Saturday, July 13, 2013

The Basics | Part 8 ? Marketing - BoF - The Business of Fashion

NEW YORK, United States ??Fashion is a hyper-competitive industry. Talent is readily available, so having a well-designed and a high-quality product is simply the price of entry. What ultimately separates a successful fashion business from the rest is often how the brand?s story resonates with consumers.

In the pre-digital age, brands were built with classic marketing strategies, using traditional media like print and TV to ?push? their latest campaigns at consumers.?While these traditional tactics may never completely disappear, today?s Internet-era consumers have more power than ever before and interact with the brands they deem worthy of their time via a number of new channels. With the proliferation of digital and social media, the rise of ?on-demand? content and services, and the growth of micro-targeting techniques, people increasingly expect products and services to speak directly to their individual needs.

The most successful fashion brands will embrace a blend of both traditional and new media to communicate a consistent and authentic message across multiple channels in a manner that both piques customer interest and creates long-term brand value.

Defining Your Brand Story

Before marketing your brand, it is crucial to define what it is ? and what it isn?t. In the most simple form, brands should think about key descriptions of any design or aesthetic features, define their pricing or market segments, and identify exactly who their customer is, factoring in elements like gender, age, geography, interests and anything else that helps describe their lifestyle and preferences.?By the end of this exercise you should be able to clearly articulate a simple brand equity statement in one or two sentences, for example:

?Brand X is a contemporary American work wear collection featuring traditional fits and luxury fabrics for professional women ages 40-50. Brand X is unique because it offers exceptional quality at accessible prices.?

The Classic Marketing Framework

In the classroom, the 4P?s (Product, Place, Price, Promotion) has become a straightforward, foundational framework through which to think about marketing. There are many other frameworks available, but the 4Ps is a good place to start. It?s important not to be too rigid within any one framework, however.

Product

In fashion, having a great product is the essential foundation of a great business. In the classical marketing framework, ?product? is defined as an item or service that meets a consumer?s need or desire. But it?s worht noting that, in fashion, we are often designing products that people don?t yet know they want, then using our various marketing strategies to unleash their desire.

As we discussed in Part 5 of the Basics series, there are many business and trend considerations involved in the development of a collection. Likewise, when planning marketing initiatives, it?s important to consider whether they will be aiming to promote the brand or specific products. There is a place for both, but whenever possible, it is advisable to feature actual product, as this can directly help to drive sales and awareness of key items.

For example, is there an iconic piece from your collection that conveys your message best? Are there unique design or functional features to call out or focus on? Is there a particular lifestyle or activity that you want to associate with your product or brand? Is there a specific person or archetype you want to associate with your brand? What colours are important to the brand DNA, year round or seasonally?

Price

In fashion, price is not only a reference to the nominal amount of money being charged for a product. It can also refer to the ?value equation? that the brand creates in a consumer?s mind. For a price being paid, what qualitative benefits and functional utility is the consumer getting in terms of design, quality, goodwill?

Keep in mind that the resulting value equation will have a sizeable impact on how your brand is perceived. This should be considered before any price tickets are printed.

Place

As discussed in Part 6 of the Basics, fashion brands have multiple sales channels through which to reach end consumers. In this framework, ?place? refers to selling the right product at the right price (value) in the right place.

Where you sell influences which customers you reach and how your product is perceived. Therefore, picking the right accounts can have a major impact, not only on your financial results, but also on your brand image. Some brands may even justify selling or consigning to an account that is known to pay late (or not at all), simply for the marketing value. While we don?t recommend working with retailers on this basis, you should always consider the brand equity you can create or destroy by working with certain retail partners.

If you own direct-to-consumer sales channels (a physical store or a commerce-enabled website, for example), you have the benefit of controlling the environment and experience. This gives you an opportunity to tell the story exactly as you want it, which may well be the most powerful marketing vehicle of all.

Regardless of whether you sell online, it?s important for every brand to have a website. This may only require a small investment of time and money, but will be a crucial way to capture the traffic that you generate when you create interest in your brand. Think of your website as the first window into your brand and your world.

Promotion

There are many promotional techniques available to brands, ranging from the traditional to the cutting-edge. All are effective in their own way.

1. Advertising

Perhaps the most traditional promotion technique is advertising: in print, TV, radio and, now, online. This is also known as paid media. This is often one of the more expensive methods of communication, especially in print, but can reach a large audience and can bring prestige to your brand. Many new magazines will run ads for young designers and very low costs, or sometimes for free, as long as the creative elements are strong and in line with the quality of the rest of the magazine. Online advertising can be more affordable, though there is much debate about the effectiveness of traditional banner ads. But deployed intelligently, with specific goals, online advertising can help drive sales, especially to your own e-commerce site, and can be targeted and measured much more effectively than print ads.

2. CO-OP

Many retail accounts will offer (or require) brands to promote your designs in store or in distributed marketing collateral, such as catalogues and store advertisements. This usually comes with a fee attached and can be executed by the brand or the store. Signage can be very effective in drawing a customer?s attention to your product in store, especially when it is competing against other brands.

3. Public Relations

A strong PR strategy can lead to extremely helpful ?organic? media exposure and influencer endorsements via celebrity placement, gifting, wardrobing and personal appearances by the designer or brand representative(s). One of the big questions most young brands wrestle with is whether to hire a PR firm or to keep PR in house. If you do decide to hire an outside firm, it is important that you spend time first setting a strategy with clear benchmarks for success and meet regularly to review progress.

4. Social Media

With so many new online platforms and technologies available to brands, it can be hard to know where to focus. In general, it starts with understanding your customer. If you are selling designer dresses, platforms like Facebook may or may not be the best place to promote your brand. As it stands today, it is usually in a fashion brand?s favour to focus on highly visual social media platforms, such as Instagram and Pinterest, where they can demonstrate the beauty and design of their products. Instagram, which has really caught on in the fashion industry, is an excellent platform for small brands, as it is highly visual and enables you to demonstrate the essence of your brand, even thought it?s a hard place to drive sales as Instagram does not currently allow live links in image captions.

No matter which social media platform(s) you decide to use, choose carefully and make sure you have the resources to keep your accounts active and engage your followers. Somebody on your team must be dedicated to posting regularly, monitoring reactions and responding in a timely fashion. And remember, these platforms are conversational ? not bullhorns ? so make sure to also use your social media presence as a way to listen to your followers and gather important feedback.

Ari Bloom is the founder of?A2B Ventures. He?has worked with numerous fashion brands as a consultant and a mentor working with the CFDA?s fashion incubator program. He collaborated with Imran Amed to continue The Business of Fashion Basics series.

Previous articles in The?Basics series:

Source: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2013/07/the-basics-part-8-marketing.html

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Friday, July 12, 2013

AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 Active Review

This year, we?re beginning to see a trend where waterproof phones that fit the active lifestyle are coming with specs that are worthy of a flagship phone, and the Galaxy S4 Active from Samsung, an AT&T exclusive, is no different. Samsung is really diversifying the Galaxy S line, with the Galaxy S4 being the flagship of the family offering the best specs. The Galaxy S4 Active brings many of those specs in a waterproof and dustproof body that?s just only slightly thicker, wider, and taller than the non-Active variety. You still get the best innovations from Samsung, and you?re able to take this device with you to the beach, while snorkeling or kayaking, or use it in humid conditions without worrying that your phone may get water damaged.

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Design:

The design of the phone is largely similar to the Galaxy S4. The model that we tested comes in teal blue with charcoal grey accents. You do see Samsung trying to highlight elements of the phone?s ruggedness with what looks to be exposed-looking bolts on the corners of the device on the rear side. It?s a subtle industrial look, but one that doesn?t add weight or heft to the device and allows the Active model to keep a slim and thin profile.

Part of the reason Samsung?s able to maintain thinness is that though the Galaxy S4 Active is a waterproof device, it?s not a rugged one. This means it can withstand being submerged in water for 30 minutes at a time for up to a depth of 1 meter, but don?t expect to drop the device onto hard pavement.

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Hardware:

On the front, you have a 5-inch full HD 1080p display. Rather than the excellent HD Super AMOLED panel on the flagship, the Active makes due with a great LCD panel. Viewing angles were a bit more narrow on the LCD panel, and though the screen seems just as bright indoors, it does look just slightly more washed out under direct sunlight. It?s not a big deal, but I still prefer the HD Super AMOLED screen on the non-Active Galaxy S4, which is also available on AT&T?s network as well as all its major rival carriers.

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The LCD panel also continues to support Samsung?s new ?High touch sensitivity? mode, which allows users to still manipulate the screen when using gloves, which is good for taking the Galaxy S4 Active with you in the snow this winter for those who like to ski or snowboard.

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Just below the screen, you now have three physical Android navigation keys, rather than the single home button flanked on either side by a capacitive touch button. This is an important design change as it is nearly impossible to operate the capacitive touchscreen itself if it?s wet, and we?ll talk more about the usability of the device in a later section.

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The buttons are for menu, home, and back, similar to what Samsung?s been doing for its smartphones and tablets in the last year or so.

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You have a 2-megapixel front camera for underwater selfies and video conferencing using Google Hangouts or another app, priximity and light sensors, and an IR sensor for controlling the Galaxy S4 Active with gestures, along with an earpiece speaker on the top. It?s largely similar to the Galaxy S4, and we recommend you checking out our standard Galaxy S4 review to learn more about the gestures that are enabled via TouchWiz.

On the left hand side, you have the volume rocker button.

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The top has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Though the headphone jack is exposed?there aren?t any seals or covering?it is treated so that you can submerge the Active under water and not damage the device.

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On the right hand side is the power button.

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And on the bottom center, you have the micro USB charge and sync port. Different from the Galaxy S4 is that the Active version has a rubber flap that you must peel open to insert your micro USB cable. The rubber flap helps to create a water-tight seal for underwater use.

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While it?s not a big deal, it can get annoying if you charge your phone a lot, and without wireless charging capabilities like the flagship model, you?ll be fumbling with this flap a lot. Just be sure to completely close the port with the rubber flap when using the device in wet conditions, else your phone may suffer water damage.

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On the rear, despite a waterproof rating, the Galaxy S4 Active does have a removable back battery cover. Unlike the regular Galaxy S4, underneath the cover, you?ll see some rubber gaskets to help keep things water-tight. Underneath here, you?ll find the same Galaxy S4 battery, a micro USB and micro SIM slot.

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AT&T recommends you not only close the battery cover by going over the edges carefully to make sure everything is sealed, but to also press on the AT&T globe logo in the center rear to make sure that the center portion is also sealed. Not doing this last step can risk water entering the phone through the middle port, which is where the camera is housed.

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On the rear, you have a camera pod that houses an 8-megapixel sensor, the same sensor that is on the Galaxy S3 and unfortunately not the 13-megapixel variety on the Galaxy S4 or the competing waterproof Sony Xperia Z on T-Mobile. We?ll cover more about the camera in a later section in this review.

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Performance & Software Features

Largely, you?ll get similar performance using this waterproof model as you would on the non-Active Galaxy S4 flagship. Both models sport a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, 2 GB of RAM, and TouchWiz on top of Android 4.2.2.

Samsung continues to add additional features and customizations onto stock Android, such as the ability to pause video when you?re looking away from the display, controlling your phone with motions and gestures, Air View, Multi window for simultaneous multitasking, and more. All the features?some useful and others superfluous?from the Galaxy S4 is present on the Active, which isn?t surprising since both models run essentially the same guts.

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Wet and Active

One of the big draws of the Galaxy S4 Active is that it has a waterproof camera that you can take with you everywhere. Considering that many consumers are now using their smartphones for everything, including as a photographic tool, the Galaxy S4 Active allows users to extend that experience when they?re by the pool, at the beach, or doing more?active?tasks, as its name implies, like jet skiing, kayaking, swimming, snowboarding. Theoretically, the device should be able to handle those with mild butterfingers for the occasional spills and dunks, as well as for those who have a wet and wild lifestyle.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIn use though, if you?re using the Galaxy S4 Active for the active part of your wet and wild lifestyle, performance will vary. I?ve tested three different units in the last few weeks, and have found varying issues with each unit, so it?s unclear if there are variants to the build quality and performance of each device, or if it was just my isolated personal experiences. None of these issues, however, affected the Galaxy S4 Active when used as a normal smartphone operating in dry land conditions, but they were annoying enough when I took the device to the pool at my hotel in Detroit, Michigan, or while using the phone while kayaking along the California Central Coast.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Gottabemobile/~3/5xmezztE2IA/

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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Appendicitis-hit Elton John 'grateful to be alive'

LONDON (AP) ? Elton John says he is grateful to be alive after learning he had been playing European tour dates while suffering from undiagnosed appendicitis.

The 66-year-old musician is quoted in The Sun newspaper Wednesday as saying he had struggled through the shows in pain, thinking he had food poisoning.

He later learned "I was a ticking time bomb. I guess I could have died at any time."

He added: "I feel so lucky and grateful to be alive."

On Tuesday John canceled a show in London's Hyde Park and other summer dates while he is treated for an inflamed appendix and surrounding abscess.

He is due to have surgery in the next few weeks after treatment with antibiotics.

John's new album, "The Diving Board," is due out in September.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/appendicitis-hit-elton-john-grateful-alive-100233706.html

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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Natural gas well leak creates 4 mile sheen in Gulf of Mexico; Coast Guard responding

POSTED: Tuesday, July 9, 2013 - 4:30pm

UPDATED: Tuesday, July 9, 2013 - 4:41pm

The Coast Guard and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement are responding to a loss of well control event at Ship Shoal Block 225 Platform B, a natural gas and crude oil platform located approximately 74 miles southwest of Port Fourchon, Tuesday.

The Coast Guard and BSEE received a report from Energy Resources Technology Gulf of Mexico LLC that an oil and natural gas production platform, owned by ERT, lost well control. Work to temporarily plug Well #B2 was on-going when workers became aware of the well control event. Two other wells on Platform B were producing at the time and were subsequently shut-in.

All platform personnel were safely evacuated.

BSEE inspectors and Coast Guard pollution responders conducted overflights earlier today. According to ERT?s site assessment, natural gas is flowing from the well and there is a rainbow sheen visible on the surface estimated to be more than four miles wide by three quarters of a mile long.

The BSEE Houma District staff and Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Morgan City personnel are monitoring well control and pollution response efforts in ERT?s Command Center in Houston.

Both BSEE and Coast Guard are also working with other federal and local agencies in response to this incident.

Coast Guard and BSEE will conduct an investigation of the incident to determine the cause of the loss of well control.

Source: http://www.nbc33tv.com/news/local-news/natural-gas-well-leak-cre

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Today in History

Today is Wednesday, July 10, the 191st day of 2013. There are 174 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 10, 1913, the highest recorded shade temperature was measured in Death Valley, Calif., at 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.7 degrees Celsius). (Previously, the highest recorded shade temperature in the world, 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit, 58 Celsius, was said to have occurred in 1922 in present-day Libya, but the accuracy of that reading was disputed in 2012 by the World Meteorological Organization.)

On this date:

In 1509, theologian John Calvin, a key figure of the Protestant Reformation, was born in Noyon, Picardy, France.

In 1890, Wyoming became the 44th state.

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson personally delivered the Treaty of Versailles (vehr-SY') to the Senate, and urged its ratification. (However, the Senate rejected it.)

In 1925, jury selection took place in Dayton, Tenn., in the trial of John T. Scopes, charged with violating the law by teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. (Scopes was convicted and fined, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality.)

In 1929, American paper currency was reduced in size as the government began issuing bills that were approximately 25 percent smaller.

In 1940, during World War II, the Battle of Britain began as Nazi forces began attacking southern England by air. (The Royal Air Force was ultimately victorious.)

In 1951, armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean War began at Kaesong.

In 1962, AT&T's Telstar 1 communications satellite, capable of relaying television signals and telephone calls, was launched by NASA from Cape Canaveral.

In 1973, the Bahamas became fully independent after three centuries of British colonial rule. John Paul Getty III, the teenage grandson of the oil tycoon, was abducted in Rome by kidnappers who cut off his ear when his family was slow to meet their ransom demands; young Getty was finally released in December 1973 in exchange for nearly $3 million.

In 1978, ABC-TV launched its reformatted evening newscast, "World News Tonight," with anchors Frank Reynolds, Peter Jennings and Max Robinson.

In 1985, the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior was sunk with explosives in Auckland, New Zealand by French intelligence agents; one activist was killed. Bowing to pressure from irate customers, the Coca-Cola Co. said it would resume selling old-formula Coke, while continuing to sell New Coke.

In 1991, Boris N. Yeltsin took the oath of office as the first elected president of the Russian republic. President George H.W. Bush lifted economic sanctions against South Africa.

Ten years ago: During a visit to Botswana, President George W. Bush pledged to the nation with what was then the world's highest AIDS infection rate that it would have a strong partner in his administration in fighting the disease. Spain opened its first mosque in 500 years. Astronomers announced they had found the oldest and most distant planet yet, a huge, gaseous sphere 13 billion years old and 5,600 light years away. Lord Shawcross, Britain's chief prosecutor at the Nazi war crimes trials in Nuremberg, died in Cowbeech, England, at age 101.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush signed a bill overhauling rules about government eavesdropping and granting immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the U.S. spy on Americans in suspected terrorism cases. The Senate handily confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as the top commander in the Middle East. Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena, refusing to testify about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department.

One year ago: Clashing over the economy, President Barack Obama challenged Mitt Romney to join him in allowing tax hikes for rich Americans like them; Romney dismissed the idea and redirected charges that he had sent jobs overseas when he worked in private equity, calling Obama the real "outsourcer-in-chief." An Israeli court cleared former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of the central charges in a multi-case corruption trial that forced him from power, but convicted him of a lesser charge of breach of trust, for which Olmert received a suspended one-year jail sentence. The National League romped to an 8-0 victory over the American League in the All-Star game.

Today's Birthdays: Former boxer Jake LaMotta is 92. Writer-producer Earl Hamner Jr. is 90. Former New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins is 86. Actor William Smithers is 86. Broadway composer Jerry Herman is 82. Director Ivan Passer is 80. Actor Lawrence Pressman is 74. Singer Mavis Staples is 74. Actor Mills Watson is 73. Actor Robert Pine is 72. Rock musician Jerry Miller (Moby Grape) is 70. International Tennis Hall of Famer Virginia Wade is 68. Actor Ron Glass is 68. Actress Sue Lyon is 67. Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is 66. Rock musician Dave Smalley is 64. Country-folk singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler is 62. Rock singer Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys) is 59. Banjo player Bela Fleck is 55. Country musician Shaw Wilson (BR549) is 53. Country singer-songwriter Ken Mellons is 48. Rock musician Peter DiStefano (Porno for Pyros) is 48. Actor Gale Harold is 44. Country singer Gary LeVox (leh-VOH') (Rascal Flatts) is 43. Actor Aaron D. Spears is 42. Actress Sofia Vergara is 41. Rockabilly singer Imelda May is 39. Actor Adrian Grenier (grehn-YAY') is 37. Actress Gwendoline Yeo is 36. Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas is 33. Singer-actress Jessica Simpson is 33. Rock musician John Spiker is 32. Actress Heather Hemmens is 29.

Thought for Today: "When I feel the heat, I see the light." ? Everett Dirksen, American politician (1896-1969).

(Above Advance for Use Wednesday, July 10)

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/today-history-050206767.html

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Physicist Stephen Hawking visits LA stem cell lab

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Stephen Hawking toured a stem cell laboratory Tuesday where scientists are studying ways to slow the progression of Lou Gehrig's disease, a neurological disorder that has left the British cosmologist almost completely paralyzed.

After the visit, the 71-year-old Hawking urged doctors, nurses and staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to support the research.

Hawking recalled how he became depressed when he was diagnosed with the disease 50 years ago and initially didn't see a point in finishing his doctorate. But his attitude changed when his condition didn't progress quickly and he was able to concentrate on his studies.

"Every new day became a bonus," he told a packed room.

Cedars-Sinai received nearly $18 million last year from California's taxpayer-funded stem cell institute to study the debilitating disease also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control the muscles. People gradually have more and more trouble breathing and moving as muscles weaken and waste away.

There's no cure and no way to reverse the disease's progression. Few people with ALS live longer than a decade.

Diagnosed at age 21 while a student at Cambridge University, Hawking has survived longer than most. He receives around-the-clock care, can only communicate by twitching his cheek, and relies on a computer mounted to his wheelchair to convey his thoughts in a distinctive robotic monotone.

A Cedars-Sinai patient who was Hawking's former student spurred doctors to invite the physicist to glimpse their stem cell work.

"We decided it was a great opportunity for him to see the labs and for us to speak to one of the preeminent scientists in the world," said Dr. Robert Baloh, who heads the hospital's ALS program.

During the tour, Hawking viewed microscopic stem cells through a projector screen and asked questions about the research, Baloh said.

Cedar-Sinai scientists have focused on engineering stem cells to make a protein in hopes of preventing nerve cells from dying. The experiment so far has been done in rats. Baloh said he hopes to get governmental approval to test it in humans, which would be needed before any therapy can be approved.

Renowned for his work on black holes and the origins of the universe, Hawking is famous for bringing esoteric physics concepts to the masses through his best-selling books including "A Brief History of Time," which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Hawking titled his speech to Cedars-Sinai employees "A Brief History of Mine."

Despite his diagnosis, Hawking has remained active. In 2007, he floated like an astronaut on an aircraft that creates weightlessness by making parabolic dives.

Space exploration is important "for the future of humanity," he told the audience.

Hawking said he did not think Earthlings would survive "without escaping beyond your fragile planet."

And he gave some advice: Look up at the stars. Stay curious.

"However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at," he said.

Doctors don't know why some people with Lou Gehrig's disease fare better than others. Baloh said he has treated patients who lived for 10 years or more.

"But 50 years is unusual, to say the least," he said.

___

Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/physicist-stephen-hawking-visits-la-stem-cell-lab-004615817.html

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