Sales & Marketing news

• Twitter is doubling the length of tweets to 280 characters for some people (TWTR)

  26-09-2017 22:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  For the first time in its 11-year history, Twitter will lift the 140-character limit for tweets — at least for some people.
  The company announced Tuesday that it would begin testing a new limit of 280 characters for all languages except Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The change will only be seen by a single-digit percentage of Twitter users at first over the next few weeks before it's made available broadly.
  The move will give Twitter users more freedom to express them
  
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• Woman drivers could provide a boost to the Saudi Arabia auto market

  26-09-2017 22:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  Saudi Arabia has lifted a ban on women driving, and the move could give a boost to an auto market in the country that's been declining.
  After years of trending up and pushing toward 1 million in annual sales, 2016 saw the Saudi market swoon, plunging by almost 30%. 
  The key factor has been the lower price of oil globally, which has spurred a sales boom in places like the SUV-loving US but curtailed spending in Saudi Arabia.
  Women behind the wheel in the kingdom could moderate the decline, a
  
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• Now, can we try to fix the problem that could actually bring down the US healthcare system?

  26-09-2017 22:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  American policymakers need to stop obsessing over Obamacare and tackle the problem that could really bring down the whole healthcare system — exorbitant prices for drugs and care.
  The US pays far more than the rest of the world for healthcare, and the pharmaceutical industry is misleading us about the reasons why.
  There has yet to be a serious push to tackle the reasons for that.
  The GOP has yet again failed to repeal Obamacare, and will likely lick its wounds and turn to other things unt
  
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• Nike whipsaws after mixed earnings report (NKE)

  26-09-2017 21:50 via feedproxy.google.com
  Nike's stock was whipsawed after the company released a mixed first-quarter 2018 earnings report.
  The athletic shoe and apparel retailer reported profit of $0.57 per share, exceeding analyst estimates of $0.48. Nike also reported quarterly revenue of $9.07 billion that fell slightly short of the consensus forecast of $9.09 billion.
  "This quarter, we captured near-term opportunities through our new Consumer Direct Offense," Nike chairman, president and CEO Mark Parker said in
  
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• Tesla won't make much money on the Model 3 — but bullish investors don't seem to care (TSLA)

  26-09-2017 21:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas is bullish on Tesla and has been for years. He isn't as bullish as some investors, as his price target on Tesla's stock is $317 and at various points in 2017 shares have surged toward $400.
  But he's bullish about how many Teslas will be on the road over the next few decades.
  In a research note published Tuesday, he wrote that:We estimate the global on-road population of Tesla vehicles will reach nearly 300k units by the end of 2017 and, by the end of 2018, rise
  
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• Saudi Arabia reverses longstanding ban on women driving

  26-09-2017 21:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  Saudi Arabia will allow women to drive, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
  The longstanding policy had been widely criticized worldwide. In recent years it became seen as a human rights violation, as women began to get behind the wheel as a form of protest. 
  Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world where a woman could go to jail for driving, before the new policy.
  As one activist recounted to The New York Times earlier this year, recent protests to give women the right to drive
  
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• IT'S OVER: Republicans will not vote on Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill, will move on from Obamacare repeal for now

  26-09-2017 20:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  Republicans on Tuesday decided against bringing the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill to the floor for a vote, a GOP aide told Business Insider, effectively killing the party's latest push to overhaul the US healthcare system.
  Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, two of the authors of the bill, said during a press conference with GOP Senate leaders that there were not enough votes to pass the measure.
  "Well, to be clear, due to events under our control and not under our control, we do not have th
  
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• Cadillac's new self-driving tech is no Tesla Autopilot — and that's a good thing (GM)

  26-09-2017 19:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  • Super Cruise can't do as much as Tesla Autopilot, but that's by design.
  • The technology will take over steering only on well-defined, divided highways.
  • If you don't pay attention, a camera-based system will notice and warn you before deactivating the technology.
  • Super Cruise is dedicated to freeways, while General Motors is developing other self-driving tech for urban areas.
  Cadillac has been touting its Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving technology for several year
  
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• Trump has some great reasons to reappoint Janet Yellen as Fed chair — but probably still won’t

  26-09-2017 18:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  President Donald Trump has many good reasons to reappoint Janet Yellen to Federal Reserve chair when her first term expires in February of next year. That doesn’t mean he will make the right choice.
  For one thing, her policy of raising interest rates only gradually is helping to stimulate an economy that's still not firing on all cylinders after a seven-year recovery that has not been widely shared.
  That is essential if Trump hopes to hit his rather lofty growth target of 3%. 
  Another
  
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• TRUMP: 'We are disappointed in certain so-called Republicans' who blocked Obamacare repeal

  26-09-2017 18:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  President Donald Trump on Tuesday expressed disappointment with GOP senators opposed to the latest plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as the Graham-Cassidy bill.
  In order to pass Graham-Cassidy, Republicans needed 50 of their 52 members to vote for the bill. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine on Monday became the third GOP senator to come out against it, following Sens. Rand Paul and John McCain.
  Trump did not appear pleased with the defections
  
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• MORGAN STANLEY: The number of Teslas on the road is about to skyrocket (TSLA)

  26-09-2017 18:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  Right now, Tesla is a luxury brand, but Adam Jonas, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, thinks you're going to be seeing Teslas everywhere soon.
  Jonas thinks the number of Teslas on the road will be about three times larger than its current level by 2019. That would be about 531,000 cars in total, Jonas said in a recent note to clients.
  His prediction is a pretty easy one to believe. The company is in the midst of rolling out its first mass-marketed car, the Model 3. The new vehicle st
  
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• HP calls on marketing industry to work together to improve diversity

  26-09-2017 18:33
  HP has seen big improvements in the representation of women and minorities both in its marketing teams and agencies over the past year, but says it now wants to work with the rest of the marketing industry to improve diversity across the board.
  Speaking at Advertising Week New York today (26 September), HP’s CMO Antonio Lucio said that at its agencies, 61% of the people who work on its account around the world are now women, a 20 percentage point shift. In supervisory roles, 51% are now wo
  
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• HP calls on marketing industry to unite on diversity

  26-09-2017 18:33
  HP has seen big improvements in the representation of women and minorities both in its marketing teams and agencies over the past year, but says it now wants to work with the rest of the marketing industry to improve diversity across the board.
  Speaking at Advertising Week New York today (26 September), HP’s CMO Antonio Lucio said that at its agencies, 61% of the people who work on its account around the world are now women, a 20 percentage point shift. In supervisory roles, 51% are now wo
  
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• A 35-year-old numbers wonk is helping revive one of the financial crisis' most controversial products (CITI)

  26-09-2017 18:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  Collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, came to infamy 10 years ago as a hallmark of the global financial crisis. Now, Citi wants to once again become the dominant player in this $70 billion market.
  Bloomberg News reports that Jia Chen, a 35-year-old director at the bank, has spent two years between New York and London hawking synthetic CDOs to potential investors — and promoting returns as high as 20%.
  Chen’s no newcomer to CDOs, either. While still relatively young by indust
  
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• Mark Ritson: Apple is still the big daddy in phoneland because it avoids pointless innovation

  26-09-2017 18:15
  I can still remember the moment. I was in the final year of studies when my oldest mate came back up north from his flash job in the City to visit me and brought with him, would you believe it, a mobile phone. I’d seen them before in cars but the little, two-foot long Nokia he laid before me in the bar that night was a wonder to behold. We pondered it for several long seconds and then tried to think of who we might want to call on it.
  A quarter of a century later I am old and exhausted. Bu
  
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• Ryanair’s key brand metrics nosedive following cancellation crisis

  26-09-2017 16:17
  Nine days ago, Ryanair revealed it would be cancelling more than 2,000 flights, affecting some 315,000 passengers, after admitting it “messed up” over its pilots’ holiday roster.
  The Irish airline has offered these customers refunds or alternative flights and says 97% of those affected have now been dealt a full refund or alternative flight, with the remaining 3% yet to get in contact.
  Yet many of these customers will still lose out financially on other holiday costs including
  
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• The brand safety fallout: Three in four marketers say brand reputation has taken a hit

  26-09-2017 14:31
  Marketers believe that brand safety scandals, which result in brand ads appearing next to objectionable content, have a negative impact on consumers’ views of the brands affected.
  According to a study by the CMO Council and Dow Jones, 78% of the 300 senior marketers questioned believe that unintended associations with unsavoury content, images, topics, audiences or conversations will hurt their brand’s reputation, while 67% believe the adjacency could undermine brand qualities and va
  
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• Contraceptive Yasmin wins top prize at Smarties

  26-09-2017 08:46 via warc.com
  GLOBAL: A campaign from Yasmin, a contraceptive pill brand, which used mobile “mini-movies” to provide accessible sexual education to young people in order to help reduce China’s high rate of abortions, won the Best in Show award...
  
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• Unidays on why brands should ‘assume nothing’ with Gen Z

  26-09-2017 08:19
  Connecting with the Gen Z consumer – a ferociously independent group of marketing savvy digital natives – remains a challenge for any brand keen to establish a genuine connection that lasts longer than a single transaction.
  Unidays claims it has the answer to help brands create long-term loyalty with a young consumer base. Positioned as a student affinity network, Unidays partners with brands to offer student-specific discounts on fashion, beauty, food and drink, technology and fitne
  
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• Tough Mudder's winning millennial formula

  26-09-2017 01:20 via warc.com
  CHICAGO: Tough Mudder, the endurance event series, has successfully created “sticky” engagement with a passionate millennial audience by delivering compelling physical experiences and content plays alike.Donna Goldsmith,...
  
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• The potential and pitfalls of 5G

  26-09-2017 01:20 via warc.com
  LONDON:5G mobile technology is still a few years away – international standards have yet to be finalised – but its economic impact is expected to be substantial while it also has the potential to transform advertising and marketing, a...
  
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• Mobile 'completely' changed Unilever's approach

  26-09-2017 01:20 via warc.com
  SINGAPORE: The smartphone revolution has transformed how Unilever approaches marketing communications in Asia, according to senior executive at the company.David Porter, Unilever’s VP of Global Media for Asia, believes that the smartphone...
  
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• Marketers use social media to boost sponsorships

  26-09-2017 01:20 via warc.com
  NEW YORK: Social media and “advanced technologies” play increasingly important support roles in brands’ sponsorship activities, new research has shown.A survey by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) garnered responses...
  
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• Korean cosmetics brands take different tacks

  26-09-2017 01:20 via warc.com
  SEOUL: Korean cosmetics brands have long been popular in China, a factor in Unilever’s just-announced acquisition of a majority stake of Carver Korea, but this move comes as leading Korean beauty company Amorepacific expands in the opposite...
  
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• Cosmopolitan and religious: the new Muslimah

  26-09-2017 01:20 via warc.com
  JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR: Young Muslim women in Southeast Asia are increasingly cosmopolitan and ambitious at the same time as being religiously observant, according to a new study which suggests these trends represent both opportunities and challenges...
  
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• AI and change management at Shiseido

  26-09-2017 01:20 via warc.com
  COLOGNE: Shiseido, the 140 year-old Japanese cosmetics business, is using innovation and technology to drive gradual transformation across all of its 26 brands to prepare them for the future.“The company realised that the traditional way of...
  
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