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Here’s a statistic you might not have known: an estimated 700,000 people die each year due to the growing number of infections resistant to treatment. Known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), this “silent killer” and looming public health threat has severe social and economic consequences that could have a lasting impact on families, individuals and communities across the globe.

How best to tackle that problem will be the subject of the World Antimicrobial Resistance Congress later this month. Now in its fourth year, the Congress will take place October 25-26, 2018 here in Washington, DC, where over 400 stakeholders from around the world will discuss strategies and commercial approaches to combat AMR.

This year’s event will consist of three streams on Antibiotic R&D, Diagnostics, and Antimicrobial Stewardship, as well as a fourth stream called Innovation Showcase where antibiotic biotech companies and diagnostics innovators will be pitching to investors.

One of the highlights of this year’s show will be the keynote panel entitled Coordinated Pull, where our panelists will discuss how to make tangible “pull” incentives a reality. Dr. Gregory Frank, BIO’s director of infectious diseases policy, will be moderating the panel. He will be joined by:

• Mark Jones, Head of Clinical Development and Preclinical Development, Basilea Pharmaceutica
• Jeremy Knox, Policy and Advocacy Lead, Drug-Resistant Infections Programme, Wellcome Trust
• Amanda Jezek, Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations, Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)
• Silas Holland, Director of Infectious Diseases Policy, Merck
• Christine Årdal, Senior Advisor, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and Co-Lead, DRIVE-A

These leaders will analyze different commercial models, mainly market entry rewards, transferable vouchers, and FDA proposed licensing model, from a multi stakeholder approach.

Since 2015, the World Antimicrobial Resistance Congress has been the go-to global meeting for AMR stakeholders, and this year’s event is supposed to be the best yet! More information and registration details may be found here.

Facebook today released new information regarding a data attack that compromised the personal data of 30 million users.

First reported on September 28 — approximately three days after the full issue was allegedly first discovered — a vulnerability in Facebook’s “View As” feature allowed hackers to gain unauthorized access to private account information for personal user accounts.

It was originally estimated that 50 million users were impacted. That number has now been lowered to 30 million.

Here’s the latest on the issue from Facebook, and how marketers should be prepared for what comes next.

The Latest Information From Facebook on the Data Attack

There were two key items in the update from Facebook today:

1. The number of people affected: Facebook estimates that 30 millions accounts had their private data compromised, which is fewer than the original figure of 50 million.
2. The nature of the personal data obtained by hackers.

Of the 30 million users affected by the incident, 15 million of them had two sets of information compromised: their names and their contact details. Information within the latter includes user phone numbers, email addresses, or both, depending on what each user disclosed on their profiles.

For another 14 million users, hackers gained those same two sets of information, as well as a plethora of personal details. These include:

• Username
• Gender
• Locale/language
• Relationship status
• Religion
• Hometown
• Self-reported current city
• Birthdate
• Device types used to access Facebook
• Education
• Work
• The last 10 places they checked into or were tagged in
• Website
• People or Pages they follow
• Their 15 most recent searches

Users can see whether or not they were affected by the security issue here.

New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac was one of the millions impacted back the attack, and shared the details of what affected users might see on Twitter.

now the negative: if you’ve been affected by this attack, this is the wealth of personal information they’ve accessed.

the below screen is for my personal account, which was affected. thanks Facebook! pic.twitter.com/aa7jaEepro

– rat king (@MikeIsaac)
October 12, 2018

Users who were likely not impacted might see this message on the aforementioned link:

Facebook said today that the FBI is investigating the attack — the latter has reportedly requested that the company not publicly discuss who might be behind it.

What Marketers and Businesses Should Know

Perhaps most troubling about the information revealed today is the nature of information scraped by hackers — particularly user search and location history.

If your password is stolen, you change your password. The damage is done and you move on.

But if all your identifying personal information is stolen? You can’t change that. It could haunt you for the rest of your life.

– Will Oremus (@WillOremus)
October 12, 2018

This is far from the first time Facebook has dealt with high-profile security issues. Over the past two years, the site has been repeatedly weaponized by foreign actors in coordinated misinformation campaigns. The personal data of 87 million of its users was improperly harvested by an app developer. 

Could this latest data attack be the last straw for users?

While 60% of the users we surveyed when news of it first broke said that the breach has not caused them to stop using Facebook, or delete their accounts — these latest details might change their minds.

Feeling good about my decision to delete facebook this week. My email and phone number were hacked pic.twitter.com/08S65RUNIk

– Steve Kovach (@stevekovach)
October 12, 2018

That number could remain steady, and we plan to measure it as news of these details continues to reach the public. But in the meantime, marketers might want to re-examine what their plans and strategies could look like with a drop in their Facebook audiences. 

According to earlier reports, Facebook Business Page engagement has dropped by an average of 50% over the past year. Combined with these latest events, some businesses might reevaluate how they use the site.

This is a developing story that we will update as more details emerge.

Writing for The Hill, Steve Forbes, Forbes Media Chairman and Editor in Chief, delivered a simple message to the American people about the implications of drug importation: “Your health could be put in unnecessary danger soon.”

Let’s rewind to July, when Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar directed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to establish a drug importation working group. Azar stated that he was open to a variety of solutions, as long as they are “effective, safe for patients and respect choice, innovation, and access.” But as the facts show, importing medicines from abroad do not meet any of these requirements.

As Forbes points out, four former FDA commissioners who served under both President Bush and President Obama had a front row seat into the dangerous, counterfeit global medicine marketplace which is alarmingly deceptive.

“[The] vast majority of internet sites that advertise as being Canadian are actually based in South America, Eastern Europe and Russia,” the group stated.

It’s often assumed that buying drugs from highly developed Western countries like Canada poses little to no safety risks. This claim, however, cannot be further from reality.

Sure, the Canadian government works to ensure the safety and authenticity of medicines entering their market that are intended for use by patients in Canada, but they do not apply those standards for medicines intended only for export. The Canadian government has even stated, “Health Canada does not assure that products being sold to U.S. citizens are safe, effective, and of high quality, and does not intend to do so in the future.”

These concerns are also backed by a number of current and former law enforcement officials who have sounded similar alarms about allowing drugs from foreign countries to flow into our communities.

The National Sheriff’s Association stated that importing medicines from abroad would “jeopardize law enforcement’s ability to protect the public health; threaten the safety of our drug supply; and endanger law enforcement officers, their canines, and other first responders across America.”

Louis Freeh, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, added that drug importation could “force law enforcement agencies to make tough prioritization decisions that leave the safety of the U.S. prescription drug supply vulnerable to criminals seeking to harm patients.”

And George Karavetsos, former director of the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations and Assistant United States Attorney, warned that importing counterfeit prescription drugs could lead to an uptick in deadly, illegal opioids.

To put the risks in perspective, the Wall Street Journal recently shared the story of a young man who lost his life after taking a counterfeit medicine to help him fall asleep. The medication in question was purchased on the black market and laced with a deadly dose of fentanyl.

“All risk with no reward does not sound like great policy,” Forbes concluded. “If patients cannot trust and rely on the safety of their treatments, the cost benefit of importing these risky medications, or the hope of innovative medical discoveries, then what good is importation as policy anyway?”

Read the full op-ed here, and visit DrugCostFacts.org to learn more about the dangers of drug importation.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan used the phrase “It’s Morning in America” as a now famous campaign message to reassure American’s that his economic policies were working. Fast forward nearly 25 years later and it is now past midnight in America – at least for those who contribute to the U.S. biobased economy and rely on key Farm Bill energy titles.

As Brent Erickson, BIO’s Executive Vice President for the Industrial and Environmental section, explains in an op-ed for Biofuels Digest, because the Farm Bill expired as the calendar turned to October funds for critical Farm Bill energy title programs that many in rural America rely on are now in jeopardy. These programs, representing a drop in the bucket in terms of overall Farm Bill spending, have become substantial sources of federal support for companies at the core of the burgeoning biobased economy – an economy that BIO estimates is valued at $205 billion, generating 1.665 million jobs.

And while the bill’s energy title programs cost little, the positive impacts are real.  Erickson argues that the Senate’s version of the Farm Bill energy title should be passed to continue building on the positive gains.

Read the full piece below, or at Biofuels Digest by clicking here.

On September 30^th, the 2018 Farm Bill officially expired. And while both chambers of Congress passed their respective bills, the final version of the legislation that supports the agricultural sector in the U.S. is still being negotiated between House and Senate leaders in conference committee. Now it appears efforts to finalize the legislation will be delayed until after the election. If Congress does not pass a new bill by the end of the year, they risk having to go back to the drawing board after a new Congress is sworn in January 3^rd– a Congress that could look significantly different.

Because of this, Congress should pass the Senate version of the Farm Bill energy title without delay to ensure funding for these programs so manufacturers – many based in Rural America – can continue strengthening the burgeoning biobased economy.

Over the past year, BIO has been working to improve upon the existing Farm Bill energy title programs and reauthorize them with mandatory funding. Because of our leadership, the Senate Farm Bill energy title expands eligibility to renewable chemicals and biobased products, with mandatory funding. Supporting these technologies is economically sound policy. The U.S. biobased economy has made significant strides due to the Farm Bill energy title. A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) analysis found that biobased products contributed $393 billion to the U.S. economy, generating 4.223 million jobs. Support for these programs will ensure continued domestic growth of this sector.

One of the key energy title programs is the USDA BioPreferred Program®, which helps establish a market for companies developing renewable chemicals and biobased products by prioritizing the procurement of these products by federal agencies and their contractors. Additionally, the program issues a USDA certified renewable chemical and biobased label – ensuring the product is biobased – to manufacturers across the country, helping companies promote their products to consumers. As a result of BIO’s advocacy, the Senate bill strengthens the program to ensure certification of new renewable chemicals and biobased product processes and technologies, through the application of a biobased mass balance test method. This will increase the use of renewable feedstocks, benefitting the biobased sector and agricultural producers by making more feedstocks available for producers and creating an expanded value-added market.

By helping companies promote their renewable chemicals and biobased products, thus increasing sales, the Farm Bill’s BioPreferred Program supports millions of jobs in the renewable chemicals and biobased products industry across the country and gloablly. According to USDA, in Texas alone, the biobased products industry is valued at more than $6.8 billion and creates more than 88,000 jobs. Therefore, funding of the BioPreferred Program® is essential to generating job growth in the U.S.

The Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance program is critical to the growth of the biobased economy and is also at risk if the Farm Bill is not finalized before the end of the year. Because of BIO’s advocacy, the Senate version of the program will support companies who are developing first-of-a-kind technologies to produce advanced biofuels, as well as standalone renewable chemicals and biobased manufacturers, by helping these companies secure financing from rural lenders.

Because of BIO’s efforts, more companies with innovative technologies will be able to secure funds through this program for commercial projects across the nation. The program enables companies to meet the increasing consumer demand for cleaner biofuels and greater and safer household and personal care products.

Additionally, BIO continues to advocate for the continued funding of the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). The program provides matching payments to farmers growing dedicated energy crops to produce biofuels, biobased products and renewable chemicals. These payments provide certainty to manufacturers that dedicated feedstocks needed to produce bioproducts will be in steady supply. This certainty in the supply chain allows manufacturers to continue producing and developing the biofuels, biobased products and renewable chemicals that have become pillars of the biobased economy. Because of our efforts the Senate version of the energy title allows algae to qualify under BCAP and helps incentivize the collection of forest residue, helping remove hazardous fuels that lead to forest fires.

Of course, the ability of Congressional leaders to pass the Farm Bill will come down to dollars and cents. However, the bill’s Energy Titles barely represent a drop in the bucket. The Energy Title programs account for less than one-tenth-of-one-percent of total Farm Bill spending. For so much so success for such little funding, reauthorizing these programs with mandatory funding should be a priority, especially considering their minimal burden on the budget.

As Congressional leaders return to Washington post-election, BIO will be working to make sure their primary focus should be to pass a final Farm Bill with the Senate’s version of the energy title as soon as possible. By passing the Senate version, key programs that support the biobased economy, and thus many in rural America, will continue to be funded. If they wait until the new Congress is sworn in we could see a significant delay in reauthorizing the Farm Bill, jeopardizing funding and operation of these programs. Lack of funds for these programs would significantly impact the rapidly growing biobased economy that supports domestic manufacturing, jobs, renewable energy, rural communities, and agricultural producers across the country.

Food labels are a hot topic right now. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working on a new version of the Nutrition Facts Label.  There is much discussion about the definition (and use) of the word “natural” on food labels. More and more companies are choosing to put third party certification labels on their product.  And of course, there have been many stories written by mainstream media, government sources, and on blogs and websites about how to read food labels.

But the question remains – what’s important, and why are those things important? From labeling soy or almond milk as milk (or not) or labeling plant-based or cell-cultured meat as meat (or not), facts matter, and knowing what these things mean is important. It’s not so much how to read a label as it is making sure that what’s on a label is accurate, relevant, and helpful to consumers.

In a new guest column in The Hill, a newspaper covering Washington, D.C. political issues, GMO Answers Expert Kent Bradford asks these important questions, and explain why the answers to these questions are so important.

For example, it is not legal to label plant products as being “cholesterol free,” because plants don’t produce cholesterol. All plant products are cholesterol free, so it is misleading to label some of them that way, as it implies that other plant products not labeled as cholesterol free might contain the compound. At a minimum, advertising a plant product as being cholesterol free implies that some plant products do contain cholesterol, which is false.

At the forefront of this debate is the issue of labeling GMOs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be finalizing rules about a new disclosure law for GMOs, or bioengineered foods, as they are called in the law. Bradford raises the important questions of what effect will this have on consumers, on food companies, and on those who have built their brand on telling people that GMOs are unsafe. He raises the question, once GMOs are labeled, what will be the point of the Non-GMO Project? He notes:

However, this project has gotten out of control, as nearly 50,000 products now bear the Non-GMO Project label, including kitty litter, salt, and other products that are not even alive. Clearly, table salt is not an “organism,” so labeling it as a potential GMO is false and misleading.

If this sounds like a violation of FDA’s consumer protection rules, you are right.

A new petition from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) points this out as well. Their petition is calling on the FDA commissioner to issue a regulation prohibiting the use of the term “Non-GMO” on consumer foods and goods and requiring distributors to omit any “Non-GMO” term or claims on their labeling. Which brings us back to the concept of what is helpful and accurate (and not misleading) information for consumers.

What will be the outcome be of all of these developments? It remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure – the discussion about GMOs is not over, and GMO Answers will continue to answer people’s questions about them.

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We’ve all heard how important it is to make a good first impression. Show up late for a job interview? That’s a bad first impression. Eat a ton of garlic and forget to brush your teeth before a first date? Also a bad first impression.

It turns out that the “make a good first impression” principle holds true not only in face-to-face encounters, but in email interactions as well.

When you send a welcome email to a new blog or newsletter subscriber, or to a new customer, you’re making a first impression on behalf of your brand. To help ensure you’re making the best first impression possible, we’ve rounded up some examples of standout welcome emails from brands big and small.

As you’ll soon discover, each example below showcases different tactics and strategies for engaging new email subscribers. Let’s dive in.

10 Examples of Standout Welcome Emails

1. Virgin America

Type of welcome: Get Started

A welcome email is the perfect medium for introducing folks to the characteristics (and eccentricities) that make your brand unique.

For Virgin America, that means putting the “I love you” hand symbol front and center. This small gesture signals to the recipient that the folks atVirgin America really care about their customers. The playful accompanying copy, “Welcome aboard,” and casual call-to-action, “Grab a seat,” also help to position Virgin America as a hip, fun-loving brand right off the bat.

2. Food52

Type of welcome: Get Started

Sometimes the tiniest of elements in a welcome email can speak volumes about a brand. And when it comes to Food52’s welcome email, their preview text at the top of the email, “We brought snacks,” definitely accomplishes this.

Also known as a pre-header or snippet text, preview text is the copy that gets pulled in from the body of an email and displayed next to (or beneath) the subject line in someone’s inbox. So when you see Food52’s welcome email in your inbox, you get a taste of their brand’s personality before you even open it.

Food52’s welcome email also does a good job of building trust by putting a face (make that two faces) to their name. As soon as you open the email, you see a photograph of — and welcome message from — the company’s founders.

3. Monday.com

Type of welcome: Video

From the subject line to the conversational tone in the email body, the welcome email above keeps it friendly and simple so the focus stays on the introductory video inside.

Monday.com is a task management tool for teams and businesses, and the welcome email you get when you sign up makes you feel like the CEO, Roy Man, is talking directly to you. The email even personalizes the opening greeting by using the recipient’s first name — this is well known for increasing email click-through rates (especially if the name is in the subject line).

The closer you can get to making your email sound like a one-on-one conversation between you and your subscriber, the better. If you have just so many details you need to inform your new customer of, follow Monday.com’s lead and embed them in a video, rather than spelling them all out in the email itself.

4. Kate Spade

Type of welcome: Thank You

Let’s face it: We, the internet-using public, are constantly bombarded with prompts to sign up for and subscribe to all sorts of email communications. So as a brand, when someone takes the time to sift through all the chaos in order to intentionally sign up for your email communications, it’s a big deal.

In order to acknowledge how grateful they are to the folks who actually take the time to subscribe, Kate Spade uses a simple — but effective — tactic with their welcome emails: They say “Thank You” in big, bold lettering. And by placing that “Thank You” on an envelope, Kate Spade recreates the feeling of receiving an actual thank-you letter in the mail. (The 15% off discount code doesn’t hurt either.)

5. Lyft

Type of welcome: Get Started

If there’s an ideal “attitude” that welcome emails should give off, Lyft has got it.

The company’s simple but vibrant welcome email, shown above, focuses entirely on the look and feel of the app, delivering a design that’s as warm and smooth as the lifts that Lyft wants to give you. At the same time, the email’s branded pink call-to-action draws your eyes toward the center of the page to “Take a Ride” — inviting language that doesn’t make you feel pressured as a new user.

6. IKEA

Type of welcome: Offer

It might not be the most beautifully designed email on this list, but that doesn’t mean IKEA’s welcome email isn’t effective.

Instead of going for the hard sell (e.g., “By stuff now!”), or explaining what it is they do (which is something IKEA probably assumes most people already know), IKEA uses its welcome email to turn folks onto its other, lesser-known programs and content channels. For example, there’s a call-to-action right at the top that explains the value of its member benefits program. There are also prompts to visit their design blog and to contribute to their collaborative “Share Space” site.

Of course, if you’re not interested in any of that stuff, IKEA’s welcome email also makes it easy for you to simply log in and start shopping (there’s a login field right up top).

7. Michaels

Type of welcome: Offer

The Michaels approach to the welcome email borrows elements from both Kate Spade and Virgin America. In addition to expressing gratitude to the folks who took the time to sign up, Michaels uses its welcome email to showcase the brand. And the company does a great job: The lengthy email feels like one big arts and crafts project, complete with paint, yarn, and chalkboards.

Another standout feature of this welcome email is that Michaels makes it immediately clear what value its future email communications are going to provide. After thanking subscribers, there’s this nice bit of copy that sums it up:

“We’re going to send fun stuff like DIY tips and tricks, invites to in-store events, and exclusive deals and coupons.”

8. Sphero

Type of welcome: Hello

Sphero’s welcome email might in fact be the cutest one we’ve seen recently — and it was sent from a galaxy far, far away.

If you purchase a bluetooth-controlled BB-8, the friendly Droid from Star Wars, it was probably made by Sphero. And if it was, you’ll have an email similar to the one above waiting in your inbox when you activate your new rolling companion.

This email’s subject line is what qualifies it for this list — “A little Droid told us you wanted our emails.” By cleverly personifying the product, and being somewhat candid about its email marketing newsletters, Sphero develops a relationship with their recipients through the product you just bought from them.

Besides showing you how to use your new BB-8 Droid with your smartphone, all this welcome email wanted to do was say hi — just like BB-8 himself.

9. InVision

Type of welcome: Video

When you sign up for InVision’s free prototyping app, the welcome email makes it very clear what your next step should be: using the app.

To facilitate this action, InVision’s welcome email doesn’t simply list out what you need to do in order to get started. Instead, it shows you what you need to do with a series of quick videos. Given the visual, interactive nature of the product, this makes a lot of sense.

10. Drift

Type of welcome: Get Started

No fancy design work. No videos. No photos. The welcome email Drift sends out after signing up for their newsletter is a lesson in minimalism.

The email opens with a bit of candid commentary on the state of email. “Most people have really long welcome email sequences after you get on their email list,” Dave from Drift writes, before continuing: “Good news: we aren’t most people.” What follows is simply a bulleted list of the company’s most popular blog posts. And the only mention of the product comes in a brief post-script at the very end.

If you’re trying to craft a welcome email that’s non-interruptive, and that’s laser-focused on adding value vs. fluff, this is a great example to follow.

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