Business
Things you need to know about the future of Marketing

The frenetic upsurge in the internet and social media in the past few decades has resulted in distinct changes taking fruition at a faster pace. Marketing is one such territory that has exhibited a gradual but steady progression in the ongoing years.
The latest technological innovations have a deep-rooted impact on business functionality by altering the visage of marketing. Nowadays, mobile phones are being increasingly recognized as a revolutionary medium of marketing with profound infiltration.
The basic tenets of the marketing game are constantly varying. The fundamentals of marketing, known and applied so far will change perpetually in the times to come. Here we offer a sneak peek into what lies ahead of marketing.
TRANSPARENCY
Over the past few years, brands have infused more focus towards maintaining transparency, a hitherto unexploited marketing asset, in a bid to win the trust and loyalty of their customers.
In the near future, transparency would become more imperative because of the growing need for brands to convey a greater responsibility while offering their products to the customers.
With the evolution of the attitude of the consumers towards brand awareness and acceptance, an ever-lasting alliance with faith and trust is something that consumers would care for instead of the brand itself.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media has gradually metamorphosed from a trivial mingling network to a broadly showcased marketing platform. Now, almost all the giant social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat etc. are widely promoted as marketing and advertising channels.
Today, because of its prodigious active follower base (over one-third of the world’s total populace) and far-reaching effects in people’s lives, brands so far have gone ahead capitalizing on social media as the most favoured marketing avenue.
This is corroborated by the fact indicating a stupendous rise in social media advertising by an average 40% every year. Consequently, this would make the future of marketing closely connected with social media.
USER-CREATED CONTENT
Today brands depend and invest a great deal in creating various types of content such as videos, images, audio text etc. to generously engage consumers.
The future would turn the table, and the process has already stepped in with a discernible change in the consumer psyche, leading to an upswing in online blogs, user-reviews, and social media engagement.
Social walls are expected to be another form of a futuristic avenue whereby users can share their content on a social media conglomerate called the social media aggregation. It’s the confluence of all social media platforms where user-generated content about brand or product quality will be talked about.
This would eventually draw in consumers who would advertise and assess the brand by creating real-time and experience-oriented content instead of fabricated make-believe stories.
PERSONALIZED MARKETING WITH BIG DATA
Another product of technological innovation other than social media that has started gaining adequate ground in marketing is data.
Data had been consistently vital in the realm of marketing. Data has likewise advanced with time, from simple things like contact information, email Ids to more complex and intricate affairs like evaluating consumer behaviours and shopping propensities.
Truly, data has begun penetrating deeply into the marketing ambit by creating ample personalized marketing strategies to provide exact and meticulous insights about consumer interests and preferences.
APP BASED MARKETING
With Big Data bringing in more personalization in showcasing marketing stratagems, the times ahead will observe the remarkable ascent of private messaging as a formidable marketing technique.
Epic mobile messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and WeChat have been markedly embraced as the new forms of personalized marketing media with potentials as tremendous as moving emails over and making them obsolete.
The time is very near when marketing would finally make headway to a distinctive app-based avatar. Apps like Snapchat have expeditiously earned accolades and recognition as the marketers’ most preferred choice for carrying out their marketing campaigns.
Winding up, the evolving innovation in technology is completely changing the pathway to market products and services by making it convenient, smooth, quantifiable, and futuristic.
Business
Exxon to cut 7% of Singapore workforce amid ‘unprecedented market conditions’

By Florence Tan and Shruti Sonal
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp plans to cut its workforce in Singapore, home to its largest oil refining and petrochemical complex, by about 7% amid the “unprecedented market conditions” resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, it said on Wednesday.
About 300 positions out of 4,000 current jobs will be impacted by the end of 2021, the company said in a statement.
The Singapore layoffs come weeks after Exxon announced its plan to close its 72-year-old Altona refinery in Australia and convert it to an import terminal. The top U.S. oil producer, once America’s most valuable company, posted a historic annual loss for 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic slashed energy demand.
Exxon’s announcement also follows European major Royal Dutch Shell’s decision in November to cut 500 staff and halve its crude processing capacity in Singapore as part of a global strategy to reduce carbon emissions.
Exxon Mobil’s Singapore complex has the capacity to refine about 592,000 barrels per day of oil and includes its biggest integrated petrochemical production site.
The city-state will remain a strategic location for the company, it said.
“This is a difficult but necessary step to improve our company’s competitiveness and strengthen the foundation of our business for future success,” said Geraldine Chin, chairman and managing director, ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd.
Last year, Exxon said it remained committed to a multi-billion dollar expansion at the Singapore complex amid an ongoing review of its projects globally.
(Reporting by Shruti Sonal in Bengaluru and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Christian Schmollinger)
Business
Sharp Irish services downturn eases slightly in February – PMI

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The sharp decline in activity in Ireland’s largely locked down services sector eased slightly in February while confidence rose to the strongest level in over a year on the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, a survey showed on Wednesday.
Ireland shut most building sites, shops and the hospitality sector from late December after a brief reopening led to a huge surge in COVID-19 infections, hospital admissions and deaths. The government has said any reopening will be very gradual, with the hospitality sector likely to remain shut until mid-summer.
The AIB IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for services stood at 41.2 in February, a slight improvement on a reading of 36.2 recorded in January but well below the 50-mark that separates expansion from contraction.
“The Irish reading of 41.2 is well below the corresponding flash February PMI figures of 49.7 for the UK and 44.7 in the euro zone, pointing to a more extensive lockdown here,” AIB Chief Economist Oliver Mangan said.
“The PMI, though, has not plummeted to the levels seen last spring during the first lockdown,” he added, referring to the historic low of 13.9 recorded last April.
The survey contained a “ray of hope”, Mangan added, as expectations for the 12-month outlook rose sharply to the strongest level in over a year, spurred by expectations that vaccinations will lead to a gradual lifting of restrictions.
(Reporting by Graham Fahy; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Business
Boeing cites risks in design of newest Airbus jet

By Tim Hepher
PARIS (Reuters) – Boeing Co has raised concerns over the design of arch-rival Airbus’ newest narrow-body jet, the A321XLR, saying a novel type of fuel tank could pose fire risks.
The U.S. plane giant’s intervention is not without precedent in a global system that regularly allows manufacturers to chime in whenever safety rules are being interpreted in a way that might affect the rest of the industry.
But it comes at a pivotal moment as Boeing emerges from a two-year safety crisis over its competing 737 MAX, and Airbus faces its own crucial test of the tougher mood expected from regulators worldwide following the MAX’s 20-month grounding.
In a submission to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Boeing said the architecture of a fuel tank intended to increase the A321XLR’s range “presents many potential hazards.”
The debate surrounds the hot-selling A321XLR’s main marketing point – the longest range of any single-aisle jet.
In most jets, fuel is carried in wings and central tanks.
To meet demand for longer routes, Airbus has already added optional extra fuel tanks inside the cargo bay of some A321s.
For the A321XLR, Airbus plans to eke out more space for fuel by moulding one tank directly into the fuselage, meaning its shape would follow the contours of the jet and carry more fuel.
The concept caught the attention of EASA which in January said it would impose special conditions to keep passengers safe.
“An integral fuselage fuel tank exposed to an external fire, if not adequately protected, may not provide enough time for the
passengers to safely evacuate the aircraft,” it said.
In comments to EASA first reported by Flightglobal, Boeing cited risks if a jet veers off a runway or its wheels fail.
“Public consultation is part-and-parcel of an aircraft development programme,” an Airbus spokesman said, adding any issues raised would be tackled together with regulators.
COMMERCIAL STAKES
Such technical exchanges rarely capture attention. But a battered aerospace industry is on edge after the MAX crisis, compounded by COVID-19, shook confidence in aviation.
Commercial stakes are also high.
One industry source familiar with the project warned any extended wrangle over certification could delay the A321XLR’s service entry from “late 2023” to 2024 or beyond.
Should that happen, sources say Boeing is expected to encourage airlines to wait a few years longer for a potential all-new model that insiders say would leapfrog the A321XLR.
While insisting they never compete on safety, Airbus and Boeing have a record of goading each other in the past over issues like novel flight computers on the Airbus A320 or European claims that four engines were safer than the 777’s two.
Fuel tanks have provoked particularly sharp disagreement.
In 2001, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration triggered changes to the design of fuel tanks worldwide, five years after a Boeing 747 exploded in mid-air.
Investigators said TWA 800 was brought down by a fuel-tank explosion in the presence of unwanted oxygen, but Airbus officials maintained their own jets were less at risk.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; Additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Matthew Lewis)