Archives par mot-clé : video

Jason Miller, combating online ad fraud, and rock star marketing tactics – VB Engage

Video Marketing,

This week, Travis and Stewart interview Jason Miller, head of content at LinkedIn, who shares everything we need to know about door handles and marketing, rock ‘n’ roll, and what the future holds for content marketing. He not only drops a succession of marketing knowledge bombs in our collective laps, he also blows our minds with stories of his amazing live music photography.

In the news, Travis and Stewart discuss all the startups in Israel, companies attacking ad fraud, the use of AI to analyze blog posts and automatically create a compelling video, and customer survey tools. The duo also chat about a marketing-focused AI startup — this one claiming to automatically recognize and label video content.

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By listening to this episode of VB Engage, you will hear:

  • Welcome to VB Engage episode 68! [0:10]
  • This week, Stewart is in Tel Aviv, but he previously spent time with guest Jason Miller in a dingy bar, where he learned about unique door handles (Tease: more on that in the interview). [0:53]
  • In Tel Aviv, Stewart is enjoying hot, sunny days and tours of the incredible startups in the Startup Nation. [1:31]
  • In Kansas City, Travis is enjoying hot, sunny days and tours of the incredible KC BBQ joints. [1:45]
  • Travis notes that investors are interested in Israeli ICOs. [2:00]
  • Stewart gives a shout-out to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for inviting him to tour the startups and attend the DLD Innovation Festival. [2:22]
  • Stewart had an exclusive this week with The Trade Desk, tackling the huge issue of ad fraud — in collaboration with InMobi and Rubicon — and working to make the industry more transparent and keep the internet free (“…nobody wants to pay for content”). [3:15]
  • Travis is reminded of days past when he gamed the system to capitalize rank on Britney Spears terms. [5:00]
  • Travis mentions the browser from Brave — which launched an ICO for basic attention tokens — a blockchain-based digital advertising platform from the founders of Firefox and Mozilla and the creator of Javascript that’s designed to eliminate fraud. [5:30]
  • Travis mentions a VentureBeat article featuring Ambient.ai, which uses AI to analyze video holistically. [7:15]
  • A company called Lumen 5 is also using AI to analyze blog posts and generate video content. [10:15]
  • Stewart wrote an article about Survata, whose new survey tool, Survata Customer Research, is connected to the company’s publisher network and gives marketers access to a treasure-trove of self-reported data. [12:30]
  • And now, a warm welcome to guest Jason Miller! [14:30]
  • This former music industry pro and rock ‘n’ roll photographer has not only made a move to LinkedIn as a content and social media marketing guru, he has a Kickstarter for his new book, Down in Front; hosts LinkedIn’s critically-acclaimed podcast; and is a renowned keynote speaker.
  • Promised dingy bar/door handle story: The hidden door’s door handle was a…. hand. “Real-life content marketing,” says Jason. [16:30]
  • Jason says emoji have made writing a lost art. 🙂   [17:00]
  • Ann Handley received correspondence stating that “GIFs are the future of communication” (followed by much laughter and derision).  [17:45]
  • How do you pivot from music exec to tech? [18:30]
  • Jason had a passion for tech and social and sharing legacy music tapes and interviews, from Springsteen to Miles Davis. But it was an uphill battle.
  • So he quit. [20:00]
  • He went back to school for his masters, but it was taking too long, so he went to UC Berkeley and submerged himself in digital media courses.
  • And then he hustled (in a good way). Got involved in a startup, attended every conference he could, met as many people as he could.
  • Mistake a lot of people make: They lead with their personal brand, hoping to plug it into a company somewhere. “If you do good work for a company, then the personal branding stuff will follow.” [20:00]
  • Stewart once did cryotherapy with Russell Simmons in West Hollywood (yes, he said that out loud).
  • When Jason asked Russell Simmons “Do you think the music industry could have been saved?” Simmons replied “Absolutely not, they did this to themselves” and recounted a story about Shawn Fanning approaching the industry and not being allowed through the front door. [22:35]
  • Stewart talks about painting millennials in broad brush strokes as disrespectful. How do you understand the people you’re marketing to and create content for them? [23:10]
  • Jason: You can’t judge people for what they share in their closed circles. Person-to-person: Don’t differentiate based on age. [24:00]
  • Jason’s bigger question: How do you create content that will resonate with your audience? [25:00]
  • All the content is out there in a conversation. Start with keyword research, map that back to competitive search volume, then break it down into topics.
  • Do your research first. THEN it goes to creative to create the content. [25:30]
  • Jason: “Content that is informed by insights and research is the content that will not fail.”
  • Jason: Any good content strategy has two elements (paraphrasing Andy Crestodina): [27:00]
    1) Research — gets linkbacks
    2) Strong opinions (editorial mindset) — gets shares
  • Brands are often afraid to take a stance.
  • Jason: “My first blog post was terrible.” [29:00]
  • Find Jason on LinkedIn and @jasonmillerca on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. He is NOT Donald Trump’s former advisor.

Next week on episode 69, we chat with the head of mobile acquisition at Match, James Peng! We talk about how to engage customers and what it’s like to swipe right on a job like you would on Tinder and Match.

If you missed last week’s episode, we interviewed Stan Bokov, who managed to promote his “social network of fintech,” TradingView, to millions of users for free. He explains how this was possible, and what lessons were learned along the way.

As always, thanks for tuning in to VB Engage.

If you enjoy the show, please give it a quick rating or review it on your favorite podcast platform. Just search for VB Engage and make magic happen.

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Let’s not take the Zillow co-marketing probe as legal advice

Video Marketing,

DENVER — « OK, people: Do not run your businesses based on videos made by mortgage brokers, » advised Brian Levy, an attorney at Kattan Temple, at the RESPRO (Real Estate Settlement Services Providers Council) meeting today.

Levy was referring to panicked phone calls he received earlier this year when his clients saw a video that two mortgage brokers put on YouTube. The video said that Zillow is « illegal » — « and they knew that because somebody in an exam was told by an examiner that Zillow was illegal, » Levy explained.

Needless to say, videos like this are not legal advice. So Levy wants the industry to take a deep breath and think for a second before making major changes to business strategies — even though the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is currently investigating Zillow’s co-marketing program.

« We don’t know anything, » he reminded the audience. « There’s no lawsuit. There are press reports that something is imminent and rumors that things are happenin…

NYX Cosmetics, known for its ‘digital-first’ marketing strategy, launches an app called Makeup Crew

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NYX Cosmetics describes itself as a “digital-first” brand, eschewing traditional ad buys in favor of customer selfies it shares on social media, including an Instagram account with 11.7 million followers. That strategy has paid off: though NYX is often described as a “cult beauty brand,” the Los Angeles-based company joined the big leagues in 2014 when it was acquired by L’Oreal for a reported $500 million. Now NYX is releasing its own app called Makeup Crew.

Makeup Crew will sell NYX products, feature “shoppable content,” including video tutorials by customers and beauty bloggers and let users leave reviews, earn rewards and download stickers.

NYX’s inclusive brand philosophy — its marketing features a much more diverse array of people than most other beauty brands, with different races and genders represented — and social media initiatives were considered innovative, but now many competitors have adopted the same strategies to reach younger consumers.

“That means we need to continue to innovate and this app is unlike anything else we’ve seen in the market,” says Mehdi Mehdi, NYX’s vice president of digital and e-commerce.

“We also feel like the technology is finally available to create an app that integrates all of our key strategies without compromising on quality, such as shoppable videos and user-generated content.”

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In order to scale its digital content, NYX uses algorithms created by Olapic, a visual marketing platform, to decide which crowdsourced selfies are featured on its e-commerce site. Mehdi says NYX was the first beauty brand to launch Olapic’s tool and it will continue to use the tech in its app. Most of Makeup Crew’s technology, however, was custom-built by Texas-based software development agency Oven Bits, including the app’s shoppable video platform and its integration with NYX’s brick-and-mortar stores.

When the app launches, it will give NYX a third channel (the other two are its site and standalone brick-and-mortar stores) to gather data about customers’ shopping habits. Like other e-commerce companies, NYX uses predictive intelligence tools to recommend products based on each shopper’s browsing and purchasing history.

“In terms of the shopping experience, being disconnected from a web browser gives us the flexibility to re-think the e-commerce flow. Every piece of content is fully shoppable without being funneled through a product page,” Mehdi says.

“You can watch a video and add products to your cart as the artist is using them or you can shop the full look as a bundle,” he adds. “We really wanted to push the envelope and re-think the way consumers shop for products, otherwise there would have been no need to develop an app that just follows the same flow as our website on mobile.”

Makeup Crew will serve as a digital hub for NYX, pulling together user-generated content from its social media platforms. Instagram photos will feature on its homepage, while another section will have YouTube videos. The app also helps NYX gather data to help it develop future product lines. For example, users can create a personalized beauty profile with information about their preferences by swiping left or right on photos.

“We’re not a brand that promotes models or celebrity spokespeople to market our products. When you open the app, you’re going to see real people posting their artistry and product feedback without editing,” says Mehdi. “We’re prioritizing authenticity and transparency, which goes against the grain of many of the brands that are overly protective of their image.”

Featured Image: Larry French/Getty Images

Former CIA chief leaves Harvard after Manning named fellow

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  • FILE - In this April 2, 2014, file photo, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Morell has abruptly resigned as a senior fellow at Harvard University over the school’s decision to hire Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of leaking classified information. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP / Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A former top CIA official abruptly resigned Thursday as a senior fellow at Harvard University over the school’s decision to hire Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of leaking classified information.

Mike Morell, former deputy director and acting director of the CIA, sent a resignation letter to the dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, saying he could not be part of an organization that « honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information. »


« Manning was found guilty of 17 serious crimes, including six counts of espionage, for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, an entity that CIA Director Mike Pompeo says operates like an adversarial foreign intelligence organization, » said Morell, who was a non-resident senior fellow at Harvard.

Manning has been invited to be a visiting fellow at the Kennedy school’s Institute of Politics.

The 29-year-old transgender woman, formerly known as Bradley Manning, told ABC’s « Good Morning America » in a recent interview that she was prompted to give the 700,000 military and State Department documents to WikiLeaks because of the human toll of the « death, destruction and mayhem » she saw as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq. She told ABC that she has « accepted responsibility » for her actions.


Manning was released from a military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on May 17 after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence, which was commuted by former President Barack Obama in his final days in office. Obama said in January he felt justice had been served.

Harvard also invited former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Harvard says Manning will be among fellows who will visit the campus for a « limited » number of events meant to spark campus discussion.

In Florida, Trump rights the ship on the Empathy Thing

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For the second time in two weeks, President Trump visited a state rocked by a hurricane. And after drawing criticism for his lack of empathy the first time around in Texas, Trump set about avoiding that narrative in Florida. And he did it well.

This is not a piece about how this is “the New Trump” or how Trump just “pivoted” toward being more “presidential.” All of that is overwrought, and Trump visited Florida for a couple hours. But it is about how a president who dismisses the media’s narratives about him seems to have consumed one of those narratives and sought to put an end to it. And in doing so, he actually looked pretty comfortable — albeit while engaging in some very Trump moments.

Appearing in Naples on Thursday, Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Pence passed out sandwiches and bananas and shook hands with those in the Hurricane Irma-stricken community. If you check out the video above, you’ll see a guy who is actually pretty adept at pressing the flesh with not-necessarily-Trump-supporters and doing the small-talk thing. These are all good images for the White House.


President Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive in Florida to hand out food. (Evan Vucci/AP)
President Trump holds up a banana while distributing food with first lady Melania Trump in Naples, Fla. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Trump talks with people impacted by Hurricane Irma. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
President Trump, Vice President Pence and first lady Melania Trump hand out food. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Trump also focused almost exclusively on empathy in his comments about the hurricane:

We love these people, and we’re going to be back, and we’re going to help. And the job that everybody has done in terms of first-responders and everybody has been incredible. And, by the way, that includes people who live here, because you see the people immediately getting back to work to fix up their homes — like Bobby and like some of the others. So I just want to tell you, we are there for you 100 percent. I’ll be back here numerous times. … These are special, special people, and we love ’em.

The pool report from The Washington Post’s own David Nakamura has Trump complimenting a man with an impressive physique — “You a workout guy?” he asked. “Keep it up.” — and asking another woman if she was a biker — “Bikers love us,” he assured her.

It’s a big contrast to Trump’s visit to Texas. Despite not having visited the hard-hit areas, Trump incorrectly claimed to have witnessed the devastation “first hand.” His allies praised his empathy in over-the-top ways that belied just how un-empathetic he had actually been. Trump was not taking that same risk in Florida.

These are such big moments for a president, but they are also opportunities — opportunities to show compassion and prove that you aren’t just some automaton who only cares about your own base and policies.

And that’s a significant liability for Trump. A Fox News poll two weeks ago showed only 26 percent of Americans described him as “compassionate,” while 71 percent said that word only described him “somewhat” (18 percent) or not at all (53 percent). He actually got worse marks for compassion than honesty, and this is a president who has been caught in more than 1,000 false or misleading claims in less than eight months. A Quinnipiac poll last month showed just 40 percent think he understands the problems of average Americans, compared with 57 percent who don’t. For a guy who was elected on a supposed populist platform, most people don’t think he truly empathizes with and feels for regular people.

But even as he was passing the empathy test, Trump wasn’t exactly shedding his skin. As he did in Texas, he remarked upon how some latex gloves were too small for his hands — a callback to a media narrative about which Trump is clearly quite sensitive. “They’re too small,” Trump said of the gloves. And while passing out food, Trump encouraged one man who complained about Barack Obama golfing during a hurricane to share that claim with the cameras. This seems to refer to the popular Internet complaint that Obama was golfing during Hurricane Katrina, but George W. Bush was president at the time.

So even while empathizing and doing himself some good, Trump can’t help but rehash old feuds and push dubious narratives.

To be clear, this is stagecraft. But plenty of being president is stagecraft. And Trump hasn’t shown a desire to play ball with the expectations that go into that. It may be a low bar, but Trump decided to clear it Thursday.

As Trump talks DACA deal with Democrats, GOP leaders try to reassert control

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Republican leaders in Congress sought to reassert their authority with an unpredictable White House Thursday as President Trump dangled a potential deal with Democrats to allow hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States while postponing talk of a border wall.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), in his first public comments since Trump met with Democrats the previous night, agreed in broad strokes with his goal of protecting “dreamers” and toughening U.S. border security.

But Ryan dismissed the possible deal as preliminary discussions and insisted any agreement must have buy-in from GOP leaders.

“The president understands he has to work with the congressional majorities to get any kind of legislative solution,” Ryan said at a news conference on Capitol Hill.

[Trump, top Democrats agree to work on deal to save ‘dreamers’ from deportation]

Whether Trump does understand that, however, is unclear, and there was no sign Thursday that Republicans were on a path back to his negotiating table.

Ryan and his Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have been in limbo since Trump suddenly shifted allegiances to Democrats last week, brokering a deal to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government and effectively forcing GOP leaders to accept it post-hoc.

Their uncomfortable position was obvious Thursday, as Ryan tried make clear that discussions about next steps on “dreamers” must originate with House Republicans, but also have support from the Oval Office.

“We’re not going to bring a solution to the floor that does not have the support of President Trump,” Ryan said,

“If we have the support of President Trump … that I believe will get a majority of our members because our members support President Trump,” he said.

At one point, he accidentally confirmed his distance from Wednesday night’s proceedings.

“There is no agreement,” Ryan said, noting he only spoke with Trump and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly Thursday morning — more than 12 hours after Democrats announced a possible deal.

McConnell remained noncommittal about a possible deal and put the onus on the White House to come up with a proposal.

“As Congress debates the best ways to address illegal immigration through strong border security and interior enforcement, DACA should be part of those discussions. We look forward to receiving the Trump administration’s legislative proposal as we continue our work on these issues,” McConnell said in a statement Thursday.

Despite these statements, the day’s events revealed Trump to be the biggest deciding factor in what happens next, with multiple rank-and-file Republicans indicating they are open to what he chooses to support.

Trump exercises the most power in the dynamic even though he appears not to have a complete grasp of the details. The president swept the debate into further confusion Thursday by saying he wasn’t considering allowing “dreamers” to become citizens, putting him at odds with top congressional Democrats who believed he supported the idea.

“We’re not looking at citizenship,” Trump told reporters on an airport tarmac in Florida, where he was scheduled to check in on relief efforts following Hurricane Irma.

“We’re not looking at amnesty. We’re looking at allowing people to stay here. … We’re talking about taking care of people, people who were brought here, people who’ve done a good job,” he said.

[‘A new strategy’ for Trump? Democrats cautious but encouraged by fresh outreach.]

The comments created some awkwardness for Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N. Y) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who had said Trump was willing to support protecting “dreamers” under the so-called Dream Act, which includes a long-term path to citizenship.

“I do believe that there is an understanding that down the road, there is an eventual path to citizenship in the DREAM Act,” Pelosi said at a Thursday news conference on Capitol Hill.

Asked about Trump’s comments in Florida, Pelosi said she was basing her comments on their agreement Wednesday night.

“That’s in the bill,” she said of the pathway to citizenship in the Dream Act. “That’s in the bill”

The back-and-forth was just one element of a chaotic day that many lawmakers spent debating the implications of Trump’s agreement with Schumer and Pelosi.

The two seemed encouraged by their position in the debate. On Thursday morning, an energetic Schumer was caught on a hot mic on the Senate floor reflecting on the previous night’s dinner.

“He likes us,” Schumer appeared to say about the president. “He likes me anyway … Here’s what I told him: Mr. President, you’re much better off if you do one step right, and one step left. If you just step in one direction, you’re boxed. He gets that.”

In a positive sign for the White House, few rank-and-file Republicans rejected out-of-hand the notion of a deal combining border security measures with protection for “dreamers,” even if it means no immediate funding for a border wall.

“Any immigration fix will have to address the security of the southern border. A wall for a wall’s sake? Not so much,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus.

A path to citizenship could complicate the debate for many Republicans, Meadows added, though GOP members seemed to adopt a wait-and-see attitude as the White House hammers out its plan.

Schumer and Pelosi said border security measures in the final agreement could include drones, sensor technology, road repairs and other strategies included in a bipartisan bill from 2013 that instructed federal officials to draft a plan ensuring apprehension of 90 percent of all illegal border-crossers within five years.

Some Republicans want tougher immigration enforcement and mandatory use of the E-verify employment eligibility system as part of a final deal.

But even immigration hard-liners like Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) seemed open to hearing what the White House comes up with.

“We want to have compassion for these children. … At the same time, the American people need to be brought into this too. What will they get?” Barletta said, adding he’s not disappointed in Trump.

“He’s kept his promises on the campaign trail. I have no reason to believe he’s not going to,” Barletta said.

Hard line conservatives had initially reacted to Trump’s agreement with shock and outrage.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) tweeted Wednesday night that the deal would ensure Trump’s base is “blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair.”

“He hasn’t had enough voices reminding him of his campaign promises, and I want to remind him,” King said Thursday, acknowledging that “it’s harder to resist the president of your own party.”

Trump said Thursday morning he would only agree to a deal if it includes “extreme security.”

“We want to get massive border security. And I think that both Nancy Pelosi and Charles E. Schumer, I think they agree with it,” Trump said on the Florida tarmac.

“Look, 92 percent of the people agree on DACA, but what we want is very, very powerful border security, okay?” he said, referring to survey data in support of “dreamers.”

No matter where the negotiations go in the coming weeks, they will not include serious consideration of a GOP plan to limit legal immigration.

The Raise Act, proposed by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.), would slash legal immigration levels in half over the next decade and cap annual refu­gee admissions at 50,000.

While the bill is popular with Trump’s most ardent supporters and conservative lawmakers, it is widely opposed by Democrats and many Republicans, who see it as potentially harmful to the economy and a break with decades of American tradition.

The measure has Trump’s support, but he agreed Wednesday night to not include it as part of any “dreamer” agreement, according to multiple people familiar with the meeting who asked for anonymity to speak about it.

The path ahead could be perilous for Democrats regardless.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, the vice-chair of the congressional Hispanic Caucus, said he worries that the White House is sending mixed messages about Trump’s true intentions on immigration and that the discussion of border security appears to be drifting away from plans to invest in new technology for monitoring the border and toward more aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.

The Arizona Democrat said many members are worried that pairing border security with protections for “dreamers” in a single bill could put Democrats in the difficult position of deciding whether to vote for a Dream Act that includes security measures they oppose.

“I really believe that everyone one of us is going to face a crucible where there is going to be something in the security package that we have opposed,” Grijalva said.

“There will be this humanity demand versus upping the security and letting [immigration enforcement] become more extra judicial.”

In the House, these concerns led members of the minority to discuss working with GOP leaders to allow separate votes on proposals to protect “dreamers” and bolster border security.

But those familiar with the idea, who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about the talks, stressed it’s in the preliminary stages and may ultimately not be feasible.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) spoke for many Democrats when he urged leaders to proceed with caution.

“I’ve no idea how Donald Trump’s brain works. All I know is, he’s caused a lot of concern and anxiety among 800,000 people, and we’ve got to find a way to fix this,” McGovern said.

“I know where his heart is and it’s not where mine is. … So we’re all a little bit skeptical because of who he is. When it comes to immigrants, he’s not a very nice person.”

Paul Kane, Kelsey Snell and Amber Phillips contributed.

Read more at PowerPost

Hashtag Trending – Holes in Equifax’s security practices and get …

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New video presentation software that lets you turn yourself into an animated GIF. Equifax won’t reveal the cause of its record-breaking security breach. And don’t tell anyone, but a new iPhone is coming out today.

Hong Kong startup Animiz’s eye-catching new presentation software is pushing the phrase “social video marketing” up on Google Trends. According to a poorly written press release, Animiz video presentation software helps “the marketers create the impressive video: by providing a series of themed templates, fonts, shapes, images, effects, sounds, and symbols, which can be added to both pre-recorded and live video. The program also includes various animation effects which users can add to make a video interactive. The company also provides a series of “video editing tutorial for the markters to know and use the software better.” You can find out more at Animiz’s website.

Over on Reddit, users are connecting a few dots after discovering holes in Equifax’s security practices. While the Atlanta-based credit rating giant hasn’t released an official explanation for the massive security breach announced last week, which compromised 143 million consumer records, including some Canadian and U.K. accounts, TechCrunch has noticed that the website Equifax directed concerned Americans to if they wanted to find out whether they were affected by the breach returns random results, while engineer and journalist Tony Webster has discovered the passwords protecting their information was based on the timestamps, making it substantially easier for hackers to guess them.

Our last update will only surprise you if you’ve been avoiding Facebook, where some variation of Apple’s next iPhone has been trending since the beginning of September. On Saturday its name leaked: The iPhone X, and today it will be officially revealed during one of the company’s signature theatrical keynotes, alongside two variations, the 8 and 8 Plus, both of which will be basic upgrades to the iPhone 7 model. However the X, named for the iPhone’s tenth anniversary, is expected to be something else: featuring an all-screen front display that ditches the home button, it’s expected to retail for around $1000 USD.

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Flick Fusion Video Marketing Added to CDK Global Partner Program

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Urbandale, IA — September 12, 2017 — Flick Fusion Video Marketing today announced that it has joined the growing CDK Global Partner Program. As a member of the largest third-party partner program in the industry, Flick Fusion is now part of a marketplace of applications and integration choices developed to help automotive dealers succeed.

“Many dealers now realize that videos are not something to just post on your website, but an essential part of an integrated online marketing strategy that will increase the informational and emotional value of the dealership’s online content across all digital touch-points,” said Tim James, COO of Flick Fusion. “The integration with CDK allows more dealerships to take advantage of our dynamic video marketing and hosting platform.”

Flick Fusion’s SMARTFLICKS is the only video marketing and hosting platform that automates the entire video production and distribution process. Dealers can use SMARTFLICKS to easily create inventory videos, personalized video e-mails, customer testimonial videos, dealership value proposition videos, and more.

SMARTFLICKS is designed to deliver the right video to the right shopper at the right time in the buying cycle. Flick Fusion’s advanced technology monitors the activity of dealership videos and tracks individual shopper behavior across all Internet touch-points. SMARTFLICKS then utilizes a shopper’s activity to instantly display relevant video content and integrated marketing messages to that individual.

Flick Fusion’s videos are proven to drive more traffic to dealership websites, increase SEO rankings, generate more leads and increase website lead conversion rates.

All of Flick Fusion’s inventory and dealership videos can be viewed on mobile devices and are easily accessible on dealerships’ mobile websites. Videos are viewable on any operating system using any browser.

“We’re very pleased to introduce Flick Fusion as the newest member of the CDK Global Partner Program,” said Howard Gardner, vice president and general manager, CDK Data Services. “Flick Fusion is a welcome addition to our vibrant program that provides dealers with a range of partner choices and the assurance that their programs can be seamlessly integrated with our applications.”

The CDK Global Partner Program provides members with access to a diverse CDK ecosystem through the ability to integrate with a range of CDK applications, as well as with CDK dealer websites. The addition of Flick Fusion to CDK’s partner program will improve the integration of Flick Fusion’s inventory videos with the CDK website platform, delivering a better viewing experience for online car shoppers.

Additionally dealerships will be able to gather and access actionable data related to their customers’ online behavior, whether those customers are viewing videos on the dealership’s own website, or viewing videos on other Internet touch points.

To learn how Flick Fusion Video Marketing can help to maximize your marketing ROI, visit Booth #805 at Digital Dealer 23, Las Vegas, Nevada, or visit www.flickfusion.com

About the CDK Global Partner Program

The CDK Global Partner Program now numbers 300 partner companies that together offer more than 400 unique applications auto dealers can use to run their businesses. The CDK Partner Program provides data, workflow, and website integration to a wide range of third parties, OEMs, and dealers. Visit www.cdkglobal.com/partners.

About CDK Global

With more than $2 billion in revenues, CDK Global (Nasdaq:CDK) is a leading global provider of integrated information technology and digital marketing solutions to the automotive retail and adjacent industries. Focused on enabling end-to-end automotive commerce, CDK Global provides solutions to dealers in more than 100 countries around the world, serving approximately 28,000 retail locations and most automotive manufacturers. CDK solutions automate and integrate all parts of the dealership and buying process from targeted digital advertising and marketing campaigns to the sale, financing, insuring, parts supply, repair, and maintenance of vehicles. Visit cdkglobal.com.

About Flick Fusion

Flick Fusion Video Marketing offers a full-solution video hosting, marketing, and distribution platform to automotive and other inventory-based industries. The platform delivers automated, integrated and rule/behavior-based, including geo-targeted, video content in real-time, across multiple touch points and throughout the entire purchase cycle.

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Eight dead after South Florida nursing home’s air conditioning fails following Hurricane Irma

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At least eight elderly people died in a sweltering South Florida nursing home after it apparently lost its air conditioning amid ongoing, widespread power outages related to Hurricane Irma.

The deaths, which prompted a criminal investigation Wednesday, were what many feared might happen after Irma knocked out power for millions of people in Florida, a state known for its omnipresent heat. Without the respite of air conditioning, the heat poses a particular threat to Florida’s large population of elderly residents, who are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses.

In Hollywood, Fla., where temperatures are forecast to reach the 90s through the end of the week, authorities were called early Wednesday to the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, a nursing home not far from Fort Lauderdale with a troubled history.

What they found was gruesome: Three people inside already were dead, while other patients were in « varying degrees of medical distress, » city officials said. At least five were pronounced dead later, while dozens of the home’s residents were spirited from the stifling building to local hospitals, including Memorial Regional Hospital just down the street.

[After Irma, Florida prepares for days — and maybe weeks — without power]

Those who died — five women and three men — were between the ages of 71 and 99.

« We believe at this time it may be related to the loss of power in the storm, » Tomas Sanchez, the Hollywood police chief, said at a news briefing Wednesday. « It’s a sad event. »

Police later said they are working to determine what caused the tragedy, but early indications pointed at the air conditioning in the facility.

« The initial investigation has determined that the facility’s air conditioning system was not fully functional, » Hollywood city officials said in a statement Wednesday evening. « Portable [air-conditioning] units were being used in the facility, but the facility was excessively hot. »

The first call came in to firefighters at 3 a.m. Wednesday, about a patient believed to be in cardiac arrest, officials said. Firefighters returned to the facility an hour later for a patient with breathing problems, and they then called a state agency with concerns about the facility. When a third call for help came in, more Hollywood Fire Rescue crews were dispatched, and they were joined by Memorial Regional Hospital staff.

« There was no air conditioning, » said Randy Katz, chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Memorial. « The temperatures, particularly on the second floor, were extremely hot. »

Ellie Pina, whose 96-year-old mother Mirelle is a resident at the center, said the facility had been running on generators since the power went out on Sunday while Hurricane Irma swept through Florida. Pina said she and others repeatedly called Florida Power and Light about the lack of electricity and were ignored.

« I told Florida Power and Light the generators were going to give up soon. And it happened, » said Pina, reciting her ticket number, which recorded her seeking help. « I told my husband people were going to die in there. And it happened. »

Florida Power and Light, which said Wednesday it serviced part of the facility, said it extended its sympathies to those who lost loved ones and was limited in what it could say because of the investigation.

Robert Gould, chief communications officer for Florida Power and Light, the state’s largest utility, said during a briefing Wednesday that Broward County did not list the Hollywood facility as critical infrastructure in a hurricane planning meeting earlier this year. Such locations are prioritized for power restoration after a storm because of the services they provide to vulnerable people.

[Heat illness is the next big threat for millions without power in Florida]

Broward County said in a statement Wednesday that it selected critical infrastructure based on a Florida Power and Light guidance document. Going by this document, the county said, nursing homes were deemed « non-critical. »

On Tuesday, the county said, the nursing home contacted Broward officials to say it had lost power, information the county said it reported to the power company. The nursing home reported later Tuesday that a tree was on a transformer, Broward said, information that was also relayed to the utility.

« Hollywood Hills, when asked if they had any medical needs or emergencies, did not request assistance or indicate any medical emergency existed, » Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief said in the statement.

Pina said the nursing home’s staff set up portable air conditioners and put patients, clothed in as little as possible, in the hallways close to the cooling units. She was there Monday and Tuesday around noon and said it was extremely hot.

« They were trying to help the people, » she said of the staff, which she said kept calling the utility for help. Pina said she and others also called 911 and received no response. A spokeswoman for the Hollywood police declined to comment beyond a statement the city had released outlining what had happened at the nursing home.

On Wednesday morning, Pina said, she was told by a staffer that « the generators gave up. »

Pina said her mother is hospitalized but doing well. She is among the more than 150 patients taken from the facility to one of the hospitals in Memorial’s system. Katz said they were treated mainly for dehydration, respiratory issues including respiratory failure, heat exhaustion and high fevers.

« There’s no reason patients that age with chronic medical issues should be in a facility without air conditioning, » Katz said.

Federal requirements state that nursing homes must have written, detailed plans and procedures for emergencies and disasters such as severe weather. Kristen Knapp, spokeswoman for the Florida Health Care Association, said hundreds of facilities for the elderly have relied upon backup systems since Irma passed over the state Sunday.

« Throughout this whole process, we haven’t heard of any affected nursing homes operating without a generator, » Knapp wrote in an email.

[After Irma, a once-lush gem in the U.S. Virgin Islands reduced to battered wasteland]

While Hurricane Irma did not fulfill the most dire forecasts, the storm still managed to wreak enduring havoc across all of Florida. After lashing the state and parts of the Southeast with rain and wind, power outages remained as the chief concerns. Power companies had restored power to millions, but about 3.5 million power company customer accounts in Florida — or one in 3 statewide — still lacked electricity on Wednesday. Utilities have warned it could be days or weeks before the lights come back on in some places.

This presents a particular risk in Florida, where about 1 in 5 residents are 65 or older. People in that age range are more prone to heat-related health problems because they do not adjust as well as younger people to sudden shifts in temperature, are more likely to have chronic medical conditions and often take medications that impact the body’s ability to regulate its temperature, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

« The elderly and the young are more susceptible to getting dehydration from the heat, » said David Gifford, senior vice president of the American Health Care Association. « Keeping them well hydrated is important and keeping them as cool as possible. »

The Florida association, which represents more than 4 in 5 nursing homes in the state — it does not represent the Hollywood facility — said about 150 out of nearly 700 facilities in the state did not have full power services restored as of Wednesday.

« As with millions of other Floridians, our centers are coping with the loss of power and infrastructure in the communities that were most affected by the devastation, » the association said in a statement.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), a former hospital chief executive, called the situation at the Hollywood nursing home « unfathomable. »

« I am going to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place, » Scott said in a statement. « Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe — especially patients that are in poor health. »

Scott said he directed two state agencies — the Department of Children and Families and the Agency for Health Care Administration — to work with local authorities on the investigation, and he warned that « if they find that anyone wasn’t acting in the best interests of their patients, we will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law. »

According to Scott’s office, the facility had reported as recently as Tuesday afternoon that they had power and access to fans and spot coolers.

The facility’s administrator, Jorge Carballo, said in a statement sent to media outlets that the center had evacuated « due to a prolonged power failure to the transformer which powered the facility’s air conditioning system as a result of the hurricane. » Carballo did not respond to The Washington Post’s requests for comment.

The facility has a history of citations, and it is rated « below average » on the Medicare website. Federal records, court documents and state inspection reports show the facility’s owners and managers had lurched from one problem to another during the past decade, including a federal bankruptcy, allegations of fraud, complaints from residents and repeated documentation of poor care and unsafe conditions.

State inspectors last year found patients who had been left in their night gowns, facing televisions that had been turned off. Others were unshaven and had untrimmed nails, including a man with blackened, jagged nails who had scratched himself raw.

« The facility failed to ensure residents were treated with dignity with respect for their individuality and preferences, » the report found, saying inspectors observed a « failure to address residents in a respectful manner. »

State reports show violations were recorded on 23 visits to the facility since 2010, with the violations in several reports describing systemic mistreatment. Safety also was a repeated concern. Smoke alarms, emergency exits and the nursing home’s emergency generator were cited for deficiencies.

In February 2016, an inspector wrote that the facility failed to maintain its emergency generator to manufacturer and code requirements — and that it wasn’t the first time. More recently, in May, another state official who visited the facility wrote that he found no problems. « All previously cited Fire  Life Safety deficiencies were corrected » and no new deficiencies were found, he wrote.

Those who died at the nursing home in South Florida were part of a death toll that, while relatively low compared to other massive storms, has slowly climbed in recent days.

In Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys, authorities have begun letting residents trickle in, though that region — where Irma made landfall early Sunday morning — was still assessing the storm’s toll.

« Contrary to reports, no comprehensive assessments have been done to accurately determine percentage of damage or dollar figures, » Monroe County said in a statement Wednesday.

Scott Unger in Key West, Fla., Leonard Shapiro in Fort Lauderdale, Lori Rozsa in Gainesville, Fla. and Wesley Lowery, Julie Tate and Alice Crites in Washington contributed to this report, which has been updated throughout the day.

Further reading:

As Florida recovers from Irma, Jacksonville has historic flooding — and might get more

Why the storm surge forecast for Irma wasn’t so bad, just incomplete

A Marriott rescue ship left stranded tourists behind because they weren’t guests of the hotel