vedio games

BRANDING NEWS: Workplace launches promotional video game

Cloud-based workforce management provider Workplace has embraced 16-bit-inspired gamification and launched a video game offering users the opportunity to assume the role of a retail operations manager.
Workplace: The Game, it is claimed, represents a retail industry first, and is a ‘simplified parody of the real life scheduling and forecasting modules of Workplace’s software.’
The game’s launch is designed to celebrate Workplace’s continued success with its proprietary Schedule Quality Rating (SQR).
Britt Davies, chief marketing officer at Workplace, said: “The SQR is part of delivering the Workplace vision: Your workforce, simpler to manage. The one-to-five star score indicates the quality of a schedule, and places managers in healthy competition with one another.
“The gamification element of the platform has proved to be effective for clients in driving sales as well as employee engagement, so what better way to celebrate this success than by creating a fun and engaging video game that incorporates the SQR element of the Workplace proposition.”
To test your skills on Workplace: the game,

BRANDING NEWS: Alpari chooses Bloomberg TV to launch new trading platform

Global financial trading technology provider Alpari is looking to capture the high pressure world of global foreign exchange, metals and CFD [derivatives] trading in a new TV campaign for its MT4 trading platform.
The integrated campaign centres around a 40 second TV ad, created by Atomic London, which is being aired on Bloomberg TV in the UK, Europe and the Middle East, but also includes out-of-home activity in the City of London and press advertising in City AM and Money Week. Below-the-line activity will also be used, targeting specific individuals and niche groups.
The TV ad promotes a number of technologies on the MT4 platform, as well as a free social network platform enabling individuals to network and exchange ideas and discuss strategies with like-minded traders. Bloomberg was chosen as the broadcast channel because Alpari is banned from utilising mainstream broadcasters by its regulator the Financial Conduct Authority.
Chantelle Johnson, global head of marketing for Alpari, comments: “In a market crowded with forex [foreign exchange] brokers’ advertising, we wanted to create a truly standout campaign focusing on the needs of our traders and how the company responded to them.
"The result is a beautifully shot film capturing dynamics of the market, the passion and dedication that drives traders and how as a company we are committed to putting their needs first.”
The ad was directed by Cannes Lions-winning director Ben Liam Jones.
Variations and adaptations of the ad are planned to run beyond the initial nine-week run, and into 2014.
• Alpari is continuing to run advertising around its sponsorship of elite sailing event the Alpari World Match Racing Tour, and West Ham FC, for whom it is shirt sponsor.
 ET Now: Your expectations are on the upper end for Infosys. What makes you so bullish? Do you expect a stronger than previous quarter both in terms of volume growth and pricing?

Sandeep Muthangi: I will not go into the details of volume or pricing, but in general, things have been good for Indian IT companies this year. This year actually we are witnessing a unique phenomenon. Despite the global IT vendors like Accenture, ERP services players like OracleBSE 0.52 % or SAP not having a great quarter, Indian IT is disproportionately benefiting from certain trends in the demand environment. These trends include great demand for short-term discretionary projects, lots of demand for offshore services and things like that. Companies are benefiting, InfosysBSE 0.72 % is also benefiting and we have also seen Infosys being fairly aggressive with respect to infrastructure services offerings or even with respect to its traditional ADM services. So things have improved for Indian IT this year. Q2 is a seasonally strong quarter, but it is natural that these companies will have a better Q2. So, my growth rate estimate for Infosys is about 3% this quarter. We should also keep in mind that this quarter companies will in general be impacted by the cross-currency headwinds. The US dollar has appreciated a lot against the emerging market currencies and also against the Australian dollar. Infosys has a lot of exposure to the Australian dollar. So that will impact the dollar revenue growth rates in general. I expect things to be better than last quarter for Infosys.

ET Now: But how much of the good news is already in the price? Infosys is not at 2800, it is at 3100 now.

Sandeep Muthangi: The market always thinks all the news is in the price. So you are asking me how much of good news is a bit of an oxymoron. Anyways, I think it is very difficult to predict how much of it is in the price especially when it comes to Infosys. We know the stock price reactions over the two years. Last quarter, it was down 21%, the quarter before that it was up 17%. So we have a history of expectations not being in the price of Infosys. I would not want to comment on something that has turned out to be a bit of a gamble in these years, but if you look at it from a medium to long-term perspective, things have been on an improving wicket for Infosys.

ET Now: Infosys is wildly owned by institutional investors and if an institutional client walks up to you and if his query is: I cannot digest a 15-16% volatility, give me an advice, should I buy Infosys ahead of numbers or should I sell Infosys ahead of numbers and you have to give me a crystal clear answer, how would you address this query?

Sandeep Muthangi: We are not traders. We analyse companies and invest from a long-term point of view. So, from that point of view, even our target prices will be based on a one year timeframe. Things have improved and I have a positive recommendation on Infosys.

ET Now: So it is a buy even at 3120?

Sandeep Muthangi: Yes, it is a buy.

ET Now: Apart from the basic headline which is about guidance and large deals and management commentary, in terms of specific fine print, what would you be monitoring from tomorrow's number?

Sandeep Muthangi: I will actually be monitoring the guidance pretty closely. Though you said guidance is one of the things that you would not want to monitor, but that is one of the things that I would be monitoring. I will tell you why. If Infosys were to give a 3% growth this quarter, then if they were to maintain the guidance even at the top end, that just means that the company does not have to grow for the next two quarters. So they have to increase the guidance to give any credibility into a lot of things about the company. Hence, I would be monitoring the guidance and if they do not increase the guidance, I will take it as a bit of a negative surprise. Then the other thing that I will be monitoring is the pricing at Infosys. So, if things have improved, then I do not think that the pricing should fall down a lot and that is definitely not the commentary that we are reading from the other companies. I will be monitoring the pricing a bit and if they have a worse than expected pricing fall in this quarter, then I will be monitoring that also.

The other thing is on the margins itself. In this quarter, there is a massive tailwind for the Indian IT which is because of the rupee's depreciation. So all Indian IT companies should have a tailwind of about 250 to 300 basis points. Now Infosys will have wage hikes, it will have other cost pressures and may be pricing is a bit of a headwind. But if the margins do not improve by more than 50 bps for Infosys quarter on quarter, I will take that as a bit of a negative.
rahulsingh1
pgdm 1 st year