Sales & Marketing news

• Mercedes-Benz reportedly pulls ads from Bill O'Reilly's show after allegations of sexual harassment

  03-04-2017 23:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Mercedes-Benz has reportedly pulled its ads from The O'Reilly Factor's time slot following allegations of sexual harassment against Fox News' ratings king.
  "We had advertising running on The O'Reilly Factor (we run on most major cable news shows) and it has been reassigned in the midst of this controversy," a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson told CNN's Tom Kludt.
  The automaker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
  The New York Times reported on Saturday that Fox News and O'Reilly
  
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• Snapchat's user base is increasingly getting older, and that's good news for investors (SNAP)

  03-04-2017 22:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Snapchat is still widely known for primarily attracting younger users, but older people are increasingly flocking to the ephemeral messaging app as well.
  According to a recent report from comScore charted for us by Statista, people aged 35 and older accounted for nearly 46% of Snapchat’s adult user base in the US as of December 2016, up from just 24% one year before. Snapchat users under the age of 18 weren't included in comScore's study, so the percentages aren't indicative of the app's e
  
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• One of the most anticipated hedge fund launches this year is even bigger than we thought

  03-04-2017 20:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  One of this year's most anticipated hedge fund launches is bigger than expected.
  Brandon Haley's Holocene Advisors started trading April 3 with about $1.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The news was previously reported by Bloomberg. That figure is about $500 million more than was expected a little over a month ago.
  Potential investors were told that the fund had attracted four separate $200 million investments, people familiar with the matter previously told Busine
  
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• UBS: The delivery revolution is going to be great for Panera Bread (PNRA)

  03-04-2017 20:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Panera Bread is best positioned to benefit from the delivery revolution, according to UBS analyst Dennis Geiger.
  In a note to clients sent out on Monday, Geiger wrote, "Panera's investments in its internal delivery model position the brand as an early leader, while its menu (i.e. sandwiches, soups, salads) travels well and is in demand based on our survey work."
  A UBS survey found that sandwiches are the third most likely cuisine that respondents ordered for delivery, behind only pizza and Chine
  
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• Elon Musk taunts short sellers as they lose $488 million on a big day for Tesla's stock (TSLA)

  03-04-2017 18:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Tesla CEO Elon Musk is going after the shorts. 
  Musk tweeted, "Stormy weather in Shortville ..." on Monday, in an apparent jab at traders who shorted the stock, or bet that it would fall. 
  Short sellers piled into Tesla as the stock climbed, but they're still waiting for the price drop they're betting on. Tesla is up nearly 30% this year. 
  On Monday, shares gained 7% to a new high after news that Tesla made a record number of deliveries in the first quarter. Delive
  
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• JPMORGAN: The 'Trumpcare' failure may actually be a good thing for tax reform

  03-04-2017 18:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  After the failure of House GOP leaders and the White House to pass their proposed healthcare overhaul bill on March 24, stocks sold off on what many analysts assumed was fear that President Donald Trump's promised tax cut was not coming either.
  But JPMorgan strategist Dubravko Lakos-Bujas thinks the healthcare failure may turn out to be good news for companies awaiting a lower tax bill.
  Lakos-Bujas argued that the failure of the American Health Care Act, the Republican bill to replace the Affor
  
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• The rand is tumbling after S&P cuts South Africa to junk

  03-04-2017 17:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The S&P cut South Africa to junk.
  And the South African rand is tumbling. It's down by 1.9% at 13.6823 per dollar as of 11:39 a.m. ET.
  The downgrade reflects the agency's view that the divisions of the ANC-led government that have led to changes in leadership — including the recent sacking of the finance minister — have put policy continuity at risk, S&P said.
  Moreover, the agency said the outlook is "negative," which reflects its views that political risks will remain e
  
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• Big 3 carmakers whiff on sales in March (GM, F, FCAU)

  03-04-2017 17:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The so-called Big Three automakers reported March sales that were weaker than expected.
  The declines for Ford, GM, and Fiat Chrysler happened as consumers bought fewer sedans and more SUVs, said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst at the online marketplace AutoTrader.
  "We've been saying for some time that sales have plateaued at a high level," Krebs said during a conference call on Monday. "March seems to prove that out."
  Total vehicle sales rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16
  
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• Trump's team is all over the place on trade — but one message is clear

  03-04-2017 17:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  President Donald Trump's message on trade — bad deals! — has been unusually steady. But this hasn't prevented his closest advisers from differing quite substantially on trade.
  The latest show of dissonance came last week as Trump's press secretary, Sean Spicer, shot down a reporter's benign interpretation of the administration's first hints on how it might renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement.
  Spicer was asked about a Wall Street Journal article reporting that Trump was
  
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• Tesla is now bigger than Ford (TSLA, F)

  03-04-2017 17:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Tesla is now bigger than Ford.
  Tesla's stock price is up almost 5% on Monday at $292 a share after the company reported blow-out delivery numbers for the first quarter.
  Monday's gain has the electric car marker's market cap up to $47.77 billion, overtaking Ford's ($44.70 billion) for the first time.Tesla said deliveries skyrocketed 69% year-over-year in the first quarter to a record 25,000 vehicles. 
  Deliveries were split pretty evenly betwe
  
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• Morgan Stanley just named a Wall Street legend as the head of a new group (MS)

  03-04-2017 17:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Morgan Stanley has handed a Wall Street legend a new role as the head of a newly created council focused on quantitative research. 
  The US investment bank has named Martin L. Leibowitz, known as Marty, vice chairman of Morgan Stanley Research, and chair of a newly formed Research Quantitative Council.
  The bank council will be made up of "nine quantitative specialists" across different segments of the investment bank, according to an internal memo announcing th
  
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• TRUMP ON HEALTHCARE: 'If we don't get what we want, we will make a deal with the Democrats'

  03-04-2017 16:58 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  President Donald Trump suggested in an interview published Sunday that he was not done with his attempt to overhaul the US healthcare system, despite the failure of his first attempt.
  In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said negotiations to repeal and replace Obamacare, the healthcare law officially known as the Affordable Care Act, remained ongoing — and that he would work with Democrats if conservatives could not agree to a deal.
  Trump said that the decision to pull Republic
  
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• Ford and GM slide after reporting weak March sales (GM, F)

  03-04-2017 16:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  US automakers are sliding on Monday after reporting weaker than expected March sales numbers.
  Ford's stock price is down 2.19% at $11.39 and GM's stock price is lower by 3.25% at $34.21 as of 10:05 AM EST.
  Ford sold 236,250 vehicles in March, a 7.2% percent decline compared with March 2016. Analysts were expecting sales to fall 5.9%.
  There was a bright spot for Ford. Trucks and SUVs were a strong point for Ford. The Dearborn, Michigan-based manufacturer sold 81,330
  
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• The oil market is finally starting to make sense

  03-04-2017 16:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Companies that provide oil and gas drilling services had to lower prices for their clients during the most recent oil crash.
  Some oil-field services providers lowered prices for offshore drilling by as much as 50%, toward levels that would have made their businesses unprofitable, according to Reuters.
  Drilling prices, however, are starting to stabilize and recover.
  "It appears that the pricing for drilling oil and gas wells has begun to rationalize," John LaForge, the head of real asset strategy
  
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• CREDIT SUISSE: Stock pickers are piling into these 12 US stock market 'darlings'

  03-04-2017 16:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Want to know the most popular US stocks among active fund managers?
  A Credit Suisse team led by Lori Calvasina looked at "long only, actively managed" small-, mid-, and large-cap funds to find the answer.
  Microsoft was the most crowded US stock, with 378 large-cap funds holding long positions. Apple (369) and Google (352) were close behind.
  The Credit Suisse team says its ranking, which incorporates holdings of both retail and institutional funds, is more robust than other studies.
  The bank advi
  
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• US manufacturing growth slows to a 6-month low, Markit says

  03-04-2017 16:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The Institute for Supply Management and Markit Economics on Monday released reports on surveys of US manufacturers conducted during March.
  Markit's final purchasing manager's index fell to 53.3, below the forecast for 53.5 according to Bloomberg. 
  According to Markit, manufacturing growth slowed to a six-month low. New orders came in at the slowest pace since October.
  "The post-election resurgence of the manufacturing sector seen late last year is showing signs of losing steam," said Chris
  
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• Daily Mail partners with Nectar in a bid to ignite print sales

  03-04-2017 15:20
  
  Mail Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, has partnered with Nectar in a bid to better understand its readers and push its print product.
  The partnership, set to launch this summer, enables consumers to earn Nectar points every time they buy the print edition of the Daily Mail or the Mail on Sunday. It will also offer rewards to collectors, including money off shopping, travel, days out and cinema tickets.
  Nectar points will replace the currency of the existing MyMail
  
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• Elon Musk just made his smartest strategic move ever for Tesla (TSLA)

  03-04-2017 15:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a survivalist.
  Yes, he's also a billionaire, presiding over Tesla and SpaceX, with plans to save the world and colonize Mars.
  But when you get right down to it, Musk has never forgotten what it was like to live on the entrepreneurial edge. In 2008, Tesla nearly went bankrupt. Only a last-minute fund-raise staved off a Chapter 11 filing for a company that's now riding high with a $47 billion market cap. Later, Musk would sell stakes in the carmaker to Daimler and Toyota and
  
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• US news consumption booms

  03-04-2017 11:00
  
  NEW YORK: News consumption is rising significantly among US consumers, a trend attributed in large part to an "unrelenting flood of stories" ranging from presidential politics to the demise of much-loved celebrities, a study by Nielsen has...
  
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• Five of the best programmatic ad campaigns

  03-04-2017 11:00
  
  Making the most of a small budgetCharity Missing People made its outdoor advertising spend go further by shifting money from print to programmatic.
  Through a partnership with the out-of-home industry, the charity is given £10m worth of advertising space each year to run appeals for missing children. Prior to using programmatic it was only able to advertise one appeal a week for a missing child across the whole UK.
  Since investing in programmatic over print, the organisation is now able to
  
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• 3 of the next big innovations in programmatic

  03-04-2017 11:00
  
  Header bidding
  Header bidding is an advanced programmatic bidding technique that is said to be more profitable for publishers and offer a better deal for brands. The basic idea is that it allows publishers to offer ad inventory to multiple ad exchanges at the same time and only then does it call an ad server.
  “Header bidding means that instead of a waterfall, it works parallel and approaches different demand-side platforms at the same. This is better for publishers and brands, who both get
  
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• HMV’s marketing boss on bringing the brand back from the brink

  03-04-2017 08:32
  
  Grime star Stormzy during a recent in-store event [Picture credit: Shirlaine Forrest]When HMV called in the administrators back in January 2013, the news resulted in dozens of think pieces with headlines ranging from ‘Is physical media dead?’ to ‘Is the music over for HMV?’.
  The reality was HMV – much like the now deceased Jessops and Comet – had struggled to compete as consumers flocked to more digital-savvy brands such as Amazon.
  READ MORE: HMV to go back t
  
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• Twitter, Spotify, Mothercare: Everything that matters this morning

  03-04-2017 08:00
  
  Twitter takes on Trump over anonymous account
  Twitter has taken legal action to prevent the US government from demanding that it disclose who is behind an account opposed to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.In a lawsuit, Twitter argued that freedom of speech should allow it to refuse the order to reveal the identity of the @ALT_uscis account. 
  The account, which describes itself as “immigration resistance”, is claimed to be the work of at least one federal imm
  
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• Sports Direct, Spotify, Uber: Everything that matters this morning

  03-04-2017 08:00
  
  Sports Direct scandal has undermined faith in UK business, MPs say
  British businesses must crack down on excessive pay for bosses and improve boardroom diversity to restore public trust after scandals at Sports Direct and collapsed retailer BHS, MPs have warned.
  The MPs’ committee called for a ban on long-term investment plans, complex multi-year pay deals that have been criticised for masking the true extent of huge awards to executives and for encouraging short-term thinking. The MPs als
  
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• Pepsi, Tesco, Deliveroo: Everything that matters this morning

  03-04-2017 08:00
  
  Pepsi pulls ad admitting “we missed the mark”
  PepsiCo has pulled its latest ad campaign featuring model Kendall Jenner after being accused of co-opting a global protest movement in order to sell fizzy drinks.
  In a statement the company said: “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologise.
  “We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting a
  
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• Burberry, Amazon, Yahoo: Everything that matters this morning

  03-04-2017 08:00
  
  Burberry inks beauty deal with Rimmel owner Coty
  Burberry has signed a deal with Coty to hand over control of its fragrances and cosmetics arm to the American beauty firm in a deal worth £180m. The 10-year deal, which kicks off in October, will include manufacturing and distribution of Burberry’s beauty range.
  Fragrances and cosmetics have been one of Burbbery’s fastest growing businesses, with sales up 8% in the year to March 2016. Its brands include the My Burberry and Mr Bur
  
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• Amazon, Waitrose, YouTube: Everything that matters this morning

  03-04-2017 08:00
  
  YouTube to add more safety options for advertisers
  As Google looks to convince brands that its YouTube platform is safe again for advertising, it has told the ad industry it will work with companies that are accredited by the ad industry’s Media Ratings Council in a bid to launch new verification tools.
  Although it hasn’t given an exact timeline, YouTube says it will work with third-party brand-safety vendors such as DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science to ensure
  
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• Unilever teams up with Lazada in SE Asia

  03-04-2017 01:36
  
  SINGAPORE: Lazada, the Southeast Asian e-commerce business, is teaming up with FMCG giant Unilever to build an "end-to-end alliance" in the region.The two will work closely on category development, supply chain and fulfilment, data and marketing,...
  
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• Top UK brands find success on Instagram

  03-04-2017 01:36
  
  COLOGNE/LONDON: Brands seeking to engage consumers on Instagram could learn from the experiences of ten top British brands, which have achieved impressive follower growth rates on the image and video-sharing platform.New research from
  
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• Tech giants pledge to tackle extremism

  03-04-2017 01:36
  
  LONDON: Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter have promised to work together to combat online extremist content and terrorist propaganda, following a meeting with the British Home Secretary.Senior executives from the tech companies met Amber...
  
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• Streaming drives US music sales to $7.7bn

  03-04-2017 01:36
  
  WASHINGTON DC: For the first time ever, streaming music platforms generated the majority (51%) of the US music industry's revenues in 2016, boosting overall music sales by 11.4% to $7.7bn, a new report has revealed.According to the
  
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• Reckitt Benckiser rethinks digital media strategy

  03-04-2017 01:36
  
  NEW DELHI: There is an urgent need for the approach of media and marketing to evolve, according to a senior executive at Reckitt Benckiser, the UK consumer goods giant.Andrea Bernhardt, Global Media Director for the company, emphasised that it's...
  
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• Coke's copy testing formula delivers

  03-04-2017 01:36
  
  NEW YORK: Coca-Cola, the soft drinks giant, has boosted advertising effectiveness through the "One Number Score" – a copy testing metric that helps indicate whether creative will deliver strong business results, as well as engaging consumers. ...
  
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• Employers are struggling with expressions of faith in the workplace

  03-04-2017 01:01
  
  New research shows that British employers are struggling to manage expressions of faith in the workplace and suggests up to a million people in Britain may have experienced workplace harassment, discrimination or bullying because of their religion or belief.
  The study, by consultancy ComRes, reveals that almost one in five (17%) British workers say they have seen someone else experience at least one form of bullying, harassment or discrimination in the workplace.
  Respondents are most likely to s
  
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