Strata-gee.com

Strategy in TECH...

You are here: Home / Archives for COVID-19

COVID-19

A COVID Catastrophe – Emerald Reports 93% Drop in Q2 Revenues; Confirms Insurance Payments

by Leave a Comment

Emerald owns CEDIA expo

Owner of CEDIA Expo & CEPro Looks to Turn the Corner from COVID…Some Day

Emerald Holding Inc. (NYSE:EEX) – formerly Emerald Expositions Events, Inc. – released their fiscal 2020 second quarter results this week and it’s no surprise that they were brutal, as the company continues to find itself caught in a COVID catastrophe that is killing in-person events, like the very expositions they produce. With the second quarter covering the period of April – June, the previous peak of the pandemic’s infections and deaths (since exceeded), the company performance – as expected – was really challenged, with the bulk of their various trade shows and in-person events cancelled or postponed.

But the company did have one piece of good news…the insurance companies providing event cancellation insurance to the company have begun paying against their claims.

See an analysis of Q2 results for Emerald…

[Read more…] about A COVID Catastrophe – Emerald Reports 93% Drop in Q2 Revenues; Confirms Insurance Payments

Facing COVID-19 Fears: Eight Out of Ten Americans Fear a Second Wave

by 2 Comments

Axios logo

A new survey from Ipsos/Axios had lots of interesting details about how Americans are feeling at this unique juncture in time, as states begin to reopen their economy, with a commensurate rise in cases of coronavirus. As many readers may know, this is an area…consumer sentiment…that I try to keep tabs on, as 70% of the U.S. economy is based on consumer sentiment.

And one piece of this research jumped off the page and grabbed me by my throat – 8 out of every 10 Americans worry about a second wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

See how consumers feel about COVID-19 now

[Read more…] about Facing COVID-19 Fears: Eight Out of Ten Americans Fear a Second Wave

Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, A Popular High-End Event in October, is Canceled

by 6 Comments

Photo of the venue where the now canceled Rocky Mountain Audio Fest RMAF was to take place
The Gaylord Rockies Resort where the now-canceled RMAF 2020 was to take place [Click to enlarge]

On Tuesday, promoters of the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest – a well respected and popular event for the high-end specialty audio segment – announced that they were cancelling the show scheduled for October 2-4, 2020 in Aurora, CO. Like many other industry events this year, the reason was due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

See more on the RMAF cancellation…

[Read more…] about Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, A Popular High-End Event in October, is Canceled

With Original Event Canceled, IFA Now Says It Will Hold a New Live, In-Person Show in September

by Leave a Comment

IFA 2020 is an all-new 3-day event in September 2020

Promoter Says It Is Putting ‘Health and Safety First’

Saying they are putting “Health and Safety first,” IFA announces they have received the appropriate government approvals to hold a live, in-person trade show event in Berlin this coming September. The announcement was a dramatic departure from their previous announcement in April cancelling this very event. But will anyone choose to attend?

See more on IFA effectively un-cancelling their show…

[Read more…] about With Original Event Canceled, IFA Now Says It Will Hold a New Live, In-Person Show in September

Consumers Look Through COVID-19 Lens to Form an Opinion of Your Brand

by Leave a Comment

COVID-19 consumer Brand Sentiment survey header

The race is on as marketers conduct myriad surveys to try and understand how the forced self-isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the consumer psyche now. Also, marketers want to determine if there will be any lingering effects in consumer sentiment – and perhaps more importantly, spending patterns – down the road, when life begins to return to some sort of normal again.

One thing marketers have discovered is that consumers are making judgments about your company and your brand, by looking at you through a COVID-19 lens – which, depending on your actions, could be either positive or negative.

See how your response to COVID-19 can make or break your relationship with consumers…

[Read more…] about Consumers Look Through COVID-19 Lens to Form an Opinion of Your Brand

Strata-gee’s COVID-19 Impact on Tech II Survey: What a Difference a Month Makes!

by Leave a Comment

Strata-gee COVID-19 Impact on Tech II Survey

Now completed, Strata-gee’s COVID-19 Impact on Tech II Survey is a follow-up study to Strata-gee’s original survey, COVID-19 Impact on Tech. If you haven’t read those original results yet, I would suggest you start there by clicking on this link as it will add context to the follow-up survey discussed here. And this time we learn that things have definitely changed in just five short weeks. In a nutshell, survey respondents report that the impact of COVID-19 this time around is much greater than in March.

See more of what the Strata-gee COVID-19 Impact on Tech Survey is telling us…

[Read more…] about Strata-gee’s COVID-19 Impact on Tech II Survey: What a Difference a Month Makes!

IFA 2020 Show, Scheduled in September, is Now Canceled

by Leave a Comment

A photo from a previous IFA show

All Eyes Turn to the Emerald City – San Juan Capistrano

IFA 2020, a huge consumer electronics show scheduled to take place in Berlin on September 4-9, 2020, is now canceled, the organization behind the event announced this week. It is yet another show joining a long line of mass, in-person marketing events to suffer this fate. The promoter is promising “an innovative new concept” to replace it – which some speculate will be a virtual online conference.

See more on this cancellation of IFA…

[Read more…] about IFA 2020 Show, Scheduled in September, is Now Canceled

Group of 20 Prominent Exhibitors Call on Producer of AXPONA to Cancel Event

by 5 Comments

AXPONA signage from previous evenrt

Cites COVID-19 & Economic Hardship

In an “Open letter to Joel Davis of JD Events,” a group of 20 prominent personalities in the high-end specialty audio industry – who are also contracted exhibitors – call on the producer of AXPONA to cancel the event. AXPONA had already been previously rescheduled by its production company from the originally planned April 17-19 dates…to August 7-9, due to the expanding COVID-19 pandemic.

Now some exhibitors are publicly calling upon the show’s producer to fully cancel the event for 2020 altogether, as COVID-19 – and the economic damage it’s causing – continues to be a major issue.

See why exhibitors want AXPONA canceled…

[Read more…] about Group of 20 Prominent Exhibitors Call on Producer of AXPONA to Cancel Event

Fear Factor: Consumers’ Fear Suggests a Slow Recovery from Recession

by 2 Comments

Photo from Manhattan showing stores closed due to recession and very few people on the street
[Photo: Juan Arredondo, New York Times]

COVID-19 Recession: Will Rebound be a V…U…or W?

The Coronavirus pandemic has hit America big time. With a head-spinning swiftness, the epidemic swept across the country with ruthless efficiency – first impacting densely populated urban areas (NYC, LA, Chicago), then spreading its tentacles throughout more sparsely populated regions of the country. It has extracted a devastating human toll, striking fear in the hearts of consumers, and brought a once bustling economy to a screeching halt…plunging it into recession.

We have never seen anything quite like this and for business owners and managers…we are truly in uncharted territory. With almost 85% of all Americans now subject to some form of Shelter-In-Place or Stay-At-Home order, everything except essential services, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, has been closed down – and most companies have seen their sales disappear. Will a fearful consumer complicate our recovery from this recession?

See more on what kind of rebound to expect…

[Read more…] about Fear Factor: Consumers’ Fear Suggests a Slow Recovery from Recession

Stuck in COVID-19 Isolation? Country Music Star Says ‘Thank Goodness for Technology’

by Leave a Comment

'Thank goodness for technology' says country music star Miranda Lambert

An astonishing 283 million Americans are stuck in some form of self-isolation or self-quarantine due to the fact that most states and cities have imposed a “Stay-at-Home” rule in the fight to snuff out the COVID-19 pandemic. This new reality in which we find ourselves means that almost all businesses (except for a few essential services) are closed – and millions of Americans are stuck at home with little or nothing to do. But what role does their technology play in this situation?

Thanks to Technology, we can all be connected…

[Read more…] about Stuck in COVID-19 Isolation? Country Music Star Says ‘Thank Goodness for Technology’