Morning Bulletin: High Street inflation, News of the World dirty tricks & HBO animation draws near
This morning The Drum gathers a fresh batch of ten tales from across the web for our digital brew, including an update on former Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s new HBO project, more dirty tricks employed by the former News of the World paper and a warning that High Street inflation could return.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Snapchat will surely be flushing following a move by Instagram to copy its self-destructing content trademark with Instagram Stories. This new functionality enables users to create a series of photos which disappear after 24 hours.
Ad Exchanger carries a set of survey results showing that social video continues to gain ground with 65 per cent of marketers turning to Facebook, Snapchat & Instagram first for digital video campaigns – ahead of the 55 per cent who lead with dedicated platforms such as YouTube or Vevo.
Retail Week leads with a warning that prices on the High Street could rise next year with a fall in the value of the pound. One of the first to warn of inflation is Next, which also recorded a rise in second quarter sales.
Business Insider reports on how Mercedes is ‘winning’ the luxury car market following the launch of three new models, the S-Class Cabriolet, SL and SLC Roadster and all-new E-Class which saw it sell a record 28,523 vehicles in July – a rise of 3.6 per cent over the same period last year.
Reuters meanwhile carries a report from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research which predicts that the British economy will sink into reverse gear over the third quarter with a 50/50 prospect of entering recession over the next 18 months.
The Guardian notes the dirty tricks employed by the former News of the World newspaper, whose then legal chief is accused of ordering the surveillance of rival lawyers in an attempt to gain leverage over them in a phone hacking litigation case.
It also observes a social media faux pas from Gogglebox stars the Siddiqui brothers, after they posted a photo of themeslves in paintballing fatigues with the caption 'Isis training day'.
Over at The Times comes news that Santander could dust off stalled plans to purchase 300 RBS branches, four years after discarding the idea due to IT problems. Santander agreed to purchase the estate for £1.65bn back in 2010 but subsequently walked away from the deal.
Reuters also reports a 29 per cent collapse in first half profits at HSBC after being hit by a double whammy brought about by slowing growth in its home markets of the UK and Hong Kong, although investors found some succour by a £1.8bn share buy back scheme.
Lastly Business Insider updates us on former Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s new project with HBO which will apparently take the form of an ‘animated parody of a cable news network’.