2013 Was the Year of Native Ads/ CONTENTLY

2013 Was the Year of Native Ads. This new ad medium got only $1.9b of the Ad Pie, but garnered a lion's share of attention from the Ad Trades, Ad reporters and even the FTC, which has Native Ads in its sights Who invented this business? A hot 3-year old startup called CONTENTLY. These fathers of Brand Publishing, (www.contently.com) are now a BRUNI PR client. As NYT's David Carr points out, Contently "has raised $2.3 million in financing, developed a roster of 27,000 writers, grown to 24 employees and has 40 Fortune 500 companies among its clients..." Their motto is "make stories, not ads"...you'll be hearing that mantra often in 2014 on Madison Avenue and beyond.

"What's in your Stash for tonight?" You might overhear that buzzphrase at the upcoming CMJ Music Fest in NYC. NYC's hipsters are downloading "Stash", a hot new iPhone app for bookmarking (or "stashing") and sharing all kinds of NYC Nightlife, Culture, Sports and Film/Entertainment events. It's the first real Mobile Events app to hit NYC. Young New Yorkers hate to be told "what's cool". Events guides/apps (Flavorpill, Thrillist, and even that new one, Sosh) dictate "what's cool.", Stash is total Democracy. The Stash members decide what to "stash" and share with their friends on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Think Pinterest for Events and Culture. Crowdsourced Events advice. Stash is going viral fast. Since launching last Spring, 300,000 NYC events have been viewed on Stash. About 20k events are "stashed" monthly by Stash users. Stash currently covers over 100 NYC area venues. They love Stash too.. During the last 30 days, 8,000 users purchased tickets for venues straight from the app. Stash is designed primarily for the Mobile Experience. Young New Yorkers make their NightLife and Culture decisions -- On The Go. "Good Times are Hard to Find", is the Stash motto.

AgFunder Launches Sept. 23rd

Modern Farmer predicts it will "Kickstart" Agriculture with the "world's first equity based crowdfunding platform for Ag investment opportunities". Only accredited Investors will be allowed to invest in its AgTech projects, which will be thoroughly evaluated and approved before listing. NY-based AgFunder (www.agfunder.com) launches next week. Numerous AgTech companies and investors have already signed up as beta users .http://beta.agfunder.com. Modern Farmer predicts it will "Kickstart" Agriculture with the "world's first equity based crowdfunding platform for Ag investment opportunities". Only accredited Investors will be allowed to invest in its AgTech projects, which will be thoroughly evaluated and approved before listing. NY-based AgFunder (www.agfunder.com) launches mid-September. Numerous AgTech companies and investors have already signed up as beta users .http://beta.agfunder.com. AgTech Investing is booming. CB Insights recently reported that $100m+ was invested in AgTech last year, a record. CB Insights concluded: "Agriculture Technology companies (Ag Tech) have hauled in as much VC and angel investment ($100M) as more celebrated areas like transportation tech (think Uber, Lyft, RelayRides). AgTech has also pulled in 2/3 of the amount that has gone to (and which may evaporate from) App Discovery Platforms." What's AgFunder's key advantage? How can it tap into this AgTech investment trend? Modern Farmer sums it best: "Although AgFunder’s model is based on the FundersClub (just like Kickstarter), if a project isn’t up to par, it won’t get funded. And that’s an important detail," says CEO/Founder Rob Leclerc.

It's the mother of all Hackathons. The AngelHack Global Hackathon. I attended the AngelHack NYC competition a couple weeks ago and have never seen anything quite like it. A small army of devs working for 24 hours fueled by Red Bull. The result was Kronicle, a cool new how-to video app platform that was the finalist. But, it's more than an app. It's a startup that will be chosen along with 29 others around the globe to join the AngelHack Accelerator in SF for two months of schooling. Can Hackathons be the new point of inception for startups? I think so. That's why BRUNI PR is working with AngelHack, co-founded by Greg Gopman and Sabeen Ali, two very smart techies who practically invented this biz a couple years ago. AngelHack organizes hackathon competitions for web developers and entrepreneurs, called AngelHacks, where they can learn developer tools, meet new friends, and receive funding and mentorship for their startup ideas. In 2013, AngelHack will organize 100 hackathons, bringing together 15,000+ developers in 50+ cities. Winners from every city are put through the AngelHack Accelerator Program, where we mentor them for 12 weeks before bringing them out to Silicon Valley to raise investment and introduce them to incubators. Previous winners have gone on to attend Y-Combinator, AngelPad, TechStars, 500 Startups, and others.

LUMINOSO/ TIME magazine called it the "next big thing" in Big Data a year ago. They were right. Everyone is using Text Analytics, a process that derives high quality information from text. The Drug Industry has seen breakthroughs result from Elsevier and other publishers opening up vast archives. Brands such as MARS, Microsoft and 7-Eleven, and ad giants Omnicom and WPP are using Text Analytics A Cambridge, MA based company called Luminoso is spearheading the latest advances in Text Analytics and Visualization.. Luminoso has raised substantial seed capital and has several major clients --- and hasn't even launched yet. With clients such as MARS, Aegis Media and British Telecom, this "graduate" of the MIT Media Lab is already disrupting Big Data. "We go way beyond sentiment analysis to discover actionable knowledge," the company's website declares. "The Luminoso API constructs models of language that let computers understand the meaning behind the words" Luminoso can also look into real-time trends. Luminoso generated attention at SXSW with their Twitter analysis of the buzz around that event. Luminoso (www.luminoso.com) launches on April 15th.

MAIA Yogurt

MAIA YOGURT ----------- Can you use Social Media to build the biggest yogurt brand in the US? We'll find out in the coming weeks as Maia Yogurt comes to NYC. Maia's CEO is betting that he can expand from a handful of locations featuring Maia (including Whole Foods in Tribeca, Fairway in the UWS and other key spots) into a city-wide penetration of all supermarkets and grocery stores... by enlisting the help of yogurt lovers. Maia's huge advantage over Choban and others is Authenticity when it comes to pro-biotics yogurt. 100 million strands vs. 50-60 million for Chobani per tablesspoon. It's the most high tech yogurt around. Started in is apartment in the UWS, Hamilton, its founder/CEO has outsourced production to a PA-based food processing plant and invaded several states (including Conn. and upstate NY) with great success. He personally hawks the yogurt and locations. He doesn't advertise or spend money on PR (not yet). Maia is driven by Social Media and has built a community of fans and followers through its Facebook page and Twitter. Check out Hamilton's latest email instructions to Maia Community fans and you'll get the "flava": Step 1: Facebook post: (and make sure to like our page if you haven't yet!) All NYC friends! The best yogurt around, @Maia Yogurt, can now be found at the Tribeca & UWS Whole foods. Pick up some today...nutritious and delicious Step 2: Twitter: All NYC residents. It's time to try the newest yogurt on the market -- delicious and healthy @ Whole Foods: UWS and Tribeca @maiayogurt #maiayogurt Step 3: Instagram: (download attached photo) Caption: Introducing Maia Yogurt, the best around. Now on shelves at Whole Foods -- UWS and Tribeca. #maiayogurt