The Email Executioner

Burberry, which is struggling to get rid of price differences between regions, is this week’s loser. What used to be good brand management – taking advantage of markets where you can charge $150 for an item that costs only $30 in the US – has become more difficult in an increasingly transparent digital world. Burberry’s products are significantly more expensive in Asia than the U.S. or Europe. For example, the brand’s iconic trench coat trades for about $2,700 in China and only $1,900 in the U.S.

In a Coke and Pepsi-like battle of the digital age, live streaming apps Periscope and Meerkat are competing for users; we think Periscope is emerging as the front-runner. About 40 years of footage are watched every day on Periscope, which also has the advantage of being owned by Twitter and can tap into the social platform’s user base. But we also think it’s a better designed app — and so do brands. Corporate experimentation with the platform ranges from T-Mobile’s CEO jogging through Central Park to Ralph Lauren streaming its NY runway show.

We hear a lot about the death of email, but who’s the executioner? One culprit might be Slack, an app trying to replace email for internal business communications. The company announced it has 1.1 million daily active users. Given its $2.8 billion valuation, that means each user is valued at a staggering $2,500. For comparison, LinkedIn’s per user value is $282.

Number-two unicorn Airbnb saw incredible growth this vacation season, with over 17 million users this summer, up from 47,000 five years ago. Its fastest-growing markets? Not tourist destinations, but places where the Pope will stop on his 2015 tour.