Tag: News

• The Chinese government unveiled a raft of measures to stimulate its embattled housing market.
• It will remove the floor on mortgage rates, offer cheaper housing loans, and lower down payments.
• Overbuilding has led to supply far outpacing demand, leaving developers short of cash and deep in debt.

Chinese authorities just announced their biggest effort yet to shore up the troubled housing market.

In a slew of statements on Friday, the People's Bank of China said it would remove the nationwide floor on mortgage rates for first-time and second-time homebuyers, lower interest rates on housing loans, and reduce minimum down payments in a bid to boost demand.

The central bank will also set up a 300 billion yuan ($42 billion) relending program for public housing, which it expects to fuel an extra 500 billion yuan of bank lending, Bloomberg reported, citing official comments at a briefing.

Moreover, the Chinese government will push local officials to purchase empty homes from developers and turn them into affordable housing, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing comments from Vice Premier He Lifeng.

He said the new policies were in the public interest and supported economic development. The moves follow the release of official data for April showing the biggest month-on-month decline in home prices in a decade.

Overbuilding is a huge problem in China's property sector. Excess inventory has reached gargantuan levels with a former top official estimating last year that there are enough spare homes to house 3 billion people — more than double the nation's population.

China's housing woes have weighed on its economic growth and sown discontent. Millions of people are facing unemployment or pay cuts as construction work dries up and cash-strapped developers default on loans.

The country's second-biggest developer, Evergrande, fanned fears of global contagion when it defaulted on its bonds at the end of 2021. The biggest developer, Country Garden, came close to defaulting last fall.

The new measures lifted shares of Chinese developers and the Shanghai Stock Exchange Property Index on Friday.

The online world has never been more saturated with brands selling products. And with consumers making purchasing decisions across multiple touchpoints, advertisers need to meet them across the entire marketing funnel to really drive impact and significant business results.

TikTok's unique placement at the intersection of entertainment and commerce is transforming how brands connect with their audiences. Let's rewind a few years when we saw the sell-out success of products like Ocean Spray and Little Moons. Since then, we've seen the exponential growth of #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, proving that the platform has revolutionized how consumers discover products and shop — playing a valuable role in all stages of the purchase journey. In fact, 65% of TikTok users are likely to buy a product that they previously saw on TikTok in the future,^[1] and 61% of users have made a purchase either directly on TikTok or online after seeing an ad on TikTok.^[2]

Crafting full-funnel strategies with TikTok can enable your brand to unlock its full potential by improving marketing efficiency and agility, and driving brand salience. Want to find out how? We've broken down the key elements of three common marketing scenarios — launching a product, implementing an always-on strategy, and capturing peak season sales — and used brand examples to show you how to effectively consolidate multiple ad formats and objectives into single campaigns to drive demand and action.

It's been a pleasure to work with the team at TikTok to develop our content and targeting strategy. The impact of a full-funnel campaign structure on our performance can't be overstated. Tom Donegan, senior paid social manager at PureGym

Take your products from just out to sold-out: See how Sephora did it

Sephora implemented a full-funnel strategy on TikTok to generate brand awareness and increase online sales for their new line in Spain. 60% of their budget for this campaign was allocated to increasing reach, with a first phase focusing on TikTok's Top Feed Ad product, which was enhanced using the Pop Out Showcase Interactive Add-On. This was followed by a consideration phase, which featured In-Feed Ads optimized for video views and landing page views objectives supported by TikTok's Display Card Add-On.

The campaign's final phase focused on conversions and utilized TikTok's newest conversion product, Video Shopping Ads. The brand optimized its ads toward high purchase intent and directed its target audience directly to the product catalog to encourage purchasing.

Thanks to this strategy, Sephora's campaign achieved its best ROAS results to date. The total number of complete payments increased by 40% compared to similar campaigns run by the brand, and there was a 29% decrease in cost-per-action.

Brand takeaways:

• Bundle multiple ad formats to drive impact
• Use premium placements such as Top View & Pulse to maximize awareness on launch day
• Leverage Reach & Frequency buying to deliver maximum reach and awareness

Get game-changing results with an always-on strategy: See how PureGym did it

PureGym wanted to increase consumer consideration and grow its member base, all while reducing its cost per acquisition. Knowing that the most successful content on TikTok is content that is created specifically for the platform, the brand utilized the TikTok Creative Exchange Programme to develop 20 pieces of creator-led content that leveraged trending sounds, special effects, and Interactive Add-Ons. The brand then developed a full-funnel always-on strategy consisting of reach, traffic, and conversion campaigns that utilized a suite of ad solutions, including In-Feed Ads and Spark Ads.

The campaign reached more than 10.9 million people in the UK, delivering over 173 million video views and over 26,000 new joiners to the gym, and as a direct result of their test-and-learn approach, PureGym reduced their cost-per-completed-payment by 77%. PureGym proved that an always-on approach and the right mix of ad formats are key to driving long-term success on the platform and real business results.

Brand takeaways:

• Run campaigns for longer periods to see the best results
• Use a nurture strategy, rather than optimizing directly for conversions
• Scale budgets over time as performance improves

Harness the seasonal shopping state of mind: See how ghd did it

ghd France wanted to capitalize on the holiday season and drive qualified traffic and sales to their website. The brand initially implemented a nurturing phase in order to gain awareness of its special offer using TikTok's In-Feed Ad solution.

Once this top-funnel phase was over, ghd France utilized Video Shopping Ads (VSA) with an efficient retargeting system to pinpoint users who had visited the ghd France website and/or added a product to their basket. The VSA format includes a CTA on creatives that either leads users to the advertiser's website or product catalog. By doing this, advertisers significantly improve the quality and speed of the shopping experience and are more likely to drive sales.

This campaign was a success for ghd France, driving a 4.88x increase in conversions, an 80% reduction in cost per acquisition, and an impressive return on ad spend of 23x.

Brand takeaways:

• Build audiences in advance, giving them time to scale
• Start campaigns early, to pick up on demand
• Incorporate learnings from past campaigns

There's a TikTok solution for every objective

TikTok's solutions enable brands to combine creative entertainment and commerce across the entire marketing funnel, powering a seamless customer journey from discovery to purchase and beyond. Find the solutions that work for your brand here.

To read more about the impact that short-form video platforms like TikTok have across the marketing funnel, dive into this report from research organization WARC.

This post was created by TikTok with Insider Studios. 

Sources:

¹ TikTok Marketing Science EUI TikTok for Full Funnel Research 2023 conducted by Material

² TikTok Marketing Science Global Shopping Ad Products Study 2022 conducted by Material February 2022 (n=17,937).

• Chevrolet is ready for the new wave of EV customers.
• The stalwart Detroit brand is ready to close the gap with Tesla.
• The electric Silverado and Equinox are about to join Chevy's growing EV lineup.

Chevrolet is just getting started on its takeover of the electric car market, says Steve Majoros, the brand's chief marketing officer.

The longtime Chevy executive sat down with Business Insider at a Tuesday press event for the launch of two electric vehicles that underpin the automaker's future plans: the long-awaited Silverado electric pickup truck and the electric Chevy Equinox.

It's not exactly a great time to put more electric vehicles on sale. A changing EV shopper demographic has thrown the segment for a loop, and two years of runaway growth is finally hitting a plateau.

Despite this gloomy backdrop to the day, Majoros is fired up. He starts the conversation by musing at how long this moment has taken to arrive (the electric Silverado was first teased in a Super Bowl ad in 2022) and how exciting it is to see GM's EV ambitions come to fruition.

While Chevy and other legacy car brands spent the better part of the past decade playing catchup with Tesla, executives have promised that their century of manufacturing expertise would eventually close the gap.

"Sometimes you see things as these discrete pieces and wonder how they're all going to snap together, and then all of a sudden it's like, 'Wow, the puzzle pieces really came together here,'" Majoros said.

Chevrolet is done playing catchup with Elon Musk

While Chevrolet isn't exactly new to the EV market (the electric Chevy Bolt has been on sale since 2016), the stalwart Detroit brand has spent the better part of the last decade lagging behind Elon Musk's Tesla.

Early adopters favored techy startup brands like Musk's over dinosaurs like GM and in the time the Chevrolet spent selling a single electric model in the US, Tesla released a slew of new models, including its affordable Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, which compete directly with the Bolt.

Tesla also beat Chevrolet to the punch on an electric pickup truck, launching the Cybertruck late last year.

But the tides finally are turning in Chevrolet's favor, Majoros said, as EV shoppers gravitate to more practical options and legacy brands.

"Customers will say 'if it doesn't haul or tow or fit my kids or have the safety features I want, I'm tapping out,'" Majoros said. "I don't care if it runs on electricity, gas, or hamsters."

GM is a second-half team

GM has always been a second-half team, Majoros said, and he thinks the Chevy brand is perfectly situated to meet a new wave of electric car shoppers.

"Momentum is a true force, whether it's autos, sports, whatever," Majoros said. "We've got some momentum, so let's see how the second half unfolds."

There is certainly an opening for Chevrolet in this changing electric vehicle market.

Recent studies on a new cohort of electric car shoppers show that they are more inclined to consider purchasing an electric car from a legacy brand. After years of a virtual monopoly on the EV market, shoppers are growing tired of Tesla and looking for fresher options.

"For people weighing the pros and cons they can look at Chevrolet and see a product they know and trust," Majoros said.

• The Dublin-New York video portal has shut down again as it's tech fails to stop inappropriate behaviour.
• It was meant to bring people together in joy, but ended up bringing out the worst in people.
• Here are some other examples of fun but ultimately ill-fated tech projects.

A livestream video portal aimed at bringing people together across Dublin and New York went viral this week for all the wrong reasons.

What started out as a touching display of cross-Atlantic connection — people could wave at those 3,000 miles away and unite with long-distanced loved ones — soon devolved into chaos.

People were seen flashing their naked body parts, holding up pornographic videos to the screen, and showing photos mocking 9/11.

The inappropriate behavior prompted Dublin City Council to close the portal overnight on Monday. Its preferred solution involved updating the technology to blur inappropriate behavior, but that wasn't enough.

A spokesperson for Dublin City Council told Business Insider that the portal has now closed again until the end of the week while organizers look for another solution.

It's not the only ill-fated technology that was originally designed to bring people together. Here are some other examples.

The hitchhiking robot that met a tragic end

A hitchhiking robot was sent out into the world in 2015 but didn't survive for long in Philadelphia.

The hitchBOT wasn't as advanced as the Optimus robot or Amazon's warehouse robots. No, this little bot couldn't even move on its own.

Instead, the hitchBOT relied on the kindness of strangers to transport it from one place to the next. It managed to make its way across Canada and Europe but ended up being vandalized in the streets of Philadelphia.

Microsoft's evil chatbot

In 2016, long before ChatGPT and rival AI models existed, Microsoft trialed an AI chatbot called "Tay." It was meant to respond to users' queries on Twitter in a casual, jokey way.

But it quickly turned into a crazy racist bot — spewing out responses that denied the holocaust, supported genocide, and used racist slurs.

People quickly turned on food delivery robots designed to help them

A food delivery robot made by Starship Technologies was set up to make life more convenient for people. But in return, people took to kicking it as it passed by.

While the majority of people responded fondly to the tiny robots, a few used to as an anger management tool, Starship Technologies cofounder Ahti Heinla told BI in 2018.

• Kate Winick, a former Peloton director, faced job rejections after disclosing her pregnancy.
• When she told prospective employers about her pregnancy, she said they didn't invite her to final interviews.
• "I was incredibly naive to think that in 2024, it was finally possible to become a mom without taking a hit to your career."

Kate Winick was five months pregnant and "terrified" when she was laid off from her job at Peloton, she said in a recent LinkedIn post.

She spent the next three months applying for jobs. However, after disclosing her pregnancy to potential employers, she found that they all declined to bring her in for a final interview.

Candidates don't need to disclose pregnancy during the hiring process, and in fact, it's illegal at a federal level to refuse to hire someone because they're pregnant.

To avoid hiring discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission advises hiring managers not to ask about pregnancy in a job interview altogether.

However, the ex-Peloton director chose to tell her future employers about her pregnancy, as she says she'd internalized the idea pregnancy would mean a loss to the company, but was ensured that it wouldn't hurt her job prospects.

"Many people (all of them men) told me it would be fine, companies just want to hire the right people, invest in talent for the long term," she said in the LinkedIn post.

However, despite having over a decade of experience, she found that the advice she received about disclosing her pregnancy didn't ring true.

"100% of the companies I told went from scheduling interviews to declining to bring me in for a final round," she wrote.

She found herself subject to what is commonly referred to as the "motherhood penalty," an umbrella term for the disadvantages women can experience after having children, which encompass pay, promotions, and hiring.

"I was incredibly naive to think that in 2024, it was finally possible to become a mom without taking a hit to your career. I know no woman whose trajectory hasn't been affected, temporarily or permanently, " she wrote.

In an email to Business Insider, she added: "We have to stop pretending that being a stay-at-home mom is the default for American families.

"We need policies that support women having both children and careers," she said.

Research has shown that motherhood can still cause a hit to women's careers.

Last year, Harvard Professor Claudia Goldin won the Nobel Prize in Economics for her 16-year-long research into this topic. She found that of graduates from top MBA schools, female MBA graduates who choose to have children faced more career setbacks than their male counterparts — including less job experience, more career interruptions, and a decline in earnings.

Pregnancy can also present a hurdle for those who have freelance jobs, and have an income reliant on short-term contracts.

For some, remote work during the pandemic presented an opportunity to conceal their pregnancy. Anna Wexler, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, previously told BI that concealing her second pregnancy during the pandemic meant that her career had been less affected than during her first pregnancy.

• BlackRock staff couldn't tell that that a strategy memo on AI was written by AI itself.
• The company's COO Robert Goldstein told Fortune that his team used ChatGPT to write the memo.
• "No one realized it was actually written by a computer," Goldstein said.

Employees at the investment behemoth BlackRock couldn't tell that a strategy memo they were reading was actually written by ChatGPT, the company's COO said on Thursday.

BlackRock COO Robert Goldstein recounted the anecdote during an interview with Fortune's Lee Clifford. The pair were speaking at the outlet's Future of Finance conference in New York on May 16.

Goldstein said he'd worked with his team to prepare a memo on the company's generative AI strategy for a board meeting that took place "several months ago." But instead of drafting it themselves, Goldstein decided that the team should get ChatGPT to write the memo instead.

"So, we took what our strategy document was, and we fed it into ChatGPT with a very simple prompt. And that prompt was, 'Write an executive summary,'" Goldstein said. "So, it gave us a memo. And then we gave that memo to a bunch of people internally to read."

But no one could tell that the memo was produced by AI. Instead, Goldstein said the feedback he received mostly centered on the memo's tone.

"The comments were typically things like, 'I hate the tone.' The comments were like, 'I think you're selling yourself short,'" Goldstein said. "No one realized it was actually written by a computer."

"Couple of people when we told them it was written by a computer, they said, 'I don't like the computer's tone.' And I'm like, 'Well, you should take that up with the computer,'" he continued.

While the jury is still out on whether AI will be a boon or bane to the job market, BlackRock has been rather bullish about the promise of AI and how it can uplift its own fortunes.

Representatives for BlackRock didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

Last month, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in an earnings call that the company's investments in AI would bolster productivity.

"What it also means is rising wages," Fink told investors. "The whole organization is doing more with less people as a percent of the overall organization. That is really our ambition."

But not everyone is sold on AI's benefits.

On Monday, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that AI could strike the job market "like a tsunami."

The IMF chief was delivering a speech at the Swiss Institute of International Studies in Zurich when she expounded on the uncertainty the AI revolution could bring.

"We have very little time to get people ready for it, businesses ready for it," Georgieva said. "It could bring tremendous increase in productivity if we manage it well, but it can also lead to more misinformation and, of course, more inequality in our society."

• TikTok is testing 60-minute video uploads, challenging YouTube's long-form content domain.
• TikTok has gradually increased its video length limits to 10 minutes for all users.
• Longer video uploads may shift viewership from streaming services like YouTube.

TikTok is giving some users the option to upload 60-minute videos to the platform. That could spell trouble for YouTube and streaming giants.

The pilot was first publicly spotted by tech newsletter writer Matt Navarra. TikTok confirmed the feature to TechCrunch on Thursday.

It is unclear what regions the update is available in, and if and when it will be accessible to more users. The company told TechCrunch it does not immediately plan to roll out the 60-minute upload function widely.

The update is the latest effort by the Chinese-owned social media platform to expand its product offerings as user growth slows. When it first launched, the platform only allowed creators to post 60-second videos. The limit is now 10 minutes for all users, and 15 for some creators. TikTok competitors Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts offer similar upload lengths.

The test puts TikTok in the same weight class as YouTube. It would let content creators upload videos that require longer durations, like in-depth tutorials or family and college vlogs, which are popular on YouTube.

YouTube beats TikTok in terms of overall users in the US. More than 80% of US adults told Pew Research Center last year that they had ever used YouTube, while 33% had used TikTok. The short-form platform's users skew young: 62% of 18- to 29-year-olds told Pew they use TikTok, and 93% of users in the same age bracket use YouTube.

But TikTok is ahead of YouTube by minutes watched: Last year, Business Insider sister company eMarketer predicted that in 2024, adult TikTok users would average 55 minutes per day on the platform — five minutes more than YouTube's average.

"Because of TikTok's shorter content, the platform risks users discovering clipped content and leaving the platform to watch the full version on YouTube," eMarketer analyst Sara Lebow wrote in December. "Increasing video length could prevent a user from watching half of a video essay on TikTok and finishing the content on YouTube."

Last week, BI reported that Google leaders are encouraging employees who sell ads to capitalize on the possibility of a US TikTok ban by having "thoughtful conversation" with clients about the ban.

TikTok did not immediately respond for BI's request for comment.

The longer video feature may also threaten streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+. TikTok has a vast library of unofficially uploaded short clips from popular television shows and movies, which users binge-watch to see the show in full. Access to longer videos of shows may make this activity more commonplace.

Television networks are tapping into TikTok, too. Last year, streaming platform Peacock uploaded a pilot episode of its comedy show "Killing It" to TikTok. The episode, which was uploaded in five parts, received millions of views. A longer video duration would mean episodes can be uploaded in one go, and viewership may shift from streaming services to TikTok.

• Goldman's George Lee said AI will empower non-technical workers, including those in risk management.
• The history major turned tech banker said AI enhances skills like critical thinking, creativity, and logic.
• Banks are increasingly using AI for fraud and credit risk amid rising regulatory demands.

A longtime tech banker with a history degree says AI could be a boon for non-technical workers.

George Lee, the co-head of applied innovation at Goldman Sachs, told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday that he thinks AI will lead to the "revenge of the liberal arts" in the workforce.

"Some of the skills that are really salient to cooperate with this new of intelligence in the world are critical thinking, understanding logic and rhetoric, the ability to be creative," Lee said. "AI will allow non-technical people to accomplish a lot more — and, by the way, begin to perform what were formerly believed to be technical tasks."

Lee, who studied history at Middlebury College and got an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, sits on liberal arts-focused Middlebury's board of trustees. He joined Goldman in 1994 after his MBA and was previously the firm's co-chief information officer.

Lee told Bloomberg that AI could help people who are focused on operations and risk management.

As regulatory requirements have intensified globally and threats like cybersecurity take center stage, banks' risk management teams have swelled. In an annual bank risk management survey by EY and the International Institute of Finance released in February, a majority of banks said they're already using AI to monitor fraud and credit risk.

AI is increasingly seen as a threat to knowledge workers, including investment bankers. Junior investment-banking analyst classes — a highly-paid, high-stress job — could be cut by as much as two-thirds, while those who make it into the banks could be paid less for jobs assisted with AI.

As Business Insider has previously reported, banks from Goldman Sachs to Deutsche Bank have been exploring ways to streamline tedious tasks often assigned to junior investment bankers, like updating charts for pitch books or company valuation comparison tables.

A Goldman spokesperson previously told BI the bank has no plans to scale back its incoming class.

• A top NATO general says Russia won't be able to achieve a "strategic breakthrough" in Kharkiv.
• US Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli said Russia just doesn't have the numbers or skills to pull it off.
• Last month, Cavoli told Congress that the Russian army is 15% bigger than when it invaded Ukraine.

Russian forces are unlikely to achieve a "strategic breakthrough" in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, a top NATO general said on Thursday.

"The Russians don't have the numbers necessary to do a strategic breakthrough," US Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, per Reuters.

"More to the point, they don't have the skill and the capability to do it, to operate at the scale necessary to exploit any breakthrough to strategic advantage," Cavoli continued.

Last week, Russia launched an assault on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, with troops pouring across the border into the region. Ukraine was forced to withdraw its troops from several villages in Kharkiv after sustaining heavy fire from the Russians.

While the Russians did make some "local advances" in Kharkiv, Cavoli said he is confident that the Ukrainians "will hold the line."

Representatives for the Ukrainian and Russian defense ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

The past few months have been a tenuous period for Ukraine as it struggles to repel Russia's incursion.

US military support for Ukraine was held back for months after Republicans delayed the passage of a legislative bill to funnel aid. On April 20, the House of Representatives finally approved more than $60 billion in assistance to Ukraine.

But the aid will provide little immediate relief to the Ukrainians, who could still face increased attacks from Russia in the meantime.

"These requirements and the logistics of transporting US materiel to the frontline in Ukraine will likely mean that new US assistance will not begin to affect the situation on the front line for several weeks," the Institute for the Study of War said in a report last month.

The US think tank said Ukraine would "suffer additional setbacks in the coming weeks," though its forces should still be able "to blunt the current Russian offensive assuming the resumed US assistance arrives promptly."

On the other hand, Russia appears to have maintained its strength after battling the Ukrainians for over two years.

During a House Armed Services Committee hearing on April 10, Cavoli said that the Russian army is now 15% bigger than when it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

"In sum, Russia is on track to command the largest military on the continent," Cavoli said. "Regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Russia will be larger, more lethal, and angrier with the West than when it invaded."

• China's economy shows uneven recovery; industrial output rises, but retail sales slow.
• Factory activity beat expectations, but consumers are holding back, impacting retail sales growth.
• The property crisis is worsening, with new home prices falling at the fastest pace in over nine years.

On Friday, China released data showing an uneven economic recovery that's keeping consumers from spending.

Factory activity cracked up, with industrial output rising 6.7% in April from a year ago, beating the 5.5% growth that analysts polled by Reuters had expected.

The employment landscape improved. The jobless rate fell from 5.2% in March to 5% in April.

However, retail sales rose 2.3% from a year ago, slowing from a 3.1% increase in March and below the 3.8% forecast economists polled by Reuters had expended — an indication that consumers are holding back.

Growth in fixed-asset investment from January to April also came in below expectations, rising 4.2% instead of the 4.6% analysts expected.

China's epic property crisis got worse

Even though there are some green shoots in China's economy, the country's property market is still struggling.

Property investment fell 9.8% over the first four months of the year from a year ago. That's worse than the 9.5% decline recorded in the first three months of the year.

New home prices in April also fell at their fastest pace in over nine years, according to Reuters calculations based on the official data.

Prices were down 0.6% month-on-month in April, deeper than a 0.3% fall in March, the fastest pace since November 2014, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS, data released on Thursday.

The decline is despite Beijing's efforts to support the property sector, which accounted for about one-quarter of China's GDP.

China's economy is now in a painful transition from its reliance on lower-cost manufacturing and property to the "new three" industries of electric vehicles, solar cells, and lithium batteries.

Beijing is also stepping up on support measures including the sale of 1 trillion Chinese yuan, or $138 billion, ultra-long special sovereign bonds to fund infrastructure spending.

It's also considering a plan for local governments to buy up millions of unsold homes, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.