The Drum
Procter & Gamble's (P&G) top marketer Marc Pritchard has revealed that it will review all of its agency contracts in 2017 in a bid to bring transparency to the "murky at best, fraudulent at worst" media supply chain. It forms part of a four-point plan the business has put in place to exert greater control over the quality of its media strategy and ultimately create better advertising.
The Drum
Starbucks has unveiled a Siri-style personal assistant that allows users to order coffee via their iPhones or Amazon's Alexa platform. The voice-activated 'barista' has been baked into the coffee chain's My Starbucks service, which allows coffee lovers to order and pay before arriving at their store.
Sky News
Sir Martin Sorrell, boss of advertising giant WPP, spoke out hours after Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz warned that civility and human rights were "under attack" from the new administration's policy agenda. Both raised their concerns as the world reacted to the temporary travel ban on people entering the US from seven mainly-Muslim nations.
The Guardian
BT says it is determined to keep a grip on the TV rights to European football's blue-riband club competition and accusing arch-rival Sky of having too much dominance over pay-TV sports. BT is understood to have "done the rounds" of potential free-to-air partners, with Sky set to do the same, ahead of first-round bids being submitted to the governing body Uefa in March.
Campaign
Total growth was 4.4% in 2016, the latest Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report estimates -- a drop of 0.8% points on its previous forecast for the year. The downgrade came despite spending in the third quarter of the year reaching GBP5.14bn, marking the first time that the July-September period has broken the GBP5bn barrier.
The Telegraph
For months, British Internet companies have been grappling with how Brexit will affect London's fledgling status as an alternative tech hub to Silicon Valley. After Donald Trump's immigration ban last week, the tables have turned. Tech groups and investors said on Monday that Trump's ban could come as a boost to the British technology scene.
BBC
Sony has a 112bn yen ($1bn; GBP780m) charge, citing "an acceleration of market decline." The rise of online streaming services has hit demand for traditional media such as DVDs and blu-ray discs. Sony's movie division has also struggled, with recent flops including an all-female "Ghostbusters sequel." Sony had warned earlier this year that its movie division could post more losses.
Sky News
The Consumer Confidence Barometer, conducted by market research company GfK, showed that confidence rose 2 points in January to reach a score of -5. But the levels are still significantly below those seen this time last year, when the UK was scoring a mark of 4 overall.
The Drum
Twitter has pledged to finally implement a series of "long overdue" harassment fixes as early as this week following years of concern over the targeted trolling of members. Vice President of Engineering Ed Ho outlined the impending measures via a tweet, promising "fixes to mute/block" functionality and a new tool to block trolls from creating multiple new accounts to circumvent bans.
Campaign
More brands got involved with Chinese New Year in the UK this year, fuelled by the drop in value of the pound after the UK's vote to leave the EU. "Brexit was the catalyst for many more companies to activate plans to target Chinese markets both in the UK and the mainland," noted Rocky Chi, planning manager of Emerging Communication.