Rebranding Abercrombie & Fitch

There has been a lot of buzz lately about Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries statements on the type of people he would like to attract to his stores. Jeffries has made statements such as, "In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he says. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

In efforts to redefine the brand, Greg Karber is working to rebrand Abercrombie & Fitch. His goal is to make Abercrombie & Fitch "The World's Number One Brand of Homeless People." Karber has asked everyone to donate their Abercrombie & Fitch clothing to a local homeless shelter. He wants everyone to share their stories on Facebook and Twitter using #FitchTheHomeless. 

Greg Karber is trying to turn the negative publicity toward Abercrombie & Fitch and turn it into a positive social good, well at the same time creating a new target audience for the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing line. Karber is making a statement that it is wrong to discriminate and be exclusive toward the "cool kids." 

What do you think about Karber's action to rebrand the clothing line?

Good News for Twitter Advertisers

Within the past couple years, Twitter opened their advertising API to third parties, which has allowed companies to create more sophisticated advertising. When they launched this new program they were partnered with Adobe, Hootsuite, Salesforce, SHIFT and TBG Digital.

On Tuesday Kevin Weil, Twitter's senior director of product for revenue at Twitter, made the announcement that advertising on Twitter will now be open to all U.S. users. The change from invite-only advertising to all U.S. users is due to all the feedback the company has received from businesses. Business owners gave suggestions and areas for improvements, which Twitter took in to consideration and have enhanced their advertising and expanded their targeting and reporting in the U.S.

This change will allow companies to expand their target audience and draw more users to their product or service. Social media has been growing since the big digital push and this will continue to help companies reach consumers. Another big step in the advertising world!

Facebook Revamps Brand Pages

Facebook has changed once again, no surprise there! But this time they made huge improvements to the mobile app. Facebook has been changing the design of its mobile brand pages. This new design has been focused around interaction instead of content, which is easily accessible at the top of the page. New changes to the Facebook web page are coming soon!

Facebook took a different approach by changing their site to be more mobile friendly. More than half of Facebook users access their profiles through their mobile devices, so the change has already proven to be more user friendly.

Facebook's Timeline is Changing....Again!

Can you handle all the changes in less than one week? Facebook has made yet another change to their website! They have created a new layout for your timeline. Originally, this design was being tested in New Zealand, but now has now expanded to affect all users.

Your timeline navigation will now be located in the top right corner. The "About Me" information will now have its own box below your profile picture. Your name will be placed next to your profile picture overlaying your cover photo. Also, there will be a new section added that allows your to add music, movies, books and TV shows that interest you in the form of apps, placing them right alongside your photos and your friends list.

Facebook said the new layout will allow more customization to your profile. Different apps, such as, Netflix or Goodreads will show what movies you've been watching or books you've been reading. This new look is expected to be in affect within the next couple of weeks. 

This means great news for advertisers! Because of the focus on images, businesses will have a better opportunity to grab the attention of their consumers. This also means that businesses pages will have a more attractive look to them. Along with consumers, business pages will be able to customize their profiles too, allowing them to give the consumers more of what they want.

Mobile Business Apps: Increasing Productivity and Revenue

The buzz is all about mobile business apps! Mobile productivity and process apps went mobile in 2012 and revenue associated with them is estimated to be around $25 billion for 2012. Research firm Strategy Analytics says this number is expected to rise to $50 billion by 2017.

The mobile experience has evolved from simple mobile email and messaging apps to productive apps with content authoring abilities like enterprise resource planning (ERP) and consumer resource management (CRM).

The importance of worker productivity on the go has driven the rapid growth of mobile business apps and has pushed the market revenue to new highs. It’s exciting to see the ways businesses are stepping up to the plate when it comes to mobilizing their business operations.

The mobile device has evolved to fit each and every business need and surely the apps market should be one to watch in the times to come. 

How Online Shopping Effects Dealership Traffic

According to AutoTrader.com, online shopping leads buyers to visit fewer dealerships than in the past. Whereas people used to visit multiple dealerships and look at any number of cars, car buyers have been given the opportunity to browse inventories online, find and compare prices all without leaving the comfort of home. AutoTrader explained that current buyers spend an average of 11 hours shopping online and just 7 hours offline and in dealerships when searching for their next vehicle.  

On a positive note, online shoppers who do head out to purchase new vehicles are willing to travel further to dealerships they would not have ordinarily considered. The pull of dealerships from further distances seems to have increased with the influx of online shoppers in their searches for the best deal. The convenience of the internet leads to a need for an interactive dealership website which can offer pricing, tools for comparison and an accurate inventory with an emphasis on directions to the physical address. This is just another example of how the age of technology is changing how consumers shop.  

Powerhouse USA Announces a Promotion and Two Team Additions

The Powerhouse Family is happy to announce the promotion of Miss Megan Neuner!
Megan has earned the new title of Internet Marketing Manager and has been given new responsibilities including management of client relations and budgets. Miss Neuner also oversees the work of two new hires, Amanda Carr and Sydnie Cobb.

In November Amanda and Sydnie were brought on to work as Internet Marketing Coordinators. While Sydnie works primarily on maintaining web presence and social media she also aids in internet marketing and advertising campaigns. Amanda works on composing client materials for the media outlets and assists with web presence and media as well.

We're happy to welcome Amanda and Sydnie to the team and look forward to working with them!

Florida's Job Market Continues to Grow

According to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida ranks number 2 in the nation for job creation.

The Sunshine State created 23,200 nonagricultural jobs in the month of August and totaled more than 28,000 new private sector jobs created. This is the 11th month-to-month positive job growth Florida has had in the past 14 months, and also the 25th consecutive month of positive annual job growth.

In another interesting report recently shared by the State of Women-Owned Business Report, Florida ranks No. 4 for the most women-owned businesses. Florida has an estimated 587,600 women-owned firms, employing 473,100 people and taking in roughly $77.6 billion in revenue. The number of women-owned firms in the Sunshine State has grown 73.9 percent from 1997-2012.

Powerhouse USA Adds 3 New Team Members

We’re very excited to announce three new hires to our growing team here at Powerhouse USA!

Jenn Allen is now the company’s Creative Services Manager. “Art has always been my passion and I love working in the fast paced environment at Powerhouse USA and being able to bring agency and client ideas to life,” said Ms. Allen about her new position. She will be overseeing all graphic content elements of online and print campaigns.

Andrea Rodrigues has been added as the company’s Marketing Coordinator. “I’m thrilled to be at Powerhouse USA and working with their diverse roster of clients.” Her responsibilities include client relations, budgets, presentations, and research.

Megan Neuner is the company’s newest Internet Marketing Coordinator. “Internet marketing is such an exciting area and working at Powerhouse USA provides me with the opportunity to help with their existing client base as well as grow future business.” Ms. Neuner is responsible for client web presents and develops online marketing and advertising campaigns as well as social media.