Sales & Marketing news

• Not hype, not magic: What human-focused AI really means for customer engagement

  17-05-2018 18:09
  The concept of artificial intelligence (AI) has been with us for a long, long time. It has appeared in ancient myths and spilled into popular culture, from Metropolis to Her. Over the past decade, AI has gone from wouldn’t-it-be-nice marketing fantasy to a full-on customer engagement hype cycle, with companies across a range of industries seeking a way to boost productivity and level up their brand experiences.
  In the popular imagination, AI tends to be depicted as a killer robot or comput
  
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• Ovo Energy: Gender neutral sports sponsorship is a ‘no brainer’

  17-05-2018 17:36
  Ovo Energy has extended its positive change mantra to its sport sponsorship.Ovo Energy’s decision to take a gender neutral approach to sports sponsorship was not a calculated move intended to generate headlines. Far from it, says CEO Chris Houghton, who describes the company’s desire to address the gender pay gap in cycling as a “no brainer”.
  He explains that raising the prize fund for female cyclists taking part in the Women’s Tour (13-17 June) from €35,000 (
  
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• The emotion merchants

  17-05-2018 16:47 via warc.com
  In an emotional context such as sport, adding to – and not intruding on – the experience is of paramount importance, as the telco EE showed in its entertainment marketing strategy.
  Football is an expensive...
  
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• How brands are tackling the stigma of mental health

  17-05-2018 16:08
  To mark Mental Health Awareness Week (14-20 May) Marketing Week has been exploring what brands are doing to remove the stigma surrounding mental health and support healthier conversations for adults and children.
  This could not be a better time for mental health to rise up the social agenda given suicide is the single biggest killer of men under 45. Issues around depression and anxiety affecting adults often start much younger, with half of all mental health problems manifesting themselves by th
  
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• Sign up to our webinar on the key to achieving smarter programmatic marketing

  17-05-2018 15:35
  Programmatic is an essential and powerful component of any marketing budget. However, it often involves many layers of technology that can lead to an opaque ecosystem and thus wasted ad budgets and time. In order to combat this lack of transparency, advertisers have developed multiple approaches to their programmatic buying. From taking the strategic lead with their agencies via analytics and data ownership to full in-house programmatic trading, there is a spectrum of ways advertisers are takin
  
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• Ocado signs US deal, Amstel champions male friendship: International round-up

  17-05-2018 14:33
  Ocado’s shares jump after Kroger signing
  Ocado’s shares jumped more than 40% after it signed an exclusive deal with US grocery giant Kroger.
  As part of the deal, Kroger will use Ocado’s technology for grocery and other food distribution activities in the US. In exchange Kroger will pay an undisclosed monthly fee for exclusivity and consultancy, which will offset the total cost of the deal.
  Kroger is also buying a 5% stake in Ocado for £18m.
  The deal will see Kroger m
  
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• Ocado signs Kroger deal in US, Amstel champions enduring male friendship: International round-up

  17-05-2018 14:33
  Ocado’s shares jump after Kroger signing
  Ocado’s shares jumped more than 40% after it signed an exclusive deal with US grocery giant Kroger.
  As part of the deal, Kroger will use Ocado’s technology for grocery and other food distribution activities in the US. In exchange Kroger will pay an undisclosed monthly fee for exclusivity and consultancy, which will offset the total cost of the deal.
  Kroger is also buying a 5% stake in Ocado for £18m.
  The deal will see Kroger m
  
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• Oil briefly hit $80 for the first time since 2014

  17-05-2018 12:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  The price of Brent crude oil — the international benchmark — hit $80 per barrel for the first time since late 2014 on Thursday morning as the commodity's rapid price growth in 2018 continues unabated.
  Around 10.45 a.m. BST (5.45 a.m. ET) on Thursday Brent reached a daily high of $80.12 per barrel, marking the first time since November 2014 it has passed above that mark. By 11.oo a.m. BST (6.00 a.m. ET), oil is back below $80 to trade at $79.84, a gain of 0.71% on the day.
  West Texas
  
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• America's biggest companies keep sounding the alarm on an overlooked fear that could crush profits

  17-05-2018 12:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  Companies in the S&P 500 raised similar concerns over a major market headwind during first-quarter earnings calls.
  Goldman Sachs followed the calls and compiled multiple examples of rising corporate fear around the swelling pressure point.
  If you've forgotten to keep an eye on wage inflation, you can hardly be blamed.
  After all, the market has dealt with any number of other pressure points in recent months, including: the 10-year Treasury yield's climb above the crucial 3% threshold, the pro
  
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• Adidas on failing fast and creating a ‘kick-ass’ customer experience

  17-05-2018 11:31
  Adidas’s casual sportswear line Adidas Originals has a brand ethos of “fail fast, ‘fess up and be realistic about what you can actually fix”. That is according to its global director of digital and retail marketing, Swave Szymczyk, who returned to Adidas last summer to make sure the German brand is creating a “kick-ass experience” for its customers built on the big ‘t’ word: trust.
  What that translates to in reality is testing a lot of things
  
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• Italy is close to finally getting a government but it could threaten the very existence of the eurozone

  17-05-2018 11:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  Italy looks set to finally get a government, led by a coalition of two Eurosceptic populist parties, the Five Star Movement and the Northern League.
  A leaked draft policy paper on the two parties' plans for government showed discussions about leaving the euro.
  Both parties have denied they plan to pull out of the single currency but the fact that discussions were even held is a worrying sign for the eurozone.
  Italy is one of the key pillars of the project and without its full support, the euro c
  
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• How to deliver a unified shopping experience

  17-05-2018 11:01
  The post How to deliver a unified shopping experience appeared first on Marketing Week.
  
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• Kroger signed a transformational deal with UK online grocer Ocado — and Ocado's shares are skyrocketing

  17-05-2018 10:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  Kroger signs exclusive US deal with warehouse technology company Ocado.
  Kroger is also buying a 5% stake in Ocado for £183 million.
  Kroger is hoping to build three next-generation warehouses with Ocado this year and aiming for 20 new warehouses over the next three years.
  Ocado CEO calls the partnership "transformational," although the exact financial impact isn't clear.
  Ocado shares jumped nearly 50% on the deal.LONDON — US grocery giant Kroger has signed an exclusive deal with Ocado
  
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• Big brands call for reform of digital ad market or threaten to pull spend

  17-05-2018 09:00
  The world’s top advertisers are calling for the industry to come together to reform the digital ad ecosystem to make it safer, more transparent and more consumer friendly, and are threatening to stop working with any company that doesn’t comply.
  The new Global Media Charter, published by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), sets out eight clear principles designed to improve the digital marketing ecosystem. Building on concerns highlighted by brands including Procter & Gamb
  
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• Why brands should be on the front line in the fight for male mental health

  17-05-2018 08:02
  As the discussion around mental health increases and the taboo around depression begins to thaw, male suicide still remains nothing short of an epidemic.
  Some 84 men take their own life each week in the UK, that’s 12 a day or one every 2 hours – in short if you are a man aged 45 or under the most likely thing to kill you is you.
  The statistics are as shocking as they are heartbreaking, with the issues affecting men varied and complex. But some brands are starting to lend their suppor
  
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• The FBI is 'deeply concerned' about espionage from companies like Chinese tech giant ZTE as Trump tries to lift sanctions on them

  17-05-2018 03:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned that the agency is "deeply concerned" about companies "beholden to foreign governments."
  Wray's comments about foreign firms conducting espionage and stealing data came in response to a question about Chinese smartphone maker ZTE.
  President Donald Trump has said he wants to help ZTE resume business after US sanctions effectively crippled the company.FBI Director Christopher Wray has said the agency is "deeply concerned" about companies like ZTE, days afte
  
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• Cisco beats on revenue and earnings but investors were not impressed (CSCO)

  17-05-2018 02:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  Cisco reported a 4.4 percent rise in quarterly revenue on Wednesday, its second straight quarterly rise, driven by strong growth in its newer businesses such as security.The company's net income rose to $2.69 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the third quarter ended April 28, from $2.52 billion, or 50 cents per share, a year earlier. 
  Total revenue rose to $12.46 billion from $11.94 billion, vs. $12.43 billion as expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters. So that's a beat.
  Ea
  
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• Walmart partners to launch fashion ecommerce site

  17-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  NEW YORK: Lord & Taylor, once a leading apparel retailer, is joining forces with Walmart to create an online store on Walmart.com that will offer over 100 fashion brands, in a sign of the strategies retailers will need to consider in the new...
  
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• Radio's £86m opportunity

  17-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  LONDON: Optimising advertising investment levels in radio could bring an £86m boost to the industry, according to Nick Pugh, head of effectiveness at Ebiquity – and even more if creative is improved.Speaking at the Radiocentre annual...
  
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• Influencer marketing: 'the perfect multivariate test'

  17-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  LONDON: There are numerous reasons why marketers might choose to use influencers, and while the idea of multivariate testing is probably not uppermost in their thoughts this can prove very effective.According to Jules Lund, founder of influencer...
  
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• Getty Images taps psychographics

  17-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  NEW YORK: Getty Images, a provider of audiovisual content for the creative industries, has tapped the power of psychographics to gain a deeper view of consumer preferences regarding the photos available on its platform.Tristen Norman,...
  
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• Expanding in China: Starbucks doubles retail capacity

  17-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  BEIJING: An expansive success so far, Starbucks, the American coffee chain, has announced that it will double its store count to 6000 outlets over the next five years.The move was announced at the company’s first-ever China investor...
  
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• Asian sponsorship bounces back

  17-05-2018 02:00 via warc.com
  SINGAPORE: The Asian sponsorship market is expected to bounce back in 2018 following two lean years and is forecast to exceed $10bn by year end.Latest figures from ASN, which provides industry intelligence around branded content and sponsorship in...
  
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• Holding money in cash hasn't been this attractive since the financial crisis — here's why that's a terrible sign for markets

  17-05-2018 00:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  Cash and cash-like holdings such as Treasurys haven't been this appealing relative to other assets since 2008.
  This development is indicative of multiple pressures facing markets right now that should have investors very worried.
  For much of the nine-year bull market, equity enthusiasts have repeated a mantra called "TINA" — or "There Is No Alternative."
  They're referring, of course, to the complete and utter lack of lucrative investment options available outside the stock market.
  For year
  
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