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If you are a supplier or distributor of beverage alcohol, an on-line, Point-of-Sale (POS) tracking system can and will help your sales organizations improve their performance more than ever before.
This is true today due to the on-going acceleration of competition for not only market share but also for actual market size.
We have lived through a fairly prolonged period of essentially zero growth in the overall beverage alcohol market, but 2014 data seems to signal the return to at least modest growth in the total beverage alcohol market - notably beer and other malt beverages. We've also seen some double-digit growth in certain categories like craft beers and imports.
There has been a continued erosion of loyalties between retailers and the distributors. Part of the reason for this erosion is the accelerated turnover of Sales Reps within beer, wine and spirits distributorships. Of course, there has been similar turnover within the distributor's customers which decreases the retailer's need to have a "relationship" with the distributor beyond the mandatory "order taking" function.
Should this continue on the current path, it won't be long before the "ordering function" gets transferred to an on-line function via the Internet.
The fear is we may be reaching the end of an era.
A distributor's customers tend to buy on price alone, if given a choice. The salesperson seems to continuously do less and less actual selling and more and more inventory replenishment.
Look at it this way:
A retail customer will most likely buy from your competition, especially if the competition's price is $2.00 less per case. The risk to the retailer in choosing one versus the other is fairly slim since retailers know that beer drinkers are quite willing to buy either Bud Light, Miller Lite or Coors Light based exclusively on the per-case price. Craft beers, so far, seem fairly immune to this phenomenon.
If you're like the majority of distributors, you don't track POS at all. Often sales reps when trying to get a beverage order handle POS like this:
The salesperson offers up some appropriate POS materials (signs, for the most part) to the customer to "sweeten the deal". The rep is trying to overcome the retailer's objections about increasing the sales order-size or winning additional "shelf space". So how about some "free POS".
I'm sure you can imagine your rep offering paper and/or permanent signs, displays or other point-of-sale materials to encourage the retailer to accept additional cases of both the usual and perhaps new products, too.
Typically the POS order is hastily written down on a piece of paper (including napkins) or entered into a free-format text box at the bottom of the beverage order-entry screen. The customer is trusting that the POS from the distributor will be helpful in convincing his customers to convert from being shoppers into buyers. Your rep then thanks his customer for the order and moves onto the next customer, repeating the process.
In most cases tracking and reporting on what happened never occurs.
As a distributor owner or marketing executive you need to call upon every system, every tool and every approach you can to gain, grow and retain a competitive advantage. When your reps are in the market, they should be equipped with the latest and greatest weapons of beverage sales and marketing.
You already know that a computerized ordering system is one of your weapons in enabling the sales function. Now you need to bring another weapon to bear in that critical moment when your sales rep works to increase his average revenue or case equivalent sales per customer.
Now is the time to take a look at POS Tracking Software. What you do next could have a huge impact on what you can actually "sell" to your customers.
Based on our 7-years of experience working with beverage distributors, your reps' signage requests are, on average, incorrectly translated into a sign or display that has to be re-worked. On average each rep will generate at least one reworked sign order per month.
That is unless you have a system that helps you track and manage your POS.
We have found that the cost of a sign or display re-work averages between $35 and $50. However, the real cost of a re-work is much higher due to the fact that a sign that has to be re-worked usually reaches your customer days after your competition's latest and greatest POS material has been put up at-retail. So, having a lot of reworks does erode the market share for your brand or product. What does that cost you?
It may be overly dramatic to suggest one of the possible consequences of not having a point-of-sale marketing tracking and management system is the loss of customers; but it is completely without exaggeration to suggest that you are very likely to lose sales without a POS management system.
Sales efforts are now fully and permanently intertwined with POS marketing. Your beverage alcohol sales team achieves its peak results when the POS function is tracked, measured and managed – and that is only possible with an automated system.
I suggest that now is the time to apply the same careful thought to your POS marketing tracking, measurement and management that you did many years ago when you began to consider automating such functions as order entry, inventory, warehouse management, truck maintenance, logistics and accounting systems.
For more information on our POS Tracking solutions, click the following button:
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If you are a distributor of any consumer goods sold at-retail, I urge you to find out whom, amongst your competitors and suppliers are members of Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) or The Path to Purchase Institute (p2pi) and explore membership for your company.
If you are a point-of-sale practitioner, likewise I urge you to look into POPAI's MaRC (Marketing at-Retail Certification). This is a certification and continuing education program aimed at keeping individuals current on point-of-sale technology, methods, and research as it applies to in-store marketing (POS).
According to National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) data, the brewing industry contributes $247 billion to the US economy. This represents more than 1.6% of the total US GDP.
Malt beverages, as you know, are distributed by the over 3,300 NBWA wholesaler members. Today, these wholesalers distribute more than 13,000 different brands of beer. These brands reach the consumer via a three-tier system consisting of:
– Tier 1 - Suppliers
– Tier 2 - Wholesalers
– Tier 3 - Retailers
All three tiers want to sell as much as possible downstream, ultimately to the retail consumer, and to do so they long ago adopted a marketing and promotional approach that has proven largely effective in persuading consumers to buy the brands they sell – Marketing at the Point-of-Sale.
As the proliferation of brands continues, it has been difficult for most "Big Beer" brands to increase sales and hold onto market-share. According to a Beer Institute finding in 2013:
"Malt beverage consumption (per capita) dropped by nearly 20% since 1981."
Big Beer's brands are primarily sold based on the retail price offered to shoppers. For example, consumer may be increasingly likely to consider all light beers brands interchangeable, especially when one of them is being heavily promoted at the point-of-sale.
Crafts and imports may have some price sensitivity but still have been able to keep retail prices relatively high. This provides each tier higher margins even though case volumes are substantially lower. Nevertheless, crafts and imports have continued to enjoy double-digit growth, while Big Beer sales have actually declined slightly.
Today, Big Beer has little to worry about as crafts and imports still represent just a fraction of the total malt beverage sales. However, Big Beer's longer term threats are far from benign. According to the Beer Institute, increased beverage alcohol competition is seen as a significant issue overall.
As well, according to an August 2013 USA Today Study, Big Beer brewers like Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors are facing no fewer than six challenges:
Bye, Bye Light Beer - Drinkers are shifting away from the premium lite segment
Taste Test - Light beer drinkers' taste buds are changing
Downward Spiral - Twenty years ago, beer was the alcohol beverage of choice. Today, beer has lost ground while wine has gained
Young Winos - Those drinkers under the age of 30 who prefer wine as their first choice have nearly doubled, while at the same time, those who say beer is their go-to drink have dropped from 71% to 41%
Male Loyalty on Decline – Men's drink of choice, beer, has been on the decline, and women, too, are less likely to reach for a beer
Poor Earnings Reports - All of the preceding challenges are the root causes for Big Beer's recent poor earnings reports. While brewers have been able to offset greater losses with higher profits, their forecasts are continuing to suffer.
In response to a market not used to decline, beverage alcohol suppliers and especially beer wholesalers now need to reexamine their marketing approaches, particularly their point-of-sale (POS) marketing practices, in order to regain market share and gain a competitive advantage.
Surveys that are available on the web from a wide variety of research and marketing companies have identified key retailer demands from the up-stream suppliers and distributors.
At or near the top of the retailer's needs from suppliers are promotions and promotional materials designed to both attract shoppers and persuade shoppers to become buyers. More and more retailers expect suppliers to help them make it easy for shoppers to locate, choose and buy the supplier's products.
Retailers are demanding POS signage that contains high-impact graphics to be placed in the "pocket" – that sweet-spot placement most likely to catch the eye of the shopper as they enter the store or aisle where the products are on display. A place that Anheuser-Busch aptly calls the Point-of-Connection.
However, more than high-quality production values and smart placement of promotional materials, it is important to deploy marketing technology (software) with features that track, visually verify placement, measure and manage your retail marketing campaigns for maximum ROI.
Have you heard the term Attribution Marketing?
Attribution Marketing is the process of identifying a set of user actions or events that contribute in some manner to a desired outcome – for example, converting a shopper to a buyer – and then assigning a value to each of these events to help determine which event was most influential.
The process promotes an understanding of what combination of events influenced individuals to engage in a desired behavior – like buying your product. This behavior as noted is simply referred to as a "conversion".
Although typically applied to on-line marketing, I think Attibution Marketing likewise applies to POS marketing initiatives.
For more information click here >> Attribution Primer by Brendan Riordan-Butterworth
Without marketing technology the goal of POS attribution marketing – getting someone to buy your product – is difficult to accomplish. Beverage alcohol suppliers, until recently, have rarely adopted any marketing technology tools; instead they relied on traditional media buys which did, at least, provide the promise of "X" number of viewers for "Y" dollars, but little else.
The goal of traditional media buys has always been to introduce a brand to an at-home audience or to otherwise sustain or increase brand awareness of the viewers at-home. Said another way, the market exposed to the message by traditional media is not at the retailer where they could actually buy the product being advertised.
With over 13,000 beer brands in the market, deploying traditional media buys is both impractical and unaffordable, especially if the goal is to regain, sustain or increase sales and market share.
Only POS marketing technology offers the possibility of informing the shopper of the availability, desirability (the "why to buy") and price of the product at the exact time and place the shopper is able to become a buyer of your beer brand, or other consumer packaged goods.
Standardizing on a marketing technology tool across the downstream elements in the distribution channel will provide suppliers with the data to examine and analyze individual retail outlets. This approach enables the next steps: The aggregation of local outlets performance into local groups; next, further aggregate local groups to create a regional level picture; and finally aggregate regional groups into an overall national picture. The local into regional and regional into national aggregation can, of course, be reversed if it becomes necessary to drill down into the performance of one region, local group or another.
Beverage alcohol is big business and big business needs big data. Deploying marketing technology at every level allows Big Beer to address many of the near and long term challenges it faces.
To learn more about OnTrak's POS Marketing Technology, please click the following button:
Articles and books on the subject of retail marketing often state that point-of-sale (POS) promotions are to be used to create or increase brand awareness.
I can't think of any consumer packaged product (CPG) that doesn't use POS to some degree.
The amount of money spent promoting products in the retail environment is staggering. Currently, over $21 billion is spent on promotions at-retail in the US alone; and that amount is growing between 5-7% annually.
Here is another staggering data-point:
Only about 50% of retail promotions are effective.
A recent Boston College Study on Trade Promotions Management put it this way:
"Studies show that between 50-90% of promotions are not profitable. Many companies are not performing any post analysis to determine which promotions are profitable. Without this analysis, the same unprofitable promotions are run over and over again."
Assuming you agree with the statement that "POS promotions are . . . used to create brand awareness", I would like to suggest you consider the following:
The broader goal of POS is – or should be – to increase sales.
Brand awareness may lead to increased sales but it will be more difficult to measure the sales increase provided by your POS when its content provides no direct benefit or incentive for the retail customer to buy.
Hopefully you will agree that POS placed without even the outline of a strategy to increase sales and, in some cases, without even a clearly stated goal to "create or build" awareness of your brand, is a poor use of marketing dollars.
Suppliers and distributors must set retail marketing/promotional objectives, execute, measure and analyze results and adapt the campaigns with the goal of increasing POS marketing's impact on increasing sales results.
It is our belief that you should plan as many of the factors involved in your POS initiatives as possible, not overlooking the following:
Direct POS acquisition or development costs
Placement cost, opportunity costs and timing
Recovery dollars available from manufacturers and suppliers to offset costs
Post promotional sales analysis, including a comparison of sales 'before and after the promotional initiative'
In short, if you track the costs of your POS promotions and can correlate these costs to sales during the promotion period, you will have a much clearer idea of how effective and efficient your promotional initiative was.
You will then have information about what to do in the future with respect to your retail promotions.
Data collected, complied and analyzed about your POS campaigns creates this information. And, an informed CPG marketer has the resources – the power of information – to create POS programs that will increase sales, customer loyalty, revenue and profit.
Before you dismiss these notions as impractical due to the lack of marketing technology tools to help with the tracking, measuring and correlating of POS costs to outcomes, please take comfort in the knowledge that OnTrak Software solutions have been providing the technical tools required to track, manage, measure and verify the costs, impact and effectiveness of POS campaigns since 2005.
To learn more about our POS Tracking Solutions please click the following button:
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To download the Trade Promotion Management Study, click this link:
The subject of this blog is to focus on the importance of POS (Point-of-Sale) marketing data and the analytical tools that allow you to track and measure your POS Marketing investment based on real data, and not someone's perception of what's going on at-retail.
Let's take a trip down memory lane – Mostly focusing on the days before POS marketing data and supporting marketing technology was generally available.
There are several brand name products which may call up certain emotions – Mostly nostalgia if you are of a particular age group, and the brand had a clear market dominance.
If the brand was very well-known, you may still have the ability to recognize its name or slogan.
Let's try an experiment using some recognizable phrases: (see Note 1 for answers)
"When you're out of ________ you're out of beer!" - Fill in the blank.
"A little dab'll do ya." - Refers to what brand or product name?
"For all you do this ______ for you." - Fill in the blank.
"I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer ___ ______." - Fill in the blanks.
"They're GRRRRRRREAT!" - Refers to what brand or product name?
"________ . There is no substitute." - Fill in the blank.
"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ . . . ________ makes the very best . . . _________." - Fill in the blanks.
It has been said that a "brand" is perceived based on about 5% to 10% memory, and 90% to 95% advertising, promotion, and marketing.
Little of the perception of a brand, at the points-in-time suggested by the above phrases, was measured. It's only in the last few years that real marketing data has been collected about POS Marketing. And only very recently has that captured data been analyzed in order to determine the return-on-investment of promotional events.
Many brand names, and even more product names, come and go only to be replaced with new names. I wonder if the brand names of Plymouth and Oldsmobile or Schlitz are widely remembered, or today's brands will suffer the same fate. And does it matter?
I'm bringing the subject of "brand recognition" because it has become increasingly difficult for Consumer Package Goods, including beverage suppliers, to bring new products to market via traditional electronic and print media. The clutter of TV channels, print outlets, and the Internet has made it all but impossible to gain sufficient exposure to introduce, build and sustain brand recognition and perception - And "perception is reality."
Here are some obvious questions at this point:
"What is a viable – and affordable – alternative to the spending on TV and Internet content?"
"What type of marketing approach can we take that can actually track and measure?"
"How can we collect the data to allow us to track and then analyze the effectiveness (ROI) and costs of our marketing initiatives?"
Lucky for you, there are analytical tools available that will help you to correlate you POS Marketing investment to any incremental sales results. Once again, why is this of such importance?
Here's why. According to a brand new KPMG International survey as reported by Consumer Goods Technology, released July 28, 2014 (see Note 2):
"More than any previous year, the focus of executive attention has shifted from economic uncertainty to data, technology and the supply chain." Additionally, "56% of consumer goods and retail business leaders cited data analytics as being important to their firm's strategy, making it the highest-ranked strategic area in the survey." Finally, "The survey results reveal that improving capabilities in the area of data analytics is the number one strategic priority for executives in the consumer space in 2014," comments Willy Kruh, global chair, Consumer Markets KPMG International.
From our perspective, the fact that analytics is the "number one" priority for executives in the CPG space is exciting news. The reality, however, is that there are also some studies that suggest these same executives lament the lack of tools to actually accomplish the tracking, measuring and correlation of marketing initiatives to sales.
At the risk of being a broken record:
OnTrak has web-based marketing technology available right now that is specifically designed and developed to provide CPG and beverage distribution companies the following capabilities:
Configuring and ordering POS marketing materials
Tracking these orders through production and placement, with visual verification of the placement
Providing the analysis of what POS materials correlate to the largest sales increases
Determining the ROI achieved based on the costs of a particular POS campaign
If you are a CPG or beverage executive looking for these capabilities, then take a look at OnTrak Software.
Our name says it all – Our marketing technology will keep you OnTrak.
To learn more about OnTrak and its Point-of-Sale Marketing Management solutions, please click the following button.
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Note 1: 1) Schlitz; 2) Brylcreem; 3) Bud's; 4) Dos Equis; 5) Kellogg's Frosted Flakes; 6) Porsche; 7) N E S T L E S, Nestles, chocolate
Note 2: "Global Top of Mind Survey" - KPMG International; the survey was conducted by Oxford Economics on behalf of KPMG and The Consumer Goods Forum during April 2014.
I'll bet you've heard or read this phrase forever!
It's usually associated with economic, social and political opinion and fact. Elected officials, managers, educators and historians rely on this 6-word phrase to explain changes in their approaches to issues and problems of all sorts.
What this phrase suggests is that we now have new information upon which to base our actions or conclusions regarding any number of subjects - Something like "According to US Government data as of 2012 . . . ."
We certainly could conclude that 2012 data is new enough for us to consider it as sound – or at least "sound enough" for us to base our behavior upon. We'll see.
For more than a decade, "the" data point used to describe why at-retail or POS marketing was so valuable has been:
"70% of all buying decisions are made in the store, in the aisle, while the shopper is at the place and time where he/she can convert from shopper to buyer."
The 70% number came from POPAI and was based on their 1995 study of shopper behavior. That was then, this is now.
In 2012, POPAI released a new "Shopper to Buyer" study, and the 70% number was updated to 76% based on new data. Considering the length of time between the original and the 2012 study, a 6% increase in at-retail decision making was not all that surprising. But, in 2014, a follow-on POPAI study (2014 Mass Merchant Shopper Engagement) was released showing the number had again grown by 6% taking the at-retail conversion from shopper to buyer decision number to 82%.
You may or may not be inclined to agree with POPAI's "82% conclusion" – but their study methodology, sample size and academic rigor is impressive. What really got my attention was that the 2012 and 2014 studies show just how quickly the CPG retail shopper has changed. The studies show how much today's retail shoppers rely on point-of-sale materials to help them make buying decisions. Part of the reason for this, the 2014 study noted, is that shoppers at mass merchant retail stores spend very little time pre-planning their purchases.
"Since mass merchant shoppers spend less time conducting pre-store research and frequently walk in without a list, it is not surprising the in-store (decision to buy) rate is so high."
POPAI concludes:
"The Mass Merchant shopper is more often reminded by something in-store when purchasing an impulse non-grocery product.
This likely is a result from the lower rates of overall planning and calls out the need for in store [POS] signage and displays to remind the mass shopper what he/she needs."
The real question is what is the return on investment (ROI) for your at-retail signage and displays? To determine this, you'll need to correlate sales changes to the cost of placed POS signs and other materials to evaluate their effectiveness. Once you have the cost of the POS materials and the change in sales data in hand, you can determine if the ROI calculated was greater than 1:1.
There are several formulas that you may elect to determine the ROI of your at-retail marketing. Often the simplest formula is the best in that the simple formula will typically provide you with the answer to two basic – yet very important – questions:
Is my POS marketing campaign (sign or display) working to convert shoppers into buyers?
Is the cost of my POS marketing campaign justified (is there a positive ROI)?
One of the most basic formulas you can use is:
POS Marketing ROI = Gross Margin $ – POS Marketing Investment $ / POS Marketing Investment $
If needed, you can modify this formula to measure the ROI of the incremental sales attributed to a particular marketing at-retail initiative:
POS Marketing ROI = Gross Margin $ of Incremental Sales – POS Marketing Investment $ / POS Marketing Investment $
The components for calculating your POS marketing ROI can change for different customers and different products; but with POS ROI calculations and measurements, you can focus on at-retail marketing programs that deliver the greatest sales increases and the best ROI.
Finally, as noted in basic question #2 above, ROI will help you justify marketing investments. Since marketing is an investment to increase revenue, you can, by focusing on ROI, help your company grow.
Based on our experience with hundreds of our customers and prospects, if you're a beverage alcohol supplier or distributor, there is a reasonable chance that you don't capture the costs of your POS marketing investments and that you don't measure the ROI.
There is also a good chance that you have an overall sense that POS marketing works, but you're not sure what campaigns really are most effective or not at all effective.
The fact that you are here at our website, reading our blog, suggests that you know there's room for improvement and benefit if you begin to track and measure your POS initiatives. You've arrived at a "That was then, this is now" moment.
Assuming you currently do not track and measure any of your POS marketing programs, a good place to start is to collect the data required for you to calculate the ROI on your POS marketing investments. You can then review the information over time to make better POS marketing decisions.
Then as you get more data and become even more comfortable with the measurement process, you'll find your POS marketing campaigns will continue to improve, your ROI will improve, and your at-retail marketing program costs will be reined in, made more efficient or both.
When one of your customers or reps requests what seems to be an expensive sign or display, you'll be able to predict the merits of spending to create the marketing collateral based on data, not "gut-feel."
I urge you to begin using POS marketing technology to track, measure and manage one of your biggest expense categories: POS marketing programs. Perhaps you'll change your thinking once you adopt a system that facilitates capturing, examining and analyzing your POS data.
To learn more about OnTrak's software to help you track, measure and manage your investment in POS marketing and promotional events, please click this button:
I read many trade publication articles, text books and marketing books about the subjects of at-retail and point-of-sale marketing, promotion and advertising; so, this blog will be a blend of both borrowed and original thought based on nearly 10 years of my company providing point-of-sale marketing technology solutions to the beverage industry.
My current read is the excellent, but somewhat dry, book from POPAI, called "Marketing at-Retail: Understanding, Influencing and Winning Today's Shopper." I encourage you to check out the POPAI or Amazon websites to learn more.
My background includes a graduate course of study at Miami University's Farmer School of Business that included marketing, advertising and market research. Little did I know then that I would be neck deep in a software company that produces and sells marketing technology applications designed to track, measure and manage at-retail marketing and promotional initiatives for consumer packaged goods (CPGs) companies.
My professors were attempting to get the idea across that "Marketing" is made up of advertising and promotion; and, that these two different forms of marketing are not intended to produce the same results.
They taught:
Advertising has the primary goal of building brand loyalty and of generating long-term sales. Advertising is a "steady-as-she-goes" form of campaigning and may, or may not, have the effect of converting a shopper into a buyer – today. Advertising builds brands, just not necessarily today's sales.
Promotion, on the other hand, would seem to be intended to have little, if any, impact in the area of building brand loyalty. In fact, promotion is designed to generate brand dis-loyalty, by encouraging brand-switching and stimulating short-term sales.
Promotion is to Advertising as a flashbulb is to the eternal flame.
But not so fast!
I would argue that while the preceding characterization isn't exactly false, it misses the point of where we are today in the marketing of CPGs.
The notion that brand loyalty is something to strive for will get no push-back from me. Yet, the notion that spending a fortune on traditional advertising just to "build a brand" – in today's CPG marketplace – is something I would irreverently respond to by saying, "What are you thinking?"
Remember please, we're examining the marketing of CPGs in this blog. CPGs, long the staple of prime-time TV programs, soap operas, news, and sports, are products that have proliferated so rapidly in the last few decades. It's hard to imagine repeatedly spending corporate fortunes to create or build a brand – particularly if brand building is to be accomplished at the expense of sales, short-term or long-term. Investors and other stakeholders hate to wait for sales while countless marketing sums are spent simply to gain mind-share in potential consumers' minds.
CPG Marketing, both advertising and promotion, must generate sales: Now. Certainly sales need to be generated over the long-term; but, more importantly, sales need to be "promoted" in the short-term. The life-span of so many CPGs today will be cut short if the sales don't happen in the short-term.
Here is where Marketing at-Retail, shopper marketing or Point-of-Sale (POS) Marketing comes into play today. POS is both advertising and promotion displayed at the time and place where a shopper can be converted to a buyer. The marketing of CPGs should be designed to persuade your potential customer to buy your products today, not just become "aware" of them for some future date purchase.
Why POS Marketing's power to influence sales is growing:
CPG supplier executives are requiring their marketing spending to have some accountability, and some measurable ROI
CPG companies live in this quarter – not next quarter or next year
Shoppers respond to POS initiatives: Shoppers and consumers increasingly seek-out brand and product information primarily where and when they are shopping
CPG SKU explosion means there is little chance for retail shoppers to have repeatedly seen TV ads
The Internet competes with and sucks time away from traditional media viewing, also reducing the chance for consumers to repeatedly see advertisements
Today's POS Marketing goals:
Creating both short and long-term sales - Increasingly, brand recognition without an increase in sales is seen as a waste of corporate cash or a lost opportunity for top line growth
Persuading a shopper to become a buyer of your brand now and in the future - Brand loyalty isn't an afterthought, it's just subordinate to "this quarter's" revenue needs
Encouraging "other-brand" shoppers to try your brand - Also known as "trial" and also to make repeat buys
Providing the ability to track and measure the impact of your at-retail marketing message - traditional advertising has always been difficult to measure, but there exists today the tools to correlate incremental sales to POS campaigns
One of the most important points presented above is the contrast between traditional advertising and sales promotion as it relates to tracking and measuring results of either.
Advertising has always relied on the "how many eyeballs saw the ad" approach, which due to the time-lag between ad broadcast and shopping event make an ad's influence difficult to determine.
Promotion effectiveness at the point-of-sale is relatively easy to measure. Also, promotion can be changed and moved practically in real-time, further enabling marketers to determine which promotional type and message yield the highest ROI (as measured by incremental sales).
One other effect POS marketing can offer is the ability to disrupt competitor's efforts simply by getting the POS to the retailer's aisle first. This is especially true when one of the goals of a given POS campaign is to grow market share. Good examples include carbonated soft drinks and big-name beers where there is both very little brand loyalty and significant price sensitivity.
As manufacturers, distributors and retailers alike continue to shift their focus to short-term results POS's power to help brands win at retail is likely to remain on an upward course. The fact that there are now proven powerful software tools that can be deployed to track the effectiveness and efficiency of these marketing programs is also a compelling reason to imagine even further reliance upon at-retail marketing – at least for those who want to increase sales today.
For more information on OnTrak's suite of marketing technology applications specifically designed to track, measure and manage the impact of today's at-retail advertising and promotions, please click the following button.
In this blog, I'll give you some guidelines to help determine if POS Tracking tools, like those from OnTrak, can be justified by the elimination of POS waste. For purposes of this blog, POS means signage, which is placed in the retail market to promote a particular beverage brand.
In order to determine the value of any software that is designed to reduce the costs of your Point-of-Sale (POS) marketing materials, and speed your POS to market, it is important to know just how much wasted POS actually costs.
Recently, we demonstrated one of our products, SignTrak, to an enthusiastic audience at a large beverage alcohol distributor with over 100 sales reps, who also are responsible for merchandising.
Like most of our prospective customers, and all of our current customers, the first problem this distributor was attempting to solve with our software was his out-of-control POS costs. As requests for signage from retailers have increased, so too have the costs of ordering, producing and installing that POS. But these costs were increasing at a rate disproportionate to the actual increase in the demand for the signs themselves.
For some time, the POS costs for most beverage alcohol distributors have increased due to the increase in the costs of the consumables used to create the POS signs. Paper and ink costs continue to escalate; and with the increased demand for signage, additional infrastructure and labor costs swell too. Indeed it is not unusual for distributors to rank POS – and all the associated costs – as the number two expense following payroll.
It is no wonder, then, that OnTrak's prospective customers are looking for solutions that will "Stop the bleeding" of cash being spent on what they perceive to be "breathtakingly expensive" POS marketing materials.
The question then becomes, "How do we determine the ROI that can be realized by using a POS tracking and management tool?"
The following will provide you with an understanding of how our customers use OnTrak to calculate and reduce the cash burn associated with the ordering, production and placement of POS signage, and other POS marketing materials.
Remember, there are competitive advantages to using marketing technology to increase both sales results and supplier marketing-recovery dollars; but we're not dealing with those aspects of deploying marketing technology tools in this blog.
Let's Get Started!
There are three things to consider:
Let's establish some base-line costs for the production of a non-laminated 3'x5' paper sign to be placed at your retail customer's location. Sign costs for consumables currently stand at about $1.60 per square foot. This cost includes infrastructure costs, such as your printers, graphics software, office space, etc.
This translates to a base cost for this sign, as follows:
Next, we need to determine the cost of the labor required for the production of the signage. Fully burdened, the cost of the graphics or sign shop manager is at least $25 per hour – often more, based on the local labor market. Assuming it takes about 20 minutes total time to: Receive the sign order, create the sign using a commercially available graphics package, load and unload the printer, and finally notify the merchandiser responsible for the installation of the sign that it can be picked up, the labor costs will be $8.33. Your sign's base cost is now:
To that amount – $32.33 – the costs associated with ordering the sign and processing the request need to be accounted for. Fully burdened, sales reps typically cost at least $36 per hour, often much more. Distributors tell us that the amount of time required to order a sign without an automated system is 3 to 5 minutes with an additional 3 to 5 minutes spent on the phone with sign shop personnel to explain what the sign is supposed to look like and subsequently to inquire about the sign's availability to be picked up. If we simply assume a total of only 5 minutes for these two communication activities combined, we will increase our costs by about an additional $3.00. Our single 3' x 5' sign's cost in this example, not including any time or cost attributed to picking the sign up and delivering it, is now:
Our prospective customer indicated they would agree that $35.00 is their average cost per sign.
To which we reply: "How many re-works do you have per month?" (See Note 1)
In this case the graphics and POS production manager indicated that with 100 sales reps and 10 sales-team leaders, they estimated "About one re-worked sign, per rep, per month." In other words, 100 re-works per month. At an average cost of $35 per sign, re-worked sign costs were $3,500 per month, or $42,000 per year.
The sales manager, in attendance at this meeting, added, "The cost is actually greater, because we had to have our rep place the first order and have our sign shop produce the sign incorrectly the first time – usually finding out the sign was wrong when we delivered it to our customer." He added, "Then we have to re-order and produce the sign a second time which usually means it doesn't get to the trade until a day or two after we had planned."
The discussion continued and the sales-manager pointed out that "Price sells most of our products," and that "Price is communicated via signage placed near the products." This suggests that getting the sign to the trade two-days later than he planned would cut into this week's market share, assuming the competition got their signs up two-days earlier.
At this point our prospective customer asks: "How much will SignTrak cost us?"
The list price, per user, per month for SignTrak for a customer with 100 users is $12.00; or $1,200 per month; or $14,400 per year. Our customers tell us the re-work reduction after deploying SignTrak is 75% to 95%. Assuming the lower number - 75% - this would, in the above example, be a cost reduction of $31,500 per year. This means that for every $1.00 spent on SignTrak, the cost reduction of re-works alone would be a return of $2.19 – Over a 2 to 1 ROI.
Please take the time to put pen to paper and take a serious look at the ROI your company could enjoy by deploying OnTrak's POS marketing technology solutions.
For more information on OnTrak's suite of marketing technology please click the following button:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Note 1: A re-work regardless of the reason for it, is any sign request that has to be produced, scrapped and re-produced due to either an error in ordering/configuration or an error made during production. Often a sign is produced according to the order, is picked up and delivered, and then either the rep or the retail customer finds an error in the graphic or the content, or both.
This blog is intended to focus somewhat narrowly on the marketing of "small" beverage alcohol brands and products such as craft beers, small yield wineries and "limited edition" liquors.
Nevertheless, many of the points made here are applicable to the broader beverage alcohol categories, perhaps even including some of the mainstream, household name brands and products available at your favorite off or on premise retailer.
Our customers, who supply or distribute malt-beverages and wine and spirits products, rely first on POS marketing, second on social media and some mobile, and third on traditional word-of-mouth-marketing (WOMM) to promote their brands. And this is especially true when it comes to marketing craft beers, "small" wines and limited supply liquors. In most cases the reasons for distributor's reliance upon POS marketing for these products is that their suppliers simply don't have the millions of dollars required to advertise on traditional electronic media outlets, like TV, in any substantial way.
In addition, we have heard our distributor customers frequently tell us that "Nothing will be featured by our retail customers that has not been sampled." Sampling a new craft beer is something TV isn't good at either, as we all have figured out. Now along comes a recent web-article stating that "55% of Craft Beer is sold on premise."
To read additional findings pertaining to Craft Beers click this link: Brewbound: Technomic Research on Craft Beers
Sampling comments from our customers and the many articles to be found in trade publications, and on-line blogs on the subject of brand/product introductions and brand building, suggest that:
Excluding Sam Adam's ability to spend $45M on traditional media advertising this year, it is accurate to observe that most craft suppliers simply don't have the multiple-millions of TV ad dollars required to even make a small, superficial impression upon their target market. They can't afford to make an impression – and this has nothing to do with the inherent quality of their products. Remember, even Sam Adams had to start small.
For those "too small to advertise" suppliers, POS marketing offers a fighting chance to educate, influence and persuade today's shoppers to become buyers.
B2B sampling activities are, for many suppliers (both breweries and distributors), the least expensive way to get a new product "on the menu" so to speak. B2C tastings likewise, can be conducted at-retail and can often build grass-roots WOMM that can yield impressive spot sales.
Now that your local grocer not only has Friday night wine tastings, but also beer pairings, it is possible to get maximum local exposure courtesy of the craft beer distributor's sales reps.
Other reasons that traditional (TV) advertising may not make sense even if the craft or small batch beverage supplier has a few spare millions:
Cable "Cord Cutting" is up by 44% since 2010 to 7.6 million homes who no longer pay to subscribe to TV, rather electing to pay for Netflix or Hulu – and Netflix's "Orange is the New Black," airs commercial-free, for example
Gaming consoles are getting into the original programming "game". Xbox One started "broadcasting" this year. Is advertising an option here? Not yet.
As if we don't have enough channels: Amazon and HBO are working together so that Amazon Prime members can access HBO original programming. Yahoo! is also joining the growing list of non-broadcast, non-cable, non-satellite providers with its own original programming.
In the face of this diminishing power of traditional advertising, POS Marketing is gaining ground. One key reason is that there are now tools available that traditional electronic media has never had, and quite likely never will. With new marketing technologies, supplier and distributors have the ability to:
Traditional ads will offer advertisers the promise of so many "eyeballs" (often called CPM) and there is the concept that the more eyeballs on your ad there are, the greater your sales will be. But the correlation between the eyeballs of that target market and subsequent sales continues to weaken due both to audience fragmentation and especially the massive number of channel options.
The "good-old-days" of consolidated audiences and only 3 or 4 channels on TV are gone. About the only place suppliers can enjoy some certainty of a consolidated "audience" is at the point of shopping; or as Anheuser-Busch/InBev calls it, "the POC" – the point-of-connection between the brand/product and the consumer.
You may also argue that you can convert a shopper to a buyer on-line, and that too is accurate to a degree. But the truth is there is no better place to connect with a potential buyer, at the time of their decision (to buy), than in the store; and of course in the specific aisle, where your product is available for purchase. You see, shoppers often like the ability to instantly buy and take home, rather than wait even one day for their purchases to arrive.
For information about OnTrak's marketing technology tools that will help you track, measure and manage your investments in POS marketing, and correlate that investment to sales results, please click this button:
Watching the business news networks, reading Forbes, Fortune and The Wall Street Journal and talking with our customers and prospects, it certainly appears the US economy is today back to "pre-Great Recession" levels.
In most cases, business reporting suggests companies seem to be at least as profitable as they once were, and in many cases, companies are even more profitable because of the belt-tightening exercises they initiated during the "Great Recession" (GR).
It's difficult for me to believe that we came out of the recession, technically, in June, 2009; riding on a newfound wave of rapidly rising productivity.
The reason for this productivity, of course, was that companies and their remaining employees were making do and doing more with less. Productivity gains by the end of 2009 were up almost 6% according to government reports.
A sign on the wall of one of our customer's break rooms goes a long way to explaining why, and how such productivity was achieved:
Now, five-years later, employees – less likely to be living in fear of being laid-off – are starting to move on to other opportunities and their former employers are finding it increasingly difficult to find replacements. The result of the country's improved economy and many companies' improved productivity is, oddly, declining productivity.
Annual productivity has now fallen by almost 5%, now averaging a meager 1% or less, according to government statistics. Although hopefully partially weather related, productivity in Q1 2014 fell below productivity in Q4 2013 – Not a good sign.
The impact of falling productivity is possibly due to the overall economic contraction, including reduced spending on consumer goods, construction, and durable goods, as well as the increased possibility of another recession, based on the official definition*.
But, before we resign ourselves to that fate, perhaps we should ask, what is the reason for this falling productivity – beyond an abnormally harsh winter?
Various studies mention a primary reason for falling productivity is that businesses have been under-investing in themselves. Capital spending on the "infrastructures of productivity", such as software, has declined sharply since the onset of the GR. Initially, the reduction of capital spending (belt-tightening) by companies during the early days of the financial collapse improved their financial positions. Lay-offs and pay freezes, justified by the GR, have depressed worker compensation to a multi-decade low, further improving these companies' bottom lines.
Today, companies are cash rich – at least according to many public companies' annual reports – and profits are strong, in many cases historically strong. The Dow recently closed above 17,000 for the first time ever and we've been enjoying employment growth of some 200,000+ jobs per month for most of 2014.
Now is the time to invest in new equipment, software and facilities. It's time to put the latest and greatest productivity tools in the hands of employees. It's time to invest in the tools that will provide you and your business interests with a competitive advantage. It's time to increase both your top and bottom lines. In short, it's time to grow.
Although companies, including some of our customers and many of our prospects, did tighten their belts, and their purse-strings, choosing not to invest in software to reduce the cost of their point-of-sales marketing initiatives – That time has passed.
For consumer goods suppliers and distributors, especially in the beverage market, now is the time to invest in point-of-sale marketing technology that will not only track and reduce the costs associated with POS marketing, but technology that will also measure the outcomes of your point-of-sale promotions. Armed with this information you can now make marketing decisions that will most likely have the highest return on return-on-investment.
And this investment in POS marketing technology will enable you to track, measure and manage your at-retail marketing programs, and lay the foundation for your company's higher sales productivity for many years to come.
If you'd like to know more about our POS marketing technology please click the following button:
*The technical indicator of a recession is, "Two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by a country's gross domestic product (GDP)".
The definition of an axiom is: A statement or idea that people accept as self-evidently true – Something that is so evident that it is accepted as truth.
At OnTrak, the axiom we hear most frequently from prospects that we approach about our point-of-sale (POS) tracking software is the phrase "status quo" – Or as they say, "We don't need your software because we're happy with how we're doing it today."
The truth is that without some marketing technology to track, measure and manage their POS, they may not know how they're doing.
We truly believe that if your company isn't moving forward with managing your POS, it's actually going backwards. Not simply staying in the same place.
2014 has been the most successful year in our company's history, dating back to 2006. As we move forward we can't be satisfied with the status quo. As a software company, offering a set of POS tracking solutions to the market, we want to keep doing everything we can to challenge the status quo and continue to improve the capabilities of our products for our customers.
As I was thinking about this week's blog, it occurred to me that we've become much more than a company offering solutions to simplify the ordering of POS marketing materials. Yes, our products have the capability for configuring and ordering POS marketing materials; but there's so much more to our products.
We've transformed into a company that provides tools for the tracking, measuring and managing of POS marketing materials. These tools are designed for use by beverage companies to stimulate sales. Our customers have helped us enhance current products and create new products, and we've proven time-and-again that "You can't manage what you don't track and measure."
In many ways, change is an OnTrak hallmark.
We've become a leader in producing and implementing at-Retail Marketing Technology solutions for beverage companies of all sizes and stripes.
We started with a medium-sized AB wholesale distributor in Northern Kentucky, and now have dozens of customers – including 10 of the Top 25 beer distributors and three of the Top 10 wine and spirits wholesalers in the US. Our software products are used by thousands of beverage sales, marketing and merchandising personnel; and our customers are producing and using more effective POS marketing materials to sell billions of dollars' worth of beverage products, in tens of thousands of retail outlets all across the country.
One of the key reasons we've recently added dozens of new customers and enjoy customer renewals of over 95% is that we listen to our customer comments and suggestions for product features and functions. Then we innovate to demonstrate to our customers, prospects, and even ourselves how we are committed to keep the status quo firmly in our rearview mirror.
Now is the time for all of us to recognize and challenge ourselves to not only accept change but to seek change vigorously.
You, as a supplier or distributor of beverages or other consumer goods, are aware of the remarkable changes in point-of-sale and shopper marketing that have taken place and that continue to unfold – principally in the wake of the Great Recession.
Today suppliers and distributors are required to adopt new marketing technologies and effectively and efficiently market brands and products to the current crop of retail shoppers – many of whom see little traditional media advertising, yet seek-out point-of-sale or shopper marketing materials.
Here it bears repeating:
If you haven't adopted marketing technologies to help you track and measure your retail marketing initiatives and programs, it's impossible to manage them.
What was once "acceptable" point-of-sale marketing – placing temporary and permanent signs, displays, etc. without knowing what works and what doesn't – now serve as little more than defensive marketing tactics. Your in-house graphics and printing departments need to be managed by leaders in shopper marketing, highly curious types of individuals unwilling to be satisfied with the status quo.
It is now necessary to go on the marketing offensive, providing retail marketing materials that are:
Tracked - From order, to put up, to take down,
Measured - To find out what works best to provide positive sales impact and determine ROI, and
Visually verified - To find out what materials are actually placed at the point-of-sale or for compliance purposes.
We do all this in order to help you establish, retain or gain market share. Going on the retail marketing offensive at its core requires marketing technology – software that enables you to manage your marketing and sales goals at the point-of-sale.
It is remarkable to note not only that we have come so far, but also we have a good idea of how far we have yet to go. There remain thousands of companies that rely on point-of-sale marketing who are not utilizing any form of marketing technology as a competitive weapon. This, inevitably, will change.
I'll end as I began, "If your company isn't moving forward it's actually going backwards. . . ." You simply cannot keep going for long unless you keep innovating – especially with respect to your marketing technology.
To learn more about how OnTrak can help you write that next chapter, click the following button:
2943 Riverside Drive | Cincinnati OH 45226 | 800.513.9194 | Fax 513.936.4040
© 2014 Copyright by SignTrak, LLC dba OnTrak Software


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Okay, I lied. Now the website is screwed up worse than before. I'll get on the phone with techs tomorrow. Please ignore the fact that nothing looks like it should!
{ 1 comment }
Okay, I lied. Now the website is screwed up worse than before. I'll get on the phone with techs tomorrow. Please ignore the fact that nothing looks like it should!
{ 1 comment }
Hey gang, I'm popping back in to see if a database problem in WordPress has sorted itself out. It seems to have.
I've wrapped up a few writing projects recently, and all my speaking is done for a couple of months, so I'm anxious to dive back into blogging.
For today, time is short, so I'll tell you what I've been reading:
Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace by Anne Lamott
If you ever want to write about yourself, Anne Lamott's style is as good as it gets.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Yes, the apocalypse has been done. Not like this. One of the best dystopian novels–or novels–that I've ever read.
Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl by Donald Sturrock
A few other updates:
My health has been horrible. It's getting better. Thanks to all who have asked.
However, I've also had a big Tourette's breakthrough, which I attribute to a year's study of meditation. It's getting there. More on this soon.
I've never felt more creative. Once I'm able to show you all the long projects I've been working on, I hope you'll be as tickled about it as I have.
There is value in seeing a good therapist.
Under The Skin might be the strangest movie I've ever seen. It's nearly downright hostile to the viewer, but worth a look. You'll know right away if you want to keep watching.
I recently gave a talk in a gender and disabilities class at the University of Utah. If you're reading this, and you were in that room, I loved being there.
That's it for now
{ 1 comment }
Hey gang, I've reemerged for a one month period during which I wrote over 300 pages of new stuff for books. And good grief, I need a break from that, so here I am.
My speaking calendar is getting busy again. In October I'll be in Wisconsin, Monterrey, Minneapolis, and Arkansas. Most of it's private library stuff. If you're going to any of the big conferences, you already know where I'm going to be.
Some of the pain I get from repetitive movements has gotten worse, so I'm trying out a new round of vitamins and anti-inflammatory nutrition practices. Nothing unusual, just really making an effort to clean up my diet so I can run some experiments from which I can actually draw some conclusions. [Read more…]
{ 9 comments }

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Board agrees he is worth $392K but pledges reforms in response to controversy
Queens Library President and CEO Tom Galante, right, took questions from borough journalists Monday along with library board member Jackie Arrington and Chairman Gabriel Taussig.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, who had recommended a number of reforms at the library, which the board said it then addressed.
Or, use your linked account:
The only AntiSemitism today against Arabs. Jews today have nothing to do with the Semitic people of the Old Testament. It's a money sucking and war mongering network.
So the thievery corporations called... "Non-Profits" feast on tax-payer dollar, both in terms of Government grants and also in terms of not paying taxes so their executives can collect wages that they wouldn't be able to dream of in the open market.
The taxpayers should decide what their employees (all those that feast on taxpayer dollars and government debt) salaries should be!
This is what we pay taxes for... so that Mr. Galante (Sephardic Jew?), Mrs Katz (Ashkenazi Jew?), and Taussig (another Askenazi Jew?) conspire to rob the New York Taxpayer to pay themselves high salaries and boast in the media how smart Jews are. Yeah... thief smart of course!
Editor's note: Anti-Semitism is not good for you. And Ms. Katz (not Mrs.) is demanding sharp restrictions on Mr. Galante's ability to spend money. But you may post your assertions; it is a free country.
Edited by staff.
What I would like to see if elected officials like Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Deputy President Leroy Comrie, crook Senator Malcolm Smith, corrupt Congressman Gregory Meeks, MIA Assembly Member Vivian Cook, useless Councilman Ruben Wills and other useless and do nothing elected leaders defend and justify their salaries, when there answers to most things are "my hands are tied", "I will see", "I will look into that", "that is not my district", "there is a procedure" and other political double talk.
GingerBread Lane village opens at museum; lights on in Flushing
It's never too early to get in the Christmas spirit and making it easier are the holiday str…
Saluting those who served so we could be free
Patriotism was the order of the day on Sunday as the fifth annual Queens Veterans Day Parade…
Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology last Thursday celebrated the completion of a $4…
© Copyright 2014, Queens Chronicle, Rego Park, NY. Powered by BLOX Content Management System from TownNews.com. [Terms of Use | Privacy Policy]


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Find records of Margaret Allen
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Margaret Louise Allen (1922 - 2011) was born on October 15, 1922. She was born into the Allen family.
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(aka Kuchisake-onna) SYNOPSIS: Three decades ago, a Japanese suburb was terrorized by the vengeful spirit of a woman in a surgical mask who asked victims, "Am I pretty?" before slaughtering them. Now, children in this community are disappearing again, leaving police and teachers to discover the reason and put an end to the new wave of carnage. Eriko Sato, Haruhiko KatĂ´ and Miki Mizuno star in director KĂ´ji Shiraishi's terrifying chiller. REVIEW: Every horror genre … Continue reading


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The Five Pillars Of Ubuntu Server 11.10
Published on 29 May 2011 07:26 AM EDT
Written by
Michael Larabel
Comment On This Article
With a few weeks having passed since
UDS Budapest
where a lot of details concerning Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Oncelot" were figured out and debated, and the features definition freeze now in effect, Canonical has announced the five core areas they'll be working on in this development cycle as it pertains to the Ubuntu Server release.
On Launchpad is
the prioritized list of features
for Ubuntu Server 11.10. The majority of these features fit within five areas where Canonical is focusing on for the Oneiric Server:
- Ubuntu Orchestra
- Ubuntu Ensemble
- Ubuntu Server for ARM
- Making Ubuntu Server the Best Cloud Infrastructure OS
- Making Ubuntu Server the Best Cloud Guest OS
These items were mentioned on
the ubuntu-devel mailing list
Ubuntu Orchestra is self-described as "a collection of the best free software services useful in hosting enterprise data center infrastructure services, based on the Ubuntu Server." More details regarding the vision of Ubuntu Orchestra can be found in
this mailing list message
from March by Canonical's Dustin Kirkland. Basically it's about providing the best tools on Ubuntu for provisioning / installation, configuration management, monitoring, and orchestration in the cloud.
Meanwhile, Ubuntu Ensemble is self-described as being a high-level next-generation "service orchestration" framework and to basically take on being APT for cloud computing. From
the Ubuntu Wiki
, "Ensemble aims to be a service deployment and orchestration tool which enables the same kind of collaboration and ease of use which today is seen around package management to happen on a higher level, around services. With Ensemble, different authors are able to create services independently, and make those services communicate through a simple configuration protocol. Then, users can take the product of both authors and very comfortably deploy those services in an environment, in way resembling how people are able to install a network of packages with a single command via APT. If you compare Ensemble to APT, then you're bound to compare APT's packages with Ensemble Formulas. Ensemble formulas are the description of how services should behave when deployed and run. A single service definition may be run multiple times with the same formula and configuration, so we call a deployed and running service as a service unit. Each of those units will have an independent copy of the same formula guiding its behavior."
Ubuntu Server 11.10 is the first official release where an ARM server image will be spun. Low-powered ARM servers haven't taken over the world yet, but Canonical is preparing to enter the ARM server field strong as more servers are deployed on this alternative architecture. They want Ubuntu to become "the leading ARM Server Distribution." For Ubuntu Server 11.10, Canonical is targeting armel+omap, armel+omap4, and armel+mx5. There will be netboot, headless, and pre-install server images available.
As usual, Ubuntu 11.10 is set to be released in October.
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About The Author
Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the web-site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience and being the largest web-site devoted to Linux hardware reviews, particularly for products relevant to Linux gamers and enthusiasts but also commonly reviewing servers/workstations and embedded Linux devices. Michael has written more than 10,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics hardware drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the
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automated testing software. He can be followed via
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WEDNESDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with a clinically isolated syndrome treated with interferon beta-1b, the modified Barkhof criteria may provide some value in predicting conversion to clinically definite multiple sclerosis (CDMS), according to a multicenter, randomized study published in the November issue of the Archives of Neurology.
Bastiaan Moraal, M.D., of the Vrije University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues analyzed data from 468 patients with a recent initial clinical demyelinating event. Patients either received three years of interferon beta-1b or placebo followed by at least a year of this treatment. All underwent baseline MRI.
Overall, the researchers found that 42 percent converted to CDMS. Of the Barkhof criteria, those with the highest prognostic value were the baseline presence of at least nine T2-weighted lesions and at least three periventricular lesions (hazard ratios, 1.64 and 1.66, respectively). The authors found no particular advantage in using at least three Barkhof criteria as a set cutoff.
"In general, the percentage of patients converting to CDMS was higher in the presence (compared with the absence) of all baseline MRI variables. In particular, the modified Barkhof criteria showed moderate predictive value for conversion to CDMS, although all patients were treated for at least one year with interferon beta-1b," the authors conclude.
The study was sponsored by Bayer Schering Pharma AG. Several authors reported financial and consulting relationships with a variety of pharmaceutical companies.
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COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka have retained the same 15-man squad but are expected to make one change to their bowling line-up for the third test against India starting on Friday. India levelled the series 1-1 with a 170-run victory in Galle and Sri Lanka hope that some additional pace will help them at the more seamer-friendly P. Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. Fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekera is likely to be replaced in the final XI by either left-armer Thilan Thushara or the uncapped Dammika Prasad. "There was no need to push the panic button over just one defeat," a selection committee source said. "The need for a bowler of extra pace to support Chaminda Vaas was discussed and we decided that Thushara or Prasad should be considered." The final decision will be made after practice on Thursday. Sri Lanka are missing three fast bowlers -- Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga and Farveez Maharoof -- due to injuries, limiting their pace bowling options. Out-of-form opener Michael Vandort, who has scored 17 runs in three innings, is expected to play after being backed by captain Mahela Jayawardene. "Michael has been one of the consistent bats in the last six months," Jayawardene told the media after Sri Lanka's defeat in Galle. KIRSTEN'S DEPARTURE India's preparations for the deciding test have been hampered by the departure of coach Gary Kirsten, who left the tour to be with his critically ill mother. Paddy Upton, the mental conditioning coach, has taken over as head coach and will work alongside bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh. Upton was confident that Kirsten's sudden departure would not have a negative impact on preparations. "Each person knows their role," he told reporters. "It's a case of just doing what we've always been doing and doing that well." India's only selection dilemma is whether to replace Dinesh Karthik with Parthiv Patel as wicket-keeper. Karthik has grassed several important chances during the first two tests and has scored just 36 runs in four innings. Squads: Sri Lanka - Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Malinda Warnapura, Thilan Samaweera, Michael Vandort, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Thilan Thushara, Chaminda Vaas, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekera, Dammika Prasad India - Anil Kumble (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha. (Editing by Clare Fallon)
India tour of Sri Lanka, 2008 (Full Coverage)
Sri Lanka expected to make one change
|Colombo, 2008/Aug/07 01:44:00
More stories from India tour of Sri Lanka, 2008
Kulasekara, Mendis fire Sri Lanka to consolation winNuwan Kulasekara wrecked India's top order with a career-best haul of 4-40 to bowl Sri Lanka to a consolation 112-run victory in the fifth and final one-day international here on Friday. India, who already had a winning 3-1 lead, were shot out for 103 chasing a rain-revised target of 216 off 44 overs under lights.
India clinch Sri Lanka one-day seriesIndia survived Sanath Jayasuriya's explosive half-century to clinch the series against Sri Lanka with a 46-run victory in the fourth one-day international here on Wednesday. India restricted the hosts to 212 under lights after posting 258 for an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
India win despite Jayawardene scareIndia posted a 33-run victory over Sri Lanka in the third one-day international here on Sunday despite a fighting 94 from skipper Mahela Jayawardene. Sri Lanka were in deep trouble at 94-7 chasing a 238-run target but Jayawardene gave a scare or two to India, adding 81 for the eighth wicket with Thilan Thushara.
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text: Keith Olbermann Calls on ESPN to Ban 'Redskins' Print article Send a Tip by Breitbart News 24 Aug 2014 post a comment On his Friday program, Keith Olbermann called on ESPN to "officially" ban the use of "Redskins." Citing Greg Gumbel, Tom Jackson, Peter King, Phil Simms, Mike Caray, Tony Dungy and others who have expressed concerns about using the team's name, Olbermann said that ESPN is the "conduit of sports" in the country while also being "loathe to be the news." Olbermann said that list of the words he and his colleagues cannot say on the air is "justifiably long" and "way less offensive than the name of the Washington team." He said he personally felt that "it is time for us here to officially... stop using the name." ESPN's ombudsman had previously revealed that the network considered banning the use of "Redskins" but refused to do so because it did not want to make news and stir more controversy.


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School districts are required to report staff development activities and expenditures for both their district and school sites. According to Minnesota Statutes, section 122A.60, Subdivision 4, the district and site staff development committees shall write and submit a report for the previous year in the form and manner determined by the commissioner. This report is due by October 15 of each year. All districts, including those not reserving funds, must complete a report.
View the 2011-12 Online Staff Development Report FAQ for answers to questions frequently asked by school and district staff when completing the online report.
> Enter the Staff Development Report site.
History Day Winter Webinars
The Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) is offering webinars on History Day. Teachers are invited to attend an hour-long webinar about different aspects of the History Day project. The webinars are spaced over the winter season and reflect the general History Day project timeline. Topics include: • History Day Theme, Nov. 11, 3-4 p.m. • Thesis Statement, Dec. 11, 3-4 p.m. • Project Organization, Jan. 6, 3-4 p.m. • Competitions and Judging, Feb. 3, 3-4 p.m.
Copyright 2014
Minnesota Department of Education


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I bought this watch as a gift for my father's 70th Birthday. The price and appearance was great for 18K pure gold watch and brand, but mechanism doesn't work at all. Watch was working for 2 hours and stopped. I tried again, but result was still the same. I was very disappointed, and I did not have enough time to find the similar replacement. I am friquent buyer through Overstock, and this purchase quality is a big disappointment for me.
Items must be returned in new or unused condition and contain all original materials included with the shipment.
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The quest for enlightenment spans centuries of human existence. And Quest presents answers to the perennial questions that have stirred the hearts of philosophers.
Is it possible to unravel the puzzle of God, creation, and human existence? Many great minds have failed the task, but there is no puzzle for the greatest mind—God's. Drawing from God's words in the Vedic scriptures, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, who comes in an unbroken spiritual lineage from Sri Krishna, answers questions about the views of famous Western philosophers and their approach to philosophy and science.
This collection of articles by Srila Prabhupada from Back to Godhead magazine covers knowledge of the soul and the practice of bhakti-yoga.
These interviews, lectures, and essays cover topics such as the goal of human life, seeking a true spiritual teacher, reincarnation, super-consciousness, Krishna and Christ, and spiritual solutions to today's social and economic problems.
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Playa Grande House Rental Photos and Description
4 Bedrooms, 3 Baths (Sleeps 8-12)
Completed in February 2007, this Spanish Mediterranean-style house is located in Palm Beach Estates in Las Baulas Marine National Park in Guanacaste.
The house is a 5-minute walk to Playa Grande beach, the seasonal nesting grounds of the endangered leatherback turtle and an internationally famous surfing beach, and also to the mangrove estuary, several restaurants, a market/bar/internet cafe, and surfboard rentals and lesson providers. Tamarindo is accessible within a short walk via the beach and water taxi to cross the estuary, or in 25 minutes by car.
A separate studio apartment on the property is available as as an additional rental for larger groups, or as a standalone rental for individuals and couples.
Our property manager is based right in Playa Grande and readily available to assist with all aspects of your vacation, including arranging ground transportation and child care services, as well as booking the many tours and activities available in the area.
The main house has 3 bedrooms (2 upstairs, 1 downstairs), each with a queen-size bed, its own closet with security safe, and private balcony/lookout, plus 2 full bathrooms (one with a double shower and one with a bathtub). The downstairs contains a spacious open living and dining area, full kitchen with oven, microwave, refrigerator/freezer with icemaker, range/breakfast island, and a study/reading room with ADSL broadband internet connection that opens up to the pool and patio area. The upstairs has a sitting room with cable TV and DVD player, plus a full-size futon for additional sleeping space. All rooms have individually controlled air-conditioning and ceiling fans, all floors are wide Brazilian tile, and there are 4 telephones available throughout the house.
If you need additional room, we also have a studio apartment, available as a separate rental unit, which contains an additional full-size bed and futon, as well as a small kitchen, dining table, full bathroom, and its own telephone line.
The outside features a large wrap-around terrace with a dining area and hammock, semi-shaded lap pool with patio and chairs, lush tropical garden with plentiful flora and full-grown trees, and an outdoor shower for rinsing off after the beach. There are plenty of wildlife viewing opportunities available right from the terrace or patio, with hundreds of birds, howler monkeys, iguanas and butterflies in the neighborhood.
Our property manager is based right in Playa Grande and readily available to assist with all aspects of your vacation, including arranging ground transportation, a private chef if desired, child care, laundry and grocery shopping services, as well as booking the many tours and activities available in the area, such as surfing, SCUBA, snorkeling, sunset sailing, deep sea fishing, horseback riding, estuary boat tours, zipline canopy tours, bike rentals, golf, tennis, turtle watching, yoga, massage and spa treatments.
- Suitability:
- Long-term Renters Welcome
- children welcome
- non smoking only
- pets considered
- suitable for elderly or infirm
- wheelchair accessible
About Colin Ovitsky
My brother and I live in Massachusetts and are co-owners of this property. Our father, a veterinarian, purchased the land in 2004 upon becoming enamored with Costa Rica during his first visit to Playa Grande. Along with a professional architect, and after many months of research and searching for materials throughout Costa Rica, he designed the house using his own background in architecture, which he had studied prior to turning his focus to veterinary medicine.
The house was constructed throughout 2005 and 2006 and was completed in February 2007, with our father spending at least one week per month there to supervise and participate directly in the construction. Sadly, he passed away in May 2008 and did not have much time to enjoy the results of his labor, but the house stands as a testament to the many years of passion, dedication and effort he poured into it.
Our father loved hosting groups of guests at his home for dinners, dancing and relaxing, and made a point to head to the beach every evening for the beautiful Playa Grande sunsets. While we are unable to spend much time there ourselves, we are honored to continue our father's legacy, and hope you will find Casa de La Vida Grande (as he named it) the perfect destination for your Costa Rica vacation.
Colin Ovitsky purchased this house in 2004
Guestbook comments from the owner
Casa de La Vida Grande is everything the pictures show brought to life. The grounds are kept immaculate, the pool is exactly the way to relax after the Coast Rican sun comes up, and it is so close to everything. Spend your day at the secluded beaches only steps away from the house, enjoy the variety of cuisine from the eight nearby restaurants, or take a short boat ride into town for anything you might need. Senorita Casitas stocked our house with beer and fruit after our long flight and the trip just took off from there. Everything you need is within reach from Casa de La Vida Grande, and we will certainly be back.


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We were a couple months late on rent. We were in contact with our landlord. He knew my husband got laid off at work. He kept telling us that there was no problem and to pay as much as we can when we can.
The next thing I know, my aunt, who was on my previous rental agreement, until my husband and I took over the lease ourselves, is calling me telling me that my landlord called her to say we were 3 months behimd in rent and that he was about to slap us with a pay or quit order. My aunt paid the back rent, but I am angry that rather than coming to talm to us about it, he ratted on me to my aunt, who is no longer on the lease.
It seems to me that a lease should be kept confidentially between a landord & tenant. What is the law and actual calif. Penal code in reference to this? Thank you!
Yes. There is nothing in the California Civil Code or the California Penal Code which prevents your landlord from asking your aunt to pay the rent that you haven't paid, especially since your aunt was previously a co-tenant or guarantor.
You may be lucky that the landlord was generous enough to allow your aunt to pay the rent. From what you have written it sounds like the landlord may have been entitled to evict you and request damages for the back rent. It sounds like you and your aunt would have been liable for the back rent. Even though it may seem like what your landlord did was wrong, from a legal perspective it seems like he was trying to be helpful and understanding to your situation.
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wire rod,
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ArcelorMittal Long Carbon North America,
Lisa Gordon
PITTSBURGH ArcelorMittal Long Carbon North America is increasing wire rod prices by $20 ton ($1 per hundredweight) effective with shipments May 1, it said in an April 10 letter to customers.
The Chicago-based companys move followed similar increases by three other producers (amm.com, April 9).
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'Enthusiasm unknown to mankind'
San Francisco 49ers Coach, Jim Harbaugh says the team has "enthusiasm unknown to mankind." Quarterback Colin Kaepernick says extra time gives him an advantage over the Ravens. (Jan. 30)
Beckham Jr.'s one-handed TD vs. Cowboys Algieri: 'Manny didn't give me a lot of holes' Pacquiao calls for Floyd Mayweather fight Billy Smith honored at Coliseum Chaminade 48, St. John the Baptist 29 Weigh-ins: Pacquiao vs. Algieri Pacquiao, Algieri trainers both predict KO 'Stitch' Duran: Cutman's goal is one more round Cuomo: `Impractical' for Bills to play Jets on Sunday Isles' last season episode 4: Fast start to the season Pacquiao vs. Algieri: Logan's pre-fight analysis Islanders players visit Nassau schools


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THIS YEAR MARKS the 40th anniversary of the Artisans Festival, November 28-29 on Thanksgiving weekend, at the historic Miners Foundry Cultural Center in Nevada City. The '70s saw an arts and cultural renaissance in Nevada City, and the Artisans Festival at the Miners Foundry was at the center of it.
This is one of the longest running...
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Texas > Seguin Yellow Pages > Construction > Contractors > General Contractors Seguin
Wunderlich Builders
(830) 549-2500
3040 W Kingsbury St, Seguin, TX| Map
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Founded on Chicago hardpan more than 50 years ago, Case Foundation Company has evolved from a loc... More>
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Sears can provide the right solution to your home improvement needs. Local staff and installation... More>
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Welcome to Harris Steel Buildings! Harris Steel Buildings is a metal building construction com... More>
DelHur Industries, Inc.
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DelHur Industries, Inc. is a heavy civil general contractor with over 45 years of experience. Li... More>
DelHur Industries, Inc.
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DelHur Industries, Inc. is a heavy civil general contractor with over 45 years of experience. Li... More>
TRK Solutions Enterprise Inc
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I have been in Construction Management,General Contracting, Mechanical Maintenance,Home Improveme... More>
Allpine Lumber Co.
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Wolff Construction
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Wolff Construction is a concrete contractor located in Belton, TX and providing services througho... More>
Tex Blast Sandblasting Co
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At Tex Blast Sandblasting Co., we serve the blasting, priming, painting, and coating needs of ind... More>
Anderson Building Company
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Anderson Building Company is a pre-engineered metal building, self storage, and RV/boat storage s... More>
MBA Construction Co.
(830) 281-8191
MBA Construction of Blackfoot, Idaho is an experienced general contractor, construction manager s... More>
5H General Contracting LLC
(972) 617-1616
5H General Contracting is the premier storm damage repair and construction company serving North ... More>
RTB Properties Inc
(830) 372-3712
3040 W IH 10, Seguin, TX| Map
Tube City IMS
(830) 303-5980
1 Steel Mill Dr, Seguin, TX| Map
Icon Group
(830) 372-4266
4340 W IH 10, Seguin, TX| Map
M & R Construction
(830) 379-2695
2008 Good Luck Rd, Seguin, TX| Map
Moreno Construction Co
(830) 379-8759
757 N Highway 123 Byp, Ste 800, Seguin, TX| Map
Perry Homes
(830) 303-0557
3009 Saddlehorn Dr, Seguin, TX| Map
J P Group
(830) 372-1168
1105 Peggy Ln, Seguin, TX| Map
Koehler Co
(830) 303-6256
1404 N Camp St, Seguin, TX| Map
Material: Plastic, Millwork
Eric Laird Roofing
(830) 379-0991
702 Jefferson Ave, Seguin, TX| Map
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Allure of the Seas Cruise Review by hmaster2: Allure of the Seas Fantastic!
Member Since 2003
11 Posts
Member Rating
Compare Prices on Allure of the Seas Western Caribbean Cruises
Allure of the Seas Fantastic!
Food-We ate in the MDR 4 nights. Food was excellent. Chops 1 night had the filet it was best item of the week. Did Giovannis 2 nights. Both nights excellent. My wife thought the beef tenderloin was her favorite item of the week. I did Ritas 1 day for lunch. Steak tacos were very good. Tried the Dog House once. It was just okay nothing special. Also had a cupcake every day from cupcake shop. I enjoyed them.
Shows-Chicago was very good I enjoyed it. Better than when we had seen Hairspray on Oasis on last trip. The Ocean Aria show was excellent. Still amazed that they can do that on a moving ship. Comedians were good and the Ice show was better than in past cruises. The headliner was kind of cheesy for me. It was like a Vegas lounge act.
Other--Service was excellent as always. I really enjoyed our cruise director Allan Brooks. He was probably my favorite of all our cruises. He had a quick sarcastic wit that I really liked. Embarkation and debarkation were quick and More painless. Less
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