Market Newsdesk

NEW YORK, Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mediaocean, the mission-critical platform for omnichannel advertising, today announced enhanced capabilities in its Scope product for TV Reach Extension (TVRE). With TVRE, Mediaocean becomes the only buying platform that connects linear TV audience intelligence with connected television (CTV) and closed ecosystems like Facebook. The new audience intelligence tools provide advertisers the ability to deduplicate audiences, manage reach and frequency, eliminate waste, and focus on incrementality across multiple channels.

Mediaocean’s TVRE capabilities launch at a pivotal juncture in the convergence of TV and digital advertising. Consumers are spending the vast majority of their time online within closed ecosystems while, on TV, an increasing share of valuable audiences are viewing over CTV and streaming platforms. Mediaocean’s TVRE provides universal measurement and targeting capabilities that reach across both formats.

The Mediaocean TVRE solution leverages a unique combination of data sets and algorithms to enable intelligent reach extension across premium video channels. As consumers speed up their shift from traditional television, TVRE allows advertisers to find untapped audiences across CTV and digital environments and avoid duplicated reach. Capabilities include:

• The ability to avoid duplicated reach by planning CTV and social campaigns based on missed or under-served audiences within a linear TV plan.
• Reporting that shows audience reach delivered individually and jointly across TV and CTV to enable cross-channel performance analysis.

“CTV is exploding in terms of consumer viewers and providers. This is driving subsequent growth in advertising but CTV is one channel in a broader converged television mix,” said Anupam Gupta, Chief Product Officer at Mediaocean. “Most DSPs don’t touch linear TV or social media at all, given this inventory is typically only available via direct sales or API integrations, not through exchanges and SSPs. Our Scope product was purpose-built to operate within and across the walls of closed ecosystems, including converged television.”

“Understanding the interplay between TV and social is one of the main keys to mastering omnichannel strategies,” said Jennifer Eenigenburg, VP Digital Media Director at Rain the Growth Agency. “Marketers can’t maximize either channel until they can find the same high value audiences across both. Mediaocean’s platform allows marketers to connect walled platforms.”

About
Mediaocean

Mediaocean is the mission-critical platform for omnichannel advertising. Processing $150 billion in annual media spend, Mediaocean provides foundational software to connect brands, agencies, media, technology, and data. With AI and machine learning technology to control marketing investments and optimize business outcomes, Mediaocean enables end-to-end management of campaigns from planning, buying, and selling to analysis, invoices, and payments. Mediaocean employs 1,200 people across 20 global offices and is part of the Vista Equity Partners portfolio. Visit www.mediaocean.com for more information.

Contact
Mona Khaldi
[email protected]

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — KeyedIn, a leader in Agile Portfolio Management, today announced that one of the nation’s largest health insurance providers selected KeyedIn Projects as the project portfolio management (PPM) solution for its project management office (PMO).

“KeyedIn was a great fit for this health insurance provider as it is undertaking a very large Agile transformation initiative, managed by a large core of project managers within the PMO,” said Tim Short, Chief Revenue Officer for KeyedIn. “Among other things, the health insurance provider was impressed with the balance KeyedIn strikes between usability and power. KeyedIn Project’s simple interface drives user adoption, while the top-down management capabilities enable the PMO to effectively prioritize and optimize its entire portfolio, or multiple portfolios.”

This U.S.-based insurer serves millions of members. Its PMO is responsible for the strategic planning and execution of projects across an $80M portfolio. As a non-profit, cost and value are imperatives for the organization, and its existing legacy PPM tool was not meeting the company’s needs. In particular, the outdated system lacked the usability to drive widespread adoption, which meant the team had little confidence in the PPM metrics and reports the system produced.

KeyedIn provides a comprehensive PPM solution for insurance providers, with these capabilities of key importance to those customers:

• Skills tracking, and how those skills align with strategic initiatives
• Demand management
• Process integration
• Project intake and approval processes
• Tracking financial milestones

To learn more about how insurance providers leverage KeyedIn, visit:
https://www.keyedin.com/customers/insurance/

About KeyedIn

At KeyedIn, our mission is to make our customers more successful by empowering them to place the right bets, turn quickly and deliver faster. As a leader in Agile Portfolio Management, KeyedIn offers a suite of SaaS solutions that support business transformation, strategy realization and organizational change. The company’s award-winning products go beyond simple project management to encompass portfolio analysis, scenario modeling, capacity planning, product portfolio management, strategic resource management and more – supporting the evolving needs of PMOs, ePMOs and SROs. Join the hundreds of customers that have partnered with KeyedIn, including Walgreens Boots Alliance, Universal Electronics and Office Depot. For more information, visit www.keyedin.com, or contact 866-662-6820. 

For more media information, contact:

Lisa Hendrickson, LCH Communications for KeyedIn
[email protected]
516-767-8390

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The PIMCO Foundation has issued a $250,000 grant to Feeding America®. The grant will help the charity provide food to people affected by increased levels of hunger and food insecurity due to COVID-19 in the United States.

These funds will support immediate food distribution across various Southern U.S. states, many of which are experiencing greater demand from individuals seeking hunger relief, particularly in communities of color which have been disproportionally impacted by the pandemic.

The grant, which supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 2 – “Zero Hunger”, will also help Feeding America to strengthen their food-banking infrastructure across the country and increase distribution in underserved communities.

“COVID-19 has highlighted and exasperated societal inequities worldwide, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable,” said Emmanuel Roman, Chief Executive Officer of PIMCO and President of the PIMCO Foundation. “This grant supports some of the most affected communities in the United States, particularly communities of color, and ensures food gets to people who need it most.”

“Food banks across the country are experiencing an increase in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Feeding America continues to work closely with its members and partners to ensure that hunger relief continues during this crisis,” said Lauren Biedron, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships at Feeding America. “Partnering with the PIMCO Foundation will help build community partnerships and increase operational capacity – all critical components to creating lasting change in the communities we help serve.”

The PIMCO Foundation is also supporting the efforts of local community food banks in Orange County, Austin and New York. PIMCO is also a key partner of The Global Foodbanking Network which works to alleviate hunger internationally. The PIMCO Foundation has donated over $2.6 million in grants supporting food banks and community assistance programs around the world in 2020.

About PIMCO 

PIMCO is one of the world’s premier fixed income investment managers. With our launch in 1971 in Newport Beach, California, PIMCO introduced investors to a total return approach to fixed income investing. In the 45+ years since, we have continued to bring innovation and expertise to our partnership with clients seeking the best investment solutions. Today we have offices across the globe and 2,150+ professionals united by a single purpose: creating opportunities for investors in every environment. PIMCO is owned by Allianz S.E., a leading global diversified financial services provider.

About
the
PIMCO Foundation

At PIMCO, we understand both the opportunity and obligation to effect meaningful social change. Our focus on hunger and gender equality reflects our belief that these are fundamental issues critical to human development and sustainable worldwide economic growth. We donate to high performing non-profit partners to support critical on-the-ground services and innovative opportunities around the globe. We invest our time, skills and expertise to drive meaningful impact in the communities where we work and live. We aim to take leadership within our industry as thought leaders and strategic partners to create solutions and advocate for change. https://global.pimco.com/en-gbl/our-firm/purpose/foundation @PIMCOFoundation

About Feeding
America

Feeding America® is the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, we provide meals to more than 40 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including the performance of financial markets, the investment performance of PIMCO’s sponsored investment products and separately managed accounts, general economic conditions, future acquisitions, competitive conditions and government regulations, including changes in tax laws. Readers should carefully consider such factors. Further, such forward-looking statements speak only on the date at which such statements are made. PIMCO undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

Contact:
Laura Batty
PIMCO – Media Relations
Ph. 949-720-6374
Email: [email protected]

SURREY, British Columbia, Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Westland Insurance Group Ltd. (“Westland”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Diamond Insurance Agencies, effective December 1, 2020. This acquisition supports Westland’s expansion strategy to serve more communities in Alberta and across Canada.

Diamond Insurance Agencies has one office located in Calgary, Alberta. Founded in 1998, their professional advisors provide residential, auto, life, travel, recreation, farm, and commercial insurance services.

“We’re very happy to be growing our network in Calgary with the addition of Diamond Insurance Agencies,” said Jamie Lyons, President & COO of Westland Insurance. “We’d like to welcome the Diamond team to the Westland family, and look forward to working with Kathy Mohacsi, Kona Nakamura, and their team of insurance experts.”

Mike Santiago, CPA, President of Santiago Consulting Inc., acted as exclusive divestiture advisor for Diamond Insurance on the transaction.

About
Westland Insurance Group

Westland Insurance Group is one of the largest and fastest-growing independent property and casualty insurance brokers in Canada. With a national network of over 150 locations and 1,600 employees, the company continues to expand coast to coast. Westland’s brokers provide expert advice to home, business, farm, life, and auto insurance clients. Since its founding in 1980, Westland has remained a family-owned company that is committed to supporting its local communities. For more information, please visit www.westlandinsurance.ca

Media Contact:

Westland Insurance Group Ltd.
Cari Watson, Vice President, Customer Experience
Phone: 604-543-7788
[email protected]
www.westlandinsurance.ca

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt announced the 2020 ‘Jingle Challenge’ to send uplifting messages to patients, families and staff. Global superstar Dolly Parton kicked off the virtual challenge on her Facebook and Instagram encouraging fans to spread messages of hope, with a goal of 10,000 holiday messages to children and staff at the Nashville children’s hospital. Artists Blake Shelton, Lauren Alaina, Jon Pardi, Sara Evans, Rascal Flatts, Lady A, Runaway June, Abby Anderson, Jillian Jacqueline, Travis Denning, and more will join Dolly this month to participate in the Jingle Challenge.  

Starting today, individuals nationwide can customize a photo with Dolly on Santa’s sleigh in the Hannah Dennison Butterfly Garden located inside the children’s hospital and send a message to patients, families and staff. The butterfly garden was renamed in 2018 in honor of and  dedicated to Dolly’s niece Hannah Dennison, a survivor of childhood cancer who received her care at Children’s Hospital. Participants can download and share their special photo with Dolly to their personal social media pages to help spread awareness and call on others to participate in the challenge. In addition to being featured on the Jingle Challenge landing page, fans around the world can also find the virtual postcard via Dolly’s own ‘Dolly Digital Sleigh’ campaign.

“Knowing that kids at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt will get to see how many people across the world are thinking of them this holiday season makes my heart happy,” said Dolly Parton. “You know, The Hannah Dennison Butterfly Garden is something we dedicated a few years back, so I know adding this picture of hope to our Dolly Digital Sleigh campaign will be a blessing to all the families.”

When individuals participate in the challenge by sending a message to the children’s hospital, they will receive a special image to post to their social channels to show that they’ve joined the challenge.

“We are so grateful to Dolly, all the participating artists and our larger community for virtually delivering messages of encouragement and support to our children, their families and our amazing staff,” said Meg Rush, MD, MMHC, President of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. “It is heartwarming to know that during this holiday season our hospital is wrapped in the caring spirit of our community, which serves as the foundation of the work we do every day as we provide hope and healing to children and families all year round.”  

For more information and to join the Jingle Challenge visit: www.jinglechallenge.com

About Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is one of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals, treating and helping to prevent a full range of pediatric health issues from colds and broken bones to complex heart diseases and cancer. Achieving 10 out of 10 nationally ranked pediatric specialties in 2020, Children’s Hospital was again named among the nation’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” for the 14^th consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report.

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, a nonprofit organization, opened in 2004, expanded its physical space in 2012, and recently added four new floors encompassing 160,000 total sq. ft. The new expansion helps to advance the size and scope of the hospital’s mission. For more about Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt: ChildrensHospitalVanderbilt.org

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Media Contact:

Brittany Rashkin

[email protected]

Natalie Logan

[email protected]

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wrapify, the performance-driven ad tech platform for brands powered by out-of-home (OOH) and the gig economy, today announced a first-of-its-kind autonomous bot delivery campaign alongside partners Kiwibot, the robotics company providing affordable and accessible delivery service and Gong, the revenue intelligence platform leveraging artificial intelligence to transform revenue teams, kicking off in San Jose and coming soon to Denver and Los Angeles.

Robotic delivery services can promise contactless delivery, a highly sought-after service under mandates of social distancing. With autonomous bots on the rise, Wrapify’s Boost provides these delivery operators with a brand-new transit media revenue stream with the ability to provide brand and agency clients robust attribution reporting, data visualization and multi-channel retargeting capabilities.

Gong has launched a campaign with Kiwibot on the streets of San Jose leveraging Boost by Wrapify’s offline-to-online advertising for transit OOH. Complete with connecting the bot’s location data, Gong is able to create a targeted audience, extend the reach of their OOH ad placement and measure performance against custom conversion goals.

“We’re always looking for ways to cut through the noise,” explained Udi Ledergor, chief marketing officer at Gong. “We’ve partnered with the Wrapify team before to hijack conference traffic with innovative out-of-home advertising and we’re excited to pilot their latest initiative with Kiwibot to explore new frontiers of engaging advertising for this new economy.”

According to eMarketer,
digital out-of-home ad spending will increase from $2.72 billion in 2020 to $3.84 billion in 2023. This campaign is a first-of-its-kind for autonomous bot delivery and of many other vehicle mediums for the Boost by Wrapify Platform.

“2020 became the year of identifying new opportunities for innovation and pushing boundaries,” said James Heller, CEO and co-founder of Wrapify. “No other ad tech company or platform encompasses all of the features that turn a fleet’s moving OOH ad placement into digital and physical retargeting with full attribution and measurement. We are creating a brand-new category of out-of-home, enabling bots to serve high-recall, street-level media that can be tracked and attributed.”

To learn more, please visit https://wrapify.com/boost/.

About Wrapify

With a powerful combination of OOH, digital and the gig economy, Wrapify empowers Fortune 500 brands to reach audiences in an omnichannel environment – while delivering measurable, actionable analytics to prove its effectiveness. This high-recall ad tech platform combines the impact of out of home advertising with the scalability, targeting and accountability of digital.

Brands including AT&T, Coca-Cola and Zoom reach and engage audiences that interact with Wrapified vehicles across channels and devices, driving awareness, attribution and conversion. Wrapify enables brands to target and scale ad campaigns nationwide, across screens and channels, as well as access to data in real time to measure performance.

280,000+ drivers in the U.S. use the Wrapify app to earn extra income simply by driving. Founded in 2015, Wrapify is headquartered in San Diego, California. Learn more at wrapify.com.

Media Contact

Alexis Roberts
Blast PR
[email protected]
805-886-8511

Wrapify Contact

Jenny Gensch
Marketing
[email protected]

HOUSTON, Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and ConocoPhillips today announced $1.3 million in grants that will conserve more than 58,000 acres of breeding, stopover and wintering bird habitat. These nine projects will protect and restore grasslands, wetlands and coastal habitats, track and monitor bird populations using innovative techniques, and facilitate conservation practices on working ranchlands. This year’s awards will support projects in Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, and will leverage more than $3 million in matching contributions for a total conservation benefit of more than $4.3 million.

The grants were awarded through the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation Program, a partnership between NFWF, ConocoPhillips and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. With a goal of conserving and recovering populations of imperiled birds, the partnership supports work to improve the quality and connectivity of important bird habitats and accelerate innovations for understanding bird conservation needs across their ranges.

“We continue to greatly value our involvement in the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation program,” said Aurelia Skipwith, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Through these landscape-level projects we are able to move the needle on our conservation efforts to protect and recover our nation’s imperiled bird populations and their habitats.”

“We congratulate this year’s SPIRIT of Conservation Program winners and their deep commitment to avian species and habitat conservation,” said Natalie Riley, director of Community Relations at ConocoPhillips. “With the number of grassland birds in steep decline and their habitat under significant threat, projects such as these are essential for saving these species and restoring the ecological balance.”

“The projects we announce today will provide valuable population information that will help guide future conservation investments, in addition to securing and enhancing vital habitat for many important bird species,” said Todd Hogrefe, director of NFWF’s Central Regional Office.  “With the strong support of ConocoPhillips and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we are excited to fund these projects that will deliver significant conservation benefits not just for birds, but for many other species as well.”

The projects supported by the nine grants announced today will:

• Restore the quality and connectivity on 25,800 acres of habitat to benefit greater sage grouse, Baird’s sparrow, chestnut-collared longspur and thick-billed longspur.
• Restore 525 acres of coastal prairie in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas to provide improved habitat for Gulf Coast grassland-dependent birds, including aplomado falcon, black rail, Botteri’s sparrow and white-tailed hawk.
• Restore 3,500 acres of wintering habitat for priority migratory grassland bird species, including Baird’s sparrow, Sprague’s pipit, chestnut-collared longspur and thick-billed longspur in the Marfa and Marathon grasslands of Texas.
• Provide technical assistance through the Grassland Restoration Incentives Program to improve habitat on 9,000 acres of priority grassland and shrubland to benefit birds in the Edwards Plateau ecoregion of Texas.
• Secure 1,432 acres of habitat for more than 160 bird species by acquiring a permanent conservation easement on a working family ranch in Carbon County, Wyoming.
• Purchase a permanent conservation easement on 309 acres along the Kasilof River on the western Kenai Peninsula to protect migratory, breeding and overwintering bird habitat.
• Provide conservation technical assistance to producers throughout the Northern Great Plains in order to create 18,000 acres of habitat for declining grassland birds.
• Identify stopover locations of birds passing through the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas to document habitat use and threats and to develop a species distribution model.
• Upgrade a network of 15 radio telemetry stations to better support monitoring of migratory birds along the Texas coast.

Since 2005, ConocoPhillips, NFWF, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have invested more than $13.9 million in projects through the SPIRIT of Conservation Program. Grantees have provided an additional $30.5 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $44.4 million. As results of these investments, more than 503,000 acres of important fish and wildlife habitat in 13 states have been conserved or restored. 

A complete list of the 2020 grants made through the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation Program is available here.     

About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation



Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate, and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 5,000 organizations and generated a total conservation impact of $6.1 billion. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.

About the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals, and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.

About ConocoPhillips

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips had operations and activities in 15 countries, $63 billion of total assets, and approximately 9,800 employees at Sept. 30, 2020. Production excluding Libya averaged 1,108 MBOED for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2020, and proved reserves were 5.3 BBOE as of Dec. 31, 2019. For more information, go to www.conocophillips.com.

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LOS ANGELES, Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Imperial Capital Group, LLC (“Imperial Capital”) announced today the hiring of Amer Tiwana who will be charged with leading its sales & trading desk analysis strategy in distressed and special situations. Mr. Tiwana, an investment analyst with nearly 20 years on Wall Street, is based in Stamford, CT and reports to Tim Sullivan, President of Imperial Capital. This new hire is part of Imperial Capital’s efforts to expand and deepen its alternative credit strategy which provides distressed and esoteric asset solutions to institutional investors in the U.S. and the EEA.

“With distressed and special situations becoming an important focus for us and the institutional investor community, we hired Amer Tiwana to lead our sales and trading desk analysis efforts in this area,” said Tim Sullivan, President of Imperial Capital. “Amer joins Imperial with extensive credit analysis experience and an established track record within both the US and European markets, further distinguishing Imperial as a global leader in distressed and special situations analysis.”

Amer Tiwana joins Imperial Capital as a Managing Director, Head of Distressed & Special Situations Strategy in the Credit Sales & Trading Group based in Stamford, CT. Prior to joining Imperial Capital, Mr. Tiwana was a Managing Director with Cowen/CRT for nearly 15 years where he focused on stressed/distressed opportunities across the entire capital structure, event-driven/special situations including M&A and Spin-offs, and post reorganized equities. Mr. Tiwana began his career as an Equity Analyst at the Hedge Fund Morgens, Waterfall and Vintiadis & Co. in New York. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College.

About Imperial Capital, LLC

Imperial Capital, LLC is a full-service investment bank offering a uniquely integrated platform of comprehensive services to institutional investors and middle market companies. We offer sophisticated sales and trading services to institutional investors and a wide range of investment banking advisory, capital markets and restructuring services to middle market corporate clients. Paired with our proprietary research and sales & trading desk analysis, we provide investment analysis across an issuer’s capital structure, including bank loans, debt securities, the hybrid/bank capital marketplace (through our ELP Framework), post-reorganization equities, special situations claims and listed and unlisted equities. Our comprehensive and integrated service platform, expertise across the global capital structure, and deep industry sector knowledge enable us to provide clients with research driven ideas, superior advisory services, and trade execution. We are quick to identify opportunities under any market conditions and we have a proven track record of offering creative, proprietary solutions to our clients. Imperial Capital, LLC has three principal businesses: Investment Banking, Institutional Sales & Trading and Institutional Research. More information about Imperial Capital, LLC can be found at www.imperialcapital.com.

For more information regarding Imperial Capital, please contact:
Mark Martis
+1 310 246 3674
[email protected]

About Imperial Capital (International), LLP

Imperial Capital International, founded in 2011, is an affiliate of Imperial Capital, LLC with an office in central London. Complementing Imperial Capital’s existing corporate credit sales and trading franchise, Imperial Capital International expanded the Imperial Capital franchise into the EEA. The company focuses on the entire credit spectrum and takes a full capital structure research approach to supplement sales and trading services to its European institutional clients.

For more information regarding Imperial Capital (International), LLP, please contact:
Emma McClintock
+ 44 (0) 207 650 5429
[email protected]