Sales & Marketing news

• Google is getting a new cloud boss, and he's inheriting some problems in the cloud wars with Amazon and Microsoft — but also real opportunity (GOOG, GOOGL)

  16-11-2018 23:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  Google Cloud is getting a new boss in the form of Thomas Kurian, formerly of Oracle. 
  From his predecessor Diane Greene, Kurian will inherit a third-place position in the cloud wars with Amazon and Microsoft.
  Google Cloud is doing well on its own terms, signing some big customers and building its technology.
  But Google has big expectations for Google Cloud, and it's nowhere near its biggest rivals.When Thomas Kurian, formerly of Oracle, takes over as CEO of Google Cloud in January, he's goi
  
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• Meet the 22-year Oracle veteran executive who's going to lead Google in the cloud wars against Amazon and Microsoft (ORCL, GOOG)

  16-11-2018 21:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  On Friday, Diane Greene announced she would be stepping down as Google Cloud's chief exec. 
  Greene's replacement will be the 22-year Oracle veteran Thomas Kurian, who before resigning in September, was president of product development with the company, and a key player in its cloud efforts. When he steps into the role in January, he'll be leading Google Cloud as it continues its quest to topple Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud wars.
  But who exactly is Google Cloud's new CEO?Here's a close
  
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• Facebook employees react to the latest scandals: 'Why does our company suck at having a moral compass' (FB)

  16-11-2018 20:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  Facebook is battling yet another crisis after a bombshell report on how leadership reacted to previous scandals.
  Employees at the California tech giant are reacting with a mixture of frustration with senior executives and distrust of the media.
  One current employee dismissed the report, telling colleagues reporters have an "economic incentive to slander us."
  Others were critical of Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg's leadership.Facebook employees are reacting with frustration and conflicti
  
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• Marketing in the age of intelligence

  16-11-2018 16:56
  The post Marketing in the age of intelligence appeared first on Marketing Week.
  
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• 'Crypto strikes again': Here's what Wall Street is saying about Nvidia's underwhelming earnings (NVDA)

  16-11-2018 16:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  Nvidia on Thursday reported disappointing third-quarter earnings, leading shares to slump as much as 18% early Friday.
  The chipmaker said it earned $1.82 a share, falling short of the $1.92 that was expected by Wall Street according to Bloomberg data. Its bottom line came in at $3.18 billion, missing on the $3.24 billion that was expected. 
  Looking ahead, the company expects its fourth-quarter revenue to be $2.7 billion, while analysts were expecting $3.4 billion.
  The underwhelming financi
  
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• California's biggest utility provider spikes after regulator eases fears of bankruptcy following deadly wildfire (PCG)

  16-11-2018 16:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire broke out last Thursday.
  The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) said it could be responsible for the fire and had exhausted its revolving line of credit to pay for a fire-related liability.
  California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker said he couldn't imagine letting the California utility declare bankruptcy.
  Shares were under pressure recently but rallied on Friday following Picker's comments. 
  Watch
  
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• There's been an enterprise tech IPO rush in 2018. Here are the 15 key execs driving the new class of startups.

  16-11-2018 16:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Enterprise-tech startups have been on a 12-month IPO joyride.
  From MongoDB to Dropbox to Eventbrite, more than 20 startups in the enterprise-tech industry have sold shares to the public and made splashy Wall Street debuts this past year.
  Unlike consumer internet companies, whose products are usually free and designed for the masses, these enterprise startups create products and service that are sold to other businesses. It's a massive $3.7 trillion worldwide market, and yet these startups
  
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• John Lewis, Coca-Cola, KFC: 5 things that mattered this week and why

  16-11-2018 15:44
  John Lewis relies on Elton John for Christmas success
  John Lewis finally put the nation out of its annual misery this week and unveiled this year’s Christmas ad extravaganza starring Elton John.
  While others in the retail space have pulled back spend and decided to put more of a focus on products this year, John Lewis has stuck with the big emotional storytelling that it has become known for, with the 140-second film about John’s career costing around the same as previous years&rsqu
  
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• 'I'm very, very bullish on my firm': Anthony Scaramucci's betting on a rebound after his fund beat its peers during Red October

  16-11-2018 15:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Anthony Scaramucci's firm SkyBridge Capital beat peers during October's market volatility.
  Scaramucci, who tried to sell SkyBridge to a Chinese conglomerate last year, said he is "absolutely not" thinking about selling the firm now. 
  Anthony Scaramucci has found religion – again – in his business.
  He lost it briefly last year, living in “an alternative universe" that saw him spend 10 days as White House communications director and attempting to sell his alternatives firm S
  
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• It's official — BlackBerry is buying cybersecurity firm Cylance for $1.4 billion

  16-11-2018 15:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  BlackBerry just confirmed it plans to buy AI cybersecurity startup Cylance for $1.4 billion in cash.
  Cylance will continue to operate as a separate business within BlackBerry.
  Business Insider first reported the acquisition talks in early November.
  Canadian software maker BlackBerry said on Friday it will acquire Cylance, an artificial intelligence and cybersecurity company, for $1.4 billion in cash. Business Insider first reported the acquisition talks in early November.
  Besides the cash compon
  
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• A hedge fund run by one of the world's most famous oil traders is the latest major victim of surging market volatility

  16-11-2018 14:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  Andurand Commodities Fund lost 20.9% in October after predicting prices would rise.
  The fund, run by renowned oil trader Pierre Andurand, is one of the few oil specific funds left in the market.
  Oil prices tanked in October after supply fears eased despite US sanctions on Iran.A $1 billion dollar hedge fund run by one of the world's most famous oil traders got hit hard by recent volatility in energy markets, losing 20.9% in October. 
  Andurand Commodities Fund, based opposite London's Harrod
  
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• How Lexus programmed a machine to write the world’s first AI-scripted ad

  16-11-2018 13:48
  Lexus has created the first ever advert scripted entirely by artificial intelligence – a dramatic 60-second film that tells the story of a car that comes to life to mark the launch of its new ES executive saloon car.
  Like Frankenstein’s Monster, the ad begins with a Lexus engineer admiring his creation. He looks on and sheds a tear as the car is taken away and threatened with destruction, taking to the open and stormy roads before being shackled and readied for an imminent cras
  
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• 10 things you need to know before the opening bell (SPY, SPX, QQQ, DIA, PCG, NVDA)

  16-11-2018 13:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  Here is what you need to know.
  Trump seems to be backing down in the trade war with China. President Donald Trump and his administration have taken a softer tone against China in recent weeks, and talks between the two sides have restarted ahead of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, scheduled for the end of November.
  A top economist warns Trump's China trade war is doing more damage to the US economy than people think. "We expect a material slowing in the fourth quarter of this year &mda
  
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• New research uncovers what makes a Christmas ad work

  16-11-2018 13:00 via warc.com
  Kantar Millward Brown research into the last three years of TV Christmas ads in the UK explores what successful spots do, and what distinguishes an effective strategy at this time of year from ads at any other time.
  
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• Who did it best? Vote for your favourite Christmas campaign

  16-11-2018 12:49
  Need a recap? Watch all the ads via the links below:
  Aldi – ‘Kevin the Carrot and the Wicked Parsnip’
  Argos – ‘The Christmas Fool’
  Asda – ‘Bring Christmas Home’
  Boots – ‘Get them something that says, you get them’
  Debenhams – ‘Do a bit of you know you did good’
  Iceland – ‘Rang-tan’ (originally Greenpeace)
  John Lewis – ‘The Boy & The Piano’ starring Elton John
  Lidl &n
  
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• GOLDMAN SACHS: These 17 companies are investing the most in their future — and buying their stocks now could lead to huge profits down the line

  16-11-2018 12:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  Companies that invest heavily in the future are generally able to generate outsized profit growth further down the line, and Goldman Sachs says these companies are already being rewarded.
  The firm has identified the 17 companies that have been sinking the most money into future initiatives, which is positioning them to continue outperforming the market.The old saying is that you have to spend money to make money.
  That's abundantly true in the equity market, where companies that sink considerable
  
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• A top economist warns Trump's China trade war is doing more damage to the US economy than people think

  16-11-2018 10:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  Seth Carpenter, the most senior US economist at UBS, says the trade war is already having a negative impact on the US economy.
  UBS expects that tariffs will halve the speed of gross-domestic-product growth in the world's largest economy this quarter.
  They will also lead to the collapse of many small manufacturing firms, which have wafer-thin margins and will not be able to adapt to rising prices, UBS says.
  "We are outliers compared to the rest of Wall Street in terms of how big an effect the tar
  
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• APEC host Papua New Guinea doesn't need cheap cash and hollow promises, it needs a genuine solution

  16-11-2018 08:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  A mini Pacific Game of Thrones will be going down this weekend as Papua New Guinea plays host to 21 nations at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Port Moresby.
  Australia and China in particular will be vying for influence and they already have the checkbooks out.
  China's President Xi Jinping is already on the ground in Papua New Guinea for a state visit.
  But Bridi Rice, the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Australian Council of International Development and a former Aus
  
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• Mark Ritson: Gary Vaynerchuk is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong about media

  16-11-2018 08:00
  Photo by Stephen McCarthy/RISE/SportsfileEvery advertising era has its guru. From Thomas Barratt and the advent of modern outdoor advertising to David Ogilvy and the creation of effective print ads, Rosser Reeves and the emergence of TV commercials to Lester Wunderman and the turn toward direct marketing.
  Media changes with the decades and so do the thought leaders that represent and promote them to marketers. Interestingly, each medium seems to also reflect its guru’s own personal positio
  
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• Mark Zuckerberg insists he's still the best person to run Facebook, despite the endless scandals (FB)

  16-11-2018 02:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  CEO Mark Zuckerberg insists he's still the best person to run Facebook, despite all the company's scandals.
  This week, a bombshell new report dropped about how company execs tried to downplay issues and smear critics.
  In a damage-control conference call with reporters, Zuckerberg insisted that fixing Facebook's problems will take time.
  "I don’t think that me or anyone else could come in and snap our fingers and have these issues resolved in a quarter or half a year," he said.
  Because of Fa
  
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• Reach is important over the long term

  16-11-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  Data from analytics companies and academics suggests the key to consistently higher marketing return on investment (ROI) is synergy and taking a multichannel approach.Paul Sinkinson from analytics consultancy Analytic Partners told the IAB Measure...
  
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• Quality, not budget, matters with video ads

  16-11-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  John Lewis, the UK department store, launched its traditional blockbuster Christmas ad yesterday, but new research from America suggests the quality of video ads is more important than budget, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. ...
  
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• Nissan plays the long game in Saudi Arabia

  16-11-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  Nissan was the first automaker out of the starting blocks last year when it was announced that women would be permitted to drive in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but the brand’s strategy is based on a marathon not a sprint.Nissan tweeted a...
  
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• How 'green guilt' influences consumers

  16-11-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  Marketers seeking to drive environmentally-friendly behaviors could benefit from understanding the role of “green guilt” and financial considerations, according to a study published in the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR).The...
  
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• eBay unveils new 'insights and influence' ad offer

  16-11-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  Online marketplace eBay has launched a new advertising offer that promises to help advertisers deliver more impactful campaigns through improved shopper insights and influence.Sitting within its
  
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• China demands user data from tech firms

  16-11-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  Technology companies operating in China will be required to provide detailed logs of user activity and personal information to the authorities, under strict new rules that will come into force at the end of this month.The Cyberspace Administration...
  
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• Apple is named the most valuable US brand

  16-11-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  Apple has overtaken Google to be named the most valuable brand in the US, according to new analysis from WPP and insights agency Kantar Millward Brown.Their annual
  
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