Puducherry Lt. Gov. Kiran Bedi Kick-Starts Virtual Talent Hunt for Seniors - Platform 2020 by Columbia Pacific Communities

The past few months of national lockdown and the ensuing physical distancing measures due to the COVID-19 crisis have adversely affected community engagement and social activities. Senior citizens, who are the most vulnerable section of society battling the pandemic, have been worst-hit as self-quarantining has become the norm.

Keeping this in mind, Columbia Pacific Communities, India’s largest independent senior living operator, has initiated ‘PLATFORM 2020’, a month-long virtual talent hunt initiative for its residents across nine communities located in five cities. The inter-community talent hunt was digitally inaugurated by Puducherry Lieutenant Governor, H.E. Dr. Kiran Bedi, at 11 AM on July 18.

Bringing together residents from across communities in Bengaluru, Puducherry, Chennai, Coimbatore and Kanchipuram, PLATFORM 2020 invites participation under various categories such as music – vocal and instrumental, dance, photography, painting and crafts with the central theme of ‘Hope amidst COVID-19’. The competition goes on for a month with the winners from each category being announced on August 21, World Senior Citizens Day.

PLATFORM 2020 aims to instil hope and build resilience among seniors during these uncertain and difficult times by keeping them active, stimulated and engaged.

Dr. Kiran Bedi, who graced the occasion as the Chief Guest said, "I'm very happy and honoured to be a part of Platform 2020, by Columbia Pacific Communities, where senior citizens, my peers are encouraged to reenergize themselves through activities like painting, dancing, and singing. It is scientifically proven that art, culture and creativity heals oneself. In these difficult times when all of us are constantly trying to fight back and keep us safe and protected, this comes as a wonderful initiative where the community is fighting all odds and helping each other survive the pandemic positively. I am proud to be part of such community and humanity.”

Commenting on the initiative, Mohit Nirula, CEO, Columbia Pacific Communities, said, “Our residents have been an inspiration to us over the last many months. With their support and enthusiastic participation, we have shunned “social distancing”, embraced “physical distancing”, and while remaining mentally, intellectually and socially engaged. And for those, who believe this generation is technologically challenged, I invite you to come online and support this unique celebration of positive ageing by the residents of Columbia Pacific Communities”

The competition will be streamed live and is open for viewing for anybody who wishes to celebrate the concept of positive ageing. Viewers can join through this link https://call.lifesizecloud.com/4665942.

In the recent past, Columbia Pacific Communities launched #TheLivingRoom, a virtual talk show initiative that urges seniors to make the most of the lockdown period, and helps them stay inspired and motivated through meaningful conversations. The series has given seniors access to interact with stalwarts, experts, professionals and popular personalities such as Anuvab Pal, medical, Charu Sharma, Nandita Das, Prakash Belawadi, Prahlad Kakkar, Kabir Bedi and Vasundhara Das.

About Columbia Pacific Communities

Columbia Pacific Communities (CPC) is India’s largest and most experienced senior living community operator with close to 1600 residential units under management in 5 cities and 9 locations across south India. As the pioneers in this category it is committed to reimagining the concept of senior living in India and create world-class practices that exceed these expectations of all our stakeholders. It is part of the Columbia Pacific group, one of the foremost developers of senior living communities in the United States, Canada and South East Asia. Founded by Dan Baty, Columbia Pacific has more than 40 years of experience and expertise in designing, building and managing senior housing communities around the world. The team, with the expertise of their principals in the United States of America and our partners in India, brings together rich experience in senior housing design, development and management.

Inspiring Film Shot in Inspiring Circumstances for Mamaearth Post Lockdown in June 2020

On the 12th and 13th of June, Mamaearth completed its first marketing campaign shoot post the COVID-19 lockdown. One of the very few proper campaign shoots that have managed to take place since the lockdown, this shoot is a great example of how we are slowly coming back to normalcy, albeit with precautions. 

With the end of the lockdown, a new phase in the COVID-19 pandemic is upon us. The virus still lurks but restaurants and malls are reopening with safety precautions in place, people are venturing out of their homes with masks and hand sanitizers. This new phase has brought a sense of optimism in people and businesses alike. While businesses are opening up in different ways and in differing speeds, brands like Mamaearth are showing us the way forward in what will be the new normal for the marketing and advertising industry. 

With the launch of their new “Goodness Inside” campaign, Mamaearth has set an example of how brands can navigate this difficult environment and still produce purposeful content for their consumers. As soon as the lockdown ended, they went ahead with the shooting of the “Goodness Inside” film. Conceptualised by Korra Worldwide and shot by Flying Boots Production by Nitesh Gulaniya, the shoot was completed over a period of 2 days with a 40-member crew and multiple actors including a dog and a baby! The film has become an exemplary instance of how a full-fledged production can take place while complying with the Government regulations completely. 

Since its inception in 2016, Mamaearth has stood by the promise of honesty and goodness in everything they do. Through this campaign, they want to extend the thought of “goodness is a choice” and “goodness inside” to its millennial consumers. It is a digital and social media led campaign with the key message that goodness isn’t a superpower or a special gift. It is simply a choice that you make every day, just like the choices Mamaearth has made. Mamaearth products are made from the best of nature, and have no toxins, no harmful chemicals, no animal testing, no plastic impact.

The main video of 1-minute shows multiple situations where people can make good choices in their daily lives to make the world a little better. And with each little choice, we head towards a much better future. This video will be followed up by multiple smaller edits focusing on one situation and one category of products from the brand.

While there were certain challenges in terms of limited number of crew members and the requirement of a much bigger shoot space, that did not deter Mamaearth and the production house from shooting this inspirational film. All necessary precautions were taken to ensure the safety of those involved in the shooting. This included checking the travel history of everyone who entered the set and the use of PPE kits, gloves and masks. All the equipment was sanitized before it was brought to the set. The production house had employed 3 spot boys only for the job of sanitizing everything on the set after every 15-20 minutes! The crew members were requested to bring food from home and use their own cars or cabs that belonged to the production house and were sanitized every day. There was a doctor and an ambulance available on the location for any emergency medical assistance.

The launch of this film has proved that the current crisis is not a limitation but a new opportunity to work more efficiently. To pull out a film in a situation like this is as inspiring as the film itself! 

Link of the film shot- 

Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YROZybuYGUE

Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/p/CCcma_nB2fD/?igshid=1e1mvpn6zxaoo

Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/Mamaearthindia/videos/305801094159086/

Madame Unveils Tee & Mask Co-Ord Collection for the Fashionable

Madame, a fashion brand has come up with its latest Tee & Mask Co-ord Collection. With the face masks becoming inadvertently Fashion’s hottest summer accessory, we decided to lift the fashion era with the designs you can carry, to look even more beautiful.

Introducing coordinated concepts of fashion masks with the slogan tees, making it a fashion statement. From monotones to stylish look this new range of fashion masks and tees are available in impactful prints and designs to match your daily looks. We have initiated motivational slogan prints to spread the positivity around this pandemic, a new normal is being defined.

COVID has shaken up the society to its core, Our selection of bold colors shows how steadily we have to act in hardest of the situation, the quotes depict the humanity’s ability to adapt a change and shows how creativity can put a positive twist in fighting a war. Our range of stylish masks and the graphic tee is here to make the quarantine queen you really are. 

About Madame:

Madame features a wide range of clothes and accessories for women. The brand provides fast fashion in-trend merchandise, casual wear, party wear. In line with its global image, Madame is known for its vast variety, latest styles, and fast turnaround of new collections up to seven times in a year.

Since its inception, the brand has rapidly expanded across the country and has 150+ exclusive brand outlets across the country. Madame also retails in over 600 multi-brand outlets and has four stores in Saudi Arabia. The brand is retailed through online marketplaces including Myntra, Jabong, and Amazon, and additionally, the brand has set up its own online store called Glamly.

When Madame started small, the business did great in knitwear and customers knew the brand for its winter collection. The brand wanted to evolve with the changing needs of our customers and hence decided to grab attention by starting a summer collection.

Despite the small beginning, Madame had one thing going for it customer loyalty. With its strength in manufacturing, Madame was able to win over customers, who became loyal to the brand. Women preferred Madame to other brands and continued buying from it for several years.

Siemens and SAP Join Forces to Accelerate Industrial Transformation

End-to-End Software  

* Together, industry leaders Siemens and SAP will deliver integrated end-to-end software solutions across product lifecycle, supply chain and asset management.

* Partnership leverages expertise and technology of both companies to provide a true digital thread that helps enterprises eliminate process and information siloes, drives digitalization and delivers a comprehensive solution for the 4th industrial revolution (Industry 4.0).

* SAP will offer Siemens’ Teamcenter software as the core foundation for product lifecycle collaboration and product data management. Siemens will offer SAP® Intelligent Asset Management solutions and SAP Portfolio and Project Management applications to maximize business value for customers over the entire product and service lifecycle and enable new collaborative processes between manufacturers and operators.

Siemens and SAP SE has announced a new partnership that will leverage their industry expertise and bring together their complementary software solutions for product lifecycle, supply chain and asset management so their customers can deliver new innovation and collaborative business models that will accelerate industry transformation globally. Through this agreement, both SAP and Siemens will be able to complement and integrate their respective offerings in order to offer customers the first truly integrated and enhanced solutions for product lifecycle management (PLM), supply chain, service and asset management. This will enable customers to form a true digital thread integrating all virtual models and simulations of a product or asset with real-time business information, feedback and performance data over the entire lifecycle.

"Digital transformation will be critical for the manufacturing industries to increase productivity, flexibility and accelerate innovation, so companies must come together in new ways to enable the digital enterprise,” said Klaus Helmrich, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Siemens Digital Industries. “This exciting collaboration between two industry leaders is about more than just interoperability and interfaces; it is about creating a truly integrated digital thread that unites product and asset lifecycle management with the business that enables customers to optimize production of products.”

Silos between engineering and business have existed in enterprises for decades. This new partnership will help customers to break down these siloes so manufacturers, product design teams and service managers have the information needed to quickly create and manage customer-centric product and service offerings.

“As manufacturers design and deliver smarter products and assets, access to real-time business information across networks is critical to bring new and improved innovations to market faster,” said Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and responsible for SAP Product Engineering. “Bringing together expertise from SAP and Siemens to offer Industry 4.0-enabled business processes allows enterprises to create a digital thread for the entire product and asset lifecycle. With this end-to-end solution, teams across the business network can efficiently work together to design and deliver innovative products productively, profitably and sustainably.”

Going forward, both SAP and Siemens will be able to offer new solutions that combine their technologies in order to help companies shorten time to market by leveraging Industry 4.0-enabled data using intelligent assets and products. This will also give organizations the benefit of incorporating customer insights into product development through a comprehensive solution, from product design to service and asset management. As a first step in the partnership, SAP will offer Siemens’ Teamcenter®  software as the core foundation for product lifecycle collaboration and data management and Siemens will offer SAP® Intelligent Asset Management and SAP Portfolio and Project Management software to maximize the business value for manufacturers and operators across networks. Both companies will collaborate to develop applications from an end-to-end lifecycle perspective to help customers achieve a seamless digital thread that improves overall business performance.

“Combining Siemens’ Teamcenter and SAP S/4HANA® software provides companies an end-to-end process capability from product design to decommission,” said Bob Parker, Senior VP of Industry Research at IDC. “The IT benefits of pre-integration of PLM, ERP, asset management and supply chain applications and the business benefits from having a more resilient response to changing market demand make this a compelling consideration for companies seeking a competitive advantage in the digital economy.”

Survey Finds Low Levels of Awareness About Typhoid Prevalence and Ways to Prevent It

Summary 

* Nationwide survey of 1,337 respondents across eight cities shows low awareness on typhoid prevalence and ways to prevent it including vaccination

* More than one sixth (17%) of respondents in Bangalore who did not vaccinate their children considered typhoid to be ‘not at all serious’ or ‘mild/easily manageable’

* With 2.2 million cases of typhoid recorded in India in 2016, the country has one of the highest incidence rates in the world, with the disease affecting mainly children

* Typhoid symptoms are often non-distinguishable from other illnesses but early preventative treatment measures including education play a key role in protecting children

Abbott, one of India’s leading healthcare companies, partnered with Babygogo (part of the Sheroes Network), to conduct a nationwide survey across eight cities* to assess awareness around typhoid fever. With 2.2 million cases of typhoid being recorded in India alone in 2016,[1] typhoid fever poses a serious disease burden in the country. In fact, in Karnataka alone, there were 137,973 cases in 2017, contributing 6.21% to India’s total burden.[2]

Typhoid fever, which is a bacterial infection, tends to affect children most, with peak incidence occurring in children aged 5-15 years.[3] Currently available evidence shows that vaccination against typhoid is effective and tolerable.[4] The survey results highlighted that only 66% of respondents reported being aware of a typhoid vaccination.

Key Survey Findings

* There are higher levels of awareness for mandatory vaccines, i.e., vaccines given in National Immunization Program of the country (NIP) such as rotavirus (82%) compared to vaccines not given in NIP such as influenza (67%) and typhoid (66%).

* The survey revealed that more than one sixth of respondents in Bangalore who did not vaccinate their children (17%) considered typhoid to be ‘not at all serious’ or ‘mild/easily manageable’, unaware of the fact that the bacterial infection can lead to serious complications  if left untreated or treated with inappropriate medicines.

* Other findings suggest that key reasons for not vaccinating include absence of vaccine recommendation by the pediatrician (48%) and non-inclusion in the list of NIP vaccines (36%).

Misleading Symptoms and Delay in Treatment

Commenting on these findings, Dr. R. Kishore Kumar, Senior Neonatologist & Founder Chairman of Cloudnine group of hospitals said, “The Indian subcontinent has the highest incidence of typhoid worldwide.[5] The illness is characterized by prolonged fever, headache, nausea, loss of appetite, and constipation or sometimes diarrhoea[6]. Since these symptoms are often clinically non-distinguishable from other illnesses causing fever, typhoid is frequently not treated appropriately at the early stages when such treatment is most effective – which makes prevention all the more important. In a yet unpublished study carried out at Cloudnine, we found many children affected now a days are much younger – as young as 7 months in contrast to the olden days when children were school going age group. The findings of this survey carried out by Abbott indicate that physician recommendation can play a key role in ensuring higher immunization rates to protect children from this disease, as can efforts to educate patients. I encourage parents to seek guidance from their doctors about this vaccination.”

Myths on Causes for the Disease

Survey findings also show that myths about the disease are highly prevalent. As a bacterial bloodstream infection, typhoid fever spreads through contaminated water and food, often due to lack of hygiene and access to drinkable water. Yet 57% of survey respondents nationwide inaccurately attributed the cause of typhoid to a change of weather or season. Significantly, less than half of mothers from Bangalore identified close contact (37%), touching contaminated surfaces (20%) or eating food cooked by a typhoid patient (25%) as risky behaviours that could spread typhoid.

Prevention Helps Lessen Infections and Drug Resistance

Studies have shown that vaccinations can help lower the incidence of infection, but 13% of the respondents in Bangalore stated that they prefer to take the risk of getting a serious medical condition than to receive a vaccination for it.

Dr. Kishore Kumar added, “Prevention through vaccination will help reduce typhoid burden and mortality. IAP has recommended now the vaccine can be given to children as young as 6 months along with the influenza vaccine. Given the rising emergence of drug-resistant strains of typhoid, administration of typhoid vaccination to populations at high risk of infection is a public health priority. [7]  The survey findings indicate the vast majority of mothers have low levels of awareness about typhoid and the specific precautions that need to be taken to protect themselves and their families. Educating mothers about the benefits of getting their child vaccinated is the need of the hour.”

Dr. Srirupa Das, Medical Director, Abbott India, explains, “The findings shed light on awareness levels, motivation and behaviors around typhoid vaccination in India. They suggest that increased awareness on typhoid and ways to prevent it, such as improved hygiene levels and vaccination, can contribute to lessening India’s health burden due to typhoid infections. As part of our mission of helping people live healthier lives, we support educational initiatives on typhoid fever in India, especially amongst new mothers and parents in general.”

About the survey

Abbott India, in partnership with Babygogo (part of the Sheroes Network), conducted a survey across eight cities* namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune to understand the perceptions and barriers surrounding typhoid vaccination. A total of 1,337 respondents were surveyed online on awareness levels, motivation and behaviours surrounding vaccination against typhoid in India. 37% of caregivers surveyed had children aged 0 to 6 months, 39% had children aged 6 months to a year and 24% of people had children 1-2 years old.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 107,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries. In India, Abbott was established in 1910, and is one of the country's oldest and most admired healthcare companies. With over 12,000 employees in the country, Abbott in India is helping to meet the healthcare needs of consumers, patients and doctors throughout urban and rural India.

Snapchat Launches In-App Meditation Experience with Headspace

Summary

* First announced at Snap Partner Summit last month, Snap Minis are a new way for developers to bring bite-sized experiences to Snapchat.

* Snap Minis are miniature experiences that make a big impact. Each Mini can change the way friends interact with each other.

Snapchat announces the launch of their latest feature Snap Minis and the partnership with an in-App meditation experience with Headspace! The newest feature launched today provides Snapchatters with expert resources related to emotional and physical well-being, while offering daily meditations and tools to help Snapchatters check-in with their friends and stay healthy. By putting resources where friends already meet and share, Snap x Headspace Mini will provide a safe space for friends to practice meditation and mindfulness exercises, and use these new tools to send encouraging messages to check in and positively boost friends in need.

During times of stress, connecting with friends and having moments of relaxation and mindfulness, have never been more important -- and by putting resources front and center where friends already meet and share, Snapchat hopes that the Snap Mini X Headspace feature will provide a safe space for friends to practice meditation and mindfulness exercises, and use these new tools to send encouraging messages to positively boost friends in need.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/q9-mV31TiZi-yGH8OyJS_OIlSikCJZ6GxP8dmh_WZohbnDu-wF1DDGD5hEEg_fHlNe9lenhyWUg8mveeefSXvwCzx1-p8p_nhMM6bhUIdlZbXTg-tuqJGfZ3Au_ESFupSBPOSblh

What are Snap Minis?

Snap Minis are utilities designed to integrate within conversations on Snapchat, so coordinating between friends is faster than ever. 

Other Snap Minis included at launch:

* Let’s Do It (Snap Inc.) -When you and your friends need to make a decision as a group, Let’s Do It helps pick your next move.

* Prediction Master - From Mammoth Media, Prediction Master serves timely questions on everything from the Stock Market to sneaker drops, so Snapchatters can see which of their friends is the true psychic.

* Tembo - Create flashcard decks with friends on Snapchat, to help cram for your next exam.

Snap Minis Value to Partners and Developers

* Reach & Distribution: With Minis, developers get reach & distribution among Snapchat’s audience of over 229 Million daily users. Minis plug directly into the existing Snapchat global audience.

* Friends by default: Minis have close friends by default, so developers can focus on creating new social experiences to help friends create experiences together.

* Easy to build: Developers have limited eng & time resources: Minis are HTML 5, easy to build and work instantly on iOS and Android.

* Developers can apply to create a Snap Mini at https://minis.snapchat.com/

About Snap Inc.

* Snapchat offers brands one of the most effective ways to engage with a large, growing, unique and unduplicated Millennial and Gen Z audience.

* Snapchat has 229 million daily active users, +20% and +39 million YoY.

Sanjeev Vohra Named Global Lead of Accenture Applied Intelligence

WHAT: Sanjeev Vohra has been named the global lead of Accenture Applied Intelligence. In this role he also joins the company’s Global Management Committee (GMC). Accenture’s Applied Intelligence business – which helps clients use data, AI, analytics and automation to fuel business transformation – is a strategic growth driver for the company, and an increased priority for its clients as organizations pursue greater agility and data-driven insights..

WHO: Vohra oversees a global Applied Intelligence workforce of 40,000, with deep industry expertise and skills in areas including AI, data science, deep learning, machine learning and data engineering. This team works with clients on every step of their AI journey – from data strategy to data foundation, from AI governance to implementation. Prior to this new role, Vohra was Accenture’s Growth & Strategy lead for Technology, overseeing business strategy and investments, including ventures and acquisitions.

Since joining Accenture in 2002, Vohra has played a key role in shaping the company into a data-driven organization, with the skills to match. In his role leading Accenture’s data services portfolio, Vohra deepened relationships with mature and emerging ecosystem partners to meet new demands with joint capabilities. As part of the global leadership team, he helped drive Accenture’s focus on “the New” (digital, cloud, security), bringing the right technology, coupled with strong talent, to deliver hundreds of digital transformations for clients. 

Vohra is passionate about fostering a culture of learning within his teams, and the industry more broadly. In addition to promoting skills development at Accenture, he has forged strategic partnerships with universities including MIT, Stanford, Wharton and Harvard to facilitate innovative learning programs and research.

ACCENTURE COMMENT:

“Sanjeev brings unparalleled data and analytics expertise and a wide-ranging strategy and technology background to this critical role. We will count on his exceptional business acumen, leadership, and innovation-led mindset to drive our Applied Intelligence business and help our clients discover new ways to harness the power of data and insight to fuel their transformation and growth.”

—Annette Rippert, Group Chief Executive, Accenture Strategy & Consulting

WHEN: Vohra’s appointment is effective immediately. 

BACKGROUND: Applied Intelligence is Accenture’s approach to scaling AI-powered data, analytics and automation capabilities for clients. Our expertise in defining end-to-end strategy, combined with deep data infrastructure capabilities, cognitive services and industrialized accelerators help smooth clients’ path to AI adoption, extending human capabilities and supporting clients in scaling AI responsibly.