#Does Nike support sustainability initiatives?

[self-learns]

Nike: Business Model, Canvas & SWOT Analysis

Introduction Nike is a globally recognized sportswear and athletic apparel brand that has captured the hearts of millions of people around the world. From professional athletes to fitness enthusiasts, Nike’s iconic swoosh logo has become a symbol of excellence, performance, and innovation. This article will delve into the world of Nike, exploring its history, business model, marketing…

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Falling From Grace- Part 1: The Journey

Calum, Ashton, Luke, and Michael have a prophecy to fulfill. They might not have always been Calum, Ashton, Luke, and Michael but they have always been brothers in the fight. Mythology!sos. Each guy is a God reincarnated from various mythologies

Calum- Tangaroa

Luke- Aengus

Ashton- Zelus

Michael- Bragi

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When they find him with half his body still submerged in water, they are not surprised. His body adorn, as always, in black ink, half his hair tied up into a top knot, the rest falling down over his shoulder blades down to the middle of his back. “Tangaroa! We must go.”

He lifts one hand from the water. They cannot see but his mouth moves as hushed whispers fall over his lips. The other three men wait at the edge of the ocean, toes licked by the push and pull of the waves crashing against the shore. Bragi watches, eyes fluttering close at the feel of the breeze against his skin. 

“If you start quoting some poem, I’m leaving you all here,” Zelus huffs. 

“You won’t make it far,” Aengus retorts. “You need us. All three of us. Remember what happened last time.”

Zelus turns his face from the baby faced, blue eyed, and blond curls man to his left back to the brown body still swaying in the ocean. He doesn’t need to be reminded of what happened the last time he tried to stray away from them. When he walked away, the Earth rumbled. The ground started to crack. All of the gods and Creators stood up in the darkening sky. Their voices boomed in unison, “The end falls upon us unless you reunite with your brethren.” Of course he was not selfish enough to let the world fall apart on his hands. 

 Zelus was just sick of fulfilling this same prophecy over and over, only for it to crumble yet again. The four of them, together, could only maintain the existence of life. Never mind the fact that Zelus knew that Tangaroa’s purpose was the biggest one. Water, from which everything begins and ends. The sea, a calm, almost forgetful body until it was angered. Water carried life and it could crush life too. Tangaroa never overestimated his rule. He never made himself the leader of this ensemble. He always lingered in the back, puffy brown eyes hidden but keen and he stayed quiet. 

He let the others be loud and he lingers, quietly laughing and smiling all the way through their time on earth. Zelus didn’t want to admit it, but he was jealous. His role, in theory, was no less important. Without any feeling of eagerness, people would create nothing. Without a sense of drive, they would invent nothing, nothing would be propelled forward. But he felt partially responsible for some of the nastiness in the world. Tangaroa always told him it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t make them hold onto to such vile beliefs. He only simply told them to believe. And that’s all his job was but it never negated the doubt, never made him feel that much more at ease about the fact that sometimes people believed in the wrong things. 

Bragi pulls the hair back. It won’t stay this length or maybe even this color for long. First they must wait for Tangaroa first though. They always wait on him. Like a mother on the verge of birth, they wait patiently, with some huffed complaints, and wait for him to take the necessary time. He blesses the waters and the waters shall in return bless him back. There is a balance and in his human state, in this mortal host, he must praise it like any other man would. 

“Have we thought of names?” Bragi asks. 

“I like the sound of Luke. I haven’t had too common of a name in a while,” Aengus answers. He appeared first, quite unusual for him. But Zelus got caught up with Zeus and his siblings, Kratos, Nike and Bia. He didn’t quite fork over the details of the meetings and everyone knows not to pry for more than they are given. 

So Aengus cut his hair down, now the curls wrapping around his head and dressed in shorts and a short sleeved top. He’s forgone his sneakers as he waited for the others to arrive on the beach. “Alright Lucas,” Zelus teases.

“Just Luke,” comes the retort with a squeaky laugh. People lay eyes on him and are find himself falling deep into the blue of his eyes. Tangaroa likes to tease that if not for his waters he would have nothing to compare his eyes too. Even though it’s just a joke, the truth is not lost on them. 

“I like the name Michael,” Bragi says. “There’s something strong to it.”

“Then you are Michael, starting from now,” the newly dubbed Luke answers. The two other men turn to the brunette man, hair still long and blowing in the breeze from the ocean front. He watches Tangaroa’s figure wade up to sure. “Ashton,” he says. “And I like to think that this man knows how to take his damn time.” 

“Blessings are not rushed,” Tangaroa answers, taking the towel from Luke’s fingers with a nod. “Calum,” he states, naming himself, this next form. 

With the last man finally dry and decent, though he’s missing a shirt. He’s still wearing the cloth around his waist but ties the towel around, aware that here, now, the sight of his bare back will be frowned upon. “You’re bare ass never gets old,” Michael laughs. 

“Great language from the bard,” Calum quips with a smile. 

“I’ve sung about war and unimaginable violence. I’m allowed to use the word ass.” The four men trudge up the sandy shores. It’s easier to meet up here, in Australia. Strange things happen here. But their journey will take them elsewhere. It always does. “The house is set up here, for now,” Luke starts as they approach his car. Nothing flashy, just a black four door SUV. They need nothing to attract attention to themselves. 

Calum sits in the back with Michael. Luke drives and Ashton rides in the front seat. They wonder what chaos will be brought for thim this time. Who will they run into this time that’s the center of their mission. “I won’t leave this time,” Ashton says. 

“No one’s holding it over you,” Calum returns. 

“I am.”

“You always are. Let it go. New time here, new plans. Nothing old.”

He’s right. But it’s still not an easy pill to swallow knowing you’re the reason shit nearly went to hell. Not that it didn’t happen even when they weren’t here, looking at the currently political landscape. At least he didn’t necessarily fuck this up. It was not his hand that directly impacted that. Water, zeal, beauty, and poetry. They shall always be combined to each other. What is life without water? Life is not sustained without water and to some, life comes from water. What is life without zeal? Boring, life is pointless without an eagerness. What is life without aesthetic value? Bland. Life has no texture if there is no variance in appearance. What is life without words? Life is stagnant with the inability to share stories. 

Or at least that’s what the other gods and Creators have told them. And here are the four pillars humanized, able to walk amongst the new age. Ashton rests his head into the leather of the seat. How shall they fix the world this time? What will be the medium through which they must speak? Will they combine to make a circuit of poets again? Will they fight alongside activists in afros and bellbottoms again? See, that’s the unfortunate truth to their situation. No matter how many times they fix things they always fall apart. History repeats itself. Because those in power don’t change their hearts, they just change their mouths. 

Luke pulls into the lot of the apartment complex.  The men climb out, shuffling quickly into the entrance. People will start to talk soon enough and they will move on. The apartment’s and clothes are always picked out by various servers of the counsel. They don’t interact with them much besides their initial meeting. When the doors swing up, a woman’s already sitting at the dining room table. “Welcome back,” she grins. 

Calum recognizes her, she’s not just some server from the counsel.  “Ḥauḥet, nice to see you again.”

Her jeans are form fitting, the heels are new. “What are you doing here?” Ashton asks. She’s not one to get involved in such matters. 

She shakes her head, the tight braids falling around the sides of her face and the beads at the ends clicking at her gesture. “I’m here because I need to be. Now, I need names.”

They go down the line, all listing off the names they’ve chosen for themselves. She nods, noting them all down on a notepad. The three of them rest against the wall, accustom to the flash that it sure to come. It’s white walls perfect for most state IDs. They all slip into the either the white or black t-shirt provided. Luke went through this process earlier, but he’s yet to be told what’s happening exactly. With that, they excuse themselves to the back.

As they settle into the two bedrooms, each man notes the outfit laid out for them. Michael takes in the baggy cotton pants and oversized black t-shirt. He’s not upset by this select. Ashton takes in the skinny jeans, t-shirt and books. The jeans have a hole in the knee. He hooks his finger through the frays and wonders what is in store for him with attire like this. Calum thinks nothing of the dress pants, leather boots and button up. There’s a leather jacket hanging from the door. He’s not sure if it’s for Michael so as he slides the bottom into his pants, he notices the sweatshirt Michael pulls on. The jacket is his then, he figures. He’ll wait to put that one. Each man also as a spare tank top or undershirt. They all forgo the nice shirts until they’re settled with all the deeds ironed out. 

Ashton holds back the laugh, watching Luke slide into the suede chelsea boots. “I would ask what style choices you’ve made to wind up here, but I have a feeling not even you know.”

The jab is a tired one, but Luke laughs in an exhale. “Some sort of eccentric cowboy, I would guess.”

“That is one way to put it.” They finally gather at the dining room table. The apartment is mimial in it’s directions. A lot of blacks, gray, and blues. It’s homey with the chocolate brown accents. It’s best this doesn’t get too comfortable. 

“If we’re dressing like this, it is safe to assume that we are not clerks at a market this time,” Michael grins. 

Ḥauḥet smile, nodding her head at him. “Thank you for the obvious.” She slides a wooden box closer to them. “This time the stakes are a little higher.” Upon lifting the top, she reveals guitar picks and a pair of drumsticks. There’s no symbol or name yet. “Rather than taking the journey away from you, I left the name up to you all. But we’ve got to backtrack. Get you guys a name and story.”

A band, and if they’re famous enough, which they are bound to be, the stakes are high. They’ve got to keep quiet about their true forms. They have to keep a tight circle at first until they settle into their cover, until these names and stories because who they are, not who they are pretending to be; they must become one, much more so than before. They all glance to each other. Maybe they won’t be too big, maybe they won’t create too much noise about themselves. Maybe this is will be small. 

“How far back are we going?”

“Right now, the goal is to age you all to about 22. We won’t go all the way to the beginning, we’ve got childhood covered. But to fourteen at the earliest. Enough time to cover most the internet age.”

They all nod, grabbing at the manilla folders she hands to them, birth certificates, licenses, phones, some cash. “You have old skin; when you’re ready, I can take you back, I can make you new.”

They know not to waste time. As they slide wallets into pockets, Ashton speaks. “No need to wait.”

With a nod, she turns to the kitchen. Her lips move almost silently as she sprinkles the last herb over the clay like mixture. It glows for a moment as the blessing falls from her mouth. Luke beams. “Oh, I don’t need that.”

She quirks her eyebrow, mouth pulled up to the side of her face. It it a silent plea for him to say something else smart. Ashton speaks up, “Not every one’s blessed to have been conceived and birthed in the same day. Now hush so she can continue.”

She paints their faces one by one, first down the bridge of their nose, over their forehead, around the jaw, covers the chin and then finally she covers their cheeks. The mixture is cold, but warms with the touch of her hands. Calum hears the whisper of a splash in his ears. His eyes are closed, the mud tightening around his skin. But he knows the sound of the water anywhere. Ashton feels her grip on the back of his head and lets his muscles relax. Her touch is sure. His nose just barely brushes the water before she pulls his head back. 

A warning. He inhales deeply, expels that breathe and the nods, inhaling again. She dunks his face that time. The water is cold, ice cold. It makes his teeth chatter. But he grits his teeth, still failing at holding the shiver at bay. The fabric of the towel is soft as it swipes of his face. She holds it to his face for only a moment, before she wipes at his cheeks, chin, the outline of his jaw, over his forehead and down the bridge of his nose. When his eyes flutter open, she’s already moving to Michael, giving him the same warning before his face submerges into the wooden bowl of ice cold water. 

Luke is dunked next. Then finally Calum. He needs no warning. She wipes his face clean. They’ve all been washed, brought to their age. Then she can go back. It won’t take them long to see what story to create. Her span is only a million years, forwards and backwards. Though most often, she only looks ahead. The past is done with her. There is no need to manipulate or review it. It does not matter if someone remembers it correctly, the history is written and it is final. She motions for all of them to take hands and as she pours all the used water into the same bowl that once held the mud mixtures, she pulls up a murky picture. 

Michael knows what she’s doing. She’s letting them see what they want in it. They physically won’t travel back, they will just implant memories. “Three of us meet in the same school. Luke starts posting covers. The internet is a hard place to gain traction, to many people all striving for the same thing. But we know we can defy the odds. So,” he pauses, clearing his throat. “word gets around, Luke and I start playing together. And then Calum record some covers and the three of us are a band. But what’s a band without a drummer? A band it is not. I message Ashton over..” the story is losing him. He needs something to stay current. 

“FaceBook,” she interjects. “Myspace is slowly dying at this point. FaceBook is gaining traction. You can make pages for bands up there, you can make a page for just about anything.”

Michael nods. “Yes, it’s just a simple message. Anything too flourished and wordy is not going to work. He agrees and it starts. I make the facebook page for the band. We don’t have a name, or at least one agreed upon. There’s a list. 5 Second Summer is a top contender.”

“But you make it 5 Seconds of Summer and ask us, after the page is made,” Luke jumps in. “I think that would add a nice touch.”

“We leave school. Record deals. Touring.”

“You get scooped up by another big band  of the time. It’s massive,” Ḥauḥet adds. Michael adds on. Studio records, live albums, EPs, merch, crowds, sold out arenas. Style evolutions, which winds them all here, right on the brink of their third studio album. They’re still in the midst of recording it. This gives them time; they can settle into these personas. They can become real. 

They beging work on their individual stories, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But do not make it very far. Ḥauḥet settles in behind Calum. Michael’s hair is now finished, a long fringed cut hidden under a beanie. The tattoos that once looked like graphite marking on his skin darken the tattoos becoming real against his pale skin. Calum unravels the knot. “Cut it.”

“Are you sure?”

He nods. “I am.” They move from the living room floor, a mess already of hair, into the kitchen. She draws a small bowl of water, as he bends of the sink basin, she covers the scalp with the water. Just once and he stands, hair dripping down his navy tank and holds out his hand. She cannot cut his hair, not without his explicit consent. He takes the first whack, pulling the hair over his shoulder and snipping through the mass. 

As it falls in black clumps at their feet, she prays over it. They let the fallen strands lay there and Calum hands her the scissors. “You can finish it.”

“How short?”

“Short,” is the only word he utters. So she cuts it short. Nothing too short, there’s still a couple inches of curls left for him. The apartment is put back together soon after she finishes making them over. She slides back into the black heels, clicking as she approaches the front door. This will be the last time she sees them until they return. She prays blessings over them.

“The water will stay good for three days,” she warns. “After then, the gates will close. Time will resume. You will have to go with whatever is imprinted.” Imprinted. It makes it real; it imparts into the universe and the universe does whatever it needs to make it so, photos, memories, people. Their fate will be sealed after three days. 

They nod. Three days isn’t a lot of time for a cover of this scale. But keeping those imprinting waters open any longer increases a lot of risk.  She continues, “You will have a little over a year. Here you will put together an album. Here you will embed yourselves into your lives. You will start here and you will go. I have faith.” 

“Your faith means a lot,” Ashton says even though he’s the most eager, he understands the gravity of the situation. This is more pressure than they’ve ever dealt with. They still have stories to sort, places to figure out. But they are smart. They will be able to pull together a good cover. 

They hold themselves up in that Australian apartment, sitting around a wooden ball with water and mud. They speak their lives into existence. Ashton dubs himself the unofficial dad of the band. And it works. He’s the one that pushes them constantly, wants bigger and better things. No one argues at the insistence. Calum is fairly quiet, they know that will continue on. Michael takes a chance on video games and anime, trying to find stories to connect with and finds himself entranced at the talent and worlds built. Stories come in many forms and he is not one to let any story go unturned. 

On the second day, Luke is the first to crack. “We’ve got to do something. I can’t stare at these walls anymore.”

“We can’t blow our cover. We don’t have a solid story,” Michael counters, the kitten shaped headphones resting around his neck now. He’s been spending half his time sucked into video games and the other half still working out the kinks of their story. They only have one more day. 

“Things don’t have to be perfect. They just have to be real,” Ashton says. “Whomever it is out there we’re meant to help just needs us to be real. Real people who hurt, who laugh, who cry.”

“How do you hurt?” Michael retorts. “What is your pain?”

“My pain is that I cannot save them all.”

“Everyone with an ounce of compassion hurts like that.”

Ashton sighs. Michael’s point is valid. They need stories, gritty and complex, not just soft generic ones. He remembers a small boy from many years ago, when they first started this prophecy. They sat on a grassy hill. They were all servants, but this boy was exceptionally young. He told Ashton how his father had left him. His mother was trying to find work, but every house she started to work for she would flee because someone in the house would make advances towards her. Ashton remembers from their time in the mid eighties towards the break of the 1990’s. He had found a kid, waiting on the corner, head covered with a hoodie. This boy, no more than thirteen, forced to sell, because he’s the man of the house due to his father’s death. Their pain is real. 

“My father leaves me at a young age,” Ashton starts chest already aching as he remembers those boys, staring down into the murky water. He can pay homage to them in this life. He wasn’t able to magically turn their lives around when he was there. He couldn’t completely blow his cover. He did do what he could for them, grabbing them meals when he was free, giving him a few dollars here and there. “It hurts, seeing my mother so down. But I step up. It only makes sense right. She eventually remarries, but there is a lot more alcohol in the house. She tries to hide it. But nothing is ever really hidden. We all see pain. Especially children. Children know pain but sometimes never have the words for it.”

“You can give them the words,” Michael assures. No one is sure why it has to be a band. But the more they research what’s happening in the world, the way the political landscape is filling with more and more hate, it becomes obvious. People need a thing that unites them. They need something, or someone, that shows them they are not alone.

Ashton squeezes at Michael’s hand. “Yeah, I can do that. We can do that. That is--” he pauses, watching his reflection distorted as it may be, in the water. He wants to say that is Ashton’s story. But he is Ashton, this is his life now. This is his truth. This is his history now. “That is my story, working in food service, desperately wanting a way out for my family. Knowing I’d fight heaven, hell, and high water for them. Only knowing music as a way out. Being in band after band and needing release, a breakthrough.”

Michael nods. “And that is your story.”

“Why make yourself carry pain?” Luke questions. “You could’ve had any story.”

Ashton shakes his head. He couldn’t have chosen any story. “If all of us have no pain, how do we connect? Pain is a part of every story. Without it, what do we compare joy to. How do you know your joy?”

Luke steps to the kitchen table, bracing his weight on his arm. The water shakes just a little. “People know pain. Even in a two parent household with siblings and nothing but love, people can still know pain. It’s a pain to prove oneself. It’s a pain to think you know someone and they strip you of everything you thought you were. I know pain because I know what it feels like to have no clue who you are anymore. Just a kid trying his best but makes maybe a few bad decisions along the way, tries to put too many people in his life that aren’t good for him, but too stubborn to see it.”

Calum walks over next. He’s been stewing on this, writing down the words that fail to cross his lips. But now is the time. He sees himself, Ashton, and Luke in the water. They are waiting on him. They need him. “I know pain from broken trust. I know pain from the harsh drop of reality. Not everyone that says they’re your friend is actually your friend. People will share your secrets, they will expose you. Someone breaks my trust. Someone violates privacy, someone, anyone, everyone shares a private moment. I know pain from my own quietness, trying to bury that in bodies and only making myself more distant. I know pain from alienation and being other, for being different.”

Michael stands. He knows pain, he knows violence from his lives previous. “Pain is sometimes sneaky. My pain sneaks up, makes me think I’m all alone, that sometimes I’m not worthy. It makes me think that things can go wrong at the blink of the eye. I worry sometimes about things most people don’t bat their eyelashes to, my pain is quiet and yet somehow the loudest in my own ears.”

The water starts to bubble. At first it might seem like someone’s shifting of the table is making it slosh. It becomes clear that’s not the reason as steam starts to billow. The water bubbles, threatening to spill over the edges, but never hitting the table. All four men watch for a moment. A chill runs through all four of them as all the water evaporates into steam. The mud bubbles too, thins and then disappears. They have no clue where it’s gone. 

“The gates closed,” Calum says after a few minutes of staring into the empty bowl. 

“We still had a day,” Ashton huffs. 

“She was listening.”

“So what next?” Luke asks. 

“We sing, we make music. We help the world,” Ashton answers. 

“We can’t do that here,” Michael counters. “We’ve gotta go somewhere else.” 

The bowl moves. It’s subtle but Calum watches the slight movement. Something appears under the bowl. Another manilla folder. He picks up the folder, it’s thicker than it appears. When he peeks inside he can see plane tickets, there are deeds, photos. There’s a small packet for each of them. Of course she wasn’t actually done with them. Of course she had another trick up her sleeve. 

__

 All of them have experience with music in their lifetimes, here on Earth and away. But it it still a little strange to know that just four days ago they were driving up the coast and to walk into recording studios with people smiling at them, like catching up with friends. But it is catching up with friends. This is their life. “Enjoy your time at home?” they’re asked repeatedly throughout the day as the work. 

The response is always the same. “Yeah, it was great to just relax. Got antsy though. Ready to work.”

But nothing prepares them for how hard this is. What’s their sound now? Where do they want to go? What do they want to say? What is their entire purpose? The play instruments is easy, it’s the putting words down that frustrates them. But they go out, they enjoy this newfound youth. It burns them of course. Like life does to everyone. Friends take advantage of their generosity, use them for only selfish gain. A couple of them strike out in love. 

Calum brings the cigarette to his lips. He’s not proud of the new found habit. But it helps. He always tries to stay distant from people during these moments on Earth. Even though they are long, he knows he will not be staying forever. He will not grow old with anyone, he can’t. And it sucks, because he sees his family as actually his and he loves them. But they will never know him. They will just have Calum, but not the man in the flesh host. Never the man that can trouble waters. That’s the part he hates the most about this. 

“Why do we do this to ourselves? Why are we the ones to do it?” Calum questions standing outside the recording studio. “Why can’t we have love? Why can’t we have real lives?”

This disease of uncertainty and frustration usually hits all of them at some point. Ashton is trying to not get hit again, knowing what can happen. Calum wouldn’t dare try to split. He wouldn’t leave them. He knows it’s too important that they actually go through with this. The other three would have nothing if not for him. What life would he give determination to if there was no life in the beginning? Ashton pats him on the shoulder before dropping the hand and tucking it back into the pockets of his jeans. “This is a real life.”

“It’s like, crashing into reality. We get no ease. It’s like if you took someone and suddenly dropped them in Japan. They’d wake up with no way about.”

“Saying everyday you wake up, it’s like waking up in Japan.”

“Yeah, and I’m alone. But not necessarily. Just low.” He’s mostly pissed at himself. He met a nice girl, they had a great weekend together. But he knows he had to cut it off before it got any bigger, before it got any more serious. It’s easier to save face that way. As his eyes flutter close and his lungs pull in one more drag, the room number, her room number flashes, 305.

“Talk to me,” Ashton urges, noting the far away glaze to Calum’s eyes. So Calum spills his guts, tells Ashton everything maybe even a little too much, down to the room number. Ashton leaves Calum to his vice, to the smoke billowing from his nostrils and walks back into the room. 

He’s got an idea. Ashton approaches Luke with the concept and with the help of a couple other writers, they conceptualize the rushed and dazed feeling of waking up somewhere new without even remembering how one got there. They put to sound, live in two takes, the bounce and electric feeling of a whirlwind life, of a life that keeps moving even when you’d wished for it to sit still. 

The months tick past, sometimes feeling like seconds rather than days upon days. While sitting at home, resting, there’s a knock on Ashton’s door. Luke stands in front of him, eyes sunken into his face, the bright blue that once lived in his eyes dulled. “It’s bad,” Luke whispers. Ashton wants to tell him no shit. But he bites back the comment and pulls him inside. 

It all starts with one night. And then one night turns into two. Then two turns into three. Luke knew ultimately, after the few few weeks, he should probably save himself. He wasn’t going nowhere. He was going downhill. But he wanted to make it last. He just wanted love, if only in the dark, if only it didn’t cause him so much pain. Luke cries into his hands, curled up at the foot of Ashton’s couch. “The worst--,” a hiccup interrupts him. Ashton sits next to him, gingerly  rubbing at his back. “The worst part is that I know I shouldn’t go back to her. She’s no good, but I’m no good at saying no,” he huffs, face red and snotty. 

The human existence is a rough one, not even gods are exempt from the pain. It is not a graceful descent into full humanity. They all hit their lows. “I wanted to trust her. I knew she was bad for me,” Luke sobs into Ashton’s shoulder. While Ashton may be known for his eagerness, his yearn to always be doing, sometimes Luke’s own stubbornness becomes his own undoing. This is not to say that achieving, or wanting, is wrong. But sometimes we want for the wrong reasons. We want the wrong things. 

“You’re gonna be okay,” Ashton starts softly. “Pain is an indication of life. This is just life. Get knocked down seven times and stand up eight. We always get back up, okay? Even if it takes a while and even if our legs are unsteady, we get back up.”

“Am I alone?” Luke cries. “Is this all we’re destined for loneliness and pain? Am I crazy? Has this prophecy turned me insane?”

“You’re not insane. You’re not alone. You can never be alone with me. I’m always going to be here.” Always and here, what hollow words to Ashton’s ear. But he means them, deeply--truly. He means the essence of those words to his core. “You can stay with me for a little while. No one’s here but me. Bring Petunia over too. We’re family. By choice.”

It takes another twenty minutes for Luke to collect himself. The release of weight making him tired. Ashton watches for a moment as Luke lays, curled up on the couch cushions, a blanket thrown over his body. Tears sting behind his eyes. Why do their lives feel like they’re falling apart? This has never happened to them before. They’ve never been this high up it feels only to crash so far down. Ashton is grateful for a moment that walls cannot talk. They hear; they see. But if they could talk, they would have a lot to say, a lot of the dark corners to expose. 

__

They hit a wall. So many songs about pain and reflection, but how do they package it all together. How do they give it out to the world? “People want to know they’re not alone,” Michael urges. “All our songs. All the pain. It’s so they know they’re not alone. We’ve created something incredible. It’s not just sound, it’s color, it’s taste too.”

“We know that. It’s evident they need a connection. But how do we get them to connect with us?” comes the rebuttal from Ashton. He’s restless having spent the better part of the day, trying to wrap his own head around the question. He wants to be doing something, creating, putting to use the buzz in his gut. But he’s here, across from Michael instead. 

Calum has watched the exchange between Michael and Ashton for maybe off of a minute, coming in with some food for the three of them. Luke wanted something different, so he’s a couple minutes out from the studio. “We be honest,” he says with a shrug, setting the bag down. “We’ve got how many songs here that deal with heartache. Why shy away from the truth?”

Being vulnerable is a little dangerous for them. If they open up too far, if they say the wrong thing, everything could collapse. Calum is aware of this risk. But he knows it’s a risk they have to take. If they cannot even have an ounce of vulnerability, then the whole thing is for naught. It is just a waste if even in all their struggles, they attempt to hide that with their fans. Life is challenging just because they are in this position does not exclude them. 

“So you propose, we risk everything?” It’s not meant to be a question as it falls from Ashton’s lips. But it’s something about it that seems right, but he knows it’s very wrong.

“Without risk there is no reward. What do we teach people if we refuse to learn ourselves?”

“We teach them nothing. We teach by example,” Ashton concludes. “Isn’t that how the entire world has worked at this point? They’ve been led by someone, something.”

“Aren’t we led by something?” Calum counters. 

“But we’re led by the right things. So we let them, fans, anyone that listens. We tell them what drive us.”

Calum waves his hands around the room, even though it’s just the kitchen of the studio. “We are driven by honesty, intuition, failure, love, heartbreak, friendships, growth.”

“We are driven by our truest selves, the heartache and difficulting of making art. We driven by ourselves. We are driven by the fans.”

__

The dawn of a new year approaches them. The time of them huddle in away in dark corners, writing day in and day out are about to start paying off. Their risk, to be bare and vulnerable as possible, is going to start being real. Ashton sits, phone in hand staring out into sun just at it hits over the horizon The dark & light shared this year of my life in an incredibly unbalanced way. I had to further understand both sides of myself to continue becoming the songwriter & creative being I dream to be. It never ends & I don’t want it to x Ashton curses the character limit on twitter. It, without fails, always makes him go band and cut out some of the parts to his tweet. 

The days tick by faster than ever. The first single set to release in February and January feels like it’s whizzing by. The holidays do that, it appears every time they come back. Time feels shorter and shorter to them here, as humans, as people. But time stretches on forever as gods. Maybe because time matters much less to them. Ashton fiddles with his phone again. There’s some sort of solace in knowing he can type whatever he wants and there are people listening. It’s terrifying, but it’s connecting in a way. It’s not lost on him on how disheartening social media can be. There is a whole screen, time zones, countries that divide users. They are not getting the instant feedback of someone’s face, someone’s tone at comments. His finger draft another message, another reach into the void to see if the void will reach back. The worst/best part is everything good In my life originated from heartbreak 

They sit. They have to sit and they have to wait. But, even though the notifications are off, they can see the mess of their mentions. They can see the videos, people reacting to their return. Even though their hearts are filled with joy, they are not free from nerves. Radio interviews, magazine interviews, photoshoots, press comes at them with full force. They have to explain how the album comes to be, they have to explain that this is just an evolution, not discovery. But that feels inaccurate, incomplete. “We had to rediscover ourselves. We really had to ask ourselves what we wanted from this album and rededicate yourselves to this band.”

I wrote it for me,

I wrote it for you

I wrote it for us! Ashton concludes at the end of one tweet. The press isn’t easy, they are bounced around, like dots on a map. But the fact that they get to play shows keeps Ashton energized. He knows just on the other side of every microphone is the stage, the rumble of his bass drum shaking up his entire body. Just on the other side is the roar of a crowd excited to see him, to hear them, back at home, back at peace. 

That shouldn’t be his peace, he thinks. But the rush of adrenaline feels so familiar to Ashton. The memories aren’t just memories; they aren’t just mud and water, they are pieces of his soul. A year. A whole year trying to become one with this persona and it’s happening, when he least expected to with drumsticks in hand and a crowd screaming back at him. He watches the other three men on stage night after night, this is home for them too. For a moment, for a brief blink in the cosmos this is the only place they belong. 

________

“That flight was too early,” Michael mutters, pulling his beanie down over his face. He’s the first one to fall asleep on the couch. Luke nods off next to him, headphone cover his ears. Calum watches as the two guys doze off first and he shields his eyes as well. There are champagne flutes with mimosa’s littering the glass table in front of them, but they are almost too tired to celebrate. Tour is not easy, sleep seems evasive some nights and more cooperative during the day when they have things to do. 

Sleep evades Michael the most some nights. His fingers twitch to play his beloved harp, but his shoulders are tense. He’s still watching bodies gather. The mass of dead but soon to be undead still haunt him, the ruins of his tongue still scrap the top of his mouth as he sings. His throat still closes up on him occasionally, making him wake in a panic. The flight’s not too early, he just didn’t sleep. He knows the other guys know what keeps him up. He claims it’s videogames, claims his body is just tired. But he wishes for his mind to finally ease. Nearly two years here and his brain still has not forgotten his years prior. 

Michael wakes with a start, the tightness of his chest starting to burn. He’s still sitting on the couch with orange juice and champagne mixing in his nostrils. Ashton looks up from across the table, brow arched in silent questioning. Michael waves his hand. It is neither here nor there. Michael finds his phone, plugging in the cat eared headphones. He blasts YoungBlood into his ears. He hopes no more dead men walk after him.

__

“Youngblood wasn’t going to be next single. But it was just an extra song that you got when you pre-ordered the album. But we saw-we saw how people were reacting to it, so we decided to put it out.”

They know better than to hold their breath; they know not to watch those charts like a hound. But sometimes, that’s the only thing they know how to do. Youngblood smashes it way onto the charts and it stays, it climbs. It soars and with it go their hearts. How did they manage this? How did life reward them like this for all the shit they endured? But god are they grateful. 

Even when times feel at their darkest... think of the people you call home & be strong. He is home; Calum knows that on the road with the other guys. They are his family, by choice, by fate, by the cosmos. But something in him misses the water. He shouldn’t go back. He shouldn’t step foot on a beach, near an ocean. Not with the fighting that occured, not with the history there, the bad blood that gathered there. It shocks him he doesn’t have more trouble on land. The ocean was his only resort. But he thanks his mother that he’s able to walk her dirt, her earth, and be safe. He knows she’s still protecting him while he fulfills his duties.

“You miss it don’t you?” Luke asks, watching the way the bassist fiddles with his rings. They’re doing press, but it’s clear he’s not here. 

Calum nods. He was forced to sea, he was pushed away. But it provides him comfort. This is home to him but he has not forgotten what comfort feels like. “I only miss it when I’m not on stage or writing. I think it’s because I have too much time to think. Too much time to second guess myself.” 

Without much thought, Luke draps his arm around Calum’s shoulder. He knows that feeling, the dizzying spiral when all your thought collapse in on themselves. And you’re left with the weight and mess to pull yourself back together. “Hold on just a wee longer,” Luke whispers as the next interviewer steps in through the door. 

` Calum doesn’t miss the slight accent that falls through the sentence. “Next you’ll be pulling out your green tights, calling us laddies instead of mate.”

Luke can’t bite back the laugh that falls over his lips as he gently pushes against Calum’s shoulder. “You’re going to regret that, mate.”

When Calum opens to door and notices Luke dressed in shorts, compression tights and flip flops with a bag thrown over his shoulders, Calum doesn’t even open his mouth to ask why. He throws on his hoodie and sneakers. He makes sure his wallet and phone are with him and the men walk silently to the elevators. No words are exchanged in the back of the Uber either. Calum keeps his hood up and over his face, watching streets whizz by. He notes some seagulls. Sand. A beach. Calum turns to Luke. “What is this?”

“By some measures, it’s just a lake. It’s our day off, figured we earned the right to just relax.”

They thank their driver and slide out of the backseat. Calum settles onto the towel and slides out of his sneakers. It’s not barren, the shore, but it is definitely not packed. Though it’s not a shock in April on the East Coast. Once the socks are off, Calum stands and walks to the water’s edge. It’s freezing against his feet. It’s no sea, but he will take it. His lips start to move before he can stop himself. Blessings, blessings, and more blessings fall out of his lips. He thanks his mother. 

Luke walks next to the man, shivering at the first contact. Some white filters through both men’s vision. It only last a second and the watch the tail of the bird fly away. “Much of YoungBlood isn’t just about my life here, as a musician,” Luke offers. 

No one really discussed what past issues they were bringing to the table. They were just stories, things that had happened to them. Luke continues. “She flies for me, waiting for me to come back. She’s the one I want back.”

“And you tried to bury her in all the others.”

“Caer,” Luke whispers. Calum reaches out, holding on his shoulder. He’s never said her name out loud before, not to the guys. “My plan, before this happened, was to go to that lake. I would was going confess my love to her. I’ll never know could’ve happened between us. She’s kind of the inspiration Meet You There.”

Calum thinks of the lyrics, the chorus striking him. “Maybe one day you’ll meet her.”

Luke nods. “On that lake, where she still remembers me. Where I’m still able to reach her.”

_______

The pain is real, it is evident. They watch fans connect to song after song. They read the letters. This is what they were meant to to do, even with all the not fun issues, the fans showing up at their doorsteps, the sometimes cruel comments online. But the reward is much greater than the risk. Not just awards, not just another number one album, not just another chart topping song.  The reward to see a mass of diverse faces unite under one love. They’re whole purpose was to create something to unite people. It is incredible to see that night after night; it is awe striking to having thousands of voices singing back to them the songs they wrote with so much vulnerability. It is amazing to see their work flying, topping charts. But to hear and see the hearts it’s touch means a lot more. 

“Goddamn it, can I get the house lights on? I miss you guys so much,” Calum speaks into the mic. He continues his speech before inviting Luke to speak about the glittery blue blazer.  The crowd is a sea of phone lights in front of them. The mass continues almost to a point where Calum can’t even fathom the massiveness. He brings himself back to reality to joke about a matching g-string. He finally gets to continue after a pause for Michael’s thoughts. “So, uh, tonight is a very special for a couple of reasons, number one my beautiful sister is the room somewhere. Number two I got my best friends and my brothers on stage, playing with these guys.”

And he means it. Calum means it from the bottom of his soul when he says they are his brothers. Who else rides out centuries of resurfacing onto the earth? Who else rides out the insanity of their fate but your brothers? Even when they clash sometimes creatively, even when the vision had to change and evolve time and time again, they stood by each other. Calum strums his bass as Michael speaks, heart soaring at how much London means to the band, hyping the crowd out for the few songs that they have left. This is a band of brothers. Four spirits who are only trying their best:  Sea, youth and beauty, determination, and poetry. 

What is their story without words? What are words without determination to put them down? What is determination without an aim and a goal for something beautiful? What is something beautiful without it’s mere existence? 

Calum stands up on the riser, Michael mirroring him for a moment. Luke stands in the middle. Ashton builds up the anticipation before rolling into his drum solo. The lights are low, the red is flashing over them. The recording plays and the wind up begins. “Let me see you jump. Jump, jump, jump!” 

This is their existence, as Calum cocks his hips, hands sliding up and down the bass strings. Michael steps down from the riser, face screwed up as his moves up and down the frets. Ashton rocks his whole body into the drumming, the sweat already soaking through his shirt. Luke leads them through the chorus again, working his old golden nails over his guitar. Everyone attempts to pour past, present and future onto that sage. They don’t know what they will the next time they are brought back. They don’t know who it is they are trying to reach. All they do know is that each time they’re brought here, they need to pour out love, understanding, unity. 

Michael walks to the drum risers and Calum follows behind him, after getting the crowd ready to jump. They rip into their instruments, Calum twirls around, mic pack flying out of his pocket. Michael bows a little, letting the grooved metal slot against the grooves of his fingers. Luke bounces for a moment and there is a crowd shouting for them, but it is not just any crowd. It is a crowd brimming over with love. It is not their names they are shouting, it are all the other gods they are crying out for them. They are just the four chosen, but the four that need the credit. This is their second home, this is the place where they are putting everything out on the line. And the line is paying them back.

[vyasgiannetti]

The Future Of Brands In a WOKE World

A wonderful term originating from a political African-American movement refers to awareness and alertness of social injustices. Popularised by social media in recent times, the term now encompasses a state of being awakened, being conscious.

Our current socio-political environment coupled with ease of communication has led to a worldwide shift towards people expecting not just communities and governments but also large corporations to take a more active role towards environmental and social issues pertaining to them. For brands, this means aligning the brands’ values to those of the consumers’. Because, a 2018 Edelman (a Brand Strategy Consultancy) survey found that 69% of millennials worldwide are belief-driven buyers. Even though first world countries are leading this wave, it is still significant for India.

Enter the concept of ‘woke brands’.

Brands are increasingly tapping into consumer-held social values to build resonance with consumers and make way into their repertoires. We are seeing a rise of woke branding across categories positioning themselves as ‘woke’ through their stance on social issues, environmental responsibility and sustainable practices.

But it’s not always that simple. Cultures are seeing more extreme divisions today within the socio-political context than ever before and offence taking is rampant. The rise of far-right leadership globally is being attributed to the voice of the mass majority whilst leftist ideologies seem to be concentrated towards the younger, urban elite. So where should brands stand? Does taking a stance on issues pertaining beyond your business put you in a position of risking alienation of a certain audience?

Last year, Nike was at the centre of this division of sentiment when it decided to sign Colin Kaepernick on as a brand ambassador, taking a direct shot at NFL and supporters of its response. However, contrary to predictions, the brand’s stock rose and hit a record high in the aftermath. Essentially, the ‘risk’ paid off.

When choosing sides, it has proven to be wiser for brands to lean towards liberal values simply because it is the side with higher spending capacity and social currency.

Ariel’s #sharetheload campaign about gender roles and Whisper’s #likeagirl are some of the many campaigns that were met with great praise for attempting to change the incumbent discourses in these categories. Tata Tea took it a step further with the Jaago Re campaign by extending it to an initiative that pushes the idea of pre-activism in the age of reactive internet activism.

The fashion industry which is quickly waking up to being seen as one of the biggest environmental villains is seeing an exponential rise of brands supporting organic textiles and reviving waning crafts. Even fast-fashion retailer Asos has introduced a sustainability filter for the conscious consumer.

We, at VGC — the best branding agency in India, have had the opportunity to work with a truly ‘woke’ brand, 360Life. In the real estate industry, which suffers from a lack of brand purpose, 360Life breaks the clutter and makes a dent.

Stemming from a foundation of deep knowledge about Vedic practices, natural living, sustainability, and engineering, the intention of the brand is to lead the wave for holistic living. This is provided through curation of vertical forestry to promote living in harmony with nature, architectural planning to harness and optimise the flow of sunlight and wind, access to chemical free organic food, FMCG products and alkalinised water supply as well as employment of ancient Vedic rituals to energise and elevate the physical environment. 360 Life brings to life a proposition of ‘conscious living’.

However, brands need to tread carefully with their attempt to be seen as ‘woke’ as consumers are quick to call out brands seen as gimmicky.

Cadbury’s unity bar was met with mixed responses despite marrying product features with a neat intent. And then there are glaring oversights.

Pepsi was met with great criticism post its ad with Kendall Jenner breaking the tension between protestors and authorities by offering a Pepsi. The brand ultimately took down the ad within 24 hours and issued a public apology for its short-sightedness and commercialization of a serious movement.

Similarly, the successful Gully Boy received slack for trivialising and appropriating the ‘Azadi’ slogan from student protests in Delhi to create a pop culture anthem.

Essentially, ‘woke washing’ does not work. People see through the facade and today, it’s easier to mobilise public disdain than ever before. Between getting it right and trying but missing the mark is a brand’s appetite to take risks. As the best branding agency in India, we believe authenticity has been a buzzword in the branding world for a few years. But its consideration becomes increasingly important with everyone jumping on the ‘woke branding’ wagon. Brands need to go back to their DNA. Instead of looking outward, it’s the time to look inward and be true to one’s own core. In times of high competition and dropping loyalties, brands need to be willing to take risks and mark allegiance with a value-driven consumer base.

Also, limiting one’s ‘wokeness’ to communication without consideration of actions across business operations is rather unauthentic and brands are liable to get exposed. It is important to walk the walk before you talk the talk. And so, the journey to becoming a woke business is inward really. Whilst most businesses are still in step 1, the future belongs to those who evolve from steps 1 to 3.

Take a stance through communication to make a deeper connection with the audience

Integrate responsible actions across your business activities

Develop businesses that stem from a conscious intent — actively play a role in addressing a social or environmental issue

And so, we, a Brand Strategy Consultancy, leave you with 3 questions:

What are issues & social values that your consumers care about?

What are the core values that you stand for?

How can you align yourself with your consumers’ values to form lasting relationships?

[mahnoor6527]

WEEK 7- What is “Slow Fashion”?

Slow fashion is no brand, slow fashion is a movement, a campaign that truly deserves an Oscar for the initiative. It is also called ‘sustainable fashion’, ‘eco fashion’, ‘ethical consumption’ and other terms that support the idea of it. It was linked to counter culture back in the 60’s, then in 80’s we had a ‘anti-fur’ campaign and in the early 2000’s we had fair rights aka working condition rights.

Slow fashion is a way to go about fashion, in which we analyse the method and resources used to make the clothes, especially in a way that looks at factors like:

-Better quality clothes

Clothes that will long last

-fairness for working

How does the working environment operate for the particular brand for example Nike had a huge controversy where they used child labour. They were the perfect example of bad ‘ethical consumption’. Let’s be honest, would we be happy to see children stitching our clothes for less than a dime when they could be studying or having fun.

-animals

No animals were harmed during the making of the product

-planets

The material business produces huge measures waste, say about 17–20% of worldwide water contamination, 10% of worlds carbon emissions. Neglected and undesirable dress is making ever bigger garbage loads, 11.9 million tons of garments and footwear are disposed of every year of which 8.2 million tons wound up in landfills.

You can’t just be ‘eco-fashion’. You must abide by the four guiding principles:

1.Items produced must be child labour free across the entirety of the supply chain.

2.Materials utilised within the production process should be less harming to the natural environment, recycled, upcycled and/or more durable. Thus, it portrays the opposite to the ‘throw away’ fashion attitude often associated with fast fashion.

3.The production process must be in an ethical and socially responsible, manner, paying workers fair wages and, ideally, create jobs in the country of origin by producing locally

4.Creation of long-term relationships across the supply chain is vital within the process producing sustainably, which allows the negotiation of fair prices and wages and developing a strong network that fosters the creation of sustainable fashion (Green in Lai).

Big to small scale the qualities that make up the Slow Fashion development recommend a total redesign of devouring and creation. The campaign has changed the attitude towards fashion by designers and stake holders of fashion industry to make amendments or improvement in areas that require attention so they can operate as eco fashion too.

Reference:

Baker, M., 2020. Nike And Child Labour – How It Went From Laggard To Leader. [online] Mallen Baker - Change is a learnable process. Available at: <http://mallenbaker.net/article/clear-reflection/nike-and-child-labour-how-it-went-from-laggard-to-leader> [Accessed 6 May 2020].

Good On You. 2020. What Is Slow Fashion?. [online] Available at: <https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-slow-fashion/> [Accessed 8 May 2020].

[phroyd]

Every year, I look for important themes in sustainability that will have lasting impact on society, from glaring evidence of global megatrends to inspiring stories of corporate action. The year 2018 brought extreme change — in weather and environmental ecosystems, in political winds and power, and in the expectations of business. It also brought incredible clarity about the scale of our challenges and opportunities.

So let’s start with the big picture before moving to some corporate success stories.

The world’s scientists sound a final alarm on climate

We have about 12 years left. That’s the clear message from a monumental studyfrom the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To avoid some of the most devastating impacts of climate change, the world must slash carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, and completely decarbonize by 2050 (while, in the meantime, emissions are still rising).

The IPCC looked at the difference between the world “only” warming two degrees Celsius (3.8°F) — the agreed upon goal at global climate summits in Copenhagen and Paris — or holding warming to just 1.5 degrees. Even the latter, they say, will require a monumental effort “unprecedented in terms of scale.” We face serious problems either way, but every half degree matters a great deal in human, planetary, and economic losses.

It wasn’t just the IPCC that told a stark story. Thirteen U.S. government agencies issued the U.S. National Climate Assessment, which concluded that climate change could knock at least 10% off of GDP. Other studies tell us that sea level rise is going to be worse than we thought, Antarctica is melting three times faster than a decade ago, and Greenland is losing ice quickly as well. If both those ice sheets go, sea level rise could reach 200-plus feet, resulting in utter devastation, including the loss of the entire Atlantic seaboard (Boston, New York, D.C., etc.), all of Florida, London, Stockholm, Denmark, Uruguay and Paraguay, and land now inhabited by more than 1 billion Asians.

All of this suggests that business must dramatically change how it operates: companies will need to push well past their comfort zones from areas like politics and policy to engaging consumers to how they make investment decisions.

Entire towns are wiped off the map by extreme weather

This year the weather devastation around the world got, in the words of one colleague, “biblical.” The town of Paradise, California, was effectively eliminated by wildfires (that, yes, are made worse by climate change), killing at least 85 people. Most houses in Mexico Beach, Florida, were destroyed by Hurricane Michael. Unprecedented rains and damage from Hurricane Florence slammed North Carolina and temporarily turned a major highway into a river. Typhoon Mangkhut ravagedthe Philippines and parts of China, killing dozens of people. Incredible heat blanketed four continents this summer, with records falling across Europe and Asia. Venezuela’s last glacier is disappearing. Finally, Capetown, South Africa, is essentially out of water due in part to drought — the city nearly shut off all the taps this year, but has held off “Day Zero” through ongoing restrictions and aggressive citizen action.

The consequences of these extremes are not theoretical. What is the economic cost to an area with no water, or one that’s under water, or burned to the ground? In the U.S. alone, it was $306 billion in 2017, shattering records.

Coral is dying, insects are disappearing, and the fate of major ecosystems looks dim

The world’s top coral expert confirms that at 2 degrees of warming, all coral will die. This will destroy a critical part of an ocean system that provides protein to hundreds of millions of people, helps blunt coastal storm surges, and supports the livelihoods of people working in fishing and tourism.

And it’s not just coral: there’s the death of pacific kelp forests, radical declines in insect populations, and continuing population drops in all mammals and bees.

How does this all connect to business? For some sectors, it’s obvious: the food and agriculture industry will have trouble feeding us without pollinators, and tourism takes a big hit without coral and other wildlife. But more broadly, society will not thrive in a world where entire pillars of planetary support are collapsing. And if society can’t thrive, neither can business.

The U.S. environmental protection system continues being dismantled … from within

The EPA and Department of Interior are reversing years of protections for air, water, and land. In 2018, the Trump administration has opened up offshore waters and rolled back safety rules for drilling, greatly weakened the voice of science in policy, reduced focus on children’s health, and moved to make it easier to build dirty coal plants.

The big question now is whether businesses will push back and go down a cleaner path on their own. It’s easy to see why multinationals might as they face pressure from sub-national regions — California Gov. Jerry Brown held a Global Climate Action Summit which produced many aggressive climate goals from cities and state, for example. Gov. Brown also signed aggressive new laws committing to carbon-free electricity statewide by 2045 and requiring solar on all new homes. So even if U.S. action sputters, governors and mayors who influence local and regional business conditions will be pushing the clean economy and pro-climate agendas.

In pointed contrast to the U.S., the EU backed a proposal to strike no new trade deals with countries not in the Paris climate accord (i.e., only the U.S.), France will shut coal plants by 2021, India just cancelled plans for big coal plants, and China banned 500 inefficient models of cars.

A prominent leader retires, but new leaders step up

For nearly a decade, no business leader has done more to bring sustainability into the business mainstream than Paul Polman, Unilever’s outgoing CEO (Full disclosure: I’ve worked with Unilever). His depth of understanding of our biggest global, social, and environmental challenges, and his commitment to use business as a way to tackle them, has been unparalleled. But it wasn’t just talk. The company also grew throughout Polman’s tenure and the stock outperformed peers and the FTSE index. Luckily, there are other corporate leaders who are stepping up, including Danone’s Emmanuel Faber (see below for more).

But climate isn’t the only area where we’re seeing bold stances. Societal issues more broadly made headlines, too. The New York Times declared 2018 year that “CEO activism has become the new normal,” with prominent voices like Salesforce’s Marc Benioff leading the way. Other notable moments include Nike making Colin Kaepernick — the man who led NFL player protests about police violence against African Americans — the face of its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign (sales rose quickly). Under pressure from survivors of school mass shootings, Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault weapons, and other companies cut ties to the powerful National Rifle Association. Kroger celebrated a year of its “End Hunger” initiative. Unilever threatened to pull its substantial ad dollars from Facebook and Google if they didn’t police “fake news and toxic content.” One hundred U.S. CEOs urged action on controversial immigration issues. And more than 100 U.S. companies gave employees time off to vote.

Danone North America becomes the world’s largest B Corporation

A “B Corp” certification requires answering an intensive set of questions on environmental, social, and governance issues. But most importantly, it commits a company to create value for all stakeholders (customers, employees, communities, and so on), not just shareholders.

French consumer products giant Danone has now put 30% of its brands and businesses through the certification process and says that “companies are fundamentally challenged as to whose interests they really serve.” Becoming a B Corp is arguably is a direct statement about whose interests it values most, and it’s and fascinating frontal attack on the dominance of shareholder capitalism.

More investors are viewing climate and sustainability as core value issues

Something is shifting in finance. Vanguard wants CEOs to be a force for good. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, said that “70% of [UK] banks, who normally have a shorter horizon, are viewing climate as a financial risk—not a CSR one.” Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, the world’s largest asset owner, encouraged longer-term thinking about environmental, social, and governance issues in a strongly-worded letter to large-company CEOs.

Anecdotally, I’ve talked to leaders at big banks who are now thinking differently about purpose and systemic risk. And in a quieter move, a major real estate investor in Miami began pulling money out of coastal assets to avoid risk of sea level rise. Watch this space.

The clean technology explosion continues and accelerates

Three big clean tech themes wowed me this year.

1) Renewables keep getting cheaper. According to Lazard’s annual analysis of the cost of building new power plants, renewables are now the cheapest. And another global analysis showed that new wind and solar are cheaper than one-third of the coal already on the grid — and will be cheaper than 96% of existing plants by 2030.

2) Corporate buying of clean energy keeps rising. By the end of just the first half of 2018, businesses bought more clean energy than they did in 2017. Companies like Owens Corning (disclosure: a client of mine) are buying enough green energy to pitch their products as cleanly manufactured (which they started doing in late 2017).

3) Electric vehicle sales are exploding, and it’s not just small vehicles: even container ships are going electric. UPS bought its first EV delivery vehicles at price parity to combustion engines, and China is adding nearly 10,000 electric buses to the roads — equal to the size of London’s entire bus fleet – every five weeks.

China rejects the world’s trash

For years, the U.S. had a great deal: When container ships arrived from China with goods, we sent them back filled with our recyclable paper and glass. But starting January 1, 2018, China stopped accepting our trash. The ripples of this move are unpredictable and still moving through the system, but in some regions, materials piled up and prices for recycled content plummeted. In a business world trying to go “circular” (i.e., find a use for everything and eliminate waste), it was a wake-up call about how much waste we still produce.

The battle against single-use plastic heats up, starting (somewhat oddly) with straws

Sometimes weird things hit a tipping point. For a combination of reasons, including a viral video showing a turtle with a straw stuck in its nose, companies waged war on straws this year. Marriott, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, and the city of Seattle, among others, all banned or are phasing out straws. It was a very small part of a larger conversation about “single-use plastics,” most notably plastic bags, which IKEA and Taiwan are banning as well.

Raising the bar for suppliers

The greening of the supply chain is a perennial story, but there are some noteworthy recent actions. Apple created a $300 million fund to help suppliers in China build more solar, and also partnered with Alcoa and Rio Tinto to develop a better smelting process to make carbon-free aluminum. On the labor side of the supply chain equation, PepsiCo and Nestle cut ties with a palm oil supplier over human rights abuses and Coca-Cola said it would work with the U.S. State Department to use blockchain to fight forced labor.

Meatless options grow plentiful

Given the way most cattle is currently raised, one of the most effective things an individual can do to reduce her carbon footprint is eat less meat. The options to do so are growing, and the rise of products made from non-animal proteins has been remarkable. The Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat, and other brands have made believers out of skeptics (they taste great) and are, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “overrunning grocery meat cases.” In another fascinating move, tech company WeWork went meat-free in its offices and even stopped reimbursing employees on business trips for meat meals.

What comes next…

I’m sure I missed many stories, especially globally (my view is from the U.S.). Predictions are hard, but I’m safe in assuming 2019 will be a bumpy ride again. Ultimately, today’s global political situation is, at best, unpredictable. Brazil now has a strongman-style leader who talks about cutting down the Amazon, but the U.S. just swung its House of Representatives back the other way, giving power to Democrats who want more focus on climate change, inequality, and other sustainability agenda items. No matter what happens politically, it seems clear that companies will continue to feel pressure, internally and externally, to do more on social and environmental issues. While the problems face we are extremely serious, I remain optimistic that companies will be doing more in 2019 than ever before.

[orbemnews]

How NFTs are fueling a digital art boom Written by Oscar Holland, CNN This article was updated following the auction of Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 days,” which sold for $69.3 million. When graphic designer Mike Winkelmann started producing a drawing a day in 2007, he was simply looking for a way to improve his art skills. At best, the resulting “Everydays” project would help him promote his freelance work, which includes creating concert visuals for the likes of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. But selling the digital images was not on his mind. This week, a compilation of over 13 years’ worth of the artworks, collectively titled “Everydays: The First 5000 days,” sold for $69.3 million via Christie’s, putting Winkelmann’s name among some of the art market’s most valuable living artists. A multi-million-dollar auction for Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 days” closed this week at $69.3 million. Credit: Beeple/Christies “It’s a bit surreal, because (digital imagery) wasn’t really something that I pictured, in my lifetime, being able to sell,” said Winkelman, who goes by the name Beeple, in a video call from his home in South Carolina ahead of the sale. “So it (has) come out of nowhere. But at the same time, I also really feel like this is going to be the next chapter of art history.” Virtual art has been created, and talked about, for years. But now, thanks to endorsement from celebrities as diverse as Elon Musk, Lindsey Lohan and Steve Aoki, online buzz in art and cryptocurrency circles, and, perhaps most importantly, blockchain technology, it has not only entered the mainstream — it is generating huge sums of money for digital artists and online collectors. Beeple’s latest sale comes just weeks after his animated work “Crossroad,” which imagined Donald Trump’s naked, graffiti-strewn body slumped on the ground, was purchased online for $6.6 million. Elsewhere, a digital animation of the “Nyan Cat” meme — a flying cat with a Pop Tart for a body — earned its creator Christopher Torres almost $600,000 in a virtual auction. The musician Grimes meanwhile made $6.3 million in under 20 minutes selling a range of collectible digital artworks. At the center of this explosion in transactions are non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Acting like virtual signatures, they address concerns that digital art’s value is diminished by the ease with which it can be copied or lost. While an oil painting can only be displayed in one place and has a definitive owner, a digital image, video or gif can be infinitely duplicated and enjoyed on screens around the world for free. This has often posed problems for prospective collectors, who don’t know how to price digital art and fear it will lose resale value. But now, NFTs are offering two things that the physical art market has always depended on: scarcity and authenticity. The rise of ‘non-fungible’ tokens NFTs are built on blockchain technology, which — just as it does with Bitcoin — offers a secure record of transactions. This digital ledger serves as incorruptible proof of ownership, meaning that “original” artworks and their owners can always be identified via the blockchain, even if an image or video is widely replicated. A “fungible” asset is one that is that can be replaced with another identical one of the same value, such as a dollar bill, while non-fungible ones, like NFTs, are tied to unique goods and are not mutually interchangeable. Like bitcoins, the tokens can be kept in a virtual wallet. They can then be sold or traded, often gaining value in the secondary market. This makes NFT artworks similar to physical ones — or any other real-world asset, according to Duncan Cock Foster, co-founder of Nifty Gateway, the platform behind Beeple’s and Grimes’ recent multi-million-dollar sales. “We have systems for collecting paintings, and we have systems for collecting sculptures. But until now, people hadn’t figured out a good way to collect digital art — and NFTs allow you to do that,” Cock Foster said on a video call, adding that buying tokens is easier and “a lot more accessible” than traditional art collecting. Related video: Just how much has the internet changed art? On Nifty Gateway, artists set the number of editions for any single artwork by deciding how many accompanying tokens will be made available. This can range from one-offs, where a piece is sold to a single collector, to open-edition “drops,” where tokens are made available for a limited period of time. The sale of Grimes’ “WarNymph” collection, for instance, allowed up to 9,999 purchases of various artworks within a seven-minute window. Several of the creations were listed for just $20 per token, some of which are now selling for thousands of dollars. By connecting artists directly to collectors, NFTs effectively cut out galleries and other traditional gatekeepers. While Cock Foster would not disclose the size of Nifty Gateway’s cut, he claims it is “far less” than what a gallery would usually take. For Beeple, this represents a “democratization” of the art market. “Now I have direct access to my audience,” he said. “I don’t have to go through an intermediary.” And there’s another benefit for digital artists: They can continue making money on their work, even after it has been sold. NFTs can allow creators to receive a cut on all future transactions — on Nifty Gateway, this is typically set at 10% — breaking with the centuries-old model whereby artists do not directly benefit when sold works grow in value over their lifetimes. (For instance, when a David Hockney painting sold for $90.3 million in 2018, setting an auction record for a living artist, the British artist didn’t receive a single cent from the sale. His dealer had sold it for just $18,000 in 1972.) One of digital images that Beeple produced daily from 2007. Credit: Beeple/Christies So, while Beeple made less than $67,000 when he originally sold his “Crossroad” animation, he pocketed a further $660,000 when the initial buyer sold it on. “The royalties are definitely something that make this much more sustainable and equitable for all parties,” the designer said. New breed of collector The collector behind the $6.6 million “Crossroad” sale, Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, said that supporting creators is one of the unique benefits of investing in NFTs. While there is money to be made, and plenty of speculation happening in the crypto art market, the 32-year-old said that collecting digital works is about more than money. “I try to look into the life and career of the creators. I like to get in contact with them and meet them … for me, it’s important to see consistency and thoughtfulness about everything outside the art as well,” said Rodriguez-Fraile on the phone, adding that he is drawn to works that are “masterfully executed.” Beyond “Crossroad,” Rodriguez-Fraile said he has collected hundreds — perhaps thousands — of NFT artworks, selling only a handful so far. Beeple’s art often plays with pop culture icons in grotesque and unexpected ways. Credit: Beeple/Christies While the Miami-based collector was previously interested in blockchain and cryptocurrencies, were it not for NFTs, he said he would not be involved in buying art. His experience, like Beeple’s, suggests that the tokens are empowering a new breed of artists and collectors rather than taking a slice of the existing art market. “The analogy I like to make is Uber,” Cock Foster said. “When they were trying to make a forecast for Uber’s market size, they looked at the amount of money people spent on black cars (private car services). But because it’s so much easier to call an Uber than it is to call a black car, the actual market ended up being much larger than that. I really think we’re seeing something similar with NFTs. “They are lowering the barriers to collecting significantly,” added Cock Foster, whose platform operates under the ambitious tagline, “We will not rest until 1 billion people are collecting NFTs.” Future prospects Nifty Gateway may be a long way from its goal of 1 billion collectors, but the platform’s growth nonetheless reflects exploding interest in crypto art. In March 2020, the site recorded monthly transactions of $30,000; last month, this figure was up to $75 million, according to Cock Foster. This jump broadly coincides with another major force in the art world: Covid-19. With galleries and auction houses shuttered around the world — and people spending more time browsing the web or shopping online — NFTs have offered a new outlet for art enthusiasts. According to Beeple, this is why interest in the tokens has skyrocketed in recent months, even though the technology has been available since 2017. “You keep hearing that Covid has pushed things 10 years forward, and I think this honestly is a big part of it,” he said. “Everybody was sitting at home over the last year — so while I think this was inevitable, it really got accelerated.” The use of NFTs is now stretching far beyond the art world. DJ and musician Deadmau5 has used the tokens to sell digital merchandise, while the new Kings of Leon album is being released as an NFT. Nike is even reported to have registered a patent for tokenized shoes, branded “CryptoKicks.” This rapid growth has led to fears of an NFT bubble — one that may burst when the world emerges from pandemic-era restrictions. While collector Rodriguez-Fraile believes that “NFTs are here to stay,” he accepted that “we might be going through a period of hype … and I think the general ecosystem might slow down a bit when it comes to pricing.” For Cock Foster, however, the return to normality presents opportunities rather than threats — not least because galleries offer ways to experience digital art beyond a computer screen. “Digital art is very, very immersive,” he said, adding that displaying art is still important to online collectors. “So, I think we can build some really cool physical experiences.” This article was updated to reflect the final amount generated by Grimes’ NFT drop. Source link Orbem News #Art #boom #Digital #fueling #NFTs

[rickhorrow]

10 TO WATCH : MAYOR’S EDITION 81919

RICK HORROW’S TOP 10 SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 19 : MAYOR’S EDITION

with Jacob Aere

Jay-Z and the NFL partner on entertainment content and social activism. The NFL is partnering with Jay-Z in a deal that "will put him in charge of managing some entertainment options for the league and will tie into the sport's social justice endeavors," according to the Washington Post and other sources. Jay-Z’s Roc Nation agency will become a co-producer of the Super Bowl halftime show, but the deal "does not contain a provision for him to be the halftime performer." Roc Nation "will choose entertainers who will perform in NFL content throughout the season." Jay-Z said that he "believes that Roc Nation will have the freedom" to produce the "kind of entertainment that it wants." The community activism portion of the partnership "will be tied into the NFL’s existing 'Inspire Change' program with its players.” While Jay-Z faced many questions surrounding his alignment with the NFL while Colin Kaepernick – who Carter has supported quite vocally – remains unemployed, as Carter rightly pointed out, his involvement will likely direct a lot more money to social justice issues. This is a huge win for the NFL, and the potentially positive impact of Jay-Z being willing to join forces with the league — especially now — cannot be overstated.

The LPGA and Group1001 announce a new official LPGA Tour event coming to Boca Raton, Florida in January, 2020. The first edition of the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio will be held January 20-26 at Boca Rio Golf Club. The event will feature a 108-player field competing for a $2 million purse over 72 holes of stroke play. Boca Rio Golf Club, founded in 1967 and designed by Robert von Hagge, is situated four miles from the Atlantic Ocean on 200 acres of native Florida wilderness with no developed real estate. “We are thrilled to support women’s professional golf and to provide a platform for the sport’s best to compete and showcase their talents,” said Dan Towriss, Group1001 CEO. The new event will be one of two LPGA Tour tournaments held in Florida in January. The year will kick off with the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions January 15-19 in Lake Buena Vista, one week prior to the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.

With television revenue rolling in, Power 5 schools are engaged in a new kind of arms race, paying significantly more money than ever before to coaches in so-called non-revenue sports. USA Today examined how much money each Power 5 public school paid its head coaches in 23 sports other than football and men's and women's basketball 2013-2018. In that five-year span, total compensation for those coaches grew 43%, almost the same rate of increase as that of football coaches (51%). In 2005, D-I schools spent more on scholarships than on coaches and administrative pay. Since then, the latter have pulled ahead. In 2005, $736 million was spent on scholarships, $721 million on coaches’ pay, and $686 million on administrative pay. By 2018, $1.92 billion was going to coaches’ pay, $1.72 billion to administrative pay, and $1.7 billion to athlete scholarships. That “compensation for coaches in lower-profile, money-losing sports has been growing at a similar rate to football raises red flags for some athletics directors worried about budget crunches.” It also raises red flags for NCAA critics, who look at skyrocketing salaries in non-revenue sports alongside unpaid student-athletes and see a broken system.

The completion of a $315 million renovation has transformed the 96-year-old Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from "ravaged to ravishing," according to the Los Angeles Times. The "wide concourse and new concession stands are welcome, and the views from the 1923 Club on the rooftop are dazzling." Every fan will "benefit from enhancements made during the two-year process." Every seat in the stadium is "new and wider and is equipped with a cupholder." Capacity will be 77,500, down from 92,348. Signs on the tunnels were "added to help fans find newly numbered seats, and new video boards and more than 600 TV screens will make it easy to follow games." There will be "more concession stands and the restrooms will continue to undergo improvement during the season." The Times noted 21 of 22 suites at the Coliseum have been sold at prices that ranged from $7.5-10 million with a "commitment of 20 years.” The renovated building will be a much more desirable destination for Trojans fans for years to come, and for Rams fans in their final season before the new Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park opens next year.

It’s back to school time, and in Washington DC, Monumental and EVERFI support STEM. As students across the nation are returning to the classroom, Monumental Sports & Entertainment Founder and Chairman Ted Leonsis is "spearheading a multipronged effort to improve schools and fuel economic growth in the impoverished neighborhoods" around Entertainment & Sports Arena in DC's Ward 8. According to the Washington Times, the initiative, called "Forward8," includes "pushing for the expansion of advanced science, technology, engineering and mathematics" programs in DC schools. Monumental’s Beltway neighbor, education technology leader EVERFI, is likewise proactive in community engagement, empowering more teachers, citizens, and students to get involved with game-based, incentive driven online education that fosters greater comprehension, retention, and behavior change. By bringing together the public and private sectors to change the way education is delivered, EVERFI is equipping today’s learners across the nation with the skills they need to become tomorrow’s leaders, while Monumental is leading the way toward helping improve education, the workforce of tomorrow, and the community in their own backyard.

Formula One has recorded a modest year-on-year rise in revenues for the second financial quarter of 2019, going from $585 million in 2018 to $620 million in its latest financial filing. Operating income rose from $14 million to $26 million over the same period, according to SportsPro. The global motor sport series’ ten teams also saw an increase in their combined payments between April and June from $307 million to $335 million, with the figure directly linked to the overall revenue increase. Formula One’s owners Liberty Media in a statement further explained the overall change in revenues: “Broadcast revenue increased primarily due to contractual rate increases. Advertising and sponsorship revenue increased due to revenue from new sponsorship agreements entered into beginning in the second half of 2018. Other Formula One revenue decreased in the second quarter primarily due to the mix of races, which resulted in lower TV production and Paddock Club revenue.” Formula One CEO Chase Carey also told investors that Liberty Media is making "good headway" in its moves to add a second race in the U.S. Miami and Las Vegas remain the two potential landing cities.

Nike launches first shoe subscription service, two years in the making. According to Fast Company, the retail giant launched the Nike Adventure Club, which sends a pair of Nike or Converse kicks to kids at regular intervals. Club members can receive them on a monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly basis. Each pair of shoes works out to $50-$60 a pair — which puts the service on the higher end of the kids’ sneaker market. What’s more, when a child grows out of a pair or they get worn out, you can send shoes back — either in the Adventure Club box or by requesting a prepaid shoe bag — to the company, and even include non-Nike shoes you want to get rid of. If a shoe is in good condition, Nike will donate it to a nonprofit. But if it has reached the end of its life, Nike will recycle it through its Grind program, which breaks down athletic footwear to turn it into other products, including running tracks and playgrounds. Because of this, Nike is pitching the program as a way to make kid’s shoes sustainable.

Louisiana state commission approves bond sale for Superdome upgrades. Louisiana's State Bond Commission has given the Mercedes-Benz Superdome's governing body the "go-ahead" to sell up to $350 million in bonds to "fund its stadium upgrade project," according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The approval is a "major step" for the venue's $450 million makeover. It comes after committee members quizzed Saints President Dennis Lauscha and SMG Executive Vice President of Stadiums and Arenas Doug Thornton about "why the spending was needed and how much the state of Louisiana would have to contribute." Thornton said that they "had studied alternatives for more than two years, including various renovations as well as building an entirely new stadium." Even though the Superdome received $336 million worth of upgrades in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and before it hosted Super Bowl XLVII in 2013, the new upgrades are needed to keep the building competitive based on NFL benchmarks and new stadiums nationwide competing for Super Bowls and other mega events. By 2025, the end of the Saints' current lease, the Superdome is projected to have a total fiscal impact of $19.9 billion.

The Cleveland Browns open up training camp and help puppies find homes. According to The Athletic, more and more NFL teams are limiting public access to training camp, but the Browns are doing the opposite. The team has expanded camp over the past few years to make it more fan- and family-friendly and has added several sets of large bleachers, food trucks and beer stands, and games for kids and teens. The highlight of the training camp is Browns Puppy Pound, which adopts out puppies from the Northeast Ohio SPCA during every open practice. More than 110 dogs have been adopted thus far in training camp this year and more than 450 puppies have been adopted through the partnership since the Puppy Pound debuted in 2015. By bringing the dogs to a place where people are happy to be going, the Browns have helped nearly 500 dogs find homes.

The annual Gagne-Bergeron Pro-Am raised over $450,000 for children’s charities in the Boston area.  The event took place on August 8 and featured 10,000 fans in attendance to watch the annual charity hockey game. Now in its 11th year, the event has funneled $2 million to charity since its inception. Notable names who participated in this year’s event includes Paul Stansy as a representative of Golden Knights on the ice. According to Le Journal de Quebec, Philippe Boucher Foundation, the Maurice Tanguay Foundation and the Simple Plan Foundation will benefit from the money raised at the event which included the participation of 21 NHL players and other amateur players at the Videotron Center in Quebec. Hockey is a close-knit community and by bringing together notable names in the off-season, fans stay engaged with players while also helping those in need.

[thisdaynews]

Neymar gives police statement amid rape inquiry

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/neymar-gives-police-statement-amid-rape-inquiry/

Neymar gives police statement amid rape inquiry

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionNeymar leaves a police station in Rio de Janeiro after making a statement

Brazil football star Neymar has attended a police station in Rio de Janeiro to make a statement following a rape allegation, his lawyer says.

The star denies raping Najila Trindade at a hotel in Paris on 15 May, and thanked his fans outside the station for their support.

Ms Trindade filed the allegation last Friday, telling a Brazilian TV channel she wanted justice.

MasterCard has suspended an advertising campaign with Neymar.

The credit card company said it would stop using images of the star, who is the world’s most expensive signing and plays for French champions Paris St-Germain, until the situation was resolved.

Sportswear manufacturer Nike Inc said earlier it was “very concerned” about the rape accusation against Neymar, whom it sponsors.

What happened at the police station?

Neymar attended the station on crutches after having sustained an injury to his right ankle during Brazil’s game with Qatar in Brasilia on Wednesday.

His lawyer, Maira Fernandes, told Reuters news agency: “Neymar has just given a statement. He made the point of coming as soon as he could to give a statement, to clarify everything that needed to be clarified.

“We are absolutely confident that we will prove the innocence of our client… The process was thorough but he provided all the clarifications that were to be provided.”

Speaking at the door of the police station, Neymar said: “I appreciate the support and all the messages that the world has sent, my friends, my fans, that the world is with me. I want to say thank you for the well wishes, and say that I have felt very loved.”

What is he accused of?

Ms Trindade, who is also from Brazil, says she met Neymar on Instagram.

She told the SBT Brasil channel she had been attracted to the footballer and had wanted to have sex with him. She said she had been flown to Paris and put up in a hotel at his expense.

When she met Neymar, she said he was “aggressive, totally different than the boy that I got to know through the messages”.

She said she had been initially prepared for consensual sex but had demanded the use of a condom. Neymar had refused, become aggressive again and raped her, she said. She said she had told him to stop but he had refused.

She described the incident as “an assault together with rape”.

SBT published part of the interview on Twitter (in Portuguese).

Video has surfaced. What does it show?

The video footage shows an altercation purported to be between Ms Trindade and Neymar in a hotel room, reportedly filmed by Ms Trindade.

The pair lie down on a bed, after which the woman stands and starts to slap the man, who defends himself with his feet.

The woman says: “I’m going to hit you, you know why. Because you beat me up yesterday”, suggesting the altercation was a second meeting. Neymar has said that he and Ms Trindade met twice.

In the SBT interview, Ms Trindade said she had only begun to understand everything that had happened to her after the first meeting ended, and that she had returned because she wanted to prove the events and “wanted justice”.

The video was shown on the Brazilian channel TV Record.

What has Neymar said about the accusations?

He has not commented so far on the TV interview but his father, Neymar dos Santos, was interviewed by TV Record about the hotel room footage and said it was clearly a set-up that proved his son was innocent.

In an earlier statement, Neymar’s management called the accusations “unjust” and said the footballer had been the “victim of an attempted extortion”.

Neymar repeated the extortion accusation in a seven-minute video on his Instagram page.

Speaking in Portuguese, the footballer said: “What happened that day was a relationship between a man and a woman, within four walls, like with any couple. And the next day nothing much happened. We kept exchanging messages. She asked me for a souvenir for [her child].”

During the video, the 27-year-old showed what he said were a long series of WhatsApp messages with Ms Trindade, including intimate photographs of her.

He said he had had to make them public to “prove that nothing really happened”. In her interview, Ms Trindade denied accusations of extortion, saying: “I want justice, not financial compensation.”

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro visited Neymar in hospital after the footballer’s injury on Wednesday, wishing him “a good and speedy recovery”. Mr Bolsonaro said earlier: “He is in a difficult moment, but I believe in him.”

What’s the legal situation?

The lawyers who first represented Ms Trindade say her initial complaint was of “aggression” or “physical violence” by Neymar. They said they had discussed a settlement with Neymar’s lawyers but that those lawyers then rejected it. The two legal teams dispute who initially asked for the meeting.

Ms Trindade then filed a rape allegation in São Paulo last Friday. Her lawyers said the allegation was “incompatible with the strategy” they had agreed, and they parted company with her on Saturday. She now has new representation.

In her interview, Ms Trindade said of a lawyer in her first legal team: “He didn’t fully believe me. I felt he was prejudiced. He portrayed it as if I’d not been raped, that I had wanted it.”

Neymar could also face investigation over publishing the images of Ms Trindade without her permission, as the act may infringe laws designed to protect privacy.

Read More

[solenerauturier]

Good On You – Your Favourite Ethical Brands of 2018

published December 28th 2018

2018  was an exciting year for Good On You: we launched in Europe and rated more brands than ever before, thanks to your recommendations. So, to wrap up the year, we’ve compiled a list of YOUR favourite ethical brands of 2018! Read on to discover who you’ve been searching for!

Favourite Womenswear & Menswear

Kowtow

Kiwi brand Kowtow designs elegant and timeless womenswear, as well as its own range of ceramics. It uses organic, fair trade cotton and non-toxic  GOTS approved dyes to produce its clothes. All its garments are made in SA8000  approved factories in India and the brand does not use any animal products. Thanks to this, it rates ‘Great’ on all fronts, which is why  Kowtow is one of our (and your) favourites!

Reformation

LA-based Reformation makes killer clothes, that don’t kill the environment. Some of the brand’s products are Bluesign and Oeko-Tex Standard 100. It also uses eco-friendly materials, like Tencel and recycled fabrics in its dresses, jumpsuits, tops, bottoms and wedding dresses.

Thought

If you are looking for thoughtfully designed, easy to wear women’s and men’s outfits, then look no further than Thought. The brand uses eco-friendly materials and its high-quality, long-lasting products. It has also taken meaningful actions to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain, such as transporting its products by sea freight.

Amour Vert

Based in San Francisco, Amour Vert makes sustainable staples, using only eco-friendly materials, including organic cotton, Tencel and recycled polyester. It also participates in American Forests and plants a tree for every purchase of a t-shirt.

Witchery

Witchery has set some good environmental policies, measuring its direct and indirect emissions and reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project. It also traces some of its supply chains and ensures that no subcontracting occurs, or if it does, that it adheres to its standards.

People Tree

Sustainable fashion pioneer and leader People Tree is a ‘Great’ ethical brand and one of our favourites too. The brand uses eco-friendly materials and addresses the labour risks by adopting the Fairtrade International –  Small Producers Organisations Code of Conduct.

Favourite Underwear

PACT

PACT’s underwear and activewear are almost 100% made from GOTS certified organic cotton. The brand has a range of basics for men, women and babies, and it does not use any animal products.

Boody

Made from organically grown bamboo, Boody is a clothing brand that supports the trend for all things green and ethical. It is Oeko Tex Standard 100  certified, supports 1% For The Planet and uses recycled packaging.

HARA

HARA  is a clothing label designed for you and our earth collectively. Its super comfy underwear are made using low impact and non-toxic dyes.

Favourite Outdoor and Sportswear

Adidas

When thinking about ethical brands, Adidas might not be one of the brands we think about first! Yet, the brand has set some good environmental and labour standards over the years, making it better than its rival, Nike. The brand is a founding member o the Better Cotton Initiative and Sustainable Apparel Coalition and has made a public commitment to reduce its direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms by 15% by 2020.

Patagonia

Another ethical fashion pioneer and leader is Patagonia. The B Corporation outdoor wear retailer has all its cotton GOTS certified organic and is Bluesign certified for 56% of its fabrics. The brand is also a member of 1% For The Planet and of the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct. We love Patagonia ’s philosophy, always aiming to do no harm and protect our planet.

Kathmandu

New  Zealand-based Kathmandu traces most of its supply chain, including all of its final stage, and publicly list some of its supplies, which is why it received a ‘Good’ rating in terms of labour, The brand has also committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 2020.

Favourite Denim

Nudie Jeans

Nudie  Jeans gives you the naked truth about denim, using a high-proportion of eco-friendly materials, including GOTS certified cotton, limiting the amount of chemicals, water and wastewater used in production.

Nobody Denim

Nobody Denim has a longstanding commitment to ethical manufacturing principles. It’s one of the brands worn by Meghan Markle during her tour down under in October. The brand offers a unique vision of responsible design. It is certified by Ethical Clothing Australia and uses a low-waste cutting technique to minimise textile waste.

Favourite Shoes

Reebok

Reebok is also one brand we don’t necessarily think of when looking for ethical fashion brands. Partially certified by Bluesign, it is also one of the founding members of the Better Cotton Initiative and Sustainable  Apparel Coalition.

Etiko

Etiko is a designer of organic, eco-friendly and fair trade shoes and clothing. The brand rates ‘Great’ on all fronts, being entirely GOTS  certified, having adopted a Code of Conduct covering all the ILO  principles, ensuring fair labour conditions and using no animal products.

Veja

Paris-based Veja creates cool and trendy ecological and fair trade sneakers and accessories. The brand is one of our favourite French brands as it uses a high-proportion of eco-friendly materials and as it has adopted a robust Code of Conduct, making sure a large proportion of its supplies pay a living wage.

Favourite Accessories

Mimco

Mimco,  part of the Country Road Group is committed to making more conscious choices. The brand is taking steps to reduce its environmental impact and makes sure its products are long-lasting. It also received the top score for its Supplier Code of Conduct in the 2018 Ethical Fashion report,  ensuring the ethical treatment of its workers in its supply chain. The brand designs cool ethical eyewear, making it one of your favourites.

There you have it, the 20 most searched for ethical brands of 2018! We look forward to seeing what the new year brings us and what new amazing ethical brands we are going to discover. 2019, bring it on!

(Feature image by Kowtow, all other images via brands mentioned. This article is a copy of my article on Good On You's website.)

[thepacificprince]

Purchasing Real Estate In Up And Down Markets

Some people who doubt there is a right time to get started in real estate investing worry there presently exist too many people buying houses to find a deal. Competition is without a doubt everywhere. If you can't understand - that in business, competition will be normal - then real estate investing is not for you. You need to a look at the marketplace in companies such as Coke and Coke, Nike and Reebok, McDonalds and Burger King, along with a million other services and products out in the marketplace. So if you see a wide range of investors competing against you then know that it's a rewarding industry to be in because you are not the only one that sees the prospects for profit. Plus, there are more than enough deals to make everyone high, in due time. At any given time there are hundreds of properties for sale in your own local market niches, enough for each investor hunting for them. Some investors know that events such as the September 11th tragedy, the huge number of job layoffs and the downfall in the stock market will kill the economy, and things they buy will go down in value. But, over again, this need not be the time to fold-up your tent and additionally quit before you get started. In order to be successful in investing, discover ways to make money in "up" and "down" markets. Have ways of utilize in both "up" and "down" markets for you to survive when the economy is bad or thrive after the economy is booming. And if everyone else is forecasting "doom & gloom" it only clears out the competition whilst you have more market share to profit from, as this is a good thing! Ask yourself: "When do I want to make money? " And the alternative is usually right now! Thus, go out and get your investing home business going, right now! And not base your actions on what many people are saying because the majority of the population is not rich, only the few who dare to take the right risks and receive the necessary steps to be successful. Stay in 'the Game, ' and stay in 'the Course' (persist) One of the major disappointments of the common, 'rental real estate' approach is there's just hardly any money in it NOW, only after a long period of title. There's not enough spread between the income realized from hire - versus - the expenses of mortgage payments in addition to repairs for the investor to make any money today. You rarely get by in the early years of your property's ownership. You must have other income to support your lifestyle. You can't just trust in the rentals to support you. Most likely, in the beginning you'll be encouraging your properties with your other income if you bought through the traditional way. That's not too attractive. A lot of investors do not own the stomach to endure the rough and rough financial stresses of the rental business. Even more so - people just don't have the desire to hang in there to help with making it work, in due time. Thus, if you persist you will outpace your competition because they will no longer be in the business, and you may have "no competition". This business is a long-term commitment along with over 80% of real estate investors - who have been in the commercial for that long, go on to become millionaires. What I'm expression to you is this: Stay the course, and you will combat most all of your competitors because you can ride the fluctuations of the market in the Real Estate Game, in due occasion. Opportunity is everywhere This is 'NOT' a common statement My spouse and i hear from new investors. True, it may work in a different way in some markets than in others, but there are buyers making money in every city (large or small, metro-area and / or the rural-areas), every day of the week. You have to learn any market: the rents, the trends, the local customs, lenders, the title companies, etc . Then, learn the strategies and adapt them to your market. One thing is for of course, everyone needs a roof to live under, either renting or perhaps owning. People need to live somewhere. So study your current market carefully, because there are tons of opportunities in every current market. You just have to learn your market and be able to service the market accordingly. If you don't believe this, simply read the 'Success Stories' of all my students achieving financial independence and even earning big profits using my field-tested and perfected real estate investing system. Typically, the main argument of housing "Nay-Sayers" is by associating real estate with toilets, damaging tenants, property damages, tenant evictions, etc . - the bad tasting things that may happen to an investor getting ready to soar into the real estate game. For somebody who believes all that is to real estate is getting a loan and buying a run-down duplex, in a bad part of town, entering the real estate adventure most certainly could turn into a major nightmare very quickly. However , individuals open to possibilities and who is willing to learn various ways and strategies - will very quickly discover that's the methodology is not the most profitable way to be transacting real estate property deals. A True Wealth Builder Well, if you shudder around the very thought of spending your nights and weekends unstopping troubled toilets, painting scarred up walls, and pacifying angry/upset tenants, you are in good company. I have basically no interest in dealing with ill-affecting and time consuming renter-problems or the negative attitudes. When you follow a systematic approach to committing, you won't have to deal with negative outcomes!! There are other creative solutions to manage properties that involve no hassles and no severe headaches whatsoever, such programs exist in our "Automated Management System" which take away those ownership nightmares. Much more profitable procedures exist if you are open to ' nontraditional ' ways of purchasing piermont grand. For example , in our System approach, there are "Rent Credits" used to maximize your time, while minimizing your overall risks, even while creating positive cash flow versus, living with negative cash flow not to mention tenant-troubles. There is a better way!! Your properties will be exquisitely managed and maintained. Your Tenant-Buyers will be happy, you are going to pocket plenty of positive cash flow and you'll be able to spend your own free time locating additional real estate investments, doing the things you like and have passion for doing, which is the very point to become a professional real estate investor in the first place!! If you really are serious about properties investing and do extensive research into the real estate small business, constantly learning and improving your knowledge level you are likely to realize that your risks are minimal when compared to other business enterprise models. If you talk to any knowledgeable real estate investor and also compare the cost of starting a real estate investing company opposed to some other type of business, you'll see that a real estate business seems to have far less risks. I like to be upfront with you that you will demand some marketing dollars at the least to launch your realty business. You also need to have a long term vision of this travel and at least give it at least a good 6-12 many months to make it work. Otherwise, your money (marketing budget) plus time will be a waste. I know this but most people need ideas of that it takes at least some money initially to make money in the form of real estate investor. I don't mean to scare any individual away but let's compare a real estate investing enterprise to a restaurant/carryout business. I know these types of businesses very well for the reason that relatives of mine own restaurants/carryouts, so even though When i never owned a restaurant, my relatives have coached me the inner workings of that business and what can be done to sustain it to be profitable. First, for a common restaurant it takes $30K in gross sales just to break actually each month. And this does not include the 15 hour days, as well as six days per week, and the initial investment of $120K down payment with great credit for a bank to sometimes lend you the money needed to open it. You also have to obtain years of knowledge and experience before you invest your wellbeing savings to start a restaurant business. Then, it normally requires about 1-3 years until the profits really come in, therefore, this is only if you can survive to stay in business that rather long. My father-in-law is currently running a carryout and he has received over seventeen years experience and he tells me ways fed up he is with the restaurant business. That is why he's even getting started as a real estate investor and he's asked others to invest some of his money into our rehab real estate. He sees the huge rewards and minimal chances involved in real estate compared to his restaurant business or other sorts of businesses he has been in. And he is seriously considering reselling his business to do real estate investing full-time. When you compare negative aspects in real estate investing versus investing in other business paths and/or endeavors, as you can come to your own conclusion: real estate shelling out is the 'Best Game' in town, when it comes to generating great huge selection, while achieving your American Dream for financial diversity. Real estate investing has cycles just like any other business Typically the stock market has it's cycles. We experienced that following the September 11th Tragedy. Only less than two years prior, we all saw a peak in the stock market with high tech stock option soaring and making stock market investors 'paper rich. a The stock market has it's 'ups' and it's 'downs. wi Modern real estate thrives on doing things smarter, smarter, strategically - not harder, more time consuming, with profit-eating outcomes. At the end of the day, the key to success will be to focus on being a 'great entrepreneur. ' I asked an event investor (he owned about a quarter of Blacksburg, Virginia) what his specialty was in real estate investing and the response was not that he was good at Lease Options, Wholesaling, Short Sales, REOs, Rehabs, Notes, Residential, Land Changes, or Commercial real estate. But he said he was basically an 'expert at making money. ' We both laughed within that but I will never forget that conversation. You need to know around the marketplace and technical factors involved in a deal, but your main duty whenever you are investing is always to make money. Therefore, at the end of the day, your job is to make money in 'up' as well as 'down' markets. And if you focus on being a 'great entrepreneur, ' you'll be able to make money with many techniques, practices, and skill sets to be successful in any market.

[buildingd2]

[NEWS] Vietnam takes first steps to restart economy

[NEWS] Vietnam takes first steps to restart economy

Vietnam has flattened its coronavirus infection curve with a sledgehammer, and after some initial success, it has now begun to reopen its economy.

Zero Deaths from conoravirus

With only 270 confirmed cases and no official virus-related deaths, Vietnam is loosening its lockdown rules in most countries, allowing some businesses to reopen.

There are some skeptics about the low number of infections, due to limited testing in the population: As of April 21, Vietnam tested about 1,881 per million people, compared with about 7,500 in Singapore. However, Vietnam’s approach has won praise from agencies such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, and its outbreak is in contrast to Singapore and Indonesia is nearby, where restrictions are being extended as cases continue to spike.

Fred Vietnam has had to deal with SARS, bird flu and various financial crises, said Fred Burke, managing partner at the law firm Baker McKenzie in Ho Chi Minh City, advising the government on foreign investment rules. They have learned that they need to act quickly and thoroughly. This country is very suitable for restoration back.

Trade-War Winner

Vietnam has been a favorite location for foreign investors seeking an alternative manufacturing center for China after escalating trade tensions between the United States and the world’s second largest economy.

Government goals are now being built on that momentum. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, committed to foreign direct investment rose 7.2% last year, with $ 24.6 billion flowing into production. That helped boost economic growth to 7.02%, the second fastest pace since 2007.

The impact of the virus on China – considered by many foreign companies to be increasingly expensive with an aging population – makes Vietnam look more attractive to businesses, A survey of some group members said they are still reassessing their position in China – Vu Tu Thanh, senior Vietnam representative of the US-Asean Business Council said.

Risks Remain

Japan, Vietnam’s second largest investor in the first quarter with $ 848 million, announced earlier this month that it set aside $ 2.2 billion for the stimulus package to encourage investors. Production moved production out of China. Vietnam will certainly benefit, said Burke, who has been a member of a government council advising on foreign investment administrative reforms.

To be sure, Vietnam is still not out of the forest. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, chairman of the National Steering Committee for the Prevention and Control of Coronav Virus, warned the country still has a big risk of outbreaks.

It must also prepare for a sustained decline in global demand, with months before factories can start strengthening orders for everything from Nike Inc. shoes. to LG Electronics Inc. home appliances.

According to World Bank data, Vietnam relies heavily on exports – accounting for more than 100% of GDP, which means growth had a push in the first quarter, slowing down to 3.82%. The international monetary fund is expected to weaken by 2.7% for the whole year.

The easing of restrictions does not mean life will return to normal.

For starters, lockout isn’t fully lifted, says Gareth Leather, an economist at Capital econom Ltd. in London, who predicted the contraction of GDP this year. Immediately, the others won back to their pre-crisis habit. The fear of being infected with the virus means that people will continue to practice away from society for a while.

The cost for many residents of the nation’s 96 million people is illustrated by a kilometer-long queue at free ATMs ATM – a semi-automatic distribution center that provides free rice to laid-off and laid-off workers waste.

The government believes that its serious actions to reduce viruses have finally saved the economy from more pain. While factories wait for global demand to return, the country’s domestic economy will begin to revive, said Adam McCarty, chief economist of the Mekong Economics in Hanoi.

How Vietnam has treated this virus is signaling to the rest of the world that it is no longer a developing country, he said. They reported that they had a profound flair in the way they handled problems

Source: VNI

For Foreign companies want to start or expand businesses and look for an office in Vietnam:

CONTACT US

We offer a free consultation to support you to find an suitable Office For Lease In Ho Chi Minh:

Phone: (+84) 398 716 459 – Available via Whatsapp/ Viber/ Zalo

Email: contact@lookoffice.vn

  The post appeared first on LOOKOFFICE.VN

source https://lookoffice.vn/news-vietnam-takes-first-steps-to-restart-economy

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[lookofficevn]

[NEWS] Vietnam takes first steps to restart economy

Vietnam has flattened its coronavirus infection curve with a sledgehammer, and after some initial success, it has now begun to reopen its economy.

Zero Deaths from conoravirus

With only 270 confirmed cases and no official virus-related deaths, Vietnam is loosening its lockdown rules in most countries, allowing some businesses to reopen.

There are some skeptics about the low number of infections, due to limited testing in the population: As of April 21, Vietnam tested about 1,881 per million people, compared with about 7,500 in Singapore. However, Vietnam’s approach has won praise from agencies such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, and its outbreak is in contrast to Singapore and Indonesia is nearby, where restrictions are being extended as cases continue to spike.

Fred Vietnam has had to deal with SARS, bird flu and various financial crises, said Fred Burke, managing partner at the law firm Baker McKenzie in Ho Chi Minh City, advising the government on foreign investment rules. They have learned that they need to act quickly and thoroughly. This country is very suitable for restoration back.

Trade-War Winner

Vietnam has been a favorite location for foreign investors seeking an alternative manufacturing center for China after escalating trade tensions between the United States and the world’s second largest economy.

Government goals are now being built on that momentum. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, committed to foreign direct investment rose 7.2% last year, with $ 24.6 billion flowing into production. That helped boost economic growth to 7.02%, the second fastest pace since 2007.

The impact of the virus on China – considered by many foreign companies to be increasingly expensive with an aging population – makes Vietnam look more attractive to businesses, A survey of some group members said they are still reassessing their position in China – Vu Tu Thanh, senior Vietnam representative of the US-Asean Business Council said.

Risks Remain

Japan, Vietnam’s second largest investor in the first quarter with $ 848 million, announced earlier this month that it set aside $ 2.2 billion for the stimulus package to encourage investors. Production moved production out of China. Vietnam will certainly benefit, said Burke, who has been a member of a government council advising on foreign investment administrative reforms.

To be sure, Vietnam is still not out of the forest. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, chairman of the National Steering Committee for the Prevention and Control of Coronav Virus, warned the country still has a big risk of outbreaks.

It must also prepare for a sustained decline in global demand, with months before factories can start strengthening orders for everything from Nike Inc. shoes. to LG Electronics Inc. home appliances.

According to World Bank data, Vietnam relies heavily on exports – accounting for more than 100% of GDP, which means growth had a push in the first quarter, slowing down to 3.82%. The international monetary fund is expected to weaken by 2.7% for the whole year.

The easing of restrictions does not mean life will return to normal.

For starters, lockout isn’t fully lifted, says Gareth Leather, an economist at Capital econom Ltd. in London, who predicted the contraction of GDP this year. Immediately, the others won back to their pre-crisis habit. The fear of being infected with the virus means that people will continue to practice away from society for a while.

The cost for many residents of the nation’s 96 million people is illustrated by a kilometer-long queue at free ATMs ATM – a semi-automatic distribution center that provides free rice to laid-off and laid-off workers waste.

The government believes that its serious actions to reduce viruses have finally saved the economy from more pain. While factories wait for global demand to return, the country’s domestic economy will begin to revive, said Adam McCarty, chief economist of the Mekong Economics in Hanoi.

How Vietnam has treated this virus is signaling to the rest of the world that it is no longer a developing country, he said. They reported that they had a profound flair in the way they handled problems

Source: VNI

For Foreign companies want to start or expand businesses and look for an office in Vietnam:

CONTACT US

We offer a free consultation to support you to find an suitable Office For Lease In Ho Chi Minh:

Phone: (+84) 398 716 459 – Available via Whatsapp/ Viber/ Zalo

Email: contact@lookoffice.vn

  The post appeared first on LOOKOFFICE.VN

source https://lookoffice.vn/news-vietnam-takes-first-steps-to-restart-economy

Website: https://lookoffice.vn/ published at https://lookoffice.wordpress.com/2020/04/27/news-vietnam-takes-first-steps-to-restart-economy/ or from https://lookofficevn.weebly.com/ or from https://lookoffice.blogspot.com/

[darkammarketing]

What to Leave Behind and What to Adopt in 2020 | Taking Stock of Your Marketing Strategy

There are some exciting predictions about what lies ahead for marketing in my news feeds these days. Like many of us, I’m clicking and reading quite a few of these futuristic articles because I want to be aware of how marketing will innovate in 2025 and beyond. However, I also need to know how to improve my marketing strategy starting in January and ensure the best outcome for my marketing programs in 2020.

Marketing has never been a sedentary experience, but it’s moving at a faster pace than ever before. The enormous influx of data and execution capabilities that organizations have available to them have transformed strategic planning. It’s no longer realistic to lay out a locked-in, year-long strategy.

Forward-facing organizations will take advantage of the insights that technologies like AI and marketing automation provide, by viewing their 2020 marketing plans as organic rather than fixed. They’ll continually adapt strategies and transform their best practices as insights are gained.

Below, is a list of which marketing practices and tactics your organization should consider leaving behind in 2019, and which ones are a must as part of your 2020 planning. Email marketing, content strategy, customer conversion, brand philanthropy, and social media – check out five high-level strategies to improve each of these marketing functions. 

1. EMAIL MARKETING

Leave behind: Relying Exclusively on Demographic Segmentation

Adopt in 2020: Integrating Behavioral Segmentation

Marketing Week’s survey found that most marketers are still segmenting their email campaign lists primarily by age and gender, even though those tactics come in at seventh and eighth place when measured for effectiveness. Relying exclusively on demographic and geographic factors to create customer email profiles doesn’t give marketers an accurate enough understanding of their audience.

Smart Company illustrates why this approach doesn’t work by contrasting the demographic profiles of England’s Prince Charles and rock star Ozzy Osbourne. “Two men in the same demographic: Male, 61+ years, with income over $1 million. However, it goes without saying that there are worlds between Prince Charles and the British rock star Ozzy Osbourne.”

However, when behavioral attributes like purchasing traits, buying habits and preferred engagement methods become part of your company’s segmentation process, the effectiveness of your email campaigns rises exponentially.

Here’s a hypothetical example; imagine supplying creative with the following target profiles and asking them to write a triggered email that will launch when items are abandoned in an online shopping cart.

Male and female runners, age 45 to 60, on the West Coast, that left items from our comfort running shoe line in their cart and have demonstrated a higher click-through rate when the body copy contains self-effacing humor.

Vs.

Male and female runners, age 45 to 60 on the West Coast.

Which profile is more likely to result in a compelling, personalized email like the following?

“We noticed you searched for comfortable running shoes. It’s ok, sometimes we hurt, too. For ultimate comfort leading to peak performance, be it a sprint or a marathon – enjoy 20% off on those Nike sneakers you left in your cart.”

If you aren’t already doing so, make integrating customer preferences and behaviors with demographic data a key part of your 2020 email strategy.

2. CONTENT STRATEGY

Leave behind: Stuffing Your Content with Keywords for SEO

Adopt in 2020: Focusing on Natural Keyword Density and Intent for SEO

If your content strategy still involves keyword stuffing, you may find that it’s no longer as effective in 2020. Liberally repeating the same words and phrases used to work well with Google’s SERP (or Search Engine Results Pages) algorithm.

However, this year Google launched a new algorithm called BERT (or Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) that looks at your content’s keywords in a relational, contextual way. How keywords are used in a sentence will matter more than their density.

Search Engine Journal’s article “10 Important 2020 SEO Trends You Need to Know” suggests that rather than investing time in learning how to manipulate BERT, organizations focus on optimizing their content for readers. In the article, Frédéric Dubut, Senior Program Manager at Bing says. “There’s no sign of [natural language processing] NLP and deep learning research slowing down anytime soon, and you can expect the search engines to shift even further from keywords to intent in 2020”.

What’s exciting about BERT, is that it supports the mission of engagement marketing. Marketo explains, “Resourceful, actionable, helpful websites are the ones that users linger on, click through, link up with, and return to, so modern digital marketing means good SEO.”

Does this mean it’s time to abandon keywords in 2020? Absolutely not, that’s valuable data. What it does mean is letting go of the instinct to rely on obsessive keyword repetition throughout the written content. Instead, use keywords as a launch point for content strategy so you’re still speaking to the reader’s interest and queries.

3. CUSTOMER CONVERSION

Leave behind: Leaning Exclusively on MarTech Execution for Conversion

Adopt in 2020: Giving Creativity a Larger Role for Higher ROI

Advances like marketing automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) learning have empowered organizations with the ability to quickly analyze what consumer needs are and execute a content-based solution. However, Adobe’s CMO article, “5 Adtech Predictions For 2020” points out that in our excitement about this new agility, we may have inadvertently pushed creativity out of the room.

Forrester’s principal analyst Jay Pattisall shares that in 2019 a large number of brands started offering “the same digital experience because they all address the same customer needs, use the same technology platforms, and design for the same mobile use cases.”

For example, Adobe points out that “In our pursuit to be customer-centric marketers–to answer every customer need, want, and desire with digital–we have forgotten an important ingredient: creativity. Most experiences look, feel, and behave alike. All airline apps allow travelers to check in and manage flights. All QSR apps allow diners to order ahead and skip the line. All fashion experiences look the same.”

Taking a critical look at how you’ve used MarTech in 2019 ensures you continue to evolve as an organization. Asking the question, “Do we need to give creativity a bigger seat at the MarTech table?” is what will uplevel your 2020 strategy. 

4. BRAND PHILANTHROPY

Leave behind: Broadcasting Your Contributions to Causes

Adopt in 2020: Empowering Customers to Vote with Their Dollar

Today’s consumers want to be world changers and believe they have the power to do so by making deliberate choices as buyers. Most organizations have come to realize that they need to align their brand messaging with philanthropic outreach. It’s the reason that market research firm Verdantix predicts that the market for sustainability consultancies will have exceeded $1 billion dollars by the end of 2019.

However, Marketo’s article “Your Customer Wants to Be the Hero” points out that exclusively promoting your brand’s dedication to sustainability or other philanthropic initiatives won’t be enough in 2020. Forbes contributor Solitaire Townsend explains, “Because just talking about your own values isn’t enough, consumers want you to help them live theirs.”

Leave the idea of simply contributing to a cause and broadcasting your participation with it back in 2019. Instead, find a way in 2020 to draw a clear, straight line from consumer’s point-of-purchase to the impact they’ll have on the world. Be the vehicle that provides your customers with the opportunity to have an impact, rather than just asking them to witness your organization doing it.

Here’s a great example. The company Bridgewater Candles uses packaging that tells customers that their purchase will directly provide 3 meals to a child in need. Their website has declarations like, “Light a candle. Feed a child” and “Smell good. Do good. Feel good,” and there’s a running tally of exactly how many meals their candle sales have resulted in, more than 9 million when this article was written.

5. SOCIAL MEDIA

Leave behind: Social Media as a Place to Pitch

Adopt in 2020: Social Media as a Place of Engagement

Today’s consumers are incredibly cognizant of corporations’ desire to join their peer-to-peer conversations on social media platforms. Popular online forum Reddit even has a subreddit called “r/HailCorporate” where contributors post examples of failed attempts by brands to do so.

One of the top examples of 2019 was a YouTube video of famous, Argentine football player Lionel Andrés Messi attempting the trending bottle flip challenge. The obvious brand placement of the Pepsi bottle and Lionel’s obvious acting was off-putting to audiences who value genuine online experiences.

Leave blatant pitches and attempts to create corporate generated, viral social media content in 2019. Spend 2020 taking advantage of consumer insights, so your social media participation is genuine and meaningful. One of the ways brands are doing this is by moving away from sponsored, influencer marketing and instead by asking real-life product users to become content generators. Lush cosmetics has been asking consumers to use the hashtag #LushLife in pictures and videos of them using Lush products so they can share those images on their social media websites.

Ultimately, it’s up to every individual organization to determine what strategies will propel their brand in the new year. But do consider taking stock of existing 2020 plans that may have been laid out. Keep your planning process open so you can take advantage of the continual insights we are gaining as B2B marketing professionals. 

The post What to Leave Behind and What to Adopt in 2020 | Taking Stock of Your Marketing Strategy appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership.

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[psychotherapyconsultants]

7 Women Who Inspire Me

Proverbs 13:20 says, “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.” In other words, hang with the winners. A few months ago, my therapist gave me the assignment to think about the wise women in my life, warriors who had persevered through difficulties in their lives to emerge as stronger figures, examples of resilience who could serve as my teachers. I went even further and interviewed each one, asking them about the force or philosophy behind their strength.

The following women have survived illness, divorce, deaths, lay-offs, but pressed on with a tenacity that inspires me. They are world travelers, executives, communication professionals, caregivers, and master healers who have made the world a better place.

1. Rose Pike

Angel Rose holds a special place in my heart because she has showered me with kindness at difficult crossroads in my life. She was my editor at a health website three years ago when I experienced a severe depressive episode. Instead of berating me for my slower writing pace at that time, she sent me flowers and cut my workload in half. Kindness is synonymous with Rose. Her imprint of compassion is evident in every feature she publishes for the different websites she has worked for. As a writer, I am inspired by her unwavering dedication to disseminate stories of hope for persons faced with chronic conditions.

An adventurous spirit, Rose told me one of her biggest obstacles was breaking free from the routine and comfortable life of her family life growing up. Although difficult, she moved away from her hometown in order to find a new life of her own. “That distance helped me become my own person,” she said. The support of her daughter and daughter-in-law and her friends helps sustain her today.

Her advice to young women is to persist and to not resist change because things are always changing. To that end, her favorite quote is the chorus of Bob Dylan’s song, “Things Have Changed,” which says, “People are crazy and times are strange, I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range, I used to care, but things have changed.”

2. Carolyn Casey

Carolyn was seven when her mother committed suicide. Her father abandoned his children and left town. The bottom fell out of her world. She and her 2-year-old sister and 4-year-old brother lived with their grandparents, and Carolyn became the caretaker for her younger siblings.

Some years later, her father married a woman who despised Carolyn and was abusive to her. Her stepmother would lock herself in her room reading and separated herself from her children, which numbered seven at that time. Carolyn turned to a higher power and prayed for strength and courage. In her darkest moments, she knew from deep within herself that there was something greater than herself.

At age 40, Carolyn found herself divorced with three children. She now understood the pain her mother felt and why she wanted to end her life. She turned the struggles of her past into strength and courage, and a desire to help lift up others from their suffering and facilitate healing.  She could have given up and become an embittered person, but through the grace of a higher power she continues her journey in gratitude and knows for certain that there is something greater than ourselves that loves us even when we don’t. A feisty, single woman who devotes her time to causes, her children, grandchildren, and friends, she inspires me with her tireless energy toward service to others. Carolyn’s favorite quote is Soren Kierkegaard’s observation: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

3. Eileen Bailey

I consider Eileen the female Job; however, she never whined to God. She simply took the next step to make her life better. Eileen endured the most difficult loss when she lost her son two years ago. Proactive in her grief and with everything in her life, she turned her pain into love and created scrapbooks of her son’s life for her grandson and formed a tighter bond with him.

I asked her how she was able to persevere through such a tragedy and keep a positive attitude. “Just do it,” she said, “like the Nike ad. Break your day down and do the thing in front of you.” She stays busy as a regular contributor to HealthCentral in addition to a day job.

Laughter and friends also keep her sane. After her second divorce, when her daughter moved away to school, she found herself lonely. She looked up a group on Meetup for women over 50, but they didn’t have many activities, so she created her own group. They met for breakfast six years ago and are still friends today.

Eileen’s favorite quotes are:

“We never truly get over a loss, but we can move forward and evolve from it.” – Elizabeth Berrien

“The journey never ends…”

“If you want to have a friend, you first need to be a friend,” one that her mother told her often and what drove her to create the Meetup group.

4. Lisa Hillman

Lisa never meant to become a poster child for parents coping with a child’s drug problem. She was an accomplished health care administrator, a fundraising executive married to former Annapolis Mayor Richard Hillman, and a mother of two.

Few people knew about the nightmare that was unfolding at home starting with a phone call from her son’s high school teacher the start of his senior year, alerting her to his possible marijuana use. Jacob’s addiction unraveled from there, resulting in a dependence on opiates that threw his life into reverse. Jacob’s story has a happy ending. He eventually got sober and stayed sober after visiting a few inpatient treatment centers.

Lisa chronicles the journey to hell and back in a riveting, poignant book called Secret No More: A True Story of Hope for Parents With an Addicted Child. But even more inspiring than her pages is the woman who wrote it. Her life, as well as her words, speak of the journey of shedding shame and guilt to make room for a bolder kind of love. In her blog, she shares powerful anecdotes on how to lower expectations, walk through fear, ask for support, let go of control, and hang on to hope. Whenever I experience bouts of insecurity about sharing my story, I call up Lisa for a much-needed reminder to be authentic.

Lisa has several favorite quotes:

“Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.” – from her father

“You are stronger than you know.” – from her mother

“One day at a time.”

“You can glance back at your past, just don’t stare.”

“We are here on earth to serve others. What the others are here for, I don’t know.” – W.H. Auden

5. Jen Brining

Jen is the lay Mother Teresa, traveling the world and giving back in her unique way. She divides her time between her son’s house in New Jersey, helping with her new granddaughter, and leading Habitat for Humanity group trips in Asia, Africa, and Central America. These “volunteer vacations” entail more than erecting physical infrastructures, they build community. For Jen, there is nothing like the rewarding, emotional feeling she has every time she leaves a build.

“Although the initial intent is to help families by building a house, latrine, or a stove,” she explained to me, “we are immersed in their community, in their homes … in their lives. There is a unique bonding of friendships between fellow volunteers, the deserving homeowner, the local community, and international cultures.”

Jen’s hardest obstacle was losing a child, one of two twins at birth. She overcame it by being the best mother she could possibly be to her amazing two children. Her advice to young women? “Be yourself, follow your dreams, but take the opportunity to travel internationally as soon as you can. It will change your outlook on life.” Her favorite quote is “Not All Who Wander Are Lost,” often attributed to J.R.R. Tolkien.

6. Michelle Rapkin

Even as Michelle’s professional life blossomed early with several executive positions within the publishing field, her love life took a little longer. In her mid 40s, Michelle met and married the love of her life, Bob, and lived 10 years of happy ever after until he died from complications from gall bladder surgery. She took the tragedy in stride because she was well-trained in the school of hard knocks.

Just two years after marrying Bob, Michelle was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which she eventually beat, achieving remission. One of Michelle’s best gems concerns the 14 days between her blood tests and a diagnosis. “Don’t waste 14 days,” became her motto, not just about that time of uncertainty but about life with cancer and anxiety and loss. She made a very deliberate intention to live life to the fullest.

Today Michelle’s cancer has returned, and she is in the midst of different treatments. Once again, she concentrates her efforts on moving forward and does not waste any time in regret. Michelle’s favorite quote is “This, too, shall pass.”

7. Mary Beth Beaudry

Strong women make remarkable mothers. Mary Beth’s absolute devotion to her two daughters immediately impressed me as well as her ambition to live a life well lived with a strong moral compass, characterized by integrity, respect, and service and love toward others. While her marriage of 20 years was collapsing to take better care of herself so that she could, in turn, take better care of her daughters, she was proactive in four ways: she relied upon her faith, embraced Transcendental Meditation, focused on her work as Research Nurse Manager and Program Administrator for the Mood Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins, and pursued her own growth gaining admittance to a top doctoral program. Her ambition is to be the greatest mother and role model for her daughters that she can be. 

Mary Beth is a personal cheerleader to countless persons, including me, who battle mood disorders. She was the first one to send me an encouraging note after I published a very raw post about my suicidal ideations. Her compassion and optimism, combined with her skills as a communicator, spread hope to those who desperately need it and inspire those burdened by different conditions to take the next step toward wellness. Mary Beth shared she adopted Kesha’s “Praying” as her personal anthem during the most challenging time in her life: “I’m proud of who I am…. I can breathe again…. and now the best is yet to come.”

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/7-women-who-inspire-me/

[rickhorrow]

10 To Watch : Mayor’s Edition 7819

RICK HORROW’S TOP 10 SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 8 : Mayor’s Edition

With Jacob Aere

Cleveland hosting the 2019 MLB All-Star Game is positively impacting the city's economy. As reported by Fox 8 Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission estimates All-Star Week will generate $65 million in revenue for Cleveland businesses, which includes packed restaurants, sports bars, hotels, and visitors checking out other attractions like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  MLB's Play Ball Park drew big crowds to the Huntington Convention Center over the weekend. Restaurants are bringing in extra staff, which will also benefit workers who will earn extra tips this week. 2,000 media members are in town giving Cleveland worldwide attention. The huge amount of money being spent in Cleveland, also means the city cashes in with extra tax money which can be used for city improvements, like roads, public transport, and community service programs. Stores like the Cleveland Clothing Company on Euclid Avenue are packed more than usual. "It's been great for the community and the city," manager Desiree Moar told Fox8. Cleveland will once again be in the national spotlight when the city hosts the NFL Draft in 2021, and the NBA All Star Game in 2022.

BofA launches ASG-tied rewards program. As noted by Cynopsis, ahead of the MLB All-Star Game in Cleveland, longtime MLB sponsor Bank of America launched a rewards program tied to ASG festivities. Looking to leverage the drama of extra innings, the “Extra Rewards” promotion offers BofA customers discounts on licensed merchandise at MLB.com, along with some exclusive merchandise. TV ads will support the program, primarily on MLB asset media and in markets where BofA has RSN inventory on local MLB telecasts. Tags supporting the promo will also be read as extra-inning games occur, along with digital and social media. BofA CMO Meredith Verdone said the promotion is designed to enhance customer relevancy and engagement. “The thing we love about the association with extra innings is that there’s always an exciting, emotional ending,” she added. This All-Star Game is especially key to BofA, since it is just entering the Ohio market with retail banking. BofA, an MLB sponsor since 2004, also has deals with the Astros, Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants, Orioles, Red Sox, and Yankees.

The U.S. women's national team beat the Netherlands on Sunday to defend their title as reigning World Cup champions. When they get back home, they've got a different battle awaiting – their legal fight for equal pay and treatment. In March, the 28 members of the 2015 World Cup-winning team -- including current national team stars Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Carli Lloyd -- filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation alleging gender discrimination in their treatment versus how the governing body treats the men's team. "The U.S. women’s soccer team does not need to be the best in the world in order to earn equal pay. The point of non-discrimination law is that employees doing similar work should be paid equally," Columbia Law School’s Suzanne B. Goldberg told ABC News. The lawsuit also cites the denial of "at least equal playing, training, and travel conditions; and equal promotion of their games." Added Goldberg, “In this instance, where the women's team is outplaying the men's team, there is an argument that they should be paid more than their male counterparts," she said. A U.S. Soccer spokesperson confirmed that the women's team and the federation tentatively agreed to mediation after the World Cup

USWNT jersey sales have outpaced all other U.S. soccer jerseys, including those of the men's team, according to statistics from Nike and Fanatics. As reported by ESPN, Nike said in its earnings report that the women's 2019 stadium home jersey is now the No. 1-selling soccer jersey, men's or women's, ever sold on Nike.com in one season. Fanatics said this is the top-selling U.S. Soccer national team, men's or women's, of all time. "It's hard to overstate how important this year has been to the evolution of the women's offense at Nike," president and CEO Mark Parker said. The USWNT’s success has helped drive business for Nike even past the jersey, which retails for $90. Parker said the energy around the World Cup, with nearly two-thirds of the teams wearing Nike kits and half the players wearing Nike boots, has pushed the company to the No. 1 position in market share for bras this quarter in North America for the first time in the company's history. That stat is impressive given the exposure Nike gained in 1999, when Brandi Chastain scored the winning goal against China in a shootout and tore off her jersey, revealing her sports bra – one of the most iconic moments in women's sports history.

While it’s long been green, this year Wimbledon is seriously ramping up its sustainability initiatives. Week Two of Wimbledon is underway at the All England Club, and one sight that hasn’t been seen at this year's tournament is "players discarding the plastic cover from a freshly strung racket." As the Guardian noted, following a sustainability review, the "removal of plastic bags from the player racket stringing operation means there will be 4,500 fewer plastic bags used" this year. Wimbledon sponsor Evian also launched “its first 100% recycled and 100% recyclable water bottle at this year’s championships." Meanwhile, longtime sponsor Rolex ran a full-page ad in the New York Times touting its standing as the official jeweler of Wimbledon: "140 Years of Memorable Performances Ensure Centre Court Will Remain Tennis's Ultimate Stage." And timeless tennis superstar Roger Federer has been reveling in a different kind of green: Federer topped Forbes’ list of 2018 athlete endorsement income, at $65 million besting LeBron James ($52 million), Cristiano Ronaldo ($47 million), Tiger Woods, and Steph Curry (tied at $42 million)

IMG is close to signing a ten-year deal worth $1 billion for betting streaming and data rights to the ATP Tour. According to SportBusiness, the partnership being discussed between global agency IMG and ATP Media – the tour’s commercial arm – will reportedly cover the nine ATP Masters 100 tournaments, the Tour 500 series, and a number of the 250 series events. If successful, the deal would add to the agency's growing portfolio of contracts for IMG Arena, its sports betting and content arm. The division, launched in November, 2018, is already a data partner for golf’s PGA Tour and European Tour, and looking at capitalizing on new U.S. sports wagering laws. IMG's involvement in tennis is already significant. The agency has representatives on the ATP board, reps elite players including Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka, and owns and operates ATP tournaments including the Miami Open and Rio Open. If confirmed, this will be the biggest rights deal in tennis history.

Major League Soccer will host a new MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by Target at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports on July 30. The first-time event takes place during the MLS All-Star break, allowing fans to watch on MLSsoccer.com and the MLS App and streamed live in English, Spanish, and French across the digital platforms of all five MLS domestic media partners – ESPN, FOX, and Univision in the U.S., TSN and TVA Sports in Canada – as well as in more than 170 countries around the world through MLS’ international media partners. Points in each of the competitive skills will be earned based on accuracy, as well as style and include: touch and volley; shooting; and passing. The 2019 MLS All-Star Game Presented by Target will take place in Orlando on Wednesday, July 31 at Orlando City Stadium, which holds close to 26,000 fans. The festivities join the city’s rich tradition of hosting mega events, including two annual college football bowl games, PGA Tour tourneys, and the annual Pop Warner Super Bowl and cheer national championships.

Universal Tennis releases an app to makes tennis more available to the masses. According to PR Newswire, the UTR app helps to connect the tennis community as it helps to rank the skill level of players across the globe. At the core of the Universal Tennis platform is the Universal Tennis Rating, the global gold standard for measuring tennis skill across age, gender, and geography. UTR and the Universal Tennis platform have been adopted by players, coaches, organizers, academies, clubs, and colleges worldwide to facilitate more connectivity and better competition across the tennis landscape. The new UTR app is free for all tennis players of any age and skill level. In the United States, all USTA and college players already have a rating and profile on UTR, and any player can create their own profile. To celebrate the app’s launch, Universal Tennis will raffle tennis gear for those who post scores, whether professional or amateur. 

Marvel joins the esports world thanks to superheroes. According to Forbes, Team Liquid has announced a new partnership with Marvel that will see its players wear Avengers-inspired jerseys at certain special events. The year-long contract includes inspired jerseys from Captain America, Iron Man, Avengers Endgame, and a collaborative T-shirt between the two parties. The first look at the new gear was in the team’s Captain America jerseys at the EU vs NA Rift Rivals League of Legends competition taking place in Los Angeles last weekend. As Avengers Endgame nearly overtook Avatar as the highest-grossing film of all time, Marvel is now expanding its influence into the world of gaming and further building its empire while Team Liquid will garner a new slew of fans.

The MLB All Star Game auctions off Louisville Slugger and Fender guitars for charity. This year’s All-Star game is taking place in Cleveland, Ohio, and will pay tribute to the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. According to Yahoo! Finance, the location of the All-Star Week makes for an ideal partnership between two manufacturers that are world leaders in their respective areas: Louisville Slugger baseball bats and Fender musical instruments. To celebrate the rock n’ roll history of the city, MLB partnered with the two companies to create a public exhibit featuring 31 pairs of artist-painted Fender Stratocasters and Louisville Slugger baseball bats, one for each MLB team and one for the Baseball Hall of Fame. These bats and guitars will be displayed through July 9 at Cleveland Public Square’s Midsummer Village and will later be auctioned off for charity, with funds raised by MLB Charities to be used for instrument purchases and music program learning resources.

[dorothydelgadillo]

What Gillette’s Controversial Ad Teaches Marketers About “Woke Advertising”

Unless you haven’t been on the internet in the past week, you’ve likely seen the Gillette’s new socially-charged ad.

The commercial, released just over a week ago, has created quite a buzz online, generating over 55 million views across various social networking websites -- and with good reason.

  The ad explores the topic of toxic masculinity and  #MeToo movement and encourages men to support women, and each other, to truly be the “Best a Man Can Be,” rather than just the “best a man can get” that Gillette’s slogan has urged for the last 30 years.  

  On their website, Gillette further explains their stance on this campaign and their mission, stating:

“It’s time we acknowledge brands, like ours, play a role in influencing culture. And as a company that encourages men to be their best, we have a responsibility to make sure we are promoting positive, attainable, inclusive, and healthy versions of what it means to be a man.”

“We have spent the last few months taking a hard look at our past and coming communication and reflecting on the types of men and behaviors we want to celebrate.”

“From today on, we pledge to actively challenge the stereotypes and expectations of what it means to be a man everywhere you see Gillette - in the ads we run, images we publish to social media, words we choose, and so much more”

The response to this ad was extremely mixed (some supporting it and others arguing Gillette should stay out of it), but it did generate a lot of reactions and prompted conversations about masculinity - and what a brand’s role is to speak out on controversial social issues.

The Age of “Woke” Advertising

This isn’t the first ad like this we’ve seen this past year - Nike’s "Dream Crazy" ad with Colin Kaepernick and Proctor & Gambles “The Talk” ad also took a stand on controversial issues.

These ads were not aimed at promoting products, but at addressing social issues.

The internet has named this type of marketing strategy “Woke Advertising.”  

For those who don’t know, “Woke” is a slang term that refers to awareness of important facts or issues, mainly current social issues.

In the past, brands have stayed out of these conversations, in fear of alienating their audience, however, this has changed in recent years, and brands are more willing to take risky stands on social issues.

Why is “Woke” advertising becoming so popular?

Frankly, when done correctly, it’s good for business. For example, Nike’s ad, despite the controversy and backlash, added over $6 billion to the company’s value.

Why does it work? Essentially, there are three key factors that make this strategy work for brands.

1. Customers Want Brands to Take a Stance   

Let me be perfectly clear here: Despite this working for some brands, it's certainly a risky decision (Pepsi’s ad with Kendall Jenner is a prime example of this).

However, while there’s always the very real risk of alienating audiences, there are numerous studies that show today’s consumer is looking for purpose-driven brands that they can align their values with - as a way of “voting with your dollars” to show support of a brand’s messaging outside of their specific product.

In fact, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink addresses this phenomenon in his 2019 Letter to CEOs, stating:

“Society is increasingly looking to companies, both public and private, to address pressing social and economic issues.”

“Fueled in part by social media, public pressures on corporations build faster and reach further than ever before”

“Purpose [driven-advertising] guides culture, provides a framework for consistent decision-making, and ultimately, helps sustain long-term financial returns for the shareholders at your company”

When you look into what was happening before they ran this ad, it starts to make more sense.

Gillette’s stock and sales have been dropping, as they were finding it difficult to compete with low-cost brands like Dollar Shave Club.

This campaign was likely created in hopes of generating enough buzz for the consumer to make a purpose-driven decision to by Gillette products rather than a cost-driven decision to choose the more affordable competitors.

2. Sparking Dialogue Generates Brand Awareness

Whether you loved it or hated it, Gillettes ad certainly got people talking about it.

I'll never buy another Gillette again.

— P. D. Mangan 🇺🇸 (@Mangan150) January 14, 2019

I'm actually emotional watching this. Be a man by taking a stand.@Gillette, well done and thank you! https://t.co/XZkXM3oSPh

— Brady Dulling Henry (@BradyLikeBunch) January 15, 2019

The influx of people sharing, commenting, and writing their own reactions to the ad caters directly to the algorithms on social media - which only prompts more shares, comments, and responses.

This allows the brand to expand their reach far beyond what they could do if they were paying for television spots or paying for video ads.

Marketing Land reports that social media buzz is the main driver of the increased sales for brands with these type of ads and this applies to negative feedback as well.

The old saying “All press is good press” seems to hold true here. The more and more people are talking about a brand allows them to be top of mind for the consumer.

It’s too early to tell if this will work for Gillette; The true test will be to see how their sales increase or decrease over the coming weeks, but it’s clear their initial goal of generating conversation succeeded.

3. Social Media Provides Immediate Feedback

While creating a buzz is crucial, perhaps brands are becoming a little more daring with their ads because social media provides immediate feedback that traditional advertising does not.

A decade ago, the only way to tell if your television or print ads were successful was to wait and see sales results. Even then, there was no direct attribution.  

Today, brands have the advantage of using social media to see how consumers are responding to their efforts.

Because of this instant feedback loop, brands can directly attribute certain campaigns with increased or decreased engagement and adapt in real time.

It’s likely attention to social listening tactics has caused brands to take bigger risks than they would without them, and they’re aiming to be inserted into the conversation more than ever before.

Key Takeaways from Gillette

While “Woke” Advertising methods have been effective in the past, it’s likely best to leave this to the multi-billion dollar corporations that can afford to alienate segments of their audience, unless of course, the issue at hand directly impacts your business/industry.

As more and more brands take their own approach to these types of ads, it's going to be important to pay close attention not just to the immediate reactions - but what it does for the business down the line.

Whether you agree or disagree with the stances the brands are taking, at the end of the day, these companies are out to make a profit. From a business perspective, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in 2019 and see how this tactic plays out in the long-term.

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/what-gillettes-new-ad-teaches-marketers-about-woke-advertising