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What if I told you the single most important tool for growing your business is free? It doesnt require fancy business cards, a corner office, or the latest app that tracks every data point in real time. Its networking. Networking fuels growth, builds relationships, and keeps your business thriving. We live in a world moving at the speed of AI, where everything is changing all at once. As we streamline every aspect of life to be faster and more efficient, it only makes sense to modernize how we network. Before you overhaul your networking style, its important to remember the fundamentals, then build on them with new skills. Networking is everywhere, all the time Every person you meet knows someone or something you dont. Get to know people on a human level, and if you admire what they do, find ways to support them. Be open to casual conversations in unexpected places, especially when you travel. Ive booked speeches, made friends, and discovered opportunities simply by chatting with a seatmate on a plane. I try to wait until after I take off to put my earbuds in, just in case my seatmate wants to have a quick chat before the plane takes off. Create your own opportunities If invitations arent rolling in (yet), integrate yourself into spaces that genuinely interest you. Love museums? Join a volunteer docent group or a young patrons group. Love chess? Find a club. Run? Running groups are natural community builders, with a side of health built in. Shared passions create connections that naturally expand your network. The best networking happens when work and life intertwine. Seek real human connection In a digital-first world, people crave authenticity. Host a networking breakfast with a friend, and both of you bring three new people. Expanding your network often starts within the circles of people you already know. If you like your friend, theres a good chance youll like their friends, too. It also makes holiday parties more fun when you walk in and know half the room. Do your homework If youve asked for a meeting, be sure to show up prepared. Ask thoughtful questions that interest you, not questions you have Googled or asked ChatGPT. Always come armed with a few interesting talking points or stories that make you memorable. If you can find a few commonalities between the person you are meeting and yourself, be sure to bring those up: I “grew up in the same state,” “noticed that you have the same number of kids in your family,” or “love the same sport/sports team” are always good ways to connect and make an impression. Use technology to stay top of mind Keep your network updated on what youre doing and where youre headed. I send a monthly newsletter about my work, speaking engagements, auctions, ShopMy finds, favorite hotels, and travel tips using Mailchimp. When I meet new people, I immediately add them to my newsletter list so they are aware of everything I am working on. Dont underestimate the power of giving people the script to sell you when youre not in the room. Give back Networking isnt just about what you can getits also about what you can give. As you advance in your career, mentor those coming up behind you. Youll gain insights across generations, and often, someone you once helped will reappear later in your professional journey. A strong network grows both up and down. In the words of my dad: “Network or die.” Maybe not literally, but your business might if you dont. And dont forget to have fun.
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E-Commerce
To create Apple TVs new branding, a team from the global agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab (MAL) gathered in a studio with a blacked-out stage, a giant glass version of the Apple TV logo, and a bevy of colorful studio lights. Using just practical effects, they created a new animated logo for the brand that will roll out at the beginning of Apple TVs shows and films, on its app, and in marketing campaigns over the coming months. Apple TV+ becomes Apple TV Apple TVs updated branding, which includes a fresh static logo and two animated mnemonics, comes less than a month after the company announced that it would be changing its name from Apple TV+ to just Apple TV. [Images: Apple] The name change might seem subtle, but for Apple, it signals the companys belief that consumers know and trust its streaming service. In an October interview with Fast Company, Richard Swain, partner at the global brand agency Further, said dropping the Plus was, at its core, a show of confidence from Apple. Now, the company is backing that up with new Apple TV branding that pays homage to Apples design historyboth by referencing one of the companys most iconic logos and by relying purely on practical effects, echoing Apples legacy of meticulous craft in its product design. The previous iteration of the mnemonic for Apple TV+ [Image: Apple] For Apple TVs new era, MALwhich is a bespoke agency that partners only with Applehad a daunting task. It had to reimagine the brand from the ground up, creating a visual identity that was both unmistakably Apple and distinctly Apple TV. The refreshed Apple TV version [Image: Apple] To achieve that goal, MAL needed to balance Apples history of simple, elegant design with the color, motion, and texture that one would expect from a film-centric brand. Prior to this overhaul, Apple TV+s logo and mnemonics were black and white. MALs first objective was to add color to the mix. Apple’s 1977 logo [Image: Apple] As inspiration, the agency turned to Apples 1977 logoone of its most memorable icons, which showed the companys signature apple rendered in six slices of rainbow color. Those hues appear as a subtle gradient in Apple TVs static logo, and feature prominently in both the five-second- and 12-second-long iterations of its new animated mnemonics. [Image: Apple] Bringing practical effects to Apple TV’s most ubiquitous brand asset From the beginning, the team at MAL knew they wanted to shoot the Apple TV animatics using only practical effects. The goal was to embrace the craft of filmmaking by capturing the organic behavior of light that digital simulations cant entirely perfect. [Image: TBWA\Media Arts Lab]
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E-Commerce
Neither government shutdown nor IT outage can stop the merger of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. On Oct. 15, Seattle-based Alaska achieved one of the first major tech milestones of the combination. All new bookings made after that day for travel on either airline took place on Alaskas reservations system, or passenger service system (PSS) in airline parlance. And all existing bookings at Hawaiian after April 22, 2026 were moved over to the platform. This is what Charu Jain, senior vice president of merchandising and innovation at Alaska who is overseeing the guest-facing technology integration of Hawaiian, calls the selling cutover. The idea is that the reservations in Hawaiians PSS will drain out of the system until none are left by the night of April 21, 2026. Alaska will then turn off the Hawaiian system and the combined airline will run entirely on one platform. Simple, right? Not at all. PSS is the heart of the airline, says Jain. Everything guest-facing is connected to the PSS systems. That customer centrality is why getting the PSS cutover right is so important for Alaska, especially as it aspires to become a global competitor to the big U.S. carriers American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. Alaskas $1.9-billion takeover of Hawaiian is premised on the idea that a larger, more expansive airline is a stronger competitor. In its case to regulators, Alaska executives promised more growth and competition as a single larger airline than as two smaller carriers. Federal regulators agreed and signed off on the deal in September 2024 after Alaska committed to certain consumer protections. They include guaranteed free-family seating, not blocking new competitors at the Honolulu airport, and continuing to serve rural small communities in both the state of Alaska and Hawaii. These commitments have not slowed Alaskas integration of Hawaiian. In addition to the selling cutover, the carriers secured a single operating certificate that allows them to fly as one, rather than two, airlines at the end of October. And, in August, they launched a new, combined loyalty program, Atmos. Still, the full PSS cutover in April remains one of the most challenging technical feats of any airline merger. If any portion of the PSS cutover does not go well, it could screw up reservations for hundreds to many thousands of people, says Henry Harteveldt, aviation analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group. The presence of risk is omnipresent to cutovers. Every byte of data, from travelers personal details to whether or not they paid for or are entitled to a checked bag, must move from one platform to another. For Alaska and Hawaiian, that means moving the latter from a platform powered by travel tech company Amadeus to one run by competitor Sabre. One only has to look back to March 2012 when United Airlines cutover to Continental Airliness PSS system for an example of what can go wrong. Travelers faced issues checking in for flights that resulted in long queues, lengthy call center holds and some flight delays that hit its reputation for years after. We want this to be something [travelers are] not anxious about, says Jain. We want it to be a non-event. The stakes for Alaska are even higher today than they were a month ago after two tech-related disruptions. On Oct. 23, an IT outage forced the airline to cancel more than 400 flights and then, on Oct. 29, a global outage of the Microsoft Azure system affected both the Alaska and Hawaiian websites. The airline has engaged Accenture to conduct a full top-to-bottom audit of technology to avoid future IT-related disruptions. Jain says Alaska is already implementing recommendations from the audit that is expected to wrap in a few weeks time. Savanthi Syth, an airline analyst at Raymond James who has observed several airline mergers including Alaskas combination with Virgin America in 2016, says the October issues should not affect the PSS cutover. They are using a well-established practice of drawing down bookings on the Hawaiian system, she says. This means there will be very few if any bookings left on the Hawaiian system when the cutover happens, minimizing disruptions. There is a very good reason to believe Alaska can pull this off without a hitch: It has done it before, successfully using the drain-down approach to the PSS cutover with Virgin America. Amy Burr, the CEO of Sky VC who led the integration of Virgin America into Alaska at the former before leaving the airline in 2018, says draining down reservations in the smaller airlines PSS dramatically derisks the cutover. The Virgin America combination provided Alaska with the muscle memory to execute future mergers like with Hawaiian, she adds, noting that she is not involved in the current process. Ben Minicucci, CEO of Alaska, told investors last December that one reason they were confident in their ability to carry off a smooth merger was because the majority of people who executed the Virgin American integration are [still] here. Alaska is still not taking any chances. The airline plans a number of table-top trials of the cutover before April to make sure it has worked out all of the details, says Jain. At least one mock flight is planned for testers to do everything from check-in to boarding and finding their seat using the combined platform to ensure everything goes smoothly. And, Alaska will reduce its schedule on April 21 and 22 a Tuesday and Wednesday to reduce possible strain on the system. Alaska will also set up a command center in Honolulu Hawaiians largest base to oversee the cutover. The process, so far, appears to be going smoothly with no notable hiccups during the selling cutover or move to a single certificate. For us, the biggest honor, the biggest compliment we can get is silence, says Rodrigo Ramos, the regional general manager of North America at Sabre.
Category:
E-Commerce
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