Vijay Solanki🦄🚀🏔️

A win for accuracy and fair representation in the media 💪 The Australian Press Council has ruled in our favour over a misleading article published in Crikey! (an Australian news site) Back in June 2024 I got pretty angry about an article from the Australian publication 'Crikey!' which claimed to have "...tricked a selfie AI age-verification tool into letting a child ‘buy’ a knife". Spoiler alert, they had not tricked it… I’m pleased to report that today the Australian Press Commission has ruled in our favour and found that the Crikey article breached journalistic standards of practice. The article has been ruled as inaccurate, misleading and it failed to present reasonable fairness and balance. It also said that the writers’ expressions of opinions are not based on accurate factual material and omitted key facts. As a result the article will be tagged as such by the Commission, and rightly so. https://lnkd.in/eGw_W2tz As background for those unfamiliar with the article, a journalist tried out a Yoti demo that was designed to let people have a go at using our age estimation tool, but reported that he had 'fooled the system using an aging filter on a popular photo-editing app.' The reality is that the demo was clearly labelled as NOT having liveness detection/anti spoofing so that people could use a photograph of their younger self to see if it worked. Most retail prospective clients (who the demo was designed for) are over 18 😉 so they need to see how it rejects under 18s… To be fair to Crikey, in the article they do go on to say there was no liveness detection on the demo but they still believe they’d tricked the technology by showing a photo of an older person. Seeking out a correction via a formal process is never ideal, but at Yoti, we hold true to our values of transparency, accuracy and above all, our security standards and technology platforms. We know how well it works and are confident that it can help to keep people safer online. We have worked with hundreds of journalists across the globe and the vast majority have always been open to getting a better understanding of how our technology works and they value our feedback. We work with journalists, not against them, so we hesitated to take this course of action via the Australian Press Commission, but ultimately we had to because we stand by our technology and we didn't want a potentially harmful and inaccurate piece of content stand in the way of progress in the Age Verification (AV) space. Huge thanks to Nikki Alvey for her support in resolving this. Anyway, job done, a win for AV and Yoti! Now we can put this behind us. Onwards! #ageverification #ageestimation #PR

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Every 4 years we get a chance to revel in the inspiration and emotion that sport can bring. The joy and excitement of idolising an athlete is a core memory of my childhood (love you Bucks). Worth observing that Google's bright future is about squeezing the child-like wonder out of a hand-written letter, and putting it through the sausage maker of AI. Apple excitedly squished our instruments to make a thinner black mirror. Open AI stole ScarJo's identity to play out a tech-bro fantasy. Anyone running a brand needs to lean into the humanity. Real connection. Actual experiences. Tangibility. People are craving it. #brandstrategy #Google #Gemini #Olympics

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THE WAR FOR RELEVANCE IS RAGING SO WOULD YOUR SMALL BUSINESS SLIDE JUST LIKE NIKE? I really enjoyed the movie Air and book Shoe Dog which tells the rise of Nike in the footwear battle for athletes to choose their shoe over their competitors. So I wanted to share this great post and blog by Andrew Griffiths which outlines his 7 strategies to ensure your small business remains relevant, no matter the size or industry. 💡 Embrace Constant Innovation 💡 Stay Connected To Your Core Audience 💡 Personalise The Customer Experience 💡 Focus On What Makes You Unique 💡 Be Agile and Adaptable 💡 Build a Deeply Engaged Community 💡 Leverage Storytelling To Stay Relevant I hope you take a few moments to consider how your small business would stack up against these 7 strategies, and if you have some work to do, what’s the FIRST thing which needs to happen to regain your relevance? Cheers Tamara #BobtheBuilderforSmallBusiness #PracticalProblemSolver #workshopspecialist #speaker #businesscoach #author #5littlebusinesspigs #navigatecomplexity #navigatechallengingtimes #growyourbusiness #growyoursmallbusiness #businessgrowth #businesscoaching #smallbusiness #smallbiz

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An excellent article on the increasingly complex role of directors and three key takeaways for directors to take into account new year. #boards #directors #governance

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Is data-driven advertising a costly mirage? Brand Traction Pty Ltd's Jon Bradshaw says it is and he's got the receipts. We recently posted about former UM privacy chief Arielle Garcia's takedown of the "garbage" data broking sector. Bradshaw adds to the argument, challenging the industry to provide proof that data-driven targeting actually makes advertising more effective. He suspects it makes advertising less effective per dollar. In this Mi3Australia editorial, he highlights three deep, recent studies that show: - broad reach beats targeting for incremental growth; - that the cost of targeting outweighs the return; and that - contextual ads massively outperform even first party data Our questions at Mercer Island Group: - does anyone anywhere have actual fully costed (including data and tech fees/costs) split panel, controlled testing that suggests something different? - why is this not a discussion in the US? - why are our trade pubs not covering this? - why am I not hearing about this from our associations? 4A's Association of National Advertisers Agency Management Institute Matthew Bogusz Adam Rattner Neil Smith Les Binet Karen Nelson-Field PhD Peter Field ADWEEK Ad Age

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Did you know that Australia is the home of 2.3% of the world's tech unicorns ($1b plus valuation companies). Deep tech is clear strength of Australia and it is why Japanese corporates are looking at Australia. The Australian Japan Business Cooperation Committee (AJBCC) is lifting the lid on what is driving Japanese businesses and Australian startups. If you are interested, then this webinar could be for you. Richard Andrews, Cristina Merino Ishizuka, Jonathan Raju, Annie Jiang, Emily Doran, Takero Izuhara, Tim Mclennan, Ken Jefferd, Invest Victoria

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This is what happens when you go viral, but for the wrong reasons 🤯   Even giants like Google can make mistakes, and their Dear Sydney ad for the 2024 Olympics? Totally missed the mark, IMO.    It’s interesting how big tech like Deloitte and Microsoft are tapping into this moment through storytelling and generative AI.    Scroll through the slides to see my Gold, Silver and Bronze commercial winners and biggest loser. Let's discuss! Share your favorite Olympic ads and thoughts on Google's Gemini ad in the comments below. 👇   #Olympics #Branding #Marketing #AI #Storytelling #StandoutAuthority #ContentStrategy

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Fantastic media coverage for the Consumer NZ petition to Parliament on scams. The Press, The Post, New Zealand Herald, Newstalk ZB, TVNZ , One News and Scoop. New Zealand is finally having the 2016 moment of UK watchdog, Which? The Which? super-complaint to the UK’s Payment System Regulator paved the way for reimbursement of ‘push payments’ where a consumer makes a payment to a criminal. Unfortunately in our regulation-zero payments environment, Kiwis have no super-complaint mechanism and no regulator. A Parliamentary petition is hard hard work for Consumer NZ and staff Jon Duffy and Jessica Walker. I’m hoping LinkedIn followers, will sign, after seeing all the work done in the last 18 months. ✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️ Add your signature. Petition link in comments below. If you have time, forward to followers. ✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️ Banks are putting pressure on Andrew Bayly. 💡Remember why we are doing this: 1️⃣ NZ banks have serious technology lapses and under-investment. Banks have to take the lead, infinitum - scams evolve continually. Catchup isn’t enough. #fintech 2️⃣ Bank tech flaws and weak processes, make these crimes ‘bank enabled’. All scams start with a hole in bank security and are reverse engineered via customers as the conduit. There is no point to a scam if criminals can’t access the money. Only banks can alter that. 3️⃣ Just because a consumer made a payment does not put them at fault. Two banks enabled the fraud. One gave the criminal an account, the other failed with a suite of flaws that can range from inadequate warnings, old technology (like text codes), refusal to put robust account checks in place (like an investment payment register across all banks), not forging ahead with digital identity, passkeys, in-app payment approvals, one-time-use cards, #159, Mule account tracing tech, and enhanced fraud data added to Confirmation of Payee. The list is endless. 4️⃣ Needing a scam centre is a red herring. Needing regulation of telcos and digital is a red herring. These are no-brainers, of course they are required, but they are about ‘prevention’ not ‘reimbursement’. Telcos and digital platforms should be fined for failings, but banks are the only target of scammers - their tech, their processes. They must reimburse. Banks can have the argument with government about telco and digital fines offsetting their liability. 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑 Consumers must have a clear reimbursement-led solution. ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ ANZ Bank of New Zealand ASB Bank Westpac New Zealand Kiwibank Antonia Watson Catherine McGrath Dan Huggins Steve Jurkovich Vittoria Shortt Nicola Sladden Banking Ombudsman Scheme (NZ) FMA Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Ian Caplin Samantha Barrass Netsafe New Zealand Brent Carey CERT NZ Revolut TSB New Zealand SBS Bank Rabobank New Zealand Bank of Baroda Bank of India Kookmin Bank Bank of China (New Zealand) Limited China Construction Bank (New Zealand) Limited #fraud #scam #fraudreimbursement

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💡AI-powered search is poised to become mainstream as traditional search engines evolve into more sophisticated metasearch platforms. This is ‘The Future of Search in Travel' insight 4/8. Tomorrow, at the Mumbrella Travel Marketing Summit, we will discuss the future of search with digital leaders from Google and TikTok.  ⚡Stay tuned for more insights. 👉 Download the Future of Search in Travel white paper for more insights.https://https://lnkd.in/gZwDkYt7 #TravelMarketing #FutureOfSearch #Google #TikTok #Instagram #Youtube #Mumbrella #MumbrellaTravelSummit

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What is the future of Media in Australia? A few days ago New York Magazine released a fantastic long form article looking at the state of play in the US. The feature covered a range of topics from AI, to niche publications, to subscription models. Its well worth a read. What I've tried to do is think about what would a similiar analysis of the Australian market look like? And what is the right way of thinking about the different tiers of publishers? As you can see, I'm trying to experiment with video. I'm limiting my time investment to one hour for each video. I'll keep posting for a month or two and update on the outcome! #australianmedia #australia #auspol #media

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𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞. 🌟 As the CEO of Markman Media Pty Ltd , my journey has been one of discovery, growth, and realisation. I founded Markman Media in 2019 with a mission to bring a structured, professional approach to personal brand development. Since then, I've had the privilege of helping countless business leaders uncover who they truly are and how they are perceived by their peers and the market. My story is rooted in a passion for connecting people, ideas, and solutions. Through Markman Media, I've developed tailored strategies that set and keep my clients on the path to becoming who they want and need to be. This holistic approach combines professional networking and development, personal image, physical fitness, overall wellness, and spirituality. In sharing my story, I hope to inspire others to embrace their unique experiences and perspectives. Your story is your brand, and when shared authentically, it can resonate deeply with those around you, opening doors to new opportunities and connections. ✨ What’s your story? How has it shaped your personal brand? ✨

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Ever had a chat with “James” from the Australian Wine Club? 😅🍷 (I had the "pleasure" recently and it was full on creepy) AI-powered voice callers like James have been stirring the pot lately. The Wine Group (aka Oak Road Estate) faced major backlash for using James to aggressively push wine subscriptions, leaving many feeling harassed and creeped out by his overly friendly yet persistent calls. Despite fines from the ACMA for breaching telemarketing laws, it seems James just won't take the hint! This raises a bigger question – as AI voices get more lifelike, how can we ensure they’re used responsibly for marketing? Have you had any unexpected encounters with AI callers? Share your thoughts – and let’s hope we don't get a call from James while we're at it! (Blog post on broader topics of AI voice agents for uses such as lead qualification coming very soon) #AI #Telemarketing #TechEthics #AIVoiceAgents

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These are great guidelines from Wholegrain Digital and I think especially for two way communication such as voice and messaging where you could believe you are in real-time communication with a real person. It seems obvious now that it's going to get harder to tell quickly. Another thing that Lex Fridman raised on a podcast this week with Roman Yampolskiy on the 'Dangers of Superintelligent AI' is how powerful AI is likely to become at persuasion. There are people now who've made serious money from their human powers of persuasion and influence and super intelligent AI could put this power (or more power) into the hands of those using it for their own gain.

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Nice words about All in the Mind over at Podcast Review - and so cool to be in the company of personal faves Radiolab and Science Vs https://lnkd.in/gRxQinBN "All In the Mind is an Australian podcast by ABC that explores the impact of modern life on our mental universe. If that sounds corny, don’t be turned off; this science podcast is grounded in research. Not to be confused with the BBC podcast of the same name, All in the Mind is an established weekly show that uses neurology to explain how our understanding of our world is altered by different issues and phenomena. Take their episode on the impact of the housing crisis on our perception of the future. The story is told through narrative non-fiction that perfectly marries the data with the human factor. By focalizing on one topic per episode, the team takes care to explore complicated issues that have many implications outside of the scientific field, whether that be health, politics, social science – or a combination of all three. Their research is meticulous without being impenetrable, making complicated topics like AI or schizophrenia easier for non-scientists to comprehend. Perfect for fans of Radiolab, this show consistently offers in-depth analysis that is accessible, relevant, and compelling."

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Super happy with the launch of our new website, expertly designed and implemented by Collabrium. https://lnkd.in/gV_W8Y23 The site articulates the three broad areas that we consult on: 1. Franchising - getting brands Franchise Ready - Over 200 Brands launched and supported to date 2. Recruiting Franchisees - finding franchisees for franchisors and helping aspiring business owners find the right business for them. 3. Franchise Development - helping existing franchisors scale to the next level which includes: - Territory mapping and franchise network development planning - Franchisee recruitment - your outsourced recruitment team - International expansion - helping Aussie brands go overseas (Asia, USA, MENA & UAE, UK and India - Franchise Systems review - update to Operational resources - Franchise Management software - LMS, Auditing, Benchmarking - Management team development and Franchisee training programs If you're looking for a website design company, you should consider Collabrium If you're looking for anything to do with Franchising, then please reach out.

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Phase 2 of our Forbes Australia business plan has kicked into gear. Excited to share our new digital ads platform has launched. In the video below you will see the quality of our ad units. Just like Balmain you too can now partner with Forbes! If you want your business in front of 400k+ business owners, executives, entrepreneurs per month, reach out to our Head of Commercial Stephanie Antonis for more info. #marketing #ads #forbes

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This morning on Radio 4BC Brisbane Pty Limited, we dove into some fascinating trends in Australian consumer spending. Here are the key takeaways: Coffee Cutbacks, Weekend Splurges. Soaring living costs are causing Australians to tighten their belts, with data revealing a dip to pre-pandemic levels between 7am and 11am on weekdays in purchases from cafes and other food and beverage outlets. Interestingly, transactions during weekends have seen a rise. This points towards a changing spending pattern, with Australians choosing to indulge less frequently and typically with family and friends, rather than solo weekday treats. Retail Struggles, Experience Takes Centre Stage. Despite a small rise in April sales, overall consumer spending in retail remains sluggish. This cautious approach translates to a decline in non-essential purchases, leading retailers to work harder than ever to attract customers. With centres investing more and promoting experience-based retail, with the likes of Up Town's (formerly MYER) Dopamine Land, Queens Plaza's short run pop up interactive NBA Exhibition and Garden City's ever popular 8 Street. The discussion also touched on the move towards cashless transactions. While electronic payments offer convenience, cash remains crucial during emergencies like storms or outages. Australians are making significantly more electronic transactions today (around 650 per year) compared to a decade ago (around 300). The pandemic's emphasis on contactless payments and the rise of online shopping accelerated this shift. While digital payments are undeniable, cash still holds value. It's a matter of finding the right balance. As the saying goes, "use it or lose it!" Listen to the conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gzdUgNXZ #retail #consumer #costofliving #experientialretail #cashless

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