Quantcast
Channel: Co.Labs
Viewing all 36575 articles
Browse latest View live

What Happened To All The Funny Ads?

0
0

Remember when Old Spice was king? Isaiah Mustafa’s baritone bravado and charm in the “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” ad generated hundreds of millions of views and become a cultural touchpoint–it was undoubtedly one of the most recognizable, most popular, most talked about piece of advertising in the world at the time. And it was really, really funny.

Released in February 2010, the spot may have been the crest of an advertising comedy wave that began a few years earlier, with ads from brands like Skittles, Snickers, and Starburst delighting both the general public and the ad industry so much it coined the phrase “oddvertising,” to mark the trend among marketers to fly their freak flag for laughs.

It looks increasingly like a culmination of the mass power of funny ads, using the meteoric rise of YouTube to be the most modern version of what funny ads had been doing for decades. From “Where’s the Beef?” to “Wassup,” being funny was the quickest and most effective way for brands to break into pop culture. But as social media grew to become the most dominant force in culture, setting into motion seismic shifts in our behavior and media consumption, so too did it alter the course of advertising humor.

Caveat! As most humans are aware, much of advertising is a waste of time and space that seems almost distinctly designed to give us mind rabies. When I talk about advertising humor, I mean the small percentage of ads that are actually funny. Not the doofus dad jokes, the smirking wife gags, and every other joke cliche many marketers continue to trot out at every commercial opportunity.

As the value of data and strategy increased, along with the number of touch points in which brands could engage with potential consumers, the almighty funny ad appears to have fallen from its throne. Out of the Top 10 ads in USA Today‘s Super Bowl Ad Meter ranking for 2007, nine were comedy-based. This year, that number was five–a marked decline. Meanwhile, the most talked about, most awarded piece of brand communication of the year, State Street Global’s “Fearless Girl,” attracted a cascade of global media attention, but it sure wasn’t funny. Perhaps a dependence on hard data has simply weakened brands’ will to just get weird for laughs. Has comedy lost its influence among advertisers?

[Photo: Flickr user Clint Budd]

More time, fewer laughs

FCB Global chief creative officer Susan Credle says there are a few factors that have likely played a role in the seemingly diminished status of the funny ad. Chief among them, the expansion of time available to advertisers.

“When we were confined to a 15-second or 30-second time limit, comedy was about the best way to go because you didn’t have time to build up a poignant, emotional connection,” says Credle. “It’s very hard to be that emotional in 30 seconds, so we automatically went to comedy because it’s a perfectly tight amount of time to land a joke. The minute we started creating these 60-second or two-minute pieces, we had the time to take viewers on an emotional journey. We can pull you in, make you think, make you feel something. That length of time being expanded opened up the door for emotional advertising in a big way.”

Funny ain’t easy

Barton F. Graf founder and chief creative officer Gerry Graf made his name creating award-winning funny ads for brands like Skittles, FedEx, E-Trade, and more. “There was a good 10-year trend of everyone trying to be funny,” says Graf. “‘Trying’ being the word. Easy comedy is either slapstick or making fun of someone, but I don’t think that plays anymore. We’re definitely in an advertising environment where it is culturally frowned upon to hurt or laugh at other people. Comedy that comes from an insight on society, pointing out things that don’t make sense, calling out inconsistencies, things that just make us laugh at the messed up world we live in, will always be popular. It’s just harder to do so fewer people do it.”

Speaking of scarcity, one of the few high-profile ads that won awards at Cannes Lions this year was Donate Life’s “World’s Biggest Asshole” by The Martin Agency.

Credle agrees with Graf, saying laughter is one of the most difficult things to create. “You need to write it, you need to edit it, to get all the beats right, the heart-rending emotional stuff just isn’t as hard to do,” she says. “And today, at the speed with which we’re creating, many of the things that go viral are more accidents than someone actually writing a piece of humor.”

Emotional investment

The ad industry isn’t exactly known for trailblazing, with most marketers following what’s already been successful. Around the same time oddvertising hit its peak, Dove released a spot called “Evolution” that targeted self-image and gender politics. It wasn’t part of a giant media spend or a major campaign launch–it was just a one-off web video out of Ogilvy & Mather’s Toronto office. But it soon exploded to become one of the most viral brand videos of all time. This led Dove, and many others, to continue to push a more emotional, issue-driven message.

Today, in an era where consumer sentiment is informed not just around a brand’s advertising, but increasingly what the company stands for, that has caused many marketers to rush to identify with a social cause, whether it fits the brand image or not. Call it the “Hardcut: Cheetos” effect, born from the now classic Saturday Night Live sketch that hilariously illustrated the kind of commercial contortions some brands make to fit into a social cause.

“We’ve had an unprecedented amount of ‘Hardcut: Cheetos’ from different brands, as they’ve attempted to get on the social justice bandwagon,” says Wieden+Kennedy executive creative director Jason Bagley, who led creative on that famous Old Spice ad and now heads up the agency’s work on KFC. “I think it’s great when a brand can authentically comment on social justice issues in an interesting way, where they’re adding something to the conversation. When it’s not authentic though, people can sniff it out pretty quick.”

Graf says there’s always a hot trend, and the emotional angle seems to be it. “Right now everyone thinks millennials want inspirational, emotional work,” he says. “I’m sure someone wrote a book that all the brand managers read that said emotional stories are where it’s at. So everything is heartfelt. Emotional is also easier for a client to buy.”

Erich+Kallman co-counder Eric Kallman, who also worked on Old Spice at Wieden+Kennedy and with brands like Kayak at Barton F. Graf, says funny is just less risky. “The safest way to execute is probably an emotional way to communicate that strategy,” says Kallman. “I think tying brands to social causes is great, but it seems to be going from something that makes sense for some brands, to young creatives trying to attach everything to a social cause. How do we connect this soda to a social cause?”

The Next Laugh

Director David Shane, a master of short-form comedy ads (as declared here) and director of HBO’s 2014 belly-achingly funny “Awkward Family Viewing” campaign, says perhaps advertising humor is following the rest of pop culture.

“I do think there are fewer overtly funny ads around now than maybe 10 years ago, but I’m cool with it,” says Shane. “And I think it’s true of most areas of pop culture. There’s a weird backlash-y term, the ‘unfunny comedy,’ that’s kind of meant to throw shade on some of my favorite TV shows like Atlanta, Transparent, and Fleabag, but I don’t get the animosity.  As long as it’s super watchable and engrossing, I don’t mind trading some laughs for smartly observed ‘slice of life’ moments or pathos or whatever. And the same is true of ads.”

Bagley’s fellow Wieden+Kennedy executive creative director Eric Baldwin, who also was a creative director on the Mustafa Old Spice work, says that while emotional and inspirational work has taken some of the pop culture thunder from funny ads, humor in brand work is as strong and prevalent as ever. “I do think comedy spots have changed quite a bit,” says Baldwin. “We’re coming out of a really strong era of work where maybe strategies were a bit looser. For us, what we’re finding is, the smarter you can be strategically, the more creative doors open for you.”

And therein lies the answer. Perhaps our definition of a funny ad is what needs to be redefined. Why shouldn’t the timely and hilarious soccer jokes on British bookmaker Paddy Power’s Twitter feed, or Taco Bell’s insanely popular Cinco de Mayo Snapchat filter, or whatever the hell you’d call Burger King’s Google Home hack, be considered funny ads? The influence of comedy has changed among brands, but rather than become diluted or diminished, it’s been redistributed to a wider variety of media.

Baldwin points to how his agency took voice recognition, artificial intelligence, and bot technology to make an animatronic Colonel Sanders that takes orders at KFC drive-thrus.

“To use such a smart technology for something so dumb, is one of the best challenges we can have,” says Baldwin. “It was 24 hours of voice recording to synthesize the voice, building the mechanics of the eyeballs and the lift, the voice-to-text tech–it’s all incredibly smart stuff for the dumbest reason. We’ve got all these different things and ways to help us tell jokes in so many different ways than just a 30-second ad.”

His colleague Bagley takes issue with that. “I’d disagree with Baldwin that it was dumb,” he counters. “Fried chicken-based entertainment is the most noble of purposes.”


It’s Not Just You: These Super Successful People Suffer From Imposter Syndrome

0
0

The advice “fake it ’til you make it” is meant to motivate you to push past your fears, but what if you continue to feel like a fake even after you succeed? Actually, that’s totally normal: 70% of us suffer from “imposter syndrome,” the feeling of being a fraud, according to the International Journal of Behavioral Science.

While it’s not an official clinical diagnosis, psychologists acknowledge that imposter syndrome is real, and is often accompanied by anxiety and even depression. First described by psychologists Suzanne Imes and Pauline Rose Clance in the 1970s, the condition affects high achievers who are unable to internalize and accept their success, attributing their accomplishments to luck instead of ability.


Related: 8 Practical Steps To Getting Over Your Imposter Syndrome


You might be surprised at the people who admit to feeling like an imposter. While a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society at Harvard University, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg felt she didn’t deserve to be there. “Every time I was called on in class, I was sure that I was about to embarrass myself,” she writes in her book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. “Every time I took a test, I was sure that it had gone badly. And every time I didn’t embarrass myself — or even excelled — I believed that I had fooled everyone yet again. One day soon, the jig would be up.”

Actress and fellow Harvard alum Natalie Portman shared her continued feelings of inadequacy with the school’s 2015 graduating class in a commencement speech. “Today I feel much like I did when I came to Harvard Yard as a freshman in 1999,” she said. “I felt like there had been some mistake, that I wasn’t smart enough to be in this company, and that every time I opened my mouth I would have to prove that I wasn’t just a dumb actress.”

And Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz admitted to being insecure: “Very few people, whether you’ve been in that job before or not, get into the seat and believe today that they are now qualified to be the CEO. They’re not going to tell you that, but it’s true,” he said in an interview with The New York Times.


Related: The Five Types Of Imposter Syndrome And How To Beat Them


Imposter syndrome is fueled by two very powerful and interconnected human emotions: anxiety and shame, says Aaron Nurick, professor of management and psychology and author of the book The Good Enough Manager: The Making of a GEM. “The anxiety usually comes from perfectionism, and the associated stress can distort one’s perspective,” he says. “The key is understanding the internal messages derived from these feelings and then taking steps to change the narrative. What is the primary source of anxiety, and what is the social environment? We often feel shame in relation to highly significant others.”

“[Imposter syndrome] is clearly a head game,” says Lou Manza, professor of psychology and chair of the department of psychology at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. “If you’ve actually accomplished something, then own it. There’s no need to think that you didn’t really earn it.”

While it takes time to quiet that inner voice, the more you do it, the quieter that voice gets, until it disappears, he says. “A problem, I think, is that some people are unwilling or unable to take the time to try to squash the thoughts, so they just get louder and louder,” he says. “This can be avoided, but it does take effort. If the ‘imposter’ doesn’t want to make the effort, then they’re in trouble.”


Related: How To Master Your Brain To Overcome Imposter Syndrome


While insecurities will probably always arise, you can avoid damaging your confidence and career by taking these three steps to stop feeling like a fraud.

1. Identify Your Strengths

Take time to reflect on your true strengths and weaknesses, and be very specific about how you put these strengths to use and how they add value to the task and environment, says Nurick. “If you are good with numbers, for example, how does that skill-set come into play in your normal work pattern?” he asks.

If you aren’t sure of your strengths, gain better perspective by seeking honest feedback from a trusted mentor or confidant. This person can help you challenge the assumptions that lead you to feeling inadequate, and the conversation will benefit your stress level, says Nurick: “Expressing anxiety can lead to productive mechanisms to alleviate it,” he says. “Some anxiety is actually beneficial as a motivator.”

2. Unwrap the “Shoulds”

Try to understand the assumptions—the “should” statements—that lie just beyond immediate awareness, says Nurick. For example, “I should be the smartest one in the room. “I should know every aspect of the job in order to be respected and in charge.” “I should not make a mistake, because to make a mistake is to fail and to be revealed as incompetent in the eyes of my team and peers.”

“This internal logic can lead to a downward spiral and self-fulfilling prophecy,” he says.

Once you know the “shoulds” that plague your thinking, deconstruct each one apart to identify why you feel this way and what would happen if you didn’t live up to the bar you’ve set for yourself.

3. Reframe Mistakes

People who suffer from imposter syndrome fear mistakes, but they are an important part of the learning process. “Straightforwardly admitting them, but not dwelling on them or looking for excuses or blame, can actually increase your esteem and respect,” says Nurick. “Perfectionism usually leads to cover-ups which are often worse than the initial mistake, and can lead to a culture of blame, back-biting, and suspicion.”

Schultz says a CEO’s willingness to feel insecure is not a weakness, but only when used properly. “I would say one of the underlying strengths of a great leader and a great CEO—not all the time but when appropriate—is to demonstrate vulnerability, because that will bring people closer to you and show people the human side of you,” he told The New York Times.

No one has all the answers, no matter how smart they are or how impressive their credentials, says Nurick. The key is to know how to communicate it. “Expressing this in the form of curiosity and posing thoughtful questions can increase participation in decision making and ownership of the process,” he says.

This Is How Your Random Facebook Friends Can Help You Land Your Dream Job

0
0

When you think of how many Facebook friends you’ve accrued over the years, your head probably spins. Many of them are random people you met briefly or never officially met at all. There’s the fiancée of the groom’s cousin you chatted with at that wedding last summer (she’s a lab technician or something, right?). And that friend of a former colleague who added you years ago out of the blue–someone you’ve never been in the same room with but who’s always leaving cheerful comments on your Facebook posts.

These might not seem like the kinds of people who will be remotely helpful in advancing your career, but they actually can be. The secret to developing a great career in marketing, for example, isn’t just to know a ton of well-connected marketers. All you really need is to be introduced to a select few of them, right?

And one of the best ways to make that happen is to start connecting with the people you already know, regardless of their industry or the nature of your connection to them. Here’s how.


Related:The Networking Secret That Only Requires Writing Four Emails A Year


Time For An Inventory

It all starts with a very simple step: Do a systematic inventory of everyone you’re connected with on Facebook. Take a few spare hours over the next few afternoons this week and go through everyone–with Facebook open in a browser window and a spreadsheet open in another. As you scroll through your connections, start a running list with a few simple fields:

  • name
  • employer
  • where they’re living
  • what they’re doing

Spend a moment or two scanning each person’s profile page, but don’t necessarily add everyone to your list–only those who are doing something that interests you, broadly defined. Doesn’t matter whether it’s in your field; doesn’t matter whether or not they’re working at a higher level than you. If it piques your interest, for whatever reason, add them. And if they themselves aren’t doing anything interesting but are evidently connected with somebody who is, add them.

Next, go back and begin to organize your list, not based on who’s doing what’s closest to what you want to be doing, but by your comfort level with each person. How well do you know this individual? Could you send him or her a message on Facebook and readily grab a coffee? Would it be minimally awkward to jump on the phone with this person? Or do you have a personal connection to draw on: a shared alma mater, previous employer, hometown, or favorite sports team?

Then pick the top 10 most interesting and reasonably approachable people on your list–by your own standards–and start “networking” with them. Reach out for a friendly catch-up. Say that their startup or new job or latest travels look awesome and that you want to hear more about it. Ideally, start with people you can meet face-to-face and then progress to short Skype dates once you’ve exhausted the contacts in your own city.


Related:How Not To Suck At Networking When You Have A Lame Job Title


Why You Should Start With People You Know (However Vaguely)

A lot of people will tell you that networking is about having a clear-cut goal or “ask,” then working your relationships in order to get people to deliver on it. Otherwise, you’re just wasting their time. “What do you want from me? I can’t help you!” they’ll supposedly think, throwing their arms up at your haplessness.

But the risk of things going this way is actually really minimal. Networking is simply the practice of connecting with people around you and openly sharing what you’re interested in. The more people who know you and know what you’re all about, the more potential champions you have out there who can help you find your way. That’s why one of the best ways to get started is by “networking” with people you’re already familiar with, however tenuously so.

Presumably, the people you’ve identified in your inventory know you at least marginally better than a random third-degree connection on LinkedIn. So if you casually mention you’re looking for a new marketing gig in New York, they will probably rack their brains thinking of a way to help–even if they don’t know of one right away. Most likely, these friends don’t do exactly what you want to do work-wise, but that’s actually a good thing–for at least three reasons:

  1. They are still up to something that sparked your interest, so you can learn and grow through that conversation.
  2. They won’t suspect that the whole reason you want to hang out is to get a job at their company (which it isn’t).
  3. You never know who knows whom–until they tell you.

Someone who works in international diplomacy may be able to connect you to someone in engineering–and they’ll do it simply because they like you and because you seem qualified (which hopefully you are).

Conventional networking is about learning what others need and finding ways to help them. This strategy lowers that bar considerably. At least initially, it’s simply about learning what other people in your life are doing and sharing what you’re up to, too. It’s about exchanging goals and ideas, not doing unasked-for favors. Because there’s already some social (or social media) pretext for you to be connected in the first place, there’s no need to devise other stratagems to get people to give you the time of day. Instead, your connections expand organically, and you strengthen existing relationships with people you think are interesting.

You Still Have To Lend A Hand

Here’s the most important part, though: You still do need to find ways to help the people you connect or reconnect with–you aren’t off the hook. The conversation might be way easier to strike up when it’s with a Facebook friend than with someone in a pantsuit at a cocktail mixer, but it should still ultimately lead to the same place. So if someone needs a new web designer, pass along the contact of the person who did your site. If a friend is going to Egypt next month and you’ve spent time there, send them a short email with your best travel tips.

You have something to offer to everyone, I promise, so dig into your well of knowledge, experience, ideas, and contacts, and be ready to assist someone else after catching up on what’s new. By getting in the practice of helping others, you put out good karma and people will inevitably reciprocate–maybe not now, but at some point in the future. It also just feels good to look out for the needs and interests of others and find ways to help them along (maybe because it’s an antidote to the competitive mind-set that the job grind seems to encourage).

You can do this in small bites. Move down your list in sets of five or 10 contacts, gradually working your way up to people who you don’t know as well but are doing things you admire. They may even be people who intimidate you, but you’ve already gotten a lot of practice at this point–talking casually about yourself and what you’re doing, asking good questions, listening, learning, and helping wherever you can.

American politics is “event viewing” now. Here’s a Nielsen chart that proves it.

0
0

Remember when your local bar held all those “presidential debate parties” in the lead-up to the 2016 election? They were onto something. New data from Nielsen indicates that people are watching a good amount of news programming on TV screens in public areas like bars, hotels, gyms, and airports. It’s a category Nielsen calls “out-of-home viewing” and, practically speaking, it’s just another area marketers can point to when they’re trying to prove their TV commercials are still holding people’s attention.

Nielsen analyzed out-of-home viewing from January-May 2017, and found that news programing was the second most-watched genre, with viewers spending an additional 2 hours and 2 minutes watching news programing outside of their homes. Only sports was a bigger category, which makes sense when you think that bars and gyms account for a lot of these screens. As an example of a recent news event that saw a notable out-of-home boost, Nielsen cited James Comey’s Senate testimony, whose broadcast ratings jumped 11% when out-of-home was factored in.

Politics, like misery, loves company.

[Image: Nielsen]

Jimmy Fallon has probably never stayed in an Airbnb

0
0

Jimmy Fallon weighed in on the pros and cons of using Airbnb on Tuesday night’s episode of The Tonight Show, and the biggest takeaway is that it is pretty clear he’s never stayed in one before. For the bit, Fallon read a series of jokes based on what seemed to be weird Airbnb stereotypes.

For instance:“Pro: Renting your house to strangers is a good way to earn some extra money,” read Fallon. “Con: Which you’ll need to replace all your stolen belongings.”

Or this one:“Pro: Saying goodnight to your girlfriend,” he read. “Con: Hearing the owner say ‘g’night’ from under the bed.”

Still, you can’t blame Jimmy for not knowing about Airbnb. While the service is good enough for Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Fallon has probably never needed to use one, not with all those Taxi royalties he’s raking in.

Amazon Alexa gets a hand in Andy Rubin’s Essential phone startup

0
0

Former Android boss Andy Rubin hasn’t launched his post-Google smartphone yet, but that’s not stopping him from raising more money in the meantime. Rubin’s new startup, Essential, just closed a $300 million Series B round led by Access Technology Ventures. Essential also picked up a new strategic investor in Amazon, which contributed an undisclosed sum through its Alexa Fund.

Amazon uses that fund to back companies working with its Alexa voice assistant, yet Rubin has said the Essential phone will ship with an unmodified version of Android, which comes devoid of any Amazon services. Amazon may be more interested in the Essential Home, a smart home control puck that Rubin hopes will work with all the major virtual assistants. The investment suggests the Alexa will be on board, but it’s unclear if Google and Apple will lend their own assistants to the device—or when the Home will ship, for that matter. As for the phone, Essential says it’ll launch in the “coming weeks” on Sprint and Telus (in Canada), with carrier-unlocked models available at Essential.com, Best Buy, and—wait for it—Amazon.

To Relieve A Congested Downtown, This City Had A Solution: Free Bus Passes

0
0

When a group of property owners in downtown Columbus, Ohio realized that they were running out of parking spaces for car commuters–to accommodate demand, they’d have to build around 4,000 new spaces–they made a choice. Instead of pushing for new parking garages, they’d try to convince fewer workers to drive by giving them free public transit.

Beginning in June 2018, the Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District, an association funded by downtown property owners, plans to offer free bus passes to more than 40,000 people who work in the area.

Over the last several years, many parking lots in downtown Columbus have been replaced by new residential developments. At the same time, the number of people driving to work alone has increased, leaving so few available parking spots that companies have been reluctant to rent office space in the neighborhood.

“Office brokers first started calling us about this problem about four or five years ago,” says Mark Conte, deputy director of Capital Crossroads. “We’ve now lost an additional 2,000 parking spaces. An office broker would call and say, ‘Hey, I’m working on a deal, can you find me 50 spaces? And our answer would be ‘We can’t.'”

[Photo: Flickr user Sam Howzit]
From June 2015 to January 2017, the association ran a pilot to see what would happen if they offered free bus passes to workers in the area. It was a success: among 844 employees at the four companies in the pilot, bus ridership doubled from 6.4% to 12.2%. Based on those results, the group recently voted to offer free bus passes longer-term, from June 2018 until the end of 2020.

Right now, most workers in Columbus drive. In 1990, around 70% drove alone to work; by 2010, that figure was 82.6%. For each 100 workers in the downtown area, there are 87 cars, more than any other mid-sized city downtown apart from Indianapolis (Houston, for example, which is also known as a car commuting city, has 78 cars per 100 downtown workers).

Despite the culture of driving, workers were receptive to the pilot. When Erica Taffany started a new job at in 2015 at the law firm Porter Wright, one of the companies participating in the pilot, she was convinced to try commuting by bus for the first time. “The parking wait list for any garage in the downtown area was about six months long,” she says. “So I thought, instead of paying an exorbitant amount to park 20 blocks away, I may as well just try riding the bus.” After the pilot ended, she bought a bus pass and continued to ride (she recently started driving temporarily because she is pregnant and close to her due date).

“When companies are able to offer this transit benefit, that might be the time that they can then take a look at how much parking they do subsidize.” [Photo: courtesy Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District]
When the new program begins, the association expects around 5% of the workforce in the area will decide to start taking the bus, freeing up 2,400 parking spaces. At each office, restaurant, or other workplace, the association plans to hold orientation meetings that help workers understand the alternatives to driving, including a program that offers regular bus riders free taxi rides if they work late or have an emergency. “A lot of this is going to be about laying out everybody’s options so that they can feel very comfortable in switching over,” says Conte.

Some companies that offer subsidized or free parking may eventually phase that out; charging for parking is a proven way to quickly decrease the number of commuters who drive. “I think some companies will do that, but I doubt any companies will admit to it right now,” he says. “Once you give a benefit, it’s hard to take it away. What I think would be ideal is that when companies are able to offer this transit benefit, that might be the time that they can then take a look at how much parking they do subsidize…It depends on the company and who their workers are, and what the competition is for those workers. So a company who’s attracting a lot of young people that are living downtown or in the central city area, I think those people are going to be more apt to look at transit and biking options, and not care as much about a parking benefit.”

The association expects to see a series of benefits. Because employees will be able to get to work more easily, more employers will be interested in moving to the area, decreasing the office vacancy rate from around 15% to a projected 4%. Air pollution will improve: the county earned a failing grade this year from the American Lung Association for smog, and the rate of childhood asthma is double the national average, at 15.8%. In a year, the program should also help avoid more than 10 million pounds of CO2 emissions.

The bus passes are also meant to help lower-income workers. Nearly a fifth of employees in the area earn less than $25,000, the county’s living wage, and struggle to afford to get to work. Some employers, such as hotels, are struggling with high turnover as a result. The passes could change that.

If the program is a success, it’s likely to continue long-term. Property owners will cover about half of the $5 million initial program, and grants and donations will cover the rest. The passes will be subsidized by the local transit agency, a partner in the program. Ultimately, property owners may fund the whole program themselves.

These Five Bad Email Habits Are Why No One Gets Back To You On Time

0
0

By now, I’m going to assume that you’re well-versed in the email etiquette basics. You know, things like always including a subject line and resisting the temptation to CC every single warm body in your office. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt here. Still, it’s likely your messages aren’t completely flawless.

There are a few email sins that aren’t as oft-repeated but are still just as cringeworthy. And you might be guilty of committing them whether you’re aware of it or not–and that could be the reason why people aren’t exactly rushing to respond to you. Here are a few of those faux-pas and what it takes to fix them.


Related:Six Ways To Write Emails That Don’t Make People Silently Resent You


1. Playing “Hot Potato”

You pride yourself on being totally on top of your inbox–incoming messages never go long without a reply from you.

It’s great that you’re committed to being so responsive. But it’s important that you also consider the quality of what you’re sending. Are your replies actually pushing the conversation forward? Or are you firing off short (and perhaps even totally useless) messages in an effort to put the ball in the other person’s court and get yourself one step closer to that elusive inbox zero?

Oftentimes people find that they’re falling into that latter category. Unfortunately, that frantic game of email hot potato is completely counterproductive.

How to improve: I know the pressure to get back to people can be high, and I’m not trying to tell you to let messages linger unanswered. Instead, if you’re not at a point where you can provide a high-quality response, send a short note stating that you’re looking into it and will get back with a more detailed answer as soon as you have it.

That step eliminates the pressure of needing to respond instantly, while still giving you time to devote adequate consideration to that message.

2. Showcasing Your Sense Of Humor

Nobody wants to sound like a lifeless robot over email. And trust me, I definitely appreciate those punny and off-the-wall notes that arrive in my inbox. However, there’s no guarantee that other recipients will feel the same way. You need to remember that written messages lack the nonverbal and other context cues that typically help your humor to land.

So it’s important to know your audience before peppering your email with what I’m sure is your stellar sense of humor. I’d be delighted with that great GIF of a dog in a party hat. Your board members? Maybe not so much. Plus, nothing kills all sense of seriousness and urgency like an off-topic joke. If you want a quick response, hold off on the punchlines.


Related:This Guy Spent A Year Exploring The Subculture Of Competitive Punning


How to improve: Again, understanding your recipient is crucial here. But if you feel even an inkling of doubt about how your funny joke or remark will be received, delete it. You’re better off safe than sorry, and you can still be friendly and personable in your email–without the standup routine.

3. Rambling On And On

I know that this can seem like a fine line to walk. You hear so much chatter about those dreaded meetings that could’ve happened over email that it’s easy to feel pressured to avoid sit-downs at all costs.

But this attempt to skip all face-to-face contact often results in some long-winded emails. Before you know it, you’ve cranked out a 3,000-word masterpiece that dives into ever single detail of that upcoming sales presentation. Spoiler alert: Nobody is going to read it. And those who do will have to spend more time sifting through all that information before crafting a response–which they’re likely to put off for as long as humanly possible.

How to improve: Sometimes longer messages are unavoidable. In those cases, things like bullet points, short paragraphs, and subheads can help keep things organized and easy to digest.

But considering that the ideal length is somewhere between 50 and 125 words, anything longer than that might warrant a meeting or a phone call.

4. Writing Something You Wouldn’t Want Anybody Else To See

There’s a false sense of privacy that comes along with your inbox. You assume that the intended recipient will be the only one to see that snarky comment about your boss.

Listen very carefully: Not only is that rude, but it’s risky business. Whether it’s an eventual tech problem, a snoopy HR department, or even a gossipy coworker, chances are good that your not-so-friendly remarks will eventually make it into the wrong hands or in front of the wrong eyeballs.

How to improve: This one you just need to stop cold turkey. If you’re tempted to type something slightly off-color (even jokingly!) in your message, ask yourself this: What would your reaction be if somebody (such as your boss or another colleague) saw that comment? The recipient might feel just as uncomfortable with that thought as you should, and waffle on how and whether to respond. So if you get the slightest bit anxious about hitting “send,” it’s time to tap the backspace key instead.


Related:These Are The LinkedIn InMails That Get The Highest Response Rates


5. Being Married To Your Inbox

Alright, this last mistake doesn’t actually have anything to do with the content of the messages you’re sending. But it’s still an important one to be aware of.

Again, wanting to actively manage your inbox is a great quality (all of those people with thousands of unread emails just hanging out are jealous of your commitment, I’m sure!). However, that doesn’t give you a free pass to keep your eyes glued to your phone in the middle of dinner, a meeting, a vacation, or a wedding (yes, I’ve seen it happen).

Not only is your compulsive inbox-refreshing forcing you to miss out on real conversations and experiences, but it’s also really inconsiderate to the people you’re spending time with–which makes them feel irritated, and less likely to get back to you on time.

How to improve: The answer here is simple: Put your phone away. I know, it seems impossible. But as I learned in this experiment, it’s more than worth it.

Here’s the good news: All of these faux pas are things that you can resolve, provided you’re willing to learn and change your habits. You’re not destined for a life of being a total email screw-up whom everybody procrastinates on getting back to. Implement that advice (and, while you’re at it, brush up on these email etiquette basics!), and you’ll be well on your way to stepping up your email game another notch.


A version of this article originally appeared on The Muse. It is adapted with permission.


More From The Muse:


You can rent Donald Trump’s Queens childhood home on Airbnb for $725 a night

0
0

Quick: Before President Donald Trump’s childhood home is turned into an historical landmark and presidential museum, book a stay in it on Airbnb. The *ahem* historic property is being rented out to anyone willing to pony up $725 night to stay in Jamaica, Queens. While most visitors to New York City would not jump at the chance to fork over that much cash (after all, rooms at the Trump Soho start at only $275 a night and you can swipe a Trump-branded pen), the historic import makes the trip on the F train worth it.

Through some intense magical thinking (and bunk beds), the house sleeps 20, despite only having five bedrooms, one of which will be inaccessible to renters as it is where the home’s current owner lives. According to the listing, the house also has a conference room and meeting space if your company is looking for a unique getaway location for an employee-bonding retreat.

Once you see the “opulent furnishings” and the “giant cut out of Donald in the Living Room” that fill Trump’s childhood home, it’s easy to understand why the president would consider the White House “a dump.”

[via Mashable]

Decoding Jaden Smith: This Week In Music

0
0

Feels like we’re burning out the summer. We just blew past July, and we’re also burned out from a certain music festival that I have mentioned too many times. So with that, let’s just get into volume nine of the Productivity Playlist.

Track 1. Aminé, featuring Nelly – “Yellow”

This past Friday we saw the drop of Animé’s debut album Good for You. The rapper fell onto our radar after his performance of “Caroline” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which is a must see-and-hear, especially at the 3:14 mark. The hype around his debut album built up even more when he was inducted into XXL‘s 2017 Freshman Class. And leave it to the other e-acute accent aficionado Beyoncé to bring us to peak hype-ness with her highly produced, perfectly looping Instagram video featuring “Caroline.” Aside from Animé’s lead single, I recommend checking out “Yellow”–it’s good for you.

Track 2. Jaden Smith – “Watch Me”

Much like Jaden Smith’s now infamous musings, his music deserves a closer listen. Exhibit A) “Batman”: The song came out with a music video that features Smith in an all white Batman suit roaming around the city of Gotham, California. Very direct visual and lyrics, everything seems pretty basic on the surface–but the sound of the song is a mirror to the trap genre, specifically the song by Drake and Future “Jumpman.” Smith is making himself performance art in trying to point to the sound of music, playing into that idea that nothing is new. Exhibit B) “Watch Me”: Based off of Kanye West’s 2013 track “Black Skinhead,” Smith had made it his own in fresh, new way that’s definitely earned a spot on this list.

Track 3. Evalyn, and Sweater Beats – “Filthy Rich (Remix)”

If you’re a fan of Lana Del Rey, Banks, and Bishop Briggs, then welcome to Evalyn, who describes her sound as soul-pop. A Sweater Beats’ EDM layer elevates Evalyn’s more indie-centric track “Filthy Rich” to a mellow, yet somehow hype, level.

Track 4. snny – “Young Boy”

I don’t normally like to push a track that isn’t too fresh (this one hit streaming services back in May), but this is still a new find for me at least and maybe for you too. “Young Boy” has a solid ’80s R&B meets New Wave sound, topped snny’s smooth vocals. The throwback sound on this track works very nicely in the playlist for this week–and it’s a great segue into the last track coming up.

Track 5. The War On Drugs – “Pain”

You know that old sound you’re looking for? Well, listen to this! The Philadelphia outfit that goes by the name of The War On Drugs has a new track called “Pain” that encapsulates a very Bob Dylan-esque sound. It’s a very chill and relaxing song to ease into and just the note we need to end off the week’s playlist on.

Check this out: You don’t even need to wait for these posts to go out–you can take the Spotify playlist with you. Remember to always be working smarter, and see you soon.

In Less Than Five Years, 44 Trillion Cameras Will Be Watching Us

0
0

It was a big deal when Apple added a second camera to the back of the iPhone 7 Plus last year. In five years, that will be considered quaint. By then, smartphones could sport 13 cameras, allowing them to capture 360-degree, 3D video; create complex augmented reality images onscreen; and mimic with digital processing the optical zoom and aperture effects of an SLR. That’s one of the far-out, but near-term, predictions in a new study by LDV Capital, a VC firm that invests in visual technologies such as computer vision. It polled experts at its own portfolio companies and beyond to predict that by 2022, the total number of cameras in the world will reach about 44 trillion.

Jaw-dropping as that figure is, it doesn’t seem so crazy when you realize that today there are already about 14 trillion cameras in the world, according to data from research firms such as Gartner. Next to phones, other camera-hungry products will include robots (including autonomous cars), security cameras, and smart home products like the new Amazon Echo Show, according to LDV.

[Image: LDV Capital]
That’s a lot of digital eyes on us, although we are already well-watched. “Today if you walk through New York or the major parts of San Francisco, the parks and rail stations, we’re being photographed all the time,” says Evan Nisselson, a photographer and entrepreneur who founded LDV in 2012. Not that he’s concerned. Nisselson looks forward to full-featured surveillance. “If they have facial recognition…why can’t they send me those photographs? I would like to see random photographs,” he says.

Everyone may not have that same level of enthusiasm, but Nisselson believes people will accept cameras “as long as the contextual relevance benefits me as a human,” he says. He imagines a future in which his Echo Show notices that his pants are wearing out and offers to order him a new pair. Other examples include a stove that turns off if a child steps too close to it, he says, or a front-door camera with facial recognition that allows only approved people to enter—something that’s been offered for years by companies like Chui. Of course there will be more camera-equipped refrigerators, he says, using a lens to see if the door is open or to analyze what’s inside. Fridges account for nearly all of the home devices that come with cameras today, according to IHS Technology.

Eyes And Brains

The growth of AI and the steep drop in camera prices are feeding off each other. More cameras collect more visual data for algorithms to learn from, enabling more camera-based AI services. “Ninety percent of the data AI needs to succeed, I believe, is going to be visual,” says Nisselson. Autonomous cars, for instance, could have cameras not only on the outside to watch the road but also on the inside to determine whether the driver is healthy and sober enough to take the wheel—a step beyond current systems that notice if the driver’s gaze leaves the road. “If it photographs you every day driving your car, but on the 30th day, you’re acting very abnormally, the car knows that,” says Nisselson. “The challenge will be to identify what that issue is.” The driver may be agitated because they are drinking, or maybe just nervous about a new job interview.

[Image: LDV Capital]
Slower will be the growth of wearable cameras, according to LDV. “Some glasses like the Snap Spectacles , they will start to grow,” says Nisselson. “And I think it’s the early days.” Video-chat app-maker Glide is one of the companies making camera-equipped bands for the Apple Watch, for instance. Cameras are integral to augmented and mixed-reality glasses like early (albeit clunky) eyewear from companies like ODG.


Related: How Lauryn Morris Made A Spectacle Of Snap’s Hit Sunglasses


But what LDV calls “handheld cameras” will be the dominant product, and that increasingly means smartphone cameras. “Real cameras,” including DSLRs, made up just 1.6% of cameras sold in 2016. Nisselson wrote in 2003 about cellphone cameras replacing point and shoots. Now he talks about cellphones replacing DSLRs, thanks to those multi-camera models. Light L16, for instance, a point-and-shoot that uses 16 cameras for special effects, switching between 28mm, 70mm, and 150mm modules and computing zoom levels in between to mimic a traditional zoom lens—a souped-up version of what the iPhone 7 does with its two cameras. Eventually, camera arrays like on the L16 could be squeezed into a smartphone, says Nisselson. “If it gets 80% there it’s going to get very close to quality of a DSLR,” he says.

Augmented reality will also create a hunger for cellphone cameras, to survey your surroundings and to measure distances for a hyper version of Pokémon Go that incorporates all types of information into the view on the smartphone screen. But photography is still mainly about sharing. “The desire to capture and communicate,” says Nisselson, “is the main driver for the cameraphone to have more lenses.”

You can finally put your baby on the Paleo diet

0
0

With baby food increasingly mimicking adult food, is it any wonder that babies can now munch on adult-style fad diets?

Meet the latest infant startup: Serenity Kids–meat purees that are essentially the world’s first Paleo Diet-inspired baby food. The so-called “cavemen diet” is high in fat and protein, and lacks all forms of dairy, grains, soy, and legumes.

Founders and paleo followers Serenity Heegel and Joe Carr said they were inspired to start their own direct-to-consumer company after realizing they weren’t able to feed their child what they ate on a daily basis. Now, little ones everywhere can consume pouches of “100% grass-fed, grass-finished beef with organic sweet potato” or “pastured uncured bacon that has organic butternut squash and organic kale.”

The baby food market has become increasingly competitive of late, with multiple startups and home delivery companies aiming to take a bite out of parents’ growing nutrition concerns. There are startups dedicated to all kinds of tastes and needs: vegetarian, organic, locally sourced, even pouch-less (which some say are bad for a baby’s development–and the environment).

Serenity Kids claims it’s already pre-sold 400 cases (1,800 pouches), even though it does not officially launch until later in the month.

MIT study suggests blocking one enzyme may reverse memory loss in Alzheimer’s patients

0
0

A better treatment for Alzheimer’s patients may be on the horizon thanks to new research from MIT. Researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have discovered that they can reverse memory loss in mice by blocking an enzyme called HDAC2, publishing their work in the Aug. 8 edition of Cell Reports.

HDAC2 turns off genes by condensing them so tightly that they can’t be expressed, kind of like how you can’t wear skinny jeans and eat a mega-burrito for lunch. Scientists have known about HDAC2 for awhile now, but they haven’t had any luck blocking it without also impeding the good work of related enzymes. That’s where the MIT team led by Hidekuni Yamakawa, Jemmie Cheng, and Jay Penney came in. They figured out a way to precisely target HDAC2, allowing them to block it and reverse memory loss. That could be huge news for the future of Alzheimer’s treatment.

Read all about it here.

Techdirt fights back with a new “free speech” section funded in part by Charles Koch

0
0

Beloved tech law and policy blog Techdirt is in the midst of a dirty legal fight. Shiva Ayyadurai, a man who claims he invented email, served the site with a $15 million defamation lawsuit over articles written that rebut Ayyadurai’s assertions. Instead of backing down, Techdirt is using this as a way to highlight the unknown future of free speech.

This suit, writes Techdirt, “seems specifically designed to either shut down the company or to silence reporting on matters of public interest.” It’s a tactic that was used to shut Gawker down–a rich person doesn’t like critical coverage and decides to sue a journalistic organization into oblivion. Now Techdirt is launching a new “free speech” tab that would feature newly focused pieces on the subject right as it’s being attacked.

This tab is a new project partnership with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Others have contributed to it too, including Automattic, Craig Newmark’s CraigConnects, and Union Square Ventures, as well as the Charles Koch Foundation.

So far, this new free speech project has raised over $250,000.Axiosdescribed the funders as “eclectic,” and with Charles Koch on the roster, that descriptor is right on. Techdirt adds that it “maintains full editorial control over all content.” You can read the full announcement here.

This New Tire Has No Air And Is 3D Printed From Biodegradable Materials

0
0

In recent years, there’s been an undeniable explosion in talk about the automobile of the future. It’ll be self-driving, we imagine, powered by electricity instead of gas. It’ll be silent, efficient, catering to our every need as passengers (even, in the case of this Mercedes, going so far as to offer a full spa treatment). But rarely is similar attention devoted to the thing that propels these vehicles forward: the tire.

Granted, “tire of the future” does have quite the same consumer appeal as “car of the future,” but Michelin is making the case for the category nonetheless. And for good reason: Anywhere from 15 to 38 liters of petroleum are required to produce standard tires, which, once worn through, often make their way to landfills, where they decompose and release hazardous toxins into the soil and atmosphere.

Anywhere from 15 to 38 liters of petroleum are required to produce standard tires [Photo: Loren Wohl/AP Images for Michelin]
The new Michelin VISION concept is a 3D-printed, airless, wheel-tire combination composed of organic, biodegradable materials, including orange zest, bamboo, molasses, wood, and natural rubber. Instead of a runner inner tube that maintains its structure with regular injections of air, the VISION is more solid, sponge-like structure–picture a 3D spiderweb, molded into the shape of a wheel. While the weblike structure is still a prototype–Terry Gettys, Michelin’s global head of R&D, tells Fast Company they’re looking at a 10-to-20-year rollout process–it signals an important new area for innovation in the transportation sector.

Work on VISION, Gettys says, began about a year and a half ago, and has entailed devising ways to switch out components of traditional tires for naturally derived ingredients. Instead of relying on petroleum to create the synthetic rubber needed for tires, Gettys describes how molasses can achieve a similar aim. “From the sugar from molasses, we can develop ethanol; from ethanol we can create the synthetic rubber that today, in 75% of tires, is derived from petroleum,” Gettys says. “It’s good for the environment to have a renewable source, but it’s also higher-performing.”

First unveiled at the Movin’ On mobility conference in Montreal in June, the VISION also, Gettys says, represents more sustainable option because of the way the wheel and tire are fused into one biodegradable, nature-inspired structure. Instead of having to dismantle the tire and rims and bring them to separate outlets to try to recycle them, the VISION can be recycled as a single unit, and will decompose naturally without harming the environment.

But busted VISIONS will not accumulate in landfills like our current tires do. Because it is airless, the VISION will never blow out and never needs to be replaced. Instead, it can be “recharged” as often as necessary with a new layer of treads; the 3D-printed treads can be tweaked to adapt to weather and road conditions. Gettys visualizes, instead of the flat-fix and tire-change shops you haul your vehicle to before heading into the mountains, a network of service stations that can use targeted 3D-printers to add a new layer of treads to the tire to adapt to new conditions. “The tread compound, the outer layer, is very thin and designed to wear out and be replaced so you can tune it to your needs,” Gettys says. The VISION will also contain sensor chips to gather information on the experience and usage of the tires.

“It’s good for the environment to have a renewable source, but it’s also higher-performing.” [Photo: Loren Wohl/AP Images for Michelin]
“We wanted to design an object that represents Michelin’s commitment to sustainable mobility,” Gettys says. The VISION is a concept meant to encapsulate what it means to build a tire while remaining mindful of the need to cut back on the use of scarce or harmful components, and also to design something that will not contribute to landfill at the end of its life cycle. Even though it likely won’t hit consumer markets for another decade–and Gettys anticipates further tweaks to the prototype along the way–it points to how tire manufacturers can begin to think more sustainably.

Of course, the VISION, like all future-looking concepts, raises questions about jobs in the tire industry: What will happen to people accustomed to the assembly-line factory process, or the requirements of the flat-fix shop, when 3D-printing machines take over? That, Gettys says, is something that Michelin will have to consider, whether that be through transitional job-training programs or another solution. But the long market roll-out process for the VISION, Gettys says, will give the company more time to consider how its development will affect the whole industry ecosystem. “You don’t transform an industry overnight,” he says.


Relaaaaaax And Watch This 25-Minute ASMR Video From Ikea

0
0

What: A new back-to-school ad for Ikea that also happens to be a 25-minute ASMR video.

Who: Ikea, Ogilvy & Mather New York

Why we care: Shhhhhhh. Let’s talk very quietly. Getting ready to head back to the classroom can be stressful, so Ikea and Ogilvy decided to jump on the ASMR bandwagon and serve students up with a whole series of relaxing videos, that just also happen to extol the virtues of the brand’s Swedish furnishings.

Ikea now joins the relatively short list of brands (like KFC) who have slowed their roll to tap into the ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) market. I mean, Molly Shannon loves it, so it has to be great, right?

The 25-minute ad is accompanied by a series of shorter spots that get touchy-feely with a closet organizer, cushions, and bedding. It’s all so relaxing, it’s basically the opposite of being stuck in an Ikea store on any weekend.

NASA’s next challenge to humanity: What should we tweet at aliens?

0
0

Do aliens use Tweetdeck? Or Twitter for iPhone? Or if it’s something else, how do they read tweets? That’s an important question because, to honor the 40th anniversary of Voyager’s mission to deep space, NASA wants to send a single tweet into the heavens to represent all of humanity. And NASA wants your ideas for what we will send into interstellar space.

The exercise is inspired by a set of friendly messages, images, and music that are on Voyager’s Golden Record. The agency will pick one tweet to send on September 5, the 40th anniversary of the launch of Voyager 1, in the direction of the far-flung spacecraft.

If you have a great idea, you can submit it by tweeting it with the hashtag #MessageToVoyager. Among the other few rules: there’s a 60-character limit, and submissions must be in by 11:59 p.m. on August 15. The submissions will be judged by NASA, the Voyager team, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the public will vote on the final winner in an online poll.

Given who might read your tweet, this might very well be a moment where you absolutely want to say definitely @ me.

[Via Daily Dot]

Fired By Google, James Damore Takes His Case To YouTube

0
0

James Damore, the engineer fired by Google on Monday for circulating a controversial memo questioning the company’s diversity efforts and “ideological echo chambers,” has made at least two appearances on right-wing YouTube channels in the past 24 hours.

In interviews with University of Toronto Professor Jordan B. Peterson and conservative personality Stefan Molyneux, Damore says he began to write the lengthy memo while on a long flight to Beijing in an effort to better explain his controversial views to colleagues. Among his arguments: that women have a high level of neuroticism compared to men, which he alleged, is a reason for the lower number of women in high-stress jobs.

In the interviews, he described the reaction to the memo, both negative and positive, inside Google and out, and argues that his writing wasn’t meant to critique particular female engineers’ skills, but to explain why women are underrepresented in the field.

“I’m not saying that any of the female engineers at Google are in any way worse than the average male engineer,” he says. “I’m just saying this may explain some of the disparity in representation in the population.”

Damore lays out his argument at 29:20 in the interview with Molyneux, the first video below.


RelatedJames Damore’s Legal Case Against Google Isn’t So Clear


After the memo went viral, Damore was fired yesterday for “perpetuating gender stereotypes” and violating the company’s code of conduct. In response, he filed a labor complaint against Google.

Amid dozens of critiques (Fast Company debunked some of its myths here) as well as critiques about how it’s been covered, the controversy has opened up a new front in the culture wars in Silicon Valley.


RelatedGoogle’s Hardest Moonshot: Debugging Its Race Problem


It also comes as a group of current and former female Google employees are considering suing the tech giant for a “culture that is hostile to women,” and that it has caused them to struggle to advance their careers at the company. They say they have earned less at Google than men, despite having comparable positions and equal qualifications—a claim that has already raised concerns about the company’s transparency and led to a recent legal battle with the Department of Labor.

How To Fix The Nonprofit World’s “Innovation-Aspiration” Problem

0
0

Nonprofits are suffering from what’s been dubbed an “innovation-aspiration” problem: While 80% of the top 145 nonprofit leaders say the sector needs to change practices in order to make greater societal gains, only 40% believe they have the capacity to do that, according to a survey by Bridgespan, a nonprofit consultancy, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

The results of that survey appear a recent Stanford Social Innovation Review report entitled “Is Your Nonprofit Built For Sustained Innovation?” The answer, of course, is obviously not for most organizations. “This gap worries us because most respondents say that if they don’t come up with fresh solutions to the sector’s myriad challenges… they won’t achieve the large scale impact they seek,” writes Nidhi Sahni, a Bridgespan partner and co-author in a memo accompanying the report’s release. Many cash-strapped groups are trapped in a cycle of business as usual, which amounts to plodding gains instead of the large (and ultimately cost-efficient) impacts necessary to close educational, nutritional, or health care gaps.

Many cash-strapped groups are trapped in a cycle of business as usual, which amounts to plodding gains. [Image: RadomanDurkovic/iStock]
In a buzzword-driven era, the report notes, many nonprofits may have lost sight of what innovation really means and why it should be coveted. Per the researchers’ definition it’s “a break from practice large or small, that leads to significant positive social impact.” The team goes on to point out six common elements that groups making breakthroughs generally share.

Those, in still quite buzzword-filled terms, are: “catalytic leadership” (empowering employees to take initiative), a “curious culture” (questioning classic assumptions and challenge the status quo), “diverse teams” (with different backgrounds and skill sets for more perspective), “porous boundaries” (sharing knowledge across both the organization and its beneficiaries), “idea pathways” (a formal structure for generating, testing, and rolling out new concepts), and “ready resources” (investing in the money, time, and probably toolkit required to make all of this happen).

On the leadership front, Higher Achievement, an academic mentoring group for at-risk middle schoolers in Baltimore, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh and Richmond, Virginia, has created its own set of key performance indicators, easily tracked things like school attendance and performance that allows staffers who might have a new way to encourage learning or enthusiasm try it, and then properly grade the result (while maintaining a core curriculum, of course). The excitement of a more involved staff may spread to those the aid: In general, their students exhibit reading and math gains that are well ahead of their learning curves well ahead of their peers.

Innovation is “a break from practice large or small, that leads to significant positive social impact.” [Image: RadomanDurkovic/iStock]
In the case of the international micro-loan platform Kiva, the group’s internal curiosity about what a U.S. version might look like ultimately led to Kiva Zip, a concept pioneered, in part, by one of its volunteers who eventually joined full time. For small businesses owners with little or no credit history, the process hinges on a new way to establish trustworthiness called “social underwriting”: if entrepreneurs bring enough new lenders onto the platform to back them—even in small increments—then their request will be rolled out more who see many small votes of credibility, or, really, creditworthiness as a reason to invest. One internal company habit is to consistently think, “What’s next?” the report notes. Since going live in 2012, the program is responsible for half of the new lenders on the service and has driven $25 million in new loans.

Of all the factors listed, the one many leaders still felt was the least important is diversity. That’s not surprising, although it will likely be costly. As Fast Company has reported racial bias within nonprofit ranks may be driving some of the folks with the best perspective out of the industry entirely. That lack of parity holds sadly true for LGBT employees.

[Image: RadomanDurkovic/iStock]
While not dealing explicitly with race, gender or sexual orientation equality issues, one of the ways that the International Rescue Committee, which delivers humanitarian aid to refugees, has ensure its exposed to fresh ideas is to found an outside R&D lab called The Aribel Center, where employees working in cross-disciplinary teams build and test new concepts the group might not have had the time and vision to consider. To communicate better, other nonprofits are using more tech, like SMS-based polls to figure out how things are really going in the field, hosting innovation summits with others in their space, and launching challenges that come with more funds and coaching that are open to other entrepreneurs and aid-minded organizations who might have their ideas about that’s lacking in modern philanthropic approaches.

For groups that still need help diagnosing how best to get ahead, Bridgespan and Rockefeller have created an Innovation Capacity Diagnostic For Nonprofits. It’s another survey to grade exactly how innovative an organization may be currently, now what it might do next to get ahead.

Bebe, The Iconic Mall Brand, Is Back From The Dead

0
0

If you spent your 20s clubbing and hunting down bandage dresses for your next date, you’re probably familiar with the iconic mall brand Bebe. Since it was founded in San Francisco in 1976, Bebe has been the go-to place for sexy, feminine outfits inspired by recent runway looks. But in April, Bebe announced that it was shuttering all of its 168 brick-and-mortar stores, a dramatic turn from the month before, when it said it was only closing 21 of its least-profitable stores. Bebe was among the many casualties of the “retail apocalypse,” the drastic downturn in mall traffic that has caused brands like Wet Seal, The Limited, and Claire’s to go under.

Judi Franco, a radio host in New Jersey, was downright gutted when she heard Bebe was closing shop. “I guess I was the perfect demographic for it: The 25- to 35-year-old woman who wanted to look hot for a date, sexy for a night out with the girls, or just a plain feel like a supermodel without spending a ton of cash,” she said. “Nobody but nobody could do this without Bebe.”

Be You @herizen_fawn @golden_barbie (shop looks in bio) #beyoubebe

A post shared by bebe (@bebe_stores) on

Franco was partial to Bebe’s more exotic looks. She loved the feathers, sequins, fur, and leather trims. While she enjoyed shopping at regular Bebe stores, the Bebe outlets filled her with even more joy. Yes, you might have to do a bit more digging, casting aside pieces that were way too risqué, but every so often, you’d find a well-priced gem. “When you found the perfect outfit at Bebe, it was like a religious experience,” she said.

Bebe announced that it would hold on to its online presence, but Franco wasn’t so sure that was the same. “It’s nothing like walking into a sea of color, sparkle, and glamour that was the brick-and-mortar Bebe experience,” she said.

But Bebe’s online comeback appears far more impressive than many predicted.

Bebe’s e-commerce site is more robust than ever, with a sparse interface, featuring the latest collection, which is full of rompers and mini-dresses. Last week, the brand also launched a new ad campaign that featured a bevy of ethically diverse global influencers popular with the social media-forward gen Z crowd. Balinese model Inka Williams struts in a floral Bebe print, together with singer Pia Mia from Guam. Jasmine Sanders, a social media sensation, and up-and-coming actress Herizen Guardiola are photographed wearing leather, lace, and feathers around L.A.’s Chateau Marmont hotel.

Without physical stores, Bebe has been engaging with customers on social media. The recent ad was shared widely over Instagram and Facebook, and has already reached more than 8 million people, according to the company that created the content.

Totally Blanking – all white for summer (shop link in bio)

A post shared by bebe (@bebe_stores) on

This tech-savvy, forward thinking approach has much more in common with digitally native brands like Warby Parker and Everlane than with other brands that have been around for 40 years.

This transformation has been largely led by Bluestar Alliance, a brand management firm that has a $35 million stake in Bebe, or just less than 50%, and manages the brand’s day-to-day operations. Bluestar invests in a wide range of fashion labels, breathing new life into them by making them more digitally forward. Besides Bebe, it has investments in Kensie, Catherine Malendrino, and Limited Too, among 200 others.

It’s still early days into Bebe’s second life, but the website and the new campaign are promising. It opens up possibility to other mall brands that have not survived as consumers increasingly choose to shop online. For startups, the hardest part of launching a business is building brand recognition. Mall brands like Borders and Radio Shack are already well-known, but just didn’t adapt quickly enough to the digital era. Could other tech-forward licensing brands be the key to giving them a second life?

Viewing all 36575 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images