30th June 2017
From Cannes Lions and @adweek. It is undoubtedly a tough time for journalism and this campaign by Droga 5 for the New York Times needed to engage and drive paid for subscriptions. They decided on a big stage for their first TV spot in seven years – The Oscars, and engaged a high profile figure to accelerate awareness. They knew that when Trump tweets, subscriptions go up.
Still on the Cote D’Azur, apparently lots of talk in Cannes on the subject of how scent is the new U.I. Racked has a great profile of ‘indie artisanal perfume pioneer’ Frederic Malle. ‘I was at Chateau Marmont yesterday in the elevator and there was this girl preparing for a party, and I was really sad for her because she smelled like Duty Free.‘
From @geniussteals – Search is more honest than Social. ‘While people carefully craft their social media presences, people Google things they’d be afraid to say aloud. Which is why it’s perhaps much more revealing than social media when it comes to what people are really thinking.’
From The Wall St Journal – ‘In 10 Years your iPhone won’t be a phone anymore. Siri will be the conductor of a suite of devices, all tracking your interactions and anticipating your next moves.’ I addressed this subject in my recent article – ‘Why brands should be bothered about (voice)bots.’
More innovation from Spotify as it builds a collaborative playlist tool for Facebook Messenger, to get people talking music.
The Harvard Business Review on the benefits of ‘Slow Innovation’.’ Slow culture — or, in this case, slow innovation — is the realm of pattern recognition: searching for emerging developments outside the organisation’s immediate line-of-sight or that may be happening steadily, but not rapidly. Slow innovation focuses on changes that you see coming but that may not be ready to transform your business immediately.’
‘Museum visitor numbers have grown to record highs, driven, in part, by global tourism and digital media. Yet museums live with the perception of economic uncertainty, subject to government funding cuts of up to 30 per cent since the recession. Can museums turn their own fortunes around? What if there were things implicit in the business models of museums that could evolve to fit the digital economy?’ @Nesta on museum business models in the digital economy.
From @digiday, video has become a focus for publishers on Instagram since it raised the maximum length on a video to one minute. This emphasis has helped publishers broaden reach and drive traffic, revenue and engagement, both on and off the platform.
@econsultancy interviews Sarah Rose (Director of Consumer Insights at Channel 4) on the future of TV, personalisation & GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).‘One of the key battlegrounds…is the discoverability of content.’
It is 20 years (yes really) since the first Harry Potter book was published. This FT video looks at the reasons behind this phenomenon. Careful brand management, fan power, luck, timing and of course a cracking story, all played their part.
Finally, apparently, the Catholic Church is freaking out about fidget spinners. ‘Is the toy an apt representation of the holy Trinity or is it heresy?‘