Mediaboss Marketing

By Claire Dodson 03.20.17 | 6:00 am

CEO Jos Neves founded his nine-year-old company with a mission to bridge the gap between physical and digital by helping luxury boutiques around the world put their inventory online. This month, Farfetch will host an event called FarfetchOS, in London, where Neves will announce a new technology suite called the Store of the Future, the latest business unit for the $1 billion company. The new concept will allow Farfetchs partner retailers to track inventory across their e-commerce and storefront arms and help further individualize in-person customer interactions. We actually see the future of fashion as centered in the physical store, which I know is ironic for a tech business, Neves says. I really believe that beautiful products belong in great stores. They dont belong in these dark warehouses.

But for all his attention to real-world shopping, Neves is further cultivating Farfetch Black & White, a service the company offers to fashion brands to power their e-commerce sites. The platform provides support for everything from payments and logistics to customer service and in-store returns. Since its launch a year ago, the Black & White API has grown to six clients, including Manolo Blahnik, Christopher Kane, and DKNY.

Farfetch CEO Jos Neves is redefining luxury e-commerce.

At the same time, Farfetch has been expanding its own sites inventory to include jewelry and kids fashion, with even more categories to come. Recently, the company signed its 500th boutique, and boasted 60% growth and more than $800 million in sales in 2016. We are not a retailer, Neves says. We are here to help brands and retailers find what the luxury experience is of 2020 and beyond. We want to be the platform for the global fashion industry.

Milestones: In November, Farfetch hired its first-ever chief strategy officer, Stephanie Phair, a Net-a-Porter veteran.

Challenges: As Amazon ramps up its own inventory of luxury fashion, its treading close to Farfetchs terrain.

Buzz: Postive

Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors is creating digital tools tailored to the Trump era.

Just days before Donald Trumps inauguration, activist organization Black Lives Matter and advertising agency J. Walter Thompson launched a new web application called Mark Yourself Unsafe. A riff on Facebooks Safety Check, this unsafety check lets African Americans label themselves on social media as in danger because, the app explains, being Black in America is a national emergency. The app, says Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors, is a reminder that black people and other marginalized groups are unsafe under this administration.

The provocative app is part of an ongoing collaboration between BLM and the New Yorkbased ad agency, which began when JWT creative director Mo Osunbor reached out to Cullors, offering pro bono resources to the movement. Cullors, for her part, was looking to expand the organizations reach with actionable digital tools. In December, the two created a site called Backing Black Business, a searchable map of brick-and-mortar and online companies run by African Americans. Still in beta, the site features more than 300 businesses and is adding more daily.

Meanwhile, Mark Yourself Unsafe, which has been used by thousands of people, is becoming a viral tool to teach people about police violence and inequality. Projects like these, says Cullors, are vital given our political climate: We know that more human and civil rights will be violated. So what do you do with that? she says. Were planning for peoples survival right now. The act of marking yourself unsafe is an act of resistance.

Milestones: Black Lives Matter protesters played a key role in the wake of President Trumps immigration ban, helping to mobilize against the executive order.

Challenges: Post-election protest movements are springing up en masse, creating difficulty for Black Lives Matters hashtag activism to stay in the spotlight.

Buzz: Positive

Milestones: Thanks to a new partnership with the Big Ten Network, Riot Games multiplayer videogame League of Legends is becoming a serious college e-sport. Twelve of the conferences schools will compete this season, with every player receiving a $5,000 scholarship.

Challenges: Activision Blizzard is building up its e-sports league for its first-person shooter game Overwatch, which will eventually include in-person spectators.

Buzz: Positive

Milestones: In a bid to create autonomous-vehicle software for its own cars and others, Ford is investing $1 billion in Pittsburgh-based startup Argo AI, run by Google and Uber veterans.

Challenges: Fords big bet to create the self-driving platform of the future puts it up against the likes of Apple and Uberas well as basically every other automobile company.

Buzz: Neutral

Milestones: LGs new G6 smartphone moves the company away from its signature modular phone construction to prioritize usability and design. It has a taller screen ratio primed for full-view multitasking.

Challenges: LG has been struggling to break through in a crowded marketits mobile communications unit recently saw a 23% drop in quarterly revenue.

Buzz: Negative

Milestones: Yoky Matsuoka, who was responsible for much of Nests signature adaptive-thermostat technology, recently rejoined the company as CTO after a stint at Apple.

Challenges: Even as other startups rush into the connected-home space, Nest is still trying to speed up its product timeline. Last fall, it released its fourth product, an outdoor camera.

Buzz: Neutral

Birchbox.

Milestones: In February, Birchbox introduced a new premium tier for its current subscribers. At $14 a month, it will allow users to better customize their boxes. The company is also opening a second brick-and-mortar store, this time in Paris, which will let shoppers create their own boxes alongside beauty consultants.

Challenges: Last summer, Birchbox received a $15 million infusion to offset a rumored drop in customer subscriptions amid increased competition from Ipsy and other services. It was also beset by user complaints about repeat product samples and the changing rewards system.

Buzz: Neutral

Milestones: The U.K. department store reported a rise in clothing sales for the first time in two years. New CEO Steve Rowe has been increasing the number of products while reducing discounts.

Challenges: Last fall, M&S announced it would shutter 30 locations and turn 45 more into food-only shops, despite the fact that its food sales grew by only 0.6% in 2016.

Buzz: Neutral

Milestones: In January, AirAsia X became Asias first budget carrier approved by the FAA to fly into the U.S., opening the door to low-cost transpacific flights. First up may be routes into Hawaii.

Challenges: AirAsia was named in a bribery charge after an employee from Rolls-Royce allegedly gave a $3.2 million product discount to an airline executive. AirAsia has denied any wrongdoing, but the situation puts AirAsia under scrutiny from investigators.

Buzz: Neutral

Milestones: The company behind Gore-Tex recently unveiled new facilities at its Delaware headquarters to help it better test materials. The labs include an Environmental Chamber and Rain Tower, and they can now subject products to everything from solar radiation to high wind.

Challenges: One of Gores biggest competitors, Polartec, has been making strides with its own breathable, moisture-wicking technology and is creating its first brand of heavy-duty alpine gear, MtnLogic, to be released later this year.

More:
Updates From Our Most Innovative Companies: Farfetch, Black Lives Matter, And More - Fast Company

After a very powerful and illuminating talk on March 12 given by Martin Henson from Black Lives Matter-Boston we are eager to continue the conversation on March 19 in our Sanctuary during Fellowship Hour.

The Social Justice Ministry Council invites you to a discussion about hanging our new banner on the facade of the church. Whether you are excited about the prospect of raising the banner or have concerns, please come talk with the members of the SJMC and the HUUC Board.

Soon after this gathering, it is our goal to bring the proposed resolution stated below to the Board and request that they vote to approve the hanging of the banner on the outside of our church.

WHEREAS, Unitarian Universalists strive for justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

WHEREAS, Unitarian Universalists have a goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

WHEREAS, our Unitarian Universalist principles call us as individuals and as a congregation to challenge injustice;

WHEREAS, the Black Lives Matter movement has gained powerful traction in conjunction with recent tragic events involving, in particular, police brutality and institutionalized racism that target the black community;

WHEREAS, people of all ages and races are killed by law enforcement, yet black people ages 20-24 are seven times more likely to be killed by law enforcement than any other group;

WHEREAS, mass incarceration fueled by for-profit prisons and racially biased police practices drive the disproportionate imprisonment of black and brown Americans;

WHEREAS, the school-to-prison pipeline is an urgent concern because 40% of students expelled from U.S. public schools are black and one out of three black men is incarcerated during his lifetime;

WHEREAS, the Unitarian Universalist Associations 2015 General Assembly passed a resolution in support of the Back Lives Matter movement; and

WHEREAS, the Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism organization and other Unitarian Universalist People of Color organizations and leaders have asked Unitarian Universalist congregations to support the Black Lives Matter movement and black-led racial justice organizations.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we, the Board of the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church, vote to raise our Black Lives Matter banner which states All Lives Wont Matter Until Black Lives Matter and display it on the facade of our church until the end of the church year in 2018. In doing so, we mean

To affirm our commitment to the inherent worth and dignity of every person;

To affirm our commitment to justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

To affirm our commitment to racial justice;

To affirm our commitment, as a predominantly white congregation to study and reflect on white privilege and our own complicity in institutionalized racism;

To raise the consciousness of the broader community, our Town government, and the leaders of our public schools on issues of racial justice and to encourage appropriate policy changes to address institutionalized racism in our community;

To remain mindful of the interconnected nature of racism and other systems of oppression that impact people based on class, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, age, culture, religion, and language.

Beyond the Banner

We want to raise the banner to show that our church stands on the side of racial justice because of our Unitarian Universalist principles. However, we see the banner as only the beginning. In the comingmonths, we plan to expand on this one actionin multiple ways:

Additional Resources

Michelle Alexander The Future of Race in America TED TalkxColumbus

Bruce Western on Mass Incarceration

13thOfficial Documentary Trailer

The Talk: Race in America (PBS)

The Kalief Browder Story

For more information please contactSJMC ChairSteve Farough.

Continue reading here:
Black Lives Matter - Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church

As the Internet continues to facilitate a greater global awareness and sense of community among people of African descent, we are becoming more present to the challenges each other face in different parts of the world. When parts of Accra, Ghana, flooded in June, friends in the US began to ask questions about our safety, and post Pray for Ghana signs on social media (even if they showed up several days or weeks after the waters had receded). Likewise, the #BringBackOurGirls campaign attracted attention from all kinds of people, including many African Americans.

With last weeks string of police-involved shootings and Black Lives Matter protests dominating major news headlines, concerned Africans in the continent and elsewhere in the Diaspora have also been paying attention. Maybe not in the numbers that some social media commentators would like to see, but the outcry that does exist is a foundation to build on.

Across the pond in London, Afro-Brits and their allies shut down Oxford Street this weekend during a Black Lives Matter protest in solidarity with their African-American family. A smaller protest march happened that same day in Vancouver. In the past, Black Lives Matter protests have been staged in Johannesburg, Toronto, and Israel. The international African media has picked up the story also, with coverage of the killings and subsequent protests appearing in Kenyas Standard and Nigerias Pulse among others.

If there is one element that has remained sadly but unsurprisingly silent, it has been African governments, singularly or under the African Unions umbrella. The main leaders who have displayed the guts to openly challenge the US are the same ones who are often accused of their own internal human rights abuses: Presidents Robert Mugabe, Yahya Jammeh, and Yoweri Musveni come to mind. The Caribbean island nation of the Bahamas surprised a lot of people, however, issuing a travel advisory to warn their citizens about the risk of being beaten or killed while visiting America.

(Outside the Africa Diaspora, China and North Korea have openly condemned Americas record on race relations and police brutality, which is pretty much in line with their relations to the US anyhow.)

On an individual level, Nigerian musical artist Tiwa Savage posted a Black Lives Matter meme to her Instagram and retweeted a few posts relevant to the murders in Minnesota and Louisiana. Afterwards, she faced stiff criticism from some of her fellow Nigerians, who felt that she should first speak out about problems back home.

A less high-profile Nigerian studying at MIT shared his perspective on the need for Black Lives Matter as an immigrant who went from not understanding the American concept of race or blackness to experiencing aggressive racial prejudice firsthand:

I stand there, stunned, waiting to see if hell say anything, but he keeps walking, and in a tone so unlike mine, I yell profanities at him until hes in the bus and out of sight. I turn around, and people are staring at me. Their expressions are variations of a themeannoyed, judgmental, concerned. I keep walking into my dorm, shaking with such anger. When Im in my room, I almost cry. But I force myself not to.

All I see is that mans pink bloated face as he screams in my ears, Why cant you niggers

Young Vincent has learned a critical lesson about race and violence and American policing: Africans from the continent are not exempt from the profiling, abuse, or killings that triggered the Black Lives Matter movement. Over the past 15 years, some of the most publicized instances of police brutality and death by cop have involved recent immigrants from Africa and predominately Black countries such as Amadou Diallo of Guinea, who was shot 41 times by New York police officers; Abner Louima of Haiti, who was brutally beaten and sodomized by other NYPD officers; and more recently, Charly Africa Keunang, a homeless Cameroonian who was killed on Skid Row by Los Angeles police officers in March 2015.

Among my own circle of friends, a handful back in Ghana have acknowledged Philando Castile and Alton Sterling on their pages, offered messages of concern and support, and launched critiques against the U.S. treatment of their brothers and sisters. My heartbeat rate just increased so high, one of my friends messaged me after he watched Alton Sterlings cold-blooded execution in that Louisiana parking lot.

Ive seen a few activists or simply vocal African-Americans complain about the lack of a more organized or widespread outcry by Africans who are still in Africa. For that matter, I suppose, they could also chastise the African-descended people living in Brazil and other South American countries, Central America, and the rest of the Caribbean, too.

I would say that there is plenty of room for growth on all sides. Not enough African-Americans are actively paying attention to the activities of the American government in countries around the continent, whether it is military action coordinated through AFRICOM or carried out via diplomacy, USAID, and other agencies. Nor do many of us actively watchdog American NGOs programs and other interventions that too often work under the radar, with very little oversight by the governments in the countries where they work.

It is practically human nature to be most concerned with threats that have an immediate and direct effect to our lives and the lives of those we live among. Thats just common sense and survival. The moral imperative to care and get involved is a noble one, but take a look at the state of our world: there are way too many problems that deserve our full and undivided attention. Nobody has enough time to get deeply involved in every single one.

Vincent, the MIT student, brought up another valid concern that may make people who believe that Black Lives Matter all over the globe hesitate to speak out or turn out in support of the movement:

Ive been in America for three years, and I feel wholly underqualified to speak about matters like this. In Nigeria, they floated past my radar, so why take them on now?

While Vincent goes on to explain that his own personal experience with American racism gave him the courage to speak, how much more reluctant might a person who has never been to the United States and has mostly learned about it through the eyes of mainstream news media and Hollywood entertainment?

Rather than shaming people for not speaking out on issues they may not understand or feel directly connected to, I think it is better to use platforms like this as well as our personal friendships and relationships with people from other parts of the Diaspora to help each other gain more information about what is happening in the United States, how it fits into the historical relationship of Blacks and Whites in this country a history that is just as underexplained in African schools as the details of colonialism are in the American education system why they should care about problems that they cannot personally solve, and even how to balance solidarity with issues abroad against the time and involvement needed to address problems at home. Then we should take time to step out of our American focus and find out whats going on elsewhere, although chances are good that if youre reading this on Face2Face Africa, you are getting regular doses of information around the Diaspora already. So share what you learn with a friend.

I will leave you with a quote from Tiwa Savages rebuttal to the fans who criticized her:

Let us not let the devil distract us by letting us fight amongst ourselves and lose focus on the many tragedies happening around the whole. Yes you as an individual might not be able to fight for every cause but even the little you do will help.

See more here:
Black Lives Matter: Reactions from the Diaspora ...

Illustration: Min Lee

All lives matter.

That was my gut reaction to the media traction of the Black Lives Matter movement. Initially, I was empathetic to the high profile killings of black Americans, but simultaneously upset Pedro Villanueva, Melissa Ventura, Anthony Nuez, Raul Saavedra-Vargas, Vinson Ramos and Alex Nieto, all brown victims of police brutality, were not given the same national empathy.

I was worried the nature of the movement only further highlighted the black and white racial binary in this country. As a community, we are quick to point out our injustices and shortcomings, but are the last to acknowledge the very real, very anti-black sentiments in our community.

Last month, a video surfaced of an off-duty LAPD officer Kevin Ferguson grabbing and dragging a Latino 13 year old, and firing his gun during the confrontation when the 13-year-olds teenage friends tried to intervene. It was hard not to notice the first to step up and attempt to break up the confrontation was the only black teenager.

The video quickly went viral with little attention from the Latinx community to acknowledge, let alone praise, the young black man who set off the resistant actions towards the officer. I found myself listening to conversations that resurfaced dismissive attitudes towards the black community despite this young mans initiative.

I was disappointed, frustrated but understanding. I dont condone their perspectives, but I understand where and why they have the sentiments they maintain. This incident was one tied with state violence, police brutality and institutionalized privilege. When discussing and protesting police violence, its hard not to evoke the dialogue surrounding Black Lives Matter, but due to culturally embedded antiblack sentiments, it can be hard for many Latinx, who like me, at one point or another, could not understand why in the face of authority, we couldnt just say, all lives matter.

It took me making the conscious and active effort to listen, an incredibly patient sociology professor, and the willingness to learn that I was able to confront my cultural prejudices and to see the world beyond my brown lens. A lens that was narrow and lacked intersectionality beyond the identities I grew up with.

It wasnt until I confronted the harsh realities of my ingrained cultural prejudices, that I was able to understand that the expulsion of my communities contributions to Americas social fabric is not the fault of black Americans. It was never their fault, but it was a convenient narrative to feed one community of color, to condemn and further marginalize another.

The brown community, can not and should not condemn a whole other community because historically America has undermined the political standing of all ethnic groups. To condemn one community, is to condemn all communities. All communities of color are victims of state violence. Historically, we have all lacked equal access. We have all lacked properly funded schools, safe neighborhoods and equitable health care. Condemning one another wont fix those community components, they will just be cemented and perpetuated as our permanent state of being.

The Latinx community has problems and systematic injustices unique to its demographic, but that doesnt mean we dont have privileges distinctly our own. For starters, we werent forced to come to the Americas, were from the Americas. We have our own struggles, but we cant deny our anti blackness stems back to the colonization of our countries. A culture where being referred to as morena/o can be used derogatorily, where colorism is so deeply embedded, our telenovelas and media outlets exclusively highlight and celebrate eurocentric features and mannerisms.

Americas identity, history and accumulation of wealth was literally built on the backs of black Americans. Racism is inherently a part of Americas identity. Prejudice towards black Americans is inherent to Americas history. That being said, for many Latinxs, rather than being racially scape goated themselves, assimilating to be American can sometimes mean embracing and retaining anti-black sentiments in order to garner social privileges.

Racial and ethnic stratification in America has made it so that certain races are socially positioned to either garner or be denied privileges. Historically, America has undermined the political standing of all ethnic groups. I can attest that the Latinx communitys collective identity is ambiguous, but I cannot deny its intersectionality and profound anti-blackness.

I will never comprehend what it means to be black in America, but I do know that for those of us who believe in justice and those of us who believe in the power of the people, it is imperative we stand in solidarity and provide an unwavering solidarity to support the community that unapologetically proclaims, Black Lives Matter. To ignore our need to stand in solidarity is to ignore the social and political power of two communities that together, along with other communities of color, can only strengthen Americas social fabric and rectify embedded prejudice.

Alex Nieto Anaheim Anthony Nuez Black Lives Matter Kevin Ferguson LAPD Melissa Ventura Pedro Villanueva police brutality Raul Saavedra-Vargas Vinson Ramos

Read the original post:
Black Lives Matter means solidarity, not division - El Tecolote

NDP Leadership candidate Niki Ashton removed a meme from her social media accounts which included the lyrics to the left from the Beyonce song 'Irreplaceable'.

After posting the meme on Twitter, a Black Lives Matter Vancouver account confronted the NDP leadership hopeful. Appropriating Black culture is not intersectional feminism. Please delete your "to the left" FB post & address the issue, the account tweeted.

Ashton then removed the meme and responded by THANKING the radical BLM account. We removed it.Not our intention to appropriate. We're committed to a platform of racial justice+would appreciate ur feedback, she replied.

She then followed it up with a couple of other tweets. As noted I appreciate the msg from @BLM_Van. Showing respect is what building a movement is all about and I will not tolerate racism or hate speech directed at #BLM or any community.

As iPolitics points out, there was an immediate backlash to Ashton removing the tweet with some calling her to 'have a backbone'.

SOUND OFF: should she have deleted the tweet?

Follow this link:
Niki Ashton kowtows after Black Lives Matter accuses her of 'cultural appropriation' for Beyonce lyrics in campaign meme - The Rebel