Next month, The Brit Awards will be launching a podcast series exclusively on Amazon Music called ‘Brits Top Table with Mastercard’. The eight-episode series will present the experiences and music loved by some of the UK’s diverse music talent.

In addition to the podcast series, Amazon Music will launch the official Brits playlist on 31 March and make live music from the show available after the event itself.

“We’re thrilled to be an official partner for the second year in a row, celebrating the British music industry and some of the UK’s most loved artists,” said Jillian Gerngross, Director of Amazon Music Europe. “This year we’re excited to help bring fans closer to their favourite artists in even more ways, including the brand-new Brits podcast. We’re looking forward to an amazing night of music.”

Meanwhile, over at TikTok, there will an exclusive series of in-app events to profile those nominated in the ‘Breakthrough Artist’ category, which TikTok is presenting. There will be TikTok Lives, hashtag challenges, special programming, and a Brit Awards takeover in the lead up to awards night.

“Were delighted to partner with The Brit Awards for the second year running and present the Breakthrough Artist category,” said Paul Hourican, Head of Music Operations UK at TikTok. “2020s Brits live stream and #RedCarpetReady challenge ignited the passion and creativity of our community, placing TikTok at the heart of the industrys biggest night. A year on and TikToks impact on the UK music industry is undeniable, helping break artists and their music and becoming the home for music discovery for fans the world over. Increasingly, UK Music starts on TikTok.”

The nominations for this year’s Brit Awards will be announced at 4pm BST on Wednesday 31 March across the @Brits official channels on TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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With millions of people around the world currently enjoying the reformatted latter stages of the Champions League from their homes, the #PricelessWave campaign – kicked off by football legends Fernando Torres and Marcel Desailly – encourages fans to show how enthusiastic they are about the tournament through a TikTok challenge.

Those taking part are asked to access the challenge and record themselves raising their arms from the bottom of their screen to the top of their screen in traditional wave fashion. Doing so will trigger on-screen confetti of footballs and trophies.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have needed to pivot quickly from physical to digital experiences, to reflect the changing environments we are living in,” said Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard. “By creating the Priceless Wave, we are reminding football fans everywhere that a ball can start a celebration and a celebration shared, even when apart, really is Priceless. Through this campaign we want to connect fans to their passion of football and their sporting heroes, by giving them an unforgettable experience, from the comfort of their homes.”

Mastercard is further enhancing the TikTok experience through its sonic brand, which it’s using to enable fans to support their favourite teams and players throughout the tournament. Fans can also visit Priceless.com to watch exclusive stories from football legends and have the chance to win an experience with these legends.

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Mastercard

According to the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction StudySM, rewards continue to drive consumer satisfaction with cards, yet only a third of credit card holders completely understand all the benefits available to them. Using AR, the Mastercard app explains the benefits via a fully immersive AR experience.

Upon launching the app, cardholders are prompted to scan their Mastercard to start the session. Using their phone to scan the area around them, cardholders will see three portals, each one representing one of the three categories that Mastercard benefits fall into: Experiences, Everyday Value and Peace of Mind. To explore a benefit area, cardholders tap the related portal to launch a fully immersive 360-degree experience which brings that area to life. For example, Peace of Mind is represented by a spa, and Everyday Value is a stylish home.

Once inside the virtual room, cardholders can use their phone to look around and discover their benefits – each represented by a relevant item. For example, tapping on a set of golf clubs prompts a pop-up screen where a user can learn about, and access, their Priceless Golf benefits. When they are finished exploring, users simply tap to exit the AR experience.

“At Mastercard, we’re using our technology and solutions to deliver multi-sensory experiences for consumers every day, whether they’re shopping, taking transit, or exploring the card benefits they care about,” said Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer at Mastercard. “By leveraging an intuitive AR design, cardholders can now easily find and fully explore their benefits that otherwise might have been overlooked.”

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Mastercard, Visa, eBay, Stripe, and Mercado Pago have all followed in PayPal’s footsteps by leaving the Libra Association behind. The decisions made by Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe may have also been influenced by a letter they received from US senators urging them to reconsider their position.

Visa told the Financial Times, which first reported their departure, that it would continue to show an interest in Libra and will make an ultimate decision on the project once it knows that the Association can “satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations”. Stripe agreed that the project has “potential” and was still open to working with it in the future. eBay, similar to PayPal, has left to focus on its own projects.

Risk to the global financial system

A report from the G7, seen by the BBC, has outlined nine major risks that are posed by digital currencies like Libra, stating cryptocurrencies must not be allowed to progress until it has been proven they are safe and secure.

The report, which doesn’t specifically name Libra, says that all backers of digital currencies must be legally sound, protect consumers, and make sure that their coins are not used for criminal activity.

The G7 taskforce behind the report is made up of senior officials from central banks, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the FSB.

A separate letter to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors from the FSB’s chairman, Richard Quarles, says that stablecoins have the potential to “pose a host of challenges to the regulatory community” including risks to “financial stability, consumer and investor protection, data privacy and protection, financial integrity including AML/CFT and know-you-customer compliance, mitigation of tax evasion, fair competition and anti-trust policy, market integrity, sound and efficient governance, cyber security and operation risks, and an appropriate legal basis”.

At the same time, it acknowledges that stablecoins can also benefit the financial system by offering a vehicle for cross-border payments and remittances to more users.

The FSB’s final report on the matter will be released in July 2020.

In other news, Facebook is also being sued by the mobile banking app Current over the similarity between the Calibra logo and Currents one. Both logos were designed by the same branding firm, called Character, which is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

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“We urge you to carefully consider how your companies will manage these risks before proceeding, given that Facebook has not yet demonstrated to Congress, financial regulators — and perhaps not even to your companies — that it is taking these risks seriously,” said the letter.

Although many other tech and finance companies have already joined the Libra Association – including Uber, Iliad SA, Vodafone, and Coinbase – Libra took a big hit when PayPal recently decided to ditch the project . Additionally, Libra’s head of product, Simon Morris, decided to leave the cryptocurrency project earlier this week with no warning. 

“Facebook is currently struggling to tackle massive issues, such as privacy violations, disinformation, election interference, discrimination, and fraud, and it has not demonstrated an ability to bring those failures under control,” continued the senators.

For the past few years, Facebook has been under constant scrutiny following multiple privacy and data-mining scandals, including the Cambridge Analytica debacle. The senators warn that Libra, which was officially announced three months ago, could be just as controversial and potentially dangerous to the public as the main Facebook website.

“You should be concerned that any weaknesses in Facebook’s risk management systems will become weaknesses in your systems that you may not be able to effectively mitigate,” finished Brown and Schatz.

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Venmo has released a limited-edition rainbow debit card that will enable customers to spend their Venmo balance while shopping both in-store and online. Venmo said the card’s design is a combination of the other six colorful debit cards the platform already offers, for customers who want an extra pop of color in their wallet.

“We’ve seen tremendous adoption of our colorful cards and we know you love the ability to choose the one that best suits your personality and style. Inspired by a combination of our existing card colors, the limited-edition rainbow card is now rolling out if you’re having trouble picking just one, or want an even more radiant design in your wallet and at checkout,” said the Venmo team. 

Using the Venmo Mastercard, customers who are dining in or out can easily split bill costs between other users. Venmo has also added a feature that enables users to split the tip directly from the Venmo app, before paying a bill. Additionally, the app will automatically calculate a suggested tip.

With the Add Money feature on the Venmo app, users can manually transfer funds from their linked debit card to their Venmo balance or turn on automatic reloads. The limited-edition card is already available with select cardholders, but will become widely available on 4 March, while supplies last.

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Jaunt promotes Mitzi Reaugh to CEO
Virtual, augmented and mixed reality content solutions provider Jaunt has elevated Mitzi Reaugh to CEO, effective October 1^st. Formerly vice president of global business development and strategy at the firm, Reaugh’s promotion comes as part of a series of senior personnel promotions as George Kliavkoff, former CEO, steps down to take a new position in the entertainment industry. Kliavkoff will remain as a member of the board of directors.

Reaugh has been a driving force behind the launch and growth of the Jaunt XR platform, a B2B solution that enables partners to distribute augmented, virtual and mixed reality assets through their own applications and channels. Over the past two years, she has worked closely with Kliavkoff and the executive leadership team, and was critical in developing and implementing the strategy that evolved Jaunt into a B2B-focused company. Prior to joining Jaunt, Reaugh has held roles at NBC Universal, where she was part of the team that formed and launched Hulu, Miramax and The Chernin Group.

“It continues to be a pleasure to work at Jaunt, driving the growth of this business, and I’m honoured to have been chosen by the board of directors to lead the company forward,” said Reaugh. “The future of content is immersive, and Jaunt will continue to deliver industry-leading production and technology that brings scale, impact and ease to our global partners.”

In addition to Reaugh, two other Jaunt executives have newly expanded roles. Dominic Collins moves from general manager of international to president of product engineering & international, overseeing all international efforts as well as product and engineering. David Moretti is being promoted to president for strategy and business development, responsible for overseeing the sales and business development teams, as well as the legal department.

Scott Ferber and Domenic Venuto take on new roles at Amobee
Following its recent acquisition of Videology’s assets, Amobee has made two executive appointments, including finding a new home for Scott Ferber, former CEO of Videology. Ferber will become chief innovation officer at Amobee, while Domenic Venuto, most recently general manager of IBM Watson’s consumer division and Watson advertising, comes onboard as chief operating officer at the firm.

Ferber boasts more than 20 years of senior leadership experience and is a proven technology innovator who has served as a leader in converging the TV and digital video advertising spaces. With Videology, he helped to build the industry’s most advanced software platform for connected TV and digital video. Prior to founding Videology, he co-founded Advertising.com, which was acquired by AOL, and he has also held key roles at Fortune 500 companies including Procter & Gamble and Capital One.

Venuto brings a 360-degree global perspective as well as more than 20 years of senior management experience in marketing technology to Amobee. In his role at IBM Watson, he helped create innovative predictive solutions for marketers that transformed machine-based insights into high impact solutions for marketers. Previously, he served as global president of data, technology & partnerships for Publicis Groupe-owned VivaKi, where he led all aspects of product development.

Travel data specialists Adara hire Curtis Nishijima to drive EMEA growth
Curtis Nishijima, former global chief operating officer at Amnet and global client consulting partner at Mediacom, is taking on the newly-created role of managing director for EMEA at Adara, the data solution for travel brands. Nishijima will be responsible for setting the vision, market development, and operations requirements across Adara EMEA. Throughout the region, he will be leading the strategic direction across Adara’s media, data co-op, insights and measurement solutions for top tourism organisations, travel brands and other firms in the travel vertical.

Nishijima brings a unique perspective to the company, having been a veteran on both the media owner and agency side. His global talent around delivering business outcomes for major clients like Burbery, Mondalez, Visit Britain, GSK, Sky and Bose will be hugely valuable when combined with the power of Adara’s Travel Data Co-Op. He will work alongside Brandon Meyers, chief revenue officer, based in Adara’s Palo Alto headquarters.

“I’m very excited to be joining Adara, which I’ve admired as a skilled digital operator and practitioner over the years,” said Nishijima. “Adara’s team is hugely passionate about delivering great solutions and with products which are admired across many categories, both endemic and non-endemic to the travel industry. I see a massive potential across all of Adara’s solutions and it’s a privilege to be a part of that ongoing growth story. I’m looking forward to being an active contributor in the leadership team as we continue to build on our successes.”

Vocalink appoints Andrew Buckley as executive vice president
Vocalink, a Mastercard company, has announced that Andrew Buckley is joining the firm as the new executive vice president for international product, marketing and communications. In this pivotal role, he will be accountable for defining and executing Vocalink’s global strategies and leading the product development, implementation and deployment of market-leading proprietary infrastructure and applications.

Over his five year tenure, Andrew has held various product leadership roles within Mastercard across Europe, Asia and the US, including debit, credit, prepaid, commercial insurances and rewards. This has culminated in his most recent role as executive vice president of global prepaid, where he managed the company’s market-leading prepaid business. Prior to joining Mastercard, Buckley held senior sales and technology roles with American Express, was a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and held strategy, sales and marketing roles with major telecoms and IT companies.

“Joining Vocalink and the bank payments sector is an exciting new challenge for me after over 10 years in the cards industry,” said Buckley. “Vocalink is at the forefront of payments infrastructure development and I’m looking forward to joining a highly skilled and successful team in the UK, and supporting the growth of our innovative products and services globally.”

Shannon Pruitt revealed as new chief marketing officer at The Honest Company
The Honest Company, a leading brand in the natural baby, personal care and beauty categories, has announced that Shannon Pruitt, former president of The Story Lab and chief content officer at Carat, is taking on the role of chief marketing officer at the firm. She will oversee brand marketing, creative, content and marketing communications for the company.

Pruitt boasts extensive experience in the areas of integrated, omnichannel marketing, brand-building and innovative brand story creation. Her deep storytelling ability will help the company continue to connect with today’s modern consumers as it seeks to expand its business. Founded in 2012 by Jessica Alba and Chris Gavigan, The Honest Company initially specialised in the sale of eco-friendly nappies and other baby products, and has since diversified to include cosmetics, detergents and a variety of other household products.

“As we continue to focus our efforts on two categories where global consumers and retailers and demanding more natural offerings – baby and beauty – we know talent will continue to drive our company’s momentum and growth,” said Nick Vlahos, CEO of The Honest Company. “With her extensive marketing, brand building, digital and entertainment background, Pruitt will bring a fresh perspective to our company as we take our brand global.”

Atomico strengthens team with Twitter’s former head of people for EMEA
European venture capital firm Atomico has announced a series of new hires to its investment team, including Caroline Chayot, who previously led the HR team for EMEA at Twitter. She joins the company as a partner, and will work alongside existing partner Dan Hynes, former director of global staffing at Skype. While at Twitter, she supported the leadership team as it scaled the business from two to six markets, and grew the team from 80 based in London to 500 across the region.

Also joining Atomico are Irina Haivas from specialist healthcare investor GHO Captial Partners, who comes on board as principal; Annalise Dragic, who will serve as senior associate on Atomico’s investment team alongside new associates Luca Eisenstecken and Christina Fa; IR associate Gunita Bhasin, who joins from Deutsche Bank; and Eleanor Warnock, the firm’s new communication manager, who will work alongside head of communications Bryce Keane to raise the profile of the firm’s portfolio companies internationally.

“When Atomico started, very few people believed that Europe could product multiple billion-dollar companies,” said a spokesperson for Atomico. “Since then, there have been over 50. Now, more than ever, we believe with deepest conviction and a sense of pressing urgency that Europe has the right ingredients for far greater tech success in the decade to come. That’s why Atomic is strengthening our unique team model of experienced investors, founders, and operators with seven new hires across our Growth Acceleration, Investment, Communications and IR teams.”

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Neither Google nor Mastercard have publically announced the partnership, and so far neither company has let customers know that offline purchases made in stores using Mastercard are being tracked and correlated with online ad interactions.

According to Bloomberg, which cites four people with knowledge of the deal, the partnership has given Google an unprecedented tool when it comes to establishing online-to-offline attribution, as well as a potent new data source for targeting ads.

The technology comes into action when a Google user clicks on one of the search giants ads but doesnt buy the product or service in question. If, within 30 days, they then use a Mastercard to buy that item in a physical store, Google will notify the advertiser as part of its reporting on ad effectiveness.

Consumers are able to opt-out of the attribution technology by toggling off Web and App Activity, a broad category that controls whether Google can pinpoint your exact GPS coordinates. This same category came under the spotlight earlier this month when it was revealed that Google was using it to track user locations even when users had opted out of Location Services.

However, the deal has raised concerns over how much consumer information Google has access to, and the lack of transparency and consumer information provided regarding the partnership.

“People dont expect what they buy physically in a store to be linked to what they are buying online,” said Christine Bannon, counsel with the advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC). “Theres just far too much burden that companies place on consumers and not enough responsibility being taken by companies to inform users what theyre doing and what rights they have.”

Google reportedly paid millions of dollars to acquire the data provided by Mastercard, and the companies have discussed sharing a portion of the ad revenues facilitated by the deal, although there is currently no such revenue sharing agreement currently in place.

Google have declined to comment on the partnership with Mastercard, but stated that its new double-blind encryption technology prevents both Google and its partners from viewing personally identifiable information for users.

Mastercard has also declined to comment on the deal, but has confirmed that it shares transaction trends with both merchants and their service providers to aid in measuring “the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns”.

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WagamamaGo, created in partnership with Mastercard, connects to a Masterpass digital wallet, enabling payment to be taken without tapping any buttons and by just leaving the restaurant. The app also gives users the opportunity to order more items via their phone, split the bill with others, and order takeaway.

“We wanted to bring truly frictionless payment to restaurants as we know waiting for the bill is frustrating, why shouldn’t you be able to get up and go when you are ready: well, now you can,” said Richard tallboy, CIO at Wagamama. “No more waving your hand in the air, trying to catch the waiter’s eye, once you’re ready you just go, and customers are automatically charged with the receipt emailed directly. Getting the bill is the last thing a customer experiences and it was important that this be quick and stress free for our customers. We’ve been able to implement this while retaining the best elements of their interaction of the waiter.”  

The app is free to download on both Android and iOS, and can be used across all of Wagamama’s restaurants in the UK.

This isn’t the first time that the restaurant chain has linked up with Mastercard on a payment solution. Back in 2015, Wagamama became the first restaurant or retailer to offer Mastercard’s Qkr payment option.

Last month, Barclays’ Barclaycard began trialling a ‘Dine & Dash’ service with Italian restaurant chain Prezzo. Unlike Wagamama’s solution, this requires diners to tap their phones on a totem placed on their table to check-in.

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Built in partnership with Mastercard, an app enables customers to use their phones to scan the items they pick up around the store through their device’s camera. Once they have scanned all the items they need, customers then just have to tap a single button and the amount is deducted from their bank account.

The app also links to a customer’s Co-op membership account, so it can tell them how much they have saved and how much the Co-op will donate to local good causes following their visit.

“It is a challenging market place for retailers, and the Co-op is responding positively. Our ambition is to harness technology to deliver the shopping experience that our diverse customer-base requires – when, where and how they need it,” said Matthew Speight, director of retail support at the Co-op.

“It is all about consumer choices and convenience. We listen to our members and customers and we are investing in our stores, people, prices, products and technology. We recognise there are many communities where customers pop in to their local Co-op and enjoy a friendly chat – it is all part of the service. Whereas for others, perhaps with a train to catch or on a school run, every second can count as consumers seek increased convenience.”

The initiative is currently being trialled in the Co-op store at the retailer’s support centre in Manchester, with plans to rollout to more locations as early as this summer following a further trial at the Co-op store in Microsoft’s UK headquarters.

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