The rooms are set by themes at Furnitureland South on Monday, April 24, 2017, in Jamestown, N.C., where clients can now take virtual tours from home. The five rooms now available are On Trend, Restoration Vintage, Best of Bedroom, Best of Living Room and Modern.
Archives par mot-clé : marketing
Channel 4 allows brands to personalise ads with people’s names
Channel 4 has announced a new VoD ad format, which was developed by video tech firm Innovid, that allows advertisers to incorporate the first names of viewers into their ads.
Among the launch partners for the supposedly “groundbreaking” format are Foster’s and 20th Century Fox, with the latter utilising it for its new horror prequel Alien Covenant (see above).
So how does it all work? Well, any of More 4’s 15 million registered users who watch an Alien Covenant trailer ad while signed in on a web browser will see personalised messages asking them to “Run…” followed by their first name.
Fosters, meanwhile, will share a video with a pint that ends with the slogan “this one’s for you” followed by the user’s first name.
“Following the success of the multiple brands taking advantage of our Ad 4 You format, we’re now incredibly excited to offer the market something completely ground breaking,” says David Amodio, Channel 4’s digital and creative leader.
“The most attention grabbing word for anyone to hear is without doubt one’s own name, so to be able to offer advertisers the chance to speak directly to our millions of viewers is not just unique, but an immensely powerful marketing tool which adds even more value to All 4’s increasingly personalised experience.”
If the trial is a success, a Channel 4 spokesperson says the plan is to extend the format beyond the web browser and onto the More 4 TV app as well.
In 2016, Channel 4 claims it saw a 30% rise in digital revenues. This isn’t the first time Channel 4 has tried to push a new personalised TV ad format either. In 2015, it debuted TV campaigns that showed the individual names of some of its viewers on bottles of Coca-Cola and Burberry perfume bottles.
Shanghai Rainbow Indoor Chorus launches new video to rescue aesthetics
Shanghai Rainbow Indoor Chorus has launched another viral song, hitting the pain points of all the interior designers and the majority of Chinese children – the weird home design requests raised by their clients and parents.
In the video, a company boss requested to change all his surroundings into gold colour; while a mother wanted to create “a world of lace”, putting the designer and the child in a dilemma.
The video was made for Red Star Macalline, a Chinese home furnishing and service brand and the largest national furniture retail chain in China. The video has highlighted the theme of the brand’s 5.1 Golden Week Promotion, “Rescue Aesthetics”, in a lively and interesting way.
It is reported that the creative agency behind the video is Neone.
North Korea Says It Is ‘Ready to Sink’ US Aircraft Carrier
U.S. aircraft carrier to demonstrate its military might, in the latest sign of rising tension as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to call the leaders of China and Japan.
The United States ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to sail to waters off the Korean peninsula in response to mounting concern over the North’s nuclear and missile tests, and its threats to attack the United States and its Asian allies.
The U.S. government has not specified where the carrier strike group is as it approaches the area. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday it would arrive « within days, » but gave no other details.
North Korea remained defiant.
« Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike, » the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said in a commentary.
The paper likened the aircraft carrier to a « gross animal » and said a strike on it would be « an actual example to show our military’s force ».
The commentary was carried on page three of the newspaper, after a two-page feature about leader Kim Jong Un inspecting a pig farm.
A senior U.S. administration official said Trump was expected to speak later on Sunday with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
In another sign of the intense focus on Pyongyang in Washington, the White House is expected to host U.S. senators for a top-level briefing on North Korea on Wednesday, a White House official said.
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The official said the briefing would be led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
U.S. and South Korean officials have been saying for weeks the North could soon stage another nuclear test, something the United States, China and others have warned against.
South Korea has put its forces on heightened alert.
China, North Korea’s sole major ally, opposes Pyongyang’s weapons programs and has appealed for calm. The United States has called on China to do more to help defuse the tension.
Speaking during a visit to Greece, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said there were already enough shows of force and confrontation and appealed for calm.
« We need to issue peaceful and rational sounds, » Wang said, according to a statement issued by China’s Foreign Ministry.
U.S. citizen detained
Adding to the tensions, North Korea detained a Korean-American man in his 50s, bringing the total number of U.S. citizens held by Pyongyang to three.
The man, Tony Kim, had been in North Korea for a month teaching accounting at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), the institution’s chancellor, Chan-Mo Park, told Reuters. He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport on his way out of the country.
The arrest took place on Saturday morning local time, the university said in a statement, and was « related to an investigation into matters that are not connected in any way to PUST ».
North Korea will mark the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People’s Army on Tuesday.
It has in the past marked important anniversaries with tests of its weapons.
North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States.
It has also carried out a series of ballistic missile tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions.
North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threat is perhaps the most serious security challenge confronting Trump.
He has vowed to prevent the North from being able to hit the United States with a nuclear missile and has said all options are on the table, including a military strike.
Worry in Japan
North Korea says its nuclear programer is for self-defense and has warned the United States of a nuclear attack in response to any aggression. It has also threatened to lay waste to South Korea and Japan.
The U.S. defense secretary said on Friday that North Korea’s recent statements were provocative but had proven to be hollow in the past and should not be trusted.
« We’ve all come to hear their words repeatedly; their word has not proven honest, » Mattis told a news conference in Tel Aviv, before the latest threat to the aircraft carrier.
Two Japanese warships, the Samidare and Ashigara, left western Japan on Friday to join the Carl Vinson and will « practice a variety of tactics » with the U.S. strike group, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force said in a statement.
The Japanese force did not specify where the exercises were taking place, but the destroyers by Sunday could have reached an area 2,500 km (1,500 miles) south of Japan, which would be east of the Philippines.
From there, it could take three days to reach waters off the Korean peninsula. Japan’s ships would accompany the Carl Vinson north at least into the East China Sea, a source with knowledge of the plan said.
Japan’s show of naval force reflects growing concern that North Korea could strike it with nuclear or chemical warheads.
Some Japanese ruling party lawmakers are urging Abe to acquire strike weapons that could hit North Korean missile forces before any imminent attack.
Japan’s navy, which is mostly a destroyer fleet, is the second largest in Asia after China’s.
Additional reporting by Ju-min Park, Tim Kelly, Ben Blanchard
Showdown looms as Trump demands funding for wall on US-Mexico border
President Trump and White House officials pressed congressional Republicans on Sunday to use the looming threat of a government shutdown to win funding for a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico, a top priority for the administration as it nears the symbolic 100-day mark.
Trump wants funding to be included in a spending measure that would keep the government open past April 28, a determined effort that has prompted a possible standoff with lawmakers in both parties, who hope to avert a federal closure next weekend.
Trump’s push for fast action on his pledge to build the border wall is part of a mounting and, at times, tense scramble inside the administration to kick-start the president’s agenda, even if it risks dire political consequences. It follows weeks of frustration within the White House over inaction and stalemates on Capitol Hill over big-ticket items such as health care and tax cuts.
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said in an interview Sunday with The Washington Post that the president and his advisers remain “strong” in their commitment to securing funding for border security and a wall.
“This is what the president ran on,” Priebus said. “We want to get to a place this week where border-security money is being directed to the Department of Homeland Security so that we can begin surveillance and preliminary work, and then we will keep working on getting DHS what it needs for the structure.”
“The burden to keep it open is on the Republicans,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), above, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Building a wall is not an answer. Not here or any place.” (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
The timing promises a week of high drama on the Hill. The Senate returns Monday night, and the House returns Tuesday from a two-week recess, leaving just three days when both chambers will be in session to wrangle out a funding agreement. Negotiators worked throughout the break, but thus far a deal has not been struck.
The wall, which experts say would cost $21.6 billion and take 3½ years to construct, has emerged as a crucial sticking point for the White House, with the president insisting privately and publicly that progress toward its funding and eventual construction must be showcased this week.
“Congress is right to be nervous, but that’s Trump’s style to be aggressive, ambitious, right out of ‘The Art of the Deal,’ ” said William J. Bennett, a conservative commentator and close friend of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). “Everyone seems to be getting used to that and how Trump doesn’t want the half loaf but the whole loaf.”
In a tweet Sunday, Trump elbowed Democrats who have resisted his call to include wall funding. He chastised them for not wanting “money from the budget going to the border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs” and gang activity, in his view.
Trump added that he would continue to ask Mexico to pay for the project, another bold proclamation he made during the campaign. Meanwhile, he said, he will press Congress for funding “so we can get started early” on the “badly needed border wall.”
It remained unclear Sunday whether moderates within the GOP could persuade the White House to avoid a shutdown. Democrats have insisted that they will not vote for any spending bill that gives the White House money or flexibility to begin construction of a border barrier. They believe that the GOP will have to either abandon Trump’s demand or assume political responsibility if a shutdown occurs.
“The burden to keep it open is on the Republicans,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Building a wall is not an answer. Not here or any place.”
Inside the White House on Sunday, West Wing aides made calls to congressional allies, while the president tweeted and reached out to several advisers, according to three officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Trump’s tweets included a shot at Democrats in which he drew parallels between border-wall funding and continued federal payments for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Some Trump associates said that they believe Democrats may be willing to deal on border funding if those payments are put on the table this week during cross-party talks.
“ObamaCare is in serious trouble. The Dems need big money to keep it going — otherwise it dies far sooner than anyone would have thought,” Trump tweeted. He later followed: “The Democrats don’t want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members.”
The tweets did little to assuage concerns created earlier in the day when White House budget director Mick Mulvaney suggested that Trump might not sign a spending bill that does not meet his demands.
“Will he sign a government funding bill that does not include funding for the border wall?” Chris Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday,” asked Mulvaney during a televised interview.
“We don’t know yet,” Mulvaney responded.
Mulvaney said that the White House expects Democrats to cave on the border wall in exchange for guaranteed payments under the ACA.
But Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have already rejected a White House offer to build into the spending bill a dollar-for-dollar match in wall funding and federal health-care payments. Negotiators want the stopgap measure to keep government open by keeping spending flat, including money to keep the ACA going. Trump is hoping to open that up for negotiation in exchange for wall money.
Democrats believe that voters will blame Trump for a shutdown, particularly if congressional leaders omit wall funding from a spending deal. Democrats and GOP leaders appeared to be nearing a spending agreement last week before Trump ramped up his demands.
Aides hailed the budget talks as one of the only active discussions in which Democrats and Republicans maintained common ground. One clear area of agreement was not to include border funding in the stopgap budget. Democrats agreed to include other border-security measures, including money for new drones to patrol the border, but it was agreed that the wall itself should be debated separately, after the government is kept open.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is among a group of prominent Senate Republicans who have said publicly that they hope to avoid a border wall fight this week.
“I think that’s a fight worth having and a conversation and a debate worth having for 2018,” Rubio said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “If we can do some of that now, that would be great. But we cannot shut down the government right now.
Mulvaney’s hard-line stance is also odds with a White House faction convinced that a government shutdown would be cataclysmic for an administration already struggling to prove its ability to govern, according to GOP aides in the White House and Congress who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks.
Republican leaders have signaled that they will concentrate this week on keeping the government open, even if that means ignoring White House calls for action on other major priorities, such as rewriting the tax code and overhauling the ACA.
Trump has pushed his staff in recent days to prod House Republicans for final revisions in a health-care proposal that can win support from both the hard-line conservative Freedom Caucus and the moderate Tuesday Group. And that task led advisers over the weekend to rely especially on three key players — Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.), co-chairman of the Tuesday Group; Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the Freedom Caucus; and Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), the House GOP chief deputy whip — to finalize legislation.
But the White House’s efforts to work directly with House coalitions and piece together a compromise health-care package has led to private unease on Capitol Hill, where some GOP members close to the leadership have grumbled that Trump aides are setting up the party for defeat or a stumble if support for the tweaked health bill is not as strong as the White House has suggested.
Trump’s advisers, aware of those concerns, still plowed forward Sunday on crafting the bill’s language, citing the president’s desire for action. There were ongoing conversations about the timing for a health vote, with Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or even sometime in early May, if necessary, discussed as options.
Ryan addressed that pressure in a conference call Saturday afternoon, in which he told GOP members that while he hoped that they would continue health-care talks, his top priority will be the stopgap spending bill.
“Wherever we land will be a product the president can and will support.” Ryan said, according to a senior GOP aide on the call.
Abby Phillip and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.
Emmanuel Macron Mounts a Patriot’s Challenge to Marine Le Pen
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Television is not dead, it’s here to stay – despite what the media and marketing ‘geniuses’ say
Okay, this time they really mean it. Television is about to die.
Don’t believe me? It’s right here in Ad Age in black and white, another fucking article entitled TV May Actually Die Soon. Can you believe this?
I’m just wondering how many Ad Age stories there have been over the past 15 years about TV dying?
Will they ever figure out that regardless of what the marketing and media geniuses have to say, people like television. How fucking difficult is that to understand?
As we all know, online viewing of video is ‘killing’ traditional TV. ‘Nobody’ watches live TV anymore. Everybody is watching video online.
That’s what we’ve all learned from going to conferences and listening to media, marketing and digital geniuses speak. It’s what we read in the trades and in the press every day.
Only problem is, it’s all bullshit.
A new study released by comScore shows that of households with both traditional TV and OTT (video delivered over the internet) for every hour spent with online video people spend about five and a half hours with traditional TV.
Even the top 20 per cent of online video users spend twice as much time with traditional TV.
The bottom 50 per cent of online video streamers, watch 98 per cent of their video on traditional TV.
Despite the fact that Netflix has almost as many subscribers as all cable TV companies combined, and more households have Netflix than a DVR, comScore says:
“Traditional rules the roost in terms of time spent, as OTT continues to act more as supplemental viewing.”
Then there’s this. A report by Pivotal Research Group last week said:
“Despite the significant growth in access to SVOD (subscription video On demand, e.g., Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu) services over the past few years, consumption of traditional TV programming has not been affected to the degree that many might expect…any expectations around the ‘death of TV’ because of SVOD services are likely overstated.”
Meanwhile, viewership of national news programming is surging. Once again, according to Pivotal:
“YTD viewing of all news-related programming on national media properties is now +12%.”
Last week it was up 23 per cent.
As I speculated last year, what’s likely to happen is that the internet media companies who don’t call themselves media companies – Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple – and have all the money in the world will over time buy up TV properties. This is starting to raise its head in the recent Amazon-NFL $50 million football deal.
I’m afraid we’re all going to be dead long before TV is.
Bob Hoffman has been the CEO of two independent agencies and is the author of the Ad Contrarian blog, where this article was first published
Jeremy 23 Apr 17
what’s “television” anyway?
means different things to different people. and you don’t even need a tv to watch it.
google wants you to watch television on android tv…amazon wants you to watch it on amazon prime.
cost conscious customers want to watch it on a hundred other free apps.
One things that s definitely dying (if not completely dead) is singapore’s mediacorp because of their dull as ditchwater programming.
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April, offspring turn into marketing bonanza – Press & Sun
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: April and her calf settle into new routine | 0:53
After a « perfect birthing process » April the giraffe and her newborn calf are settling into a new routine.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREQA with Animal Adventure Park giraffe keeper Allysa Swilley | 2:26
Animal Adventure Park giraffe keeper Allysa Swilley talks about what a typical day with April, Oliver, and the calf is like, how she has dealt with the national spotlight, and what her goals for the park are going forward.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREQA with Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch | 3:36
Jordan Patch, owner of Animal Adventure Park, looks ahead to what is next for April and her male calf.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVIDEO: April’s calf weighs in | 0:52
After months of intense interest from around the world, April the giraffe gave birth at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville. On Sunday, the park announced the calf’s height and weight.
Chance Cook / staff video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: Name the baby giraffe | 0:47
As soon as the baby’s born, Animal Adventure Park will launch a naming contest through GoFundMe and social media.
Katie Sullivan / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: What it’s like to feed the giraffes at Animal Adventure | 1:49
Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch handed out some tasty treats to giraffes Oliver and April from the park’s new giraffe encounter feeding deck.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: What is Animal Adventure? | 0:46
The interactive animal park in Harpursville opened in 2013 and is home to more than 65 species of animals.
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: Support of others ‘gives you faith again’ | 0:28
Animal Adventure owner Jordan Patch discusses how the support of others has helped them deal with Ava’s health issues.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: Prepare for the worst and celebrate the best | 2:18
Animal Adventure owners Jordan and Colleen Patch discuss dealing with the initial diagnosis of their daughter’s illness.
Andrew Thayer / Staff video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREOpening day at Animal Adventures | 0:58
Opening day at Animal Adventures
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: How the Patches fought through adversity | 0:48
Jordan Patch talks about how he and Colleen have dealt with adversity while also running Animal Adventure.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: ‘The new normal’ for Animal Adventure owners | 1:15
Patch talks about what the parents of children with health issues can expect from a diagnosis.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: Ava Patch feeds the giraffes for the first time | 0:59
Jordan and Colleen Patch feed the giraffes with their daughter Ava for the very first time at Animal Adventure.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
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VIDEOS: GIRAFFE LIFE AT ANIMAL ADVENTUREVideo: Animal Adventure to host Ava’s Little Heroes benefit | 0:24
Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville will welcome heroes of all sizes as the park hosts Ava’s Little Heroes, a benefit for a local family struggling with their child’s health issues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
April the giraffe has become a cash cow for a tiny zoo in Harpursvillle, thanks to a YouTube video livestream of her pregnancy and birth of an incredibly cute calf that has riveted viewers around the world.
Owners of the for-profit Animal Adventure Park won’t say exactly how much they’ve pulled in from all April-related ventures, but internet marketing experts conservatively estimate the haul in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The ventures include the Toys ‘R’ Us-sponsored YouTube stream, monetized text messages, a clothing line and the sale of T-shirts, caps and fuzzy toys.
“The monies are going to allow the park to continue to grow and improve,” said Jordan Patch, who started the 20-acre zoo with his wife four years ago. “But also the money will help support our conservation efforts in Africa, so we’re actually providing tangible results for wild giraffes.”
All Patch would say for sure, moneywise, is that a Gofundme campaign has raised more than $150,000 for the care of April, her mate Oliver and their male calf, as well as upgrades to their exhibit space. And he expects 150,000 park visitors — twice as many as last year — to pay $11-$13 to see the giraffe family along with the park’s 200 other animals, including alligators, monkeys and zebras.
Neither Patch nor Toys ‘R’ Us, which features a giraffe as its corporate mascot, would talk about how many dollars were attached to April’s video stream. After coming online Feb. 23, it has become the second most-watched livestream in YouTube history with more than 232 million views and 7.6 billion minutes of live watch time.
Digital media analysts say the money alone may be beside the point.
“Every marketer dreams of getting something that will go viral,” said Allen Adamson of Brand Simple Consulting, which helps companies define and market their brand. “The real value is the way the organization has been cemented in millions of people’s minds in a compelling way. You can’t buy advertising like that.”
Danny Fratella of Social Blade, which provides social media statistics and earnings estimates, said he believes the video livestream alone has been a major moneymaker. “I couldn’t speculate as to how much Toys ‘R’ Us is paying, but I’m sure it’s a huge chunk of change,” probably in the “low six-figures,” he said.
Still, some YouTube followers have griped about some of the park’s attempts to cash in, such as the $5 charge to sign up for giraffe news text alerts and $1 to vote for a baby name that will be announced May 1. The park also is selling $20 “Hello Baby” tote bags, $16 “April’s View Crew” T-shirts and a $50 three-pack of giraffe prints. And Toys ‘R’ Us, which is driving traffic to its own Facebook page with exclusive video visits to the park, is coming out with new giraffe plush toys based on April’s little family.
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Jordan Patch, owner of Animal Adventure Park, looks ahead to what is next for April and her male calf.
Andrew Thayer / Staff Video
Patch said the proceeds will be split among park improvements, a contribution to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and a fund to help local children with unexpected medical expenses. The latter is named for Patch’s baby daughter Ava, who has a rare form of epilepsy.
Other businesses in the surrounding Southern Tier of New York, which has struggled economically in recent years with the loss of manufacturing jobs, are also hoping for a baby bump.
“We’re booking fast and furious,” said Eddie Bello, assistant general manager at the Doubletree Hilton in nearby Binghamton. The hotel has sold more than 200 special lodging packages that include park tickets, a toy giraffe and other goodies stuffed in a miniature wooden crate.
“The response has been huge,” said Judi Hess, director of the Greater Binghamton Convention and Visitors Bureau, adding that inquiries have come in from as far away as England.
Patch didn’t expect his pregnant giraffe would become a global sensation. The livestream was intended to free up park staff to tend to their daily duties like feeding and poop-scooping rather than fielding inquiries about April’s pregnancy. It ended up doing the opposite, bringing a flood of questions, comments and sometimes criticism from far-flung fans and followers.
As for the 6-foot-tall baby, after he’s weaned from his mother he will be sent to another zoo to help sire more offspring.
“But the weaning process could take as long as 15 months,” Patch said, “so he could easily be here with us another year or two.”
ChyronHego hails “graphics rendering firepower” of new Click Effects PRIME
Jesper Gawell, Chief Marketing Officer of ChyronHego
“We love NAB!” declared Jesper Gawell, Chief Marketing Officer of ChyronHego, at the start of an enthusiastic NAB Show presentation that underlined the company’s continued eminence in the development of solutions for the broadcast and sports industries.
In terms of the new solutions unveiled, it was Click Effects PRIME that dominated the session. Billed as a highly integrated, turnkey graphics authoring solution for live arena- and stadium-based AV presentations. The new offering unites two existing and widely-deployed solution, namely: the PRIME graphics ecosystem and the Click Effects CrossFire and Blaze solutions with their arena graphics generation and custom digital display control.
The move follows the acquisition of Click Effects in 2016, since which time ChyronHego has working both to “take the CrossFire and Blaze technologies to the next level” and deliver a fully integrated ChyronHego solution.
Click Effects CrossFire offers graphics authoring tools for video and audio playback and replay, character generation, DVEs, and many other graphics capabilities, whilst the Blaze system makes it possible to control and manage multiple LED displays of different sizes at the same time or independently. Both solutions deliver operator-friendly capabilities through a consistent and intuitive user interface.
Click Effects PRIME creates an integration of CrossFire and Blaze with ChyronHego’s 64-bit, all-software PRIME rendering engine and authoring environment. As a result, users are able to take advantage of PRIME features including real-time rendering of dynamic and data-bound 3D objects with tools such as shaders, lights, materials and video texturing.
Other expanded capabilities include the ability to create an infinite amount of custom, real-time wipe and displacement transitions for video and graphics, as well as real-time lights and reflections, real-time video mosaics, and four-point loop playback control for clips.
Meanwhile, hooks to ChyronHego’s real-time player and ball-tracking products enable Click Effects PRIME users to create the same kind of play-by-play video analysis that viewers are used to seeing on sports television broadcasts.
Accommodation of both existing and emerging workflows is ensured by support for 4K video with very low latency on both inputs and outputs, with up to four channels of HD-SDI key/fill playout and up to eight channels of HD-SDI video playout. With up to eight HD-SDI video inputs, the solution supports mixed resolutions for all inputs and outputs.
Gawell added: “With Click Effects PRIME, the overriding theme is integration — with other CrossFire/Blaze graphics, other PRIME graphics, and other ChyronHego solutions, including our new Live Assist Panels. By accessing Click Effects PRIME through the same GUI and workflows they’ve come to love from CrossFire and Blaze, users can supercharge their arena presentations with the graphics firepower for which PRIME is known. With sports fans paying a premium for tickets to live sports events, there is demand for an ever-more-sophisticated A/V experience once inside the stadium. With Click Effects PRIME, venue managers can build an in-arena experience that rivals anything viewers have ever seen on sports broadcasts.”
Five things to watch in France’s election
This election uniquely includes both right- and left-wing populists, with the National Front’s Le Pen and La France Insoumise’s Jean-Luc Melenchon.
A runoff with Le Pen and Macron would also be notable, since it wouldn’t include the mainstream parties that have governed in France for decades.
« It wouldn’t be the classic left vs right divide but two views of the world clashing, » Ifop pollsters’ Jerome Fourquet told Reuters. « Macron bills himself as the progressist versus conservatives, Le Pen as the patriot versus the globalists. »
Relationship with Trump
President Trump could gain a vocal ally in France depending on who wins.
Trump this week called Le Pen the « strongest on borders » and « the strongest on what’s been going on in France. » While he didn’t explicitly endorse Le Pen, he also predicted Thursday’s deadly shooting on the Champs-Elysees would « probably help » her.
Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama
Barack ObamaFive things to watch in France’s election Ex-Obama aide Rhodes: Le Pen victory in France would be ‘devastating’ Sanders to Trump: ‘Listen to the scientists’ MORE has also signaled his preference in the race. Obama spoke by phone with Macron this week to wish him « all the best, » though a spokesman said he wasn’t formally endorsing a candidate.
A former top Obama aide, Ben Rhodes, also wrote Saturday on Twitter that a Le Pen victory would be « devastating. »
While some of Le Pen’s campaign rhetoric on immigration and security echoed Trump’s, she recently criticized Trump for backtracking on his position on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) when he called it no longer « obsolete. »
« Undeniably he is in contradiction with the commitments he had made, » Le Pen told a French radio outlet last week, CNN reported.
« I am coherent, I don’t change my mind in a few days. He had said he would not be the policeman of the world, that he would be the president of the United States and would not be the policeman of the world, but it seems today that he has changed his mind. »
Melenchon has also criticized Trump for taking military action in Syria earlier this month.
If recent terror attacks affect the race
France has been rocked by terrorism in the last few years, from the coordinated 2015 Paris attacks to Thursday’s murder of a police officer on the Champs-Elysees shopping strip. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria claimed responsibility following both attacks.
While the Trump administration has recently affirmed its commitment to NATO, Le Pen has vowed to at least partially withdraw from the alliance.
France’s departure could place an additional burden on the U.S. and other member states, both militarily and monetarily. France has one of the most-powerful militaries in the world and holds a seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Several leading candidates representing both the far left and far right have proposed taking France out of NATO’s military command or removing it altogether.
“It would be catastrophic — the undoing of 65 years of foreign and security policy,” François Heisbourg, an analyst with the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research, told The Washington Post. “This is big.”
France’s security moves could have implications concerning Russia. Le Pen has shown a warmness to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom she met last month, and has criticized western sanctions against Moscow.
Will France hold a referendum to leave the European Union?
In a document laying out the National Front’s platform in February, Le Pen promised to hold a referendum on France’s membership to the European Union (EU) should the organization refuse to get rid of its shared currency and the lack of border restrictions.
But the Nationalist Front isn’t the only French party critical of the EU. Melenchon has also expressed disapproval over France’s membership.
Macron, who worked as an economic adviser to France’s current President Francois Hollande before becoming economy minister, is pro-European Union. He also supports the EU keeping in place sanctions it imposed over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crime.