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The U.S. vaccination drive against COVID-19 stood on the verge of a major new phase as government advisers Thursday recommended booster doses of Pfizer's vaccine for millions of older or otherwise vulnerable Americans — despite doubts the extra shots will do much to slow the pandemic.Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said boosters should be offered to people 65 and older, nursing home residents and those ages 50 to 64 who have risky underlying health problems. The extra dose would be given once they are at least six months past their last Pfizer shot. Deciding who else might get one was far tougher. While there is little evidence that younger people are in danger of waning immunity, the panel offered the option of a booster for those 18 to 49 who have chronic health problems and want one. But the advisers refused to go further and open boosters to otherwise healthy front-line health care workers who aren't at risk of severe illness but want to avoid even a mild infection.“We might as well just say give it to everyone 18 and older. We have a very effective vaccine and it’s like saying, ‘It’s not working.’ It is working," said Dr. Pablo Sanchez of Ohio State University, who helped block the broadest booster option.Still, getting the unvaccinated their first shots remains the top priority, and the panel wrestled with whether the booster debate was distracting from that goal. All three of the COVID-19 vaccines used in the U.S. still are highly protective against severe illness, hospitalization and death, even amid the spread of the extra-contagious delta variant. But only about 182 million Americans are fully vaccinated, just 55% of the population.“We can give boosters to people, but that’s not really the answer to this pandemic,” said Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot of Vanderbilt University. “Hospitals are full because people are not vaccinated. We are declining care to people who deserve care because we are full of unvaccinated COVID-positive patients.”Thursday's decision represented a dramatic scaling back of the Biden administration plan, announced last month, to dispense boosters to nearly everyone to shore up their protection. Late Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration, like the CDC, signed off on Pfizer boosters for a much more targeted slice of the American population than the White House envisioned.It falls to the CDC to set final U.S. policy on who qualifies for the extra shot. The CDC usually follows its advisers' recommendations. A final decision from the agency was expected later Thursday.The booster plan marks an important shift in the nation's vaccination drive. Britain and Israel are already giving a third round of shots over strong objections from the World Health Organization that poor countries don't have enough for their initial doses.CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky opened Thursday's meeting by stressing that vaccinating the unvaccinated remains the top goal “here in America and around the world.”Walensky acknowledged that the data on who really needs a booster right away “are not perfect.” “Yet collectively they form a picture for us,” she said, "and they are what we have in this moment to make a decision about the next stage in this pandemic.”The CDC panel stressed its recommendations will be changed if new evidence shows more people need a booster.The CDC advisers expressed concern over the millions more Americans who received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson shots early in the vaccine rollout. The government still hasn’t considered boosters for those brands and has no data on whether it’s safe or effective to mix-and-match and give those people a Pfizer shot.“I just don’t understand how later this afternoon we can say to people 65 and older you’re at risk for severe illness and death but only half of you can protect yourselves right now,” said Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University.About 26 million Americans got their last Pfizer dose at least six months ago, about half of whom are 65 or older. It's not clear how many more would meet the CDC panel's initial booster qualifications.CDC data shows the vaccines still offer strong protection for all ages, but there is a slight drop among the oldest adults. And immunity against milder infection appears to be waning months after people's initial immunization.For most people, if you’re not in a group recommended for a booster, “it’s really because we think you’re well-protected,” said Dr. Matthew Daley of Kaiser Permanente Colorado. “This isn’t about who deserves a booster, but who needs a booster.”Among people who stand to benefit from a booster, there are few risks, the CDC concluded. Serious side effects from the first two Pfizer doses are exceedingly rare, including heart inflammation that sometimes occurs in younger men. Data from Israel, which has given nearly 3 million people — mostly 60 and older — a third Pfizer dose, has uncovered no red flags.The panelists also wrestled with how to even tell when a booster is needed. While an extra dose revs up numbers of virus-fighting antibodies, those naturally wane over time and no one knows how long the antibody boost from a third Pfizer dose will last -- or how much protection it really adds, since the immune system also forms additional defenses after vaccination.The U.S. has already authorized third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for certain people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients and transplant recipients. Other Americans, healthy or not, have managed to get boosters, in some cases simply by asking. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Police: 1 dead, 12 wounded in Tenn. store shooting; shooter dead Crime Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane said the shooting...

The Associated Press Shooting at Tennessee grocery store leaves at least 1 dead, 12 injured Updated: 5:27 PM EDT Sep...

13 people were shot, 1 of those killed. Collierville Police said the suspect is also dead, believed to be from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. — Collierville Police said Thursday afternoon that 13 people were shot, 1 of those killed, in a shooting at a Kroger store in the town outside Memphis. Collierville Police Dale Lane said the shooter is also dead, believed to be from a self-inflicted gunshot. Collierville Police, Memphis, Police, and Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies all responded to the scene of the shooting, which happened about 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the store at 240 New Byhalia Road. Chief Lane said 13 people were shot by the suspect. One died, and 12 were taken to hospitals. He called the scene "horrific" and one of the worst he's seen. Chief Lane said the TBI is also headed to the area for the investigation. Lane said they are currently unsure if the shooter was a current of former employee. Kroger issued the following statement Thursday afternoon: "We are deeply saddened by the incident that occurred at our Kroger store located on New Byhalia Rd. in Collierville, TN – a suburb of Memphis. The entire Kroger family offers our thoughts, prayers and support to the individuals and families of the victims during this difficult time. We are cooperating with local law enforcement, who have secured the store and parking lot. The store will remain closed while the police investigation continues, and we have initiated counseling services for our associates. To protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation, we are referring questions to the Collierville Police Department." Collierville High School was put on lockdown after the shooting, but we have been told that the lockdown has been lifted and classes will dismiss as normal.  Breaking: at scene of shooting at a Collierville, TN on Byhalia Road. Very active scene. News update planned for 3:10. We plan to live stream. I’ll live tweet. pic.twitter.com/f5dZeFRdGJ— Brad Broders (@BradBrodersTV) September 23, 2021 In collierville you would not expect this.Posted by Bruce Anders Jr on Thursday, September 23, 2021 Active shooter kroger colliervillePosted by Bruce Anders Jr on Thursday, September 23, 2021 Active Shooter Collierville TennesseePosted by Jaylen Morman on Thursday, September 23, 2021 1 killed & 12 injured in shooting at Collierville Kroger

An heir to the fallen Barneys luxury empire plans to write an explosive tell-all book about the retail icon’s demise, sources said — and he’s pointing the finger at the rest of his family. Bob Pressman — whose grandfather Barney Pressman founded the now-defunct chain in 1923 — is in talks with publishers to dish on his elderly mother and siblings in a sensational expose that chronicles the family’s excesses and recounts how it lost control of the business, The Post has learned. According to an incendiary, two-page proposal for the book obtained by The Post, Fred Pressman — who famously engineered the transformation of his father’s men’s suit business into a luxury mecca in the 1960s — was “a good and kind person” who “was quite close with his parents” and who “worked 7 days a week.” The proposal also goes on to claim, however, that Fred Pressman “had a very long affair with a well-known Parisian lady. Fred established a company office in Paris for Barneys New York … which made the affair in Paris convenient and the frequent visits to France easy to justify.” Fred Pressman’s wife Phyllis “found out about the affair but never told Fred to avoid any interruption of her glamorous lifestyle or Fred’s cash flow continuing to flow to her,” the proposal claims. Bob Pressman, who declined to comment on the proposal when contacted by The Post, has “been sitting on these crazy stories for 50 years” and is “fed up with hiding the truth about his family,” according to a source close to the situation. He is 67 and semi-retired now from Triton Equity Partners LLC — a retail investment firm, according to its LinkedIn page. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. Fred Pressman, son of Barneys founder Barney Pressman, was said to be a kind, hard-working man, but one who had a long-term affair with a Parisian woman and opened a Barneys office in France to justify his frequent travels to the country, according to a new book proposal.Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Phyllis Pressman — who recently listed the Hamptons beach home she and her late husband built 40 years ago for $52.5 million — will be a prime target of the book, according to the proposal. Fred Pressman died in July 1996 — six months after his sons Gene and Bob landed Barneys in bankruptcy court following an overly aggressive expansion. Since then, Bob has had only intermittent contact with his mother, according to the source. Fred is described as “a wealthy and classy guy” who “grew up among the upper crust on Central Park West and was dating society and WASP-y ladies in Manhattan.” But according to the book proposal, his mother “wanted him to marry a middle-class Jewish lady.” A ‘blind date’ brought Fred and Phyllis together Fred and Phyllis met “on a blind date in New York City” when Phyllis was 19 years old, according to the proposal. They got married a few months later and raised four children in a 28-room mansion in Purchase, NY, that had a swimming pool, tennis court and live-in staff, the proposal says. Phyllis Pressman, the author’s mother and Fred Pressman’s wife, seen in this 1993 photo, will be a prime target of the book, according to the book proposal.Michael Schwartz/New York Post The proposal goes on to claim that Phyllis “ran the Pressman household in Purchase like a dictatorship.” Reached by The Post this week, however, 92-year-old Phyllis Pressman disputed the claims in a phone interview. Those included the proposal’s contention that she grew up in the Long Island suburb of Hewlett in the Five Towns. In fact, she says, she grew up in Cedarhurst and Lawrence. She also clarified that she was 20 years old when she and Fred got married. “Fred was the love of my life,” Phyllis Pressman told The Post. “He was a very unique person.” The book claims that Bob Pressman’s older brother Gene Pressman’s lavish design for the Barneys New York flagship on Madison Avenue ran more than $200 million over budget.Getty Images The book proposal likewise takes aim at Bob Pressman’s older brother Gene. The pair ran Barneys as co-CEOs in the 1990s with Robert overseeing finances and Gene taking on the more visible, glamorous roles as a face of the company, attending exclusive parties with fashion luminaries including Vogue editor Anna Wintour. “Gene was reckless with money and women,” the book proposal states, adding that he had a hard-partying lifestyle and “was notorious for hanging out at Studio 54 in Manhattan.” On the business side, the book claims that Gene Pressman’s lavish design for theBarneys New York flagship on Madison Avenue ran more than $200 million over budget. Fred Pressman is credited with famously engineering the transformation of his father’s men’s suit business into a luxury mecca. New York Post Subsequently, Barneys was forced into bankruptcy, the book proposal claims. “Gene didn’t care because he lived under the multiple delusions of his failed success and self-importance.” An expansion plan some called overly aggressive In addition to lavish spending, press accounts of the Barneys 1996 bankruptcy cited an overly aggressive expansion plan and a troubled relationship with a Japan-based business partner. In a statement to The Post, Gene Pressman fired back, denying the book proposal’s accusations. “It is sad Bob has such a casual relationship with the truth, one of the many reasons our family is so disappointed with him,” Gene Pressman said. “Through the love and support I received from my family, I have been fortunate to live a life dedicated to supporting the arts, creating beautiful things, cultivating innovative ideas.” Barneys was an iconic source for luxe fashion before it filed for bankruptcy.Frank Leonardo/New York Post The elder Pressman brother added that, “Regarding Barneys, Bob conveniently forgets he was in fact the co-CEO responsible for the financial stability of firm, a role in which by all measures he massively failed.” The book proposal, by contrast, claims that Bob “argued with his family all the time when the Barneys New York Madison Avenue store was being built,” protesting the massive tab that was being run up. Sisters Nancy and Elizabeth file lawsuits against Bob Three years after the 1996 bankruptcy filing, Bob got slapped with lawsuits from his sisters, Nancy Pressman-Dressler and Elizabeth Pressman-Neubardt, who accused him of cheating them out of $30 million, claiming he took more than his fair share of the business in the reorganization. The sisters had worked as buyers at the company. The iconic Barneys building seen in 1983.Robin Graubard/New York Post “The Pressman sisters are trying to reinvent issues that have been thoroughly reviewed, and resolved or dismissed in conjunction with the Barneys Inc. Chapter 11 case confirmed by the bankruptcy court over six months ago,” Bob Pressman said in a statement at the time. “They simply do not like that result,” he added. A New York judge awarded the sisters $11.3 million 2002. Their brother appealed the verdict. The book is promising unreported details on more than three years of litigation that ensued, according to a source. Nancy Pressman “was known to be publicly very loud and opinionated. Shedropped out of college,” the book proposal states. Liz Pressman “was the most spoiled and the youngest,” the proposal claims, adding that she was fond of “spending her Daddy’s money.” Nancy declined to comment. Liz didn’t respond to a request for comment. As for Bob Pressman, the proposal says he “was known as the boring one as he didn’t like to party all night … He kept to himself and felt the other three kids were obnoxious, spoiled brats … Bob liked to say that he was the ‘adopted one’ as he felt like he was from a different family.” It’s not clear whether the book will delve into Bob Pressman’s own recent headlines. In 2017, court papers revealed he had a torrid affair with a 38-year-old woman he met at a resort in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Pressman claimed the North Carolina woman, Anna Purcell, left their $17,000-a-month rental home in Greenwich after he suffered a stroke, forcing him to call 911 himself and taking thousands of dollars from his wallet while he was in the hospital. Purcell — who Pressman claimed had accepted gifts including a $127,300 Cartier engagement ring and a $40,000 for a Jeep Grand Cherokee — claimed in court papers she hadn’t known Pressman was married at the time. After Pressman dumped her, he claimed she tried to extort him for more than $12 million, threatening to tell his wife about the affair. Purcell’s lawyer called Pressman’s allegations a “total fabrication.” Purcell died in 2019, according to public documents, which did not disclose the cause of death. Pressman’s book would be only the second written about his family and Barneys, which filed for bankruptcy for the second time in August 2019, liquidated its business and sold its brand to a licensing firm for $270 million. In 1999, William Morrow published “The Rise and Fall of the House of Barneys: A Family Tale of Chutzpah, Glory and Greed, by Joshua Levine, but without the Pressman’s cooperation. While the book is in the early stages, Pressman has had preliminary contact with numerous publishers, according to the source. He is bracing for possible litigation to stop publication, but “wants to put out his story,” the source added.

At least two people are dead and 13 more were injured in a shooting at a Kroger grocery store in Tennessee, police said. The suspected shooter is included in the dead, likely from a self-inflicted gunshot, according to police. The shooting was reported Thursday afternoon at about 1:30 p.m. at the Kroger in the town of Collierville, about 30 miles east of Memphis. Terrified grocery shoppers ran from the building amid gunshots fired inside, according to survivors and eyewitnesses. "It's horrific. We hate that it happened, but this is one of the most resilient communities in America and one of the best police departments," Lane said.The grocery store, at 240 New Byhalia Road, sits in a strip mall near a Wendy's and a Walgreens, across Byhalia from Corky's Ribs and BBQ.Glenda McDonald, who works in Kroger's floral department, said she was not injured, but shaken.McDonald said she walked out of the back office to the floral counter when she heard something that sounded like a gunshot."I just ran out the door," McDonald said. "I left my purse, my keys, everything."She said she is not sure how many people were injured, but she believed she saw a bagger and some customers get shot before fleeing. The Memphis Police Department was on the scene, according to its social media. 

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-20210923-q2vhpj3g2ze6rcjoovrp7nvcxy-story.html#ed=rss_www.nydailynews.com/arcio/rss/category/news/crime/

COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. — Collierville Police said Thursday afternoon that 13 people were shot, 1 of those killed, in a shooting at a Kroger store in the town outside Memphis. Collierville Police Dale Lane said the shooter is also dead, believed to be from a self-inflicted gunshot. Collierville Police, Memphis, Police, and Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies all responded to the scene of the shooting, which happened about 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the store at 240 New Byhalia Road. Chief Lane said 13 people were shot by the suspect. One died, and 12 were taken to hospitals. He called the scene "horrific" and one of the worst he's seen. Chief Lane said the TBI is also headed to the area for the investigation. Lane said they are currently unsure if the shooter was a current of former employee. Collierville High School was put on lockdown after the shooting, but we have been told that the lockdown has been lifted and classes will dismiss as normal.  This is a developing situation and we will bring you more as it becomes available. Breaking: at scene of shooting at a Collierville, TN on Byhalia Road. Very active scene. News update planned for 3:10. We plan to live stream. I’ll live tweet. pic.twitter.com/f5dZeFRdGJ— Brad Broders (@BradBrodersTV) September 23, 2021

COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. -- At least 13 people were shot at a grocery store in the suburbs of Memphis Thursday afternoon.The shooting happened around 1:30 p.m. at a Kroger store in Collierville, about 30 miles east of Memphis.One shooting victim died from their injuries. The Collierville police chief said the lone shooter is also dead from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound."I've never seen a scene like this," he said.The conditions of those injured has not been released, but the police chief did say the injuries are "very serious."He called the shooting "the most horrific event in Collierville history."The police chief said workers and customers were hiding in freezers and locked offices when officers entered the building.The FBI is assisting and ATF is at the scene.Authorities said the suspected shooter's vehicle was in the parking lot. The bomb squad will inspect the vehicle.Police said the situation is now considered to be over.The police chief was asked about a photo going viral on social media of a person on the roof of the store. The chief said the person in the photo was an employee and police helped the person off the roof safely.King Soopers, where a mass shooting that killed 10 people happened in Boulder, Colorado back in March, is also owned by Kroger. Copyright © 2021 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.

WASHINGTON — A string of violence in the District Saturday night kept police busy as officers responded to seven armed robberies in Northwest, all of which happened in less than three hours.  The incidents took place between 12:19 a.m. and 3:05 a.m. in the third and fourth districts. All seven involved suspects in a black Lexus SUV and in each event, one suspect got out of the car with a handgun and demanded victims’ property, according to police. The addresses where the suspects struck are listed below. The suspect vehicle was recovered Saturday after a brief pursuit by D.C. police in Prince George’s County, Maryland. A handgun was recovered on the scene, but the suspects fled, according to police. Two of the suspects were ultimately captured by a nearby surveillance camera. Footage of the individuals can be seen in the video below. Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Carjacking Task Force seek the public’s assistance in identifying and locating suspects. Provide any additional information to police by calling 202-727-9099 or texting 50411.

What a difference a year makes. At this time last year, consumers were hesitant to spend on much besides essentials and products that would make their life at home more comfortable. They were fearful about going into stores, many of which were temporarily closed due to the pandemic anyway, worried about how COVID-19 would affect their family’s health and finances, and unsure whether and when the economy would rebound. Meanwhile, retailers and brands were nervously looking ahead to the holidays and worrying about the glut of inventory they were left holding following months of sluggish sales due to the pandemic. This year, the script has flipped, with consumers ready to spend but retailers and brands struggling to ensure they’ll have enough inventory to meet holiday demand. Companies face continuing supply chain disruptions, labor shortages in warehouses, and shipping constraints that are driving container freight prices four to 10 times higher than normal. At the same time, consumers’ wallets are stuffed with what they’ve been saving by not traveling, dining out, attending events or shopping as much as usual over the past year and a half. In addition, government stimulus checks, child tax credits and, in some cases, enhanced unemployment benefits have given shoppers an extra cushion. American consumers have put away well over $2 trillion in excess savings since the pandemic started, according to Wells Fargo, boding well for brands this holiday season — if they can stock the items shoppers are looking for. Supply Chain and Shipping Crunches Make Leaner Inventories Inevitable The pandemic has snarled global supply chains for more than 18 months now, and few expect the situation to improve anytime soon. Regional surges in delta-variant COVID-19 cases continue to prompt sporadic factory closures in China and other countries, and brands have struggled to diversify their sourcing and manufacturing networks to mitigate raw materials shortages and production disruptions. And even companies with the greatest sourcing flexibility will still face another massive challenge for at least the rest of 2021: shipping. The pandemic is driving an ongoing shortage of freight capacity that's making it more expensive than ever to get goods to consumers. Freight-shipping marketplace Freightos found that the cost to ship a container from China to the U.S. East Coast was up 500 percent year-over-year in the first week of August, to a whopping $20,804. And it’s not just ocean freight costs that have spiked. The Cass Freight Index, which measures volumes of goods shipped by truck, car and rail in North America, showed that the cost of shipping by land rose 43 percent year-over-year in July. In addition, in early August, the USPS proposed temporary price hikes for shipping some packages over the holidays. If approved, the higher prices will be in effect from Oct. 3 through Dec. 26. Other U.S. shipping and last-mile delivery firms are sure to follow suit. The week they reported second-quarter earnings, Walmart and Target executives commented that they had planned ahead to ensure they will have plenty of goods on shelves during the holidays, despite shipping constraints and delays. But what can other retailers and brands do to maximize their holiday season this year? 3 Strategies for a Successful Holiday With a Narrower Assortment Given the ongoing supply chain and shipping challenges, retailers and brands will be under pressure to keep assortments lean this holiday season. Therefore, it’s crucial that they mitigate risk by knowing what products consumers want, what they’re willing to pay for them, and how they want to receive them. Three strategies will help ensure a successful holiday this year: Understand Consumer Demand for Specific Products and Categories To succeed with narrower inventories, companies must identify what products are in demand and where. Purchase history won’t provide enough detail, given how much consumers’ habits and priorities have changed over the course of the pandemic. Gathering voice-of-the-customer data and applying predictive analytics to it to inform smarter, faster inventory decisions is key. This kind of rich data, based on digital product testing and other consumer feedback, provides crucial insights that allow companies to forecast more accurately and design, develop and produce goods consumers actually want. It allows brands to continually stock sufficient volumes of popular goods and know what similar items they might present when a supply chain snag results in an out-of-stock item. Offering an alternative that appeals to a shopper can give brands a way to turn a potentially disappointing customer experience into a sale and an opportunity to build loyalty. Voice-of-the-customer data also allow brands to pivot more quickly in response to shifting shopper behavior. A recent survey we conducted at First Insight found that 56 percent of consumers were scaling back their retail spending in August in the wake of renewed fears about the pandemic, up from 52 percent in July. Some 64 percent of respondents said they were worried about COVID-19, up 25 percent from the previous month, and 56 percent said they were hesitant to interact with store associates, up 30 percent month-over-month. While these concerns may not linger into the holiday selling season, they illustrate how fast the consumer confidence picture can change and why brands must have the agility to pivot when needed. Of course, companies that have worked to digitize their supply chains will be best placed to leverage consumer data insights and respond to shifts in demand quickly this holiday season. Digitization gives companies the real-time visibility into their supply chain that enables them to increase speed to market and alter their strategies on the fly, re-routing products from one store or warehouse to another, for example, or quickly ramping up production to restock items that prove unexpectedly popular. Identify Where There's Price Elasticity This holiday, retailers will have some pricing leverage, but it won’t extend across all products or categories, so brands have to understand elasticity of demand. To maximize fourth-quarter revenues, companies will need to figure out which of their products can command full price and which categories they need to mark down in order to move goods quickly. Winning brands must leverage technology and data analytics providers to identify which consumer cohorts are willing to pay full price for which goods. The strongest competitors will avoid automatically cycling through the typical holiday promotions and discounts this year. Although we’ve seen some inflation, it’s likely temporary — and it hasn't affected all consumer categories equally. Given the extra savings shoppers have tucked away, it’s also unlikely to crimp holiday sales too much. Focus on Offering Omnichannel Convenience Shipping capacity and labor shortages will challenge brands to get consumers their holiday deliveries on time. To alleviate the problem, brands should not only offer and take advantage of the convenient buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup options consumers have come to love during the pandemic, but also incentivize shoppers to choose these options. Click-and-collect reduces the cost of last-mile fulfillment and eliminates the risk of delivery delays for retailers and brands, while boosting foot traffic and giving them an opportunity to generate additional sales from customers who enter stores to pick up their orders. Offering a small discount or reward to shoppers who pick up in-store can help drive profitability. Of course, real-time inventory management is key to providing a seamless shopping experience that spans brick-and-mortar, mobile, desktop and tablet, so companies that have invested in supply chain digitization will have an advantage over those that have less visibility into exactly where their inventory is and, therefore, less ability to get it to the right store or warehouse at the right time. This holiday season will look very different than last year’s, with tighter inventories and a consumer who is more willing to spend. Retailers and brands that leverage data analytics to identify which of their products will be in highest demand — and price them accordingly — will be ahead of the game. The ones that couple those insights with digitized supply chains that allow them to quickly respond to disruptions and consumer behavioral changes will be most likely to win.

Today’s television ad industry owes a lot to digital natives, particularly direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) brands. This growing group of upstarts and disruptors has not only changed the way we as consumers buy everything, but it has also revolutionized the use of converged TV (linear, CTV/OTT, and addressable) for both data-driven performance and strategic reach. Recognizing TV’s value in driving more than just mass reach, D-to-Cs demanded more out of their buys, prioritizing impression-based measurement and real-time, data-backed insights to reach and engage with audiences across platforms and screens. Thanks in large part to D-to-Cs, outcomes, impressions and transparency are fast becoming the norms for TV advertising. Let’s take a closer look at the D-to-C impact, and how advertisers of all shapes and sizes are benefitting from TV as a highly advanced, cross-platform marketing channel. Impressions: The Single Source of Truth  When D-to-C brands honed in on TV as a core element of their media mix, they also brought along expectations for real-time analytics, measurement and informed targeting with them. And the industry has met them “where they are,” bringing all forms of TV together and creating an ecosystem where impressions can be the new standard. With converged TV strategies built on impression-based advertising, D-to-Cs get a consistent view across platforms — they understand how linear, CTV/OTT and addressable work separately and together. This “single source of truth” not only holds TV accountable, but it also provides advertisers an unprecedented look into reach and frequency, incremental reach, and business outcomes (e.g., online and offline sales, app activities, sign-ups, etc.). Most D-to-Cs then then use this intel to reallocate impressions across media partners, publishers and audiences to optimize results and reach. Audiences: Adapt and Activate With TV viewing fragmented across time, devices and platforms, D-to-Cs have put audience intelligence and activation at the center of their media strategies. They've shown that achieving specific key performance indicators are not tied to mass reach; rather it’s about using TV’s scale and available data to find, reach and engage with the audiences that are most likely to convert wherever they may be consuming content. As TV has gone from a data-scarce to a data-rich market in the last few years, linear ads can be tied directly to the household, delivering an entirely new level of audience intelligence, one that's far beyond typical “age and gender.” Combine that with the rise of streaming and addressable, and audience-based targeting is becoming a larger part of TV ad strategies. Optimize: Continuously and Often For advertisers, cost optimization is more important than ever. D-to-Cs, many of which began as budget-conscious startups, tackle their TV strategy with the approach that every single dollar spent has to work. Not surprisingly, that’s why measurement is such a core component in their media strategy — but it’s just a part of it. Taking the intel, D-to-Cs make them actionable via regular optimizations (with a weekly cadence for some), including creative tweaks, adding/suppressing publishers, managing frequency, and changing dayparts/days, to name a few. It’s about continuously testing and learning, and using data-backed intel to ensure TV is a consistent return on ad spend-positive channel — even as viewership continues to fragment. Following the success of D-to-Cs, more traditional advertisers, who have leveraged TV for decades (think CPGs, brick-and-mortars, etc.) have followed suit. It's clear always-on audience analytics and innovative, cross-platform measurement tools are now the staples of effective TV advertising, ensuring retail brands, D-to-C or otherwise, are able to maximize campaign performance. Meg Garnett Coyle is vice president, communications at TVSquared, the world’s largest measurement and attribution platform for converged TV.