Sales & Marketing news

• No one used to call Okta’s CEO before trying to squash his business — now Amazon and Google give him a heads-up and that's ‘progress’

  11-12-2017 23:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  What does it feel like when all four of the largest cloud providers decide they want to compete with you?
  Okta Todd McKinnon says when you are tiny, they ignore you.When you are bigger, you get a courtesy call first.In some ways, the tech industry is like a small town, where everyone who's anyone knows each other and, sometimes, schemes behind each others' backs.
  Todd McKinnon, CEO of Okta and former head of engineering for Salesforce working directly for Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, is on
  
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• Litecoin is surging after Bitcoin futures launch

  11-12-2017 22:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  Litecoin, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has gained more than 25% in value over the last 24 hours, reaching an intra-day high of $195.66 per coin.
  The gains come the day after Cboe Global Markets, a a Chicago-based exchange operator, launched trading of Bitcoin futures contracts. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee also appeared on CNBC Monday morning, possibly fueling interest in the obscure cryptocurrency. 
  Litecoin initially saw a hefty loss last week after Coinbase&rsquo
  
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• World leaders think Trump's tax overhaul is dangerous, and they're getting ready to fight back

  11-12-2017 22:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  The finance ministers from the five-largest European economies sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warning that the GOP tax bill could be negative for the world economy and violate international rules.
  Chinese officials are also preparing policy changes to try to mute the impact of the tax bill. World leaders are preparing to confront the Republican tax bill, anticipating that some of its policy adjustments could harm their economies. 
  Officials in major European econom
  
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• STOCKS HIT A RECORD HIGH: Here's what you need to know

  11-12-2017 22:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  US stocks climbed to a record high ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, where the central bank is expected to announce a 25-basis-point rate hike.
  The S&P 500 gained 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% and the more tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.5%.
  First up, the scoreboard:
  Dow: 24,386.03, +56.87, (+0.23%)
  S&P 500: 2,659.99, +8.49, (+0.32%)
  Nasdaq: 6,875.08, +35.00, (+0.51%)
  US 10-year yield: 2.39%, +0.002
  WTI crude oil: $58.03, +$0.67, +1
  
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• Bitcoin hits all-time high above $17,300 after bitcoin futures premiere

  11-12-2017 21:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  The price of bitcoin, the red-hot digital currency, topped its previous all-time high set Friday, according to data from Markets Insider.
  Bitcoin was trading up more than 14% against the US dollar on Monday at a record $17,346, less than a day after the launch of Cboe's bitcoin futures market.
  The price picked up just after Coinbase's cryptocurrency exchange, GDAX, went back online after a very brief crash.
  Bitcoin is up more than 1,500% year-to-date.
  Story is developing check back for updates.
  
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• Tesla is rising after reports it has started to deliver the Model 3 to regular customers (TSLA)

  11-12-2017 21:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tesla has been seen stocking up on the new Model 3 at its stores and delivery centers.
  Tesla has been plagued by production issues for the Model 3 recently and is working to overcome them.
  Watch Tesla's stock move in real time here.Tesla is up 3.88% to $327.29 on Monday after reports that the company is starting to deliver its Model 3 to regular customers.
  Electric car blog, Electrek, is reporting that Tesla is starting to deliver cars to customers that aren't employees or company insiders
  
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• Coinbase's cryptocurrency exchange crashes briefly

  11-12-2017 21:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Global Digital Asset Exchange, the cryptocurrency exchange run by Coinbase, was down briefly Monday afternoon.
  The exchanged resumed trading at 2:57 p.m. ET. 
   
  Coinbase, the US-based cryptocurrency trading platform, saw its Global Digital Asset Exchange crash for a brief time Monday afternoon.
  The exchange stopped executing trades for clients at around 2:50 p.m. ET, according to an alert on its website, citing issues relating to their application programming interface,
  
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• The Winklevoss twins think bitcoin could 'go up another 20 times' and trounce gold

  11-12-2017 20:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Winklevoss twins think bitcoin could appreciate 20 times and trounce gold.
  Others say the cryptocurrency is in a bubble.
   
  Traders in the new bitcoin futures market appear bullish on the red-hot coin.
  Contracts for the January futures contract on Cboe Global Markets were trading well-above the spot market for bitcoin, at over $17,500 a coin on Monday.
  But most traders are nowhere near as bullish as the Winklevoss twins. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, whose bitcoin holdings are worth mor
  
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• TOP TECH ANALYST: Almost nothing will stop the FANGs in 2018 (FB, AAPL, NFLX, GOOGL)

  11-12-2017 19:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tech has outpaced the broader market by a wide margin in 2017.
  But it wasn't all smooth sailing, as many of the largest companies faced public and regulatory scrutiny along with company-level issues.
  Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, told Markets Insider that he sees little risk to the future growth of the largest tech companies.Tech has been the fastest-growing sector this year, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 nearly doubling the gains of the S&P 500.
  But tech has made its sh
  
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• CITI: A pattern is popping up in the euro that suggests it could soar 20%

  11-12-2017 19:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  The euro is on track to post its biggest annual gain since 2003.
  An "outside year" could occur for just the third time since floating exchange rates began in the 1970s.
  The CitiFX Technicals team says the euro could hit 1.30 against the dollar in 2018 if that occurs.
   
  The euro is poised to end its three-year losing streak in 2017, with a gain of 10.88% against the dollar so far, according to Markets Insider data. While that would account for the single currency's biggest annual gain
  
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• HP says nearly 500 laptop models have a dangerous bug that can record everything you type (HPQ, SYNA)

  11-12-2017 18:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  A dormant keylogger was discovered in nearly 500 HP laptop models.
  Keyloggers can record your keystrokes, posing a security and privacy threat to users.
  Hackers would need physical access to your computer to activate the keylogger.
  HP has issued a list of affected models, as well as software updates to fix the issue.A security researcher discovered a vulnerability in a common piece of software that comes installed on several laptop brands and models.
  This bug is in the Synaptics software that c
  
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• Take a closer look at Ford's F-series pickup trucks — the most popular vehicles in the US (F)

  11-12-2017 18:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  Ford is basically printing money with the redesigned F-Series.
  The carmaker could sell nearly a million of the vehicle in 2017.
  It's been the bestselling vehicle in the US for decades.There's no shortage of pickup-truck choices in the US, but when most people think "pickup," one vehicle comes to mind: the Ford F-150.
  The F-150 is part of Ford's F-Series, consisting also of the F-250, F-350, and F-450 Super Duty pickups; and there's a high-performance variant of the F-150, the Raptor.
  The first
  
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• The market for bitcoin futures is heating up

  11-12-2017 18:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  Cboe Global Markets' bitcoin-futures market is heating up after launching on Sunday evening.
  Ed Tilly, the CEO of the exchange group, told Business Insider that volumes and the number of participants in the market were picking up.The market for bitcoin futures is heating up.
  With much fanfare, Cboe Global Markets' bitcoin future contracts started trading Sunday. The new market, which allows investors to bet on the future price of bitcoin, sent the digital currency up by more than $1,000 within
  
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• It's official: Apple is buying Shazam (AAPL)

  11-12-2017 18:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Apple has bought Shazam, one of the early hit iPhone apps.
  The Shazam app allows users to identify the music that's playing nearby, such as a song in a restaurant or cafe. It also had augmented reality technology and an advertising business.
  No price was included in the announcement, but a source tells Business Insider it was around $400 million.
   
  Apple has bought Shazam, the popular music-recognition app and augmented-reality service.
  Shazam and Apple both confirmed the purchase on Monda
  
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• The Treasury released a bizarre one-page report on the GOP tax bill, and it's already getting shredded

  11-12-2017 18:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Treasury Department released a report Monday arguing that Republicans' economic agenda would eventually pay for the cost of the GOP tax bill.
  The report made large assumptions about economic growth, leading many economic and tax experts to question its validity.The Treasury Department on Monday released a one-page report arguing that the Republican tax bill's cost would eventually be paid for by economic growth, but it triggered backlash from experts who said it contained serious errors and
  
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• Vote for your campaign of the year: The semi-final

  11-12-2017 14:15
  For a recap on all the campaigns visit 2017 year in review: Campaigns of the year
  The post Vote for your campaign of the year: The semi-final appeared first on Marketing Week.
  
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• Verizon, GDPR, Aldi: Everything that matters this morning

  11-12-2017 08:35
  Verizon renews $2.25bn NFL deal
  Verizon has renewed its mobile streaming partnership with the NFL in the US in a deal worth $2.25bn over five years.
  The arrangement means that the NFL cannot sell its mobile rights to digital platforms like Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. However, Verizon has the rights to stream games to its Go90 mobile video app and Yahoo Sports arm. Verizon will stream national pre-season games, regular season games, playoff games and the Super Bowl to mobile phone
  
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• Tesco, Facebook, gender stereotyping: Everything that matters this morning

  11-12-2017 08:35
  Tesco threatened with legal action for using ‘fake farm’ branding
  You might have seen quaint farm brands at the major supermarkets, which make you feel slightly smug about buying British meat from small-scale producers. Well, prepare to have your illusions shattered.
  Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Lidl are being urged to stop using controversial “fake farm” branding on own-brand meat products, with a food charity claiming they are misleading shoppers.
  The Feedback charity is backi
  
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• H&M, energy drinks, Public Health England: Everything that matters this morning

  11-12-2017 08:35
  H&M revenues up but weak in-store sales impact fourth quarter
  H&M group saw sales increase by 4% to SEK231m (£222.8m) in its financial year ending 30 November. However, sales were down by 4% in the fourth quarter, “significantly below” the company’s own expectations.
  The company credited the rise for strong online sales of the H&M brand and continued development of its other brand. However, it admitted that the fourth quarter in particular was “weak&rdqu
  
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• Disney, counterfeiting, Facebook: Everything that matters this morning

  11-12-2017 08:35
  Disney tipped to buy Fox, including Sky shares
  The long-running saga of Rupert Murdoch’s attempted buyout of Sky could be drawing to a close, with Disney instead buying the whole of his 21st Century Fox group, including the 39% of Sky it currently owns. A deal could be agreed before the end of this week, according to reports in the Financial Times and CNBC, thought to be worth around $60bn (£45bn). Disney would also acquire the 20th Century Fox movie studio and US broadcast network F
  
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• Apple, Uber, Nissan: Everything that matters this morning

  11-12-2017 08:35
  Apple eyes £300m Shazam deal
  Apple is on the verge of acquiring music recognition app Shazam for “nine figures” with estimates suggesting it will be around the £300m mark, according to reports in TechCrunch.
  The potential price of the deal is significantly lower than Shazam’s most recent valuation of $1bn.
  Shazam enables users to identify the name of songs and other media playing around them using the app. People are then able to buy the song from the iTunes store,
  
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• Russell Parsons: Stop the negativity and remember you’re a value creator

  11-12-2017 08:30
  Last month, TV marketing body Thinkbox hosted an event to unveil a piece of research that set out to deliver “the business case for advertising”. It is a substantial piece of work and stands apart from other studies determining return on marketing investment because of its breadth (it analyses more than 2,000 campaigns across 11 vertical sectors) and its focus on short- and long-term profit rather than sales or revenue spikes.
  Within, there are several eye-catching findings that shou
  
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• Trends for 2018: Workplace wellbeing will become a business imperative

  11-12-2017 08:00
  If 2017 was the year the UK started to take mental health seriously, 2018 will be the year wellbeing becomes a boardroom priority, as well as a key differentiator for employer branding.
  Brands across the corporate spectrum are realising that it is not simply an initiative that offers employees free fruit or gym vouchers. Instead, going forward the focus will be on creating a business culture where people thrive, acknowledging the parity of mental and physical wellbeing.
  This is an agenda that ne
  
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• Trends for 2018: Retailers will face a tougher test as big brands dominate

  11-12-2017 08:00
  Receiving a green light from the UK’s competition commission in November, Tesco’s £3.7bn deal to acquire wholesale giant Booker, announced in January, set a precedent for a year of consolidation in 2017, which also saw Amazon strengthen its grip on groceries after purchasing Whole Foods Market for £10.7bn. The consolidation is likely to continue into 2018.
  Meanwhile, between January and September 2017, 37 retail businesses went bust or were bought out of administrati
  
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• Trends for 2018: Purpose will morph back into positioning

  11-12-2017 08:00
  ‘Purpose’ has been moving up the agenda for many a marketing department over the past few years as companies look to ‘do well by doing good’. But this year saw the beginnings of a backlash. Not around doing good necessarily, but around the misappropriation of the term ‘purpose’ when in actual fact it often comes down to positioning.
  So, 2018 should be the year brands move away from doing purpose for purpose’s sake (particularly when it is simply a clumsy
  
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• Trends for 2018: Marketing will shake off its ‘colouring-in department’ image

  11-12-2017 08:00
  Marketing could finally shake off its ‘colouring-in department’ moniker for good in 2018, as the profession proves how its commercially-savvy business decisions are having a tangible effect on the bottom line.
  Seventy four per cent of marketers taking part in Marketing Week’s recent Anatomy of a Leader research consider sales and commercial awareness as the most important responsibility marketers must master in order to become leaders. In fact, 82% of the more than 600 marketer
  
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• Trends for 2018: Marketers will find the best strategy for voice

  11-12-2017 08:00
  If there is one piece of technology that has captured marketers’ imagination this year it is voice recognition. Amid the rising popularity of voice-controlled devices, including Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, brands have jumped on the voice bandwagon – coming up with their own ‘skills’ (what Amazon calls voice-driven apps on the Alexa platform) and even, in the case of Burger King, using an ad to trigger voice searches on a viewer’s computer.
  These are all va
  
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• Trends for 2018: Marketers will be more accountable in an uncertain economy

  11-12-2017 08:00
  It should come as no surprise to any marketer that 2018 is likely to be a tough year. Media agency groups GroupM and Zenith Optimedia have both cut their growth forecasts for next year, while the major agency holding groups are seeing revenue growth either slow or decline as advertisers tighten their belts.
  The major FMCG firms and their increasing focus on efficiency are part of the reason, but their strategy is already spreading to other sectors, with Marks & Spencer, for example, one of a
  
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• Trends for 2018: Brands won’t be able to do with data what they can’t explain to customers

  11-12-2017 08:00
  How big a deal will 2018’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) be for marketers? The true answer is that no one knows.
  If you haven’t yet heard the dire warnings that you could forfeit €20m or 4% of global turnover for breaking the new law, you probably deserve to be fined – awareness should no longer be an issue for brands.
  The questions hanging over marketers as the May deadline for compliance approaches are: how proactive have their preparations been, are thei
  
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• Trends for 2018: Brands’ perspective on gender will transform

  11-12-2017 08:00
  The need to squash outdated gender stereotypes in advertising is admittedly a trend that has been a few years in the making, but 2018 will see this movement accelerate as more brands get behind it.
  Unilever is one such brand looking to bring people into the 21st century. In 2016, it issued a rallying cry to the industry to rethink how it portrays men, women and families in advertising. Its global analysis revealed 50% of ads showed a negative or “not progressive” stereotype of w
  
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• The trends that will change how you do your job in 2018

  11-12-2017 08:00
  Below, Marketing Week outlines the eight key trends, issues and predictions that will define 2018.
  Click on each heading for the full analysis.
  Marketers will become more accountable in an uncertain economy
  Next year is expected to get more volatile, as pressure on consumer spending means marketers will also have to be careful that their investments have a laser focus on supporting and growing sales.Brands won’t be able to do with data what they can’t explain to customers
  With GDPR c
  
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• Hack your Christmas: Gather competitor intelligence while shopping

  11-12-2017 07:00
  It’s easy to get tunnel vision in the run-up to Christmas. Not only does the average marketer have more to think about in order to maximise sales in this crucial period, many will also have one eye on shopping for presents and making arrangements for the holidays.
  But shopping isn’t just a time-consuming distraction, it is itself a huge source of insight into how brands other than your own are approaching a key business challenge – and there’s much to learn about business
  
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• YouTube plans new music streaming service

  11-12-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  SAN FRANCISCO: YouTube is reportedly working on plans to launch a new music streaming service as early as March 2018 in what amounts to the third attempt by parent company Alphabet to challenge rivals Apple Music and Spotify.First
  
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• Xbox media partnership targets Gen Z

  11-12-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  LONDON: Xbox, the Microsoft-owned games console, has reported encouraging early results from its partnership with media company JOE as it seeks to reach its target audience of Gen Z consumers.“We had a unique opportunity to get in on the...
  
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• Shinola builds loyalty with 'The Foundry'

  11-12-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  NEW ORLEANS: Shinola, the lifestyle brand, has built loyalty through “The Foundry”, a members only group enjoying benefits such as seeing and buying products before official launch, exclusive offers, and private online shopping events. ...
  
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• Global IoT spending will top $1 trillion in 2020

  11-12-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  BOSTON: Global spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to be worth at least $1 trillion in 2020, rising to $1.1 trillion in 2021, according to a new study.In its latest update about the fast-growing market, the International Data...
  
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• Biometric tech on course to replace passwords

  11-12-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  LONDON: There are now 15m consumers in the UK who own a smartphone that incorporates a fingerprint scanner and around four-in-five (79%) of them actually use the technology, a new report has found.In addition, more than a third (35%) of those who...
  
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• Asia's momentum shifts from China towards India

  11-12-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  HONG KONG: India’s economic future is looking bright as China’s ongoing slowdown sees a “changing of the guard” in Asia-Pacific, according to forecasts by the Economist Intelligence Unit.It expects India to be the fastest...
  
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• Alibaba extends its reach into Indian groceries

  11-12-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  BENGALURU: Fresh from its recent $2.87bn investment in Sun Art Retail Group of Hong Kong, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is taking another major step into the grocery sector by purchasing a $300m stake in Indian online retailer BigBasket. ...
  
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