The lost art of
apology; what it means to be
human in a world of A.I., the
early adopters of A.I. are in a pole position;
Uber ends its autonomous efforts in Arizona; look at
failures as well as successes to determine your
marketing needs; the greatest
communication tool of all time;
malls are in peril – but the degree to which is up for debate; how to make a stellar online shopping
experience;
Facebook Marketplace gets the full classified treatment;
YouTube's new streaming services compared to the competition; the
media landscape of today;
GDPR landed – how to ensure you're prepared; signs that your
analytics program will fail; habits to improve your
intelligence; plus the
podcast of the week, wants and offers in the
Community section and more in the
I'm Sorry, What? edition of
The Full Monty from Brain+Trust Partners for the week of May 29, 2018.
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Contents:
Announcements
Top Stories
Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous
Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy
Retail Apocalypse
Platforms
Media
Community
Privacy / Security / Regulatory
Measurement / Analytics / Data
Mental Nourishment
Speaking Engagements
Announcements
As you see directly above, we've added a Table of Contents to make navigation a little easier (and especially because some of the good stuff is near the end). Also, please be sure to check out
The Full Monty podcast, which has returned after a year; new episodes drop on Wednesdays. And check out
our YouTube channel as well.
Top Stories
I’m sorry. How often do you hear those words? I mean hear them applied really sincerely. These days, probably not much.
The journalist
Ambrose Bierce lived from 1842 to 1914 and in
The Devil's Dictionary, he wrote that to apologize was “to lay the foundation for a future offence.”
And isn't that what we constantly see from businesses, celebrities, executives, and more? They're really only sorry that they got caught. Because if they were truly sorry, they would have caught the slip-up themselves – not waited until they were outed by the media. So they offer their meaningless apology, and it typically smooths things over. For a while.
Until the next time they get caught, doing the same thing over again.
Do we really need apologies? And for those who offer them, what's the art of making a good one?
As a father with young children, I had to teach them the art of saying sorry. Do you know what sorry means? Well, of course you understand it intuitively, but how would you simply describe what sorry means to a two or three year-old? Think about it for a moment.
It was an interesting exercise for me as a father. Here’s how I defined sorry to my kids: when you say sorry it means you didn’t mean to do it and you’ll try not to do it again.
The first part of the phrase is the easy part. It's what we mean when we apologize for bumping into someone, or making a simple error. But the second part – I'll try not to do it again – that's what takes effort. You really have to give that part some thought, and commit to acting differently the next time.
How often to you say sorry and really mean it?
P.G. Wodehouse wrote: “It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.”
Think about companies that have stepped in it in recent memory. Typically these are companies that have experienced data breaches or that have violated the privacy and trust of their customers. Do you think we want apologies for those things?
I'd say yes – but again, it's the second part of the meaning of the word that makes all the difference.
Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous
The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, and blockchain, mobility, and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy
Industry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.
Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ
- When it comes to marketing, the choices you make will affect how attention is given to you. But rather than looking at all what went into the successes, it's sometimes helpful to look at what was missing from the failures. Case in point: when shot-up British bombers returned with bullet holes, scientists suggested reinforcing those areas with armour; one contrarian said "Put the armour where there are no holes. Those planes don't make it home."
- No matter where we go on the Internet, we're trapped in the feed. It's the twice broken model of advertising and media: just as in the TV industry, today’s platforms were designed to focus on the most and not the best, in order to maximize ad dollars.
- When most advertising channels are closed to your business, how can you build an audience? One entrepreneur shares her journey.
Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
- Muck Rack and Zeno Group surveyed more than 500 journalists around the world and found that roughly half of journalists around the world (53 percent in the United States and 41 percent outside the U.S.) don’t use press releases to find new story ideas.
- Cruise brand Carnival Corp.'s CEO discovered the greatest communication tool of all time – listening – and profits soared.
- American Airlines CEO Doug Parker had a chance to fly in one of his airline's newly configured and cramped economy seats, to truly experience the brand the way some customers do. When asked if he did, he declined to answer. That's a no.
Retail Apocalypse
Humans are a transactional species, and the practice —
if not the very notion of what retail is —
is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
- Three predictions that will change malls in the next five years include the closing of one in five department stores, a shift away from discretionary products, and how we'll buy apparel.
- Not to be outdone, the former CEO of JC Penney says that 75 percent of malls will close over the next five years. Bold prediction.We think it's overstated.
- If you want to make your online shoppers' experience top-notch, consider three things: if they can find reviews, how much friction is in the check-out process, and reduce or eliminate shipping fees. Good, fast, and cheap – consumers want it all.
- While we're at it, Google has four insights into how shoppers use apps and mobile sites. One major takeaway: put more effort into your mobile site, as it's not guaranteed that consumers will have your app installed, and a good mobile site can/should do what its app does.
- Walmart is the only firm that has the management, capital and the scale to compete with Amazon.
- Amazon is banning customers for making too many returns.
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Platforms
News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.
Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
- Legal challenges are increasingly putting Facebook and others under scrutiny as to whether they're platforms or media outlets. One lawyer asks, "What is the difference between you and a national newspaper being responsible for the letters they publish on their letters page?"
- Facebook Marketplace allows users to hire plumbers and home cleaners. This is in addition to recently adding the ability to search for a home rental or buy a car. Sounds like Facebook is also mimicking the classified ads section of newspapers, weakening their case above.
- “We went along for the ride every single step of the way. But we noticed, over the course of two years, that we were being paid in all types of currencies — followers, shares, views — that did not feel like money,” said The Weather Channel, as it walked away from publishing videos on Facebook.
- Facebook has made it easier to set up two-factor authentication. If you don't have this security featured activated on your account, please consider doing so now.
- Mark Zuckerberg appeared in front of the EU Parliament last week to discuss Facebook's role in privacy, politics, and society. It turned out to be more of an awkward grilling with unanswered questions than an informal hearing. At least European leaders looked more well informed than their U.S. counterparts.
Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Aʟᴘʜᴀʙᴇᴛ / Gᴏᴏɢʟᴇ / YᴏᴜTᴜʙᴇ
Media
The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
- Last week, with a market cap increase of about $150 million, Netflix became larger than Comcast. Maybe Netflix should make a bid for Fox...
- The Obamas signed a deal to create original programming for Netflix. The shows will include scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries and features. It used to be book deals and speaking engagements; is this the new status for post-presidential years?
Aᴜᴅɪᴏ
- The Four consist of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Who will be the fifth horseman? Good money is on Spotify.
- The advertising market around podcasts is fascinating. But have you ever gotten the sense that a handful of brands dominate the shows? This headline acknowledges that: Podcast Industry Stalls as Entire Audience Acquires a Mattress and a Website. It was inevitable.
- Program of the Week: Our pick this week is Problem Solvers with Jason Feifer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur. The show features business owners and CEOs who went through a crippling business problem and came out the other side happy, wealthy, and growing. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet: smonty.co/yourpodcasts.
Community
A place for subscribers of this newsletter to help each other. Do you have a special request or need? Email us and each week, we'll pick one to feature. And hopefully the power of the crowd will work. As Marcus Aurelius wrote in Meditations, "...help men. Short is life."
This week, the request comes directly from my own team: do you or any leaders on your team need a current state of the industry deep-dive? What's hot in digital and social, and what's coming next?
Brain+Trust Partners can help with an
executive briefing. Gather as many or as few of your team as you like and book us for
an hour, a
half day or a
full day and we'll share our perspective, shaped by years of brand-side experience and partnerships with technology companies.
Can we help you with anything? Send an email to fullmonty [AT] scottmonty [DOT] com with your request and we'll see if we can get it into a future issue of the newsletter.
Privacy / Security / Regulatory
Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
Measurement / Analytics / Data
The future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
Mental Nourishment
Other links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
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Top image credit: The Lictors Bring Brutus the Bodies of His Sons by Jacques-Louis David, 1789 (public domain)
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