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BuzzFeed CEO Suggests Roll-Up With Rival Digital-Media Companies |
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Hello CMOs. Throughout the year, American academic John Lewis—or @JohnLewis—receives thousands of tweets meant for the U.K. department store that shares his name. The stream of misdirected feedback becomes an avalanche when Christmas draws near and John Lewis starts airing its much-anticipated festive ads.
Mr. John #NotARetailStore Lewis’s witty replies to confused consumers have now earned him his own starring role in a Christmas commercial.
In a video for Twitter U.K., Mr. Lewis is shown at home in Virginia, dutifully replying to tweets. Brits may note plenty of references to John Lewis ads of Christmases past, from the mournful soundtrack to penguin ornaments and a telescope by the window.
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BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. PHOTO: BERTRAND GUAY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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The darlings of digital media are in a slump. From Vice to Vox, revenue targets have been missed and talk of flashy IPOs has fizzled out.
BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti has an idea to reinvigorate the sector. Speaking to the New York Times, he proposed a roll-up of a group of internet publishers—he namedropped Vice, Vox Media, Group Nine and Refinery29.
The idea is that a combined group could draw in more ad dollars and lobby Google and Facebook for a bigger share of ad revenue when its content runs on their platforms. Top execs from Vox Media, Group Nine and Refinery29, speaking on the record in the piece, didn’t rule the idea out.
Digiday reports that two founders of those companies confirmed they have held early conversations about potential tie-ups. But the two anonymous sources were skeptical about the chances for such mergers unless an outside source like a bank or fund got involved. Even then, it would be complicated to combine several lossmaking companies, each with its own investor roster and internal culture. Layoffs and write-downs would be inevitable. BuzzViceVox29 Group may be some way off yet.
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Recode’s Peter Kafka tweeted, “Roll-up talk is another way of saying that the would-be buyers for digital media guys—the TV guys—aren’t buying.”
The “TV guys” have troubles of their own at the moment. The Journal reports that more than 1 million consumers canceled their cable-TV or satellite subscriptions in the past quarter, one of the largest seasonal drops ever.
The rise of cord-cutting amplifies the pressure on pay-TV providers to generate revenue in new ways. But figures reviewed by the Journal show streaming services and partnerships with digital video startups have failed to offset the erosion. Check out the charts in the piece.
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David Kenny is set to become the new CEO of Nielsen. PHOTO: MIKE SHORT/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Another company at a crossroads is Nielsen. The market-research firm began a strategic review in September, under pressure from activist investor Elliott Management to sell itself.
Its “buy” division—which tracks purchases of groceries and consumer goods—has been hampered by the changing retail environment. Its television-and-media ratings business has been doing better, but it too is racing to keep up with changing consumer behavior as viewers shift to new digital platforms.
Nielsen is now bringing in a well-known face from Madison Avenue to step up the pace of that review. David Kenny, currently senior vice president of IBM’s cognitive solutions division, is succeeding Mitch Barns as Nielsen’s chief executive, the Journal’s Suzanne Vranica reports.
Previously, Mr. Kenny was CEO of the Weather Company, which he sold to IBM in 2015, and he was a top executive at Publicis Groupe for many years. Something else that may come in handy: Mr. Kenny’s private-equity connections. Private-equity firms have expressed interest in Nielsen, the Journal previously reported.
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PHOTO: RICHARD B. LEVINE/NEWSCOM/ZUMA PRESS
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E-cigarette company Juul began its life as a 2005 Stanford thesis presentation (its original name, “Ploom,” was wisely dropped) and has since grown into a $16 billion company that controls more than 70% of the U.S. e-cig market.
With great power comes great responsibility. Juul has drawn scrutiny from the FDA, which this past spring launched an investigation into its marketing practices and last week announced it’s sharply restricting the sales of most flavored pod-style e-cigarettes. Juul is also the subject of lawsuits that claim the company targeted teens with its lifestyle-focused marketing.
FastCompany reports on Juul’s next moves. The company plans to launch a new version of its device that will connect to an app via Bluetooth, letting users monitor their usage and keep other people from using their pod—making it harder for kids to vape.
But the FDA’s ban on new e-cig models means the new version can’t yet go on sale in the U.S. In the meantime, Juul is hunkering down. It has pared down its social-media activity and has committed to spend $30 million over three years on preventing youthful vaping. But it’s still playing a game of whack-a-mole when it comes to the unofficial Juul subculture on social media (#juultricks, #juulnation, #juuling—you get the picture) which appears to include plenty of teen participants.
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“How in 2018 can the CMO of any public company — let alone one that claims to be for women — make such shocking, derogatory statements?”
| — Lingerie brand ThirdLove Chief Executive Heidi Zak writing in a New York Times ad in response to comments L Brands (owner of Victoria's Secret) CMO Ed Razek made in an interview with Vogue about plus-size and transgender models. (Mr. Razek later apologized.) |
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Bank of America has launched a new brand positioning, logo and campaign, which carries the tagline, “What would you like the power to do?” [Business Insider]
Ads for cancer treatment centers are deceptively featuring atypical patient testimonials. [NBC News]
Instagram is stepping up its fight against automated third-party apps that generate fake follows, likes and comments. [Tech Crunch]
Walmart launched a virtual “toy lab” for kids to try out the new holiday toy lineup and put them on their holiday wish lists. [Digiday]
Beyond Meat, whose plant-based burgers and more are for sale at restaurants such as TGI Fridays and supermarkets including Kroger, plans to go public as sales soar. [Food Dive]
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel reportedly “spends most board meetings looking at his phone and messaging people on Snapchat”. [The Information]
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