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When life throws you curveballs, you either need to duck or hit them. Just ask Rachal McCarthy, who is redefining what’s possible for women in the textiles and manufacturing industries.
“When I was growing up, I swore I’d never work for the family business,” says McCarthy, 37, president of NTI Global, based in Amsterdam, N.Y. “I’m glad I did decide to be part of our company, though. We celebrated 40 years in business this past summer, and it’s an honor to carry the torch as a second-generation business.”
NTI Global started when McCarthy’s father, Stephen Raeburn, founded a little cut-and-sew business in 1983, “when people still fixed things like boat covers and truck covers,” McCarthy says. Though her father didn’t know how to sew, he was industrious. “He bought a sewing machine, learned how to use it and started making tarps and more.”
Through the years, NTI Global expanded to serve core markets including industrial temporary ducting, confined-space ducting and other niche items. “Air movement is critical for mitigating damages after natural disasters like hurricanes,” says McCarthy, who notes that temporary ventilation systems for hospitals, hotels and homes remove moisture from the air to reduce mold and mildew growth. “If you need anything temporary to assist with air movement, we can help.”
McCarthy joined NTI Global at age 20, instead of going to law school as she’d planned. She started learning the logistics side, handling imports and exports. “My father made us [her and her brothers] learn every aspect of the business and work our way up,” she notes.
Some clients would try to go around McCarthy and deal with her father instead. During one in-person meeting with Korean suppliers with whom McCarthy had been negotiating by phone, they ignored her and directed the entire conversation to her now-retired father. “My father respected our clients but allowed me to lead the conversation,” says McCarthy, who became the company’s president at age 25. “I had to work twice as hard to prove my worth as a second-generation employee, and then I had to prove I was twice as smart because I’m a woman.”
Building on a solid foundation
Today, NTI Global has team members in upstate New York as well as in Texas and is led by McCarthy and three of her brothers: Benal, research and development specialist; Sarek, sales manager/East Coast; and Shneer, an operations leader who directs information technology and inventory management.
McCarthy and the NTI Global team embrace the company’s four core values:
1. Provide an enjoyable, safe, collaborative work environment. It took countless late nights and extra hours for McCarthy to earn the respect of some colleagues and clients. “A lot of assumptions used to be made about women in textiles and manufacturing. This was an old-world industry until about 15 years ago, when technology really forced the industry to change. Suddenly, not everything was shop-floor politics.”
Today, McCarthy hires for attitude and trains for skill. “I look for people who are positive, who aren’t afraid to say, ‘I don’t know,’ who like a team environment and enjoy seeing others succeed.” Rather than go through a traditional job application process with potential candidates, NTI Global offers factory tours about twice a year. “If people like what they see, then they can apply,” McCarthy says.
She also conducts “pulse checks” across the company, either through in-person visits or video calls, to stay in touch with employees. “Transparency on timelines and projects is essential,” says McCarthy, who travels frequently between New York and Texas.
Collaboration and empathy go a long way toward creating a more productive work environment, McCarthy adds. “I feel women are naturally more inclined to jump in and offer help to colleagues. When you manage this properly, it offers much-needed balance across departments.”
2. Ensure every team member strives for excellence and is appreciated. NTI Global is proud to build long-term relationships with employees and vendors both. Some of the company’s vendor partnerships span 30 years. Many employees have worked for NTI Global for 10 years or more, and one person has 39 years of service with the company. “When you build the right team, even the bad days are better, and the good days are great,” McCarthy says.
A spirit of creativity powered by curiosity encourages team members to strive for excellence. “We don’t encourage curiosity here; we require it,” McCarthy says.
It’s motivating to see more women become valued contributors to the company’s success, she adds. “We’re living in a time of great opportunity for women. We’re able to effect change in our industry on a much larger scale than 30 years ago, from product quality to company culture.”
3. Supply customers with quality products through excellent service. NTI Global doesn’t compromise when it comes to using high-quality materials. The company also prioritizes in-depth product knowledge. “Go to the warehouse and the factory floor to learn all you can about your products,” she says. “Understand these products far beyond a few bullet points.”
This is even more important in the social media era, says McCarthy, who learned this when NTI Global supplied swimming pool products. “People will see some tidbit online and ask whether the components are aluminum coated or zinc coated, for example. We follow up with our own questions, such as ‘How will you use this product? What’s your goal with this?’”
4. Do the right thing. This involves business savvy as well as business ethics. When McCarthy joined NTI Global, it served nine different market sectors. “My father’s philosophy was that you should have a lot of income streams that turn into a river,” she says.
For many years, one income stream involved fabric billboards. “It used to be that you could only get material in a certain width,” McCarthy says. “In the 1990s, however, a company came out with a wide-width fabric for wide-width printing.” Suddenly, a solid market sector evaporated.
More changes would follow after McCarthy became company president. “I wanted all the data and metrics I could get. It was time to determine what was essentially a hobby for us and what was a business.”
This process prompted tough decisions about what markets to serve and what product lines to divest. NTI Global sold its extruded pool cover line, for example, since it was a mature market with margins too low to justify future investments. “I think I became known as the ‘no’ person, but when we narrowed our focus, we accomplished our goals a lot faster,” she says. This is all part of doing the right thing, says McCarthy. “Not only is it rewarding to see our employees and customers succeed, but we want to build a business that will thrive beyond our time here.”
Darcy Maulsby is a freelance writer based in Lake City, Iowa.
What excites you about the future?
Fabric! I really think the future is textiles. There are so many incredible advances in fabrics. Today, there are some fabrics that can monitor your breathing while you’re exercising. There are textile-based sensors for monitoring the healing progress of a wound. There’s also clothing that includes built-in tourniquets, which can be especially useful for the military. All this has tremendous potential. It’s exciting to see what other innovations will evolve with textiles in the years ahead.
SIDEBAR: NTI Global debuts VersaDOCK
During emergencies, every minute counts, whether you require immediate access to a hospital or need to keep a warehouse full of vegetables at the right temperature. Following disasters like hurricanes, huge amounts of valuable time are wasted making plywood transition setups to provide temporary HVAC access to the building.
“We knew there had to be a better, safer, faster solution, so we started testing options about five years ago,” says Rachal McCarthy, president of NTI Global, which has developed the patent-pending VersaDOCK™ system for temporary air movement.
VersaDOCK sets up in minutes, compared to traditional cut plywood, which can take hours and leave unsafe access points. VersaDOCK also reduces dangerous work tasks using saws; plus it provides a clean, safe transition for cables, hoses and ducts. “Once we were able to make the base material a fabric, we knew the applications would grow exponentially,” McCarthy says.
VersaDOCK is composed of four patented connection ports adhered to a fabric panel. This is encased in an extruded aluminum frame that’s stackable and extendable. The panel can be made of cut-resistant materials for added security.
“Our job is to make our customers’ lives easier,” McCarthy says. “We continue to look for ways to make these products better, safer and more adaptable.”


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Everyone’s talking feverishly about cryptocurrency. But how does it work, exactly? And does it have a place in your portfolio?
In December, we saw the value of cryptocurrencies take a nosedive. It’s all related to an incredible heist involving a Chinese company known as PlusToken.
On 14 January 2019, an unknown person or group of people successfully hacked the digital vault of a Christchurch-based cryptocurrency exchange, Cryptopia.
If cryptocurrencies are dead in the water, why haven’t they gone to zero?Why did the freefall stop around March? Maybe Ethereum’s founder, Vitalik Buterin, has the right idea…
Bitcoin isn’t the only coin of its type. There’s a whole world of ‘cryptocurrencies’ that you can buy and hold your wealth in.
Rat poison square…dementia…as bad as trading freshly harvested baby brains…tulips…a bubble…a fraud… Yep…if you haven’t guessed it yet, we are talking about cryptocurrencies. In fact, we are listing just a few of the things people in the financial industry have

domain: news


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The New York designer Harry Allen and the Portland-based Esque Studio first collaborated a decade ago, when Mr. Allen designed metal “cages” into which Andi Kovel and Justin Parker blew glass, creating curvaceous functional objects, like lamps and vases. For their latest collaboration, Mr. Allen has created geometric forms using stainless steel cut by water-jet to contain Ms. Kovel and Mr. Parker’s blown glass.
“In my head, the glass was going to be organic, drippy and droopy,” Ms. Kovel said. “But we started blowing them, and they were coming out as perfectly symmetrical spheres.”
“Harry Allen Esque” features about 25 of those pieces, most of them light sculptures that can sit on a table or hang from the ceiling. Through May 28 at Heller Gallery, 303 10th Avenue; information: 212-414-4014 or hellergallery.com.


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The latest results at Siemens saw orders of €71.4bn and revenue €62.3bn in 2021. This is an 11 percent growth in revenue on 202, and profits grew 59 percent to €6.7bn. This is also substantially up on the pre-pandemic 2019 revenue of €58.4bn.
For the coming year, Siemens expects mid-single-digit comparable revenue growth with orders already up 20 percent in orders on 2020 and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.15.
The company reported profit gains at all four of its Industrial Businesses, up 17 percent to €8.8bn and across all regions, underscoring its successful transformation into a focused technology company and highlighting the difference with the heavy engineering part of the business. It says the effects of the pandemic and ongoing supply chain risks for electronic components and raw materials were successfully mitigated.
The growth was led by Digital Industries, which includes Siemens EDA and the IoT business, and Mobility.
“We achieved a very successful start as a focused technology company. In a challenging environment, we have won market share and clearly exceeded our net income guidance,” said Roland Busch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG. “This momentum will continue in fiscal 2022. We’re ideally positioned to support our customers and benefit from the major growth drivers of digitalization and sustainability. We have the right strategy and – above all – the best team. I’m personally very grateful for the outstanding dedication of our team worldwide.”
Digital Industries expects comparable revenue growth of 5 percent to 8 percent in 2022 and a profit margin of 19 percent to 21 percent, including known headwinds of up to two percentage points associated with the strategic transition to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in parts of its large software business.
Smart Infrastructure expects comparable revenue growth of 5 percent to 8 percent. The profit margin is expected to be 12 percent to 13 percent.
Mobility expects revenue growth of 5 percent to 8 percent and a profit margin is expected to be 10.0 percent to 10.5 percent.
Having spun out Siemens Energy in 2020, the company generated €1.5bn from the sale of its Flender business, divestment of its stakes in Bentley Systems and ChargePoint Holdings, and revaluation of its stake in Thoughtworks Holding. It has spun out its Yunex Traffic technology business as well as its large drives and logistics operations and seen the IPO of its Fluence energy storage joint venture with AES. At the same time it is acquiring component information firm Supplyframe, medial technology firm Varian, rail software provider Sqills and Indian low voltage technology supplier C&S Electric.
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The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.


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It appears that Violet Nash,18 months, is a certified shoenista like her mother. The little tot and her mother Christina Milian were spotted shopping for shoes at Fred Segal in West Hollywood, California on August 30, 2011.
Looks like Violet was a handful! Check out more pictures below and in the Gallery now!
In related news, Milian is rumored to be the lead in a new ABC Family development called Maid in Miami, which will be similar to Glee.
Photos: Fame Pictures


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Lytro updated its desktop software to provide new features for photos taken with its light field camera. When the camera originally shipped it allowed for interactive photos to change the focus point of the photo. Now, users can also slightly change the perspective of the image.
Also new a added Living Filters, which can change the appearance of an image. Lytro introduced nine new filters to both enhance and stylize photos.
What's cool about these improvements is they can be applied to existing photos. The software uses raw data from the photos and creates new versions.
Lytro introduced a pretty compelling technology to the mass market, but it's expensive for basically a novelty gadget. In the world of pretty good megapixel images from cellphones, the small, low resolution images don't resonate well with consumers. Eventually though there could be something here.
- Logitech announces wired iPad keyboard
- Twitter launches two-factor authentication
- Otterbox acquires LifeProof
- iMap Weather Radio app sends severe weather alerts to your iPhone (Video)
- ZAGGKeys Cover and Folio keyboard cases for iPad mini
- Double Decker from Trans Intl stacks up 2 drives in Mac Pro bays
- Pebble releases new SDK for greater app functions
- iKlip 2 and iKlip Studio for mini now available
- Stitcher Radio gets simplified car mode
- Google shows off new Maps
- App store hits 50 billion downloads
- Google announces new Hangouts app, consolidates messaging
- Newer Technology GripBase Podium stand for iPad
- iMove 9.0.9 for Mac updates camera issues
- 1Password adds new in-app browser, sharing
- Bill Gates reflects of Steve Jobs on 60 Minutes
- ABC to stream network shows live to iOS devices
- Apple issues update for Thunderbolt Macs
- Pixelmator 2.2
- Using the Fitbit One Fitness Tracker (Video)
- Kenburg 5-inch short LightLinez Lightning cable
- Newer Tech reduces cost of miniStack with CD/DVD option
- Plants vs Zombies 2 slated for July
- Fitbit ships Flex wrist fitness tracker
- Gmail app updates keeps iOS users in Google's eco system
Browse and search for more articles


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This week sees the arrival of Comic-Con International: San Diego – or San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) as it’s more commonly known. The four-day convention runs from Thursday 19th until Sunday 22nd July and is guaranteed to be the biggest geek event of the year.
Hey, I’m not foolin’ – SDCC is a huge annual platform for the biggest movies, TV shows, comic books and more. This year’s convention promises to be just as big as last year, which means you can expect a lot of geek-based news to be hitting the net this forthcoming weekend.
For example, should you want to see the new Aquaman trailer then you’re going to need to know this: The first official Aquaman trailer will be debuting this Saturday at SDCC!
In anticipation of the trailer’s launch, Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Entertainment have just released a poster…
Aquaman won’t be the only trailer making its debut this weekend – rumour has it that we may get to see some footage of DC’s Shazam! and Wonder Woman 1984. Fingers firmly crossed for both of those.
Other trailers likely to drop this weekend include Glass, Godzilla: King of Monsters and if we’re lucky (and our hearts are pure) X-Men: Dark Phoenix. You should also expect TV trailers in the shape of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Black Lightning and all the usual suspects from the Arrowverse.
‘But wait’, I hear you cry, ‘how am I going to get to see all of this delicious geeky goodness?!’
Well, it’s pretty simple actually – I’ll be blogging about SDCC 2018 throughout the course of the weekend. All you need do is follow It’s A Stampede! and everything will be winging its way directly to you!
So, are you SDCC 2018 ready? If you remember to follow It’s A Stampede! then yes, you are!
Oh and one final thing to coincide with SDCC 2018, Comixology has just launched a whole bunch of digital comic/graphic novel sales. There are more than 15 sales on the go right now featuring comics and graphic novels from the likes of Marvel, DC and Image.
My top pick? IDW’s sale is pretty sweet.
The publisher has a heap of books at discounted prices including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers, amongst others. If you want to load up on cheap books ahead of the big weekend, then head on over and fill ya boots!
Bring on the big geek weekend!


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On February 24, VSIP Bắc Ninh held a ceremony for the opening of its office building, launch of the Inno-Biz Hub and accreditation ceremony for the Dot Property Southeast Asia Award 2018 for BelHomes.
These were all significant milestones, marking new developments in the history of the company. Participating in the event were representatives from the local authorities, customers, business partners, VSIP Bắc Ninh staff and local residents.
The new office building not only brings a fresh image for VSIP Bắc Ninh, but also creates an ideal working environment and is a source of motivation for all the staff to keep contributing to the company and providing high quality services to customers.
In the framework of the programme, VSIP Bắc Ninh officially launched the Inno-Biz Hub – which is specially designed for office buildings, a research and development (R&D) centre, a data and testing centre and light. Inno – Biz Hub can be regarded as the final segment in VSIP Bắc Ninh’s plan to create a comprehensive complex where manufacturers and commercial – technical – residential providers can supplement one another.
“Today, it is also the official launch of our VSIP Bắc Ninh ‘Innovation-Biz Hub’ – a strategy area for Smart Industries, Biosciences, Green Economy, offices and commercial space,” said Benjamin Lam, deputy general director of VSIP JSC cum general director of VSIP Bắc Ninh and VSIP Hải Dương.
“This new business model aims to promote economic developments and competitiveness, not just only for VSIP but also for Bắc Ninh Province in general through fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.”


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35th Centenary Book Bazaar is September 9 and 10
SHREVEPORT, LA — The 35th Centenary Book Bazaar sponsored by the Centenary Muses opens Friday, September 9, at the College’s Fitness Center and continues Saturday, September 10. Over 80,000 items will be available for purchase on Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
“We are excited to have the Book Bazaar back on the regular schedule again,” says David Williams, Director of Development Services and liaison to the Muses. “It’s been a crazy few years, so it’s nice to be back. We are in the new location – the Centenary Fitness Center – for the second year, but the schedule is the same and we have lots of wonderful books to sell.”
The Book Bazaar is organized and sponsored by the Muses, a volunteer group dedicated to funding projects and programs for Centenary students. The Bazaar has raised more than $1 million for the College, and the Muses have funded projects that touch all aspects of student life, from academics and athletics to student government and the performing arts.
The fall 2022 Book Bazaar will again offer over 50 categories of paperback books, hardback books, DVDs, CDs, and puzzles. One section is devoted entirely to books found on local middle and high school reading lists, with required titles ranging in price from 25 cents to $1.25.
Patrons should bring bags or boxes to carry out their books. Carryout assistance is available. Cash or check is accepted. On Saturday, all items are half-price after 1:00 p.m..
Call the Book House at 318.219.3409 for more information or visit the Book Bazaar on Facebook.


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EDMONTON, April 27 /CNW/ - The federal parliament yesterday passed Bill
C-26, the Payday Loan Act, which will enable governments to implement consumer
protection measures specific to the payday advance industry.
Rentcash Inc. welcomed passage of C-26 but urged provincial regulators
against creating monopolies through rate caps that will distort the market.
"Rentcash Inc. has been a leading proponent of consumer protection
measures for the payday advance industry in Canada," said Gordon J. Reykdal,
Chairman, President and CEO. "Rentcash has the largest network of
corporately-owned payday advance companies in Canada. We were one of the first
companies to implement a ban on rollovers. We obviously welcome provincial
initiatives to ban rollovers which will place all industry participants on a
level playing field."
Several provinces, including Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and
British Columbia have either introduced or passed legislation to facilitate
industry regulation. Several others have indicated that they may also bring
forth consumer protection legislation in the near future.
During its final review of C-26, the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade
and Commerce issued a release stating that industry regulation must strike a
balance between consumer protection and a competitive lending environment. The
committee has indicated that it will monitor new regulations and initiate
federal actions if provincial legislation proves ineffective. Rentcash is
working closely with all provincial jurisdictions to ensure that their
regulatory models reflect a balanced approach.
"Rate-setting measures must not give competitive advantage to one company
over another," added Mr. Reykdal. "Rate-setting for financial services is
highly unusual in the Canadian market place and payday lending is a new and
growing industry. If regulators get it wrong, they will limit competition and
restrict options for consumers."
Rentcash is the only payday advance broker in Canada publicly traded on
the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:RCS). Rentcash operates more than 421 stores
across Canada under three banners: The Cash Store, Instaloans and Insta-rent.
The Cash Store and Instaloans act as brokers to facilitate payday advance
services to income-earning consumers and provide two private-label debit
cards, The Cash Store Cash Card(TM) and InstaWorld Debit Card, to those who
may not be able to obtain them from traditional banks.
Insta-rent rents brand-name furniture, appliances, electronics and
computers, with or without an option to purchase. Insta-rent operates
primarily in The Brick and United Furniture Warehouse locations, which are
part of The Brick Group, one of Canada's largest volume retailers of household
furniture, mattresses, appliances and home electronics.
Rentcash employs more than 1,800 associates and is headquartered in
For further information:
For further information: Gordon J. Reykdal, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, (780) 408-5118; or Michael J.L. Thompson, Vice President Investor
Relations & Government Affairs, (780) 408-5595, Cell: (613) 371-4093


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For lovers of Switchback Ale, it’s been a 10-year wait. Now, Switchback Brewing Company owner and brewmaster Bill Cherry has finally given them what many want: Starting next week, his toasty ale will be available in 22-ounce bottles.
Cherry and the Burlington Switchback crew, including two new employees, have been bottling feverishly since mid-September, building up enough inventory to slake the thirst of retailers (and drinkers) statewide. “We wanted to have a month’s worth of beer on the trucks October 22 [the release date], so we can deliver to everyone without running out on day one,” Cherry says.
Out-of-staters will still have to trek to Vermont for their fix, though, at least for the first year or so. Cherry plans to distribute exclusively in-state “until we get more comfortable; then we’ll bump things up,” he says.
Cherry says fans of the ale can chalk up the long wait to a few factors — including his own “methodical” nature, he quips, and the brewery’s need to reach the right capacity to meet demand. Cherry is thrilled with the German-built Krones system on which Switchback relies for bottling; his operations manager, Todd Haire, “baked some of our first batch in an incubator at 90 degrees for two weeks, to make it suffer. He gave it really rude abuse,” Cherry says. When they sampled from the bottles, “We could catch [the heat] in the aroma, but the flavors were still there.” Cherry adds that the bottled brew is “identical” to what a drinker might get on tap, just as he intended.
Richmond’s Interrobang Design created the bottle’s label. Each one tells the story of “why we waited so long to bottle,” as Cherry puts it, as well as offering drinking instructions: “We want you to turn [the bottle] upside down and stir the yeast back in, because that’s how we like to drink it.”
Switchback will celebrate the release — as well as its 10th anniversary — at the Flynn Avenue brewery on Saturday, October 13, with food, music and, of course, beer.
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May 4, 2021
Both transactions concluded on 3 May 2021. Staples said in its announcement that Wulff and Firmo are strong industry players in Finland and Portugal and are a strategic fit to Staples’ operations.
“We believe that these transactions provide the best long term opportunity for our talented Portuguese and Finnish teams to continue to deliver the right solutions for our customers” said Dolph Westerbos, Chief Executive Officer of Staples Solutions. “I am pleased we found such excellent partners in Wulff and Firmo”.
As a result of the transaction, Wulff will become a clear market leader in Finland, doubling its net sales.
Wulff Group’s CEO Elina Pienimäki commented: “The acquisition will significantly accelerate the implementation of our growth strategy, doubling our net sales and expanding our service portfolio to our customers. We were offered the opportunity for a strategic acquisition when the current owner decided to divest all of Staples’ European businesses. With the combination of two 130-year-old companies, we will become the clear market leader in Finland, which will benefit our customers. When we combine our abilities and expertise, we are always able to offer customers up-to-date solutions for all work environments directly from one and the same supplier. I am excited that we are getting Staples Finland’s very talented team as a part of Wulff.”
The purchase price of EMO Finland Oy’s (Staples Finland) shares is approximately €6.0 million ($7.2 million) and includes approximately €0.5 million cash ($0.6 million). The purchase price was paid in cash upon execution of the transaction, Wulff said. The final purchase price will be revised by the end of September, following normal adjustments to the working capital and debt like items on 1 May 2021.
With these further transactions, Staples Solutions is progressing well on the journey to exit the business announced in March. The announced transaction with Lyreco is progressing as planned, Staples said, which leaves the company with its operations in the Benelux. A sale process is also underway to complete this final divestment.
Categories : City News


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Frankfurt Auto Show: Plenty of swagger and glitz
German automakers show off new products and technology
By David McHugh/Associated Press
The world's auto manufacturers are moving on from turbulent times - without help from Europe's lagging car markets.
SLIDESHOW: BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car
Recovering auto sales in the United States and continuing strength in China have helped lighten the mood at this year's Frankfurt Auto Show, where automakers have set out to wow potential customers with electric and hybrid-drive vehicles and the latest technology.
Latest sales figures show the key U.S. market on pace for 16 million in sales this year, finally reaching the 2007 level from before the financial crisis and recession.
But the only good news out of the show's home market, Europe, is that sales appear to be halting their steep decline. Executives and analysts say no significant rebound is expected this year or next.
"We're pretty confident that the slope is ending. We're not sure that the recovery is here," Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said about the European market, adding that he anticipated some very small growth - between 1 and 2 percent - for the next few years.
Renault and other mass market carmakers have especially struggled during Europe's decline, but Ghosn said they were buoyed by emerging markets and would continue to be.
Last year, new-car registrations in the European Union were at their lowest level since 1995 at around 12 million cars, compared to 15.6 million in 2007. The Center for Automotive Research at the University of Essen-Duisburg estimates only 11.8 million this year, and a very slight recovery in 2014.
"In the car industry, we have two worlds, on the one hand Europe, which is a catastrophe, and the rest of the world where it looks much better," said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, professor of automotive economics at the university.
Germany's Daimler, Volkswagen and BMW are all making money thanks to sales outside Europe and are showing off new products with swagger and glitz at their home show.
Major themes at Frankfurt include electric and hybrid autos, often in higher performance and price categories, and new small SUVs, an increasingly popular category in Europe. Another frequent topic is autonomous driving - still a long way off due to legal and technical reasons, but increasingly possible by equipping cars with cameras and computers.
At BMW's gigantic hall, its new i3 electric compacts glided silently around an elevated figure-eight track. The chief executive of crosstown rival Daimler, Dieter Zetsche, showed off his Mercedes brand's self-drive technology by riding into another exhibit hall in the back seat of a driverless car.
The car had made an autonomous cruise through several German towns to show off the new systems. Drivers who buy the new Mercedes S-Class will find that it forces them to put their hands back on the wheel after a few seconds. The company also unveiled a hybrid version of the S-Class, the luxury sedan.
Volkswagen showed off four new cars using electric propulsion: electric versions of its Up! and Golf compacts, an Audi A3 and Porsche Panamera using hybrid drive, which combines electric motors and internal combustion engine to reduce emissions.
One target of the show's marketing effort is western Europe's young people, many of whom have turned away from their parents' SUVs toward a mix of bicycles, car-sharing and public transport.
BMW opened the first press day Tuesday with a song shouting, "We are young," and a presentation including footage of people tearing down the Berlin Wall.
With hybrids and electrics only 0.2 percent of the market, analysts say that the prospects for sales and profits remain uncertain. They can help companies meet government requirements for lower average emissions - and position them to be ready if such vehicles take off.
Zetsche of Mercedes added that the only way to perfect the technology is to actually make cars on an industrial scale and sell them.
"We don't expect that this will have any kind of explosive development," Zetsche told reporters. "But we will see a long phase of steady, slow substitution of conventional power trends by alternative ones."


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Branded entertainment. Content Marketing. Bespoke Content. Whatever you want to call it, digital video programming that integrates products and brands is one of the hottest topics at the 2014 NewFronts presentations to advertisers.
The New York Times reports Monday that major brands such as Bacardi, Jeep, Chevrolet, and BMW are all moving to get their products and brands placed in online digital video, just as they’ve done in television programming for years.
Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars,” for example, was just renewed by Crackle for four new seasons—all of which will be exclusively sponsored by Acura—making it one of the most prominent examples of branded content currently in the marketplace.
But while this kind of product placement may be less annoying for viewers than traditional advertising—and especially the nearly ubiquitous pre-roll ads now found on YouTube and other video sites—branded entertainment poses its own set of problems for content creators and advertisers.
According to The Times:
“There can be no doubt in consumers’ minds when content is paid for and when content is editorial,” Trevor Fellows, head of global advertising sales at The Wall Street Journal, said after a NewFronts event sponsored by the newspaper last Friday. “It’s a key principle,” Mr. Fellows added, that is held dear by “too few publishers.”
In a sign of the growing importance of branded marketing to the industry, Corbis, the image and video licensing agency, is planning to unveil a new “Branded Entertainment Network” interactive platform that will “give marketers access to placement opportunities,” according to The Times’ Stuart Elliott.
BEN is going live with 600 “placement offerings,” as well as a partnership with Universal McCann.
Read More: The New York Times
Brief Take: As ad dollars shift to the digital space, greater numbers of brands are looking to the native and online video for product and brand placement opportunities that will be less off-putting to viewers than traditional advertising or pre-roll video.


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Duluth, MN (NNCNOW.COM) --- A "buy local" food movement is spreading across the Northland.
With a growing consumer consciousness, several businesses are making a commitment to buy from local and regional sources.
It's part of the Superior Compact Purchasing Commitment of 20 percent by 2020.
Many individuals recognize the importance of supporting local food systems.
"Food is more than just a commodity, people care about how it's produced, where it's produced, its impact on the environment, its impact on the local economy," Jamie Harvie, Executive Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Future said.
Regional food networks like the Institute for a Sustainable Future are developing measurable goals and benchmarks to drive investments into the local food network.
"There are plenty of restaurants around the area, also who want to purchase more locally," Kelly Erb, a UMD grad student said.
Erb has recently completed an extensive study to show where regional restaurants food comes from and how much of it is locally sources.
She spent more than half a year tracking down every farm and supplier used by the Duluth Grill to arrive at a figure of more than 25 percent.
"Cheap food is like buying a cheap vehicle, or like anything, it's really disposable, money that you are putting out, because you are not getting any value back in it," Tom Hanson, Owner of Duluth Grill said.
More than 10 restaurants from within a 20 county region in the Northland, including the Duluth Grill, have now promised to make sure 20 percent of their product is locally sourced by 2020.
It's a pledge that sends a signal to food producers that there is an interest in locally grown foods.
"Without that defined commitment, they are a little bit nervous about, do I invest in storage, do I invest in other forms of infrastructure that can allow them to increase their sales," Harvie said.
If the businesses you own or patronize, buy food, the Institute for a Sustainable Future says you can ask decision makers to sign
the compact and make the pledge to be 20 percent locally sourced by 2020.


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Maple Leaf to close Winnipeg processing plant
July 19, 2007
by FoodBusinessNews.net Staff
TORONTO — Maple Leaf Foods continues its strategic shift toward value-added packaged meats and meals with its plan to close the company’s Winnipeg pork processing plant by the end of October. The move will allow the company to shift its primary pork processing operations to Brandon, Man., by the end of 2009. The Winnipeg plant processes 15,000 to 20,000 hogs per week.
"Despite the age and limitations of the Marion Street plant, employees have done a tremendous job in maintaining an excellent safety and productivity record," said Rick Young, president, Maple Leaf Consumer Foods. "Our priority is to minimize the impact on our people and provide an ongoing regional market for producers by transitioning hogs to the Brandon plant."
Maple Leaf plans to add a second shift to the Brandon plant once the Winnipeg facility closes. When the second shift is up and running, the Brandon plant will employ about 2,800 people.


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Mobile Ad Tech Leader also Joins the Human Collective as the Leading Mobile Exchange Platform in the Founding Class
HUMAN Security, Inc., a cybersecurity company that protects enterprises from bot attacks to keep digital experiences human, today announced a partnership with InMobi, a leading provider of marketing and monetization technologies that fuel industries around the world. The partnership, which includes a direct integration with HUMAN’s MediaGuard solution, enforces both companies’ commitment to building a transparent and fraud-free in-app advertising ecosystem with real-time visibility and active protection against malicious bot activity. In addition, InMobi is joining the Human Collective as part of a continued, collaborative effort to disincentivize cybercrime by raising the consequences and practical cost of fraud through shared resources and cooperation across the industry.
Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Carrie Palin, SVP & CMO at Cisco
“With its global command of the mobile in-app market, this partnership with InMobi strengthens HUMAN’s ability to fight sophisticated cybercrime and creates a more trusted environment for digital advertising. InMobi’s total, direct integration with MediaGuard uplevels its ability to enable brand-safe transactions within its exchange.”
By the end of 2021, mobile is projected to account for 75% of total digital ad spend. Combined with global smartphone adoption, mobile advertising is particularly attractive to bad actors. As one of the largest mobile in-app exchanges in the world, InMobi’s partnership with HUMAN and deployment of MediaGuard across all of its inventory reflects the continued commitment by InMobi to protect mobile advertisers from fraud while also strengthening HUMAN’s mobile fraud capabilities.
“InMobi is committed to transparency, trust-based relationships, and delivering optimal business results to our advertisers globally. We were the first in-app marketplace to have our entire inventory verified by an independent MRC accredited vendor. This partnership reaffirms and enhances that commitment,” said Kunal Nagpal, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Publisher Platform and Exchange at InMobi. “InMobi is also proud to be the first in-app Human Collective partner in the battle against mobile app fraud. We strongly believe that the industry can eliminate fraud only through such an open collaboration.”
Marketing Technology News: Advertise Purple Named the 50th Fastest-Growing Advertising Company in the U.S. and 4x Honoree on…
HUMAN is the first solution in the space to be fully accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for end-to-end coverage against sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) for desktop, mobile web, mobile in-app and connected TV (CTV). This includes accreditation for pre- and post-bid detection and mitigation of SIVT, which is notoriously challenging to detect as fraudsters attempt to mimic genuine user behavior. The partnership with InMobi ensures that customers and partners will be protected from emerging forms of SIVT – background ad activity, hidden ads, app misrepresentation/spoofing, measurement manipulation and more – while guaranteeing always-on fraud filtering and measurement across the platform, covering 100% of the inventory available on InMobi Exchange.
“To sustain its growth, digital advertising needs a trusted marketplace built through global collaboration and strong partnerships,” said HUMAN Co-Founder and CEO Tamer Hassan. “With its global command of the mobile in-app market, this partnership with InMobi strengthens HUMAN’s ability to fight sophisticated cybercrime and creates a more trusted environment for digital advertising. InMobi’s total, direct integration with MediaGuard uplevels its ability to enable brand-safe transactions within its exchange.”
As an extension of the partnership, InMobi is also joining the Human Collective, HUMAN’s newly launched initiative that brings together players throughout digital advertising to create a collectively protected ecosystem. InMobi is the leading mobile exchange to join the Collective, significantly boosting HUMAN’s mobile detection presence.
Earlier this year, HUMAN and members of the Human Collective disrupted PARETO, the most sophisticated CTV fraud operation ever uncovered. At its height, the botnet used dozens of mobile apps to impersonate or spoof more than 6,000 CTV apps, accounting for an average of 650 million ad requests every day. The Collective’s members worked in concert to act against the botnet and its operators, demonstrating the importance of a shared value set for the digital advertising ecosystem.


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By Thomas Gibbons-Neff Thomas Gibbons-Neff Reporter Bio TAMPA — On Wednesday, Special Operations troops from more than a dozen countries jumped out of helicopters, rappelled from buildings and expended
And they're probably safer than newer technologies A weird and totally true thing about the modern world is that whoever gets to be President of the United States has 7,100 nuclear warheads at their command.
The empty crew capsule will launch with faulty parachutes Blue Origin is planning the next test flight of its reusable New Shepard rocket, but CEO Jeff Bezos just revealed a twist: the empty crew capsule,
For those who aren’t such hardcore Android fans that they turn up their nose at having a Microsoft product on their device, Next Lock Screen has served as a very slick and effective lock screen replacement.
Flexible displays may have only made a small appearance in the smartphone market so far, but the industry for plastic OLED panels looks set for a boom across the handset, tablet, TV, and wearable segments.
Unless you're a diving watch aficionado, you probably hate the word "bezel." And by extension, you probably love the idea of this 4K monitor from Acer, which looks like it might be the best implementation
How much does a house cost? Does everyone really own their own home and car? Those were the questions Kenneth Bae was asked by locals who were clueless about life in the United States. Now Bae, who was
So far, 2016 has been a lame year for wearable tech. The best watches and fitness bands you can buy right now were, for the most part, released in 2015. That's because you can practically count the number
Samsung’s future Golden Goose, its game-changing flexible smartphone, might face some unforeseen stiff competition from a new Chinese startup. Built by the unknown Moxi Group, the device is flexible enough
One limitation of run-of-the-mill 3D printers is that the structure must essentially be built as a series of layers, each one supporting the next. A new device from Harvard’s Wyss Institute allows metal
In seemingly bizarre news out of the porn industry, PornHub is launching a new fitness system (wearable + workout videos) called BangFit. As its name suggests, it helps you bang to get fit. Here’s how
File it under ‘it seemed great on paper’… but Google’s project Ara modular smartphone concept is — for all intents and purposes — dead. If you want to be a little more generous, you can say Google has
On Wednesday, Xiaomi is going to unveil a new product. While details are still thin, it looks like the electronics company is about to announce a drone. Xiaomi is a well-known phone manufacturer. But company
“This is Pebble Core,” Eric Migicovsky says with a smile. “It’s our first non-watch product. The simplest way to explain it is that it’s a computer that fits on your keychain. It’s a tiny Android computer
E Ink, maker of the ePaper displays found in many e-readers (maddening to have three different e prefixes in one sentence, but it’s unavoidable), announced a brand new type of reflective display that show
Terrapattern is a visual search engine that, from the first moment you use it, you wonder: Why didn’t Google come up with this 10 years ago? Click on a feature on the map — a baseball diamond, a marina,
As if you didn’t need more proof that your darn kids need to get off the computer and into the back yard, researchers at the University of Helsinki and Department of Psychology have found that excessive
Force touch may be a feature exclusive to the latest iPhones, but something like it is now possible on pretty much any phone out there, thanks to research from engineers at the University of Michigan It
Microsoft is playing catch up when it comes to console sales. But it looks like the company doesn’t want to give up on dedicated gaming consoles. According to multiple reports, Microsoft is about to announce


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15 April, 2023
Big results for bag recovery
LEADING agribusiness Incitec Pivot Fertilisers (IPF) has now recovered three million kilograms of its own plastic bags since 2015 through the Australian Government Accredited Product Stewardship scheme, Big Bag Recovery.
Big Bag Recovery collects plastic sacks and bulk bags used for products over 15kg or 15 litres, like fertiliser, seeds, animal feeds, flour, salt, sugar, milk powders, sand, gravel, mulch, cement and more.
IPF CEO Christine Corbett said the initiative supported the commitment of both IPF and parent company, Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL), to achieve net zero operational emissions by 2050, or as soon as practicable.
“Our products and services are vital to providing food for the world’s growing population. Increasingly, too, it is essential we assume a leadership role in the world’s transition to a low-carbon economy, and we are embracing the opportunity,” she said.
“To partner with the Big Bag Recovery program and reach the milestone of recovering three million kilograms of plastic bags, demonstrates our focus on reducing the emissions profile of our business and the wider agriculture industry.”
Through the Big Bag Recovery program, IPL has saved $7.3 million in landfill space by recovering the plastic bags for recycling.
“Our fertiliser bags are collected from farms or dropped off by farmers to local council depots or dealers, and instead of being burned or ending up in landfill they are recycled into new products” Ms Corbett said.
IPL has also recently extended the bag recovery program to ammonium nitrate bulk bags in its explosives business, Dyno Nobel.
Big Bag Recovery managing director Stephen Richards commended IPF for its leadership.
“The recovery results are fantastic, and we want to encourage others to be as involved as IPF,” he said.
“Around 60,000 tonnes of bag packaging are consumed in Australia each year. This plastic is a resource that can be recycled up to 40 times to create new products.
“For example, a fertiliser bulk bag can be turned into a school seat in about an hour which can similarly be reharvested and processed into something else.”
Initiated in Queensland with fertiliser bags for the sugar industry in 2015, Big Bag Recovery is now Australia wide for all industries and sectors plastic bags over 15 kg/l of contents.
Dealers and customers who purchase products in big plastic sacks and bulk bags can call Big Bag Recovery on 1300 424 422 to find out the best way to deliver their waste bags to the program.


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Dabur India on Monday announced the acquisition of Turkey-based personal care products company Hobi Kozmetik Group for $69 million (about Rs. 310 crore).
Its overseas subsidiary Dabur International has acquired 100 per cent stake in three Hobi Group firms — Hobi Kozmetik, Zeki Plastik and Ra Pazarlama.
“The acquisition of Hobi Kozmetik, to be completed by the third quarter of 2010-11, is a step towards further consolidating and expanding our already substantial presence in the Middle East and North Africa region,” said Dabur Chairman Anand Burman.
Set up in 1974, Hobi Kozmetik is a leading manufacturer of personal care products in Turkey. The company is a market leader in the hair gel category with a 35 per cent share, and markets a wide range of hair care and skin care products under the ‘Hobby' and ‘New Era' brands.
Its products are sold across 35 countries, including the Middle East and North Africa.


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Martha Turpin shuffled in and out of well-stocked grocery aisles, putting food she desired into her shopping basket: chicken broth, cheese crackers and frozen meat. It may sound like Turpin was at a suburban Superfresh, but she was actually grocery shopping at the Philabundance Community Food Center at 601 W. Lehigh Ave.
The nonprofit food pantry, which opened in 2009, is a food donations program for low-income citizens that is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It differs from other food pantries because the food is not pre-packaged. The food center is the only choice pantry in the city where individuals can pick out food they want from refrigerators and food shelves in a supermarket setting.
Within the first two weeks of opening, the center registered over 1,000 people, and currently serves over 200 households daily. Kendra Mariassy, the manger of the food center, described why a choice pantry is superior to other food donation programs. “It gives somebody more dignity in times of need,” Mariassy said. “They can look over shelves for what they want to eat instead of being given a set box of food.”
The choice pantry donates 20,000 pounds of food each week, and accommodates religious and dietary concerns that are usually not addressed by conventional food donation programs.
Individuals must fill out a registration form to become a customer, but do not have to adhere to any criteria. There are no qualifications to shop at the center; customers can live in any part of Philadelphia and do not have to earn below a certain income. The one restriction is that customers can only shop at the pantry once a week.
The center is run solely by volunteers. CeCe Weber, a volunteer who is recently unemployed, explained why she loves volunteering. “I started working here in April,” Weber said. “I like it because I’m more in contact with people. I’ll stay until they tell me to get out.”
Lisa Santiful, an employee at MedRisk and pantry volunteer, emphasized the benefits of the center. “I like helping people. I like giving back,” Santiful said. “It’s awesome. I’m looking at people getting products and not having to give money out. It’s a blessing. Every neighborhood should have this.”
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By Denise Allabaugh, Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice
Wilkes-Barre-based KBJ Capital and Scranton entrepreneur Jamie Valvano have acquired Scranton-based Appek Mobile Apps.
Appek will continue under the leadership of Kristopher Jones, who founded and owns KBJ Capital, and Valvano, who owns businesses and real estate throughout Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. Jones would not disclose the acquisition price.
Appek will move to Wilkes-Barre from Scranton, Jones said. He and Valvano have already begun building their team of mobile app developers and plan to hire.
Over the next few months, Jones said they plan to hire eight people, including four to six mobile app developers as well as a lead product manager and a sales leader.
Appek will move into the ReferLocal office space on South Main Street in downtown Wilkes-Barre and share space with ReferLocal and LSEO.com, one of Jones’ other start-up companies.
KBJ Capital invested $50,000 in Appek in March 2011. Since then, Appek has developed dozens of mobile apps for companies around the world. Several apps have garnered national attention on TechCrunch, Fast Company, Gizmodo, and the Huffington Post.
In December 2011, Appek launched the popular iPad game FaceInvaders, which allows users to play combat with Facebook friends’ profile pictures. Tech blog Gizmodo named it an iPad “App of the Week.”
In September 2012, Appek launched pathmapp, which helps businesses generate more leads and improve user experience. The company unveiled the technology on stage as a finalist of TechCrunch Start-up Battlefield to a crowd of about 4,000 and tens of thousands watching online.
In January 2014, Appek launched the French Girls app, which allows anyone with an iPhone to take a selfie and get drawn by users from around the world. French Girls recently crossed one million installs in less than six months and announced it had raised $500,000 in financing led by actress and singer Christina Milian and NFL linebacker Larry English. Jones and Valvano are investors in French Girls.
Adam Ceresko, chief executive officer and co-founder of Appek Mobile Apps, said the they decided to sell the company so that the team can focus 100 percent of their energy on French Girls which, he said, is “an opportunity of a lifetime.”


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Russia will continue to court neutral countries in an effort to leverage resentment against Western democracies.
Rapid monetary tightening in the midst of high inflation will lead to slower growth in 2023 than 2022.
Politics | March 2nd 2023
China’s provision of lethal support to Russia would be a turning point in relations between China and the West.
Economy | January 18th 2023
Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a watershed moment for geopolitics in 2022, and 2023 will be a year of ripple effects.
Risk | December 20th 2022
Shifts in supply chains, global tax rules and ESG investing will preoccupy governments, companies and investors.
Economy | October 10th 2022
High consumer and producer prices will weigh on consumer and business confidence and hamper growth.
Economy | August 24th 2022
The main hit to growth will come from higher global energy prices, which will lead to elevated inflation.
Despite strong growth in Q1, we expect real GDP growth to slow in the remainder of the year, owing partially to the war.
Politics | June 13th 2022
Russia’s invasion has further divided the world into opposing camps, but splits within NATO will emerge again.
Real GDP growth will slow in 2022 and 2023 in the face of inflation and other headwinds.


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A few weeks ago, Amazon issued its first sustainability bond, raising $1 billion to invest in renewable energy, clean transport, green buildings, and affordable housing. The $1 billion bond is part of a growing trend of “green bonds” issued to fund environmentally friendly projects. Global issuance of green bonds reached a record high of $270 billion in 2020 and could reach $400–$500 billion in 2021, according to a report by the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI).
But just how “green” is Amazon’s green bond? I’m skeptical.
Green bonds are very popular these days and are considered by banks, corporations, governments, and supernational organizations such as the World Bank to be an important source of funding to finance climate-related and environmental projects. According to the CBI, the largest green bond issued in 2020 was a $13.0 billion Multifamily Green Mortgage-Backed Security by Fannie Mae used to finance mortgages backed by newly constructed multifamily properties that are certified as green buildings. Other large issuers of green bonds are urban transport operators such as the New York MTA, Los Angeles MTA, or Société du Grand Paris, the latter of which uses its green-bond program to fund an expansion of the Paris commuter and metro rail network.
But Amazon’s green bond is different. First, Amazon does not need newly issued money to finance its investment in the environment. In fact, Amazon is flush with money. In its most recent 10K, dated February 3, 2021, Amazon reports a total of $84.4 billion in cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities. This huge pile of cash accounts for more than 26 percent of Amazon’s total assets and 21.9 percent of its sales. Both ratios indicate that Amazon carries a lot of excess cash beyond what it needs for its routine operations.
When investors evaluate an investment in a traditional, not-green bond, they consider whether they will receive an adequate return on their investment to compensate for the credit risk of the issuing company. However, green bonds are different. Here, investors should also evaluate the environmental impact of their investment—and critically, whether the proposed green investment would have been undertaken even if they were not to provide funding. That is an important principle that we teach in business schools: that only incremental costs or revenue should be part of an evaluation of a project. And in the case of Amazon, the green investment is not incremental.
In its bond prospectus, Amazon commits that the net proceeds from the sale of the green bond will be allocated to finance or refinance green or social projects such as the acquisition of electric vehicles, installation of charging stations, or private-equity investments in clean transportation. Other eligible projects include sustainable buildings, affordable housing, and socioeconomic advancement and empowerment. There is no doubt that these are all nobles causes. However, for the most part it seems that Amazon has already invested in the aforementioned projects. Amazon invested in the electric-vehicle startup Rivian in early 2019 when it led a $700 million round of funding. It later purchased 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from the startup—and has already begun road-testing them in San Francisco. Similarly, this January, four months before its green-bond issuance, Amazon launched a $2 billion housing-equity fund to preserve and create over 20,000 affordable homes.
It seems that Amazon’s green and social projects are already up and running. And Amazon has loads of cash. So why does Amazon issue a green bond? The answer is simple: because interest rates are still historically low, making it an opportune time to inexpensively raise money. Amazon and other investment-grade issuers have been issuing large amounts of bonds since February 2020. In fact, Amazon’s green bond accounts for just a small portion of the $18.5 billion worth of debt issued by Amazon in May. The proceeds of this behemoth bond issue will be added to Amazon’s existing pile of cash—at least for the moment.
But Amazon is not the only company issuing green bonds when it can fund its sustainable projects with existing funds. Last summer, Alphabet—Google’s owner—issued $5.75 billion in sustainability notes despite the fact that they are sitting on cash and marketable securities worth $121 billion, or 43.5 percent of their total assets. And Apple issued a $4.7 billion green bond in March 2021 while holding $191 billion in cash and marketable securities—the largest such cushion in the world, amounting to 59 percent of Apple’s total assets.
Investors seem to be falling for the allure of these bonds regardless of whether their money is needed. Don’t get me wrong: Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple have all been incredibly successful. They provide products and services that have revolutionized our lives, and those who invested in these companies early and held on to their investment saw hefty returns. But these companies should use their own dime—or mountains of dimes—to invest in environmental and social causes. And investors who care about those causes should invest in the companies that need the money the most.
This article originally appeared in Forbes.


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In pure COVID-19 nature, brands across the retail industry underwent a rapid transition to the digital-first space during 2020; and a lot of first-time online shoppers were activated. In fact, some major retailers reported double-digit growth in ecommerce sales during Q2, right at the outbreak of the pandemic. With the growth of buy online, pick up in-store and expedited shipping options, consumers experienced firsthand the ease of digital shopping versus going to the store to make a purchase. Entering 2021, retailers are still looking to beef up their ecommerce strategy to get this trend to stick.
This, coupled with the rise of social commerce, has indicated major potential for retailers to adopt social advertising into their marketing mix. In fact, Smartly.io found that 32% of global retail marketers are spending nearly half of their marketing budget on social media advertising. Here’s what brands need to know to break through the noise across social platforms.
We’re Less Engaged — But Still Scrolling
Although consumers might be less overtly engaged than at the start of the pandemic, social media still defines the majority of their daily touch points, so there is still an opportunity to reach this large audience with personalized content. In August, for instance, a global survey by Smartly.io found that 51% of consumers had made purchases through social ads. More than ever before, it’s important for brands to develop a robust creative strategy, be relevant in their ads and keep performance levels consistent to stand out from the crowd.
Creative testing in particular can help brands understand what messaging is and isn’t resonating with consumers. For instance, if consumers are highly influenced through incentives such as coupons, discounts and promotions, continue to push that language in ads. Then, that data can be used to inform messaging on traditional channels, where advertisers otherwise won’t get feedback as quickly. People move quickly, and the faster brands can do creative testing, the better off they’ll be.
Facebook Remains Top of Mind
Facebook has continued to innovate and develop new ways for brands to effectively communicate with consumers and provide great customer experiences on its platforms. Brands want to eliminate as much friction as possible between the point of engagement with a consumer and the point of conversion. Features like Facebook and Instagram Shops, where consumers can purchase directly in-app, have done just that.
It’s no surprise that when asked which single platform they’re seeing the best ‘return on ad spend’ from, global retail marketers said Instagram (42%), followed by Facebook (24%). The more conversions that happen directly in the app, the less the retailer has to worry about what the user journey looks like. This is and will continue to be an attractive feature for brands at a time when there is extremely steep competition for share of wallet.
Pinterest has become another retail-focused channel, with many users actively seeking and consuming content around interior design, style and recipes. From a marketing perspective, the platform has built out its partnership ecosystem to offer new solutions for advertising on the platform, including digital versions of weekly circulars and hyper-localized ads that communicate buy online pick up in-store options based on information from nearby retailers.
Gravitating to Story Ads
Content that “looks like an ad” will be ignored, but content that blends in seamlessly alongside the content that consumers are already consuming on social will have a much greater shot at capturing attention. Stories have resonated with users so much that brands are now actively seeking to enter that arena as well, testing ROI against in-feed ads and scaling stories campaigns as part of their larger social media advertising strategy. Story ads allow advertisers to capitalize on the effectiveness of Stories and align with the content their audience is already viewing.
When it comes to performance, we’re seeing considerably better results from ads specifically created for the stories format, as well as ones that utilize user generated content as part of a campaign. That said, influencer marketing, what I like to call the world’s greatest lookalike audience, continues to be an effective strategy as well. Consumers tend to follow influencers they can relate to, and as a result they trust their product recommendations. While I expect influencer marketing to grow in 2021, brands are going to have to work hard to ensure they are mindful of which influencers they are marketing through, how many and with what content.
Corinne Demadis is the VP, U.S. East coast at Smartly.io, the leading social media advertising automation platform. Demadis has worked in advertising technology for 10 years, helping brands predominantly in retail and ecommerce enhance their digital marketing strategy.


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Axios has made $1M in revenue from its eight-month-old software licensing business
Axios has spun up a seven-figure software licensing business in less than a year.
In February, Axios launched Axios HQ, its software-as-a-service business that is designed to teach companies how to write it its trademarked editorial style of “Smart Brevity” for internal communications. After just eight months, HQ has earned over $1 million in software licensing, which starts at $10,000 for an annual contract, and is projected to hit $1.5 million by the end of the year, according to Axios HQ’s general manager Jordan Zaslav. The business made an additional $2 million from its professional services offerings, which provides clients with white-glove management training in “Smart Brevity.” To date, 30 clients have paid for these services in addition to the software licensing, some paying upwards of six figures for an annual contract.
“I view this as, ‘Can we be a Bloomberg? Can we have a terminal business and a news business?’ In our case, we would have this communication business and a news business,” said Roy Schwartz, Axios’s co-founder and president.
Through Axios HQ, Axios provides licensees with email templates for different types of memos (currently there are six templates available); an AI editing program, similar to Grammarly, that provides suggestions for succinct and thoughtful phrasing; and analytics software that tells senders info about any given email sent through the platform, like open rates and engagement.
Currently, HQ has 150 clients, many of which fall in the expected category of small- to mid-sized companies, but also includes blue-chip companies, like Delta Airlines, local governments, and even educational institutions, like Austin Independent School District, which uses HQ to communicate with parents, students and staff. A small portion of these clients have previously advertised with Axios, but Zaslav said his team is not trying to sell HQ as an add-on to media buys. He did not give precise pricing for extended HQ contracts.
The buildup of Axios HQ could help address criticism that Axios, as a media company, has not sufficiently diversified its revenue streams. Media conglomerate Axel Springer had been in talks to acquire Axios but eventually decided against the purchase because of Axios’ lack of revenue diversification, Digiday previously reported. An Axios spokesperson said Axios was the one that pulled out of those discussions. Axios’ revenue diversification efforts have extended beyond HQ to include becoming a local news publisher in 25 markets across the U.S., creating a $5 million business in one year. This past spring, the newsletter publisher toyed with the idea of merging with digital sports publisher The Athletic and forming an SPAC in an effort to acquire a subscriptions business but seems to have decided against that.
Axios HQ is currently operated by 45 people, 27 of whom were hired after Feb. 1 of this year. In growing this team, the company promoted Zaslav from senior director of strategy to general manager of Axios HQ and is in the process of hiring a chief technical officer who will focus exclusively on the HQ business.
The experts who helped craft the “Smart Brevity” style are writers and editors, not salespeople and customer service representatives, so a lot of the overhead costs of building this licensing business will be hiring the right staffers to make this business all it needs to be, Schwartz acknowledged.
To that end, Axios HQ is not yet profitable, according to Schwartz, in large part because it requires significant and regular investment to build the technology, hire the necessary positions, and iterate on the product based on regular feedback. He did not say how much the company has invested in HQ to date.
“When you think about [breaking] even in a software business, the more successful it is, the more you push off [reaching] break[ing] even. Once it’s working, you decide to invest more in it, so when it will break even is a hard question to answer,” said Schwartz.
Axios may be willing to postpone HQ’s profitability because of the stickiness of its revenue, thanks to the length of deals and its current client renewal rate. So far, all of the licensees who signed on in the first quarter of this year have agreed to renew their agreements in 2022 and extend them from the initial one-year deals to two-year contracts, Zaslav said.
The software licensing business’s revenue is projected to increase by 300% year over year from a $1.5 million business in 2021 to a $4.5 million business in 2022, Schwartz said. Meanwhile, the services side of the business will continue to grow more linearly at 20-30% year over year, he said.
This recurring revenue model, which comes with a higher price tag than say a potential subscription business, is appealing for media companies that are chasing revenue diversification opportunities, like The Washington Post with its Arc publishing platform, Vox Media with Chorus and other SaaS products and Minute Media with its CMS and video player software.
“The nice thing about a B2B business is that people get used to it and it gets embedded into their backend,” which ultimately makes it harder for those professional clients to end licensing deals, said Ava Seave, principal at media consultancy Quantum Media. Once this technology is regularly used in day-to-day business, shaking the habit will be difficult, especially if it is user-friendly and provides good customer service.
That service and support will be particularly important for Axios to figure out, Seave continued, because if its HQ product works well and grows a large enough client base, the competition will come out of the woodwork and try to undercut Axios’s prices, as technology companies tend to do.
Axios’s branding and trademarked “Smart Brevity” does help with discoverability, Seave said, but building a team that helps customers and provides them with the serviceable extras — like training and consultation — will be the competitive advantage Axios needs to succeed in the crowded technology market.
This story has been updated to include a statement from an Axios spokesperson, saying that the company ended talks with Axel Springer about the potential acquisition.
Dentsu’s latest ad report shows slowed growth, driven mostly by inflation
The good news in Dentsu's ad forecast is that there's still growth. The bad news: most of the growth is the result of inflation, while real ad pricing actually dropped a bit.
How chef influencer Tue Nguyen works with the BuzzFeed Creator Network
BuzzFeed's Creator Network has been valuable from an audience and production education standpoint, but Nguyen still drives most of her business on her own.
Dentsu’s new Web3 readiness tool shines light on the tech’s potential to complement AI
Dentsu's Innovation Initiative is launching a web3 readiness index next month — at a time when the industry is obsessed with AI. Could the two technologies actually make a good pair?
SponsoredHow enterprise-grade CDPs are enhancing data processes and improving customer experiences
Produced in partnership with Marketecture The following article highlights an interview between Martin Kihn, Salesforce’s senior vice president of Marketing Cloud, and Ari Paparo, founder and CEO of Marketecture Media. Register to watch more of the discussion and learn how brands are making the most of enterprise-grade CDP technologies. As brands expand across channels and […]
Digiday+ Research deep dive: Publishers large and small put their resources into first-party data
Eighty-two percent of publishers overall say they're already using first-party data to prepare for the end of the third-party cookie, and nearly half are requiring users to register and integrating first-party data segments into DSPs – indicating that first-party data is the clear path forward for publishers heading into the post-cookie world.
Media Briefing: Why publishers hope chatbots will be the latest retention tool
Publishers hope the chatbots they are developing will be the latest retention tool to keep readers onsite and to get them to consume more content.


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Speed Cameras Net Thousands in Medina
Speed Cameras Net Thousands in Medina By: Caitlyn Jones email@example.com 3:13 pm Police in Medina have now had speed cameras set up on the 45-bypass for almost three months and have issued thousands of citations. Records show in January nearly 2,000 tickets were issued. The next month that number dropped to about 1,500 and March is expected to come out with about 1,200 tickets. All of these tickets rack up a lot of money for the city according to Chief Chad Lowery. He says they receive $18 for each of the first 200 tickets each month and $32 for each ticket after 200. Chief Lowery tells us the money coming in from citations goes into the city’s general fund. They plan on reviewing exactly how much money the cameras bring in and what to do with it towards the end of the year.


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Twitter has decided to change program on a controversial Senate campaign advertising by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and will allow the ad to run, although the social network initially claimed it broken ad guidelines, according to reports.
Twitter apparently said Tuesday that the social media system would allow Blackburn’s ad to be advertised after reconsidering the “context from the entire message, ” according to Recode .
Twitter blocked an ad by Blackburn’s campaign Monday, declaring it included “an inflammatory declaration that is likely to evoke a strong harmful reaction. ” The line in question mentioned: “I’m 100% pro-life. I found Prepared Parenthood, and we stopped the sale for baby body parts — give thanks to God. ”
The social media platform at first said it would air the United states senate candidate’s ad, but only if the queue about “the sale of baby entire body parts” was removed.
Earlier Wednesday, Blackburn called on Twitter to apologize for blocking similar, saying in a statement that the lady was “appalled” by Twitter’s censorship.
“ I am appalled by Twitter’ ersus attempt to censor my pro-life report, and I believe that the entire pro-life neighborhood deserves an apology and description for their actions, ” Blackburn stated in a statement. “ I have invested my entire career fighting to guard and honor life, and I will not allow an organization whose stated objective is to ‘ provide information immediately, without barriers’ the ability to silence our own efforts to protect the unborn. ”
Tweets didn’t prohibit Blackburn from advertising the ad on her own Tweets accounts, but the company wouldn’t advertise it as a sponsored ad on the site.
Blackburn was your chair of a Republican-run House section created to investigate Planned Parenthood plus fetal tissue research. The section urged Congress to stop federal obligations to the women’ s health firm.
Democrats alleged that the GOP investigation acquired found no wrongdoing and squandered taxpayers’ money in an abusive analysis.
The panel was developed after anti-abortion activists secretly documented videos in 2015 showing Prepared Parenthood officials discussing how they occasionally provide fetal tissue to scientists, which is legal if no income is made.
Fetal tissue research has strong support among scientists for its value within studying Down syndrome, eye illness and other problems. But Blackburn’ h committee report said fetal tissues “ makes a vanishingly small factor to clinical and research attempts, if it contributes at all, ” plus recommended curbing federal grants to get such research.
The Associated Push contributed to this report.


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Hollywood (CA) - Data services have been identified as the single most important revenue opportunity for cellphones in the near future. And it's not just MMS - count on a flood of cellphone games coming your way. TG Daily talked to the developers of "24" - a game related to the popular TV show - about technology challenges and business opportunities.
America has long resisted a global trend to use cellphones for more than just calling. Slowly but surely we are finally catching up with the rest of the world - SMS and MMS already have been gaining traction over the past two years or so and video games is the next trend to penetrate our phones.
Among major mobile content creators is I-play, which has or has taken part in the development of more than 100 mobile phone games in the past seven years. In a recent event in Hollywood, the company launched "24," a game that will be marketed alongside the related television show. It is just another example how traditional media are being tied to new types of entertainment content in order to create additional revenue opportunities - which is not as simple as it may appear on the surface, we learned.
Jonathan Kromrey, technical producer at I-play, told us that the core development of the 24 game took just 90 business days. But in contrast to the PC and console industry, where games have to be fitted to only one or two platforms, a cellphone game has to be converted into 1000 unique builds to fit on phones from 100 different carriers around the world. Conversion takes usually twice the time of original development: According to I-play CEO David Gosen, it "typically takes 7 to 9 months to make a mobile game. One-third of the time is development with two-thirds is needed for conversion."
Given the limited memory size of many phones, developers usually have to squeeze their games into around 150 kB. In fact, for the 24 game, Kromrey told us that I-play had to make three versions to fit high, medium and low memory capacity phones. "The available memory for a game is extremely small, take for instance the 24 game. We had to make a 157 kB, 100 kB and a 64 kB version," he said.
In order to cut the game size, I-play uses old-fashioned programming tricks like limiting the amount of sound and using only a single font. However, the most efficient technique is to simply cut the amount of playable content, he said: "On the lowest end, the 24 game has 4 different games, while the mid and high-end have 6 and 9 games."
Mobile phone games also have to deal with small screen sizes, most often with a tiny space of 176 x 220 pixels. Kromrey said that the austere environment is remiscent of programming in the 1980s, when a maximum of 640 kB was available. "It's like the days of the Commodore 64 or the 386, or before they had SVGA cards," he said. But programming in such a limited environment doesn't frustrate Kromney: "It forces us to focus on the core development."
The technical differences between mobile phone and console games are evident, but the business side of the two segments is equally dissimilar. Total revenue is much higher with consoles at around $10 billion annually. The mobile phone game market is smaller - according to Gosen around $1.5 billion globally - with half of revenues being generated in Asia and the rest evenly split between Europe and the United States.
Gosen said that a typical mobile phone game costs $200,000 to $500,000 to make and takes seven to nine months to make. He adds that games for the Xbox 360 or the upcoming Playstation 3 cost around $10 to $25 million to make.
Console games are usually bought at a retail store like a Best Buy or Electronic Boutique. Typically housed in a flashy package that comes with a CD/DVD, manual and other items, these games can cost upwards of $50. Mobile phone games, in contrast, are delivered digitally through your carrier, resulting in huge savings. "We operate in a digital world where there is no stock, there is no packaging no shelf life or shelf life date," said Gosen. He added that mobile phone games are usually sold for around $5.
How popular will mobile phone games be in the future? Gosen predicts that phone games will exceed consoles and handheld games in the number of units sold. However since the phone games are generally sold in the five dollar range, he thinks it will be a very long time until the market catches up in terms of total revenue.


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The 24.1 version release fixes the same spoofing of an address bar that affected Firefox, among other issues.
The Motorola message synchronization patent had been forcing Apple to switch off iOS push email services in Germany for more than a year.
Email as it is today can never be truly secure, so the makers of Lavabit and Secure Circle want to drag email into tomorrow via their Dark Mail Kickstarter campaign.
Dark Mail will provide end-to-end encryption, including email metadata.
Rapid adoption of technology in the workplace has transformed the way people work and led to large gains in productivity, according to a report.
Web app allows sender to control how content is experienced.
Pritesh Singh asked if anyone other than the intended recipient can view files attached to a Gmail message.
Based on the number of votes for each suggestion for a fix, here are the top five reasons people are fed up with the new Yahoo Mail.
Square Cash makes sending money to friends dead simple, but that simplicity could lead to a wave of phishing attacks.


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In an interaction during the A6 special edition media drive earlier last week, Audi confirmed the S6 launch in India within 6 weeks. A luxury sporty sedan that shares a bit with the A6, S6 has more power under the hood.
Audi India 19.6% sales growth for January to April 2013. The company has recorded a 37% sales increase in April 2013 having sold 770 units during April 2013, as compared to 562 units in April 2012.
Audi India has announced benefits of Rs 3 lakhs on purchase of a new Audi car. This offer celebrates Audi achieving the No 1 position in India’s luxury car market.
Audi A6 special edition to celebrate sale of 6000 units in India. Safety features highlight inclusion of rear side Airbags to maximize protection of passengers.
Audi India announced their Sportscar Experience program season 2 earlier this week at India’s only international race track, BIC, Greater Noida. Here are the images and videos from the drive experience along with the details on what Audi Sportscar Experience has in store for you this year.
Audi India Facebook has 20,00,000+ fans and #loveaudi contest can make you a winner. Participants can take part in the “#loveAudi” contest on both Facebook and Twitter which will give the winner a chance to accompany Aditya Patel on his first race in Europe in 2013.
Audi India 29% sales growth in February 2013. German car maker AUDI reported an increase of 29% in its sales (775 vehicles) for Feb 2013 as compared to last years figures (600 units).
Ravi Shastri’s 1985 Audi 100 was showcased. The rally was organized by Rajasthan Tourism & Rajputana Automotive Sports Car Club, Jaipur along with Audi India.
Heads from Audi and Ford have expressed their displeasure over the union budget 2013, which was revealed earlier today by finance minister P Chidambaram. Both Ford and Audi has released a statement expressing their displeasure over the budget 2013.


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At present, there are slightly fewer than 25,000 active Airbnb listings – up by more than 11,000 from 2021 – with annual average occupancy at 56 per cent, according to Dubai-based real estate consultancy Valustrat, which has tracked and analysed the data it sourced from the California-based company.
Valustrat said almost half the private properties are located in the city's prime tourist areas of Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Downtown Dubai and Business Bay.
It is a lucrative business if you can get it right. An average profit margin of about Dh3,500 ($1,000) per unit each month is a typical target and most will aim to build a portfolio comprising tens of properties.
In 2022, Dubai was ranked as the most profitable location in the world for Airbnb landlords, according to a survey by UK-based landlord insurance company CIA Landlords.
The survey found that landlords who leased properties in Downtown could command an average of £930 ($1,150) per night.
There are Airbnb operators of all sizes in Dubai. From one of the largest, such as Frank Porter which manages more than 700 Airbnb properties in Dubai, to one of the newest in Redeet Negate, from the Netherlands, who started his holiday home business SmartStay in June and has a current portfolio of 24 listed on Airbnb.
Mr Negate, as is the case with many of his peers who use social media to reach new customers, has a target to reach 100 properties, which would give him a portfolio akin to leasing a medium-sized hotel.
Although relatively new, the holiday homes market is set to experience similar growth trends over the coming years, according to Haider Tuaima, director and head of real estate research at Valustrat.
“We already know it tripled in three to four years, and this is including the Covid period, which is amazing on its own. But we need to remember that we had Expo, [during] which there was a lot of demand for hotels during ’21 and ’22,” Mr Tuaima tells The National.
“Probably the momentum will be slower but the growth will continue in the coming years, especially now that we have the regulation there.”
Large-scale operators tend to favour subleasing properties – or rental arbitrage – as they give a higher profit but require more cash upfront. Revenue sharing, a second preferred method that involves managing the property for a commission, is also popular because it does not require as much starting capital.
Airbnb is the primary letting channel for most, although Booking.com and Expedia, to a lesser extent, are also used.
Regulations are in place for holiday home rentals in Dubai. Operators looking to build a portfolio must first register their company on the mainland with the Department of Economic Development to get a licence from the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTM).
Each subleased property has to have permission from the owner and a move-in permit is required from each building.
Oriol Plana, founder and chief executive of Mr Alfred, a platform for holiday home operators that manages costs and revenue, estimates that there are as many as 300 operators in Dubai.
His platform has more than 60 companies and manages about 1,000 units.
Despite the high rents, which are narrowing the margins for some, he says subleasing is “booming” in Dubai.
Three quarters of holiday homes are managed by companies, with the remainder managed by individuals, according to Mr Plana.
“Usually there's five months of high season, three months of shoulder season, as it's called, and four months of low season and then Ramadan,” says Mr Plana.
“You need to be very careful and very good at cashflow management because when all the profits of the high season [are realised], you need to keep them for the low season.”
Established Airbnb management company Frank Porter describes the growth of Dubai's short-term rental market as “incredible”.
“When we entered the market in Dubai [in 2017] there were close to 8,000 listings; we are now at 25,000 and growing,” says its founder and chief executive Anna Skigin.
“Last year, [Dubai's listings] growth alone was 40 per cent, year on year.”
She says there are new trends of people renting for a longer time and groups of friends wanting to rent larger units.
“We see the [growth] trend continuing for the next few years as Dubai continues to be on the map as a major tourist destination and attraction,” she says.
“We anticipate the market will stabilise in a few years, with less growth and more similar to other big cities like London and Paris.”
Social media is king
Social media has been a valuable way for Airbnb operators to market their business. Many will openly reveal their revenue and cost figures and tell their audience how they grew their businesses.
Mr Negate revealed earlier this month on social media that the revenue from his 14 apartments in February reached $165,000, with an occupancy rate of 93.7 per cent.
However, Ramadan falling in March has meant lower rates, as has been the case for many operators.
“I use pricing automation software that helps me with low occupancy rates to decrease the prices, but this was not enough because occupancy was still lower than what I was used to,” Mr Negate tells The National.
“I decreased my prices by 30 per cent more than the previous month.”
Managing revenue all year round is an important part of being successful.
“Obviously, in the winter I make money. That's where I need to also get some savings and some buffer because in the summer it's not that lucrative. In the summer, it's all about breaking even to make money in the winter.”
Mr Negate also operates a revenue-sharing model, whereby he manages people’s properties for a commission, which he says can vary between 20 per cent and 25 per cent.
“Although subleasing makes more money if you do it well, it's cash-intensive,” he says.
“You need quite some cash upfront to get an apartment and to operate it – deposit, rent, furnishing and commission for the agents.”
With a current portfolio of 24 properties, his target is 100, which he believes will bring him close to his monthly seven-figure target.
“I want to like have a revenue of $1 million a month for my business but I'm not in a rush. I want to do it the right way,” he says.
“I don’t want to just add units and lose out on quality and stop being a superhost.”
New to market
New to the Dubai Airbnb market in the coming weeks is Syed Lateef from Chicago who has a successful portfolio of 300 subleased apartments in the Mid-West.
With revenue of $11.5 million last year in the US, he has similar ambitions to hit seven figures in Dubai and has set up a new Instagram account (airbnb.in.dubai) for followers to track his journey.
Despite starting at a time when rents in the emirate are at peak levels, Mr Lateef says there is still room to make money.
“Rents are increasing but there's still margin in there. People are still profiting like $1,000 to $2,000 per month on doing this, which is a lot more than what I'm making in my market,” he tells The National.
“If you look at the unit mix, like 90 per cent of the 25,000 are one and two-bedroom type units and that, to me, shows there's a huge saturation of that bedroom type and maybe there's opportunity for a three and four-bedroom.”
While it may seem attractive, he says there is a lot of risk involved in Airbnb subleasing.
“An economic crisis where travel decreases significantly could happen but you’re still obligated to pay the rent and your bills.
“There’s a lot of risk associated with it, just like any business, but it’s easier than buying property.”


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Casino777 has integrated a range of games developed by CT Interactive to delight their players in Spain.
Lachezar Petrov, CEO of CT Interactive, commented on the new collaboration: “We are proud that we have our content live in Spain. For us, it is a pleasure to work with Casino777 and to expand our reach and strengthen our stronghold in the regulated European markets”.
With this deal, Casino777 will have exclusive rights to games from CT Interactive, including Big Joker, 40 Treasures, Lucky Clover, Fluf Tails, HOT 7’s X 2, Monkey Sevens, Full of Luck, Fire Dozen, Treasure Hill, Three Nymphs, Dark Woods , 40 Mega Slot, Chilli Fruits and other exciting games.
Milena Tsankarska, Head of Business Development at CT Interactive, noted: “This partnership is an important step for our brand, because through it, CT Interactive will establish its presence in the Spanish market. For Casino777, offering exclusive games from CT Interactive will help the operator attract new players and retain existing ones”.
Daniel Rafael Mustatea, Business Operations Specialist at Casino777, said: “We are honoured to partner with one of the leading operators not only in Bulgaria but worldwide. We are sure that this would be a mutually beneficial partnership”.
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German fashion brand Hugo Boss announces one year contemporary costume partnership with the National Theatre.
BY Belinda White | 09 October 2012
Photo: Hugo Boss/ national Theatre
Ever since London's West End reclaimed its position as the world's hottest theatrical locale, fashion brands looking for ways to extend their reach (to the right sort of customer, natch) have been keen to tread the boards.
Giorgio Armani's seemingly endless role call of recent West End programme name checks includes Josh Hartnett in Rain Man, Christian Slater in Swimming With Sharks, Kevin Spacey in Richard II, and Thandie Newton in Death and the Maiden to name but a few; while in 2011, ex-Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati costumed Kristen Scott Thomas for her turn in Harold Pinter's Betrayal.
Now German fashion powerhouse, Hugo Boss, are taking the fashion/luvvie love-in to new heights, partnering with the National Theatre for a year to provide contemporary costumes for selected characters, and dress individual actors for their off-stage endeavors.
The first production to feature this unique collaboration will be Damned by Despair, opening Wednesday October 10 with pieces by Hugo Boss starring alongside those by costume designer Moritz Junge.
Set to run for a year initially, the partnership has been hailed as 'thrilling' by Hugo Boss UK managing director Bernard Hake.
"The National Theatre [is] such an incredible British institution of talent with an exciting history and high calibre of performers", he commented.
To give you an idea of the precise calibre of the performers in question, the National Theatre's recent role call of leading lights numbers Benedict Cumberbatch, Dame Helen Mirren, Jonny Lee Miller, James Corden and Julie Walters.


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3D Printing Industry recently visited Munich for the MUST 3D Printing event. Taking place twice annually, the event is organised by the Munich Summit (MUST) – a project started in 2014 by LMU Entrepreneurship Center, the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship SCE and the UnternehmerTUM. MUST 3D Printing brings together international Additive Manufacturing startups and provides […]
DyeMansion is a German-based producer of finishing systems for 3D printed parts. The company is known for its unique post-processing technology for SLS 3D printed parts. “Print-to-Product” workflow At RAPID + TCT DyeMansion will be demonstrating its complete “Print-to-Product” workflow. The three-step process aimed at industrial 3D printers takes raw 3D printed parts and turns them […]
Nachdem das Münchner Start-Up im August verkündete, dass man mit EOS Gründer Herrn Dr.