What happens in Vegas can change your career. We’re attending Stage Time LIVE next Friday and Saturday, March 20^th and 21^st—and you should join us!

With a slate of World Champion speakers like Darren LaCroix and Ed Tate, Stage Time LIVE is packed with presentations that will provide the steps to create lasting impressions, deliver memorable messages, and get paid.

Stage Time LIVE will be held at the Seven Hills Conference Center in Henderson, Nevada, and registration is still open. If you haven’t secured your seat there’s still time! If you’re unable to join us for the event, you can also register for virtual attendance and enhance your career from the comfort of your home. Register for either option right here.    

With the eye-opening and insightful speeches delivered at Stage Time LIVE each and every year, it truly is one of the highlights on our calendar. We hope to see you there!  

You’ve likely heard this familiar refrain from your friends and family: “I swear Apple is slowing down my old iPhone!” That conspiratorial tech lament is a common one, but the result of a recent lawsuit may lend it some credence. The New York Times is reporting that Apple has agreed to a proposed settlement of up to $500 million—one that will net some iPhone owners $25 apiece—from a lawsuit that alleged the company did indeed slow down older model iPhones.

The lawsuit was filed in 2018 after a group of customers became frustrated with their iPhones and the seemingly slower processing power with older models. After a two-year court battle, Apple acquiesced to simply make the issue go away and avoid lengthier (and costlier) litigation. They also admitted no wrongdoing.

There’s a chance you’ve experienced a similar issue with earlier model iPhones after newer editions have been rolled out. The software lags, your mail seems to take longer than usual to populate your inbox—frustrating, to be sure. But is it possible that there’s some subconscious bias driving your interpretation of your phone’s performance, or it’s just … out-of-date? Also possible. And that mix of uncertainly probably contributed to Apple’s motivation for agreeing to settle.

The cost-benefit of continually dragging the case through the courts just doesn’t make sense.

Smartphones run the world, and when they begin to operate in a less-than-optimal way, it can cause intense frustration—frustration enough to file a lawsuit about it. We don’t really know if Apple was intentionally slowing down its older iPhones, but we do know that the issue was enough of a PR headache for them to agree to issue the cash to make it disappear.  

PR/PR is escaping the non-existent winter here in Orlando, Florida and heading out west! This Thursday Russell will be packing up our on-the-go office to attend the 2020 NSA Winter Conference in Houston, Texas—three days that promise to be packed with career enrichment, marquee speakers, and networking.  

This year’s theme is “Building Your Speaker Sales Playbook,” and attendees can expect some actionable takeaways to enhance their sales and grow their business as a speaker. It’s being held February 28^th – March 1^st at the Omni Houston. While online registration has closed, you can still join us by registering in-person.

We will be unveiling new pricing and service structures at the NSA Winter Conference, offering an annual PR service package at a reduced rate, geared toward generating buzz and name-recognition at a lower monthly investment. Stop by the PR/PR booth and have a chat with Russell about your publicity needs and goals, and the ways you would like to be positioned in the marketplace. Your articles in front of decision makers in trade and industry publications are an imperative when building your sales playbook.

So swing by the booth and say hello! We look forward to seeing you in Houston!    

Redbox, the ubiquitous red kiosks that hastened the fall of Blockbuster, is determined not to suffer the same fate by maintaining their brand status quo. With streaming services now a go-to platform for entertainment, Redbox is shifting its strategy and entering into the streaming market.

Touting new partnerships with USA Today and TMZ, Redbox is prepared to launch Free Live TV, and formally dipping its toe into the ever-crowded world of streaming services. There’s no definitive date listed—just a nebulous “soon” on the company’s website, but it’s clear that Redbox is committed to continuing to compete in a changing landscape.

Blockbuster famously underestimated the power of on-demand rental services like Redbox, and as they realized the trouble brewing it was already too late. There’s now one remaining Blockbuster on the planet—located in Bend, Oregon, should you like to take a nostalgia trip.

With society moving toward more digital platforms such as Netflix and Hulu, it was clear that Redbox’s model based on physical movie and game rentals was falling out of favor. Their coming move into the world of streaming signals that they will not be caught snoozing as the market shifts around them.

As yet, there’s very little clarity on what content Redbox will have on Free Live TV, or any exclusive programming that it has secured. But it does show keen awareness to the realities of entertainment and the changes in its consumption, and Redbox is making the kinds of moves it needs to remain viable this year and beyond.    

Viewership has been trending downward for the Oscars, and on Sunday night it hit a new low. The 92^nd Academy Awards had its lowest ratings ever, bringing in on 23.6 million viewers.

That’s down 6 million sets of eyes from last year.

So why are the Oscars struggling so mightily of late? Is it the stodgy nature of the program, one that directors have actively tried to punch up in recent years to attract a younger audience? Or is it the lack of diversity in nominees, or the influx of people who are using streaming services instead of traditionally tracked Nielsen devices?

Whatever the root cause, it’s clear that the Oscars have fallen out of favor. The Academy Awards lack the over-the-top, alcohol-influenced comedic chaos of the Golden Globes, and never do match the musical entertainment factor of the Grammys. It’s a very buttoned-up, black tie affair that doesn’t naturally lend itself to audience entertainment—especially since for many, the main reason for tuning in is simply to see who won.

That information is now readily available on social media the moment it breaks.

So what are the Oscars to do? Run-time and entertainment value are definite factors, and in order to stop the bleeding of viewership, the directors must draw in a younger audience. The Academy Awards are a hallmark of American pop culture, so it’s admittedly difficult to see them struggling. It’s not dire yet, but it’s apparent that changes need to be made to reel in new viewers, and reengage traditional viewers who look forward to the Oscars every year.