Sales & Marketing news

• In 15 years Facebook has amassed 2.3 billion users — more than followers of Christianity (FB)

  04-02-2019 19:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  Facebook has 2.3 million users — more than followers of Christianity. 
  Despite various privacy scandals, studies have shown people are steadily loyal to the site. 
  The company's mantra has always been about bringing "the world closer together," yet the number of new users being added to the social media platform has slowed in recent months. Monday marks the 15th anniversary of the website once known as Thefacebook.com. In the decade and a half since Mark Zuckerberg created t
  
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• Bringing media buying in-house: Cost saver or money drain?

  04-02-2019 18:19 via warc.com
  One of the significant advertising stories of 2018 was the trend for brands to announce that they planned to move their digital ad buying operation away from their agency in order to operate it in-house, but this path has its difficulties....
  
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• $7 billion Slack has filed to go public

  04-02-2019 18:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  Slack on Monday announced it had confidentially filed to go public.
  The company is backed by venture-capital firms like Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, and Accel, as well as SoftBank.
  It was most recently valued at $7 billion in 2018.Slack, one of the most hotly anticipated IPOs of 2019, announced Monday that it had confidentially filed to go public with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  The company, which sells an enterprise collaboration and chat platform, joins the ranks of Silico
  
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• The chief strategist at a $1 trillion firm warns of a hidden risk that's threatening to upend the stock market's biggest catalyst

  04-02-2019 17:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  The trade war is considered the biggest geopolitical risk to corporate earnings, and it is a huge source of uncertainty.
  According to JJ Kinahan, the chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, investors should be watching the economic turmoil in Europe just as closely.
  In an interview, he explained the impact those developments could soon have on US investors.Where geopolitics is concerned, the US-China trade war is the big source of uncertainty for investors and executives.
  But there's an under-
  
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• Nintendo's recent success highlights a critical risk to the gaming giant's business

  04-02-2019 17:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  Nintendo's doing better than it has in years, with a massively popular game console in the Switch and over a dozen games that have sold over a million copies.
  But that success is underscored by the company's near-total reliance on the sales of first-party games.
  Nearly 85% of games sold on the Nintendo Switch are made by Nintendo.
  The Nintendo Switch is a massive success — the console has now sold over 32 million units worldwide since launching in March 2017.
  That puts Nintendo's Switch on
  
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• Admap: Influencers - beyond the hype

  04-02-2019 17:18 via warc.com
  Influencer marketing is already used by 57% of companies, and is set to grow to a $10 billion market by 2020. It's also been attracting headlines for opaque practices and even fraudulent activity, causing concern for major advertisers....
  
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• The marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis is surging after its partner received a license that helps it get better quality CBD (ACB)

  04-02-2019 17:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  Aurora Cannabis partner Radient Technologies has received a license that will allow it to get better quality CBD.
  Aurora shares surged more than 9% to their best level since November 7.
  Watch Aurora Cannabis trade live.
  Aurora Cannabis surged more than 9% to $8.10 a share Monday after announcing that its extraction-technology partner Radient Technologies has received its Standard Processing License from Health Canada. Shares are trading at their highest level since November 7.
  Aurora says Radien
  
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• MoviePass has been hit with a lawsuit from subscribers alleging it's a 'bait and switch' scheme (HMNY)

  04-02-2019 17:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  Two MoviePass subscribers filed a lawsuit alleging the company engaged in a "deceptive and unfair bait-and-switch scheme."
  Lawrence Weinberger and his wife Laurie, of Sea Cliff, New York, each subscribed to annual memberships in March 2018, costing them both $105.35, to see "any movie" in "any theater" on "any day," once a day.
  But the two allege they were only able to see three movies over a 10-month span due to the app constantly saying no movies were available in their area. 
  On Friday,
  
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• Super Bowl 2019: Who won the ad battle?

  04-02-2019 16:53
  It appears the 2019 Super Bowl commercials set the tone for what took place on the pitch because according to new research, like the game itself, the ads lacked some punch with brands accused of “playing it safe”.
  According to data from Realeyes Emotional Intelligence, humour and good storytelling won over fans, but enlisting high-profile celebrities wasn’t necessarily a recipe for success because while Christina Applegate helped M&M’s top the ranking, Bumble’s
  
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• Tom Brady and the US economy have a lot in common

  04-02-2019 16:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tom Brady, the quarterback of the Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots, shares some similarities with the US economy, according to Bank of America.
  The firm says that even though Brady is the oldest quarterback in the NFL, he's an "effective" player.
  Similarly, the current US business cycle is in its late stages, but investors can still find reasons to be optimistic about the economy's health, BAML says.
  "This looks like the Tom Brady of business cycles: old but effective."
  That's what the Ba
  
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• Amazon had a record-setting $46 million buying spree at Sundance. We break down all the big movie deals for Amazon, Netflix, and Apple.

  04-02-2019 16:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  As the 2019 Sundance Film Festival wraps up, it seems the fest is once more the marquee place in America to acquire movies.
  Along with the usual indie distributors like Neon, A24, IFC Films, and Sony Pictures Classics gobbling up titles, the major streaming companies came back with a vengeance.
  After leaving the Sundance Film Festival last year having not bought a single movie, Amazon and Netflix took home titles this year, and even Apple got in the mix for the first time ever.
  But the buying s
  
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• Billionaire yacht owners are desperately seeking advice to protect their priceless art from flying champagne corks and corn-flake stains

  04-02-2019 16:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  British art historian and conservator Pandora Mather-Lees helps billionaire super yacht owners to look after their art collections. 
  Mather-Lees teaches a €295-per-day course ($337) to help crew members understand the value of the art. In some cases, the art on board is worth more than the yachts. 
  "Now that the rich are increasingly bringing their art collections on board their yachts it’s vital that captains and crew know how to care for these pieces," she told the Observe
  
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• Wall Street's AI dreams are running into the cold reality of thousands of databases and messy data

  04-02-2019 15:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  JPMorgan co-president Daniel Pinto spoke to Business Insider recently about the complexity of making usable the massive amounts of data that the bank collects from customers. 
  Artificial intelligence can only be unleashed once data is made usable in a clean and consistent way, Pinto said. Wall Street's dream for artificial intelligence is running into the hard facts of what's needed to bring it to life. 
  At JPMorgan, the largest US bank, there are thousands of databases that still
  
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• Tesla is buying the battery-maker Maxwell Technologies

  04-02-2019 15:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tesla announced Monday that it plans to buy the battery maker Maxwell Technologies. 
  Maxwell, based in San Diego, makes battery components including ultracapacitors and dry electrodes. 
  Battery technology is key for Tesla as it ramps up production and expands its manufacturing presence into China. Tesla is buying Maxwell Technologies in a deal that values the battery-maker at $218 million, the two companies announced Monday.
  The deal will be an all-stock transaction that values ea
  
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• Facebook at 15: An advertising titan that needs to grow up

  04-02-2019 15:36
  When Mark Zuckerberg gave birth to Facebook 15 years ago, we can but wonder whether he envisioned it turning into the troubled teenager that it is today.
  Growing up in the early noughties, the platform was mostly a big cringe-inducing hub of photos uploaded from digital cameras, unsolicited pokes from strangers and inane status updates that Facebook’s ‘memory’ algorithm makes sure still haunt you to this day – an addictive combination no doubt responsible for Myspace&rsq
  
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• Papa John gets a $200 million investment from the hedge fund Starboard Value and names its CEO as its chairman (PZZA)

  04-02-2019 15:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Papa John's on Monday said it has received a $200 million strategic investment from the hedge fund Starboard Value and appointed Starboard CEO Jeffrey Smith as its chairman.
  The pizza chain appointed three new directors, including Smith, to its board.
  Around half of the proceeds from the deal will be used to repay debt, with the rest going towards investing in the business, Papa John's said.
  Watch Pizza chain trade live.
  Papa John's was rallying, up5.17% to $40.50 a share early Monday, after ann
  
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• GOLDMAN SACHS: These 4 drivers are all you need to understand if you want to master the stock market in 2019

  04-02-2019 14:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  Stock-market volatility has picked up in force over the past few months, and it's left investors scrambling to figure out which market drivers are actually worth watching and which are just adding to the noise.
  Goldman Sachs has identified what it sees as the four main drivers stock investors should watch as they calibrate their portfolios for 2019.The stock market has been on a choppy path over the past few months, which can be an unsettling feeling for an investor.
  After all, with so many macr
  
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• Mark Ritson: Even at $5m each, Super Bowl ads make sense – here’s why

  04-02-2019 14:33
  I swore I would not do it. Told myself for weeks that it would be that most hoary of clichés and that I should not even consider working on such a thing.
  So here it is: a column about Super Bowl advertising in the immediate aftermath of Superbowl LIII.
  The topic is irresistible, despite its predictability, for one simple reason. Here we are entering 2019 with an ever-increasing emphasis on short-term, personalised, always-on digital communications. And yet, for all that, a 30-second spot
  
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• 'Bond King' Bill Gross is retiring

  04-02-2019 14:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  "Bond King" Bill Gross is retiring from the financial industry after more than 40 years.
  Gross founded Pimco and served as the firm's managing director and chief investment officer.
  He left Pimco and joined Janus Henderson in 2014.
  Gross says he plans on working with charitable organizations in retirement.
  Bill Gross, once know as the "Bond King," is retiring after more than 40 years in the financial industry.
  "I've had a wonderful ride for over 40 years in my career — trying at all times
  
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• Gender stereotypes, Brexit concerns, client-agency relationships: 5 killer stats to start your week

  04-02-2019 14:27
  1. Children exposed to fewer age-restricted TV ads
  Children’s exposure to TV ads for alcohol, gambling and food and soft drink products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) is declining.
  Data from 2017 indicates children see an average of 161.2 TV ads per week, of which: one is for an alcohol product; 2.8 are for gambling products; and 9.6 are for HFSS products. That means alcohol ads make up just 0.6% of all TV ads children saw in 2017, while HFSS ads make up 6%.
  Children’s exposure t
  
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• China's 'zombie' companies are a big threat to the economy — and JPMorgan says their debt pile means the country could be slowing faster than anyone thought

  04-02-2019 13:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  China's economy is beset by huge public and corporate debt problems that JPMorgan says threaten to derail the country's growth story.
  Economic growth in China has been steadily slowing and could get even lower, making the world's second-largest economy unlikely to overtake the US anytime soon.
  The key risk — disposing of "zombie" state-owned companies — means the economy could be forced to adopt a zero-interest-rate policy, JPMorgan said.The trade war with the US is getting more of t
  
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• 10 things you need to know before the opening bell (SPY, SPX, QQQ, DIA, GOOGL)

  04-02-2019 12:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  Here is what you need to know.Earnings season has turned into a 'minefield.' This earnings season has seen the fewest number of "beats" in seven years, according to Peter Boockvar, the chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.
  The world's most accurate economic forecaster explains why the outlook for investors isn't as rosy as it appears. "I still think that global growth could be lower than people expect, mainly due to the sharp slowdown in global trade," Christophe Barraud, the chi
  
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• A crypto exchange can't repay $190 million it owes customers because its CEO died with the only password

  04-02-2019 12:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX reportedly owes its customers about $190 million after its founder died suddenly last year, taking his encrypted access to the money with him.
  QuadrigaCX's founder and CEO, Gerald Cotten, died of complications from Crohn's disease in December, CoinDesk reports.
  Now customers are struggling to get access to their money, with the exchange looking at options to pay people back.The Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX owes its customers about $190 milli
  
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• These 5 companies are set to crush earnings, Morgan Stanley says

  04-02-2019 12:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  The earnings season so far indicates that Wall Street has overestimated many companies, according to equity analysts at Morgan Stanley.
  Investors should seek out stocks that are undervalued by Wall Street so they are in position to benefit when these companies beat earnings forecasts, they said.
  They have issued a list of companies they believe will post better-than-expected earnings.The earning results so far indicate that Wall Street has overestimated many companies, according to Morgan Stanle
  
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• Trump trade-war comments give stocks meager boost amid thin trading during 'Year of the Pig' celebrations

  04-02-2019 11:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  Chinese markets except Hong Kong were closed Monday as part of Lunar New Year celebrations with the Hang Seng up 0.2%. 
  US futures are slightly higher following President Trump's positive words about the US-China trade war ahead of his State of the Union address Tuesday. 
  European markets are mixed with the FTSE 100 and Italy's FTSE MIB both trading up while France's CAC 40 is broadly down. After bullish comments on trade from US President Donald Trump, China stocks gained slightl
  
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• Unilever, Graze, River Island: Everything that matters this morning

  04-02-2019 08:40
  Unilever adds to snacks business with Graze acquisition
  Unilever has acquired healthy snacking brand Graze for a rumoured £150m as new CEO Alan Jope looks to accelerate the FMCG giant’s growth.
  According to Sky News, Unilever paid just £150m for Graze, half the £300m its owner Carlyle Group was hoping for. The acquisition gives an insight into Jope’s strategy to focus on brands with expansion potential as it looks to fuel growth amid ongoing tensions with investors
  
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• Spotify, Huawei, Diageo: Everything that matters this morning

  04-02-2019 08:40
  Spotify ramps up podcast ambitions
  Spotify has acquired two podcast companies this week and has set aside a further $400-$500m (£308m) to spend on podcast-related acquisitions this year.
  The takeover of Gimlet Media – which Spotify is thought to have paid around $230m for – and podcast publishing platform Anchor reinforces Spotify’s ambitions to diversify beyond music and “engage users in entirely new ways,” as Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek said in a stat
  
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• Pret, Diageo, Facebook: Everything that matters this morning

  04-02-2019 08:40
  Diageo to support female creatives in new ‘returners’ scheme
  Diageo is sponsoring the Creative Equals ‘Returners’ scheme #CreativeComeback, designed to support women working in creative industries who are returning to work after taking more than 12 months maternity leave.
  As part of the scheme 50 women returning to work as art directors, producers, copywriters, data analysts, designers and concept creators will take part in a two-week programme that aims to help place th
  
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• Instagram, Cadbury, Google: Everything that matters this morning

  04-02-2019 08:40
  Social media sites face crackdown to protect children
  Social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter will be forced to sign a compulsory code of conduct in order to protect children from harmful content online.
  The plan will be announced in government today by minister for digital and creative industries, Margot James.
  The move follows the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell whose parents say killed herself after being exposed to images of self-harm on Instagram.
  In an open let
  
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• Ikea, Ryanair, Debenhams: Everything that matters this morning

  04-02-2019 08:40
  Ikea to lease furniture as it develops a ‘circular’ business model
  Ikea is to start leasing furniture for the first time this month as it tries out new ways of doing business.
  The trial will initially involve office furniture for businesses but it hopes to expand into kitchens and the consumer market. Profits at Ikea fell by 12% last year and the company is exploring alternatives having already introduced smaller stores in city centre.
  Torbjourn Loof, chief executive of parent firm
  
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• HMV, Cadbury, Google: Everything that matters this morning

  04-02-2019 08:40
  Social media sites face crackdown to protect children
  Social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter could be forced to sign a compulsory code of conduct in order to protect children from harmful content online.
  The plan will be announced in government today by minister for digital and creative industries, Margot James.
  The move follows the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell whose parents say killed herself after being exposed to images of self-harm on Instagram.
  In an open le
  
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• Harry Lang: Great brand-building doesn’t have to break the bank

  04-02-2019 08:31
  A few weeks ago, global shaving behemoth Gillette took a considerable chunk of its $1bn annual marketing budget and decided to gamble with it. In an effort to capitalise on the #MeToo movement its new brand ad challenged menkind to be the best that they can be.
  In betting terms, it was more backing an outsider at Ascot than a 50:50 shot on the roulette table and, as a result, Gillette’s horse limped home to considerable jeers from the grandstands.
  The ad has prompted ridicule (and even th
  
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• How marketers can avoid a tech monstrosity

  04-02-2019 08:00
  When Joan the cavewoman rubbed two sticks together and made fire for the 100th time, she groaned. All she wanted was for the sticks to light up digitally and tell her tomorrow’s weather forecast so she’d know whether to pack an umbrella for her hunt.
  Throwing them into the flames and cursing, she dreamed of a day when humans would have sticks with interactive user interfaces, before falling into a wild and fantastical dream about a world filled with walking cars, super-speed toothbr
  
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• Hack your commute: Purge your email subscriptions

  04-02-2019 07:30
  If marketing directors’ email inboxes look anything like those of marketing journalists, the majority of your emails are probably spam – or at least poorly targeted messages of little relevance to you.
  Some of those useless missives are ones you can do little about without taking the time to send a polite (or passive-aggressive, or even active-aggressive) personal rejection – unsolicited pitches from suppliers and consultants, or speculative job applications from unsuitable ca
  
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• UK children view fewer age-restricted TV ads

  04-02-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  Children’s exposure to TV ads for alcohol, gambling and food/drink products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) has declined in recent years, according to a new report from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).The regulatory body said it...
  
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• The B2B future of digital marketing

  04-02-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  Geoffrey Precourt taps the IAB’s Susan Borst to discover what’s happening in the world of B2B digital marketing.
  
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• Media buyers enthuse about Chinese app TikTok

  04-02-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  Older users of the internet may not be familiar with TikTok, but the Chinese short-form video app, known for its often highly creative and quirky content, is growing its user base rapidly and now it appears it is also testing ads on the platform. ...
  
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• Hulu develops ads for paused video moments

  04-02-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  Hulu, the TV and movie streaming service, is planning to roll out a new and non-intrusive ad format that will appear on-screen when a user presses pause on their video.Jeremy Helfand, the company’s VP and head of advertising platforms,...
  
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• Get your influencer metrics right

  04-02-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  Influencer marketing has become big but to be truly effective marketers need to choose the right people and avoid getting sucked into vanity metrics, warns Tania Yuki of Shareablee.Writing in the February issue of Admap – published...
  
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• Filipinos go online more than anyone in the world

  04-02-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  The Philippines leads the world in terms of time spent online and social media usage, according to a new global study into digital trends across 230 countries and territories.People in the Southeast Asian country now spend 10 hours and 2 minutes...
  
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• Digital doppelgangers and radical transparency

  04-02-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  The digital world is all about data, and that data is being gathered in all sorts of unexpected ways, says Dr Pippa Malmgren.
  
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• Data-driven marketing will deliver at scale this year: Weed

  04-02-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  The potential of data-driven marketing has teased marketers for several years without that promise ever being delivered but that’s all set to change in 2019, according to Unilever’s chief marketing and communications officer.Keith Weed...
  
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