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The 2014 documentary We Could Be King chronicles the merging of two rival Philadelphia high school football teams, amid school board budget shortfalls and public school closures. Directed by Judd Ehrlich, it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, is now available on Netflix, and won the 2015 Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Documentary. The New York Times called it “a memorable season’s worth of moving stories to tell on and off the field, as rich as any in Friday Night Lights.” It’s also a Dick’s Sporting Goods commercial.
Sort of. Not exactly a commercial, but the sporting goods retailer commissioned the doc as a piece of brand content. It was the second major expression of Dick’s content marketing strategy and represents both an evolution of the brand’s previous success and a sign of things to come. Dick’s first major content project was 2013’s Hell Week, a doc series about the Station Camp High School football team as they endure preseason overnight training camp deep in the Tennessee mountains. There are now two seasons of Hell Week online, as well as a women’s high school soccer edition. Coming up this year is another edition of Hell Week, a feature doc following Olympic beach volleyball champion Kerri Walsh-Jennings’ journey to the Summer 2016 Olympics in Rio as she works to win her fourth gold medal, and a new doc on upstate New York’s Salmon River High School women’s lacrosse team, as it challenges the traditional Native Mohawk Nation view that the sport of lacrosse is sacred to men. The latter is part of the brand’s Sports Matter initiative, aiming to raise awareness for underfunded sports programs. On that note, the brand also commissioned Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Buzz Bissinger (Friday Night Lights) to write a thought piece on the idea of sports funding, through the lens of one of the teams Dick’s foundation helped fund last year.
In short, content has become a cornerstone of Dick’s marketing and fueled its appetite for telling compelling sports stories in a variety of formats. Chief marketing officer Lauren Hobart says the brand’s content strategy came about because the Dick’s team fell in love with stories that couldn’t be told in 30 or 60 seconds.
“We have the luxury of working in the sports category where there are just so many powerful and emotional stories,” says Hobart. “For our first Hell Week documentary, we wanted to really show what it was like for these kids and what hell week was all about. That was going to require a week-long shoot and a much longer piece of content than we were typically used to producing. From there, honestly, the strategy just continued to evolve. We had created something so powerful with that first doc, that we just had a hunger to tell more of these types of stories.”
Despite the tendency for most athletic brand and sports marketing to focus on the aspirational power of the pros, Dick’s Sporting Goods’ content has been exclusively focused on amateur sport.“Those are our customers and those are the stories we’re drawn to and want to champion,” says Hobart. “There has been so much incredible power in these stories of amateur athletes. It’s just inherent to our brand strategy. We focus on authenticity at its core, and amateur athletes are in our DNA.”
Ryan Eckel, vice-president of brand marketing says there’s an opportunity in combining higher-end production values with the real world of amateur sports. “There’s a massive content white space out there that represents a huge opportunity to tell stories that aren’t being told but are just as inspiring as a [ESPN] 30 For 30 doc,” says Eckel. “People want real and the value that production can bring is just expertly piecing a story together. These are professionals taking hours of footage, and crafting it into something that reflects the heart of that story.”
The brand’s mantra is that “sports make people better” and its content strategy is designed to reflect that, using the human stories of sport as conveyances of inspiration. That inspiration comes not only from athletic performance, but from the diversity and challenges of life through the lens of sports. Hobart cites We Could Be King as a prime example. “In We Could Be King it hits you with just how strongly sports impact these kids’ lives,” says Hobart. “How we navigate through the process of deciding which stories we want to get behind, they need to be compelling, show that brand belief in action and lastly, it has to have an ability to get distribution and cut through a very cluttered media environment.”
And while most of the Hell Week projects, as well as We Could Be King, are focused on football, other major productions go a little farther afield. The decision to feature less mainstream sports is a conscious one, because while girls’ lacrosse or beach volleyball may not be as popular as high school football, the athletes’ stories are compelling, relatable, and have the potential to cut through that media clutter.
Eckel says that while the Salmon River lacrosse film may sacrifice a little bit of relevancy, or relatability in some sense compared to football, the brand thinks it provides a fresh look at the funding issue. “We also look for an ability to get in-depth with the story. With Kerri [Walsh Jennings] the one thing that really came out when you hear her speak, she’s one of the most passionate and articulate people I’ve ever heard, and she really wanted to give people a true inside look at her world, in a way I’ve never seen,” says Eckel.
Hobart says it’s impossible not to be inspired by Walsh Jennings, whether you’ve ever watched beach volleyball or not. “Not only is she this Olympic champion athlete, but also a mom of three and someone who’s juggling all these things, she is a living hero and we have an instant connection with her,” says Hobart. “Her story is exactly the kind of story we want to tell because it’s so real, as aspirational as it is, everyone can still relate to it.”
One of the biggest lessons Dick’s has learned has been about the importance of a sound distribution strategy. You can create the most compelling story, but the impact is about how many people see it.
“If you look back on our years of developing content, starting with Hell Week, we didn’t have a very clear distribution strategy,” says Hobart. “We knew we’d put it online and try to drive views, but we were very surprised when we got more than a million views and we had a very minor plan to drive people to that story. What that told us was, if we can capture great stories and combine it with a powerful distribution strategy, the sky really is the limit.”
Hobart says now the brand gets its distribution figured out as early as possible in order to make sure it’s maximizing its investment. The CMO also says another significant lesson has been picking its partners carefully. “If you look at We Could Be King, for example, partnering with Tribeca Digital Studios and the help that they gave us in picking the best documentary filmmaker, but then finding the amazing Judd Ehrlich it really requires a lot of trust,” says Hobart. “This isn’t something that can be storyboarded ahead of time, we have no idea what we’re going to get. They have to go film for months, and we get snippets along the way. It’s about trusting your creative partners and letting them do what they do best. And we’ve had incredible success doing that. I think it might come as a surprise people how much free range we give and confidence we have in our partners.”
The bottom line whenever the conversation turns to brand creativity ultimately turns to … well, the bottom line. The brand would not comment specifically on sales, but Hobart says the recent content work has had a significant impact.
“The simplest way to talk about results for us is that the brand work that we do has some of the highest ROI of any of the marketing we do,” says Hobart. “Everything from our ads through Anomaly, to the docs, have a very strong ROI. We have rigorous analysis of all our marketing channels, and our brand content work really shines.”


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Wheels: What Entrepreneurs Are Driving Now
When Akiva Resnikoff wheels around the Berkeley, Calif., area making deliveries, he's regularly swarmed by strangers.
"It's the cookie car!" they squeal when Resnikoff's Chevy HHR pulls up curbside. Decked out with brown "cookie wheels" that look like dough but are in fact metal and rubber, the retro panel van and its driver--the cookie guy--are routinely greeted with smiles and yells of hello across traffic.
Like a lot of entrepreneurs, Resnikoff's personal car is employed, at least part time, for company business. And similar to entrepreneurs themselves, such cars need to multitask. Whether it's hauling equipment, going to meetings or making trips to the post office, they need to operate within budget, make a good impression and--most importantly--get the job done.
For Resnikoff, his 2007 HHR is a vehicle for advertising his 2-year-old business, The Cookie Department, not just for making his baker's dozen of deliveries each week. His car has become a critical part of his success.
"If I had a cargo van, I would just be another delivery guy," says Resnikoff, a self-described car connoisseur who, at 29 years old, has already owned 18 different vehicles. "People wouldn't stop me as much. When I bought the HHR, it had to reflect me personally, and not just as a cookie-carrying business owner."
Resnikoff wanted to be easily identifiable, but he also wanted style. He looked into a Ford Econoline but discarded the idea because it was "too big for little cookies." He also considered his parents' advice to forego a car purchase entirely and repurpose his old Toyota Camry, using its trunk and back seat to carry cookies and the rear window to prop up a sign.
Instead, Resnikoff went with the white HHR because it looked like a 1940s milk truck and was available as a panel van without rear seats--the better to carry stacks of his Awaken Baked coffee cookies and other sweet treats to cafes, wine bars and gyms. He's especially fond of the back door, which doesn't have handles and can be opened remotely with the push of a button.
He added a clean, modernist logo to the exterior, making it look like the Secret Service had gone into the cookie business. The customized HHR was clearly the right way to go for The Cookie Department, which sells about 650 cookies each week.
"You never have a second chance for a first impression," Resnikoff says.
The Car as Business Identity
What an entrepreneur drives says a lot about his or her business. It speaks to a company's core beliefs and mission.
Brian Linton, who started his apparel business last year, says his 2008 Toyota Matrix is "fundamental to what we do." Founded on the principle that fashion can also do good, his Philadelphia-based United by Blue makes organic canvas bags and T-shirts that are sold at Whole Foods Market, Urban Outfitters, Dillard's and other retailers. For every product sold, the company removes one pound of trash from the ocean and other waterways.
Linton's high-mileage hatchback is the cleanup vehicle. It has traveled to more than 40 cleanups in 20 states, from Massachusetts to the Carolinas, and hauled more than 27,000 pounds of gunky plastics and other junk from rivers, streams and oceans.
"At one point, there were four big, dirty tires that had been dumped in a river, along with scrap metal we found and maybe 18 or 20 full bags of trash," says Linton, who appreciates his car's rear seats, which can be folded completely flat, its hard plastic cargo area, which makes cleanup easy--and its fuel economy.
"Having a vehicle that gets good mileage is important for the environmental aspect of what we do, but also the startup cost of gas, because we're driving a lot to get to our cleanup locations," says Linton, who has put 68,000 miles on his silver Matrix in the last three years and averages 30-plus miles per gallon.
For Linton, the Matrix helps him walk the talk of his company's mission. For Eric Fitch, CEO of Waltham, Mass.-based Purpose Energy, the 2009 Dodge Ram pickup he drives helps him wear the many hats required for his small business.
"In a small company, you do a lot of things," says Fitch, whose 4-year-old company converts brewery waste into renewable energy, turning spent grains into natural gas that's used as boiler fuel. "Sometimes I'm out doing financing and wearing a suit, and sometimes I'm on top of a ladder rebuilding a pump. I just don't know what's going to happen, so I have a truck."
A big truck. Fitch's Ram can haul 10,000 pounds at a time between the flatbed and the trailer. Fitch had already worn out two vehicles, and he needed something heavy duty--something that could tow "weird things" like boulders to help stabilize the installation of a biogas pipe, or 5,000 pounds of calcium needed to buffer the 500,000-gallon bioreactor at his first commercial industrial operation at the Magic Hat brewery in Burlington, Vt.
The only problem: Fitch lives in Boston. He commutes 700 miles each week between the Vermont brewery and his home, so his truck has to get decent gas mileage (the Ram averages 20 mpg on the highway). And with a four-door cab, the truck can accommodate Fitch's wife and triplets.
"My whole life right now is based around my children and my company," he says.
A Need for Speed
Melody McCloskey's Vespa gets 70 miles to the gallon, but that wasn't the reason she bought it.
"I got it right when I started my company because I knew I needed to have a bunch of meetings and get around in no time flat," says McCloskey, who lives in San Francisco and started StyleSeat.com, a social networking site for salon owners and their patrons, this summer. Designed to empower customers to find stylists and stylists to find customers, StyleSeat has acquired more than 25,000 users nationally since launching in June.
McCloskey believes that her red Vespa LX 150 is emblematic of her quick success. "We get a lot done, we do it really fast and we do it in style," she says, adding that she can get around more quickly than she would in a car or even a taxi, and that she can park anywhere. "I can leave five minutes before an appointment and roll up right in front of wherever I have a meeting, whether it's with an investor or a hair salon."
Adding to the advantages: She can dress like a normal person, and if she has to carry a bag, she just pops it in the storage compartment under the seat. "The Vespa is just so easy," McCloskey says.
When you're running your own business, easy counts for a lot.
There are many truisms about entrepreneurs that extend to their cars. They need to extend their innovative nature to deciding how they utilize their vehicles. They need to be able to make decisions quickly, so their cars have to help them turn on a dime. Entrepreneurs are busy, and their vehicles need to keep up.

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LimeBike to bring electric scooters to South Lake Tahoe
After a three-month pilot project in 2017, the dockless bike-sharing company LimeBike is returning to South Lake Tahoe for a second season — and this year, they’re bringing electric scooters, too.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, LimeBike Director of Strategic Development Sam Dreiman presented a recap of last year’s launch on the South Shore and a look ahead for the coming year.
In 2017, LimeBike recorded more than 12,000 trips and around 6,000 riders with an average riding distance of 1.1 miles and trip length of 10 minutes. According to the company’s calculations, the bike-sharing company saved the equivalent of roughly 6,600 vehicle miles.
“We are excited about the strong consistent ridership that Lake Tahoe offers during the summer months,” said Dreiman. “It offers an excellent business case for us to be here, and the impact here is evident.”
At a rate of $1 for a 30-minute ride, LimeBikes are booked using an app that scans a QR code and unlocks a mechanism on the bike, freeing it for use. The bikes do not have to be returned to any particular spot, though riders are encouraged through the app to leave them at business “hubs” or bike racks.
Last year five locally-hired employees and a manager from LimeBike handled “redistribution” of the bikes throughout town.
However, the program did receive some backlash from the South Shore community, citing bikes lefts in odd locations and an unfair advantage over local bike shops.
Dreiman noted that although there were instances of bike damage last year — some were put in trees and one was even thrown in the lake — the rate of vandalism was near the average for the other communities in which they operate: around 1 percent.
The company has made adjustments to its fleet in response to its first year in business, he said.
“We have added sensors to our bikes and scooters so we can tell when they have been tipped over and can go correct that,” said Dreiman.
Starting in mid-May, LimeBike will bring around 200 units to South Lake Tahoe, including a mix of bikes and their newly launched electric scooters, Lime-S. The scooters rent for $1 plus 15 cents for every minute of use.
“We will scale up based on ridership,” said Dreiman, noting that LimeBike ended 2017 with around 350 bikes in South Lake Tahoe.
Every night the scooters will be collected and recharged by staff — and possibly a group of local residents. A program called Lime Juicer, said Dreiman, would provide participating residents with a charger and pay them to plug in the scooters overnight.
This March LimeBike launched their scooters in Washington, D.C.
“We are seeing truly incredible ridership numbers,” said Dreiman.
LimeBike also is working to get a pilot program for its dockless bikes off the ground in Reno. The company met with Reno City Council last November, and the Regional Transportation Commission conducted forums and research in late 2017 to get ready for the program. A launch date has not yet been set.
LimeBike began deploying its bikes in four communities last year, including South Lake Tahoe, and has since grown to operate in over 30 cities and dozens of college campuses around the country.
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"You expected better from Papa John's," says the video. "So did we."
Popular pizza chain Papa John's is attempting to change the tone of their brand by debuting a new ad campaign this week.
On Tuesday, the pizza company presented their minute-long commercial called "Voices". It features 24 Papa John's employees speaking about their fond experiences working within the company. This is also the first ad that they've released since founder John Schnatter made the headlines as an ousted chairman a few months ago...
The commercial is scheduled to air this Saturday, during the Texas A&M vs. Alabama college football game. It is also expected to show during the season premiere of "This is Us," as well as during other popular shows.
"Clearly, we want to put this in front of as many consumers as possible, as quickly as possible," Melissa Richards, vice president of global brand strategy for Papa John's, told CNBC.
Read more about the "Faces and Voices of Papa John's" on their website.


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Friday, 04 December 2020
A HENLEY shoe repairer has shut up shop after 23 years.
Jason Kempston, who ceased trading at The Sole Man in Duke Street on Saturday, said the coronavirus outbreak had reduced demand for his business to the point where it was no longer viable.
He was forced to close temporarily when the lockdown was imposed at the end of March and was unsure whether he wanted to re-open as he had been struggling to attract trade for some time.
The 50-year-old, who lives at Flackwell Heath, near High Wycombe, said customers were increasingly deterred by heavy traffic and a lack of parking, especially free spaces, in the town centre.
He decided to give it one last try when he was allowed to re-open the business on June 1 but soon realised it wasn’t working and decided to cut his losses.
Mr Kempston, who has worked in the trade since he was 19, intends to embark on a new career running small-scale building projects such as garden offices. He said: “There has been a downturn for some time but coronavirus really pushed it over the cliff.
“There were none of the usual events like the regatta so you didn’t have women coming in with their posh shoes.
“With people working from home, I didn’t get people coming in with work shoes either.
“Also, schools and sports clubs aren’t doing events so I wasn’t doing much engraving. I was still doing quite a bit of key cutting but you can’t survive on that alone.
“Customers were really upset when they heard I was closing and turned out their wardrobes to find work for me but it wasn’t enough to sustain things.”
Mr Kempston said construction offered better prospects as many retailers were struggling to make ends meet.
He said: “When I first came to Henley, they did a survey asking how the town could be helped and I said we needed more parking and fewer traffic restrictions. Years later, neither of those has improved.
“Every day my customers would say that parking was a total nightmare. They’d get ticketed for parking outside my shop for five minutes and say they’d decided not to come back.
“Despite its problems, Henley is a lovely place full of lovely people and I’ve had a great time here. It’s a brilliant, beautiful town and it’s a shame how difficult it has become to trade.
“I paid a very reasonable rent and qualified for rate relief but even I struggled. It must be tough for people who have to pay that as well.
“By the time I decided to shut, I’d already got past any sadness as I realised I needed to reassess what I was doing. I had my doubts right up until the day I closed but I just had to be decisive.
“My customers were very sad but they understand why I was doing it. I'd hate to see Henley become another ghost town but there are some very interesting new shops opening and I hope it does well.
“It would be very sad if people were all just sitting at home ordering things online but that will happen if you penalise drivers or treat them as cash cows.”
Meanwhile, a new “zero waste” shop opened at the former Galaxy Nails Salon unit, also in Duke Street, on Saturday.
FourState, run by old school friends Patrick Brown and Rob Kemp, sells eco-friendly, sustainable and ethical products, including plants, toiletries, kitchen goods and other homewares.
The pair, who opened their first store in their native Marlow last year, wanted to launch a venture that would benefit the environment.
Customers earn four points for every £1 spent which they can donate to various causes.
The shop also sells soaps in refillable bottles.
Mr Brown said: “It has gone better than we could have imagined and we might have to take on more staff to meet demand.
“The launch was a bit manic, though that’s a good thing as it was better than our first day in Marlow, and the feedback has been extremely positive.
“The refillables and plants were both very popular. We ran out of several lines and it’s going to look a bit bare until our next stock arrives. I think we’ve come along at the right time because they talk about the ‘Attenborough effect’.
“People are becoming more aware of our impact on the world and want to buy products that won’t make things worse for future generations.”
• What do you think? Write to: Letters, Henley Standard, Caxton House, 1 Station Road, Henley or email email@example.com
14 October 2020
POLL: Have your say


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ING Real Estate is planning a $45 million redevelopment of its Armadale Shopping Centre, expanding the regional centre from its current 20,000 square metres to 30,000sq m.
The retail property trust is currently in discussions with the City of Armadale over the proposed expansion of the centre.
ING Real Estate senior asset manager Peter Flatt said the proposed shopping centre expansion would include a discount department store, a food court and a raft of speciality shops.
Mr Flatt said the introduction of the Armadale Redevelopment Authority, the extension of the Tonkin Highway and the relocation of the Armadale railway station were contributing factors to the company’s decision to move ahead with the redevelopment.
He said the company was currently waiting on the gazettal of the Armadale Redevelopment Authority’s Armadale City Centre policy, expected next month, before submitting a development application.
ING’s stable of WA shopping centres includes Lakeside in Joondalup, Fremantle Wool-stores and Harbour Town in West Perth.
City of Armadale planning and services manager Louis Fouche said there was scope in the metropolitan centre policy to redevelop the Armadale Shopping Centre.
Mr Fouche said a desire for another discount department store and a greater variety of retail outlets had been identified in the community.
“It is relatively old and needs re-orientation and internal escalators instead of ramps,” he said.
“It is not competing with other larger shopping centres.”
Meanwhile, the other major shopping centre redevelopment slated for the City of Armadale area, the $35 million redevelopment of the Kelmscott Central Shopping Centre, has received a major setback.
Proponents of the development Austasia Group Limited lost its appeal against the City of Armadale and the WA Planning Commission last year.
Austasia Group Limited director Dr Daniel Chesson said the company was currently considering the alternatives available.
Dr Chesson said there was a pathway open to take the case to the Supreme Court or, alternatively, to forego the development completely and sell up in Kelmscott.
He said the Kelmscott development required a large scale to be feasible and was not possible at the size suggested by the WAPC and the City of Armadale.
“The end result is a detriment to Armadale and the south-east corridor,” Dr Chesson said.
© Business News 2018. You may share content using the tools provided but do not copy and redistribute.


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Grant & Co. is developing a 109-lot subdivision in Olive Branch with homes that will sell for an average price of $180,000.
The project, Maplebrook, was master-planned by architecture and engineering firm Fisher & Arnold Inc. and is in its first phase, which will include construction of 24 of the subdivision’s homes. The homes will range in size from 1,600 to 3,000 square feet on 50-by-125-foot lots. Architect Lavelle Walker is designing the homes.
Despite a residential real estate market that is expected to sink even further this year, Grant & Co. has contracts on 71 homes already and has sold nine homes in Olive Branch, according to company principal Keith Grant. The company is developing two other subdivisions in Olive Branch, Grant says.
“As other builders have gone out of business, our market share has grown quite a bit,” Grant says. “The market has improved over last year to the point where we’ve raised sale prices in some of our neighborhoods.”
Maplebrook subdivision’s 73-acre tract was bought from a bank last year, Grant says. The company made an initial investment of $600,000 and is anticipating the project’s final budget will be about $5 million.
Grant & Co. also builds in Bartlett, Lakeland, Arlington and Downtown. Grant says the company’s sales already are more than 100% above total sales in 2009. The company typically closes 90% of the contracts it writes.
The chief selling point of Maplebrook, says David Baker, project architect with Fisher & Arnold, is its central location and proximity to city parks, retail and downtown Olive Branch.
“This was a piece of property that had remained vacant, but it’s going to make a really good community and subdivision,” Baker says.
Even though the residential market remains slower than other parts of the economy, Baker expects the market will pick up, at least better than last year.
“No one has ventured out yet, but from what we understand, houses in that $200,000 range are selling,” he says.
Grant says the homes are being marketed to a wide variety of buyers, from seniors and active adults who want to live close to downtown, to single mothers looking to buy their first home.
“It’s hard to target everyone, but we like the location and the price point,” Grant says.
Grant & Co.
Address: 177 Crescent Drive
Phone: (901) 854-0526
Web site: www.grantnewhomes.com
email@example.com | (901) 259-1722


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As coronavirus pandemic made people to buy groceries and also order more, than to go out, there has been a rise in profitability of grocers. Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos added almost $24 billion to his wealth as e-com demand rose.
Its 35 years for the rented stall in a grocery store where Lim Hock Chee with his wife started selling chilled pork to help increase the supply glut at his father's pig farm; presently it has taken the name Sheng Siong Group Ltd. Their surge in wealth reflects how groceries market are doing in the time of coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
Now, the same family operates 61 supermarkets in Singapore, with coronavirus pandemic lockdown, while Lim and brothers gain more than a billion. The group's shares compete with Amazon in the state, the stocks increased more than 30 percent since its recent low on March 19, reported Bloomberg
Overall, a 57 percent stake of the group is with Lim and his two brothers, which has now surged to over $1.1 billion, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. When the first store of Sheng Siong was opened in 1985, this couldn't have been imagined.
Learning from SARS?
Previous outbreaks might have taught Lim about the grocery dynamics in such situations, as filings by an account held by Lin along with his wife showed that they bought more shares in the previous month. In a 2008 interview to Straits Times, Lim told that when SARS broke out, people stayed away from restaurants and "we enjoyed brisk business because more people started buying food to cook at home," he said.
According to analyst Juliana Cai from RHB Securities Singapore Pte, purchasing of groceries would remain robust even if panic buying and physical distancing get abated.
The global trend
Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos added $24.9 billion, there are also reports that Amazon would recruit thousands of workers as home deliveries are on demand. At the same time Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos took over Mukesh Ambani's net worth and added $8.65 billion, whereas Ambani lost $8.65 billion.
Radhakishan Damani, controlling Avenue Supermarts in India, witnessed an increase of 10 percent since the start of 2020. Elon Musk added $11.2 billion to his net worth. The Sheng Siong store network could be a taken over as a target for e-com players, according to analysts. Maybe the Lim brothers, being aware of it, has applied for a digital-banking license as the company is a part of a consortium of a gaming company Razer Inc leading it.


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Friday, May 17, 2013
A Brentwood MMA fighter helped out with a fight scene, in return, he got a commercial filmed for his studio.
Ray Norris has been practicing martial arts since he was four. He’s now 41 and his work is about to hit national TV. Fat Chimp Studios, a St. Louis video production company needed a fight scene for a video and asked Norris to choreograph. Norris owns Wise Warrior MMA (mixed martial arts) at 8514 Manchester Road. In return, Fat Chimp shot a commercial for Norris. The Fat Chimp commercial Norris helped with will air during Good Morning America May 23 between 7 and 7:30 a.m. Join Maplewood-Brentwood Patch for more community news or join us on Facebook and Twitter. Norris calls his program warrior training. It’s a customized circuit workout for anyone who walks in, from competitive MMA fighters to someone who just wants to lose weight. He can …
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The new hair salon opened on April 25 in the Kimberly Building, across from the Rec Center.
Jerry Dial dressed hair for 10 years at Christopher's Hair Salon and eight and a half before that at Façade Limited, in Clayton. Now he's moved into his own shop. Cheveux, at 2514 S. Brentwood Boulevard, has opened in Brentwood. He said he's fortunate to have clients who put up with some moving dust, and as he adds hair dressers more clients will follow. "Once you start getting a flow of clients from each hair dresser that works here the word travels fast," he said. "Since I only do hair, a lot of clients get nails, massages done in other salons, so that’s how news really travels." The shop has four wash bowls, a coat closet and full coloring room, a room to change into smocks and a coffee bar with complimentary, cookies, coffee, water and…
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Project manager Nick Frisella said LEDs are getting cheaper and brighter.
Metro Lighting, on Tuesday, hosted its second Show Me LED, an educational event in the business's showroom. "LED lighitng is the future of lighting, so we want customers to be educated about it," Nick Frisella, a Metro Lighting project manager said. He said when compact fluorescent bulbs came out people judged them from the first generation, and there were a lot of frustrations with CFL. "It's my goal to further energy conservation through reducing your watage while increasing your lumens, so basically using less energy to get more light," he said. Frisella said new LED bulbs' output increases by about 20 percent every 12 months, "so as we move forward it's only going to get better." See more in Patch:
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The often packed store may soon have wider aisles, though parking will stay the same.
The often elbow-to-elbow shopping at Trader Joe's at the Brentwood Promenade will improve soon. The 10,400 square foot store is expanding into the Beauty First space next door, which plans to close by the end of April, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports. The move will grow Trader Joe's by about a third. Parking will stay as it is, but St. Louis firm Crawford, Bunte, Brammeier told the city the lot is sufficient. "So it's more of a 'perception problem' than an actual parking problem, a consultant told the planning and zoning commission, according to minutes of a November meeting. While the areas in front of Target and Trader Joe's are more heavily used than others, there are still plenty of spaces on the sides that rarely are used, the …
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Jerry Dial worked at Christopher's for the past 10 years.
A hair dresser with 29 years experience is opening his own salon in Brentwood. Jerry Dial dressed hair for 10 years at Christopher's Hair Salon and eight and a half before that at Façade Limited. “It’s simply time for me to have my own spot,” Dial said. The new salon is called Cheveux (French for hair, Dial said). It’s in the Kimberly Building, at 2514 S. Brentwood Boulevard. He plans on opening in mid-April. “It’s strictly hair, no nails, no skin care,” Dial said. He’ll have 14 stations with the latest technology, including hair-coloring machines that speed up the process to 20 minutes, from an hour, he said. “Everything will be brand new, the newest stations, the newest shampoo bowls,” Dial said. His number is 314-753-5291. He said he’s …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
It's at a car dealership that opened in 1975 at Brentwood Boulevard and Eager Road.
Schwarz Limited carries Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Jaguar and Bentley cars. Two Rolls Royces stand out. A 1960 Silver Cloud Rolls Royce convertible is on the showroom floor, but not for sale. Shop owner Eric Schwarz said it was found in a barn in Iowa with 8,000 miles on it. He said it should sell in auction for about $500,000 when they're done restoring it. If you're in the market, a magnificent-looking 1962 Silver Cloud Rolls Royce convertible is one of only 16 of its kind. It has 76,000 miles, and has always been in St. Louis. It's yours for $385,000. Eric and his brother Fred run the shop on the corner of Brentwood Boulevard and Manchester Road that began as Erwin F. Schwarz Limited. The original shop stood in a spot that is now the Whole …
Saturday, March 16, 2013
An owner of the Brentwood store has hosted a reggae music radio show since 1992.
Get to the Shoe Stop in Brentwood for a relaxing experience in buying ladies' shoes. It's a 35-year family business with five St. Louis locations, and the Brentwood spot has gentle reggae music playing all day long. Three bothers run the shops, and one, Jeff Frelich, was in the Brentwood store last Tuesday. Frelich also hosts a reggae music show on community radio station KDHX under the name Professor Skank. "I’ve been into reggae since the late 70s," he said. "Started playing it on the radio in 1992. I play it here. It’s mellow." Frelich runs his own label, Skank Productions, and sells CDs in the shoe shop for $10. "I give a little bit to charity," he said. "You got to do a little bit of hustle sometimes." Frelich said they've been in the…
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Alderman Tom Kramer said negotiations for the restaurant have reopened.
It's known that an 8,000 square foot restaurant will sit next to the under construction Drury Inn and Suites hotel in Brentwood, but it's still not determined what it will be. Brentwood Ward 4 Alderman Tom Kramer said new restaurant was originally announced as the Bonefish Grill, an upscale eatery owned by OSI/Bloomin' Brands, operators of Outback Steakhouse, Fleming's Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill and Roy's Restaurant. But now a second restaurant is in the running. "Since that announcement by Drury, negotiations have reopened for the possibility of a different restaurant. Those negotiations have not yet concluded," Kramer said. "The other possibility is a known, but very popular brand in Missouri. We would be happy to have either…
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
New Brentwood Business Repairs Cell Phones, Almost Anything Digital
Have a cracked cell phone? There's a new shop in Brentwood that can fix you up. CPR Cell Phone Repair and Gadget Tech opened in mid-January at the north end of the shops at 2500 Brentwood Boulevard. "Just about anything you guys break we can fix," owner Chris Phillips said. The logo is the Swiss cross, representing that the shop is brand-neutral. They repair any brand of phone, or just about any digital device. "It's cell phones, iPhones, iPads, tablets, laptops, iPods, game players, Sony Playstations, X boxes, just about everything that everybody uses today," Phillips said. "A lot of people don't know these things can be fixed." He said cracked glass on cell phones is the most frequent repair. They also do water damage repairs, problems …
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The jeweler to the St. Louis Cardinals has left for Olivette. The company's Brentwood location is to be demolished.
After 16 years in Brentwood, most recently at its building at the Brentwood Promenade, The Shane Company has left for Olivette, according to Olivette Patch. In the space of 22 hours, the Shane Co. Jewelry Store shuttered its location in Brentwood of 16 years and quietly opened up at its newest location, the old Flotken’s Super Market building on Olive Street in Olivette. And with that and its expansive 14,000 square feet of brightly lit space, it became the focal point of the 20-store, 13-state enterprise and the largest regional center in the group. Read the complete article in Olivette Patch. In an October 2012 Maplewood-Brentwood Patch article, Brentwood Mayor Pat Kelly said the company didn't give the city notice, but he wasn't …


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SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Founders of a new scooter removal company are being hailed as heroes by some.
Dan Borelli, one of the owners of Scooter Removal LLC, said he had been fed up with the devices for months. Borelli also owns a bike shop in Pacific Beach and was constantly dealing with scooters parked right outside his door.
Finally he and a partner decided to do something about it.
"When we sign up a new client they sign a towing authorization with our company, saying that we can remove the product from their property, legally," said Borelli.
They initially give companies like Bird, Lime, and Uber a grace period to pick up the scooters before their company does.
Once a scooter is removed it's securely stored and the company can pay a fee to retrieve it. Scooter LLC also asks that the companies put a "no parking zone" on the app in order to warn customers.
Over the span of six months, Borelli says they removed 5,000 scooters from one Pacific Beach property alone.
Ray Francis Polos, owner of Bella Ray Salon, owns one of the businesses at that property.
“I really appreciate whatever he’s doing," said Polos, who's been frustrated with the scooters for the past year. He fears a customer will get hit by one.
Borelli says they have around five clients and many more wanting to sign up.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m in the military, they say 'thank you for your service,'" said Borelli.
10News reached out to several of the large scooter companies; Uber said it did not have a comment, Bird did not respond, and Lime said it would be sending a statement but had yet to do so at time of publication.


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Apple’s GymKit has landed for the first time in the North American continent in a gym located right in New York City, the Life Time Athletic at Sky. But the feature is heading to Equinox by next year. GymKit actually has already rolled out in two gyms in the United Kingdom, while in Australia, no less than five gyms already got the feature.
According to a new report recently published by IDC, it appears that the market for wearable devices worldwide is alive and kicking. The research firm stated that the volume of shipments of smartwatch devices and fitness trackers have reached 33.9 million units during the final quarter of last year, which is not only a new all time high but also signifies a growth of 16.9 percent year over year. As for the volume of shipments for the whole year, that increased 25 percent to 102.4 million units.
Among today’s wearable devices, fitness trackers are still the undisputed best sellers, but smartwatch devices are beginning to catch on. According to market research firm NPD, activity trackers are still more widely used compared to smartwatches across most categories related to fitness, especially among owners of wearable devices who work out. NPD’s data also shows that those who use fitness trackers are generally more active -- 79 percent of fitness tracker owners exercise on a regular basis, while 66 percent of smartwatch owners hit the gym.
It appears that 2015 was both a good year and a bad year for Fitbit. The company finished last year as (still) the king of the wearables industry, but it saw its market share continue to decrease. According to market research firm IDC, the shipment volume of Fitbit’s widely popular activity tracker devices increased to 21 million units in 2015, a significant improvement compared to the 11 million units it registered the year before.
In the 1990s, Tamagotchi was a craze back then. It basically involved taking care of a virtual pet (from egg-hood to adulthood -- don’t ask why, it was the 90s), and if users failed to do that, their Tamagotchi pet would “die.” Now, a new mobile app is trying to bring this same concept to the 2010s. The funny thing is, this particular app is for fitness tracking.
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Although it was barely a concept just a few decades ago, the internet has enjoyed explosive growth over the years to become practically a necessity in modern-day life, for both individuals and businesses.
In the corporate sphere, it's not just big companies that should be active in its use of the internet, maintaining a social media presence for example. In fact, there is more of an onus on small business owners to leverage this tool and make it work for their growing organisation.
This was a point recently raised by Kate Carnell, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).
"It is no secret that small business owners don't have the time or the resources to learn the ins-and-outs of using the internet to its fullest extent, but it is the low hanging fruit when it comes to promoting a business and connecting with clients around the world that are in the market for what the business offers," she said in a July 30 statement.
She added that just as it was unthinkable for a business 10 years ago not to have a landline, it is crucial that companies today maintain some sort of presence online. The ACCI cited research from Deloitte Access Economics - which shows that small businesses that use the internet for "high digital engagement" can enjoy up to a 20 per cent increase in revenue - to hammer home the point.
Additionally, the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that the proportion of businesses with a web presence has increased steadily in recent years - from 43.1 per cent in 2010-11 to 47.2 in 2012-13. This suggests that with a great number of businesses still not fully leveraging the internet, those who do will find that they hold a competitive advantage.
If you'd like to learn how Earlypay's Invoice Finance & Equipment Finance can help you boost your working capital to fund growth or keep on top of day-to-day operations of your business, contact Earlypay's helpful team today on 1300 760 205, visit our sign-up form or contact [email protected].


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Investors are feeling cautious heading into Target's (TGT 1.90%) fourth-quarter earnings report. The retailer was a huge beneficiary of consumer shopping changes during earlier phases of the pandemic, but there might be a pullback ahead. Many of its peers in this winning group have recently warned of slowing growth and surging costs in 2022.
Target might have similarly conservative comments about the new fiscal year. But investors will get a clearer picture of the business by following market share, inventory, and cash flow trends.
Let's take a look at the announcement set for March 1.
Beating back rivals
There are some big factors working against Target's growth potential this quarter. Sales soared a year ago, setting the bar high for this holiday period. Supply chain challenges and inflation could have pressured sales, too. We know from Walmart's recent report that the retailer scooped up inventory and broadened its pricing advantages against peers in late 2021.
We'll find out soon whether Target took a market share hit from this shift. Heading into the report, most investors are looking for the chain to achieve just a modest growth slowdown in Q4. Comparable-store sales should land at around 10% compared to 13% in the previous quarter.
Walmart just reported a modest profitability increase, and investors would love to see the same news from Target in early March. The key number to watch here is operating margin, which took a small step lower to 8% of sales last quarter but has been climbing to record highs.
Target has several ways to lift this metric over time, including its popular same-day delivery services and its exclusive, higher priced merchandise. The chain relied on these assets to capitalize on free-spending shopping behavior through most of 2021.
But it's possible that the advantage weakened as inflation sped up and consumers started focusing more on prices. Lower margins would be surest sign of this reduced pricing power.
The new outlook
The big worry heading into this announcement is that Target will forecast a tough operating year ahead as consumers reverse many of the behaviors and spending priorities they favored during the pandemic. The retailer's lucrative home delivery and e-commerce platforms might be less appealing. Its home furnishings categories could attract less demand after two straight years of big gains.
Still, look for CEO Brian Cornell and his team to sound confident about the bigger picture. Sure, sales gains might slow to near zero in 2022 after double-digit spikes in each of the last two years. Target's earnings will look weaker as it spends more on its supply chain, labor, and pricing.
But the chain is undeniably much stronger today than it was before the pandemic struck. A far larger sales footprint is just one part of that success, that also extends to profitability, cash flow, and a world-class omnichannel selling platform.
These factors should make it easier for Target to extend its market share momentum into 2022, even though investors might find a few of its financial forecasts jarring compared to this past year.


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WLAN testing with built-in protocols
Anritsu and EMITE have announced their latest combined solution for WLAN testing of the latest IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard. The new Anritsu Wireless Connectivity Test Set MT8862A has been successfully integrated in combination to the EMITE E600 Reverberation Chamber to test OTA TRP/TIS performance of IEEE 802.11ax devices in a repeatable environment.
With built-in communications protocols and optimized performance for WLAN testing, the MT8862A + EMITE reverberation chamber can characterize with high reliability the performance of the latest devices in the market.
The new integration has been able to successfully measure total radiated power (TRP) and total isotropic sensitivity (TIS) OTA performance for IEEE 802.11ax devices. Being able to test the latest WLAN standards keep EMITE and Anritsu in the edge of technology for helping customers and service providers deliver their WLAN solutions to the market with total confidence in the performance.
“We are proud once again to develop a world’s first capability for testing 802.11ax Over-The-Air with the aid of Anritsu’s unique Wireless Connectivity Test Set MT8862A and our E600 Reverberation Chamber WLAN OTA test platform. The unique capabilities of the Anritsu-EMITE WLAN OTA Test Platform cannot be met by competitors, and some of our major customers have already shown extreme interest,” said David Sánchez, CEO of EMITE.
“WLAN OTA performance test demand is recently increasing in order to secure the brand position with high-quality WLAN products. The IEE802.11ax will be a standard WLAN technology in the future from the latest technologies and features viewpoint, and we are also proud to release the OTA test solution collaborated with EMITE’s leading-edge chamber products to the world-wide market,” added Hideo Zuinen, Product Manager, IoT Test Solutions Div., Anritsu Corporation.


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Mobile gaming has long been regarded as a male-dominated medium, particularly in terms of market audience, character representation in games and player base too.Video game usage and live streaming has spiked as people are self-isolating in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to InMobi's 2021 Women Mobile Gaming Report, mobile gaming saw a 70 percent increase in unique users from July 2020 to April 2021.
InMobi is a multinational mobile advertising technology company headquartered in Bangalore, India. Its mobile-first platform enables brands, developers, and publishers to engage customers via contextual mobile advertising.
For this study, InMobi polled 240 female smartphone gamers and analyzed over 1.5 trillion programmatic ad requests. The study also included engagement data from VTION, a digital consumer behaviour and analytics company, from January 2021 to April 2021. The VTION panel for this study included 1419 smartphone gamers from 15 Indian states.
According to the report, 49 percent of women began playing mobile games as a result of the pandemic, based on a survey conducted by InMobi Pulse, the leading mobile consumer intelligence platform.
Vasuta Agarwal, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, InMobi said, "It is definitely a good time to let go of archaic notions that gaming is popular only among young adult males. The shift in behavior is so interesting to observe as women take to gaming with great enthusiasm. Gaming has become increasingly popular among women of all ages and marital status, defying old-school conventions. Nearly 52 percent of India’s women gamers live in metros, while 29 percent live in small towns, clearly becoming the new face of entertainment for women across India.”
Women gamers spent an average of 88 minutes per day playing action-oriented games, followed by 56 minutes per day playing strategy-oriented games. While 25 percent of these female gamers are between the ages of 25 and 34, 32 percent are married with children, and 47 percent are unmarried. Ludo King, Garena Free Fire: 3volution, Candy Crush Saga, WinZo, and PUBG were the top five most downloaded apps in this region. Following the West, East India had a 20.4 percent share of downloads in Q1 2021, North and Central India had a 21.3 percent share, and South India had a 16.2 percent share.
As India's diversity grew, each region displayed its own nuanced behaviour and consumer preferences. The top five women mobile gaming epicentres in India, according to the report, are Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, and Andhra and Telangana. Interestingly, West India had the highest share of game downloads in Q1 2021, accounting for 25.3 percent of all downloads.
Ludo King, Garena Free Fire: 3volution, Candy Crush Saga, WinZo, and PUBG were the top five most downloaded apps in this region. Following the West, East India had a 20.4 percent share of downloads in Q1 2021, North and Central India had a 21.3 percent share, and South India had a 16.2 percent share.
In this pandemic, three types of gamers were observed: committed gamers, regular gamers, and occasional gamers. Committed gamers, who account for 77% of all female mobile gamers, play once to several times per day, while regular gamers play at least once per week and occasional gamers play once per month or less.
The study found that among these dedicated female gamers, there was a 38% increase in time spent and a 33% increase in the variety of games played in 2020.
To discover new games, committed gamers relied primarily on advertisements in gaming apps, with app store recommendations and advertisements on other apps also playing a significant role. On the other hand, 41 percent of regular and occasional female gamers were likely to rely on ads in other apps because they were interested in playing games that were already popular.
Women gamers in the country were familiar with advertisements in the gaming environment, with 79% preferring to watch an ad to advance in a game or gain benefits. Almost 55 percent of female mobile gamers confirmed their ability to recall ads seen in mobile games because the ads were either engaging and interactive, related to a topic of interest, or about a relevant brand or product.
The ecosystem is well positioned to assist brands in reaching this important segment of Women Mobile Gamers. Categories with women as their primary TG, such as CPG, Healthcare, and Home Appliances, can truly benefit from recognising these shifts in women's behaviour patterns and leveraging innovative means of capturing attention through gaming apps. Whether it's large-scale programmatic gaming media buying, gamified integration of brand messages/offers, or reward mechanisms, the core audience of most brands is now consistently proving to be gaming-friendly.
In an effort to change up the industry, Google Play previously committed to highlighting strong female characters within its “Indie Corner” on the Google Play Store and opening the doors to female tech and gaming innovators.


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Apple's much-maligned iPhone exclusivity agreement with AT&T Mobility, started in 2007 but now ended, is once again the target of a class-action suit.
The Dutch government wants to give law enforcement authorities the power to hack into computers, including those located in other countries, for the purpose of discovering and gathering evidence during cybercrime investigations.
Giant domain name registrar GoDaddy.com has pulled its support from the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act after owners of several websites announced they would take their business elsewhere.
IPCom, a German company that licenses technology patents for mobile phones, is suing German retailers for continuing to sell 3G phones from High Tech Computer (HTC) in violation of a court injunction issued in 2009.
The changes Samsung Electronics has made to its Galaxy Tab 10.1 are enough so that it is no longer a copy of Apple's iPad, a judge at the district court in Düsseldorf, Germany, said on Thursday.
Mobile startup LightSquared wants the FCC to declare that it has the right to use spectrum next to the GPS band and that navigation device makers do not.
A U.S. government office has removed China's largest search engine Baidu from its latest list of the world's "notorious markets", which identifies major offenders for supporting or selling pirated and counterfeit goods.
In another blow to Android, a judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission issued an initial determination that Motorola Mobility infringes four claims of a Microsoft patent. The judge also found that Motorola does not infringe claims related to ...
LightSquared has asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to affirm its right to use its radio spectrum, possibly setting the stage for a legal battle over interference between its planned mobile data network and GPS receivers.
The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing a proposed US$3.6 billion spectrum purchase by Verizon Wireless, a spokeswoman there said Tuesday.
A hearing to debate and amend the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives has been delayed, likely until early next year.
Google and Oracle continue to differ over when their lawsuit over alleged Java intellectual property violations in the Android mobile OS should begin, according to a joint filing the companies made late Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern ...
Microsoft intends to ask the court to dismiss a Novell antitrust lawsuit, after a hung jury in Utah could not come to an accord on the case last week.
The U.S. International Trade Commission will block the importation of some HTC products starting next April 19 after it found that the company infringed Apple patents.
AT&T has scrapped its plans to purchase rival mobile carrier T-Mobile USA in the face of opposition from two U.S. agencies.
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Buy 'High Quality' Card Stocks Discover, AmEx: Nomura
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- In a shrinking market for credit card lenders, Nomura analyst Bill Carcache on Monday said that investors should focus on "issuers focused on the high quality side of the credit divide."
Through the credit crisis, American consumers have been deleveraging, with credit card loan balances totaling $820 billion as of April 30, "down 19% from their December 2008 peak of just over $1 trillion," according to Nomura, with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) , Bank of America (BAC) , Citigroup (C) and Capital One (COF) seeing their card portfolios shrink by 25% or more, while American Express (AXP) , Discover Financial Services (DFS) and Wells Fargo (WFC) "have seen their portfolios shrink by
Carcache on Monday upgraded American Express to a "Buy" rating from "Neutral," while downgrading Capital One to a "Buy" rating from a neutral rating, and sticking with his "Buy" recommendation for Discover.
On the card space in general, the analyst said "while we'd like to be more bullish, we see the decline in balances as structural in nature (driven by regulatory changes and unbreakable consumer de-leveraging)," and that in light of "an uncertain environment where the risk of another recession is elevated," Nomura was "cautious on lend-centric businesses that derive most of their profitability from spread."
Shares of American Express closed at $58.41 Monday, returning 25% year-to-date, following a 12% return during 2011.


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By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Africa’s best customer service provider, Keystone Bank Limited, recently signed up popular Nollywood actress, writer and producer, Funke Akindele Bello popularly known as Jenifa as its official brand ambassador.
By virtue of this partnership, the multiple award-winning screen diva will prominently represent the Keystone Bank brand and feature heavily in the lender’s marketing campaigns and consumer-focused strategies, while leveraging her large followership and popularity that cuts across socio-economic classes and age groups to further deepen the brand’s growing impression in the market.
Speaking during the contract signing ceremony at the bank’s head office in Lagos, on Friday, August 17, 2018, Group Managing Director/CEO of Keystone Bank Limited, Dr Obeahon Ohiwerei, said “The bank will explore every good platform to deepen it’s strength in the retail and youth segment.”
He reiterated that, “The Nigerian entertainment industry is driven largely by SMEs and is growing exponentially, positioning the nation globally and positively impacting our GDP.”
“We are extremely pleased to partner with a hardworking entrepreneur like Jenifa who is also a role model to a wide spectrum of youths and people from all walks of life.
“This partnership aligns with our corporate objective of supporting SMEs and empowering enterprising women, through our PINK account and network,” he added.
Commenting on the development, Funke Akindele revealed her excitement at being the bank’s choice which according to her, is a great institution that Is fast making it’s marks in the sector.
“I am delighted to be signed on as a brand ambassador for Keystone Bank. It is a privilege to be associated with one of the fastest growing financial institutions in the country today, We will certainly put the bank on the world map together,” the star actress said.
Funke Akindele plays the lead character in the ongoing hit TV show Jenifa’s Diary, a spin-off from the movie titled Jenifa.
The actress has over 100 movies to her credit.
Since its recent acquisition by Sigma Golf–Riverbank consortium, Keystone Bank Limited, a technology and service-driven commercial bank, offering tailor-made convenient and reliable solutions to customer’s needs has been on upward swing.
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For Newark interior designer Julia Paintsil, turning a tapestry into a tote was a no-brainer. The founder of Simply Julia Totes imports fabric from her hometown in Ghana to design limited-edition accessories. Her collection, launched last month and available at www.simplyjuliatotes.com, features day bags and overnighters in vivid animal, floral and tribal prints, priced from $75 to $350.
For the third consecutive year, Wal-Mart tops the most desirable holiday gift cards list, according to a recent survey by GiftCardRescue.com, a gift card exchange company.
Rounding out the top five most wanted gift cards are Darden Restaurants, T.J. Maxx, Starbucks and Home Depot, according to the survey of 12,000 gift card wish lists.
Gift card spending is expected to increase by 4% this year compared to last year — an all-time high, according to the National Retail Federation. More than 80% of shoppers plan to buy at least one gift card this season with an average value of $165 per card. Total gift card spending is estimated at $29.2 billion this year.
Darden Restaurants rose to the number 2 spot from number 14 last year. The chain manages eight restaurants, including Red Lobster, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse. Starbucks ascended to number 3 from 12. And, for the first time, Trader Joe’s and Panera Bread made the top 20 list, signaling more demand for food-related gift cards.
Here is the full list in order of popularity:
2. Darden Restaurants
3. T.J. Maxx
5. Home Depot
7. J.C. Penney
15. Trader Joe’s
17. Panera Bread
18. Bed Bath & Beyond
Why should ladies have all the holiday shopping fun? If you want the men to come out for a themed shopping night, you better have plenty of beer and scotch. For the last decade, A.R. Morris Jewelers’ Greenville location at 3832 Kennett Pike has hosted a “Scotches and Watches” night for the guys to admire vintage luxury timepieces and perhaps pick up a gift for the better half. (The jeweler hosted a ladies night last week).
There will be special pricing, with some watches discounted up to 50% off. Complimentary food, beer and scotch will be provided. Men don’t need a designated shopping night, according to A.R. Morris owner Brett Morris. But they certainly enjoy it, he says. Last year, about 100 guys ventured out. http://www.armorrisjewelers.com.
Who says our furry friends don’t deserve their own holiday blowout sale?
Concord Pet Foods & Supplies, with 15 locations in Delaware, will hold a Moonlight Madness sale Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Everything in the store is up to 30% off. Find stocking stuffers for your best friend or stock up on food (limit two bags/cases per sku). http://concordpetfoods.com.
Heed the decree: The new Pantone Color of the Year is radiant orchid.
See you later, emerald. The color forecasting company has replaced you with “an enchanting harmony of fuchsia purple and pink undertones” that is most definitely not mauve. Yesterday’s news will have ripple effects throughout the home design, fashion, beauty, graphics and product packaging industries.
So, you need radiant orchid in your wardrobe like NOW? Try these products:
Converse One Star Orchid Oxford available at Target for $34.99.
Geneva Chevron Bangle Watch, available at Kohl’s for $8.99
Van Heusen Layered Square Tie, available at Kohl’s for $24.
Halle Berry Pure Orchid Fragrance, available at Sears for $22.40 (1 oz.)
Would you trust a survey from a company that manufactures ”Fresh Balls?”
Dear reader, we leave this to your judgement. In a recent release, the company responsible for freshening up men’s nether regions, lists the top five most embarrassing gifts of all time, according to a survey.
Of course, number one is Fresh Body’s Fresh Balls’ lotion, a legitimate product available at Walgreens for $7.99 a tube. (The company notes that its best sales month is December). Rounding out the list are breath freshener, lingerie, condoms and manscaping products. According to the survey, 69% of people polled have received an embarrassing Christmas gift, defined as”something they said shouldn’t have been opened in front of other people.” The biggest gifting offenders: Husbands and mother-in-laws.
Just be careful when Secret Santa time rolls around.
Pro Kitchen Gear is hosting its first winter warehouse sale Thursday at its new warehouse location at 1 Lewis Circle behind Banning Park in Wilmington. The sale runs from 6-10 p.m. Enjoy 50-70% off brands like Breville, Fagor, Kyocera, Capresso, Revol and more. http://www.prokitchengear.com.
Visit your favorite Delaware or Delaware County Goodwill location Saturday, 11/30 and get 50% off all clothing. Goodwill outlet is exluded. Hours are 9 a.m.-8 p.m. For a list of locations, click here.
Who says Black Friday weekend is just for the big boxes?
Delaware Theatre Company at 200 Water St. in Wilmington. has released 200 tickets to any performance of ”The Story of My Life” for $20 each. That’s a savings of $15 to $30 on each ticket. To purchase, click here and type in the promo code BLACK20. The musical about long-lost friends runs from Dec. 4-22.
On Cyber Monday, the theatre is offering an extra $25 in gift cards with a minimum purchase of $100 in gift cards.


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While Kenyans are still adapting to life after the plastic bag ban, a certain student seems to have figured it all out. The girl was spotted doing her back to school shopping with a biodegradable bag, made from the trunk of a banana tree, at a supermarket in Nyeri and the pictures shared on social media. Even her teachers were impressed with her improvisation.
Amused onlookers took pictures of her at a supermarket in Nyeri and shared them on social media. Even her teachers were so impressed that they posed for photos with her. New celebrity in her school huh.
Take a look at the girl doing her shopping below.


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Top MarTech News From the Week of February 11th: Updates from Agiloft, CRMNEXT, Pegasystems, SALESmanago, and More
The editors at Solutions Review have compiled a list of the top MarTech News from the week of February 11th, 2022. This round-up features updates from companies like Agiloft, CRMNEXT, Pegasystems, SALESmanago, and other companies in the CRM and marketing automation marketplaces.
Keeping tabs on all the most relevant CRM and MarTech news can be a time-consuming task. As a result, our editorial team aims to summarize the week’s top headlines in the marketing technology landscape. The Solutions Review editors will compile a weekly roundup of vendor product news, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital funding, talent acquisition, and other noteworthy MarTech news.
Top MarTech News from the Week of February 11th, 2022
Agiloft recently announced the launch of a new update for its contract lifecycle management (CLM) application, available on Salesforce AppExchange. The new release can provide users with connected experiences that make for easier enterprise integrations, which helps teams improve the way they collaborate on contracts within the Salesforce system and across other applications and ecosystems. Other updates to the Agile CLM application include the ability to sync data between Agiloft and Salesforce, automated approvals processes, and more.
CRMNEXT, a leading provider of digital technology solutions for the banking and insurance industry, has launched an Open Communication Platform (OCP) to help users improve customer experiences and develop brand loyalty via personalized, digital-first customer experiences. The OCP solution’s capabilities include AI-driven insights from customer interactions, real-time supervisor chats, a connected workspace, an AI-powered knowledge base, integrations with SoftPhone and Facebook, and real-time business fabric.
DemandScience, the B2B pipeline generation solution provider, has announced the “strategic” acquisition of Finity SA, a Switzerland-based company providing AI-driven content creation and aggregation tools. The acquisition will help DemandScience identify buying signals, spotlight key events, and leverage worldwide data to better analyze the emerging trends across industries and locations. The news coincides with DemandScience’s announcement that it has opened a new European headquarters in London.
Pegasystems recently announced Pega Voice AI and Messaging AI, two new solutions for customer service agents. These new tools can analyze customer service interactions in real-time and help service agents resolve requests with minimal effort. The AI-powered solutions use real-time intelligence, natural language processing (NLP), speech-to-text analytics, and intelligent automation technologies. With these tools, service agents have access to a “copilot” that listens to the voice and chat conversations, analyzes intent, auto-launch workflows, automatically enter data into the system, and more.
SALESmanago Relaunches its Customer Data Platform with New Data Privacy and Zero Party Data Management Features
SALESmanago has relaunched its Customer Data Platform (CDP) with a suite of features designed to help mid-size e-commerce businesses gather and manage zero-party data. Unlike first-party data, zero-party data is voluntarily provided by customers. The most significant element of SALESmanago’s CDP relaunch is the Customer Preference Center, which facilitates the collection and management of zero-party data and streamlines the process of using it to improve customer segmentation and recommendations.
For consideration in future WorkTech news roundups, send your announcements to firstname.lastname@example.org.


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HARRISBURG, Pa. — It's cookie season for Girl Scouts, but with COVID-19 they are having to utilize a relatively new way to sell their cookies. They began online sales a couple years ago but, right now they are relying on online sales to make up their cookie sales for the time being.
"Our troop had 10 booths scheduled for different public locations and the majority of them are cancelled, as you can suspect due to everything going on," said Troop 20078 Leader Bianca Gonzalez. "So, I currently have about 260 boxes of cookies sitting in our house hopefully that we can sell."
Because of COVID-19, Girl Scouts are staying inside and relying on online orders to make up their cookies sales. Gonzalez, and sixth year junior Aviana of York are adopting social distancing guidelines but still delivering people the cookies they order.
"So, they purchase them online, tell us when they will be home and we drop them off on the porch, ring the door bell, run back in the car and sanitize our hands," said Gonzalez.
Adapting to the situation around them is something Girl Scouts have been doing for decades. Jessica Delp, Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania Director of Product Program and Retail says, this time around is no different.
"During World War II Girl Scouts sold bonds and collected scraps in stead of selling cookies to help America," said Delp. "So again, this is a little different but, we see Girl Scouts making things happen, rising to the occasion."
So, while you may not see Girl Scouts out and about right now, they are still selling cookies and delivering orders.
"If you need cookies, please, please reach out to Girl Scouts and we'll figure out a way to get you cookies," said Gonzalez.
To order cookies from a troop near you, email email@example.com or use the live chat function at www.gshpa.org


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Body Shops See Delays Due To Parts Shortage
July 30, 2021— A growing parts shortage is beginning to hinder the collision repair industry, WEVV reported.
The report details the struggle for body shops in Evansville, Ind., to receive parts. Don Decker, president of Mill’s Body Shop said parts are taking up to a month longer than usual to deliver. Decker says he hasn't been given a clear reason why.
“I’ve heard all kinds of stories," said Don Decker, president of Mill's Body Shop. "I’ve heard there’s issues with the parts getting stamped and made out to us, and I’ve also heard there’s just an employee shortage and there’s not enough staff to make the parts. I’ve heard that as well.”
Decker said he has not received word from any vendors about when the shortage may end.


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(By Mohammad Rumman & Sneha Johari) E-learning site Meritnation has raised funding worth Rs 25 crore from InfoEdge. The company will deploy the funds to ramp up the technology behind Meritnation LIVE, hiring teachers and expanding its broadcast studios. In December 2013, Meritnation had raised Rs 10 crore from InfoEdge which would go towards creating and updating content, brand building and strengthening its sales team. Following this investment, Info Edge invested around Rs 71.5 crore into Applect Learning Systems, which runs Meritnation, across five different rounds – a Rs 6.5 crore round in July 2008, Rs 5 crore round in May 2010, Rs 20 crore round in September 2011, Rs 30 crore round in February 2013 and a Rs 10 crore round now. In February this year, Meritnation launched six new offline digital learning centres starting with Chandigarh and Lucknow. The model behind these centres was piloted by the startup 2 years ago by launching a centre in Gurgaon in 2012, and subsequently launching four more centres in Jaipur in 2014. The company had told MediaNama then that its centres would run a highly modified version of the online course which was regimented differently. Students were first tested to check their understanding, followed by topical study through animated videos & other content. Last November, Meritnation had launched its online lecture program Meritnation LIVE targeted at CBSE students between the classes of 6-10 in India. The program would offer online live classes for Science & Maths from MeritNation chosen faculty. In April 2013, the company had launched complete study material from class 6 to 10 for Maharashtra board. Prior to this, it had also completely redesigned its…
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MediaNama’s mission is to help build a digital ecosystem which is open, fair, global and competitive.
The Structure and Style of a Dogma Community: Conspiracy theories and organized Twitter engagement on Sushant Singh Rajput
Studying the 'community' supporting the late Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR) shows how Twitter was gamed through organized engagement
Do we have an enabling system for the National Data Governance Framework Policy (NDGFP) aiming to create a repository of non-personal data?
A viewpoint on why the regulation of cryptocurrencies and crypto exchnages under 2019's E-Commerce Rules puts it in a 'grey area'
India's IT Rules mandate a GAC to address user 'grievances' , but is re-instatement of content removed by a platform a power it should...
Why ‘group privacy’ should be recognised, and how ‘non-personal’ data becomes a regulatory blindspot
There is a need for reconceptualizing personal, non-personal data and the concept of privacy itself for regulators to effectively protect data
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An exclusive look at how JimFielding is taking this upstart, multi-channel YouTube network and
its most popular content creators into the world of brand building, licensing and beyond.
FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment has sold more than 68 hours of programming to the SVOD service Amazon Prime Instant Video U.K.
Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment International are combining their PlayStationNetwork and Sony Entertainment Network platforms.
For the first time in the brand’s 56-year history, Barbie is pulling out a cape and mask and transforming into a modern day superhero.
In April, art licensing agency MHS Licensing will celebrate its 20th anniversary and in anticipation of the event the firm has launched an enhanced website.
FremantleMedia has increased its stake in Europe's No. 1 multi-channel network Divimove, making Fremantle the majority shareholder.
Sequential Brands Group has partnered with television and online retailer HSN to offer The Franklin Mint branded collectible and memorabilia products to consumers.
Fans, fashionistas and memorabilia collectors can now take home an authentic piece of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," which ended its five-year run in November.
The Coop has released a new line of pet gear featuring Cartoon Network's animated series "Adventure Time."
Manchester United has tapped KamaGames as its official social casino games partner.
Amazon Studios is branching out from television to create original theatrical movies that will be released on its streaming service, Amazon Prime Instant Video.
ESPN has launched digital shops on its ESPNcricinfo.com and ESPN.com.au for global cricket fans and sports enthusiasts in Australia and New Zealand.
Facebook has acquired the cross-platform mobile messaging company WhatsApp for approximately $16 billion.
People from around the world will unite in a global sing-along as Disney Parks & Resorts celebrates the 50th anniversary of It's a Small World.
Ship & Duck, an online marketplace for brands, licensors and licensees, has refined its platform and rebranded it The Licensing Marketplace.
MTV has signed an international licensing deal with U.K. software service MyBrandEmail for MTV-themed e-mail addresses.
Lawless Entertainment is teaming with Zapexa to create digital emoticons featuring the Little Suzy’s Zoo brand.
TextPride has developed new digital content for SEGA, MGM, Hearst and a host of other entertainment brands.
King Features Syndicate is showcasing its new client, the digital brand Theo & Beau, at Licensing Expo this week in Las Vegas, Nev.
Genius Brands International has partnered with Comcast to distribute its Baby Genius content.
©2015 ADVANSTAR COMMUNICATIONS INC. All rights reserved.


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When Uganda recruited more than 1,400 women from rural villages and took them to the country’s capital, Kampala, in 2002, the east African state dreamed big.
The women were told that they would work in a textile firm, which would export clothes made in Uganda to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), generating a lot of revenue for the country. They were promised good pay, better working conditions and a “bright future”.
They were employed by Tri-Star Apparel from Sri Lanka, which had set up in Uganda to take advantage of the Agoa initiative. But relations between the company and its workers soon turned sour.
A year later, in 2003, the women went on strike, citing mistreatment by their employer and pitiful pay. Each woman earned just $40 (£26; about 75,000 Ugandan shillings at that time) a month. As a result of their protest, roughly 300 women were fired.
Despite huge subsidies, including tax waivers and loan guarantees to boost its production, Tri-Star Apparel went bust in 2006.
Their dreams shattered, most of the Agoa women went back to their villages; others sought petty employment in the city. The episode was perhaps the first sign that Uganda would benefit little from Agoa.
The act was signed into law by Bill Clinton, the US president at the time, in May 2000. It was designed to allow goods from sub-Saharan African countries’ – except firearms – to enter the US tax and quota free. With more than 6,500 product lines eligible for export to the US under Agoa, including live animals and animal products, the initiative looked like a good deal for countries such as Uganda.
It was hoped that the act would raise production at home, boost employment and improve people’s livelihoods. Agoa’s architects reasoned that trade, not aid, could fight poverty on the continent.
In a special advertisement supplement published in the New York Times on September 19, 2002, Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni sounded certain of the benefits. “We are on the threshold of a strategic breakthrough,” he said. “We have carried out all the reforms and what is most important for us is market access. Now we have it. In five years’ time, Uganda will be a totally different story – once we can take advantage of what is in front of us.”
However, nearly 15 years later, Gerald Sendawula, who was Uganda’s finance minister in the early 2000s, and pushed for the country to endorse Agoa, said: “We don’t have anything to show. I haven’t seen anything going to Agoa.”
It appears some countries, including Uganda, did not have the capacity to reap fully the benefits from Agoa. Uganda has the highest youth unemployment in Africa, estimated at 62%.
Last year, Uganda’s exports to the US were worth $47m, up from $34.8m in 2003. Meanwhile, US goods exported to Uganda had reached $125m in 2013. Last year, Uganda’s top exports to the US included spices, tea, freshwater fish, crafts, and live trees.
Uganda’s neighbours are doing well. While Kenya exported goods worth $389.5m in 2012, Uganda could only manage $34.5m. Tanzania earned $114m that year.
One of the problems is that Uganda has no major manufacturing facilities. It was expected to capitalise on its potential in agriculture, which employs three-quarters of the population, and cash crops such as coffee and cotton were to lead the way.
The landlocked country was regarded as one of the best cotton producers in the world ; it would have an edge over rivals in the global market.
Ironically, when Tri-Star Apparel arrived, the company imported cotton from Pakistan, even though Uganda had the capacity to supply the factory.
Meanwhile, Uganda’s position as one of the biggest producers of coffee on the continent has been eroded, with volumes dwindling and some farmers battling coffee wilt.
The majority of Uganda’s exports – including coffee, vanilla beans, fish, cocoa beans and tea – already enter the US duty-free under the Most Favored Nation (MFN) programme, which means they are not counted as Agoa products.
“Uganda’s first mistake was that it failed to empower local farmers to be able to produce for Agoa,” said Dr John Mutenyo, an academic at Makerere University’s school of business. “Yet this was the main intention of Agoa.”
According to Martin Okumu, secretary general of the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce, the country was never ready for the US market. He argued that, instead, Uganda should have focused on markets closer to home in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Uganda was earning $240m in exports from South Sudan annually before fighting broke out in the country in December 2013 – far above what it got from US, according to the Bank of Uganda.
“Are you going to enter the US market with tomatoes?” says Okumu. “We can’t compete with US farmers, who are heavily subsidised.” Unlike Kenya or Tanzania, Uganda failed to establish an Agoa strategy to mobilise and guide those producing goods through the initiative.
“It is in Uganda where an investor who wants land, or [who wants to] have a transformer connected to their factory, must see the president personally. Genuine investors don’t want such things,” said Fred Muhumuza, a senior manager at the audit firm KPMG Uganda and also a former adviser to Uganda’s finance minister.
The World Bank’s Doing Business report 2015 ranks Uganda 150th out of 189 nations. The report cited red tape and high transport costs as big turn-offs to investors.
Erin Truhler, information officer for the public diplomacy section at the US mission in Uganda, said the countries who have benefited most from the scheme are those that “have done the most to create an attractive business environment, both for foreign investors and domestic firms, by encouraging investment and trade”.
Agoa is due for renewal in September, and Uganda will be seeking an extension.
Last month, Museveni announced a new firm, Fine Spinners Uganda, to lead the country’s Agoa efforts if it is extended. The firm will process and export textiles. “We have not benefited from Agoa,” he said. “I am happy that other African countries are benefiting. I would be happier if Uganda benefited too.”


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Apple’s new iOS 14 update has been creating new all over the tech community, and its new privacy-related features created widespread debate as Facebook informed its users about the possible loss of features for advertisers. Adam Walters, Director of Paid Media at Digible, has a theory about the real reason why Apple’s rolling out these new updates that heavily affect the advertisers. In this episode, we dive deep into the untold story of iOS 14.
Adam dives into the conversation with a review of what Apple brings to customers in its iOS 14 update and how the new privacy-related features give consumers more choice to control what personal info they share with potential advertisers and 3rd party apps that monetize user data. He further talks about how Apple uses ads on their own platforms on a small scale and how they might expand their ad system in the future.
Companies that manufacture hardware devices have some authority over their users, and Apple is a good example of this. Adam talks about why there’s a powerplay associated with hardware. Diving into Apple’s intentions, Adam talks about some of Apple’s business practices and strategies outside the Unites States that don’t fit into the way they advocate privacy in the United States. David adds his perspective on what these strategies mean for the average consumer and advertisers.
Towards the end of the episode, we talk in-depth about awareness related to privacy. Reid shares his thoughts on the level of education the average consumer has on how their data is shared with advertisers and their options to control what data they share with apps that share user data with advertisers. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about how tech companies could improve the level of choice they can give consumers to have more control over their data and how the power struggles between tech giants may evolve in the near future.
[04:00] The New Update – What advertisers should know about the new features of the iOS 14 update and how it affects other paid media platforms.
[07:21] Apple Ads – How Apple currently uses advertisements, where they’re displayed, and the potential for Apple to expand their ads.
[08:42] Hardware and Powerplay – How the power dynamics of what tech companies can control depends on the hardware made by them.
[10:19] Contradictions – While Apple seems to advocate for privacy, their business strategies outside the United States, especially in China, seem to contradict their philosophy. David talks about the effect of this on consumers and advertisers.
[15:04] Competition – Adam shares his thoughts on the possibility of Apple launching new services to compete with existing tech giants.
[21:25] Privacy & Awareness – Reid shares his take on how educated the average citizen about their privacy and how apps use the information gathered from users.
[26:27] Improving Options – What Apple and other tech companies to give their consumers more choices with regard to what they share with apps.
[36:26] Shifting Power – Companies such as Apple and Google have a lot of power in their respective markets. When one of these companies try to a space that’s almost monopolized by another, it brings up anti-trust issues and other legal concerns. We talk about how these factors might come into play in the future.


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Shiloh Industries Inc., a leading manufacturer of various blanks, stampings and modular assemblies for the automotive and truck industry, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended April 30, 2011, posting increases across the board.
Sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 were $137.0 million, an increase of 16.3 percent from $117.8 million reported in the second quarter of fiscal year 2010.
Shiloh reported second-quarter net income of $3.4 million, or $0.20 per share diluted, compared to second quarter 2010 net income of $3.1 million, or $0.19 per share diluted.
Theodore K. Zampetis, president and CEO, attributes the quarterly increases to improved vehicle build levels in North America. He also noted that the earthquake and tsunami in Japan affected the production plans of several of the company’s customers, who subsequently had to pull-back on vehicle assembly operations.
Zampetis said the company stayed on track, focusing on its plans to improve quality and productivity; the launch of its new Bowling, Green, Kentucky, facility; and preparing for new program launches.
“Moving forward we are continuing our sharp focus on growing our top and bottom lines through our emphasis on innovative product leadership, customer loyalty, and our passion for operating excellence,” Zampetis stated in the press release.
For more information visit www.shiloh.com
Let us hear your thoughts below:


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As any gamer can probably tell you, the latest Batman game – Arkham Knight – is due for release on 23 June 2015.
Today, we heard from our bat-chums over at WB Games that in celebration of the launch, an exhibition will be opening in London celebrating the Dark Knight. The exhibition features re-works of the Cape & Cowl made famous from replicas of various Batman costumes.
Here’s the official lowdown of the exhibition:
WB Games UK has teamed up with twenty of the most exciting contemporary artists and media celebrities to celebrate the launch of Batman: Arkham Knight with a new exhibition reimagining the Caped Crusader’s iconic Cape and Cowl headpiece.
Using life-sized replicas of Batman’s famous costume as a blank canvas, each artist and celebrity will produce their own unique interpretation of the Dark Knight’s attire. Featuring celebrities from the worlds of TV, film, music and fashion, such as Jonathan Ross, Jodie Kidd and Noel Clarke and high profile artists such as Nancy Fouts, Lauren Baker, Hayden Kays, Inkie, Pam Glew, INSA, The Connor Brothers, Zeus, Matt Small, Jon Burgerman, Case, CRASH, Lucas Price, Kid Acne, Logan Hicks and Pure Evil, the exhibition will run through launch week in an immersive Gotham City-inspired location in Central London. Details of how to secure tickets to this event will be confirmed in due course.
Attendees at this week’s MCM Expo in the Excel centre in London will be able to catch a sneak preview of some of the items that will be on display over at WB Games’ stand from 22 May to 24 May. This is in addition to the previously announced life size Batmobile (as featured in Arkham Knight) that will also be at the stand. I have to wonder at this point if there’s room for the company’s staff!
I’ll be heading down to MCM on Sunday and will be sure to stop by the stand to check out the offerings. How about you guys?
Source: Press Release
GS Blogger: WedgeDoc


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Holiday Shopping Trends
‘Tis the season to be shopping. So, are you shopping online? Or in person this holiday season? Many of us are doing a little bit of both.
FOX News Radio’s Rich Johnson reports on this year’s trends:
They’re calling it ‘non-line shopping’.
Krueger: “They don’t really think about online and off-line. It’s just shopping.”
Google’s Julie Krueger says that means in some cases, surfing for a good deal then heading to the stores. And in other cases, touching and feeling the item in the store, then buying online. And speaking of buying online:
Krueger: “Go to sites that you’re familiar with, for sure.”
Krueger says Google rates online merchants on how they deliver their products and services.
Rich Johnson, FOX News Radio.