New analysis reveals critical gaps in how municipal issuers disclose and manage climate-related financial risks
Climate risks are increasingly affecting municipal finances, yet bond disclosures often fail to give investors the information they need to assess and price those risks. This first-of-its-kind Ceres report analyzes 60 recent bond offerings across 20 high-risk U.S. metropolitan areas, revealing significant gaps in climate disclosure and resilience reporting.
Spanx is a globally recognized apparel brand that revolutionized the fashion industry by fundamentally redefining the shapewear category. Evolving from a single innovative undergarment into a world-leading lifestyle brand, Spanx now offers a diverse portfolio of shapewear, loungewear, and everyday apparel. To safeguard its legacy and protect its loyal customer base from inauthentic products, they required a digital Brand Protection strategy as robust and forward-thinking as its own product line. The Challenge: Navigating the Digital No Man’s Land Before partnering with Corsearch, the Brand Protection landscape for Spanx was challenging due to information overload. The sheer volume of global marketplaces, e-platforms, and social media sites made monitoring the digital frontline incredibly difficult. The environment operated like an anonymous no man’s land. Building a Foundation: Where Technology Meets Human Insight Previous tools Spanx relied on lacked the rapid detection rate, broad range of infringement scan capabilities, and the ability to organize the data into cohesive summaries that identified key target platforms and sellers. To combat this, Spanx integrated Corsearch’s technology and algorithms to aggregate complex data, paired crucially with Corsearch experts who filter this information with a human eye. Corsearch Zeal 2.0 is a true AI-native platform that is designed to address the “digital shadows” where AI is used by bad actors to create fake and hard-to-detect listings – an upgrade over traditional Brand Protection services with AI added on. Through Zeal 2.0, the team was able to fundamentally shift their mindset. Instead of spending all of their time chasing individual sellers across many platforms, the Brand Protection focus shifted to understanding the full ecosystem and patterns behind the infringement. A major strategic advantage of this new Corsearch platform has been the ability to cluster thousands of fragmented, isolated listings across marketplaces to map out the hidden networks behind them. While granular data is essential to their Brand Protection efforts, Spanx emphasizes that the true benefit of the partnership comes from the ability to zoom out and form a coherent picture of the threat landscape, allowing them to target the right parties with the greatest impact on their brand, armed with sufficient evidence to support the most appropriate enforcement strategies. Generally, the nature of Brand Protection continues to present a ‘whack-a-mole’ issue, but the speed, expertise, partner relationships, and data that Corsearch provides have served as a strong defense mechanism and strengthened opportunities for proactive measures. Previous data can be leveraged to pinpoint high priority platforms to action and mitigate infringement cycles from spiraling. Intelligence-Led Disruption and Deep Investigations This comprehensive visibility has allowed Spanx to convert raw data signals into actionable, high-impact enforcement strategies. Network disruptions: In one collaborative investigation, a single infringing ad discovered on a social media platform ultimately led to the exposure of an entire network of connected fraudulent websites. Tracing the source: When the data highlighted specific marketplaces as key areas of concern, Spanx and Corsearch launched deeper, full-cycle investigations. This included efforts to track down the geographic source of the infringing physical stock. Learn how Corsearch investigates and shuts down the source through our Investigations 360 service. Strategic Prioritization and Protecting the Customer Having a clear view of data trends, such as the top affected platforms and products, ensures that Spanx focuses its budget and internal resources on the most impactful targets. This intelligence informs internal cross-collaboration; for instance, Spanx realized that the ad tools it uses to market its products to customers also attract bad actors attempting to divert them to their own counterfeit products. This data-driven approach translates directly to real-world impact: Customer Experience IntegrationSpanx has strengthened internal feedback loops by informing teams, including Customer Service, Sales, and Branding, of any major Brand Protection issues. Protecting customers is a collective priority. Proactive RemovalsA top priority is removing threats from high-traffic platforms where customers actually shop, neutralizing suspicious content before consumers are negatively affected. Product SafeguardsSpanx is now establishing pre-launch safeguards for new products by leveraging marketing overviews to focus its monitoring of high risk platforms during peak product launches. In parallel, the team has reprioritized resources to maintain strong protection of high-performing, long-standing Spanx products. The Future: Navigating AI, Policy, and Collaboration As digital threats evolve, Spanx is keeping a close eye on the horizon to ensure they are able to protect their customers and brand reputation. One emerging challenge is the rapid proliferation of AI bots, which bad actors now use to generate and test thousands of versions of infringing ads, threatening to overwhelm standard takedown processes. Another significant hurdle is the pace disparity between innovation and regulation; as tech moves much faster than global legal policy, taking final legal action remains incredibly difficult when bad actors hide behind unverified physical addresses and fake registry names. Spanx practices a collaborative approach, where brand ownership of protecting IP assets and direct engagement with Corsearch’s team becomes a joint effort in building an airtight enforcement foundation to combat the growing issue of AI-driven infringements. Conclusion For other brands navigating these challenges, Spanx offers a clear piece of advice: treat Brand Protection as a highly collaborative effort. Brands must take accountability for their own data, work closely with their service partners, and remain hands-on to bridge the gap between digital intelligence and real-world disruption. Download Now
Goodai Global: Moving Beyond “Whack-a-Mole” to Intelligence-Led Brand Protection As the global popularity of K-Beauty continues to skyrocket, brands face an escalating threat from bad actors looking to capitalize on their success. For Gyucheol, Intellectual Property Manager at Goodai Global, protecting the highly acclaimed skincare brand “Beauty of Joseon” is about more than just revenue – it’s about consumer safety. Because cosmetics are performance-driven products applied directly to the skin, counterfeit versions not only fail to deliver results but pose severe health and safety risks. Left unchecked, these fakes threaten to irreversibly tarnish the hard-earned reputation of the Beauty of Joseon brand and the wider K-Beauty industry. The Challenge: The Blind Spots of Basic Monitoring Before partnering with Corsearch, Goodai’s brand protection strategy was hindered by a lack of actionable visibility. Working with a previous local vendor, their efforts were restricted to basic online monitoring and manual takedowns. Gyucheol described the frustrating reality of this approach as a continuous “game of whack-a-mole.” While they could remove individual listings, they lacked the deep investigative capabilities needed to uncover the sources, physical locations, and network connections of the counterfeiters. Without solid intelligence, it was impossible to take decisive action to disrupt the manufacturing and distribution of fakes at their root. The manual process of reporting listings also drained valuable time and team resources. The Solution: Intelligence-Led Enforcement and Automation Goodai turned to the Corsearch Investigations Team and Corsearch’s automated platform to bridge the gap between online monitoring and offline action Automated Takedowns Unlike their previous service, which required Goodai to manually report infringing listings, the Corsearch platform automatically detects and removes counterfeit seller listings. Gyucheol highlighted this automation as a massive upgrade that immediately reduced the administrative burden on his team, freeing up time for higher-value strategic work. In-Depth Landscape Reports To tackle the root of the counterfeiting networks, Corsearch provided a comprehensive Landscape Report. The intelligence gathered showed that over 80% of the targets identified by Corsearch matched the “heavy sellers” Goodai had already suspected on platforms like Amazon and Alibaba. Corsearch provided the missing pieces of the puzzle – the personal information of the counterfeiters and the decisive evidence required to actually prosecute them. The Impact: From Online Listings to Offline SeizuresBy using data from Corsearch, Goodai transformed its brand protection strategy from reactive to proactive, achieving measurable offline impact and optimizing its global budget. Targeted Offline Enforcement in ChinaUtilizing the intelligence from the Landscape Report, Goodai instructed a local agency in China to conduct an on-site visit targeting a major counterfeit seller. This intelligence-led approach resulted in a successful administrative enforcement action, leading to the physical seizure and destruction of 100+ units of counterfeit Beauty of Joseon stock. Strategic Global Resource AllocationAs Beauty of Joseon recently expanded into major retailers in a new market, Gyucheol’s team considered dedicating a substantial budget to local enforcement in that region. Instead, by using Corsearch’s rapid investigation and reporting they confirmed that counterfeits were not yet widespread in the region. This insight prevented unnecessary spending, allowing Goodai to confidently allocate resources elsewhere. Securing Future BudgetsThe concrete data and intelligence provided by Corsearch didn’t just stop bad actors; it empowered Goodai internally. The reports served as the foundational evidence needed to secure an increased internal budget for offline enforcement and to plan comprehensive customs training programs for the upcoming year. “Intelligence-led enforcement allows us to see the forest, not just the trees. We’ve moved beyond simple ‘whack-a-mole’ takedowns to identify and take action against the real targets.” Gyucheol, IP Manager, Goodai Global The Future: Expanding the Perimeter Their next phase involves expanding their enforcement scope into emerging, high-risk markets like Southeast Asia, India and Russia with Corsearch as a partner. Through ongoing communication with the Corsearch Investigations team, Goodai remains equipped to adapt to new counterfeit trends swiftly and decisively and have gained a new confidence in their Online Brand Protection program through our Corsearch Investigations solutions. Download Now
Consultants can make their sales process much simpler by recognizing that there are proven methodologies and technologies out there that can help In this guide, we’ll show you how to optimize your sales process to generate more leads and close more deals You’re going to learn: • How to fully understand your target market and buyers • How to create a process that guides prospects from discovery call to sale • How to train your sales teams and consultants to more effectively attract new clients • How to stand out against the competition • How to build a brand based on expertise • Four proven techniques to generate leads for your sales pipeline Despite the challenges consultancy services are facing on a global scale, the industry is still growing. This guide will help you continue to grow with the industry. Download Now
