ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT
S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATION
Readers are cautioned that certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements and should be read in conjunction with our disclosures under the heading "Forward-Looking Statements" above. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. This discussion also should be read in conjunction with the notes to our consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8. "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Report.
Operations Overview/Outlook
Operationally, 2015-2017 has been important in continuing the direction of the Company and steering it toward a scaled growth plan. The model developed in fiscal 2014 has been reinforced and is differentiating to clients, therefore, the model will continue into fiscal 2018, and beyond.
Entertainment/Fashion/Sports/Automotive/Ecommerce/ Investment Banking Solutions
DBMM continues to build on its strengths. The company had strong relationships within the market and intends to build its business focus in a wide variety of industry verticals.
The heart of the business is the marketing consultancy.
DBMM Group
s main business Digital Clarity, works in the area of Digital Marketing.
Understanding each client and developing the model to individualize the outlook has been essential. This kind of close relationship with the client resulted in Digital Clarity being considered a close professional advisor.
In fiscal year 2018, the Company will continue to focus on the positive, proven operating model and use that model to expand geographic reach with existing and new clients.
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Digital Marketing Services
2018 will continue to see exponential growth in the adoption of Social Media as communication, marketing and engagement avenues. An acceptance of change is driving revenue. The future growth in mobile search is one of the fastest growing ancillary businesses. It was clear that the direction, talent and growth of the Company is in its human capital and outside relationships which must be proactive in order to differentiate itself from competition
The clear opportunity is at the foundation of the Company, namely the need to expedite and continue to encourage development in the digital marketing services sector. The marketing services product is labor intensive and thus the Company must jumpstart the growth by significant capital to grow simultaneously in multiple geographies.
As a foundation, the 2015 fiscal year financial review showed that Digital Clarity increased its revenues by 23%, and the operating company remained cash flow positive through 2017 despite challenging situations in the parent company, the company outlook is robust for the foreseeable future.
Key Milestones
2017 has been a very significant year in its increasing revenues quarter to quarter during the fiscal year. The client base is expanding in base number and the size of client serviced. Certain new significant clients representing a variety of industries were added to client roster. The Company
s clients tend to operate with a NDA, as our clients see us a competitive advantage. Accordingly, we cannot share all clients
brands or company names.
Recently the company has been hired by the prestigious organizational group, British Marine. British Marine are the membership body for nautical and sea faring craft and include Super and Luxury Yacht companies such as Sunseeker and Princess Yachts.
Digital Clarity have been hired to audit Google Search and Analytics for British Marine
s top show, The London Boat Show and one of Europe
s largest events, The Southampton Boat Show. The company is in talk to act as digital advisor with British Marine for the Abu Dhabi Boat Show. These shows will fit into the circuit that incorporates Fort Lauderdale, Monaco and Cannes Boat & Yachting events.
Digital Clarity are also working with sponsors and potential sponsors of a Formula 1 team that are in the top 5 racing teams in this prestigious and global sport.
Other examples are representative of the diversity of client base, DBMM's approach using a client's analytics, and executing an individualized model to increase ROI as the prime objective, span a wide range of industries.
Digital Clarity continues to expand into high end Real Estate and Luxury brands and is building a strong network on High Net-worth and Ultra High Net-worth Individuals
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NOTABLE EVENTS - INDUSTRY AWARDS & RECOGNITION
Digital Clarity Named in Top Ten Best Social Media Marketing Firms in the UK for 6
th
Year
(
http://Topseos.com/uk/best-social-media-marketing-companies
)
Topseos.co.uk, an independent research firm, revealed the listing of the top 10 best social media marketing agencies in the UK based on their strength and competitive advantage. Social media marketing companies are put through a methodical analysis to ensure the rankings contain the absolute best companies the search marketing industry has to offer. Their criteria include timeliness, brand management, consultation, methodology and reach.
Based in these criteria, Digital Clarity was awarded a spot in the top 10. The process for researching and declaring social media marketing agencies in the UK is based on the use of a set of analysis criteria and learning more about their solutions and their communications with their customers through references. The topsesos.com independent analysis team communicated directly with the clients in order to inquire about the solutions and achievement from the client
s perspective.
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Digital Clarity Team Member shortlisted for top player in Under 25 UK Search Awards
The UK Search Awards have been celebrating the expertise, talent and achievements of the search industry for over half a decade and are regarded as the premiere celebration of SEO, PPC and content marketing in the UK.
The awards attract hundreds of entries from the leading search and digital agencies from across the UK and to those based elsewhere around the globe who are delivering work for the UK market.
The team member works with a range of PPC, SEO, Analytics and Social campaigns, with a specialist flair for Shopping campaigns. She works across a wide range of businesses from not for profit, ecommerce and B2B, adapting her approach and strategy to each specific client. One of her key strengths includes having the passion to learn the ins and outs of client
s industries, learning the market, competitors and their business models to insure every section of a campaign is on point and delivers results.
In the judging sessions the Young Search Professional category was said to be highly competitive and a tough one to judge.
The category and shortlist is a testament to Digital Clarity
s commitment to training and personal development.
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Digital Clarity Shortlisted for Ecommerce Awards for Excellence for ProCook
ProCook
is the UK
s leading specialist cookware multi-channel retailer. With retail outlets in major towns and cities across the UK, the company also has a powerful online e-commerce presence.
ProCook
has seen great growth in the last few years via PPC and SEO strategies and have been working with Digital Clarity over the past 8 years.
Results were staggering
PPC brand revenue uplift
35%
PPC
non-
brand revenue uplift
36%
SEO revenue uplift
51%
Shopping revenue uplift
48%
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Digital Entrepreneur Awards - Digital Clarity Shortlisted for Digital Business of the Year 2017
Sponsored by UKFast, the Digital Entrepreneur awards are the only national awards ceremony that is dedicated to internet entrepreneurialism. The awards aim to celebrate entrepreneurs from startup level right through to large corporate companies.
The awards celebrate not only the high-profile websites and leaders driving online commerce but the silent heroes who develop the systems that change the online landscape and shape our digital future.
Digital Clarity Research Featured in Huffington Post
Digital Clarity looked into the perils of internet addiction, especially among the young and the effects it can have to both the individual as well as broader society.
The research was deemed worthy to be published in the Huffington Post, an online paper rum by Ariana Huffington and used by journalists worldwide as both a distribution point as well as an inspiration to feed into current events and stories.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/16/youths-controlled-internet-addiction_n_5995068.html
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Key Differentiators
2015-2017 has been about strengthening foundations by continuing to streamline while developing new client relationships and revenue streams as a differentiating digital marketing and technology provider. This focus has allowed the Company to enhance brand value for its clients. 2018 will continue to be about growth and outreach utilizing five key differentiators:
1.Brand enhancement
2.Search
PPC
SEO
3.Design
4.Social media
5.Analytics
1. STRENGTHS: BRAND ENHANCEMENT
Digital Clarity is an evolving Strategic Brand Consultancy that crafts, designs and executes digital marketing strategies across multiple ad platforms and social media networks for a broad array of clients to help each of them establish a uniform brand identity across the digital universe.
As the online world becomes increasingly sophisticated and complex, Digital Clarity concentrates on core areas that help business navigate through an often-confusing mosaic choice of systems and platforms. Focusing on the areas of Search, Social Media and Design, all of Digital Clarity work is underpinned by a unique understanding of Analytics. This aspect is often a missed piece of the jigsaw that makes up the digital marketing mix. The five differentiators, presented to clients as an integrated model, result in being selected over competition in the majority of presentations.
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2. STRENGTHS: SEARCH:
PPC
Definition:
PPC stands for Pay-per-Click Advertising. It is an abbreviation for a number of search advertising platforms, of which the mostly widely used is Google AdWords. PPC is one of the most effective online marketing services available, generating instant activity and instant results for new or existing websites.
The real beauty of PPC is that you only pay for an ad when a potential customer clicks on it, meaning you can bring people to your site for mere pennies while ensuring your traffic is relevant and targeted at people who are looking for your service or product. Additionally, PPC is highly measurable and can be closely monitored, allowing your business to keep a close eye on return-on-investment (ROI).
The major platforms used for PPC are:
Google AdWords (Global)
Microsoft Bing
Yandex (Russia)
Baidu (China)
AdWords Audit
Key Areas of Service:
Budget Management
Keyword Research
Conversion Rate Optimization
Bid Optimization
Dedicated PPC Management
As an elite consultancy, Digital Clarity has extensive experience in PPC management and implementation ranging from small independent businesses with one or two ad campaigns to multi-national ecommerce websites which utilize hundreds of ads and thousands of keywords. Whatever the nature and size of the account, Digital Clarity understands the importance of utilizing a programmatic, well-defined approach:
Strategy.
By understanding the business, demographics and audience, Digital Clarity makes sure that campaigns hit the ground running from day one.
Implementation.
Digital Clarity uses experience to put in place the best structure, keywords, ad copy and bidding strategies to maximize the effectiveness of your account.
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Optimization.
Digital Clarity rigorously interrogates and checks client accounts to ensure optimal performance, with regular reviews of all aspects of each campaign.
Reporting.
By defining and explaining the numbers of each account, Digital Clarity provides the information needed to steer things in the right direction for each client
s business.
PPC AUDIT
From selecting the right keywords, to the settings and structure. It is important that we allow time to research and refine the account in order to save on wasted spend as well as increasing conversions.
This audit would cover Google and Bing account setup.
KEYWORD RESEARCH
AD AUDIT AND OPTIMISE - INCLUDING AD EXTENSIONS
BUDGET AND BIDDING STRATEGIES FOR THE TARGET AUDIENCE
DEVICE & LOCATION STRATEGIES
REMARKETING LISTS & STRATEGY
PPC STRATEGY
Digital Clarity
s unique PPC strategy affords the opportunity to test and change things based on results. Testing ads, optimizing keywords and enhancing the ways to target the right audience are just a few areas which will be covered.
Weekly updates and monthly reporting will be provided to identify areas of improvement and things which need to be optimized further.
KEYWORD REFINEMENT & SEARCH QUERY
AD COPY TESTING
LOCATION MANAGEMENT AND KEYWORD TESTING
BUDGET ALLOCATION & CONTINUED CPC AND KEYWORD BID STRATEGIES FOR ROI
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2. STRENGTHS: SEARCH:
SEO
Definition:
When customers look for service on Google or another search engine, they might find a client company
s business
or they might find a competitor. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process by which you can help ensure that your site appears first in the rankings. These rankings are determined by the search engine
s algorithms: programs which trawl the internet indexing details about each site, in order to deliver relevant results when people search. If your website does not perform well according to the algorithm
s criteria, your rank will be lower, and people will not be able to find your site; this is what makes partnering with the right SEO agency such a crucial part of your digital marketing activity.
Digital Clarity is at the vanguard of this sector, having implemented countless SEO plans for a broad array of clients in a number of different industries. These plans included:
Onsite Technical Audit
Quality Content Creation
Meta, Tags & Technical Optimization
Website Structure
Use of Optimum Keywords
Link Building & Referrals
Social Media Integration
Search Algorithms
SEO strategy is changing all the time, and the rate of change continues to increase dramatically in the last 12-18 months. Changes to the Google algorithm in particular have shifted the landscape of search optimization, including named updates such as Penguin, Panda, and Hummingbird. These changes can have huge consequences: well-performing sites can lose visibility and poor performers can gain it, literally overnight. It is therefore absolutely essentially that a website
s SEO is closely curated and managed, making sure one is always ahead of the curve.
SEO Can Deliver Results for Business
By applying website optimization to your site for better search engine performance, you will gain more traffic and brand recognition as more and more people are able to find you online. This in turn allows more sales and conversions, leading to higher profits and better return on your digital investment. Contact our team today to find out how we can improve your performance.
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Growth of Mobile in Search (PPC & SEO)
Mobile devices are used more than traditional computers for web browsing, as smartphone and tablet use overtook desktop for the first time, October figures show.
Mobile web browsing has been steadily growing since 2009, while the desktop
s share of web traffic has steadily decreased. In October
2015
, the two crossed over, with global mobile and tablet browsing accounting for 51.3% versus the desktop
s 48.7%, according to the latest data from web analytics firm
StatCounter
.
Growth of Mobile Search Compared to Desktop
Google Dominates Search
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3. STRENGTHS: DESIGN
:
Definition:
Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites.
A site can be the most functional, user-friendly and search-optimized in the world; if people don't like the look of it, they will bounce off your page and never come back. Making sure a site looks good and that it reflects your brand company identity is the difference between success and failure, and having a good web design agency on your side is more important than ever.
Web Design Services:
e-Commerce
Device Compatibility
Web Development
Mobile Compatibility
Process & Planning
Content Management System (CMS)
Version Control
Changes in the Last Few Years
With 43% growth in mobile devices and tablets, the game has changed. It
s no longer enough for a site to look great on a PC; it has to be able to scale from a widescreen view of a modern flat screen monitor to the narrow portrait of an Android mobile screen; it has to spin and rotate with the movements of an iPad. This aspect of website design is called
responsiveness,
and in the last few years has gone from being
nice to have
to absolutely essential, necessitating a complete website redesign in many cases. Digital Clarity have years of experience in building functional, beautiful websites which work across all devices.
Digital Clarity
s Unique Proposition
Specialist creative agencies are great at making things pretty and applying their own methodologies and ideas to client websites, both creatively and financial, and operating analytics. Digital Clarity takes a different approach: combining a client
s ideas, vision and brand identity with our experience and expertise to produce sites which perfectly blend form and functionality. Additionally, Digital Clarity does not design in a bubble; the sites built integrate seamlessly with PPC campaigns, SEO activity, and are fully optimized to perform as part of a greater whole. Digital Clarity does not just build websites; the company
s role as a website design agency is part of an integrated approach which will help achieve the overall business goal.
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4. STRENGTHS: SOCIAL MEDIA:
Definition
Social media refers to sites where users interact with each other on a large scale, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Imgur, Tumblr and many others. Begun as a social phenomenon, the growth in use of social media sites over the past decade has made it impossible to ignore for any brand or business.
Social Media Audit
Content Creation
Social Media Management
Social Media Set Up
Reporting
Blog Writing
Content Strategy
Reputation Management
Social Media Advertising
The Need for Social
Social media can help achieve business goals by allowing greater engagement with the customer base, audience and stakeholders. A company doesn
t just need a brand anymore: it needs a face, a voice, and maybe even a heart. As well as being a central component of how customers see a company. It can also yield other opportunities: Promotions, customer feedback, and even just having a little fun can all be used to bring you closer to your clients and users, informing strategy, guiding your product offering and in the long term, increasing sales and profits.
1. Online adults aged 18-34 are most likely follow a brand via social networking (95%). (Source: MarketingSherpa)
2. 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others. (Source: Ambassador)
3. 2.56 billion global mobile social media users, equaling 34% penetration; globally with 1 million new active mobile social users added every day (Source: We Are Social).
4. 96% of the people that discuss brands online do not follow those brands
owned profiles. (Source: Brandwatch)
5. Visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. (Source: HubSpot)
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Digital Clarity
s Value Proposition
As a Digital Marketing and Technology Agency, Digital Clarity has been helping brands manage their social presence since before
social media
had been coined as a phrase. Using our integrated methodology, we will incorporate a social presence as part of an overall offering, utilizing the platforms which are most appropriate to each business in the best possible way. Whether you need from-scratch implementation, or just want a social media audit to benchmark your activity, Digital Clarity have the expertise to deliver the results you need.
Digital Clarity have a strong track record of increasing membership numbers, creating deeper engagement, and measuring the success of your activity to help inform social media marketing strategy and guide development.
Number of social media users worldwide from 2010 to 2021 (in billions)
The Market for Growth in Social
Digital Clarity incorporate Social Media strategy wherever possible. There is continued opportunities to grow business via social networks and social analytics.
Social-media advertising spend will grow rapidly through 2018. It
s up 40year and will top $8.5 billion, growing to nearly $14 billion in 2018, a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%.
-
Social media ad spend has reached the mobile-tipping point. Spending on mobile social-media ads, including mobile app-install ads, will surpass non-mobile spend by the end of this year in the US. In 2018, two-thirds of social-media ad spend will go to mobile, creating a $9.1 billion social-media market.
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Mobile app-install ads and programmatic buying are also growth drivers. Analyses suggest that mobile app-install ads could account for anywhere from one-quarter to more than one-half of Facebook
s mobile ad revenues.
Social programmatic ad platforms are also growth engines. Spending on FBX, Facebook
s programmatic platform, increased by 150% year-over-year globally.
Prices are increasing as performance and targeting improve, even as ad loads stay steady on the established platforms. Facebook, for example, is not likely to increase the amount of in-feed native ads an average user will see.
5. STRENGTHS: ANALYTICS
Definition:
Analytics is the act of analyzing data from your website, marketing campaigns and user activity. It can include everything from what time of day people are most likely to click on your PPC ads, right down to how long users are spending on individual pages on your site. Analytics can help you locate problems, find areas for improvement, form projections for the future and help you get the best out of your marketing budget.
Google Analytics
Goal Setting
Tag Management
3rd Party Analytics
Funnel Planning
Attribution Modelling
Path Analysis
Link Testing
Why Analytics Are Important
Knowing how to identify trends and interrogate data is of paramount importance to any marketing department. Analytics gives you answers to some of the most important questions you should be asking about your campaigns, maximizing effectiveness when things go well and providing solutions when things go wrong. Without this information, what appears to be a successful campaign could be failing to achieve its full potential, and there may be critical problems of which many companies may not be aware.
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Digital Clarity
s Unique Proposition
What really sets Digital Clarity apart is the company
s ability to translate numbers into action. Analytics is extremely important, but for many, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the data, or to know how to act on the knowledge gained from this analysis. Online marketing is a sea of numbers, data and statistics; Digital Clarity turns this information into actionable insights for business.
Digital Clarity
s knowledge of analytics methodologies puts us at the forefront of our industry. We can use this experience to help guide strategy and deliver action points with recommendations, rather than just presenting you with meaningless statistics. With this knowledge in hand, you can implement solutions which will help you get the most out of your online presence. Digital Clarity also offers Google Analytics training to help businesses get the most out of this powerful tool independently.
As the internet and mobile arena continues to mature, the need to make sense of and manage companies through this often-complex market is clearly an area of massive growth. The Company is confident that the talent and experience within the digital marketing team is poised for a major springboard in 2018, but must be expanded significantly in order to support the global reach intended.
Artist Collaboration, through experts with existing relationships, will be exploited in the longer term after the Company integrates many of the new clients in the pipeline. As a strategic advantage, artists and brands will leverage their celebrity status through consultancies such as Digital Clarity to enhance and drive their brand in the complex arena of social media.
Market Reach
The Company has reach and experience across a large number of vertical markets including, but not limited to: Entertainment/Fashion/Sports/Automotive/Ecommerce.
Relationships and Industry Contacts
The team at Digital Clarity have professional and personal contacts, including some long-term relationships, at companies such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook, often being invited to attend strategic market briefings and insights. The resultant collaboration is invaluable.
Partnerships, strategic alliances and agency management have allowed Digital Clarity to work on some of the biggest brands, sitting behind the agencies as a support and resource to deliver very high quality service and results to their clients.
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TEAM EXPERTISE
COMPANY KEY ASSETS
Examples:
PPC campaign experience especially Google AdWords existed
SEO evolution from aggressive link building and onsite SEO through to strategic marketing and integration of inbound marketing
Website design and development based on results driven design and planning
Brand consultancy
Social media management and advertising. Several clients have been
won
directly via Digital Clarity
s internal social media strategy
Sales and account management experience from multi-disciplined backgrounds
Evolution and Flexibility
The market is continually changing. Digital Clarity has always remained ahead of the curve and given their clients peace of mind by remaining a true strategic partner.
Creative, Individualized Solutions and Customer Service
Case Studies and testimonials reflect the client-centric approach of Digital Clarity. Being selected over larger more established firms, support that we provide the client with skills that are differentiating. The Digital Clarity Brand is being established positively.
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Growth Opportunities in the Market
As the use of web mobile sites and applications grow, so do the complexities and challenges of using these sites and platforms commercially. Digital Clarity directs business through the maze of an often confusing and sophisticated set of barriers, to create a clear path for the customer to our client
s product or service. As this market matures, the need for companies to rely on the services from Digital Clarity can only grow. Here we look at some of the growth areas in Digital Clarity
s arsenal integrating the key trends going forward:
1. More Mobile
2. More Social
3. More Informed
4. More Experiential
5. More Real-Time
6. More Global
7. More Multichannel
These trends translate to being
always on.
Growth & Opportunities in Search
Search remains the foundation of digital marketing. Businesses now spend 24% of total marketing budget on paid search by 2017.
US digital ad spending will approach $85 billion
Interactive Advertising Bureau.
U.S. search spend grew by 11 percent Year over Year, while ROI improved by 26 percent
Adobe
72% of Consumers Want Mobile-Friendly Sites
Google Research
2 million search queries are made on Google, every minute
Google
Growth in Corporate Search
All Fortune 100 Companies have a Google Plus Account
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Growth & Opportunities in Social Media
Number of social network users worldwide from 2010 to 2018 (in billions)
INSTAGRAM GROWTH
Instagram has seen a phenomenal growth rate, much to the detriment of Twitter. Both remain powerful though Instagram
s video and photographic social channel is far outpacing twitter.
Top brands on Instagram are seeing a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21% which is 58 times higher than on Facebook and 120 times higher than on Twitter (Source: Hootsuite)
Instagram has become a powerful platform for marketers and its potential cannot be overlooked any longer.
Media brands are the most active whereas business services, financial services, and fast moving consumer goods have the lowest percentage of brands represented on Instagram. (Source: Simply Measured)
Also, the increase in business activity on Instagram the brand posting frequency is becoming more normalized and standardized to highlight the increase in a more measurable approach.
90% of Instagram users are younger than 35 (Source: Science Daily)
Instagram has become the social media network for targeting millennials. 32% of teenagers consider Instagram to be the most important social network. Female internet users are more likely to use Instagram than men, at 38% vs. 26%.
Products were the top content types for the top 200 global brands in terms of engagement, at 60% in 2017 beating lifestyle category by over 20%. (Source: Hootsuite)
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This is great news for marketers since people who follow brands on Instagram are aware and accept the fact that they
re going to be exposed to products.
Posts tagged with another user (56%) or location (79%) have significantly higher engagement rates (Source: Simply Measured)
GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES IN LONDON & THE UK MARKET
Digital Clarity
s presence in the UK provides an excellent springboard into mainland Europe as London remains the gateway into both Northern and Southern European markets.
From the recent Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and (Price Waterhouse Coopers) PwC Report:
At half year, the total UK digital advertising market is worth £5.56bn, up 13.8% y-o-y
Mobile is driving almost all growth in the market
At £2.37bn, mobile now makes up 43% of all digital
Mobile is accounting for 57% of all digital display advertising
Online video has overtaken banners as the largest display format, up 46% year-on-year
Outstream is now the largest video format, at 52% of all online video
Social revenue is now over £1 billion
WORLDWIDE E-COMMERCE GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIGITAL CLARITY
In 2016, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to $1.86 trillion and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to $4.48 trillion by 2021. China overtook the online the US-Market as the world
s largest online market in 2015. Online shopping is one of the most popular online activities worldwide,
Goldman Sachs expects on-line shopping retail sales in China to grow at an annual average of 23% over the next 4 years, topping $1.7 trillion by 2020,
but the usage varies by region - in 2016, an estimated 19% of all retail sales in China occurred via internet but in Japan the share was only 6.7%. Desktop PCs are still the most popular device for placing online shopping orders, but mobile devices, especially smartphones, are catching up. Fast.
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Worldwide Retail Ecommerce Sales Will Reach $2.8 Trillion in 2018.
Double-digit growth will continue through 2020, when sales will top $4 trillion.
Retail ecommerce sales
which include products and services (barring travel, restaurant and event ticket sales) ordered via the internet over any device
will reach $1.915 trillion in 2016, accounting for 8.7% of total retail spending worldwide. While the pace of growth for overall retail sales is subdued, the digital portion of sales continues to expand rapidly, with a 23.7% growth rate for 2016.
eMarketer
expects retail ecommerce sales will increase to $4.058 trillion in 2020, making up 14.6% of total retail spending that year.
Global Retail Ecommerce Sales Will Reach $4.5 Trillion by 2021
Cumulative data from Statista anticipates a 246.15% increase in worldwide ecommerce sales, from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to $4.5 trillion in 2021. That
s a nearly threefold lift in online revenue.
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Global B2B Ecommerce Sales Dominate B2C
In 2017, B2C ecommerce sales exceeded $2.3 trillion worldwide. B2B ecommerce, on the other hand, will reach $77 trillion. Those two data points represent a 234.78% difference in market size.
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Retail Ecommerce
s Global Spread Makes International Sales Non-Negotiable
According to
Business.com
, the 10 largest ecommerce markets in the world are:
China: $672 billion
United States: $340 billion
United Kingdom: $99 billion
Japan: $79 billion
Germany: $73 billion
France: $43 billion
South Korea: $37 billion
Canada: $30 billion
Russia: $20 billion
Brazil: $19 billion
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THE NEED FOR PROFESIONAL CONSULTANCY & OPPORTUNITY FOR MASSIVE GROWTH
For the first time ever, four consultancies have cracked Ad Age's ranking of the 10 largest agency companies in the world. With combined revenue of $13.2 billion, the marketing services units of Accenture, PwC, IBM and Deloitte sit just below WPP, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe, Interpublic and Dentsu. Last year, only two consultancies
Accenture Interactive and IBM iX
made the top 10. IBM iX was the first to break into the top 10.
Given the experience of the team, Digital Clarity
s advisory and consultancy is in demand. With the recent growth in these business areas, and the rise of consultancies, it is confirmation that Digital Clarity is headed in the right direction for growth.
Digital advertising spending worldwide from 2017 to 2020 (in billion U.S. dollars)
Digital advertising is expected to grow to $335.5 billion by 2020.
In 2016, Facebook earned 79.38 billion U.S. dollars in digital revenue through online advertising. During the same period of time,
search market leader
Google generated 79.38 billion U.S. dollars through digital advertising channels.
A ranking of the ten most valuable U.S.-based internet companies by market capitalization. As of August 2017, Alphabet's market capitalization was 645 billion U.S. dollars. Third-ranked retail platform Amazon had a market cap of 471.7 billion U.S. dollars.
Internet companies generate their revenue through various means. Google, for instance, makes use of its advertisement services such as Google AdWords
which takes advantage of Google searches and appear as small advertisements next to search results
and Google AdSense which generates advertisements based on a user
s search history and location, among others. Advertisements based on AdSense appear all across Google-owned sites including YouTube and Google Finance. The online company also profits from the development of Android OS, licensing and mobile apps as well as the recent development of hardware such as the Nexus mobile device series and Google Glass. In 2015, Google
s total revenue amounted to $74.54 billion and in 2017 exceeded $85 billion. Schematic technology following compares the major internet companies:
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MAJOR INTERNET COMPANIES SPEND
Social network Facebook is ranked second. It is the leading social network worldwide and has successfully managed to take advantage of the increasingly mobile online environment. In 2015, mobile accounted for 77 percent of Facebook's advertising revenues and is projected to amount to more than 60 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.
Amazon.com, the third largest U.S. internet company based on its market capitalization, generates in profit from its position as the world
s largest online retailer; in 2017, the company
s net revenue was of some $107.01 billion.
Despite operating internationally, Amazon generates the majority of its revenues in the United States and Canada. In 2014, Amazon
s North American net revenue was of close to $63.71 billion, with the majority of the revenue coming from electronics
sales. Media sales (which include services such as Amazon Instant Video) amounted to some $12.48 billion.
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The Growth of the Marketing Led Companies in Market Capitalization
Revenue in the "Social Media Advertising" segment amounts to $32 billion in 2017.
Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2017-2021) of 10.9 % resulting in a market volume of $48,917m in 2021.
The average revenue per Internet user currently amounts to $11.45.
The revenue in the "Social Media Advertising" segment currently corresponds to 0.05 % of the country's GDP.
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WORLD'S MOST VALUABLE BRAND
Amazon has officially replaced Google as the most valuable brand in the world, according to brand consultancy Brand Finance. Amazon's brand value is $150.8 billion, an increase of 42% from 2016, based on business performance and marketing investment. The second most valuable global brand is Apple, at $146.3billion. Google is third highest, with a $120.9 billion valuation. (Business Insider.com)
GROWTH IN INVESTOR AWARENESS AND OUTREACH.
Digital Brand Media & Marketing Group, Inc. is initiating a significant effort to raise investor awareness on a global basis. The strategic outreach is directed at investors around the world who understand the digital marketplace and its expanding influence on consumer decisions. DBMM is targeting these new investors through a global digital and traditional integrated investor outreach campaign which will be run by Digital Clarity, with third parties, as required for distribution.
In the full industry context of dramatic expansion of digital footprints, there has been no direct correlation between DBMM's (increasing) revenues and its pps. Economic and industry analysts state the multiple for digital media has continued to grow to 25-30 times revenues. DBMM is in a long-term growth pattern both in scale and in revenues, begun in 2014. This has been a frustrating situation for DBMM and we look forward to large scale expansion which will address the issue directly and the pps will respond accordingly-very positively.
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FINANCIAL OVERVIEW/OUTLOOK
DBMM has been honing its commercial model since the acquisition of Digital Clarity ("DC") in 2011which has been cash-flow positive as an operating company since its acquisition. However, the incremental, significant cost of being a fully reporting company to the SEC, must be absorbed annually which is a long-term strategic decision as to the benefit of being a public company. Going forward, as the Company is scaling up, it obviously will take growth capital to expand proportionately. The good news is that the business had a turning point during 2015, when its revenues increased quarter-over-quarter to a 23% increase for the fiscal year. The increases have been re-invested into the business, thus increasing the cost of sales in the short term until the optimum cross-over point is reached. The Company continued to grow the scale in fiscal years 2015-2017 focusing on the digital marketing global triangle of London, New York and Los Angeles. This was in spite of being frugal. Its margins continue in the range of 31-36%, and once the business reaches appropriate scale with assumed profitability and cross-over point, DBMM will become a very successful business for all its stakeholders.
The clients benefit immediately; the shareholders will benefit as the market cap grows. The media market multiple which far exceeds the manufacturing cap multiples, as digital marketing technology has become one of the fastest growing industries in the world today.
The business has been sound from the acquisition of DC, and the Company has been proving incrementally, but not nearly at pace the management would like because of the non-operating hurdles faced since the Company was required to re-audit in 2013, and the litigation there after, though no fault of DBMM.
Regarding DBMM
s place in the sector, it is strong. The industry environment continues to grow exponentially and the future of digital marketing as an essential strategy for any consumer-facing business is essential. DBMM
s has been honing its business model since the acquisition of its brand and is an industry leader for its size. DBMM
s increasing client base, coupled with decreasing debt and expenses, positions the Company as intended, thus attracting mezzanine financing.
For context, Benjamin Graham, a British-born investor who inspired Warren Buffet, repeated endlessly his colleagues said:
In the short term, the stock market is a voting machine. In the long run it
s a weighing machine that measures a Company
s true value.
In terms of state of play, DBMM
s issues have always been public company hurdles, e. g. the cost of maintaining a public company, the cost of capital during the Great Financial Recession, when the only funding available was toxic and the micro-cap environment in general. No matter how high the positive margins, it was nearly impossible to stay ahead of the cost of capital. Then superimpose the only litigation the Company has had, and the actions required to pushback. Coincidently, DBMM has worked diligently to put toxic lending in the rear-view mirror, engage mezzanine financing at
normal
market rates, to be repaid out of increasing revenues, not equity.
Going forward, there will be an emphasis on investor awareness during fiscal years 2018 and 2019. DBMM is taking significant action to aggressively widen its brand exposure using a variety of digital and social channels. There are investors around the globe who understand the digital marketplace and its growing influence on consumer decisions. DBMM is targeting these new investors through a global digital and traditional integrated campaign which will be run by Digital Clarity, with third parties, as required for distribution.
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The world is evolving rapidly in how goods are purchased. The 21st Century consumer-oriented corporations are asset-light, idea-intensive sectors. Information is gathered digitally through sharing via digital technology platforms and social networks. The analytics and creative focus of Digital Clarity gives it a differentiation available to its clients as it individually designs an increase in ROI for those same clients. DC has earned a place at the table of professional advisors giving its clients strategic advantage which is measured and formidable. Orders are configured on-line after viewing goods in brick and mortar retail stores, then ordered on -line, increasingly via mobile devices. Tesla is a perfect example of disintermediation. "It doesn't have any dealerships. Customers can configure and order a car on-line, and test drive cars at company-owned showrooms."
DBMM delivers its value proposition as a labor-intensive endeavor, with human capital of knowledge and execution as differentiators. The Company will continue to scale up, and grow organically, while identifying acquisitions to grow client base and internal talent concurrently. A capital raise is underway for long-term capital needs to grow organically and by acquisition(s). The pace of growth of governed solely by available capital.
For several years, DBMM has had revenues which were never acknowledged in its market cap. The Company has always been grossly undervalued when compared to its audited revenues contained in its financial statements. DBMM
s business model is sound and will continue. Growth is only a function of capital infusion.
Fiscal Year 2017
We had approximately $55,000 in cash and our working capital deficiency amounted to approximately $3.3 million at August 31, 2017.
During the year ended August 31, 2017, we used cash in our operating activities amounting to approximately $28,000. Our cash used in operating activities was comprised of our net gain of approximately $560,000 adjusted primarily for the following:
Change in fair value of derivative liability of $776,858;
Amortization of debt discount of $32,083;
Additionally, the following variations in operating assets and liabilities during the year ended August 31, 2017 impacted our cash used in operating activity:
In our accounts payable and accrued expenses, including accrued compensation, of approximately $181,000, resulting from a short fall in liquidity and capital resources.
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Fiscal Year 2016
We had approximately $4,000 in cash and our working capital deficiency amounted to approximately $3.9 million at August 31, 2016.
During the year ended August 31, 2016, we used cash in our operating activities amounting to approximately $120,000. Our cash used in operating activities was comprised of our net loss of approximately $1,600,000 adjusted primarily for the following:
Fair value of preferred shares issued for services of $5,170;
Change in fair value of derivative liability of $1,007,007;
Amortization of debt discount of $69,500;
Additionally, the following variations in operating assets and liabilities during the year ended August 31, 2016 impacted our cash used in operating activity:
In our accounts payable and accrued expenses, including accrued compensation, of approximately $182,000, resulting from a short fall in liquidity and capital resources.
During the year ended August 31, 2016, we generated cash from financing activities of $120,500 which primarily consists of the proceeds from the issuance of loans and convertible debt aggregating $50,000, and proceeds from demand notes payable of $70,500.
Fiscal Year 2015
We had approximately $28,000 in cash and our working capital deficiency amounted to approximately $2.5 million at August 31, 2015.
During the year ended August 31, 2015, we used cash in our operating activities amounting to approximately $301,000. Our cash used in operating activities was comprised of our net loss of approximately $738,000 adjusted primarily for the following:
Fair value of preferred shares issued for services of $1,100;
Change in fair value of derivative liability of $47,800;
Amortization of debt discount of $270,666;
Additionally, the following variations in operating assets and liabilities during the year ended August 31, 2015 impacted our cash used in operating activity:
In our accounts payable and accrued expenses, including accrued compensation, of approximately $165,000, resulting from a short fall in liquidity and capital resources.
During the year ended August 31, 2015, we generated cash from financing activities of $269,500 which consists of the proceeds from the issuance of loans and convertible debt.
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Going Concern
The Company has outstanding loans and convertible notes payable aggregating $1.2 million at August 31, 2017and doesn
t have sufficient cash on hand to satisfy such obligations. Subsequent to August 31, 2017, the Company has raised $192,000 from the issuance of new loan agreements. The Company has received a non-binding commitment letter from an investor of $250,000 (plus a right of first refusal on additiona equity raise up to $3.0 million which will contribute to satisfying such obligations and fund any potential cash flow deficiencies from operations for the foreseeable future.
Accordingly, the accompanying financial statements have been prepared in conformity with U.S. GAAP, which contemplates continuation of the Company as a going concern and the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The carrying amounts of assets and liabilities presented in the financial statements do not necessarily purport to represent realizable or settlement values. The financial statements do not include any adjustment that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Comparison of Results for the Years Ended August 31, 2017, August 31, 2016 and August 31, 2015