Toluna Announces Industry’s First Automated Real-Time Solution for Testing In-Store Product Shelf Placement
Toluna, the leading provider of consumer insights for the on-demand economy, has launched PowerShelf. PowerShelf is a fully automated, do-it-yourself (“DIY”) real-time shelf testing solution that provides brands and retailers with actionable feedback on the impact that shelf placement has on consumer attention to products in the store. PowerShelf is accessible within TolunaInsights, the industry’s only end-to-end automated consumer insights platform.
The launch of PowerShelf signals the success of Toluna’s focus on providing automated digital solutions, a strategy that has paid off with significant revenue growth and global platform adoption. For the first half of 2018, Toluna reports 60% increase in revenue growth YOY of its technology platform, and record revenue increases across all markets.
TolunaInsights is the industry’s only end-to-end automated platform where audiences, surveys, communities, and analytics are completely integrated and powered by on-demand insights, and behavioral data from Toluna’s community of 21+ million influencers worldwide. Toluna’s platform-based approach provides significant time and cost-savings, without sacrificing quality or confidence in decision-making, as Toluna’s expertise is integrated into the platform.
PowerShelf is one of Toluna’s many automated methodologies designed to expedite the time from ideation to understanding, with fully automated solutions that enable users to test branding, product, package design, concepts, media and advertising concepts; gather insights on consumer attitudes and purchase behavior; and understand how consumers view their brand compared to competitors, all in real-time.
PowerShelf enables brands and retailers to test products in a simulated in-store environment. The shelf is an important point of consideration for marketers, given it’s a critical touch point within the buyer’s journey and one that’s become ever more competitive. PowerShelf’s intuitive and automated survey creation process, coupled with its industry-proven methodology, empowers users to run tests to understand how best to position products on a shelf, evaluate shelf design overall, and more.
“Toluna’s focus on automation, coupled with unrivaled expertise that’s incorporated into all aspects of our platform, and powered by our global community of influencers, is completely transforming the way companies obtain insight today,” said Phil Ahad, EVP, Head of Products and Strategy at Toluna.
Phil added, “PowerShelf is another example of how we empower clients to access consumer insights faster than ever and use those insights to make critical business decisions. As an industry-leading research technology provider, we’ve innovated ahead of the curve, and this year we’re doubling down on that investment in innovation to push forward our insights on-demand offering.”
MongoDB Now Offers the Best Way to Work with Data Due to the Ease, Flexibility, Performance, and Versatility of the Document Model
MongoDB, Inc, the leading, modern general database platform, made several major product announcements that expand on its leadership in the database market. Nearly every company is focused on using software for a competitive advantage. MongoDB has become a strategic database platform that enables this competitive advantage for thousands of customers around the world. Customers choose MongoDB for three key reasons:
MongoDB Global Clusters
MongoDB offers the best way to work with data due to the ease, flexibility, performance, and versatility of the document model;
The native distributed capabilities of MongoDB make it easy for customers to intelligently place data where they need it for high availability, scalability, locality, regulatory and other key business requirements;
Customers have the freedom to run MongoDB anywhere, from on-premise to consuming MongoDB as a service in the public cloud.
Today’s announcements strengthen each of these pillars and further expand MongoDB’s leadership as the obvious choice for all modern applications.
“Every business today is focused on digital transformation, which is all about leveraging modern digital technologies to drive superior business performance, but this is far easier said than done,” said Dev Ittycheria, President & CEO, MongoDB.
Dev added, “With the product announcements made today, MongoDB not only provides a compelling database platform for the most sophisticated use cases but also extends the power of MongoDB to a mobile database and a new serverless platform. This is a massive step for the industry that will enable customers to dramatically accelerate their ability to use software and data to create a sustainable competitive advantage.”
MongoDB is the best way to work with data
The release of MongoDB 4.0 is highlighted by the general availability of multi-document ACID transactions, making it even easier to address a complete range of use cases on MongoDB. By providing a consistent view of data across replica sets and enforcing all-or-nothing execution to maintain data integrity, MongoDB transactions will be very familiar to developers already accustomed to working with transactions in legacy relational databases.
“Coinbase’s mission is to create an open financial system for the world. MongoDB’s technology is enabling us to scale globally and we’re looking forward to partnering with the company along our journey to become the most compliant, reliable and trusted crypto-trading platform in the world,” said Niall O’Higgins, Engineering Manager, Coinbase.
Niall added, “The addition of multi-document ACID transactions has the potential to greatly speed our engineering workflow.”
MongoDB also announced the general availability of MongoDB Stitch, the company’s new serverless platform, which facilitates the rapid development of mobile and web applications. The services provided in Stitch give developers unparalleled access to database functionality while providing the robust security and privacy controls expected in today’s environment.
MongoDB Stitch today offers four key services to help customers get applications to market faster while reducing operational costs —
Stitch QueryAnywhere is a service that exposes the full power of the document model and the MongoDB query language directly to application developers building mobile and web applications. This is done through a powerful rules engine that also lets customers define security policies at a fine-grained level to ensure sophisticated controls for data access are in place.
Stitch Functions allow developers to run JavaScript functions in Stitch’s serverless environment, allowing them to easily create secure APIs and to build integrations with microservices and server-side logic. Functions also enable integration with popular cloud services such as Slack and Twilio, enriching apps with a single method call to Stitch.
Stitch Triggers are real-time notifications that automatically invoke functions in response to changes in the database, taking actions as they happen in applications, other services, or the database itself. These can be used to initiate other database operations, push data to other systems or send messages to end-users, such as SMS or emails.
Stitch Mobile Sync (beta) automatically synchronizes data between documents stored locally in the newly announced MongoDB Mobile and the backend database. MongoDB Mobile allows developers to have the full power of MongoDB on mobile devices locally. Combined with Stitch Mobile Sync, they can easily make sure data is synchronized and up to date in real-time across mobile devices and the backend database.
“MongoDB has always been about giving developers technology that helps them build faster,” said Eliot Horowitz, CTO and co-founder, MongoDB.
Eliot added, “MongoDB Stitch brings our core strengths—the document model, the power of distributed databases, and the ability to run on any platform—to your app in a way we’ve never done before. Stitch is serverless, MongoDB-style: it eliminates much of the tedious boilerplate so many apps require to get off the ground and keeps you focused on the work that matters.”
Acxiom, the data foundation for the world’s best marketers, uses MongoDB to build next-generation data environment solutions for Fortune 100 brands across various industries leveraging its proprietary Unified Data Layer framework—an open, trusted data framework for the modern enterprise—that powers a connected martech and ad-tech ecosystem. Over the past year, Acxiom has also been using MongoDB Stitch to re-platform its Real-time Operational Data Store to a scalable cloud-first approach.
“Stitch has been fantastic for us. We’ve cut the time to develop an API for our customers in half, and by combining MongoDB Atlas and Stitch, our teams now have more time to solve business problems versus focusing on the management or operational overhead,” said Chris Lanaux, Vice President of Product and Engineering at Acxiom.
Chris added, “That combination has become a key part of our cutting-edge cloud architecture, helping us design, build and manage omnichannel solutions that power exceptional consumer experiences.”
DC Thomson, a leading media organization from the UK, also joined the investment round. A portion of the transaction will be used to buy some early investors’ shares
Trax, the leading provider of computer vision and analytics solutions for retail, announced that it has completed its largest investment round to date, raising US$125 million. The transaction was led by Boyu Capital , one of the largest private equity investment firms in Greater China. DC Thomson, a leading media organization from the UK, also joined the investment round. A portion of the transaction will be used to buy some early investors’ shares.
Headquartered in Singapore, Trax is revolutionizing the retail industry by delivering a single source of shelf truth for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies and retailers. Founded in 2010, Trax counts Warburg Pincus and Investec among its shareholders.
To date, the company has raised approximately US$235 million in total funding and operates in over 50 countries with more than 175 client engagements. Trax provides in-store execution, market-measurement and data-science solutions for CPG brands and retailers by harnessing its cutting-edge computer vision platform to process photos were taken in store with mobile devices to deliver real-time, granular shelf- and store-level insights.
In an alliance last year with Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN), the leading global information and measurement company, Trax introduced Shelf Intelligence Suite, offering brands an unprecedented level of shelf insights to continuously measure and improve their shelf strategy and execution.
In addition to working with leading CPG companies worldwide, Trax is currently engaged in several digital transformation pilot projects with global retailers aimed at providing continuous shelf tracking with wireless IoT cameras. Trax said it will use this latest round of funding to further support the global expansion of the company and accelerate mass-market deployment of its retail solutions. A core area of expansion will be Greater China, where Trax has already established a strong market presence serving major global brands.
“We could not be more thrilled to have Boyu Capital as a major backer of Trax alongside Warburg Pincus, our largest shareholder,” said Joel Bar-El, Trax CEO and co-founder.
Joel added, “Their experience and insights into the scale and pace of China’s retail technology environment will be incredibly valuable. The injection of funds from Boyu will allow us to drive continued innovation of our technologies at our computer vision center of excellence in Tel Aviv, Israel and to explore establishing an additional engineering center in China.”
Dror Feldheim
Dror Feldheim, Trax chief commercial officer and co-founder, added, “We are crossing yet another inflection point in our global growth and our journey in driving the digital transformation of physical retail. The adoption of our solutions and services is moving at lightspeed in our core markets of the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Partnering with Boyu and having access to their vast network and deep expertise adds real firepower towards the realization of our vision.”
Joey Chen, managing director of Boyu Capital, commented, “The investment in Trax is driven by our conviction in the compelling value proposition of new technology solutions that enable digitalization of brick and mortar retail. We are impressed by the wide recognition of Trax’s cloud-based one-stop-shop solutions by the world’s largest CPG companies and retailers. Compared to developed markets such as Europe and the United States, the use of digital retail solutions by Chinese consumer goods companies and retailers is still in its early stages. And with the world’s largest retail market and a number of outlets, we see a promising future for Trax’s development in China.”
The world’s most popular racing series races to AWS—the cloud with the best performance and broadest and deepest functionality
Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced that Formula One Group is moving the vast majority of its infrastructure from on-premises data centers to AWS, and standardizing on AWS’s machine learning and data analytics services to accelerate its cloud transformation. Formula 1 will work with AWS to enhance its race strategies, data tracking systems, and digital broadcasts through a wide variety of AWS services—including Amazon SageMaker, a fully managed machine learning service that enables everyday developers and scientists to easily build and deploy machine learning models, AWS Lambda, AWS’s pioneering event-driven serverless computing service, and AWS analytics services—to uncover never-before-seen metrics that will change the way fans and teams enjoy, experience, and participate in racing.
Formula 1 has also selected AWS Elemental Media Services to power its video asset workflows, enhancing the viewing experience for its 500 million-plus fans worldwide.
“Leveraging the cornucopia of services offered by the world’s leading cloud, Formula 1 will engage with its growing global fan base in unique ways”
Using Amazon SageMaker, Formula 1’s data scientists are training deep learning models with 65 years of historical race data, stored in both Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon Glacier. With this information, Formula 1 can extract critical race performance statistics to make race predictions and give fans insight into the split-second decisions and strategies adopted by teams and drivers. For example, Formula 1 data scientists can predict when the window of opportunity is opening and closing for teams to pit their cars for maximum advantage, as well as determine the best timing for changing tires.
Formula 1 and AWS team up to innovate on the fan experience, delivering anew series of race statistics, F1 Insights Powered by AWS, that will be broadcast for the first time on the international feed from the Formula 1 2018 Eyetime Austrian Grand Prix
By streaming real-time race data to AWS using Amazon Kinesis, Formula 1 can capture and process key performance data for each car during every twist and turn of the Formula 1 circuits with unmatched accuracy and speed. Then, by deploying advanced machine learning via Amazon SageMaker, Formula 1 can pinpoint how a driver is performing and whether or not drivers have pushed themselves over the limit. By sharing these insights with fans through television broadcasts and digital platforms, Formula 1 is improving the fan experience, allowing them to dive deep into the inner workings of their favorite teams and drivers.
“For our needs, AWS outperforms all other cloud providers, in speed, scalability, reliability, global reach, partner community, and breadth and depth of cloud services available,” said Pete Samara, Director of Innovation and Digital Technology at Formula 1.
Pete added, “By leveraging Amazon SageMaker and AWS’s machine learning services, we are now able to deliver these powerful insights and predictions to fans in real time. We are also excited that the Formula 1 Motorsports division will run High Performance Compute workloads in a scalable environment on AWS. This will significantly increase the number and quality of the simulations our aerodynamics team can run as we work to develop the new car design rules for Formula 1.”
Mike Clayville
“Leveraging the cornucopia of services offered by the world’s leading cloud, Formula 1 will engage with its growing global fan base in unique ways,” said Mike Clayville, Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Sales at AWS.
Mike added, “Formula 1’s years of valuable historical race data analyzed against the real-time information that is collected in every race using AWS’s machine learning, streaming, and analytics services will uncover new racing metrics and insights that were unimaginable in the past. And, with AWS Elemental Media Services, they will engage their audience through truly differentiated experiences that will thrill generations to come.”
Good Leads® was selected by Voi as a partner to expand their sales pipeline for behavioral health assessment solutions in the healthcare marketplace
Good Leads was selected by Voi as a partner to expand their sales pipeline for behavioral health assessment solutions in the healthcare marketplace. As a premium provider of B2B lead generation and outsourced business development services, Good Leads will source new business opportunities for Voi throughout the United States.
Bob Good
Bob Good, CEO of Good Leads, in making the announcement, said, “We are pleased with being selected as a business partner to expand Voi’s sales pipeline throughout the U.S. Our technology-focused Prospect Builder® Program and methodology is well-suited to grow their base of opportunities through our discovery and qualification processes.”
“We engaged Good Leads based on their experience in healthcare IT lead generation. We look forward to Good Leads delivering quality leads for our innovative behavioral health assessment solutions,” said Rick Johnson, VP of Business Development. Good Leads dedicated lead generation team will focus their efforts on the “VOI Detect” and “VOI Reach” mobile behavioral health support offerings.
Tencent wowed international CMOs at Cannes once again. This year, the Chinese marketing leader shared innovative, ground-breaking ideas with brands and agencies from around the world at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativities.
Representatives from Tencent met with senior executives from L’Oréal at Cannes, engaging in spirited discussions about the latest changes in marketing today. The meeting was attended by Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital Officer for Consumer Products Division, L’Oréal; SY Lau, SEVP of Tencent, Chairman of Tencent Advertising, Chairman of Group Marketing and Global Branding; Sophia Ong, GM of Strategic Partnership and KA at Tencent OMG; and Dan Lu, Strategy Expert, Senior Director of Strategy Development Department, Senior Director of Tencent Social Ads.
The role of the CMO in driving business growth has been a point of particular focus this year, as demonstrated by the creation of the CMO Growth Council. During the meeting with L’Oréal, SY Lau, a member of the Council, shared his views on this issue from his experience in China: “Embrace smart retail and use content to reach and connect with consumers for business growth. But sustainable growth is not just about making money. Society is demanding that brands, both public and private ones, serve a social purpose.”
Elaborating on the topic of driving business growth through marketing, Sophia Ong presented Tencent’s new integrated marketing platform, Tencent WE+, offering CMOs better integration within its ecosystem and more business intelligence through three core capabilities: WEmpower, with a total coverage of internet users and connecting data silos; WEngage, integrating content into consumer scenarios and unleashing the power of IP; and WEmbrace, which assists brands in penetrating consumer touchpoints and driving multi-conversions.
“Benefiting from Tencent’s ecosystem, Tencent WE+ functions as an enabler for brand marketing until the last mile of the consumer journey, rather than providing one-off media solutions,” said Sophia Ong.
This approach has led Tencent and L’Oréal to design innovative campaigns to engage users with content that drives sales conversions, driven by data insights into user behaviors. In one example, while on the red carpet of Cannes Film Festival, L’Oréal orchestrated livestreaming with talented Chinese singer Li Yuchun on WeChat. This live content allowed Chinese consumers to immerse into the glamorous event. In addition, L’Oréal presented celebrity looks, and together with “see now, buy now” shopping, viewers were able to make purchases instantly through WeChat.
Also centering around content marketing, Asmita Dubey noted the importance of online content, observing that: “Online long form content is very popular in China. It has the potential to obtain massive reach of target audience and create phenomenal social buzz.”
This raised another question: when multiple brands are riding on the same social buzz generated by such content, how can a brand differentiate itself? L’Oréal’s experience suggests that the key is in emphasizing the brand’s core identity. Tencent representatives added that for long term benefit, brands must also find a relevant angle, with the appropriate scenario and content to reach consumers using the brand’s values, facilitated by sales-driven engagement to best seize the opportunities of social buzz.
As the discussion continued, Dan Lu shared more on how brands can innovate in marketing and retailing by leveraging WeChat, Tencent’s social network of more than 1.04 billion users. Dan Lu noted that WeChat’s latest addition — Mini Program, which is widely known as “an app within an app” — supports brands by connecting users with various services. The existing 580 thousand mini programs serve 170 million active users on a monthly basis. Dan Lu stated: “By building digital touch points at scale, WeChat allows for direct connections with consumers, driving multi-conversions online and offline.”
Amazon announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire PillPack, an online pharmacy that offers pre-sorted doses of medications, home delivery, and a commitment to customer service
Global e-commerce giant, Amazon and PillPack have announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire PillPack. PillPack is a pharmacy designed to provide the best possible customer experience in the U.S. for people who take multiple daily prescriptions. PillPack delivers medications in pre-sorted dose packaging, coordinates refills and renewals, and makes sure shipments are sent on time.
“PillPack makes it simple for any customer to take the right medication at the right time, and feel healthier”
Jeff Wilke
“PillPack’s visionary team has a combination of deep pharmacy experience and a focus on technology,” says Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer.
Jeff added, “PillPack is meaningfully improving its customers’ lives, and we want to help them continue making it easy for people to save time, simplify their lives, and feel healthier. We’re excited to see what we can do together on behalf of customers over time.”
“PillPack makes it simple for any customer to take the right medication at the right time, and feel healthier,” said TJ Parker, co-founder and CEO of PillPack.
TJ added, “Together with Amazon, we are eager to continue working with partners across the healthcare industry to help people throughout the U.S. who can benefit from a better pharmacy experience.”
Completion of this transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The parties expect to close the transaction during the second half of 2018.
Vistar Deal Discovery Offers the Marketplace a Powerful New Open Platform That Directly Connects Media Buyers and OOH Sellers
Vistar Media, a programmatic technology company for digital out-of-home (DOOH), announced the launch of the first global dedicated storefront for the private marketplace (PMP) deals in DOOH. Through the Vistar Deals Discovery storefront, buyers can now explore custom packages curated by the world’s largest out-of-home media owners through a universal access point.
Vistar Deals Discovery storefront allows out-of-home media owners to highlight custom offerings of their unique inventory directly to buyers.
Barry Frey, President and CEO, DPAA, said, “Out-of-home is fast becoming a digital medium for advertisers. This means not only the embrace of digital screens but high levels of automation, targeting, and measurement.”
Barry added, “Innovations delivering programmatic means to access the full scope of digital out-of-home opportunities drive sophisticated and powerful ways to plan, transact and measure the medium for our advertising partners.”
“Vistar Media’s Deal Discovery PMP offers the marketplace a powerful new open platform that directly connects media buyers and OOH sellers,” said Nancy Fletcher, President and CEO of OAAA.
Nancy added, “Any time systems and processes are introduced that will simplify routine transactions, the industry wins. When we make it easier for brands and agencies to engage with our medium, together we succeed.”
Programmatic Companies Would Gain A New Channel to Market Their Offerings to the World’s Largest Buyers
PMP deals allow programmatic marketers to combine the efficiency of automated buying with the ability to negotiate custom deals with publishers, tailored to their specific needs. The Deals Discovery storefront allows out-of-home media owners to highlight custom offerings of their unique inventory directly to buyers. Media owners maintain control and transparency while gaining a new channel to market their offerings to the world’s largest buyers.
Buyers can now seamlessly plan across all DOOH transactions, including open exchange, direct negotiated and storefront PMP deals. By accessing aggregated DOOH inventory through a single platform, buyers can apply universal targeting and measurement across all inventory. The new storefront offering helps buyers uncover the most relevant OOH networks and inventory for their audiences. There are currently 31 self-service buying groups leveraging the Vistar platform, including Adobe, Amobee, Amnet, Assembly, Ciceron, Digilant, Kepler Group, Publicis Media, RTBiQ, Trilia, and Varick.
Vistar Deal Discovery PMP Tool Reduces Transactional Friction, Creating Operational Efficiencies for Programmatic Advertising Teams
“Automated, data-driven buying of digital out-of-home is poised to help advertisers reach consumers in new and creative ways that deepen personalization and storytelling without losing mass-scale or brand safety,” said Bryan Seltzer, Managing Director, US, Ad Cloud.
Bryan added, “We’re excited to collaborate with Vistar to make that possible via Adobe Advertising Cloud.”
Garrett added, “Vistar’s Deal Discovery PMP tool does just that, reducing transactional friction, creating operational efficiencies for our team, while brands get customized media plans with delivery priority.”
Media owners can easily make custom inventory packages for discovery through the storefront or work directly with buyers to create bespoke PMP deals to suit their specific audience needs. Participating media owners include Adspace, Captivate Canada, Clear Channel Outdoor, Corner Media, GSTV, Lamar, Pursuant Health, Rouge Media, Topgolf®, TouchTunes, Vision Media/Cinema Scene and ZOOM Media. The growing list of suppliers also includes JCDecaux US, whose digital inventory will be accessible through deals via the VIOOH platform which will connect to Vistar’s demand-side platform (DSP).
Here are some media owner perspectives:
“We are thrilled to be pioneering another evolution for out-of-home. It’s long overdue to make the best inventory for brands available within the programmatic landscape,” said Greg Glenday, CEO of Adspace.
Greg added, “The ability to offer curated packages to a broad array of digital teams, as well as develop custom one-to-one PMP deals, makes it even easier for us to engage with buyers on their terms.”
“We are excited to participate in a storefront opportunity for the digital out-of-home industry,” said Barb Huggett, General Manager of Captivate Canada.
Barb added, “This platform will allow us to showcase Toronto specific offerings to buyers who may not be familiar with our programmatic capabilities, as well as create unique and turnkey packages tailored to their needs.”
“Clear Channel Outdoor is expanding our partnership with Vistar in an enhanced and highly-visible way through their new Deals Discovery storefront, making our roadside & airport media even easier to buy for advertisers activating through Vistar’s DSP,” said Wade Rifkin, SVP, Programmatic, CCO.
Wade added, “Buyers can now seamlessly select curated private marketplace deals that leverage our behavioral/demographic targeting, or even apply their own 1st or 3rd party data, all across our national footprint of 1250+ digital displays reaching over 90 million consumers every month.”
“Through Vistar’s new Discovery platform, digital buyers will have access to GSTV’s premium video inventory across our national network reaching 75 million adults in 200 DMAs while leveraging our advanced audience targeting capabilities,” said Dave Kovall, VP of Digital Partnerships. “
Dave added, Whether buyers want to work with us through prebuilt deals or a more customized transaction that matches precise targeting criteria, we look forward to delivering the transparency, flexibility, and convenience they expect from PMP deals.”
How New Tool Would Open up New Opportunities and Take Some of the Guesswork out of the Process for Busy Buyers
“Vistar’s new Deals Discovery storefront allows media owners to highlight key audiences, and get buyers thinking about our inventory in potentially new ways. We are of course always open to and encouraging of working directly with buyers on customized PMP deals, but this is a great way to open up new opportunities and take some of the guesswork out of the process for busy buyers, said Tom Link, Senior Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing, ZOOM Media.
Currently, Vistar Media provides geospatial technology, bridging the space between advertising ecosystems, consumer movement patterns and purchasing behavior. Vistar also provides marketers with unprecedented access to consumers at the right place and right time, through a data agnostic system for analyzing consumer movement patterns and activating cross-screen mobile and out-of-home media.
Liberty Global plc announced that effective 10 September 2018, Lutz Schüler will become Chief Operating Officer of Virgin Media, reporting to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tom Mockridge. Lutz Schüler is currently the CEO of Unitymedia, a Liberty Global subsidiary in Germany, and will be replaced by current Chief Financial Officer Winfried “Winni” Rapp.
“I’m thrilled to join thehttps://twitter.com/tommockridgevm?lang=en Virgin Media team and work alongside Tom. As I embrace this new challenge, I know that Unitymedia will be in strong, capable hands under Winni’s leadership. He is committed to our customers, to our employees and to the communities we serve.”
Mike Fries
Mike Fries, President and CEO of Liberty Global, said, “For the past eight years Lutz has done an outstanding job running our operations in Germany and creating significant value for Liberty Global. Since our initial acquisitions in 2009 and 2010, Unitymedia has grown revenue 60% and operating cash flow 80% and has led the market in broadband innovation. With the pending sale of our German business to Vodafone, Virgin Media takes on greater importance within our platform in Europe and we want the strongest team possible (in) driving this business. I couldn’t be happier to keep Lutz in the Liberty family.”
Tom Mockridge
Tom Mockridge commented, “I’m excited to have Lutz join the Virgin Media team. His track record in Germany as an operator speaks for itself and he will provide a new level of marketing energy and leadership that will benefit Virgin Media customers and employees. I want to thank Jeff Dodds and Neil Bartholomew who have enabled us to seamlessly navigate the past few months and helped deliver our continued string of growth quarter after quarter.”
Lutz Schüler said, “I’m thrilled to join the Virgin Media team and work alongside Tom. As I embrace this new challenge, I know that Unitymedia will be in strong, capable hands under Winni’s leadership. He is committed to our customers, to our employees and to the communities we serve.”
Winfried Rapp further commented, “Taking the reins at Unitymedia at this critical time is a great honor. If you want to see the future of the TV and broadband business you need to look no further than Unitymedia. I will continue our proud tradition of innovation and our customers will be well served when Unitymedia and Vodafone join forces. This is an exciting time for our customers and employees.”
Mr. Schüler will take over the role that was vacated in March 2018 and has been filled in the interim by two leaders of Virgin Media’s UK Consumer Division, Jeff Dodds, and Neil Bartholomew. Both will retain key leadership roles heading the Mobile and Customer Operations, respectively when Mr. Schüler joins in September.
In May Liberty Global announced the sale of its operations in Germany, as well as three other Eastern European markets, to Vodafone for $22.7 billion on a U.S. GAAP basis. Mr. Schüler will be appointed Chairman of Unitymedia’s Supervisory Board to ensure continuity through the conclusion of the regulatory approval process, expected to occur in mid-2019. The current Chairman, Diederik Karsten, will remain on the Supervisory Board.
Business-to-Business Attendance Surges 14 Percent over 2017 Event; Nearly 8,800 Additional Consumer Attendees Participated at Migu Health and Fitness Festival
The GSMA has reported that more than 60,000unique visitors from 112 countries and territories attended the 2018 GSMA Mobile World Congress Shanghai, held 27-29 June in Shanghai. The three-day event attracted executives from the largest and most influential organizations across the mobile ecosystem, as well as from companies in a range of vertical industry sectors. In addition to this business-to-business audience, nearly 8,800 consumers from the greater Shanghai metropolitan area attended the Migu Health and Fitness Festival, which was held in the Mobile World Congress Shanghai halls at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre (SNIEC).
“We are extremely pleased with the results for the 2018 Mobile World Congress Shanghai, particularly the very strong growth in our business-to-business segment”
John Hoffman
“We are extremely pleased with the results for the 2018 Mobile World Congress Shanghai, particularly the very strong growth in our business-to-business segment,” said John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd. “
John added, Attendees were able to truly “Discover a Better Future”, from the thought leadership conference to the exhibition and everywhere in between. With more than two-thirds of the world’s population as subscribers, mobile is revolutionising industries and improving our everyday lives, creating exciting new opportunities while providing lifelines of hope and reducing inequality. Mobile truly is connecting everyone and everything to a better future.”
Covering seven halls at the SNIEC, the 2018 Mobile World Congress Shanghai hosted 550 exhibitors, nearly half of which come from outside of China. The conference programme attracted nearly 4,000 attendees, with more than 55 per cent of delegates holding senior-level positions, including nearly 320 CEOs. Nearly 830 international media and industry analysts attended Mobile World Congress Shanghai to report on the many industry developments highlighted at the show.
Mobile World Congress Shanghai officially opened on Wednesday, 27 June with a ceremony attended by representatives from the International Telecommunication Union, the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, Shanghai local government authorities and the Pudong New District Municipal Government, among other distinguished guests.
Industry Leaders Headline Conference Programme
Held over three days, the Mobile World Congress Shanghai conference programme featured keynotes from leaders of organisations including AngelHack, AsiaInfo Technologies, AT&T Business, Benefit Vantage, Bharti Enterprises, China Mobile, China Telecom, Crown Infrastructure Partners, Dentsu Aegis Network China, Ericsson, FREE MEE, Huawei, Jazz, LightBee, SenseTime, Shell Retail China and Viacom International Media Networks.
The conference addressed a range of topics, from 5G and artificial intelligence (AI) to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and immersive content and media, among others. A new element this year was the Leaders Stage, which explored wide-ranging trends that are impacting citizens’ everyday lives, including digital society, the blockchain, cyber security, big data and mobile payment technologies. Alongside the conference, Mobile World Congress Shanghai included many partner programmes and workshops, as well as GSMA forums and seminars.
The Women4Tech Programme made its Shanghai debut, following its success at Mobile World Congress events in Barcelona and in San Francisco. The centerpiece of the programme was the Women4Tech Summit, which was held on Thursday, 28 June on the Leaders Stage, and attendees also had the opportunity to participate in speed coaching and networking sessions.
Showcasing the Latest in Mobile Innovation
The Mobile World Congress Shanghai exhibition showcased hundreds of companies from across the mobile ecosystem as well as adjacent industry sectors. Notable participating companies included AsiaInfo Technologies, BYTON, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Transport Telecommunication Information Group, China Unicom, Datang, Dell, Ericsson, Gemalto, HTC Vive, Huawei, Intel, Lenovo, Nokia, OnStar, PwC, Qualcomm, Samsung LSI, Visa, vivo and Volkswagen, among others.
New for 2018, the NEXTech Hall put the spotlight on cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality, AI and robotics, and was also home to Connected China and the Device City, while the AutoTech Zone and the IoT Zone featured in other industry halls.
The GSMA Innovation City was again a highly popular destination on the exhibition floor, highlighting how “intelligent connectivity” – leveraging 5G, the Internet of Things, AI and big data – can deliver a smarter and more sustainable future. Visitors experienced these technologies and others through a range of hands-on demonstrations that illustrated the positive impact of mobile on virtually every aspect of life, in sectors such as transport, health, agriculture, industry, home and retail. Leading brands participating in the City were BICS, Continental, Huawei, Internet Finance Authentication Alliance (IFAA), Migu, myFC, PwC, Ratta, SI-TECH and Zhejiang Panshi Information Technology.
In its third year in Shanghai, the 4 Years From Now (4YFN) startup event hosted more than 130 international and local startups, including large delegations from South Korea, Spain and others. In addition to the exhibition, the 2018 4YFN programme delivered unique connecting initiatives, including inspirational talks, technical workshops, networking activities, community outreach and the 4YFN Summit and 4YFN Awards.
Co-Located and Partner Events Broaden Experiences for Attendees
Mobile World Congress Shanghai was held concurrently with a number of co-located and partner events. Attracting nearly 8,800 consumer attendees, the Migu Health and Fitness Festival highlighted the intersection of sports, entertainment and technology. The Festival offered a wide variety of exciting activities such as an e-sports competition, a music festival, a running competition, a sports exhibition, a sports technology summit, a sports-focused VR/AR Summit and others. Other events included Display China 2018, droidcon Shanghai 2018, the International Smart City Expo – Shanghai Pudong, the Shanghai International Service Robot Technology and Application Show 2018, and the S-Nova Art & Technology Award.
Mobile World Congress Shanghai: A Carbon Neutral Event
In November 2017, Mobile World Congress Shanghai was again officially certified by the British Standards Institution as carbon neutral under the international PAS 2060 standard, reinforcing its position as the largest carbon neutral exhibition and conference in Asia. For 2018, the GSMA focused on further reducing the environmental impact and carbon footprint of the event, offsetting any outstanding emissions as necessary. The GSMA is continuing to pursue certification of its offices and events, including Mobile World Congress Shanghai, for 2018.
Mobile World Congress Shanghai Partners
Partners for Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2018 included China Mobile (Diamond Event Partner) and Huawei (Platinum Event Partner). Media partners included CNN International and Mobile World Live (Global Media Partners); BBC World News and BBC.com, Bloomberg Businessweek, CCTV2 and LinkedIn (Official Media Partners); and C114, People’s Posts and Telecommunications News, and Tencent News (Strategic Media Partners).
“On behalf of the GSMA, I would like to thank all of our attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and partners who came together to make the 2018 edition of the Mobile World Congress Shanghai such a success,” added Hoffman.
Hoffman concluded, “We also extend our gratitude to the government of China and the city of Shanghai and we look forward to returning to Shanghai next year.”
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