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127 The Keys to Social Media Marketing - Gina Stango Aug 24 2022
https://www.berkshomes.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginastango
This week on The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast, Gina Stango of Berks Homes joins Greg and Kevin to discuss the advantages of making social media a key component in home buyer marketing.
In this digital age, home builders cannot ignore the significance of social media presence. Gina says, "We're just constantly out there. We're not selling anything. We're just showing. We're showing models. We're showing people. We're showing just cool visual things."
Analytics will show whether engagement increases as a result of social media marketing. Gina explains, "And then of course, from the backend, from our analytics, we're seeing more time on site. We're seeing engagement from different places. We're actually getting calls. Now people will call and say, hey, I saw you on Instagram, or hey, I saw you on TikTok. We see the social media creeping in more and more, and the visuals that people just wanna see it."
Ultimately, the reaction from buyers is proof that using social media in marketing is effective. Gina says, "Well, buyers love it. It's already a really exciting time for them. So, if we are taking photos and they're excited and they're walking through the house and we're taking pictures and we post it online, they just want all their friends and family to know too. So, what happens is they share all that information. Which is wonderful because we're not pushing a particular product. We're just pushing that whole feeling and that vibe and that experience, and that's what we really wanna get out there. So, when they reshare, it's like, this is so cool. I have the warm and fuzzies. That's the goal that we're going for."
Listen to this week's episode to learn more about using social media to enhance marketing efforts.
About the Guest:
Gina Stango is the Marketing Director for Berks Homes in Pennsylvania. Currently based out of the home office in Mohnton, she leads a team of marketing professionals currently focused on driving consumer traffic while preparing for an expansive growth plan for the organization.
With over 10 years experience in new construction, Gina has seen the market shift in many directions and has learned to adapt to every scenario. She understands the evolution of marketing and keeps her pulse on the market.
Gina believes communication is key and values what every member of her team brings to the table to brand and promote Berks Homes. Whether it be engaging new prospects from Lasso drip campaigns, organizing events, pushing the latest trends in reels, or targeting ad placement, she focuses on consumer engagement and reaction to create front of mind awareness and drive traffic to their website and Online Sales Coordinator.
Berks Homes prides itself on quality craftsmanship with a wide array of options for first-time homebuyers, as well as for those ready to upgrade to the next level of homeownership. They build new homes in some of the most desirable communities in and around Eastern PA, including Berks County, Chester County, Lancaster County, Lebanon County, Harrisburg, Hershey, State College and more.
Berks Homes Core Values (Be Helpful, Humble, Aware & Driven) play a huge part in how the team operates and engages with customers. Their Mission and Vision is clearly expressed in all of their digital, social media and print advertising. Every member of the organization is committed to the Mission and Vision which are to create lasting relationships by earning the trust of those they serve and be a major league player in minor league markets.
Greg Bray: [00:00:00] Hello everybody, and welcome to today's episode of The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine.
Greg Bray: And we are excited today to welcome to our show Gina Stango, the Director of Marketing with Berks Homes. Welcome, Gina. Thanks for joining us.
Gina Stango: Hi, Greg and Kevin. Thanks so much for having me today.
Greg Bray: Well, Gina, let's start off with a quick introduction. Help us get to know you a little bit better.
Gina Stango: Sure. I've been a marketing professional for over 25 years. I'm dating myself. I've had about [00:01:00] 12 plus years in new construction. I've always been in the realm of mortgage and real estate. Residential real estate, commercial real estate, and I've done new construction, as I said for about 12 years now. So, I've always had that kind of a background and been involved in the marketing and sales part of that.
Kevin Weitzel: Well, that's the business you, but me poking around your LinkedIn page, I saw something about a Playhouse in there, but don't worry about the Playhouse, but I was hoping you were gonna mention it, but you didn't, but here's my question. My question is, is there something personal that we can learn about you, that isn't business related, that people can learn about you on our podcast?
Gina Stango: You mentioned the Playhouse, so I'll just mention that briefly. I have a couple of different hobbies, but yeah. So, I do have a theater background. I do have a background, I've done some radio shows before, but my passion over the last 10 years has actually been triathlon. Shock. I know. It's a very competitive and goal-oriented sport. So, I do swim, bike, run, and [00:02:00] have lots of goals to get myself healthy and just be um, goal-oriented.
Kevin Weitzel: I founded the largest triathlon shop in the Western half of the United States called Tribe Multi-Sport. It's now defunct because people that I sold it to ran it in the ground and then went out of business. So, what brand of bike do you have, and are you a Shimano, Ram, or Campy person, and there is a correct answer?
Gina Stango: I actually have a couple of bikes. I have a Cannondale, which is my tri-bike, and then I have the Fuji, which is my road bike, and then I have my specialized, which is my trail bike.
Kevin Weitzel: Nice. Alright.
Greg Bray: Well, when I come to triathlons, I'm more like in the Playhouse pretending to be on a triathlon as opposed to actually doing it. It's a mix there of your experience, so.
Gina Stango: It's definitely a different switch to go from, you know, where you're sitting in the theater and studying lines and going on stage and performing to just being like in your own little world. I'm part of different teams as well, but just being in your own little world and doing your thing.
Greg Bray: Now, there is a connection though. Marketing is storytelling. Is that how you made the leap, or how did you make the leap from theater to marketing?
Gina Stango: Theater came somewhere in [00:03:00] between. I am always storytelling. So, experiences, things I'm doing, I love to talk about things. I always wanted to fill up the theater. I always wanted to get more engagement, get people excited, and I think that's part of the whole sales, marketing tool.
Way back when, before we had ways to track things, it was just that you would go around and hand out flyers, or you would talk to people and you would engage with people, and there was no way to track that. So, it's changed so much over the years where we can actually see marketing efforts and where they're going.
Greg Bray: Well, Gina, why don't you give us a little bit of background about Berks Homes and where you guys sell and who you're targeting from a home buyer perspective.
Gina Stango: Sure. So, Berks Homes is a smaller builder. We are in the Mohnton area, but we do range in different areas as well. So, we are in central, eastern, and south central PA, and that goes in all different areas, including Berks, Montgomery County, Chester County, Lancaster, Lebanon. We go into Harrisburg, Hershey, and then all the way up into State College and beyond. So, we're all over the place and we're [00:04:00] growing.
The mission and vision, we are very focused on just the lasting relationships. We want to build those relationships so that we have like the grassroots kind of vibe for our company. Where we bring people in who may buy a townhouse, but we want to make sure when they're looking for their single-family home, that they think of us first, and they're just so committed to us as just being the home builder that shows that quality craftsmanship.
Greg Bray: Well, Gina, why don't you help us understand. You said small builder, but you're covering a lot of area. So, can we narrow in what's the definition of small builder to you?
Gina Stango: So, we're not in national. We're just starting regionally with a couple of regions. We are gonna be growing rapidly over the next couple of years. We have a marketing team that has grown from just a couple of people to, I think right now we have like, nine people in our marketing team, and that growth has taken place over the last six to eight months. So, we are ramping up for some major growth within the company and just expanding into a bunch of other regions.
Greg Bray: You've added that many people to your in-house marketing [00:05:00] team in the last six months or so?
Gina Stango: Yeah.
Greg Bray: Tell us more about that because that sounds hard to do.
Gina Stango: We've gotten lucky and stumbled upon some great talent in our area and just have been able to build slowly but quickly and bring that team together, so we have this really great team. So, I'm the director of marketing, and then we have our creative director. We work hand in hand together and lead up both of our teams. Within that home marketing team, we have a graphic designer, we have a multi-media specialist, we have a 3D render, we have an online sales coordinator, we have a marketing coordinator, a social media coordinator, and a marketing analyst.
Greg Bray: So, when you were putting all that together, had you laid out all those roles in advance and said, okay, these are the things I need, let's go find one, or was it a little more organic? How did you decide who you wanted to add as you said, okay, we're gonna grow this team and we're gonna put this together? Tell us a little bit about the planning process.
Gina Stango: So, we had the major vision [00:06:00] of where we wanted the company to go and where it's going in the next say five years and who we need in place to take care of those certain roles, and we didn't want to flop too many people into doing three or four things. We wanted them to focus on what their specialty was. Everyone in our department has a lean, but we all work together as one group, and we're very tight as far as having meetings all the time and engaging and bouncing questions. Everyone's creative. We all work on max, no matter what position.
So, we all kind of have that engagement back and forth, so we can all jump into any other position almost at any time when needed. Which is great, but we all have our focus. That way everybody can ride that road and we can all ride alongside and get to the final goal. So, there was a major vision on how we wanted to lay the whole team out and then find those people that fit into each niche and bring them on board our train.
Greg Bray: So, as you were laying out that vision, how did you decide which parts you wanted in-house versus possibly outsourcing to partners or agencies?[00:07:00]
Gina Stango: So, it was pretty easy when I came on board to kind of tell what things we wanted in-house and not in-house because our number one priority is just talking about our company and talking about how we have this certain brand we're trying to portray. Just letting people know about us and the feeling and the vibe of Berks Homes. When it first started out, it was more about just giving people imagery and that feeling and that vibe.
Even our social media right now if you go through it, we do very little advertising on our social to promote selling. It's more about just giving that whole experience that Berks Homes gives. We use all those tactics as far as video and photography and our social, how we talk about things. It's a primary thing just for all of our salespeople to go and get photos of who's moving into the home so we can showcase those people. So, it's more of that feel-good vibe when you get through any of our social channels, and we kind of maybe will put a little bit of things here and there.
Like, we have an open house. We might talk something about [00:08:00] an educational event, but we try not to make it ad heavy and just make it that soft touch. Now, definitely, I have to say TikTok has been huge for us cause we have somebody who specializes, our multimedia specialist, in the TikTok realm, and he just has grasped that part of online and just getting people engaged. So many of the reals that he does, just they move on to like Instagram and people see them more. We're just constantly out there. We're not selling anything. We're just showing. We're showing models. We're showing people. We're showing just cool visual things.
Like, they'll be a couch, and then all of a sudden the couch will have pillows and then the picture goes up and you just see it all put together, and it just engages people and keeps their interest and they wanna watch more of it. So, that has definitely taken like a forefront in how we're seeing all of our social media engagement increase.
And then of course, from the backend, from our analytics, we're seeing more time on site. We're seeing engagement from different places. We're actually getting calls. Now people will call and say, hey, I saw you on Instagram, or hey, I saw you on TikTok.[00:09:00] We see the social media creeping in more and more, and the visuals that people just wanna see it.
Because, as we all know, people make decisions with what they're going to buy before they even pick up that phone. By the time they pick up the phone and make the appointment, they have already done all of their research. So, the more they can see out there on the web and come back, the easier it is to just get them to appointment and have them work with one of our salespeople.
Kevin Weitzel: Maybe I don't know how to use TikTok. I must be following the wrong people cause all my TikTok feed is people following downstairs, or crashing their boat into a dock. You know. How am I missing out on the marketing aspect of TikTok?
Gina Stango: Yeah. You know what? It's one of those things where things follow you. This morning I had something in my news feed for a new Peloton commercial. I looked at it once and I was like, huh? And I played it back a second time and now I'm getting Peloton and I'm getting Les Mills that I'm getting Beach Body ads all at once. So, they're all like targeting me immediately.
Once someone engages in something and they find something they really like, then they'll see more and more [00:10:00] pop up in their feeds, and the more they pop up in the TikTok feeds, then they cross over into like Instagram, where they just have that amount of likes that they get more attraction.
Greg Bray: So, Gina, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, I don't think a lot of builders are deep into TikTok yet. I think it's still on the pioneer side in the home builder industry, at least. So, tell us a little more about how you decided to go in that direction and what made you want to experiment and test TikTok.
Gina Stango: It definitely is in our multimedia realm. So, we had somebody who was doing a little bit of our social and our video, which we're really big on. We have a great YouTube channel, and he was also doing some TikTok. Just, I think, in the very beginning, just testing it, but then getting a ton of engagement and learning the tools and tricks to really get people to engage in the videos. I don't want to give away all his secrets, but it could be something just like a song.
Greg Bray: Just half of the secrets. Just give us half the secrets.
Gina Stango: Just going to, you know, I'll give you a little snippet. It could just be a song that's really popular right now that people are listening to when they wanna hear, and [00:11:00] that will make that particular video pop up into the feed. Every demographic has their own social media platform they use. We can kind of gauge on like, who's looking at what, but we're seeing that TikTok, they're I would say mid-twenties is probably average range and that's where they are. They're just thinking about the home buying experience. Maybe, you know, moving into that next realm. They're the ones that are on there that we're capturing. So we are capturing a whole new demographic with just adding that onto what we're already doing with our social platforms.
Greg Bray: And was that something you learned as you did it, or was that something you said, oh, because we want this demographic, we're going to go after them on TikTok?
Gina Stango: It was just something that we tapped into and tried to see how it would work. It's always about trying new things and seeing how they work. I can go back to when Facebook first started. I'm going to be dating myself. People are like, oh, that's not going anywhere. It's silly to be on there. Why are we doing that? And I'm like, wait, this is like the next vision of marketing. We really have to be engaged and we have to do this.
I [00:12:00] remember back when Facebook started like people weren't even posting pictures or videos or anything. It was just all text, and once in a while, you'd get a photo from somebody's camera they plugged in the computer and uploaded it. So, I took it upon myself way back then to use my video camera and somehow figure out how to get that video into a file to get it onto Facebook. There was very few people doing video on Facebook. So, if you're doing something different, it got attention. Now we all have video on our phones, but I think TikTok is the same thing.
It's just something, a little different. We weren't quite sure what it was about. There are other platforms that have come and gone that we haven't used. Snapchat, where you get a story and it's gone. I don't know that anybody's really dove into that yet and been effective from a builder perspective. Because they can watch things over and over and they get the vigils and it pulls them in a little bit, it was definitely worth something to look into and try, and for us, it's working very well.
Greg Bray: This is Greg from Blue Tangerine, and I just wanted to tell you how excited we are about our upcoming event, The Home Builder Digital [00:13:00] Marketing Summit. It's coming up September 21st and 22nd in Phoenix, Arizona. Now, this is an event that you do not want to miss. We're gonna be talking about websites, SEO, analytics reports, how to use social media influencers more, how to improve your online reviews, how to really do everything you need to do to start selling homes online.
Again, The Home Builder Digital Marketing Summit on September 21st and 22nd in Phoenix, Arizona. Go to buildermarketingsummit.com. Click register. Please be sure to join us at The Home Builder Digital Marketing Summit.
With social media being such a key part of your strategy, how much content do you reuse across different channels versus creating custom content for each social media channel that you're after?
Gina Stango: So, we try to be different for every single one cause they all tell a different story in a different way. So, if we're doing something on LinkedIn, it's going to be more about our company and our people and [00:14:00] just talking about what we're doing and supporting our vendors. If we're doing something on Facebook, it's gonna be more of a story and we're gonna tell the whole story there and give all the how it started and ended and pull people in.
If you're doing something on Instagram, it's a picture and they just want like a couple sentences to hear a little bit. So, everything's gonna be a little bit different for each platform and what people are looking for. Video is huge on, of course on TikTok, it's all about video. So, everything plays in differently, and our goal is just to get all the content to our social media coordinator. So, that will come from our multimedia specialists. It comes from our graphic designers. It comes from our marketing coordinator who just needs to push some things out there. It comes from all different places, and then she'll take that and figure out which platforms are the best way or place to push it out and what it will work best under.
Greg Bray: It's definitely trying to figure out how to create once and use in multiple places whenever you can because you put a lot of work into that content
Gina Stango: The [00:15:00] social media coordinator is a full-time job all in itself. I know a lot of companies kind of roll that into other positions and just say, hey, you just need to post once or twice a day on here and there and just take it and put it all over the place, but we are more about making sure that person's really diving in, and have a full schedule, and she knows what communities are coming up, what we want to to talk about, who has images coming in. When we're opening a new model so we can get new images online and which images work really well for Facebook, which would work better on Instagram or what do we wanna use on LinkedIn to just kind of show our new homes, but not exactly some of the photos might not work. So, that is her goals, and her job just to take the time, to see all the things that we have, and plug them in correctly, so they make sense for each platform.
Greg Bray: And Gina, how much of your work then is video versus other types of content? It sounds like you guys are doing a lot of video work.
Gina Stango: Yeah. I'm gonna say probably a quarter compared to everything else we're doing. There is a lot of video that goes out there.
Greg Bray: How far in advance are you [00:16:00] doing these content calendars in these plan? I mean, is it oh, we got to get this up this week, or gosh, two months from now, we know that this is coming up, so let's get ready for it now.
Gina Stango: Planning is huge. I mean, when you have a plan, you can really tell. So, if we have communities we're rolling out, we know months in advance when those communities are opening, what information we need if we know that certain houses are closing or we're going to studs on certain days. One of the big things that I love about Berks Homes is we take all of our families through when they're at studs to just kind of go through the house and make sure that things are put in the right places.
We always bring markers and they kind of write some personal things on all of their studs in their homes. So, that's one thing that we push out with photos because they'll write like little messages and sometimes we leave them messages and it's that real personal touch in there, which I really love, and when we push that out there as an image for social, it grabs a lot of attention.
Greg Bray: So, then sorry to harp on the social media, but it sounds like you guys are really, really out in front with some of this. Tell us about some of the reactions and some of the customer [00:17:00] feedback that you've been getting on some of these efforts.
Gina Stango: Well, buyers love it. It's already a really exciting time for them. So, if we are taking photos and they're excited and they're walking through the house and we're taking pictures and we post it online, they just want all their friends and family to know too. So, what happens is they share all that information. Which is wonderful because we're not pushing a particular product. We're just pushing that whole feeling and that vibe and that experience, and that's what we really wanna get out there. So, when they reshare, it's like, this is so cool. I have the warm and fuzzies. That's the goal that we're going for.
Greg Bray: I think it's great that it's not all about the sales pitch. Like, buy now type of promotions. Cause I see a lot of that on social media. Where companies are just putting out the ad, so to speak, in their feed. Why would I just like, or comment, or engage with an ad? I need something more than that to really engage.
Gina Stango: And you don't wanna get ghosted. I mean, that does happen a lot. You'll put just so much things in your news feed and somebody who may either wasn't interested [00:18:00] or they may have bought, or like, I'm just tired of seeing their stuff and we will just hide you. Whereas I think we have that connection where people wanna see other people excited and they wanna see what else we're doing and what's coming up, and they just keep on engaging in and they'll comment.
We tend to run some contests from time to time and just ask you, what's your favorite thing about your house? We'll get like 70 comments in one day in photos and people are talking and then someone else will say, oh, I'm building that house now and you're in there. What do you think of this? It's great conversation to really get that back and forth back to the experience. Really, at the end of the day, it is all about the experience, and that's one of our foremost goals.
Greg Bray: That seems like gold to have two customers talking to each other and telling them about what they should do at the house and how great it is and everything else. That's fantastic to get that kind of engagement for sure. One of the things you mentioned earlier, Gina, was that now we can track things back in quote "the day" we couldn't track. What are some of the key metrics that you are tracking and that you look [00:19:00] for to measure your success?
Gina Stango: I track everything. I'm a numbers guru. I have all of the apps that we use on my phone, and literally throughout the day at night, when I'm on the couch watching TV, on the weekends, I'm like, okay, well, what's going on? How many people are engaging? Where are they at? Our website was created by ONeil. So, they created our uh, Berks Homes website, and then, of course, we have our CRM, which love and our online sales coordinator and myself, we work very closely on that and check all the time who's coming in, where she's putting them in different places, where they're in their home search, and where they're coming from.
We put that all inside Lasso from the information I pull from our analytics. So, we just dove into GA4. We're probably one of the first builders to do that because it's just out there and I'm kind of like, okay let's, just do it. Pull the bandaid off. Let's do it. We're doing both and we're learning GA4 right now. There's a lot of really cool things that I personally love about GA4. Rhodes Advertising works with me for all of our Google and our tracking stuff as [00:20:00] well, and the thing I really love about GA4 is you can see where that customer starts their whole experience.
Right now you can kind of see the last time they're coming in there, but now we can actually track and say, hey, we did a digital ad and they started there and they got to us and finally made the call here, and we can track if that timeframe is 30 days, 60 days, two days, three weeks, whatever it is. So, we can see how long it's taken to get them to the end. It has always been about three months to get them kind of to make that call to action, to make that phone call, to send that email, to send that text.
Now we're seeing it's a little different. It's more of like a three week. So, it's kind of strange. We're really watching that because watching our analytics, it was always that six to eight times that we had to reach out and connect with them till we heard anything. Now, it's ironically, three times. So, they're seeing us in three places, and then they're reaching back out again and making that call to action, doing their research.[00:21:00]
We also use CallRail, which I love because I can go in there and we have everything tracked individually. Our signs have one number. If we do a special ad, it has another number. Everything that goes to our OSC has a number. If our individual agents do things, we have numbers. So, we can really see where our marketing is going as well from print and digital ads that have the number on there from the CallRail. URL codes as well. So, I use them a lot for everything we do online. If it's a Facebook ad, if it's a Google ad, if it's just a flyer we send out from Lasso, I have URL codes on everything, so I can go in the back and really see where everything's coming from.
If people are staying on-site or if they're just bouncing off real quick. Did an AB test last week, which I found was very interesting. So, we have a whole new brand. We rebranded the company about a year ago. We're kind of doing different things with our brand and testing different ideas to get attention, and we had a really great ad. It looked really nice. We put it out there. It got a little bit of attraction, but I'm like, let's just switch up the colors a little bit and see what that [00:22:00] does.
So, instead of having our black and white kind of feel and vibe, we used our rust color, which is used as an accent color, and changed the call to action, join the VIP list with a rust color, and we went from the black and white ad costing about a $1.60 to get a click to that other ad that had the rust. It jumped a little more in the newsfeeds. It was like 40 cents a click. So, that drastic change, I would've never known unless we looked at our analytics to see those two side-by-side ads running and which one was drawing the attention to the exact same demographic.
Greg Bray: That's fantastic that you're running that kind of test and being able to measure it, and I just want to take just a second for those who are not familiar that Google Analytics 4 is coming, or is here now. You need to be paying attention to this because next summer, July 2023, Google Analytics version 3, which most of us probably didn't even know it was called version three, it's just been Google Analytics is gonna go away and so you need to start migrating and getting set up for version four, but there's [00:23:00] some learning that goes into version four too. It's different. It's a pretty major change in upgrade in those reports. So, you need to set aside some training time for that as well. It's great that you guys are already neck deep in it Gina. That's fantastic.
Gina Stango: Yeah, we're taking little piece by piece. Like, I didn't wanna dive in, overly dive in cause I'm still using the other one for some of my reporting until I figure out GA4 completely. So, little by little I've been going back and doing some one-on-one training with Rhodes to understand it a little better.
I mean just the home buy journey was the one big part that I really love to see where they're coming from, but just the main reason is the combining your web and the app together is the best thing about this new GA4 is gonna be.
Greg Bray: So, Gina, we appreciate your time. Just a few more questions here before we let you go, though. As you've been exercising all of these different channels and things. Is there anything out there that's just totally surprised you or caught you off guard? Like, boy, I never expected that result on this test?
Gina Stango: It has to be imagery. Like, [00:24:00] certain images, and you never know until you put something out there. We could put something out there that looks so great, and I absolutely love it. I'm like, this is wonderful. People are gonna love it, and it just, not flat lines, but doesn't get the attention you think.
And then you kind of throw something out there that you're like, not quite sure, but we'll see how this goes and all of a sudden it blows up, and you're like, wow, how did that happen? And really watching the analytics and seeing the engagement, you can tell when certain things are working and when they're not.
Like I said, when we use people, it gets so much engagement and so much excitement and that feeling and that experience. When we don't use people, it's kind of like, okay, it's just another ad, another house, another interior. When we focus with our ads where we zoom in on, maybe not the house, but maybe there's like these two really cool mugs sitting on a table and they say home sweet home. Like people just eat that up. They love just that personalization of seeing something like that.
Kevin Weitzel: We have actually almost the same results. You know, obviously, with OutHouse we sell B2B, not B2C. [00:25:00] So, we actually found it really odd that our most popular posts that we ever do, this falls across both Facebook and LinkedIn, cause we tend to do fun stuff on Facebook and more business only on, on LinkedIn.
Always, if it is a personal issue in the photo or personal item in the photo, like a dog, you know, a little puppy or one of our people dressed up like a lion or whatever. We get much, much more engagement with those. I mean, exponentially more than just a look at this new interactive floor plan or look at this new rendering, yada yada, yada.
Gina Stango: I try to save all those kind of things for our VIP emails that go out to individuals who sign up for our list and give them all that kind of information because they want that. They're excited about those things. When we share them, we open a new community, there's not as much excitement as when we give them to individuals who are just asking for that direct information.
Greg Bray: Well, Gina, are there any particular up-and-coming trends or expectations that you're kind of watching and getting ready for that you think we should all be [00:26:00] on the lookout?
Gina Stango: Read Brandwatch, cause there's always new, neat things coming out there and there's things that I see that could gain my attention as well. We are celebrating next year our 50th anniversary of Berks Homes. So, it's a big year for us, and we're looking just to do some exciting new things, and reading through Brandwatch, they were talking about the eighties nostalgia and seventies nostalgia, and just how that attracts people so much.
I sat back and I was thinking about it and I was like, you know, we posted a picture, not too long ago, of the founder of our company and his daughter, who is my boss. It drew so much attention cause it was a photo from the seventies and it was like, wow, this is so cool to see them back then, and this is so neat. Nostalgia just like sticks in your head, even when you're on social platforms or you see an ad somewhere.
I know someone recently posted cutout dolls in one of those books and I remember from being a little kid and seeing that. I'm like, that is so cool. It just stopped me in my tracks and I had to look at it. So, those kind of things to get attention is kind of where we're [00:27:00] going with some of our plans for next year. Just to kind of bring that kind of vibe back because people get excited about those kind of things. You see a Rubik's cube and you're like, oh. You know, I saw it on TV one night in an old show, and what do you know? The next day Amazon dropped one off at my house.
Kevin Weitzel: Please tell me that you're bringing back shag carpet, avocado appliances, and pink bathrooms because I will move to Pennsylvania to buy one of those homes.
Gina Stango: My daughter will too. Yeah, well, you know, the bright colors are in. It's very trending. They have these new refrigerators now that have like orange panels and yeah, it's coming back. I'm telling you.
Kevin Weitzel: That makes me so happy. I'm tired of stainless steel, black and white. Tired of it.
Gina Stango: Yeah. There was one TV show we were watching last week and they just kept on showing that same commercial over and over and talk about having to see things three times. They played the same commercial three times in a row. So, if you weren't there the first time, you walked back in the room, you were like, oh, three times. What a marketing way to do it on television. Literally, the same commercial three [00:28:00] times in a row.
Greg Bray: Well, Gina, do you have any last pieces of marking advice that you wanted to share with our listeners today that we didn't get to yet?
Gina Stango: Well, definitely. I go back to your Google and social media analytics cause that will tell the story. You can see all the things you're doing. You can really track it, see what's working and what's not, and you'll know how to engage more people, and what pulls people into your brand as well.
Greg Bray: Gina, if somebody wants to reach out and connect with you, what's the best way for them to get in touch?
Gina Stango: I am on LinkedIn, so they can definitely reach out there.
Greg Bray: All right. Thank you so much for spending time with us today. We really appreciate it. It's been fun to learn more about you and Berks Homes, and thank you everybody for listening today to The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine.
Kevin Weitzel: I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse. Thank you.


Dynamic Solar Tech needs a dynamic logo design!
Dynamic Solar Tech needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 124 designs submitted by 17 freelance designers.
We want a clean, simple, professional-looking logo.
Dynamic Solar Tech Inc. is a solar energy company. We sell power systems for businesses and properties to feed power back into the grid. We plan and install solar systems for those interested in helping the sustainability of our planet in a cost-effective, profitable way.
Our clients tend to be large-scale property owners with significant roof space for solar panel installations.
Property managers in charge of high-density residential properties, commercial buildings, agricultural land, institutional buildings, etc.
We want a clean, original, professional, easy-to-transmit logo. It should be congruent with our friendliness, approachability, openness, transparency, and willingness to teach.


Amy has more than 10 years of HR experience with a wide variety of organizations and industries. Her main areas of expertise are employee relations and HR infrastructure, including policy development and implementation, performance management and liability management.
Think an employee assistance program (EAP) is just for a crisis? Here are seven surprising ways it can help your employees achieve work-life balance.
Does your office's cubicle etiquette leave a lot to be desired? If your employees work in close quarters, focus on these three areas to help them thrive.
Are employees taking full advantage of your company's benefits? Help them make the most of all that's available to them using these five tips.
When you don't rein in absent or tardy employees, your company's morale and productivity suffer. Use these eight strategies to handle attendance issues.
Could your body language be killing your team's motivation? Here's how to avoid some common body language mistakes.
If you're experiencing high employee turnover, do you know what's causing it? To do something about it, you have to uncover the root cause. This post discusses four of the top reasons many good employees resign and how to address them.
Do you sense a workaholic culture is brewing in your organization? Are you afraid you might be to blame? Learn how you can lead by example to keep things from boiling over.
An employee grievance policy is a step-by-step method your employees can use to alert management about a problem or issue. Here are some key factors to consider when establishing a grievance policy for your business.


text:
namespace gaia {

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, EmailAddressNoOp) {
  const char lower_case[] = "user@what.com";
  EXPECT_EQ(lower_case, CanonicalizeEmail(lower_case));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, EmailAddressIgnoreCaps) {
  EXPECT_EQ(CanonicalizeEmail("user@what.com"),
            CanonicalizeEmail("UsEr@what.com"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, EmailAddressIgnoreDomainCaps) {
  EXPECT_EQ(CanonicalizeEmail("user@what.com"),
            CanonicalizeEmail("UsEr@what.COM"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, EmailAddressRejectOneUsernameDot) {
  EXPECT_NE(CanonicalizeEmail("u.ser@what.com"),
            CanonicalizeEmail("UsEr@what.com"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, EmailAddressMatchWithOneUsernameDot) {
  EXPECT_EQ(CanonicalizeEmail("u.ser@what.com"),
            CanonicalizeEmail("U.sEr@what.com"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, EmailAddressIgnoreOneUsernameDot) {
  EXPECT_EQ(CanonicalizeEmail("us.er@gmail.com"),
            CanonicalizeEmail("UsEr@gmail.com"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, EmailAddressIgnoreManyUsernameDots) {
  EXPECT_EQ(CanonicalizeEmail("u.ser@gmail.com"),
            CanonicalizeEmail("Us.E.r@gmail.com"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, EmailAddressIgnoreConsecutiveUsernameDots) {
  EXPECT_EQ(CanonicalizeEmail("use.r@gmail.com"),
            CanonicalizeEmail("Us....E.r@gmail.com"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, EmailAddressDifferentOnesRejected) {
  EXPECT_NE(CanonicalizeEmail("who@what.com"),
            CanonicalizeEmail("Us....E.r@what.com"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, GooglemailNotCanonicalizedToGmail) {
  const char googlemail[] = "user@googlemail.com";
  EXPECT_EQ(googlemail, CanonicalizeEmail(googlemail));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, CanonicalizeDomain) {
  const char domain[] = "example.com";
  EXPECT_EQ(domain, CanonicalizeDomain("example.com"));
  EXPECT_EQ(domain, CanonicalizeDomain("EXAMPLE.cOm"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, ExtractDomainName) {
  const char domain[] = "example.com";
  EXPECT_EQ(domain, ExtractDomainName("who@example.com"));
  EXPECT_EQ(domain, ExtractDomainName("who@EXAMPLE.cOm"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, SanitizeMissingDomain) {
  EXPECT_EQ("nodomain@gmail.com", SanitizeEmail("nodomain"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, SanitizeExistingDomain) {
  const char existing[] = "test@example.com";
  EXPECT_EQ(existing, SanitizeEmail(existing));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, AreEmailsSame) {
  EXPECT_TRUE(AreEmailsSame("foo", "foo"));
  EXPECT_TRUE(AreEmailsSame("foo", "foo@gmail.com"));
  EXPECT_TRUE(AreEmailsSame("foo@gmail.com", "Foo@Gmail.com"));
  EXPECT_FALSE(AreEmailsSame("foo@gmail.com", "foo@othermail.com"));
  EXPECT_FALSE(AreEmailsSame("user@gmail.com", "foo@gmail.com"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, GmailAndGooglemailAreSame) {
  EXPECT_TRUE(AreEmailsSame("foo@gmail.com", "foo@googlemail.com"));
  EXPECT_FALSE(AreEmailsSame("bar@gmail.com", "foo@googlemail.com"));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, IsGaiaSignonRealm) {
  // Only https versions of Gaia URLs should be considered valid.
  EXPECT_TRUE(IsGaiaSignonRealm(GURL("https://accounts.google.com/")));
  EXPECT_FALSE(IsGaiaSignonRealm(GURL("http://accounts.google.com/")));

  // Other Google URLs are not valid.
  EXPECT_FALSE(IsGaiaSignonRealm(GURL("https://www.google.com/")));
  EXPECT_FALSE(IsGaiaSignonRealm(GURL("http://www.google.com/")));
  EXPECT_FALSE(IsGaiaSignonRealm(GURL("https://google.com/")));
  EXPECT_FALSE(IsGaiaSignonRealm(GURL("https://mail.google.com/")));

  // Other https URLs are not valid.
  EXPECT_FALSE(IsGaiaSignonRealm(GURL("https://www.example.com/")));
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, ParseListAccountsData) {
  std::vector<ListedAccount> accounts;
  std::vector<ListedAccount> signed_out_accounts;
  ASSERT_FALSE(ParseListAccountsData("", &accounts, &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  ASSERT_FALSE(ParseListAccountsData("1", &accounts, &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  ASSERT_FALSE(ParseListAccountsData("[]", &accounts, &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  ASSERT_FALSE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", \"bar\"]", &accounts, &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", []]", &accounts, &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", [[\"bar\", 0, \"name\", 0, \"photo\", 0, 0, 0]]]",
      &accounts,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", "
          "[[\"bar\", 0, \"name\", \"u@g.c\", \"p\", 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, \"45\"]]]",
      &accounts,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(1u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ("u@g.c", accounts[0].email);
  ASSERT_TRUE(accounts[0].valid);
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", "
          "[[\"bar1\",0,\"name1\",\"u1@g.c\",\"photo1\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\"], "
          "[\"bar2\",0,\"name2\",\"u2@g.c\",\"photo2\",0,0,0,0,1,\"6\"]]]",
      &accounts,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(2u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ("u1@g.c", accounts[0].email);
  ASSERT_TRUE(accounts[0].valid);
  ASSERT_EQ("u2@g.c", accounts[1].email);
  ASSERT_TRUE(accounts[1].valid);
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", "
          "[[\"b1\", 0,\"name1\",\"U1@g.c\",\"photo1\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\"], "
          "[\"b2\",0,\"name2\",\"u.2@g.c\",\"photo2\",0,0,0,0,1,\"46\"]]]",
      &accounts,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(2u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ(CanonicalizeEmail("U1@g.c"), accounts[0].email);
  ASSERT_TRUE(accounts[0].valid);
  ASSERT_EQ(CanonicalizeEmail("u.2@g.c"), accounts[1].email);
  ASSERT_TRUE(accounts[1].valid);
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, ParseListAccountsDataValidSession) {
  std::vector<ListedAccount> accounts;
  std::vector<ListedAccount> signed_out_accounts;

  // Valid session is true means: return account.
  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", [[\"b\",0,\"n\",\"u@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\"]]]",
      &accounts,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(1u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ("u@g.c", accounts[0].email);
  ASSERT_TRUE(accounts[0].valid);
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  // Valid session is false means: return account with valid bit false.
  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", [[\"b\",0,\"n\",\"u@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,0,\"45\"]]]",
      &accounts,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(1u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_FALSE(accounts[0].valid);
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, ParseListAccountsDataGaiaId) {
  std::vector<ListedAccount> accounts;
  std::vector<ListedAccount> signed_out_accounts;

  // Missing gaia id means: do not return account.
  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", [[\"b\", 0, \"n\", \"u@g.c\", \"photo\", 0, 0, 0, 0, 1]]]",
      &accounts,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());

  // Valid gaia session means: return gaia session
  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\", "
          "[[\"b\",0,\"n\",\"u@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"9863\"]]]",
      &accounts,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(1u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ("u@g.c", accounts[0].email);
  ASSERT_TRUE(accounts[0].valid);
  ASSERT_EQ("9863", accounts[0].gaia_id);
  ASSERT_EQ(0u, signed_out_accounts.size());
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, ParseListAccountsWithSignedOutAccounts) {
  std::vector<ListedAccount> accounts;
  std::vector<ListedAccount> signed_out_accounts;

  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\","
          "[[\"b\",0,\"n\",\"u@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\"],"
          "[\"c\",0,\"n\",\"u.2@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\","
             "null,null,null,1]]]",
      &accounts,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(1u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ("u@g.c", accounts[0].email);
  ASSERT_FALSE(accounts[0].signed_out);
  ASSERT_EQ(1u, signed_out_accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ("u.2@g.c", signed_out_accounts[0].email);
  ASSERT_TRUE(signed_out_accounts[0].signed_out);
}

TEST(GaiaAuthUtilTest, ParseListAccountsAcceptsNull) {
  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\","
          "[[\"b\",0,\"n\",\"u@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\"],"
          "[\"c\",0,\"n\",\"u.2@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\","
             "null,null,null,1]]]",
      nullptr,
      nullptr));

  std::vector<ListedAccount> accounts;
  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\","
          "[[\"b\",0,\"n\",\"u@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\"],"
          "[\"c\",0,\"n\",\"u.2@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\","
             "null,null,null,1]]]",
      &accounts,
      nullptr));
  ASSERT_EQ(1u, accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ("u@g.c", accounts[0].email);
  ASSERT_FALSE(accounts[0].signed_out);

  std::vector<ListedAccount> signed_out_accounts;
  ASSERT_TRUE(ParseListAccountsData(
      "[\"foo\","
          "[[\"b\",0,\"n\",\"u@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\"],"
          "[\"c\",0,\"n\",\"u.2@g.c\",\"photo\",0,0,0,0,1,\"45\","
             "null,null,null,1]]]",
      nullptr,
      &signed_out_accounts));
  ASSERT_EQ(1u, signed_out_accounts.size());
  ASSERT_EQ("u.2@g.c", signed_out_accounts[0].email);
  ASSERT_TRUE(signed_out_accounts[0].signed_out);
}

}  // namespace gaia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We are pleased to announce that registration for the 2011 Lakes and Rivers Conference is now officially OPEN!
Register early to guarantee your place at the conference and to receive early-bird registration pricing. Early registration (before March 31st) for the entire conference is only $120 for Minnesota Waters Members!
The conference will be April 27 - 29 in St. Cloud.
Discount available before 3/31/11. Register Today!


The team at Arkay Resale strives to make your experience a pleasant one. We are the best at what we do and will hold ourselves to your high expectations. We realize the estate sales process can be a difficult and emotional time. No matter the circumstance we work to make it a positive, friendly experience for everyone involved.
Our founder and President holds an MBA in Finance from Seton Hall University. Having a varied career spanning Wall Street, banking, insurance and the automobile businesses; he adds vast experiences, decades of collecting, evaluating, buying and retailing antiques, watches and other fine collectibles.
Our roots understand the principles of both time and money, but most importantly… we understand value.
We work with real estate professionals, estate planners, attorneys and appraisal companies, noted experts in their own respective fields. Employing the help of trusted and vetted professionals from a varied number of established, diverse backgrounds with one common trait- we like people and we want to help.
We only know one way- the right way.


text:
California Location Privacy Act of 2012
Police shouldn't be able to get your sensitive location data – information that can reveal your religion, health, hobbies, and politics – on a whim. That's why EFF and the ACLU of Northern California are sponsoring California Senate Bill 1434, the Location Privacy Act, which would ensure law enforcement obtains a warrant before acquiring a person's location information from an electronic device like a cell phone.
SB 1434, introduced by California Senator Mark Leno, follows the lead of the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently ruled that it was unconstitutional for police to install a GPS device on someone's car without a warrant. But GPS vehicle tracking isn't the only way to collect details on where you are and when. Our cell phones create a location data trail throughout the day as they ping nearby cell towers. Many other devices – like tablets – do the same, while mobile apps and other tools can collect even more detailed location information.
This data is a powerful tool for law enforcement, and should be available to police when it's appropriate. But this information is extraordinarily sensitive, revealing things like your place of worship, if you are visiting a medical clinic, and who you visit and meet with. We can't have police making decisions about who to track without any oversight – yet that's exactly what's happening. New data from the ACLU shows that law enforcement agencies across the country are collecting location data without a warrant or any court approval. Maybe these investigations are legitimate, or maybe in some cases police officers just have a bone to pick with a local resident. We can't be sure that police aren't abusing location tracking unless we require them to get a warrant. That's why the bill also includes a reporting requirement, so we can keep track of who is getting this information and how often it's being requested.
The law passed through both houses of the California legislature with broad bipartisan support, but was unfortunately vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown in October 2012.
Deeplinks Blog by Hanni Fakhoury | June 3, 2013
Why Wait for Congress? States Passing Electronic Privacy Legislation
State legislatures had a busy week passing electronic privacy laws. Will Congress follow? First, the Texas legislature unanimously passed HB 2268, which requires state law enforcement to obtain a search warrant before accessing emails and other forms of electronic communications content from service providers. This law is...
Read more about Why Wait for Congress? States Passing Electronic Privacy Legislation
Deeplinks Blog by Hanni Fakhoury | October 1, 2012
Governor Brown Vetoes California Electronic Privacy Protection. Again.
Location privacy took a hit in California yesterday when Governor Jerry Brown vetoed SB 1434, an EFF- and ACLU-sponsored bill that would have required law enforcement to apply for a search warrant in order to obtain location tracking information. Despite the bill's passing through the state legislature...
Read more about Governor Brown Vetoes California Electronic Privacy Protection. Again.
Document | October 1, 2012
EFF & ACLU Response to LADA Veto Request
Read more about EFF & ACLU Response to LADA Veto Request
LADA SB 1434 Veto Request
Read more about LADA SB 1434 Veto Request
Deeplinks Blog by Hanni Fakhoury | August 22, 2012
CA Location Privacy Bill Passes Assembly
Location privacy scored a victory today when the California Assembly overwhelmingly passed an EFF-sponsored location privacy bill, SB 1434, on a bipartisan vote of 63-11. The bill would require law enforcement to obtain a search warrant anytime it requests location information from an electronic device. It codifies the...
Read more about CA Location Privacy Bill Passes Assembly
CA Location Privacy Bill Advances, Similar DC Bill Finally Gets a Hearing
We're happy to report that the California Location Privacy Act we're sponsoring with the ACLU of Northern California passed the California Senate on a bipartisan vote of 30 to 6, and is now headed on to the California Assembly. SB 1434 protects the privacy of Californians...
Read more about CA Location Privacy Bill Advances, Similar DC Bill Finally Gets a Hearing
Deeplinks Blog by Hanni Fakhoury | May 4, 2012
DOJ Official: Any Privacy Protection is Too Much Privacy Protection for Cell Phone Tracking
Jason Weinstein, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's criminal division, told a panel at the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee's "State of the Mobile Net" conference yesterday that requiring a search warrant to obtain location tracking information from cell phones would "cripple" prosecutors...
Read more about DOJ Official: Any Privacy Protection is Too Much Privacy Protection for Cell Phone Tracking
Deeplinks Blog by Hanni Fakhoury | April 25, 2012
CA Legislators Allow Wireless Industry to Continue "Working Day and Night" Selling You Out in Secret
EFF, along with the ACLU of Northern California, is a sponsor of the California Location Privacy Act of 2012 ("SB 1434"), a bill that would require California law enforcement officers and agencies to seek a search warrant before obtaining electronic location information. Yesterday, the bill passed through...
Read more about CA Legislators Allow Wireless Industry to Continue "Working Day and Night" Selling You Out in Secret
Document | April 24, 2012
California Senate Committee on Public Safety Analysis
Read more about California Senate Committee on Public Safety Analysis
TechAmerica Opposition Letter
Read more about TechAmerica Opposition Letter
Press release from Sen. Leno's office
Press release from Sen. Leno's office [external link]
ACLU resource page
ACLU resource page [external link]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


For over 18 years I have been practicing law in Mexico and since 2007 I am devoted to assist Canadians to understand their rights and legal options in that country.
Also, I have teamed with some of the top and most reputable legal professionals in Mexico; therefore, I am able to offer a wide variety of legal solutions for Canadians.
Guillermo Cruz Rico, FLC, LL.M.
The last thirteen years have been an exciting and rewarding journey; I have had the chance to participate in high profile cases and work with some of the brightest legal minds in Mexico and Canada; I have been exposed to two different legal traditions and I have argued cases before Mexican and Canadian courts but most importantly, I have raised a family and enjoyed the best of two worlds.
8:30 to 17:00 hrs, Monday to Friday.
¿Es posible estudiar y trabajar legalmente en Canadá?


text:
The Official Site of the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters
Rafters in the Pros
Witter Field History
Northwoods League Foundation Interactive Accessible Seating Area
Rosco P. Rafter
Seasonal Positions
Game Day Positions
Day of Week Promos
Lil' Rafters Reading Program
Visit Wisconsin Rapids
Fundraising Opportunity
WR City Times
Free Tuition Thursdays
Game Program
Rosco's Referral Program
Billy Cook Nails Walk-Off Home Run, Rafters Win 4-3
Rafters Release 2023 Schedule
admin2023-01-13T22:17:08-06:00December 15th, 2022|
admin2023-01-13T22:16:20-06:00November 23rd, 2022|
Rafters Launch "Catching Up With the Rafters" Video Series
Rafters open 2023 Skyward Central Wisconsin Teacher of the Year submissions
admin2022-10-26T15:02:39-05:00October 26th, 2022|
Two Rafters Awarded Rawlings "Big Stick" Honor
Published On: July 17th, 2020
Rafters win tight ballgame behind Cook's third home run of the year.
Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. – The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters' nineteenth home run of the season was the most exciting, walking off Friday's game versus the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders for a 4-3 win.
The Rafters and Dock Spiders were tight throughout the game. The Rafters fell down 0-1 early before loading the bases in the fourth inning. Jack-Thomas Wold singled on the right side of the infield to tie the game, scoring Ryan Walstad for his Pod-leading eighteenth run scored.
In the fifth, the Rafters took their first lead with an Andy Garriola RBI single, scoring Richie Schiekofer to make it 2-1. Garriola upped his RBI total to 15, tops on the Rafters roster.
Two runs came home for the Dock Spiders in the eighth, setting up a Rafters comeback. In the bottom of the eighth, Jake Dunham and Wold both singled to set up a rally. Roman Trujillo came to the plate and sliced a ball to right field to score the Rafters' third run of the night, tying the score at 3-3.
Ricky Castro walked a tight rope in the top of the ninth, stranding a runner at third, setting the stage for Billy Cook to lead off the ninth. After a strike and a ball, Cook smashed the third pitch of the bottom of the ninth over the wall for a walk-off solo home run.
The Rafters improved to 12-5 for the season, first in the Wisconsin-Illinois Pod. The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders fell to 8-8 entering game two of the home-and-away series tomorrow afternoon in Fond du Lac. First pitch is at 1:05pm from Herr-Baker Field. Coverage begins at 12:50pm on AM 1320 WFHR.
The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its' 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 230 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Star Jordan Zimmermann (DET). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.raftersbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rafters as your favorite team.
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494
© Copyright Wisconsin Rapids Rafters. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy


text:
The 1998 Brisbane Broncos season was the eleventh in the history of Brisbane's National Rugby League premiership team, the Brisbane Broncos. Coached by Wayne Bennett and captained by Allan Langer, they participated in the newly formed National Rugby League's 1998 premiership and posted their three biggest ever wins in rounds 5, 7 and 15 before finishing the regular season as minor premiers. The Broncos then won the 1998 NRL Grand Final, capturing their fourth premiership in seven seasons.

Season summary
For the 1998 season the Broncos were joined by future Melbourne Storm coach, Craig Bellamy who would work under head coach Wayne Bennett as performance co-ordinator and assistant coach.

As could be expected by their finish to the 1997 season, Brisbane were solid in their first five matches of 1998, snatching five victories. In rounds five and seven, the Broncos won by a margin of 54 points, which was the club's record at the time. This was followed by shock losses to the Sydney City Roosters and Cronulla, but Langer led them to a big win over Canterbury only to see two more club losses. But the Broncos recovered to post huge wins over Penrith and the Western Suburbs Magpies. The Broncos finished the remainder of the regular season undefeated finishing with 10 wins and 1 draw in their last 11 games. The top try-scorer from the NRL season was Brisbane's Darren Smith.

After a week off granted by winning the minor premiership, the Broncos were smothered out of the game by Parramatta 15-10 in their opening finals match. But they lifted and provided some miracle spark against the Melbourne Storm 30-6 a week later, resurrecting their premiership hopes. A huge win over Sydney City 46-18 in the preliminary final installed them at near unbackable odds against Canterbury in the first NRL Grand Final. The Broncos came back from a 12-10 half time deficit to again win consecutive premierships for the second time, and their fourth in seven seasons with a 38-12 Grand Final victory.

The Broncos were also named "Queensland Sport Team of the Year" at the Queensland Sport Awards.

Match results

^Game following a State of Origin match

Brisbane Broncos NRL average home attendance in 1998: 20,073

Ladder

Grand final

Brisbane Broncos vs. Canterbury Bulldogs

Brisbane 38 (TRIES: De Vere, Campion, Carroll, Sailor, Tallis, Lee, Smith; GOALS Lockyer 5/7)

defeated

Canterbury 12 (TRIES: Grimaldi, Talau; GOALS: Halligan 2/3)

Halftime: Canterbury 12-10

Referee: Bill Halligan

Stadium: Sydney Football Stadium

Crowd: 40, 857

Clive Churchill Medal: Gorden Tallis (Brisbane)

Scorers

Honours

League
 Premiership
 Minor premiership

Club
 Player of the year: Andrew Gee
 Rookie of the year: Petero Civoniceva
 Back of the year: Kevin Walters
 Forward of the year: Shane Webcke
 Club man of the year: Brett Green

References

External links
 1998 - Broncos Take Inaugural NRL Competition - rl1908.com

Brisbane Broncos seasons
Brisbane Broncos season

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Discover EU4Digital
EU4Digital Initiative
EU Digital Single Market
Telecom Rules
ICT innovation
eSkills
Managing intellectual property rights for digital innovation: meeting a key challenge for innovative SMEs
Ever since the late 19th century, the world has recognised people's right to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create, a principle so significant that intellectual property rights (IPR) are outlined as a fundamental right in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IPR system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish. Not only does the legal protection of new creations encourage the commitment of additional resources for further innovation, but the promotion and protection of intellectual property spurs economic growth, creates new jobs and industries, and enhances the quality and enjoyment of life.
Currently, all Eastern partner countries are members of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Thus, the legal framework for the procedures of obtaining patents and enforcement as well as the copyright and related rights are already harmonised between the EU and the Eastern Partnership.
However, in Armenia, a comprehensive study of the legal texts for intellectual property with recommendations on amendments to legal texts was carried out by an international team of lawyers in 2019. Discussions on the implementation of these recommendations have revealed a number of institutional and capacity challenges in Armenia, a situation that increases the relevance of EU4Digital ICT Innovation activities in this particular policy area in Armenia.
The policy area 'Intellectual property rights management for digital innovations' was therefore selected by Armenia as the subject for EU4Digital national policy recommendations and implementation action plan, conducted as part of the EU4Digital Facility's activity to promote a common legislative framework favouring ICT innovation among the Eastern partner countries.
In this framework, the EU4Digital ICT innovation team performed a gap analysis in the policy area of IPR management for digital innovations in Armenia, based on EU best practices, to be followed by tailored policy recommendations and an action plan for their implementation.
This article provides an overview of the EU best practices identified in Armenia's chosen policy area – 'Intellectual property rights management for digital innovations'.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS MANAGEMENT FOR DIGITAL INNOVATIONS
The advanced approach towards intellectual property (IP) in the EU member states is that IP is a business asset. Market success is created by delivering unique value propositions, in which the inventive step may be not even patentable under the existing law.
Beyond the usual functions (granting exclusive power over the property and producing incentives for innovation), IP can be a source of many good opportunities for business development – by strengthening a company's position among the competitors and also by making the basis for strategic partnerships across borders and industries.
Developing an efficient intellectual property rights (IPR) ecosystem suited to the challenges of the globalising digital economy requires both a better regulative environment and business competencies. The learning needs of the IPR ecosystem also increase and operational models need to be revised because economy and technologies change significantly.
What follows is an overview of the main building blocks of EU policy supporting IPR management for digital innovation.
Exemption of R&D agreements and technology transfer agreements from antimonopolistic regulation
Commission Regulation (EU) No 1217/2010 of 14 December 2010 determines the principles of concluding R&D agreements. The Regulation stipulates that "all the parties of the R&D agreement have full access to the final results of the joint research and development or paid-for research and development, including any resulting intellectual property rights and know-how, for the purposes of further research and development and exploitation, as soon as they become available". This Regulation intends to facilitate research and development while at the same time effectively protecting competition.
Commission Regulation (EU) No 316/2014 of 21 March 2014 determines the principles of concluding technology transfer agreements. This Regulation intends to ensure effective protection of competition and provide adequate legal security for undertakings. The Regulation applies to agreements where the licensor permits the licensee and/or one or more of its sub-contractors to exploit the licensed technology rights, possibly after further R&D by the licensee and/or its sub-contractors, for the purpose of producing goods or services.
IP rights distribution during research, development and innovation (R&D&I) under state aid
The research, development and innovation (R&D&I) state aid rules, in force since 1 July 2014 (COM 2014/C 198/01), set out the conditions under which EU member states can grant state aid to companies to carry out R&D&I activities. The European Commission has procedures by which it monitors and approves state aid, while limiting distortions of competition arising from R&D&I aid, ensuring that state aid for research, development and innovation is fair.
The Guides to IPR rules have been elaborated for Horizon 2020 projects in order "to better protect and reap commercial and economic benefits from EU-funded research and innovation initiatives". These IP rules are part of a single set of rules detailed in the official 'Rules of Participation in Horizon 2020', while specifications concerning the handling and management of IP may be outlined in the provisions of the Grant Agreement or in supporting documents as part of specific calls for proposal.
Management of intellectual property by universities and public research organisations
Recommendation 2008/416/EC on the management of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities and Code of Practice for universities and other public research organisations aims to improve intellectual property management and knowledge transfer by universities and public research organisations (PROs) in the EU member states. It encourages EU member states to introduce policies or guidelines to ensure that publicly funded scientific research results are used commercially or for further research, to facilitate knowledge transfer by licensees and creation of spin-off companies and thus to encourage the uptake of innovations.
The Code of Practice for universities and other PROs proposes operational principles for PROs and universities to use when defining or revising their institutional policies. Universities should encourage publicly funded research results to be used and disseminated, whilst allowing intellectual property to be protected.
EU level and national IPR support ecosystem
At the EU level, the support on IPR mainly address SMEs that have limited resources, time for defending their IP assets and insufficient knowledge about building their business strategy around IP assets.
The European IP Helpdesk offers tailored advice to researchers and European SMEs participating in EU-funded research projects and SMEs involved in international technology transfer processes, including an active Helpline in case of suspected Infringement of intellectual property rights.
Evaluation of the existing policy on IP support and the effectiveness of support tools is performed by special expert groups. The reports (2007a, 2007b, 2013) point out the major principles of an efficient IPR support ecosystem:
provide intellectual asset management skills rather than increase IP rights registration;
ensure links between IP specialist support and general business support (e.g. National Intellectual Property Offices and more general innovation support);
ensure that support is coordinated at national and EU level;
take a client-service attitude towards SMEs.
An important issue marked as a result of the assessment of EU practices on SME support in IPR was that "the best way to offer IPR support was to deliver it as part of general business support" [IPorta project report]. When reviewing the capacities of national IP offices to support SMEs, it was noted that "some national IP offices seemed to be comfortable remaining with their role as administrative bodies. Others faced legal restrictions in attempting to offer support to SMEs".
IPR support ecosystem of external consultants (beyond national IP office)
The Report on "Benchmarking national and regional support services for SMEs in the field of intellectual and industrial property", prepared by PRO INNO Europe, included a List of Support Services embracing 279 organisations from 33 countries.
The Enterprise Europe Network provides basic IP support for transnational projects of SMEs through:
Expertise, contacts and events to connect SMEs with the right international partners.
Expert advice for growth and expansion into international markets.
Solution-driven services to help SMEs turn innovative ideas into international commercial successes.
To support IPR issues emerging around publicly funded R&D, a special organisational unit exists in the EU – the Intellectual Property Booster (IP Booster). This organisation is a new specialised "professional IP service for public research organisations looking to realise value from their research results". The experts of IP Booster examine the case of any organisation that has benefited from EU funding and guide them towards the best intellectual property strategy, at no cost to this organisation and fully supported by the EC. The set of services proposed by IP Booster to SMEs and research beneficiaries includes initial IP audit; patent landscaping; IP evaluation or due diligence; patents, design and trademark applications; and negotiating technology transfer.
It is significant that the expert services are provided by companies with vast experience in venture capital investment and business strategies.
Issues of IP emerging around digital technologies (Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, cloud technologies, Big Data, definition of patent scope, cybersquatting, etc.) are addressed
Because digital technologies are complex, developing and changing very fast, IP consulting organisations try to organise collaboration with specialised IT business associations, which even create special working groups involving experts from corporate business, to study the peculiarities of IPR around digital technologies and to elaborate guidelines that can be accepted by national IP offices, EPO and WIPO. DIGITALEUROPE hosts a working group including over 130 members and addressing the issues of trade secrets, unitary patent, and IPR enforcement in third countries.
Various online tools are available to SMEs and organisations
There are a number of tools available to SMEs and organisations guiding them in the challenges and the vast number of organisations for various IPR issues. For example, online training courses; regular webinars; IP for Business Series for SMEs; European IP Helpdesk's Signposting Directory database; Instructions by EPO on IP protection; Your Europe EU Portal; the ip4inno (Intellectual Property for Innovation) project, etc.
Statistics or case studies are collected on the commercial importance of IPR management; empirical data is used by the policy-makers to better understand the problems and to improve the IPR ecosystem
The Intellectual Property SME Scoreboard 2019 has examined that "after registering their IP rights, 54% of owners claimed to have seen a positive impact. The main impacts identified were an increase in reputation (52 %), turnover (39 %) and ability to access new markets (37 %)".
The full report developed by the EU4Digital ICT Innovation team on EU best practices in the area of 'Intellectual property rights management for digital innovations' has been used to develop the gap analysis framework for Armenia; on the basis of the gap analysis, a set of policy recommendations has been drawn up and aligned with national counterparts.
These recommendations will form the basis for the elaboration of an individual national policy implementation action plan for Armenia, which is now in development. The action plan will identify concrete stakeholders in the partner country, EU tools, platforms, and practices that can be accessed and adopted, and possibly concrete counterparts in EU countries. Further activities by the Facility (training, study visits, networking events, promotion activities, etc.) will then support the interested stakeholders in their further activities on overcoming the gaps.
Adopting EU best practices in this way will help to boost the development of a mature ecosystem for the IPR management for digital innovation in the Eastern Partnership countries.
Ultimately, a common legislative framework will enable Armenia better to benefit from the EU Digital Single Market, and to exchange and develop new innovative ideas with counterparts from EU member states.
The policy recommendations and national policy implementation action plan for Armenia can be downloaded from the EU4Digital library here.
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The EU4Digital Facility promotes key areas of the digital economy and society, in line with EU norms and practices. The Facility is implemented by a consortium led by EY, together with Action Global Communications and CEPS.
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