Torrance-based American Youth Soccer Organization hopes there’s an app to facilitate communications and marketing for the national nonprofit’s widespread operations.
Band signed on as an official sponsor of the sports group, which will use the Palo Alto-based company’s communications and management app as the primary tool to facilitate communications at AYSO events, including the National Annual General Meeting, Section EXPOs, Regional Commissioner training sessions, tournaments and other events.
App’s features include group messaging, notifications, calendars, RSVPs, pictures, videos and polls.
More than 25 million individuals spread over various groups–sports teams, school clubs, small businesses–have signed on as users since the app debuted in 2013.
The app’s developer is Camp Mobile, a subsidiary of Naver Corp., the operator of South Korea-based portal Naver.com.
The Band app will “help build stronger communications through its rich features,” AYSO Director of Marketing and Communications Yvonne Lara said in a statement. “We are excited to bring this opportunity to coaches to help them communicate more efficiently with parents and other AYSO volunteers.”
AYSO, founded in 1964, serves some 1.6 million players, parents and volunteers.
Hotel Staffers Get Smart Watch
Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills will serve as proving ground for Samsung-ALICE smart watches, a hotel management tool intended to help improve staff communications and speed up responsiveness to guests’ requests.
The smart watches will send silent vibrations to alert maintenance workers, others who are assigned to room service and often carry trays, or members of housekeeping crews who may not have access to cell phones, requests for service. A tap on the watch lets the management know that a response to a guest request is in progress.
“This smartwatch solution from Samsung and ALICE provides a compelling tool for hotels, whose employees are often mobile, and require durable, hands-free operation for completing day-to-day tasks,” said Eric McCarty, vice president of B2B mobile product marketing at Samsung Electronics America Inc. in Ridgefield Park, N.J.
Viceroy Hotel Group, a Los Angeles-based hotel management company, plans to roll out the wearable product across its portfolio of hotels.
New Digs
West Elm relocated its Santa Monica location one door over, setting up a 25,200-square-foot store at 1427 4th St.
It will be a spot to “test new retail concepts as a part of West Elm’s continued commitment to offering customers unique, locally-driven store experiences,” according to the home retailer, a unit of San Francisco-based Williams-Sonoma Inc.
The site also will feature “community flex spaces,” in which local artists and small businesses will temporarily move in to develop product, teach workshops and host events.
A separate “pop in” residence at the store began on June 7 with Scott Coppersmith Designs, an artsy Santa Monica-based outfit that makes signs with recycled materials and reclaimed wood, along with My Solitude LA, a candlemaker.
“Our goal with the Residency Program is to help local artists and entrepreneurs grow their businesses by sharing our resources,” West Elm President Alex Bellos said in a statement. “We are proud to deepen our presence in Santa Monica, and open our new doors to participants by offering a creative retail space to incubate new ideas and connect with customers.”
Williams-Sonoma Inc., the parent company of Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma brands, launched Brooklyn-based West Elm in 2002. The chain now operates more than 100 retail stores, and has unaffiliated franchisees with stores in Mexico, the Middle East, the Philippines and South Korea.
Shakespearean Collaboration
Five hotels in Claremont have partnered with the city’s fifth annual Midsummer Shakespeare Festival to offer “Room and Bard” packages that include a festival ticket, wine and snacks to enjoy during the open-air performances. Participating hotels include DoubleTree by Hilton Claremont, Hotel Casa 425, Claremont Lodge, Knights Inn Claremont, and Motel 6 Claremont.
The festival, put on by Inland Empire-based theatre company Ophelia’s Jump Productions, runs July 12-22 at the Sontag Greek Theatre at Pomona College. This year’s shows are “Romeo and Juliet” and “As You Like It.”
Mediha DiMartino is a contributing reporter to the Los Angeles Business Journal.
