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Because Somersault (@smrsault) is interested in effectively communicating messages, whether it’s a subject line on an email message, a day-long seminar, or a long-term branding campaign, we’re sharing with you this video that poignantly demonstrates what NOT to do when attempting to reach an audience during a presentation. It’s produced for Habitudes For Communicators by Tim Elmore (@TimElmore), president of Growing Leaders (@GrowingLeaders). Can you relate to it? ☺

Let Somersault help you clearly communicate your message (your content) to your audience.

The long-lasting value of branding can be seen in the news. Maureen Farrell (@maureenmfarrell) of CNNMoney (@CNNMoneyMarkets) writes that “neither bankruptcy nor a liquidation can kill iconic brands.”

Before the ink was even dry on Hostess Brands' bankruptcy filing, interested buyers were already digging into the potential value of the Hostess name and [its brands]....

Should Hostess Brands choose to liquidate rather than reorganize, the brand names - Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread - will very likely live on.

Buyers have made multi-million dollar bets on brand names like Polaroid, Sharper Image, and even Borders that continue to resonate with consumers even after the parent company has liquidated.

“The marketplace has, without question, become a lot more sophisticated in terms of intellectual property since the world came to an end in the fourth quarter of 2008,” said Jason Frank, a managing director in Hilco's appraisal business which values liquidated brands. “Before that everyone knew brand names were worth something but no one put much value on it.”

....Many potential buyers are also weighing the value of Kodak's brand-name since there's been a lot of talk that it may consider filing for bankruptcy. For now the company plans to restructure out of court.

....even brands with significantly less cache like Borders can attract eight-figure investments. Barnes & Noble spent $13.9 million to buy the rights to its defunct rival’s brand name....

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) and let us help you plan your brand strategy.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Branding tab.

Dwight Silverman (@dsilverman), tech blogger/columnist and blog editor for the Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron), says, “The book business is not changing fast enough.... Most of the changes still involve readers paying a publisher for one book, written by an author. Digital formats can enable more creative and reader-friendly innovations. Here are five things I'd like to see book publishers and retailers do that would really kick off a reading revolution.”

·         Let me subscribe to my favorite authors….

·         Keep books updated for one price….

·         Buy a print copy, get an electronic copy, too….

·         Give more of my money to authors….

·         Indie bookstores should sell ebooks….

Read this in full.

Bookmark and use daily our (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard created especially for publishing and marketing executives.

Book lover Sean Ohlenkamp (@ohkamp), an associate art director at Lowe Roche (@loweroche), spent 4 nights at independent Canadian bookstore Type Books (@typebooks) shooting this whimsical stop-motion video tribute to books.

The above video was inspired by the one below, which Ohlenkamp and his wife created last year with the books in his home.

Read The Huffington Post (@HuffPostCanada) story in full.

Bookmark and use daily our (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard, designed for book lovers.

As reported in The Christian Post, BibleGateway.com, the highest ranked (according to Alexa) website in the world for Bible search activity, is now featuring the Common English Bible (Twitter @CommonEngBible – http://twitter.com/CommonEngBible) in its Verse of the Day free email subscription (http://www.biblegateway.com/newsletters/). And Patheos.com, the international online hub for faith communities, is now featuring the Common English Bible as its Daily Verse, appearing on its Library Bible Resources page (http://www.patheos.com/Library/Bible-Resources.html), Evangelical Portal (http://www.patheos.com/Religion-Portals/Evangelical.html), and Progressive Christian Portal (http://www.patheos.com/Religion-Portals/Progressive-Christian.html).

The free-to-search text of the Common English Bible, including the Apocrypha, is available online at the translation’s website (http://www.commonenglishbible.com/Explore/PassageLookup/tabid/210/Default.aspx), Bible Gateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/Common-English-Bible-CEB/), and YouVersion (http://www.youversion.com/bible/ceb). A Bible Passage Lookup widget is also available (http://www.commonenglishbible.com/Explore/PassageLookupWidget/tabid/393/Default.aspx) for placement on personal websites.

The Common English Bible is on the January CBA Bible Translation Best Seller list (based on actual unit sales in Christian retail stores in the United States through Dec. 3, 2011) (http://cbaonline.org/nm/documents/BSLs/Bible_Translations.pdf). Its debut on the list in December came after being in stores just less than three months.

More than 150 international bloggers are currently participating in the three-month long “Thank You-Come Again-I Promise” blog tour (from November 2011 through January 2012). The tour’s Twitter hashtag is #CEBtour (http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23CEBTour). The complete tour schedule, and information about joining the tour, is available at CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour (http://www.CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour).

And the completion of the Common English Bible after four years of translation work was named one of the top 10 religion stories of 2011 as decided by leading international religion journalists in the 30th annual Religion Newswriters Association survey (http://www.rna.org/news/79176/2011-Top-10-Religion-Stories-of-the-Year.htm) and by editors of the Associated Baptist Press (http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/7035/53/).

“There’s a reason the Common English Bible is receiving such a positive and popular reception,” says Paul Franklin, PhD, associate publisher. “It’s probably the most literal Bible translation, built on common ground with academic rigor and denomination neutrality, which clearly communicates ancient sacred text in understandable 21st century English.”

The Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 Bible scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world. The translators – from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities – represent such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.

The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY—using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are already in print, including an edition with the Apocrypha. The Common English Bible is available for purchase online and in 20 digital formats. A Reference Bible edition and a Daily Companion devotional edition are now also available. Additionally, in 2012, Church/Pew Bibles, Gift and Award Bibles, Large Print Bibles, and Children’s Bible editions will be in stores, joining the existing Thinline Bibles, Compact Thin Bibles, and Pocket-Size Bibles, bringing the total variety of Common English Bible stock-keeping units (SKUs) to more than 40.

Visit CommonEnglishBible.com to see comparison translations, learn about the translators, get free downloads, and more.

The Common English Bible is sponsored by the Common English Bible Committee, an alliance of five publishers that serve the general market, as well as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Chalice Press), Presbyterian Church (USA) (Westminster John Knox Press), Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, Inc.), United Church of Christ (The Pilgrim Press), and The United Methodist Church (Abingdon Press).

For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com at 1.800.927.1517.

A CNET (@CNET) article by Eric Mack (@EricCMack) reports on a new tablet poll by Maritz Research (@MaritzResearch) that simplifies the tablet market into 4 types of tablet customers based on the responses – low-end buyers, newcomers, single-minded buyers, and tablet-committed buyers. Statistically, 3 of the 4 types are dominated by women.

In other words, the profile of the average low-end buyer, tablet newcomer, and single-minded buyer (someone only interested in one particular tablet, most often the iPad) are all women in their 40s.

Single-minded buyers (21%): 60% female, average age is 41. iPad-only. Little familiarity with other brands, 78% purchasing the Apple iPad. 40% make purchase decision within 2 weeks.

Tablet-committed buyers (44%): 56% male, average age is 38. Highly aware of 3 or more brands, open to purchasing any brand. 58% purchasing iPad. 34% make purchase decision within 2 weeks.

Newcomers (13%): 60% female, average age is 46 and 29% over 55. Know Tablet brand names, but nothing else. 58% purchasing the iPad. 28% purchase within 2 weeks.

Low-end buyers (22%): 54% women, average age is 41, buy tablets based on price, want to spend less than $250, 45% purchasing the Amazon Kindle Fire, 39% make purchase decision within 2 weeks.

The household income of all four groups is roughly around $70,000 on average. Even the low-end buyers don't have a much lower average household income, at $62,000 a year.

Read this in full.

Read the poll in full.

Also see our previous blogpost, “New Study Reveals Generational Differences in Mobile Device Usage.”

Bookmark and use daily our SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Research tab.

Video by TO-FU Motion Graphics Studio (@tofu_design).

Bookmark and use daily our SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Innovation tab.

Wayne State University’s (@WayneState) Word Warriors (@wordwarriors) has as its objective “to retrieve some of the English language's most expressive words from the dank closet of neglect, in hopes of boosting their chances of a return to conversation and narrative.” See how many on the list you can work into your vocabulary today:

Antediluvian – Antiquated; old-fashioned; out of date.

Erstwhile – Former; bygone. Rampantly misused.

Execrable – Atrocious; wretched; abominable.

Frisson – That sudden, involuntary shiver we may feel at times of great emotion.

Parlous – Dangerous or risky.

Penultimate – Next to last.

Sisyphean – Actually or apparently endless and futile.

Supercilious – Contemptuous; disdainful; condescending.

Transmogrify – To change completely, usually grotesquely, in appearance or form.

Truckle – Submit obsequiously; be subservient; kowtow.

Read this in full.

Michigan Radio (@MichiganRadio) reporter Jennifer Guerra (@RadioJenG) uses all 10 words in her radio report.

What words would you like to bring back into common usage? Parsimonious? Bellicose? Pedestrian? Parlance? Keen? Mendacious? What others?