Posts made in June, 2017

on Jun 26, 2017

By John Glenday Facebook is reportedly looking to extend its tentacles into Hollywood Boulevard by championing a new wave of scripted TV programming aimed at 13 to 34-year-olds by late summer. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the social network is in talks with LA-based studios and agencies around the creation of original, scripted shows. Perhaps mindful of ongoing criticism around the platform’s role in the spread of fake news and its stance on moderation, Facebook will apparently seek to nip any controversy in the bud by avoiding difficult subjects like news Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Jun 26, 2017

By Jessica Davis Andreas Pouros, co-founder and chief operating officer of independent integrated agency Greenlight Digital, has been appointed the agency’s chief executive officer. This comes as Greenlight Digital’s previous CEO, Warren Cowan, takes on the position as executive chairman, which will see him continue to work closely with the agency and its board of directors, on which he’ll continue to hold a seat. After co-founding the agency in 2001, Pouros was appointed as COO. During his 16-year tenure at Greenlight Digital, he has committed himself to developing, expanding and improving the services and disciplines it offers. In his role as Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Jun 26, 2017

By John Glenday Private equity firm the Carlyle Group has received just the tonic after agreeing to a £1.77bn takeover bid for health food chain Holland & Barrett. The deal would see L1 Retail assume ownership of all 1,150 stores and responsibility for 4,200 staff, which together generated £610m in revenues for 2016 following an unbroken run of 32 quarters of like-for-like growth. Lauding its latest acquisition Stephan DuCharme, L1 Retail managing partner, said: “Holland & Barrett is a clear market leader in the UK health and wellness retail market, with attractive growth positions in other European and international markets, and Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Jun 26, 2017

By John Glenday The World Taekwondo Federation has bowed to the supremity of teenage internet text speak in order to ditch its eyebrow raising TLA (Three Letter abbreviation). For its final WTF-moment, the global Taekwondo body will drop the f-word, henceforth referring to itself simply as World Taekwondo, ending association with a name first used in 1973. Explaining its break with history, the sporting body cited the ‘digital age’ as having forced its hand, admitting that the prior abbreviation had become ‘unrelated to our organisation and so it was important that we rebranded to better engage with our fans’. World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won added: “World Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Jun 26, 2017

By Taruka Srivastav Malaysia-based Korean concept retail store Kioda is set to open 300 stores in India by 2021 and has partnered with Franchise India, in a bid to compete with brands like Muji and Wacoal. Kioda and Franchise India will together invest $10m for the expansion and marketing activity in India. Kioda, which is based on Korean retail concept and experience, was founded five years ago and has been expanding across Asia with stores in 13 countries including China, Singapore and Korea. The retailer sells products including health and beauty items, fashion accessories, handbags, textiles, knitwear, gifts, stationary, digital appliances and homewares. The launch will Read full story › Source: The Drum...