DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – EQS Newswire – 29 September 2022 – It has been reported that Dubai is the most profitable city in the world for Airbnb hosts and
FIFA has joined forces with the World Trade Organization (WTO) to look at ways of using football to promote economic inclusion, particularly in the developing world. The partnership is spelled out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala where the two sides agreed to collaborate by exchanging views on their respective activities and by preparing and implementing common strategies and projects.
“I’m really excited at the prospect of collaborating with FIFA to try to leverage the cotton sector in a positive way for poor developing countries such as the Cotton 4,” said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in reference to the WTO’s cotton programme in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali which will is included in the partnership. “I’m really excited that collaboration with FIFA could help us pull these countries more into the global cotton value chain.”
“I’m also thrilled at the prospect of working on gender empowerment. We have a big sports economy, and to the extent that we can pull this through trade to support women, this is a positive signal,” the WHO Director-General added.
“FIFA redistributes its revenue among our 211 member associations to help them develop football in their countries by notably investing in infrastructure, facilities, competitions, refereeing and coaching,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “Yet, we believe that there is still more than football can do, especially for the youth in the developing world. This important partnership can help us find ways of ensuring that football can further promote sustainable development for everyone to benefit from the global football economy.”
Under the terms of the MoU, the two organisations will also work together to analyse the economic impact of football and its role in unlocking global economic growth potential and will explore options for the development of capacity-building activities that support the use of football as a tool for women economic empowerment.
The International Budget Partnership (IBP) has convened leading African civil society leaders and governments this week in Abuja to advance progress on open-budget practices and leverage Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFF).
A four-day event is being held in partnership with the INFF facility, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
As countries grapple with the effects of the pandemic and record-high debt, many are realizing that effective management of resources is essential to ensuring that they can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or global goals.
Several African countries are pursuing Integrated National Financing Frameworks (https://bit.ly/3DWH6EV) to create a single nationally-owned and led plan to improve coherence, coordination and impact across different partners and sources of SDG financing. Nigeria launched its INFF last week.
A transparent and inclusive budget process is also critical to ensuring that countries can better leverage financing to advance the global goals. The latest Open Budget Survey (https://bit.ly/3dX1fQq) found that budget transparency scores in the region (https://bit.ly/3Rt9fGU) increased by 16 points (a jump of about 70%) since 2008, albeit from a low base in many countries.
Nigeria is one of the top three improvers globally in the survey, increasing its score by 23 points from 2019 to 2021. Yet, few governments are sufficiently expanding spaces for the public to meaningfully engage throughout the budget process.
“As countries face intense tradeoffs, expanding access to budget information and opening spaces for the public to engage meaningfully across the budget cycle can ensure that public money reaches those who need it most,” said Austin Ndiokwelu, Nigeria country manager for IBP. “We have seen firsthand in Nigeria how diverse citizens’ groups—from women farmers to community health advocates—can leverage the budget process to inform government spending and propel progress on key development goals, such as food security and maternal health.”
“Now more than ever, governments need to ensure that allocations targeted at critical social sectors are spent as promised,” underscored Sally Torbert, senior program officer for IBP. “Too often we see that during budget implementation, governments deprioritize spending on social sectors.
“Civil society, and oversight actors, like legislators and auditors, can be essential partners in ensuring that public money is spent effectively on sectors that are critical to the global goals.”
The repetition of the same act and expecting different results is said to be a sign of insanity. Expecting a different outcome when the input is the same is ridiculous. Worse still, when we do the same thing over again and don’t know what the outcome will be, we can only hope for the best.
Public relations agencies have cross-channel expertise and their functions are constantly evolving, thus there are some tasks that should be completely outsourced. Media Monitoring and Intelligence is a prime example. This is because PR agencies have too much control over their client’s media engagement.
They cross the line when they start measuring and evaluating the impact of the work they do for their clients. As the saying goes, “you cannot be the accused, the judge and the jury in your own case”. You can’t create the message, communicate it, and finally, they audit and evaluate. This is not in the best interest of the clients for so many reasons, being that such analysis would lack independence and objectivity, utilization of the most basic tools, no in-depth analysis of outtakes, no actionable and human-curated insights or learnings.
This confirms the inappropriateness of PR agencies auditing their own performance. For efficiency, independence, Fairness and objectivity. Companies collaborate with Media Intelligence and audit partners to measure the efficiency and competitive performance of their media engagements for reasons of impartiality, objectivity, independence, and credibility.
To understand the impact that a company or brand is making through its earned media profile, you really do need objectivity and impartiality. Media analysis is about giving the CEO meaningful intelligence and data-driven insights that he/she can act on, and this should not be undertaken by the very agency charged with generating this critical content.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has announced the launch of the reimagined global NBA App, the all-in-one destination for NBA fans of every team. With entirely new personalization features, the NBA App will provide wall-to-wall content from every NBA game and feature social-style vertical video, unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to players and teams, new and existing shows and series, and access to the NBA vault for free.
The NBA App – a product of NBA Digital, the league’s joint venture with Turner Sports – is free to download.
Additionally, the NBA has launched NBA ID, the league’s new global membership program offering fans benefits and rewards from the league, teams and its partners. NBA ID, which is free to join, will link a fan’s experiences across existing products like NBA League Pass and NBA Pick’Em. Throughout the season, NBA ID members will get access to new original content and fan favorites from the NBA vault. Additionally, there will be enhanced members-only experiences from NBA partners, ticket promotions, prizes through predictive and sweepstakes-style NBA Pick’Em fantasy games, voting campaigns and other rewards.
The NBA App is powered by the NBA’s new integrated digital platform, which was built in partnership with Microsoft, the NBA’s official cloud and AI partner. The NBA App now includes a sleek new design and a first-of-its-kind “For You” experience, with content recommendations based on fan preferences and personalization powered by Microsoft Azure and Azure AI. Within the app’s “For You” page, fans can tap into a social-like vertical video experience – with vertical scrolling – that features real-time highlights of all NBA games in progress.
The league’s direct-to-consumer subscription offerings – NBA League Pass and NBA TV – will be integrated into the NBA App, giving fans the ability to watch live games and highlights and check scores, statistics and standings, all in one place. For NBA League Pass subscribers, the live streams will feature higher video quality, lower streaming latency and a seamless user experience for consuming live NBA content.
NBA League Pass returns this season with a new bundle and at its lowest pricing ever. For a limited time, the standard package is now available for $14.99 per month ($99.99 for full season) and the premium package for $19.99 per month ($129.99 for full season). Subscribers will automatically receive the NBA TV direct-to-consumer offering as part of the new bundle.
“Launching our new NBA App and digital platform is a major milestone as we continue to build and strengthen our direct-to-consumer offerings,” said Chris Benyarko, NBA Executive Vice President, Direct-to-Consumer. “We are thrilled to deliver a reimagined product that will enhance and personalize the way NBA fans engage with the league on a daily basis.”
Content highlights on the NBA App include:
Live Programming and Social-Style Content:
Gameday Experience – Fans will be immersed in game-day content all day long and, for the first time, get live access to streams of all pregame and postgame NBA press conferences and media days from every major event. In addition, NBA ID members will have access to teams’ pregame shows for NBA League Pass games.
Lifestyle – Social-style content series looking at the lifestyle, culture, fashion, music and more around the game and off the court, including NBA Kicks, NBA Fits, Jersey Drop, Ride Along, Celebrity Row and NBA Ink, among others.
“CrunchTime” – A free weekly whiparound show taking fans live to crucial moments of each game and providing real-time updates and analysis, produced by NBA TV and hosted by Jared Greenberg.
“NBABet stream” – A weekly stream produced by NBA TV with betting expert Tim Doyle and a selection of top contributors to provide the latest betting information during live game coverage.
Live NBA League Pass Programming – In addition to 24/7 NBA TV programming and out-of-market live games, NBA League Pass subscribers will have access to expanded options for personalized viewing experiences through a wide variety of alternate streams, including additional camera angles, betting-focused streams, influencer-led and analytics-driven options, and in-language feeds with commentary in three languages (Spanish, Portuguese and Korean). “NBA HooperVision” returns for its second season with former NBA players and hosts Nate Robinson and Quentin Richardson.
External Content Contributors:
All-Access Directly from Teams – Behind-the-scenes storytelling from teams’ social and digital channels.
Partner Content – Content produced by popular basketball and sports-highlight creators, including Turner Sports, featuring content from the hosts of “Inside the NBA”, Grant Hill and Greg Anthony, as well as FanDuel, DraftKings, Action Network, Bleacher Report and more.
Influencers – Influencer-created content from popular creators including Thinking Basketball’s Ben Taylor, Jesser, Kris London, Lethal Shooter, Devin Williams, Tristan Jass, and more focused on fashion, lifestyle and NBA culture both on and off the court.
Exclusive Original Programming:
“Gold Blooded” – A new seven-episode docuseries telling the story of the Golden State Warriors’ journey to the 2022 NBA championship. Narrated by Andre Iguodala, the series features never-before-seen footage and new interviews with team executives and players, including Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. The first episode is available on the NBA App today.
“Pass the Rock” – Fans will get an exclusive look at the league’s next generation of stars and their lives on and off the court throughout the 2022-23 season. The multi-part series is slated to begin in late November.
“Inside the App” – An exclusive weekly segment from TNT’s “Inside the NBA” team that will spotlight the hottest storylines and most topical events from around the league.
“NBA Real Training Camp” with the Philadelphia Sixers (October 29) and Dallas Mavericks (October 30) – A special all-access show produced by NBA TV during the opening week of preseason providing exclusive look-ins at the teams’ practices and interviews with players, coaches and front office personnel.
Archived Games – Fans will have access to archival footage from the NBA vault, including 500 of the best classic games in NBA history. Every NBA Finals game since 2000 will also be available, with more Finals and popular games being released throughout the season.
Archived Series – Documentaries and all-access series from NBA Entertainment’s archives will be available on-demand, including “Dream Team”, “The Doctor”, “Wilt 100”, “The Association”, “Unscripted”, “Inside Stuff” and more.
NBA’s International Games – The NBA App will be the go-to destination for fans to engage with and watch The NBA Japan Games 2022 Presented by Rakuten & Nissan (Golden State Warriors vs. Washington Wizards on Friday, Sept. 30 at 6 a.m. ET and Sunday, Oct. 2 at 1 a.m. ET) and The NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2022 (Milwaukee Bucks vs. Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, Oct. 6 at noon ET and Saturday, Oct. 8 at noon ET).
“Hoop Cities” – An eight-part, in-language docuseries produced by the NBA’s Europe and Middle East team that explores the local culture, history and basketball communities surrounding the game throughout the following European cities: Belgrade (Serbia), Bologna (Italy), Cologne & Leverkusen (Germany), Istanbul (Turkey), Kaunas (Lithuania), Paris (France), Seville (Spain) and Thessaloniki (Greece).
Additional content series and other enhanced features on the NBA App will be announced throughout the season.
Today, representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Embassy in Lagos, international nonprofit TechnoServe, ISF Advisors, Nigerian cashew processors, and the investment community gathered in Abuja under the auspices of the Prosper Cashew project to identify areas to jointly build a more sustainable cashew processing industry in Nigeria.
Since cashew was introduced in West Africa as an agricultural crop in the 1960s, the region has grown into the world’s number-one producer and exporter of the nut. Nigeria’s share of global production has doubled as raw cashew nut production volumes tripled over the last 15 years to 210,000 MT annually.
However, only 20 percent of the country’s production volume gets processed where it is harvested. As a result, willing and able workers are left to watch from the sidelines as hundreds of thousands of metric tons of raw cashew nut each year are loaded up for their long voyage to be processed overseas and then shipped thousands more miles to market.
The event in Abuja was designed to help address this challenge by spurring collaboration between stakeholders in Nigeria’s cashew processing sector. It also presented the progress and objectives of the five-year Prosper Cashew project, which will act as a catalyst for the sector, strengthening and reviving existing cashew processing facilities, facilitating access to critically needed working capital, demonstrating the business case for additional investment flows into the sector, and bringing together investors and high-quality investees.
The convening included remarks from USDA Agricultural Counselor Gerald Smith, senior officials from TechnoServe, representatives from the cashew processing sector, and the Prosper Cashew team.
It took place at the tail end of the African Cashew Alliance’s 16th annual conference, which was held in Abuja from September 12-15. A key investor in the West African cashew industry, USDA was the title sponsor of the conference. Team members from Prosper Cashew led conference sessions focusing on kernel and byproduct processing to create a more sustainable industry in Africa, marketing of kernels and cashew by-products, and blended finance for catalyzing investment in the sector.
“Nigeria has enormous potential to grow its cashew processing sector, creating high-quality jobs and economic activity right here in the country,” said Krishanu Chakravarty, Prosper Cashew’s chief of party. “This meeting was an exciting step in realizing that potential, and we look forward to working with stakeholders across the industry to create a sustainable, inclusive, and profitable cashew sector.”
Over five years, the Prosper Cashew project expects to create more than 4,500 new jobs (at least 50% for women), facilitate $61 million of investment in the cashew sector, and support processors to sell more than $200 million of cashew products into domestic, regional and international markets.
Over 800 volunteers from six countries collected 6,000 kg of garbage on International Coastal Clean-up Day 2022
The two companies aim to help reduce plastic waste and protect the marine life across the MEA region, India, and Pakistan
DHL and Hapag-Lloyd signed an agreement to help decarbonize the logistics industry by using advanced biofuels for transporting DHL shipments
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 29 September 2022 – To mark this year’s International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day, teams from DHL Global Forwarding Middle East & Africa, India, and Pakistan partnered with shipping operator Hapag-Lloyd Middle East to pull 6,000 kg of trash from coastlines across six countries. Using the tagline, ‘Turning the tide on trash’, the two companies joined forces to help reduce plastic pollution and protect marine life. Over 800 volunteers from both companies rallied to clean up coastlines in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Dubai, India, and Pakistan. The initiative also formed part of DHL’s social impact initiatives that support the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and formed part of the Group’s annual Global Volunteering Day.
Regardless of your feelings concerning Generation Z, there’s no denying that they have great power in today’s world. Born between the late 1990’s and the mid 2010’s, Gen Z is both an important and influential consumer force to be reckoned with.
They decide what trends are in and what trends are out, they’re redefining the workforce, and they definitely know how to rally together to take a stand. But more than just social power, they also have massive buying power.
Retailers need to understand what motivates this generation, how they prefer to shop, and how they can change their day-to-day operational strategies to meet their needs in order to effectively capture them. These guys want fun, authenticity, and they want “good”.
Here we look at four ways retailers can draw in Gen Z.
Sustainability and ethical values
Heavily influencing Gen Z’s purchasing choices are values such as sustainability and ethos. This generation holds retailers accountable for creating content and goods that reflect their take on environmental and social justice, with a heightened awareness around conscious consumption.
Results from a study conducted by Depop and the consultancy firm Bain and Company showed that high numbers of Gen Z have made commitments to be more sustainable in their daily lives, with things like environmentally-friendly fashion practices playing a key role in this. Other areas that are important to this generation are brands which speak about reducing carbon footprint, those who use eco-friendly materials, and brands which show responsibility to fair wages, diversity and inclusion.
Personalization
Generation Z is all about personalization, more so than any other demographic. Research suggests that Gen Z consumers are more likely to make a purchase from brands which offer a more personalized approach, from customization to the whole shopping experience itself.
Growing up in an immersive and digital world has played a heavy role in shaping Gen Z’s attitude towards personalization. Sharing personal information is the norm, along with the belief that a website will know what you’re looking for before you even tell it, and therefore a seamless and personalized experience, tailored to individual wants and requirements, is very much expected by this generation.
Utilizing Instagram and TikTok effectively
Social media is critical to retailers’ campaigns and marketing, and these platforms need to be used carefully and effectively when targeting Gen Z consumers.
Instagram remains one of the most influential and lucrative channels, preferred over Twitter and Facebook, especially for up-and-coming brands. While consumers of established brands may need some encouragement to shop through the app, they may be more likely to shop through the app for a newly discovered brand. Therefore, new brands setting up shopping possibilities on Instagram need to utilize the space well to add ease to the shopping process.
More recently, TikTok has started to emerge as a valuable e-commerce space. With 60% of its audience being Generation Z, it makes it the perfect platform to reach this demographic. The #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend has had over 6.6 million views on the platform alone, making it the most eclectic product catalog on social media. This hashtag, which features a variety of TikTok videos from influencers and brands demonstrating and talking through new products, has become an essential tool for brands, both for driving sales and awareness. Some products have even gone viral from trending under this hashtag.
Ditching gender norms and language
Compared to the older demographics, Gen Z’s views on gender are much more fluid, and these values are reflected in their shopping habits. They have no qualms about buying clothes marketed to the opposite gender, but they do find traditional gender roles and gender-related language outdated, and retailers who use these are often deemed offensive. Gender binary itself is believed by Gen Z to be old-fashioned and harmful, as it forces people to embrace qualities that align with stereotypes of masculinity or femininity.
Although influential in deciding what trends are in and which ones are out, this generation is also known to break the trend, favoring clothes that simply make them feel confident rather than ones that are “on trend”. They aren’t afraid to go against the grain, motivated to embrace individualism, and they expect that brands will not only respect these values, but will reflect them within their ethos.
Final Thoughts
Many brands and industries have already jumped on the Gen Z bandwagon. For example, casinos realized that in order to cater to this audience, they needed to explore new channels, such as online casino games, in order to deliver their product successfully. Now more retailers need to follow suit. They need to adapt their approach and tailor it effectively if they want to truly grab the attention – and the sales – of this influential group.
Presenting Multi-dimensional Art Space by the Debut of Artelli
MACAU SAR – Media OutReach – 29 September 2022 –City of Dreams, the iconic premier entertainment resort owned and operated by Melco Resorts & Entertainment is further expanding the boundary of its kaleidoscope collection of experiences and introducing a newfound sensational experience to the city—The spectacular Showroom will soon launch this flagship destination in October showcasing a newfound experience composed of sensational multi-dimensional art and retail elements.
The Showroom located at City of Dreams will house over 17,000 square feet of art and retail space on two levels. Inspired by the City of Dreams logo, the exterior design with the iconic circular windows brings in natural lighting to enrich the elegant atmosphere in the area. It also appears to be transparent at night exposing the happenings inside with an incredible visual experience.
SHENZHEN, CHINA – Media OutReach – 29 September 2022 – OPPO today unveiled the top three most Inspirational Games of the UEFA Champions League as voted for by fans. The three most Inspirational Games as chosen by fans worldwide were Barcelona 6-1 Paris Saint-Germain (2016-17 Round of 16, Second Leg), AC Milan 3-3 Liverpool (2004-05, Final), and Manchester City 4-3 Real Madrid (2021-22 Semifinal, First Leg). Originally kicking-off on September 5, the Inspirational Games campaign aims to discover and relive the matches that have inspired the biggest emotions in UEFA Champions League history. Fans from EMEA, America and Asia voted for their most Inspirational Game during the three-week voting period from a shortlist of 50 games.
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