Ben Young
Ben Young
September 30, 2022

Edition #378

On strategic analytics, metaverse and YouTube shorts.


One big thing

Daily rituals drive behavior. Like reaching for a cup of coffee each morning, one hand coffee, other hand phone. As you sip, you read, or watch, or interact. On the other side of that screen is billions of dollars of R&D, to keep you engaged. And largely, it is successful.

For any business, in that equation, most of us got attention by turning up. But that’s no longer good enough, we have to provide a richer experience. Whereas being in the inbox used to be enough, that no longer works. Because everyone is a swipe away from something else more interesting.

It’s like when I pop into the local pub, they could open their doors in a good location and get foot traffic. Now, you’ll see someone on the street, checking the reviews before deciding to pop in. And even walking off if the reviews don’t line up. Ok, so right location and right reviews.

In delivering excellence, we need to be smarter with strategy. And that’s why analytics needs to be more involved in what goes on in strategy. To provide context for strategy and to give the lay of the land. Not only internal but also external context. We’ve recently polished up our enterprise services page. To highlight where companies are allocating resource and capital, to get ahead. It’s no grand secret, like most solid advice, it’s the basics, done well, which make all the difference.

Which ties into this post on strategy, planning and improving execution. With Brady Moore, a former Green Beret, getting into the weeds. Worth a read.

So as you look to navigate the ever changing market, consider, what is our strategy? How do we know we’ve made progress on that strategy? And how do we know when we should change? Or pause or abandon ship.

Speaking of ships, it was only this week I discovered that Chelsea Piers was the destination for the Titanic, and that some of the survivors were brought there aboard the Carpathia. There are discoveries to be found around every corner.

Notable stories this week

  • Paul Graham shared a video of him writing/editing a piece from scratch. Would love to see more of this type of content.
  • YouTube shorts could steal TikTok’s thunder with a better deal for creators.
  • Netflix’s new ad chief has an appetite for danger.
  • With first CMO hire, OpenWeb hopes to de-troll the discussions and data space for publishers and Contently names Dawn DiLorenzo as new Head of Marketing.
  • Spotify now sells audiobooks. Hints at opportunities to advertise within audiobooks.
  • TheAtlantic is pushing into film and TV projects.
  • Ted Lasso and AFC Richmond are coming to FIFA 23.
  • NFL signs Apple Music as Super Bowl halftime sponsor. As we saw Prime Video rocket up the app charts are debut of football.
  • Publicis Sapient ‘all in’ on the metaverse, finds VR adoption not so hot.
  • Netflix is opening a video game studio in Finland.
  • Attentive, Galloway dives into the analogies between the oil business and attention businesses.
  • Podcasters are buying millions of listeners through mobile=game ads. Arghh.
  • Hacker breaches Fast Company systems to send offensive Apple News notifications.
  • Brands blast Twitter for ads next to child pornography accounts.
  • Google focuses on making search more visual.
  • TripAdvisor built a travel media biz before retail media took off – and now it’s got a creative studio too.
  • “Marketing needs marketing” The curious case of Tony’s Chocolonely.

Deals/M&A

  • Dazn announces acquisition of Eleven Sports and Team Whistle.
  • Sports Illustrated expands golf coverage, acquires Morning Read.

Campaign of the week

View all 2022 best campaigns.

Smartest commentary

  • “TikTok pays creators through its Creator Fund, a pool of $200 million unveiled in summer 2020. At the time, TikTok said it planned to expand that pool to $1 billion in the U.S. over the next three years, and double that internationally. That might sound like a lot of money, but by comparison, YouTube paid creators over $30 billion in ad revenue over the last three years.”Amanda Silberling, Reporter, TechCrunch

Datapoints of note

  • Prime Video rocketed to the #1 top downloaded app after the debut of Thursday Night Football.
  • TheAtlantic subs 843k vs 830k last year. Half are digital only.
  • One in four consumers access Metaverse from their phone.
  • Metaverse device installed base to reach 100m in 2024.

That’s it for this week.

 


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