Humanity beats technology (until it doesn't); A.I. isn't
magic dust for your business; the variations in
ethics of
self-driving cars around the world; tech
consultants are putting ad agencies on notice; why
virality is less effective than
word of mouth;
Amazon's slow-growth grocery strategy has sparked competition;
Yelp is yelping;
Twitter and
Facebook continue to battle
trolls and suspect accounts; the
cord-cutting continues, with
1.1 million households dumping cable in Q2; strong areas of growth ahead for
podcasting; companies may be held to account for
data privacy violations, and agency executives may be on the hook; mo
data, mo problems; food
innovation origins; tips on being
well-liked and irresistible; plus the
podcast pick of the week and so much more in the
Breathe edition of
The Full Monty for the week of November 12, 2018.
The Full Monty makes you smarter faster, by curating the essential business intelligence every week. Links are below
with commentary in italics. Please
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Contents:
Announcements
Top Story
Speaking Engagements
Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous
Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy
Retail Apocalypse
Platforms
Media
Privacy / Security / Regulatory
Measurement / Analytics / Data
Mental Nourishment
Top Story
To-do lists, apps, pop-up notifications, reminders, calendars...the list goes on and on. We have scores of tools at our disposal to make life easier and less cluttered.
We use technology to help segment our lives, follow news and sports, give us weather predictions, play fantasy football, browse through friends' photos, share memes, have debates...
But technology
doesn't solve our problems. It has given us additional problems to address, such as
how to stop wasting time on the Internet.
Instead, how about stepping away from or putting away the screen? We might just observe something. Or reconnect more deeply with a loved one. Or
learn a little patience along the way.
Breathe. Smell the flowers. Enjoy each other. It's something technology can't do or help you to do.
About this week's image: On May 12, 1863, in the company of the journalist and explorer Fitz Hugh Ludlow,
Albert Bierstadt departed on his second trip to the West. They camped in the Yosemite Valley, where Bierstadt captured a number of scenes of natural beauty. This painting depicts the huge jagged naturally occurring peaks that dwarf the figures in the foreground. Once again, nature towers over man.
Speaking Engagements
Always looking for recommendations for venues to share my stories. I connect our digital selves with classical influences, pointing out the universal human truths that can unlock the secret of retaining and growing customer relationships. Feel free to contact me to discuss speaking to your organization or at an event you've been to recently where you think I might stand out.
- IDEA: if you're looking to save some of your training and development budget and don't feel like sending multiple members of your team to a conference (high prices, time away from the office, questionable content), I've got an option for you: bring me in for a roundtable experience with your team for an hour or a half day.
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
Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
Retail Apocalypse
Humans are a transactional species, and the practice —
if not the very notion of what retail is —
is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
- Walmart is building what it's calling an Intelligent Retail Lab inside one of its stores, using A.I. to test both associate and customer experiences. (TechCrunch) Done at scale, this has the potential to quickly transform elements of Walmart's business.
- Amazon's slow growth defense strategy in grocery has sparked industry-wide competition from other retail grocers. (Digiday)
- Instacart is also following a trend: it has introduced Instacart Pickup, giving consumers an option to avoid delivery and the associated fee and instead pick up their own groceries. (VentureBeat) This hybrid model has seen lots of uptake from the likes of Walmart, Kroger and others and serves as a gateway to online grocery shopping.
- Facebook has developed pop-up stores with Macy's in nine cities. It's called The Market and offers 100 "digital-native" brands. (Engadget)
- Eight retailers that could go bankrupt in the next year. (Retail Dive) Look out, Sears. You may have company.
- Amazon's HQ2 con ended in two additional headquarters — one in northern Virginia, the other near New York City. But it also netted Amazon something more valuable than a tax break. (Business Insider) Hint: it has to do with data.
- Five Below has used a formula to insulate itself from Amazon: it has created products from scratch and made it a place where kids want to hang out. (WSJ)
- Take this test to determine what your secret shopper score is. It determines a customer's lifetime value to a company. (WSJ) Mine is $71.68.
- One neat thing: I've been trying out Ibotta, which gives you real cash back on items you buy at a number of stores, from Whole Foods to CVS, Amazon, Kroger and more. You can scan a receipt, use the mobile app, or link it with your loyalty cards. Check it out.
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." – Cicero
SPONSOR
Platforms
News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.
Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Media
The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
Aᴜᴅɪᴏ
- Podcast listening is rising. Particularly strong areas of growth for podcasting: Android devices and cars. (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Spotify is losing $1 billion a year. Could podcasts be an answer to its woes? (Rolling Stone)
- Red Bull Radio announced that it struck a deal to stream worldwide via the smart speaker brand Sonos. (Variety)
- Spotify debuted its first analytics tool aimed at publishers. The tool will offer daily streaming stats, including playlist performance, and view data across all the songwriters on their roster. (TechCrunch)
- Program of the Week: Our pick this week is Imagined Life from Wondery. An immersive journey through the surprising moments and challenges that shaped someone’s life before they were famous. Clues are dropped along the way, but only at the end will you discover who 'you' are. A longer variation on our opening stories of The Full Monty podcast.
And don't forget about
The Full Monty podcast, our own 5-minute weekly business commentary.
Try this: "Alexa, play the latest episode of The Full Monty."
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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