Monday, June 26, 2017

The Full Monty — June 26, 2017


A careful look at what's missing from the Meeker report (including trust, evidently); a willingness to call out bad behavior in Silicon Valley; areas of impact of AI in healthcare; the end of car ownership; media habits of Gen Y and Gen Z compared; trends on influencer marketing; executives' preference for thought leadership; Amazon may not get away with Whole Foods without a fight; manufacturing trends portend retail trends; original TV programming is coming to social platforms; China bans livestreaming; the impact of Echo on the music industry; the ousting of Travis Kalanick as Uber's CEO and all of the fallout around it; Google Analytics for content marketers; the importance of preparation amid crisis; and more in the inquisitive edition of The Full Monty. Don't forget check out where Brain+Trust is speaking (final section below).



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The Full Monty, a Brain+Trust Partners publication, exposes you to virtually everything you need in business intelligence at the top of every week. Links are below with commentary in italics. Please sign up for our email updates to make sure you don't miss a thing. And please click send your colleagues to this page to sign up as well.

We've got all of these links — and those that didn't make the cut for publication — in The Full Monty Magazine on Flipboard.



Top Stories

  • Unless you've been sleeping in your cab all week, you're aware that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigned. More on the industry fallout in the Regulatory / Security section below.
  • We all know and trust the annual Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers Internet Trends Report  delivered annually by Mary Meeker (as shared in the June 5 edition here). But in a bit of sleuthing, Tom Webster has determined that all may not be as it seems. While the report is exhaustive, Tom found that it's a matter of what isn't there that speaks volumes: namely, that the Meeker report presents data primarily from KPCB portfolio companies, thus assuring that "Internet trends" will be set by the companies that it funds. A clever bit of content marketing. And possibly an ethical morass.




Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Autonomous

The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, and autonomous everything.

AUTONOMOUS

  • Ride sharing and self-driving vehicles will redefine our relationship with cars, and auto makers and startups alike are gearing up for the change. The Wall Street Journal ran a special section on the Future of Transportation, leading with a rather hyperbolic headline, "The End of Car Ownership." 
  • The connected car goes beyond autonomous driving. Marketers are experimenting with developing smart car ecosystems as Internet-connected vehicles become the norm.
  • The Tesla driver involved in a fatal autonomous driving accident ignored repeated warnings to put his hands on the wheel before he crashed into the rear of a semi-trailer, shearing off the top third of his car. According to the NHTSA report, during a 37-minute period when he should have had his hands on the steering wheel, the driver did so for only 25 seconds. We're still not ready for autonomous driving. It's not like ignoring your "check engine" light, folks.
  • And on the same day that Tesla announced that it had hired leading AI expert Andrej Karpathy as the company’s new director of AI and Autopilot, Tesla's Autopilot software chief left after only six months on the job.
  • In the Waymo vs. Uber suit, parent company Alphabet claims that Travis Kalanick knew that Otto CEO and former Waymo leader Anthony Lewandowski was in possession of Waymo files five months before Uber acquired Otto. That sounds like grounds for firing—oh, wait...
  • Essential for the next generation of cars: high-definition mapping.



Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy

Industry developments and trends, including retail, fake news, customer experience, content marketing, and influencer relations.

THIS WEEK IN RETAIL:




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Need help convincing management? No problem! CMI has a pre-written “Justify Your Trip” template.



Platforms 

News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.

TWITTER / PERISCOPE

FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / WHATSAPP

SNAP

ALPHABET / GOOGLE




Media

The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.

VIDEO

AUDIO



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Regulatory / Security 

Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.

SECURITY / HACKING:

ON-DEMAND ECONOMY

THIS WEEK IN #DELETEUBER

The developments at Uber continue to warrant a unique section.


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.


Do you like what you see here? Please subscribe to have trends on digital communications, marketing, technology and business delivered to your inbox each Monday.


patreon.com/scottmonty

Between this and the podcast, it's a lot of work. Does this provide any kind of value to you? If so, please consider joining as a patron.



Upcoming Brain+Trust Speaking Engagements

Can we speak for your organization? Drop us a line.


Brain+Trust Partners doesn't believe in gobbledygook — we use common sense strategic guidance to help you master the evolving marketplace. From strategy development to technology and data vendor selection, to digital transformation and streamlining processes, our focus is on the customer experience. And our decades of experience working for major brands means that we deeply understand the challenges you're facing. Let us know if we can help you.


Top photo credit: Coroners Inquests by Paul Townsend (Flickr)

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Monday, June 19, 2017

The Full Monty — June 19, 2017


Google and Facebook are stepping up their roles in combating terrorism and fake news; Amazon gets primed for Whole Foods; the state of the chatbot economy; using bots to build relationships; email and content marketing are essential to each other; trusted news sites and ads pair well; the three forces at play against brick-and-mortar retailers; report: how propagandists abuse the Internet; Instagram gives influencers tools to better disclose paid relationships; YouTube is heatmapping VR; Netflix has surpassed cable subscriptions; Spotify is more popular than ever and losing money; Airbnb wants more uniformity; Lyft is gaining on Uber; the fallout from the report on the investigation of Uber's culture; pressure is mounting to measure marketing's impact and performance; leadership titles matter less than you think; and more in the disruption edition of The Full Monty. Be sure you subscribe to The Full Monty podcast, and don't forget check out where Brain+Trust is speaking (final section below).


Check out exactly how to become a patron to show that you care about great content.  





The Full Monty, a Brain+Trust Partners publication, exposes you to virtually everything you need in business intelligence at the top of every week. Links are below with commentary in italics. Please sign up for our email updates to make sure you don't miss a thing. And please click send your colleagues to this page to sign up as well.

We've got all of these links — and those that didn't make the cut for publication — in The Full Monty Magazine on Flipboard.



Top News

  • Two moves by Google and Facebook — leaders of the online world — indicate their willingness to take responsibility for solving some of the most thorny issues we're dealing with as a society:
  • Following Sunday's terrorist attack in London, Google announced "We are working with government, law enforcement and civil society groups to tackle the problem of violent extremism online," specifically through four steps it is taking to fight online terror:
    • Devote more engineering resources to apply the most advanced machine learning research to train new “content classifiers” to help more quickly identify and remove extremist and terrorism-related content.
    • Greatly increase the number of independent experts in YouTube’s Trusted Flagger program and expand their work with counter-extremist groups to help identify content that may be being used to radicalize and recruit extremists. 
    • Videos that contain inflammatory religious or supremacist content will appear behind an interstitial warning and will not be monetized, recommended or eligible for comments or user endorsements.  
    • Implement the “Redirect Method” more broadly across Europe, harnessing the power of targeted online advertising to reach potential ISIS recruits, and redirect them towards anti-terrorist videos that can change their minds about joining.
  • Last week, Facebook solicited feedback on the toughest issues it is grappling with, publishing a list of seven “hard questions” (such as its role amid terrorism, how to define false news versus politicized speech) and an email address — hardquestions@fb.com — where users can send feedback and suggestions for more questions the company should address.




Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Autonomous

The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, and autonomous everything.

AUTONOMOUS



Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy

Industry developments and trends, including retail, fake news, customer experience, content marketing, and influencer relations.

THIS WEEK IN RETAIL:

    THIS WEEK IN FAKE NEWS:





    SPONSOR


    Register now for Content Marketing World 2017 – taking place September 5-8, 2017 in Cleveland, OH. I’ll be there, and I hope you will be too! Early bird rates end on Friday, June 2. Plus, use code MONTY100 to save an additional $100. Register here: http://cmi.media/cmworld17monty

    Need help convincing management? No problem! CMI has a pre-written “Justify Your Trip” template.



    Platforms 

    News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.

    TWITTER / PERISCOPE

    FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / WHATSAPP

    YAHOO

    • The main reason Tumblr never worked out is that no one at Yahoo understood it and the platform never figured out a way to turn its large user base into ad dollars.
    • At a conference last week, Marissa Mayer, ex-CEO of Yahoo, said "I'm looking forward to going back to Gmail." She later clarified in a tweet that she'd be using Yahoo Mail too. Convinced? Neither are we.

    SNAP

    • Last week, Snap closed at $17, a 4.9% drop from opening price, and below its IPO price, amid investor concerns about future growth and profit.

    OTHER

    • Slack is raising $500 million at a $5 billion post-money valuation and has drawn interest from the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Salesforce

    VR/AR




    Media

    The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.

    VIDEO

    • According to a report by Leichtman Research, Neflix subscriptions have surpassed cable for the first time. Netflix has 50.85 million subscribers compared to 48.61 million for major cable networks. Cable subscriptions are down 4 million in the five years that Netflix subscriptions doubled.
    • How YouTube is taking on big TV: to outmaneuver traditional TV — and secure Google’s future — YouTube’s CEO must satisfy homegrown creators, risk-averse advertisers, Hollywood celebs, and a billion-plus viewers.

    AUDIO

    • Spotify reached 140 million MAUs and grew revenue in 2016 over 50% to $3.3 billion, with a net loss of $601 million. It has guaranteed to pay big music labels more than $2 billion over the next two years.
    • Only 50 million of those 140 million Spotify listeners are paying subscribers, leading to that widening loss. Spotify's fans are loving it to death. It may be time to consider raising the price of a subscription.
    • GE remains confident of branded podcasts after 8 million downloads of its two programs. 
    • Program of the Week: Following the mention of Augustus Caesar in the This Week in Fake News section above, this week's program is The Life of Caesar(s). It started as a linear, relatively serious podcast about the life of Gaius Julius Caesar, the general, the consul, the dictator. Fairly quickly it morphed into an over-the-top, balls to the wall version of the same podcast, replete with potty mouths, rock songs, and political rants. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet:  smonty.co/yourpodcasts.  
    • And don't forget to subscribe to our show via email or on iTunesGoogle PlayStitcher,  Spreaker or SoundCloud.


    SPONSOR

    Want to know what 500 marketers (budgets up to $10 million) believe and how those beliefs influence their behaviors when it comes to hiring and firing agencies just like yours?

    Don't miss this FREE 16 page report, full of information, insight and guidance on how to best approach prospects based on the findings.

    Some of the results are going to really surprise you.

    If you're seeing this, maybe you'd like to see your company's name here too. Let us know.

    Regulatory / Security 

    Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.

    SECURITY / HACKING:

    ON-DEMAND ECONOMY

    THIS WEEK IN #DELETEUBER

    In last week's edition, we gave Uber its own section due to the various developments around its leadership and culture. We continue this week with further news.



    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.
    • Pressure is mounting on marketers to measure marketing's performance and impact. Currently, an MPM study finds that marketing is doing best at using data in order to improve its effectiveness, but is having less success in using data to make course adjustments and improve operational efficiency.
    • It bears repeating this week: Apple is making major changes to its Podcast app that include analytics for podcasters.


    Mental Nourishment

    Other links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.



    Do you like what you see here? Please subscribe to have trends on digital communications, marketing, technology and business delivered to your inbox each Monday.

    patreon.com/scottmonty

    Between this and the podcast, it's a lot of work. Does this provide any kind of value to you? If so, please consider joining as a patron.



    Upcoming Brain+Trust Speaking Engagements

    Can we speak for your organization? Drop us a line.


    Brain+Trust Partners doesn't believe in gobbledygook — we use common sense strategic guidance to help you master the evolving marketplace. From strategy development to technology and data vendor selection, to digital transformation and streamlining processes, our focus is on the customer experience. And our decades of experience working for major brands means that we deeply understand the challenges you're facing. Let us know if we can help you.


    Top photo credit: Kurt Edblom, Redcrest Grocery and General Store (Flickr)

    --

    Monday, June 12, 2017

    The Full Monty — June 12, 2017


    It's just another week at Uber; Alphabet says 'domo arigato, Mr. Roboto'; AI for marketers is really hard; Lyft is getting serious about autonomous vehicles; lessons from the WSJ's paywall; the positive (and negative) about thought leadership in B2B settings; Amazon battles Walmart; Twitter's live video success; the danger of posting to a Facebook Group; one app accounts for 30 percent of mobile usage in China; streaming services surpass cable; news radio listening is on the rise; Instagram is being used for malware; more efficient marketing through untapped data; the role of the CEO in transformation; and more in the Uber emergency board meeting edition of The Full Monty. Be sure you subscribe to The Full Monty podcast, and don't forget check out where Brain+Trust is speaking (final section below).


    Become a patron if you get any value whatsoever out of this newsletter.  





    The Full Monty, a Brain+Trust Partners publication, exposes you to virtually everything you need in business intelligence at the top of every week. Links are below with commentary in italics. Please sign up for our email updates to make sure you don't miss a thing. And please click send your colleagues to this page to sign up as well.

    We've got all of these links — and those that didn't make the cut for publication — in The Full Monty Magazine on Flipboard.



    Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Autonomous

    The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, and autonomous everything.

    AUTONOMOUS




    Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy

    Industry developments and trends, including retail, fake news, customer experience, content marketing, and influencer relations.

    THIS WEEK IN RETAIL:

      THIS WEEK IN FAKE NEWS:




      SPONSOR


      Register now for Content Marketing World 2017 – taking place September 5-8, 2017 in Cleveland, OH. I’ll be there, and I hope you will be too! Early bird rates end on Friday, June 2. Plus, use code MONTY100 to save an additional $100. Register here: http://cmi.media/cmworld17monty

      Need help convincing management? No problem! CMI has a pre-written “Justify Your Trip” template.



      Platforms 

      News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.

      TWITTER / PERISCOPE


      FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / WHATSAPP

      ALPHABET / GOOGLE

      • Google AMP pages were meant to speed up the web, but what's actually happening is that users are spending more time on pages. Chartbeat shows that it is having an impact on how users interact with sites.
      • Google got plaudits for creating an ad blocking system within Chrome, but now it's catching heat for still tracking user behavior and data. While idealists would like complete privacy, it's unrealistic to expect that Google gives up tracking user data, as that's exactly the information that gives it the ability to advertise.

      SNAP

      OTHER

      VR/AR




      Media

      The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.

      VIDEO

      AUDIO

      • SiriusXM invested $480 million in Pandora, which also made $200 million by selling Ticketfly to EventBrite.
      • There's been a surge in news radio listening. According to Nielsen, Americans listened to more than 11.5 billion hours of news on the radio last year, up from 10.5 billion in 2015, in particular driven by younger audiences.
      • Apple is going to let podcast creators and advertisers see what appeals to listeners. Basic analytics are finally coming to Apple’s podcast app in an upcoming refresh.
      • New discovery service PodSearch allows podcasts to be listed (for a fee) and for listeners to discover podcast (for free).
      • Now that Taylor Swift's "1989" has sold 10 million copies, she "wants to thank her fans by making her entire back catalog available to all streaming services." So much for “I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists and creators of this music.” Also of note for the cynics out there: she made her announcement the day before Katy Perry was set to release a new album.
      • Program of the Week: The Dollop with comedians Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony. It explores one small topic or person from American history. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet:  smonty.co/yourpodcasts.  
      • And don't forget to subscribe to our show via email or on iTunesGoogle PlayStitcher,  Spreaker or SoundCloud.


      SPONSOR

      Want to know what 500 marketers (budgets up to $10 million) believe and how those beliefs influence their behaviors when it comes to hiring and firing agencies just like yours?

      Don't miss this FREE 16 page report, full of information, insight and guidance on how to best approach prospects based on the findings.

      Some of the results are going to really surprise you.

      If you're seeing this, maybe you'd like to see your company's name here too. Let us know.

      Regulatory / Security 

      Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.

      SECURITY / HACKING:

      ON-DEMAND ECONOMY

      THIS WEEK IN #DELETEUBER

      We're giving Uber its own section this week because the developments have been many and are fairly significant, in terms of understanding startup culture.

      And why haven't you deleted Uber yet?

      * Disclosure: I wasn't aware of Dan Lyons' article prior to using that term.


      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.




      Do you like what you see here? Please subscribe to have trends on digital communications, marketing, technology and business delivered to your inbox each Monday.


      Between this and the podcast, it's a lot of work. Does this provide any kind of value to you? If so, please consider joining as a patron.



      Upcoming Brain+Trust Speaking Engagements

      Can we speak for your organization? Drop us a line.


      Brain+Trust Partners doesn't believe in gobbledygook — we use common sense strategic guidance to help you master the evolving marketplace. From strategy development to technology and data vendor selection, to digital transformation and streamlining processes, our focus is on the customer experience. And our decades of experience working for major brands means that we deeply understand the challenges you're facing. Let us know if we can help you.


      Top photo credit: Vandenberg Air Force Base

      --

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