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Archives par mot-clé : video
Mosaicoon Named as Facebook Marketing Partner for Video Content Marketing
MILAN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Mosaicoon, the platform connecting top brands and worldwide creators for the end-to-end realization of video strategies, announced that it has been named as a Facebook Marketing Partner in the Content Marketing specialty, with a specific focus on video.
The company will serve as an asset for brands looking to quickly get high-performance video strategies to reach Facebook audiences. Among the 18 Facebook Marketing Global Partners, Mosaicoon is the first partner for content based in Italy.
Mosaicoon changes the way that companies produce and position their online video campaigns. By counting on a worldwide network of creators who can upload their video contents – either as ready videos or format to be developed – Mosaicoon makes available to brands an array of videos that can be sponsored by them and are immediately suitable for their video strategy, with guaranteed performances included. As companies can browse, purchase and build on pre-made professional videos instead of commissioning them by brief, Mosaicoon makes the video production process quick, simple and cost-effective. It simultaneously enables brands to accelerate and maximize their video strategy potential, while allowing creators to express their best by not feeling constrained by a brief. The traditional creative process is thus flip-flopped, bringing creators at the center while creativity becomes the engine and technology serves as an activator of a new way of producing value – what Mosaicoon explains in defining itself as “Human Creativity Engine”.
We are proud to be selected as Facebook Marketing Partner and enthusiastic to continue our work with the greatest brands on Facebook – Mosaicoon’s Founder and CEO Ugo Parodi Giusino commented. With Facebook being a video-first company, we are excited to contribute to an increase of video consumption toward good quality content and to boost brands’ video communication by reducing any complexity and solely engaging their users with relevant content. Video is the new language of digital, users are looking at videos everywhere, and brands need to take it into account if they want to properly reach their audience. Our goal is to give companies all the video content they need to become publishers, and Facebook Marketing Program is a great opportunity of synergy toward this direction.
Founded in 2010 and based in Italy, Mosaicoon is a company active on a global scale and has been awarded for having revolutionized the way video is made. Within Mosaicoon platform the process is extremely simplified. Creators, whether individuals or production houses, propose their video projects of diverse forms and lengths – from short movies to how-to – and suitable for different industries. Tagged with keywords associated with their content, with the support of Artificial Intelligence videos are made available to brands through a matchmaking algorithm which picks out relevant videos matching the values or themes a company wants to emphasize through a project. Quickly and easily companies, brands and media agencies can choose as many content they need and sponsor them. Prior to that, through a proprietary algorithm named “Sonar”, Mosaicoon helps clients to plan the best video strategy by identifying the items they need to cover by video communications.
In addition, Mosaicoon introduces a pricing model called “CPVplus” which allows brands to only pay content per effective views rather than purchasing videos at a fixed price.
Through Mosaicoon, brand marketers now have a highly efficient video content engine to fully leverage Facebook’s distribution assets.
So far, Mosaicoon has carried out projects with around 130 big-name clients including Unilever, Procter Gamble, Alitalia, Microsoft, Jaguar-Land Rover, Warner Bros and Samsung, to mention some.
MOSAICOON
Mosaicoon is the award-winning tech company connecting top brands and worldwide Creators for the realization of end-to-end video strategies. Empowered by a global network of creators who can submit and monetize their video productions, Mosaicoon’s proprietary platform enables companies to access an array of content, immediately available to be branded and distributed with guaranteed performances. Mosaicoon makes video production process quick, simple and cost-effective, allowing brands to maximize their video communication potential. As a “Human Creativity Engine”, Mosaicoon’s technology brings humans at the center and revolves around creativity to twist the rules of video advertising. Founded in 2010, the company is headquartered in Italy and has now 8 offices across EMEA and APAC in Isola, London, Madrid, Milan, New Delhi, Rome, Seoul and Singapore. Recognized as one of the European most innovative companies, Mosaicoon is a Facebook Marketing Partner, is part of “Elite Programme, Borsa Italiana- London Stock Exchange” and is listed amongst Inc. 5000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies. www.mosaicoon.com
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170228006348/en/
5 Things You Should Know About the New Age of Video Marketing
Are you using video yet as part of your marketing strategy? Are you looking for ways to connect on a deeper level with your audience? Advertising is quickly shifting away from textual-only content and moving toward video. And the growth of social-media platforms is partly responsible for this change, as these platforms are optimized for creating and sharing videos.
Related: By 2019, Video Marketing Will Be Everything. You’ve Got to Get in on the Trend — Now.
Now, it’s up to content creators to deliver quality ad content that can be consumed in this new age of video marketing.
However, many brands and influencers aren’t prepared for the incoming wave of video marketing. That’s why services like The Draw Shop now exist, to provide storytellers and companies with a platform to create easily digestible, authentic video content. They’re designed to make it simple to create top-notch explainer videos that will reach all sorts of customers, from individuals to startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Video marketing is taking over the content world. You don’t want to miss out. Here are five things you should know so you can build a winning video-marketing campaign:
1. Creativity is key.
Consumers today are overloaded with content. As a marketer, you need to realize that your message is just one of thousands flooding into the average person’s life.
That’s why it’s crucial that you use creativity as a means of differentiation. Traditional advertising has saturated the marketplace, and consumers are sick and tired of seeing the same types of advertisements over and over.
You should look for alternatives that will make your message really pop, like those whiteboard videos from The Draw Shop. While what you say in your video is certainly important, a creative presentation will make it stand out from the crowd.
2. Easy to consume
It used to be a real challenge for consumers to watch videos, especially from their mobile devices. They had to wait for the content to load and buffer, long before they could even hear the message.
Luckily, with the advance of technology, those days of low-quality video are long gone. Today, consumers are able to stream high-quality HD content from their mobile devices. But, it’s also important to remember that neither they nor you have to create movie-length video for it to be effective.
“For your video content, stick to the sweet-spot of two-to-three minutes,” advises Alex Charfen, co-founder and CEO of Charfen, a training and membership organization helping visionary entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses. “Attention spans are getting shorter, but you still want to be able to provide value. So, if you can keep your message short and to the point — and ideally stick to only one point — you’ll have greater success connecting with your audience.”
Content creators should take full advantage of advanced consumer technology and deliver video that is easy to view, understand and consume.
Related: The 4 Pillars of Stellar Video Marketing
3. Authentic
Another easy and actionable way to differentiate your message is to be 100 percent authentic and genuine. Most of the advertisements in today’s consumer ecosystem are jam-packed with blatant lies and hyperbole, often presented in bolded typefaces sprinkled with exclamation marks. You can stand out by taking a genuine approach. Your customers want content that they can relate to, specifically catering to their tastes.
“I’m a big fan of shooting when you’ve got something to say, not trying to make everything perfect,” says Charfen, “Your audience responds to your transparency and your real reactions to what’s going on in their world. So, when you have something to say, say it.”
Create something that people will want to watch; and be genuine. You’ll have a much easier time getting your message across.
4. Achieves high conversion rates
The great thing about users who watch your video is that if they are attracted to the content, they’ll be very likely to click through and subscribe to your services or buy your product.
Animated marketing videos have an incredible effect on customers. This is because they transfer information in a way that makes it easier for consumers to understand, instead of confusing the customer with nonsensical ads. They provide you with the tools you need, to teach your customers why they need your service, and to do so in a nonaggressive way.
5. Optimized for sharing
One of the best ways to grow your audience is through social-media channels. Video and unique content is great, but they’re worthless if no one can share them with their friends.
That’s why you should invest in optimizing your content so it can be shared on both mobile and desktop. Make sure it runs on screens of all sizes so that no one is getting cut out of your potential viewer list. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, ensure your content goes viral through sharing.
Video is here to stay. Social platforms are making it ever easy to consume video content, and live-streaming continues to boom. To remain a major player in the digital world, recognize that video is no longer a luxury, but a requirement.
Related: Leverage the Undeniable Power of Video Marketing on All Platforms
So, now that you know what works, how will you use video in your business?
Calvin Wayman
After quitting his day job to pursue his dream of working for himself, Calvin Wayman relocated from Salt Lake City to sunny Southern California. He sold solar systems door to door to pay the bills and fund his online business. Wayman’…
SpaceX to Fly Passengers On Private Trip Around the Moon in 2018
Update for 4:38 p.m. EST: SpaceX will fly two private citizens on a passenger flight around the moon in 2018 using a Dragon 2 spacecraft and the massive new Falcon Heavy rocket, the company’s founder Elon Musk announced today (Feb. 27).
The two private citizens — who have not been named — approached SpaceX about the trip, according to a statement from the company. The individuals will be the only crew members on board what is expected to be about a week-long trip around the moon, according to Musk, who spoke with reporters during a phone conference today. The names of the two individuals will be announced later pending the result of initial health and fitness tests, the statement said.
The moon flight is scheduled to take place after SpaceX plans to fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Crew Program. Here’s a look at SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsules, Falcon Heavy rockets and more as we complete our main story:
- Meet Dragon V2: SpaceX’s Manned Space Taxi for Astronaut Trips
- Falcon Heavy in Pictures: SpaceX’s Huge Private Rocket
- SpaceX’s Huge Falcon Heavy Rocket: How It Works
- SpaceX’s Dragon V2 Crew Capsule: How it Works
Editor’s note: This story will be updated with more details from Elon Musk’s teleconference with reporters today.
***
Our morning preview:
Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk says his private spaceflight company SpaceX will make an announcement Monday (Feb. 27), but exactly what will be announced is a mystery.
In a Twitter post last night, Musk offered a tantalizing hint of something new coming from SpaceX: « SpaceX announcement tomorrow at 1 p.m. PST, » Musk wrote on Twitter. That pegs the reveal for 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) if, like Space.com here, you’re in an Eastern time zone.
SpaceX announcement tomorrow at 1pm PST
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 27, 2017
An inquiry to SpaceX representatives last night yielded little more than a tantalizing « stay tuned » response. So we’re on pins and needles waiting to hear what the private spaceflight company will be unveiling today. Here are some possibilities that come to mind:
First Crew Dragon test flight date (unpiloted): Earlier this month, ahead of SpaceX’s first Dragon launch from NASA’s Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Floriday, company president Gwynne Shotwell hinted that the company was aiming for the first uncrewed launched of its Crew Dragon spacecraft near the end of the year. Could the date be set?
Dragon spacesuits: NASA has tapped SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to fly American astronauts to and from the International Space Station, but SpaceX has not yet unveiled its spacesuit design for the seven-person space capsule. Boeing, which will also fly astronauts for NASA, unveiled its Boeing Blue spacesuit last month. During her talk with reporters at Launch Pad 39A this month, Shotwell hinted that SpaceX spacesuits would be pretty cool to see.
Dragon final interor design: We do know that NASA astronauts have been practicing with SpaceX’s Dragon flight controls setup because NASA has posted a series of photos of the session.
Falcon Heavy test flight date: The Falcon Heavy, SpaceX’s new heavy-lift rocket, which looks like three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together, is scheduled for a debut test flight sometime this year. Could it be ready to announce a target date.
Reusable rocket announcement: SpaceX has pioneered commercial reusable rocket technology and is expected to launch the first reused Falcon 9 rocket booster in March during a commercial satellite launch. Could something else be in the works?
New launch site: SpaceX currently has two launch sites in Florida (NASA’s Launch Pad 39A and a pad under repair at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station); as well as a pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But the company has also been hard at work building its own launch site in Brownsville, Texas. Is it time for an update on that new private spaceport?
Satellite fleet: SpaceX is planning to build a constellation of 4,000 broadband satellites in a factory in Seattle. Could that be what today’s about?
And finally…
Something about Mars: SpaceX and Mars go together like peanut butter and jelly. Musk has often said that he wants to make a colony on Mars possible to make humanity a two-planet species. Last year, he unveiled SpaceX’s concept for an Interplanetary Transport System that would use a fleet of giant reusable spacecraft to ferry colonists to Mars hundreds at a time. In the near term, SpaceX is also drawing up plans to send an uncrewed Dragon capsule to Mars in the next few years. Could a new Red Planet reveal come today?
Those are just some of the possibilities that Elon Musk and SpaceX could unveil today. What are YOU hoping to hear from SpaceX at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT)? Let us know in the comments below.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
SpaceX to Fly Passengers On Private Trip Around the Moon in 2018
Update for 4:38 p.m. EST: SpaceX will fly two private citizens on a passenger flight around the moon in 2018 using a Dragon 2 spacecraft and the massive new Falcon Heavy rocket, the company’s founder Elon Musk announced today (Feb. 27).
The two private citizens — who have not been named — approached SpaceX about the trip, according to a statement from the company. The individuals will be the only crew members on board what is expected to be about a week-long trip around the moon, according to Musk, who spoke with reporters during a phone conference today. The names of the two individuals will be announced later pending the result of initial health and fitness tests, the statement said.
The moon flight is scheduled to take place after SpaceX plans to fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Crew Program. Here’s a look at SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsules, Falcon Heavy rockets and more as we complete our main story:
- Meet Dragon V2: SpaceX’s Manned Space Taxi for Astronaut Trips
- Falcon Heavy in Pictures: SpaceX’s Huge Private Rocket
- SpaceX’s Huge Falcon Heavy Rocket: How It Works
- SpaceX’s Dragon V2 Crew Capsule: How it Works
Editor’s note: This story will be updated with more details from Elon Musk’s teleconference with reporters today.
***
Our morning preview:
Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk says his private spaceflight company SpaceX will make an announcement Monday (Feb. 27), but exactly what will be announced is a mystery.
In a Twitter post last night, Musk offered a tantalizing hint of something new coming from SpaceX: « SpaceX announcement tomorrow at 1 p.m. PST, » Musk wrote on Twitter. That pegs the reveal for 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) if, like Space.com here, you’re in an Eastern time zone.
SpaceX announcement tomorrow at 1pm PST
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 27, 2017
An inquiry to SpaceX representatives last night yielded little more than a tantalizing « stay tuned » response. So we’re on pins and needles waiting to hear what the private spaceflight company will be unveiling today. Here are some possibilities that come to mind:
First Crew Dragon test flight date (unpiloted): Earlier this month, ahead of SpaceX’s first Dragon launch from NASA’s Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Floriday, company president Gwynne Shotwell hinted that the company was aiming for the first uncrewed launched of its Crew Dragon spacecraft near the end of the year. Could the date be set?
Dragon spacesuits: NASA has tapped SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to fly American astronauts to and from the International Space Station, but SpaceX has not yet unveiled its spacesuit design for the seven-person space capsule. Boeing, which will also fly astronauts for NASA, unveiled its Boeing Blue spacesuit last month. During her talk with reporters at Launch Pad 39A this month, Shotwell hinted that SpaceX spacesuits would be pretty cool to see.
Dragon final interor design: We do know that NASA astronauts have been practicing with SpaceX’s Dragon flight controls setup because NASA has posted a series of photos of the session.
Falcon Heavy test flight date: The Falcon Heavy, SpaceX’s new heavy-lift rocket, which looks like three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together, is scheduled for a debut test flight sometime this year. Could it be ready to announce a target date.
Reusable rocket announcement: SpaceX has pioneered commercial reusable rocket technology and is expected to launch the first reused Falcon 9 rocket booster in March during a commercial satellite launch. Could something else be in the works?
New launch site: SpaceX currently has two launch sites in Florida (NASA’s Launch Pad 39A and a pad under repair at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station); as well as a pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But the company has also been hard at work building its own launch site in Brownsville, Texas. Is it time for an update on that new private spaceport?
Satellite fleet: SpaceX is planning to build a constellation of 4,000 broadband satellites in a factory in Seattle. Could that be what today’s about?
And finally…
Something about Mars: SpaceX and Mars go together like peanut butter and jelly. Musk has often said that he wants to make a colony on Mars possible to make humanity a two-planet species. Last year, he unveiled SpaceX’s concept for an Interplanetary Transport System that would use a fleet of giant reusable spacecraft to ferry colonists to Mars hundreds at a time. In the near term, SpaceX is also drawing up plans to send an uncrewed Dragon capsule to Mars in the next few years. Could a new Red Planet reveal come today?
Those are just some of the possibilities that Elon Musk and SpaceX could unveil today. What are YOU hoping to hear from SpaceX at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT)? Let us know in the comments below.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
A celebrity photo, the wrong envelope: the missteps before the Oscars mistake
One of the two accountants in charge of Oscars vote counting mistakenly handed actor Warren Beatty the wrong envelope for the best picture award, sparking the chaotic ending of the Academy Awards, a spokesman for the accounting firm said Monday.
Beatty was handed the wrong envelope during Sunday night’s show by Brian Cullinan, a managing partner of PwC, formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, who heads the firm’s relationship with the Oscars, PwC spokesman Mao-Lin Shen said, declining to elaborate.
When he opened the envelope for the best picture award, a confused Beatty showed it to actress and fellow presenter Faye Dunaway, who proclaimed “La La Land” when the award, in fact, belonged to “Moonlight.” But the two presenters had been reading from a card announcing that Emma Stone was named best actress for her work in “La La Land.”
Moments before the mistake, Cullinan had posted a photo on Twitter of Stone holding her Oscar, but it wasn’t immediately clear if that contributed to him then handing the wrong envelope to Beatty. Cullinan deleted the Stone photo tweet, but Times reporters have seen copies of the tweet accessible on Google’s servers.
No one who has paid attention to the Academy Awards over the past 89 years has ever seen anything like “Moonlight’s” shocking, exhilarating, stomach-churning come-from-behind Oscar win on Sunday night — a victory that stunned the Dolby Theatre audience and viewers watching around the world.
In…
No one who has paid attention to the Academy Awards over the past 89 years has ever seen anything like “Moonlight’s” shocking, exhilarating, stomach-churning come-from-behind Oscar win on Sunday night — a victory that stunned the Dolby Theatre audience and viewers watching around the world.
In…
(Justin Chang)
After the shocking error was rectified on the stage of the Dolby Theatre, PwC went from being a venerable partner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a punchline. That was especially true on social media such as Twitter, where the firm repeatedly was lambasted with snide remarks about how it “had only one job” at the Oscars and blew it.
Shen declined comment on whether Cullinan faced any disciplinary action or whether the firm’s contract with the academy might be affected by the mistake.
In any case, PwC’s reputation has taken a hit, at least for now, some analysts said. But PwC’s long-term reputation and brand loyalty among its corporate clients should remain intact — if PwC quickly rectifies what went wrong and tells the whole world about it.
“The spotlight is so big and bright that there is no conceivable way for PwC or the Academy to move forward without being transparent with the public,” said Jeremy Robinson-Leon, chief operating officer of Group Gordon, a public relations and crisis management firm.
Bernhard Schroeder, a marketing expert who heads the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center Programs at San Diego State’s business school, said that while the mistake “is embarrassing, to be sure, in the short-term, the long-term damage to PwC will be fairly non-existent to their bottom line.”
“Large corporate companies that use PwC use them to provide solid audit and accounting services, not to organize envelopes for the Oscars,” Schroeder said.
Even so, the mistake was “as bad a mess-up as you could imagine,” said Nigel Currie, a branding specialist in London. “They had a pretty simple job to do and messed it up spectacularly.”
Full coverage: Oscars 2017 » »
PwC is one of the Big Four accounting firms and a huge enterprise that proves accounting, tax and consultant services around the world, services that typically are far more complicated than tallying Oscar ballots. The London-based firm has $36 billion in annual revenue and 223,000 employees.
PwC also has been tabulating the Oscar winners for 83 years, nearly as long as the awards show itself, and PwC makes a big splash of how its two Oscar representatives, Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, oversee the voting and keep the awards secret until the show’s telecast.
Cullinan, often teased as a Matt Damon lookalike, is the lead partner for the Academy who’s also the managing partner for PwC’s Southern California practice. Ruiz, who’s been with PwC for 19 years, also is a tax-compliance specialist for entertainment clients in Southern California.
After overseeing the vote tabulation, they each bring a set of the winners’ envelopes to the awards, taking separate routes with police escorts, then join up at the theater to walk along the red carpet – briefcases in hand – as they enter the show.
Cullinan and Ruiz then take up positions on each side of the stage – again, with each holding the envelopes of all the winners – to hand to the presenters, depending on which side of the stage the presenters emerge to face the audience.
In a promotional video on the PwC’s website ahead of Sunday’s show, Cullinan said he and Ruiz are the only two who know the winners before the envelopes are opened live on stage.
He also said PwC’s relationship with the Academy Awards was a testament to the firm’s reputation in the market for being “a firm of integrity, of accuracy and confidentiality.”
This wasn’t the first time there had been a mistake in announcing an Oscar winner. In 1964, Sammy Davis Jr. was given the wrong envelope for a music-score award, to which Davis quipped: “Wait until the NAACP hears about this.”
And the Times had a hand in the envelopes even becoming part of Oscars tradition.
There were no sealed envelopes during the Oscar’s first decade, and then local newspapers were given the names of winners the day of the ceremony with the caveat that they didn’t print them until the awards were over.
But the Times jumped the gun by prematurely publishing the 1939 winners, led by “Gone with the Wind” as best picture, after which the academy began the sealed-envelope tradition.
« Moonlight » won the best picture Oscar after a botched announcement through the ceremony into chaos.
« Moonlight » won the best picture Oscar after a botched announcement through the ceremony into chaos.
Staff writer Tre’vell Anderson asks 2017 Academy Awards ceremony attendees to discuss the significance of the Oscars.
Staff writer Tre’vell Anderson asks 2017 Academy Awards ceremony attendees to discuss the significance of the Oscars.
Car bomb
Car bomb
Key play in Chino Hills-Mater Dei
Key play in Chino Hills-Mater Dei
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
ALSO
The Oscar scene inside and outside the Dolby — including that great big gaffe
23 totally awkward Oscar moments
UPDATES:
2:25 p.m.: This article was updated with more details about how the mistake occurred, and a history of similar mix-ups.
12:35 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with Times staff reporting.
A celebrity photo, the wrong envelope: the missteps before the Oscars mistake
One of the two accountants in charge of Oscars vote counting mistakenly handed actor Warren Beatty the wrong envelope for the best picture award, sparking the chaotic ending of the Academy Awards, a spokesman for the accounting firm said Monday.
Beatty was handed the wrong envelope during Sunday night’s show by Brian Cullinan, a managing partner of PwC, formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, who heads the firm’s relationship with the Oscars, PwC spokesman Mao-Lin Shen said, declining to elaborate.
When he opened the envelope for the best picture award, a confused Beatty showed it to actress and fellow presenter Faye Dunaway, who proclaimed “La La Land” when the award, in fact, belonged to “Moonlight.” But the two presenters had been reading from a card announcing that Emma Stone was named best actress for her work in “La La Land.”
Moments before the mistake, Cullinan had posted a photo on Twitter of Stone holding her Oscar, but it wasn’t immediately clear if that contributed to him then handing the wrong envelope to Beatty. Cullinan deleted the Stone photo tweet, but Times reporters have seen copies of the tweet accessible on Google’s servers.
No one who has paid attention to the Academy Awards over the past 89 years has ever seen anything like “Moonlight’s” shocking, exhilarating, stomach-churning come-from-behind Oscar win on Sunday night — a victory that stunned the Dolby Theatre audience and viewers watching around the world.
In…
No one who has paid attention to the Academy Awards over the past 89 years has ever seen anything like “Moonlight’s” shocking, exhilarating, stomach-churning come-from-behind Oscar win on Sunday night — a victory that stunned the Dolby Theatre audience and viewers watching around the world.
In…
(Justin Chang)
After the shocking error was rectified on the stage of the Dolby Theatre, PwC went from being a venerable partner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a punchline. That was especially true on social media such as Twitter, where the firm repeatedly was lambasted with snide remarks about how it “had only one job” at the Oscars and blew it.
Shen declined comment on whether Cullinan faced any disciplinary action or whether the firm’s contract with the academy might be affected by the mistake.
In any case, PwC’s reputation has taken a hit, at least for now, some analysts said. But PwC’s long-term reputation and brand loyalty among its corporate clients should remain intact — if PwC quickly rectifies what went wrong and tells the whole world about it.
“The spotlight is so big and bright that there is no conceivable way for PwC or the Academy to move forward without being transparent with the public,” said Jeremy Robinson-Leon, chief operating officer of Group Gordon, a public relations and crisis management firm.
Bernhard Schroeder, a marketing expert who heads the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center Programs at San Diego State’s business school, said that while the mistake “is embarrassing, to be sure, in the short-term, the long-term damage to PwC will be fairly non-existent to their bottom line.”
“Large corporate companies that use PwC use them to provide solid audit and accounting services, not to organize envelopes for the Oscars,” Schroeder said.
Even so, the mistake was “as bad a mess-up as you could imagine,” said Nigel Currie, a branding specialist in London. “They had a pretty simple job to do and messed it up spectacularly.”
Full coverage: Oscars 2017 » »
PwC is one of the Big Four accounting firms and a huge enterprise that proves accounting, tax and consultant services around the world, services that typically are far more complicated than tallying Oscar ballots. The London-based firm has $36 billion in annual revenue and 223,000 employees.
PwC also has been tabulating the Oscar winners for 83 years, nearly as long as the awards show itself, and PwC makes a big splash of how its two Oscar representatives, Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, oversee the voting and keep the awards secret until the show’s telecast.
Cullinan, often teased as a Matt Damon lookalike, is the lead partner for the Academy who’s also the managing partner for PwC’s Southern California practice. Ruiz, who’s been with PwC for 19 years, also is a tax-compliance specialist for entertainment clients in Southern California.
After overseeing the vote tabulation, they each bring a set of the winners’ envelopes to the awards, taking separate routes with police escorts, then join up at the theater to walk along the red carpet – briefcases in hand – as they enter the show.
Cullinan and Ruiz then take up positions on each side of the stage – again, with each holding the envelopes of all the winners – to hand to the presenters, depending on which side of the stage the presenters emerge to face the audience.
In a promotional video on the PwC’s website ahead of Sunday’s show, Cullinan said he and Ruiz are the only two who know the winners before the envelopes are opened live on stage.
He also said PwC’s relationship with the Academy Awards was a testament to the firm’s reputation in the market for being “a firm of integrity, of accuracy and confidentiality.”
This wasn’t the first time there had been a mistake in announcing an Oscar winner. In 1964, Sammy Davis Jr. was given the wrong envelope for a music-score award, to which Davis quipped: “Wait until the NAACP hears about this.”
And the Times had a hand in the envelopes even becoming part of Oscars tradition.
There were no sealed envelopes during the Oscar’s first decade, and then local newspapers were given the names of winners the day of the ceremony with the caveat that they didn’t print them until the awards were over.
But the Times jumped the gun by prematurely publishing the 1939 winners, led by “Gone with the Wind” as best picture, after which the academy began the sealed-envelope tradition.
« Moonlight » won the best picture Oscar after a botched announcement through the ceremony into chaos.
« Moonlight » won the best picture Oscar after a botched announcement through the ceremony into chaos.
Staff writer Tre’vell Anderson asks 2017 Academy Awards ceremony attendees to discuss the significance of the Oscars.
Staff writer Tre’vell Anderson asks 2017 Academy Awards ceremony attendees to discuss the significance of the Oscars.
Car bomb
Car bomb
Key play in Chino Hills-Mater Dei
Key play in Chino Hills-Mater Dei
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
ALSO
The Oscar scene inside and outside the Dolby — including that great big gaffe
23 totally awkward Oscar moments
UPDATES:
2:25 p.m.: This article was updated with more details about how the mistake occurred, and a history of similar mix-ups.
12:35 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with Times staff reporting.
Trump to propose 10 percent spike in defense spending, major cuts to other agencies
President Trump will propose a federal budget that would significantly increase defense-related spending by $54 billion while cutting other federal agencies by the same amount, an administration official said.
The proposal represents a major increase in federal spending related to national security, while other priorities, especially foreign aid, would face massive reductions.
According to the White House, the defense budget would increase by 10 percent. Trump also will request $30 billion in supplementary military spending for fiscal 2017, an administration official said.
But without providing specifics, the administration said that most other discretionary spending programs would be cut to pay for it. Officials singled out foreign aid, one of the smallest parts of the federal budget, saying it would face “large reductions” in spending.
[Budget breakdown: What the Obama White House wants to spend money on]
It is the first indication of spending priorities by the new administration, with the president set to arrive on Capitol Hill on Tuesday night for a speech to a joint session of Congress. But the full budget negotiations between Trump and Congress will not be complete for many months.
In a statement at the White House on Monday morning, Trump said that his budget would put “America first” by focusing on defense, law enforcement and veterans using money previously spent abroad.
“We are going to do more with less and make the government lean and accountable to the people,” he said. “We can do so much more with the money we spend.”
[Analysis: The U.S. foreign-aid budget, visualized]
The White House did not specify how Trump’s budget would address mandatory spending or taxes, promising that those details would come later. The vast majority of federal spending comes from programs Trump can’t touch with his budget. Social Security costs totaled about $910 billion last year, and Medicare outpaced defense spending with a total cost of $588 billion. Medicaid, interest payments on debt and miscellaneous costs made up an additional $1.2 trillion.
White House officials declined to answer questions about the president’s priorities on a host of other fiscal issues, including infrastructure improvements and plans to pay for a wall between the United States and Mexico. Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), emphasized that the priorities outlined Monday do not reflect policy on broader fiscal issues, which he said will be addressed later.
“We are taking his words and turning them into policies and dollars,” Mulvaney told reporters. “A full budget will contain the entire spectrum of what the president has proposed.”
Defense spending accounts for almost the same proportion of the federal budget as all non-discretionary domestic spending, meaning that the Trump administration’s proposal will result in a roughly 10 percent across-the-board cut in all other federal spending programs.
Budgets for most federal agencies would be reduced substantially, said an OMB official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity on a call with reporters to discuss the proposal.
The announcement marks the beginning of a process in which the OMB will coordinate with agencies to flesh out the plan.
Trump said his budget, which will be submitted to Congress next month, will propose “historic” increases in spending to bolster the country’s “depleted military,” and he said it will support law enforcement in an effort to reduce crime.
[Trump team plans for infrastructure ‘task force’ to advance top spending priority]
Trump noted that the country faces an urgent infrastructure problem, which he promised during the campaign that he would address with a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan. Although the administration has not yet outlined whether infrastructure will be part of Trump’s budget proposal, the president spoke about it at length before a gathering of governors at the White House on Monday.
“We’re going to make it easier for states to invest in infrastructure,” he said. “We spent $6 trillion in the Middle East, and we have potholes all over our highways and our roads.”
He added: “Infrastructure, we’re going to start spending on infrastructure — big.”
Republicans in Congress expect that the details released this week will be the first elements of a broader budget that will be rolled out next month. The Trump administration is expected to release a pared-down “skinny budget” the week of March 13 and a fuller list of requests by the end of March or early April, said multiple Republican congressional aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the process.
Democrats have warned that under the current circumstances, Trump would be hard-pressed to make significant cuts to domestic programs without significantly reducing some government services. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday that the scant details the Trump administration released probably would lead to cuts to widely used programs.
“A cut this steep almost certainly means cuts to agencies that protect consumers from Wall Street excess and protect clean air and water,” Schumer said.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) added that deep reductions could have a major effect on programs that keep the American workforce competitive.
“A $54 billion cut will do far-reaching and long-lasting damage to our ability to meet the needs of the American people and win the jobs of the future,” she said in a statement. “The President is surrendering America’s leadership in innovation, education, science and clean energy.”
Individual agencies were expected to begin the customary process of sending budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year to the White House beginning Monday, the aides said. The OMB will then begin drafting an official request for fiscal 2018 and submit it to Congress in the coming weeks.
Congress typically does not agree with the White House budget in full, even when the president and congressional leaders represent the same party. Republican leaders have not yet said when they will release their budget blueprint for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) told members at a GOP retreat in Philadelphia in January that he expects to act by July on a 2018 budget proposal that will lay out major spending cuts and begin the process of rewriting the tax code.
Philip Rucker and Ana Swanson contributed to this report.
Trump to propose 10 percent spike in defense spending, major cuts to other agencies
President Trump will propose a federal budget that would significantly increase defense-related spending by $54 billion while cutting other federal agencies by the same amount, an administration official said.
The proposal represents a major increase in federal spending related to national security, while other priorities, especially foreign aid, would face massive reductions.
According to the White House, the defense budget would increase by 10 percent. Trump also will request $30 billion in supplementary military spending for fiscal 2017, an administration official said.
But without providing specifics, the administration said that most other discretionary spending programs would be cut to pay for it. Officials singled out foreign aid, one of the smallest parts of the federal budget, saying it would face “large reductions” in spending.
[Budget breakdown: What the Obama White House wants to spend money on]
It is the first indication of spending priorities by the new administration, with the president set to arrive on Capitol Hill on Tuesday night for a speech to a joint session of Congress. But the full budget negotiations between Trump and Congress will not be complete for many months.
In a statement at the White House on Monday morning, Trump said that his budget would put “America first” by focusing on defense, law enforcement and veterans using money previously spent abroad.
“We are going to do more with less and make the government lean and accountable to the people,” he said. “We can do so much more with the money we spend.”
[Analysis: The U.S. foreign-aid budget, visualized]
The White House did not specify how Trump’s budget would address mandatory spending or taxes, promising that those details would come later. The vast majority of federal spending comes from programs Trump can’t touch with his budget. Social Security costs totaled about $910 billion last year, and Medicare outpaced defense spending with a total cost of $588 billion. Medicaid, interest payments on debt and miscellaneous costs made up an additional $1.2 trillion.
White House officials declined to answer questions about the president’s priorities on a host of other fiscal issues, including infrastructure improvements and plans to pay for a wall between the United States and Mexico. Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), emphasized that the priorities outlined Monday do not reflect policy on broader fiscal issues, which he said will be addressed later.
“We are taking his words and turning them into policies and dollars,” Mulvaney told reporters. “A full budget will contain the entire spectrum of what the president has proposed.”
Defense spending accounts for almost the same proportion of the federal budget as all non-discretionary domestic spending, meaning that the Trump administration’s proposal will result in a roughly 10 percent across-the-board cut in all other federal spending programs.
Budgets for most federal agencies would be reduced substantially, said an OMB official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity on a call with reporters to discuss the proposal.
The announcement marks the beginning of a process in which the OMB will coordinate with agencies to flesh out the plan.
Trump said his budget, which will be submitted to Congress next month, will propose “historic” increases in spending to bolster the country’s “depleted military,” and he said it will support law enforcement in an effort to reduce crime.
[Trump team plans for infrastructure ‘task force’ to advance top spending priority]
Trump noted that the country faces an urgent infrastructure problem, which he promised during the campaign that he would address with a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan. Although the administration has not yet outlined whether infrastructure will be part of Trump’s budget proposal, the president spoke about it at length before a gathering of governors at the White House on Monday.
“We’re going to make it easier for states to invest in infrastructure,” he said. “We spent $6 trillion in the Middle East, and we have potholes all over our highways and our roads.”
He added: “Infrastructure, we’re going to start spending on infrastructure — big.”
Republicans in Congress expect that the details released this week will be the first elements of a broader budget that will be rolled out next month. The Trump administration is expected to release a pared-down “skinny budget” the week of March 13 and a fuller list of requests by the end of March or early April, said multiple Republican congressional aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the process.
Democrats have warned that under the current circumstances, Trump would be hard-pressed to make significant cuts to domestic programs without significantly reducing some government services. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday that the scant details the Trump administration released probably would lead to cuts to widely used programs.
“A cut this steep almost certainly means cuts to agencies that protect consumers from Wall Street excess and protect clean air and water,” Schumer said.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) added that deep reductions could have a major effect on programs that keep the American workforce competitive.
“A $54 billion cut will do far-reaching and long-lasting damage to our ability to meet the needs of the American people and win the jobs of the future,” she said in a statement. “The President is surrendering America’s leadership in innovation, education, science and clean energy.”
Individual agencies were expected to begin the customary process of sending budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year to the White House beginning Monday, the aides said. The OMB will then begin drafting an official request for fiscal 2018 and submit it to Congress in the coming weeks.
Congress typically does not agree with the White House budget in full, even when the president and congressional leaders represent the same party. Republican leaders have not yet said when they will release their budget blueprint for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) told members at a GOP retreat in Philadelphia in January that he expects to act by July on a 2018 budget proposal that will lay out major spending cuts and begin the process of rewriting the tax code.
Philip Rucker and Ana Swanson contributed to this report.
George W. Bush on President Trump’s Russia Ties: ‘We Need Answers’
Former President George W. Bush weighed in on the calls for a special prosecutor to investigate the connections between the Trump campaign and Russia during an interview with NBC’s Today show on Monday.
« I think we all need answers, » Bush said. « Whether or not the special prosecutor is the right way to go or not you’re talking to the wrong guy. »
Questions about the Trump campaigns connections to Russia throughout the 2016 election have lingered in the wake of reports that officials from Trump’s camp had repeated contacts with Russian officials throughout the election cycle. Bush said Monday that he would be looking to Republican Sen. Richard Burr, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, for his response to the questions about a special prosecutor
« I have great faith in Richard Burr. If he were to recommend a special prosecutor then I’d be—it’d have a lot more credibility with me, » Bush said. « I’ve never been a lawyer. I’m not sure the right avenue to take. I am sure, though, that that question needs to be answered. »
The president visited the Today show to talk about his new book, Portraits of Courage, in which he pays tribute to America’s veterans via portraits. Bush, whose brother Jeb ran against Trump in the Republican primary, did not bash the President in the interview, but he was pressed on the first month of the Administration.
Bush said having a free press is crucial to democracy, amid the current President’s repeated charges that the media is « fake » and the « enemy of the American people. »
« I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy, » President Bush said. « Power can be very addictive. Power can be very corrosive.”
Bush was also asked about the executive order that bans travelers from seven majority Muslim countries. “A bedrock of our freedom is the right to worship freely, » Bush said. “I am for an immigration policy that’s welcoming and upholds the law.”
Bush said U.S. and media should take Trump at his word when he says he wants to bring the country together.
“I think you have to take a man for his word that he wants to unify the country,” Bush said. « It’s hard to unify the country, though, with the news media being so split up. »