Latest news with #PaperMate
Techday NZ
4 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Newell Brands harnesses Adobe AI to boost content creation speed
Newell Brands has expanded its partnership with Adobe to integrate generative artificial intelligence (AI) solutions into its content supply chain. The collaboration sees Newell Brands utilising Adobe Firefly and Adobe Express, along with other Adobe tools, across its portfolio which includes brands such as Sharpie, Rubbermaid, and Yankee Candle. Efficiency gains Through the adoption of Adobe Firefly Services, Firefly Custom Models, and Adobe Express, Newell Brands has reported significant efficiency improvements in content production workflows. According to the company, the creation of Paper Mate packaging content accelerated by 75%, and the time required to generate social media assets for Oster products was reduced by 33%. This implementation is part of Newell Brands' broader omnichannel marketing and content strategy, which aims to enhance engagement with both consumers and retail partners across various platforms, including social media and e-commerce. Newell Brands has expanded its use of Adobe's enterprise content supply chain solutions, such as Adobe Workfront and Experience Manager, from campaign planning through to asset management and content production. Strategic partnership Melanie Huet, Co-CEO, Home & Commercial Segment at Newell Brands, detailed the company's rationale for expanding its partnership with Adobe. She said, "As part of our corporate strategy to win in the marketplace, we are investing in solutions that help us deliver superior brand communications. We wanted a partner who could help us connect the Newell Brands ecosystem thereby enabling faster, higher quality content creation that can be leveraged globally with ease." "We ultimately decided to expand our partnership with Adobe, a longtime trusted partner with best-in-class tools that can be used directly in our existing workflows. We leaned into Adobe to rebuild our content supply chain and integrate our marketing technology stack with a vision of delivering five times more content, unlocking significant efficiency gains and improving the effectiveness of our brand communications." Brent Rudewick, Vice President of Adobe GenStudio, commented on the demand for scalable content production solutions amid increasing global marketing needs. He said, "Businesses expect the demand for content to rise dramatically over the next few years, putting marketers and creatives under incredible pressure to deliver assets that support global marketing efforts and can drive customer engagement. As Newell Brands looks to expand its reach to new audiences, Adobe's AI-enabled enterprise solutions will empower the company to unify creativity and marketing, scaling the production of standout content that anchors impactful customer experiences." AI-driven production By deploying Adobe's generative AI offerings such as Firefly Services and Firefly Custom Models, Newell Brands can automate and streamline repetitive tasks including resizing content for different digital channels and adapting backgrounds for various regions and campaigns. These services also allow the company to train the generative AI models on their own proprietary assets, maintaining consistency and adherence to brand guidelines across teams. Specifically, the use of Firefly Custom Models in the production of Paper Mate packaging resulted in a 75% increase in speed for content creation, significantly reducing time to market. The firm expects to deliver thousands of additional creative assets annually by optimising these processes. Expanding content creation capabilities Newell Brands is also rolling out Adobe Express across its marketing and creative departments. Adobe Express provides templates and tools for easy content creation while ensuring compliance with brand guidelines defined by Newell's creative teams. The platform incorporates generative AI features, allowing users to produce assets that are both on-brand and secure for commercial purposes. In the Latin American market, the deployment of Adobe Express allowed the Newell team to create a style guide featuring approved logos, colours, fonts and templates. This led to a 33% reduction in the time needed for producing Oster social content, equating to the production of 52 assets in 8 hours rather than 12 hours previously. Workflow integration These Adobe services build on Newell Brands' continued use of Adobe Workfront for managing campaign planning and production assignments, as well as Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets for overseeing the company's digital asset library. Together, these platforms allow Newell Brands to efficiently govern, activate and deliver content across a wide array of digital channels such as websites and mobile applications. By integrating these solutions, the company aims to respond with greater agility to shifting market requirements and consumer preferences for engaging and relevant content.
The Independent
30-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Tariff turmoil prompts cloudy forecasts from companies for the year ahead
Uncertainty continues to hang over the latest round of financial results and forecasts for companies both big and small as they try to navigate a global trade system severely shaken by a shift in U.S. policy. Tariffs and the stark shift in policy has also shaken consumer and business confidence. The U.S. economy shrank during the first quarter of the year, its first drop in three years. Consumer spending ramped up in March, likely an effort to get ahead of tariffs, but fell for the entire quarter. Meanwhile, companies have been pulling back on hiring. Roughly half of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported their latest quarterly financial results, but the focus has been on how they will adjust to tariffs and any change in consumers' behavior. The focus remains blurry for both companies and investors because of the on-again-off-again nature of President Donald Trump's policy Trump has implemented a range of tariffs on goods from some of the biggest U.S. trading partners and many of those countries have hit back with retaliatory tariffs. At the same time, Trump has pulled back or postponed some tariffs. The situation remains unpredictable and that is problematic for companies trying to plan ahead and investors looking for stability. Here's what companies are saying about tariffs and the potential impact: Caterpillar Caterpillar's latest profit and revenue results fell sharply from a year ago and they also missed Wall Street forecasts. The heavy machinery maker and industrial bellwether is among the many companies giving investors an uncertain forecast. Its equipment is used by the construction, mining and energy industries. Wall Street often uses Caterpillar's financial position and forecasts as a gauge for how well those industries are performing or will potentially perform in the quarter and year ahead. Without any impact from tariffs, the company expects sales and revenue in 2025 to match the prior year. With the current tariffs in place, sales and revenue are expected to dip slightly. Stanley Black & Decker Stanley Black & Decker said it raised prices in April and plans to raise prices again in the third quarter of the year as a reaction to tariffs. The maker of drills and other tools trimmed its earnings forecast for the year, based on the impact of tariffs and planned adjustments to its supply chain. 'In light of the current environment, we are accelerating adjustments to our supply chain and exploring all options as we seek to minimize the impact of tariffs on end users while balancing the need to protect our business and our ability to innovate for years to come,' said CEO Donald Allan, Jr., in a statement. Newell Brands Newell Brands has not changed its current financial forecast for the year, but warned that tariffs on China could take a big bite out of profits if they stand. The company makes ubiquitous consumer goods under brand names including Rubbermaid, Paper Mate and Coleman. It expects that tariffs on China, if they stand, to shave 20 cents per share from earnings. Newell Brands said it is already working on actions that could cut that impact in half. Barclays British bank Barclays saw its profit in the first-quarter of the year spike by a fifth largely as a result of a boom in trading activity sparked by the turmoil in financial markets following the array of tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump. Barclays said the 16% increase in income across its investment banking division to nearly 4 billion pounds ($5.3 billion) outweighed the hit to dealmaking from tariff and economic uncertainty. As a result. net profit rose 20% to 2.1 billion pounds. Still, the bank said it has set aside more cash for bad debts due to worries over the American economy as a result of the uncertainty. Barclays has an exposure to the tariff woes and U.S. economy through its sizable operations in America, where it has 20 million customers. CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said the group remains 'very committed' to its U.S. business, despite the clouded outlook for the American economy. GSK U.K.-based drugmaker GSK, formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline, has said it is 'well positioned' to cope with any financial impact from changes to U.S. tariff rules. The company maintained its financial guidance for the year despite uncertainty over U.S. tariffs, with the Trump administration currently investigating whether to change tariff policy for the pharmaceuticals sector. GSK was among pharmaceutical firms to recently call on the European Union to allow them to increase prices amid uncertainty over tariffs in the sector, warning Europe it will fall further behind the U.S. without stronger investment. Sysco Sysco cut its forecast for the year amid uncertainties over how tariffs will impact consumer spending. The food distributor purchases more than 90% of its products in each country that it operates within. That leaves it less exposed to tariff cost impacts than other industries, it said. 'Our main concern is the negative impact that tariff noise and volatility is clearly having on end consumer confidence and sentiment,' said CEO Kevin Hourican, in a conference call with analysts. First Solar First Solar slashed its earnings forecast for the year and is considering idling some facilities because of the impact from tariffs. The solar power technology company said that it currently operates international manufacturing facilities in India to serve markets in India and the U.S. Its manufacturing facilities in Malaysia and Vietnam almost exclusively serves the U.S. market and it may have to reduce operations there or possibly idle those facilities. ___
South China Morning Post
10-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Why China's grip on American life will stay unshaken, Trump tariffs or not
When US President Donald Trump signed the historic tariff orders that launched the global tariff war on April 2, the pen he used could well have been made in China. Advertisement Even if we leave aside that particular pen, the paperwork that follows will mainly be processed with tools sourced from Chinese factories, which now face an accumulated American tariff of around 115 per cent. The irony underscores a deeper truth about the US-China trade relationship: tariffs meant to punish Beijing often end up hitting American consumers hardest while failing to dislodge China's dominance in everyday goods. The most affected American people are those who can least afford a more expensive alternative because many of these Chinese goods are small daily necessities. US trade data reveals a startling reality: about 85 per cent of the pens and pencils in the United States are made in China. In 2022 alone, Americans bought US$430 million worth of pens from Chinese suppliers. Even leading brands such as Bic and Paper Mate rely on Chinese components. The mountains of paperwork unleashed by the president's wild economic gamble will become much more expensive after this week, and there is no real alternative in sight. China claims 80 per cent of the global market share of stationery. Advertisement It is not just the writing instruments. When Trump's deeply religious faithful go to church to pray for a trade war victory, the Bibles in their hands are most likely to have been printed… again in China! Amity Printing Company in Nanjing, China is the world's largest Bible producer. Since 1987, it has printed over 200 million copies of 'the good book', all for export. About half of these are estimated to be sold to the American market. According to US International Trade Commission data, atheist China accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of America's religious book imports.
