The Full Monty — August 15, 2016

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The Full Monty exposes you to the business intelligence that matters at the top of every week. Please sign up for our email updates to make sure you don't miss a thing. And please share this with your colleagues if you find it valuable.

Delta experienced a travel delay; journalism took a hit from John Oliver, then further embarrassed itself; Hulu goes all-in with subscriptions; Disney bets on streaming sports; Blab clams up; Twitter has room at its HQ; Snapchat and NBC are creating a miniseries; what the next economy has to be worried about; VR and brand storytelling; Telsa aims to change how we buy cars; the music industry's digital feud is more about royalties than copyright; the best and worst online customer experience; PR is lagging in analytics; the Internet is killing us; Android Trump vs. iPhone Trump; sorry, no more trivia or poems here — both can now be found exclusively on The Full Monty podcast.

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If you're around at 9:30 pm ET on Sunday evenings, you can get a preview of a couple of topics from the week's via the live video on Facebook. If not, you can always catch the replay here — or catch a more formal audio version in the podcast.

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Join Me

• I'm heading to Cleveland for Content Marketing World September 7-8, 2016
• I'll be keynoting at Brand ManageCamp from September 15-16 in Las Vegas.
• And it's back to Vegas to keynote at Pubcon on October 11.

 

Industry

• Delta's computer system went down last week, costing the airline hundreds of flights over the course of two days. The event caused many to wonder about the aging infrastructure of many legacy IT systems. You think U.S. bridges and roads are in rough shape? Try using a system that's based on a 1960s IBM mainframe.
• Ad blocking isn't going away. What's driving it? The majority of people use ad blockers because ads can eat up as much as 79% of mobile data allotments.
  • Meanwhile, Facebook has decided to start blocking ad blockers on the web version.
  • Not to be outdone, AdBlock already figured out a way around it. Favorite headline: Adblock Plus blocks Facebook block of Adblock Plus block of Facebook block of AdBlock Plus block of Facebook ads. I'm having block shock.
• On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver had some thoughts about the future of journalism, and it wasn't pretty. I always love a good John Oliver rant, but this one was off the charts.
  • And just to prove that it has a tin ear, the CEO of the Newspaper Association of America took Oliver - a comedian and political commentator - to task for not doing more to help and for making fun of the poor unfortunate newspaper industry, which has only had 20 years to figure this out. True story. You can't make this up.
  • This is all exacerbated because we're in the midst of a perfect storm of media evolution brought about by social media and the news industry's dependence on it: the triumph of superficiality over depth and substance, the acceleration of the news cycle, and the decline of media that used to provide necessary checks and balances.
  • Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal seems to have figured it out, with a 25% increase in paying digital subscribers.
  • And the New York Times just purchased Fake Love, an experiential agency that specializes in live experiences and virtual and augmented reality. Recall from our July 25 edition that the NY Times also turned its own T Brand Studio into a full-fledged agency.
  • There doesn't seem to be a problem downtown, as The New Yorker is experiencing record web traffic. To do that, it adjusted its staffing strategy, changing the mix of writers so there are fewer freelancers and more regular contributors; and incorporated a couple of video series.

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• Amid the Internet's moves to centralize many of its netizens (on Facebook, Google, etc.), we've lost the freedom we used to have. Sir Tim Berners-Less is on a crusade to reclaim the web —  to re-decentralize it.
• Hulu is moving to an all-subscription model as it makes a deal with Yahoo to provide free, ad-supported episodes of TV shows. There's only so many quarters in a row you can lose to Netflix. No more free streaming Hulu for you.
• Disney purchased a one-third stake in the MLB-backed BAM Tech, a streaming service. Disney has effectively insured itself against a cable-cutting future.
• Blab, the four-person live video service, is dead. What killed it? Facebook Live killed Blab. Well, that - and it's lack of a business model.
• The Gartner Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing and Advertising looks at the need for a more complete, single view of the technologies and practices shaping modern marketing. Customer modeling, personalization, real-time, mobile, AI and marketing technology, ad blocking, and measurement at at stake. Pretty much all of the things we look at here every week.
• P&G has left Facebook for TV. The world's largest advertiser found that it went too narrow on Facebook (which is necessary), and it was costing more to reach fewer people. This is not a repudiation of the effectiveness of Facebook; quite the opposite. While Facebook make be more expensive at scale, it is actually quite effective with smaller, targeted groups. But when a company the size and scale of P&G is interested in reach and brand advertising, TV still holds that power.

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Platforms

FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM

• Facebook is trying a new ranking signal to show you stories that are more informative. For the record Facebook, I don't find Kardashian news all that informative. Kthanksbye.

• Remember that switch to a heavier focus on updates from friends and family members over publishers on your feed? Turns out it doesn't seem to be hurting traffic to news sites. Yet.

• A report from Bloglovin shows that influencers find Instagram to be the most engaging platform.

TWITTER / PERISCOPE / VINE

• Twitter is opening up Moments to an ever-wider group of influencers, brands and partners. The curated function will give people additional ways to tell their stories.
• There's 183,000 square feet available in Twitter's headquarters. The company is subleasing the space. Perhaps because it doesn't need its in-house curation staff after that Moments update.
• Twitter continues to struggle with a 10-year problem: it's a haven for trolls. This long piece from BuzzFeed's news division (real journalism!) shows how this has been a perennial problem for the platform and how a solution is anything but simple.

ALPHABET/GOOGLE

• A year in to the new entity, a look at how things are going at Alphabet. In short, Google is doing well; the "other bets" are mixed.
• Google continues to antagoinze Yelp and TripAdvisor, putting their reviews on the second (or third) pages of search. This doesn't do much to help Google's anticompetition case in Europe.
• Google's latest Chrome update will block Flash components. If you're still using Adobe Flash on any of your websites, it's time to stop. Just stop already.

YAHOO

• Arianna Huffington is leaving the Huffington Post — or as John Oliver calls it, "Arianna Huffington's Blockquote Junction and Book Excerpt Clearinghouse." Looks like Verizon doesn't want to hear her now. Get ready for a post-Huffington Post.

SNAPCHAT

• NBC is teaming up with Snapchat to create a five-episode short-form series as part of The Voice. This is only the beginning of the entertainment industry and Snapchat.

 

Collaborative / Autonomous Economy 

• As we continue to face threats and opportunities from innovation, the next economy has at least three major challenges, according to Jeremiah Owyang: the autonomous world, Silicon Valley feudalism, and ensuring human safety from advanced robots. A tall order.

LODGING

• The New Orleans Planning Commission rejected a controversial proposal to allow entire houses to essentially be converted to vacation rentals year-round. The provision allows for owner-occupied short-term rentals for up to 30 days a year. Airbnb champions will see this as myopic, while residents claim the practice is detrimental to local renters.

TRANSPORTATION

• Uber says that the requirement for some drivers in London to pass a written test will result in fewer drivers and longer wait times for vehicles. 

• General Motors supposedly made an offer to buy Lyft, but Lyft rejected it.

• Use Lyft, get free Starbucks points. And get Lyft gift cards in Starbucks stores. Bonus points if your driver is also your barista. Hey, it's the gig economy - it could happen.

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

• Self-driving taxis will be tested in Singapore. Delphi and nuTonomy will be testing vehicles both on the street as well as in a business park.
• Tesla's innovation is about more than just autonomous vehicles. Tesla plans to change the way we buy cars.
• An interview with John Krafcic, CEO of Google's Self-Driving Car Project. Krafcic is a former auto industry executive, having spent years at Hyundai and Ford.

AI / BOTS

• The teenager who designed DoNotPay to overturn tickets in London and New York is expanding the service to assist those dealing with housing problems in the UK. We could be on the cusp of an automated way to help address some issues of homelessness.
• In the future, cybersecurity will be handled by both humans and bots.
• IBM's Watson was the the best known AI entity five years ago when it took on Jeopardy. Now, it's a major business platform.
• The White House has its own Facebook bot, in which you can ask the president anything you want. If Donald Trump ever takes over, the bot will respond with things like "I'm the best, okay? That I can tell you."

 

Virtual Reality / Audio

VIRTUAL / AUGMENTED REALITY

• As VR continues to grow in significance, here's what brands need to know about virtual reality.
• And they'll need it as VR is poised to be the next great canvas on which to tell brand stories.
• Google is already hard at work on developing techniques to combat VR trolls.
• VR technology has a significant future in the travel industry. It will give new meaning to the term "staycation."

AUDIO

• The music industry's digital war is about more than copyright. Pirating results in fewer royalties for artists, but the platform companies (like YouTube) still benefit.
• Boston has its first podcast garage, a community center built from an old Jiffy Lube, where producers and creators can come together to share resources. It would have been even better if the site were the home of the garage of Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the Car Talk brothers.

• Program of the Week. This week's recommendation is Traction, suggested by Jay Acunzo. Creative & unusual things entrepreneurs do to gain initial results against the odds (Note: Marketing tactics often mentioned, in addition to broader business topics). Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet: smonty.co/yourpodcasts

• And in case you want to check out our latest:

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Content / Customer Experience / Influencer Marketing

• Personalization is key for content marketers. Behavioral data and consumer insights help drive a more customized approach.
• Consulting giant Accenture is also a giant in content marketing: to the tune of some $600 million that its clients spend with it every year. An impressive figure, and given their understanding of integration, it's likely that they'll give traditional ad agencies a run for their money.
• The two pillars of content marketing are extrinsic and intrinsic. You'll want to click through to read the whole thing.
• A little over halfway through 2016 and five content marketing trends have been spotted. They include influencer marketing, visual communications and personalization.
• Since visual communications are so important, you might like to know about 10 ways to tell better stories using charts.
• Email content still works. Especially when you have the secrets to keep people from unsubscribing. You'll like #1. Hopefully.
• At Jack in the Box, customer service has moved from phones to being an entirely digital operation where they handle 25,000 customer mentions a month.
• The best and worst web experience ratings can be seen in the chart below. There's a common thread in the stand-outs. And one glaring data point. Can you spot it? Aside from Amazon, the top brands are all banks. Without a trusted and superior online experience, you can go elsewhere. At the other end of the spectrum? Cable companies and discount travel brands, because, hey, what else are you gonna do? But think about it for a moment: the banks have the revenue to be able to afford a better experience, while the discount brands do not. It takes a considerable investment and a commitment to create a better customer experience. You really do get what you pay for.

 

Privacy / Security / Legal

• Gmail users have reason to celebrate: Gmail now comes with warnings about unauthenticated senders. Time to move mom, dad and grandma over to Gmail.
• IT security is a top concern for small and medium businesses. Although security is one of the most talked about topics in the IT channel today, there’s a widespread lack of education and awareness in the workplace.
• Has Donald Trump got you spooked about a "rigged" U.S. election? Not to worry. There are at least five reasons why hacking the U.S. election is impossible.
• There are about 100 Volkswagens that could be victim to a wireless hacking to unlock them.
• And 75% of Bluetooth smart locks can be hacked.
• Feeling insecure yet? Then take care before you buy your next connected device. The latest IoT device to be hacked is the We-Vibe 4 Plus smart vibrator. Yes, a Bluetooth vibrator has been hacked. We just hope no one got a virus.

 

Measurement / Metrics / Data 

• How Google Analytics ruined marketing: "too many tech marketers now ignore the difference between strategies and channels, favor digital channels that often deliver lower returns than traditional channels and think that direct responses are the only useful ROI metric." But it's just so much easier to be lazy, isn't it?
• Is PR lagging behind other industries in data analysis? The development of the Barcelona Principles is a big step forward for public relations, but it isn’t enough. The whole industry must practice a great deal more data analysis or it will fall even further behind other sectors of marketing.
• Facebook video metrics are getting better. New metrics will give marketers more understanding of demographic viewing, live engagement (by reaction) and page-owned views versus views from shares or cross-posts.
• Predictive analytics and social analytics are among what B2B marketers want to see in their toolkits.

 

When You Have the Time: Essential Watching / Listening / Reading 

• The Internet is making us sicker. Literally. Cyberchondria is DIY dignosis on overdrive. "Kids in their 20s, they get twitches—benign fasciculations. If you Google it, ALS comes up.”
• If you want to live longer, then read more books. Not the Internet.
• And if you'd like to improve your job performance, four hobbies may help with that.
• On your way up the ladder, take note of 10 principles of strategic leadership.
• Brand placement is a whole industry. But when your production doesn't have a sponsor or you'd like to keep things pure in your fictional world, you'd likely choose one of these 10 fictional brands that Hollywood loves to use in film and TV. Your lawyers sleep better at night too.
• Someone did a text analysis of Donald Trump's tweets and discovered that tweets come from an Android device and an iPhone. Turns out the Android tweets are angrier and more hyperbolic than the iPhone tweets. Gee, I wonder which ones are sent by Donald versus his staff?

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I speak to groups and advise brands and agencies to help them embrace the fundamentals of human communication in the digital age. You can join these other top-notch clients by reaching out if you'd like to put my experience and digital smarts to work on a project, to consult with your group, or to address an audience at your next corporate or industry event.

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