Posted by Elena del Valle on December 20, 2013
Wealthy by Design
Photo: Kimberly Foss
Kimberly Foss, CFP, CPWA, rose from a home with “financially challenged parents” to become the president and founder of Empyrion Wealth Management, which according to promotional materials, was named one of the nation’s top wealth managers by Bloomberg’s Wealth Manager Magazine. In Wealthy by Design (Greenleaf Book Group Press ebook), published June 2013, she shares some of her life story and wealth management ideas. She assumes readers will rely on a financial planner who will work with them based on their goals, risk taking preferences, equity and age.
She explains that there are two primary types of financial advising services, consultative and transactional. The former focus on client goals and needs and charge based on the number of assets they manage for a given client while the latter recommend products for which they earn commissions. In Appendix A, she provides readers questions to ask a prospective adviser. In Appendix B, she offers six allocation strategies for portfolios. In the ebook edition, it was challenging to read the graphics as displayed on the tablet reader.
In her book, she outlines the importance of understanding personal financial drivers before making long term investment decisions. She strives to demonstrate to readers how following five foundational principles of investing can lead to wealth management based on individual goals and circumstances. The principals are: Goal Setting, Planning, Commitment, Assessment, and Flexibility. The book is divided into an Introduction, a chapter each for the principles, and a Conclusion as well as two appendices. She relies on case studies and anecdotes to illustrate her points. For example, she describes a risk averse client for whom she organized, thanks to her banking relationships, a 15-year CD.
Kimberly Foss, author, Wealthy by Design
She touts the importance of focusing on the best interests of clients, the relationship between asset allocation strategy and the success of a portfolio, and portfolio diversification. An investor’s approach to building wealth, she says in the Conclusion, should be considered with care, planned, reviewed and never random.
Foss has 26 years of financial services experience. She is a member of the Investment Management Consultants Association.
Click to buy Wealthy by Design
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Filed Under: Books
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 2, 2013
Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications seeks candidates for the position of Chair of its highly-regarded Public Relations Department. The ideal candidate is a visionary leader with both the professional experience and academic credentials to develop strategies to keep the program strong and innovative. The successful applicant will Syracuse University Chair – Public Relations
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 2, 2013
The Indio billboard by Arturo – click to enlarge
Photos: Heineken USA
Heineken owned beer brand Indio marketers created a billboard campaign to reach target consumers, bicultural Hispanic millennials 21 years of age and older “who consider themselves to be original individuals and place an importance on expressing themselves through everything they do, whether it’s art or music.” They invited artists in several states to submit art around an Indio bottle theme to compete. At the conclusion, a few winners had their artwork displayed on billboards as part of the campaign.
The Indio bottle
The Indio billboard by Saul
Company representatives promoted the Indio Gallery campaign across digital media, with heavy emphasis on Facebook. The brand’s Facebook page (Facebook.com/IndioBeer) was the primary gate for consumers to submit their Indio themed artwork. Each entry from among the hundreds of submissions was judged on creativity, originality, composition and inclusion of Indio brand imagery such as the Indio logo or colors.
The Indio billboard by Benjy
The Indio billboard by Ignacio
Nine artists were invited to participate in the campaign. Inspire, Indio’s Dallas advertisement agency, developed 47 billboard ads with the artwork. MediaVest’s MV42, the brand’s media agency, placed them.
Each artist is credited for his work on the billboards, which feature their name and hometown, as well as the brand’s tagline, beer bottle and Facebook address.
The billboards were on display for four weeks in the Chicago, California, and Texas markets in October 2013. Grand Prize winner Arturo Rios received a $5,000 cash prize.
Gustavo Guerra, brand director, Tecate, Indio and Bohemia brands
“Public relations efforts generated coverage across media consumed by our target, while our panel of judges promoted the contest amongst their networks via social media and flyers,” said Gustavo Guerra, brand director, Tecate, Indio and Bohemia brands, by email, in response to questions about promotion and coverage. “We looked at the number of entries we received, as well as engagement on our Facebook page and paid media.”
Indio billboard by Nasim
Indio billboard by Ricardo
The judges, who were compensated for their time, were Gil Cerezo (the lead singer of Mexican band Kinky), Diana Garcia (a Mexican illustrator and actress), Federico Archuleta (an Austin street artist), Juan Angel Chavez (a Chicago artist), the president of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, and the Indio brand team. The Indio Gallery contest was open to residents of California, Texas and Illinois, the states in which the company launched Indio in 2012. Indio is also distributed in Phoenix and Las Vegas. The resulting billboards were placed across key cities in those markets in October 2013.
Indio is imported from Mexico. A company representative declined to disclose the number of bottles sold in the United States per year or the percent of the Hispanic market segment among fans of the beer brand. Launched in 1893 under its flagship brand, Cuauhtémoc beer, the label featured an Aztec emperor. Consumers nicknamed it the “beer of the Indian.” This led to the current name, which is Spanish for Indian, in 1905.
