Marketing news

• MTP and FortyTwo Studio take top accolades at The Drum Scottish Creative Awards

  26-10-2017 23:15
  The finalists for The Drum Scottish Creative Awards have set the standards high for the years to come as Scottish brands and agencies create some truly memorable content films and designs.
  FortyTwo Studio, for their work with Teasmith Spirits Co, took home the grand prix and typography awards. 
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  Chair of the judging panel, Lisa Nichols, executive creative director, TBWA\Manchester said: “This took the grand prix without any debate. It was quite clearly the winner for all the
  
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• Walmart has rolled out shelf-scanning robots at some of its stores

  26-10-2017 22:41
  Walmart is testing shelf-scanning robots at some of its stores in an effort to automate tasks that are “repeatable, predictable and manual.”
  According to the retailer, the robots can scan shelves for things like out-of-stock items, incorrect prices and wrong or missing labels. According to Reuters, the robots will pass that data to store employees, who in turn will stock shelves and fix errors.
  The technology was initially tested at a small number of stores in Arkansas, California an
  
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• Phelps helps keep the story alive for Northern California fire victims with fundraising campaign

  26-10-2017 22:18
  Southern California agency Phelps is helping people in the northern part of the state that have suffered great losses because of the many wildfires that have destroyed homes and businesses.
  HelpNorCal.com and the hashtag #LoveSpreadsFaster are being used to draw attention to and support for Northern California fire devastation recovery efforts. The goal is to spread awareness and help people looking to donate directly to local relief organizations easier. HelpNorCal.com is not collecting or dist
  
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• Exceptional Women of the World: The 3% Conference reading list

  26-10-2017 22:15
  For almost two years, we have had the opportunity to spend time with some of the industry’s top female leaders in our Exceptional Women of the World podcast — a show that highlights the lives, work, achievements and perspectives of women in the industry.The show itself is in more of an “audio magazine” format, where we break topics into sections that end up being interesting, provocative and sometimes funny conversations about the journey in this industry.
  One of the segm
  
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• How NABS Fast Forward programme gave Liberty a creative spark

  26-10-2017 21:27 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Liberty, the human rights and civil liberties campaigning group, is to use creative ideas and strategy inspiration from this year's NABS Fast Forward delegates to put an end to indefinite immigration detention.
  
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• FedEx Ground woos small businesses with humorous campaign

  26-10-2017 21:15
  FedEx is a trusted partner of large Fortune 500 firms, but a new campaign for the shipping company by BBDO New York aims to reach the upstart small businesses that can benefit from FedEx Ground.
  The point of this campaign is to remind small business owners — those with staffs of only a handful of people — that FedEx Ground is an affordable and fast shipping option.
  In 'Corner Office,' a boss who runs a small business out of her home attempts to reward an employee for recommendin
  
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• Kellogg’s apologizes for racially insensitive Corn Pops artwork on boxes

  26-10-2017 20:48
  Kellogg’s has apologized for and removed artwork on its Corn Pops boxes after writer Saladin Ahmed called out the company on Twitter for “teaching kids racism.”
  The artwork in question features animated yellow Corn Pops characters enjoying a day at the mall. Some are shopping and visiting an arcade, while others are swimming in the mall’s fountain and skateboarding down the escalator. While looking at the drawing, Ahmed noticed that the sole brown Corn Pop in the picture
  
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• Groupon introduces its happy vendors in new spot touting local successes

  26-10-2017 18:34
  Groupon, which claims to have pumped more than $17bn into local communities, today (October 26) unveiled a new ad campaign featuring the stories of merchants whose businesses and communities have seen successes through the platform.
  The ads, which use the tagline ‘Groupon: Where Businesses Grow and Customers Save,’ highlight Groupon’s role as a high-volume marketing platform that more than a million businesses have used to connect with consumers in their communities. Groupon sa
  
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• Unilever-backed mobile game Snatch on how it plans to rival Pokemon Go

  26-10-2017 18:13
  The success of Pokemon Go has spawned dozens of copycats looking to use web mapping and augmented reality (AR) to create a similar level of buzz. However, with Unilever Ventures already a significant investor, mobile AR game Snatch looks like it has more of a chance of challenging Pokemon Go than most pretenders.
  Free to download and play, Snatch is an augmented reality treasure hunt game where players use Google Maps-style technology to explore their local area to search for constantly updating
  
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• Twitter bans ads from Russia Today and Sputnik over US presidential election meddling

  26-10-2017 17:45
  Twitter will no longer allow Russian media firms Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik to advertise on its platform, citing evidence that both outlets attempted to interfere in last year’s US election on behalf of the Russian government.
  Twitter explained its decision in a blog, saying it was based on the internal research it carried out since 2016 presidential election, along with the US intelligence community’s conclusion that both RT and Sputnik had been involved in trying to influence th
  
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• Chatbot start-up raises €32m in funding and other tech news you may have missed

  26-10-2017 17:37 via campaignlive.co.uk
  A round-up of adtech and martech news to keep you up to date.
  
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• How hiring Jay Hunt could give Apple the local TV edge its online competitors crave

  26-10-2017 17:18
  Apple has been a sleeping giant in the online TV production space, with many of its original programming efforts coming out of its music platform rather than a standalone video offering. But two of its recent high-profile hires, including top UK TV executive Jay Hunt, have signalled this is about to change.
  Apple has been teasing a fully fledged TV service akin to Netflix and Amazon Prime for over two years now, but the famously secretive Silicon Valley giant has given few clues as to what this
  
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• How brands are spooking people for Halloween 2017

  26-10-2017 17:00 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Brands have been conjuring up some spooky ideas for Halloween. Campaign rounds up this year's efforts.
  
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• Snapchat and Shazam team up for Stranger Things AR lens

  26-10-2017 16:49 via campaignlive.co.uk
  With series two of hit Netflix show Stranger Things launching today, Snapchat, Shazam and Netflix have worked together to give fans a portal into its world.
  
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• How Netflix turned marketing upside down for the return of Stranger Things

  26-10-2017 16:40
  Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s most marketable original shows, so it comes as no surprise that its impending return for season two birthed a slew of unique partnerships with brand partners.
  One thing that is very apparent that much like its predecessor, season two will be highly referential to the works that inspired it. This is most notable with the crew of kids shown wearing Ghostbusters outfits, reaping the seeds of 80s nostalgia that helped bring it to prominence in the first plac
  
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• Twitter talks up its adtech offering, as revenues decline plus it admits to miscounting user numbers

  26-10-2017 16:20
  Twitter’s total revenue dipped 4% annually during the last quarter, although an increased focus on efficiency means Q4 could be its first profitable quarter, this is despite it owning up to miscalculating user numbers. However, its leadership is keen to talk up its experimentation with adtech, as well as its nascent data licensing offering.
  Twitter unveiled its latest financial results today (October 26) reporting that total revenue decreased 4% year-on-y
  
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• Manchester United's Juan Mata says social media offers the 'greatest chance of positively influencing people' for good causes

  26-10-2017 16:14
  A handful of footballers are using their prestige and social media to help give back to society in a campaign conceptualised by Dark Horses titled 'Common Goal'.
  It has the benefit of featuring Manchester United's playmaker Juan Mata who is urging footballers to pledge 1% of their salary to charities through the campaign.
  The Drum speaks with Juan Mata to find out if he thinks campaigns such as Common Goal have the power to influence people for the better.
  He says: “I believe cam
  
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• Marketers warned against using mental health stereotypes at Halloween

  26-10-2017 16:02 via campaignlive.co.uk
  The Marketing Society and Time to Change have warned brands against resorting to marketing gimmicks that stigmatise mental health problems during Halloween.
  
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• How brands are taking advantage of innovations in market research

  26-10-2017 15:45
  Behavioural Economics
  Researchers want to explore the cognitive theories that underpin how a brand’s target audience interprets the world around them and the marketing messages they are exposed to online and in-store.
  These interpretations can explain why consumers act as they do and how this behaviour affects what they buy and when.
  Behavioural economics technology can reveal, for instance, which marketing opportunities should be prioritised, whether more compelling incentives or offers a
  
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• Hiscox is celebrating courageous filmmakers at this year’s Austin Film Festival

  26-10-2017 15:39
  For the third year in a row, small business insurer Hiscox will be giving its Courage Award to one lucky filmmaker at the Austin Film Festival, which kicks off today and runs through next week.
  The award, which is voted on by the audience, is presented annually to a film that embodies risk and courage. As a sponsor of the festival, Hiscox – whose strapline is ‘Encourage Courage’ – is using the opportunity to plug its entertainment insurance offerings to attendee
  
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• TV Ad Spend Weekly: Warner Bros. goes big on The Walking Dead

  26-10-2017 15:38
  Brands continue to invest heavily in above-the-line content and television is still seen as the place brands want to be. Each week, in partnership with Kantar Media, The Drum looks at which brands have been investing the most on newly-launched creative on US national broadcast and cable TV.
  Ad spending on national TV increased 30% during the week of October 16 with expenditures reaching $142m. The Walking Dead brought in big advertising dollars, accounting for half of all new spend ($127m). Inde
  
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• International round-up: Amazon wants the key to your house, Vodafone helps with cancer research

  26-10-2017 15:36
  Amazon wants the keys to your house
  Amazon is constantly on the look-out out for ways to make delivery faster and more convenient. One of the key issues in delivery is that customers aren’t always home when a package is being dropped off, but Amazon thinks it has come up with a novel solution.
  For $249.99, customers can now buy a smart lock and connected camera which, once in place, will mean an option for “in-home delivery” appears when ordering. If picked, the service, dubbed
  
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• Gamification is the key to Duolingo success says product manager Gilani at Canvas conference

  26-10-2017 15:18
  Language education platform Duolingo boasts more than 200m subscribers worldwide and speaking today at Canvas, a product innovation and design conference held in Birmingham, Zan Gilani, associate product manager at Duolingo, puts much of that global success down to the company's four-pronged gamification strategy created to keep those users compig back for more.
  Addressing 600 Canvas delegates, Gilani outlined how Duolingo has used gamification tactics more often seen on mobi
  
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• LinkedIn to give Londoners a taste of success

  26-10-2017 15:15 via campaignlive.co.uk
  LinkedIn, the social networking site, has created a breakfast with foods that "help boost the feeling of success".
  
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• Roast bolsters offering with appointment of Ryan Foley

  26-10-2017 15:11
  Ryan Foley joins independent digital agency Roast as the head of campaigns to solidify Roast’s content offering as a market leading product.
  His role is to ensure Roast’s campaign proposition moves forward in a sustainable and scalable direction.
  With over 11 years of industry experience, both in-house and agency-side, Foley has delivered digital campaigns for brands such as Sky, McDonalds, Ralph Lauren, BMW and Lynx. Foley joins Roast from iProspect, where he held the role of senior
  
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• Creative Director's Choice: The BAM Connection's Rob Baiocco admires a Save the Children spot

  26-10-2017 15:07
  Creative Director’s Choice gives creative directors a chance to highlight the current work they think is the best out in the ad world – the ads and campaigns they believe are making a difference. Each week, The Drum features the words of a creative director or other top creative on the work they find funny, powerful or otherwise engaging.
  This week, The BAM Connection's Rob Baiocco talks about the Save the Children spot by Adam&EveDDB, which uses quick cuts of all the t
  
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• Why capitalism needs to change to address the needs of mankind

  26-10-2017 14:42
  Generous, thoughtful, sensitive people are often drawn to the view that we shouldn’t expect economies to ‘grow’. After all, the earth and its resources are limited, so why keep asking for GDP to expand? We don’t need more commercial activity or more businesses. We are destroying the planet fast enough as it is.
  According to the environmental story, capitalism pillages the planet for the sake of producing vast quantities of material possessions, many of which we do not rea
  
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• Facebook tests ways to support publisher subscriptions in Instant Articles

  26-10-2017 14:41 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Over the next few weeks, Facebook will launch a test to support news subscription models in Instant Articles across the US and Europe.
  
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• Rick and Morty kills off character in blatant, cash-in-hand sponsored content with Old Spice

  26-10-2017 14:38
  Animated sci-fi show Rick and Morty has teamed up with a brand that may just be as off-the-wall insane as it is in Old Spice. This comes as broadcaster Adult Swim looks to monetise the series after the (probable but not definite) conclusion of season three.
  Lending some canonical grativas to a 30-second sponsored video is the fact that obscure side character, butter-passing robot, kicks the bucket at the hands of the sponsor. While this is happening Rick literally checks his payment as
  
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• Watch the switch-on of Piccadilly Lights, where one screen marks digital OOH’s power

  26-10-2017 14:34
  The luminescent advertising billboard of London’s Piccadilly Circus has been turned back on after 10 months of renovations. The switch to one large, curved screen offers its advertisers greater flexibility, and acts as a showcase for the power of digital out of home.
  The old display, which featured several detached screens, has been replaced by one 780sqm 4K LED board. Site owner Landsec claims it to be the largest single display in Europe, comprising 11.6m bulbs.
  The one-screen solution a
  
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• Zone chief on trading independence for client access with sale to Cognizant

  26-10-2017 14:20
  London-based digital agency Zone has exchanged its independence for access to some of the biggest boardrooms in the world according to its chief executive James Freedman, talking The Drum through its acquisition by booming US IT consultancy Cognizant.
  On Thursday morning (26 October), the independent agency of 17 years announced that it had been bought by a US consultancy of considerable scale but hitherto little renown in the marketing industry. The deal, terms of which remain undisclosed, 
  
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• Mountain Dew introduces Dewey Ryder as Dale Earnhardt Jr’s replacement driver

  26-10-2017 14:15
  Soft drink Mountain Dew is introducing new creative starring actor Danny McBride as a “future legendary driver” and a replacement for Nascar racer Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  Earnhardt is retiring after this racing season and has been a spokesperson for Mountain Dew for over a decade. Instead of going the somber route when he retires at the end of the season, Mountain Dew is staying true to its brand and releasing a humorous tribute piece by BBDO.
  The two-minute-plus spot will intro
  
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• Coca-Cola looks for opportunities in craft to drive growth

  26-10-2017 13:51
  Coca-Cola is looking for more opportunities in premium segments and craft beverages as it looks to jump on the “resurging trend” and drive growth.
  The company has just revamped the Schweppes brand in the UK and launched a new range of premium mixers, Schweppes 1783. Meanwhile, in Spain it has introduced Royal Bliss, a new premium mixer brand only sold in the on-premise channel.
  Coca-Cola is also building a foundation in “sophisticated flavours” with brands including Apple
  
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• Coca-Coca looks for opportunities in craft to drive growth

  26-10-2017 13:51
  Coca-Cola is looking for more opportunities in premium segments and craft beverages as it looks to jump on the “resurging trend” and drive growth.
  The company has just revamped the Schweppes brand in the UK and launched a new range of premium mixers, Schweppes 1783. Meanwhile, in Spain it has introduced Royal Bliss, a new premium mixer brand only sold in the on-premise channel.
  Coca-Cola is also building a foundation in “sophisticated flavours” with brands including Apple
  
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• Perrier-Jouët creates interactive garden installation

  26-10-2017 13:45 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Perrier-Jouët is creating an interactive garden and is encouraging visitors to take a look at it through augmented reality.
  
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• Geico features a beefeater in a bathrobe for a casual Friday at Buckingham in humorous spot

  26-10-2017 13:18
  Geico hits the mark again with another spot from the Martin Agency, featuring a 'Casual Friday' beefeater at Buckingham Palace.
  It’s the latest in the insurance company’s ‘It’s Not Surprising’ campaign, which has also included Ice T selling lemonade, an orchestral triangle solo and Tiki Barber running a barber shop.
  ‘Casual Friday’ finds a changing of the guard for the Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace. While the outgoing guard is pe
  
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• ‘The best ‘whole brands’ will win’: Beyond the Brief with Tim Galles, Barkley

  26-10-2017 13:00
  To celebrate its 100th Anniversary, the 4A’s has partnered with us at The Drum to pull back the curtain and look at an industry full of problem solvers, creative types and analytical minds. But what keeps them going once the briefs are written, the campaigns executed, and the pitches won (or lost)? The Drum is now interviewing 100 people at 4A’s member agencies — across all disciplines, levels, regions, and agency types — to get a glimpse into what drives them a
  
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• Manforce condoms ad urges young people not to record their intimate moments

  26-10-2017 12:48
  Manforce condoms has rolled out a campaign called #ShutThePhoneUp that urges young couples to not record their intimate moments in a broadening of the meaning of 'safe sex',
  The film conceptualised by ADK Fortune opens up with a newly married couple worried about their lost phone. The phone had the video ofa  couple's intimate moments and both of them break down thus asserting how people should always shut the phone thus promoting safe sex.
  According to the India Today Sex Su
  
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• Twitter has been overestimating its user numbers by up to 2 million for the past three years

  26-10-2017 12:42 via campaignlive.co.uk
  In its latest quarterly result statement, Twitter admitted it had been overestimating its monthly active user numbers by up to two million since the end of 2014.
  
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• Twitter grows active users but revenues remain in decline

  26-10-2017 12:42 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Twitter's daily active users have grown 14% from last year, but its revenue still fell by 4% in the third quarter of 2017.
  
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• Leeds development plays on difference with new brand identity

  26-10-2017 11:59
  Kirkstall Forge, a £400m mixed-use development on the outskirts of Leeds, has been handed a new brand identity by Thompson Brand Partners.
  Located in a bucolic valley threaded by the River Aire and Leeds-Liverpool canal the development will incorporate a mix of office space, ‘Scandinavian-influenced’ housing, a school, retail, cafes and bars – all with ready access to the Yorkshire Dales.
  In a statement outlining their approach Thompson wrote: “Such a proposition ne
  
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• US IT company Cognizant snaps up digital indy Zone

  26-10-2017 11:56
  Independent digital agency Zone has been acquired by US IT company Cognizant.
  Zone has been headquartered in London since its founding in 2000, but now it will be part of a bigger picture within Cognizant. The terms of the deal were not disclosed in the announcement but the deal is set to be finalised Q4 2017.
  In a statement, Zone said its capabilities in application development, user experience and content strategy would enhance Cognizant’s established digital interactive expert
  
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• Amazon edges closer to rival Alibaba as it positions itself second best e-commerce site in APAC, MEA and Latin America

  26-10-2017 11:47
  Amazon steps up to rival Alibaba as it establishes itself as the second most popular e-commerce site in APAC, MEA and Latin America, according to a bi-annual research conducted by GlobalWebIndex.
  In APAC, Amazon lags behind Alibaba- owned Taobab, which receives 42% of all visitation over a month as compared with Amazon's 34%. Alibaba dominates in China specificially but Amazon has managed to sneak in with 1 in 5 internet users now visiting its site. 
  In Latin America, Amazon has surpas
  
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• Eurosport signs up Bridgestone as 2018 Winter Olympics sponsor

  26-10-2017 11:40 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Eurosport has signed up tyre brand Bridgestone as its exclusive Olympic Winter Games sponsor, giving the brand exposure across the sports network's TV, digital and social platforms.
  
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• Piccadilly Lights switched back on with ultra-HD screen

  26-10-2017 11:35 via campaignlive.co.uk
  The famous Piccadilly Lights were switched back on this morning after nine months of renovation work to create a new ultra-HD digital screen.
  
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• Uber aims for loyalty reward credit card offering

  26-10-2017 11:20
  Ridesharing leader Uber is branching out into banking with the launch of its own branded Visa credit card in partnership with Barclays, offering redeemable points on day-to-day purchases which can be redeemed against rides in the Uber app.
  The no-fee card will reward repeat riders with redeemable points worth 4% of expenditure on dining out in restaurants, bars and takeaways; 3% on any travel costs and 2% of any online purchase such as an Uber ride or other eligible online shopping and streaming
  
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• Marketers that invest in attributed reporting can influence the customer journey, new report finds

  26-10-2017 11:00
  Marketers need to stop being fixated with daily or weekly ROI reporting and pay more attention to the customer they are trying to reach, according to a new report.
  The report, From talk to action: Improving customer journeys through attribution, was produced by The Drum in association with Rakuten Marketing.
  Attributed reporting helps marketers understand the best way to reach customers. The data derived from attribution can be used to understand customer behaviours, deliver brand awareness, and
  
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• How the Guardian found 800,000 paying readers

  26-10-2017 11:00
  The strategy to rescue the Guardian from financial oblivion has attained a landmark position by increasing its revenue from readers to a point where it now outweighs the paper’s income from advertising. 
  This significant shift in the Guardian’s business model, making it less dependent on a highly challenging advertising market for media companies, results largely from a quadrupling in the number of readers making monthly payments under the title’s membership scheme, which
  
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• Chinese mobile maker Huawei launches its own app store in Europe

  26-10-2017 10:29 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Huawei, has formally announced the launch of a mobile app store for its devices in Europe, which includes the UK.
  
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• US IT company Cognizant acquires digital agency Zone

  26-10-2017 10:18 via campaignlive.co.uk
  US-based IT services company Cognizant has agreed to acquire independent, full-service digital agency, Zone.
  
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