Sales & Marketing news

• Tencent's business is about as big as Facebook's thanks to its stronghold in China (TCEHY, FB)

  16-05-2018 23:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Facebook owns the world.Tencent owns China.
  As it turns out, each market is worth about the same when it comes to the social media business.
  Facebook and Tencent both generated almost the same amount of revenue in the first three months of the year. And, as this chart from Statista shows, Tencent's three main social media platforms have a combined user base of 2.4 billion, slightly above Facebook's 2.2 billion users.
  Because of restrictions in China, popular social media platforms like Facebook,
  
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• A Tesla board member was ousted from his venture capital firm amid sexual harassment allegations — now there are calls for him to be booted from the automaker too (TSLA)

  16-05-2018 22:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  Steve Jurvetson, a member of Tesla's board since 2009, has been on a leave of absence for six months.
  Proxy firm Glass Lewis is advising shareholders to boot him from his position due to the absence. 
  There is also pressure from investors to remove the board's director, as well as CEO Elon Musk's brother. 
  Follow Tesla's stock price in real-time here. 
  Board seats are set to be a hot topic of discussion when Tesla shareholders vote at the company’s annual meeting next month.
  
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• Stocks rise and the dollar hits a 5-month high

  16-05-2018 22:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Stocks rose Wednesday, on the heels of relatively solid US economic data. Retail shares led the way after Macy's reported solid results. Elsewhere, the 10-year Treasury yield ticked to its highest level since 2011, and the dollar rallied to a five-month high. 
  Here's the scoreboard:
  Dow Jones industrial average: 24,756.90 57.29 (+0.23%)S&P 500: 2,721.48 10.03 (+0.37%) 
  AUD/USD: 0.7513 0.0043 (+0.58%)
  ASX 200 SPI futures: 6,104.0 +10.0 (+0.16%)&nb
  
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• Macy's has figured out the formula to survive the retail apocalypse (M)

  16-05-2018 20:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  Macy's first-quarter results beat expectations and showed a second consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales, proving to investors that customers are coming into its stores again. 
  The department store is focusing on improving the in-store experience rather than using continuous promotions to try and lure customers. 
  Macy's success shows customers still value brick-and-mortar stores. 
  Watch Macy's trade in real-time here.
  Macy's has figured out the formula to survive the re
  
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• The SEC created a satirical cryptocurrency site called HoweyCoins to warn investors about ICO scams

  16-05-2018 20:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  HoweyCoin, a satirical ICO website made the the US' top securities regulator, is a warning against scams.
  The site, which even features a nine-page whitepaper, eventually points people to a more educational page.
  If you were thinking about investing in HoweyCoins, think again. 
  And if you've invested in anything resembling the satirical HoweyCoins, you might be a fraud victim, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.
  The agency created a satirical website for the cryptocurrenc
  
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• One of Wall Street’s favorite forecasts for the US economy is looking red-hot, but it may not last

  16-05-2018 20:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPNow model forecasts 4.1% growth for the second quarter, the strongest in nearly four years. 
  It's probably too soon to count on that being accurate. 
  Historically, big spikes in the model have been short-lived as the model incorporated more complete data on the economy. 
  The Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPNow model is at it again.
  Its latest weekly forecast is that the US gross domestic product will grow at an ample annualized rate of 4.1% in the sec
  
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• Walmart is rallying ahead of earnings (WMT)

  16-05-2018 19:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  Walmart is edging up ahead of earnings. 
  The retailer reports first-quarter earnings ahead of Thursday's opening bell. 
  Analysts and investors are optimistic ahead of the results. 
  Watch Walmart trade in real time here. 
  Walmart is rallying ahead of its first-quarter earnings report, which is due out ahead before Thursday's opening bell. The stock is up 1.42% on Wednesday to $85.72 a share. 
  Wall Street analysts surveyed by Bloomberg are expecting the retailer to ea
  
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• Americans' attitudes towards shopping is Macy's biggest asset — but they could also be its downfall (M)

  16-05-2018 19:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  Macy's share price soared after the company reported better-than-expected earnings on Wednesday. 
  Same-store sales rose 4.2% during the first quarter of 2018.
  But analysts are skeptical as to how much this success can be contributed to Macy's new strategies rather than an industry-wide improvement in consumer spending. 
  People are shopping at Macy's again. 
  Macy's stock price surged Wednesday on news of better-than-expected quarterly results. 
  "Spirits are
  
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• The US Senate votes in favor of restoring the FCC's net-neutrality rules

  16-05-2018 19:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  The US Senate voted 52-47 on Wednesday to put the Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality rules back in place.
  The Senate resolution would overturn a vote by the agency in December to scuttle its open-internet regulations.
  The resolution had drawn the support of half of all senators, including all Democrats; two additional Republicans backed it in the final vote.Despite the Senate's vote, the resolution faces a dubious future, as it would still need to pass the House of Representative
  
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• Trump wants to roll back banking regulations meant to prevent the type of risky behavior that crashed markets a decade ago

  16-05-2018 18:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  President Donald Trump and his administration are expected to scale back provisions of the Volcker Rule, which is designed to combat exorbitant risk-taking by banks.
  Those financial-system excesses were largely blamed for the financial crisis a decade ago.
  Banks were among the market's biggest gainers immediately after Trump's election victory amid expectations of less oversight.
  Bank stocks surged following Donald Trump's election victory amid expectations of reduced regulation. Now it looks li
  
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• One of Walmart's biggest bulls explains why it's a buy ahead of earnings (WMT)

  16-05-2018 17:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  Walmart is a buy right now, Cowen analyst Oliver Chen told Business Insider .
  The retailer reports first-quarter earnings ahead of Thursday's opening bell. 
  Walmart is making itself competitive in online groceries, and e-commerce in general. 
  Its Flipkart purchase is a positive over the long-term.Watch Walmart trade in real time here. 
  Walmart is about to show just how competitive it is in several different areas, says one of the company's biggest bulls ahead of its first-quarter
  
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• CRYPTO INSIDER: HTC launches a 'blockchain phone'

  16-05-2018 17:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  Welcome to Crypto Insider, Business Insider's roundup of all the bitcoin and cryptocurrency news you need to know today. Sign up here to get this email delivered direct to your inbox.On Tuesday, HTC unveiled the HTC Exodus — a phone that it's describing as "the world's first native blockchain phone."
  The Exodus will be similar to HTC's other Android smartphones, except it's being designed to support blockchain-based distributed apps, a feature the company describes as "built-in secur
  
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• Italy is thinking about taking a $250 billion writedown that has traders starting to freak out about Greece

  16-05-2018 17:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  Huffington Post Italia leaked a government proposal late Tuesday showing that populist parties had drafted plans to ask the European Central Bank for debt forgiveness of €250 billion ($300 billion).
  Italy's 10-year yield hit its highest level in two months following the report.
  Bond yields in other eurozone countries also spiked, with the Greek 10-year rising 25 basis points. 
  Eurozone bond markets turned chaotic Wednesday after leaked documents suggested Italian coalitions paving the
  
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• Microsoft is reportedly planning a new $400 tablet to compete with the iPad (AAPL, MSFT)

  16-05-2018 17:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  Microsoft is reportedly working on a new, lower-cost Surface tablet, according to a report from Bloomberg. 
  The new tablet would start at $400 and have a 10-inch screen, about nine hours of battery life, and USB-C charging. 
  Microsoft has dabbled in more consumer-friendly tablets in the past, but has shifted focus in recent years to its pricier pro line of tablets and laptops. 
  Microsoft could be releasing a new competitor to the iPad as soon as this year.
  According to a report fr
  
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• The airlines need to make an unlikely move to boost performance (UAL, AAL, LUV, DAL)

  16-05-2018 16:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  Airlines must cut capacity to shore up profits and raise their stock prices, Morgan Stanley says.
  Oil prices can — counter-intuitively — be a boost to margins, but will require other discipline from carriers.
  All major US airlines have underperformed in 2018 thus far. 
  Airline stocks have been a disappointment in recent months, and that isn’t likely to change until carriers cut capacity, Morgan Stanley warned clients this week.
  Even as oil prices scream higher in 2018, whi
  
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• There are some 'troubling trends' in sports drinks — and that's bad news for Pepsi (PEP)

  16-05-2018 16:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Pepsi's Gatorade drink will likely continue to be a drag on the business given the waning popularity of sports drinks in the US. 
  Customers are choosing water over sports drinks, and many name health and wellness concerns as a reason for their change in behavior. 
  US sports drinks are losing market share. 
  Watch PepsiCo trade in real-time here.
  More and more Americans are ditching sports drinks for bottle or tap water due to health and wellness concerns, and that doesn't bode well
  
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• Are marketers addicted to data?

  16-05-2018 16:00 via warc.com
  Personalisation has become something of an axiom in marketing’s recent history, suggests UM London’s Adam Morton; the balance between persuasion and precision needs restoring. Consumer data is once again back in the...
  
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• BT tries to ‘shift the dial on trust’ with focus on ‘converged’ future

  16-05-2018 15:46
  Following a bumpy couple of years that have seen the business attract more negative press than positive, BT has laid out plans to mend its relationship with disgruntled customers and turn its notoriously bad customer service around with the launch of its Consumer division.
  The division encompasses BT’s consumer business, as well as EE and Plusnet. The aim is to integrate its broadband, mobile and content offerings to offer “seamless connectivity” both in and out of the home for
  
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• BT looks to ‘really shift the dial on trust’ with focus on customer experience

  16-05-2018 15:46
  Following a bumpy couple of years that have seen the business attract more negative press than positive, BT has laid out plans to mend its relationship with disgruntled customers and turn its notoriously bad customer service around with the launch of its Consumer division.
  The division encompasses BT’s consumer business, as well as EE and Plusnet. The aim is to integrate its broadband, mobile and content offerings to offer “seamless connectivity” both in and out of the home for
  
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• Mars’s US brand director succeeds Michele Oliver as top UK marketer

  16-05-2018 10:45
  Mars has appointed US brand director Kerry Cavanaugh to the top marketing role in the UK, taking over from Michele Oliver.
  Oliver was promoted last month to global corporate brand and purpose director as Mars looks to expand the work Oliver did in the UK on improving the diversity and inclusiveness of its advertising. Cavanaugh will join as marketing director, chocolate.
  READ MORE: Mars promotes Michele Oliver to global brand purpose role
  Cavanaugh was previously senior brand director in the US,
  
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• The B2B struggle: Why are marketers still under pressure to prove their value?

  16-05-2018 08:00
  The UK’s business to business (B2B) marketers are slowly managing to impress on their leadership the importance of marketing to overall company health, but there remains a great deal of work to do. That was the finding of exclusive research conducted by Marketing Week and sponsored by Omobono, a creative and marketing technology company for the B2B sector.
  Nearly two-fifths of the UK’s B2B marketers (39%) feel marketing is seen as very important by their organisation and a furth
  
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• Williams Sonoma's culture of entrepreneurs

  16-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  MADRID: For the US homeware giant, Williams Sonoma, the entrepreneurial spirit is baked in, according to CEO Laura Alber, with the list of the company’s innovations a testament to this.Alber was speaking at the World Retail Congress in...
  
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• WFA gives guidance on 'unstereotyping'

  16-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  BRUSSELS/TOKYO: The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has launched a guide designed to help brands ensure their advertising reflects a more progressive portrayal of both sexes.A Guide to Progressive Gender Portrayals in Advertising,...
  
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• WARC Asia Prize: more judges announced

  16-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  SINGAPORE: Senior executives from Google and Maybank have joined the judging panel for the 2018 WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, which has a $10,000 fund to reward the best evidence of strategic marketing thinking in Asia.Priya Barve, Head of...
  
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• The Evolution of Data Partnerships

  16-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  At ICOM, Chandos Quill of ACXICOM spoke on a panel about business models for data partnerships with representatives from Winterberry Group, IPG Media Brands, IBM, and Ebiquity. Here, she considers the ideas behind the term and how we might...
  
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• J&J sees healthcare benefits in blockchain

  16-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  NEW YORK: Blockchain technology could empower consumers and provide them with greater control over their data in categories such as healthcare, according to a leading executive from Johnson & Johnson.Kate Merton, head of the New York and...
  
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• Google joins O2O dots in India

  16-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  NEW DELHI: For many consumers in many countries, a purchase journey begins online with search, but India is not really “search-first”, according to a Google executive, who reports that consumers there are more likely to start with...
  
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• Budget AI boosts San Churro

  16-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  SYDNEY: Australian dessert café chain San Churro successfully boosted ROI and incremental in-store spending by using AI to segment and target social media audiences – and on a limited budget.Brendan Sanders head of media at Online...
  
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• Brands can tap Latino fans during FIFA World Cup

  16-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  SANTA MONICA:The US may not be sending a team to this summer’s World Cup in Russia, but brands will still be able to tap into plenty of interest among the Latino community, according to a Panini executive.The Italy-based Panini Group,...
  
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• Brands and media tackle mental health

  16-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  LONDON: More brands and media owners are allying themselves with social issues, including mental health which is a particular problem among younger people.As part of that, yesterday saw a unique execution during Mental Health Awareness Week when...
  
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