How Kapten is trying to take Uber’s ride-hailing crown September 23, 2019 Uber has an image problem. The ride-hailing app’s popularity has declined on complaints that its drivers are contributing to congestion and pollution on London’s streets. Uber took a big PR hit last year when Transport for London (TfL) took away its operating licence due to issues with the company’s approach to safety and regulation. The [...]
Punching power: F45 is innovating gyms using technology September 16, 2019 Fitness is a cut-throat business. Competition is intense: there are over 7,000 gyms in the UK, and the market is worth about £5bn. Around one in seven people are paying some form of gym fee. Unsurprisingly, new fitness brands are popping up all the time to capitalise on the health and wellbeing trend. To stand [...]
The advertising a-gender: Why the ASA is targeting sexist stereotypes? September 9, 2019 Gender stereotyping is a minefield. What one person thinks is offensive is perfectly fine to someone else. The scope of this division came into focus last month, when the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – the ad industry’s independent regulator – upheld complaints against two commercials that broke new rules about gender stereotypes. One ad for [...]
Fintech is all the rage, but is the bubble about to burst? September 5, 2019 Fintechs are all the rage. Scarcely a day goes by without a new challenger bank or money app making headlines about how it seeks to disrupt traditional banking and solve personal finance problems. As a result, capital is pouring into the sector – last year, global investment into financial technology ventures more than doubled to [...]
The next dimension – bringing 3D advertising graphics to the masses September 2, 2019 What’s the most visually stunning advert you can think of? Perhaps it’s one of the John Lewis Christmas campaigns, or maybe it’s an ad by Apple or Samsung that shows their phones in incredible detail as they float across the screen. Whatever you imagined, it was likely made using computer-generated imagery (CGI), or other 3D [...]
Meet Par Hedberg – the godfather of Sweden’s tech startups August 27, 2019 If you were asked where the most tech innovation comes from, you’d probably answer Silicon Valley – the home of Google, Amazon and Facebook. And you’d be right. But what you might not know is that Stockholm is a close second. The Swedish capital produces more billion-dollar companies per capita than any other region in [...]
Owlet and the appeal of wearable tech for babies August 12, 2019 Wellbeing is a big business. Technology can now closely track our personal health, with apps and devices to monitor how many steps we take, what calories we’ve eaten, our blood pressure, and even how well we sleep. Fitbits and other wearable gadgets have also exploded in popularity with health-conscious consumers. Is there a limit to [...]
Phrasee reveals how artificial intelligence will change marketing August 5, 2019 We’re all aware that artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to transform every sector of the economy, and marketing is no exception. Already, the industry is using this new technology to analyse data or give product recommendations to customers. Of course, as adoption of the technology increases, so too is anxiety over the future of jobs. [...]
Tradeweb’s CEO on tech, China, and modernising bond markets July 24, 2019 While researching Lee Olesky, the co-founder and chief executive of the fixed-income market platform Tradeweb, I came across an article comparing him to Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos. Both started their companies in the nineties. Both set out to use the internet and ecommerce to disrupt their respective industries at a time when the idea of [...]
The founder of The Sole Supplier on switching up how we buy footwear June 24, 2019 Earlier in June, thousands of people queued up outside shoe stores to buy a new pair of trainers designed by musician Kanye West. The latest set of Adidas “Yeezys” cost £180 each. But many of the people buying these shoes weren’t just interested in fashion, but in making a profit. Soon after the footwear went [...]
