Sales & Marketing news

• Festival of Marketing day 1: Unilever on chatbots and micro-targeting at Sainsbury’s

  04-10-2017 18:30
  Unilever on making chatbots ‘less boring’
  Like many brands, Unilever realised the value of chatbots – but also recognised that many can be tedious to use and are “super transactional”.
  For its Signal toothpaste brand, Unilever decided to switch things up by building a bot on Facebook’s Messenger platform that aimed to get people physically involved while also looking to do good by encouraging parents to brush their children’s teeth at night.
  “When
  
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• Festival of Marketing day 1: Unilever on chat bots and micro-targeting at Sainsbury’s

  04-10-2017 18:30
  Unilever on making chat bots ‘less boring’
  Like many brands, Unilever realised the value of chat bots – but also recognised that many can be tedious to use and are “super transactional”.
  For its Signal toothpaste brand, Unilever decided to switch things up by building a bot on Facebook’s Messenger platform that aimed to get people physically involved while also looking to do good by encouraging parents to brush their children’s teeth at night.
  “Whe
  
  Read more

• The CMO must ‘be happy asking the dumb questions’

  04-10-2017 17:51
  The skills and attributes required of a chief marketing officer are many and varied, with a plethora of possible career routes, but among the unifiying characteristics are a breadth of experience coupled with adaptability and a willingness to experiment with new concepts, according to senior marketers speaking at the Festival of Marketing today (4 October).
  “You have to be happy asking the dumb questions,” said Philip Almond, director of marketing and audiences at the BBC, speaking
  
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• Has the data revolution realised its potential?

  04-10-2017 17:49
  Data powers the brand, but inefficient data management is a huge frustration for modern marketers. At a recent Marketing Week roundtable event sponsored by Experian, entitled ‘Is the way we use data in digital marketing past its sell-by date?’, there was passionate debate on how to scale up the use of data to improve customer relationships in a responsible way.
  Brands know they must achieve a healthy value exchange and encourage people to share their personal information, but there
  
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• Lidl: Programmatic is new, shiny and overvalued

  04-10-2017 17:27
  Lidl has experienced a rapid ascent over the last five years, with it recently overtaking Waitrose to become the UK’s seventh biggest supermarket.
  At the same time, its marketing spend has soared. In 2013, the German discounter invested just £28m in advertising. Yet, even though there are still three months of the year to go, Lidl has already spent £75m in 2017. This growing investment has allowed it to grow its brand perception around quality making the middle classes reconsid
  
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• The dollar is sliding

  04-10-2017 14:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  The dollar is sliding.
  The US dollar index was down by 0.4% at 93.28 at 8:27 a.m. ET.
  It has lost about 9% since President Donald Trump's inauguration.
  "The US dollar has a softer tone today, and it was that way even for the European PMI," said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, in commentary.
  "The greenback eased further after the upside momentum faded yesterday," he continued. "The heavier tone in Asia seemed spurred by a hedge fund manager's
  
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• Trump is reportedly down to a final 5 in his search for the next Fed chair

  04-10-2017 14:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  President Donald Trump is nearing a choice for the next leader of the Federal Reserve, and the list of candidates is down to five, according to a report.
  Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs and Saleha Mohsin reported Tuesday that Trump's senior advisors have produced a short list of candidates for the position. They are:
  Janet Yellen, current Fed chair: Trump originally bashed Yellen during the campaign, but since taking office has appeared more receptive to the re-appointing the chair. According t
  
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• Meet the Rising Stars on Wall Street shaking up investing, trading and dealmaking

  04-10-2017 13:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Introducing the Rising Stars on Wall Street age 35 and under.
  We scoured our contacts for ideas on who we should include, receiving recommendations from bosses, colleagues, recruiters and others working in the finance industry. The editors made final decisions.
  We've included people with a variety of roles and experiences, from companies including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, New York Stock Exchange, BlackRock and Bridgewater.
  We came across many talented people, and this list is by
  
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• Stephen Fry: ‘If we sleepwalk into AI we’re in great danger’

  04-10-2017 13:00
  Artificial intelligence (AI) is both the biggest opportunity and the biggest challenge to face society since the industrial revolution, according to Stephen Fry.Opening the Festival of Marketing today (4 October), the author and TV personality urged society to wake up to the potential of AI before it’s too late.“AI is the great tsunami facing us all that we seem to be so unprepared for. We sleepwalked into the internet age and virtually woke up [when it had already] happened,”
  
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• 10 things you need to know before the opening bell (SPY, SPX, QQQ, DIA, JPM, VZ)

  04-10-2017 12:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  Here is what you need to know.
  Trump has a short list of Fed candidates. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen; the National Economic Council director, Gary Cohn; the former Fed board governor Kevin Warsh; and the current governor Jerome Powell are on Trump's short list to become Fed chair when Yellen's term expires next year, according to Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs and Saleha Mohsin, citing two senior administration officials.
  Spain's king weighs in on Catalonia's independence referendum. King Fe
  
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• Puerto Rico needs federal relief and financial support, not lectures from ‘king of debt’ Trump

  04-10-2017 12:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  President Donald Trump’s visit to Puerto Rico on Tuesday showed a deep disconnect between his vision of the federal disaster response to the territory’s devastation after Hurricane Maria and the reality being reported on the ground.
  Beyond his odd insistence that everything is going great, Trump’s lecturing tone struck a nerve. He actually had the gall to complain about the financial costs for a ravaged island still struggling for basics like food, energy and electri
  
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• Stock pickers are ignoring these 8 stocks

  04-10-2017 12:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  Bank of America Merril Lynch released its latest equity and quant strategy analysts' list of the most neglected stocks held by active managers. The list is part of a new report on active-manager holdings.
  According to BAML, the list includes companies that meet the following criteria: "Stock is 0.2x or less than its weight in the S&P 500 in the fund manager composite, and less than 2% of funds in the sample hold the stock."
  The list includes retailers such as Tiffany's & Co, as well as f
  
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• JPMORGAN: Here's what could cause the next financial crisis

  04-10-2017 12:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  JPMorgan has already coined a nickname for the next financial meltdown.
  And while the firm isn't sure exactly when the so-called Great Liquidity Crisis will strike, it figures that tensions will start to ratchet up in 2018, once the Federal Reserve starts to unwind its massive balance sheet.
  If a reversal of unprecedented monetary easing does, in fact, spur a market crash, it would be cruel twist of irony. After all, it was that same stimulus that helped rescue global markets from the abyss bac
  
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• The biggest opportunity in the markets right now, according to a $1 trillion fund chief (UBS)

  04-10-2017 12:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  Mike Ryan has spent over three decades watching markets and developing investment strategies.
  Business Insider deputy executive editor Matt Turner recently caught up with Ryan, who is chief investment officer for UBS Wealth Management Americas, at the UBS CIO Global Forum in New York. UBS Wealth Americas oversees about $1.1 trillion in invested assets.
  We asked him about Trump's economic policies, his view on the stock market, and the tech sector.
  This transcript has been lightly edited for clar
  
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• Oath’s CMO on how it plans to avoid a ‘dysfunctional marriage’ post-merger

  04-10-2017 10:45
  Over the last few years, there’s been no shortage of high-profile M&A deals. However, few have captured the public imagination like Oath.
  Back in July, Verizon completed its $4.48bn acquisition of Yahoo’s operating business and combined the assets with its AOL arm to form Oath. Subsequently, several critics mocked it as one of the worst rebrandings in corporate history.
  But despite this criticism, the Oath machine has pushed forward after last month launching its first b2b market
  
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• Traders are making record bets against AMD (AMD)

  04-10-2017 07:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Betting against AMD this year has been unprofitable, but that's not stopping investors from jumping on the trade. 
  Short interest, or bets that the semiconductor manufacturer's stock price will fall, rose to an all-time high this week, according to the financial-analytics provider S3 Partners. The shares sold short rose to 159 million shares, or an estimated 18% of those available for trading.
  That leaves plenty of room for those who still w
  
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• UBS: Wall Street is unprepared for the magnitude of Europe's looming regulatory overhaul (UBS)

  04-10-2017 07:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  UBS is cutting earnings estimates for Wall Street firms, saying the industry is unprepared for impending European regulatory changes.
  The sweeping market regulatory reforms in Europe known as MiFID II (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) are set to go live at the start of 2018, and uncertainty is lingering across the financial world regarding the extent of the impact. 
  In a research note, UBS says many firms are downplaying the potential pressure on earnings over the next coupl
  
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• Oil could be hit hard by 3 major geopolitical risks that may be 'coming to a head in October'

  04-10-2017 05:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  Wall Street's top oil watcher says there are three geopolitical headwinds that might be "coming to a head in October" — and they could have implications for oil markets.
  The three risks come from uncertainty surrounding Iraq's Kurdish region, the nuclear deal with Iran, and the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, according to RBC Capital Markets' Helima Croft.
  Here's an outline of her arguments why those three regions are something oil watchers should keep an eye on:
  The Kurdi
  
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• Wall Street says a major fear about Trump's tax plan is overblown

  04-10-2017 05:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecasts that far less repatriated capital will be used by corporations to buy back shares, relative to the last tax holiday in 2004.
  HSBC says the influx of cash will boost the flexibility of multinational companies, making them less reliant on financial engineering.
  The last time the US government issued a repatriation tax holiday, corporations took advantage by spending a huge portion of the overseas cash influx on share buybacks.
  While that boosted share price
  
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• The CEO of 'email killer' Symphony tells employees to 'buckle up' and apologizes for driving colleagues 'crazy'

  04-10-2017 04:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Just before its third-year anniversary, the CEO of Symphony, the company heralded as the "Bloomberg killer," is telling his employees to "buckle up" for a "thrilling" next two years.
  David Gurle, CEO of the secured-message platform backed by some of Wall Street's most powerful players, sent out a memo to the company's more than 200 employees Monday. In the note, seen by Business Insider, Gurle highlighted some of the company's recent milestones and his vision f
  
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• Masters of Marketing Awards 2017: The specials winners

  04-10-2017 02:00
  Marketing Week’s Masters of Marketing Awards took place at London’s Tobacco Dock last night (3 October). The biggest
 of their kind in the UK, the awards cover everything in marketing from strategy through to execution.
  From the strategic challenge of digital disruption and transformation, to the societal and business challenge of increasing diversity in your team and output; from boardroom demands to extract more from less, to the challenge of building a winning marketing tea
  
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• Masters of Marketing Awards 2017: The sector winners

  04-10-2017 02:00
  Marketing Week’s Masters of Marketing Awards took place at London’s Tobacco Dock last night (3 October). The biggest
 of their kind in the UK, the awards cover everything in marketing from strategy through to execution.
  Click below to see the winners of the channel awards and the special categories, including ‘brand of the year’ and ‘marketer of the year’.
  Masters of Marketing Awards 2017: The specials winners
  Masters of Marketing Awards 2017: The chann
  
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• Masters of Marketing Awards 2017: The channel winners

  04-10-2017 02:00
  Marketing Week’s Masters of Marketing Awards took place at London’s Tobacco Dock last night (3 October). The biggest
 of their kind in the UK, the awards cover everything in marketing from strategy through to execution.
  Click below to see the winners of the sector awards and the special categories, including ‘brand of the year’ and ‘marketer of the year’.
  Masters of Marketing Awards 2017: The specials winners
  Masters of Marketing Awards 2017: The sector
  
  Read more

• What's the road ahead for in-car marketing?

  04-10-2017 01:49 via warc.com
  NEW YORK: Ford, the car manufacturer, believes the rise of connected and autonomous vehicles could potentially yield meaningful marketing opportunities for brands in the future.Shel Kimen, Global User Experience Practice Manger at the Ford Motor...
  
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• Tobacco ads are back, sort of

  04-10-2017 01:49 via warc.com
  NEW YORK: Tobacco giants Altria and BAT are to spendmillions of dollars over the next year on self-critical advertising on broadcast television networks and in leading newspapers as part of a legal settlement of a case brought almost 20 years ago....
  
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• The Sun adapts to new content discovery norms

  04-10-2017 01:49 via warc.com
  LONDON:UK tabloid newspaper The Sun believes that Facebook has redefined the way in which content discovery is accepted and that publishers have little choice but to adapt accordingly.Oliver Lewis, director of digital strategy and partnerships...
  
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• Podcasts: 'funner than TV'

  04-10-2017 01:49 via warc.com
  NEW YORK: Makers of podcasts are starting to produce more content aimed at children, although the role of advertising in the business model remains contentious.The view of the market has changed markedly over the past year, following the success...
  
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• Ebay seeks to understand 'subconscious shopping experience'

  04-10-2017 01:49 via warc.com
  LONDON: Ebay is using EEG headsets to understand what is happening to shoppers at a neurological level during the shopping experience, by exposing them to art.With an exhibition taking place at 2 Fitzroy Place in London, the company is displaying...
  
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• Dabur cleans up in India's villages

  04-10-2017 01:49 via warc.com
  NEW DELHI: Indian FMCG group Dabur has helped 12 villages in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh reach open defecation-free status, a focus of government policy in recent times, and part of Delhi’s Swachh Bharat initiative.Dabur’s...
  
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• Aussie marketers need to do internal sell

  04-10-2017 01:49 via warc.com
  SYDNEY: Four in ten senior marketers in Australia and New Zealand feel they aren’t getting enough support at board level, according to a survey which argues they need to do a better job internally of selling their role in engaging consumers. ...
  
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• ‘Marketer of the Year’ Marc Pritchard on his quest for transparency

  04-10-2017 01:05
  Looking back over 2017 so far it is hard to think of a marketer that has made as big an impact as Procter & Gamble’s marketing chief Marc Pritchard. Since making his already seminal marketing speech on media transparency in January, he has galvanised the digital media industry to change by forcing Google and Facebook to listen to the demands of marketers.
  It is therefore not surprising that he was crowned ‘Visionary Marketer of the Year’ at Marketing Week’s Masters of
  
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• Maltesers named ‘Brand of the Year’ at Masters of Marketing

  04-10-2017 01:01
  Mars and Procter & Gamble are the big winners at the Masters of Marketing Awards, with Maltesers and P&G’s brand chief Marc Pritchard claiming the gongs for ‘Brand of the Year’ and ‘Visionary Marketer of the Year’, respectively.
  The awards were held at the Tobacco Dock in London last night (3 October). The Masters, hosted by comedy actor and writer David Mitchell, are part of The Festival of Marketing, which begins today (4 October) at the same venue in Lond
  
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• Uber will IPO by 2019 and let Softbank buy a huge stake, following a big board meeting

  04-10-2017 00:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  Uber's board of directors struck a grand bargain on Tuesday, settling a fractious internal battle that has hamstrung the ride-hailing company for months and paving the way to a giant initial public offering in two years.
  The board also agreed to move forward with a multibillion-dollar deal to give Japan's Softbank as much as a 17% stake in Uber, the world's most valuable privately held tech startup.
  Here are the changes approved by Uber's board, which will take effect after the Softbank deal cl
  
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