Twitter reports $1bn in quarterly revenues for the first time – but long-term health remains key

Twitter has reported quarterly revenue figures north of $1 billion for the first time, with 152 million ‘monetisable daily active users’ (mDAUs) representing a 20% hike year over year.

Total revenues for 2019 were at $3.46 billion, an increase of 14% year on year. Of the quarterly figure, 88% of revenues were derived from advertising, with data licensing and other revenues contributing the rest. US revenue comprised just under three-fifths (59%) of total revenues.

7 February 2020 | Advertising

If Lloyd’s wants to change workplace behaviour, it needs to rethink how it judges performance

Opinion Last month, the employees of Lloyd’s of London received an email in which their chief exec, John Neal, urged them to behave appropriately during the ‘particularly challenging time of year’. Considering the date it was sent, December being the time of winding down, drinking up, and, of course, Christmas shindigs, coming after a lawsuit and more than 500 staff reports of sexual harassment over the past year, the powers-that-be at the insurer might have been...

31 January 2020 | Best Practice

Consumers are seeking out eco-friendly beauty brands: Exploring the rise of ‘conscious capitalism’

Meaningful beauty purchases are increasingly driven by how eco-friendly a product is, with shoppers also embracing new technology to choose the products that fit their needs and wants.

Yet despite this, a new BBC3 documentary, Beauty Laid Bare, will reveal how little plastic is actually recycled. The three-part documentary follows four people in their 20s for two weeks across America investigating the secrets of the multi-billion dollar beauty industry and shows how it is one of the...

29 January 2020 | Best Practice

Do we need to kiss goodbye to social media likes? Exploring visibility and health

Facebook and Instagram users in the UK can expect to see major changes following the latest controversial change from everyone’s favourite social media platforms.

Instagram was bought by Facebook back in 2012 for $1 billion and since then, both platforms have begun testing out hiding likes. The trial started by hiding likes from selected users in Canada in 2019 and was then expanded to more countries, including Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. So it was only inevitable...

28 January 2020 | Attribution

2020 resolutions for influencer marketing: Taking responsibility and control

2019 was a tricky year for influencer marketing. It started with the release of Netflix’s ‘The Greatest Party That Never Happened’ which documented how Fyre Festival’s organisers used influencers to dupe consumers, and then it ended with three well-known UK influencers unknowingly promoting a diet drink laced with cyanide.

With the spectre of Fyre Festival hanging over the industry and warnings from the ASA about ad labelling, 2019 saw more scrutiny of...

10 January 2020 | Best Practice

The rise of ‘algorithm hacking’ – and how it may be leading marketers astray

Even though Robert Burns wrote the line “the best-laid schemes o’ mice a’ men/gang aft agley” more than 200 years ago, it still resonates. In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), many brands are learning this the hard way as a new generation of algorithm hackers subvert their use of cognitive technologies.

AI is increasingly central to driving timely, personalised marketing communications. But by undermining the code they are built on, algorithm hackers...

9 January 2020 | Attribution

MarketingTech 2019 year in review: Influencer regulations, CMO battles, and social change

2019 in digital marketing, through the reporting eye of MarketingTech, has seen something of a two-pronged approach. While the exploration of emerging technologies and their use cases, from voice search to AI to blockchain, continues, it has been tempered with a more measured and nuanced focus.

While this publication found plenty of column inches to tell the stories those making the most of their technological bets this year, from Mastercard, to Starbucks – and will continue...

3 January 2020 | Advertising

Instagram and Facebook introduce features to combat fake news and bullying

Instagram and Facebook have announced the introduction of new features to help combat fake news and bullying.

In 2019, Instagram introduced a feature that filtered comments. This new AI-powered feature is an extension of the earlier one which alerts users with a warning that their caption looks similar to others that have been previously reported based on the words that are used in the caption.

The Instagram team wrote on Facebook: “Today, when someone writes a caption...

17 December 2019 | Advertising

On Black Friday, try showcasing your values instead of slashing your prices

This Black Friday, French cosmetics startup Typology won’t make a single euro cent in profit. That’s because instead of slashing prices and scrambling for customers, the company is launching a campaign called “#BlackForGood”, donating its profits to environmental charities. “This campaign is intended to be a positive and encouraging call to action for those who agree that Black Friday could be better,” says founder Ning Li.

27 November 2019 | Advertising

Like for like? Why the traditional tool of social media affirmation needed to shift

The ‘like’ was unassuming. Few anticipated that a miniature, good-willed icon of a thumbs-up could dictate corporate and cognitive wellbeing. At its best, the like has been massively generative to individual and industry alike. It’s turned people into brands, spawning influencer culture, and has reshaped global marketing.

But the like isn’t always at its best. People have died chasing them (think selfies on railroad tracks) and taken their lives for not...

26 November 2019 | Attribution