Following the launch of Neo in South Africa earlier this year, Ogilvy’s own digital media agency is now tapping into its abundance of international resources. with 39 offices across 32 countries worldwide, Neo South Africa is able to tap into the latest developments and world class expertise in areas such as social search, affiliate marketing and data modelling. Head of Neo, Mia Scholtz, recently returned from digital marketing summits held in Milan and London respectively, with EMEA Neo directors bringing with her, revolutionary online tracking software, Marin Search Marketer.

This software, which is now being used for the first time in South Africa by Ogilvy Neo, is a browser-based paid search management application, designed to address the workflow, analysis, and optimization needs of large-scale advertisers and agencies, saving valuable time and improving financial performance.

Over 500 companies, including many of the world’s largest interactive agencies and advertisers, rely on Marin Software’s platform to manage more than $1.3 billion of annual marketing spend globally. Leading advertisers using Marin Search Marketer include Razorfish, University of Phoenix, Macy’s, KAYAK, PriceGrabber, Salesforce.com, reply and of course Neo@Ogilvy global and now Neo South Africa.

Scholtz’s recent visit brings this revolutionary digital software into the South Africa office further developing the agency’s abilities to provide a complete suite of digital offerings.

“I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to some of the most sophisticated software online marketing has to offer. I am thrilled to now be in the position to train my team to implement locally,” says Scholtz

As the largest and fastest growing online advertising channel, paid search marketing continues to become increasingly competitive and complex.

“To make the most of our clients’ digital marketing spend, we require a solution that can assist in making things simpler and most of all, optimising activity across the online sales funnel i.e. increasing our clients’ sales while at the same time reducing costs,” she adds.

“The software helps us to find the best and worst performing keywords. It ensures speedy and effective search marketing campaign solutions which in turn generate increased sales and data capturing for clients, giving us the leading edge in South African SEO marketing,” explains Scholtz.

The Neo South Africa team are currently being trained in the new technology at webinars running in Cape Town by Neo’s UK office. following global practice, Neo will be piloting the software with IBM.

“Search marketers all over the world continue to choose Marin because of its measurability and proven ROI,” comments Scholtz.

Neo South Africa is currently reaping the benefits of its expansion into SEO. the move brought organic and paid search in-house bringing Neo one step closer to becoming the country’s most sophisticated digital media strategy, planning and buying agency.

“The introduction of Marin into an already, formidable territory makes us more confident in our abilities to produce the best results for our clients, differentiating us as a truly unique digital media agency in South Africa,” concludes Scholtz.

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SeoWebsiteHero, specialists in all phases of Internet marketing and design, launched its new website, containing industry related hot links, blogs, and practical information designed to assist small to medium sized businesses choose the most efficient, cost-effective vehicle to market their business. Founded by a trio of former employees at one of the country

Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) — William Conway, the deal maker who helped build Carlyle Group into the world’s second-biggest private-equity firm, said the company is gearing up for a public share sale to amass permanent capital and contend with the growing challenge of raising money for buyout funds.

“there will be significant advantages to having a lot more capital,” Conway, 61, who oversees the Washington-based firm’s investments, said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. “Investors are reducing commitments to funds and making economic terms much less attractive.”

Carlyle has considered an initial public offering since at least June 2007, when larger rival Blackstone Group LP began trading on the new York Stock Exchange. Plans were put on hold soon after when debt markets froze. Carlyle instead sold a 7.5 percent stake to Mubadala Development Co., an arm of the Abu Dhabi government, in September 2007.

After participating in $16 billion of buyouts this year, more than any other private-equity firm, Carlyle plans to file IPO papers late in 2011, said people with knowledge of the matter. The stock sale may not occur until the following year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private.

Private-equity funds are struggling to raise money even as buyouts more than tripled this year to $133 billion from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Firms attracted $71 billion from investors through the third quarter and are set to have their worst fundraising year since at least 2004, data from researcher PitchBook Data inc. in Seattle show. The wealthy individuals and institutions that traditionally have backed private equity are increasingly reluctant to commit fresh capital after the financial crisis.

Deals, Diversification

Carlyle, which was founded in 1987 by Conway, David Rubenstein and Daniel D’Aniello with $5 million in seed capital, would use proceeds from the IPO to invest in its funds and continue to expand beyond corporate buyouts.

The firm in March hired Mitch Petrick, Morgan Stanley’s former sales and trading chief, to build out its credit business. Michael Arpey, former head of Credit Suisse Group AG’s customized funds business, joined Carlyle in November to lead fund formation and development of new products.

Carlyle, which oversees $98 billion, appointed both to the firm’s special committee, which oversees operations in 19 countries and 78 funds.The firm also hired Rodney Cohen from Pegasus Capital Advisors to lead a fund it hopes will raise $1 billion to buy small companies.

Stock as Currency

When Blackstone went public, it said having stock would give it a currency to buy companies, recruit and retain employees and enable founders Stephen Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson to covert their ownership stakes into shares and cash. The new York-based company has fallen 55 percent from the $31 IPO price.

KKR & Co., which also weighed going public during the IPO boom, later merged with a European-listed affiliate and moved the stock to new York. It has gained 22 percent since the switch to the new York Stock Exchange in July.

Conway, in a Dec. 3 interview, said he expects Carlyle to add at least one yuan-denominated fund to the pair it’s already marketing, one of which is a joint venture. Petrick’s Carlyle Global Credit Alternatives group is aiming to start two debt funds.

Conway decided at the start of the year to ramp up buyouts after an almost two-year stretch when Carlyle was largely absent from deal making.

“At the beginning of 2010, I became more bullish on the economy than many others, based on data from portfolio companies that showed improvement,” he said. “another factor was the Federal Reserve — it pumped a massive amount of liquidity into the system and it worked.”

Conway’s Marching Orders

By year-end, the firm expects to have put $10 billion in equity into new investments worldwide. its clients, who received $1 billion in cash distributions in 2009, have already seen payouts increase to $5.7 billion 2010. That’s more than Blackstone and KKR combined.

At the beginning of each year, Conway writes a memo to all Carlyle employees. In addition to laying out his views on the investment environment, this year’s seven-page letter responded to investor concerns that Carlyle had “too much unfunded capital” at its disposal by explaining that the decision not to put capital to work earlier put it in a better position than its competitors to capitalize on current opportunities.

He directed the firm’s 400 investment professionals to use the economic uncertainty to their advantage and exceed the $5.2 billion they spent in 2009.

Vitamins, Fiber Optics

Carlyle has announced 33 deals this year, compared with one last year. Four deals are valued at more than $2 billion. The firm beat out Blackstone and TPG inc. to buy NBTY inc., the maker of Nature’s Bounty, MET-Rx and Solgar nutritional supplements, for $3.8 billion in July.

The deal was Carlyle’s largest since its $6.3 billion acquisition of nursing-home operator Manor Care inc. in 2007. Carlyle in October agreed to buy CommScope inc., a manufacturer of fiber-optic networks, for $3.9 billion.

“We worked on NBTY and CommScope for a couple of years,” Conway said. “The hard work started a long time before the process got underway. In fact, you were behind if you started due diligence when you got the book from Goldman Sachs.”

–Editors: Larry Edelman, Otis Bilodeau

To contact the reporters on this story: Cristina Alesci in new York at

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at .

Joint Venture’s and Strategic Alliances, what they are and how they can help you, to who’s using them to succeed – and yes even how I made $88,000 in 60 days.

Joint Ventures have changed the way we do business just as the Internet has changed the way we find customers and deliver our goods, services and information. together they make an incredible and extremely powerful ally.

I’ve worked behind-the-scenes with many multi-millionaire internet entrepreneurs and info-preneurs and, quickly realized that most people do not fully understand the full potential of joint ventures or even how to set them up.

So let’s change all that!

Overall, think of Joint Ventures in the form of this picture. Joint Ventures can bring customers from around the world directly into the palm of your hand.

So, what exactly is a Joint Venture?

Forbes Magazine wrote: “Good-bye mergers and acquisitions. in a global market tied together by the Internet, corporate partnerships and alliances are proving a more productive way to keep companies growing.

JV’s may be the most powerful trend in the history of business in the America’s and fast becoming world-wide, followed by Asia Pacific region (China), then Europe (3rd) and then Japan and Africa – according to data collected by Thomson Financial.

A Joint Venture or “JV” can simply be two people (or companies) working together for a specific purpose. the purpose may vary; one time can it be to promote you, then the next time to promote your partner, or both at once. other purposes could be: to make money; to gain exposure; to enter a new territory or to market with the help of someone who has solid ground in that market; another is to add a piece of technology to your product without re-inventing the wheel, etc.

It is an arrangement where businesses come together to share knowledge, resources, target and/or geographic markets, and profits. Joint ventures can take on various forms.

Companies can come together to form a Joint Venture that becomes its own entity with ownership rights and shares. Typically this happens in BIG Business, or multi-national companies, where the term “Joint Ventures” typically refers to a merger of 2 companies into a new legal entity.

OR what is most common (and often the preliminary to anything bigger) they form more casual JV agreements where they launch a special one-time promotion or share resources to individually increase market reach and profits.

Joint Ventures are a phenomenon in the business community – big biz and small. It’s really powerful for entrepreneurs as it can introduce you to new targeted customers in a very fast and effective way – particularly if you don’t have a huge advertising budget or none at all.

In the Internet marketing world and small or medium sized offline businesses, many people use Joint Ventures as a marketing technique where they find partners that offer different (yet complementary) products or services, and who share the same or similar target markets. they create an informal arrangement together where they work together to expand their customer reach and advertise and promote with ZERO out of pocket expense.

For example they could “borrow” each other’s company’s customer list by promoting each other and pay a commission on any leads that turn into new customers for the JV Marketing Partner – this way there are no advertising expenses or up-front costs. While this is the most common way to “JV”, there are also many others and we encourage you to discover them within our club.

Business owners are discovering that by working together everyone wins, you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. That’s how JV’s work. Don’t compete – Co-operate and Partner.

Is a Joint Venture the same as Affiliate Marketing?

“Affiliate Marketing” is another term closely associated with Joint Ventures. This is a form of joint venture where one person, known as the affiliate can be the go-between for the person who has a product or service to sell, and the customer wanting to purchase it. Affiliates earn a percentage or “affiliate commission” on each sale. Affiliates can range from the average entrepreneur or individual who personally recommends a product or service to their customers that they don’t typically carry, all the way to multi national companies. an example of this is the bridal shop that recommends a particular tuxedo shop or dry cleaner. the customer is happy for the recommendation, and the bridal shop owner is happy as they may receive a commission or referral fee from the customers purchase. the dry cleaner or tuxedo shop is happy as they receive new paying customers.

In the last 10 years or even less, there have been virtual affiliates or “super affiliates” who have built their own home businesses, simply by finding great products and services and then matching them up with customers who want them. some super affiliates are so good at it and make their joint venture partner so happy by selling the product or service that they may receive 25% – 50% commission on some items. in fact, some business owners have started offering 75% or higher commissions to super affiliates on small “lead generating” products. they don’t mind large commission fees as they know that their new customers will buy other products which they can sell directly and make 100% of the profits.

Is a Joint Venture the same as a Strategic Alliance?

Strategic Alliances happen in large corporations as well. Typically a “Strategic Alliance” is an arrangement made between 2 or more companies where no legal entity or new company structure is formed. Instead they simply build a relationship with other companies, trades people and/or entrepreneurs where both agree to offer cross promotional opportunities. they recommend each others services and can often split advertising costs by sharing direct mail-outs.

Another form of Strategic Alliance is actually telling customers that they have formed an “alliance” with sister companies and therefore the customers will receive special treatment or discounts from other participating companies.

How can Joint Ventures help me?

Think of Joint Ventures or JV’s as bringing you closer to your customer (almost directly) through the channel of another business, where you each create a win/win situation. the benefit of this, besides the obvious cost savings of fewer sales people and high advertising costs, is that when both partners win, you both want to keep the partnership going and you will grow together in both profits and relationships.

Joint Ventures can be used to increase your publicity and put you in front of your target market. they can also be used to launch a new product or service directly to your target market (with zero cost fees) through other people’s list(s). You can use Joint Ventures to co-create products, books, seminars or communities with.

Let’s quickly go through some of the fun and profitable types of Joint Ventures you can do and how they can help you. in fact, there are over 20, that we will reveal to you in the new privatejvclub.com, but below are just a few that you can do:

Agree to cross promote for zero or some commission.find places to advertise on member’s websites, newsletters, email campaigns etc.Offer an affiliate program for constant referrals.find people to co-create new products with.Locate internet radio shows to be interviewed on.find other experts (members) you could interview on your teleclasses, podcasts or websites to gain publicity, content and leads.find other experts (members) you could interview on your to create a CD product to sell with their permission.Offer a lead generating product to members to use for incentive marketing (free bonus when people buy their product). Example: free 7 day e-course or e-book or report.Offer a lead generating product to members to use for generating traffic to their booth at trade shows & expos (free bonus when stop by booth). Example autographed book.Look for entrepreneurs who can endorse your product or give you a testimonial for your product or write forward in your book.Research your product, ask for critique/ feedback on products, ideas, services etc.Trade Links exchange to increase traffic to your website.

Who uses Joint Ventures in their Marketing Strategy to grow their Business?

Ok, the quick answer is probably every major business large or small that is successful in generating a lot of income is using Joint Ventures.

But let’s look at a few examples (the list is simply too long to list them all):

Just a sample of the many Big businesses: WAL- MART, Home Depot, Starbucks, Airlines, ING Direct – the Amsterdam-based global financial services group.

Many marketers and entrepreneurs use Joint Ventures to get their products out to the masses quickly by asking partners to participate in a product launch, or getting their book to a best-seller status, or even to gain leads for their own customer base by asking other speakers or experts to participate as a live or ‘virtual’ speaker. the JV Partner sends out a promotion about the event, both parties collect leads, and if any one of those leads buys a product, both parties share in the revenue.

I have participated in this type of joint venture myself. I simply asked 2 companies to let their customers know about my product and sold close to $88,000 of product in less than 60 days. of course, I offered them a thank you commission. So both parties benefited. But this promotion cost neither partner any extra expense to put on, so if no-one bought my product at all – neither myself nor my joint venture marketing partner would have lost anything.

Speakers/Authors: Drew Miles, Robin Elliott (dollarmakers.com), Cynthia Kersey, T. Harv Eker, Wendy Robbins, Mark Victor Hanson & Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul Founders), Robert Allen (Nothing down, Multiple Streams of Income)…the list goes on.John Assaraf, a best-selling author of the Street Kid’s Guide to Having it all and contributing expert on the Secret (movie), used joint venture strategies to help propel his book to the Best-Sellers list. a.J. Brown of (TradingTrainer.com) promoted someone else’s program and earned over $4500 in affiliate fees. Joel Christopher (masterlistbuilder.com) has been known to say his first JV project generated $33,000 in sales over 17 hours.

Internet Marketers/Experts: Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak, Tom Antion, Yanik Silver, Joel Christopher, Lisa Cherney, Armand Morin… and countless others.

Almost every Author: Just open up a book jacket. do you see testimonials? Endorsements? many people trade their endorsement for free advertising in the book. their endorsement, name and website URL appears on the book jacket or website. Both parties gain recognition, but also credibility through simple association. These are all benefits that cost neither party any money – no risk, no money and all reward. This is a form of Joint Venture.

Or have you seen chapters written by other contributing authors? Again, the person contributing gets more widely known and more publicity. in fact multiply that by 100 if the book they contributed to becomes a best-seller. This is a form of Joint Venture.

PERHAPS THE GREATEST NEWS:

The person doing it the least but yet could benefit the most is … YOU!

Small Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and Service Professionals…from the handyman, mortgage brokers, accountants, financial planners, investment advisors, caterers, stylists, coaches, counselors, doctors, healers, naturopaths, to lawyers – the list goes on and on.

The fact is, if you’re not using JV’s today or within the next 30 days – you are throwing away massive income and many lost sales.

If you want to fast-track finding marketing partners and learning about JV’s , the PrivateJVClub.com is a powerful Joint Venture club that helps you grow your business by creating strategic alliances around the world or in your local area. Inside you will find the tools required to take your business to new heights as well as a knowledge base ensuring that you know how to get every ounce out of each idea, contact or process.

The PrivateJVClub.com has the potential to open to you the secrets, the tools, and the contact relationshipsthat many of the most successful businesses use everyday. Visit: PrivateJVClub.com to receive a special discount today.

By Anonymous

ezinearticles.com/?The-Power-Of-Joint-Venture-Marketing-And-Strategic-Alliances&id=752886

You are probably familiar with the adages “Why fix it if it isn’t broken” or “Why try to reinvent the wheel.”  While you don’t always have to reinvent or fix something that works it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look for ways to try and make improvements.  If people would stop trying to improve things then we would still be tapping messages in Morse code instead of picking up a phone.

To continue with that analogy, if we would have settled for land lines then people would have never found the freedom that the cordless phone gave us.  the cordless phone then evolved with new technology and we got the cell phone.  If we didn’t try to make the cell phone better then we wouldn’t have our smart phones.  No smart phones means no camera phones, GPS Apps, Bejeweled or SIMs when we get bored on the go, and no texting.

The bottom line is that you don’t always have to fix something or reinvent it to solve a problem. sometimes you just need to be creative to find ways to improve and enhance a product or service. that is exactly what the following 4 companies are doing in their field:

Job Matching, a new way to search for jobs from Jobfox.com

Jobfox.com’s CEO Robert McGovern was the original founder of CareerBuilder.com.  he saw a need for companies to be able to list all of their open positions to a larger candidate pool and also provide a marketplace for job seekers to be able to have access to a database of open positions.  by creating a portal where job seekers could find normally hidden positions within a corporation, and do it all for free, he helped to reinvent the way we look for jobs.  now McGovern has a new vision on how to improve this model again.

Jobfox not only provides its users with a free traditional job search engine, but it also has improved its effectiveness.  Jobfox acts like a dating site where it helps to match you to jobs and open positions based on your skills, what your requirements are, and what you feel is important.  It also works the same way from the reverse side for companies who are hiring.

Jobfox is similar to a dating site during its sign up process.  Instead of asking question about what you look for in a man or woman, Jobfox talks about what you look for in a job or career.  the site also leverages the social aspects of social media by helping to open the lines of communication between the HR Departments and the job seekers with their product Breakthrough.

SaltRox – A Salty Dish and a Shot of Tequila

There is a demand for foods that are perfectly salted, especially when grilling or cooking meats.  the problem is that new cooks and chefs may find it hard to figure out exactly how much a “pinch” or a “dash” of salt might be.  Many meats require salt to be placed on them perfectly and evenly in order to help tenderize them and make them taste better.   the problem is that it is almost impossible for a novice chef or home cook to be able to estimate how much salt to use and when you have applied too much to a particular spot.

Because of this John Tucker, Mary Porter McKee, and Willis McKee created SaltRox. Instead of adding salt to the food, they created a way for you to either cook on the salt slab or serve your food inside a vessel made of salt.

SaltRox takes pink Himalayan salts and has them poured and cut into slabs, bowls and even shot glasses for tequila. you can then take the slabs and lay them on your grill or just lay the sliced fruit in them.  this not only perfectly seasons and salts the foods, but the food tastes amazing when it is ready to be served.

I was lucky enough to have him give me some samples of steak right after Tucker pulled them off the heated salt slab on a grill. SaltRox’s idea of cooking on salt instead of salting your food then cooking it not only takes the guess work out of tenderizing meats, but it also makes an excellent conversation pieces when you are cooking for friends.  SaltRox’s products are also perfect for fruits and vegetables as well as serving chilled tequila shots.

GrowMap.com’s Anti Spam Plugin for WordPress

Super blogger Gail Gardner from GrowMap got tired of receiving over 1,000 spam comments a day so she started to use the standard anti-spam plug in for WordPress.  although it worked extremely well, she soon discovered that when real visitors tried to leave a message, including other well-known bloggers, their comments automatically got blocked as spam.  this not only stopped them from commenting, but some wouldn’t share her posts because of not being able to comment.  Because of the lack of friendliness of the plug in, she tried to find a better solution.

Unfortunately the better solution didn’t exist, so she decided to seek help from her friend Andy Bailey from Comment Luv to develop a spam blocker of their own. her biggest issue was that she always had spam bots and link bots hitting her site.  since some of them can read captchas she had to find a new way to block the bots while enabling real people to be able to comment.  they came up with a great solution, ask the commenter to make a simple action that only a real live person would understand.

Unlike other spam blockers, the GrowMap anti-spam plug in for WordPress simply asks people who are not logged in to check a box if they are real.  If the person doesn’t read where to check then they cannot comment.  Bots for the most part cannot read this or understand it so they can no longer spam her blog.

After installing it and trying it out not only did she see great results, but when I tried them on my own blogs I also saw a huge difference in the amount of spam from both bots and non English speaking spammers.  the bots and non English speaking spammers can’t get through anymore but my readers can so it became a win win situation for me and for Gail.

“Wanna Bump?” -  the iPhone and Android Bump App

One thing I hate about social situations is when I meet someone I want to keep in contact with and I either run out of business cards or I don’t have something to write with.  Asking for a pen at a nightclub and finding something to write on, besides a bar napkin, is a pain.  Because of the need for an easier way to exchange information anywhere at anytime, someone decided to figure out a solution.  Why not let our phones share our contact information for us?

That was the thought David Lieb, Andy Huibers, and Jake Mintz started Bump Technologies with, launching Bump application. Available on iPhones and other smart phones, Bump allows you to not only upload all of the contact information you want to share like your phone number and email address. Additionally you can also upload your twitter info and other social media contact information.  All you have to do is open up the app and bump your phones together.

Your phones instantly exchange your information and save the other person’s contact information for you.  you don’t have to worry about typing in information incorrectly when it is hard to see or hear over loud music.  Bump makes the issue of getting people’s info wrong or having to find something to write with a thing of the past.

For those of you who may want to give out the wrong information on purpose, Bump does allow you to do this as well.  this way you don’t have to be rude and refuse to bump with someone who you don’t want to have contact you.

What Can you Tweak?

Look around you. If something doesn’t do what you want it to do, you don’t always have to reinvent it.  sometimes all you have to do is find out how to enhance it or make it better.

Without us trying to improve things we will stop progressing and evolving as a society. without innovation we can quickly fall behind the rest of the world as far as ingenuity and creativity go.  If you ever think something could be improved, don’t just sit back and wait for someone else to find out how to do it, go and figure out how to do it yourself and maybe you’ll be the next start up success.

Saint George, UT (PRWEB) November 26, 2007

Ideal Financial Solutions, Inc. (OTC: IFSL – News), announces the launch of their online CashFlow Management© affiliate marketing campaign with ShareASale, Inc. (shareasale.com), recognized by abestweb.com as the “best Affiliate Network 06.” in an ongoing effort to boost online advertising and harness the $ 8.2 Trillion debt industry, Ideal Financial Solutions will leverage ShareASale’s powerful affiliate network to drive measureable results.

“ShareASale has quickly become the overwhelming leader in online affiliate marketing and we could not be more excited to be working with the best.” said Chad Sunyich, IFSL EVP. “As one of the industry giants, we have been amazed with the superior level of support we have received and how easy the ShareASale system is to use. We would strongly recommend the ShareASale network to anyone.” said Sunyich. We look forward to our initial testing with ShareASale and anticipate a healthy, long-term relationship.” said Sunyich.

Ideal has begun the first of many direct marketing campaigns with ShareASale and will be offering a free Ideal Wealth Builder CD and 15-day trial Membership into the Ideal Wealth Builder Club. Continuing Members will be charged a $ 29.95 per month subscription fee following the free 15-day trial period. Companies interested in marketing Ideal Financial Solutions products can sign up as a publisher at shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=14964

About Ideal Financial Solutions, Inc.Based in St. George, Utah, Ideal Financial Solutions provides the education, support and automated tools to create additional cash resources, rapidly eliminate all non-asset building debt and build financial independence. As a leader in personal cash flow management systems, Ideal uses its automated CashFlow Management© (onlinecashflowmanagement.com) tools and its Credit to Wealth Systems (credittowealth.com), to assists individuals, families and small businesses in building financial independence. For investors who would like to receive Ideal’s newsletter, please send your email address to:

About ShareASale, Inc.Chicago-based ShareASale is a provider of e-commerce tracking and affiliate management solutions for small- to mid-sized businesses. By facilitating relationships between affiliate marketers and merchants, ShareASale helps its clients tap into new sources of revenue. With over 2,000 merchants and thousands of affiliates, ShareASale is committed to driving all-around profitability based on fair, honest and proactive practices.

“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 Statements in this press release relating to plans, strategies, economic performance and trends, projections of results of specific activities or investments, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, risk factors inherent in doing business. Forward-looking statements may be identified by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “forecasts,” “potential,” or “continue,” or similar terms or the negative of these terms. although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. the company has no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Source: Ideal Financial Solutions, Inc.Contact:         Ideal Financial Solutions, Inc. idealfsi.com 435-628-3201 ext. 710

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CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Glencoe Capital, LLC (“Glencoe Capital”), a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on control acquisitions of lower middle-market companies, today announced that William a. Geoppinger, the former president and chief executive officer of Sara Lee Foods, has been appointed to Glencoe Capital’s Investment Committee. Comprised of senior transaction professionals, Glencoe Capital’s Investment Committee includes two experienced senior executives from outside the firm who have deep management and operational experience.

Mr. Geoppinger has served Glencoe Capital in an advisory capacity for several years as a member of its Executive Network, a group of approximately 40 current and former Fortune 1000 C-level executives and entrepreneurs who have specialized operational and managerial expertise in a range of industries. The Executive Network is central to Glencoe Capital’s investment strategy, and actively assists the investment team in identifying, evaluating and executing investments. once transactions are complete, Executive Network members provide ongoing advice and counsel to portfolio companies, including serving on portfolio company boards of directors.

Glencoe Capital’s private equity funds have acquired several portfolio companies in the food products industry, including Specialty Foods Group (“SFG”), a leading producer of premium branded and private-label processed meat products marketed in the U.S. and Canada; ACE Bakery, a Toronto-based artisan bakery; and Flatout, a producer and marketer of branded flatbreads.

In his capacity as a board member of ACE Bakery, Geoppinger was a valuable resource for the company’s Bakery’s management team in driving rapid growth and significant profit improvement, which together resulted in its November 2010 sale to Weston Foods (Canada) ltd. for CAD$110 million. Geoppinger also served on the board of directors of SFG from 2005 to 2008.

Geoppinger also advised Stockwell Capital, an affiliate of Glencoe Capital, on Stockwell Capital’s co-investment in Findus Group, Europe’s second-largest frozen food provider, and Earthbound Farm, a U.S. provider of packaged organic salad products. Stockwell Capital, which currently manages over $700 million in dedicated capital, designs and manages customized co-investment programs for institutional investors. The Fund has made 53 co-investments since 2002.

“Bill Geoppinger has been an invaluable member of Glencoe Capital’s Executive Network and we are delighted that he has agreed to assume additional responsibilities helping the firm to assess future acquisitions as a member of our Investment Committee,” said David S. Evans, Glencoe Capital’s chairman.

Geoppinger had a distinguished career with Sara Lee Foods and its predecessor companies. he joined Cincinnati-based meat processor E. Kahn’s & Sons Company as manager of sales in 1962. After Sara Lee’s purchase of Kahn’s in 1966, Geoppinger was named manager of sales and marketing for Kahn’s food-service division, and in 1983, he became executive vice president. In 1987, Kahn’s merged with Hillshire Farm, where Geoppinger was named president and chief executive officer in 1989. he was appointed president and CEO of Sara Lee Foods in 1999.

Glencoe Capital, LLC

Founded in 1993, Glencoe Capital is a private equity firm focused on lead-sponsored control acquisitions and growth equity investments in lower middle-market companies. Glencoe Capital and its affiliates have total aggregate capital of approximately $1.4 billion and have completed acquisitions for its control funds representing over $1 billion of transaction value. The firm has offices in Chicago and Birmingham, Michigan. for more information, please visit glencap.com.

Before I start this post about a huge flaw with Media and Search metrics (view through conversions) that many Affiliates don’t know about, I wanted to talk about a funny and possibly slightly offensive thing (if you don’t have a sense of humor or understand sarcasm) that I was laughing about at the airport today.

I was flying back to Washington DC from Atlanta and not only was TSA going a bit overboard, but I was watching women who had just had babies struggle while TSA people were yelling at them to hurry.  although this isn’t anything new, being half asleep and in a cranky mood I thought of a sort of funny satirical cartoon that would be perfect for a newspaper.

Every paper published either someone faking an orgasm, asking for a drink while they were getting frisked or showed people saying things like “Well it is for the best and our safety” while a TSA security agent is putting on a rubber glove for a full body cavity search.   I was thinking about the ladies who had to go through this while also carrying a newborn and really felt bad for them.  I sometimes forget to pack travel sized contact lens solution or products like hairspray and so they usually tell me that I need to throw them out.  One time I watched as this new mother had to throw out bottles of breast milk that she was carrying.  Don’t ask why, but when I saw these people getting frisked and looking miserable, I thought of that lady and also of a really funny cartoon idea for a satirical strip or one box where you have a woman who is well endowed breast feeding her baby and security telling her no liquids on the plane or that she needs to empty those containers.   You could take it a step further and also show a bunch of really happy men in the background saying I’ll do it or holding dollar bills.  The headline would be something like “TSA has gone to far” or something similar to get the point across that at a certain point they need to stop and people need to speak up.  It is insane what you have to go through at some of the airports and TSA has started to go to far.  The cartoon wouldn’t be meant to be offensive, it would be meant to say that you need to have a different way to evaluate certain things.

A mom wanting to feed and bring breast milk for her baby is completely legit.  It is also kind of gross that she had to throw it out.  Why not find a better way to test the liquids for chemicals, explosives, etc… and that way her baby can eat without her having to breast feed in the airport…gentlemen, this part is not opened for comments about breast feeding in airports.  Squeeze some of the breast milk (from the containers and bottles in question) or pour some onto some sort of testing machine and run it to see if it is something hazardous and then let the mom go through if it checks out so that the baby can eat on the plane.  The baby will be happy, the mom will be happy and the passengers who are still safe will also be happy since there is no hungry baby screaming.  Something that is just as ridiculous as making a mother throw out her babies all natural and safe food because it isn’t in a travel sized container is a Media and PPC metric called View through Conversions.

View through conversions in my mind are absolute bullsh*t.  If Media and Search companies are getting paid on them, why shouldn’t Affiliates?  although they are great to have and provide Merchants with a ton of incredible information because you can see where else your customers visit, they don’t actually show that they drove an action or sale.  I have had verbal conversations where Media companies and Search companies bash Affiliates left and right.  Especially from Remarketing firms and from PPC companies.

One way media companies don’t look at it is that if Affiliates weren’t building sites, then Media companies couldn’t buy their ad space and serve ads.  If Affiliates weren’t running non affiliate ads then the content and shopping networks would start to lose millions and possibly billions of impressions.  what those two types of companies try to do that Affiliates don’t do is use a metric called View through Conversions.

View through conversions means that your banner may or may not have been seen.  It may have been or probably was on a page and even though no one had clicked on it, a cookie or some sort of tracking code was set.  this way the Media or Search company can see when the person converts on your site, even though they didn’t have to click.   When the person finally makes a purchase, whether or not a click happened, the Search or Media company will claim the sale as a view through conversion which may also mean you as an Affiliate may lose the sale.  what if Affiliates did that?

Media and Search companies would throw a fit!  Merchant’s would be paying out a heck of a lot more money and Affiliates would be much richer.  By Merchants allowing view through conversions they not only give credit when a click did not necessarily have to occur, but they are giving credit with no proof that the company helped to drive the sale.  they could be overpaying or spending in a channel that is ineffective.

So what, I buy ad space on an email platform and serve an ad.  yes its expensive but if the person didn’t click when they saw the ad but they did come and make a purchase a couple days later, why should the Merchant have to pay for that?  Why should that count as a view through conversion sale for the Media company?  what if that person came to my site and saw a banner right after.

My banner also had the company name and maybe a deal or something that the consumer remembered.  My site was the last touch point but I don’t get credit on a view through conversion.  It is absolutely not fair and should be pulled from the game.  in fact, stuffing tracking code may end up becoming a bigger issue as we watch new lawsuits come into play.   then what happens if the Media companies who rely on view through conversions cannot perform at their normal rates?  exactly, Affiliates may start to prove their value once again and help to save the day.

The reality of view through conversions is that the ad could have been below the fold and never seen at all.  The cookie could have been placed within a second during a session where someone who went to the page or site clicked by accident and left before even seeing anything.  It could have been set a ton of ways and that banner on the page may not have driven a sale.  Affiliates on the other hand don’t get paid, once who don’t force clicks, for the most part on view through conversions.  instead we have to wait for a click to happen and hope that the Merchant isn’t using or isn’t partnered with the adware companies so that our cookie is still active and we get credit for the sale.  most of us could only wish that our view through conversions would count or we would get to see these.   not only would our sales increase dramatically, but our channel would quickly rise into a much larger value stream.  The problem is that Affiliates sit by and watch as Media companies and Search companies bash us behind the scenes.

We have a bad name because many of the Networks allow adware and call it loyaltyware or couponware or PPV and give it fun names or say its ok because it is opt in.  If we would actually start to call this out and fight back against the Media companies, the networks and the OPMs who encourage this 0for allowing adware, etc… guess what, Affiliate Marketing would have a much cleaner and better name for people.

If Media companies were forced to only get commissioned or show sales based on clicks to conversion, without adware and with no other channel interferance, we would definitely see the ROI decrease and conversion rates plummet for them.  with Adwords and some Search companies throwing view through conversions into their conversion numbers, when is it Affiliate’s turn to start to get paid or given credit as well?   these are more sales that you as an Affiliate may be missing out on and the more you let Media and Search companies bash you, the more you will get pushed aside.  The more you allow this and don’t speak up about adware companies getting into industry shows or being seen as good by networks, the more you give your industry a bad name and the faster you drop to the bottom of the food chain in a Marketing Department.  If you don’t speak up than shows and networks will allow it to happen.  If you don’t let them know that you don’t want it, then how are they supposed to do anything about it?

Its time to cut the crap that Media and Search feed the Marketing Departments about Affiliates.  in its true form, Affiliates should be the king of the castle in the Marketing World.  we build our own followers.  we build our own traffic streams and we can drive sales that don’t rely on the Merchants spending their own money.  many of us don’t need to poach and never will poach their shopping carts or have to use remarketing off of their own customers to drive a sale.  By allowing them to trash you and get away with things like view through conversions, you further make the case for them on why you are not as valuable and why you should be pushed aside.  then you are stuck with media ads on your site as Affiliate slowly fades out.  Its time to make the Media and Search companies have to have a legit click, not forced click or cookie stuff to generate a legit sale.  make them use the same pixel and not blame everything on an Affiliate.  There are tons of bad Affiliates out there, but there are tons of bad SEO, PPC and Media companies as well.  It’s time Affiliates fought back and started to show the true value and non adware driven sales that we can drive.  The Affiliate channel should be one of the ones at the top of the list to devote time to.  You should start to really think about why Media and some Search companies get away with using metrics like view through conversions and why Affiliates are always the worst group out of all of the Marketing channels.  Its time to start to demand the same tracking for them and then be able to show who is the better channel.  I would like to say that not all Media and Search companies are bad, just like not all Affiliate companies are bad.  Its just time that the good Affiliates start to speak up and show the real value of our industry.

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Published: 01 Dec 2010

A new online marketplace dedicated to automating group travel has been announced. Called Groupize.com, the new offering provides the ability to shop group travel products online and to dynamically create tailor-made itineraries.

According to the company, this technology simplifies the group planning process.

Groupize.com lets traditional travel companies to instantly be in the group business with its various affiliate tools such as links, widgets, white labels, facebook connect, and various APIs.

In addition to customised groups, Groupize.com’s online marketplace showcases a variety of group travel products based on a destination.

Group organisers can shop for tours, motorcoaches, group attractions, group hotels, group air, group rail, group cruises, group restaurants, group insurance, and tour guides for sightseeing.

Charles de Gaspe Beaubien, president of Groupize.com, highlighted that the launch responds to the changes in the industry such as the increasing demand for smaller groups and the ability to create unique experiences for diversified interests.

The company also mentioned that most airlines and distribution systems have neglected automation for group bookings, despite the sizable revenues of this segment. The American Bus Association (ABA) estimates the North American Motorcoach Group Travel expenditures at $54 billion and PhoCusWright estimates the group and small meetings market at $175 billion. Even though this is a large segment of the travel industry, OTAs and travel websites currently don’t offer group products, it added.

The company says this online marketplace allows destinations and group travel suppliers to reach group decision makers more effectively using the Groupize.com distribution channels and tools.

OLDWICK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A+ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “aa-” of Old Republic Insurance (Chicago, IL), Bituminous Insurance Companies (Bituminous) (Rock Island, IL) and their respective property/casualty members. in addition, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A+ (Superior) and ICR of “aa-” of Great West Casualty Company (Great West) (South Sioux City, NE). the outlook for all the above ratings is negative.

“A.M. Best’s Liquidity Model for U.S. Life Insurers”

Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A (Excellent) and ICRs of “a+” of Old Republic General Insurance Corporation (ORGENCO) (Chicago, IL), Old Republic Title Insurance Group (ORTIG) (Minneapolis, MN) and its members, Old Republic Surety Company (ORSC) (Brookfield, WI) and Old Republic Insurance Company of Canada (Hamilton, Ontario). the outlook for the FSRs is stable, while the outlook for the ICRs is negative.

A.M. Best also has upgraded the FSR to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and the ICRs to “a” from “a-” of The PMA Insurance Group (PMA) and its property/casualty members. Additionally, A.M. Best has upgraded the ICR to “bbb” from “bbb-” and debt ratings of PMA Companies, inc. (Blue Bell, PA). both the group and company’s ratings have been removed from under review with positive implications and assigned a stable outlook.

A.M. Best also has downgraded the FSR to B++ (Good) from A- (Excellent) and the ICR to “bbb” from “a-” of Old Republic Security Assurance Company (ORSAC) (Phoenix, AZ). the outlook for both ratings has been revised to stable from negative.

At the same time, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A (Excellent) and ICR of “a” of Old Republic Union Insurance Company (Old Republic Union) and the FSR of A- (Excellent) and ICR of “a-” of Old Republic Life Insurance Company (both domiciled in Chicago, IL). The outlook for these ratings is stable. All companies above are subsidiaries of Old Republic International Corporation (Old Republic Corp.) (headquartered in Chicago, IL) [NYSE:ORI]. (See link below for a detailed listing of the companies and ratings.)

these ratings reflect A.M. Best’s review of the amount of deterioration in the consolidated financial condition and financial flexibility of old Republic Corp. since 2007. While old Republic Corp.’s consolidated operating losses for the first nine months of 2010 appear to have moderated to some degree in comparison with losses reported in 2008 and 2009, the increased losses in the mortgage guaranty segment in the third quarter of 2010 and continued deterioration in the profitability of the general insurance property/casualty segment are of concern. old Republic Corp.’s mortgage guaranty, title and general insurance segments all have exposure to the current weak employment and housing and related mortgage markets, the general insurance segment largely as a result of its consumer credit indemnity (CCI) business. in addition, the underwriting and overall profitability of the general insurance segment is being pressured by the increasingly competitive property/casualty market in general over the past several years.

Improving credit markets and segments of the U.S. economy, recoveries in equity and fixed income markets and old Republic Corp.’s still modest level of financial leverage (proforma debt-to-total capital of approximately 10% at September 30, 2010, including PMA Companies, inc.’s debt) have contributed to A.M. Best’s somewhat sanguine view of old Republic Corp.’s financial condition and financial flexibility, while also supporting A.M. Best’s affirmation of most of old Republic Corp.’s subsidiaries ratings. nevertheless, old Republic Corp.’s exposure to the volatility and uncertainties of the current weak employment and housing and related mortgage markets remains substantial. should the company’s consolidated operating losses trend higher from current levels or exceed expectations, A.M. Best would need to reassess its current view of old Republic Corp., and selected subsidiary rating downgrades would appear probable.

the affirmation of the ratings of old Republic Insurance, Bituminous and Great West recognizes their strong individual capitalizations, historically solid profitability, well-recognized franchises, expertise in their respective individual business specialties, as well as their conservative and experienced management teams. ORGENCO’s ratings acknowledge its strong operating performance in recent years, while recognizing its strategic role among old Republic Corp.’s property/casualty insurers. ORGENCO’s principal role is to reinsure the business of affiliates, act as the direct writer of a material book of construction business for an affiliated Bermuda subsidiary, and to a lesser degree, act as a primary insurer to accommodate marketing and licensing limitations of affiliates. A.M. Best’s expectations are that the management of old Republic Corp. will look to sources other than these insurance operations for additional capital and liquidity, when needed. the negative outlook on the ratings primarily reflects the uncertainty associated with the continued consolidated operating losses of old Republic Corp., and in the case of old Republic Insurance and ORGENCO, also their highly unprofitable books of CCI business.

the affirmation of ORTIG’s ratings reflects the group’s conservative reserving practices and solid risk-adjusted capitalization, which supports its current ratings. the group has seen a modest rebound in operating performance in 2010. nevertheless, ORTIG faces challenges in sustaining near-term profitability by controlling expenses and managing earnings and revenue volatility resulting from continued weakness in the housing market, as the demand for title insurance products is largely derived from residential real estate transactions. However, the group, which has a nationally diversified title premium base, has rapidly increased its book of business in 2009 and 2010, nearly doubling its national market share from approximately 6% to 11%. the future direction of the group’s ratings and/or outlook will depend on the successful management of this recent growth, thereby sustaining improving operating trends, while maintaining adequate risk-adjusted capitalization.

the upgrade in the ratings of PMA and its immediate parent, PMA Companies, inc. (formerly known as PMA Capital Corporation) acknowledges old Republic Corp.’s acquisition of PMA Companies, inc. on October 1, 2010. PMA should benefit from being part of a financially stronger and higher profile organization that should enhance growth opportunities and result in operating efficiencies. PMA is being operated as a separate old Republic subsidiary within old Republic General Insurance Group, retaining existing senior management and its home offices in Blue Bell, which should help mitigate risks of integration. PMA will be focused on production, underwriting and claims management, while investments, capital management and other non-operating areas will be managed by old Republic, including PMA Companies, inc. no longer having the responsibilities of a public company. PMA is receiving explicit financial support from its affiliates, Old Republic Insurance Company (ORINSCO) and ORGENCO as a result of its 30% and 10% quota share agreements with these companies, respectively, effective October 1, 2010. PMA will significantly increase old Republic General Insurance Group’s mix of workers’ compensation to approximately one-third, while providing greater diversification in the eastern United States.

the downgrading of the ratings of ORSAC recognizes the continued significant decline in underwriting and substantial operating losses of its CCI business. this business, which accounts for all of ORSAC’s net writings, is assumed from its affiliate, ORINSCO, which writes the business directly. ORINSCO has not written any new CCI business since 2008 and does not plan to do so until the product is re-underwritten and there is demand for the product in the marketplace.

for a complete listing of old Republic International Corporation subsidiaries’ FSRs, ICRs and debt ratings, please visit please visit ambest.com/press/120101oldrepublic.pdf.

the principal methodology used in determining these ratings is Best’s Credit Rating Methodology — Global Life and Non-Life Insurance Edition, which provides a comprehensive explanation of A.M. Best’s rating process and highlights the different rating criteria employed. Additional key criteria utilized include: “Risk Management and the Rating Process for Insurance Companies”; “Understanding BCAR for Property/Casualty Insurers”; “Understanding BCAR for Canadian Property/Casualty Insurers”; “BCAR for Title Insurance Companies”; “BCAR for Life and Health Insurers”; “The Treatment of Terrorism Risk in the Rating Evaluation”; “Rating Members of Insurance Groups”; “A.M. Best’s Ratings & the Treatment of Debt”; “Equity Credit for Hybrid Securities”; “A.M. Best’s Title Insurance Rating Methodology”; “A.M. Best’s Liquidity Model for U.S. Life Insurers”; and “Assessing County Risk.” Methodologies can be found at ambest.com/ratings/methodology.

Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. for more information, visit ambest.com.

Copyright © 2010 by A.M. Best Company, inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.