3 FAIM Events You Can't Miss Before 2010 is Over!

1. FAIM Winter Clothing Drive: Part One-The Drop-Off
On Saturday, December 11th from 12-3pm, volunteers are needed to help distribute flyers door-to-door, informing the St. Albans community of the FAIM Winter Clothing Drive and Fundraiser to benefit the African Center for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Community Awareness for a Smarter Tomorrow (CAST) and the Fashion Art Interactivity Movement (FAIM).

The idea is to make it convenient for people to support the efforts by providing a large bag attached to the flyer and then returning to pick up one week later on Saturday, December 18th. Then, local designers and stylists will be invited to compete in a Styling Competition to take place in January 2011, where they will be challenged to create looks from the clothes and judged by a live audience. FAIM will host a sample sale following the competition and guests can receive styling tips as they purchase the used clothes. Proceeds from these events will help offset operating and program costs for ACCE, CAST and FAIM.

Supporters may also drop off their donations at ACCE, 111-20 Farmers Blvd, St. Albans, 11412 on Saturday, December 11th.
To get involved as a volunteer, driver, model, stylist, designer or in another way email:
jocelyn@jgoodecreative.com



2. Film Screening of Operation Small Axe
On Sunday, December 12th at the African Center for Community Empowerment from 3-6pm Bay Area journalist and filmmaker JR Valrey will show his latest documentary, Operation Small Axe. FAIM is hosting the event with a Q & A session to follow the screening.
The suggested donation is 1 bag of clean, new, used, undamaged clothing, coats and shoes to support FAIM's Winter Clothing Drive and/or a monetary donation of $7.

111-20 Farmers Blvd, Saint Albans, Queens 11412
E train to Jamaica Center, Q83 to 111th Ave
F train to 179th St., Q3 to 111th Ave

The San Francisco Bayview newspaper wrote this about the film:
"“Operation Small Axe” takes a raw and unflinching look at life under police terrorism in Oakland, drawing parallels with the struggles against oppression in Palestine and South Africa. Through the stories of Oscar Grant and Lovelle Mixon, the film focuses on the occupation of Oakland’s communities of color by militarized and racist police forces.

Oscar Grant was shot in the back and killed by Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer Johannes Mehserle on Jan. 1 of this year. On March 21, Lovelle Mixon was killed by Oakland police after having allegedly shot five OPD officers, killing four.

The film, now debuting to rave reviews around the Bay Area, is directed and produced by 393 Films’ Adimu Madyun, edited by Angela N. Carroll, with camera work by Hooker Boy, Angela N. Carroll, Siraj Fowler and Adimu Madyun. Prisoners of Conscience Committee Minister of Information JR is the executive producer.

Watch this “Operation Small Axe” trailer for a taste of the bitter but little known war waged daily on the streets of Black and Brown Oakland by the police against the people. Now that the judge has ordered the murder trial moved out of Oakland of the cop who killed Oscar Grant in cold blood two hours into the 2009 New Year on a BART platform in front of hundreds of horrified passengers, this film will inform all Californians why justice for Oscar Grant is imperative."

For more information visit www.blockreportradio.com or email jocelyn@jgoodecreative.com

3. FAIM Winter Clothing Drive: Part Two-The Pick-Up
On Saturday, December 18th, from 12-3pm. Volunteers are needed to help collect donations of new, used, clean and undamaged clothing, coats and shoes in St. Albans, Queens.
Supporters may also drop off their donations at ACCE, 111-20 Farmers Blvd, St. Albans, 11412 on Saturday, December 11th.
To get involved as a volunteer, driver, model, stylist, designer or in another way email:
jocelyn@jgoodecreative.com

FAIM Events coming in early 2011
* FAIM new website launch
* Model, Stylist and Designer Open Call
* Styling Competition and Sample Sale
* Creative Entrepreneur Conference

Making the Brand: The New Way to Start a Business!

by Jocelyn M. Goode
photo: www.talltim.com.au/tim4.htm

Traditionally, completing a business plan would represent the first cornerstone in establishing a new venture. However, in this day and technologically-mediated age, the framework of a business must expand beyond the standard categories and incorporate new, significant factors from the start. The main one is the creation of the brand. This article will explore the methodology of making a business plan and making a brand, and provide readers with some preliminary steps to be successful in both.

The Old Way: Business Plan First
There is a wealth of resources and guidance about business plans available to the curious entrepreneur. Upon a basic search, most would find the following components as the most basic:

1. Business Description: defining what the product or service, the structure and how it will make money.

2. Marketing Strategies: identifying who to sell to, pricing, distribution and promotional tactics.

3. Competitive Analysis: identifying competitors, analyzing their strategies, weaknesses and strengths.

4. Design & Development: product development, marketing development, organizational development, costs of material, labor, overhead and equipment.

5. Operations & Management: organizational structure of company and expense requirements associated with operations.

6. Financial Statements: cash flow statement, income statement and a balance sheet.

Technology and Social Media
Those seeking the financial backing of investors and banks, would definitely follow the steps in the above approach seeing that it provides the numerical data conventionally used to measure a company's potential and viability, and a rational way to determine pricing and costs. Yet, it doesn't account for how the latest technology and social media have impacted the way businesses develop and grow. Particularly, how brand image impacts the value of a product or service, and subsequently alters the potential worth of a company.

Today, gaining a new customer requires more than possessing a good product or service and paying for targeted ads during prime time. These days, consumers are more brand-driven than ever, selecting products on the perceived values and promises projected through a company's image. Blogs and social forums allow the everyday person to voice their opinions and influence the perception of a brand, from consumer endorsements to exposes about unethical practices. There are entire websites dedicated to reviewing products by brand, where individuals rant and rate, ultimately affecting a business' success.

Technology and social media have turned traditional business planning on its head. Now an empowered consumer driven by high brand awareness competes with old-school thinking on a building a business.

An increasing amount of the consumer population constantly utilizes the internet, computers and personal electronic devices to make purchases, access information, manage appointments, communicate with others and maintain major aspects of their lives. As a result, businesses have had to respond by modifying their structures and plans to reach potential purchasers through technology and social media.

Brand Beginnings
If a business plan is starting at A and working to Z, making a brand is starting at Z and working backwards to A. Firstly, entrepreneurs decides how they to be viewed by consumers, what perception they want to give to their target market and the instant associations that should come to mind at the sight or mention of their brand's name. From this point the brand identity goes from concept to visual representation. A logo, the mark, graphic or symbol that embodies all the elements the brand must communicate, draws on the psychological power of color, shape, font and design to create an impression that delivers the desired message.

How many of these brands do you recognize? What words pop into your head as you look at them?

Controlling perception is key in branding. Whatever the product or service is, regardless of the actual productions and marketing costs, the brand perception ultimately dictates what consumers will pay. Brand value is the reason a plain shirt may only charge $5 and the same shirt with the addition of a small embroidery of a man on a horse, just a few extra stitches of thread, can demand $98. The brand, not the shirt, brings the $93 difference. So for Ralph Lauren (a brand built solely on individual's image), projecting classic, American elite has proven extremely profitable because it allows people to buy a product that may not be the best quality, but best communicates an image that is widely desirable. When people pay exorbitant prices for a Polo shirt, they are paying for the perception of being "classic, American elite". The major shift in business development is from actual product to brand experience.

This plain polo sells for $4.88 at www.cheapestees.com

This Ralph Lauren polo shirt sells for $98

Indeed, evaluation of competitors, operational and management structuring and financial reports are integral in creating a businesses. However, starting with a defined brand that speaks to the target market's values, desires and fantasies highlights a new company's destination. All planning must center around creating a plan that tracks back from there.

For those now embracing entrepreneurship, beginning with brand development as the foundation and integrating the brand identity throughout the other components of the business, enables emerging companies to compete side by side with established ones. A brand manager is someone who has training to help a business develop its image and destination. A graphic designer is a person who executes the actual production of the logo and integrated collateral to support the brand. Enlisting the help of professionals to assist with brand development is important because they have the knowledge and expertise to recommend the methods to best communicate the brand's message.

Making the Brand in Review
1. Hire a competent brand manager and graphic designer with proven experience in brand creation.

2. Determine your desired perception, market position and target audience.

3. Evaluate the brand image of your competitors, how they achieved it and what makes your brand distinct.

4. Identify the opportunities for your brand including promotional, media, merchandising, partnerships, sponsorships and events.

5. Develop a marketing strategy to increase brand recognition.

6. Create a logo and supporting collateral.

From this point, completing a traditional business plan is helpful, particularly to figure out the financial aspects like cash flow, overhead expenses and projected profits. Still, with the brand, the heart and soul of the business established, the path to a success is clear from the start.

Jocelyn M. Goode, FAIM Internet Magazine's founding publisher, recently launched J. Goode Creative. Her company specializes in integrated branding and graphic design where she helps new and established business sharpen the definition of their brand and then creates the graphics to support the plan. She holds an A.A. Professional Designation degree in Graphic Design with an emphasis on Branding from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in San Francisco.

References:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessplan/index.html

Queens Fashion Week Begins Today!

by Jocelyn M. Goode
photo: A sizzling design by Designer Knitwear by Michi

Of all the five boroughs in NYC, Queens has been the quiet underdog known for being the most suburban and least "happening" of the major metropolis. Well, in the past few years, all of that has been changing with a growing arts scene and now it's very own Fashion Week.

Tonight is the Queens Fashion Week Gala Opening taking place at Standard Motor LOFTS, 37-18 Northern Blvd, Long Island City from 7pm-9pm. Looks by Designer Knitwear by Michi and Qristyl Frazier from season 6 of the hit reality show, Project Runway, are some of this evenings features.

Friday brings the Young Designer's Initiative when emerging designers and kid models give audiences a show of their latest creations and up-n-coming talent. There will also be a Young Entrepreneurs segment to highlight "small people doing big things" in Queens.

The Queens Fashion Expo, a free event on Saturday, is an opportunity to meet the participating designers and shop from local retailers offering stylish merchandise. Later that night will be the Finale Runway Show, which the Queens Fashion Week website describes as the "shining 'Jewel in the crown of New York City!' with a host of Fashion Designers, models, Style Icons, Celebrities and dignitaries in attendance".

FAIM Internet Magazine will be in the house to see what the opening night of this premiere Queens event has to bring. Check back tomorrow for a full review and photos. For more information and ticket prices, visit the website: www.queensfashionweek.com