Viagogo scams F1 fans out of post-race gigs
Thousands of Formula 1 fans attending the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last week were scammed out of access to post-race concerts by secondary ticketing platform Viagogo, City AM understands.
The concerts – headlined by Benson Boone, Metallica, Post Malone and Katy Perry – were explicitly advertised on the official F1 website as included with race tickets.
But a fan told City AM: “We purchased tickets for the Sunday race with access to the Katy Perry concert. When we got to the front of the queue, we were told our tickets didn’t include concert access.”
“Thousands of people were in the same position”, they added. “Viagogo customer service said there was nothing they could do because the event had passed.”
Fans queued for hours, scrambling to contact Viagogo via chat and over the phone, only to be met with unhelpful responses and dead ends.
Screenshots from customer chats and Trustpilot complaints, seen by City AM, depict widespread frustration, met with little but a shrug from the ticketing giant.
What’s more, the tickets in question were purchased months in advance, some at eye-watering prices.
One couple told City AM they spent £16,173 for two tickets, expecting full race-and-concert access. Instead, after travelling all the way from the UK, they were denied entry to Katy Perry’s show.
Viagogo responds
Viagogo maintains that only a “small number” of four-day pass holders faced issues and that access to the post-race concerts “varied by ticket type.”
A spokesperson told City AM: “Access to the post-race concerts varied by ticket type, and not all tickets included concert entry. We are currently assessing orders and reaching out to impacted customers to resolve the issue.”
However, the discrepancy lies in the messaging on the official F1 site, which clearly states: “All race tickets include entry to these nighttime concerts. For a closer experience, fans can purchase Golden Circle upgrades for front-stage access.”
Customers expected this promise to apply to all tickets sold on the secondary market.
The same customer told City AM: “We tried to contact them immediately, but there was no signal and thousands of people were attempting the same thing. Staff on-site just scanned our tickets and told us to contact Viagogo, but the tickets we were sent didn’t include concert access.”
Viagogo also emphasised that primary ticket packages sold by F1 included concert access, and only a few four-day passes sold via Viagogo had problems.
But fans argue that the platform’s failure to clearly communicate ticket entitlements created mass confusion.
Bad timing
The Abu Dhabi fiasco comes as UK ministers prepare to outlaw the resale of live event tickets above face value, a crackdown aimed squarely at secondary platforms like Viagogo.
From last month, the government intends to cap service fees and restrict the number of tickets resold, citing repeated instances of inflated prices and consumer harm.
A similar platform, StubHub, has warned that capping resale prices could push transactions onto unregulated black markets.
Meanwhile, Viagogo has argued that price caps in other countries have led to higher fraud rates.
The UK crackdown follows public outrage over inflated prices for high-demand events such as Oasis’ Wembley reunion, where fans paid thousands for tickets originally under £200.”
While Viagogo touts its “safe, secure, and regulated marketplace”, and offers a guarantee to replace tickets or refund money, this Abu Dhabi incident exposes a major gap.
When a secondary seller’s promise clashes with official event communications, fans can be left high and dry.
And, for those who flew thousands of miles hoping to catch Formula 1 and world-class concerts, the experience was anything but secure.
“We travelled all that way to see the race and Katy Perry.”
Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium Beats Fulham’s Riverside Stand to top award
Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium has beaten Fulham’s Riverside Stand, Sevilla’s La Cartuja and arenas in Sweden, Hong Kong, Japan and Morocco to a major international award.
The 53,000-seater stadium in Liverpool’s Bramley Moore Dock opened its doors earlier this year and has quickly become one of the country’s top sports venues.
It was named Project of the Year at the TheStadiumBusiness Design and Development Awards ahead of Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Estadio La Cartuja in Seville, Fulham FC’s Riverside Stand, Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong, the Nagasaki Stadium City and Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat.
“We are absolutely thrilled to land the Project of the Year award,” said Alix Waldron, Everton’s Director of New Stadium Development.
“We’re all immensely proud of Hill Dickinson Stadium and to see it recognised by industry experts is testament to our belief that this is a world-class venue.
“We’d like to thank the judging panel for their consideration and reiterate our thanks to everyone who helped contribute to making Hill Dickinson Stadium a home that all Evertonians can be immensely proud of.”
Hill Dickinson Stadium was designed by American architect Dan Meis and cost an estimated £750m to construct.
Inside the design of Hill Dickinson Stadium
Speaking to City AM in February, Meis said he had tried to “capture the lightning in a bottle that is Goodison Park”, the club’s home until this year.
To do this he incorporated brick latticework in homage to Goodison, as well as a vast glass wall at the back of the south stand that affords views of the water.
“I don’t believe in this big, shiny object with LED video screens everywhere,” he added.
“I think that this really comes down to what makes a football game so special – particularly an English football game. There’s just nothing like that experience.
“With Everton, we worked really hard to make it feel like the building kind of grew out of the historic fabric of that area. And I think that’s important.”
As well as regular Everton home games, Hill Dickinson Stadium has already hosted international rugby league and has been chosen to stage next year’s Magic Weekend.
It has also been nominated to host matches at the 2035 Fifa Women’s World Cup, which will take place in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
UK exports forecast downgraded as Labour fails to kickstart trade
British export growth will fall by almost half next year, a business forecaster has said, with Labour’s string of deals failing to improve hopes of a revival in international trade.
The Labour government has made trade a key lever to boost growth prospects, using new deals with the likes of the EU and India to boost market opportunities for business leaders in the UK.
But export growth is expected to fall from around three per cent this year to 1.8 per cent in 2026, according to economists at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
The new forecast is a significant reduction from a previous 3.3 per cent prediction.
With business confidence at a historical low ahead of last month’s Budget, the latest BCC forecast has suggested Rachel Reeves’ interventions will fail to reverse this decline.
The industry group’s top researcher David Bharier said the assessment showed the economy was “stuck in low gear,” with the Chancellor offering businesses little to soothe market uncertainty and cost pressures.
The BCC pushed up its GDP growth forecast for 2025 by just 0.1 percentage point to 1.4 per cent in recognition of strong public spending over the first half of the year, while estimates for 2026 and 2027 remained unchanged at 1.2 and 1.5 per cent.
In further signs that the UK’s economic outlook remained subdued, growth in business investment is expected to fall dramatically next year from estimated 3 per cent growth this year to just 0.9 per cent in 2026, before rising slightly to 1.5 per cent in 2027.
Trade tremors
Recent official data showed that the the value of goods exports fell by £1.7bn in September, with exports dropping to both the EU and non-EU cuntries.
Exports of goods to the US fell by 11.4 per cent, or £500m, with President Trump’s brutal tariffs beginning to weigh on growth in the UK economy in real time.
The BCC said net trade would continue to contract, falling by 0.9 per cent this year and next, although imports are expected to rise by 3.8 per cent this year.
Bharier said small and medium businesses will continue to struggle next year, warning rising labour and energy costs could push up the unemployment rate as firms opt to automate operations rather than hire more workers.
“Our forecast suggests last month’s Budget is unlikely to be a growth game-changer for the UK economy,” he said.
“Businesses are showing remarkable resilience and innovation, but many are weighed down by political uncertainty and the cumulative cost pressures.
“Delivery on growth is now key – the government has published industrial, trade, and infrastructure strategies, and these must translate into action.”
The government signed a string of trade deals this year – with India, the US, and the EU – but LSE has warned these agreements will do little to boost the UK economy.
Nearly half of UK businesses are looking to expand abroad to escape uncertain growth prospects at home, according to a recent Santander report.
Vicky Pryce, chair of the BBC’s economic advisory council, said: “Rising unemployment will be a key part of the economic landscape next year, pushing down consumer spending and presenting further challenges for firms of all sizes.”
Pryce said inflation falling back to the Bank of England’s two per cent target is one encouraging piece of data for the country as she called on the Bank to slash interest rates to boost business.
Why this Californian company is listing in London
As a high growth company with ambitious plans to expand our business, enter new markets and build on our commercial success to date, Power Probe wanted to select an accessible, capital-rich, and globally respected market that truly understands and nurtures ambitious smaller and mid-sized companies, says Chema Garcia
Power Probe, a business that started life back in California back in 1992, is floating on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market today.
Today, we’re headquartered in North Carolina, 90 per cent of our sales come from the US market and a key driver for our IPO is to raise funds to invest in a manufacturing facility in the US.
So why have we listed on a market nearly 4000 miles away from our head office?
Our decision to list on AIM was a strategic choice built on an understanding of what we need to scale globally.
As a high growth company with ambitious plans to expand our business, enter new markets and build on our commercial success to date, we wanted to select an accessible, capital-rich, and globally respected market that truly understands and nurtures ambitious smaller and mid-sized companies.
The London Stock Exchange, and AIM in particular, is home to funds and investors whose entire mandate is focused on backing companies exactly our size and growth profile, and is home to numerous smaller, highly successful companies in the broader technology sector.
It also offers a powerful, yet proportionate regulatory framework, providing the governance rigor and transparency demanded by international investors, but without the prohibitive expense and complexity.
While the American stock market is a fantastic place for larger companies to grow and take their businesses to the next level, it isn’t quite the same for firms of our size who risk getting lost in a land of giants.
For a company of our scale, the onerous regulatory burden and the sheer cost of compliance associated with a full US listing can be a monumental distraction. It would have risked stretching ourselves too thin, pulling valuable management attention away from running our business.
The “right-sized” regulation of AIM should allow my team and me to focus on what matters most to our business: investing in R&D, bringing innovative new products to market, executing our manufacturing expansion and serving our customers both in the US and the UK & Europe.
AIM: a global hub
AIM also feels like an international market that is going to support our international ambitions and expansion of our footprint into Europe from our existing UK facility. It’s a hub where a global investor base, including institutional funds, family offices, and specialist small-cap investors, actively seeks out high-growth opportunities,
For Power Probe, this means access to a global cohort of investors who appreciate our strong underlying growth trajectory.
The London ecosystem is also especially geared to advise and support high-growth firms throughout their public life, something we simply couldn’t find in the same tailored form elsewhere, having explored other listing options across Europe.
As a result, we feel like we’ve been carefully managed and guided through the listing process every step of the way by a group of advisors collaborating seamlessly, highly experienced in helping companies such as ours raise capital in this way.
Prior to commencing our IPO, I had of course read numerous headlines around London as a capital destination and the challenges it was facing but, from our perspective, we’ve found the listing process on AIM relatively straightforward.
It’s been an intense period of activity that has not been without its challenges but I and the team have enjoyed it and we are very much looking forward to starting life as a PLC.
Ultimately, we chose London because it offers the perfect balance of capital access, global visibility and proportionate governance and our listing hopefully underlines that London is open for business when it comes to attracting overseas companies.
For my fellow CEOs leading dynamic, growing businesses, whether in the US, Europe, or beyond, I would encourage them to do likewise.
London may not be the only place in the world where companies can successfully raise capital but, when it comes to choosing a launchpad for high growth smaller companies like ours, it already feels like home from home.
Chema Garcia is CEO of Power Probe
Mondo Duplantis: Pole vault star driving Bolt-like interest in athletics tickets
Pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis is driving levels of demand for track and field tickets not seen since Usain Bolt, says UK Athletics.
The national governing body says sales of seats at next summer’s London Athletics Meet increased by more than 1,000 per cent after it was announced last week that Duplantis would be competing.
In a further sign that the surge was down to the chance to see the Swede in action, all of the week’s top-selling tickets were in sections of the London Stadium with the best views of the men’s pole vault.
“The response to Mondo’s announcement has been extraordinary,” said event director Cherry Alexander.
“A 1,150 per cent uplift in weekly sales is something we’ve not seen since Usain Bolt was competing and shows just how excited UK fans are to see the world’s greatest pole vaulter back in London.
“His return has given the Meet a huge early-season boost, and we expect demand to remain high as we approach next July.”
Sales for the one-day event on Saturday 18 July were the highest they have been since the tickets were first released earlier this year.
Duplantis the biggest draw in post-Bolt era
The interest underlines the pull of star names and strengthens the case that Duplantis is the biggest draw in track and field in the post-Bolt era.
The 26-year-old has broken the world record 14 times in six years, winning two Olympic gold medals as well as multiple world and European titles.
He made his World Championship debut in London eight years ago, aged just 17, but has not competed in the capital since 2018.
“It’s been too long since I last competed in London,” said Duplantis.
“My first ever World Championships was at the Olympic Stadium in 2017 and although I was still pretty inexperienced, I could appreciate the incredible atmosphere, so it means a lot to me to go back. There’s just something about that place.”
Is Netflix headed for the ‘Adobe effect’?
Netflix, now the world’s most valuable streaming company, insists it is still in expansion mode.
However, its $72bn bid for Warner Bros Discovery last Friday, and the rival, hostile counter-move from Paramount Skydance on Monday, have triggered an uncomfortable question in Hollywood and on Wall Street.
Is Netflix wandering into the same trap that humiliated Adobe?
Back in 2023, a megadeal for its biggest rival, Figma, looked like a done deal, much like the Netflix-WB tie-up. But the regulators got involved and killed the merger, something which could very much be on the horizon for the streaming trifecta.
Even Marc Randolph, Netflix’s own co-founder, admitted this week that the offer took him by surprise. Appearing in Abu Dhabi, City AM reported that he saw the idea of Netflix spending $82bn on anything was “completely mind-blowing.”
Paramount gets involved
But it seems his surprise didn’t last long. Days after Netflix announced its intentions, Paramount Skydance barged in with its own hostile bid, offering Warner shareholders a higher per-share price and an additional $18bn in implied value.
Overnight, a straightforward acquisition became a Hollywood brawl, with Netflix angling to feast, Paramount angling to block, and Warner Bros Discovery caught in one of the industry’s most expensive tug-of-wars.
But the plot thickens, with US President Donald Trump having already stepped into the conversation. In addition, Paramount chief executive David Ellison is the son of Trump’s close friend Larry Ellison.
The US President warned publicly, following Friday’s announcement, that Netflix’s market power is “very big” and that it holds an unfair, anti-competitive market position.
This is the crux of the Adobe question. Adobe thought it was acquiring a rising rival, but regulators believed it was swallowing the future of innovation. Which is why the deal collapsed.
Netflix’s proposed marriage with Warner Bros Discovery is playing out the same dynamic, with a dominant player attempting to absorb a rival of meaningful scale.
And crucially, Netflix finds itself cast as the dominant force this time – a rather awkward position for a company that spent most of its life insisting it was the underdog.
Tug of war
Warner’s own John Malone said the two companies have “almost identical revenue and EBITDA,” but Netflix commands a market value that is 12 times larger.
It seems that Warner is the one with the studios and the pedigree, and Netflix is the one investors trust not to implode.
Whereas, compared to Paramount, the disparity becomes almost cartoonish. Netflix is worth thirty times more than its potential spoiler.
When regulators review a transaction like that, they are less interested in details about “synergies”, and more concerned with why the biggest fish in the pond now wants to buy the next biggest.
Industry warnings
Warnings have been trickling in thick and fast. Republican Senator Roger Marshall has called the deal a “textbook horizontal antitrust problem.”
Meanwhile, the Writers Guild said it feared wage suppression.
And none of it is helped by the fact that Netflix, unlike the old-school Hollywood machines, has never executed a takeover remotely this large.
Should Netflix win, its British viewers may feel the impact quickest. Warner Bros Discovery owns TNT Sports, with Premier League, UFC, and tennis rights, and remains an expensive, complicated operation.
At the same time, HBO Max is due to launch in the UK in 2026. Will Netflix absorb it wholesale? Will Sky suddenly lose its HBO pipeline? Or will the entire structure become even more fractured, with rising costs passed down to any viewer?
Analysts weigh in
Analysts have so far been divided, with some saying Netflix would gain the “engine room” of Warner’s content empire.
Meanwhile, Omdia suggested the combined streaming base could reach 400 million subscribers.
PP Foresight pointed out that the deal’s success hinges entirely on how regulators define the “relevant market” – a deceptively technical detail that could make or break $82bn of ambition.
The worst-case scenario doesn’t seem like a far cry away. Adobe spent two years fighting regulators over Figma, only to cancel the deal and pay a $1bn breakup fee.
Netflix’s fee, if this collapses, is almost six times that. A failed takeover would be more than embarrassing for the market leader; it would be financially costly to recover from.
Paramount’s hostile bid has also complicated things further, with its financing lineup including the likes of Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Larry Ellison, and even Jared Kushner. That alone guarantees a fair amount of scrutiny.
Netflix, for its part, seems to be attempting a more traditional Big Tech approach of buying the competition, claiming it’s good for innovation, and hoping the regulator nods politely. But, if history were to repeat itself, it would be wise to see that this strategy didn’t work for Adobe.
Hanshow and the University of Cambridge Announce Strategic Research Partnership to Advance Next-Generation Augmented RFID
Hanshow, a global leader in digital retail technology, has launched a multi-year research partnership with the University of Cambridge to develop next-generation Augmented RFID systems powered by distributed hardware architectures. The collaboration brings together Cambridge’s world-leading expertise in ultra-low-power sensing and communication with Hanshow’s industrial-scale deployment capabilities, aiming to set a new technological benchmark for the global retail sector.
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As retailers worldwide transition to increasingly automated, data-rich, and energy-efficient store environments, demand is rising for IoT systems that can sense, adapt and operate reliably at scale. The partnership will tackle this challenge head-on by integrating Cambridge research in intelligent sensing, energy harvesting and algorithmic optimisation with Hanshow’s edge-computing platforms and extensive real-world retail data infrastructure.
The joint project will explore new classes of intelligent RFID antennas, ultra-low-power communication modules and self-sustaining RFID nodes capable of ambient energy harvesting. By combining theoretical modelling, simulation and in-store experimentation, the team aims to dramatically improve signal coverage, data fidelity and resilience in complex retail environments.
For Cambridge researchers, the collaboration offers an opportunity to demonstrate how state-of-the-art engineering in distributed hardware systems can deliver measurable commercial and societal impact. For Hanshow, it provides a direct innovation pathway to future AIoT-driven retail solutions that enhance operational accuracy, reduce energy consumption and support more sustainable, responsive store infrastructures.
“With this collaboration, Hanshow is taking a decisive step toward reshaping the technological backbone of future retail,” said Min Liang, CTO of Hanshow. “Working with Cambridge enables us to convert advanced research into scalable, intelligent systems that deliver meaningful value for retailers worldwide.”
“By combining our work in low-energy, high-efficiency hardware with Hanshow’s global innovation capacity, we can accelerate the arrival of truly adaptive retail IoT,” said Associate Professor Michael Crisp, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. “This partnership is a powerful example of how academic–industry collaboration can drive real-world impact.”
The programme will progress through a series of research milestones and experimental deployments, generating both academic outputs and commercially ready technologies. It forms a central part of Hanshow’s global R&D strategy to connect digital and physical retail through AIoT architectures that improve efficiency, transparency and sustainability.
Hanshow continues to expand its worldwide innovation network, investing in open research collaborations that transform cutting-edge engineering into solutions that help retailers compete in an increasingly data-driven marketplace.
About Hanshow
Hanshow is a global leader in developing and manufacturing electronic shelf labels and digital store solutions. The company offers customers a series of customized IoT touchpoints and digital store solutions that deliver customer-centric insights. Hanshow’s solutions have provided services to a vast number of stores in over 70 countries and regions, helping them streamline operations, optimize pricing strategies, and offer customers a more personalized experience. In addition, Hanshow delivers advanced digital energy solutions, supporting clients with intelligent in-store energy optimization and integrated PV storage charging systems to reduce energy consumption, lower carbon emissions, and accelerate their transition toward sustainable operations. Learn more: www.hanshow.com
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AB InBev and International Cricket Council Announce Landmark Global Partnership
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced AB InBev (Euronext: ABI) (NYSE: BUD) (MEXBOL: ANB) (JSE: ANH), the world’s leading brewer, will become the Official Beer Partner for all major ICC tournaments starting in 2026. The partnership will be led by Budweiser 0.0, Budweiser’s no-alcohol beer in India, with other ABI mega brands activating in Europe and Africa.
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From attending a match live in-stadium to watching one at a bar or pub with friends, with a lower alcohol-by-volume (ABV) and no-alcohol options like Budweiser 0.0, beer is the natural choice to enjoy responsibly. Through this partnership with the ICC, AB InBev will create more moments of cheers, choice and celebration for cricket fans of legal drinking age all over the world.
ICC CEO, Sanjog Gupta said: “Cricket is one of the world’s most loved sports with more than two billion fans and ICC events are its largest platforms for passion, while AB InBev has been at the forefront of creating experiential activations to grow and deepen fandom. This partnership is a natural alliance between organizations striving to elevate moments, create memories and deliver experiences via innovation in avenues for fan engagement. We welcome AB InBev to the ICC’s august list of commercial partners and look forward to co-delivering multi-modal event experiences across our tournaments and amplifying excitement for the sport around the world.”
Global Chief Marketing Officer of AB InBev, Marcel Marcondes said: “Cricket is one of the world’s most popular and fastest-growing sports, and we are excited to connect with fans on this mega platform. Beer is the beverage for socialization and moderation, and our partnership with the ICC provides another occasion for our brands to create unforgettable experiences for consumers everywhere.”
The partnership includes all major ICC men’s and women’s events through 2027 including the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 in India & Sri Lanka, the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 in the UK, the inaugural ICC Women’s Champions Trophy 2027 in Sri Lanka, the ICC World Test Championship Final 2027 in England and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
About ICC
The ICC is cricket’s global governing body, representing 110 members worldwide. It oversees major tournaments such as the Men’s and Women’s Cricket and T20 World Cups, enforces the Code of Conduct on professional standards and playing conditions (with the MCC responsible for the Laws of Cricket), appoints match officials for all international formats, and combats corruption through its Anti-Corruption Unit. Its Development department also works with Associate Members to strengthen cricket systems, raise standards, and grow the game globally.
About AB InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) is a publicly traded company (Euronext: ABI) based in Leuven, Belgium, with secondary listings on the Mexico (MEXBOL: ANB) and South Africa (JSE: ANH) stock exchanges and with American Depositary Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUD). As a company, we dream big to create a future with more cheers. We are always looking to serve up new ways to meet life’s moments, move our industry forward and make a meaningful impact in the world. We are committed to building great brands that stand the test of time and to brewing the best beers using the finest ingredients. Our diverse portfolio of well over 500 beer brands includes global brands Budweiser®, Corona®, Stella Artois® and Michelob Ultra®; multi-country brands Beck’s®, Hoegaarden® and Leffe®; and local champions such as Aguila®, Antarctica®, Bud Light®, Brahma®, Cass®, Castle®, Castle Lite®, Cristal®, Harbin®, Jupiler®, Modelo Especial®, Quilmes®, Victoria®, Sedrin®, and Skol®. Our brewing heritage dates back more than 600 years, spanning continents and generations. From our European roots at the Den Hoorn brewery in Leuven, Belgium. To the pioneering spirit of the Anheuser & Co brewery in St. Louis, US. To the creation of the Castle Brewery in South Africa during the Johannesburg gold rush. To Bohemia, the first brewery in Brazil. Geographically diversified with a balanced exposure to developed and developing markets, we leverage the collective strengths of approximately 144 000 colleagues based in nearly 50 countries worldwide. For 2024, AB InBev’s reported revenue was 59.8 billion USD (excluding JVs and associates).
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Contact
Media:
ICC Media Communications | media@icc-cricket.com
AB InBev Media Relations | media.relations@ab-inbev.com
Spark Reply and Concept Reply Promote CO₂-optimised Charging Together With BMW
Spark Reply, specialists in design and user experience, and Concept Reply, IoT and AI technology experts within the Reply Group, have developed a smart app for the BMW group as part of a research project that actively encourages electric vehicle drivers to adopt low-carbon charging habits. The “COOL” feature within the BMW Prototyping App “360° Mobility” analyses the current electricity mix and shows users in real time when it is at its cleanest. Playful interactions and personalised AI-generated images further motivate drivers to make more sustainable choices.
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Electric mobility is a key part of climate-friendly transport. However, the environmental impact of electric cars depends heavily on when they are charged, as the energy mix can vary dramatically throughout the day. Many users are unaware of this. This is exactly where the “COOL” feature of the Prototyping App “360° Mobility” comes in. The app continuously evaluates the carbon intensity of the current electricity mix and identifies the best times to charge. When drivers plug in during one of these periods, the vehicle’s infotainment system automatically displays personalised, AI-generated images to acknowledge and reinforce their sustainable action. The gamified approach provides an additional motivational element: users collect badges unlocked after every three successful low-carbon charging sessions and participate in challenges that encourage environmentally friendly behaviour in a fun way.
Spark Reply transformed the complex data structures around carbon intensity into a clear and intuitive user experience. Concept Reply delivered the technical implementation based on a scalable backend as well as an cloud architecture. They also integrated the solution into BMW’s systems. All charging and vehicle data is processed anonymously and meets the highest security and data protection standards. The result is a fully integrated, appealing and highly secure solution.
Between April and July 2025, the project was piloted with 355 BMW drivers in the Netherlands. The project team analysed over 13,000 charging sessions, supplementing these insights with qualitative interviews to gain a better understanding of what truly motivates users. The results were clear: combining real-time data, forecasts, and playful elements significantly improved charging behaviour. In a post pilot survey, 73 per cent of participants stated that they were willing to make an extra effort to charge with reduced CO₂ emissions, such as by setting a charging window in their app. This proves that ‘COOL’ can measurably reduce the carbon footprint of everyday electric driving.
Dr. Jörg Hetterich, project manager for CO₂ optimised charging at BMW, commented: “With ‘COOL’, we demonstrate how digital services can promote sustainable mobility in an intuitive manner. The app makes low-carbon charging simple and transparent. Together with Spark Reply and Concept Reply, we have created a charging experience that strengthens environmental awareness and noticeably eases our customers’ everyday lives.” Tim Lange, Product Owner of 360° Mobility at BMW, emphasised that “the collaboration with Reply was highly productive, resulting in the creation of a useful, entertaining, and unique customer experience across both the mobile app and the vehicle”.
This project demonstrates how BMW, Concept Reply and Spark Reply are using modern digital technologies to encourage more sustainable charging behaviour and facilitate the wider shift towards low-carbon mobility.
Concept Reply
Concept Reply is an AI and IoT (AIoT) technology software development company within the Reply network. Its experts specialise in providing end-to-end business transformation solutions for the automotive, manufacturing, and smart infrastructure sectors. The company delivers software innovations to customers throughout the entire value chain, from AIoT strategy definition to implementation, rollout, and operations. www.conceptreply.com
Spark Reply
Spark Reply, a company of Reply Group, is a pioneer in design desirable product-service experiences. Through its fast business prototyping method, Spark Reply accelerates entrepreneurship and innovation culture in companies. Spark Reply combines business, technology and design talents to bring physical and digital innovations to life and solve even the toughest growth challenges. sparkreply.com
BMW
With its brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and a provider of premium financial services. The Group operates more than 30 production sites worldwide and maintains a sales network spanning over 140 countries. In 2024, the BMW Group sold over 2.45 million cars and more than 210,000 motorcycles. Earnings before taxes totalled €11.0 billion on revenues of €142.4 billion. As of 31 December 2024, the company employed 159,104 people. Long-term thinking, responsible action and sustainability are deeply embedded in the BMW Group’s corporate strategy, from the supply chain to production and beyond the end of a product’s life cycle. www.bmw.de
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Contact
Press contact:
Reply
Fabio Zappelli
f.zappelli@reply.com
Tel. +39 0117711594
Irene Caia
i.caia@reply.com
Tel. +39 02 535761
Rachel Reeves’ Budget was ‘monumentally mishandled,’ says London-listed bank
A London-listed bank has given its scathing assessment of Rachel Reeves’ second Autumn Budget and warned of the impact it will have on consumer confidence.
S&U – which was founded in 1938 and once known as Sports and Utilities – said the performance of its motor finance and property financing arms was “remarkably resilient given the chaotic and monumentally mishandled recent Budget”.
The Chancellor raised taxes to the tune of £26bn on November 26, which included cash grabs on the wealthy, savers, gambling firms and landlords. Banks managed to escape a tax raid after fierce lobbying, but had been highly speculated to be a target.
Reeves also froze the income tax threshold – a move dubbed a ‘stealth tax’ – which many have viewed as a direct break of the Labour manifesto to not hike taxes on working people.
S&U said the policies had triggered a “dampening effect on consumer confidence in general and more specifically on the housing market”.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) cut growth forecasts every year from 2026 to the end of the Parliament after finding the measures released in the Budget would do little to drive growth.
“Ironically, a happy consequence now appears to be a dawning realisation within the Treasury and the FCA that without growth and greater access to credit, consumer satisfaction and protection are pretty hypothetical,” S&U added.
S&U free from regulatory ‘shackles’
Elsewhere, the specialist lender said it had been able to accelerate in its rebound following a rough road during the motor finance scandal.
The London-listed lender said once it was “freed from the shackles of regulatory intervention” – referring to the mandated review from the City watchdog into its car finance arm Advantage – it was able to beat third-quarter profit expectations.
The bank’s stock rose four per cent to 1,929.50p in early trading.
It added the “calming effect” triggered by the Supreme Court – which majorly sided with lenders in the scandal – also helped bring closure to the market.
In the last four months Advantage enjoyed an upsurge in trading volumes with over £25m in value.
In the three months to 31 October, S&U posted a record 869,000 finance applications with receivables – the money owed to it by borrowers for loans and other credit extended – near £318m, marking an increase of 14 per cent year-on-year.
But the motor finance battle has continued to rumble on in the second half of the year with the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) redress scheme causing widespread industry backlash.
The watchdog pushed back the deadline for its redress consultation – initially scheduled for 18 November – to 12 December at 5:00pm after banking giants lashing out at the regulator as they upped provisions.
Lloyds Banking Group – which owns the UK’s largest car finance provider Black Horse – was forced to hike provisions to £2bn from £1.2bn.
The bank’s chief Charlie Nunn has also warned the scheme would take away 20 years of profitability from the sector and create concerns about investability in the UK.
S&U said the clarity around the scheme had allowed it to “both improve its interest margins… and also improve the quality of its loan book” due to the bank’s lack of exposure to discretionary commission arrangements – which are the fundamental point of the regulatory redress.
The lender said Advantage was able to “assist its customers to protect and improve their credit ratings – an attribute too little recognised in the non-prime market”.
“We would encourage the Financial Conduct Authority to remember this when addressing industry concerns about its Commission Redress scheme which is currently under consultation,” it added.