Variety and Canva Announce Interview Studio During Advertising Week

For the first time, Variety will host an Interview Studio during Advertising Week featuring three days of programmed interviews with marketing leaders in the industry presented by Canva.

The studio will take place from October 17-19 featuring conversations with marketing veterans participating alongside new marketing leaders. It will also feature an array of thought-leaders in branding, storytelling, audience engagement, innovation & more.

Pairings include:
Jennifer Storms, CMO, NBCUniversal and David Giardino, Senior Director, Marketing Strategy, NBCUniversal Entertainment

Melissa Brenner, EVP, Digital Media, NBA and Courtney DiGia, NBA Senior Director, Deal Strategy and Forecasting, Content Partnerships, NBA

Christine Cook, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Bloomberg Media and Mirabella El Baze

Villanueva, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships & Initiatives, Bloomberg Media

Susan Jurevics, Chief Brand and International Officer, Audible and Nick Elliot, Associate Director, Content Marketing, Audible

Jimmy Knowles, Global Head of Experiential, Canva and Mo Said, Founder and CEO, Mojo Supermarket

Frank J. Cortese, Global Head of Brand Media, Canva; John Cambell, SVP Client Partnerships, Walt Disney Company; and Shreya Kushari, Chief Client Officer, OMD USA

Additionally, within the studio, Variety is curating interviews discussing the importance of collaboration and mentorship, featuring Jay Shetty, Best-Selling Author and Podcaster with Conal Byrne, CEO, iHeartMedia Digital Group; and Molly Sims, Podcaster, Host and Model with Journalist Katie Couric.

Variety & Canva are also partnering on October 17 with an invitation-only Happy Hour at The Ned for leaders attending the conference. The Happy Hour will kick-off Canva and Variety’s partnership and offers an opportunity to network with the studio pairings and major industry executives. Attendees will be treated to signature cocktails and juices from Canva’s Creative Juices collaboration with Joe & The Juice.

Additional panelists participating in the studio include:

  • Shavonne Dargan, SVP, Strategy & Marketing & Founder, CURATED by Live Nation and Soukee Van
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What Are Corporate Credit Cards And How Do They Work?

Key takeaways

  • Corporate credit cards are cards where the business entity, rather than the business owner, is legally responsible for any charges made with the card.
  • Corporate cards are typically available to large companies with an established credit history and millions of dollars in revenue.
  • Small-business cards, on the other hand, can be beneficial for those with smaller companies or the self-employed. You’ll typically need a personal guarantee to be approved for a small-business card, meaning the cardholder is liable for any charges made with the card.
  • To qualify for a corporate card, contact a corporate card issuer directly and be prepared for a lengthier application process.

It’s the ideal scenario for a small-business owner: Your company is experiencing year-over-year growth, your business is profitable and your revenue increases every quarter. This is the kind of growth most small-business owners dream of.

When you start to see your company shift from a small startup to an established corporation, it’s time to think about transitioning your financial tools. This might mean switching from a business credit card to a corporate credit card — but before you begin the lengthy corporate credit card application process, it’s worth asking yourself whether a corporate card is really the right choice for your business.

Let’s take a closer look at how corporate cards work, how to manage a company card and how to decide whether your small business is ready to make the transition from a business credit card to a corporate credit card.

What is a corporate credit card?

A corporate credit card is a type of card issued to a corporation. This means that the business entity, not the business owner, is legally responsible for all charges made on the card. Because of this, corporate credit cards are generally only issued to large

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The Pitch: Advertising and marketing news for 10.17.23

Elevation BaconBait Package

Elevation’s Bacon Bait lure for Farmland Foods’ tour sponsorship for Luke Bryan (below).

Elevation BaconBait PostElevation collaborated with River City Swimbaits to create a limited-edition bacon bait lure for Farmland Foods’ sponsorship of country singer Luke Bryan’s 2023 Farm Tour. Called Bacon Bait, the handcrafted lure was presented to Bryan at the end of the tour and offered to fans through an Instagram giveaway that concluded last week and garnered more than 45,000 engagements in a week.

Novus Creative is providing branding and marketing for The Nuzzi, a breastfeeding aid launched this year by VCU Health nurses Kristie Bonovitch, Lisa Hileman and Sharon Brinkley and pediatrician Gauri Gulati. Novus owner Alison Fallecker also joined the group as a co-owner.

Tegan Petersen

Tegan Petersen

Hue+Cry completed work for Yahoo! Mail promoting its free trial alerts. The clip features an animated “sticky note monster.” The animation studio moved from 23 S. 13th St. to a space at 16 S. 17th St. It also hired Tegan Petersen as operations and marketing manager.

Campfire & Co. completed a branding and website update for Ruff Canine Club.

Whittington Consulting won two Web Excellence Awards for its website redesigns for Credo, a higher education consulting firm, and for economic development group Greater Richmond Partnership. The websites were chosen from over 1,500 entries.



Arts & Letters released a new campaign for client Zola, a wedding planning platform. The campaign, “Celebrate Along The Way,” depicts the wedding planning journey for today’s couples. It launched this month and includes online videos, social posts, out-of-home ads and an anthem film that’s set to air on Hulu.

Arts & Letters was hired as agency of record for Hubspot and launched a new campaign for the software company. The national campaign features a 60-second spot and includes an NFL Sunday

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Alarm bells are ringing: What markets are trying to warn us about the economy

Financial markets are not the economy and the economy is not financial markets. But it’s often said that they’re both afraid of the same things. In this case, the concern is that the economy is careening toward a recession.

“The alarm bells are telling us that something is going to break somewhere in the financial system,” said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay, a foreign exchange service in Toronto.

Stock markets have sold off over the past three months. Since the beginning of July, the TSX wiped out all of the gains it made in the first half of the year.

U.S. stock indexes, such as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, have remained in positive territory, but not by much.

Those markets reflect a doomy prognosis that isn’t necessarily backed up by the economic data.


GDP and jobs numbers have shown a surprising resilience. The most recent figures indicate that the economy was flat in July, while a preliminary estimate shows it expanded again in August. 

Canadian employers added 64,000 jobs in September.

That’s a far cry from the forecast of a recession through the third quarter of this year.

But Schamotta says that surprising resilience doesn’t negate the fact that Canadian households and businesses are in the midst of the most aggressive cycle of interest rate hikes this country has ever seen.

“We know historically when borrowing costs have risen this much that that stresses some part of the financial system — and as Warren Buffett likes to put it, when the tide goes out, suddenly we see who’s swimming naked,” he told CBC News.

Why the bond market matters

Stock markets are a notoriously volatile, fickle way of guessing where the economy is headed. The bond market is much bigger and far less

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Small businesses and the Corporate Transparency Act

On January 1, 2024 a new reporting requirement goes into effect that will require millions of small businesses to file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Report with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Congress imposed this requirement in a statute called the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), with FinCEN issuing the regulation providing the details on who must file a report, when it has to be filed, and what information has to be reported.  Every small business owner needs to know about this new reporting requirement as non-compliance can result in severe penalties. This article addresses some of the main questions small business owners have been asking about BOI reporting.

What is the purpose of the Corporate Transparency Act?

The CTA is mainly an anti-money laundering law.  In it, Congress states that bad actors seek to conceal their ownership of corporations, LLCs, or similar entities in the United States to facilitate money laundering, financing of terrorism, tax fraud, and other illegal acts. And according to Congress, federal legislation providing for the collection of beneficial ownership information is needed to protect national interests and better enable efforts to counter those illegal acts.

Who has to file a BOI report?

Every corporation, LLC, or other entity created by the filing of a document with a Secretary of State or similar office under the law of a state or Indian tribe is required to file a BOI report unless it qualifies for an exemption. Those entities created in the United States and not exempt, and therefore required to file a BOI report, are called “domestic reporting companies”.  (Certain entities created in foreign countries and registered to do business in the United States are also required to file a BOI report and are called “foreign reporting companies.”)

Who is exempt from

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21 Best Twitter Accounts to Follow for Entrepreneurs (2023)


21 Best Twitter Accounts to Follow for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship is not easy. Which is why you need some inspiration from time to time when you’re forging your own path. Twitter is an excellent resource for inspiration, as you can find entrepreneurs from all over the world, sharing their thoughts, ideas, videos, articles, podcasts, and even some of their favorite tools, books, and strategies.

From Gary Vaynerchuk to Sophia Amoruso, here are 21 Twitter accounts every entrepreneur should follow for inspiration and insights.

21 Best Twitter Accounts for Entrepreneurs

1. Naval Ravikant (TW: @naval)

Naval Ravikant on Twitter

Naval Ravikant is a Silicon Valley angel investor, serial entrepreneur, and podcaster. He’s founded several companies, including AngelList and Epinions, and invested in over 200 successful companies, including Twitter, Uber, OpenDNS, and Clubhouse.

Naval doesn’t just tweet about business and wealth, but also shares his philosophy on life and happiness. His famous “How to Get Rich (without getting lucky)” tweetstorm is pinned to his Twitter profile and has amassed over 160,000 likes to date. He’s one of the few business people on Twitter who has over a million followers on the platform without following anyone while sporting an empty Twitter bio.

A large portion of his best tweets have been compiled and elaborated on in Eric Jorgenson’s brilliant book The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. If you follow Naval Ravikant on Twitter and are interested to learn more about his philosophy on life, wealth, and happiness, grab a copy today or you could read it for free at navalmanack.com.

Recommended reading: 50 Best Naval Ravikant Quotes to Inspire You

2. Gary Vaynerchuk (TW: @garyvee)

GaryVee on Twitter

When it comes to the sheer magnitude of content on social media, nobody does it better than serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary Vee’s Twitter timeline

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Business Card Best Practices for Entrepreneurs

 Two women exchange business cards.

When designing your business card, consider the specific action you want people to take next and then feature that action prominently on your card. — Getty Images/Jon Feingersh Photography Inc

Some people find business cards old-fashioned, but they can still be an effective marketing tool. Business cards are relatively inexpensive and are easy to pass out at networking events or your local coffee shop. Here are eight business card best practices for entrepreneurs.

[Read more: How to Network to Grow Your Small Business]

Keep it simple

You want to look for ways to be creative when designing a business card, but if you aren’t careful, it can end up looking cluttered. It’s important to choose a simple design that allows for plenty of blank space.

It’s also a good idea to choose a simple font design that’s easy to read, like a sans serif font. And make sure the text size is large enough so that people can easily read it.

Use a photo

Depending on your business, you may want to include a headshot on your business card. For example, if you run a service-based business where you work one-on-one with clients, including a photo makes sense.

Real estate agents, photographers, or freelancers may want to include their headshots. However, consider how soon you plan to update your headshot before including it on your business card.

Consider your target audience

How you design your business card depends largely on your target audience and what they want to see. For example, you probably want to pick a more neutral color palette if you’re an attorney. But if you’re an event planner or marketing professional, you may want to use colors that are more bright in the design of your card.


If you’re looking for ways to save money, using

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Today’s news: Trending business stories for October 13, 2023

The latest business news as it happens

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Market close: TSX posts small loss,

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9 Best Recent and Upcoming IPOs in 2023 | Investing

The U.S. IPO space is in acceleration mode going into the last quarter of 2023, as a rush of new initial public offerings stirs up the market.

Eighty-four new IPOs have already been priced in 2023. That’s a 31.3% gain compared with 2022, according to Renaissance Capital. And those IPOs account for $16.7 billion raised to date, a 156.9% gain from 2022.

Formal IPO filings are up in 2023, as well, with 139 IPOs filed through Oct. 10, Renaissance notes. That’s up 21.9% from 2022.

Those numbers still reflect a dramatically lower rate than in 2021, however, when 416 companies issued traditional IPOs valued at $155.8 billion on U.S. exchanges, Ernst & Young reports.

Despite the massive gap, market experts believe the worst days for the IPO market are in the rearview mirror. That case continues to be made as inflation recedes, equities rebound, commodity prices stabilize and interest rate increases look as if they may be hitting a peak.

Geopolitical upheaval in the Middle East aside, “recent improvements in market sentiment and the uptick in follow-on activity could be a harbinger of brighter days in the IPO market later this year or next year,” says Mark Schwartz, EY Americas IPO and SPAC advisory leader.

Even share-price performance is showing signs of life for IPOs. In September, the entire U.S. IPO market fared better than the S&P 500, concluding the month down 2.8% versus a 4.9% tumble for the benchmark stock market index.

In the meantime, there are a few burgeoning IPO stories bubbling to the surface in the autumn of 2023, with these four up-and-comers and five recent IPOs at the top of investors’ minds:

Upcoming/Recent IPO IPO Valuation*
Birkenstock Holding Ltd. (ticker: BIRK) $9.2 billion to $10 billion
Chime Financial Inc. $25 billion
Stripe Inc.  $50
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$8M Alberta advertising campaign against federal net-zero rules rolls out in 4 provinces

The Alberta government’s $8-million campaign to “educate Canadians and Albertans” on the impacts of new emissions regulations proposed by the federal government has begun rolling out across the country.

The campaign, involving a wide range of television, web, social, billboard and other forms of advertising, will run just a little more than a month, until Nov. 2, when the federal government’s public input period on net-zero rules is set to conclude.

It’s running in Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, chosen because they are the regions “most impacted by the regulations,” a spokesperson with the province said.

“The campaign is intended to educate Canadians and Albertans on the impacts of these unaffordable regulations, and encourage the federal government to make changes needed to keep Canada’s electricity affordable and reliable,” wrote Ryan Fournier, a spokesperson for Rebecca Schulz, Alberta’s minister of environment and protected areas, in a statement.

Last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government was preparing a Sovereignty Act motion in an effort to push back against Ottawa’s planned emissions reductions. The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), the organization responsible for operating the province’s power grid, had said the clean electricity regulations could lead to blackouts. 

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has said his government shares the goals of AESO to achieve decarbonization while maintaining affordability and reliability.

Text is shown on a black screen that reads, "No one wants to pay more for power than they have to."
A still from an Alberta campaign focused on pushing back against federal net-zero rules. (Government of Alberta)

It’s a fight that is likely to play out over months and even years, and the advertising campaign signifies how much of this debate isn’t being fought over technical arguments, said Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.

“It’s a political fight between the government of Alberta and the feds. I think that regardless of what numbers

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