Visa has told "Marketing" the launch of Apple Pay is a "pivotal" moment. Apple will enable contactless payments, partnering with Visa, American Express and MasterCard in the U.S. While industry observers are excited, they point out that many retailers do not have compatible terminals installed. But Jon White, head of mobile for Visa Europe, told Marketing the arrival of Apple Pay would finally encourage retailers to get on board with NFC payments.

More than three in four new FMCG product launches fail in their first year, according to an analysis by Nielsen, where researchers have identified four principles common to "breakthrough innovation successes." These are the right innovation, then getting the innovation right, getting the marketing activation strategy right and getting the whole company, and partners, behind the launch. Fosters Gold and Magnum Infinity were two of seven launches that recently ticked all four boxes.

A miniscule eight percent of consumers said they would purchase any sort of wearable tech in the next 12 months, according to a report by international law firm Osborne Clarke and app developer Mubaloo. The report, administrated by YouGov on behalf of the firms, found that only eight percent of respondents were likely to buy a smartwatch or technology like Google Glass in the next year. This lack of consumer interest will come as a blow for electronic firms, which are heralding the technology as the next big thing.

The rate of Web users blocking adverts has doubled over the last year. As of June 2014, almost 150 million browsers were using some form of ad blocker, typically plug-ins for either Google's Chrome or Mozilla's Firefox browser. The figures, which are derived from observed downloads, are not the only thing in the report likely to scare advertisers. Ad blocking is most popular with younger users -- 41% of American internet users ages between 18 and 29 used ad-blocking software, rising to 54% when only young men are counted.

A review of the world's 30 largest marketing groups revealed that aggregated revenues of the global marketing groups grew by five percent. However, after adjustments, profits recorded a rise of just 1.9 percent, according to a new study. While aggregated revenues have risen, there has also been a 17.6 percent increase in finance costs, which has affected profit margins. The top seven companies in the league -- compiled by Marketing Services Financial Intelligence -- are unchanged from last year's study.

Airbnb has handed its global creative brief to TBWA, following a review prompted by the arrival, from Coca-Cola, of Jonathan Mildenhall as CMO. The winning team was led out of TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, with TBWA agencies in London, Paris, Singapore and Brazil also making contributions. It is not clear whether Pereira & O'Dell, the San Franciso-based creative shop that had previously worked with Airbnb, participated in the pitch.

Tesco has shelved plans to launch its own smartphone after admitting that the smartphone market is now too competitive, with analysts predicting that this is likely the first of a number of brand extensions to be 'sidelined' as new boss Dave Lewis focuses on improving performance at the core grocery business. Conlumino analyst Neil Saunders says Tesco has made the right decision, and more brand extensions will be curtailed as Lewis focuses on getting things right in the grocery business.

Channel 4 and Channel 5 have called on Ofcom to reject Evgeny Lebedev's proposal to slash London Live's programming, arguing it would set an "unwelcome precedent" that would "devalue" public service broadcasting. In addition, two failed bidders for the capital's local TV licence -- London8, which was headed by ex-Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson, and Channel 6, which was backed by organisations including Trinity Mirror -- have threatened legal action if Ofcom grants London Live's licence changes.

Google has been told by European authorities that it must make more concessions to resolve a four-year investigation into its alleged abuse of the Internet search market. The U.S. company, which could be fined $6bn (GBP3.7bn) if it fails to reach an agreement with the European Commission, must improve its proposal after "very negative" feedback from rivals. Google has so far improved its offer three times in response to claims that it dominates the online search market and blocks advertisers from moving to competing platforms.

More than 70 percent of advertisers prefer the traditional way of ad trading because they are unhappy with a lack of transparency, according to a study by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). Advertisers are concerned by a lack of pricing information, masked inventory sources and murky trading platform bidder strategies offered by agency trading desks. The study also found that more than half of advertisers are unhappy with the way their data is stored, captured and utilised on a programmatic platform.