News & Opinion

New Research Reveals New Opportunities for Local US Business Owners to Renew Advertising   Despite the economic downturn wrought by COVID-19, over 75% of local US businesses have remained open during the pandemic -- with many  looking to adopt effective, fresh marketing and advertising strategies, according to a recent study by Viamedia, the television industry’s largest independent local cross media management company.Based off US responses of Viamedia small business customers and local agencies nationwide, the results indicate a clear drive by businesses to adapt rather than settle: 83% of companies have changed their marketing tactics in response to the pandemic; 46% are offering incentives and promotions to drive sales and continue operations during this time. Viamedia’s in-depth research study, ‘How Can We Help Through the Pandemic,’ received survey results from a statistically relevant sample of business owners across the US, with 59% of responses coming from local business owners and 29% from advertising agencies on behalf of businesses. The survey was conducted between May 15 and May 27, 2020, as a means of investigating challenges facing businesses and producing data that could provide a critical roadmap of demand by local advertisers.“Local businesses are the backbone of the American economy, so it was important that we had deep insight into their struggles, hopes and concerns, “said Becky Jones, Chief Marketing and People Officer at Viamedia. “During this pivotal time, Viamedia can help utilize its digital and cable TV advertising pathways by leveraging the critical data from this survey to help businesses connect with their local communities—now and beyond the crisis. Hopefully the insights provided by the findings can help businesses and agencies alike in formulating actionable strategies for a post-pandemic environment.”Many respondents remained optimistic about the “post pandemic” future; the report uncovered three common trends shaping local businesses’ marketing plans: Stability: 36% felt their business would be the same as it was pre-pandemic; 9% planned to expand while 10% planned to push more business online in lieu of in-person transactions. Continued Investment in Marketing: In a promising trend, 40% of respondents--from various industries including auto, furniture, healthcare, non-profits, retail, real estate, and entertainment among others—reported an annual marketing budget of at least $75,000 -- 39% of which was allocated to advertising. Intent to Advertise: In another optimistic sign, business owners indicated a continued need for advertising, with 45% looking for creative incentives for advertising, and 28% wanting tips and insights to improve the effectiveness of their marketing. “The survey results clearly indicate that the prospects for advertising can be strong despite some conventional wisdom,” Jones added. “For many respondents, the need to power through the pandemic far outweighs the anxiety. And as we’ve experienced in the past, businesses that take the courageous path to advertise during a crisis often find great success on the other end. As Viamedia continues to bridge the gap between linear and digital advertising, we can provide local business owners key placements that will help them revitalize the economy one business and one community at a time.”

Leading career development program embraces virtual format Denver — We are excited to announce that The Cable Center has launched virtual IA for IA Class 8, which begins on June 23, 2020. Virtual IA enables and empowers participants to “Innovate from Anywhere” through interactive remote learning.   IA is one of the industry’s leading career development and educational programs. In this unique 8-week course, participants learn and apply the process of innovation while advancing a real-world project within their companies.   A central tenet of IA is that innovation thrives within constraints. In these times of uncertainty, it is more important than ever for workforces to possess the skills to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.   “IA itself is innovating and adapting to the changing business environment. For Class 8, and potentially future classes, we made the decision to move IA to a virtual-only format to enhance its accessibility while ensuring the safety of our participants,” said Janice Silver, VP of programs and marketing at The Cable Center. “We have extensive experience engaging our participants over Zoom and Slack during the remote portion of IA. We believe we can preserve the value of live instruction, peer-to-peer collaboration, and applied learning as we expand the virtual portions to include the kick-off and capstone.”   With virtual IA, participants from across the globe can experience this groundbreaking program together, even though physically apart. “We are proud to make this development opportunity fully accessible, streamlined, and safe by employing the innovation that IA embodies,” added Jana Henthorn, Cable Center CEO and president. “These are unprecedented times and we are all in(novating through) this together.”   To learn more about the Intrapreneurship Academy visit The Cable Center's website.

New Initiative Offers Free TV Spots for Business Owners, Minority Leaders and Police Officers to Show How Local Communities Can Work Together to End Racism Viamedia, the television industry’s largest independent local ad management company, today launched #ChangeStartsRightHere, a new initiative to foster positive conversations in local communities about the changes needed to help end racism. The pandemic, the resulting economic crisis and civil unrest have made 2020 emotionally charged for many Americans. To that end, Viamedia is stepping out of its comfort zone by running a TV spot asking its viewers in over 75 markets in 34 states, to not only join the conversation, but contribute to it.The new initiative invites local business owners, minorities and law enforcement to create their own 15- or 30-second on-camera spots about how they are working together in their communities, and then upload the videos to Viamedia’s custom portal www.ChangeStartsRightHere.com. Viamedia will run approved messages as local PSAs across cable TV channels in their local community free of charge. Through this initiative, Viamedia hopes to encourage local communities everywhere to band together in a constructive way to create positive change and collaboration for building a more inclusive future. “Today, a long overdue conversation is taking place across America, and the world. We should no longer sit idly by and wait for politicians to enact change,” said Mark Lieberman, president & CEO, Viamedia. “Viamedia’s goal is to create a nationwide grassroots campaign that engenders civil discourse, reminding all that change begins with each of us, at home around the dining room, and within our local communities. We cannot be afraid to use our voices to stand up and have a conversation. Change starts right here.”Viamedia will share the call to action spots and the www.changestartsrighthere.com portal with other interested TV providers for free, whether they are Viamedia affiliates or not.  Added Lieberman, “Another senseless moment of violence toward the African American community has taken place in our country. This moment calls for all of us to do more. This is about human rights, about our towns, our businesses. And I’m inviting other video service providers to similarly use their platforms to provide a voice to those who feel threatened, unsafe and marginalized to join the conversation.”For more information, please visit http://changestartsrighthere.com/.

With more devices and device usage, it’s time to find new ways to manage WiFi bandwidth   Bill McFarland, CTO, Plume - the Smart Home Services - explains how today’s home WiFi network has become a true point of contention with residential customers. Especially with device usage skyrocketing over the past few months, there too has been an increase in network strain and customer frustration.    That's why Plume developed an entirely new approach to measuring internet performance with Quality of Experience (QoE) - which goes beyond the standard Quality of Service (QoS) - to address the modern challenges home networks face today. While QoS is all about broadband performance, a QoE mentality treats each device individually to deliver an optimal experience whatever the device or the application.   The bottom line is consumers’ homes, habits and connected devices are evolving, and so should the way we measure and manage our internet performance.   Read what McFarland has to say in Multichannel News to find out exactly what that means, and how to better understand what’s really happening inside our connected homes.  

New research into the true costs and frequency of enterprise network outages reveals the importance of network resilienceEdison, NJ  – More than half of senior IT decision-makers and network managers globally say they have had four or more network outages lasting more than 30 minutes in the past year, with outages costing half of the surveyed organizations worldwide between $300,000 and $6 million in downtime, according to a recent study commissioned by Opengear, a Digi International company. In the US, nearly two-fifths (38%) reported losing more than $1 million in the past 12 months alone.   ‘Measuring the True Cost of Network Outages,’ Opengear’s in-depth research study of 500 global senior IT decision makers, including 125 respondents from the US, also discovered that US businesses put significantly greater emphasis on network resilience than any other country surveyed. In fact, network resilience has become the top priority for 73% of US IT departments, as well as 70% of US companies at the board level. Globally, responses were at 49% and 47% respectively.   Steve Cummins, Vice President of Marketing at Opengear, said “The true cost of a network outage is much more than just lost revenue. Our survey found that reduced customer satisfaction was the biggest impact of an outage according to 41% of respondents, ahead of data loss (34%) and financial loss (31%). Organizations need to think in advance about how they can avoid, and then recover from, an outage quickly before the consequences become severe.”   The study also found that although more than three quarters (78%) of organizations globally have set aside a specific budget to ensure its network resilience, almost half (49%) had outages increase by 10% or more over the last five years. Outages were even more prevalent in the US, with nearly one-third (32%) reporting an increase of 25% or more. Additionally, more than four out of 10 (42%) US businesses reported that network outages took more than one working day on average to find and resolve after they were reported, with an average of nearly 10 hours across the country.   With many organizations running geographically spread networks, travel time to get engineers on site has become the most common challenge in resolving network issues quickly, according to more than two in five (41%) globally and over half (52%) in the US. But the US differs from other regions with the second most common challenge, inadequate network monitoring (41%); whereas globally, companies reported a lack of in-house engineering capabilities (40%).   Cummins added, “Given the time invested to resolve network outages and the costs incurred, finding a solution that addresses these is an urgent priority. This is where an out-of-band management solution can be highly beneficial. Companies around the world recognize that the ability to operate independently from the production network, and detect and remediate network issues automatically, can dramatically improve security (48%), save time (45%) and most importantly, reduce costs (41%).”  

In the past few months, telehealth services have helped many to obtain medical services and avoid exposure to COVID-19 while freeing up resources for those facing graver conditions. This is a great example of an unexpected circumstance quickening the adoption of new technology that will remain after the crisis has passed, but the rapid adoption has also overwhelmed telehealth services, illustrating the importance of network resilience.Click here to read the full article by Marcio Saito on Electronic Health Reporter.

Bob Gold, Founder and CEO, Bob Gold & Associate's moderated the Scripted Content: Quantity vs. Quality session on NAB Show Express on May 13, 2020 alongside leading content acquisition executives: Mary Gibson, Head of Content Partnerships, Digital Media Rights; Scott Brown, CEO, Immersion Neuroscience; and Marc Leonard, Senior VP, Content Strategy, Fuse Media.   During the session, Gold and execs discuss how they've adapted to the current pandemic situation and how it has generated an unusual demand for content.   They also gave listeners exclusive insight into understanding its impact going forward and how to navigate the industry post-pandemic.   You can watch the full session below!    

In a recent interview with PR News, Bob Gold, Founder & CEO, Bob Gold & Associates talked with Editor, Seth Arenstein about how the 23-year-old, Los Angeles-based PR and Marketing services agency just announced its new Bankruptcy and Litigation Communications Practice. This new practice features a highly experienced team that has helped clients manage disruption, controversy and damaged reputations.   In Gold's interview with Arenstein, he stated, “Employees in Chapter 11 situations are scared for their future. [Internal] communicators need to reassure them.” In addition, consumers need reassurance. “They want to know what to do, and communicating with emotion and empathy are required in such situations," Gold said. "It's similar to how PR pros are communicating during the pandemic."   Click here to read the full article on PR News and learn more about why the shift to crisis communications is so critical.

With More Than 100 Years of Combined Experience in Crisis, Bankruptcy and Litigation Communications, Bob Gold & Associates Can Expertly Support Business Restructuring In response to the business ramifications of COVID-19, including a  wave of restructuring activity, increased litigation related to corporate debt, contract defaults and bankruptcies, Bob Gold & Associates, a 23-year old boutique PR & Marketing services agency, announced today the establishment of its new Bankruptcy and Litigation Communications Practice, featuring a highly experienced team that has helped clients manage disruption, controversy and damaged reputations.   The new practice is led by Bob Gold and longtime litigation communications expert, Paul Jacobson of Denver-based SilversJacobson, both known for their proven track records in crisis management and public relations strategies.  Gold and Jacobson met while working together to handle corporate communications, manage local and national news and business media, and calm the nationwide workforce and customers of a scandal-ridden company navigating a massively complex, multi-billion-dollar Chapter 11 reorganization. Since then they have gone on to advise or lead communications in several Chapter 11 bankruptcies.   “Today many companies are facing in-court or out-of-court restructuring to preserve their value. Board members and company management have responsibilities to preserve and maximize the enterprise value for the benefit of creditors, which is achieved, in part, by coordinated and comprehensive communications with stakeholders and influencers,” said Bob Gold, founder of Bob Gold & Associates. “This is not the time to hire a team who is going to learn on the job.”   Often in Chapter 11 cases, the judge requires a communications plan as part of the reorganization. The reorganization of business activities is a singular moment where a company has several options, all of which require careful communications to creditors, and close and trusting partnerships with attorneys, CFOs and company leadership to all stakeholders.   “Gaining the trust of attorneys is paramount in creating effective and compelling litigation communications,” said Paul Jacobson, bankruptcy expert. “Whether communicating to creditors and the court, or to customers in hopes of retaining their business, we support the bankruptcy litigation, while putting a human face on a complex and impersonal procedure.”   There are key messages to explain to constituencies from what Chapter 11 is, why the company has moved itself into that state, and how Chapter 11 status will affect each person's relationship to the company.  These statements should address the concerns company employees, vendors, creditors, suppliers, customers, shareholders, the sales force, and others. Key influencers like industry observers and the media, including the specialized bankruptcy media, must also be addressed. The court will need to see not only a reorganization plan, but also many management functions, including communications and public relations, must be court-approved.   Bob Gold founded and manages Bob Gold & Associates, one of the premier independent integrated communications public relations agencies in the country.  He was honored by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Los Angeles Board of Directors as the 2019 Communications Professional of the Year. He is also a co-founder and managing partner of the family office network, Hemisphere Technologies Inc. Gold has extensive experience in small and large-scale transactions and works as a key member engaged in all aspects including sourcing, evaluating, structuring, monitoring, and, where applicable, harvesting investments.   Gold is also a published author of a popular children’s picture book, The Shiny Penny.