The Full Monty: Frictionless – July 23, 2018

Creating loyalty comes from reducing friction for customers; A.I. is set to create more jobs than it destroys; Waymo is way ahead in autonomous miles driven; Amazon is cutting out the middle mad-men; leadership needed in digital; behind the scenes on Amazon's Prime Day fiasco; the full transcript of Mark Zuckerberg's comments to Recode; social giants are teaming up on data portability; Walmart may launch a streaming video service; marketers are increasingly looking at podcasting; disinformation campaigns may target company stocks; NYC regulates Airbnb; the top skills needed to get the most out of CDPs; urgency bias is killing your productivity; plus the podcast pick of the week and more in the Frictionless edition of The Full Monty for the week of July 23, 2018.

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Top Story

If you want to engage someone – with your content, with an experience – what's the secret? How can you compete with others who are doing nearly the same thing, who already have attention, who might even be priced less than you?

Simple: Make it frictionless for the customer.

If you can find a way to make something happen easier or quicker, or do it in a way that is eminently more enjoyable, you'll find customers beating down your door.

I'll have examples of just how this is done in Episode 39 of The Full Monty podcast, airing this Wednesday. If you'd like to follow along with the rest of this commentary, please be sure to subscribe on the player of your choice.

Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous

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

Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ

Widespread adoption of artificial intelligence could actually generate more jobs than it displaces.
Facebook is testing M, a Siri-like personal assistant within Messenger. The service will use artificial intelligence to make recommendations and even complete tasks.
Elon Musk, the founders of DeepMind, and others have signed a pledge not to use A.I. for lethal purposes. Well that's a relief. Especially after Musk's recent outburst.

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ

Waymo has driven over 8 million miles on public roads – plus another 5 billion miles in simulation. With Uber easing back on autonomous efforts in Pittsburgh and Phoenix, Waymo is the autonomous leader to beat.
Hyundai is the first carmaker to launch a digital showroom on Amazon’s Vehicles hub. It's not dealers who are being disrupted; it's the likes of AutoTrader, KBB, Cars.com, TrueCar, etc. But make no mistake: the very fact that Amazon has a Vehicles hub should be worrisome.
Can you imagine what National Lampoon's Vacation would have been like with autonomous cars? Two words: no fun. This certainly wouldn't have happened:

Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy

Industry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ

Amazon Advertising is increasingly working directly with brands, cutting out agencies in the process. Hey, at least Amazon is consistent about cutting out middlemen in every industry.
Check out the 15 best branded stunts and activations of 2018 so far, from IHOB to SXSWestworld to Tesla in space, and more.
The ad world has gotten sensitive to racial and gender diversity. Now the next frontier for advertising is age.

Related: the AARP thinks if you're ignoring the 50+ digital crowd, you're missing a lot.

Some common instances where marketers skip testing — and why it's not a good idea.
As brands take some agency functions in-house, consultancies are stepping in to help. Sounds like a good idea.

Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ

The digital age requires the communications org chart needs to be reinvented. Via Katie Paine.
If you're looking to grow into a C-level leadership role, focus on e-commerce.
A successful digital team needs leadership that sets the tone for digital which means participating, setting proper expectations, engaging and more. Via Jessica Smith.

Retail Apocalypse

Humans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.

Where were you when Amazon went down on Prime Day? ICYMI, there was a glitch that held up orders while Prime Day customers were flooding the site. Recode takes us behind the scenes.
Here's a brief history of why Jeff Bezos doesn't need your money.

Which makes it all the more heartwarming that Prime Day boosted sales at other retailers by 54 percent.

Best Buy should be dead, but it's thriving in the age of Amazon. What did it get right? It all comes down to knowing how to value and capture customers' time.
Walmart has agreed to use Microsoft’s technology to power functions that could include algorithms for purchasing and sharing sales data with vendors. He who owns the data will have more control; by bringing vendors on board, Walmart is creating a strategic defensive resource.

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Platforms

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

Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ

Instagram is projected to account for 25% of Facebook's revenue by 2020, hitting $20 billion, according to analysts.
It may be even higher than that, as Instagram is the most popular platform for influencer marketing.
Facebook is becoming an angrier place (have you noticed?), specifically regarding citizens' reactions to legislators' posts. The use of the angry emoji now outweighs the love emoji.
Please read the full transcript (or listen to the podcast) of Mark Zuckerberg on Recode Decode. He had some important things to address, even if it didn't come out right.

Meanwhile, a new documentary details how third-party Facebook moderators ignore the company’s rules. Could Facebook be fearful of unfair criticism from one side or the other?
Ultimately, Facebook's words don't match its actions with respect to fake news, conspiracy theories and more.

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ

Twitter is joining Facebook, Microsoft and Google in the Data Transfer Project to help users move data between platforms.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ

LinkedIn messaging is getting an upgrade, including the ability share attachments, compose group messages, mention people, use emoji, copy and paste images, and more.

Media

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

Vɪᴅᴇᴏ

AMC is teaming up with Facebook to sell movie tickets. This is in addition to arrangements Facebook has with Fandango and Atom Tickets. MoviePass needs to get in on this action...
Comcast has dropped out of its bidding war against Disney for Fox.
Walmart is considering launching a subscription streaming video service that would undercut Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on price.
Netflix is creating a comedy-focused radio channel in partnership with Sirius XM, due to launch in January 2019. Wait, is this a video or an audio update?

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ

Ninety percent of Americans over the age of 12 listen to AM/FM radio at least once a week – down only two percent since 2009.
The podcast In the Dark is experimenting with a donors-only Facebook Group to bring in additional revenue.
Marketers are adding more podcasts to their mix, with spending on podcast advertising up 86 percent over last year.
If you're thinking about ways to get employees involved – especially those out in the field – consider using podcasts as a collaboration tool.
The Spring 2018 edition of Edison Research's Smart Audio Report with NPR is here. Smart speakers have entered the mainstream.
Program of the Week: Our pick this week is You Must Remember This, the podcast that dishes dirt on old-world Hollywood. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet: smonty.co/yourpodcasts.

Privacy / Security / Regulatory

Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
So many stories in this section this week – more available in our Flipboard magazine.

Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ

A Microsoft executive shared that the company stopped Russia from hacking three congressional campaigns.
Zignal Labs believes that the same sort of coordinated disinformation campaigns that emerged during the 2016 campaign are now targeting publicly-traded corporations such as Nestlé, Harley-Davidson and AMD in an effort to change stock prices.
The Facebook data that Cambridge Analytica got was accessed from Russia, according to a report.
Facebook may have another Cambridge Analytica on its hands: monitoring firm Crimson Hexagon is accused of violating Facebook's requirements on how to use, share, and store data.
A researcher showed Venmo transactions reveal details including real names, comments, and dates through a public API through its default public settings. Careful what you're buying. Or of your settings.

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ

The EU fined Google a record €4.3 billion (~$5 billion) in antitrust case for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices to strengthen dominance of Google's search engine. Google is required to stop "illegally tying" Chrome and search apps to Android (however you do that). Google plans to appeal.

A smart analysis of the case against Google in the EU, including an essential history of the Android OS and Google Play for context. Via Ben Thompson

Getting vendors compliant with GDPR is a legal and logistical nightmare.
New York City Council passed a bill to regulate Airbnb. The company now faces a fine of $1,500 for each unit not disclosed to the city. Airbnb has been under persistent scrutiny by the city for some time.
A driver for Uber and Lyft in St. Louis has live-streamed hundreds of rides on Twitch without passenger consent; Uber and Lyft say the practice is legal in Missouri. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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.

Salesforce purchased marketing analytics company Datorama for $800 million. Datorama’s data integration and marketing intelligence services will be integrated into Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud product.
The top skills needed to get the most out of customer data platforms (CDPs) might surprise you.
If you're looking to improve the customer experience, big data can help by allowing you to comprehensively look at customer expectations.
Real-time customer interactions should be supported by a variety of platforms:

Mental Nourishment

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

If you're a leader, you're probably starved for time. Thus, you need to consider your thinking sweet spot as you work on your thinking agility to become a more effective problem solver and manager.
Successful leaders run their most effective meetings exactly like this.
Urgency bias is killing your productivity. Learn to discern between the now and the important.
A key job search tool is fading away: just a quarter of entry-level job applicants sent a thank-you note after completing a job interview in 2017.
The difference between good and bad writing comes down to making your audience feel smart in an enjoyable way. Have you checked out some of my writing?

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Top image credit: The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull) by Thomas Eakins, 1870 (public domain)

Tuesday, July 24, 2018