November Update: Apple Search, Slack Buyout, and a Baby Owl

November saw a strong start to the holiday spending season, with shoppers in the UK getting started early and in Canada they’re already running out of Christmas trees. Black Friday deals were noticeably spread out across the entire month though some observers felt the lower sales were a sign of an ongoing economic slump in the US. We’re clearly all sitting at home a lot, as evidenced by the astonishing fact that Netflix is now worth more than Disney - $194billion versus the magic kingdom’s $184billion. 

At the lower end of the scale, you can catch up with the latest Christmas trend online - miniature nativity scenes. 

Slack Sold to Salesforce

Slack has been bought by Salesforce for $27.7 billion, in a move that creates a stronger joint competitor to Microsoft. Salesforce President and COO Bret Taylor says that the Slack deal was worth the money because it really allows his company to bring together all the pieces of their platform, one that has expanded over the years from pure CRM to include marketing, customer service, data visualization, workflow and more. Read more on the DMI library about the history of both Salesforce and Slack.

1800 Contacts

1800 Contacts has proven itself to be an superb example of successful merging of digital technologies and customer experience, seeing their business booming in 2020. Read more about their impressive technology strategy here.

Apple Search

Apple is officially entering the Search space, taking on Google. The story is best explained by Clark Boyd on his excellent hi, tech newsletter:

... the deal to keep Google as the principal search engine on iOS is under increasing scrutiny in the US and the EU. It does look like textbook, anti-competitive behaviour. Apple needs an alternative to Google, should they lose out in any anti-trust cases.

In Other News

• The top Twitter trends of 2020 have been revealed and make for interesting reading. As does the list of the UK’s top Google searches this year.
• Are you up to speed on your phygital, snackable content for your B4H campaign? This New York Times story pokes fun at the latest marketing jargon that some of us might well want to be well aware of.
• In September’s News Review we mentioned how naturalist David Attenborough beat the record for gaining one million Instagram followers in the fastest time. Well he’s been overtaken by another famous Brit - Rupert Grint, or Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies -  who gained his million in record time after posting a photo of his newborn baby
• It might surprise you to hear that 3.1 billion people spend time gaming, with an average age of 33 and just under half of them are women. With stats like these, from an article in The Drum, it’s hard not to agree that in-game advertising is the way forward during the holiday season and on into 2021. 
• The Pope unexpectedly liked an Instagram post by a Brazilian model. She was delighted to receive his blessing but the like was soon taken down. Guardian story.
• Still looking for gift ideas for the digital marketer in your life? Here’s a super list of 50 good reads from thought leaders to follow in 2021. From Thinkers360.

Just for Christmas

We’ll leave you to get in the real 2020 Christmas mood with this beautiful new classic created by Irish all-women group, Irish Women in Harmony, formed this year, remotely. And don't forget to catch up on our review of this year's very special Christmas Ads.

And, Finally

Two cute furry animals made international news in November. A baby koala bear was discovered in the Christmas tree of a family in Adelaide, Australia, nibbling on the plastic branches. It was soon taken in by a local rescue group.

But before Daphne (as they named her) became famous. there was Rockefeller. An adorable baby owl discovered nestled in the branches of the 23-metre tree brought in to the regular festive spot at the Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. The owl got plenty of attention, but perhaps not as much as the online criticism of the state of the tree that was brought in. Those responsible insisted that the tree often looks a bit scrawny when it first arrives at the plaza - not unlike how we all might feel in the first few days of 2021.