Mediaboss Marketing

You do not need to leave your house to watch TV. You do not need to travel long distances to watch TV. You do not need to join a large group of people to watch TV.

This confluence of factors has long made TV the stereotypical standby for the incapacitated, depressed, or introverted. But as the past few weeks have rendered millions of Americans housebound, whether by mandate or caution-informed choice, TV has taken on increased importance as a go-to source of entertainment and distraction. The coronavirus that has spread across the globe and affected more than 156,800 people to date may be an invisible threat, but its impacts on the rhythms of daily life are already clear. Movie theaters, malls, and restaurants have transformed from sites of leisure into potential sites of disease transmission. The living room though, always a metaphorical safe harbor from the stresses of the outside world, has now become a literal one.

The current pandemic is an obvious source of worry as the coronavirus continues to spread. For those of us in lower-risk populations self-isolating out of concern for more vulnerable ones, the anxiety and helplessness are as acute as fear. Among my fellow TV critics, an impromptu practice has rapidly sprung up of offering recommendationssome custom; some generalto the housebound on social media, the virtual equivalent of Lucy indicating the doctor is in. Some publications have inevitably fed widespread demand with more durable resources, creating a more SEO-friendly answer to the question of what, exactly, were supposed to do with ourselves.

Theres a cynical take to be had in translating an ongoing global crisis into clickable content; god knows Ive applied it to myself in the drafting of this piece. But the more optimistic, and ultimately more true, read is that such responses are both a small assertion of controlcertainly a more responsible one than flooding bars with crowds (and denial) on St. Patricks Day weekendand a sincere act of service. Its a small way to make ourselves feel useful; we cant staff hospitals or donate supplies, but we can at least offer some small form of guidance. (While drafting this paragraph, a colleague contacted me on Slack to ask if he should use his quarantine to sink into Gilmore Girls. I was happy to advise.)

As central as TV already was to how we spend unstructured, unscheduled time, further disruptions to daily life have made it more so. Major movie studios have delayed wide releases: MGM pushed the upcoming Bond film No Time to Die; Universal, Fast 9; Disney an entire chunk of its spring slate, including Mulan and New Mutants, all contributing to the lowest weekend box office in more than 20 years. Coachella, instigator of the music-festival boom and its continued standard-bearer, bumped its April dates back by a full six months. Sports leagues like the NBA and the NHL have suspended their schedules, while the MLB has delayed its spring start date and called off spring training.

Amid all this upheaval, TV can feel like a rare pillar of certainty. The status quo is hardly intact, with late-night shows forgoing live studio audiences and Emmy campaigns calling off promotional events, but these departures from the norm feel relatively minor held up against the rest of entertainment, let alone the world. In the past few days, Ive watched coworkers process their shock and plan next steps as the events they cover vanish from the calendar. Meanwhile, my own schedule has remained relatively intact, as have the viewing habits of everyday consumers. Westworld attempted a reset on Sunday, as planned. Later this week, Hulu will premiere yet another prestige miniseries anchored by movie stars, as planned. Larry Davids fictional persona will soon engage in even more elaborate faux pas, as planned.

At a time when face-to-face interaction may be limited to our families, partners, roommates, pets, or even just ourselves, TV can preserve some small shred of the communal experience. I may not have attended my weekly Drag Race outing, but I have exchanged thoughts on Fridays episode (mostly negative) with my circle of friends who watch. Coordinated movie viewings on Zoom and Skype, When Harry Met Sallystyle, have turned into a popular makeshift hangout. Watching a new episode of TV offers the same benefitswith slightly less logistical effortas experiencing the same event as others while being in different places. Its another intrinsic aspect of TV thats taken on an outsized importance: not just a mass medium, but one of the few left standing without a blockbuster or music festival in sight.

TV cant and wont stay unaffected for long. The CW teen drama Riverdale has suspended production in British Columbia, as has Apples celebrity-studded The Morning Show, Netflixs Grace and Frankie, and dozens of other shows, and the list of impacted series is growing by the day. Its unclear how these stoppages will affect future release calendars, only that they eventually will. The gap between production and release that can make TV such a balmit is, quite literally, a dispatch from a different timeguarantees an inevitable delay. But crises can make it difficult to think past the current moment, and at the current moment, TV feels reliable when little else does.

Its normal to start thinking of TV characters as your friends, a tendency encouraged by TV shows increasingly taking the place of in-person friendships. The past few weeks have revealed TVs ability to serve as a social, psychological, and logistical crutch, one increasingly leaned on as preventative measures escalate. Cable news is where we go to learn about the world; the rest of TV is where we go to immerse ourselves in another world, one less or more exotically chaotic, but a much-needed escape. Your local bar may not be open, but Cheers always is.

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TV, the Last Shred of Normalcy in an Abnormal World - The Ringer

PASO ROBLES, Calif., March 14, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A good accountant is as important to business as quality products and services, loyal customers and reliable vendors. "The relationship between you and your accountant is a partnership," says Robert Borish, CPA with the Atascadero payroll firm, North County Tax and Accounting, "that relies on the information you provide and the accountant's experience and knowledge."

Of course, a strong working relationship with a good accountant is an absolute necessity for tax preparation. The same can be said for other aspects of operating business including payroll, bookkeeping, invoicing, accounts payable and receivables, and all financial matters.

The key is understanding how to get the most out of your accountant and getting the best service from a valuable resource.

North County Tax and Accounting draws on more than 25 years of experience. The accountants and staff care about building lasting client relationships and freeing up business owners and managers from the complicated details of accounting, payroll, taxes and tax planning so they can focus on growing their businesses.

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SOURCE North County Tax and Accounting

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Atascadero Payroll Firm Releases 'The Top Ways To Get The Most From Your Accountant' - Benzinga

Its a little difficult to strike handshake deals when, you know, youre not supposed to shake hands.

An increasingly denuded 2020 events calendar the live event components of the upfronts are the latest cancelations could soon start to have a chilling effect on their ability to attract new clients.

Lead gen and pipeline will be impacted, said Tiffany Coletti Kaiser, EVP of marketing at digital media solutions company Digital Remedy. The question is not if, but when.

Screwed together

Of course, everyones pretty much in the same boat, which helps leaven the impact for now.

If were screwed, were all screwed in the same way, said Maor Sadra, CEO of Berlin-based user acquisition platform Applift.

In Sadras view, the ad tech industry at large can probably tolerate at least a couple months of the new normal without any ill effects.

Remote work is relatively common in the tech world, and, if anything, the coronavirus crisis is generating higher eCPMs for publishers. Theres also no reason to imagine well see a slowdown in ad spend from companies that sell virtual goods, such as games and utility apps.

There will come a point, though, when the sales funnel starts to evaporate. Events usually generate roughly one-third of Applifts sales leads, and the company hasnt been able to attend any since January.

Several Applift employees were supposed to meet with representatives from Publicis a few days ago, but an hour before the plane was scheduled to take off, the holding company put out a memo cancelling all external in-person meetings.

In a way, this is almost like a test of brand positioning in the market, Sadra said. Hopefully our SEO and our positioning is good enough for people to remember us if theyre looking for a partner.

But Applift, unlike some others, is lucky in that its somewhat insulated in case of a dry spell. The company, which is profitable today, was acquired by German conglomerate Media and Games Invest in June 2019, and that provides a helpful cushion.

If I was burning cash right now and was in a position where I needed to make certain moves, it would be a very different story, Sadra said.

In terms of sales targets, Applift, which sets its targets quarterly, is playing it by ear. March will remain unchanged, but Applift will most likely recalibrate in April, Sadra said, and hope for the best.

B2B account-based marketing vendor Demandbase is doing much the same. Although the sales team is currently on track to hit quarterly goals despite the pandemic, we are being realistic that things may shift and are fully prepared to address any changes, said CEO Gabe Rogol.

No more steak dinners?

Companies in certain industries teleconferencing, home entertainment and pharmaceutical, for example can take the long view and implement thoughtful, data-centric strategies. Theyre well positioned to weather most of the business-related vicissitudes coronavirus brings.

Applift has one client, a bus company, that is pausing its ad spendbecause its also temporarily pausing all of its routes due to coronavirus. Meanwhile, another company that provides in-person training services is panicking for obvious reasons, said Chris Franks, CEO at CleverFunnel, a Denver-based agency that works with the company.

CleverFunnel has several projects in the works with this training company, all of which have been tabled until further notice.

But for companies with the option to do their business online, the coronavirus is a forcing function for the new digital world in which theyll be able to see how much bang they really get from all the money they spend traveling around the world to wine and dine existing customers and new prospects, said Jeff Lunsford, CEO of Tealium.

Companies that are reliant on travel, on steak dinner-type interactions, are going to struggle, and companies that know how to operate efficiently digitally will do well, Lunsford said. I believe face-to-face engagement is extremely valuable, but I also believe its possible to run your business and engage with customers remotely. Ive been an entrepreneur for 24 years, and Ive done it both ways.

Getting creative

Videoconferencing is the obvious replacement for the lack of in-person engagement. But there are also other ways to create connections while in quarantine.

Since networking during happy hour at trade shows isnt possible, Criteo, for example, is encouraging its commercial team to use LinkedIn and Twitter to reach out to other registered attendees of canceled events to request virtual one-on-ones.

Outside of just replacing conference networking, social media is a great tool for salespeople to utilize to continue building leads and connecting with contacts, said Criteo CEO Megan Clarken. By connecting with potential clients online and engaging with what theyre posting and sharing, salespeople are able to build virtual relationships while in-person meetings are on pause.

But some companies are putting a whole new spin on virtual conferencing.

Cockroach Labs is a computer software provider that develops commercial database management systems and usually relies heavily on events to capture leads and generate broad awareness. Without events to attend, it created a virtual badge scan that uses a landing page to capture contact info and then makes a small donation to Women Who Code for every email address it gets. One-on-one meetings with company reps are incentivized with the promise of a larger $50 donation.

The silver lining is the impact this will have for new creative ways to build out a [go-to-market] strategy, Jim Walker, VP of product marketing at Cockroach Labs.

But, perhaps, theres also another benefit: Cutting down on unnecessary meetings that should never have been meetings in the first place.

Read the rest here:
Tech Companies Get Creative As Coronavirus Threatens To Parch Their Pipelines - AdExchanger

If you find it difficult to keep up with new technologies at work, then be reassured that you are not the only one feeling somewhat overwhelmed. One in three UK employees fear they are lacking skills when compared with their colleagues and believe that because of this they would be overlooked for promotion, according to a survey by OnePoll for PeopleCert in 2019.

The same study found that 67 per cent think retraining could reignite their career, and would consider learning new skills for their current role, such as coding, data analytics, cloud computing and digital marketing.

Bosses also say they are concerned. Research conducted by Burning Glass Technologies for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, found that 52 per cent of business leaders think technology evolves too quickly for their organisations to keep up with the changing skills required, and 10 per cent dont know where to start when it comes to developing a digital training strategy.

A 2019 Open University study, meanwhile, titled Bridging the Digital Divide, found that although there is still a need to increase basic or foundation-level digital skills including how to use spreadsheets and word processing programmes, most employers report that gaining higher and degree-level digital skills coding, cloud computing and data analytics are more of a priority.

Why you should learn to code

The same study found that the lack of appropriate digital skills at intermediate and senior management levels has the most significant impact on their businesses.

It also showed that age appears to have an impact on how keen we are to have access to more digital training. Two thirds (67%) of 18-35 year olds said they would be receptive to more digital training from their employers, with 22% of younger employees even funding their own training in this area.

By contrast, just one in four people over 55 said that they would like digital skills training.

Julie OSullivan has been working in advertising and copywriting for more than 20 years. She returned to freelancing after taking time out for kids but found the skills required had changed and she needed to invest in training. Within just a few years, social media, SEO have changed the way we do things, she says.

Back in the day all you had to do was write. This is not the case any more. I was confident I had the experience and the copywriting skills, but I wanted to enhance my digital skills to ensure I stay on top of things, so I decided to take an online course on digital media.

In order to keep up with a world that is constantly changing, ongoing learning and training is key, says David Willett, commercial director in the Open Universitys Business Development Unit.

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One in three UK employees fear they lack tech skills: Why training is key - Evening Standard

'Itaewon Class' Episode 11 saw Park Sae-ro-yi face Yi-seo's confession after Geun-soo orchestrates a moment to prove to Yi-seo that Sae-ro-yi would never be interested in her.

The episode began with Geun-soo announcing to everyone at DanBam that he would like to quit. He has decided to go after what he wanted and that is Yi-seo. So when Sae-ro-yi tried to understand Geun-soo's reason for quitting the pub, the young man doesn't give a direct answer. Sae-ro-yi accepts what Geun-soo wants and wishes him luck. Now that Geun-soo has taken the first step, the next one is not a far fetch. He joins Jang Corp to learn management and tells his father that Jang Corp now has no one to lead except him considering Geun-won is in prison.

His father sees potential here and assigns Soo-ah to train Geun-soo. He begins working, but from the get-go, it becomes clear that his father's company is nothing like the one run by Sae-ro-yi. Yet, because he now has a goal in mind, Geun-soo finds himself capable of doing things that are necessary.

Can Geun-soo really put himself through the rigorous training and his father's expectations in Jang Corporation now that he has quit DanBam? That is for us to find over the next few episodes, but what is clear is that he is not beyond playing dirty to get what he wants. This we find towards the end of the episode when DanBam employees go out for dinner with Soo-ah and Geun-soo to celebrate.

Now that the truth about Sae-ro-yi's father's death is out in the open, there is a lot of interest from the media about him and his company. So DanBam gets invited again to participate in a tournament date cooking class competition called Best Pub. DanBam has won first place in two consecutive rounds and that's what they are out to celebrate. That and the fact that DanBam has now got $10 billion in investment. During this dinner, all of them end up playing Truth or Dare and when it is Sae-ro-yi's turn to answer questions, Geun-soo asks him if he had ever seen Yi-seo as a woman who he could be attracted to. Sae-ro-yi denies and instead says that he had always looked at Yi-seo as a young friend who is also his partner.

Despite knowing how Sae-ro-yi felt about Soo-ah, Yi-seo is unable to hold her feelings any longer. In fact she tries to convince herself that she shouldn't be hurt because she has after all known about his love for Soo-ah already. That, however, doesn't stop her from tearing up and when everyone notices, she is embarrassed and tries to flee from dinner.

Sae-ro-yi catches up though because he cannot understand why Yi-seo was hurt by what he had said. When he forces Yi-seo to tell him why she got upset, Yi-seo changes her plan of waiting for him for two years and just blurts out her feelings for him. She repeats how much she loves him, and when Sae-ro-yi tried to tell her that her feelings are misplaced, she disagrees. Sae-ro-yi also tried to remind Yi-seo about Geun-soo, who also has feelings for her but she doesn't concede. Instead, she asks him if there is a chance for the two of them to ever be together and as expected Sae-ro-yi just responds with no and that breaks Yi-seo's heart and on that note, the episode ended with Yi-seo breaking down in tears in the middle of the road.

Considering all the good things that happened throughout out the episode, which also includes Toni, the part-time employee finally having found his father, the ending was distressing. How will this affect Yi-seo? Will she decide to give up on her love and continue to work at DanBam or will she leave Sae-ro-yi?

That's something we would have to wait and watch! 'Itaewon Class' episodes can be streamed on Netflix.

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'Itaewon Class' Episode 11 is all about Yi-seo's heartbreak over Sae-ro-yi's rejection, can she move on? - MEAWW