Asda has just replaced its marketing boss with a man that doesn't have a traditional background in marketing. That move is similar to one made by a growing number of brands that are increasingly looking to new skills in areas such as ecommerce and customer focus, rather than a history in branding and campaigns. Barry Williams, Asda's new marketing chief, was previously its chief merchandising officer for food. That is a commercial role that gave him oversight of fresh, ambient and non-edible areas of the Asda business.

Twitter is to expand its video products in a move the social media site has described as the first step "in making video the natural platform" for Twitter. As part of the drive, Twitter will open up and evolve its video products and offer its one-click play video unit to all advertisers in a bid to encourage more content on the site. In addition, Snappy TV, the live clipping platform that Twitter acquired in June 2014, will also be available for free to advertisers as the social site eyes the "huge opportunity" to take video into live events.

Tesco is looking to cement its first-mover in new technology status among the supermarkets as it becomes the first UK retailer to launch an app for Google Glass. The Tesco Grocery glassware app lets shoppers add items to their shopping basket through a voice search, and they can also scan product barcodes using the device's camera and view nutritional information -- all while hands-free -- then use the Tesco Groceries app to manage their shopping basket, book delivery and check out.

Fashion house Burberry enjoyed strong third-quarter sales as its first Christmas campaign featuring Romeo Beckham and a "commitment" to customer experience helped boost sales over the festive period. Retail sales were up 15% to GBP604m, well ahead of the GBP579m predicted by analysts, while comparable sales increased by 8% including double-digit growth in European markets. Sales were hampered by low growth in Asia, partly due to disruption in Hong Kong.

The fragile nature of the economy has prompted marketers to adopt "cost-efficient" online strategies in the latest quarter. The latest Bellwether report, a quarterly survey of 300 senior marketers from the UK's top companies, found the increase in those planning to upweight their outlay was slashed by more than half in the period. A net balance of 6.1 percent of companies boosted budgets in the final quarter of 2014, down from the 12.6 percent in the previous quarter and the lowest since the third quarter in 2013.

Facebook has opened up trials of its LinkedIn-like "Facebook at Work" platform designed to make the social network more useful to professionals. The "Facebook at Work" platform first emerged in November 2014 with the "Financial Times" reporting that it will remain aesthetically similar to the site's current look but will operate separately from personal profiles. The app, which is now available on App Store to a select group of pilot trialists, will separate professionals' business lives from their personal interactions.

LVMH-owned brandy brand Hennessy is looking for an advertising network to handle an integrated TV-led campaign. Last month, Droga5 New York launched a spot for Hennessy featuring Nas. The film showed the rapper walking through a train, taking in the surroundings to get inspiration for his music. In November 2013, the agency created an ad in the U.S. about Sir Malcolm Campbell, the former land speed record-holder. LVMH was founded in 1987 after a merger between Mot Hennessy and Louis Vuitton.

It is understood that the Dubai-based carrier is having meetings with WPP agencies this month about integrated marketing opportunities. Y&R and Grey are both believed to be involved. Sources said Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of WPP, had taken part in the talks and would be attending meetings. Emirates awarded its estimated GBP160 million global ad business to StrawberryFrog Amsterdam in 2010. Nomads, which was formed by the management of StrawberryFrog, took over the account in 2013.

Aldi has rocketed to the top spot in YouGov's BrandIndex Buzz brand perception survey, clambering up from fourth place in 2013. Discount rival Lidl, which did not appear on last year's survey, took second place in the 2014 survey, pushing John Lewis down to third place. The survey measures positive perception of brands. BBC iPlayer, Dyson and Waitrose took fourth, fifth and sixth place followed by BBC.co.uk, Netflix, M&S and MoneySavingExpert.com. BBC iPlayer ranked first place last year.

Computers can read individuals as well as their partner and better than their friends just by using their Facebook "likes," a joint study from the University of Cambridge and Stanford University has found. The researchers came up with an algorithm that can scan a user's likes to read their personality traits as accurately as a spouse. The algorithm could predict a user's personality better than a work colleague with just 10 likes, better than a friend with 70, a family member at 150, and a spouse with 300 likes.