Rescuing brands from oblivion September 13, 2015 Havas Media’s Paul Frampton talks whisky and consumer apathy IN THE battle for customer loyalty, brands are realising that, to market a product, they must do more than thrust it in front of potential consumers. According to Paul Frampton, chief executive of Havas Media UK, curating interesting, even educational content, and delivering it in ways [...]
From TfL Tube strike and Greek debt crisis to awful colleagues and FTSE woes: Here’s what got us talking this week August 21, 2015 There was a flypast. There was a bus in someone’s front garden. And somewhere – or perhaps everywhere – the sound of prosecco corks being popped overtook those of champagne. Here’s what got us talking this week 1. Our colleagues To be fair, it’s something we probably discuss most weeks, and we’re not alone. Perhaps that’s [...]
What’s in a name? Why Google’s transition to Alphabet is great news for investors August 13, 2015 Companies change names and rebrand when they wish to turn over a new leaf, or refresh their perception amongst key stakeholders. Some work, some don’t – just think about Britain’s Royal Mail and its short-lived rebranding to “Consignia”. That name change quickly got lost in the post. And remember PwC’s abortive attempt to switch to [...]
FTSE edges up but can not beat rise in Eurozone – London Report July 16, 2015 BRITAIN’S top share index edged higher yesterday, though without matching the gains seen across the Eurozone after Greece’s parliament approved austerity measures, with US-exposed stocks getting a lift. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.6 per cent, at 6,796.45 points, lagging a 1.5 per cent rise for the Euro STOXX 50, with peripheral Eurozone markets [...]
Games of drones intensifies as Hailo founder Jay Bregman raises more funds for Verifly venture April 12, 2015 The man behind taxi hailing app Hailo has raised £1.4m from a clutch of investors to fund a new venture developing a system to register unmanned drone flights, making them safer to be in the air. Jay Bregman, who co-founded Hailo in 2011 in London before leaving the group late last year, has been backed [...]
Why sport hits business for six at data analytics August 9, 2015 Professional sport has been transformed by real-time data analytics. Fans, coaches and even players themselves are now using statistics to enrich their experience, or to gain some kind of advantage over the competition. Unsurprisingly, it’s football (the biggest and most popular sport in the world) that is pioneering the use of data. Gary Neville’s detailed [...]
Amazon buys video site Twitch for close to $1bn August 25, 2014 Internet giant Amazon last night snapped up gamers’ video website Twitch for $970m (£585m). The service is just three years old, and is used by millions of gamers and viewers every month. In July 55m unique visitors watched 15bn minutes of videos – four-and-a-half hours on average. Amazon has a rapacious appetite for new tech [...]
Amazon’s Twitch purchase heralds a new age of creative consumption August 28, 2014 It's enough to make an accountant develop a nervous one. This week Amazon snapped up Twitch, a video platform and community for computer gamers, paying the princely sum of $970m (£585m) in cash. That’s a lot of money for something many people have never heard of – more than three times the amount Amazon spent [...]
Amazon share price falls as authors plot US Department of Justice approach over Hachette dispute September 24, 2014 Amazon's share price fell in early trading today, after it emerged that a group of more than 1,000 authors were poised to take the standoff with publisher Hachette to the US Department of Justice. Shares at the internet giant were down 0.7 per cent in mid-morning trading in New York. Writers including Malcolm [...]
How successful people spend their holiday August 18, 2015 Neglect planning at your peril That's my lesson for taking a vacation: vacation will kill you,” surmises Tesla founder Elon Musk in a recent biography, having contracted a severe bout of malaria following a holiday in Africa in 2000. Indeed, the most successful business leaders don’t necessarily have the most successful holidays; last year, [...]