Marc Jacobs is stepping down as creative director of Louis Vuitton.  Jacobs, now 50 years old, is one of the biggest names in the fashion industry.  Throughout his 16 year voyage with LV, Jacobs brought the brand from a luggage house to a global fashion power.

The decision to leave Louis Vuitton marks the official start of Jacobs IPO (initial public offering) for the Marc Jacobs brand.  Jacobs made his announcement at the Louis Vuitton Spring 2014 fashion show in Paris.

According to chairman of LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton,) Bernard Arnault, even though the company will lose a large advantage to their brand by saying goodbye to Jacobs, they will benefit from sharing in the potential billion-dollar payoff from Marc Jacobs stock offering.

Jacobs has done well to refine his own brand through Hollywood and pop culture.  He will return to his native New York to continue to improve his already popular lines.

I believe that this change will affect the performance of Louis Vuitton’s fashion shows, as Jacobs declared his “theatrical” styles early on, and that contributed to heightening the brands profile by introducing collaborations with artists such as Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, Stephen Sprouse, and Kanye West.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/10/02/designer-marc-jacobs-leaves-louis-vuitton/2906881/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/02/entertainment-us-lvmh-louisvuitton-jacob-idUSBRE9910HY20131002

As Instagram announces that they will now be placing subtle ad photos and videos in to the home screen, this raises the question of whether or not this will affect the users interest in the application?

Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion.  At the time of this acquisition, many people threatened to stop using the social-media app.  Similar threats were made when the application updated their terms-of service agreement at the end of last year.

CNET is preparing the public in advance before the release of the advertisements to the website, in hopes to avoid potential backlash from its users.

“We’ll focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.”

Instagram has promised that these advertisements will be of magazine quality.  Brands that will be promoted through these videos will already be members of the instagram community.

I do not believe that this gradual change in Instagram’s layout will affect the population of the users drastically as the benefit from taking a shameless “selfie” or uploading a picture of your lunch outweighs the annoyance of the occasional advertisement.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57605942-93/instagram-photo-video-ads-on-their-way/

http://o.canada.com/technology/instagram-to-start-showing-ads-but-not-in-canada-yet/

Tim Hortons is strengthening their brew, not to appeal to a new market, but to satisfy their customers that prefer a bit of a bite in their morning cup of Joe.  The partnership blend will be sold in 343-gram bags for customers to make themselves at home.  With hints of cocoa nuttiness, this blend is made from beans from family farms in Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia,  and Brazil.  This bag of coffee will retail for $7.69 with $1 being returned to the Tim Hortons Coffee Partnership.  As well as family farmers, Tim Hortons has a partnership with the Hanns R. Neumann Foundation of Germany; a non-profit organization that is committed to sustainability in Europe.  Tim Horton’s has invested over $7 million in the Coffee Partnership so far in hopes to be perceived as an ethical business in terms of it’s supply chain; something that is under the microscope for most countries all over the world right now.  I approve of this choice to create a new blend as I myself enjoy a slightly darker roast in the morning, and I support Tim Horton’s decision to maintain a sustainable development.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/05/14/tim_hortons_announces_70_million_share_buyback_from_anonymous_seller.html