1 of 9 a I R L I N E S Delta/Free Messaging Delta Airlines
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AIRLINES Delta/Free Messaging Delta Airlines announced that customers on its Wi-Fi enabled plans will be able to communicate via iMessage, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger at no charge. Note: The offer allows text messaging use only and will not support the transfer of photo or video files. AUTOMOTIVE Ford/Lyft Ride-hailing service Lyft and Ford Motors struck a partnership to develop and test autonomous vehicle designs and technology, with the aim of putting Ford’s self-driving vehicles on Lyft’s ride-hailing network in the future. BROADCAST Raycom/CNH TV station group Raycom (65 TV and 2 radio stations covering 44 markets in 20 states) and Community Newspaper Holdings (110 newspapers, websites and niche publications in 22 states) announced merger plans. DATA comScore/Activation Data-ist comScore launched a tool called Activation to help advertisers use mobile, desktop and TV consumer behavior data to activate audience segments. The product can be accessed via 15 ad tech platforms including AppNexus, Salesforce and Adobe. Nielsen/Visual IQ Nielsen acquired Visual IQ, an entity that focuses on multi-touch attribution and performance measurement using audience segments providing insights on digital conversions, in-store sales and brand awareness across multiple devices and channels. DIGITAL Twitter/280 Twitter is expanding its character usage from 140 to 280 with a test group. ELECTRONICS Marketer Share The chart below delineates U.S. electronic sales leaders, by dollar value, according to TraQline, as reported by The Wall Street Journal: Sales Leader Market Share Sales Leader Market Share Best Buy 29.3% Apple 7.6% Wal-Mart 13.9% Others 38.2% Amazon 11.2% 1 of 9 ELECTRONICS(cont’d) Marketer Share The following chart lists U.S. electronic category leaders, by dollar value, (cont’d) according to TraQline, as reported by The Wall Street Journal: Sales Leader Market Share TVs 29.9% Laptop Computers 23.7% Desktop Computers 8.6% Videogame Systems 7.7% Tablets 7.4% Digital Cameras 4.2% Others 18.5% FAST FOOD Taco Bell/Forever 21 Mexican fast food chain Taco Bell is teaming up with teen retailer Forever 21 to create a collection of its own Taco Bell branded bodysuits, sweatshirts and hoodies. Note: Pizza Hut, part of Yum Brands along with Taco Bell and KFC, sells its own line of T-shirts, hoodies and baseball caps. McDonald’s online Big Mac Shop hawks boots, raincoats and leggings. GLOBAL Austria/Burqa Ban Austria became the fifth European country to ban wearing full-face veils such as the burqa and niqab in public. The Anti-Face-Veiling Act applies to anyone in public places and buildings, including schools, shopping malls and public transportation. Fine: upwards of $175. Other countries imposing a ban: Belgium, Bulgaria, France and Switzerland. Google Google announced that it has started allowing rival shopping comparison services in Europe to bid for and resell advertising space at the very top of Google’s search engine results in Europe. The new ads appear alongside similar product ads from Google’s own shopping ad unit, which Google said is bidding independently in the same auctions. Saudi Arabia/Female On September 26, 2017, King Salman issued an order to allow women to drive in Drivers Saudi Arabia, with new guidelines to be created and implemented by the following June. MOVIES Dreamscape Dreamscape Immersive is a virtual reality multiplex that instead of movies will Immersive provide a variety of virtual reality experiences at their locations. Its technology, developed by a Swiss motion capture firm, will allow up to six people to explore a virtual reality environment at once, seeing fully rendered avatars of one another. Investors: Steven Spielberg, 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros., Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer and most recently, AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest theater chain kicking in $20 million in the fledging company. Week of October 2, 2017 2 of 9 MUSIC Amazon Music/Alexa Amazon unveiled plans to add its virtual assistant Alexa on its Amazon Music streaming apps. How it works: an on-screen button will let Amazon Music users access the various Alexa “play” commands that currently work on Echo. Eminem/Catalog The Bass Brothers production team is taking rapper Eminem’s entire hit catalog public, enabling fans to buy stock. Despite no new albums since 2013, Eminem is one of the year’s biggest streaming successes, ranking 11th among all artists, according to data from the tracking service BuzzAngle. Rock Musicals After the successes of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Hamilton, a slew of productions are bringing radio to the stage: Grateful Death Set to debut off-Broadway in October, Red Roses is described as a “comedic tale” of a family looking to con its way to fortune in 1920s Maryland. The Dead’s music is sung by characters in the show. Alanis Morissette The show is named Jagged Little Pill, after the 1995 album. Will debut next spring in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A “modern, multigenerational family” is the description. Jimmy Buffett Escape to Margaritaville is about a singer bartender who falls for a tourist. Broadway arrival is slated for March. Bob Dylan A London musical, Girl From the North Country, set to the songs of Bob Dylan and taking place in Dylan’s hometown during the Great Depression. Opened in July at London’s Old Vic Theatre to acclaim. PERSONALITIES Liliane Bettencourt Liliane Bettencourt, who inherited her fortune from her father who founded cosmetics giant L’Oreal in 1907, has passed away. She was 94 years old, her net worth was $47 billion and until her demise, she was designated as the wealthiest woman in the world. Bobbies The decision not to arm British police officers was made when Sir Robert Peel, then the home secretary, founded the Metropolitan Police in 1829. Police officers were nick named “bobbies” after him, and a conscious effort was made to differentiate them as much as possible from the heavily armed British army, which the public then viewed with considerable hostility. According to The Wall Street Journal, the creation of the Metropolitan Police began a tradition of “policing by consent” – the idea that a police officer’s primary duty is to the public rather than to the state, as it is elsewhere. (cont’d) Week of October 2, 2017 3 of 9 PERSONALITIES(cont’d) Bobbies (cont’d) In the U.S., for instance, police power is derived from the states under the 10th Amendment, which recognizes states’ rights to manage their affairs. The bobbies were outfitted in top hats and tightly buttoned blue tunics – a deliberate color choice to set them apart from the red coasts of the British army – the first bobbies patrolled their beats on foot, equipped with nothing but a wooden truncheon and a whistle. Those in particularly dangerous areas carried cutlasses. Hugh Hefner Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine (1953), has passed away. He was 91 years old. PLACE Subway Cars/ The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority has signed a contract with Outfront Media Outfront Media, its long time out of home advertising partner, to provide close to 50,000 digital video ad displays in stations and in subway cars throughout the city system, including the Long Island Railroad and Metro-North trains. RETAIL Kroger/Local Kroger is launching a website allowing local suppliers to pitch niche products Suppliers directly to buyers at the grocer’s 2,800 stores. Mastercard/Pop-ups Mastercard, in collaboration with Marie Claire magazine, has unveiled a temporary shop in Manhattan designed to meld the speed and convenience of online shopping with the experience of browsing in an actual store. The so-called pop-up shop, dubbed The Next Big Thing, will enable customers via an app to try on outfit, mix and match accessories, then pay for an ensemble without ever leaving the fitting room. How it works: visitors to the pop-up shop will download an app that allows them to input their payment information as well as book appointments with Neiman Marcus stylists who are available on site. Each piece of clothing has an electronic tag embedded in the label so that when customers enter the fitting room, the mirror will recognize what they’re trying on and then display it. Not only will the so-called smart mirror allow customers to adjust sizes or view different colors, it will suggest a pair of shoes, a belt or other accessory that it will display as well. When shoppers are ready to buy, instead of trudging to a checkout counter, they simply touch the item’s image on the mirror and tap check out. The shirt, jacket or another item automatically shifts to a cart on the customer’s mobile device. There, they can complete the purchase and note whether they want to tote it from the store or have it delivered. Pinterest/Target Image search platform Pinterest, which is seven years old, has struck a deal with retailer Target to license its camera image search tool, which lets users of Pinterest’s app browse similar images and objects to pictures they take with their phones. How it works: Target will embed the tool in its own app, allowing shoppers to snap photos on their phones of items they like and receive suggestions from Target for similar products to buy. Week of October 2, 2017 4 of 9 SOCIETY Household Income The Federal Reserve reported that U.S. median household income, adjusted for inflation, increased 10% to $52,700 after falling in the prior two three-year periods. Median net worth or wealth increased 16% to $97,300. Despite these advances, the median income for college graduates was $92,000 last year, compared to $27,000 for high school dropouts.