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OUTLOOK ’18: US MX to soften, trade deficit to increase in 2018
HOUSTON (ICIS)–US mixed xylenes (MX) prices are expected to continue softening into Q1 2018 after experiencing some elevation in the latter half of 2017, owing to production issues faced in the refining industry.
Elevated MX prices seen in Q3 2017 associated with production issues caused by Hurricane Harvey in the US Gulf have started to fall in Q4 2017 and are expected to continue decreasing into Q1 2018 as refineries make up for production losses associated with the storm.
Although refineries in the US traditionally run at lower rates in the winter months due to seasonally slower gasoline demand compared to the spring and summer months, operating rates in 2018 may be somewhat higher than usual as producers double their recovery efforts following the impact of Harvey in the second-half of 2017.
As such, MX supplies are expected to somewhat increase despite healthy availability in the market, further dampening already depressed demand for product amid what is traditionally the low season for MX.
Demand for MX is expected to then more broadly soften as gasoline prices continue to drop to more seasonable levels and the market adjusts to winter gasoline requirements, during which gasoline blenders often opt for butane as a blendstock rather than traditionally more expensive toluene and xylenes.
Meanwhile, domestic demand for paraxylene (PX), which accounts for the largest volume isomer of MX, is unclear as the market grapples with the effects of both Harvey on production levels in the US Gulf and the bankruptcy of downstream polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin producer Mossi & Ghisolfi (M&G).
PX prices as a result rose in the latter-half of 2017, further supporting MX production for PX demand as PET producers rebuild inventories lost due to the storm and seize on M&G’s losses. This trend has the potential to carry into 2018,
Moreover, PX prices in Asia, which accounts for the bulk of PX demand due to growing downstream polyester fibre demand, have also risen, further supporting MX production for PX demand.
According to ICIS data, PX accounts for more than 80% of chemical demand for MX, with the share expected to continue to grow in the years ahead.
Lastly, the MX market faces further softening as the US increasingly shifts from a net exporter to a net importer of MX due to increasing MX and PX capacities worldwide, particularly in Asia.
According the US International Trade Commission (ITC), US exports of MX are down year on year as of October.
The US is expected to remain a net importer of MX for the foreseeable future, putting further downward pressure on domestic MX prices.
MX can be used as a gasoline component in fuels to boost octane, as a chemical feedstock or as a solvent. Its use as a solvent, a small part of the MX market, has little effect on MX prices, which are usually driven by octane and chemical demand.
As an octane component in fuels, MX is in its strongest demand season during the summer, when fuels must be less volatile. During the winter, fuel blenders can use less expensive octane boosters like butane. The summer fuels season runs through mid-September.
As a chemical feedstock, MX is most often used to produce PX for the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) chain, which has its strongest demand season during northern hemisphere summers.
Major US toluene producers include ExxonMobil, Flint Hills Resources, Total, Valero, Marathon Petroleum, Shell and Phillips 66.
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|H&M has been hit hard by the pandemic, prompting it to close down 170 stores |
Hot on the heels of Hue Phong Leather Shoes Company Ltd. letting go 2,200 employees in May, Nike and Adidas supplier PouYuen Vietnam has now also laid off nearly 2,800 workers at its plants in Binh Tan district of Ho Chi Minh City due to the impact of COVID-19.
Entering Vietnam in 1996 and recruiting upwards of 70,000 employees, PouYuen Vietnam Co., Ltd. – which is controlled by Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd. a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Pou Chen Group – is the city’s biggest employer, so the job cuts are affecting many households when many other businesses are also on shaky ground financially. In May, it was reported that another leading Taiwanese footwear contractor was planning to lay off 30,000 workers in Vietnam, but the move has yet to be confirmed.
Due to COVID-19 impacts, Adidas’ first-quarter profits dropped a hefty 95 per cent to €31 million ($34.9 million), while the same period last year earned a record profit of €632 million ($711.8 million).
As the coronavirus outbreak has grown more serious around the world, the German-based sports clothing and shoe manufacturer shut a significant number of stores across the globe, including its key market of China. According to the information published on its official website, the closure of markets that make up about 70 per cent of the Adidas network continues to drag the company down and as a result the group cannot issue a forecast for its performance until the end of the year.
“Both top- and bottom-line declines in the second quarter of 2020 are currently expected to be more pronounced than those recorded in the first quarter, with the currency-neutral sales projected to come in more than 40 per cent below the prior-year level and the operating result to be negative,” noted a company statement.
In April, adidas created an urgent bank loan package worth €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) from German state bank KfW and borrowed €600 million ($675.8 million) from private banks. Its weak performance during the pandemic also raises the question of whether adidas has cut the number of orders from its suppliers, including Pou Chen, which is also the reason behind the adidas partner making a sizeable number of employees redundant in both Taiwan and Vietnam.
An adidas representative told VIR, “During the pandemic we have fully met our payment obligations for all orders completed, or are in the process of doing so. We try to avoid cancelling orders and are working closely with our partners to shift some of the orders to the second half of the year.”
Its competitor Nike is in the same situation. The group recently announced a deficit of $790 million over three months (March-May), pulling the revenue down by 38 per cent to $6.3 billion. Pou Chen is also a big supplier to Nike.
Similar to footwear, garment suppliers are also on edge due to the great downturn in demand for production. Specifically, more than 1,200 stores of Inditex – the operator of Zara – will be closed until the end of this year. H&M, a Zara rival, temporarily closed 3,440 of over 5,000 stores across the globe due to the pandemic. As a result, the Swedish fashion brand late last month reported losses of $534 million during March-May, and saw a plunge of 50 per cent in earnings to $3 billion. The fashion company is weighing plans of shutting down a further 170 stores permanently across the world. As of now, it has already closed 350 outlets, or 7 per cent of its stores globally.
COVID-19 also forced US and European buyers to cancel around $1.5 billion apparel orders from Bangladesh, according to Bloomberg, raising the question of same occurring in Vietnam where H&M has been working with 30 suppliers and 40 tailor shops.
“We are firmly connecting with our suppliers and reviewing the current difficulties with them,” a representative of H&M told VIR. “If H&M is obligated to change the manufacturing plan, we assure to perform it most responsibly and also pay attention to the concerns of suppliers.”
In Vietnam, Inditex has 130 factories employing around 150,000 workers to manufacture items. It is one of the world’s largest fashion retailers with world-renowned eight brands (Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, and Uterqüe) that are sold in 202 markets through its online platform and in over 7,000 physical stores in 96 markets.
Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida recently issued a study showing that the spread of coronavirus in Europe and the United States is 10 times faster than the initial wave in China. The World Health Organisation last week issued a warning that the pandemic will not be brought under control in a short time and a resurgence of even larger proportions might happen. Almost all countries and territories have yet to rescind international flight bans – as a result, the purchasing power will not be recovered anytime soon and even international fashion brands will have to continue to push expansion plans aside.
Around 3,000 shoe factories worldwide are Taiwanese-owned, accounting for one-third of the world’s shoe supply. Of these, numerous companies are present in Vietnam, including Pou Chen and HFF Group. The two corporations – which are contractors to the largest footwear brands in the world – employ about half a million workers across Asia. If orders from these factories are cancelled, labourers in these nations, including Vietnam, may suffer the way they did at Hue Phong and PouYuen.

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State-owned fixed and mobile operator CamTel is gearing up for the commercial launch of its new nationwide GSM mobile service, after unveiling the Blue brand for its operations in August last year. Business in Cameroon reports that SIM cards are in limited circulation ahead of an official launch of the 3G and 4G network in the first quarter of this year. According to company sources, a new organisational structure of CamTel was adopted at a Board of Directors meeting on 30 December 2021 which reinforces the autonomy of the firm’s business units, with this functional reorganisation paving the way for a commercial launch of Blue Mobile.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, CamTel received new fixed and mobile concessions in March 2020 to enable it to launch a nationwide GSM network alongside its existing mobile CDMA and LTE services. In preparation for the launch, a new commercial brand name – Blue – was rolled out in August 2021 and the following month CamTel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MTN Cameroon for the implementation of national roaming services. As such, the firm’s mobile subscribers will be able access to MTN’s network in areas not covered by CamTel’s own network, thereby maintaining service connectivity.


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If you’re eagerly waiting for Japan to open up fully for tourism, you’re not the only one. Recently, we held an online survey asking our readers around the world how they feel about travelling to Japan at this moment. Judging by the results from over 3,000 respondents, it’s safe to say that an overwhelming majority of you are very much looking forward to visiting Japan despite the country’s slow reopening for international tourism. Let’s dive in to the survey results.
Q: Are you planning to visit Japan?
An overwhelming number of respondents – 70 percent to be exact – stated that they would like to visit as soon as Japan’s borders fully reopen.
21 percent said they would like to visit soon but not immediately while a small minority of 2.6 percent have no travel plans. Sadly, 6.4 percent of respondents stated that they have given up on waiting for Japan to reopen.
Q: What’s preventing you from visiting Japan?
Japan’s tight border restrictions are preventing tourists from visiting the country. More specifically, 62.3 percent of respondents felt discouraged by the need to book their trips through a travel agency.
Aside from that, 17.3 percent said that the visa requirement is the main reason why they are not visiting Japan. Japan’s confusing border rules are a hindrance for 16.2 percent of our survey respondents. Only a small 4.3 percent stated that the Covid-19 pandemic was preventing them from travelling.
Q: Did you change your travel plans from Japan to elsewhere because of the delay in border reopening?
We were also curious if our readers had changed their travel plans instead of waiting for Japan to reopen. Most notably, 40.2 percent are still waiting for Japan while a close 39.6 percent have decided to change their travel plans.
Q: Which is the most important factor for you when deciding whether to visit Japan?
A staggering 77.9 percent of respondents want free and easy travel with no need to go through a travel agency. Only 17.3 percent shared that visa-free entry is their main priority.
Surprisingly, Japan’s Covid-19 situation is not much of a factor, with only 3.3 percent expressing their worry over the pandemic. Despite Japan’s weak yen, which would give international travellers greater purchasing power, only 1.5 percent stated that the value of the currency is a crucial factor in their travel decisions.
While Japan's borders have been closed off to tourists for much of the last two years, it's only since this June that restrictions have been eased for foreign visitors. However, that’s not without conditions: tourists still have to book their flights and accommodation via a travel agency and apply for a visa. Recent news suggests that Japan's remaining border rules could be lifted soon, so it’s really only a matter of time before foreign tourists and independent travellers can finally come into Japan without major roadblock.
More from Time Out Tokyo
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The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here – on Monday, Instagram officially announced the launch of their updated API, which now offers exclusive insights into Stories and video analytics, follower demographics, reach, impressions and more.
Instagram is testing a new shopping feature exclusively for a select group of brands on the platform. The new feature, announced last week, was created in order to allow brands with products to sell to be able to do so within Instagram, removing the need to encourage a click to an external landing page from […]
So as you’ve probably noticed, Stories are here and yes, they look a lot like Snapchat stories. All of us over here at Iconosquare really love the concept of getting to see ephemeral, ‘daily life’ photos in the same place as (but separate from) the high quality, sight-for-sore-eyes stuff that is the average Instagram account.
If you missed our Facebook Live on how to use Instagram Stories yesterday, check out the recording now! An amazing new feature has been rolled out to Instagram users – and this one’s a game changer!
Last week, we did a paper on the TOP 10 hyperlapse videos by brands, today we’ll be presenting you the most inspirational hyperlapse videos we found on Instagram. Since its launch last week, thanks to our tracking tools, we found out that Instagram’s new time-lapse app has now more than 262 000 medias posted, and […]
Today we are very excited to release a new version of our moderation platform. Moderation is a very important aspect of our Instagram contest toolkit and our Instagram feed tab for Pages so we wanted to offer you a better user-experience.
Today we are eager to launch Statigram Index, our ultimate Instagram ranking and benchmarking tool. Statigram Index offers you the opportunity to keep an eye on a brand’s presence on Instagram and see how they perform.
Top brands such as Esprit, Post-it and Nuxe already enjoyed our new Instagram contest toolkit features. Now it’s your turn! Over the last year we have helped dozens of brands run successful contests on Instagram. Thanks to their feedbacks we’ve added some cool features


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Reading Eagle: Brad Rhen
Reading Eagle: Brad Rhen
Some notable beers recently showed up on shelves in Berks County.
New Belgium, maker of the popular Fat Tire Amber Ale, began distributing to Pennsylvania on Aug. 31, the same day a beer honoring former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno arrived locally.
For New Belgium, getting to Pennsylvania was a long time coming. The company was founded in 1991 in Fort Collins, Colo., and is now the fourth-largest craft brewing company in the United States, trailing just Yuengling, Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams) and Sierra Nevada. It’s the eighth largest overall brewing company in the country.
New Belgium’s beers were already available in 38 other states as well as the District of Columbia. If you go to Delaware for vacation – like I do almost every summer – you can get them there.
Fat Tire is probably New Belgium’s most well-known beer. A balanced beer with toasty, biscuit-like malt flavors, it’s not a hop-bomb like so many other popular craft beers. For me, after hearing all the hype about it, I was pretty underwhelmed the first time I tried Fat Tire.
To mark New Belgium’s arrival in Berks County, Mari’s 6 Pac N Mor in Reading held a kickoff party on Aug. 31. The event included beer samples, representatives from New Belgium and chicken wings in New Belgium beer-infused sauces.
“It was crazy,” said Debbie Smith, bookkeeper at Mari’s. “You could hardly stand in here, it was that packed.”
New Belgium is a very popular brand among craft beer fans, Smith said, and there had been a demand for its beers.
“People have asked for it for a long time, and now it’s finally legal to sell in Pennsylvania, and we’re happy to have it,” she said.
As of last week, Mari’s had five New Belgium beers: Fat Tire, Ranger IPA, Slow Ride session IPA, Snapshot wheat beer, Pumpkick pumpkin ale, and Rampant imperial IPA.
Duquesne Lager – the Paterno beer – didn’t take nearly as long to arrive. Its maker, Duquesne Brewing Co., announced in June that it would brew the beer to honor the late Penn State football coach, and it was released in mid-August. The Vienna-style lager arrived at Mari’s on Aug. 31.
Smith said the store had received numerous phone calls inquiring about the beer, and it was selling quickly.
“I’m sure everybody is going to want it for the game this weekend,” she said last week, referring to Penn State’s season opener against Temple.
I tried a can of Duquesne Lager and thought it was ho-hum. It’s a step up from your standard Bud-Miller-Coors beer, but I wouldn’t put it on the same level as some of my favorite craft lagers, like Stoudts, Brooklyn or Sly Fox. It’ll probably fit well at a Penn State tailgate party, which is what I’m sure Duquesne was hoping for.
Duquesne Lager is the third beer from Duquesne Brewing Co. The company previously brewed just two beers: Duquesne Pilsener and Duquesne LT, a low-calorie version of the Pilsener.
The Duquesne Brewing Co. brand was resurrected by Pittsburgh area attorney Mark Dudash and his wife, Maria, in 2010. The original Duquesne Brewing Co. was founded in Pittsburgh in 1899 but went out of business in 1972. Its beers are now contract brewed at the former Rolling Rock brewery in Latrobe, about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh.
According to a release from Duquesne: “The location of the brewery in Latrobe is particularly fitting as it is the hometown of Joe Paterno’s wife, Sue, and is where the couple were married in 1962.”
A portion of the beer’s profits will be donated to philanthropic causes chosen by the Paterno family.
Contact Brad Rhen: 610-371-5047 or email@example.com.


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eMarketer principal analyst Victoria Petrock and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle discuss the wonderful world of voice: podcasts, radio and voice ads. They then talk about Google holding on to data, a new bill to ban facial recognition technology and a bunch of robots that can cook and serve food.
eMarketer principal analyst Victoria Petrock and research analyst Mariel Soto Reyes at Insider Intelligence discuss consumer attitudes around privacy, facial recognition and privacy rules and regulations. They then talk about how much the coronavirus has influenced contactless technology usage and whether virtual reality affects your eyes.
Though US adoption of 5G is still in its early days and consumer knowledge of the technology is lagging compared with other countries, industry professionals are already anticipating what opportunities the wireless tech will bring.
After seeing a lot of jewelry options in-store, particularly those that tarnished quickly, fashion and accessories brand Kendra Scott launched 18 years ago to fill a gap in the market.
eMarketer research analyst Man-Chung Cheung discusses the latest on the coronavirus pandemic in China. He explores the role of big data in managing the crisis, points out signs of a retail rebound and considers takeaways for the US and Europe.
As facial recognition systems become increasingly accurate, more governments and law enforcement organizations are tapping them to verify people’s identities, nab criminals and keep transactions secure.
eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman and executive editor of the eMarketer Retail Newsletter Rimma Kats share firsthand accounts of the National Retail Federation’s annual trade show, focusing on retail personalization, returns, sustainability and more.
Consumers are constantly in search of convenience, particularly in the form of timesaving. In the past 12 months, numerous direct-to-consumer (D2C) meal plan services have emerged, offering consumers an alternative solution to home cooking without paying a dreaded visit to the grocery store—or spending time trying to figure out a recipe.
China has proven to be a hotbed for digital innovations, especially in the past few years. During this time, marketers worldwide have observed the latest trends coming out of the country, applying what they learn to their own markets.
Marketers have embraced location data for several reasons. It can help personalize experiences for customers, better isolate customer paths to purchase, create better customer segments, and identify opportune moments to target potential clients. But new restrictions on collecting location data will make it more costly for advertisers in 2020.
eMarketer principal analysts Nicole Perrin and Jillian Ryan explain how email is changing in usage, measurement and personalization. They also discuss Netflix Q3 earnings, how companies struggle to top Google's search results and what matters to consumers when buying a new smartphone.
eMarketer principal analysts Mark Dolliver and Nicole Perrin, along with junior analyst Blake Droesch, discuss the latest EU ruling against Facebook, whether our phones are listening to us, Uber’s new jobs app and more.
The transformation of technology and systems has given rise to a whole new host of responsibilities for B2B Tech CMOs, but most will tell you that the future of the role is focused on providing a holistic customer experience to ensure growth and loyalty.
While conventional marketing thinking says that customers prefer personalized marketing experiences and are willing to share more personal data to get that, but new research shows that it may not.


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Fort Lauderdale-based safety and survival expert ACR Electronics has been named South Florida’s Manufacturer of the Year.
ACR Electronics, Inc, sister company to UK-based safety at sea and communications specialist Ocean Signal, was recognised by the South Florida Manufacturers Association (SFMA) at its Annual SFMA Recognition of Excellence banquet and awards presentation, hosted at The Signature Grand where there were over 400 people in attendance. The SFMA celebrates excellence in manufacturing by recognising companies that have demonstrated success in leadership, process management, strategic planning, and display a sharp focus on their customer needs.
In addition to ACR’s overall company achievement, Isaac Johnson, ACR’s RF Engineer, was awarded the SFMA Employee of the Year runner-up.
There were 80 companies nominated this year. After an in-depth review, the SFMA committee selected ACR for its state-of-the-art manufacturing, stringent quality standards, strong corporate culture, and dedication to going the extra mile to educate its buyers and end users on how the technology in its devices work.
“This award is a great source of pride at ACR. This achievement only further validates our commitment to integrating a quality system into our manufacturing process and ensures ACR delivers our promise of making quality products, knowing that they are used to save lives. We want to congratulate all the companies nominated. It was a great reminder to know we are one of many companies who can say their products are ‘Made in Florida by Floridians’,” said Gerry Angeli, executive vice president.
ACR Electronics manufactures lifesaving equipment for maritime and outdoor enthusiasts, along with military forces, aviation and space programs, from around the world. Its products include EPIRBs, PLBs, SARTs, Strobe Lights, Life Jacket Lights, Boat Search Lights and other associated safety accessories.


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FanDuel Announces Acquisition of Leading eSports Platform, AlphaDraft
FanDuel Inc. (www.fanduel.com), the largest one-day fantasy sports operator, today announced it has acquired leading fantasy eSports platform, AlphaDraft. Marking its entry into the fantasy eSports market, FanDuel will leverage the partnership to enhance and expand core product offerings in order to further reach new sports fans while maximizing engagement.
With the best talent in the sports tech industry, FanDuel’s acqui-hire of AlphaDraft, the premier daily fantasy sports platform that seamlessly blends eSports, live streaming and fantasy sports contests, will bring the company’s employee base in-house to help create a one of its kind daily fantasy product specifically for eSports. This partnership marks the first time FanDuel will have a product for the eSports community.
“With over 200 million people globally watching eSports, AlphaDraft gives those fans a way to engage with this burgeoning entertainment product that creates an enormous opportunity for us,” said Nigel Eccles, CEO and Co-founder, FanDuel. “This is sports for a new demographic, with very little crossover with what are considered traditional sports fans, and this acquisition gives us the ability to leverage the expertise of AlphaDraft’s team, while helping their efforts in customer acquisition and building awareness of this new industry. It’s a win-win.”
The acquisition of AlphaDraft continues FanDuel’s long-term strategy of acquiring top talent around the fantasy sports industry as it builds one of the finest fantasy products for players – all designed to enhance the sports experience. This comes on the heels of the acquisition of numberFire, the premier next generation sports analytics platform, and Kotikan, a leading mobile app developer.
“It is clear that FanDuel is committed to the fan community,” said Todd Peterson, CEO of AlphaDraft. “This pairing creates an incredible opportunity to drive the fantasy industry forward and create compelling products that will enhance all fan engagement.”
Investors in AlphaDraft to date include former NBA Commissioner David Stern, Metamorphic Ventures, WME, Upfront Ventures, Melo7 Tech Partners, IDG Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Freestyle Capital, KEC, Amplify.LA, and others. eSports generated $612m in revenue last year and 13% of all live stream viewers are watching eSports. By 2017, the number of eSports fans is projected to come close to that of American football.
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Publisher Daily Mail & General Trust
The company, which has diversified by buying dozens of small online and business to business companies, said on Thursday that ad revenue for its Associated Newspapers unit was down 6 percent for the 11 months to August excluding acquisitions and circulation revenue was up 1.6 percent.
Overall, despite the weakness of consumer advertising markets, the launch costs of our new London free newspaper and the impact of the weaker U.S. dollar, we still expect to achieve modest progress for the full financial year compared to last year, the company said in a statement.
After a difficult July and August for advertising, prospects may be on the uptick, however, for the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, and the Evening Standard.
September's looking a bit better and we look to be outperforming our peers by a narrow margin, Finance Director Peter Williams told reporters.
Daily Mail shares were down 0.9 percent at 08:50 GMT (9:50 a.m. British time) to 582 1/2 pence.
The shares continue to look good value, with around 12 percent upside to our 660 pence target price, Panmure Gordon analyst Alex DeGroote said in a note following the trading update.
The publisher has engaged in a cut throat afternoon freesheet war with Rupert Murdoch's News International, pitting its London Lite against thelondonpaper for commuters.
About 390,000 copies of London Lite are being distributed, just short of the company's 400,000 target, Williams said.
We don't see this as being enormously expensive for us, he said, rejecting some of the cost estimates issued by analysts but declining to provide any specific figures.
Williams added that he expects the Evening Standard to return to profitability as it becomes differentiated as a premium product in the afternoon market with a higher cover price. There are no plans to fold it either, he said.
Underlying ad revenue from Daily Mail & General Trust's digital operations, excluding recent acquisitions, gained 22 percent year on year. The company derives about half its profit from non newspaper activities.
Advertising revenue at its regional publishing division, Northcliffe Newspapers, fell 8 percent over the same 11 month period, with the recruitment and auto categories suffering 17 percent drops.
Circulation revenue at the regionals was down 0.9 percent in the 11 months.
Daily Mail said it would report exceptional gains of about 180 million pounds in its annual results mainly from selling Aberdeen Journals and Study Group. Another exceptional gain of 20 million pounds will be posted due to the sale of its remaining shares in Reuters Group
The publisher added that because of changes to its adjusted tax charge its 2006 adjusted earnings per share increased to 18.7 pence from 17.8 pence.
The company's financial year ends October 1 and it plans to announce preliminary results on November 23.


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Most people who don't work in film, music or digital technology companies probably hadn't heard of Sopa, the Stop Online Piracy Act, before this week – that is until Wikipedia's founder decided to black out all its English-language pages for a day in protest against proposed US legislation to combat the trafficking of copyrighted material online. It made me wonder what would happen if all the content-creation industries blocked access to all their products for a day to demonstrate what would happen if they couldn't make any money from their work owing to rogue sites. There'd be no music, no television, no film, no books, no radio. What would you miss the most – culture or Wikipedia?
And for those of you claiming people would make music even if they didn't make any money from it, let's say we'd only suspend music made by professionals and that created thanks to investment by a company hoping to make its money back (that includes major and indie labels). The only music available would be music made by hobbyists. Would you miss Wikipedia more than you'd miss music released by record labels?
Of course it would be impossible for musicians to pull off such a stunt. They could only blackout media outlets that actually have a licence for music. There's plenty of unlicensed content on YouTube, and Google – YouTube's owner – only blocks it when it wants to. For example, when it wants to force business negotiations to tilt in its favour, as it did last time it negotiated with PRS for Music (interestingly, Google doesn't have a deal with Stim, the Swedish version of PRS, and it hasn't blocked any Stim-related videos in Sweden).
The main argument used by the anti-Sopa lobby is its proposal to block foreign sites carrying unlicensed material is censorship and curtails freedom of speech (though the Tharir Square protesters seemed to get their message out without recourse to putting new albums on to Pirate Bay). Regarding censorship, the Register's Andrew Orlowski pointed out in his analysis of the issue that Google itself is a web censor on a significant scale, making 11m sites disappear just last year, on a whim – without legal due process or transparency.
But the main problem with preventing piracy is not lack of legislation, it's the inability to enforce it when it comes to foreign sites, and few artists dare even speak out about the issue. I have received online death threats for speaking my mind, and recently a Finnish anti-piracy group received a bomb threat for its role in blocking Pirate Bay in Finland. An owner of one photographic agency told the Washington Post that after her name appeared on a list of Sopa supporters she began getting emails like this one: "I AM INFORMING MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAT IF THEY SUPPORT your firm I WILL MAKE LIFE DIFFICULT FOR THEM." All in the name of free speech.
I'm not a fan of suing people who use rogue sites; I'd much rather focus on the sites themselves. In Europe, ISPs in Denmark have blocked Pirate Bay after those behind the site were convicted (twice) in Swedish courts, yet Swedish ISPs refuse to do so. In the UK, BT blocked Newzbin after told to do so by the courts. Does that make these countries dictatorships? Of course not.
I'm not saying Sopa is perfect, and I'm sure it'll go through some changes before being passed (it appears the sections relating to blocking sites will be pulled), but what gets me is that its opponents reject any attempt to curb piracy. They think they have nothing to lose from piracy, so why should they care? Many anti-Sopa lobbyists even gain from piracy – not only does Google net millions of dollars from its ad networks thanks to the unlicensed content it helps users find, but Google can also useit as a negotiating tool with the music industry, telling artists "it's better than piracy" as it offers them the tiny crumbs falling off its multi-billion dollar table.
Instead of offering any sort of constructive ideas on how to curb piracy, Sopa's opponents say the music industry should move with the times, not hold on to an old business model. Yet, despite many of them declaring themselves entrepreneurs, they can't offer any valid suggestions of what that business model might be. Quality content is not cheap to make, hence why online ad-funding has not managed to save some of the world's best newspapers from running at a loss and cutting staff.
Spotify is not yet profitable, and dismay with the paltry royalties it pays artist and songwriters has been widely documented. Stim and PRS gave Spotify a break on royalty rates to help it get off the ground – alienating their own members, the songwriters, in the process. The collection societies defended their decision by saying rates would get better as the music service converted users into subscribers. But if music fans turn to rogue sites (I'm talking to you Grooveshark) as soon as Spotify tries to charge more,then Spotify will fail. So, in effect, piracy prevents the development of legitimate sites.
Let me finish with what my fellow songwriter Rick Carnes told me recently. He was speaking on a panel about copyright, the internet and piracy. On one side were people from the culture industry, on the other the technophiles and anti-copyright campaigners – and then there was an economist. All through the debate he said nothing. When asked why, he said he couldn't debate an issue that used a starting point – that the culture industry should compete with piracy instead of fighting it, while being denied ownership of their "product" – at which the basics of a successful economy had been taken away.
He said in a capitalist society consumers are taughtto get the best value they can. Therefore "free" will always attract the most consumers. But it is absurd to suggest "free" will support the production of goods and services, he continued. The laws protecting private property were established because "free" was not working to create progress. The devastation you are seeing in the music industry is exactly what you would expect when people lose the protection of their property. Anarchy results and the market collapses, he concluded.
We may not see the repercussions of it now, but a Wikipedia-style blackout of all music, television and film – apart from hobbyist material – would give a taste of what's to come if we do nothing. Maybe then these technology companies would realise there is something to lose, even for them. Believe it or not, there's a limit to how many cute animal videos one can watch on YouTube.


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110,000 Irish Retail Jobs Could Be Lost Permanently Without A Decisive Government Recovery Plan
There is a distinct and very real risk that without the implementation of the 5 suggested measures in the Retail Excellence Ireland Recovery Plan, up to 110,000 jobs could be lost permanently in the Irish retail industry. This would cost the State an estimated €2.2 billion in a full year in increased social welfare payments and would cost the State an estimated €800 million per annum in employee taxes foregone. In addition, further significant damage would be done to the economic and social fabric of every town and city in the country. Ireland is in a period of unprecedented crisis that requires an unprecedented official policy response. Now is the time to be brave. There will be significant costs involved, but the social and economic benefits will far outweigh the costs. The Irish retail industry believes that it will have a key role to play in re-building the Irish economy, but it needs a strong official policy response.
Retail Excellence Ireland, on behalf of our 2,100 member companies are urgently calling on Government to implement 5 key measures:
Measure 1: Establishment of a Government backed commercial rent grant scheme equal to 60% of the rent and service charge cost during the emergency period. The cost of this measure to the Exchequer is estimated at €330 million for a 3-month period.
Measure 2: The permanent cancellation of all Local Authority rates for all impacted businesses for a 12-month period. The cost to the Exchequer of this measure is estimated at €730 million for a 12-month cancelation.
Measure 3: The implementation of liquidity supports for retail businesses and speedy and simplified implementation of these supports by the banks.
Measure 4: The distribution of a gift card of €500 to all Irish households which can only be spent in bricks and mortar stores and will be zero balanced after a fixed window of time. The estimated cost to the State would be €850 million.
Measure 5: The implementation of a back to work scheme such as a “Jobs Bridge” type initiative to re-employ the highest possible proportion of our retail industry colleagues who have been temporarily laid off.
Retail Excellence Ireland Recovery Plan can be viewed here – https://www.retailexcellence.ie/2020/04/15/retail-excellence-retail-recovery-plan/
For comment contact:
Jim Power, Economist at Retail Excellence Ireland: 00353 87 2431731
David Fitzsimons, Group Chief Executive, Retail Excellence Ireland: 00353 87 2535482
About Retail Excellence
Established in 1995, Retail Excellence is owned by the members, for the members. We are an organisation which invests in innovative and exciting learning, market intelligence, human resources services, Government representation and member networking initiatives. Retail Excellence has over 2,100 leading retail companies in Ireland. Our members are the most progressive and innovative retailers. Retail Excellence is by far the largest retail industry body in Ireland.


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Helly Hansen has long been developing professional apparel which helps deal with some of the world’s harshest winter environments. Even that swirling Manchester rain.
Founded in Norway in 1877, their innovation produced some of the world’s first waterproof clothing over 140 years ago.
It seems 2019 is all about the not-so-distant retro and Helly Hansen are right on trend.
For Autumn/Winter 2019, the outdoor brand is celebrating reviving its 90s-inspired Heritage collection.
The Limited Edition range recreates some of Helly Hansen’s most iconic designs throughout history with puffer jackets, rain jackets, authentic insulators and ski apparel, all adorned with the original Equipe logo.
So whether you’re climbing a mountain or going out to Christmas parties on those cold December nights, you’ll be equipped and look the part at the same time.
“We recognise the impact our apparel has had on both ski enthusiasts and fashion-focused consumers throughout the years,” said Kristoffer Ulriksen, category managing director for Urban at Helly Hansen.
“The Heritage collection is a way for us to celebrate our history of style and technology while bringing fresh designs to classic apparel.”
One of the highlights of the collection includes the Heritage Ski Suit which includes a packable hood, zipper hand pockets, adjustable wrist and ankle cuffs, ventilation zippers and enough 90s style to truly take its wearer back in time.


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When you think of the cheesiest slice of pizza, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s Mellow Mushroom‘s Great White pizza, which is stacked with feta, provolone, ricotta, and mozzarella? Or maybe it’s the Four Cheese & Pesto at Uno Pizzeria & Grill? What if we told you to think even cheesier?
French chef Benoit Bruel of Déliss’ Pizza in Lyon, France, officially set the Guinness World Record for putting the “Most Varieties of Cheese on a Pizza.” His specialty pizza pie contained an astonishing 254 different kinds of cheese, which essentially makes any four-cheese pizza look like child’s play.
If you’re anything like us, you likely didn’t even know such a record existed. Evidently, Bruel technically broke the record back in February 2020. However, he had to compile the “required evidence” of his success to present to the judges at Guinness. As of Nov. 29, the chef’s impressive achievement finally received official recognition.
“Youhoooo,” Bruel wrote in a post on his restaurant’s Instagram account. “It took a while but that’s it, the Guinness Book validated my record last Thursday! It’s official !!! My certificate arrives this week as well as the list of cheeses.” (As translated by Google Translate.)
The Guinness World Records Facebook page also shared a video about his new record:
With 154 kinds of cheese on his cholesterol-filled creation, the Australian chef Johnny Di Francesco formerly held the record. That means Bruel beat the previous winner by 100 cheeses.
So, why would someone go to great lengths to produce the cheesiest pizza on the planet? In the case of Bruel, his motivation largely stemmed from pride for his country. As UPI reports, “Benoit told Guinness officials he thought it was important that the record be held by France, which is known for its cheeses.”
By Cheyenne Buckingham, Eat This, Not That!


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A website launched June 18 at Canada’s Farm Progress Show aims to connect consumers with producers of locally grown food.
SaskFoodFind.com is a creation of Simply Agriculture Solutions Inc.
The idea, said executive director Tamara Weir-Shields, is to act as a hub where producers can register as suppliers.
The only requirement is that the food is produced in Saskatchewan.
“It’s not limited to organic,” Weir-Shields explained. “It can be CSA (community supported agriculture) or someone who realizes in September they have 300 extra pounds of potatoes.”
Until Sept. 1, it’s free for producers to list on the site. After that there is a fee, depending on how long the seller wants to sign up. It will range from one month at $50 to one year at $360.
“We recognize that not everyone needs a full-year subscription,” she said.
Smaller producers might not have the resources to put into marketing but are putting a lot of effort into growing produce or making food products that contain the local food consumers want.
Weir-Shields said there have been other attempts to create local food lists, but often they use government program funding and when the program ends there is no one to update the site.
“It’s a pretty simple concept,” she added. “We hope it catches on.”
Phase two of the project will be to include restaurants that use local food.


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Cargill had never developed an app for protein consumers. María Saborío and her team changed that.
Read Time: 2 minutes
December 15, 2021
It started more than two years ago, with a simple idea: How can Cargill digitalize its interactions with clients?
How do we make it easier for them to get in touch with us? How can we be more effective and more customer driven through digital tools? How can we be closer to our clients and customers even during a global pandemic?
For María Saborío, that initial idea became a project never before seen in Cargill’s 156-year history. María, an ecommerce and digital transformation lead from Honduras, was initially tasked with developing an app that would connect Cargill’s protein distribution centers in Central America with clients in the region.
“We began with a pilot in May 2019, with maybe 30 clients in Costa Rica. It was a very basic app, but we received positive feedback,” she says.
Through tests, surveys, and workshops, María and her team realized that there was fertile ground for something much more ambitious.
It was the genesis of Aquí + Frescos, the first Cargill-developed app designed to serve end-consumers.
In early 2020, the world changed. With the spread of COVID-19 across the globe, we were all forced to adjust the way we worked.
For María and her team, the timing of the pandemic was, in a way, the opportunity they didn’t know they needed. As teams evolved and adapted, they realized there were few options for consumers stuck at home because of sanitary restrictions.
“The tone of the project changed,” she recalls. “There was a great opportunity in front of us. But there were also hurdles.”
Mainly, two hurdles. The first had to do with doubts about whether consumers in Central America were going to take a chance with a digital, faceless app. The second was logistics.
“We were used to large-volume sales, but end-consumers don’t behave that way,” María says. “We needed a solution for detail sales, keeping our protein products fresh and quickly reaching our consumers.”
The solution came with a name. The Aquí Frescos shops — Cargill’s first direct-to-consumer stores in Central America — had the expertise and knowledge to serve consumers. María’s team partnered with the shops to build a delivery system: a virtual shop for your Android device.
“We launched the app on January 2021, and the results have been very positive,” María says. The numbers back her up: in some shops, up to 30% of sales come through the app.
On top of that, directly reaching consumers has provided the team with detailed insights that will allow them to provide better and better service.
“We still have a long way to go, lots to improve to give our consumers the best possible experience,” María says. “We’re learning as we go, but that’s part of being pioneers. A team of pioneers based in Central America, led by a woman. I’m very proud of the work we’re doing.”


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Under Armour's Plank: Harbor East store will be 'a testing ground'
Plank appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” to promote the 8,000-square-foot Harbor East store set to open Saturday. The stand-alone, full-price store will be the company’s first in the U.S. since 2008.
Under Armour (NYSE: UA) has struggled to gain an international presence due to a lack of retailers selling the Baltimore sportswear company’s merchandise overseas. International sales accounted for 7 percent of the company’s $1.8 billion in revenue during 2012.
As the company looks to go from four to 40 retail locations in China, it will learn how to sell its merchandise at its new Baltimore store, Plank said.
“We’re going to make sure we understand the merchandising components to make us excellent there right here in our backyard,” he told CNBC on Friday.
The Harbor East store will be a testing ground for selling women’s apparel and footwear, Plank said. Brad Dickerson, Under Armour’s chief financial officer, told the Baltimore Business Journal last month that those two categories can sometimes get overlooked at shopping malls.
“This is going to be a lab store,” Plank said. “We’re going to learn a lot.”
Under Armour’s footwear sales will be especially interesting with the recent resignation of Gene McCarthy, the company’s top footwear executive. McCarthy spent 3 1/2 years at Under Armour after previously working at Nike (NYSE: NKE) and Reebok.
Jack Lambert is responsible for driving breaking news coverage on the BBJ's website, baltimorebusinessjournal.com. His specialty coverage areas are sports business and transportation. However, Jack goes where the news is on a daily basis.
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text: Sage Group Plc, the financial accounting and payroll software specialist, is continuing to thrive in a niche market which it understands better than anyone, that of the small to medium sized business. The group saw its net profits for the year to September rise by 27% to 25m pounds while revenues climbed 12% to 153m pounds. Newcastle-based Sage is now a highly European concern with 46% of revenues from France and Germany as well as 13% from the US. The down side of which is an 11.2m pounds dent in revenue and a 2m pound profit reduction from currency translation effects. Sage borrowed 40m pounds in the period to purchase German PC accounting software house KHK Software AG, contributions from which more than covered the cost of borrowing, the company said. While Sage is famous for sticking to the knitting, the firm spent a third of a million pounds on canvassing its customer’s opinions this year, and the results convinced it to begin extending its software offerings. Sage has plans to add new modules covering areas like human resources, time and billing and electronic commerce. Initially these will be a natural progression from the current payroll modules, and many of Sage’s 60,000 UK-based payroll users are clamoring for extensions. The software will still be targeted at companies with 100 employees of less, ensuring that it steers well clear of the heavyweight ERP vendors like SAP AG and Baan Co NV et al. Sage wants to begin adding e-commerce features like on-line supplier payments and stock ordering systems, but the major stumbling block is the UK clearing banks who have so far refused to reach an agreed standard for internet-based transactions. As regards EMU, Sage says all its software sold in France and Germany in early 1998 will be compliant, although it estimates that only 25% of its customer base is paying any attention at all to the year 2000 problem. Also in the period, founding chairman of Sage, David Goldman, resigned. Taking over in the executive chairman’s role is Michael Jackson, a non-executive director who has been with the company since 1983. The board has proposed a final dividend of 1.93 pence, taking the total for the year to 2.9 pence, a rise of 10%.


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NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime has said that consumers should not expect an update to Wii, nor a new system from Nintendo in the coming months.
Reggie Fils-amie headlines
NOA bossman Reggie Fils-Amie has told Kotaku that if Nintendo decides to bring a streaming video service to Wii, it will not be Netflix per say. “We have nothing to announce [as] a partnership from an online streaming standpoint,” he said. “Should we go down that path we will do something different than our competitors.” […]


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In light of Yahoo’s recent appointment of a CEO whose affable personality stands in sharp contrast to that of his sharp-tongued predecessor, the question begs: To what extent do the dispositions of a company’s executives affect its culture and day-to-day operations?
“Managers take their cues from above, and if those cues are detrimental to having a productive and contented workforce, they can damage literally every department in a company and, inevitably, customer relations as well,” says Mag Retelewski, president and founder of Clarteza, a consumer strategy firm.
Retelewski says Yahoo is a case in point. “A huge success at its outset, Yahoo has been surpassed by other companies such as Google in products, innovation and profit, partly because of the management style of its [former] CEO,” Retelewski says.
But the personality of a particular executive is not necessarily the key predictor of business performance, others say.
“An executive’s personality certainly contributes to the overall culture of a company, though not necessarily to success,” says Gerald Bricker, president of Aadvise Consulting. “An executive who provides a ‘fun’ atmosphere, yet manages in a politicized manner, showing favoritism and who allowing excuses for failure, will not create a successful enterprise.”
Most management teams understand hard work and the need to face challenges, Bricker says, and they appreciate leadership that provides support and accountability. “[If executives] reward management despite failures in performance, they are demonstrating to the entire organization that success is not about results.”
The ideal executive personality, it seems, is a balance of strong leadership skills, sound work ethic, and the right amount of kindness and respect shown to all employees within the organization. By fostering an environment of respect, loyalty and enjoyment throughout the ranks, a company’s chances of success are great.


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In a groundbreaking partnership that promises to revolutionise the esports landscape in Africa, Digital Afrique Telecom (DAT) and Clipfeed have come together to provide innovative esports solutions for mobile operators on the continent. This strategic collaboration aims to tap into the rapidly growing esports market in Africa and deliver exciting opportunities to the younger generation, who are increasingly connecting to the digital world.
Clipfeed, a global esports entertainment company with a proven track record of powering esports communities through cutting-edge technology, is well-positioned to make a significant impact in the African market. They work closely with telecom operators, direct-to-home (DTH) providers, internet service providers (ISPs), and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to create immersive entertainment destinations for consumers.
DAT, on the other hand, has established itself as a go-to organisation for software-as-a-service (SAAS) and value-added services (VAS) for mobile operators in Africa. With a robust technical platform and a dedication to meeting customer needs, DAT has earned a reputation for providing reliable and customizable mobile technology services.
The centrepiece of this partnership is the creation of the “Africa Gaming Box,” a white-label platform designed to empower mobile operators in Africa with the ability to offer esports services to their users. This platform will encompass a wide array of features, including live tournaments, engaging esports challenges, enticing rewards, and more. It aims to make esports content accessible to a broad user base across the continent.
Africa’s esports potential is undeniable, with several factors contributing to its attractiveness as a burgeoning market. Firstly, Africa boasts a young and expanding population, with over half of Africans under the age of 25. This demographic is the primary target for esports enthusiasts. Secondly, internet penetration in Africa has been steadily rising, with over 500 million Africans gaining internet access in 2022, a number expected to surpass 1 billion by 2025. Finally, Africa has a rich culture of games and competition, making it fertile ground for the growth of esports.
Simplice Anoh, CEO of DAT, expressed his excitement about the partnership, stating, “Esports remains a significant opportunity in Africa, and we are extremely pleased to partner with Clipfeed to open the doors for the continent’s mobile operators to reap the benefits of this booming industry.”
Clipfeed CEO and founder, Michael Whelan, echoed this sentiment, saying, “We are excited to partner with Digital Afrique Telecom to bring esports to mobile operators in Africa. This partnership will allow us to reach a wider audience and help grow the esports community in Africa.”
The esports industry is on a remarkable trajectory, projected to reach a value of $1.6 billion in 2023. Africa, in particular, is a key region for potential growth, with the African esports market outpacing the global average. Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to see the number of esports enthusiasts surge to 222 million by 2025, underscoring the immense potential that DAT and Clipfeed aim to tap into.
As the partnership between DAT and Clipfeed unfolds, it holds the promise of transforming Africa into a vibrant hub for esports, empowering a young and connected population with access to thrilling esports content and competitions. With the Africa Gaming Box as their flagship offering, mobile operators on the continent are poised to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity, propelling Africa’s esports community to new heights.


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The EEOC sued Activision Blizzard for failing to address harassment allegations, but chose to settle out of court for less than a quarter of what Bobby Kotick will make in 2021.
The new developments play out against the backdrop of additional allegations and a new lawsuit.
"Nothing about us without us."
The strike will take place Wednesday, July 28.
The filing describes a "frat boy" culture at the company.
The Call of Duty machine gains a new cog.
The mega-publisher has been on a streak of layoffs over the last few years. Meanwhile, CEO Bobby Kotick is set to receive a $200 million payout.
The perennial shooter franchise has never been more popular--or lucrative.
Lead designer Brett Crawford talks about Activision Blizzard's restructuring, his inspirations in the MOBA genre, and the future of Heroes of the Storm.


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Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration awarded Amazon an "experimental airworthiness certificate" to test its plans to use drones to deliver purchases to customers. The certificate allows drone use only within line-of-sight of a certified pilot, but that's not the only problem with the concept.
In fact, the quest for FAA approval is just a sideshow. The real problems with drone deliveries are practical, not regulatory. Don't believe me? Let's think about it for a moment (you won't need much more time than that…I came up with this list in just a few minutes, with only marginal help from a Google search):
- It's not clear that drone deliveries will be any cheaper than existing methods. Even without pilots on board, lifting stuff into the air takes a lot of energy.
- It will never work for heavy items. Imagine using drones to deliver a case of cat food cans? Ridiculous.
- Drones can't go everywhere. In fact, drones can't go to a heck of a lot of places. Not everything Amazon delivers goes to the easy-to-reach front porches of suburban homes. Are drones going to fly up the stairwells in Boston office towers and Manhattan apartment buildings? And how are they going to navigate the rat's nest of utility wires in neighborhoods like mine in San Francisco?
- Oh, and you may have read about people stealing packages from front porches in many neighborhoods. With drone delivery, intrepid thieves wouldn't just steal the package, they'd steal the drones, too.
- And if thieves didn't steal them, you can bet bored teenagers would invent exciting new ways to shoot them down. Not to mention rabid property rights advocates trying to maintain control over their airspace. No matter what they law may dictate, many people will not be willing to cede "neighborhood air superiority" to Amazon… or anyone else.
- Hacking. Even as relatively dim teens attempt to down the drones with everything from slingshots to BB guns, their cleverer compatriots will be working feverishly to take over the systems powering the drones. If the Iranians can hack U.S. military drones armed with deadly missiles, smart suburban teens can certainly wreak havoc on commercial drones fetching burritos.
- Crowding. Drones are small and can't carry that much. To deliver everything Amazon needs to move every day would require squadron after squadron of drones, increasing the inevitability they'd bump into each other.
- What happens when all those drones bumping into each other get involved in accidents? Who pays for the damaged goods, and whatever else gets damaged in the process?
- Weather. 'Nuff said.
- If drones aren't able to deliver all ordered items to all locations at all times—and that seems inarguable—Amazon would have to maintain multiple delivery logistics. The costs of that alone would likely be enough to negate any benefits of drone delivery.
So despite the ongoing hype around Amazon's ongoing efforts to tap into drones (or maybe because of it), the whole concept of drone delivery remains little more than a publicity stunt.
Could there be a few isolated use cases where drone delivery makes sense for a company like Amazon? Sure. But if mainstream drone delivery is really such a good idea, you can expect the existing delivery companies, from FedEx to UPS to the USPS, to figure it out first. After all, they have a lot more at stake here than Amazon does.


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Brea, CA, March 20, 2020 --(PR.com
)-- American Made Apparel Manufacturer Produces Masks to Donate to Hospitals in Need.
AST Sportswear, Inc. will use their facility and resources to help aid in shortage of health masks.
Today, AST Sportswear, Inc., the largest vertical apparel manufacturer in the United States, has pledged to use their manufacturing facility in Brea, California to produce and donate health masks to hospitals facing shortages across the U.S. The company also plans on utilizing their own 100% cotton fabric that they source here in the U.S. to produce the masks.
Amidst recent concerns of the spread of COVID-19, AST Sportswear C.O.O. stated, “After learning about the drastic shortages of masks in hospitals and hearing that some health care professionals started putting together make-shift masks out of little pieces of paper, I knew it was our responsibility as a community, to help those on the frontlines helping our fellow Americans.”
To help gain traction on having these masks readily available, AST Sportswear, Inc. plans on going into production immediately using fabric resources originally designated for their apparel, and prioritizing labor to producing masks for those in dire need. These masks will be 100% U.S. grown cotton, breathable, washable and will come in an assortment of colors.
About AST Sportswear: Founded in 1995 in Anaheim, CA, four brothers started off in a little building with a few sewing machines, and one big dream. Now, as the nation’s largest vertical apparel manufacturer, AST Sportswear, Inc. has become a staple in the apparel industry and a leading manufacturer of 100% U.S.A. made apparel and accessories.


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It appears that nowadays brands are expected to stand for more than just their products. People care deeply about social issues and they want the companies they buy from to care too.
This does not mean to say, however, that every instance of brand activism is good, or even necessary. Consumers are unimpressed with shallow, baseless attempts at social justice campaigns for the sake of publicity.
Taking a stand
Many companies have the balance right. In the last decade, we’ve seen a rise in the number of big-name brands publicly taking a stand and aligning their marketing campaigns with social issues.
According to a 2018 Edelman Earned Brand report, nearly two-thirds of consumers are now considered ‘belief driven buyers’ who will either buy from or boycott a brand based on its stance on social issues.
YouGov research has also shown that 54% of UK consumers now expect brands to take a stand on these matters, claiming that they have a ‘responsibility’ to society.
In today’s social climate of Trump, Brexit, and fake news, it seems that politics pervades every aspect of our lives and this even extends to the way we spend our money.
When brand activism goes wrong
The key to success lies in authenticity. Consumers have grown wise to marketing tactics and can see through PR stunts dressed up as social justice movements.
Take Starbucks ‘Race Together’ campaign in 2015 which aimed to instigate a national conversation on race in the US by having baristas write the phrase on coffee cups and enter into discussion on the topic with customers when asked. The campaign was inspired by racial protests that followed the grand jury decision not to indict a white police officer, who shot and killed a young black teenager.
The backlash was instant and unanimous as consumers perceived the campaign to be opportunistic, insensitive, and thought it ridiculous to expect baristas serving a queue of waiting customers to have the time, or the training, to enter into a nuanced discussion on race.
Staying authentic to your core mission
However, consumers are generally more receptive to social good campaigns that they perceive to be genuine. Companies such as TOMs and Patagonia continue to fight for social causes with minimal criticism because this kind of activism has been a central part of these companies’ messaging since their inception, Patagonia literally label themselves ‘The Activist Company’.
Even when these types of companies do face backlash, it is not necessarily detrimental to their reputation or sales numbers.
Lush were heavily criticised for their 2018 #spycops campaign which aimed to highlight ‘the ongoing undercover policing scandal, where officers have infiltrated the lives, homes and beds of activists’.
People believed that a company selling bath bombs had no right to speak on this topic and the campaign was viewed by many as poorly thought out and anti-police. However, despite the hundreds of unhappy people calling out #flushlush, statistics show that the company’s sales actually went up by 14% during the period of the campaign.
Looking at the people who follow Lush on twitter compared to those who were using the flush lush hashtag, Brandwatch Analytics found marked differences which seemed to explain this unusual statistic. Essentially, those who were threatening to boycott the brand generally didn’t shop there in the first place, and if anything, the scandal only provided extra publicity towards their regular customers who already believed in the brand’s activist message and supported the campaign.
Lush got away with what could be perceived as a marketing slip-up because, although it wasn’t generally well-received, it was authentic to their core mission to campaign for social good.
Playing the long game
Taking a political stance in marketing is not a new idea. It has proved to be a very profitable move for brands in the past.
In 2004 Dove launched its ‘Real Beauty’ campaign, which utilised the statistic that only 2% of the women they interviewed considered themselves beautiful, to start a conversation about beauty standards. The campaign featured ‘real women’ rather than conventional models and aimed to empower women to feel good about their own bodies.
Still going over a decade later, the ‘Real Beauty’ campaign saw a 700% increase in sales in the first six months and increased Dove’s share in the market from 1% to 6%.
However, the campaign has also received its fair share of criticism. People questioned the authenticity of Dove promoting ‘real beauty’ while owned by a corporation (Unilever that owned companies like Slimfast, selling diet products, and Axe, who are perceived to play into sexist ideology in their marketing campaigns.
Choosing the right campaign for your brand
It’s not easy to find examples of social good marketing strategies that have not received criticism on some level.
Companies engaging in brand activism will inevitably risk alienating some customers. But they generally do gain customer loyalty, aligning themselves with buyer values and enjoying increased media exposure.
Successful brand activism is that which tackles issues related to the company’s values and through which they can make a genuine impact.
A good example is Airbnb’s Open Homes platform. It connects refugees and people displaced from their homes by disasters with hosts who can house them temporarily at no cost.
Activist marketing campaigns that fare worse are those which appear to represent an abrupt change in direction for the company or those perceived to be empty messaging for the sake of publicity.
Campaigns such as Gilette’s ‘The Best a Man Can Be’, a rebranding of their slogan ‘The Best a Man Can Get’, sparked controversy because it was seen as a swift reversal of their traditional marketing, which generally relied heavily on gender stereotypes, in an attempt to better align themselves with modern attitudes.
On the other hand, inaction can be equally harmful to a brand’s reputation. Uber’s decision to keep operating from JFK airport during taxi strikes protesting Trumps immigration ban led to swift and brutal condemnation of the company across Twitter and, for the first time, rival company Lyft overtook Uber’s downloads on the app store.
Show that your organisation really cares
Brands looking to branch out into this area of marketing should be careful to choose a cause that aligns with their core values and is relevant to their business. They must put their money where their mouth is and take action to ensure that their campaigns are authentic and effective.
Most importantly, they must be doing it for the right reasons; the only way brand activism can have a positive impact is if it relates to an issue that the company, and their staff, believe in and want to have an impact on, rather than simply increase sales.
If you would like to know more about how a brand can do social good, please feel free to get in touch!


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Aug 8, 2013 The solution to garment industry worker abuses could lay in the hands of an unexpected retailer.
May 17, 2013 Walmart could be liable for millions in damages because it controls the supply chain, even if it doesn't employ the workers directly.
May 16, 2013 Temperatures were down across much of the United States, causing consumers to huddle at home instead of going out.
May 14, 2013 A new satellite could tell us a lot about climate change.
May 13, 2013 The Bangladesh government makes it easier for garment workers to join trade unions. But will that spark the change factor workers are hoping for?
May 9, 2013 Following another tragic fire at a Bangladesh clothing factory, retailers are now ceding to consumer demand and putting the exact origins of their products on the label. But will this “fair trade” practice hurt the bottom line? And will those same consumers actually buy the more expensive fair trade products, or reach for the cheaper item on the next rack?
Apr 29, 2013 The vote, which will restrict the use of certain types of pesticides for two years unless decisive new information becomes available, is an effort to protect the dwindling honeybee population.
Apr 26, 2013 Yes, it's Arbor Day again. Don't hug a tree, plant one. Or, calculate the value of what a tree is doing for the environment.
Apr 26, 2013 The Internet is powered by vast banks of computers which chew up energy. That's a big cost for the people who run these servers -- and the earth, depending on how all the electricity is generated.
Apr 25, 2013 The collapse of a factory in Bangladesh reportedly producing clothing for American and European companies is raising questions about what those companies owe after a tragedy.


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The Great Microwarehouse Year-End Sale 2012 has become one of the most anticipated events for gadget geeks and bargain hunters in the Philippines. It is one of those sales where gadgets are heavily discounted, some going as low as 70% off the regular price.
For 2012, the Great Microwarehouse Year-End Sale will happen on December 1 and 2 and will be held at the Decagon Silver City. That’s at Frontera Drive corner Julia Vargas Ave. in Pasig City just across Tiendesitas. It’s actually the same place used for last year’s year-end sale so if you were at last year’s event, you’ll know where to go.
The details are scarce and no price list has been released yet. From the poster above, however, we can safely assume that brands like Samsung, BlackBerry, LG, Motorola, Cisco, Lacie, Philips, Belkin and Emerson will be included in the sale. There could be more partners and more items at the venue. There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to be at the sale itself. If you don’t need new gadgets for yourself, the Great Microwarehouse Year-End Sale could be the place to find unique Christmas gifts.


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UAE Exchange Voted Superbrand The Fourth Time
When quality becomes a way of life, winning becomes a habit and the brand gets selected in to the elite list of the most trusted and preferred brands. UAE Exchange is among the chosen ones, yet again, when it was selected as the Superbrand by the prestigious Superbands Council in the UAE, for the fourth consecutive time. The remittance major earned this recognition due to its penchant for quality in every aspect. Earlier UAE Exchange was chosen in the Superbrands list in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
"We are totally delighted!" exclaimed Mr. Y. Sudhir Kumar Shetty, COO – Global Operations, UAE Exchange. "Superbrands council is a prestigious and independent authority, which recognises qualitative attempts to achieve excellence. It fills us with pride to know that they have found UAE Exchange as a brand totally driven by quality. On our part we have been constantly striving to achieve excellence in every aspect of our operations. It is these incessant efforts that have helped us in featuring in the coveted list, four times in a row", added Mr. Sudhir Shetty.
Mr. Promoth Manghat, Vice President – Global Operations, UAE Exchange, said, "UAE Exchange has grown into a trusted global remittance and foreign exchange brand. This recognition in its flagship market of UAE is definitely an encouragement for us to pursue excellence, globally. Along with the laurels comes high responsibility and we shall leave no stone unturned to stand up and surpass the expectations of customers, partners, regulators and authorities on quality".
Mr. Varghese Mathew, Country Head – UAE Operations, UAE Exchange, said, "UAE is a matured market with quite competent players. Every aspect in the business operations has to be well nourished to compete here. UAE Exchange has grown along with this market and has imbibed its values that make it quality-centric. Being featured in this prestigious list among like-minded organisations, which have a penchant for quality, is an honour for us".
This recognition for the fourth time in a row is the result of the brand’s commitment to bring the best to its customers.
About UAE Exchange
UAE Exchange is a leading global remittance and exchange house based in UAE with, with direct operations spanning 30 countries across five continents with over 600 direct offices. With correspondent banking relationship covering more than 150 global banks, and associations with many leading brands globally to bring several value-added products to customers, UAE Exchange, acclaimed the world over as the ‘World’s Trusted Money Transferor provides unmatched service in the industry to a wide customer base of around 3.5 million. In UAE, the brand has a leading presence with a network of over 101 branches covering all the Emirates. In October 2009, UAE Exchange commenced its 30th year of successful business operations.
Manager Media Relations
UAE Exchange Centre LLC
Al Saigh Building, Hamdan Street,
PO BOX 170, Abu Dhabi, UAE
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Pizza franchise forces Asheville’s Marco’s into name change
ASHEVILLE - Marco’s Pizzeria, a popular family pizza haunt in Asheville since 1994, will change its name early next year to 828 Family Pizzeria. The new moniker is not by choice.
Three months ago, Marco's received a cease-and-desist letter from Marco's Franchising LLC, or MFLLC, a Toledo, Ohio-based franchise holding the registered trademark "Marco's Pizza."
MFLLC has more than 800 locations in 34 states and two countries, and now has its sights set on Western North Carolina, with plans to develop several locations in the Asheville and Hendersonville areas.
That's according to Laura Yakima, a representative for the Asheville-based Marco's Pizzeria. MFLLC did not immediately respond to a Citizen-Times request for comment.
The local pizza shop has worked with a trademark lawyer since receiving MFLLC's letter, Yakima said in an email.
"To minimize confusion within the community and comply with trademark laws, we are legally required to change our name," she said.
She emphasized the local restaurant will make no changes to its service or food.
Marco's, popular in the Asheville area for its hand-made New York-style pizza, opened its first location in 1994, and now has two stores in the city: one on north Merrimon Avenue and another on Hendersonville Road in South Asheville.
The Marco's team is just now working on logo design, with the goal to make the complete transition to the new name the first of next year.
The restaurant plans to keep customers fully up to date with the transitions on the shop's Facebook page, currently named "Marco's Pizzeria."
In the meantime, Yakima said the community remains supportive.
"Things like this often bond a community like Asheville even more with locally owned and operated businesses," she said. "I mean, I made a little post on Facebook at 5 p.m. yesterday and it has received so much support. We just really feel the love right now."


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The back of an iPhone proclaims that it’s been Designed by Apple in the U.S. and Assembled in China. But a better reflection of sales trends would have them add that they’re also Refurbished in a factory in the United States or elsewhere.
More and more people are buying cheaper, secondhand iPhones and Android phones as newer models get more expensive, with the iPhone X starting at $1,000.
Apple’s iPhone sales have plateaued in the last couple of years, but sales of refurbished phones grew at an annual rate of 13% in 2017, according to Counterpoint’s Refurbished Smartphone trend report. That figure may be closer to 22%, says Serge Verdoux, who’s coordinating the U.S. expansion of Back Market, a website that aggregates sales of refurbished electronics, which derives most of its sales from secondhand smartphones.
A brand new iPhone 6S with 32 GB of space costs $449 on Apple’s website, but a refurbished version of the same model, with double the space, costs $221 on Back Market and comes with a six-month warranty.
Back Market uses machine-learning techniques to match buyers and sellers before taking a 10% cut of sales. Without touching a single item of stock, it has booked $120 million in gross annual sales for 2017 to bring in $20 million in revenue. It’s forecasting 2018 revenues of $30 million in 2018 on gross sales of $300 million. Verdoux claims the site is on course to make $1 billion in gross sales “in a few years” and has “thousands of customers every month.”
After launching in Europe in 2014, France-based Back Market launched to U.S. customers in April 2018 and has found an even more enthusiastic audience for refurbished phones there: Sales are growing ten times faster among Americans after six months of business than they did at the same juncture in Europe.
For its U.S. customers, Back Market sells stock from around 20 refurbished electronics dealers including BrightStar, Gazelle, and PCS Wireless. The latter was founded by Forbes 30-Under-30 alum Ben Nash, who increased sales at the company to more than $200 million over the course of seven years. There are 350 refurbishment sellers on the site overall.
In June, Back Market raised $48 million from venture capital investors in a round led by Groupe Arnault, the French luxury goods firm controlled by billionaire Bernard Arnault, which is also a majority stakeholder in LVMH and Christian Dior. Though Arnault is normally associated with designer handbags and clothing, its investors say they also keep a keen eye on marketplaces, including those populated by secondhand goods.
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Verdoux says such techniques are integral to Back Market’s secret sauce. “When a customer comes to Back Market and wants to buy a particular product, we only show them one product, which is the best one.”


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Justine Skye’s Future Forward MAC Collaboration Is Serious #BlackGirlMagic
Justine Skye has been featured as a cover girl for a lot of high-profile brands lately. The Brooklyn R&B songstress is making girl boss moves as she navigates campaigns with Dark and Lovely, Forever 21, and now, MAC Cosmetics. Known as “The Purple Unicorn” in honor of her signature violet mane, Justine Skye teamed up with the black haircare line Dark and Lovely to act as a spokeswoman for their purple hair color line, Plum Passion. She successfully collaborated with Forever 21 as the face of their festival collection. And now, with MAC Cosmetics, the young boss babe has launched her very own iridescent powder with the popular makeup brand.
The line of highlighter powders is a part of a MAC campaign featuring the singer that “highlights” the need for makeup that accentuates darker skin tones. Who better to pioneer such an initiative than this ebony-skinned beauty? The line is full of shimmering pink and purple and shades, formulated specifically with darker skinned women in mind who are looking to wear bright colors, but also a seamless blend. The shades glitter and glow just like the 21-year-old seems to. The highlighters are beautiful and might even give Laura Mercier a run for her money.
The “Collide” singer took to Instagram to celebrate the collaboration with MAC. In her caption, she says, “Thank you for such an amazing opportunity and experience last night I can’t believe this is really happening! #MACFutureForward”
Justine Skye’s MAC Future Forward line of highlighters are available online and in stores now.
Photo Credit: Justine Skye/Instagram