Marketing news

• Omnicom's TBWA eyes potential stake in Lucky Generals

  13-01-2017 20:30
  
  Omnicom's TBWA is poised to take a stake in independent agency Lucky Generals in a deal that could be announced as early as next week, The Drum has learned from multiple sources.
  It is understood that the founders – Danny Brooke-Taylor, Helen Calcraft and Andy Nairn (pictured) - would remain in the management team and take on senior positions within TBWA should the deal go through. By doing this rather than an outright acquisition, it is hoped that the agency network can tap the
  
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• McCann Montreal hires Thierry Gauthier as vice president of client services

  13-01-2017 19:43
  
  McCann Canada has appointed Thierry Gauthier as vice president of client services in its Montreal office.
  Gauthier joins from digital agency Human Equation, where he served as chief brand activation officer. His appointment comes roughly six months after MacLaren McCann changed its name to McCann Canada in an effort to better unite its Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal offices under the network’s name. In December, Marketel McCann rebranded as McCann Montreal and brought on Myl&egra
  
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• Lucky Generals in Omnicom talks

  13-01-2017 18:49
  
  Lucky Generals, the independent agency founded by Helen Calcraft, Andy Nairn and Danny Brooke-Taylor, is in talks to sell a strategic stake to Omnicom.
  
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• Comment is free: Why YouTube's paid Super Chat feature is a misstep

  13-01-2017 18:40
  
  The beleaguered YouTube comments field, where consistent, terrible misuse of the English language is just about the best thing about it, took a sharp turn for the worse this week with the announcement that fans can now pay to pin a comment at the top of a creator’s live stream. Let’s be clear about this: there is not a single positive here for the user.
  Speak to any creator worth their salt and they all say the same thing: the comments field is a horrible place,&n
  
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• Tara DeVeaux rejoins BBDO New York as chief marketing officer

  13-01-2017 18:22
  
  Tara DeVeaux is rejoining BBDO New York to fill the role of chief marketing officer after a three-year stint as president of Ming Utility and Entertainment Group.
  Before joining Ming Utility and Entertainment Group, she spent nearly seven years at BBDO as senior account director. While DeVeaux is not directly replacing anyone, she will take on the responsibilities of director of business development Crystal Rix. Rix has been promoted to the newly created role of chief strategy officer.
  Aside fro
  
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• Why CES 2017 was surprisingly low on new trends

  13-01-2017 17:57
  
  With CES 2017 wrapped up, the event was remarkably low in trending content, with Taykey reporting less than 10 trends for the four-day event. A small amount of trends means low conversation volume, and perhaps low excitement surrounding CES product announcements.
  Alexa and other Smart Home devices will run your house in 2017
  Why were people not as excited about CES 2017 as previous years?  
  Perhaps because CES took off right where 2016 tech trends left off. The hottest items at the event we
  
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• Channel 4 revives The Crystal Maze with Richard Ayoade

  13-01-2017 16:49
  
  Channel 4 is bringing back popular 90s game show The Crystal Maze for a full new series hosted by comedian Richard Ayoade.
  
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• DNA Recruit: Production Director - Global Communications Agency - London

  13-01-2017 16:36
  
  £60000.00 - £70000.00 per annum + benefits:DNA Recruit:
  Global Communications Agency is looking for a Production Director to join their London office, excellent role for one of experiential marketing's top players.
  London
  
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• Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 to air first ad live from inside human body

  13-01-2017 16:20
  
  Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 will air a colonoscopy in what will be the world's first TV ad shot live from inside the human body.
  
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• Twitter partners with Australian Open as it strengthens its commitment to live sports streams

  13-01-2017 16:12
  
  Twitter has further expanded its sports broadcasting portfolio through a partnership with Seven West Media to live stream video and highlights from the Australian Open Tennis Championships 2017.
  The deal will see Seven West Media, the domestic broadcaster of the Australian Open Tennis, deliver video highlights and live footage from the Grand Slam in Melbourne via Twitter.
  Through Twitter’s Amplify platform tweets from Seven West Media will be able to monetise the content through&
  
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• Business on the Move: Vodafone, BT, Singapore Navy

  13-01-2017 16:00
  
  Vodafone has picked Ogilvy & Mather London to replace Grey London as its lead advertising agency in the UK.
  The agency will become the lead in the UK part of Team Red, the global division of WPP created to handle the telecommunication’s giant’s ad business. It will work alongside fellow WPP-agency MEC, which won Vodafone’s media business last year, from WPP’s offices at Sea Containers on London’s South Bank.
  BT Group has brought aboard independent digital a
  
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• My favorite Super Bowl ad: BBDO's Robin Fitzgerald

  13-01-2017 15:55
  
  Ahead of Super Bowl 51, The Drum has asked some of the industry’s most influential people to reflect on their favorite Super Bowl ad of all time and discuss why it stands out to them.
  We’ve also asked them to give their thoughts on whether they think social media has helped or hurt the effectiveness of the coveted Super Bowl spot. Over the past few years, many brands have chosen to leverage the power of social media by teasing or releasing their Super Bowl spots online days before th
  
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• The Zoological Society of London (ZSL): Celebrity Liaison and Press Officer

  13-01-2017 15:48
  
  £30,316 (Inclusive of London Weighting):The Zoological Society of London (ZSL):
  ZSL is seeking an enthusiastic and passionate Celebrity Liaison and Press Officer to join our busy in-house PR and Publications team.
  Camden, London
  
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• Louis Vuitton faces shareholder activism after Peta buys stake in parent company

  13-01-2017 15:48
  
  Animal rights campaign Peta has bought shares in LVMH, owner of Louis Vuitton and a number of other luxury brands, allowing it to attend shareholder meetings and question the board.
  
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• What Facebook is really copying from Snapchat

  13-01-2017 14:52
  
  It certainly seems that Facebook has been taking some 'inspiration' from Snapchat lately, and many of its new product launches and features have seemed rather familiar. At face value it has taken a slightly lazy approach to innovation, but I believe it actually reflects Facebook grappling with the same root cause that Snapchat uncovered: fundamental shifts in how people are sharing on social media.
  In its early days Snapchat was coyly stereotyped as a way young people shared intimate images with
  
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• Princess Leia could still feature in Star Wars episode IX as Disney negotiates for Carrie Fisher's digital likeness

  13-01-2017 14:29
  
  Carrie Fisher's death last year  was sudden and untimely, especially to Disney which faced questions of how to finish its latest Star Wars trilogy without such a linchpin character.
  As a potential get-around, Disney is reportedly negotiating for Carrie Fisher’s digital rights, having already used CGI-rendering technology to insert a younger version of the actress into the recently released Star Wars: Rogue One, in addition to fully recreating the likeness of Peter Cushing who die
  
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• Build the marketing team of the future

  13-01-2017 14:20
  
  What does the marketing team of the future look like? That was the question addressed by members of Marketing Week’s club of visionary marketers, the Vision 100, at a recent roundtable debate in partnership with Adobe. The panel discussed the talent challenges they face and how the industry must adapt to the convergence of marketing with sales and technology.
  Do we need digital specialists?
  For seasoned multichannel marketer Barnaby Dawe, global CMO at Just Eat, the issue of whether
  
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• Activist investor builds largest stake in Johnston Press that could signal looming takeover

  13-01-2017 14:17
  
  The same activist investor that called a meeting with Johnston Press chairman Ian Russell last year shortly after the company cut the valuation of its assets by nearly half and increased its debt by 14%, has taken what is likely the largest stake in the publisher.
  In September Crystal Amber raised its stake in Johnston Press from 5.4% to 6.7%. This week it built up its stake to 18.6%.
  It is now thought to have the largest stake in the business, after Orbis Investment Management Ltd sold its enti
  
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• One Black Bear invests with appointment of Bron Eames as PR director

  13-01-2017 14:14
  
  Birmingham based communications agency One Black Bear has appointed Bron Eames as its new PR Director. 
  Eames is a strategic PR heavyweight with over 30 years' experience working across consumer and business to business markets and especially food & drink, construction, transport and leisure retail. She is currently chair of CIPR Midlands and has also chaired the PRCA in the Midlands.
  Most recently at Speed Communications, Eames was managing director of Huntsworth Group&r
  
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• The Scotts Miracle Gro Company UK choose Gravity Thinking to sow the seeds for growth in 2017

  13-01-2017 14:13
  
  Following a period of consultation, The Scotts Miracle Gro Company, marketer of branded lawn and garden products, has appointed Gravity Thinking as their new social and digital communications agency.
  Responsible for the brand’s digital and social strategy and presence, the London based agency will be tasked with delivering engaging content and driving sales across all online platforms.
  Gravity has been initially briefed to redesign and develop the existing UK website including strategy dev
  
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• Unlocking the secrets of client satisfaction

  13-01-2017 14:00
  
  For two years running, Ink Digital has topped its category in The Drum’s Independent Agency Census, based on client recommendations. The Drum Network spoke to Ink’s Louise Adu to uncover the secrets of ensuring your hard-won clients remain fans of your agency…
   
  What are the key things for an agency to deliver to lead to client satisfaction?
  Keep your promises, be nice, friendly and honest. It’s not always about delivering great news, sometimes it’s about how
  
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• Channel 4 enlists Richard Ayoade to guide viewers through The Crystal Maze

  13-01-2017 13:37
  
  Richard Ayoade is to headline a new series of the Crystal Maze as Channel 4 looks to resurrect the long-dead show. 
  It follows a one-off episode hosted by Stephen Merchant on Channel 4 in October 2016 for a Stand Up To Cancer celebrity special, it garnered an audience of 4.3 million people, hinting at an interest in the show’s return.
  There might be a wider UK trend of rebooting long-dead, but once popular TV formats, BBC's Robot Wars, which is currently shooting a second season, is o
  
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• Santander turns to user generated content in multi-channel campaign

  13-01-2017 13:35
  
  Santander is aiming to tap into the adage that 'money can not buy you happiness' in a push it says marks the first time a UK bank has built a campaign around user-generated content.
  
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• Instagram, John Lewis & Tesco: 5 things that mattered this week

  13-01-2017 13:17
  
  Tesco changes how it talks about food
  This week, Tesco made some big changes to the way it talks about its food in its advertising. Instead of highlighting particular products, it is now looking to showcase the quality of its food and the passion and care that goes into the meals its customers prepare.
  To show off its latest strategy change, the grocer launched a new campaign entitled ‘Food love stories brought to you by Tesco’. It aims to demonstrate that Tesco understands the impo
  
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• Print may be dying but don't switch off the life support for newspapers... yet

  13-01-2017 12:57
  
  Continuing our series of extracts from upcoming book Last Words? How Can Journalism Survive the Decline of Print?, The Drum blogger and former national newspaper editor Paul Connew insists real journalism will endure – even if newspapers themselves don't.
  Is print dying? A no-brainer question… Ultimately, the answer is YES. But print newspapers, like most living, breathing entities are fighting to survive and the moment of death is unpredictable. Maybe a better analogy is
  
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• Amazon poaches Target’s innovation exec to lead Prime business internationally

  13-01-2017 12:49
  
  Amazon is looking to bolster its Prime membership internationally, poaching US retail giant Target’s strategy and innovation boss to lead the charge.
  According to Recode, Jamil Ghani will relocate to the company’s Seattle headquarters and report directly to Greg Greeley, Amazon’s vice president of Amazon Prime.
  It comes as Amazon eyes greater growth of Prime outside of the US. The membership scheme is Amazon’s key asset in its plan to create an ecosystem where users will
  
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• Snapchat launches search bar to help users find publishers' content

  13-01-2017 12:30
  
  Snapchat has added a search bar that is always accessible in order to make it easier to find publishers' content, friends, groups, and stories.
  
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• In-housing, consolidation, trust: The year ahead for programmatic, according to its biggest players

  13-01-2017 12:25
  
  The landscape of online media trading has, as ever, shifted in the last year as scandals, contentious opinions and new offerings hit the marketplace month after month throughout 2016.
  But how do the top names in programmatic predict this industry will morph again in 2017? The Drum caught up with the likes of the Financial Times, AOL and Twitter’s MoPub platform to ask what the media world needs to watch out for this year.
  Watch the video above, and read how the industry reckons last year&r
  
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• Rolls-Royce seeks agencies for integrated creative brief

  13-01-2017 12:01
  
  Rolls-Royce has begun talks with ad agencies over an integrated creative brief for brand and digital advertising.
  
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• Jeweller Fraser Hart appoints ODD to manage strategic shift

  13-01-2017 11:52
  
  High street jeweller Fraser Hart is readying for a repositioning of the brand, which will see it invest heavily in a number of above-the-line campaigns later this year.  
  It has appointed creative agency ODD to manage the strategy and creative, tasking the team to develop the new positioning.
  Jeff Jones, the retailer’s head of marketing, said: “Having just celebrated out 80th Christmas, we look forward to continuing to serve our existing customers as well as introducing Fraser H
  
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• IPA offers free ad space on Hyde Park underpass screens in centenary competition

  13-01-2017 11:43
  
  The IPA has launched a competition to win £50,000 worth of advertising space on one of the most prestigious outdoor sites in the UK: the 14.4m x 2.9m digital screens spanning both sides of the Hyde Park underpass.
  
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• Snapchat launches universal search feature

  13-01-2017 11:39
  
  Snapchat users old and new can now search the app to find friends, groups, Discover publishers and Stories in a faster and easier way via its universal search bar pinned to the top of the app.
  Techcrunch reports that the feature is designed with speed in mind, allowing users to search for both new and existing friends by name and username, identify Discover publishers and look for those brands using Our Stories by searching for their title. Tapping and holding on someone’s card will bring
  
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• BBC establishes dedicated team to debunk fake Facebook & Twitter stories

  13-01-2017 11:24
  
  The BBC is to establish a permanent Reality Check team tasked with debunking fake news as the broadcaster seeks to cement its role as a bastion of probity in a world deluged by misleading and manifestly false ‘news’ items on the web.
  Spearheaded by BBC News director James Harding the initiative will see a group of fact checkers probe outlandish tales for accuracy before giving their own verdicts for readers to make an informed judgement call on that day’s social media stories.
  
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• How Lululemon’s meditative speed of grassroots growth has flourished into a Regent Street flagship

  13-01-2017 11:22
  
  Yesterday (12 January) saw Lululemon – the Canadian athleisure brand famed for its yoga pants – put its biggest stamp on the European market yet, with the opening of a two-storey 6,344 square foot flagship store on London’s Regent Street.
  The shop is a physical manifestation of Lululemon’s high-end endorsement of both mindfulness and sweatiness. There’s a ‘community space’ that will host complementary exercise classes situated next to the Neat Nutri
  
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• TV Planning Awards open for entries

  13-01-2017 11:03
  
  The Thinkbox TV Planning Awards 2017 have opened for entries, with winners to be celebrated at an afternoon ceremony at One Marylebone on Thursday June 29.
  
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• Wins this week: Vodafone, Sloggi, BT

  13-01-2017 11:00
  
  Campaign's weekly round-up of account moves across advertising and media.
  
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• Amazon hiring spree to bolster US workforce by over 100,000

  13-01-2017 10:56
  
  Online retailer Amazon is to embark on a US recruitment frenzy by adding an additional 100,000 posts over the next 18 months, expanding its existing workforce by over 50%.
  The posts will range from software development to warehouse operatives and will bring the firms US headcount to 280,000 as it embarks on a warehouse building program that will enable it to stock products closer to consumers – allowing it to fulfill its promise of two-day shipping for Prime members.
  This comes despite its
  
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• Amazon hiring spree to bolster US workforce by over 1,000

  13-01-2017 10:56
  
  Online retailer Amazon is to embark on a US recruitment frenzy by adding an additional 100,000 posts over the next 18 months, expanding its existing workforce by over 50%.
  The posts will range from software development to warehouse operatives and will bring the firms US headcount to 280,000 as it embarks on a warehouse building program that will enable it to stock products closer to consumers – allowing it to fulfill its promise of two-day shipping for Prime members.
  This comes despite its
  
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• Connects kicks off 2017 growth plan with appointment of new strategy director

  13-01-2017 10:53
  
  Connect, the Midlands-based marketing agency, has announced the strengthening of its strategic offering with the appointment of Joanne Scott as strategy director.
  The agency closed out 2016 by announcing that on the back of a number of new business wins and the delivery of a range of projects for clients such as Finning International, GRS Roadstone and Marstons it would be increasing ts staff numbers at its Birmingham and Wolverhampton offices by 30%.
  Leading a team of planners and researchers,
  
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• Labour demands action from media and tech firms to curb ‘fake news’

  13-01-2017 10:21
  
  Britain’s opposition Labour party has demanded that technology companies and the media do more to curb the pernicious spread of ‘fake news’ to prevent politics from being ‘infected by this contagion’.
  A report compiled by former shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher said that the spread of demonstrably false stories was now a problem which was no longer limited to fringe websites and needed to be taken on directly by mainstream media.
  US politics has been thrown i
  
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• YouTube to let creators make money from comments on their live-streams with 'Super Chat' fan feature

  13-01-2017 10:09
  
  YouTube has opened up another revenue flow for creators, unveiling a tool dubbed 'Super Chat', which will let fans pay to pin their comments to the top of YouTuber live-streams. 
  The move means that anyone watching a live-stream on YouTube can purchase a highlighted message that will make their post stand out, remaining at the top of the comments section within the live-stream for up to five hours.
  In a blog post, the Google-owned platform said hinted that the feature could also help creato
  
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• Nintendo urges gamers to Switch ahead of new console release

  13-01-2017 09:48
  
  Nintendo has begun building up anticipation of its much-hyped Switch console ahead of its 3 March launch by setting out the price for the first time alongside a look inside the box to show those who take the plunge what they can expect to receive for their money.
  The novel device comes complete with a tablet-style motion sensitive controller which can slot into a dock for TV play or be carried out the door for remote play by those on the move.
  Over 80 games are in development for the device, whi
  
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• Sloggi picks MullenLowe for global integrated account

  13-01-2017 09:36
  Sloggi, the underwear and lingerie company owned by Triumph Group, has appointed MullenLowe Group as its integrated global agency of record ahead of a campaign to relaunch the brand.
  
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• Tencent condemns onstage display of sexually explicit game at its own party

  13-01-2017 09:17
  
  Tencent, China’s largest internet portal and owner of messaging app WeChat, has publicly condemned its own annual party after staff staged a display of a sexually suggestive game for those in attendance.
  A video of the graphic display, shot by party-goers, depicted female staff kneeling before male colleagues as they attempted to open water bottles tucked between their legs using only their mouths - sparking a wave of soul searching in China about the prevalence of sexism within its tech i
  
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• Fiat Chrysler accused of breaking diesel emissions rules

  13-01-2017 09:02
  
  Fiat Chrysler has been accused by the US Environment Protection Agency of failing to disclose software in its diesel vehicles that increase emissions.
  
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• Amazon to create 100,000 more jobs in US

  13-01-2017 08:35
  
  Amazon plans to create 100,000 additional full-time jobs in the US across the next 18 months.
  
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• Flipboard China CEO on why foreign internet businesses need to adapt for China

  13-01-2017 08:21
  
  Flipboard announced its entry into China this week, revealing a joint venture with BlueFocus on a business that will allow product to change to fit local needs.
  A team of 25 will begin creating partnerships and courting advertisers but has also been given the freedom to develop the product differently to the US business.
  The service will be primarily Chinese language content with a selection of curated foreign ‘high quality’ content, which it hopes will be a differentiator in the mar
  
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• MullenLowe creates dedicated group to service underwear brand Sloggi’s global account

  13-01-2017 08:04
  
  Sloggi, the underwear brand that’s part of the Swiss-based Triumph Group, has appointed the MullenLowe Group as its global agency of record ahead of a marketing push to reaffirm its place in the bodywear category.
   After a competitive pitch, the MullenLowe Group pulled together talent from across its group of agencies, including MullenLowe, MullenLowe Open, MullenLowe Mediahub and MullenLowe Profero to build a fully integrated team for Sloggi.
  The global hub will be run out
  
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• CES 2017: Worth all the tea in China

  13-01-2017 05:01
  
  “If you ignore China, you ignore growth,” said John Koetsier at Ad Tech NY last year.  A few months later at CES 2017, industry analysts are unanimous: the most interesting (and wowing) new products all come from one place - China.  
  Long gone is the time of counterfeiting and imitating; Chinese innovators are taking risks and Made in China technologies were out front in "what’s new” at this year’s show.
  Here are five takeaways on Chinese tech and how it w
  
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• Direct Recruitment: Data Operations Manager

  13-01-2017 01:00
  
  £35k + benefits:Direct Recruitment:
  We are looking for a Data Operations Manager with SQL to join this lovely London marketing agency. Data Operations Manager, London, up to £35K If y...
  London (Central), London (Greater)
  
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