Coke, Ryanair & Apple: Everything you need to know this morning

Airbnb is one of the brands to sign the brief.

Tech brands file legal brief condemning Trump’s travel ban

Not content with making their views on President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration known, 97 brands from Apple to Zynga have stepped up their opposition by filing what is known as an ‘amicus brief’. The brief emphasises the importance of immigrants to the US economy and society. Participants include Facebook, Google, Intel, Netflix and Uber as well as non-tech firms such as Levi Strauss and Chobani.

“Immigrants make many of the Nation’s greatest discoveries, and create some of the country’s most innovative and iconic companies,” the brief states. “America has long recognized the importance of protecting ourselves against those who would do us harm. But it has done so while maintaining our fundamental commitment to welcoming immigrants—through increased background checks and other controls on people seeking to enter our country.”

Ryanair profits plummet as Brexit hits

Ryanair saw its profits fall sharply in the third quarter as it was forced to cut fares due to growing competition and its business was hit by the decline in the value of the pound since the UK voted to leave the EU. Profits were down 8% to €95m as average fares dropped by 17% to €33 per customer. Traffic was up 16% to 29 million.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary says: “Ofares this winter have fallen sharply as Ryanair continues to grow traffic and load factors strongly in many European markets. These falling yields were exacerbated by the sharp decline in Sterling following the Brexit vote. Ryanair responded to this weaker environment by continuing to improve our ‘Always Getting Better’ (AGB) customer experience, cutting costs, and stimulating demand through lower fares which has seen load factors jump to record levels.”

Coca-Cola brings back ‘America the Beautiful’ for Super Bowl

Coca-Cola had said before the game began last night (5 February) that it would be airing an old ad during the Super Bowl and it turned to a spot from 2014, ‘America the Beautiful’, to ensure it got people talking. The ad features a diverse range of people the song in languages including English, Arabic and Hindi. Created by Wieden + Kennedy, it proved as controversial on this showing as it did in 2014.

Coca-Cola was one of a number of brands looking to make a point in the current political climate. Budweiser’s ad featured the tale of its founder travelling from Germany to the US, while Audi chose to promote gender equality.

Chocolate bars to shrink by 20% as sugar war hits

Brands including Nestle, Mondelez and Mars are reported to be cutting the size of many of their chocolate bars in a bid to hit government targets and avoid being named and shamed by Public Health England. It is thought the move could hit popular products such as KitKat, Mars and Dairy Milk. It comes as the industry looks to cut the amount of sugar in products by 20% by 2020. It is unclear whether the move to reduce size will also come with a price cut

Robots are putting jobs at risk, but marketers should be safe

The author of a groundbreaking study into how robots are taking over jobs has now analysed which jobs commanding pay of more than £40,000 are most at risk. Carl Frey, co-author of the Oxford Martin programme on technolocy and employment at Oxford University, found that 35% of all UK jobs are at risk. And in that pay bracket it is insurance underwriters, loan officers and motor insurance assessors that are most at risk.

But marketing managers can sleep easy. According to the analysis, the chances of their jobs being taken over by robots is just 1.39%.

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Source: Marketing Week
Coke, Ryanair & Apple: Everything you need to know this morning