Sales & Marketing news

• Benchmark was the poster boy for 'founder-friendly' VCs, but after WeWork and Uber its reputation is looking tarnished

  11-10-2019 23:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  Benchmark Capital, one of the most respected venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, has a reputation of supporting, and understanding, entrepreneurs.
  This reputation is now under scrutiny for its role helping to remove WeWork's cofounder Adam Neumann, as well as Travis Kalanick of Uber and other founders from the helm.
  The firm's reputation with startups could determine Benchmark's future ability to land the hottest deals.
  Check out Business Insider's special series — Founder Frenemies &
  
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• Phil Libin is refocusing his startup incubator from AI to health tech because there's no need to 'shove' artificial intelligence into everything

  11-10-2019 23:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  All Turtles, an incubator launched and run by Evernote cofounder Phil Libin, has shifted its focus.
  Libin launched it with the idea that it would foster applications and products based on artificial intelligence.
  Now, All Turtles' focus is on developing products that help improve the health of individuals or workplaces.
  Libin still thinks AI will be important for most of the products the company develops — just not all of them.
  Click here for more BI Prime stories.It's well known that star
  
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• 'We can shut down the Turkish economy if we need to': The Trump administration just threatened harsh new sanctions on Turkey

  11-10-2019 22:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Trump administration on Friday doubled down on its threat to impose crippling economic sanctions on Turkey in response to its military campaign against the Kurds in northern Syria.
  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a White House briefing that the US had the power to stymie the Turkish economy, reiterating an unusual threat of economic war against an ally who's a member of the NATO alliance.
  "We can shut down the Turkish economy if we need to," Mnuchin said.
  However, the administratio
  
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• The US and China reach a partial trade agreement, averting tariff hikes on thousands of products

  11-10-2019 22:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Trump administration has reportedly reached a partial trade agreement with China ahead of planned tariff escalations.
  It was unclear if negotiators resolved issues at the heart of a dispute that has roiled the two largest economies.
  China agreed to increase agricultural purchases and roll back some tariffs as part of the agreement, according to Bloomberg.
  Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
  The US reached a limited trade agreement with China on Friday that would pave the way
  
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• Facebook's cryptocurrency project suffers massive blow as MasterCard, Visa, eBay, and others withdraw from Libra (FB)

  11-10-2019 22:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  MasterCard, Visa, eBay, Mercado Pago, and Stripe are exiting Facebook's planned cryptocurrency project, Libra.
  PayPal also dropped out of talks to work with Facebook on Libra last week.
  Facebook's deteriorating relationships with Libra partners, combined with intense scrutiny from lawmakers, leaves the future of the initiative uncertain.
  Facebook's exec leading Libra, David Marcus, thanked Visa and MasterCard "for sticking it out until the 11th hour," and cautioned against "reading the fate of L
  
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• Researchers calculated how much the average person would need to be paid to live a year without services like email and search engines. Here are the final numbers.

  11-10-2019 22:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Free online services "have unquestionably become increasingly ubiquitous" in everyday life, but the rapidly expanding sector isn't accounted for in key economic metrics, MIT economist Erik Brynjolfsson wrote in a research paper.
  Brynjolfsson and a team of researchers surveyed Americans to find how much people value free digital goods.
  Search engines were deemed the most valuable service on average, and music was the least valued.
  Read the full report here.
  Visit the Business Insider homepage for
  
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• The market's favorite recession indicator reverts back to safe territory for the first time in months

  11-10-2019 20:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  The spread between three-month and 10-year US Treasury bonds turned positive on Friday for the first time since July.
  The relationship — know as the yield curve — has been inverted for months, issuing a signal that's preceded each US economic recession since 1950.
  Positive news on trade talks between the US and China and Brexit progress drove a sell-off in Treasurys, which helped the curve un-invert.
  Read more on Business Insider.
  A long-watched recession indicator briefly turned pos
  
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• Amazon's delivery contractors announce upward of 2,000 layoffs even as the mega-retailer's logistics demand balloons (AMZN)

  11-10-2019 20:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  A slew of Amazon delivery-service partners (DSPs) nationwide have announced layoffs this month.
  Business Insider has learned that Letter Ride, an Amazon DSP, is laying off nearly 900 workers in California and Texas. These companies deliver Amazon packages to customers' homes.
  Several outlets previously reported layoffs in Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Massachusetts, and Connecticut after those DSPs lost their Amazon contracts. 
  Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.A sl
  
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• Employees at red-hot startups like Uber and Pinterest will soon be able to cash in their shares. Here are the 5 companies whose lockup expirations could spark a flood of selling.

  11-10-2019 20:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  The market for initial public offerings started the year red-hot, with unicorns like Uber and Pinterest raising billions in their public debuts. 
  But after a series of IPO flops and a pulled listing from co-working giant WeWork, newly public firms have started lagging behind the broader market — and the pain could get even worse. 
  When companies go public, insiders such as employees are subject to a lockup period, or a specific set of time after the IPO when they can't sell their
  
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• The Fed announces plans to purchase $60 billion in Treasurys per month to better control its most important tool

  11-10-2019 19:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Federal Reserve will begin purchasing $60 billion worth of Treasury bills each month starting mid-October to further control its benchmark interest rate.
  The new actions are "purely technical" to support the bank's current interest rate policy, and "do not represent a change" to its monetary policy strategy, a press release said.
  The new action will add additional capital to bank reserves and likely ease worries of bank liquidity.
  Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
  The Fed
  
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• WeWork is now is said to be talking to JPMorgan about a $5 billion credit line and could run out of cash next month without it

  11-10-2019 19:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  WeWork and lenders led by JPMorgan are discussing a $5 billion credit line for the struggling company, Bloomberg reported Friday.
  The commercial real-estate giant could run out of cash as soon as next month, Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported.
  The amount of financing it's now said to be seeking is bigger than previously reported, and the amount of time it's now believed to have before running out of cash is significantly shorter.
  WeWork was expecting to raise $3 billion last month in an
  
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• The Dow surges 500 points as Trump gives encouraging signs about a trade truce

  11-10-2019 18:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  Major US stock indexes surged on Friday as investors grew more optimistic around the ongoing trade negotiations between the US and China. 
  President Trump tweeted on Friday morning that "good things are happening" during the high-level negotiations with China. 
  The rally comes after a volatile week of trading as investors anxiously awaited the talks that kicked off on Thursday. 
  Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
  Stocks rallied on Friday along with optimism for
  
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• Why Tesco won’t refer to Aldi and Lidl as ‘discounters’

  11-10-2019 17:09
  ‘German discounters’ and Aldi and Lidl have become synonymous in the retail world. But not for Tesco, which will only refer to the competition as ‘German retailers’. And there is strategy behind the semantics.
  “The reason I refer to them as German retailers is, actually, every time we talk about them as discounters we do a bit of marketing for them,” Tesco’s outgoing boss Dave Lewis said at the Festival of Marketing. “Actually, given their pricing
  
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• Why alternative job titles prove marketing is not the ‘colouring-in department’

  11-10-2019 15:14
  Alison Jones, customer director of the Co-operative Group, and Chris Macleod, director for customers and revenue at Transport for London, both run the marketing function at their respective employers, yet neither has a job title that includes the word ‘marketing’.
  “There are a lot of businesses that put the word ‘customer’ in for the sake of it, because it’s the new trendy thing to do,” Jones told the audience at the Festival of Marketing (10 October).
  &
  
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• Co-op and TfL on the rise of alternative marketing titles

  11-10-2019 15:14
  Alison Jones, customer director of the Co-operative Group, and Chris Macleod, director for customers and revenue at Transport for London, both run the marketing function at their respective employers, yet neither has a job title that includes the word ‘marketing’.
  “There are a lot of businesses that put the word ‘customer’ in for the sake of it, because it’s the new trendy thing to do,” Jones told the audience at the Festival of Marketing (10 October).
  &
  
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• Rose McGowan’s advice to marketers: Sell what you would want to be sold

  11-10-2019 13:53
  Rose McGowan highlighed the issue of women too often being shown doing household chores in advertising.Rose McGowan has warned marketers to really think about the products they are selling and the messages they are conveying through their advertising.
  Opening day two of the Festival of Marketing this morning (11 October), McGowan said marketers have to consider their impact and take their responsibility seriously.
  “Take care. Really consider what you are putting into people’s minds.
  
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• Social selling site Depop on why quantity is the key to quality

  11-10-2019 11:00
  Peer-to-peer trading may be as old as civilisation, but now many eyes are on whether this concept has the potential to deliver a significant shake-up of the fashion sector.
  Online platforms such as Depop are growing fast, attracting both customers and investors who see value in its app-based community of fashion fans who can buy, sell and share pictures of items and outfits.
  “It’s just like Instagram and eBay together, and the kids love it and come back every day…that’s
  
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• DFS’s CMO on using the ‘power of data to influence’

  11-10-2019 08:00
  Toni Wood has worked at some of the UK’s most well-known brands. And despite her career spanning many sectors, from retail to personal care to food and drink, one thing that ties each role together is her desire to solve problems and be part of change within a business.
  “I’m really curious and driven. I always want to be part of driving the growth agenda and building teams,” she explains.
  Starting out in a graduate position at Sainsbury’s, Wood’s first role wa
  
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• Singapore announces total ad ban for high-sugar drinks

  11-10-2019 02:00 via warc.com
  Singapore has announced a total ban on advertisements of packaged drinks with very high sugar content, as part of an on-going bid to tackle diabetes, making it the first country in the world to do so.
  
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• Neutral is the new negative: why marketers need to measure share of experience

  11-10-2019 02:00 via warc.com
  Marketers need to take responsibility for every brand encounter, not only those that they control, says a leading industry figure who advocates share of experience as a more useful metric than the traditional share of voice.
  
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• Marketing neuroscience needs deeper rigour

  11-10-2019 02:00 via warc.com
  Neuroscience researchers must apply a new level of rigour to their work if the discipline is to reach its full potential in marketing, according to a paper in the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR).
  
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• Many Americans have patchy grasp of cybersecurity and privacy

  11-10-2019 02:00 via warc.com
  Americans’ understanding of tech-related matters varies widely, but, most alarming, is that many people show a lack of knowledge when it comes to issues related to security and privacy, according to a new study.
  
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• BT revamps its brand as it goes in search of an identity

  11-10-2019 02:00 via warc.com
  Telecoms giant BT is set to launch a major marketing and branding campaign next week (October 18) as it admits right now the name “stands for nothing”.
  
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• Australian SMBs value marketing but are not budgeting for it

  11-10-2019 02:00 via warc.com
  Four in five small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Australia see marketing as a valuable tool but are struggling to balance the necessary investment against operational demands.
  
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