• “IT’S A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ADVERTISING WORLD AND GAME WITH MILLENIALS.” Four in ten say they “would rather communicate with pictures than with words, by texting or tweeting an emoji.” Latest research shows that millennials spend over 40% of their media time on mobile devices, averaging 91 hours a month in smartphone apps and 30 hours a month in social online apps. “They tend to have short attention spans and bounce rapidly among smartphones, tablets and desktop computers… skipping commercials and blocking ads on web browsers & phones… Combined with watching less traditional television and a reputation for not reading print newspapers or magazines,” marketing & advertising strategies are in complete flux, with brands struggling to “re-engineer how they can reach millennials by adding value to their life.”  [NEW YORK TIMES – Sep 28, 15]
  • FOR SMALL BUSINESS FINANCING, UP TO $5 MILLION OF SBA-guaranteed loans “can be more forgiving of creditworthiness …even without collateral to fully support the loan amount… as long as the borrower is well positioned for growth, with a strong management team and a simple, well-defined strategic plan.” SBA funds are available to companies with up to $5M in average net income  and $15M in tangible net worth, for working capital, expansion, debt refinancing, equipment, real estate (with as little as 10% down with 25-year amortization), and at favorably-capped loan spreads. DCG is in a unique position to assist clients with SBA-required ‘strategic plans,’ adding ‘management team’ credibility, and guidance to responsive lenders. [CFO MAGAZINE – Sep 15]
  • KENTUCKY CLERK REALITY SHOW UPDATE: Last week, amidst the glamour and priorities for Pope Francis’ American road show, he found time to personally meet with the clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and later pronounced that “government officials had a ‘human right’ to refuse to discharge a duty if they felt it violated their conscience.” Meanwhile, the ACLU filed court papers arguing that she, indeed as a publicly paid official, “has a responsibility to issue licenses regardless of her views… and to stop making alterations to the licenses.”   [REUTERS – Sep 30, 15]
  • “ECONOMIC INTERACTIONS PLAY A UBIQUITOUS ROLE IN THE WORLD ECONOMY. Individuals and organizations interact to find the right party with which to exchange; manage and integrate associated activities; and monitor performance…through meetings, conferences, phone conversations, sales calls, problem solving, reports and/or memos, always with underlying economic purpose to enable the exchange of goods, services or ideas…  Two centuries ago, dramatic shifts in the economics of production & transportation precipitated the Industrial Revolution. An upheaval of equal proportions is about to be triggered by unprecedented changes in the economics of interaction…resulting from convergence of technologies set to increase our capacity to interact… Integration, scale and scope will pervasively change when workers can carry out their jobs in half the time.”   [McKINSEY CLASSICS / QUARTERLY Sep 15]
  • LOS ANGELES DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT CONTINUES TO BOOM. The newest revitalized section is the ‘Arts District’ – where old factories and tired, often long-empty, buildings are being converted into modern living spaces (fashionably called ‘lofts’). Responding to the influx, higher-end restaurants & shops are sprouting and “co-working spaces that are so popular among young entrepreneurs are now found amid worn but exuberant ­­­­discount shops that traditionally catered to the Latin American downtown working class.” A new 116,000 sq. ft. overhaul of derelict complex is underway, with new galleries & museums opening monthly including the 3-story Broad Museum next to Disney Concert Hall.  Downtown is truly reinventing itself.  [THE ECONOMIST – Sep 9, 15]

        “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

        “Never argue with an idiot, because bystanders don’t know who the idiot is.”  -Mark Twain