There’s no easy way to say it: malls as we once knew them are changing. As consumer behaviors shift, major retailers are pulling up stakes, leaving holes in shopping centers all over the country. Over the next few months, 42 Sears locations are expected to close up shop, while 108 Kmart stores do the same. Macy’s is also expected to shutter 100 locations — nearly 15 percent of its store base — according to recent reports. The departure of these “anchor stores,” that once served to drive business to smaller retailers at these shopping centers, has Read full story › Source: The Drum...
Read MoreBy Richard J. Hillgrove VI The world’s favourite airline? British Airways certainly wasn’t even Britain’s favourite over the holiday weekend as it stepped forward in the running for PR Raspberry Award of all time. We thought we’d seen the worst with the United ‘Friendly Skies’ Airlines PR debacle when it forcibly ejected a paying passenger from an overbooked plane, but BA’s catastrophic computer crash has sent both company reputation and share value into an even sharper nosedive. Shares in BA’s parent company International Airlines Group (IAG) fell 2.7% in Madrid on Monday leaving the group a cool £360m down. When the London markets opened, shares Read full story › Source: The Drum...
Read MoreBy John Glenday BT is to draw EE closer to its bosom since acquiring the mobile operator in a mammoth £12.5bn deal by drawing it within its wider consumer group. Deepening ties have thus far been limited to a dual advertising camapaign ahead of a full merger between both firms, expected to conclude within four years, to create a £10bn internet, mobile and pay TV colossus. Until now BT has kept its acquisition at arm’s length but believes the time is right for an acceleration of its planned integration, after EE exceeded BT’s own consumer group in terms of Read full story › Source: The Drum...
Read MoreBy Benjamin Cher J. Walter Thompson and Manulife have won ad of the week with their “Stand Up” campaign. The video, which features Filipino comic Victor Anastacio is loosely based on his own struggles. The online spot tells the tale of how he left banking and began performing stand-up. At the time, his mother was skeptical but his dad backed his son. The “Stand Up” spot is filled with one-liners about Anastacio’s family, including his siblings, one a lawyer and the other a doctor. The comic’s tribute to his dad tugs at heart strings and ultimately, underscores the importance of relationships. <div contenteditable="false" entity-bundle="creative_showcase" entity-id="12377" entity-type="news_components" Read full story › Source: The Drum...
Read MoreBy John Glenday Low-fares airline Ryanair has chalked up record profits over the past year as its customer service ‘Always Getting Better‘ campaign begins to bear fruit. Long maligned by passengers for its penny pinching ways Ryanair has sought a less aggressive tone in recent months to keep customers onboard amidst wider turbulence in the industry, helping it towards a record profit of £1.14bn as customers flocked to the airline. This boost in traffic helped Ryanair offset continued falls in the cost of flying with fares expected to fall a further 5 per cent at least over the 12 months to Read full story › Source: The Drum...
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