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🤖 eCommerce news:

📦Amazon raises fulfilment costs in Europe "Amazon increased the costs of its multi-channel fulfilment service. The new fees will be in effect for European sellers starting next month. According to the ecommerce giant, the increase is due to rising operational costs due to inflation. Recently, Zalando and eBay also upped seller fees in the face of economic slowdown. Furthermore, Amazon has recently been investigated by market authorities for benefitting sellers using its logistics service, Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA)."

📹 How Netflix could up the ante for advertisers as it explores solutions to its ad tech conundrum Separate buy-side sources reported a “bumpiness” at the beginning of Netflix’s offering with one going as far as to say the launch was “shrouded in mystery” with confusion over the availability of inventory. Separately, some commented that the utility of the Xandr ad server (one of Microsoft’s ad tech assets) did not live up to expectations — some of Netflix’s earliest in-housing conversations centered around a potential new ad server. Meanwhile, others cited limitations around ad targeting and measurement, along with accompanying high CPMs, were also contributors to a disappointing start.

📦 Amazon to cut another 9,000 jobs "Online retail giant Amazon plans to cut another 9,000 jobs as it seeks to save costs. The firm, which employs 1.5 million people worldwide, said the cuts would fall mainly in areas including cloud computing and advertising. It did not say which countries would be affected but said the positions would be closed in the next few weeks. Boss Andy Jassy said it was a "difficult decision" but it would be best for the company in the long term. The firm already axed 18,000 jobs in January."

📺 Instagram is bringing ads to search results and launching ‘Reminder Ads’ "Meta is introducing two new tools on Instagram designed to open up additional avenues for advertising as the company grapples with weak advertising demand. The social network announced that it’s beginning to test ads in search results to reach people actively searching for businesses, products and content. Ads will show up in the feed that people can scroll when they tap into a post from search results. After the initial testing phase, Meta plans to launch ads in search results globally in the coming months. The launch is likely going to be an unwelcome addition to the app from a consumer standpoint, as it bring ads to yet another part of the social network."

❌ New Study Finds that Including Negative Terms in Headlines Drives More Clicks “Although positive words were slightly more prevalent than negative words, we found that negative words in news headlines increased consumption rates (and positive words decreased consumption rates). For a headline of average length, each additional negative word increased the click-through rate by 2.3%.The study used keyword analysis to detect negative terms in headlines, with words like harm, heartbroken, ugly, troubling, and angry in the negative term corpus."

💰 Meta Launches New Meta Verified Program in the US "Meta has announced that it’s making its new Meta Verified program available to users in the US, which means that American users will now be able to purchase a blue checkmark on Facebook or Instagram for $US11.99 per month on the web, or $US14.99 in-app, accounting for respective App Store charges."

🎶 Duolingo is working on a music app "Duolingo, a language learning app with over 500 million users, is working on a music app, TechCrunch has learned. The Pittsburgh-based tech company currently has a small team working on a music product and is hiring a learning scientist who is an “expert in music education who combines both theoretical knowledge of relevant learning science research and hands-on teaching experience,” according to a job posting listed on Duolingo’s career page. The company also posted a job that was soliciting a freelance music composition and curricular consultant, but the company is no longer accepting applications for that position."

🎨 Adobe Express launches an enterprise tier with generative AI tools "Adobe launched the enterprise tier of its creative application Adobe Express today at the company’s Adobe Summit event. The enterprise subscription will also let organizations access Adobe Firefly — the company’s newly launched generative AI tools. The creative tools company said that this new offering would help businesses build anything ranging from brand content to social media posts without having to master design skills. Essentially, Adobe is offering its Canva competitor to all sizes of enterprises."

📈 Top trends:

🎶 TikTok Signs New Sponsorship Agreement with MLS TikTok has signed a new, multi-year partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS), which will see MLS share exclusive content and in-app programming, while also incorporating in-stadium activations and TikTok sponsorship of various MLS events and tournaments.

📺 Netflix plans to release 40 more games this year, will add Monument Valley in 2024 The streaming service says it’s committed to building out its games portfolio and will be bringing Ustwo’s Monument Valley franchise to its platform, starting with Monument Valley 1 and Monument Valley 2, with more to come. In a briefing with reporters, Ustwo CEO María Sayans confirmed that the Netflix versions of the games won’t be different than the current available versions, and that they will include all paid in-app purchases.

🚀 Elon Musk’s The Boring Company seeks to double the size of its Vegas Loop "If successful, a Loop station would be located within a few blocks of almost anywhere in central Las Vegas. Five stations would serve the University of Nevada; and Allegiant Stadium — home to the Raiders NFL team — would get extra links to the west of the city. Harry Reid International Airport would have several stations surrounding it, although none actually serving the passenger terminal. The system also plans to have a new tunnel running parallel to the Strip with few stations on it, possibly allowing for a high-speed “express” route between the north and south of the city. A similar artery connects east and west Las Vegas."

🪙 Bitcoin rises about 14% in 7-day span as US banking system wobbles "In the wake of all the banking chaos, bitcoin and ether, the biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap, had a seven-day increase of about 15% and 8%, respectively, at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap data. The global market cap for all cryptocurrencies also increased 8.3% during the same time period to about $1.1 trillion, slightly down from a weekly high of $1.14 trillion on Tuesday, the data showed. The overall market turmoil has seemingly created a bullish sentiment in the crypto economy, however, as traders responded positively to the news and the overall market cap rose on the week."

🐦 Twitter thread of the week:

Link to thread here

🤝 Hot jobs:

💬 Message Bird - Head of Growth & Demand Marketing 

"We’re proud (and excited!) to be transforming the global communications landscape through our Omnichannel Platform-as-a-Service (OPaaS)."

"You will be responsible for the design, development and deployment of targeted marketing and digital campaigns to drive customer acquisition, lead generation, and self-service growth. This role will include SEO/SEM strategy and optimization, paid media planning, omni-channel campaign development, content marketing, social media (both organic and paid) marketing and digital video asset and campaign development. The ideal candidate will have media experience of planning/buying and managing media agencies. Attribution/marketing mix optimization for key customer segments is critical."

🛍 JD & Co - VP Marketing Consumer Apps

"Our client is looking for growth-obsessed marketing leader who will help them realise their mission of using technology to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people across the globe. As VP Marketing, you will be responsible for developing and executing the marketing strategy for the consumer apps portfolio."

"This position requires an experienced marketer who can drive the ambitious marketing strategy across Product Marketing, Acquisition, Performance Marketing, Content Marketing, Design, Brand, PR, and Communications. While an exceptional team of marketing experts is already in place to manage the specialist elements of the marketing strategy, the VP Marketing will be expected to take a hands-on approach and deliver measurable results."

🐦 Duolingo - Regional Marketing Director

"We are seeking an experienced, creative marketing leader to help us build awareness and accelerate our growth across key EMEA markets including (but not limited to) UK, France and Germany."

"You will be leading the Country Marketing teams responsible for growth and marketing across the region and identifying key opportunities, challenges, and critical levers.As our resident expert on the region, you will demonstrate a deep understanding of the region’s market dynamics, and cultural nuances and leverage your skills including social media, influencer marketing, PR, and partnerships to drive awareness, develop business opportunities and bring new users to Duolingo."

"Reporting to the Global Head of Marketing, you will partner closely with teams in Pittsburgh and around the world to come up with new, creative tactics and campaigns relevant to the consumer."

😂 Meme of the week:

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