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Tuesday, July 18, 2017

iART FEST MANILA 2017: Celebrate at One of the Biggest Art Festival in the Philippines

The Philippines has proven to be one of the most artistically-inclined countries in the world with the likes of Lea Salonga and Manuel Baldemor. Tomorrow, you will get to witness the talent and abilities of Filipino artists focusing on a variety of areas of art. Brand Republik’s event arm, iEVENTS, will be hosting iART FEST MANILA 2017, one of the biggest art gatherings in the country, this July 19-22, 2017. It will be open from 10 AM- 6 PM and it will be held at the World Trade Center, Pasay City.
According to Mr. Michael de Leon, President and Chief Creative Officer of iArt Fest, "We wanted to embark the festival of creative ideas that will inspire designers and artists to collaborate in one venue. For us, being in this industry we live and breathe through art and design. Aesthetics and creative compositions are the pillars of strength of our business.”
Inspired by the abilities of truly amazing artists, iART FEST MANILA’s spotlight will shine facets of art in the country such as art galleries, visual arts, photography, music, and crafts.
The artists that will participate in the event include Ismael Figueroa Esber, Kristen Uy Ramos, Rick Armando, Baroyskie Arts, Ernilo Germino, Sam Penaso, Mel Araneta, Fredi Agunoy, Joanna Liza, Kuatro Kantos, GWAPINGS NG KOMIKS, SIKLAB, 302B, Levi Batara, Marlon Lucenara, Jo Anna Vocalan, Joemarie Sanclaria Chua, Suicidal Genius, Pilipinas Street Plan, Room One Eleven, Graphic Artist Philippines, TUP-FAD Creatives, Betsin-artparasites, STYLES STROKES & SKETCHES SOCIETY, and Yolkers Collab.
Visitors can also check out some products of Wacom, Art Nebula, Gifo, and other participating exhibitors.
Immerse your mind and senses in an enticing experience of color, sound, and imagery.
For more information, visit www.iartfest.ieventsorg.com or at their Facebook Page: iArtFestManila

Monday, July 17, 2017

Accenture Interactive, Marriott International and 1776 Launch the Travel Experience Incubator

Accenture Interactive, Marriott International, and 1776 , a leading global incubator and network for startups, today announced the launch of the Travel Experience Incubator, a new program designed to discover and foster startups working on innovative technologies and solutions to improve the travel experience. The incubator will bring together the hospitality industry expertise of one of the world’s most innovative companies, Marriott International, and its official Travel Experience Incubator partner, Accenture Interactive, along with participating startups, to co-create unique and inventive new experiences for travelers.

Startups are invited to immediately apply to The Travel Experience Incubator Challenge. Selected startups will be invited to participate in The Travel Experience Incubator, a three-month, travel industry focused program with opportunities for paid piloting and investment at the program’s conclusion. The incubator will kick off in September 2017 at 1776’s Crystal City Campus in Arlington, Virginia.

The selected participants will receive a dedicated curriculum, drawing on the hospitality expertise of Marriott leadership, Accenture experts and the 1776 global mentor network. Through the program, startups will develop, validate, and test travel solutions using data and technology, with the goal to increase customer connectedness and enhance travel experiences.

Marriott will draw on its deep experience in the hospitality business, supporting the incubator with its data-rich knowledge of customers as well as mentors from its executive team to coach the startups. Accenture will provide resources focused on human-centered design and digital technologies, as well as proprietary tools to help accelerate and scale real-time solutions. Startups will also will have access to Accenture’s deep industry expertise in hospitality to lend additional mentorship and insight throughout the program. Accenture has proven experience working with the startup community through Accenture Ventures, which partners with and invests in growth-stage companies that create innovative enterprise technologies using an open innovation approach.

“Now, more than ever, people want their travel to be tailored, hyper-personalized and connected,” said Julie Sweet, Accenture’s Chief Executive Officer – North America. “As the official Travel Experience Incubator partner with Marriott, we are uniquely positioned to collaborate and scale innovation across the startup community to create new experiences for travelers.”

“We see The Travel Experience Incubator as a terrific opportunity to fuel promising startups focused on game-changing innovation for the lodging industry. We look forward to collaborating with these independent visionaries to reveal new business opportunities and enhanced guest experiences,” said Stephanie Linnartz, Global Chief Commercial Officer, Marriott International. “Continuously innovating the guest experience from design to technology is a centerpiece of Marriott’s culture and competitive advantage.”

“We’ve seen the success that is possible when startups and corporations work together to find better technological solutions, and the Travel Experience Incubator is an exciting opportunity to accomplish that in an established and global industry,” said Evan Burfield, co-founder and CEO at 1776. “Large, forward-thinking companies, like Accenture and Marriott, are engaging successfully with startups, looking at startups as discovery arms and co-collaborators for innovation.”


Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Accenture Acquires Clearhead To Help Brands Boost Their Digital Customer Experiences' Effectiveness

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired Clearhead, the digital optimization company, based in Austin, Texas, to strengthen the personalization services of Accenture Interactive. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
 
Clearhead helps brands continuously test, redesign and personalize digital customer experiences and digital products to optimize business outcomes. This is becoming a critical capability for companies to compete with digital native businesses that seek to improve every aspect of the customer experience through continuous experimentation and testing.

With a team of more than 70 people, Clearhead enables brands to achieve business outcomes through optimizing key digital marketing, merchandising, sales, and service experiences. Using a proprietary data-driven methodology, Clearhead determines where improving experiences and digital product features may lead to significant gains. It then sets up A/B or multivariate tests to validate these hypotheses, analyzes the results, and redesigns experiences for what works best for customers.
  
Clearhead has served over two dozen retailers and brands, including a global apparel brand for which it developed and tested simpler ways for users to create an online store account. This resulted in an almost 20% increase in account registration. For a home appliances company, Clearhead developed an online product builder and recommender which is based on data and experimentation and significantly increased order conversion rates on the client’s website.
 
“Experience is the new battleground in the digital world and brands need to continuously optimize it across the entire customer journey,” said Glen Hartman, head of Accenture Interactive North America. “At Accenture Interactive, we’re laser focused on creating the best customer experiences for our clients and we’re excited about Clearhead boosting our personalization business with their experimentation and personalization capabilities.”
 
“Brands are beginning to realize that experimentation is the new normal and has to be core to their culture, capabilities, and operations in order to offer engaging digital experiences,” said Jeriad Zoghby, global personalization lead, Accenture Interactive. “There’s tremendous potential in this market as some clients are looking to increase the tests they run by a factor of ten year over year. Brands are recognizing that this is the only way to compete with the experiences digital native companies provide. With Clearhead’s talent and methodology, we can help brands achieve their ambitious goals.”
 
“Clearhead and Accenture Interactive share the belief that continuous experimentation is key to providing the best digital customer experiences and digital products,” said Matty Wishnow, founder and CEO of Clearhead. “We’re excited about how Accenture Interactive works with clients, using agile tools in a collaborative environment to give them the ability to become more user-focused and nimble. Together, we will scale our optimization capabilities and add more value for brands.”
 
Clearhead’s skills in user experience solutions include Adobe Target, Oracle MaxymiserTM and Monetate. The company is also the reigning Solution Partner of the Year of Optimizely.
 
Headquartered in Austin, Clearhead also has offices in Cincinnati, Ohio and, most recently, London. Clearhead has been named one of the fastest-growing companies in Central Texas for the past two years and one of the best places to work in the region in 2016 by the Austin Business Journal.
 
The acquisition bolsters the full suite of digital customer transformation services Accenture Interactive provides to chief marketing officers and chief digital officers, from creative to technology, spanning experience design, marketing, content and commerce.
 
Clearhead is the fourteenth acquisition Accenture Interactive has made since 2013 to expand the reach, scope, and depth of its end-to-end customer experience services globally. In May, Accenture Interactive acquired e-commerce solution provider Media Hive (US) to strengthen its capabilities around Salesforce Commerce Cloud implementation. Other acquisitions in Accenture’s current fiscal year include creative agencies The Monkeys/Maud (Australia) and Karmarama (UK), communications agency Kunstmaan (Belgium), and digital agency SinnerSchrader (Germany).
 
This news release makes reference to trademarks owned by third parties. All such third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.