One of the amazing new Brands in Perfumery, Valeur Absolue, is launching for mother’s day a special offer with an exclusive Candle. Valeur Absolue is a Swiss beauty brand with the originality of blending what nature and science have at its best to serve one and unique purpose: make women feel good and happy. Life is hard, so you should “do-you-some-good”. You can read our full review of the brand here. One of the interest of this brand is that the fragrances are as interesting as the story told. This sounds obvious but unfortunately it is not always the case among all the nice brands that were launched in the last 5 years. Here we have a brand in which every single detail is taken in consideration and the love of qualitative work is the philosophy.
Valeur Absolue is a promise of well-being and pleasure. And each discovery in this brand will put a smile in your face. This year and to celebrate mother’s day, Valeur Absolue creates a very exclusive perfumed candle. Scheduled for 20 hours of burning, it was fashioned from beeswax and soy wax. So no paraffin or palm oil. A beautiful Orange blossom scent will magnify the perfect moment at home. When the candle is still off, an amazing intense white blossom scent emanates from it. Once the candle is on, you get a delicate scent of the orange blossom, slightly green, slightly white-musky in the air. You feel surrounded by a protective aura and you simply feel good.
For mother’s day, and for each purchase of a Fragrance flacon, you can have the candle for free. It is a very interesting way to introduce the candle to the current Valeur Absolue customers. By offering them the opportunity to tryThe candle is delivered in a very elegant frosted-mate glass that will match any interior decoration. We were glad to discover this new launch as it reveals the aim of the Fragrance brand to develop a future perfumed candle line. It will be the perfect extension of the well-being philosophy of Valeur Absolue. In Switzerland you can discover this exclusive offer at Le Bon Genie and of course at the Brand official website: http://www.valeurabsolue.com.
Last but not least, Valeur Absolue is a committed brand to improve the life of women around the world. Every year, by March 8th, which is the international women day, Valeur Absolue pick up a project supporting the cause of women and dedicates a percentage of its sales benefits. This year, Valeur Absolue has made a donation to encourage UNICEF educational programs for Girls in the world.
Valeur Absolue is definitely a brand you need to discover. There is no reason not to do yourself some goooood. LA
Info sourced at the Brand official communication. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
Switzerland has a strong respect for traditions. It is an amazing country in which several companies have been here for centuries. And the most outstanding thing is that they are all more and more embracing the digital era, more than never. Here is our digital review in what Switzerland is doing at its best in terms of Luxury Digital strategies.
Swiss digital landscape, some key figures
Switzerland is definitely a small country with a very high level of competence and strong added-value services. Digital took a while to start but now the digital engine is pushing the gearbox further. Several companies are embracing the digital channel as an important part of their communication strategies. This is just the beginning, so digital has a strong future in Switzerland. If we have a look on the top 10 biggest media groups in Switzerland, 5 of them have a strong digital section. Google, as a 100% digital pure player, is ranked 7th now in Switzerland with a total sales in 2013 of 400 million CHF.
Here is the total ranking:
SSR SRG with 1.6 MCHF
PUBLIGROUPE with 1.1 MCHF
RINGIER with 1.08 MCHF
TAMEDIA with 1.05 MCHF
NZZ with 0.51 MCHF
GOLDBACH GROUP with 0.44 MCHF
GOOGLE with 0.40 MCHF
PUBLISUISSE with 0.32 MCHF
SGA/APG with 0.38 MCHF
AZ MEDIEN with 0.25 MCHF
Google grew a lot in Switzerland, especially thanks to the launch of Youtube Switzerland. According to Comscore, Youtube represents one third of total Google search queries in the world. So by launching youtube in Switzerland, it was just a burst into sales for Google. Another interesting information by Comscore is the top 20 most visited websites in Switzerland.
As we can see, Facebook reaches the top 3 most visit website with 3.2 million users in a country of 8 million people. This represents a penetration rate of 40% and the amazing figure of 64% if you only consider the internet Swiss population. Facebook also has the highest average minutes per visitor with 176 mn. Switzerland is also the land of smartphones, which definitely boosts the digital consumption.
Luxury Swiss Brands go Digital
There are several reasons why Swiss Luxury brands go digital. The global trend is bringing companies to embrace digital anyway as that is the way the world goes. But there are specific reasons for premium brands to develop a strong digital approach.
In 2012, Watch-making industry generated CHF 21.4 Billion earnings from tourism. Hotels and restaurants earned CHF 18 billion in the same year. Switzerland is a very visited country. Here below is the 2012 top 10 most visited cities in Switzerland by foreigners (overnight numbers) :
Zürich with 2.2 million
Geneva with 1.7 million
Lucerne with 0.8 million
Basel with 0.8 million
Zermatt with 0.7 million
Lausanne with 0.5 million
St. Moritz with 0.5 million
Davos with 0.4 million
Berne with 0.4 million
Opfikon with 0.4 million source: Swiss Tourism Federation
So this top ten represents already 8.4 million people which is more than the Swiss population itself. While visiting the country, naturally tourists enjoy the possibility of doing some shopping. One of the biggest countries visiting Switzerland is China. Chinese tourists love to visit Switzerland and during their journey, the buy a lot! The Tribune de Genève, did a study about the percentage of sales done by Chinese tourists in Switzerland. If we take the watch-brands, here is what we discover.
The Watch-retailer Beyer in Bahnhoffstrasse in Zürich, Chinese tourists represent 15% of annual sales. At Omega shop in Zürich, this figure reaches 25 to 30%! Bucherer in Lausanne has already 10% of its sales. In Geneva, the BlancPain boutique declares a 15% of sales done with Chinese tourists. So in order to be on top of mind with the tourists, Swiss brands need to keep an ongoing communication with them. And that’s how Digital becomes an interesting platform. Tourists will buy brands they know and often they are very well informed about the “good brands” to purchase from.
We know, internet is a mass-media platform, but we also know that an interesting high-revenue customer is often a strong internet user, so luxury brands have an interest to communicate with them. And Swiss luxury and premium brands have developed interesting digital strategies to capture a worldwide potential customer’s attention. Here below 4 interesting examples: Corum Watches, Nespresso, Rolex and Victorinox.
Corum watches, pionnier in Responsive Design
Corum is a Swiss-based watchmaker established in La Chaux-de-Fond since 1955. They produce qualitative timepieces in which the Admiral’s cup is the iconic one. Since 2005 the Swiss brand established an innovative approach of Communication in order to increase the Brand awareness worldwide. Several interesting actions were put in place like the sponsorship of the World series of Poker that gave to the brand a strong worldwide visibility. Something in our eyes very interesting to highlight is their digital approach. Corum is one of the first Swiss watchmakers to invest into Responsive design. For a couple of years now, the official Brand website is done in full Responsive and the way the site content reacts on device recognition is quite unique and sophisticated. They work with the Swiss digital agency called Details.ch, a pure player based in Geneva. Here below are some screenshots of the website per device.
By adapting their website, and more than that, their brand message to specific digital audiences, Corum is reaching people the best way possible. When you know that 22% of total world population has a smartphone and that 7% has a tablet, you can be sure that only brands leading this technical development will be in the heart and minds of people. Try the experience yourself by visiting the brand website here: http://corum.ch
Nespresso, internet is your lifestyle
Since the launch of Nespresso in 1986, there was an aim for innovation and doing things like no one. The core concept of the brand was not about coffee (Nestlé had already Nescafé for that) it was about lifestyle. It was just a matter of time and the arrival of internet to allow the Swiss brand to develop a full online experience torwards its customers. They were one of the first Swiss companies to provide full e-commerce delivery in more than 100 countries in the world.
Nespresso knew that it was not all about the coffee. Of course the dark beverage should be good but it is all what is around the coffee that would make the difference. That’s why they have launched the Nespresso club in order to keep customers loyal and to improve the online experience.
With a full online experience, the Nespresso customer dives into the universe of the brand and benefits from several opportunities. From Avant-premiere launches, to events and online purchase offers, the Nespresso customer will build his lifestyle together with the brand. Experience more by visiting the official website here: http://www.nespresso.com.
Victorinox, celebrating 130 years of history… online!
It is difficult to talk about Switzerland without talking about Victorinox, the makers of the original Swiss Army knife. This Swiss company is the image of Swiss ingenuity and reflects a lot of what this country represents to several people around the world: Quality, Innovation, Iconic Design and multi-functionality. In 2014 Victorinox celebrates its 130th anniversary. In deed, Karl Elsener founded Victorinox in 1884 in the little village of Ibach in canton Schwyz. To celebrate the event, one of the Brand focus is its website. Victorinox has been leading in Switzerland digital story-telling since 2012. After highlighting people’s story throughout the operation Victorinox stories, now it was the time to tell its own story. The website is completely merged into the brand universe with a strong social media influence. The content is pulled from the different brand social networks, mainly Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. 3 themes are treated: The owner Elsener family, customers stories and the 25th anniversary of its Timepiece division.
To discover more about this amazing anniversary celebration, visit the dedicated website here:
http://www.victorinox.com/130years/ch
As seen above, Switzerland has an incredible richness in terms of digital intelligence and creativity. Swiss brands are often market leaders and many times they are also leading the business online. And it is only the beginning.
Info sourced at the quoted brands websites, wikipedia, Bilan.ch, Comscore, Tribune de Genève and SocialBakers. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
Larusée is probably one of the best Brands of Absinthe in the world. And they are located historically in the heart of Absinthe origins, Switzerland. Every single detail is taken care as a true luxury brand. Each bottle of Absinthe is done at the state of art. You can read our full review about Larusée here.
This time Larusée is launching a very limited edition, only 55 units called Larusée Collection 01-2014. Simply beautiful.
What can we say about this amazing limited edition by Larusée?
Wrapped in its carbon dress, the elegant Larusée bottle gets a new look that is supposed to reflect the intense character of this amazing creation. The bottle is dressed in a way that lets the intense green colored precious liquid to be revealed. The contrast in the look translates the edgy experience you get by tasting this creation.
Certain details as the brushed Silver cap and the details of the etiquette are simply amazing and very elegant.
A 74.26%Vol. edition not for everybody. Only connoisseur. It is a first chapter in a future promising series that will please your senses. This first opus is a reinterpretation of their gold-medal Green Absinthe.
Jean-Pierre Candaux, in-house master-distillator, brings the full wildness of a great absinthe reworked with some roundness thanks to floral fruity and spicy facets.
Because of very limited quantities, this edition is reserved in priority to Larusée customers and you can only ordered by calling the distillation manufacture.
For more details you can check Larusée official website here: http://www.larusee.com
Larusée is definitely the ultimate Absinthe experience that you will not find any equivalence. LA
Info sourced at Larusée official communication release. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
Despite the fact Fashion became a powerful industry in which nothing really is let randomly, sometimes a little sparkle shines brighter in the sky and makee you believe that creativity and passion is not dead. It is all the contrary. And this sparkle just came out of the dark at Hyères Festival for fashion and photography. His name is Kenta Matsushige.
Kenta Matsushige inspirations
What is amazing with Kenta Matsushige is the simplicity of his approach of fashion. Talent has often the capability to make things look brilliantly simple. And this young Japanese creator has a huge amount of talent. Since the 80’s and the arrival of Japanese fashion style in the international scene, it is a all different universe that was added to fashion creation.
And Kenta Matsushige is just the loyal heir of this. At 26 years old, the young Japanese creator developed a solid and specific identity. His line is precise and his style is edgy.
When you ask him what are his inspirations, he will spontaneously talk about minimal art. Minimalism is a challenge and an accomplishment at the same time. Nature is also a strong source of inspiration. He transcends minimal natural shapes and textures into a wisely sophisticated utban style. There is a strong contrast between the richness of shape and the cutting. Nothing is too much, everything is essential. Sometimes less is more, here it is alot more.
Kenta is originally from Japan. He studied at La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and graduated in 2012. From Japan he kept his sensitiveness as an artist. La Chambre Syndicale showed him how to go beyond the inspiration to transcend the existing things. A kimono or a tulip become a modern urban outfit.
Kenta Matsushige wins Hyères Première Vision Grand Jury Prize
Last sunday, Kenta Matsushige won the prestigious Première vision Grand Jury prize. This means several things for him. Being for the first time in Hyères, it was the moment in his career that he could measure the dimension of his talent. As many Japanese fashion designers, Kenta has an extraordinary sensitiveness under the skin. He gets very emotional when he talks about his work and you can see that he emanates an unique talent. With the prize of €15’000, he will be able to start his first complete collection that will be presented next year at the 2015 Hyères Festival.
He will also be able to collaborate with Petit Bateau in a capsule collection which will give him alot of visibility. He will be able to join a specific program developed with Chanel in which Kenta will be able to work with some luxury fashion workshops and artisans. Among these you have Lesage and Lemarié. This opportunity would contribute to the development of the young fashion designer into a state of the art approach.
If you wish to learn more about Hyères festival you can visit the official website here:
http://www.villanoailles-hyeres.com/hyeres2014/
2014 is a great year for fashion. It is the year that the world met Kenta Matsushige. A year to remember.
Info sourced at Hyeres official website and communication release. Photos: pixelformula for Fmag and notjustalabel.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
Victorinox Swiss Army is an amazing watch brand. It always find unlimited resources on its heritage in order to create future and modern new timepieces. Here it is the case of the Infantry line. This year the Swiss brand is launching a very elegant GMT version. It is a true invitation to Travel.
According to Victorinox, GMT is the ideal complication for long- distance travelers. The Infantry GMT is equipped with a quartz movement and available with a steel mesh bracelet or an ecologically tanned leather strap.
This new version of the Victorinox Infantry is completely aligned with all the great characteristics that made the worldwide success of this watch.
Clean design
Practical
Functional
Innovative elements
The watch division of the Makers of the Swiss army knife has always a great story to tell and to remind us of the amazing Swiss ingenuity of the little red object. In the Infantry GMT, we have the subtle yet present red color element in the second time-zone hand and in the bezel at the 24 inscription. Stylistic references are principally drawn from the world of military watches, but it also has retro appeal. This is particularly evident in the design of the indexes, which are inspired by old typewriter fonts.
The movement is a Ronda 515 quartz. It is known for its solid behavior in time. It has a powerful engine and a long lasting battery consumption (45 month). The watch is sold with 2 different bracelets. You can choose between a very elegant vintage style leather bracelet (ecological tanned) or a Metal mech modern bracelet.
Technical specs:
40mm Polished stainless steel case
Bezel engraved with second time zone
Scratch resistant sapphire crystal with triple anti-reflective treatment
Water resistant to 10 ATM ( 100 meters / 330 feet)
Screwed caseback
Crown protection
Lacquered dark grey Luminescent hands and numerals Red GMT hour hand
Tel Aviv became in the past 5 years the place to be for luxury holidays. From amazing resorts to luxury real estate, the entire world is in Tel Aviv. The best hotels in the world are also present, which is the case for the Ritz-Carlton Herzliya. When Ritz-Carlton decided to open a new hotel in Tel Aviv, they wanted a full concept of well being in a context of pure luxury. All of it just by the sea. Located above Tel Aviv’s marina, the nautical-themed Ritz-Carlton Herzliya has 115 rooms and 82 residential suites.
The hotel spa offers an exclusive Spa experience in Israel with Shiseido. The legendary quality of the Ritz-Carlton service aligned with the high expertise of Shiseido completes the full luxury well-being program. For a short day experience, a nice weekend or a full week of holidays, the Shiseido Spa at the Ritz-Carlton Herzliya will offer you an experience to remember.
Upon entering the spa, guests are met with the soothing sounds of a trickling waterfall creating a relaxing ambiance. The breathtaking views overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and largest marina in Israel provide a perfect backdrop for a pampering city getaway. A soothing urban retreat near the bustling heart of Tel-Aviv, The Ritz-Carlton Spa envelopes guests in tranquillity and the luxurious marina lifestyle.
The Shiseido large choice of treatments allows the visitors to get the most appropriate care. For Business travelers you could experience the Japanese Jet Lag Therapy. You will be also pleased by the wide variety of massages, facials and beauty treatments. You can also find Hydro-nourishing facial treatments, invigorating body-scrubs and relaxing massages.
Amenities include 6 luxurious treatment rooms for both singles and couples, dry and wet saunas and a Turkish Hammam. Guests may also take The Ritz-Carlton Spa experience home by shopping at the spa boutique which offers Shiseido’s luxurious essentials.
The Ritz Carlton Herzliya
4 Hashunit Street, Herzliya
Tel Aviv
46555 Israel
Phone: +972 9 373 5555 http://www.ritzcarlton.com
If you are looking for a great place to relax and get an exclusive spa experience, you need to try the Shiseido Spa luxury wellness at the Ritz-Carlton in Tel Aviv.
Info sourced at JacobPeres official communication release about the Ritz-Carlton. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images: Ritz-Carlton.
Now that Winter is far away behind us, Spring has finally arrived. The sunny days are now here and to keep a healthy good looking skin, Sisley has the right products for you. So you will be beautiful under the sun. 2 amazing products to be highlighted: The Sisley Phyto-touche illusion d’été and Sisley Sunleÿa G.E.. And here are the details.
Sisley Phyto-Touche Illusion d’été
Nude or sophisticated, complexion is at all levels of alerts! The healthy look has never been so trendy and now that the sunny days are here, you need the right product for the right look. Sisley Phyto-Touche illusion d’été is a sun caress at the point of your make-up tools. This amazing formula between a gel and a powder will literally melt into your skin texture for a very natural effect.
As all make-up products by Sisley, the new Phyto-Touche illusion d’été has also care aspects. Emollient, moisturizing and protective properties of natural extracts of Gardenia, Mallow and Linden bring softness and comfort to the skin.
Sunleÿa G.E.
This summer Sisley launches Sunleÿa. It is the ultimate age minimizing sun care treatment. It works with the skin through the natural defense process, so while fighting against the harmful effects of UVA-UVB radiation, it helps preserve its beauty and youth. 2 different protections: SPF 15 and SPF 30.
You might wonder what does mean the G.E.? Well it is as simple as the new Sisley formula is amazing. G is for Glycation.
Glycation stiffens collagen and elastin fibres and tangles the network of fibres in the dermis, which together cause a loss of firmness in the skin.
So Sisley decided to use Einkorn Wheat extract, (Sisley age minimising expert), rich in mimetic Glutathione peptides, fights this phenomenon and helps the skin stay toned.
E is for Solar Elastosis. This is responsible for the appearance of deep wrinkles as it modifies the elastin fibres in the dermis. By stimulating the expression of the gene from the LOXL enzyme, Dill extract helps to form functional elastin, which preserves the firmness and tone of the skin, improving its ability to fight against wrinkles.
In order to complete the Sunleÿa G.E. formula other interesting active ingredients were used like Shea Butter and Vegetable Glycerin. These two ingredients together will act as a soft and tender envelop to your skin.
For more information about Sisley and Sisley products, do not hesitate to connect to the brand official website: http://www.sisley-cosmetics.com
So thanks to Sisley, once again you will have a very soft and warm summer. LA
Info sourced at Sisley Cosmetics Switzerland official communication release. Certain images sourced here and here. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
London will always be London. The European capital has always something going on and if you are lucky enough to be there in the incoming weeks, here are 2 photo exhibitions you do not want to miss. David Bailey at the National Portrait Gallery and Richard Hamilton at the Tate Modern.
David Bailey, fashion Portraitist
It is mot the first time we talk about David Bailey. The British photographer ruled the fashion scene for more than 60 years. With his first Vogue cover in 1960, David Bailey was the leader artist of “Swinging London”, a cultural movement in the 60’s about modernism and youth.
This year the prestigious National Portrait Gallery dedicates one of the biggest photography exhibition in the honor of David Bailey with 250 portraits. It is called Bailey’s Stardust.
In this exhibition, visitors will be able to get a broad snapshot of the photographer work. From worldwide celebrities to fashion covers, artists, singers and unknown people from his travels. It will also be represented some photographies from Bailey’s work called Democracy.
You will be able to visit this exhibition until June 1st 2014. National Portrait Gallery
St Martin’s Place London WC2H 0HE
020 7306 0055 www.npg.org.uk
Richard Hamilton, Pop-Artist
Probably one of the founders of the Pop-art movement, Richard Hamilton did an impressive artistic work throughout several decades. He was at the origin of the first exhibition that launched Pop-Art in London: This is tomorrow in 1956. The iconic installation “Fun House” is the symbol of this new trend.
He was also the one behind the Beatles’s White Album cover. And for the record, he was the one organizing the first retrospective about Marcel Duchamp at the Tate Modern.
His personal artistic work is impressively rich and covered an amazing amount of explorations. The Tate exhibition covers the entire period from the 50’s to more recent work. It explores his relationship to several personal interests like design, painting, photography and television, as well as his engagement and collaborations with other incredible artists. The exhibition is running until May 24th, so you better hurry up.
Tate Modern
Bankside
London SE1 9TG
United Kingdom www.tate.org.uk
There is always something going on in London and this Spring the city of Shakespear is nostalgic from this period in history in which everything was possible. Just try it you might want to get more of it. LA
Klout just released a new version of its popular mobile app. It is the new Klout. Well, so new that we wonder if it is still Klout. We also wonder if we still have a life, I mean a non-virtual one.
It’s a wonderful, wonderful (digital) world
The modern life brought us technology. Some of it makes our life easier, others entertain us and capture our attention on things we would not do 10 years ago. We say we have a 2.0 life or that our modern society became hyper-connected. It is a fact.
According to a study done by Radicati group, in 2014 we estimate that there will be 4 billion email accounts in the world. 1.1. Billion of these accounts are mobile users and more than 70% of it, are private accounts. By 2017, projections talk about 1 billion more. Every day there are 191 billion emails sent, 60% of them are business related.
If we talk about SMS, that old thing from the end of the 90’s, only in the USA there are 4.1 billion sent every single day (source: wikianswers).
According to Twitter statistics, there are more than 645 million twitter users in the world who generate more than 1 billion tweets every week. 45% of them are exclusively on mobile.
We live in a world in which technology entertain us and grab our attention.
Our smartphones, a new human organ?
One of the biggest inventions of the 20th century was not electricity, television, internet or even the land telephone. It was the smartphone. These little objects changed drastically the way we live, the way we communicate and socialize with others. Our smartphones became almost part of our body, like a secondary organ allowing us to see, hear, talk and engage with other people. Most of people have their entire lives in their mobile phones. Try to go outside your house without your smartphone for a day. You will feel naked and lost. Or even try to go 2 hours in a nice restaurant without it. That’s how modern life is. Hyper-connectivity and sharing. According to business insider, 2014 started by having 6% of world population that owns a tablet, 20% have a computer and 22% have a smartphone. When you think that in 2009 only 6% of world population had a smartphone, it shows how strong this is.
Social media, how your network became virtual
Internet and 2.0 companies developing as fast as they can, another interesting piece of technology that brought a deep change in human behavior is Social media. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and recently Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest took over our free time. Everybody enjoying a regular internet connection have one day at least tried. Facebook with 1.1 billion users, have probably reached the entire internet worldwide population. Some of us spend more time online virtually socializing rather than truly socializing in real life. In the other hand, we might probably being able to engage with people that we would not do, at least because of geographical distances. And a lot of these relationships become real life ones after a while. So every person using social networks en up with “friends”, “followers” or even “subscribers”. You can even buy them for a couple of dollars. Weird world we are living in. And because of all these activities you might have online, every person can have an impact. We see it durint the Arab Spring, the Kosovo war or even in everyday blogs. Today anyone can produce a piece of content and send it to the entire world to see. Some of us are more successful than others, which means each person has a different impact or has a certain amount of influence. That’s how we have opinion leaders or trendsetters, early adopters and followers. But how can you measure this online influence or impact? Well, that is how the company called Klout get into play.
Klout, a simple idea that went big
As the big trend is to being able to measure every thing, one simple idea was born in 2008 in California. How to measure people’s influence and impact over the social networks? How to spot the key influencers? And that’s why Klout was founded. The company aim was to put in place a methodology based on several criteria that would give a mark or a score to every person.
The slogan of the company is “The standard for influence”. This is how the company is described in wikipedia: Klout is a website and mobile app that uses social media analytics to rank its users according to online social influence via the “Klout Score”, which is a numerical value between 1 and 100. In determining the user score, Klout measures the size of a user’s social media network and correlates the content created to measure how other users interact with that content. My 87 years old aunt Ann will have a Klout score of zero, and currently Barack Obama has a score of 99.
It was a very interesting concept as no one was taking care of it before. And being able to identify the key influencers became a major trend.
Klout succeeded to be the ultimate reference for social score. In the USA, certain companies would not hire people for certain jobs if their Klout score would be under 30. Certain rumours would say that all top high-tech companies like Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, etc… Would even level up their expectancies to a klout score of 50.
Despite the fact Klout was very often criticized, it is a real success. The business model behind is what they call Perks. Basically, companies propose campaigns to Klout users in which they will make you experience the brand, either by product testing, discounts, invitations to events… Last year Klout delivered more than 1 million “Perks” over 400 campaigns. So that is where the money comes from. Earlier this year, in February, Klout was sold to Lithium Technologies, a CRM expert for more than 100 million dollars. Not bad for a 6 years old business. We do not know yet the intentions of Lithium, probably a better integration of the influencers key information into their tools. Analysing and identifying the current and potential Brands advocates are the hot topics right now in terms of Social media management.
The new Klout, less Klout more Lithium?
This month we got the Klout app update. It happened a couple of times already, but this time things radically changed. And i am not sure it is for a greater good. Now there are 2 major focus in the app.
The first one is the social sharing to Facebook and Twitter. Klout proposes you content, probably based on your activities. The goal being to offer you great content to be published right away. Why klout should allow you to do that? Especially that the content proposed comes from… where exactly?
You cannot see anymore your Klout score evolution and you cannot see anymore your influencers.
Basically the Klout app became a Facebook and Twitter content management tool. Unfortunately you cannot share your own content. You can only share the content that Klout offers you.
What is the legitimacy of Klout to curate content for you? Hard to describe. LinkedIn can curate profressional content, Facebook can curate social content but Klout? The positioning is pretty much unclear.
With the acquisition of Klout by Lithium Technologies, we can imagine a better curation and management of content throughout social networks. Probably the addition of more social networks would be something that Lithium can provide.
So if you were probably a big fan of Klout, you might be disappointed, if you did not know Klout before, you might like it. Anyway, it is different. LA
Info sourced at Klout app, Techcrunch, Mashable and wikipedia. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
27 years old is a tricky age for Rock stars. And Kurt Cobain proved it once more by joining the selective club of rock stars who died at the age of 27. Like Jim Morrisson, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones or recently Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain died at the top of his glory. Probably that is why he became a sort of symbol and rock legend. It’s been 20 years now and in order to remember his disappearance, there is a new photo exhibition in Paris that will take place from March 25th to June 21st 2014. And it is called: “The Last Shooting”.
Kurt Cobain, Desperate Rock star or the symbol of a lost generation?
Photo: Sweet/Rex Features/Sipa
The end of the 80’s, beginning of the 90’s was a complex moment. After all the exaggerations of the past decades, the world engine was slowing down because of economic crisis, Aids devastating regions and countries and unemployment just beating the scare out of people and especially young people. A full generation of people completely lost in a social transition. From the end of colonialism period towards the end of the cold war, the world has changed and unfortunately it did not give the keys to understand this new future. That is why we called the entire generation born between 1961 and 1981 the Generation X. X for unknown or undefined. This period was also the moment in which Grunge also bursted in to the world of music. Considered as a sub-genre of Alternative Rock, Grunge was also called the “Sound of Seattle” where the movement firstly started. Inspired by the Hardcore Punk and Heavy metal, Grunge got its first roots mid-80’s. But the world waited until beginning of the 90’s and the global successes of Pearl Jam’s Ten and of course the worldwide blockbuster Nevermind by Nirvana. Thanks to this album, an entire lost generation found its voice. The suffering and the edge often translated into the songs, reached a great number of people. With more than 30 million copies sold with Nevermind, Nirvana brought Alternative Rock to the mainstream. Probably that was also the problem. How to remain faithful to an ideology as Alternative rock if you become mainstream and even perform in MTV? All the pain expressed by Kurt Cobain in his song writing was probably too heavy to bear while success, fame and celebrity were being given to the group. Track after track, single after single, the growing success of Nirvana was not helping the leading voice of the group to get better. The downside was also the consumption of heroine that takes you to a deadly ride, never positive. Probably the hardest thing for Kurt Cobain was the unbearable fact of feeling alone in the middle of all this. Nobody could really understand what he had inside of him. And the more you feel lonely, the more you think that nobody can really understand. And if you had success into the situation, even worse. “Why should you complain about? You have everything”. Human beings are not made to be alone. It is proved, so what happens when someone is completely lonely? Well, nothing good. Kurt Cobain would probably have needed some help, meaning professional help, in order to face his demons. But no one could have helped him without his authorization. Now it is too late.
Last week, the farewell letter that he left behind, was published in many media, which frankly I found pretty much immoral from these media. The last words of a person should have remained private to the people he was talking to. That is why you will not see it here.
Kurt Cobain, The Last Shooting with Youri Lenquette.
Some people see the last photo session with Youri Lenquette as a premonitory message. It happened in Paris in February of the same year, so 2 month before Kurt Cobain death. Youri Lenquette had the privilege to do a series of photos of the prince of Grunge. The most disturbing point is that the photo shooting had as one of the main topics a revolver gun. Knowing the facts that happening 2 month later, we wonder how connected coincidence was, but according to the photographer, Youri Lenquette, using a gun as a topic for a rock star photo shoot was a very common theme. Here are some of the pictures you can see in the exhibition.
Youri Lenquette – “Kurt Cobain – The Last Shooting” 20 years… ADDICT GALERIE
14/16 rue de Thorigny
75003 Paris France
Tel: +33.1.48.87.05.04 http://www.addictgalerie.com
20 years after Kurt Cobain death, we should probably think of him as the rebel he was, provocative, understated and probably genius. The photos exhibited in Paris will present you a singular Kurt Cobain, almost already absent from the world he was living, more like the vision of a thought or a feeling. An advice to visit this exhibition? Come as you are.
