Howdy.
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Shall we crack on?
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1. THE ONE QUESTION DEBATES
In London at the end of February? This might be of interest to you.
The consistently fantastic One Question is putting on an evening of debate next month that will take on the question ‘What does brand really mean?‘
Taking place at the rather lovely Soho Hotel, the evening is a slightly different take on its original concept with, instead of individual and multi-industry responses to the one question, a five-person debate focused in and round one industry. And for this first one, that industry is going to be Marketing and Advertising.
Reps from Pepsi and Sony are already confirmed for the panel with more being announced as we lead up to the event.
Tickets are £50 + VAT (before going up to £75 from Feb 1st onwards) – and are on sale NOW.
I’m going so fingers crossed I’ll see you there.
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2. YOU GOT NO FEMALE SPEAKERS?Â
Rubbish!
Here’s 50 from The Dots and The Drum.
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3. ARTWORK PERSONALISATION AT NETFLIX
This is super interesting. Netflix has lifted the lid on how it ensures when recommendations are made, you get the right artwork that pushes you over the line.
There are many roads to Good Will Hunting but your jumping in point(s) may look very different, for example.
Covering off the what, the how, and the testing of both (and more)Â this is a really compelling and enjoyable read.
Good job, Netflix.
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4. THE STRANGE BRANDS IN YOUR INSTAGRAM FEED
It begins:
“It all started with an Instagram ad for a coat, the West Louis (TM) Business-Man Windproof Long Coat to be specific. It looked like a decent camel coat, not fancy but fine. And I’d been looking for one just that color, so when the ad touting the coat popped up and the price was in the double-digits, I figured: hey, a deal!”
“Several weeks later, the coat showed up in a black plastic bag emblazoned with the markings of China Post, that nation’s postal service. I tore it open and pulled out the coat. The material has the softness of a Las Vegas carpet and the rich sheen of a velour jumpsuit. The fabric is so synthetic, it could probably be refined into bunker fuel for a ship. It was, technically, the item I ordered, only shabbier than I expected in every aspect.”
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of such a story but it is the first time I’d read about it happening via The Atlantic.
And of course, The Atlantic keeps digging.
Savvy salesfolk picking goods from supplier they’ll never know, to ship products they’ll never touch, to consumers they’ll never meet.
It’s a huge market apparently.
Go see.
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5. THE FACEBOOK NEWSFEED APOCALYPSE
Even if you only barely touch the digital marketing industry, you must – I’m hoping – be aware of the most recent announcement from old Zuckerface himself regarding Facebook’s next evolutionary step in what it will and will not shove into its users’ eyeballs.
The full update is available for your perusal (of course) however the main things to take away are:
- If you’re a crap publisher/content creator who specialises in creating cruddy content that does stuff like ‘Like if you agree, comment if you don’t’ – your days are numbered.
- If you’re a crap publisher/content creator who makes/publishes stuff that people just don’t enjoy, talk about, or interact with – your days are numbered.
- Organic reach is actually over (it’s OK, we’ve only been saying this since 2014).
- Facebook is still hawking LIVE – this is hilarious.
- If you keep tabs on your month-on-month numbers and you see a dip this year. It ain’t you, it’s Facebook.
The whole thing is worth a read and you should really read up on it – even if it isn’t something you touch day to day (LIES), at least have a basic understanding of how the platform that you spend your life consuming actually works.
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PRE-BONUS ESSENTIAL READING:Â
Only the essentials.Â
- This is a good story about how someone got called out for behaviour. That someone then apologised. Properly. Then how the accuser accepted that apology. Definitely, listen to the show mentioned. I did. Made me think.
- Justin Baldoni’s TED Talk on ‘Why I’m done trying to be man enough‘ is also worth your time. Stick with it.
- CES has a diversity problem. It’s past time to fix it.
- I would really like Oprah’s acceptance speech to my alarm clock every morning.
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THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS-SHAPED BONUSES:Â
B O N U S. I said B O N U S.
- You knew this already but – and as if it needed confirming -Â the President of the USA is a racist.
- There is a GIF.
- My friend Chris worked on this awesome Taco Bell activation. Nice work, Chris.
- News UK has uncovered around $1m worth of lost revenue through fake ad inventory. This is cray.
- How to have a good debate in a meeting.
- Unplug. Seriously. Unplug.Â
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YAY! YOU MADE IT! CHECK YOU OUT! YOU SEXY MOFO. DAYAM. WOO.Â
And here we are, once more, at the end of another Five things on Friday. This time, on an actual Friday.
Trebles all round.
I’m going to end this week’s edition with the best three words I learnt in 2017. Those three words are: ‘And that’s OK’. Try it next time someone is telling you that so and so is angry about this, or someone else is having an ansty opinion about that, or even if someone close to you is having a hard time and getting upset… Y’know what, you’re upset – and that’s OK. That person is angry, and that’s OK. That person wants to say something that means something to themselves – and that’s OK. Accept it. Live in it. Breathe it in, breathe with it – and let it out. You might not like it at first…
And that’s OK.
Until next time, fam.
Whatley out, x.Â
