Wagner mercenaries were killed in ambushes in areas completely unknown to the Russians, who have no previous experience with the southern African terrain. In their place, the Mozambican government hired the DAG company, led by South African Colonel Lionel Dyck. 

He had served in the army of what turned into the white colonialist former republic of Rhodesia in Zimbabwe and has extensive experience in conducting asymmetric fighting. The irony is that in the 1970s, Rhodesia's army, which included Lionel Dyck, attacked Mozambique and Zimbabwe's guerrilla bases, which Filipe Nyusi's party had sheltered. Times are changing.

All signs indicate that Africa is the new arena for experiments in the military industry, and it is there that we can see what military action across other theatres of conflict will soon look like. War is the same - but warfare is changing. Although the UN bans mercenary forces under some treaties, this too is changing. The data show that there are more mercenaries in Africa than anywhere else in the world. Some of them date back to colonial times such as Rhodesia. 

Examples from Africa, Syria and Libya show that mercenaries successfully enforce Putin's foreign policy in areas where the Kremlin has direct interests

In the years when many African countries gained independence, mercenaries supported separatist movements and participated in coups. Many young people enrolled in private companies in the 1990s to fund their university education. Mercenaries and former marines fought in Katanga as it tried to secede from the Congo in the early 1960s and in Biafra, where separatists were leading an independence movement from Nigeria. In 2004, a former British Special Forces officer, Simon Mann, attempted a coup in Equatorial Guinea.

In the past, Western governments have looked half-heartedly at the activity of mercenary companies in serving their economic interests. Today, Russia is gaining a leading position in this area, with the Kremlin increasingly using mercenaries to expand its influence. Most of these mercenaries' activities go through the Wagner company, whose main sponsor, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is one of Putin's closest associates and known for his actions from Ukraine to Syria and Libya.

Shortly after the Mozambican president met with the Russian president in 2019, Wagner received a contract to protect gas fields in the country. Mozambique is currently developing the largest energy project in Africa, where France, via its megacompany Total, has visible interests.

With the expanding political and economic influence of Russia in Europe, the Middle East, and cyberspace, it is not surprising that the presence of Moscow in Africa did not garner much attention until the beginning of 2019 and the presence of Wagner in Libya. Many of Russia's actions in Africa reflect Vladimir Putin's desire for a foreign policy under his leadership and military adventurism that restores the country to its former place among the superpowers.

Clearly, there is a geopolitical dimension. Africa is home to 25 percent of the world's countries, and Russia is not the first country to try to create a political bloc to serve its interests in the UN and other international institutions. In this regard, the African continent offers excellent opportunities for the deployment of global "active events" that allow Moscow to return to its former spheres of influence. 

At the same time, it is developing its geo-economic strategy for access to valuable mineral resources in countries torn apart by internal conflicts and instability, and for the export of finished products and weapons systems. The focus on African countries is by no means accidental, as Moscow must carefully allocate its resources and international commitments after the annexation of Crimea, given the imposed political and economic isolation. 

Mercenaries offer several major advantages. They are cheaper than regular armies, highly trained, and allow military operations without visible state involvement

In this regard, given the dynamics of events, fierce competition with the West and the search for parity with the East, Moscow is looking for new allies. It is in the process of re-establishing old Soviet-era ties and establishing new ones that the tools offered by private military companies will prove most useful, as they fit perfectly into Russia's "package of deals", first introduced widely in Syria.

This includes arms sales and sending military advisers engaged in the training of regular armed forces and paramilitary groups to wage anti-guerrilla wars and quell riots in the 'client' countries, in combination with bodyguards for the political elite, as well as providing 'political technologists' to take care of strengthening their unstable power.

Wagner has worked with several African regimes. In Sudan, the company assisted long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir as he tried to quash protests in the country, which eventually ousted him from power. In 2018, hundreds of Wagner fighters arrived in the Central African Republic to guard diamond mines, train the local army and guard President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, whose real power does not go far from the capital. In Guinea, where Russian aluminium giant Rusal is heavily involved, Wagner joined President Alpha Conde, who faced bloody protests against the new constitution, allowing him to remain in office for a third term. 

In Libya, despite the UN embargo, Wagner has deployed 1,200 members and staff in support of General Khalifa Haftar's rebel forces, which have besieged the capital, Tripoli, for a year. US Africa Command`s satellite images showed Russian Air Force planes directly supporting Wagner.

However, Libya emerged as a failure for the mercenary company after Turkish-backed Libyan government forces managed to reverse Haftar's offensive. The general left several mass graves with hundreds of bodies found by Tripoli's forces in the city of Tarhuna. In other areas, such as Bani Walid, there is evidence of torture at Wagner's headquarters.

Private companies usually say they are plugging security holes that could otherwise lead to chaos. In the Central African Republic, for example, France withdrew much of its military forces in 2016, leaving just the United Nations and a small European mission, which failed to bring order. Wagner arrived just in time.

In 2015, the South African company STTEP appeared in northeastern Nigeria, training local forces in their battle against Boko Haram jihadists. Their contract was terminated by President Muhammadu Bukhari, who said government forces had to deal with it on their own – but they would eventually fail. 

Mercenaries - and Russia is aware of this - have several major advantages. First, they allow state denialism. By using them, governments can sponsor military operations without visible involvement. Second, mercenaries are efficient, experienced, and mobile. Third, they are cheaper than maintaining a regular army unit. Soldiers receive lifelong pensions, while mercenaries have only their contracts.

They are also cheaper than the expensive heavy weapons that governments import. Sometimes Western governments like the United Kingdom help mercenary companies to provide military power to profitable leaders in Asia or Africa. Russia does so directly through a link between Putin's businesspeople and Russian foreign policy theorists. In the Russian model, the boundaries between private and public interests are blurred.

Mercenaries are here to stay. Companies like OAM, run by another Rhodesian, John Gartner, operate in at least eighteen African countries. Although on paper it opposes the use of mercenaries, the UN is also softening their tone. There is already a code relating to mercenary work, according to which the UN is recruiting similar forces for planning, demining, and training local security forces. Most Western companies have already adopted some of the UN rules in their treaties, and mercenaries are committed to acting on them, such as banning civilian attacks. 

Russian mercenaries, on the other hand, have not accepted such clauses in their contracts. Moreover, they still do not exist officially, as Russian laws prohibit them. As the examples from Africa, Syria, Libya and the CAR show, these companies are not only real but also successfully enforce Putin's foreign policy in areas where the Kremlin has direct interests.

Indicative of this new model is the case of Kiril Shadrin. In 2015, Shadrin was a loyal Russian soldier. Later, he became a "volunteer" in Donbas, and in 2017 he appeared in Syria, where he fought in a Syrian paramilitary pro-government group under the supervision of Syrian and Russian intelligence. There are several cases in conflict zones around the world such as the Shadrin's - Russian soldiers occupying the grey area between the army, mercenaries, and operations invisible to the public. 

As private warfare re-emerges, there will be increased media reports about mercenary groups, and Russia will be the main driver. Expansionist appetites for Russia's foreign policy in the Middle East and military involvement abroad in general, combined with lobbying pressure from the oil and gas powers, have created today's situation.

The escalating conflict in the Central African Republic highlights the role played by mercenaries from neighbouring countries in inflaming tensions. Indeed, the data is clear that the mercenaries – i.e. Russian groups – worsened the conflict there. 

But the Kremlin is "closing its eyes" if it is profitable, and in the case of the CAR, persistent tensions have led to more deals and a stronger presence.

[jamescgeis2021]

Ohio's Health Centers Have Critical Role In Covid

Here's the evidence your membership can use to continue to build relationships with the medical neighborhood. When your club reopens many things might want to change—together with how you approach staffing operations. This guide looks at five key areas to help you via the transition. The areas embody office safety, employees training, policies and procedures, communication, and supporting staff. An online app can help shed light on what you are able to do in your health club facility to lower the risk of COVID-19 unfold by taking into account ceiling height, MERV filters, human habits, and other factors that affect indoor areas. Due to the growing want for steering in reopening well being and fitness clubs, industry leaders from across the globe have formed a reopening group to offer clubs with recommendations. Group exercise specialist and business chief Ingrid Knight-Cohee answered consumer-submitted questions live on the IHRSA Forum about group fitness operations during the coronavirus pandemic.

Request that vendors accessing the premises direct their staff to observe all physical distancing tips and well being directives issued by the relevant public authorities. The State of Maine has adopted a staged method, supported by science, public health expertise, and trade collaboration, to allow Maine businesses to soundly open when the time is true. Experts say people who find themselves breathing heavily are doubtless expelling more respiratory droplets — the primary means contaminated people spread the coronavirus — so it’s additional necessary to wear a mask and apply social distancing. Here are some of the stuff you’ll see at reopened exercise and health centers. Science so far tells us that the novel coronavirus doesn’t spread through sweat. And, a widely cited Norwegian examination, nicely-performed but printed before peer review, found no increase in COVID infections amongst gym goers who frequently washed their hands and adopted social distancing measures.

Michigan gyms are now open with new safety protocols in place. IHRSA, the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, is a not-for-profit commerce association representing the global fitness industry of over 200,000 health and fitness amenities and their suppliers.

America’s health trade is one of the hardest hit by the compelled closures mandated by the coronavirus disaster. To ensure the inclusion of every well being and health membership in reduction efforts, IHRSA and business leaders are ramping up federal lobbying. A comprehensive listing of all U.S. particular COVID-19 aid and closure information to help health golf equipment navigate the coronavirus outbreak whereas many clubs are closed. A new survey by IHRSA, carried out by Kelton, a Material Company, reveals that U.S. health consumers are awaiting the opportunity to resume their fitness routine at wellbeing golf equipment.

Follow the health club's tips and stay no less than 6 ft away from other members. Some equipment that is troublesome to wash, such as foam rollers and yoga blocks, may not be out there. Avoid giving excessive-fives or doing elbow bumps with others. Health directive about greatest practices for outside gyms and fitness centers. Health directive about best practices for indoor gyms and fitness centers. This steering for indoor gyms and health facilities was developed by the San Francisco Department of Public Health for use by Gyms and Fitness Centers.

A comprehensive listing of all U.S. particular COVID-19 aid and closure information to help wellbeing golf equipment navigate the coronavirus outbreak. IHRSA is here to help wellbeing golf equipment throughout this difficult time. Email us along with your questions to assist us as we create extra sources. An increasing variety of studies are mentioning the benefits of physician referrals for trains. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some clubs who may prove they were offering health companies had been allowed to stay open, at the same time as others closed.

Before reopening, stroll your staff through all of the cleansing protocols. As efficient as these kinds of security measures could be, most experts are still extraordinarily cautious concerning the concept of going to the health club right now, even in parts of the U.S. the place COVID-19 and infection rates are dropping. Put merely, going to the fitness center — like many issues in this new pandemic world — isn't a danger-free activity. FWIW, although, masks seem to be extremely efficient in avoiding these spikes in infection rates. But within the COVID clusters in Ontario and Massachusetts, public masks mandates weren't as strictly enforced at the time, which seems to have played a major role in those infection-fee spikes. All of this underscores the crucial need for normal bodily activity — particularly now in the time of COVID — for our nation’s physical and psychological properly-being. And while weddings, events, and different giant group gatherings are identified hotbeds for COVID transmission — giant health facilities, however, are not.

Indoor gyms and fitness facilities should shut, due to SF being assigned to the State’s Purple Tier. Personal trainers can nonetheless work one-on-one with customers. Allow group fitness courses only if courses could be accomplished in accordance with physical distancing recommendations. Screen for COVID-19 signs for all entrants, together with workers, visitors, and clients upon arrival to the health club or health heart. Facilities can choose from several methods for screening.

But, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread and schools reopen, some areas are reporting a resurgence of COVD-19 infections. So, it’s necessary to know what the transmission fee is in your community and to weigh the personal risks earlier than making any choices to return to a health club. To make social distancing simple, go to the grocery store early in the morning or late at night, when the shop might be less crowded. If you are at a larger threat of significant sickness, find out if the store has particular hours for individuals in your state of affairs and store during these instances. You may additionally contemplate ordering your groceries online for house supply or curbside pickup. If possible, attend a gym with outside spaces and check in electronically. Your gym will doubtless implement social distancing by blocking access to every other cardio machine or by placing up obstacles round equipment.

[perfectirishgifts]

College Students: Degree Insurance May Be The Next Big Thing Coming Your Way

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/college-students-degree-insurance-may-be-the-next-big-thing-coming-your-way/

College Students: Degree Insurance May Be The Next Big Thing Coming Your Way

A new company is ready to offer college degree insurance, which institutions can buy and assure … [] their graduates of an initial base salary for five years.

For many young people and their families paying for college is one of the largest financial investments they will make. Witness the fact that the majority of graduates assume thousands of dollars in loan debt to pay for their education. For most students, the outlay is perceived to be worth it because if they earn a degree they stand a good chance of reaping a substantial return on investment (ROI) in the form of better jobs and bigger earnings.

But what if you could ensure that ROI? What if your college degree came with an insurance policy that guaranteed for the first five years after college you would receive the income a degree in your major field typically provides? And to top it off, what if the premium for that insurance were paid for by the college you attended?

Sound like a good deal? Well, that type of insurance product may soon be available, thanks to a new company that’s just getting off the ground and beginning to make its pitch to colleges and universities looking for ways to increase their value proposition, attract more applicants, enroll more students, and improve their graduation rates.

Degree Insurance is the company, and it’s the brainchild of Wade Eyerly, founder and CEO, and his co-founder Dennis Murashko. Eyerly has experience with start-ups. With his brother, he raised several rounds of venture financing to found Surf Air, a private, member-only airline. Prior to that he served as an economist at the Pentagon, a civilian intelligence officer for the U.S. government, and as as an advance press representative for Vice President Dick Cheney. Murashko is an attorney who previously served as the general counsel and senior advisor to Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, where he led a state team responsible for a wide range of legal, regulatory, and compliance issues.

When I asked about the idea behind Degree Insurance, Eyerly told me, “There are a lot of folks working to keep the costs of tuition down and looking at why college costs what it does. We are focused on the other side of the equals sign, asking ‘Did you get what you paid for?’ Because, if we can be sure your education will lead to a good job then the debt burden becomes a lot less scary. With enrollments down 3-16% this year, colleges are experiencing a new kind of financial pain. If we can give students the confidence necessary to enroll (or to continue enrolling) we plug the budget hole that was made when a pandemic scared a generation of kids away from making long-term investments in their future.”

Here’s how it works. A college or university purchases the degree insurance – called American Dream Insurance – for an entire entering class of undergraduates. The insurance guarantees graduates of that institution that they will earn a given annual salary for five years after they graduate. The warrantied salary is calculated actuarially and depends on students’ majors and the college they attend. A psychology major from the University of Iowa might expect to make $35,000 annually, an electrical engineering graduate from Purdue might average $65,000. For graduates who earn less than the guarantee over the initial five years post graduation, the insurance makes a payment that covers the difference between what they actually made (verified by W2s and federal tax returns) and the guaranteed amount.

The premium a college pays varies, depending on the institution’s student outcomes, but a ballpark figure would be $3,000 per head. Assume an entering class of 2,000 undergraduates, that’s a total cost of $6 million for the institution.

Why would an institution purchase this kind of group policy, involving a tab that substantial? Because, according to the company, it should be able to make back its costs and “turn a profit” in just a few years. Eyerly told me that his team projects that in three years, a college could recoup its investment through a boost in enrollment and gains in retention. In other words, it will recover the $6 million and more through the additional tuition dollars it brings in.

Here are some of the terms and conditions to keep in mind. The benefit is available only to students who graduate within six years, thereby creating a strong incentive to finish a degree. The differential salary benefit is limited to five years, although the clock can be paused for students who, for example, go to graduate school or who enter the military. Any claims are paid as a cumulative amount after five years.

Graduates are required to seek employment, although realistically that can be hard to verify. And they are expected to meet their state’s unemployment requirements if/when unemployed, whatever those are. A graduate might be able to sit back and sit out the job market, thereby gaming the system, but the company doesn’t expect that to be a common problem, arguing that individuals who persist through four or five or six years of college are not likely to then be content doing nothing with their hard-earned degree. 

The company was launched with the help of an investment of more than $4 million from Trust Ventures in Austin, Texas, in addition to smaller amounts from other individual and fund investors. At this point, it’s licensed to sell its product only in Illinois, but Eyerly hopes that by the end of next year, it will be approved in as many as 30 states. Because insurance is such a heavily regulated industry, securing state approval to sell a new instrument is considered to be the major hurdle for a fledgling company to clear.

Degree Insurance is currently in the process of recruiting its first institutional clients, and Eyerly anticipates go/no-go decisions within the next 60 days.

The idea of college warrantees is not entirely new. Colleges have experimented with various kinds of graduation and employment guarantees, which promise that if students can’t find jobs after graduation the institution will provide them a semester or two of free tuition to return to school. But insuring the salary associated with a college degree is a whole different level of commitment. It takes much of the risk from the cost of college off the table, and it provides a huge incentive for degree completion at the same time.

Will colleges put their money into this kind of guarantee? While that remains to be seen, offering degree insurance is a bold, new idea and it just might be a way for states or even the federal government to persuade more students to pursue higher education and to stick with it.

As one example of how this product could scale, the company estimates that for $100 million, the initial salaries for every new student at all the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities this year could be guaranteed upon their subsequent graduation. For about $14 million, and the necessary regulatory approval, it could guarantee the salaries of every public college student in Idaho.

Using this model, states, foundations and even the federal government could purchase insurance today that would let colleges begin to recruit and retain students much more effectively for the future. And underwriting this kind of insurance might prove to be very attractive to major donors as an alternative to traditional scholarships.

As Chuck Staben, former president of the University of Idaho and an advisor to the company, told me, “American Dream Insurance can provide the confidence that students and families need to invest in higher education, eliminating apparent risk from one of the largest investments they will make. More than that, American Dream Insurance can provide the confidence in higher education that has been sorely tested by the pandemic, but that is desperately needed to insure America’s competitive economic future.”

From Education in Perfectirishgifts

[hydaelyn-arts]

Of the indelicacy of Witch Hunts

This could have been a day like any other. One where I would sit at my computer once my coffee was prepared, ready for another day, beginning with a quick glance at my emails and private messages on various social media platforms as is customary. Then, I noticed there was a submission waiting for me which isn’t unusual and always makes me happy. After over year, Hydaelyn Arts is keeping its promise to be a voice for every artist within our community. Yet when I checked, the name of the contributor was unknown and odd.

I checked the links, read the witty comment “Anon (trace@123.com)” found necessary to add, and set aside my breakfast to write what will be the second message of this blog.

About “using references” and “tracing”

Each and everyone has their own point of view on referencing and tracing, which can range from “It’s alright so long it follows some rules.” to “I’ll submit art to Hydaelyn Arts because it doesn’t matter if it’s traced or referenced, this person deserves to burn in hell!” So while my eggs and bacon are getting cold, I’m wondering if “Anon (trace@123.com)” knows the difference between referencing, tracing, and when one or the other is appropriate to do in as an artist in a variety of situations or if “Anon (trace@123.com)” thinks both are big, bad boogeyman to be avoided at all times. Apparently not.

So instead of labeling references and tracing as evil in all situations outright, let’s demystify them a bit, shall we?

Using references

References are something which is accepted in the art community at large, utilized regularly by industry professionals who have directories full of references and should hopefully be used by every artist whenever it is needed. If an artist creates something without the use of references, it is usually because they have done multiple studies prior to creating a piece of artwork, to the point where they no longer need a reference to create the piece. However, nowhere in the professional art industry is it considered shameful or wrong to use reference when creating work.

To be quite frank, if you think references are taboo, it is a sign that you’re ignorant of what working in the art industry is like, have not been through any kind of formalized art training, never went to a museum to admire accurate portraits or watched a movie where people are asked to pose for an artist. Everyone from Da Vinci to Norman Rockwell to Disney used references for their craft. Entire films like Alice in Wonderland relied on live actors to perform for the artists so they could realistically get movements down as firmly as possible.

To consider using references as something bad is ridiculous.

Who hasn’t done a gesture to describe it properly in text? Who hasn’t looked at their hand to draw fingers properly? Who hasn’t done a google or youtube search to have a better idea of a movement before animating it? Using references helps artists progress, because who can draw or describe a Tacca chantrieri without having seen or heard of it before? Even if they have (heard of it), without having practiced it many times it’s unlikely an artist could pull all the details from memory. It is necessary for growth as an artist, to learn about the world in order to avoid things like this from happening:

Think of how much better the above artwork could have been if the artist just looked at some actual reference of what a real human woman looks like in a similar pose instead of just winging it. 

Tracing

Ladies and gentlemen, ready your pitchforks, the evil word has been written. The one that’s caused several artists in this community to be pilloried, at times unfairly. Most of these people have deleted their Tumblr blogs, after a group has tried and convicted them for something they did (and sometimes didn’t) do.

The term tracing means what it says: to trace, one works atop another piece of art to make an exact copy. Like using references, it can be a useful tool for artists to practice and learn from (if they are using it in an ethical manner for study), but it has its limitations. Very easily, tracing can become a crutch, hindering an artist’s progression in the long term. This post isn’t about singing the praises of the virtues of tracing, however. What needs to be discussed here are the times when a piece of art is posted by someone, and others decide it has been traced, often without taking the time to double check to make sure that it is actually the case.

The important words in that last sentence are “others decide it has been traced”.

In some cases, the evidence of tracing is flagrantly obvious. In other cases, the lines literally and figuratively are blurred. If you weren’t there during the process, or if the lines don’t match perfectly, it can be difficult to tell if a work has been traced, if it was just heavily referenced, or if both artworks in question coincidentally have a similar pose. Yes, it’s true that many art thieves will try to manipulate images to hide their tracing, but where do we draw the line? How do we know for absolute certain the difference between someone who tried really hard to obscure their tracing efforts and someone who just happened to draw a head at the same angle?

As an artist, it is easy to get fired up about destroying a potential art thief with extreme prejudice and understandably so. No one wants to work hard and study hard, spending years and years refining their skills only for some asshole to stroll along and profit from that effort by tracing it all and passing that work off as their own. However, if we don’t take the time to carefully decide for ourselves, investigate things on our own, and see with our own eyes whether something was traced or if something less insidious was perhaps at play, we’re liable to hurt people that were undeserving of our rage.

Is this person always an art thief or is this surprising new behavior? Has this artist created multiple original pieces before now or do all their works appear potentially traced? Are significant portions about the artwork an exact match or is this potentially a case where someone malicious can rely on Tumblr to get up in arms the moment it’s implied someone is tracing without some rock solid evidence?

The easiest method to refute accusations of tracing would be for an artist to provide their references. But, given that references are often derided as a sin on par with tracing, many artists feel uncomfortable admitting they used any material as support for their work at all.

Tumblr “domino effect”

I want to be clear. I don’t consider one artist copying another’s work and claiming it as their own a good thing. Tracing artwork and passing it off as your own work is unquestionably wrong, but I have seen too many witch hunts on Tumblr based upon half-baked evidence to let myself get swept up in emotion now.

After all this time spent on Tumblr, a question we should be asking ourselves is whether a barrage of fury, harassment, hate mail, and cruelty is really what we want our first response to be when we encounter someone who is potentially tracing, or if we want to approach things calmly, through private messages and peaceful dialogue - until we’re absolutely certain we’re dealing with an unrepentant thief willing to profit off of their fellow artists without guilt or shame.

For me, the answer is the latter.

There’s enough rage on Tumblr already. And I believe that most people who are using this platform have already witnessed what happens when someone is accused of something. Even more when the topic is "tracing". Not only does the primary post spread like wildfire, but people instantly see red and reblog within a few seconds without taking the time to make sure that it is actually a case of tracing. Then suddenly more posts pop up, often with blanket statements such as “Tracing is bad” or “If You are OK with Art Thieves Unfollow Me”, bland generic statements which are often reblogged by people who aren't aware of the drama but agree with the sentiment. All of this is like a whole orchestra shaming the artist whose voice cannot be heard through the clamor. At this point, it doesn't matter if the artist actually traced or not. Even if it's not the case, the harm has been done and nothing can repair it. Nothing. Tumblr already judged them guilty as charged.

How do you expect this experience, justified or not, to not have a huge impact on the person who is the victim of so much hate? Ask yourself how you would feel in such a situation, how you would deal with it, and how you would recover, even if by some miracle someone proves that the statement was wrong and their voice was heard.

I saw the effect first hand as I have been swimming in the artist community for long enough to have met victims of the Tumblr mob. They are broken. Judged guilty before they were allowed to be proven innocent. Sometimes even abandoned by people they thought as being friends. Alone, against a whole community. If they disappear, it's not always out of shame, but because the experience they dealt with left a trauma, at times even leading them to stop their craft for some time or forever. Is this really what you want? If it's a first time for them, if the proof is really hard to see or if they didn't do anything, they don't deserve any of this rage. Posting such an accusation on Tumblr is like a train breaking loose that you can never ever again stop. No matter what they do in the future, there will always be someone to remind them of what they did, or didn't do, sometimes waking up the rumors for another time. I'm asking you again... Is this really what you want?

Until I’m positive of what I’m dealing with, and that the artist in question is truly a thief who felt no remorse about what they were doing and only seemed sorry when they were caught in the act, I want to treat people with the dignity they deserve. I want to avoid jumping to conclusions and getting caught by the wild self-righteousness that Tumblr is infamous for. And if it turns out they are tracing? I want to be that person who calmly tries to help this artist see what they’re doing wrong. I want to talk them into embracing and enjoying what art really can become if they do things the right way. I’m not here to be a destructive force, I’m here to celebrate art, share it with the community, and get others to love it just as much as I do.

Thus, “Anon (trace@123.com)” if you want to start a crusade, you will have to do it from your own personal platform, rather than as a submission to mine. Especially as you took the time to create another account to submit your request since this blog doesn't accept anonymous ones. If you are REALLY positive that tracing was absolutely going on here, then find your courage and post this to your own blog instead of submitting it to mine, hoping you can foist the responsibility on someone else.

I’m not here for witch hunts, “Anon (trace@123.com)”. I’m here for beautiful artwork of Hydaelyn and sharing it with the community at large. If I discover artwork that is unquestionably traced on this blog, I will remove the post in question, but I will never accept submissions like what you sent to this blog. Relevant or not. And even if the person throwing around accusations is right on their statement, the accused deserves a private message and a chance to explain themselves before being burned at the stake.

[gravitascivics]

WHO GOES THERE?

Perhaps one has heard the bit of common wisdom that prejudices are not inherited, they are not inbred, they are learned.  This writer wants to believe this notion without any qualifications.  The problem, though, is that this whole business of “Us-vs.-Them” is a bit more complicated than just attributing it to socializing hateful messages to young people.

         One neuroendocrinologist, Robert Sapolsky, writes on this very issue. Here is an excerpt:

As it’s been said … “There are two kinds of people in the world:  those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don’t.”  There are more of the first.  And it is vastly consequential when people are divided into Us and Them, in-group and out-group, “the people” (i.e., our kind) and the Other … The brain fault lines dividing Us from Them [can be shown through a] discussion of oxytocin ... [T]he hormone prompts trust, generosity, and cooperation toward Us but crappier behavior toward Them – more preemptive aggression in economic play, more advocacy of sacrificing Them (but not Us) for the greater good.  Oxytocin exaggerates Us/Them-ing.[1]

What seems to be going on is that there is an inbred bias toward tribalism.  That parochial bias was probably useful in pre-civilization days when, due to scarcity, protecting one group’s resources was vital to the survival of a tribe.  Those groups so armed with oxytocin were successful, those not so armed were not so successful.

         But a hormone cannot distinguish between people.  The bias might be inbred, but the target is learned.  And, by wishing for more efficiency and, in turn, the efficiency a tribe can attain by trading and cooperating with other tribes – and later, with other peoples, nations, and leagues of nations – an economic motivation was introduced to corral this bias under some control.  That is, because it has proved so profitable, humans marched toward global, economic arrangements.  This march progressed from trading with those nearby toward those far away.

         At times, these arrangements were set up by exploitive relations.  This was probably most clearly done in the age of colonization.  Led by the European powers, 1500s onward, efficiencies were had by stealing the resources of others.  Under such a system, an Us-vs.-Them view was functional to seek that system’s immediate ends.  Unfortunately, though, it sowed the seeds for increasing levels of antagonism between the exploiters and the exploited and, then, among the exploiters.  History is full of wars between and among colonial powers.

         This historical trend became evermore destructive. Ironically, heavily influenced by the ever-increasing economic viabilities of this global trend, monies were available to “advance” the military capabilities of these exploiting actors. These capabilities took a prodigious leap with the development of industrial modes of production.  One of the first indication of how destructive industrial weaponry is was the American Civil War.  That war took the fighting from open fields to urban areas.  The death rates rose substantially and included many non-combatants.

         Then, a few years later, there was World War I (18 million deaths) and World War II (50 to 80 million deaths).  In addition, the very economies of the warring nations were being devasted.  World War II practically destroyed the manufacturing facilities of Europe.  In other words, the very motivations that promoted exploitation were being attacked.  Exploitation, via both the rationale of economic advantage and demonizing the Them was undermined.

         Hence, the post-World War II movement toward a globalized economy materialized.  There have also been policies, especially among Western nations, to mature beyond Us-vs.-Them thinking.  This, for a non-prejudicial person, is a welcomed development, but one does need to remember:  there is that natural bias toward Us/Theming.  

The point here is:  it doesn’t help to underestimate this bias.  All that is needed for this ugly aspect of human nature to show itself is to have reverses in a nation’s economic conditions.  To wit, currently, there is an apparent rise in nationalism – a type of Us/Theming.  This writer believes that this is not a trend emanating out of nowhere.  

He sees it resulting from the Great Recession and developments negatively affecting some groups who have suffered from globalization.  Specifically, those groups are former manufacturing workers who have lost their jobs due to cheap, competitive workers in developing countries. Another group has been miners – particularly of coal – where economic trends and concerns for the environment have lowered the demand for those minerals.

So, while the point that prejudices are learned is correct when it is applied to who gets victimized, it does not apply to people’s predispositions to develop prejudices.  Therefore, and this lesson is important to civics education, an enlightened people needs to be proactive in meeting the challenge of prejudicial thinking.  Not all that is natural is best or even good.

[1] Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave:  The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst (New York, NY:  Penguin Press, 2017), 387-389 (Kindle edition).  Oxytocin is a hormone.  It is produced by the hypothalamus, in the brain, and emitted by the pituitary gland. This is an important hormone during the childbirth process and assists the male reproduction function.

[fredthedead]

Secrets For Real Estate Investing Tips

Real estate investing isn't as straightforward as you might think. The truth is investing is a more time-consuming procedure. It requires finding the ideal property, managing the investment property correctly and maintaining good financial records. You can be successful as a investor only if have time and interest to find great properties and keep track of your possessions. You will need to understand some property investing tips so as to be secure and profitable.

Try to construct a suitable real estate network. In case you have opted to try investments, then it's much better to build the perfect group of people around you. This team could consist of investment professionals comprising an agent, a mortgage broker, an attorney, an appraiser and an accountant. But ensure to select just professionally experienced and talented investment professionals to direct you.

Get idea from close men and women who have investment expertise. You can get suggestions from those that are close to you, including your friends, coworkers, neighbors and family, who have property investment experience. Get an idea in their investment expertise, from legal issues to tenant difficulties.

Look closely at the industry and do your own research. Try to research to know the worth of a property. You can even search Real estate investor websites with MLS listings to get an idea about the properties closer to your region.

Be certain that you accurately assess your property's cash flow. Perform a cash flow analysis including your monthly earnings and expenses. Calculate your mortgage payments, insurance amounts and utility costs. Allot some amount for repairs and upkeep. Get an idea of the sales cost, building price and rental rates of properties in your region. 

Negotiate openly in the event you have opted to purchase a real estate property. This may help to prevent wasting time in investment properties which aren't within your budget. Try to locate potentially-profitable properties and publicly negotiate the best prices.

Be a safe investor. Ensure to create your property just after considering essential factors and deciding your investment plan. Get suggestions and advice from experienced and talented investment professionals or from Real estate agent websites prior to making a property investment. Only then you can create a safe investment.

Make sure to attract good tenants for your property. Avoid choosing problematic tenants to be able to prevent unnecessary issues in future. Select only potential tenant whose history and credit checks provide positive outcome. As soon as you have picked a tenant, make sure to clearly explain the rental provisions to them, and be sure to get a decent security deposit. If your tenant is truly great, make sure to make them happy by all means.

These investing tips are the guidelines for getting successful investors. Building a suitable network, getting proposal from individuals experienced in investments, understanding updated marketplace, doing your own research, assessing cash flows, negotiating publicly, creating safe investment and receiving good renters, are the hints to enhance your investment returns in terms of both money and peace of mind.

The Five Worst Real Estate Money Wasters

The real estate sector is among the most lucrative industries out there and those doing the profiting are not always the agents. Real estate agents and brokers are always bombarded with ads promising ways to earn more money without needing to lift a finger or brand yourself better.

Here is the thing: No amount of money will replace hard work and you won't need to feed the demand for more expendable income in case you decrease your costs and only pay for services and tools that provide you a terrific ROI (return on investment).

Here are five products property agents/brokers purchase that are a huge waste of money:

1) Magnetic Car Signs - I am not sure who thought this was a fantastic idea but placing your contact information on the outside of your vehicle serves no practical function for two reasons.

First, if you are driving anywhere you'll do between 30 - 55 miles and at that rate how a lot of people do you believe (realistically) will see your name, realize that you're a realtor, consider using you for their real estate needs and have the capacity to write down your number or web site address.

Even if you DID find somebody who was interested in your service after seeing the signal what are you going to do if you see them after you for 2 miles in your rear view mirror? Probably try to evade them. Now they think you are a crazy driver and also don't have the last 2 digits of your phone number.

Which brings me to my next point: What if you cut off someone or somehow manage to upset someone on the street? Is putting your name, number and other personal info out there in the open really a fantastic idea?

Magnetic car signs are a terrific idea for builders, plumbers and comparable service companies but you need to save your $30 and use it to get an AdWords campaign.

2) Third Party Website Vendors - I am not writing off all property site vendors because I really do think there are a couple of amazing website vendors like.

In an upcoming series I will be showing you how you can construct your very own property site for under $500.

3) Lead Generation Websites - I have tried a few different lead generation sites and really closed one house sale based on a lead I purchased but generally speaking you can spend the same $20-$40 which you'd spend on every lead to advertise your site via PPC (Pay Per Click) and yield more qualified leads than what you would get from a lead generation site.

Tip: If you do not wish to become involved with search engine PPC (which can run hundreds of dollars per month if you are not careful) you might want to think about advertising on heavily trafficked property search engines using an inexpensive advertisement subscription version.

4) Newsletter Services using Recycled/Generic Follow-Up Letters - I regularly receive unsolicited emails from coaches in my Keller Williams office which are generically written (pre-written) newsletters offered by the company. I don't read them and the odds are your prospects do not read them either.

Instead, sit down and write (or pay someone to write) a customized list of newsletter emails that are related directly to your lead's demands. By way of instance, say a lead inquires about active adult communities in your area that they want to see 12 months from today. By creating your own follow up email collection for active adult buyers you're likely to have a higher conversion ratio than you would with, say, a generic"Hello Mr. Buyer" or recipes email.

Hint: A great, inexpensive service to use for your email follow up with real estate prospects is Aweber. It is used by top business people in many businesses and you may take it for a free test drive by going to the link above.

5) Recipe Cards and Unrelated Direct Mail Marketing Pieces - I am all about branding oneself but branding yourself through marketing materials unrelated to your business isn't intelligent branding. If you will do direct mail marketing contemplate what you're asking the receiver to do. Would you like them to bake cookies? Because that is exactly what a recipe card mailer implies.

Maintain your marketing focused by sending property market reports and buying/selling suggestions which can prove useful to your potential if they need your services.

By holding your property expenses accountable you will start to notice what efforts are generating the most business for you and what is just burning a hole in your pocket.

[viditure]

Ster – Boosting value with data-driven contextual advertising

AT Internet recently held its Media Workshop and found out how Dutch advertising agency Ster’s groundbreaking approach to online advertising is making waves in the media world. By switching its business model from targeted programmatic ad tech, to contextual advertising, they have set an important precedent in the industry. 

Introduction 

Ster is the exclusive sales house for the Dutch public broadcaster and media group NPO. Since 1965, it has been selling ad inventory across the NPO’s range of television & radio channels as well as digital outlets.  

Ster’s goal is to ensure that all adverts on NPO’s channels reach as wide an audience as possible. It provides both broad and specific ad targeting that leverages the media group’s quality programming in order to boost the advertisers’ brand awareness and consumer buying intent. 

Background 

NPO has a display reach of 6.8 million per month, with 30 websites / apps, and online video audience of 8.4 million per month. As the Dutch national broadcaster, NPO is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture & Science – however 20% of the funding comes from Ster’s advertising revenue. NPO thus relies heavily on the money it makes through its ad house Ster to provide high quality programmes & content and drive audience reach. 

Ster had previously used 3rd party tracking and programmatic ad targeting to maximise the reach and impact of its advertising space and sell inventory. However, the arrival of the GDPR in 2018 led to 90% of visitors opting out of cookie consent and had a significant impact on business. With users increasingly concerned that their personal information was being ab(used) within the digital advertising flow, the agency was left with only 10% of its audience now legally eligible for “normal” targeted advertising. No system was yet available that was GDPR-compliant and that made it possible to serve ads without using or implementing any cookies.  

Ster therefore began looking for new GDPR-compliant ways to target its adverts in a transparent ad environment that could be trusted by the public, advertisers and legislators.  

Challenges 

As well as they issue of personal data being used for advertising purposes, the other hot topic involves the transparency of online technical solutions.  

In order to create an ad-tech free and transparent business model, Ster therefore needed a clear picture of the programmatic advertising universe to understand all the players involved. It was also crucial to breakdown the costs of getting an advert from the source to the end user and find ways to reduce or even completely remove the money leakage. 

Then there was the issue of persuading advertisers that it was economically viable to carry on buying ads that weren’t based on user behaviour. It’s widely accepted in the industry that cutting out 3rd party trackers/cookies can significantly reduce publisher revenue with some reports claiming a potential loss of up to 50%. 

Solution 

 As Ster intended to operate in a completely ad-tech free environment, they had to design a system that was still able to leverage users’ online interests, without the need to invade their private data. 

Understanding tech chain black-boxing 

Through a study by the ISBA, the society representing UK advertisers, Ster were able to get a clear overview of the ad tech chain structure and its value.  

By clearly displaying all the exchanges with the Demand-side platforms (DSPs), Supply Side Platforms (SSPs) and Data Management Platforms (DMPs), as well as first exchange partners, the study shows how the advertiser’s euro has to pass through many different counters before it reaches the publisher. As well as nearly 50% of the revenue being siphoned off, 15% of the revenue mysteriously disappears in all paths and can’t be traced.  

Switching to contextual advertising 

To target the most relevant audience without using ad tech, Ster shifted to a data-driven contextual ad model.  

Although a long established method which was in place before the rise of ad tech, contextual targeting was previously used as more of a basic indicator of user preference and based on simple elements such as a program’s title and genre – with only a 30% rate of accuracy.  

Ster’s innovative approach was to leverage specific metadata from NPO’s programme subtitles (integrated into all their programmes) to get high-precision info about the context. By using a data-driven multidimensional wordcloud called ‘Word2Vec’, Ster is able to ascertain how often words occur together and their distance from different categories or contexts, prioritising the most important words. Then with mathematical formulae based on syntactic relationships, the model is able to connect up the words in the metadata subtitles and pinpoint the context of a program, episode or article with a 95% accuracy rate. This can then be used to sell ad inventory and still reach the most interested and relevant audience. 

Successfully measuring cookie-free campaigns 

One drawback of running ad campaigns without cookies is that it’s more difficult to measure users after they’ve viewed content. It’s therefore difficult to track the success of the various campaigns. 

To work round this, Ster started working with a research partner Brand Metrics, who enabled them to measure the brand effects of cookie-free campaigns. By asking visitors a brief question in the display slot about their relationship with the advertiser, Ster could gain info on the key brand KPIs such as familiarity, consideration, preference and behaviour. This measurement is done carried out before and after campaigns and the difference in the brand KPIs indicates their effectiveness. Although this approach only works for display campaigns, they saw positive results for several advertising brands including Exterioo garden furniture, who saw an 8% increase in awareness as well as larger brands such as DAS and Nationale Nederlanden. 

Results 

Increased ad sales despite global pandemic 

NPO switched from tracking-based targeting to targeting without any personal data in January 2020. In the following weeks, their revenue increased by 61% compared to January 2019. This continued into February, where revenue increased 76% over the previous year. Then despite the arrival of Covid-19, revenue increased 18% in March over the previous year, 9% in April, and 14% in May. In total, Ster saw 27% growth from January – September 2020, vs. 2019 and are expecting up to €2M increased revenue in 2020 vs. 2019. 

Improved CTRs and conversion 

Ster also saw that contextual campaigns generated clicks more often than non-contextual campaigns.  

They also saw this in a number of specific campaigns, which showed that a campaign used in the right context led to stronger conversions. For example, a campaign by a travel advertiser proved to be more effective in the context of travel/holiday programmes than if it was only used for a target group. 

No consent module → Improved User Experience 

Ster’s new approach has significantly boosted the UX. As there isn’t any personal or login data from NPO users in the new process, Ster no longer need to ask for user consent to carry out personalised advertising. This means the visitor experience is improved as they no longer get bombarded by cookie pop-ups. The reduced number of data points, volume of data shared, and intermediaries also means that the pages load far more quickly. Everything is fully controlled, and they don’t drop any cookies whatsoever.  

Streamlining the process 

When a user starts a video, Ster receives an ad call in their custom-made adserver, without any personal information. There are then a range of possibilities for 3rd parties to buy their inventory. Advertisers no longer need to use a DSP or agency to buy the content, and they no longer need different SSPs or DMPs to make sure the advert is relevant. Ster have full control over everything happening in their network.  

All parties benefit from Ster’s simple setup 

Ster have so far demonstrated that it’s entirely possible for advertisers to target the most relevant audience even without using cookies. In an ecosystem free from cookies or the need for personal data, value is based on the content.  

Instead of the different exchanges and difficult layouts, all parties profit as the users have a privacy-friendly experience. Advertisers have more exposure for the same budget as they only need the ad-serving fee. By removing all the middle-men, they keep the process as minimal and simple as possible. The publishers also receive more revenue as there are far fewer intermediate parties. Ster is fully transparent with the direct connection to the content inventory and the 15% that previously vanished is no longer an issue. 

Moving forward (profitably) without cookies 

As well as the campaign results, the outstanding business results have also reassured advertising investors. Ster’s increased 2020 turnover has already generated a lot of positive spin and been a good indicator that their non-cookie-based ad business model is sustainable. They are also carrying out further development in context targeting in terms of delivery and measurement to make it even more specific. 

Going into 2021 and beyond, Ster’s model has set the example that it’s possible to entirely remove the cookie-based ad tech ecosystem. They are also keen to share their context & ad serving tools soon with other parties who are dealing with the same no-consent issues.  

With the major browsers clamping down on 3rd party tracking, the issue of transparency and the abuse of personal data for online advertising isn’t going anywhere soon… 

Article Ster – Boosting value with data-driven contextual advertising first appeared on Digital Analytics Blog.

from Digital Analytics Blog https://ift.tt/39Emgeo via IFTTT

[indianarrative1]

Infrared (IR) 4.0 and 5.0 are on the horizon today. These technologies work on the same medium, wired, or wireless, which has taken both China and India forward, like in IR 3.0. India had the additional advantage of having IT and mobile technologies in their genes. Perhaps such genes ensure most of the world chiefs of such companies being Indians, and also most writing software or algorithms in the world being Indians.

China has also invested huge monies on these technologies, but only Indian-advanced digital country collaboration can change the world like it was changed during 1980-2017 by US-China collaboration. With its newfound power, the Chinese are also loudly stating that they are very powerful and will shortly take over the world. Acquiring more power and the land area has also been in the Chinese genes for thousands of years, with dynasties like Great Qing and Mao being revered today.

Technologies being on the horizon, the developed world, which includes China now, will try its best to stop the natural advantage of China, which has invested heavily in new generation technologies and India, which has new digital technologies in its genes to take these extremely disruptive technologies further.

We have to recognize that the first American action in 2019 was to negotiate a settlement after the 2015 Manifesto. But these failed due to the public reaction against China and its involvement in the Corona crisis being very strong, almost reaching limits that will lead to a similar position, whoever in the US wins the election.

There is also a very strong reaction against BRI, first opposed by India, and then Japan.

Mao is still celebrated in all Chinese minds for all his expansionist and aggressive approach and is also a cult figure for Xi Jinping, who said in his speech to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, that when the CPC Central Committee set off from Xibaipo to Beijing on the morning of March 23, 1949, Mao Zedong said: “Today is the day to go to Beijing to take the exam. The practice has proved that our party has achieved excellent results in this historic examination. At the same time, the exam is not over yet and continues. Today, all the work our party unites and leads the people to do is the continuation of this examination.”

According to Xi, a series of achievements have taken place, but some officials have developed a sense of pride and complacency and believe that the party’s ruling position is now stable and we can sit back and relax and enjoy the blessings on our merits. As a result, some people could not control their own hands and became corrupted and stood against the people; some people did not want to be enterprising, were greedy for enjoyment, and lost their fine traditions. Xi is, therefore, far more aggressive domestically and internationally.

In the future, China will employ millions of American workers and dominate thousands of small communities all over the US. Chinese acquisition of US businesses set a new all-time record last year, and it is on pace to shatter that record this year. Smithfield Foods acquisition is an example. Smithfield Foods is the largest pork producer and processor in the world. It has facilities in 26 US states and it employs tens of thousands of Americans. It directly owns 460 farms and has contracts with approximately 2,100 others. But, now, a Chinese company has bought it for $4.7 billion, and that means that the Chinese will now be the most important employer in dozens of rural communities all over America.

Due in part to many countries’ massively bloated trade deficit with China, the Chinese have trillions of dollars to spend. They are only just starting to exercise their economic muscle. It is important to keep in mind that there is often not much of a difference between “the Chinese government” and “Chinese corporations”. In 2011, 43 per cent of all profits in China were produced by companies where the Chinese government had a controlling interest.

Chinese involvement is massive, and no analyst is precisely able to assess China’s part in US manufacturing and business chains — e.g. last year, a Chinese company spent $2.6 billion to purchase AMC entertainment, one of the largest movie theater chains in the US.

But China is not just relying on acquisitions to expand its economic power. “Economic beachheads” are being established all over America. For example, Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group, Inc. recently broke ground on a $100 million plant in Thomasville, Alabama. Many of the residents of Thomasville, Alabama will be glad to have jobs, but it will also become yet another community that will now be heavily dependent on communist China.

And guess where else Chinese companies are putting down roots? In Detroit, where the local American industry is facing existential threats. Chinese-owned companies are investing in American businesses and new vehicle technology, selling everything from seat belts to shock absorbers in retail stores, and hiring experienced engineers and designers in an effort to soak up the talent and expertise of domestic automakers and their suppliers. After being bailed out by US taxpayers, GM is involved in 11 joint ventures with Chinese companies.

China seems particularly interested in acquiring energy resources in the US. For example, China is actually mining for coal in the mountains of Tennessee. Guizhou Gouchuang Energy Holding Group spent $616 million to acquire Triple H Coal Co. in Jacksboro, Tennessee. At the time, that acquisition really didn’t make much news, but now a group of conservatives in Tennessee is trying to stop the Chinese from blowing up their mountains and taking their coal.

China is also planning to build entire cities in the US just like they have been doing in other countries. Right now, China is actually building a city larger than Manhattan just outside Minsk, the capital of Belarus. There are many such projects in many countries with Chinese precision implementation abilities.

As an overall economy, China is now in aggregate the leading manufacturer of goods in the entire world, it uses more cement than the rest of the world combined, is now the number one producer of wind and solar power on the entire globe, it produces three times as much coal and 11 times as much steel as the US does. To keep a futuristic hold on the NextGen economy, China produces more than 90 per cent of the global supply of rare earth elements, and has acquired enormous reserves, is now the number one supplier of components that are critical to the operation of any national defense system, it publishes substantial scientific research articles and is expected to become number one in the world very shortly.

Again, to control and monopolize on infrastructure in the world, it now has its own ports and industries all over the world and has launched its own BELT and ROAD scheme.

China understands that US and EU can’t decouple easily and they can’t do much harm militarily in the Asian region, so why not create a win-win situation economically as well as militarily because they understand that rivalry with the western world is going to increase — so, first, establish supremacy in the Asian region.

On the issue of American or Chinese supremacy, the jury is still out, but no one can forget the way the Americans destroyed Japan after the Pearl Harbour bombings and the entire Soviet power without firing a bullet, nor can they forget the destruction of Germany and its reconstruction after the Second World War.

(Pradip Baijal, a former disinvestment secretary and former Trai chairman, is the author of Containing the China Onslaught. Views expressed are personal)

[realestateofdreams]

Real estate

what is real estate?

Real estate is a property consisting of land and its buildings, as well as the land's natural resources, including uncultivated flora and fauna, farmed crops and livestock, water, and any other mineral deposits.

Comprise real estate

Real estate is both a tangible asset and an immovable type. Examples of real property include land, buildings, and other improvements, plus the rights to use and enjoy that land, and all its improvements. Renters and leaseholders may be entitled to inhabit land or buildings that are considered to be part of their property, but these rights are not strictly considered real estate. Real property is not the same thing as personal property, and should not be confused. Personal assets include intangible assets such as investments, as well as tangible assets such as furniture and fixtures such as a dishwasher. Even renters may also claim parts of a home as personal property, provided that you have purchased and installed the property with the permission of the lessor.

KEY TAKINGS

Real estate is real, that is, tangible, land-based property and everything on it, including buildings, flora and fauna, and natural resources.Real estate has 3 basic categories: commercial, residential, and industrial.Residential real estate is less expensive and more feasible to individuals when it comes to investment, while commercial real estate is more valuable and stableImmovable properties offer income and capital appreciation as an investment.You can invest directly in real estate — buying land or property — or indirectly by buying shares in publicly traded investment trusts (REITs) or mortgage-backed securities (MBS)

Real Estate Types

Though the media often refer to the "real estate market," examples of real estate can be grouped into three broad categories based on their use. Residential real estate  - Comprises undeveloped land, houses, condominiums, and town halls. The structures may be single-family or multi-family dwellings and maybe properties owned or rented. Commercial real estate - Comprises non-residential buildings, such as office buildings, warehouses, and retail buildings. These buildings may be stand-alone or in shopping centers. Industrial real estate Includes factories, commercial parks, mines, and farms. Usually, these properties are larger in size, and locations may include access to hubs such as rail lines and harbors.

Real Estate and Home Ownership Benefits

The most common type of real estate investment in the United States is homeownership, also known as owner-occupancy. According to the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), approximately two-thirds of residents are homeowners. These owners have often financed the purchase through a mortgage loan, in which the property acts as collateral to the debt. IMPORTANT- In the 2019 edition of its annual home value analysis, the Zillow real estate website estimated the total value of all U.S. homes in 2018 was $33.3 trillion, 71 percent higher than the then $19.4 trillion national gross domestic product (GDP). Individuals shopping for home mortgages are confronted with a variety of options to help them realize the dream of property ownership. Hypothecaires can charge interest at either fixed-rate or variable rate. Fixed-rate mortgages generally have higher interest rates than variable-rate mortgages, which in the short term could make them more expensive. In the short term, fixed-rate loans cost more, because they are protected against future interest rate increases. Banks publish amortization schedules that show how much of the monthly payments a borrower makes to pay off interest versus how much goes to pay off the loan's principal. Balloon loans are mortgages that, over time, don't fully amortize — reduce to zero. Instead, the borrower pays interest for a given period, for example, five years, and then, at the end of the term, must pay the remainder of the loan in a balloon payment. Mortgages can also come in with heavy costs including transaction fees and taxes. These extra expenses are often cashed into the loan. Once potential homeowners have proved eligibility and secured a mortgage from a bank or other lender, they must complete further steps to ensure that the property is legally for sale and in good condition.

Profits for Commercial real estate

Commercial real estate is used for commerce and encompasses everything from strip malls and free-standing restaurants to corporate and skyscrapers towers. It is often distinguished from the industrial ground, which is a realistic space used in drug manufacturing. Buying or leasing real estate is very different from buying a home or even buying residential property for commercial purposes. General industrial leases are longer than domestic leases. Like buildings designed to be private residences, commercial real estate returns are dependent on their viability per square foot. In fact, borrowers may require a bigger down payment on a commercial real estate mortgage than what is expected for a home.

Investing in Real Estate

One can actively invest in real estate by buying real estate or land parcels; or indirectly, by buying shares of publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) or mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Investing directly in real estate results in profits— or losses— through two mechanisms that have not changed in centuries: rent or lease revenue and land appreciation. Unlike other investments, real estate is affected dramatically by its surroundings and its immediate geographical area. Hence the well-known real-estate principle "place, location, location." In particular, residential real-estate prices are influenced mainly by local factors, except for a significant regional recession or depression. These considerations include the employment rate in the city, local economy, crime rates, transport infrastructure, school quality, municipal services, and property taxes. ProfessionalStarter Offers steady income Is generally unliquidOffers value for moneyInfluenced by conditions which are very localPortfolio DiversificationRequires large initial outlay of capitalCan be purchased with levyMay require active management, know-how Important differences exist in investment in residential and commercial real estate. Residential real estate, on the one hand, is usually less expensive and smaller than commercial real estate and is, therefore, more affordable to the small investor. On the other hand, commercial real estate is often more valuable per square foot, and its leases are longer, which in theory ensures a more predictable stream of income. Larger sales translate to more responsibility. Commercial rental property is more heavily regulated than residential real estate, and these regulations may vary from country to country and state to state, as well as from county and city. Zoning regulations even within cities add a layer of needless uncertainty to commercial real estate investments.ity. For commercial rental agreements, there's also an increased risk of lease turnover. If the business model of the lessee is weak, their product is unattractive, or they are poor management, then they may declare bankruptcy. The business failure will abruptly stop the production of revenue from expensive real estate. Furthermore, it can depreciate just as land can value. Once-hot retail areas were beginning to decline into declining shopping centers and dead shopping malls.

Income

Income from property comes in many forms. The biggest factor is the rent paid on property which has already been residential or commercial properties. Yet companies will also pay royalties on raw land for natural resource finds. We may also pay to build infrastructure on it, such as cell towers or pipelines. Income may also come through transactions in indirect real estate. In a REIT the owner of multiple properties sells shares to investors and in the form of distributions passes rental income through. Similarly in an MBS, interest and principal payments are collected from a pool of mortgages and passed on to investors. All REITs and MBS investment products trade like stocks, with their underlying security being immovable properties. Therefore, they should deliver capital appreciation is the market value benefit of the stock.

Types in real-world real estate investment

Mortgage-backed securities have received a lot of bad press from the role they played in the 2007 mortgage meltdown sparking a global financial crisis. They are still in existence and being sold, though. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are the most accessible way for the average investor to buy into those goods. Such goods bear a degree of risk, as all investments do. These may however also offer diversification of the portfolio. Investors need to examine the portfolios in order to ensure that the funds are trained in investment-grade MBS, not the type of subprime that was in the recession. As of April 2019, this type of high-performance vehicles includes: As of April 2019, vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF (VMBS), which monitors the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities Float Adjusted Index, consisting of federal agency-backed MBS with gross reserves of $250 million and a fixed maturity of one year. Priced at about $53 per share, the fund has a 2.58 % dividend yield. iShares Barclays MBS Bond ETF (MBB), which focuses on both fixed and adjustable mortgage securities, and tracks the U.S. MBS Index for Bloomberg Barclays. Its holdings include bonds issued or guaranteed by government-sponsored companies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and are therefore AAA-rated. It gives a yield of 2.48 percent, selling at $108 per share. SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Capital Mortgage Backed Bond ETF (MBG), which also uses the U.S. MBS Index as an index, but adopts a more aggressive approach to raising returns. It offers a yield of 3.15 percent at $26 per share. read more... Read the full article

[nina-richpeace]

The retreat of the domestic garment enterprises,with the help of intelligent overtaking?

As a big garment country,comparative with foreign enterprises,China’s garment enterprises have no sales more than 100 billion.In the face of a new era,Chinese garment enterprises seem to be generally inadequate.

 Daphne,BELLE shoes overlord had to leave,became the memory of the times.Sport brand LINING lost the throne abdication to brother ANTA.Giant Bosideng continuous closed thousands shops,fought in the women’s market.Domestic fast fashion leader Metersbonwe continue losses,became abandoned child of the market.

 In 2016,20 companies with 10 billions of the market capitalization profit less than 500 million RMB in the past half year, and some companies' profits declined sharply compared with the same period last year.

 But at the same time,reported in 2016 by financial newspaper,the parent of Zara,the world’s largest clothing retailer Inditex SA annual sales reached 233 Euros.,sales year-on-year growth of 12% in 2015, net profit was 3 billion 200 million euros, comparable store sales rose 10%, the highest increase over the past 14 years.

Survive or die?Chinese clothing enterprises come to the crossroads of life and death.

Can't accept losing supply chain

 The economic downturn also link under what Chinese clothing enterprise? Contrast, global management ZARA, UNIQLO, China garment enterprises dilemma is very obvious. After farewell to the rapid growth, when the demographic dividend began to fade, all the prototype of Chinese clothing enterprises began to expose.

 Over the past more than 10 years, the demographic dividend outbreak, relying on the "star endorsement + a lot of advertising," China garment enterprises began explosive growth, of course, benefits obviously: rapid expansion, to make money easily.

In this regard, Anta's Ding Shi Zhong described this model is: earn money with closing eyes.

The lack of ability of product design, supply chain process, inventory management and cost management can not keep up, as several key links of garment enterprises, China clothing enterprises generally lack of preparation, eventually leading to a common consequences of high inventory.

 For the fastest growing sports apparel. In 2015, the share of Nike and Adidas in China reached 17.4% and 16% respectively; however, Anta ranked only 9.9% in the domestic sports category.

According to the china data research center on the 2016 Chinese sports brand influence survey report shows that the top five are:Nike, CONVERSE, Anta, Adidas, Reebok.Only Anta brand the low-end is in the list.,the domestic sport brands just are a dim.

The same situation also occurred in other areas--China clothing enterprises YOUNGOR, Mester, shanshan , Metersbonwe retreat, and Spani Zara, Sweden H&M, American GAP, Japan UNIQLO, France UR, Holland C&A as the representative of the fast fashion brand take cities and seize territory,t he market staged a "eight" for the Allied forces.

Among them,the most typical is UNIQLO. In 2014, while Chinese clothing listed companies losses, transformation and meet the eye everywhere,it is opened 374 stores less than a year with a breath.

The reason for the decline of the traditional China clothing brand,clothing industry marking experts have said: ”in china,needless to say sea orchid house,even known to fast the Smith Barney,this process should be two or three times the time.” He said, ”this process” refers to the Zara about two weeks leading time.simply speaking,within two weeks from design to ready-made clothing placed on the counter. It's 3 months for international brands, but for Chinese clothing companies, this is usually 6~9 months.

 Not only the brand management, China service companies have been in the field of high-end play does not go in, only in the supply chain management, known as the major clothing manufacturing country, Chinese garment enterprises also retreat.

 Typically like Li Ning Co. Price hike into high end rout. Due to inventory management, cost management inappropriate, resulting in Li Ning Co from 2010 to 2015, the company has been in the inventory state.

 And wanted to learn Zara is a very good case against smith.

 Since 2008 since listing, Smith Barney has been trapped in the high inventory, inventory turnover rising inventories accounted for more than once close to 30%. The performance is not optimistic, in 2015 net profit of 432 million yuan loss, 2016 weak earnings, the first half of 2017 and a loss of about 40000000 yuan.

 Compared with the supply chain management system of ZARA, the gap can be seen.

 Zara in order to ensure the efficient operation of the entire system, invested heavily to establish their own textile and garment processing field, the establishment of a logistics transportation enterprises in the main sales area, and do not join with any department stores, stores, only through the exclusive retail network sales, self makes quality control and time control becomes more effective.

 And this one, also uses a similar pattern of UNIQLO, design, production, manufacturing, sales, transportation process control.

 For Smith Barney's failure, retail experts pointed out, Smith Barney in agent system, simply can not go to the fast fashion Zara. Because the initiative of ordering system is in the hands of a large number of agents, in fact, the formation of the bottom-up system of group goods.

In addition to different patterns of gene, the traditional garment enterprises Zara, UNIQLO and other fast fashion giant data and information is Chinese does not have. A real case is a clothing industry experts to Septwolves, but to remind each other: you have done for decades accumulated so many data men, why not?

 This time, the listed company's seven wolves began to realize the use of data. We can see the gap between technology and international enterprises.

 And the Zara database has long been built - the last ten years, Zara every day from around the world to collect data into their own headquarters database, and then standardized for designers to use. Make it become the global garment industry, response speed and flexible management of business, industry was nezan for fashion industry in the DELL computer".

 The transition, Chinese clothing enterprise more should be facing the gap, spare no effort to catch up.

 This is an uphill battle, but we have to win, because as a textile big country and a large population, so that out is really a little shame.

Faced with foreign big the retreat of the war, the traditional garment enterprises China have to rise up, to defend their territory, this time, they chose the intelligence and big data as their weapon to fight back.

 "I want to UNIQLO and fight!" this is the 2015 sea orchid house head Zhou Jianping released a relentless.

 In this regard, over the past few years, the sea orchid house introduced RFID technology, spent 1 billion 600 million yuan to establish a comprehensive logistics center, sponsorship of major entertainment variety show, the use of young spokesmen.

 The intention to achieve corner overtaking by the new technology, fight to win or die.

 In terms of supply chain management, Hai Lan's family chose to cooperate with Tmall.

 As a light asset model of the sea orchid house, the transformation may be easy to cultivate, but can you succeed? I am afraid that time is the best answer.

 In the past, the big brother of clothing enterprises, YOUNGOR clothing is ready to enter the high-end field.

 "YOUNGOR does not want to do repeated labor, but to create the same brand Kingdom LV, high-end clothing customization will undoubtedly allow YOUNGOR into a very subdivision of the top market." This is the declaration of chairman Li Rucheng of YOUNGOR group for more than half a year.

 This time, YOUNGOR's sharp weapon is the smart factory. In order to forge the supply chain, YOUNGOR officially launched the intelligent manufacturing project, in Ningbo to build shirts, suits, fashion three boutique workshops, from large-scale production to high-quality, customized transformation. At present, the transformation of YOUNGOR is quite stable.

 YOUNGOR in the first half of 2017 earnings show that YOUNGOR clothing business revenue of 2 billion 449 million yuan, an increase of 10.67% over the same period last year; net profit of 440 million yuan, an increase of 12.96% over the same period last year.

 YOUNGOR, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg for intelligent manufacturing to transform the clothing supply chain.

The coolest enterprise in Qingdao is also preparing to export the technology that has been accumulated in the field of customized clothing for many years to the whole industry.

 It is reported that cool special intelligent plant can be realized from the product customization, trading, payment, design, production technology, production process, logistics, customer service postprocessing to service the whole process of data driven tracking and network operation, realize the industrialization and manufacturing efficiency by means of individual products, therefore, the factory on completion of the customization process the product and will be sent to the customer, may from the user under the orders of the time just a week.

 In fact, these concepts are not new. As early as 2015, Metersbonwe had 4 billion 200 million yuan to raise funds in the 2 billion 500 million yuan will be used to made the industrial supply chain platform construction, 1 billion 200 million yuan for the O2O full channel platform construction, 500 million yuan for the construction of the large Internet data center cloud platform. However, product quality does not seem to improve.

 With intelligence, Chinese clothing enterprises can bend overtaking? This is a problem. Live or die, in any case, Chinese garment enterprises tomorrow need a tough battle to prove themselves.

 Source: JPLP

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[shaizstern]

Article from WSJ: The Dubious Management Fad Sweeping Corporate America

NPS—or net promoter score—is a measure of customer satisfaction that has developed a cultlike following among CEOs. It also may be misleading.

By Khadeeja Safdar and Inti Pacheco  May 15, 2019 

Best Buy and American Express use it to dole out employee bonuses. Target and Intuitpoint to it to justify investments. Delta Air Lines and UnitedHealth can’t stop talking about it.

Much of Corporate America is obsessed with its net promoter score, or NPS, a measure of customer satisfaction that has developed a cultlike following among CEOs in recent years. Unlike profits or sales, which are measured and audited, NPS is usually calculated from a one-question survey that companies often administer themselves.

Last year, “net promoter” or “NPS” was cited more than 150 times in earnings conference calls by 50 S&P 500 companies, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of transcripts. That’s more than four times as many mentions, and nearly three times as many companies, compared with five years earlier.

Executives pointed to strong or rising NPS as proof that shoppers preferred to pick up orders at Target Corp. stores or that Google’s newest Pixel smartphone was off to a good start. Out of all the mentions the Journal tracked on earnings calls, no executive has ever said the score declined.

Dozens of public companies are reporting the score in securities filings. Last year, “net promoter” was mentioned in 56 proxy filings. Some companies, including American Express Co., Best Buy Co. and Citigroup Inc., list the metric as a criteria for executive compensation, alongside traditional measures such as revenue growth and earnings per share.

The score was introduced in 2003 in a Harvard Business Review article titled “The One Number You Need to Grow.” The Bain & Co. consultant who wrote the article called NPS the “simplest, most intuitive and best predictor of customer behavior” and a “useful predictor of growth.”

Keeping Score

The number of mentions of Net Promoter Score, or NPS*—which companies are touting as a measure of customer satisfaction—in earnings calls has ballooned.

Since then, the metric has taken on a life of its own, so much so that the inventor, Fred Reichheld, said he is astonished companies are using NPS to determine bonuses and as a performance indicator. “That’s completely bogus,” Mr. Reichheld, who still consults for Bain, said in an interview. “I had no idea how people would mess with the score to bend it, to make it serve their selfish objectives.”

The score is typically derived from customer responses to a single question that companies ask at the checkout register of a store or in an email or web pop-up online: On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend the company’s product or service to a friend? The survey usually includes a follow-up question asking customers to explain their ratings.

NPS is based on the premise that every company’s customers can be divided into three groups. People who answer 9 or 10 are “promoters,” or loyal enthusiasts who keep buying. Those who give a score of 0 to 6 are “detractors,” or unhappy customers. Those who answer 7 or 8 are considered “passives,” satisfied but easily wooed by competitors.

The score is determined by subtracting the percentage of customers who are detractors from those who are promoters, with the result falling in a range between -100 to 100. Passives are ignored in the calculation.

Management consultants are notorious for pushing ideas to CEOs using jargon and claims of improved business performance. Total quality management, or TQM, which advocated installing quality programs at companies, and business re-engineering process, or BRP, which was a way to restructure companies, gained traction in the 1990s and then faded. NPS has outlived such fads, spawning a cottage industry of consultants and software firms that help businesses implement and boost their score.

Some academics have questioned the whole idea, suggesting that NPS has been oversold. Two 2007 studies analyzing thousands of customer interviews said NPS doesn’t correlate with revenue or predict customer behavior any better than other survey-based metric. A 2015 study examining data on 80,000 customers from hundreds of brands said the score doesn’t explain the way people allocate their money.

“The science behind NPS is bad,” said Timothy Keiningham, a marketing professor at St. John’s University in New York, and one of the co-authors of the three studies. He said the creators of NPS haven’t provided peer-reviewed research to support their original claims of a strong correlation to growth. “When people change their net promoter score, that has almost no relationship to how they divide their spending.”

Some data scientists said the way NPS is calculated, in which one survey metric is subtracted from another, increases the margin of error and requires a larger sample size to get useful results.

“It’s common for companies to track NPS data as if it’s gospel—not knowing that it’s super noisy by design,” said Kim Larsen, who has worked as a data scientist at several companies, including Charles Schwab Corp.

Bain, which now refers to NPS as “net promoter system,” said some companies are focusing too heavily on the score, but still defended the approach for some practical benefits. It is simple to communicate to employees, provides an easy way to follow up with customers and can be used to benchmark against rivals. The firm also said third-party analyses, including the 2007 studies, of whether NPS correlates with revenue aren’t as good as the analyses companies conduct internally.

“These are not stupid people. They are running large, successful companies,” said Rob Markey, a Bain partner who helps clients use NPS. “They have demonstrated to their own satisfaction that it’s good.”

Among the first companies to implement NPS were General Electric Co., Intuit Inc. and Schwab, whose leaders were convinced of the benefits after meeting with Mr. Reichheld and other Bain consultants. Now, hundreds of companies are using the score and many have tweaked the methodology, such as making the numerical scale 1 to 5 or including additional survey questions.

International Business Machines Corp. said it switched from a three-question survey to NPS in 2015. Employees in different departments can see the NPS feedback on their phones. “What it’s become here is a shared truth,” said Kathy McGettrick, vice president of market development and insights at IBM.

Some NPS users in the Journal analysis said the score correlates with revenue growth, though no company would disclose data to prove that point. Several companies said NPS is just one of many metrics they use to make decisions and that it helps them improve products or services.

Intuit, which makes QuickBooks and TurboTax, began asking its customers the NPS question around 2003. Shortly after, CEO Steve Bennett attributed the company’s growth in self-prepared taxes to its net promoter efforts, since feedback had spurred improvements in some products.

Intuit has referred to NPS more than 60 times on earnings calls since the survey was first implemented. The company has used it to explain investments, including its 2007 acquisition of web-hosting company Homestead Technologies and the expansion of the ad budget for its QuickBooks Online service last year.

“We have not intended to imply that NPS is related to, or a driver of, revenue,” said an Intuit spokeswoman, adding that NPS is one of many metrics the company uses. “It allows our teams to gather customer insights so they can make decisions internally to deliver customer benefits.”

Mr. Bennett, who left Intuit at the end of 2007, later went on to serve as CEO of antivirus software maker Symantec, where he asked employees to stop using NPS, according to people familiar with his tenure. In response to the Journal, Mr. Bennett said he came to learn that the score is less meaningful than the open-ended question that can follow the rating.

“A big challenge with the methodology is that organizations tend to focus on the metric as the objective instead of gaining the insight to learn and act on to improve the customer experience,” he said. “When organizations manage to the metric, they find ways to game the system.”

The results are easy to manipulate, whether intentionally or unintentionally. On Reddit posts, Best Buy employees share tips and tricks to improve NPS, which the company derives from a random sample of customers. They said they can get better results when they explain to customers how the scoring works, or tell them their compensation is connected to the result. Some said they remind only the happiest customers to take the survey.

“When horrible NPS comments would come in, the management would rail at the employees,” said Alan Sabido, a former Best Buy employee who worked at a Las Vegas store for three years until he quit last year. Mr. Sabido recalled an instance when his store team received a bad score because a customer had a poor experience at a different Best Buy location.

NPS took on a greater role after Hubert Joly joined as Best Buy’s chief executive in 2012. The company said it was administering the NPS survey question to customers who bought products as well as those who didn’t. Best Buy also made the metric one of the criteria used to determine bonuses.

Since then, Best Buy has mentioned NPS or net promoter more than 50 times on earnings calls. The company has created a team of employees at its Richfield, Minn., headquarters called “Enterprise NPS” and some of its store workers are also tasked with “driving positive NPS results,” according to job postings.

“We use a number of methods to measure customer satisfaction and NPS is just one of them. We are aware of its limitations but believe it is valuable,” said a Best Buy spokesman. “Our revenue and earnings have increased at the same time we’ve seen NPS improvements.”

When Mr. Joly announced he was stepping aside as CEO in April, Best Buy listed among his accomplishments that NPS grew by three points in the past fiscal year.

In securities filings, Delta Air Lines Inc. has said it measures “customer service performance” as the percentage point improvement in its average NPS. The methodology, the company said, was approved by a board committee and its progress is reported periodically to the board. NPS is also listed as criteria for executive bonuses.

Carol Campbell, Delta’s managing director of customer experience, said most of her work entails using NPS to find opportunities to make investments. The airline added fresh-baked cookies on trans-Atlantic flights, chose to put nine seats in each Boeing 777 row instead of the standard 10 and made enhancements to its app because of NPS.

Delta executives describe NPS as the “true North Star,” she said, though the airline uses other customer metrics as well. “We have been able to statistically correlate our NPS performance with our revenue premium,” she said, referring to how much more Delta is able to charge than a competitor because of its brand.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. has mentioned NPS more times on earnings calls than any other S&P 500 company in the Journal’s analysis. In April, CEO David Wichmann said the insurer’s net promoter scores “continued to advance meaningfully in the first quarter 2019 as we march toward an aggressive target of 70 by 2025.”

“UnitedHealth Group uses NPS as an important measure to understand and continually improve upon the quality of the experience for those we serve,” a spokesman for the company said.

It’s hard for investors to interpret the score because companies don’t typically share response rates, margin of error, or whether results are adjusted for cultural and other biases. Research shows NPS tends to be higher when response rates are lower, and Americans tend to give higher scores than consumers in some countries such as Japan and Korea.

Since so many NPS surveys are sent to customers through emails, web pop-ups and phone calls, it has become harder to elicit a response these days, survey firms said. Email response rates are usually less than 5%, according to an estimate by Qualaroo, a software startup that helps companies conduct user research.

Software providers like Medallia and Qualtrics said they help companies get higher response rates. Satmetrix, which originally helped Mr. Reichheld develop the score and is now a division of software-provider NICE, said it sells access to the “world’s best net promoter certification program.” J.D. Power said it signed an agreement with Bain to “become the officially recognized authority for benchmarking the Net Promoter Score.”

METHODOLOGY

To find the number of mentions of the terms “net promoter” or “NPS,” The Wall Street Journal used transcripts of company conference calls discussing quarterly earnings, retrieved from Factiva, a business research tool owned by WSJ publisher Dow Jones & Co.

The analysis started with more than 40,000 transcripts for calls held from 2003 through 2018, for 688 existing companies that were members of the S&P 500 index at any point during that period, as indicated by S&P Dow Jones Indices.

The Journal analyzed transcripts from companies that are still publicly traded. It excludes 209 companies that were acquired during the period but includes 188 that left the index yet remain public.

Nearly 400 transcripts contained at least one of the terms. A paragraph was counted as a single mention if it contained one or more uses of the terms. Portions of the transcripts consisting of questions from analysts were ignored.

[cecillewhite]

Should You Use an Employee LMS for Extended Enterprise Learning in 2019?

Early in 2014, I set-out to answer a question I constantly hear as a learning systems selection consultant:

“Should we use our employee LMS to educate external audiences?”

Back then, I didn’t definitively say “yes” or “no.” Instead, I advised decision makers to proceed with caution before embracing a one-for-all LMS mindset. Why? Primarily because employee educational goals, interests and motivations don’t apply to extended enterprise learners.

Employees are captive LMS users. They are “known” by the system and they must comply with mandated training assignments.

On the other hand, customers and business partners can’t be forced to engage in learning activities. An LMS often doesn’t “know” the identity of these users until they’re persuaded to register or buy. Even then, their participation is voluntary, not mandatory.

These extended LMS use cases translate into very different functional requirements than employee LMS requirements. The reverse is also true – many employee LMS features are unnecessary in extended enterprise applications.

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There are other reasons why there’s no simple answer to the one-LMS-for-all question. For instance, decisions about extended enterprise learning usually come from business units, not HR or L&D, and these programs are often funded at different times.

Also, extended enterprise initiatives almost always serve many more external learners than employees. This makes a “license economies of scale” argument irrelevant.

For example, a software company with 1000 employees could serve 1 million customers. In this case, the customer education scope would blow employee LMS licensing out of the water.

Most importantly, in contrast with hard-to-measure employee education, extended enterprise learning programs are easy to measure. They contribute to bottom-line results and help companies gain a competitive advantage. Given that kind of executive exposure, business impact – not cost – is the key factor driving vendor selection.

Finally, from a practical and political perspective, choosing an extended enterprise LMS independent of HR or L&D is often easier than pursuing a one-LMS-for-all solution.

Same Question, Different Day. What’s Changed?

Five years after publishing my original post, I still hear that same question on a regular basis. And even though my answer remains the same, my perspective is much different. After all, some things have changed considerably:

•  Extended enterprise learning is no longer a novel idea. Organizations of every size in every industry are proving that you can gain and sustain a competitive advantage by educating customers, channel partners, franchisees, developers, contractors and other external audiences.

•  Learning systems innovation has continued to progress at a mind-blowing pace, along with new business technologies that integrate data and applications, expand their reach, accelerate their performance and add value in countless ways.

•  During the past 5 years, I’ve reviewed over 200 learning systems and helped nearly 60 organizations choose their extended enterprise learning systems. Collectively, these organizations invest more than $15 million a year in licensing fees to run their systems. Now I’m even more confident about what works, what doesn’t – and why.

What do these changes mean for you if you’re wondering whether it’s wise to serve internal and external learning audiences with an employee LMS? Let’s dig deeper.

2 Buyer Categories: Which Profile Fits You?

In our work with learning systems buyers, we see two distinct extended enterprise purchasing profiles. Their objectives, priorities and requirements sometimes overlap, but mostly they’re unique:

•  Corporate Extended Enterprise – These buyers are interested in serving any combination of employees, customers, channel sales representatives, distributors and other business partners. They’re mainly interested in using learning content to support their core business in strategic and measurable ways.

•  Continuing Education – These buyers are professional associations, commercial training companies and entrepreneurial subject matter experts, representing virtually every industry and topic area. They’re interested in modern ecommerce-enabled “learning-as-a-business” systems because selling learning content is their business.

OK. Say you’re a corporate extended enterprise buyer. What’s your next move? Let’s briefly look at LMS options that can meet your needs.

So Many Learning Systems – So Little Time

We’re currently tracking more than 800 business-oriented learning systems. But who has time to sort through such a massive, complex haystack in search of the ideal solution? It helps to assign vendors to several clearly defined categories. Unfortunately, that can be challenging, especially when developers add to the confusion.

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We understand why LMS vendors want to differentiate their platforms. That’s smart marketing. But in recent years, creative positioning seems to have gone off the rails.

On one hand, most vendors now avoid the term “LMS” entirely, fearing that their solutions will seem outdated. Meanwhile, buyers grapple with countless variations on an LMS theme, wondering if there’s any functional difference, at all.

An LMS By Any Other Name…

So, what term should you use when looking for a system to support your organization’s learning needs? Here’s a peek at some of the descriptions we see in our travels:

Learning management system (LMS) Learning experience platform (LXP/LEP) Learning engagement platform Learning optimization platform Workforce training software

Adaptive learning system Blended learning system Personalized learning platform Microlearning platform

Holistic learning platform Integrated learning platform Unified learning system

Cloud LMS Modern LMS Next-generation online learning platform Mobile LMS Mobile training reinforcement system

Course development and delivery platform Course management automation software Digital learning platform Elearning system Elearning management system On-demand training system

Continuous learning platform Lifelong learning platform Professional development platform Knowledge and learning management system

Collaborative learning environment Collaborative learning platform Social learning platform Employee knowledge platform Knowledge and learning management system Wisdom exchange platform

Whew. That’s a lot to digest, but it’s more about branding than substance. Let’s make this a bit easier…

Our Quick Take: 3 Corporate Learning Systems Categories

To simplify the corporate extended enterprise learning landscape, we rely on three categories:

1) Employee/Talent Solutions

These systems focus on workforce onboarding, compliance and professional development. They rely heavily on HR/ERP platform integration (for example with Workday or SAP). Typically, they coordinate work objectives, learning paths, assessments, feedback, collaboration, hiring and performance reviews.

Examples in this group including Adobe Captivate Prime, BizLibrary, Bridge by Instructure, CrossKnowledge, Degreed, Gyrus, Lessonly, SuccessFactors and SumTotal.

These systems generally ignore extended enterprise needs, so they’re not recommended as “single source” learning systems to serve all audiences. However, they are solid employee solutions. So, if you already use one successfully for workforce learning, we typically wouldn’t recommend that you replace it.

2) Corporate Extended Enterprise Solutions

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Traditionally, these systems were built with an “employee-first” mentality, but also offer functionality for external audiences. However, many of these platforms have been strengthening their extended enterprise capabilities in recent years.

For instance, it’s now common to see support for multiple domains, delegated administration, ecommerce, content sharing, CRM integration and robust analytics.

Examples in this group include Cornerstone OnDemand, Docebo, PeopleFluent NetDimensions, Saba, SAP Litmos, Schoox, TalentLMS, Totara and UpsideLMS.

These systems can effectively drive learning programs that target employees, customers, business partners or a combination of audiences. If you already have a system from this category and want to expand your reach, it may be possible.

3) Pure Extended Enterprise Solutions

These vendors ignore employee LMS needs. Instead, they focus 100% of their research, development, marketing, licensing strategy, professional services expertise and thought leadership on the advancement of targeted solutions for customer education, channel training and other extended enterprise learning needs.

Examples include BlueVolt, Community Brands, Learndot by ServiceRocket, LearnUpon, NetExam, Northpass, Skilljar and Thought Industries.

Vendors in this category consistently demonstrate why dedicated extended enterprise solutions are highly preferable and profitable – even for organizations with multiple learning platforms.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the question remains:

Should you use your employee LMS for extended enterprise learning?

Clearly, learning systems have evolved in all categories. Many vendors are able and willing to discuss the pros and cons of any scenario we’ve outlined above. But as a buyer, be prepared. You’ll probably receive radically different advice, depending on which vendors you contact and evaluate.

So, how can you put all that advice to good use? My two cents:  Keep in mind that the most successful LMS choices are based on a business case that carefully considers a buyer’s functional and technical requirements, content realities and licensing preferences, as well as its organizational structure and context.

If you want to talk about how to build a stronger case for internal and external learning systems, send me a note at Talented@talentedlearning.com. I’m happy to help.

Thanks for reading!

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How to Reduce Time-to-Value with Modern Customer Training

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Indoctrinating customers as quickly as possible is a smart business move. But exactly when should you start, how fast should you move and how can you be sure that your onboarding process makes a real difference?

Join John Leh, CEO and Lead Analyst at Talented Learning, and Samma Hafeez, Vice President of Customer Success at Thought Industries, as they explain how to accelerate customer time-to-value. You’ll learn:

What “onboarding” a customer really means

The critical relationship between onboarding and time-to-value

How quick wins and clear milestones drive engagement and adoption

How learning pathways strengthen the onboarding experience

Tips for metrics that align customer objectives with business priorities 

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Should You Use an Employee LMS for Extended Enterprise Learning in 2019? original post at Talented Learning

[turnipsummer14-blog]

Condé Nast Sees Early Returns on Its Pivot to Video

NEW YORK, United States — At the end of the summer, Condé Nast’s chief revenue and marketing officer Pamela Drucker Mann delivered some good news to the chief executive of one of its largest advertisers. The publisher had attracted a large enough audience on YouTube — 20 million subscribers — to reach the kind of scale the executive was looking for online.

“I can finally get… the quality that we have spent millions and millions of dollars [on] in your magazines for however many years — we can now have that on the YouTube platform?” Drucker Mann said he told her. “‘This is my dream come true.’”

Condé Nast only started investing strategically in the video it publishes on YouTube and other third-party platforms in the last year, following what Drucker Mann describes as a mindset change at the privately-held publisher of titles such as Vogue and Vanity Fair. The company had to let go of the idea that advertisers would pay premium rates just to reach magazine readers and visitors to Vogue.com, for example, and embraced third-party platforms like YouTube, too. It was a risky proposition: the publisher was years behind competitors like Buzzfeed and Refinery29, who had followed their audience from desktop to mobile, and from websites to social media. And some of those rivals had invested heavily in online video with little to show for it.

How are we going to open up our world around how we think about content in general and where we want that content to be?

The company built out its video production capabilities and purchased large quantities of data about its audience, which it analyses for advertisers via a proprietary service called Spire. Now, Condé Nast’s video audience is robust enough to put it in competition with television companies, like NBC and CBS, for online advertising dollars, said Drucker Mann.

“It’s legitimately new business for us,” she said. “If you go back a few years, we made content that we created, we distributed in our magazines and that was available on our owned and operated [platforms], and that's it. There wasn’t a concerted energy or effort or interest even in saying: how are we going to open up our world around how we think about content in general and where we want that content to be?”

This shift is one way Drucker Mann is pushing Condé Nast to return to profitability by 2020, after a reported more than a $100 million in losses in 2017, following a collapse in print advertising. The publisher’s digital advertising revenue equaled its print revenue for the first time in the second quarter of 2018, and the company is on track to cut last year’s losses in half this year, according to a representative for the company. Revenue from video is up over 150 percent year-over-year.

Much of Condé Nast’s strategy involves putting the company’s luxury sheen on the tactics many media companies are adopting to survive the shift from print to digital. Across the market, print and digital publishers are wooing brands with audience data they say will drive sales. Online video is another popular strategy, with global media conglomerates betting they can command premium advertising rates by producing large amounts of high-quality video. Others are rolling out memberships — including Condé Nast, which is testing a Vogue model — and paywall subscriptions.

“We’ve never tried to be the biggest, we always wanted to be the best,” said Drucker Mann. “The reality is the [advertising] partnership is really about the relevance and the environment and the opportunity to be in and around our content.”

Now that Condé Nast has the video audience, the goal is to get advertisers to buy in bulk and up front. At the publisher’s NewFront presentation this year in May, the publisher presented advertising products for 2019 that required brands to commit to multi-million dollar deals for the first time. Previously Condé Nast appealed to “scatter market” budgets allocated by advertisers on shorter terms throughout the year. Drucker Mann also announced the forthcoming launch of new dedicated channels for Wired, Bon Appétit and GQ coming to AppleTV, Roku and Amazon Fire. Its video offering, called Prime, also got top billing.

Now, Drucker Mann is reorganising the sales team along similar lines, putting chief business officers on top of three divisions selling advertising to different industries on behalf of the company’s entire portfolio, rather than groups of individual titles. It builds on the changes enacted by former president of revenue Jim Norton at the beginning of 2017.

Susan Plagemann, Vogue’s chief business officer, will now lead fashion and beauty; Chris Mitchell, who previously led Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and other titles, will lead auto, media and entertainment, business, finance, tech, luxury and spirits; and Eric Gillin, who previously worked on the digital business of Architectural Digest, Condé Nast Traveler, Bon Appétit and Epicurious, will focus on consumer packaged goods, pharmaceuticals and health, travel, home and golf.

Each of the three leaders will still represent individual titles, but only in regards to consumer revenue opportunities, such as subscriptions and events. Plagemann, Mitchell and Gillin will retain the publications they already looked after and absorb others.

“We were half industry and half brand sellers; now it’s clear who owns what,” Drucker Mann said.

Drucker Mann is also promoting heads of advertising sales and consumer revenue from within the organisation who will oversee centralised resources and work with the division leads. Craig Kostelic, who helped launch the Food Innovation Group when Drucker Mann was the publisher of Bon Appétit, will lead advertising and Monica Ray, who replaced chief executive Bob Sauerberg as head of consumer marketing when he was promoted to president in 2010, will lead consumer revenue.

Drucker Mann said another way to increase advertising revenue is to capitalise on what she describes as the company’s ability to influence what will be popular for consumers months ahead of time — and to make that information available to brands in advance.

“When we create content, it drives SEO search tremendously. So if we can help our clients get in front of that, that’s a pretty cool angle,” she said.

That “pre-search” offering is part of Spire, the data product it has spent years building in order to try to catch up to the audience data offerings of both its peers and Facebook and Google and become more than a brand marketing partner for advertising partners.

“Everyone has data now, so good for everyone,” said Drucker Mann. “We know we create the influence, but at the same time now we can now prove we drive sales.”

We know we create the influence, but at the same time now we can now prove we drive sales.

Condé Nast is creating more content for advertisers — both branded and not branded. It launched a Beauty Studio in September where editorial teams and brands create video and social beauty content. And Condé Nast’s internal agency, formerly known as 23 Stories and now called CNX, is expected to announce a new managing director shortly, following the departure of Josh Stinchcomb in August to Dow Jones.

“We are consultants for hire,” she said, adding that the agency has accounts on retainer for the first time. Raul Martinez, Condé Nast’s corporate creative director, also oversees CNX.

For a company that has been criticised for being blind to the changes to its business model, continuing to keep its eyes open to how culture changes in a digital world will be key to making any reorganisation or five-year plan effective in the long term. Vogue and Vanity Fair’s ability to define culture and trends justified the publisher’s higher than average page rates in its heyday. But just as its business model is being challenged, so too is its influence. Many fashion and beauty trends are born and raised on Instagram and YouTube.

Drucker Mann underscored the value of Condé Nast’s authority. “People want to know what Wired thinks, they need to know who Vanity Fair is still putting on the cover,” she said. “It doesn't matter what part of Fashion Week is being reported on, people are still looking to Anna [Wintour] to say that this was right and this was wrong, whether they love it or hate it.

“There's an expectation for us.”

Related Articles:

A Five Point Plan for Condé Nast

How Vogue Is Selling Access

Condé Nast Takes First Step Towards Global Integration

Source: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/conde-nast-sees-early-returns-on-its-pivot-to-video

[spoiler2010]

Bullet Points?

          Secretary of Transportation Elaine L Chao arrives at her position at a most opportune time, though facing a critical point in American history. With a steadily growing American population, the need for transportation is greater than ever. As of this writing, socialists are trying to hijack the Green Party for political purposes. There is a clarion call for pollution control, and radical changes will call for new emission regulations affecting billions of vehicles. We are also witnessing a major crisis in many areas where highways and bridges are in immediate need of overhaul or replacement. We have also come to a juncture where smuggling is creating emergency situations across the country. Another problem is the issue of growing demographics with their own transportation issues. All these things will cross Chao's desk, and history will document how these challenges are met.

          For the record, Chao is ethnic Chinese whose parents migrated from Taipei. Her father was the founder of a successful shipping corporation, the Foremost Group. She complemented her knowledge of the industry with a business degree and went on to build her resume with financial institutions. She served in the Department of Transportation under the Reagan and Bush administrations before being hired as Secretary of Labor under Bush. It was a breakthrough achievement for Chao as an Asian-American.

           Her first and foremost challenge comes from environmentalists demanding a departure by the industry from the use of fossil fuel. Since the Seventies, leftists have been rallying behind an international coalition known as the Green Party. Their most significant accomplishment impacting the transportation industry has been the mandatory use of catalytic converters. These have been installed on all American automobiles for emission control. Although initially applauded, the drastic increase of vehicle ownership in the USA has nullified the rate of reduction of carbon monoxide fumes in the atmosphere. Lobbyists are forcing the industry to adapt, and Chao will have to contribute to the system of checks and balances.

            One major problem is the manufacture of ethanol fuel. Although it is a cleaner form of gasoline, the toll it has taken on the American food supply has been significant. Farmers growing and selling corn experienced a windfall profit in selling their crops to oil producers. At first it was a gradual process as consumers were not entirely sold on the new product. It was sold at cheaper prices as a result, and soon price-conscious drivers became ethanol buyers. Soon demand began exceeding supply, and now ethanol is a more expensive product though the clear choice for the environmentally conscious.

            Again we see how concerns within the Cabinet can overlap, and the moral issues are apparent though not of prime importance. With millions of people around the planet enduring starvation and a significant number of Americans being underfed, filling gas tanks instead of stomachs seems blasphemous. This is obviously a Department of Agriculture issue, but Chao would be able to effectively weigh in on the discussion. There are also debates as to the future of diesel fuel. Researchers hold discourses as to the benefits of its availability and whether it should be replaced or rendered obsolete. 

            We are also standing at the threshold of an age of electric engines. As of this writing, there are hundreds of thousands of hybrid cars using electricity to complement their gas energy output. The existing challenge is the enormous amount of electricity required to recharge batteries, which are forced to exert tremendous amounts of power. The burden is on mechanical engineers who are trying to develop systems that can replace the gasoline-powered engine entirely.

           Once again we see the interplay between Departments as the economic situation will evolve. An American economy, increasingly independent of foreign oil or fossil fuel, will create a glut that oil-based economies such as Russia will be able to ill-afford. It will also cause an initial instability as oil conglomerates in the USA will struggle to convert their resources to clean energy. Dropping prices will force Latin American nations to do likewise. Yet, in the long run, it will result in an environmental upswing that is long overdue.

           Beyond policing American vehicles for changing emission control standards, Chao will be required to enforce US standards on interstate commerce. A recent phenomenon has been seen on American highways as to the increasing number of closed weigh stations. It is well known that the standard way to regulate shipping has been to monitor the weight of trucks from place of origin to destination. If controls prove lax, it is tempting for blackmarketers to try their luck in bribing or coercing truckers to move their illicit wares.

           If and when the Trump Wall is constructed, it will allow Border Patrol agents to take a greater hand in deterring such activity. They can also hold socialists' feet to the fire in demanding the supply of electronic surveillance devices that can improve their techniques. Monitors can be installed on trucks and standardized by Chao.  It would allow hardware systems to determine the weight of a vehicle and make the information available to monitoring agents. This could make it nearly impossible for large transports to avoid detection if their cargo weight should change from station to station.  

            There is an economic paradigm that must be considered. Once resources are in less demand in one area, they can be allocated elsewhere to improve yet another service. Once law enforcement costs have stabilized, Chao could use an increased budget to expand the use of roadside services. Tow trucks that cruise the highways providing assistance to motorists could also monitor suspicious activity. If they were to come across large groups emerging from private vehicles at rest areas or vehicles moving cargo from one to another, a message to local authorities could prevent a crime in progress. Granted, there would be a backlash from leftists citing racial profiling or the violation of rights. Yet the deterrent effect on traffickers resulting in lower crime rates would justify the initiative.

             The condition of our infrastructure was a campaign issue for the President, and an energetic response by Chao could prove historic. The biggest obstacle is the increasing number of vehicles on American roadway. San Antonio in Texas is just one of countless cities where highway repair cause brutal delays on a daily basis. Yet once one project is completed, another is underway which takes the obstacles to different locations. In New York City, officials have delayed long-needed upgrades to the subway system due to the horrific inconveniences they would create. In Kansas City in Missouri, we recall President Bush having visited the city and making a joke about an immediate need for fixing all the potholes. If we multiply these scenarios by a thousand, we can appreciate what Chao is facing.

             One possible remedy would be for Chao to meet with chemical engineers in developing a new material for road construction and road repair. Obviously the traditional use of asphalt is outdated and ineffective. Yet the use of metal is out of the question due to the peril of skidding. Plastic compounds that would provide a sleek surface would be equally hazardous. Science would be challenged to come up with a new formula that allows tires to retain traction, being porous yet resilient enough to endure the abuse of snow plows, tractor treads, or other vehicles that make roadways appear as battlefield after the first blizzard.

            Once again this would allow America to become an industry leader on the global market. Despite the piteous shape of our roadways, foreigners driving in the USA often marvel as if they are navigating the Yellow Brick Road. If we were to develop a high-tech paving material, the nations of the world would be flocking to place orders. The billions saved along the passage of time would allow us to reinvest repair funds into the rebuilding of bridges and railways, making America a far safer place.

           Another area where Chao could make her mark on world history in the bullet train issue. Japan remains the only country that relies heavily on bullet trains. This is most likely due to the overpopulation in many areas that creates congestion in local job markets. Being able to transport workers from different regions on timely schedules benefits both employers and employees. We are now seeing how this will prove a tremendous asset to American workers. Though many estimates appear exorbitant at this stage, Chao would be visionary in organizing a conference for investors and entrepreneurs to pioneer such a project.

           Should such a system develop, the earned income would be immediate. In Missouri, for example, a bullet train from Kansas City to St. Louis would ensure that skilled labor would find markets in both cities. There would rarely be gluts in either employment markets. Furthermore, regional cross-training would allow workers to adapt to relocation with low opportunity cost. Were the system to be extended to Chicago, there would be equal benefits to each city. This could also apply to a bullet train network from San Antonio to Houston, or any other cities where workers could avail themselves of regional opportunities.

           This could eventually interact with the Department of Housing as the demand for homes in Chicago would be lessened. Many middle-class families would gladly relocate to areas where the cost of living were more affordable. For Millenials, the psychological impact of moving to different environments would be lessened if their old neighborhoods were just a train ride away. Once the markets between cities achieved equilibrium, the economic levels would also reach parity. The benefit to a major city like Chicago where their resources are chronically overburdened would be tremendous.

            The profit margin would be further extended by the benefits provided to the tourist trade. Travelers throughout the Midwest would be able to visit KC, St. Louis and Chicago within hours without having to book flights or drive for days. It may well develop local markets for merchants who would benefit from the increased commerce. There are many citizens, such as women, children and the elderly, who do not travel due to costs or logistical difficulties. Being able to take a train to a different city would allow them to invest disposable income in broadening their horizons. And local businesses would be the better for it.

            As the network develops, private investors could tap into the market for equal benefit. Obviously we would not want to see heavy freight catapulted across the country over two hundred miles per hour. However, small items such as computer accessories would cause no more stress that trainloads of commuters. This would guarantee speedy deliveries for interstate suppliers that may well open up a new market. Eventually we would see innovators seeking to develop sturdier systems to deliver heavier transports. And Chao's system would grow exponentially.

            It is evident that the heart and soul of American capitalism is its industry. And our infrastructure is the circulatory system that makes it work. The President has entrusted its care and maintenance to Elaine Chao. Let us hope that her uniqueness as an Asian-American will be the least of her accolades. She is in a commanding position to bring our economy along a new horizon in this new American century.