Morning bulletin: ARM takeover, Brexit fallout and Pakistani blogger slain
The Drum wakes up this morning to a marketing landscape dominated by Brexit, a London outdoor advertising push, the murder of ‘Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian’ and Donald Trump’s ‘secret weapon’.
Business Insider reveals that Japanese financial giant SoftBank is stumping up some hard cash for UK chip manufacturer ARM. Citing reports in the Financial Times, it suggests that a £23.4bn takeover is now ‘close’.
Retail Week reports on an investigation into the rise of ‘fake’ British farm brands used by retailers such as Tesco, amidst concern that shoppers are being hoodwinked into believing the produce they are purchasing originates from the UK.
Over at Campaign meanwhile, outdoor advertising specialist JCDecaux makes headline news with its pledge to transform London into a ‘global showcase for digital outdoor’ as it seeks to lure advertisers out onto the streets of the capital.
Taking a different tack, Reuters reports that fewer Britons are hitting the shops since the EU referendum, citing a survey conducted by the British Retail Consortium which found that footfall was 2.8 per cent lower than a year earlier in the five weeks from 2 May.
Ad Exchanger relays the news that Facebook will expand its Instant Articles service to Messenger in an Android update which will also be rolled out to iOS in the coming weeks. This will allow users to share zippier content denoted by a lightning bolt symbol.
The Times details the death of blogger Qandeel Baloch, dubbed Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian, at the hands of her own brother in an alleged honour killing which has shocked the nation. Waseem Azeem confessed to strangling Baloch in her sleep as she had ‘dishonoured our name’.
The broadsheet also reports on Donald Trump’s secret weapon, his wife Melania Trump, who it says is being lined up to help soften his firebrand image and help to unify his party and country.
The Guardian claims that the UK economy is set to endure a sharp but short shock in the wake of the Brexit vote based on a forecast from the EY Item Club, which suggests that both business investment and consumer spending dropped in the wake of increased uncertainty.
The paper also records how New Hampshire Police hit upon a novel technique to snare their prey after utilising Pokemon Go. The City of Manchester Police simply announced via Facebook that a rare Charizard had been spotted in their booking area, before inviting suspects on their list to be one of the ‘lucky ones’ to snare it - only to be cuffed themselves.
Finally, a piece in Campaign notes how a BBC management reshuffle has seen marketers excluded from its executive team, with chief marketing officer Phillip Almond the most notable casualty.