Brian Gefter is a name synonymous with hospitality within the Food and Beverage industry. Over a decade ago, Gefter along with business partner Michael Satsky understood the need to develop a truly private and selective Food and Beverage brand. It was then, Provocateur was born. The duo opened the first location in NY’s fashionable meatpacking district and have since expanded Provocateur into a global hospitality brand. Today, their vision can be experienced internationally with an expanding list of permanent and seasonal locations including Brazil, Dubai, France, and Spain.
When you think about brands celebrating casual Friday, banking and finance is not the first industry that comes to mind. In fact, the de facto uniform for the top brands in the industry has been buttoned up and high-class for so long, it’s practically unthinkable to represent big banks and investment groups wearing anything less than a custom-tailored suit and tie.But, in a recently leaked memo, Goldman Sachs has decided to relax its famously strict dress code, creating a new “firm flexible dress code.” That code, reportedly, includes concessions to “the changing nature of workplaces generally in favor of a more casual environment…”
For years now, Target has been focused on becoming the go-to big box retailer for stylish Millennial and Gen X moms. This effort has involved bucking certain longstanding retail norms. The campaign has largely been successful. The brand hit it big with its Cat & Jack kids clothing line, enticing parents who want inexpensive but more stylish clothing for growing children. But some shoppers complained of gaps in the store’s children’s clothing lines. Cat & Jack was great and all, they said, but not quite hip enough.
Let’s face it – marketing can be time consuming, and if you don’t have a team working 24/7 dedicated to marketing efforts, it can take a away big chunk of your day. However, if you’re not spending enough time on marketing then it could affect your business prospects and stall growth. It’s a Catch-22 and a tough question for many businesses: should you spend more time developing and improving your product or more time marketing and selling it?
Voters in Arizona, as well as some lawmakers and media representatives are currently asking the state charter board why it’s spending thousands of dollars each month on a single contractor for “ill-defined media relations” work. According to reports, the state hired PR representation back in 2017, when it faced “critical media reports” relative to “financial self-dealing and mismanagement” in the Arizona charter sector. The PR professional at the heart of this matter responded to the media critique by saying: “While I don’t speak for the Board, my recollection is that the Board and charter schools generally had become the subject of intense media focus back in 2017, including a significant number of negative stories…”
In a radical break from the Big-Tech norm, Apple CEO Tim Cook has called on the US government help internet users control the collection of their personal data. In an op-ed for Time magazine, Cook asserts that consumers should have the power to “delete their data on demand, freely, easily and online, once and for all.” Cook’s pledge is pitted heavily against the “shadow economy” of data brokers, firms that ply their wares via the collection and sale of personal data reaped from digital tracking. Think Facebook’s 2018 data sharing scandal, of Cambridge Analytica and Trumpian fame.
Sometimes, the best way to win goodwill and hang on to slipping market share is to employ an old-fashioned price drop. This is especially effective when the competition just raised their rates. At least, that seems to be the thinking behind the surprise announcement that Hulu would be dropping the price of its least-expensive subscription by two bucks. Now, Hulu’s basic plan, which still includes advertisements – a point of contention for streaming customers – will only cost $6 per month, at least, as of February 26. The on-demand streaming service without ads will remain $12.
When you operate a nursing or long term care facility your primary stock-in-trade is trust. People trust you to properly care for and protect their loved ones. To keep them healthy, clean, entertained and, essentially, happy. It is against that backdrop that one Arizona private nursing facility found itself in one of the worst possible spotlights. According to a flurry of print and TV news reports, a woman at the facility recently gave birth to a child. That, in itself might be considered unusual to the average news consumer. It was the fact that came next which spun the narrative out of control. The woman who gave birth is in a “vegetative state,” entirely unwilling and unable to consent to…
Cyber attacks are a constant growing concern in the Digital Age. As nearly everyone is hooked into the web, and more offsite and cloud-based computing is becoming popular, especially when far too many consumers are not well-versed in online safety, weaknesses and vulnerabilities abound. Some of the biggest brands in the world have been hacked in recent years, suffering PR consequences and lost consumer confidence. But, when it comes to companies that might be vulnerable to computer-based attacks, print newspapers would not likely be at the top of anyone’s list of potential targets.
Tesla has been going gangbusters. Despite a serious PR hiccup when production lagged on its promised mid-level family sedan, the fully electric automotive pioneer has been doing banner business. While not a chief driver of the company’s success, the promise of a tax rebate for buying a fully electric car helped make the price tag more attractive for fence-sitting consumers. Unfortunately for late-adopting Tesla buyers, the tax credit had a temporary shelf life. Once the company reached 200,000 units sold, the tax credit would begin a gradual phase-out.