The digital advertising landscape is evolving as marketers compete for consumers' attention. Omnivirt is a 360-degree VR advertising platform for brands and publishers looking to gain an edge. The company's CEO and COO, Brad Phaisan and Michael Rucker, joined us to chat about virtual reality's full potential for advertisers.
We are in the early stages of VR technology, and some doubt whether it'll ever live up to high expectations. Phaisan compares the skepticism towards VR today to the way people viewed smartphones in the 1990s. The former Google software engineer is confident VR could end up being just as big.
The advertising space is extremely cluttered, and marketers are looking for ways to jump off the page, says Rucker. Omnivirt's 360 VR ads are offering advertisers and publishers the chance to do just that. When asked about Snap's place in virtual reality advertising, Rucker adds that he sees the social media platform as complementary to the solutions offered by Omnivirt.
Even as Mercedes-Benz unveils its latest models to the public at the L.A. Auto Show on Friday, designers at the company will be thinking much further ahead ー to the future of the auto industry.
At this year's Los Angeles Auto Show, one of the first booths visitors will see when they enter belongs to Tesla, which is set up right near the entrance to the South Hall of the L.A. Convention Center. But as Cheddar took in the show during Wednesday's media preview, Tesla's presence was felt far beyond its booth.
Mashahiro Moro, president and CEO of Mazda North American Ops, spoke with Cheddar at the L.A. Auto Show about the redesigned Mazda 3 sedan, and the company's continued commitment to small, fuel-efficient passenger cars.
Derrick Hatami, the executive vice president of sales and marketing at Volkswagen, told Cheddar's Tamara Warren at the L.A. Auto Show about the retiring of the iconic VW Beetle, and the automaker's new focus on electric cars and a concept van that calls back to another VW icon -- the bus.
The future of the sedan is parked on shaky ground in the U.S.
But according to the president of the Lincoln Motor Company, the car model is still major in China. “But we’re in a little bit of different situation because in China — sedans are still 50 percent of the market.” Joy Falotico told Cheddar Wednesday morning at the Los Angeles Auto show.
Logitech may eye a Turtle Beach acquisition as it turns away from a Plantronics deal. "Logitech has a great history as far as making very smart M&A transactions," said Tom Forte, a senior research analyst at D.A. Davidson. "I do see a potential longer term for Turtle Beach to be acquired. Logitech is one potential suitor ー Microsoft's ($MSFT) another," he added.
Columbus, Ohio, may not have won the bid for Amazon's HQ2, but the city isn't ready to retire its proposal quite yet. Mayor Andrew Ginther said the city's leaders plan to use their application as a road map to transform Columbus from a Midwestern destination into a national one.
Greg Hewitt, CEO of DHL Express in the U.S., told Cheddar that Cyber Monday ー its biggest shipping day of the year in terms of "outbound" packages ー saw a 40 percent lift in packages moved year-over-year, as more overseas consumers took advantage of deals on U.S.-based websites like Amazon.
The cannabis industry's go-to packaging supplier KushCo Holdings is taking full advantage of the green rush. And when marijuana finally goes fully legal in the U.S., the company plans to re-emerge as the leader in ancillary products.
Amazon made company history and recorded its biggest shopping day yet on Cyber Monday following an already-lucrative five-day holiday weekend that totaled over 180 million in products sold.
