Fountain Pen Sales Are Surging, Despite Flat Luxury Global Sales

Like the mechanical watch, the fountain pen has survived by pulling a neat trick: transforming its obsolescence into an aura of indulgent luxury.

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According to market-research firm Euromonitor, global fountain pen retail sales were up 2.1 percent in 2016 from a year earlier, reaching $1.046 billion.

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“The relevance that fountain pens and handwriting had is diminished,” says Nicky Pessaroff, editor-in-chief of Pen World magazine. “It’s become more of a lifestyle choice and an identity choice. It’s a throwback and a cultural comment.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-02/fountain-pen-sales-are-surging-despite-flat-luxury-global-sales 

 

Ad Giants Hear Amazon-Sized Footsteps

Without much fanfare, CEO Jeff Bezos has set his sights on yet another market: the $200 billion online advertising industry that is dominated by Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Facebook Inc. While Amazon's annual ad revenue is relatively small at an estimated $1.2 billion, the company has assembled a Google-like set of advertising tools and services that could become Amazon's next big thing.

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Amazon has unique advantages as an advertising middleman. It knows more about people’s shopping habits than perhaps any company on earth. The company's Prime web video service means Amazon is also collecting information about the entertainment habits of millions of people. 

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The biggest wild card is the potential connection between Amazon's digital advertising business and AWS, one of the company's crown jewels. AWS, which sells on-demand computing horsepower to companies, is already the technology backbone for big chunks of the internet advertising industry. It's possible to imagine the ubiquity of AWS helping Amazon's digital advertising business, and vice versa. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-01-30/amazon-turns-next-to-200-billion-advertising-industry 

 

Google Has a Chink in Its Ad Armor

Google’s advertising empire has two parts. About 70 percent of Alphabet’s total revenue last year came from the ads that the company sells on its own digital properties, including Google web search pages, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps and more.
The rest of Google’s advertising revenue comes from the company’s role as a middleman for ads all over the web and mobile devices.
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What Google calls its “network” business is lagging behind the incredible growth of Google’s ad sales on its own digital hangouts. Revenue from the ad network rose 4 percent in 2016, while ad sales on Google's websites and apps rose 22 percent. The slower growth of Google's ad network means it is accounting for a smaller and smaller share of the company's total sales. In the fourth quarter of 2016, Google's advertising network generated 17 percent of Alphabet's total revenue, down from 22 percent three years earlier.
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If search, YouTube, Google Maps and other company properties fade in popularity, then Google will have fewer digital billboard spots to apply its advertising prowess.
https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-01-27/google-s-high-powered-ad-juggernaut-has-a-weak-spot

Israeli Cybersecurity Industry Grows as Global Threats Multiply

Last month, the U.S. approved legislation that will expand joint cyber research with Israel. The stakes are high: The global cyber security market will grow to more than $200 billion by 2021 from $122 billion last year, according to the MarketsandMarkets research firm. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-26/israeli-cybersecurity-industry-grows-as-global-threats-multiply

http://finder.startupnationcentral.org/

Can Cava Convince the World It’s Worth $200 a Bottle?

For years, the best winemakers complained about cava’s downscale fizz image. There are reasons for that. First of all, two huge companies, Freixenet and Codorníu, dominate the category, and they churn out a lot of inexpensive wine. Second, the definition of cava is pretty loose. Even though the cool Penedès region in Catalonia is cava’s home territory, sparkling wine in places as far-flung as Rioja can also use "cava" on the label.

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The potential for top wines has always been there, in grapes and winemaking method. Cava is made the same way Champagne is: Winemakers bottle a basic still wine and add a yeast mixture so the wine referments in the bottle, creating bubbles. But since most top producers use one or more local grapes—macabeao, parellada, and xarel-lo, which brings body and structure—the taste and style are different from Champagne.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-13/best-cavas-from-spain-are-as-good-as-luxury-champagne-what-to-buy

A New Age Zara? Boohoo’s Faster Fashion Fuels 260 Percent Return

Boohoo, based in Manchester, England, draws inspiration from Zara’s industry-leading speed of design -- then makes it even faster. After ordering a broad range of products in small quantities, over half of which are made in the U.K., the retailer puts them on sale and orders more of the ones that sell and stops buying those that don’t.
“Youngsters now will decide on Thursday what they want to wear on their Friday night out,” company Chairman Peter Williams said. “Our test-and-repeat model means we can put what they want in front of them very quickly and get it shipped out for the next day.”
Boohoo’s clothes and prices are targeted squarely at 16-to-24-year-olds. By only selling online rather than having to ship goods to stores, Boohoo can more quickly collect data on what products are hot and which are not. Lead times are between one and two weeks, more than twice as fast as Zara, according to Simon Bowler, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas.
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On Wednesday, it announced plans to acquire the brand and customer databases of Nasty Gal Inc., the Los Angeles-based women’s fashion retailer that filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-28/a-new-age-zara-boohoo-s-faster-fashion-fuels-260-percent-return

YouTube Is Helping to Sell a Lot of Makeup

October 31, 2016 

The brainchild of a YouTube sensation, Ipsy is bringing in $150 million a year.

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With 2.2 million followers on Instagram and 3.1 million on Facebook, Michelle Phan is a beauty dynamo. The launching point of her empire is a YouTube channel, where she has amassed 8.7 million subscribers since 2006. The 29-year-old former waitress came into prominence as a result of her channel, where she shared tips on how to take a selfie and how to fix shattered blush. Since becoming one of the most followed beauty vloggers on the site, she has walked the fine line between the earnest beauty product recommendations that first gained her a following and her burgeoning businesses. Among her commercial interests are the beauty-box subscription service Ipsy, a makeup line called em by Michelle Phan, and the lifestyle network Icon. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/youtube-is-helping-to-sell-a-lot-of-makeup

Meet the Billionaires of Thailand's Red Bull Fortune

Red Bull has helped create a booming industry, with global energy-drink sales of $43 billion in 2015, according to Euromonitor, which estimates the segment will continue growing at an 11 percent compound annual rate through 2020. Red Bull has a 30.2 percent global share of the market and T.C. Pharmaceutical another 11.8 percent, according to the London-based research group.
“It’s a brand built on events,” said Rohit Deshpande, professor of marketing at Harvard Business School.
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The bulk of the fortune sits in Red Bull GmbH, the Fuschl, Austria-based business that owns rights to distribute a carbonated version of Chaleo’s original recipe, as well as sports and adventure assets.
Four professional soccer teams, two Formula One race teams.
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Red Bull GmbH had 5.9 billion euros ($6.2 billion) of global revenue in 2015, according to its website. Publicly traded Monster Beverage Corp., Red Bull’s closest peer, had $2.7 billion of revenue in 2015.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-24/red-bull-fuels-extreme-wealth-with-11-billionaires-in-thailand

How the World’s Biggest Costume Maker Cracked Halloween

Americans will shell out a record-breaking $8.4 billion on Halloween candy, costumes, and decorations this year, according to the National Retail Federation. That figure has jumped almost 70 percent in just 10 years, making Halloween the second-largest holiday in terms of decoration sales, behind Christmas.
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About 55 percent of Rubie’s sales come from licensed costumes, which average about $20 for children and $35 for adults, although it sells plenty of elaborate get-ups for hundreds of dollars. About 8 percent of a costume’s retail price goes toward studio royalties, which means the studios can expect to make tens of millions each Halloween. 
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The company’s four U.S. factories spend most of the year making small batches of high-end costumes, such as a $1,000 Darth Vader costume that sells to the cosplay/Comic Con crowd. The year-round convention circuit has given Rubie’s a sizable boost in its non-Halloween sales; the company has a booth at nearly every major sci-fi/fantasy convention.
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-rubies-halloween-costumes/

How to Build a Multimillion-Dollar Fashion Empire With a Scarf

A curious fashion item appeared on the shoulders of celebrities at London Fashion Week a few years ago: big, chunky, furry scarves in vivid colors. Street-style star Olivia Palermo was one of the first to don the eye-catching scarf, and by that winter, singer Rita Ora was on board, too. Then Vogue took notice of this cheeky new line called Charlotte Simone. 

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Perhaps it’s the attention-grabbing aspect that’s made Charlotte Simone scarves such a darling on Instagram. Beecham runs her label’s account herself, mixing in the everyday designer grind with glamour shots of her scarves for her 60,000 or so followers to enjoy. It’s a major sales driver–40 percent of online sales from its own website are driven by Instagram. And of course, there’s the celebrity bump each time one of her scarves is spotted wrapped around one of their valuable necks.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-10/how-to-build-a-multi-million-dollar-fashion-empire-with-a-scarf

https://charlottesimone.com/pages/about-us

https://www.instagram.com/charlottesimone_/ 

Inside Rocket Internet’s Ailing Startup Factory

Founder Oliver Samwer says his company is in great shape. But an examination of Rocket’s operations reveals an incubator that’s much better at starting new companies than running them. 
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HelloFresh, a  grocery-box delivery business and Rocket’s single-largest investment, saw growth stutter in the second quarter and losses more than double.

http://www.bloomberg.com/technology

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-07/inside-rocket-internet-s-ailing-startup-factory

Hootsuite, Canada’s Extra-Rare Unicorn, Says the Cash Is Flowing the Right Way Now

Hootsuite Media Inc., one of Canada’s few unicorn tech startups worth $1 billion dollars or more.

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Hootsuite software helps manage social media accounts for consumers and companies looking to communicate more effectively with the world. The Vancouver-based company says it has 10 million users, mostly individuals and small businesses, and counts more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies among its customers.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/buffeted-canadian-unicorn-hootsuite-says-it-s-cash-flow-positive

Europe Isn't Just a Tech Wasteland

French advertising technology specialist Criteo.
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That concept of showing people ads related to their search history is known as "re-targeting." It's irritating, but it's pretty effective and a profitable niche that's given Criteo 30 percent year-on-year revenue growth for six quarters.
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For now, at least. Google does have its own re-targeting service. But Criteo's retail and e-commerce clients are nervous about sharing too much customer data with Google. The smaller French company is thriving as a middleman.
http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-08-04/europe-isn-t-just-a-tech-wasteland

Mark Zuckerberg's Latest Victory

Last year, Google spent 16.4 percent of revenue on R&D, according to Bloomberg data, and Facebook almost a quarter. At Daily Mail & General Trust, owner of one of the most popular news sites, it was 3.6 percent.
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The ads within the mobile Facebook app (and its photo-sharing app Instagram) can't be stripped out by blockers. They're delivered by Facebook servers with none of the usual identifiers.  
http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-08-02/facebook-and-google-are-beating-the-ad-blockers 

 
 

Microsoft's Bing Isn't a Joke Anymore

Bing is on track to generate roughly $5.3 billion in revenue for Microsoft's fiscal year ended June 30.
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Bing's 43 percent growth in search advertising revenue in the nine months ended March 31 is not far off YouTube's 50 percent growth rate, UBS estimates. 
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Perhaps most crucially, in the year-old Windows 10 operating software, Bing search gets a pole position on the computer home screen in the guise of Microsoft's Cortana digital assistant. Microsoft said this spring that more than 35 percent of its search revenue in March came from Windows 10 computers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-07-19/microsoft-turns-bing-from-a-joke-into-an-ad-business

Perfume Makers Spend $800 Million on Ads That Apparently Stink

Fragrance is stuck in a never-ending loop that keeps shoppers in line with the status quo, according to a new report from management consultancy A.T. Kearney. Four of the top five women’s fragrances have remained entrenched for half a decade despite constant efforts to unseat them. Last year alone, fragrance makers launched more than 100 new brands and label extensions, backed by hefty marketing budgets. An estimated $800 million is spent on fragrance marketing each year, according to the firm, from television commercials to billboards to in-store samples and magazine ads.
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Top sellers include Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue, along with three Chanel scents: Coco Mademoiselle, Chance Eau Tendre, and No. 5. The newcomer is Daisy, a scent from Marc Jacobs that first hit shelves in 2007. Prestige fragrances in the U.S. represent a $4 billion market, according to data from NPD Group.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-20/perfume-makers-spend-800-million-on-ads-that-apparently-stink

Welcome to China's $1 Trillion Club. Now for the Hard Part

The low-cost make-for-export model that turned Shandong into China’s third $1 trillion provincial economy after Guangdong and Jiangsu is faltering, adding urgency to the push for quality own-name products with fatter margins.

Shandong got a boost in the past from its proximity to Japan and South Korea, the source of much of its early investment. Now, it’s trying to maintain the high growth rate needed to make the same leap they did: from middle- to high-income status, a jump only five economies have managed, including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, according to Nobel laureate Michael Spence.
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Unlike other parts of China that have struggled to establish top brands, Shandong has a solid foundation with three of the nation’s best-known names: household electrical appliances makers Haier and Hisense Electric Co., and Tsingtao beer.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-08/welcome-to-china-s-1-trillion-club-now-for-the-hard-part

High-Speed Ad Traders Profit by Arbitraging Your Eyeballs

The high-frequency trading pioneered on Wall Street has come to Madison Avenue.
Arbitragers are buying millions of online ads and reselling them for a profit in the blink of an eye. They’re exploiting price discrepancies in a fast-evolving marketplace, where this year companies around the world will spend an estimated $9.33 billion on display and banner ads at auction.
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On a typical day, the Chinatown traders’ 10-person company will arbitrage about 500 million advertisements, mostly banner ads, they said; about 30 billion ads are sold on AppNexus a day.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-07/high-speed-ad-traders-profit-by-arbitraging-your-eyeballs

The Humans Hiding Behind the Chatbots

A handful of companies employ humans pretending to be robots pretending to be humans. In the past two years, companies offering do-anything concierges (Magic, Facebook’s M, GoButler); shopping assistants (Operator, Mezi); and e-mail schedulers (X.ai, Clara) have sprung up. The goal for most of these businesses is to require as few humans as possible. People are expensive. They don’t scale. They need health insurance. But for now, the companies are largely powered by people, clicking behind the curtain and making it look like magic.
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Facebook turned the spotlight on human-assisted AI last summer when it introduced M, a chirpy personal assistant bot that lives in Messenger, its chat app. Unlike Facebook’s all-automated commercial Messenger bots, all of M’s AI-generated responses are reviewed, edited if necessary and sent out by a team of a few dozen contractors, who work out of the social network’s Menlo Park, Calif., campus, the company said. Beyond that, details on M are sparse: Facebook won’t say what hours the contractors work or how often they correct M’s guesses.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-18/the-humans-hiding-behind-the-chatbots
https://x.ai/

A New Battle to Build the World’s Tallest … Marketing Platform?

The Dubai-based developer Emaar Properties has plans to build what would be the world’s tallest building by 2020, in time for the Dubai World Expo, and of course the renderings from architect Santiago Calatrava Valls are stunning: a slender, minaret-like spire supported by cables that appear to drape the structure.

“The governments see these skyscrapers as a means for land development,” she said. “They give builders the right to build a skyscraper and another 30 buildings, and the skyscraper becomes a loss leader for the larger project.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-18/a-new-battle-to-build-the-world-s-tallest-marketing-platform
http://www.archdaily.com/785344/calatrava
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Calatrava