If I didn’t see it, I wouldn’t have believed it. Actor Jamie Foxx promised my client HANDL phone cases, that he would show up at their CES relaunch party. He is a good friend of one of the HANDL owners.
Not only did Jamie show up, but he sang and danced till the wee hours of the morning. He made up lyrics about the virtues of the HANDL cases and carefully demonstrated how he loves to hold them.
Major bonus, Mark Cuban, Raymond John and Wesley Snipes showed up too. Celebrities always visit celebrities when they come to town.
HWH PR brought out the camera crews to interview Jamie. Extra TV, CBS Interactive and CNET, scored major chats. Needless to say, I was so happy everything worked out.
The event took place at the very exclusive “Mansion” at the MGM Grand. Very few people have been inside this swanky club. This is Lady Gaga’s home in Vegas. The place looks like a Castle in the desert.
I don’t know how many more parties I want to host like this because it was like putting together seven weddings. Now that it’s all over, I’m glad I did it. While we were planning it, I freaked. Dealing with the press and celebrities, is not an easy task. Someone has to do it. It’s me.
Extra TV producer, Sharon Levin and I, have been working together for years. This is the first time we met. That was an extra treat for me.
The Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, CA, figured out a way to keep its residents vibrant and productive. It’s a simple concept that should be used by every independent living, assisted living and nursing home in America.
Keep the clients working at whatever profession they like best. In the case of The Motion Picture Home, residents have their own TV channel where they produce original content.
Watch the video to hear what residents say about their ability to continue to be creative in a safe environment. It would be wonderful for senior, seniors to be able to use their brains for activities that make them want to get up every day and be a part of society.
I’m not saying this is for everyone, but those who want to participate should be able to have a quasi work hobby that interests them. I’m sure there is some creative start-up team that can develop a program that will organize special projects for 80 to 100-plus year olds.
I can see the headline now, “95 Year Old Great Grandmother Designs Inaugural Gown For The New First Lady.” What a hoot that would be. Keeping seniors relevant could even help fight off certain ailments that no one wants to focus on. It’s certainly worth a try.
I’m not sure if someone was trying to tell me something as I enter my 52nd year at CES. I happened to watch an episode of the Twilight Zone the other night about an aging, former movie star who lives and dreams in the past, constantly watching her old movies alone in her room. Barbara Jean Trenton refuses to move on with her life, even though her associates try to lure her out of her self-imposed isolation.
Even though I wouldn’t exactly say I live in the past, I do get very nostalgic about the several hundred people who I knew so well, but no longer attend CES. Either they died, retired, or lost their jobs. It doesn’t matter why they are not at the convention, I just long for the days when I would see all of the people I spent decades with in this industry. There was a time that I couldn’t walk down the aisles at CES without getting stopped a dozen times by people who I knew, and just wanted to say hello.
Now out of 170,000 people who attend the show, I may know 400. I met most of them in recent years. I really shouldn’t complain because I am still very active with all kinds of new assignments. However, just like Barbara Jean Trenton, I want to be one of the most popular in the room.
Thank goodness for Nancy Pelosi. At 78, she has managed to make herself a major force once again. While many of my friends wanted her to give up her position so the Democrats could secure a younger and a fresher image, Pelosi is now the one we are counting on to make the United States sane again. If she manages to pull it off, I feel everyone will have a renewed interest in seniors. We still have a lot to offer the world. I just don’t want to rust.
This is my 52nd year attending CES. There used to be two shows a year, so I attended many more, but I don’t have the exact number. Below is my CES badge when I hit 50. It’s a keeper.
I am loaded with assignments this year so I am kind of anxious to plow through and see the results of all of our pre-show efforts to help clients achieve their goals. They have their expectations, so good luck to me.
My agency, HWH PR, is responsible for delivering the press to a party at MGM Grand’s Private swanky area called The Mansion. The client is HANDL New York, a line of “reimagined” phone cases, because the company has new business partners. Actor Jamie Foxx is the host of the party. Here’s a special message from him.
We are also introducing lots of new innovations, but more about that later this week. The next time you hear from me, I will be in the middle of gadgets.
Everyone who owns a smartphone probably has the Weather Channel app installed on the first few pages of their screen. I personally refer to it several times a day because I’m always interested in the weather in New York, Los Angeles, Paris and London. I have family and friends in those locations, so I’m curious if they are experiencing hot or cold weather.
The weather is so unpredictable. Guess what? So is the weather channel app. We just found out that the app, owned by IBM, has been secretly tracking our every step and then selling the information to third party sources for profit.
The app has been downloaded 100 million times. That means others now have information on all of us that we don’t necessarily want anyone to know about.
Most of us have been tricked into turning on the locator option that tracks our every move. People who you never met know how many times you have gone to the hair salon, bank, psychiatrist, gym and other places you wanted to keep confidential.
Find out what some users are doing to combat this. Look at the video.You may want to join forces with them.
I know that many of you must be wondering what the Bird Box challenge is all about, and why it is constantly being talked about on the Internet. It took me a while to understand what was going on, but when I did, I wanted to explain it to you.
Bird Box is a movie on Netflix about a woman, (Sandra Bullock), and her small children, who are forced to make it through a forest and river blindfolded in order to avoid supernatural sightings which cause people who see them to die by suicide.
Netflix warns everyone that the Bird Box challenge is a dangerous trend. It went viral because it was started by a number of popular YouTube creators like Morgan Adams.
Watch the above video.
The Bird Box challenge is to wear a blindfold at all times, inside and out, for 24 hours. Learn what it’s like to be blind. Individual challenges have different times. Netflix has issued a statement on Twitter asking viewers not to hurt themselves. “We don’t know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but we just have one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.”
Netflix doesn’t have any ownership of the challenge. It’s just one of those things.
Why are seniors grouchy about Amazon? In the last few days, I have heard a few people my age making negative comments about Amazon’s recent announcement to aggressively expand Whole Foods around the United States.
The food chain has 475 US stores in approximately over 60 cities today. They also want a Whole Foods in Idaho, southern Utah and Wyoming.
The basic idea is to make sure more Americans enroll in Prime Now so they can get the two-hour delivery time bring offered by Whole Foods.
Friends of mine who are loyal to Whole Foods feel their favorite food chain is being abused. Is it a specialty food store, not just another Amazon fulfillment center.
Personally, I don’t see the problem with Amazon double dipping. However, some seniors I spoke to, feel strongly that Amazon should not alter the Whole Foods concept. They don’t want to see any kind of storage and delivery concept mixed up with the place they go to for quality food. They fear the concept for lots of quality choices will be diluted.
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