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For over 70 episodes, The Full Monty brought you essays on a variety of topics connected to issues of the day.As of March 2021, Scott is hosting a new show: Timeless Leadership.

Exploring timeless principles and virtues that accompany successful and admirable leaders, through interviews with executives, authors, and entrepreneurs.

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Image credit: The Course of Empire - Desolation by Thomas Cole (public domain)

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A personal message about where we go from here.

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Why are you doing what everyone else is doing?

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We take our communications for granted these days. It's so easy to tweet, text, snap, DM, PM, and email.

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Apple Podcasts RadioPublic Google Podcasts Stitcher SoundCloud SpotifyLinks:* This episode: smonty.co/fullmonty72 * The story of Bass Reeves * Letter to a fan * Other commentary and updates at ScottMonty.com

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Big Tech has gifted us with our own Pandora's box; robots that can identify emotions; accomplishing autonomous driving using only cameras and reinforcement learning; two major U.S. advertising market milestones; standing up to influencers; another competitive move for Walmart; how Facebook's algorithm change affected different verticals; what happens when Instagram steals your handle; a three-year trend in pay-TV subscribership; with 300 streaming services available, one thing sets them apart; Spotify has some competition for paid subscribers; how to stop Google from tracking you; data visualization errors from the experts; leadership lessons from Game of Thrones; and more in the Pandora's Box edition of The Full Monty for the week of April 8, 2019.

The Full Monty makes you smarter faster, by curating essential digital business intelligence every week. Links are below with commentary in italics. Please sign up for our email updates to make sure you don't miss a thing.

Contents:Announcements
Top Story
Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous
Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy
Retail Apocalypse
Platforms
Media
Privacy / Security / Regulatory
Measurement / Analytics / Data
Mental Nourishment

Announcements
I consult with and advise firms on digital strategy, informed from my time an executive at Ford Motor Company. I've worked with digital communications teams, customer service leaders, and C-level executives at companies like Walmart, McDonalds, T-Mobile and IBM on issues related to strategy, customer experience, and digital, social and content strategy. I help them become more customer-centric, improve customer relationships, and grow their business.
I welcome the opportunity to explore a relationship with your team. Let's have an introductory chat. Or maybe you'd just like to pick my brain for an hour.

Top StoryIt took the Roman Empire some hundreds of years to fall; social media is already seeing cracks a decade and a half in.

According to an NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll, the American public isn't too keen on social media companies like Facebook and Twitter. In fact, sizable majorities say these sites do more to divide the country than unite it, and that they spread falsehoods rather than news.

Some of the highlights:
Six in 10 Americans say they don’t trust Facebook at all to protect their personal information. * Eighty-two percent say social media sites do more to waste people’s time, versus 15% who say they do more to use Americans’ time well. * Fifty-five percent believe social media does more to spread lies and falsehoods, versus 31% who say it does more to spread news and information*.

Bottom line: if America was giving social media a Yelp review, a majority would give it zero stars.
This is a serious problem. Not just for Big Tech and its own issues with reputation and regulation. But for society.We've got what amounts to a public utility via multiple platforms (lest we forget, Facebook owns four of them) that have effectively spiraled out of control. In granting netizens the ability to communicate as freely and anonymously as we wish, these platforms have brought out the best and the worst of human nature.What's more, it's not clear that regulation is going to do anything to rein this in. And the founders themselves don't seem to be able to claw back or control their creations. The end result is that we're left with an imperfect world in which to operate our businesses (nothing new there).Here's an idea:Given that this is what we have to work with right now, why not make a commitment to less advertising and more community-building? That is, put fewer resources into competing for what little attention is left out there, and instead create a sense of belonging for your customers.Put your efforts into retention and relationship building rather than chasing down someone who might not want to hear from you in the first place.
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About this week's image: James Barry created The Birth of Pandora to bring to life the mythological story of the gods' revenge on humans. Prometheus stole fire from heaven, and Zeus took revenge by presenting Pandora to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. In the painting, the gods are contributing to Pandora's creation, including the three cherubs approaching with the jar. Pandora opened this jar (later translated as a box) she gave to Epimetheus containing sickness, death and many other unspecified evils which were then released into the world. In modern times the idiom Pandora's box means "Any source of great and unexpected troubles," or "A present which seems valuable but which in reality is a curse."

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
Researchers at Case Western have developed robots that can identify emotions by analyzing facial expressions in real time with a 98% accuracy rate. (Phys Org) Let's hope they can't recognize fear. * Natural language processing (NLP) is one of the most visible forms of A.I. (seen most commonly through voice assistants). Here's why NLP will be huge in 2019. (Venture Beat) It has to do with more than what we already see; there's lots of hidden orchestration that bots are doing at the enterprise level. * I mentioned the problem of robocalls in the March 18 edition (with a hilarious video by John Oliver); it turns out that robocalls are getting even worse, using your own and your friends' phone numbers to spam you. (CNN Business) * And just last week, I mentioned Google's ethics advisory board. Not so fast: Google has canceled its ethics advisory board amid concerns about the impartiality and ethics of its members. (Vox) Um, maybe select your board members a little more carefully rather than trashing the entire program*.

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ Lyft is banking on robotaxis to replace high-priced drivers and help turn ride-hailing into a profitable enterprise. Don't count on it. (Axios) In fact, autonomous vehicles will be even more expensive. * Wayve is a British self-driving car company that claims to have an end-to-end self-driving system that uses standard cameras, no Lidar, no high-resolution maps, all powered by reinforcement learning. (Wayve) This could be interesting*.

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ The U.S. advertising market will hit two major milestones in 2019: It will be the first year that advertisers spend more on digital than on traditional media, and it will be the first time that Google and Facebook’s share of digital ad spending declines, due to Amazon. However, the two will remain the largest digital ad sellers in the country, making up nearly 60% of digital ad spending in 2019. (eMarketer) Lots to digest is this important report on the industry. * Mastercard's CMO is the new president of the World Federation of Advertisers, and he thinks marketing isn't what it used to be, and needs to reclaim its gravitas and glory. (Digiday) * Email is still a significant factor in digital marketing, and these are 13 statistics about email marketing that will shape 2019 and beyond. (Convince and Convert) * What's working in content marketing for small B2C companies. (Agility PR) * Mega-consulting firm Accenture purchased advertising powerhouse Droga5. Some predictions say it will upend the advertising industry. (Forbes) It certainly contributes to the trend of consulting firms becoming more like ad agencies and ad agencies becoming more like consulting firms. Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
A small business owner who runs a beach club in the Philippines stood up to "influencers," telling them they couldn't barter their social media posts for a stay. (New York Times) Amen. So-called 'influencers' are often no more than freeloaders. * Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, who succeeded Roger Ailes after his ouster amid scandal, says she is focused on communication as a way to rescue the firm's reputation and power through boycotts. (Variety)

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Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
Walmart customers will be able to order groceries with voice commands through Google’s smart-home assistant. (CNBC) Sounds like they're echoing Amazon. This is more of Walmart's strategy of accumulating and aggregating digital assets to better compete in the 21st century e-marketplace. * Two-thirds of U.S. shoppers typically start their search for new products on Amazon, according to a March 2019 Feedvisor study that polled respondents who have purchased from the marketplace in the past two years. (eMarketer) * In the world of online transactions, trust scores are the new credit scores—but good luck finding out yours. (Wall Street Journal) * You've likely seen that video footage of an Amazon blimp dispatching multiple delivery drones. Well, it turns out it's computer-generated, but it's no less scary than Amazon actually owning the patent* to do just what we see in the video. (Gizmodo)

Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
After criticism over data leaks, Facebook will stop asking users for their email passwords as a means of verifying some new accounts. (Axios) Smart move. * A little over a year ago, Facebook announced changes to its algorithm that would impact publishers. Here's how the algorithm change affected various verticals, according to Parse.ly (Marketing Charts): + Hardest hit: Arts & Entertainment + 62% decrease for Style & Fashion + Politics, news and social issues least affected + 61% decrease* for Family/Parenting

WhatsApp announced it is rolling out a new privacy setting that will help you decide who can add you to groups, preventing spam additions that have been a pain point for many users
When your Instagram handle is @SussexRoyal and you haven't used it for years, here's what happens: Instagram reclaims it for Prince Harry and Megan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The original account owner, a 55 year-old football fan, had this to say: "I can tell you that Twitter's gone mental. I used to have four followers and in 24 hours I've gone up to about 198." (BBC) He must be completely barmy now: following the news article, he has over 1,600 followers.

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Twitter’s pitch to advertisers centers on its uniqueness among the social apps, being the #1 site for discovery versus the "look at me" platforms. (Digiday) * Twitter is testing new labels for conversation threads, in an effort to identify the original tweeter, mentions, and the like. (Engadget) * In addition to closed captions, you can now add subtitles to videos on Twitter. (AdWeek) Subway riders everywhere thank you*.

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
The Definitive Oral History of TiVo bring us the dark origins of binge-watching. (OneZero) * Hulu is analyzing what the commercial experience might look like for binge-watchers. (AdAge) Makes sense. Binge-watchers shouldn't be subjected to the same kind of interruption or repetitive ads as other watchers. This could open up the opportunity for ad experiences that are multi-episodic or mini-stories themselves. * The top pay-TV providers in the U.S. — representing close to 95% of the market — have seen their percentage of lost subscribers double year-over-year for three consecutive years. (Leichtman Research) That's not what you'd call a positive trend. * There are more than 300 streaming video services available to consumers. With all these services, one feature that sets them apart from each other is original content. (Marketing Charts) * As expected, Netflix is raising prices across the board in May. (Variety) Hey, they've gotta find some way to pay for all of that original content. * In the March 4 edition, I shared Steven Spielberg's threat to exclude non-theatrical releases from Oscars consideration. Well, the Justice Department has warned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that its potential rule changes limiting the eligibility of Netflix* and other streaming services for the Oscars could raise antitrust concerns and violate competition law. (Variety)

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ Apple Music has passed Spotify in paid U.S. subscribers, up to at least 28 million for Spotify’s 26 million. (Wall Street Journal) * In 2018, streaming accounted for nearly half of music revenues worldwide. (IFPI) * Program of the Week: This week's show is Business Wars from Wondery. This is a show we've highlighted before, but because they keep introducing new 6-part series, it's worth revisiting. The current battle is Hasbro vs. Mattel* — something for the kid in all of us.

If you don't already, please subscribe to The Full Monty podcast, 7 minutes of weekly business commentary, many times with a historical or literary twist. What's past is prologue.

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
A significant majority of consumers do not expect Google to track their activities across their lives, their locations, on other sites, and on other platforms. (Nieman Labs) Poor unfortunate souls. * Here's how you can stop Google from tracking everything you do. (Wired UK) Bonus: it only takes a couple of minutes. * Researchers at UpGuard, a cybersecurity firm, found troves of Facebook user information hiding in plain sight, inadvertently posted publicly on Amazon’s cloud computing servers. (Bloomberg) In the words of Professor Moriarty, "All that I have to say has already crossed your mind."*

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
Pinterest and Airbnb are teaming up on a spring and summer travel guide, designed to curate experiences for discovery by travelers. (AdWeek) * Waze* is using data pacts, beacons, and carpools to win over municipalities that are looking to reduce traffic congestion, air pollution, and other conundrums. (Venture Beat)

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
The Economist takes data visualization seriously, but that doesn't mean it isn't guilty of a few mistakes now and then. Here are some data visualization errors from their team. (The Economist - Medium) * Microsoft, SAP and Adobe* announced the expansion of their Open Data Initiative as they look to bring in additional partners. The core principle of the alliance is that the customers own their data and they should be able to get as much value out of it as they can. (TechCrunch)

Speaking How can you energize your team and give them actionable ideas for boosting customer engagement? It's all about applying Timeless Wisdom to your process — practical and relatable lessons drawn from historical and literary contexts, updated to inform business growth. Combine this with Fortune 10 executive experience and some great stories, and you'll be happy that you spent a fraction of what it costs to send your team to a major conference. I'll spend anywhere from an hour to a whole day with your team and give them the power to develop trusted, lasting relationships with your customers.Let's chat and see if I can customize a session for you.

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
Since we're almost at the Season 8 premiere, here are some leadership lessons from Game of Thrones. (strategy+business) Paying attention to your values and persuasion style can help you avoid getting beheaded or stabbed to death. * The Bard clearly read many books. Where did they go? Looking for Shakespeare's Library (Lapham's Quarterly) * Speaking of libraries, meet Dr. Alan Gribben, the Mark Twain expert who has spent the last 45 years discovering and cataloging the author’s library collection. By proving Twain read the greats, Gribben shows the world he was one. (The Guardian) * There are no franchised Burger Kings within 25 miles of Illinois' original Burger King in Skokie. This mom and pop shop is the last Burger King in the U.S. with a trademark that the Burger King corporation hasn't been able to overcome. (Eater) * The buffet is a good idea. The buffet is a symbol of the American dream. The buffet is delicious. The buffet is affordable, and a lot of us love a deal. And yet, our hearts have begun to grow cold toward buffets—why? (Vox) You can't B. cereus*. * A history of the public service announcement, and one in particular: "It's 10 o'clock: do you know where you children are?" (Tedium)

Top image credit: The Birth of Pandora by James Barry, 1804 (ArtUK - Creative Commons)

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You can't succeed unless you're authentically interested in other people.

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Fake news fakes out April Fools' Day; personalizing your drive-thru preferences; ethics needs advisory boards; the future of newsrooms looks bleak; retail requires physical and online together; the latest social network; Facebook's commitment to stopping hate speech; YouTube ignored similar requests; beware TV networks; Spotify to surpass Pandora users; Huawei's engineering is a terrible security hole; the EU's new copyright rules are vapid; Uber tried to stop Lyft every way it could; Airbnb is bigger than Hilton; capturing data for business impact; how coffee led to the downfall of an empire; and more in the Fool Me Once edition of The Full Monty for the week of April 1, 2019.

AnnouncementsI consult and advise brands and agencies through Scott Monty Strategies, which I founded after serving as an executive at Ford Motor Company. I've worked with digital communications teams, customer service leaders, and C-level executives at companies like Walmart, McDonalds, T-Mobile and IBM on issues related to strategy, crisis communications, customer experience, and digital, social and content strategy. It's all about better strategies to improve customer relationships and grow business. I welcome the opportunity to explore a relationship with your team.
Let's have an introductory chat. Or maybe you'd just like to pick my brain for an hour.

Top StoryAs you know, April 1st officially marked April Fools' Day. In the last decade or so, brands have stepped up their efforts to fool customers and the public with pranks that range from the subtle to the outrageous.

Thanks to the advent of online scams and the inability by even the most intelligent people to detect fake news, we've seen a bit of a retraction of activity. Many people have expressed disdain or dread at the date, even vowing to remain off of social media for the day. In the U.K., government officials even asked media outlets to refrain from publishing traditional spoof stories on April 1.

This is nothing new for humans. We've been gullible from the beginning, wanting to believe those who approach us earnestly for help. But fool us too many times, and we become immune to such requests. This is the moral of Aesop's classic The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Have we become the Internet who cried wolf?

If you enjoyed this commentary, please sign up for Timeless Wisdom in addition to this newsletter and I'll send you a couple of more items a week.
About this week's image: "Stańczyk during a ball at the court of Queen Bona in the face of the loss of Smolensk" by Jan Matejko depicts Stańczyk, the court jester during Poland's height. Besides his work as a court jester, he has been described as an eloquent, witty, and intelligent man who used satire to comment on the nation's past, present, and future. His usual mirth is gone, as he is deep in thought following the news that Poland lost the city of Smolensk to the Grand Duchy of Muscovy (Russia).

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
The Association for Computing Machinery, the world’s largest society of computing professionals, announced that Drs. Hinton, LeCun and Bengio had won this year’s Turing Award for their work on neural networks. (New York Times) * McDonald's is acquiring personalization company Dynamic Yield, in an effort to customize its drive-thru menus. The menu diplays will change based on the weather, traffic, and time of day and can be customized based on what you've ordered before. (TechCrunch, Vox) McDonald's going high-tech is part of what it needs to remain competitive; how franchisees respond will determine whether this is a viable plan. * Nvidia's latest A.I. software turns doodles into landscapes. This is the beginning of what A.I. could do to art. (The Verge) * Google has assembled an external advisory board to monitor whether Google violates its own ethical principles. The group is mostly academics. (The Verge) This is a step in the right direction regarding Big Tech's problems with ethics. * The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to A.I. in Marketing is a free online resource (no download needed) with 100 articles, videos, courses, books, vendors, use cases, and events to dramatically accelerate your artificial intelligence education. (Marketing A.I. Institute) * It's ecosystems, not inventions that change the world. (Digital Tonto) A good reminder that innovation comes in steps*.

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ When it comes to autonomous vehicles, what's the acceptable death rate? Vision Zero in Sweden has an idea, and it involves makers of vehicles and roadways taking responsibility. (Automotive News) It's an interesting concept, given that vehicles are a leading cause of death today, and that safety should be paramount to any vehicle developer. Having consequences connected with actions is an important concept*. * Manhattan is implementing congestion pricing, the first such city in the U.S. to charge a premium for vehicles in particularly busy areas of the city. The proceeds would help to underwrite subway repairs. (New York Times)

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ Paid media have always driven conversations about brands. But now there's a shift in which paid media are responsible for the most word of mouth in 2018. (Marketing Charts) * Amazon is launching mobile ads for video, threatening Facebook and Google. (Denver Post) * Adobe is rethinking the customer experience and showcases how brands and experts are transforming customer experience management. (Adobe) Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
The Plain Dealer is laying off about a third of its unionized newsroom staff. A Pew Research Center analysis of Bureau of Labor statistics from 2008 to 2017 found overall newsroom employment dropped nationally by 23 percent and in newspaper newsrooms employment dropped by 45 percent. More than 2,400 media jobs have been eliminated so far this year, according to Business Insider. (Cleveland.com) The future of the news industry is in jeopardy, largely due to online offerings. Please support your local news organizations. * If you'd like to see a CEO self-immolate on social media, look no further than Elon Musk. (Agility PR) While he's incredibly engaged with customers, he also damages his company by ignoring legal and regulatory requirements for publicly-listed companies.

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Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
Wayfair will open its first full-service retail store in early fall at the Natick Mall in Natick, Massachusetts. Shopping there will be a "seamless, connected experience," and shoppers will be able to buy directly in-store or have items shipped to their home. (Retail Dive) * With the growth of online retail at an all-time high, it would seem that there's no future in brick-and-mortar stores. However, stores still matter in the digital age. (eMarketer) With ecommerce becoming so ubiquitous, physical retail matters more than ever*. * Even direct-to-consumer companies are feeling the pinch. This VC thinks the DTC market is overcapitalized. (Dididay)

Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
There's a new social network that isn't new at all. The one with the best conversion rates and engagement. (New York Times) One might argue it's not that social either. But it's effective. * Almost one-fifth of an average email’s total opens occur within the first hour of sending. Opens slowly decrease after the first hour, to the point where a little more than half (51%) of emails are opened by the 7th hour after they have been delivered. (Marketing Charts) Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
Mark Zuckerberg wrote an op-ed piece calling for governments and regulators to help run his own company and the Internet. (Washington Post) Some may view this as Zuckerberg doing the right thing; others may view it as an act of desperation, knowing full well that it's beyond his (and thus anyone else's) capability. In other words, things are off the hook — which is appropriately, exactly what Zuck wants to get off of. * Facebook wants to create a new section dedicated to news. (Recode) Undoubtedly in response to the site being overrun by news, fake and otherwise. * Regardless of where one sits on the political spectrum, Facebook and YouTube get a lot of heat and Instagram is getting a pass. (Six Pixels of Separation) * The U.S. government charged Facebook with housing discrimination due to its ad targeting system. (The Verge) * Facebook is taking a strong stand against hate — specifically white nationalism. The network says that it will ban "praise, support, and representation" of white nationalism. (Facebook Newsroom) + This comes after a report following the New Zealand shootings that found that neo-Nazi groups were allowed to remain on Facebook because "they do not violate any community standards." (The Independent)

WhatsApp wants to track forwards to determine virality related to fake news. (TNW)

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Twitter is trying to find a way of maintaining its standards while adding context to tweets from politicians and other figures that may be offensive but are important for public debate. (CNN Business) This could be a full-time job when it comes to certain politicians*.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Is there a way forward for Snapchat? Here are a few suggestions. (Social Fresh) * YouTube executives were warned about the virality of conspiracy theories and other nonesense videos. They ignored such recommendations and opted for engagement, staff say. (Bloomberg) Because clicks = $, and that matters more to Big Tech than societal impacts*.

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
Apple held its big media announcement last week with its Apple TV+ offering. Overall, it was well produced, but lacked details. (Axios) Yeah, but Oprah! * Another entry in The Amazon Diaries: TV networks should scare you more than Amazon. Why? They're in service to the advertisers, not the audience. (OneZero) * YouTube is not competing with Netflix and Amazon*, as it cancels its plans for high-end series. (Bloomberg)

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ To BBC or not to BBC? The BBC claims that Google isn't directing people to BBC Sounds (its own podcast service) but to its own. And now BBC has blocked Google from accessing its site. Bottom line: Google Podcasts pulls directly from all podcast providers, giving them equal access to data and listeners. (Podnews) Really, BBC? * Anchor launched a new "analytics suite" for both Android and iOS mobile devices. (RAINnews) * According to a forecast on digital music listeners, Spotify will surpass Pandora in terms of users by 2021—one year sooner than predicted last year. (eMarketer) * Spotify acquired true crime studio Parcast to expand its own podcast content. (TechCrunch) * Google is auto transcribing podcasts and saving that metadata for search. (Android Police) * Program of the Week: This week's show is American History Tellers from Wondery*. Every part of your life — the words you speak, the ideas you share — can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? The events, the times and the people that shaped our nation.

If you don't already, please subscribe to The Full Monty podcast, 7 minutes of weekly business commentary, many times with a historical or literary twist. What's past is prologue.

Try this at home: "Alexa, play the latest episode of The Full Monty."

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
The U.K. slammed Huawei because its engineering is so bad that it has inadvertently left huge national security holes in its devices. (Bloomberg) * When Max Vest found hidden cameras in his Airbnb late at night, he dressed, grabbed his things, and headed for the door. One problem: the man allegedly recording him was in the next room. (The Atlantic) * The E.U. approved copyright rules over the objection of activists. New rules will require tech platforms to sign licensing agreements with authors, musicians, and news publishers if they want to post their content online. One component of the new law, called the “link tax,” would require sites like Google News to pay a fee when summarizing a story and linking to it. (Axios) They'll also have to proactively remove unlicensed copyrighted material from their platforms instead of waiting for complaints to roll in before acting. And you thought Brexit was a disaster?*

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
Uber tried to corner capital markets and squeeze out rivals with aggressive tactics. Despite this, Lyft survived and launched its IPO. (Wall Street Journal) * Uber slashed per-mile pay from 80 cents to 60 cents in Los Angeles County and parts of Orange County and now Uber and Lyft drivers there are planning to strike. (Los Angeles Times) * Showing no likelihood of slowing its dominance, Uber acquired Mideast ride-hailing company Careem for $3.1 billion. Key to this deal: Careem gets to keep its branding and app, which are highly valued in its home countries. (Associated Press) * More monthly subscription options are coming to Dallas, Las Vegas, New York, and San Diego, as Uber brings its Ride Pass service to these cities for $15 a month. (9to5Mac) * WeWork doubled its revenue in 2018. Unfortunately, it also doubled its losses. (Axios) So how does WeWork begin to break even or make money? * Consumers spent more on Airbnb than on Hilton last year, giving the home-sharing company a 20 percent* share of the consumer lodging market. (Recode)

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
* Do you know if your social media marketing is working? Wondering how best to report on your efforts? Try 10 metrics to track when analyzing your social media marketing. (Social Media Examiner) * What you measure should reflect what the business needs and what your executives value. How to capture data to make business impact. (KDNuggets) * When it comes to data science, there's no reason we can't take a similar approach that we do for other areas of the business, such as a design thinking mindset for data science. (Towards Data Science)

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
Kahve was a favorite drink of the Ottoman Empire’s ruling class. Little did they know it would one day hasten the empire’s demise. (1843) Time to switch to decaf. * The mass extinction of dinosaurs has long been a mystery. The fabled 'asteroid theory' has long been assumed, but one paleontologist may have finally unlocked the secret behind the day the dinosaurs died. * If procrastination isn’t about laziness, then what is it about? (New York Times) I'll let you know as soon as I do this other thing... * Millennials* are killing everything! Or so the pundits would have you believe. Here are 12 industries that experts say Millennials are killing. (CB Insights) * This is nothing new. Generations have been at war for years. (Timeless Wisdom)

Top image credit: Stańczyk by Jan Matejko, 1862 (Wikimedia Commons - public domain)

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If we can understand the patterns of differences in the generations, we can prepare for how to position our businesses appropriately.

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Hit replay for the TV revolution, and a bonus Streisand effect sitcom; A.I. and ethics are becoming interwoven (or should be); what the tech sector gets wrong about mobility; the #AdobeSummit is here; how to build trust as a leader; what went wrong at Boeing; tales of the drunk shopper; Walmart's secret weapon against Amazon; Instagram goes shopping; Facebook's adult content guidelines, explained; Pinterest files for an IPO; Google gets a massive fine; Disney completed its acquisition of Fox; branded podcasts are preferable; Facebook employees may have had your password for years; Airbnb's guerilla warfare against municipalities; marketers can't put ROI against everything; why Wite-Out is still at thing; and more in the This Again? edition of The Full Monty for the week of March 25, 2019.

AnnouncementsI consult and advise brands and agencies through Scott Monty Strategies, which I founded after serving as an executive at Ford Motor Company. I've worked with digital communications teams, customer service leaders, and C-level executives at companies like Walmart, McDonalds, T-Mobile and IBM on issues related to strategy, crisis communications, customer experience, and digital, social and content strategy. It's all about better strategies to improve customer relationships and grow business. I welcome the opportunity to explore a relationship with your team.
Let's have an introductory chat. Or maybe you'd just like to pick my brain for an hour.

Top StoryRemember when streaming video was a novelty? When you could brag about being among the first to switch from Netflix's DVD-mailer model to online video? The world of streaming media seemed simple in those days.

The idea was that you could exercise choice and determine what kind of programming you wanted to watch — not be told by your cable company that you had to accept the sports package if you wanted to include a channel like AMC or Bravo. It was called bundling, and it led to ever-higher prices for consumers as they were locked into programming situations that they couldn't control.

Along came Netflix — and Hulu— and Amazon Prime Video — and you were free from that.

Until...

Suddenly streaming services popped up everywhere. CBS, HBO, Showtime, and now newcomers Apple, Disney+, WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and suddenly consumers are feeling subscription fatigue. It's like the 1990s, all over again, but this time consumers are creating their own bundles. And it's getting a bit pricey.

In the return to what is essentially the same business model (i.e., you can't get all of your preferred content in one place), we're also seeing retro programming. In 2018, 14 of Netflix’s top 20 shows, and all 10 of its top 10 shows, were broadcast-network reruns.

It's as if we forget the past and long for it at the same time.

Another case in point: there are instances when the misinformed public uses historical examples to reinforce a point, but haven't done their research thoroughly. Which is why it' heartening (at least for this former classics major) to see historians taking to Twitter to set the record straight.

Then there's the instance of Congressman Devin Nunes suing Twitter over the Devin Nunes Cow account — a parody account — that annoyed him. But Rep. Nunes forgot the very real Streisand effect: the account had around 1,000 followers before last week's lawsuit; it currently has over 630,000.

Those who don't know history...

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About this week's image: Ulysses and the Sirens (John William Waterhouse, 1891) depicts Homer's hero Odysseus (the Greek version of Ulysses) on his way home from the Trojan war, facing the Sirens. The Sirens, who with their melodious voices lured all navigators to destruction were, according to classical tradition, creatures having the body of a bird with the head of a beautiful woman. They were informed by the oracle that as soon as anyone passed by without heeding their songs they should perish. Circe warned Odysseus in advance, and he plugged his the ears of his crew with wax and ordered himself to be bound to the mast, allowing them to successfully pass the fatal coast.

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
As tech companies begin to recognize the flaws in technology, the need for A.I. ethicists is becoming clear. (WSJ Pro) * In the last week or so, we witnessed how tech companies simply haven't prioritized some things that are harmful to users, but instead have worshiped at the altar of the golden calf. (Medium) * Why do we struggle with ethics and technology? Largely because tech creates an artificial barrier between humans and tasks. And that reduces empathy. (Timeless Wisdom) Can we create artificial empathy? * In the hopes that it can democratize A.I., MIT* has a system that can train neural networks 200 times faster than before. (Engadget) * How CMOs are adapting to the machine learning age, including cleaning up data and working outside of the traditional marcomms channels. (AdWeek)

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ The high tech sector certainly has a lot to contribute to mobility, but the arrogance that has characterized its initial forays into the space has also exposed a deep sense of utopian naivete. (The Drive) This former auto executive's take: tech's predictions are usually on an unrealistically sped-up timeframe and involve urban prognosticating for the entire country. More ranting on this tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom. * Autonomous cars will generate more data and as blockchain technology develops, it could offer a secure way to manage that data while providing additional benefits to passengers. (Axios) The data thrown off by cars is already voluminous. The future of auto data needs to be secure and manageable. * A guide to the future of trucking. Trucking is among the three most common jobs in 29 U.S. states, but it’s getting automated and the trucking industry is transforming. (Quartz) * Ford is building a factory in Michigan* for autonomous and electrified vehicles. (CNBC)

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ Advertisers don’t appear to be uncomfortable with the digital duopoly—at least, not enough to stop spending there. (eMarketer) What are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system! * It’s an all-star lineup (and me) heading to the biggest digital customer experience conference of the year. (Adobe) Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
The three most effective ways to build trust as a leader may not be what you think they are. (Signal v. Noise) Again, it comes down to being human. * If you think leadership and communication doesn't matter, look at the impact Alan Mulally had on Boeing (and Ford). (Forbes) The "Working Together" model is deceptively simple: articulate a clear and compelling vision, develop a comprehensive strategy to deliver on that vision, and execute on that through a relentless implementation process led by a team of talented people working together. Which is where leadership and communication come in. * How CEOs are boosting ethics engagement to build culture and brand trust. (Agility PR) * Five ways to evolve and learn new communications skills. (Spin Sucks)

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Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
What percentage of alcohol-consuming Americans shop drunk? How much do they spend? What do they buy? The 2019 Drunk Shopping Survey has answers. (The Hustle) * Jetblack is a $600 a year personal shopping service for New Yorkers. Walmart is using Jetblack’s army of human agents to train an artificial intelligence system that could someday power an automated personal-shopping service, in a battle for retail's future. (Wall Street Journal) * Walmart announced it was halting its popular Savings Catcher feature in its app, which automatically refunds customers the difference of any item purchased at Walmart that's found elsewhere for less. Then the social media backlash began. (Retail Dive) * From customer-centricity to tech with a purpose, here are some themes from NRF 2019 to take into 2019. (Smartbrief) * New York Magazine has opened a retail store based off of its newsletter offerings. Is this the future of retail? Or perhaps the future of commerce for publishers? (Medium) * Two from the excellent series The Amazon Diaries (OneZero): + What it's like working as an Amazon Flex delivery driver. + A vote for automation* from a warehouse worker: “I Don’t Have Energy to Do Much Else Aside From Amazon.”

Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
Instagram announced it is launching a beta shopping program with over 20 beauty and fashion brands, including direct-to-consumer players, in which it would test the ability to shop, check out and manage orders within the app. (Digiday) Watch this space. As Facebook looks to link Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, commerce is a play that puts it on par with WeChat, the app from Tencent in China that is a Swiss Army knife of services. * Instagram is testing the locking of usernames for 14 days after changing them, in an effort to crack down on bots and theft. (AdWeek) * Facebook Messenger now has message threads. (Venture Beat) * A close reading of Facebook's guidelines around...some of the more sensitive issues around adult activity on its platform. (The Next Web) The visual alone is worth a click*. * Sweeping changes after an investigation mean that Facebook will no longer allow employers, landlords, or lenders discriminate in ads. (ProPublica)

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Twitter is cracking down on API abuse. If customers primarily use the data to serve business customers as a B2B tool, like for customer service or social media monitoring, they’ll have to pay to enter a commercial licensing agreement with Twitter with a custom price based on usage. Twitter refused to even specify the range those prices fall into. (TechCrunch) If data is the new oil, expect to pay. * For months, Twitter has been inserting tweets from popular accounts into feeds of users who do not follow them. (CNN Business) The practice means Twitter at times has amplified inflammatory political rhetoric, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. Because, why not? Everyone else is doing it*.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Pinterest filed for its IPO, speeding up the process to race to market. The company will be PINS on Nasdaq. The company reported a $63 million net loss on $756 million in revenue for 2018, compared to a $130 million net loss on $473 million in revenue for 2017. (Axios) * Which makes perfect sense why Pinterest is hiring more salespeople than engineers for the first time. (Thinknum) * European regulators hit Google with a $1.7 billion fine for its role in blocking other advertising on its platform. (CNBC) This won't be the last we hear of this. * Google unveiled Stadia, its game streaming service for Chrome, Android, and TVs. The service will support cross-platform play and 4K at 60FPS with HDR, launching later in 2019. (9to5 Google) * Snapchat is launching Snap Originals, its first full slate of roughly a dozen serialized original shows, including scripted series and docuseries. (Axios) More advertising and branded content opportunities ahead*...

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
Disney officially completed its $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox, a move that transforms the entertainment and media industry. (AdWeek) The impact of this deal should not be understated. Disney is a media juggernaut, now with a 30 percent stake in Hulu, ownership of Twentieth Century Fox, FX, National Geographic, ABC, ESPN, and the catalogs of Marvel, LucasFilm, Pixar, and Disney proper, to name a few. When you wish upon a star... * Nine reasons why Disney+ will succeed — and four reasons why criticism is overhyped. (Redef) Including the classic 1957 strategy schematic that shows how all of Disney's elements are interconnected. * There are more streaming options* than ever, and consumers are feeling the strain. (USA Today)

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ Branded podcasts are better than podcasts with ads. (Fast Company) Yeah, done well they are. * After tracking Apple Podcasts for two years, here are the results that include seasonal patterns and category leaders. (Pacific Content) * Google Podcasts is now available on desktop, with syncing to your Android device. (9to5 Google) * In another nod to the ubiquity and universality of audio, Moby released his latest album on the Calm app. (Calm) It's actually the perfect place, given the kind of music Moby writes. * Program of the Week: "Tally," the first season of Over My Dead Body is a seven-part series from Wondery* that looks at the "perfect" couple, two lawyers whose relationship ended in a bitter divorce and the husband's murder. Throw in Miami-area gangsters, an overly possessive set of in-laws, and you've got yourself a real-life murder mystery.

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
Facebook's treatment of data and its refusal to fundamentally address its policies and practices* is causing a Congressman to call on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook for antitrust practices. (New York Times) * And then, the next day, as if to prove his point, Facebook employees had access to hundreds of millions of user passwords for years. (Recode)

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
Guesty — a startup that provides a suite of tools aimed at property managers that list on Airbnb (and others) — announced it has raised $35 million to continue to help fund the company’s rapid growth. (The Hustle) * Why is there so little tech regulation? Politicians are reluctant to disrupt the enormous wealth creation machine that technology has turned out to be. (The Register) * Airbnb has stated publicly that they want to pay taxes. So why are they waging a guerilla war against local governments by suing them when the governments seek tax payments? (Wired) * Lyft is seeking a valuation of between $21 million and $23 million* in its IPO, equating to $62 to $68 per share. (Wall Street Journal)

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
* Marketers shouldn't try too hard to relate everything back to ROI or they might risk looking like an idiot in front of finance. (Marketing Week) * Is too much of something a bad thing? When it comes to data, the answer may be yes. Data managers feel overwhelmed by an abundance of tools. (eMarketer)

Speaking I'm pleased to be heading to the #AdobeSummit as an Adobe Insider, courtesy of Adobe.

How can you energize your team and give them actionable ideas for boosting customer engagement? It's all about applying Timeless Wisdom to your process — practical and relatable lessons drawn from historical and literary contexts, updated to inform business growth. Combine this with Fortune 10 executive experience and some great stories, and you'll be happy that you spent a fraction of what it costs to send your team to a major conference. I'll spend anywhere from an hour to a whole day with your team and give them the power to develop trusted, lasting relationships with your customers.Let's chat and see if I can customize a session for you.

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
You've probably come across your fair share of grammar philistines in texting or email, who don't care to follow protocol. Well, meet the man brought to trial for murdering the English language. (LitHub) * The 1922 book The Fourth Dimension and the Bible by William Granville is a fascinating example of the intersection of science and religion. In this case, Granville explored the more mysterious aspects of the Bible through the rigors of pure mathematics, using the terminology of C.H. Hinton, who visualized this spatial dimension in "Tesseracts." (The Public Domain Review) * A history of the humble milk crate, and the story of this commonly stolen type of container: how it became an icon of storage and design, and the target of tough legal regulations—and how those regulations have started to backfire. (Tedium) * Correction fluids have improbably outlasted the typewriter and survived the rise of the digital office. Who Still Buys Wite-Out, and Why? (The Atlantic) I think I smell a good story*...

Top image credit: Ulysses and the Sirens by John William Waterhouse, 1891 (Wikimedia Commons - public domain)

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The connection between ethics and technology is weak. But we need leaders to stand up and consider the humanities just as deeply as the sciences in new technology.

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I'm not pulling any punches with the lack of ethics in some tech companies; how CMOs are using A.I.; fixing the robocall problem; the cost of autonomous vehicles is a concern; social video ads need your attention; a social media influencer study worth noting; some conditions in Amazon warehouses are brutal; Facebook's rough week; the hottest chat app for teens is...; the significant podcast statistic hiding in plain sight; the Spotify-Apple battle royale; phone numbers aren't good authentication data points; a new take on the data/oil analogy; your spouse doesn't know you as well as someone else; how museums are rethinking the way they collect art; and more in the A Question of Ethics edition of The Full Monty for the week of March 18, 2019.

AnnouncementsScott Monty Strategies leverages my time as an executive at Ford Motor Company and the counsel I've been giving to brands and agencies since. I've worked with digital communications teams, customer service leaders, and C-level executives at companies like Walmart, McDonalds, T-Mobile and IBM on issues related to strategy, crisis communications, customer experience, and digital, social and content strategy. I welcome the opportunity to explore a relationship with your team.
Let's have an introductory chat. Or maybe you'd just like to pick my brain for an hour.

Top Story"All the world's a stage"— William Shakespeare (As You Like It)
The world saw the impact of a terrorist unleashed in two mosques in New Zealand late last week. Rather than try to describe the situation in my own words, I'll borrow from The New York Times:

"On Friday, a gunman strapped on a helmet camera, loaded his car with weapons, drove to a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, and began shooting at anyone who came into his line of vision. The act of mass terror was broadcast live for the world to watch on social media."

The original video was removed within the first hour, but by then, the damage was already done. Around the world, people copied and uploaded the horrific video to their own accounts and to additional platforms. And the tech companies had difficulty in taking them all down.

The A.I. that they've developed was too slow in flagging and shutting down violent videos. Some will say, "That's just how A.I. works. It's easier to match to known and expected things." Maybe so. But share a nipple on Instagram or a copyrighted song on YouTube and it'll get yanked immediately. Not to mention that Facebook says it can now detect revenge porn automatically.

The sad reality is this:

Tech companies don't care enough about curbing hate speech and violence. If they did, they'd have made this a priority.

“The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.” – Albert Schweitzer
Tech companies have engineered a reality in which conspiracy theories and hate are allowed to fester and then go viral, both online and in real life. The power they have unleashed is beyond their comprehension (or at least their expectation). But hate and anger is what fuels the social web. And that drives clicks.

We've long believed that with great power comes great responsibility. And yet Mark Zuckerberg — who has operated Facebook by apology — wants to control the encrypted conversations of nearly a third of the world's population.

At some point, we need to hold such companies to account — not from a regulatory perspective, but from an ethical and human angle. Where is their moral compass?

At this point, their True North seems to be profitability and user growth. They worship at the altar of the golden calf. Sadly, the only way they may pay attention is from an exodus of users and advertisers.

Speaking of exodus, that's the book in the Torah and Old Testament that includes a story about the people worshiping a golden calf while waiting for Moses to return with the Ten Commandments.

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About this week's image: Garrit de Wet painted The Adoration of the Golden Calf in the first half of the 17th century to memorialize the scene described in Exodus in the Torah and the Old Testament, in which Aaron and the Israelites constructed a golden calf to worship while Moses went to Mount Sinai, from which he eventually descended with the Ten Commandments.

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
We should take care about how we treat A.I. machines today, because you never know if they'll decide to take revenge in the future. (The Conversation) Remember HAL from 2001? * DeepMind and Google aim to dominate A.G.I. — artificial general intelligence. Once they solve for intelligence, they can solve everything else. (1843 Magazine) * How should marketers get started with artificial intelligence? (AI Institute) + CMOs are using A.I. primarily for personalization and predictive analytics. See what else they've got planned. (Marketing Charts) As with any kind of machine learning, the more data you have to work with, the better the system will get*.

Robocalls are a growing problem. If only we could make the FCC care a little bit more about fixing it. (Last Week Tonight) Warning: strong language. And strong ideas.

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ In Texas, two Kroger grocery stores are rolling out self-driving delivery vehicles for online orders. (Fox News) * President Trump has privately said that he thinks driverless cars are crazy. (Axios) * Alphabet's self-driving car division, Waymo, has been seeking financing from outside investors such as European automakers like Volkswagen. (Reuters) * If driverless cars are going to change the world, they need to be affordable. (Guardian) As with any cutting-edge technology, early versions are quite expensive. When Henry Ford introduced the Model T and a desire to create transportation for all, it took 10 years to get the price to drop. * The CDC is opening an investigation into e-scooter injuries. "Preliminary observations from the study found that the vast majority of injuries — 98 percent of them — happen to riders who aren't wearing helmets." (Engadget) Just a friendly reminder: if you're using a scooter, please wear a helmet*.

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ Free TV streaming services, like Xumo, Tubi, and Pluto TV, are driving the adoption of digital TV ads. (Axios) All hope is not lost. * March Madness is here. And it's a good time to reflect on how video and mobile can boost sports sponsorships beyond the arena. (Digiday) * Social video ad spending in the U.S. will reach $14.89 billion in 2021, growing 44% from 2019. It will then account for 30.4% of total video ad spending. (eMarketer) Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
The psychology behind brand storytelling should be apparent by now. Creating empathy and using social proof are helpful in that regard. (AdWeek) But all too often, brands forget this: don't always make it about you. * And if you're going for empathy, the link between brand and leadership means connecting with your heart. How do you do that? (Foster Thinking) * If you work in influencer relations, you'll want to download this social media influencer study from Trust Insights that looks at engagement by platform, and by audience size. (Trust Insights) Bottom line: larger audience means less engagement. * Are influencers ignoring your emails? There's something you can do about it. (Agility PR) I receive a lot of pitches; one bit of advice is this: please take the time to read and understand the people whom you're pitching. Don't cut and paste.

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Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
The Amazon Diaries is a series that contains stories from workers at every level of the Amazon empire. This is the story of the relentless misery of working inside an Amazon warehouse. (One Zero) This is a serious issue, and one that we as consumers don't have much control over. Perhaps as you consider your next Amazon purchases, consider bundling them rather than making multiple small orders, as a start. * Retailers will win on this value equation. (Forbes) * A bank analyzed 20 million transactions in Madrid* and found that closing central Madrid to cars resulted in a 9.5% increase in retail spending over the holidays. (Forbes)

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Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
Facebook had a rough week. It included a significant outage and a criminal investigation over its handling of data. (AFP) * Two important Facebook executives are leaving: Chris Cox, the head of product, who has 13 years at Facebook, and Chris Daniels, the head of WhatsApp. And Zuckerberg is taking full control. (Recode) It should be noted that this came directly on the heels of Zuckerberg's privacy/encryption announcement regarding the merging of Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Glad to see someone appears to have ethics*. * One reason for this move is that Facebook's user base has shrunk by 15 million since 2017. (The Verge)

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Twitter is introducing a new 'Subscribe to Conversation' feature to allow users to follow topics of interest. (TechCrunch) Now I'd like a feature that allows me to opt out of people who use the Twitter-equivalent of reply all. * New stats on video marketing on Twitter indicate that video is the best performing content type. (Social Media Today) * Twitter is getting snappy: when you swipe left on the Twitter timeline, it will immediately open the camera function. (TechCrunch) If this sounds close to Snapchat, you're right*.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Snap is launching a gaming platform next month. (Cheddar) Gaming is certainly hot, and Snap is smart to capitalize on mobile eyeballs for gaming, when people are away from their gaming consoles. * The hottest chat app for teens is...Google Docs? (The Atlantic) Makes sense. They're not allowed to use their phones in school, but they're in GDocs all day, which has a chat feature. Boom! Teen ingenuity FTW*. * The most downloaded iOS app of 2018, TikTok last month surpassed one billion downloads on Google Play and the App Store. (Quartz)

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
An AT&T executive recently said that Netflix has a brand problem. Does it? (Variety) Does it even matter? Side note: no one is saying "HBO and chill." * Netflix* subscribers watch an average of two hours per day across multiple devices. (Variety)

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ Sparks are flying in audio-land, as Spotify filed an antistrust suit against Apple for its 30 percent cut. Tim Cook fired back with a critique of Spotify and a defense of Apple. (The Verge) We'll see how this plays out in court. * Last week, we shared the 2019 Infinite Dial report. Here are the 10 biggest takeaways. (Pacific Content) * The significant podcast statistic hiding in plain sight in that report. (Tom Webster) * Wondery does a masterful job of selecting shows that will work cross-media. In short, if there isn’t a potential to develop a show into another form of intellectual property (a movie or a TV show), Wondery probably won’t back it. (Fast Company) We've recommended a number of their shows here, particularly Business Wars. * When corporations join the podcast craze, you know it's mainstream. (WSJ) The question is: can they make it interesting? * Program of the Week:* The featured show is Jensen & Holes: The Murder Squad. A cold case investigator and an investigative journalist try to solve a case each week. The twist is that you can help them. The show debuts the week of April 1.

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
Phone numbers stink for security and authentication. Here's why. (Krebs on Security) * Facebook is facing explosive new questions about when senior executives knew of Cambridge Analytica’s abuse of users’ data. (The Guardian) * Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke was a teenage hacker. He was part of the hacktivist group Cult of the Dead Cow. (Reuters) Not to worry. We're already covered in this regard*. * Is [Facebook] data the new [Standard] Oil? (Timeless Wisdom)

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
A consortium that includes SoftBank Group is in late-stage talks to invest $1 billion or more in Uber’s self-driving vehicle unit. This would help Uber make its pitch to investors ahead of its eagerly-anticipated IPO. (The Wall Street Journal) * As Lyft, Pinterest, Postmates, Slack and Uber* — among some of this decade’s most prominent start-ups — get ready to list on the stock market, investors are preparing to write checks to a new generation of companies created by their workers. (The New York Times)

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
Citizen data scientists desire to do data science but are not formally schooled in all the ins and outs of the data science life cycle. (ZDNet) With the advent of more machine learning solutions, this means they may not need such formal schooling to discern insights. * The traces we leave on the Web and on our digital devices can give advertisers and others surprising, and sometimes disturbing, insights into our psychology. The Internet Knows You Better Than Your Spouse Does. (Scientific American) * Measuring customer satisfaction is easier than you thought. With the right tools. (Agility PR_ * Using the PESO model* to deliver data- and results-driven stories. (Spin Sucks)

Speaking I'm pleased to be heading to the Adobe Summit as an Adobe Insider. And you can join me — just use the code S19SMPC to save $200 on registration or watch the live keynotes here.How can you energize your team and give them actionable ideas for boosting customer engagement? It's all about applying Timeless Wisdom to your process — practical and relatable lessons drawn from historical and literary contexts, updated to inform business growth. Combine this with Fortune 10 executive experience and some great stories, and you'll be happy that you spent a fraction of what it costs to send your team to a major conference. I'll spend anywhere from an hour to a whole day with your team and give them the power to develop trusted, lasting relationships with your customers.Let's chat and see if I can customize a session for you.

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
Ramin Djawadi may not be a household name, but you've most likely heard his music. He's the composer for Game of Thrones and this is how his music helped make the show a hit. (The Atlantic) Side note: he's also behind Westworld. * The 50 best spy movies of all time. (Vulture) I strongly agree with their #1 pick. * Comedian isn’t the first word you associate with Machiavelli. Most familiar today as the godfather of Realpolitik and as the eponym for all things cunning and devious, the Renaissance thinker Niccolò Machiavelli also had a lighter side. (The Public Domain Review) * With storage spaces filled with works that may never be shown, some museums are rethinking the way they collect art, and at least one is ranking what it owns. (The New York Times) No, the Marie Kondo effect hasn't reached museums, but they all have limited space, and bequests and gifts make it difficult to manage. They have to make some hard decisions*. * How to avoid sources of stupidity and make smarter decisions. (Farnam Street)

“I regard it as a criminal waste of time to go through the slow and painful ordeal of ascertaining things for one’s self if these same things have already been ascertained and made available by others.” —Thomas Edison

Top image credit: The Adoration of the Golden Calf by Gerrit de Wet, first half of the 17th century (Wikimedia Commons - public domain)

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There's nothing inherently wrong with "Big." But there is when they wield their power in a disproportionate or harmful way.

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For the extremely ambitious, too much is never enough. The battle on the field of commerce is a game to be won at all costs, crushing the competition at every turn.

Occasionally, the business world is met on the battlefield by a general who is a titan of industry. Who knows more about his industry than anyone else, including the loopholes and hidden opportunities that are exploitable.

John D. Rockefeller was just such a man. And a century later, so is Mark Zuckerberg. Is Facebook on a collision course with regulatory and anti-trust authorities?

“Malefactors of great wealth.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
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Links: This episode: smonty.co/fullmonty68 * Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.* * Other commentary and updates at ScottMonty.com

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Facebook opts for more intimate, private conversations; cameras under the watchful eye of A.I.; darker skin and autonomous vehicles don't mix; the percentage of marketing executives who'll increase their budgets this year; advertisers continue to overlook women over 40; retailers are eliminating innovation labs; the hotly anticipated Infinite Dial 2019 shows a dramatic increase in podcast consumption; Facebook's reputation took a hit last year; the only growing social network; Airbnb is going mainstream; one network's attempt at quashing anti-vaccination content; businesses are collecting a 'rolling hairball' of data but have trouble with insights; the problem with nostalgia; and more in the Private (To Us, at Least) edition of The Full Monty for the week of March 11, 2019.

Special thanks to colleagues who inspired me with link-worthy stories: Chris Brogan, Tom Webster, Jay Baer, Ann Handley, Jason Falls, Mark Schaefer, and Josh Spector. All of these fine folks crank out some amazing content on a regular basis. Check them out.

AnnouncementsOn March 12, 2019 at 1:00 pm ET / 10 am PT, I'll be giving a webinar for AdWeek in conjunction with Sprinklr titled Is Your Corporate Culture Transformation-Friendly? What's at Stake.In it, I'll share the elements of a successful digital transformation plan. You’ll find out:* The building blocks of strategic transformation * Ways to change your culture to prepare for digital transformation * How to move digital transformation beyond marketing

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Top StoryIt was inevitable.

In the last decade, we've spent so much time accumulating friends and followers on various social networks that it's become impossible to truly follow all of them. This is a vestige of our DNA: in Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind, Yuhal Noah Harari referred to "the tens of thousands of years during which our ancestors hunted and gathered."

So, we hunted and gathered on social networks as well, to the point where we've got more than what Dunbar's number suggests we can handle. And now, like any pendulum, it's beginning to swing the other way.

Mark Zuckerberg's 3,200 word manifesto on the future of Facebook indicates that it will increasingly shift its focus away from public posts to private, encrypted, and ephemeral communications on its trio of messaging apps (Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp). How they'll be able to sell advertising against fewer public data points is something that Zuckerberg hasn't addressed. But Zuckerberg was more emphatic in his focus on safety and the spread of misinformation.

Here's the thing: while it may make users more comfortable that their data aren't public, the fact remains that users' data will still be on the platform. Facebook might as well have said, "Your secret is safe with us." Not to mention that by forcing publicly odious opinions and fake news to go underground via private messaging, it's going to be even more dangerous and insidious because of Facebook's (or anyone else's) inability to track it.

Bottom line: Facebook isn't doing this because they heard our concerns about privacy and are now turning over a new leaf. Facebook's plan is to dominate private messaging.

But if you've shared a secret on their platform, your secret is out. Given their past performance on data and trustworthiness, is it reasonable to expect them to perform differently under these new circumstances?

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
If you enjoyed this commentary, please sign up for Timeless Wisdom in addition to this newsletter. I'll be sharing some additional thoughts about this move by Facebook.
About this week's image: The Raft of the Medusa is the work of Théodore Géricault, who took a contemporary news event and transformed it into a timeless icon. In 1816, the French naval vessel Medusa sunk off the coast of Africa, which left 147 sailors adrift on a hastily constructed raft. That number dwindled quickly, with only 15 remaining after a 13 day ordeal at sea that included incidents of cannibalism among the desperate men. The larger-than-life-size painting captures the moment the raft’s emaciated crew spots a rescue ship.

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
Vaak, a Japanese startup, has developed artificial intelligence software that hunts for potential shoplifters, using footage from security cameras for fidgeting, restlessness and other potentially suspicious body language. (Bloomberg) Hmm. A.I.-powered cameras that presuppose criminal behavior? Sounds an awful lot like Minority Report. * Just a reminder that airlines have cameras in the screens on the back of passenger seats. American, United, Delta, and Singapore Airlines say they have no intention of using them, though. (USA Today) We'll let you be the judge. * Google has announced a new module for its machine learning framework, TensorFlow, that lets developers improve the privacy of their A.I. models with just a few lines of extra code. (The Verge) We're glad someone is using A.I. for increasing privacy*. * No more midday golf and boozy lunches: An A.I. tool is auditing expense reports to find and flag questionable spending decisions. (WSJ)

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ Tesla is dealing with the failure to achieve full self-driving vehicles by moving the goalposts, as it continues using its customers as unpaid safety drivers for its technology. (Ars Technica) Did we say you'd be able to summon your car autonomously to Los Angeles from New York by 2018? We meant "future use of these features without supervision is dependent on achieving reliability far in excess of human drivers as demonstrated by billions of miles of experience." Or something. * Researchers have developed a smart stop sign that will flash a light at the right moment to make sure drivers don’t roll past the sign altogether, therefore raising the risk of an accident. (New Atlas) * A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology found that individuals with darker skin are 5 percent less likely to be detected by autonomous vehicles. (Vox) Good grief. Algorithmic bias, most commonly reflecting human biases, is a big problem in the world of A.I. and machine learning. That's because the algorithms rely on training data from the real world—including content from media outlets like Vox. * BMW and Mercedes Benz maker Daimler recently announced that they’ll collaborate on ride-sharing and mobility services as part of a €1 billion* joint investment. (CNBC)

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ Good news – 55% of marketing executives say they expect to increase their budgets this year, by an average of 14%. (Advertiser Perceptions) * Four B2B marketing trends to watch in 2019, including video, account-based marketing, and a slowing of advanced technology. (Marketing Charts) * Do consumers dislike personalized ads? It's the usual conundrum: consumers want personalized ads, but don't want to give up the necessary data. (eMarketer) * It's time to put more effort into your email newsletter. One reason: it's slow-cial media. (Emma) It's one of the few things over which you exercise as much control as possible. Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
Women have never been more engaged, more motivated, more in control of their lives than ever before. And brands are missing out as they continue to overlook women over 40. (AdWeek) Interesting finding during the week that included #InternationalWomenDay. * People would not care if 77% of brands disappeared. However, more than three-quarters (76%) of consumers expect brands to contribute to their quality of life and well-being, according to a new report on meaningful brands. (Havas) It's time to start making consumers care – by caring about what matters to them. * New research finds that as Generation Z and young Millennials exhibit much greater price sensitivity and much lower brand loyalty than prior generations—a challenge for brands looking to grow loyalty with this elusive group. (Agility PR) As if we didn't have enough generational challenges already. * And if you need a positive boost about the power of humanity** as a new brand gets off the ground, check out this Twitter thread. (Twitter)

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Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
There was a false alarm (updated, via AdWeek) that Amazon abandoned thousands of third-party wholesalers, with no notice. It is pushing third-party vendors to sell directly to consumers. (Quartz) This would obviously be disruptive, but could also be seen as a potential anti-competitive practice, as such vendors may not be set up to go DTC and Amazon is guaranteed to win. Further, with continued investment in private-label products, such a move by Amazon could be seen as a way to clean house to make way for its own products. * Beginning in April, Amazon is closing all 87 of its pop-up stores. (CNBC) * Dollar Tree sharply marked down the value of its Family Dollar chain and announced plans to close nearly 400 Family Dollar stores and rebrand hundreds of others this year. (WSJ) The discount business is not cheap. * More retailers are doing away with "innovation labs" and instead simply integrating innovation into their operations. (Digiday) As it should be. Innovation should be a cultural thing, not the responsibility of a single department. * Alibaba and Office Depot are launching a co-branded online store that’ll target small and medium sized businesses. (AP) Appropriate, as the orignial Ali Baba was the son of a merchant, and a small businessman himself. * Returns* are one of the biggest issues for e- and m-commerce, but they could also hold the key to helping keep stores relevant, if technology can be used to make returns work more effectively. That's what kiosks from Happy Returns are designed to do. (Internet Retailing)

If you haven’t taken a moment to recommend The Full Monty in the past month, please find a couple of minutes. Three effective tactics (do one, two or all three): 1. Share the URL smonty.co/fullmontysub with a group of your friends at work, a community of practice that is relevant, on Slack, a Facebook Group, etc. with a recommendation.
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Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
Part of Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2019 (see more below in the Media section) included social media usage. Here are nine key discoveries in 2019 social media research. (Convince and Convert) This one may surprise you: only one network grew last year. Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
Now Facebook is allowing anyone to look you up using the phone number you provided for security purposes only. (Fast Company) But "trust us." Also: "private." And "encrypted." * In an Axios Harris Poll of U.S. adults, Facebook's reputation dropped from 51st to 94th in 2018, following myriad scandals. (Axios) Seems like a good time to double down on data privacy. * Instagram introduced “branded content ads,” letting marketers promote their influencers’ paid posts to audiences beyond their followers. (Ad Age) Interesting note: when Twitter debuted ads for brands and I was in charge of Ford's strategy, our very first promoted tweet was someone else's content.

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
As Twitter has shrunk, it has become a place where users mostly retweet politicians and celebrities. (Washington Post) It's short-form entertainment*.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Pinterest's CEO says the success of the app is in how it mimics the best parts offline shopping. (AdWeek) * Pinterest has unveiled a Catalogs* feature; it enables marketers to showcase multiple product images, sorted by category, and make them into dynamic Product Pins. The company has also added Shopping Ads to its self-serve Ads Manager platform. (Marketing Land)

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
There's only one Blockbuster store left in the world. What's its secret? (CNN Business) Hint: there's one kind of content is provides that Netflix and Amazon don't. * The new streaming service from Disney, Disney+ will feature the company's entire catalog –including items that have long been in its vault. (Collider) * Netflix is a threat to the entire Big Media establishment – and Big Media is coming for Netflix. (Axios) It's not just coming from one direction. With Hulu, Disney+, Amazon, WarnerMedia, and others, this is an ongoing battle*.

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ The New York Times is growing its audio business, with five new hires to grow The Daily and more. (New York Times) * Podcasting shows explosive year-over-year growth as gains in spoken-word audio mark the 2019 Infinite Dial Study by Edison Research and Triton Digital®. + Among the U.S. population ages 12 and older, the total number of people who have ever listened to a podcast passed 50% for the first time. + An estimated 67% of the U.S. population listened to online audio in the last month, and 60% listened in the last week. + In-car listening to podcasts increased more than 13%*.

Infinite Dial 2019 from Edison Research * Program of the Week: The featured show is Consider Our Knowledge, an award-winning home for the best NPR parody that we know of- where the news is fake, and the jokes are real.

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
An email validation company left over 800 million records exposed online. (Ars Technica) * Even as North Korea and the U.S. met, North Korean hackers were at work hitting over 100 targets in the U.S. “For 15 months, they haven’t tested weapons because of this negotiation but over those same 15 months they have not stopped their cyber activity.” (New York Times) Because no one can see those. * A U.S. Senate report details the efforts of the Russians regarding Brexit. The senators also challenged the adequacy of the investigations by Facebook and Twitter into the allegations of widespread social media interference by the Russians during the referendum. (The Guardian) * Deepfakes—completely fabricated images and videos—are a terrifying prospect, but are they a real threat? (The Verge) * Facebook* is doing its part to quash anti-vaccination content in an effort to combat misinformation. (NPR)

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
Airbnb is finally entering the hotel industry by buying HotelTonight. (Quartz) * Regarding the sharing economy: ‘sharing’ was supposed to save us. Instead, it became a Trojan horse for a precarious economic future. (OneZero) Virtually none of the sharing economy startups have demonstrated a cash flow-positive business model. At the center of it all: when you leave decisions up to society as a whole, people will chose the cheapest alternatives, and things will tend toward chaos rather than order*.

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
What is the true business value of social media engagement? It may be difficult to tie to specific financial events, but here are eight conclusions to consider. (Mark Schaefer) * What social media metrics matter? It depends. (Jason Falls) * Data science and analytics will be the technical skills most needed at digital ad agencies worldwide in the next two years. (eMarketer) * Many CMOs have tried to buy their way out of the marketing landscape’s issues with adding more marketing technology*. But that's a short-sighted fix that's only causing more headaches. (Agility PR) * All sorts of businesses are collecting a ‘rolling hairball’ of data on their customers. Whether they can use their insights to transform into tech companies is another matter. (WSJ)

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
A visual representation of how Daylight Saving Time affects the country, as a cartographer mapped hours of daylight and darkness across the U.S. (Mental Floss) If you need me, I'll be in the dark in Michigan in the morning. * Harvard researchers say this is what successful people do when making small talk. (CNBC) So many great nuggets in this one. * Wearing rose-colored glasses always leads to an unfair distortion — looking back on the best of the past while comparing it to the worst of the present. The Problem with Nostalgia. (Longreads) Or, Nostalgia Ain't What It Used to Be. Just ask my kids. * Great futurists* know the secret to unlocking accurate predictions. (Timeless Wisdom)

Top image credit: The Raft of the Medusa by Jean Louis Théodore Géricault, 1818-19 (Wikimedia Commons - public domain)

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Learning from the mistakes and successes of our forebears can put us in a better position.

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An excess of technology may be negatively impacting us—particularly the younger generation; A.I. made a significant impact to the global economy; scooters are a bad deal; consumers prefer voice ads; should influencers be regulated?; pick your Amazon Day; the secret to Best Buy's success; why Facebook and Google won't change; a consumer revolt against cable is brewing; Spotify is powering more podcast listeners; how seriously your privacy is actually taken; Lyft's IPO and recent financials; Nielsen's move toward a product-driven technology company; charisma, charm, and the ability to persuade; and more in the Too Much of a Bad Thing edition of The Full Monty for the week of March 4, 2019.

Special thanks to colleagues who inspired me with link-worthy stories: Tamsen Webster, Heidi Cohen, Christopher Penn, Michael Rubin, Ann Handley, Mark Schaefer, and Ken Burbary.

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Top StoryHave we taken technology too far?

Smartphones in particular have become an appendage, and in doing so, have created a sort of dependency that we can't seem to shake. It's one thing for generations who didn't grow up with these devices, who have become what we once used to call "digital immigrants." But it's entirely another for the digital natives.

In particular, teens are seeing depression and anxiety as a major problem among their peers. They feel pressure from the usual places: academic performance, appearance, social acceptance. But it's likely that these areas of concern are amplified, thanks to technology — the ubiquity of social media and messaging apps being the prime suspects.

Is it any wonder? A recent story on NPR indicated that emotions can spread like viruses: in particular, anger is contagious online (as are other emotions). When teens, whose brains are not yet fully evolved, feel the lure of technology and addictiveness of social media, combined with their fluctuating emotional states, it's a dangerous combination. And because they might have a harder time creating boundaries or limitations on themselves, they're at a higher risk.

A group of researchers decided to get off of Facebook for four weeks to determine the effects. They discovered four things: (1) people spent less time on technology overall, and more time with friends and family; (2) they were less informed, but also less politically polarized; (3) those who gave up Facebook felt “small but significant improvements in well-being”; (4) those who left Facebook said they planned to spend less time on it after the study concluded.

Perhaps it's time that we reassess our priorities and put our attention where it can do the most good. While we don't have to go to the extreme of giving up technology or Facebook, we should determine just how much of it is good for us.

"Out of moderation a pure happiness springs." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If you enjoyed this commentary, please sign up for Timeless Wisdom in addition to this newsletter and I'll send you a couple of more items a week.
About this week's image: The Glorification of Art and Diligence and the Punishment of Gluttony and Earthly Pleasures by Jeremias van Winghen depicts the dual nature of humanity: virtue and vice. The arts are prominently represented among the virtuous group in the foreground. A gentleman carves a sculpture while behind him another pair of men sketch in red chalk. Vice, on the right hand side of the canvas, is filled with gluttonous individuals consuming alcohol, being lustful, and eating excessive amounts of food.

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
Robots took on a record number of jobs in U.S., Canada and Mexico last year, according to the Robotic Industries Association. According to the RIA’s data, 35,880 robots were shipped in 2018 to the U.S., Canada and Mexico, up 7 percent from the previous year — and half went to non-automotive companies. (CNBC) * A.I. contributed $2 trillion to the global GDP last year, according to a report. The industry could contribute $15.7 trillion to the world economy by the year 2030. (PwC) Who stands to gain the most? China, with its improving technology and momentum-happy economy. * A.I. in content marketing: what it is, how to use it, and companies to demo. (Marketing AI Institute) We could all use some practical advice. * Microsoft unveiled an A.I. camera at Mobile World Congress. The Azure Kinect is “new intelligent edge device that enables developers to create a wide range of A.I.-powered experiences." (CNBC) Other companies such as Amazon and Google have their sights set on the A.I. camera market as well. A.I. Uses for grab-and-go retail, healthcare, and gaming await. * How recommendation algorithms favor conspiracy theories and outrage over fact. (NBC News) The squeaky wheel gets the link?* * Letting your customers know when they're dealing with bots would be helpful. Then they can decide how to engage. After all, "spam decorated as human interaction is still spam." (Seth's Blog)

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ FedEx is testing autonomous delivery bots this summer in several cities. Called the SameDay Bot, the device looks like a FedEx box on wheels and is equipped with a camera for navigation. (Fortune) * Waymo is preparing to roll out more than 62,000 autonomous Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans as the autonomous vehicle collaboration between the two expands. (CNBC) * SoftBank made a $2.25 billion investment in GM's Cruise to help speed autonomous vehicles to market. (Bloomberg) The race is on! * The average Bird scooter costs $360 to make, but lasts just 28 days and earns on average only $75 across its lifetime. The fascinatingly bad economics of the scooter business. (Oversharing) As usual, amid the hype, the numbers in the sharing economy don't add up*.

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ A masterclass in brand building for companies small and large alike. (Medium) Because brand is more important now than ever. * Nearly 40 percent of consumers prefer voice ads on smart speakers to TV ads. (Forbes) An important wake-up call for marketers to focus on voice. For what it's worth, I can think of many things I prefer to TV ads... * Lessons from the magazine industry that can help content marketers. (Heidi Cohen) While journalism skills aren't a perfect transfer to content marketing, there are some essential ones to learn. * Email is the most popular channel for lead generation, with 84.2% of marketers using it, according to the 2019 Leads Council Benchmarking Report. But when it comes to performance, social media is ranked among the top three channels by 66.7%, email by 57.6% and paid search by 51.5%. (Media Post) * For the email marketers among us: Seventeen Emails Telling You That You Have Unsubscribed from Our E-mail List. (The New Yorker) Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
Given the debacle at the Fyre Festival and the usual blatant disregard for FTC guidelines, is it time to regulate social media influencers? (Mark Schaefer) My take: no, because enforcement is nigh impossible; brands need to step up and ensure the influencers they're working with aren't being duplicitous. * Today's influencer economy can be shared by a Victorian-era economic theory. In the 1899 book Theory of the Leisure Class, the author writes: “The motive is emulation—the stimulus of an invidious comparison which prompts us to outdo those with whom we are in the habit of classing ourselves.” (Quartz) TL;DR — even those in the 19th century wanted to keep up with the Joneses. * Whether you're an employee or a manager, here are seven communications skills you need in the workplace. (Fast Company) * How to build a crisis-ready communications team before you need them. (Agility PR) I did a fair bit of crisis work in my corporate days, and speak on the subject. LMK if you'd like to chat.

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Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
Amazon is planning to open dozens of grocery stores at a lower price point than its subsidiary Whole Foods in cities across the country. (WSJ) The grocery wars are heating up, and it isn't yet clear whether this will cannibalize Whole Foods. * More than half of U.S. households will be Amazon Prime members by the end of 2019. (eMarketer) New membership is driven by expanding Prime categories such as grocery, apparel, and media. * Prime members can pick an Amazon Day — a single day of the week when all of their Amazon packages are delivered. (CNET) A clever play by Amazon — predictability, and a lower chance of package theft — that will help reduce shipping costs. The question is whether logistics will make this possible. * More than 300 store closures were announced in one day by J.C. Penney, Victoria's Secret, and Gap. (Business Insider) * J.C. Penney pulled the plug on its subscription service. (Reuters) I hope you'll join me in shock when I say, "J.C. Penney had a subscription service?" * While other retailers have struggled against Amazon, Best Buy has managed not only to stay afloat, but to thrive. How? (CNN Business) Best Buy has focused on customer services (like in-home tech support) to boost sales, and is matching prices fulfilling online orders at stores*.

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Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
With all of the outcry over the amount of data they collect and their dominance in the field, the real reason why Facebook and Google won't change. (Fast Company) Two words: surveillance capitalism. They like the money. * Insurers are using customers’ social-media posts to determine premiums, inviting the potential for our digital lives to become disingenuous performances. (The New Yorker) Just imagine if we judged the president by his tweets*.

Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
Without a doubt, the must-read of last week was Casey Newton's widely circulated piece on The Secret Lives of Facebook Moderators in America. Facebook relies on third party contractors, sparing the sensibilities and psyches of its own employees. (The Verge) My take: if you've created the conditions that allow the basest instincts of humanity to surface, you should do your own dirty work. * Facebook has rolled out a new feature across the globe that enables users to combine Stories with events. (AdWeek) * Facebook is offering a Fan Subscriptions feature, but wants a 30% commission, compared to Patreon's 5%. (TechCrunch) You would think that with Facebook's size and profit margin, they'd undercut Patreon, not make a blatantly greedy grab for six times Patreon's fee*.

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
eMarketer has raised its outlook on Twitter, estimating that its U.S. ad revenues will grow 22.8% between December 2018 and December 2020 to $1.62 billion*.What's driving it? Having seen increased spending in the 2018 midterm elections, they predict that the 2020 elections will have a similar impact. (eMarketer) * Twitter confirmed that it is working on a Hide Tweet feature. It functions as an alternative to muting or blocking a user, while still offering some control over a conversation. (TechCrunch) * Users can apply to a Beta test group to preview new features coming to Twitter. (Social Media Today)

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
YouTube* says it will disable comments on almost all videos featuring minors, improve classification of comments, and continue to ban harmful accounts. (YouTube Creators Blog)

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
Americans are increasingly giving up on expensive cable and satellite TV packages for more affordable services delivered over a broadband connection. (Axios) * A full-on consumer revolt is the result of high-priced cable bills as consumers have more choices in streaming media. (The Street) And cable companies have no one to blame but themselves, as they've carried intractably fat bundles for too long. * Director Steven Spielberg is prepared to propose a rule change that would prevent Netflix films from getting an Oscar at an upcoming Academy Board of Governors meeting. (Collider) You probably guessed this image was coming*:

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ New podcast listener growth is happening, thanks to Spotify. (Panoply) * Apple Podcasts issued a new rule last week: that podcast creators should refrain from using episode numbers in their shows. They later clarified, saying that creators should ideally use the iOS season and episode tagging features. (Apple Insider) * Pandora launched Pandora Stories, which will allow artists to intersperse spoken tracks with their music almost like an annotation. It will appeal to creators who wish to tell music-driven stories, made possible because the feature provides access to Pandora’s catalog of fully licensed songs to use in Stories. (TechCrunch) This is an interesting and smart play to leverage their music in the quest for more podcast relevance. * Dipsea has raised $5.5 million for its app that features short-form erotic stories. (TechCrunch) Quick — someone give me $5.5 million and I'll read Penthouse Forum into a microphone. * Program of the Week: The featured show is Should This Exist? hosted by Caterina Fake, who invites the creators of radical new technologies to set aside their business plan, and think through the human side*.

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
"We take your privacy and security seriously." So says just about every company. So, a journalist scraped every data breach notification filed in California last year and compared it to the companies that say they take your privacy seriously. (TechCrunch) * Genetic testing firms that take your DNA are sharing it more than you think. (Axios) So it's 23andMeandThatGuyandThisCompanyandThatLawEnforcementBranch? * TikTok was fined $5.7 million for violating a child privacy law. (Variety) * Facebook is lobbying against data privacy around the world, threatening to withhold investments unless politicians ease up on privacy laws. (The Guardian) Because of course they are*.

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
Ride hailing company Lyft filed for its IPO, showing a 39 percent market share versus Uber in the U.S. (CNBC) While it lost $911 million last year, one thing to note is the cash burn as a percent of revenue: the three-year trend is going in the right direction. + Year / Revenue / Cash burned / Cash burn as % of revenue + 2016 / $343.3 million / -$682.8 million / 199% + 2017 / $1.1 billion / -$688.3 million / 63% + 2018 / $2.2 billion / -$911.3 million / 41%*

Both Lyft and Uber are considering giving pre-IPO stock to some of their earliest drivers. (Marketplace)

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
Snap a photo of a printed data table and Microsoft Excel will convert it into an editable spreadsheet. (The Verge) * Don't do analysis in a vacuum. Context matters. (KDNuggets) * Nielsen*'s CEO said the company will focus on transforming into a product-driven technology organization following a difficult year financially. (The Drum) * How one winery uses data and technology for marketing itself. (KSRO)

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
Just where did Odysseus travel following the Trojan War? Homer fans have been trying to figure this out—and squabbling over their findings—for as long as the Odyssey has been in the canon. The Geography of The Odyssey. (Lapham Quarterly) * Any change movement within an organization will be resisted by 25%, with 50% uncommitted. Create opportunities for the middle 50 percent to spend time with the top 25 percent. (John C. Maxwell) * Are you a grammarian* like me? Then you'll revel over this Harvard linguist's list of the most misused words in English. (Business Insider) * What is charisma? Simply put, it's authenticity plus attitude. How to improve it is another thing. (Public Words) + Related: How to be more charming. (Timeless Wisdom)

From a series of the Five Canons of Rhetoric on how to become a better speaker and writer, we come to Arrangement, the organization of a speech or writing to ensure maximum persuasion. (The Art of Manliness) The other entries are Invention, Style, Memory, and Delivery.
And finally, the importance of studying those who came before us, so that we may learn from their mistakes and speed our path to success:

Top image credit: The glorification of art and diligence and the punishment of gluttony and earthly pleasure by Jeremias van Winghe (Attr.), c.1580-1600 (Wikimedia Commons - public domain)

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We're too busy zooming toward the future to take note of the Car of History.

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Creators need to understand the potential impact of their actions, as evidenced by Honorius and Mary Shelley; skills needed in the age of A.I.; understanding the breadth of autonomous technology is important; the state of influencer marketing includes more scrutiny on relationships and authenticity; retail growth predictions; making Facebook ad-free is difficult; Pinterest is going public; TikTok is the latest advertising casualty; Vox and Sticther expand their partnership; the companies that are sneaking cameras into home devices and airplanes; how much hashtags matter on Facebook and Instagram; treat your weekends like vacations; remembering Sluggy; and more in the Unintended Consequences edition of The Full Monty for the week of February 25, 2019.

AnnouncementsI thought it might be time to remind you about what Scott Monty Strategies does. Having spent 6 years in an executive role at Ford in charge of digital and social strategy, I coach big brand and agency executives and their teams on how to grow their business by better connecting with their stakeholders, particularly through digital transformation efforts. I welcome the opportunity to explore a relationship with your team.

Top StoryWhen you're creating something, there's got to be some consideration for its impact on humanity. Whether it's a new communications method, a transportation breakthrough, or a piece of entertainment. Part of intelligent design is understanding how it will be used by the masses (should you be successful enough to see mass adoption).

It's where Facebook tripped up and didn't anticipate the nefarious uses of its platform for election manipulation and fake news. And they're still struggling.

YouTube and Pinterest are making strides in this direction after running into similar issues. YouTube is demonetizing anti-vaxxing channels, deleting channels that led to questionable pedophile-related comments, and creating a one-strike warning and stricter rules for punishment. Pinterest simply "broke" its search tool for anti-vaccine searches. Facebook has also taken strides to reduce a number of fake news pages.

But each of these platforms is self-serve: that is, they each allow users to create their own channels by design. The utopian view was that they'd be used to bring people together. It seems they're doing just that — but perhaps for the wrong reasons.

Economists in particular assume that humans make rational decisions. But if history has taught us anything, it's that emotion will always supersede rationality. As much as we like to pontificate from the sideline or armchair, we're driven by emotions.

Philosophers refer to innocent evil: people with moral intentions make decisions that result in immoral consequences. And this is why the technology industry could do with a dose of history, psychology, classics, and philosophy.

Or Timeless Wisdom.

"I had begun life with benevolent intentions and thirsted for the moment when I should put them in practice and make myself useful to my fellow beings. Now all was blasted; instead...I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt."
— Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
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About this week's image: In The Favourites of the Emperor Honorius by John William Waterhouse (1883), Honorius feeds his pigeons, indifferent to the news that Rome has fallen. According to Gibbon, "the amusement of feeding poultry became the serious and daily care of the monarch of the West" and who "passed the slumber of his life, a captive in his palace, a stranger in his country, and the patient, almost the indifferent, spectator of the ruin of the Western empire, which was repeatedly attacked, and finally subverted, by the arms of the Barbarians." (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, Chapter XXIX)

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
As A.I. continues to change the workforce, Microsoft says these three skills are what business leaders will be looking for. (CNBC) * If we want to align advanced A.I. systems with human values, it will require resolving many uncertainties related to human psychology. If we want to train A.I. to do what humans want, we need to study humans, and that means A.I. needs social scientists. (Distill) * Frank Chen*'s presentation on A.I. + Humanity and the need for careful, thoughtful, empathetic design. (a16z)

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ There's more technology in cars today than ever before. But what you don't understand about it might harm you. (Axios) It's worth spending some time exploring this guide, as there's a lot of misinformation out there. * In fact, 40% of Americans wrongly think a partially automated driving system like Autopilot, ProPilot or Pilot Assist means it can drive the car itself. (AAA) By comparison, on every flight you take, there's always a pilot in the cockpit when autopilot is engaged. * Related: Elon Musk announced that Tesla will have all of its self-driving features by the end of 2019. (CNBC) What could go wrong? * Recent hacks of connected vehicles can teach autonomous vehicle* developers how to design cybersecurity measures that are cued by anomalies in vehicle behavior. (Axios) * Lime has hired Morgan Stanley to help create more fundraising opportunities for the electric scooter company. (Bloomberg)

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ It’s ironic that companies often spend significant resources on external strategy advice while ignoring one the most fruitful sources of strategic insights: their own employees. Unfortunately, employees whose ideas about strategy aren’t listened to may quit — and take their ideas with them. (MIT Sloan Management Review) * This year will mark a major milestone in the world of advertising. For the first time, digital ad spending in the U.S. will exceed traditional ad spending. (eMarketer) * The Global State of Influencer Marketing 2019 from Talkwalker found that brands will continue to invest in influencer marketing, but will focus on long-term relationships and will be on high alert regarding authenticity (and the bot-generated boosts some influencers generate). (MarTech Today) Those who game the system are eventually found out*. + Authenticity matters. (Timeless Wisdom)

The top 10 CPG categories in 2018 were largely dedicated to our pets and our self-care. (Marketing Charts) Advice: f you've got an idea for a new product, make it be for how we look or feel, or how we take care of our pets. Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
Budding communications professionals may wince at the focus on video lately, but there's good news: video requires captions and transcripts. (Wistia) I recently addressed a college communications class and mentioned the importance of becoming good writers, above all — it's what will track to any corner of the profession.
If it's a day that ends in 'y,' there's outrage online somewhere. And when big brands have to deal with angry netizens, it's a matter of acknowledge, apologize, and investigate. (WSJ) And of course, it's a matter of knowing what to respond to and what to leave alone.

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Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
We're seeing more retail layoffs, as the sector flatlines while the rest of the economy is adding jobs. This is due to store closings and a shift to more ecommerce, while fewer Americans are electing to fill vacant retail jobs. (CNN Business) * Pressured by Amazon, retailers are experimenting with dynamic pricing, where algorithms spit out different figures based on factors that could include time of day, demand, location, competition, and customer buying patterns. (Digiday) * Walmart is doing just fine online, thank you very much. The retail giant's latest numbers show a 43% increase in ecommerce. (CNBC) The multi-pronged online strategy is paying off. * Microsoft is teaming up with Albertsons, America’s second-largest grocery chain, to implement a “frictionless” shopping experience for customers. (The Verge) * Grocery chain Aldi is expanding across the U.S. and is using private label products to help. (Digday) * Two comparative predictions on how much retail sales will grow in 2019. (eMarketer) It's worth paying attention to the difference in numbers and where it comes from. * Most retailers need to learn this lesson: the relationship doesn't end with the sale. (AdWeek) In fact, it begins. Yeah, I'm looking at you, car dealers. * An Atlanta man was arrested for putting fake arrows on the floor at IKEA, creating a labyrinth with no exit. (9gag) First thought: I always assumed that was IKEA's design. Second thought: this man is the hero we need*.

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Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
If you want a sense of Facebook's values, just look at its internal propaganda arm. (Fast Company) Remember: culture eats strategy for breakfast. Also: "What you are screams so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you're saying" — Ralph Waldo Emerson. * Facebook wants to make a voice assistant that's smarter than Siri or Alexa. (CNBC) "Yes, I'd like to give more of my data to Facebook." - No one ever. * Mark Zuckerberg says an ad-free Facebook isn't as easy as it sounds. (Recode) On the contrary. I'm sure giving up all of that advertising money isn't easy at all. * Despite having less than half of Facebook's monthly active users, Instagram's top 10 accounts generate 5 times more interactions than Facebook's most-engaged accounts, according to data from CrowdTangle. (Axios) * What would you do for your dream home? Nearly half of Millennials would swear off Instagram forever. (The Digital Hub) But then we wouldn't have Instagram photos of those beautiful homes*.

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Users can apply to be part of Twitter's beta test group and get a first look at new features. (Social Media Today) * Twitter's co-founder Ev Williams is leaving the board. (CNBC) Williams is the CEO of Medium, which will likely command more of his attention*. * A man was arrested for the 1973 murder of an 11 year-old girl after police recreated her last day in tweets. (NBC Southern California)

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Pinterest secretly filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO this year. The company saw a 50% increase in revenue over the last year. (TechCrunch) Get in line, along with Lyft, Uber, and Slack. * TikTok has told agency partners in the U.S. that it is working on a biddable advertising option on the platform, signaling it is looking to further open up to advertisers. + Related: here's a short version of the TikTok playbook sent to brands, agencies and influencers. (Slideshare) It's happening again...*

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
Just as Amazon shocked the retail industry into wokeness, Neflix did the same to the entertainment industry. Hollywood is racing to catch up with Netflix, with Disney in hot pursuit. (Variety) Good longread about the state of the industry. * Spectrum cable subscribers can get streaming access for just $15 a month. (The Verge) Another move showing how cable companies understand the threat and need to change if they don't want to be disrupted out of business*.

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ Vox Media is expanding its partnership with Stitcher, one of the biggest end-to-end podcast companies, to produce a new technology news podcast from Recode as part of a multimillion dollar deal. (Axios exclusive) The Vox podcast lineup is impressive and growing. * Barstool Sports has 25 podcasts that brought in $15 million last year. (Digiday) * No longer just a destination, SoundCloud now helps artists distribute their music to other streaming platforms. (The Verge) * Program of the Week:* The featured show is The Allusionist, a podcast that's all about words, hosted by Helen Zaltzman.

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
Google says the built-in microphone in Nest was never meant to be a secret. (Business Insider) Google: "Our bad. We forgot to tell you about the microphone we accidentally included in your device." * Singapore Airlines and American Airlines confirm that seatback screens have cameras, but say they are disabled. (BuzzFeed News) They're disabled? Well that's a relief. * Google knew that real-time ad exchanges break Europe’s data protection laws, according to emails unearthed by privacy watchdogs. (The Register) * You give apps sensitive information like weight, blood pressure, or menstrual cycles, and they tell Facebook, even if no Facebook account is used to log in and if the end user isn’t a Facebook member. (WSJ) Nothing should surprise us any more. As a matter of fact, Facebook knows what I'm thinking right now. * Internal emails reveal that Facebook planned to spy on Android users. (Computer Weekly) Good grief*.

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
DoorDash is now valued at $7.1 billion. Food delivery is huge, as more consumers spend money on eating in. (Axios) * UberEats* is in the process of selling its Indian business to rival Swiggy. The transaction would give Uber a 10% stake in the company. (Economic Times)

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
Gartner has identified augmented analytics, continuous intelligence, and explainable A.I. as the top trends that could disrupt data and analytics industries in the next few years. (Tech Circle) * What's on the adtech and martech horizon in 2019? More valuable data and more accountability in advertising and marketing. (SmartBrief) * StitchFix has a radical data-driven way to sell clothes. They sold $1.2 billion worth last year. (Fast Company) * How much do hashtags matter on Facebook and Instagram? (Trust Insights) Great research here*.

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
Since 2015, Jeff Wysaki has been making fake toys and signs and leaving them in public. Now you'll be able to enjoy them in person at the Museum of Toys pop-up in Los Angeles. (The Verge) I want a bag of Muppet Screams. * The sculpture of ancient Greece has captivated us for centuries. Why we've been fascinated by it for so long. * When we think of our Saturdays and Sundays as vacations — rather than days we’re simply not at work — we return on Monday happier and more refreshed, according to research. (UCLA Anderson) * If you're a public speaker and you want to know how to make people laugh, you need to employ twists in your stories. Twists come in several different flavors: the put-down, the aside, and the exaggeration. (The Accidental Communicator) * Joe Sirola passed away recently. You may not recognize the name (or even the face), but odds are you saw or heard him in a commercial. I remember him fondly for his turn as Sluggy Patterson, a fictitious character developed by Volkswagen, who supposedly invented the "Punch Dub" (or Punch Buggy or Slug Bug) game. (Vimeo) These videos were a favorite of mine during my time at Ford*.

Top image credit: The Favourites of Emperor Honorius by John William Waterhouse, 1883 (Google Art Project - public domain)

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There's a difference between authenticity and originality. Focus on authenticity rather than originality.

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Facebook's culture continues to dominate; experts comment on the executive order for A.I.; Volvo's subscription service is under fire; winning the hearts and minds of consumers; the importance of building trust; what the store of the future should be like; a new Twitter tool will create citizen video journalists; Netflix may lose subscribers over its price hike; podcasting deserves a larger share of advertising; the absence of leaked Equifax data is terrifying; Uber's latest numbers are in; a breakthrough in GDPR-compliant data analytics; improve yourself by reading old books; and more in the Digital OG edition of The Full Monty for the week of February 18, 2019.

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Top StoryWell, what do you know? It's Facebook back in the news, and not for a good reason. It's a continuation of the Cambridge Analytica / government questioning story line, and in this case, the U.K. Parliament and its Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

The Committee said that Facebook representatives "deliberately misled" them or were not properly briefed themselves. Either way, it amounts to obfuscation by Facebook. Hey, add that to complexification from last week!

In fact, they went even further, stating in no uncertain terms that they considered Facebook to be skirting along the criminal world: “Companies like Facebook should not be allowed to behave like ‘digital gangsters’ in the online world, considering themselves to be ahead of and beyond the law.” They also called for Facebook to be investigated by the U.K.'s data watchdog.

This is a particularly sensitive time, as Facebook is also negotiating with the Federal Trade Commission for a multibillion dollar record fine.

Even if we can forgive Facebook's decisions in the years leading up to the election and chalk it up as lack of foresight or a result of a lack of coordination internally, it's getting more difficult to overlook the transgressions above. The leadership has been given ample opportunities to come clean, and at every turn, they're guided by their moral compass, which is expressed through a series of delays, denials, and deflections.

Even as Mark Zuckerberg continually expressed his idealistic desire to make the world a more connected place, the constant hunger for data and profits drove the company forward, ethics be damned.

Peter Drucker once said that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Facebook's culture continues to cast a shadow over its strategy. Or perhaps it's a perfect reflection of it.

“And those that deceive upon hope of not being observed do commonly deceive themselves, the darkness in which they believe they lie hidden being nothing else but their own blindness and are no wiser than children that think all hid by hiding their eyes.” – Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

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Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursue Crime by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon shows a dead man lying sprawled across the foreground while blood seeps into the ground from a wound in his neck. His murderer flees with the victim's belongings in his arms. Above, Divine Vengeance, illuminating the way with a torch, and Justice, armed with sword and scales, pursue the criminal. Prud'hon made this study for a monumental painting destined to hang behind the judges' bench in the criminal courtroom of the Palace of Justice in Paris.

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
A detailed study by McKinsey suggests that Europe is falling behind China and the U.S. in artificial intelligence, while its digital gap continues to widen. (McKinsey) * President Trump created an executive order on America’s A.I. policy. The national strategy was released by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and includes five key goals: redirect funding, create resources for researchers, establish standards, retrain workers, and engage internationally*. Four experts weighed in on the policy. (IEEE Spectrum) * Microsoft's A.I. pipeline goes from research to reality. It’s not enough to have brilliant researchers and a bunch of popular products. You’ve got to have a system–or several systems–for melding raw technology into experiences that make a difference for businesses and consumers. (Fast Company)

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ Strategy is when an organization finds and exploits a change in the business and technology environments and rides it with speed, skill, and determination. (McKinsey) * No, Millennials do not have the most spending power of any generation. Bob Hoffman reminds us that spending power is a function of income plus accumulated wealth plus access to credit. (AdContrarian) Math. It's hard for some industry publications. * If you want to win the hearts and minds of customers on social media, start by listening and engaging with them. (Marketing Charts) Note: that's different from "create engaging content," the favorite phrase of social media strategists everywhere. Good old fashioned talking with customers can actually get you results—even though marketers seem to focus on scalable processes. * Lead generation is one of the most important outcomes of many B2B marketing programs. Here are 12 expert ideas to improve content marketing for better leads. (Content Marketing Institute) Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
Brands that build trust from the inside out, build a cycle of strength where employees who trust their employer are more likely to engage in beneficial actions on behalf of the brand. (Brand Strategy Insider) Once again, it all comes down to trust. It's not sexy because it takes time. But it's worth it. Every time. * And you build trust by focusing on your reputation. (Timeless Wisdom)

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Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
Amazon abandoned its plans to house one of its second headquarters in New York City. Christopher Mims* makes the argument that the announcement is good news for America's tech economy, if Amazon distributes jobs and investments in its 17 corporate and tech hubs. (WSJ) + Amazon blamed local politicians; politicians blamed corporate greed. In the end both parties got what they deserved. (The Atlantic)

Payless is closing all 2,100 of its U.S. stores. This is the latest in a series of retail bankruptcies and closings. This was Payless's second bankruptcy. (CNN Business) When you compete on price alone, with no other benefit and little investment in ecommerce, this is what happens.
And it looks like we haven't seen the last of store closures, as the number of store closures for 2019 has already reached one-third of the closures seen in all of 2018. (Retail Dive)
A new analysis from the Interactive Advertising Bureau finds that direct-to-consumer companies like Dollar Shave Club and Everlane are moving beyond the retail sector and are pushing into every sector, from media to health care. (Axios)
The IAB's study How to Build a 21st Century Brand 2019 is an in-depth illustration and analysis of how direct brands are driving a tremendous transformation in the way consumer goods and services are created, marketed, and sold. (IAB)
Perspectives from retail experts on key components of the store of the future. (Retail Dive) The physical store may represent the beginning, middle, or end of the customer journey, experience matters, and so does your front line staff.

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Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
The 10 top social media tools brands should explore in 2019. (Buffer) All are worth looking at, depending on your needs. Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
Influencers and Instagram go together like peas and carrots. Last year, one in three Instagram posts containing "#ad" was a Story. (Klear) * Facebook’s ad revenue is running at about 3X time spent on the platform. (eMarketer) In other words, you're likely misaligning your budget based on where netizens spend other time. * Facebook plans to coordinate with publishers and influencers to produce as many as six to eight new shows per partner for Facebook Watch. The shows would be funded by Facebook using a production partner and starring influencers with a large number of followers on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. (Digiday) Facebook always creates incentives around what it wants to promote. Follow the money...

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Twitter is testing a News Camera feature, which at the moment allows users to add color overlays and location information to livestreams, photos and videos. (AdWeek) Get ready for more citizen journalism. * Kara Swisher interviewed Jack Dorsey on Twitter. #KaraJack (Twitter) While Kara got some good answers out of the part-time CEO, it was nearly impossible to follow. * Twitter does a good job of allowing a single author to thread their own feed, but Twitter really fails at allowing observers to follow conversations. (The Atlantic) Jack, just accept the podcast invitation from Kara already*.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Snap is offering to pay companies $50,000 per episode of Snapchat Discover shows. (Digiday) Follow the money... * LinkedIn is the latest (or maybe last?) company to offer live video broadcast with its new LinkedIn Live. (TechCrunch) How 2015 of them. * Reddit announced $300 million in funding, valuing the company at $3 billion. With 330 million active users, that means its users are the least valuable of any social network. (CNBC) And redditors are thrilled*.

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
IAC Chairman Barry Diller, the former CEO of Paramount and Fox, talks about the diminished power of movie studios and why “Netflix has won this game.” (Recode) * After the latest price increase 27 percent of Netflix users say they could cancel, and many would welcome a cheaper, ad-supported version of Netflix. (Streaming Observer) Netflix needs to be careful, as they walk a fine line here. With so many streaming options now, they stand a very real chance of losing subscribers if they increase prices too much or too frequently. Fickle vewers can get their streaming content elsewhere just as easily. Another reason why Netflix's own programming needs to be superior. * TiVo's Video Trends Report found that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of adults in North America use their televisions to watch TV shows, while close to half (45 percent) use their TVs to watch live sports. And one-third (33 percent*) of teens use it to watch YouTube. (Marketing Charts)

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ Between tools like Substack and Anchor, podcasters have more tools at their disposal for generating revenue than ever before. (Digiday) * Pandora's VP of Content and Programming Alex White says the streaming service's goal is to create "effortless, personalized programming and discovery around podcasts." (AdWeek) * Tom Webster continues his smart commentary on audio with the contention that podcasting deserves a larger share of advertising. (Medium) * Today, brands need to have a distinct, recognizable identity not just in packaging, stores, or billboards, but across digital ads, apps, and podcasts–and newest of all, in a growing number of screenless interfaces, like Amazon and Google voice assistants. (Fast Company) Your brand's audio signature is more important than ever. * Program of the Week:* This week, you get not a program, but episodes. In fact, the 30 Best Podcast Episodes of All Time (According to mission.org, that is).

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
“We are caught between two extremes: a weak regulatory system in the United States that refuses to so much as investigate the Equifax breach and a fine-based scheme in Europe that is so harsh that regulators will never be able to impose the maximum allowable penalties. Neither of these systems comes close to striking the right balance of financial penalties mixed with corrective security measures. And until they do, companies will continue to escape serious consequences for their breaches." Why It's So Hard to Punish Companies for Data Breaches (Medium | The New York Times) * Now 17 months after the Equifax data breach, none of the personal information of the 143 million customers has made its way to the web. Investigators suspect that a nation-state is behind the breach, for spying purposes. (CNBC) * A look at the six tenets of data privacy in connected vehicles for OEMs, data providers, service providers, and consumers, according to otonomo. (via Lisa Joy Rosner) * The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends GDPR-like privacy laws in the United States to give people more control over their data. (Engadget) Facebook is now 15 years old. It's time for users to have more (or at least clear) control over their data*.

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
Uber is suing New York City over caps on the number of licenses for drivers that last for one year. (CNBC) * Uber booked $50 billion in annual revenue for 2018, but showed only a 2 percent growth in Q4. Uber Eats alone accounts for $2.5 billion in bookings per quarter. (Reuters). * Uber lost $1.8 billion in 2018, down from $2.2 billion in losses the previous year. (Barron's) There is concern that the losses may slow the potential IPO, and that Uber's previous reputation of invincibility is beginning to fade*.

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
Augmented analytics, continuous intelligence and explainable artificial intelligence are among the top trends in data and analytics technology that have significant disruptive potential over the next three to five years. These and 7 other data and analytics trends are here. (Gartner) * One of the hardest parts about being a data scientist: learning how to listen. (KDnuggets) The same could be said for marketing, communications, leadership*... * Three questions to ask when buying location data for audience segmentation. (eMarketer) * With more restrictions on what companies can use and with consumers being more stingy about what they share, here's what's needed: a breakthrough in GDPR compliant data analytics. (IBM)

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
There's been a decline in history majors at the very time we need more historical thinking to put our current world in perspective. (The New Yorker) * With that in mind, you might want to know how to improve yourself by reading really old books. (The Federalist) This is exactly what I preach over on my blog. * Are intellectuals suffering a crisis of meaning? (Scientific American) Maybe we're overthinking it*.

“If you join at eleven o’clock a conversation which began at eight, you will often not see the real bearing of what is said.” — C.S. Lewis (tweet this) * Are you habitually late? Does it bother you? If you've got 16 minutes, you might want to read The Complete Guide to Being On Time. (Medium | Better Humans) * An Oxford study suggests there are seven universal rules of morality. “People everywhere face a similar set of social problems, and use a similar set of moral rules to solve them.” (New Atlas) Humans are remarkably similar, by region and over time. If you understand what drives them, you can act accordingly. * Bruno Ganz, the actor who played Hitler in Downfall, has died. (The Guardian) You may recall the "Hitler Rants" parodies. This is the actor. + Hitler is Informed Bruno Ganz Is Dead

Top image credit: Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1806 (Getty Museum)

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Guard your reputation well.

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Transparency and reputation are closely linked; the 100 most promising A.I. startups; A.I. may have a larger impact than the internet; ride-hailing companies struggle for profitability, despite AVs; the latest Inc. 500 social media study reveals confidence and concerns; customer-centricity should be central to digital transformation; Sears gets saved—for now; why online groceries are difficult; look beyond social networks to boost traffic; Marie Kondo your Twitter feed; Fortnite and the future of entertainment; hot takes on Spotify/Gimlet; discovering your reused passwords; compliance laws cloud influencer marketing efforts; other bnbs besides Air; living a life of liquid modernity; and more in the Apoplectic Complexifier edition of The Full Monty for the week of February 11, 2019.

Top StoryI feel like I'm a week ahead of myself. Last week, I mentioned how the week before I talked about the lack of trust, then I continued the theme, focusing on transparency. This week, it's about reputation.

And what do you know? Last week, the bombshell Jeff Bezos Medium post became a lesson in complete transparency. By going public with his response to the questionable legal approach and idiotic business move that AMI, owner of the National Enquirer took ("What's that? You want me to stop investigating you or you'll release my naked selfies? I'd like that in writing, please."), Bezos pulled the rug out from under them.

In doing so, he managed to keep his reputation fairly unsullied. The texts were already out there, so he really didn't have much to lose. Not to mention that as the world's richest man, he has the resources to back him.

| | | The true story behind the Bezos mishap? |

But it's an interesting lesson in going on the offensive before your opponent does. It's a classic political maneuver: define yourself before someone else can. That way, your reputation is still within your control.

A related piece worth reading is Shame Storm (via First Things). It helps put into context these ever-escalating pitchfork-and-torch incidents online. The more online shame cycles you observe, the more obvious the pattern becomes: everyone comes up with a principled-sounding pretext that serves as a barrier against admitting to themselves that, in fact, all they have really done is joined a mob.

If you think we're any different now with the Internet at our back, we really aren't. We're nothing if not consistent, and frankly, human nature is pretty dark (via Aeon): Schadenfreude sets in by the age of four, we view minorities as less human, we are vain and overconfident, we're moral hypocrites and potential trolls, and more. But we can overcome those baser instincts.

Pick your friends, colleagues, and counselors carefully. For their character may rub off on you, for better or worse.

“Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation.” – George Washington

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About this week's image:
The lithograph above is Album Comique. L'Apoplexie foudroyanteby Ambrose Tardieu. It pictures sudden apoplexy: a large man stretched out on a chaise lounge attended by a doctor and servants. August Ambrose Tardieu was a French medical doctor and preeminent forensic medical scientist of the mid-19th century. Apoplexy is a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke, and Tardieu would have been interested in the pathology underlying the condition.

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
CB Insights published its list of the most promising 100 A.I. startups working across the artificial intelligence value chain, from hardware and data infrastructure to industrial applications. (CB Insights) * Researchers are training A.I. systems to recognize nonverbal cues in speaking and subtext in writing, including sadness, happiness, and ultimately, sarcasm. (Science News) And not a moment too soon. * MIT Media Lab spinoff Affectiva’s neural network, SoundNet, can classify anger from audio data in as little as 1.2 seconds. (VentureBeat) Think of the possibilities in vehicles alone: when combined with Nuance's monitoring for driver fatigue, this could mean reductions in road rage or accidents. * Robots* have demonstrated the ability to do amazing physical things, like backflips. But can they hold down a desk job? (Aeon) * Around the globe, CEOs have differing opinions on whether A.I. will have a larger impact than the internet. (Marketing Charts)

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ According to the latest annual study from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, almost all (96%) of the Inc. 500 agree that social media is effective in building brand awareness, with 92% also agreeing that it’s effective in creating relationships with consumers/customers. But they also worry about ROI and privacy issues. (Marketing Charts) * How TUMI transformed its customer service. It's about being where your customers are. "When customers are able to use various real-time channels to reach us, like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, they’re a lot happier, and they get the resolution they’re looking for a lot sooner.” (Forbes) It's not rocket science. * According to recent research by MarketingProfs, half of marketers are happy, fulfilled and engaged. Which half are you? (Mark Schaefer) * A surprisingly large number of corporations are still failing to consider customer needs when it comes to digital transformation strategies. (VentureBeat) It's about more than the tools and technologies, folks. Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
From making a public presentation to asking for a raise, communication is all about personal, concise storytelling — great advice from a speechwriter. (Fast Company) * If you want trust, start with some transparency. (Timeless Wisdom)

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Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
We shop online for almost everything. Why are people reluctant to buy groceries online? It comes down to two major things: cost (to the consumer and to the retailer), and selectiveness. (The Atlantic) Fruit eaters can be fussy. * Amazon is reconsidering its New York HQ2 after facing opposition from locals. (Washington Post) * Amazon recently won a patent for "Mobile Pickup Locations" that could lead to customers picking up packages from public buses. (Retail Dive) Bookmobile, anyone? * Thanksgiving is now the number three shopping day of the year. More retailers need to treat it that way. (eMarketer) * The launch of sponsored products means a new way for Wayfair to compete with other marketplaces like Amazon. Brands can bid to promote certain SKUs within certain categories on a pay-for-performance basis. (Digiday) * Sears* got a lifeline as chairman Eddie Lampert won approval to buy the company for $5.2 billion. Sears has 425 stores and 45,000 employees left. (CNBC)

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Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
With slippage of traffic generated by Twitter and LinkedIn, where are your readers/visitors coming from in 2019? Flipboard is one promising platform. (Nieman Lab) It's time to look beyond social platforms to others, where you have more over control the narrative and algorithms. Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
Facebook said it mistakenly blocked a museum in Switzerland from using images of two nude statues, a marble Venus and a bronze of a kneeling man. (NZ Herald). Facebook, your priorities are screwed up. * Germany’s antitrust regulator ruled that Facebook was exploiting consumers by requiring them to agree to such intensive data collection in order to have an account. (Wired) That's pretty much Facebook's whole business model. * Facebook Messenger lets you delete messages after they've been sent. But only within 10 minutes of sending. (The Verge)

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Twitter disclosed its daily active user numbers for the first time, revealing the platform hit 126 million DAUs in the fourth quarter, a 9.5% increase from the same period in 2017. It also noted that video is the fastest-growing ad format. (MediaPost) * Periscope (remember Periscope?) will allow broadcasters to accept request for viewers to make audio calls to the show while it's live. (TechCrunch) First-time / long-time. Twitter is clearly upping its live video game to compete with Facebook. This could actually make live video much more engaging on Twitter. * Marie Kondo* your Twitter feed today. Tokimeki Unfollow shows you recent tweets from one account you follow at a time (from your earliest follow, your latest, or randomly—your pick).

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Flickr will soon be deleting photos of users who haven't signed up for a Pro account. Suddenly, entire sections of the Internet that have relied on embedded Flickr images will disappear. “We have apparently been training a generation of computer users that they don’t have to pay for anything.” (Vox) This isn't going to be pretty. * Now that Tumblr* has banned NSFW content, there's an orgy of sex-based social networks being erected. (Fast Company)

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
Fortnite's Marshmello concert was a glimpse of what the future of entertainment might look like. (The Verge) Immersive, * Much has been said about Fortnite’s revenue, users, business model, origin and availability. But these narratives are overhyped. It's fundamentally a story of rebundling and how Epic Games combines Fortnite with other successful entertainment lines and creates a Metaverse. (Redef) * How the sports OTT landscape in the U.S. is disrupting TV. Disruption is coming from several areas: subscription-based streaming services from the top leagues, standalone services run by broadcasters and independent startups, linear OTT services that deliver live TV content over the internet, and social and digital media companies that have enough capital to buy coveted streaming rights. (eMarketer) TL;DR: it's complexifying*.

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ Three solid reads on the Spotify/Gimlet/Anchor announcement from last week: + What Spotify's $230 Million Gimlet Deal Means for the Podcasting Industry (The Vulture) + Spotify's Podcast Aggregation Play (Stratechery) + Spotify, Music, and Podcasting: The Meteor Is Coming (Tom Webster) This is my favorite take, because Tom has the inside angle of audio trends, being the head of marketing for Edison Research, whose Share of Ear study is one of the industry's most referenced. Tom's take on the use of music within podcasts is particularly worth noting. + And my own take with Shel Holtz* on FIR. (For Immediate Release)

Program of the Week: Money. Romance. Tragedy. Deception. The Dropout from ABC Radio is the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, as told through exclusive interviews with former employees, investors, and patients, and for the first-time, the never-before-aired deposition testimony of Elizabeth Holmes.

Please subscribe to The Full Monty podcast, our own 5-minute weekly business commentary. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
Many popular iPhone apps record your screen activity without asking. (TechCrunch) My plan is to drive them crazy with all of the red notification dots on my home screen. * On Safer Internet Day, Google found that 65% of users reused the same password across multiple sites and 51% had a favorite password that they stuck with for most things. (Forbes) * Google's new Password Checker extension will tell you if your password is reused and if it has been compromised. (CNN Business) * Hackers and scammers are finding ways to access iCloud-locked iPhones. Using phishing kits and fake receipts, they reprogram the phones for their own use. (9to5Mac) * A deeper look at data privacy issues and connected cars. (ReadWrite) * A crypto CEO died holding the only passwords for about $150 million in cryptocurrencies. Everything — his laptop, email addresses, and messaging system — was encrypted, and only he had the passwords, so his investors are out some millions of dollars. (Bloomberg) The good news is, no one else can get to the money either. Live by the crypto, die by the crypto*.

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
While disclosure continues to dominate the conversation around influencer marketing, data compliance laws are adding another layer of confusion—and cost—for those operating in this evolving market. (eMarketer) * Taco Bell is adding GrubHub to its delivery network. This is in addition to DoorDash, opening it up to many other cities. (Engadget) * The family of the woman killed by an Uber autonomous vehicle has filed a $10 million lawsuit — against the city. (Newsy) * Because it's so intimately involved in travel, Airbnb hired Virgin America's former CEO as their chief of transportation. (Fast Company) It looks as if Airbnb wants to own end-to-end travel. Watch this space. * Airbnb* wants to you check out its other bnbs: Earthbnb, Firebnb, and Waterbnb.

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
When it comes to business analytics, it pays to think like Sherlock Holmes. (Timeless Wisdom) * Oracle has spent billions of dollars and years tracking people around the web, but it didn't see the data reckoning coming. The result: layoffs from its Data Cloud* division, responsible for its advertising software. (Bloomberg)

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
If you enjoy the neoclassical paintings I use in each issue of The Full Monty, you must check out Recreations of Famous Paintings of Myths Using Only My Children's Toys. It's sheer joy. (Idle Musings | Medium) Here's a sample:*

| | | Francisco de Goya, “Saturn Devouring His Son” (1819–1823) and Sarah Scullin, “Kronos Rex” (2019) |

Most personality quizzes are junk science. Take one that isn't. It measures the Big Five of psychology: openness to experience, extraversion, negative emotionality, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. (FiveThirtyEight)
Try Reddit's best tips for reading more books. (Lifehacker)
Colorize your black and white photos with Colourise. Historical images, family photos — it's breathtaking.
This commencement address by Harvard Law graduate Pete Davis is perfect. He identifies how we live in liquid modernity — or "infinite browsing mode" in Neflix or social networks. This is in direct opposition to selecting a direction or making a commitment. (YouTube) It's not only a great object lesson, but it's a masterful delivery of a speech, done without notes. It's only 8 minutes long, but well worth your time.

Top image credit: Album Comique. L'Apoplexie foudroyante by Ambrose Tardieu, 1822 (British Museum)

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We could learn a lot about analytics from Sherlock Holmes.

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Transparency can go a long way toward trust; facial recognition may be getting better; A.I. for Marketers ebook; integration of mobility services is seen as key to success; global digital trends for 2019; creating value with marketing; the future of journalism is questioned; digital grocery loyalty is time-dependent; how to increase your Instagram followers; Twitter may be nearing an edit function; five executives doing social media well; Apple's streaming service coming in April; Spotify may be acquiring Gimlet for a huge sum; the percentage of companies that sell your data; which words are best to use with customers, as analyzed through big data; advice on thinking, decision-making and banking; and more in the Capacity for Opacity edition of The Full Monty for the week of February 4, 2019.

Top StoryIn our last edition, I talked about lack of trust — in particular, how Facebook (once again) fell afoul of our trust, and how many of last week's links concerned breach of trust in some fashion.

But it got me to thinking about what's at the root of distrust: that is, why we end up being duped, willing or otherwise. Part of it exists within our own desire to believe, but it's exploited by companies that decide to withhold information, or make it particularly difficult to determine the truth.

Case in point: Facebook (sigh, again) has been accused by ProPublica of cutting off access to tools that let the public see exactly how Facebook users are being targeted by advertisers. That is, ProPublica and others such as Mozilla and Who Targets Me created a means for consumers to see how their data are being used — something you'd think that Facebook would have created and made apparent and easy to use.

Facebook's response? "We regularly improve the ways we prevent unauthorized access by third parties like web browser plugins to keep people’s information safe," according to a spokesperson.

Oh, they're protecting us. But "Rebuilding trust is the company's total focus," right?

These slippery explanations are designed to obscure the truth: that Facebook wants control over what you see and discover, and even the most well-meaning public watchdogs are not welcome.

If they bothered with even a little transparency, we might be inclined to trust them. Even McDonalds brought us inside a facility to see how Chicken McNuggets are made, in an effort to build trust and make the truth known.

Transparency doesn't mean giving away your secrets. Transparency means confidence in your business operations that lead to a willingness to be honest and show how the sausage (or McNuggets) are made.

It's abundantly clear that Facebook prefers being opaque.

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About this week's image:
James McNeill Whistler completed Nocturne of Grey and Gold - Picadilly in 1883. The image may evoke fear and mystery, with obscured buildings and people, and the knowledge that something—many somethings—must lurk beyond what is visible. For artists, the fog is beautiful, as Whistler attests in his Ten O'Clock Lecture (1885): "Nature, who, for once, has sung in tune, sings her exquisite song to the artists alone." But for others, the fog is a shroud that disguises the poverty, commercialism and squalor in the city on any other day.

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
Summit, the world's most powerful supercomputer, broke a record for the fastest-running machine learning experiment. The experiment used algorithms to detect extreme weather patterns such as hurricanes out of a huge dataset of climate simulations. (Wired) These kinds of experiments set the ground for other uses of machine learning across industries. * IBM released a new, annotated dataset for facial recognition called Diversity in Faces, or DiF. The dataset contains 1 million facial images sourced from Creative Commons that are labeled using ten different coding schemes. (Venture Beat) * In what appears to be an effort to condition searchers to use voice, Google added voice input and spoken results to mobile web search. (Search Engine Land via Pam Moore) Given that voice search works on all phones, Google is more likely to be the winner in voice search than any other platform. Right, Alexa and Siri?*

Be sure to download a copy of Christopher Penn's AI for Marketers: An Introduction and Primer (Second Edition). You'll find the kinds of questions you should be asking vendors, five practical applications of AI for marketing, what it will take for you to succeed on your journey, and more. (Disclosure: affiliate link)Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ Could Waymo be the de facto victor in the autonomous vehicle race? (Financial Times) Perhaps, but they still need to get their vehicles from somewhere... * Argo A.I. has a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California. California is the fifth state where Ford's A.V. partner is now allowed to test its technology. (TechCrunch) While some debate the efficacy of OEMs vs. tech companies in autonomous vehicles, Ford's hybrid approach is one to watch. * Autonomous vehicles could make urban transit more efficient, but what's really needed is intelligent digital platforms to integrate different modes of transportation into a personal travel plan that's optimized for consumer preferences, like shortest travel time or lowest price. (Axios) There's no one-size fits all approach for A.V.s, even within a seemingly homogeneous place as a city. Multi-modal mobility options are essential. * Amazon is hauling some cargo in self-driving trucks from Embark. Embark integrates its self-driving systems into Peterbilt semis, rather than building its own vehicles completely from scratch. (CNBC) Kind of like Waymo*...

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

We Are Social and Hootsuite revealed the latest annual report Digital Trends 2019: everything you need to know about mobile, internet, social media, and e-commerce use around the world in 2019. (The Next Web)

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ Consumers have more power over your company’s success or failure than ever before, and it’s time for a new metric that captures the return on your investment in them. Enter ROX - return on experience. (strategy+business) * Marketing creates three types of value: cultural, business, and consumer. What value do you create? (Hackernoon) * Keith Weed, Unilver's CMO called for systemic change in advertising, beginning with trust. “Without trust, advertising has no future. A brand without trust is just a product. Advertising without trust is just noise.” (Campaign) * Video works for more than just brand awareness. According to research, consumers use video at every stage of the customer journey. (Think with Google) * Some stats about Super Bowl — excuse me, Big Game ads, from cost to ad effectiveness to top categories and more. (Marketing Charts) Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
With layoffs at BuzzFeed, HuffPo and other big digital publishers, we're left to ask what went wrong with digital media? (The New York Times) There's plenty of blame to go around, over a long timeline. Perhaps we should look toward successful digital pubslishers like The Guardian, The New York Times, the Washington Post., etc. and ask what went right. * Journalism is changing. First, the pivot to video. Then, the pivot to podcasting. Now, the pivot to subscription. (Medium) What's next? * How can journalism survive? A good mini-history of what got us here. Here being consolidation, layoffs, and a disinterested public. (The New Yorker) * Instead of seeking out stories, a better option is letting stories come to you, preferably through email. Going all Marie Kondo, Mat Zucker suggests bringing joy to your inbox with these newsletters. (Forbes)

SPONSOR
Personalization is needed more than ever. But how do you do it at scale? It's really all about knowing your audience and serving them up what matters to them, ideally based on what you know - such as their purchase history. IRI* has the solution in their latest FREE webinar: How to Improve Audience Targeting for Your CPG Ad Campaigns. (IRI Worldwide)

Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
Like Jet.com before it, Shoes.com is changing the way Walmart sells online. (Footwear News) Walmart.com and the other two sites co-exist, each serving a different segment of shoppers. * Retail is broken. Apple's SVP of Retail Angela Ahrendts has a plan, and it includes opening fewer, larger stores so that you can get the full experience of everything that’s Apple. (Vogue Business) A key part of succeeding in retail in 2019 is understanding that the experience matters, from IRL to digital and back again. * H&M is closing 160 stores amid a profit slump and a late entry into digital retailing. (Retail Dive) * More than half of digital grocery shoppers surveyed by Capgemini said they would be more loyal to a grocery retailer that offered 2-hour delivery. An even higher percentage (61 percent) of respondents said same-day delivery would increase their devotion. (eMarketer Retail) What do we want? Stuff! When do we want it? Some time today! * Amazon's Q4 profit passed $3 billion, making it the most profitable quarter yet (but still short of analysts' expectations). (NBC News) * With Amazon's control of ad placements, it can and does promote its own private label brands higher in search results and also sometimes at the bottom of brand competitor listings. (eMarketer) When you control the platform, you control the visibility of products*.

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Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
Russia created a playbook for spreading disinformation on social media. Now the rest of the world is following it. (The New York Times) + Related: someone took credit for coining the term 'fake news' but doesn't want to accept the responsibility for its impact. (The Hill) Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
If you want to get away with posting fake news on Facebook, just change your website domain. This has allowed a number of previously debunked sites to fly under the radar of fact-checkers. (Poynter) * Researchers at New York University and Stanford University found that deactivating Facebook for just four weeks could alter people’s behavior and state of mind, making them less informed but happier. (Washington Post) * Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a “Facebook Research” VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user’s phone and web activity. (TechCrunch) But trust them. * How to increase your Instagram followers without resorting to hacks, buying fake followers, or unscrupulously turning your profile into an egg. (Medium via For the Interested)

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Twitter's head of content partnerships says the social media network wants to work closely with publishers to ensure Twitter is correctly handling content they are creating. (AdWeek) * According to CEO Jack Dorsey, Twitter is trying to figure out editable tweets. One possibility is having the original still show. (9to5Mac) * Twitter cut off access to its API for follow/unfollow services including ManageFlitter, CrowdFire and StatusBrew. (TechCrunch) While helpful for finding and unfollowing spam and bot accounts, these services have been gamed to allow unscrupulous users to follow and then unfollow accounts quickly, to boost their own numbers. * People who tweet are more open-minded than those who only post on Facebook. But they also tend to be more Machiavellian as well. (Insider) But not you—you're better than that*.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Five executives doing social media well and what we can learn from them. (Hootsuite) Having advised many C-level executives on social media, I can do the same for your company. Feel free to get in touch. * Reporter Kashmir Hill spent six weeks blocking Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple* from getting her money, data, and attention, using a custom-built VPN. Here’s what happened when she stopped using all Google services. (Gizmodo) + Lessons from not checking my email for a month. (Fast Company)

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
Apple told studios and networks to be ready for a launch of Apple's streaming service by mid-April, the same month investors see a Disney+* preview. (The Verge) * The Criterion Collection just announced that the Criterion Channel will launch with 1,000 classic and contemporary art-house films in April. (Variety) * MoviePass competitor Sinema is cutting prices and allowing subscribers to roll over tickets from one month to the next. (Engadget)

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ Spotify is in talks to acquire Gimlet for $230 million. (Recode) An astounding number, considering that podcast advertising generated $315 million in 2017. But one that will continue to push podcasting into the mainstream. * The 15 best business podcasts right now has content for entrepreneurs and established folks as well. (Small Business Trends) * One key point in this profile of Bill Simmons: "Podcast advertising has grown quickly—it increased 86% from 2016 to 2017—but it still represents less than 1% of the overall U.S. digital ad market." (The Wall Street Journal via Tom Webster) * Program of the Week:* Retales from the Front Line brings you insights from some of the most well-known voices and thought leaders that retailers, brands, and media have come to rely on to better understand the retail industry, consumer behavior, and which commerce strategies are most effective.

Please subscribe to The Full Monty podcast, our own 5-minute weekly business commentary. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
Apple takes on Facebook over privacy, but does it even matter? (The New York Times) * In an encouraging statistic, about 70 percent of companies do not sell their customers' data. The more important question is: why do some companies sell customer data? (eMarketer) * New York's attorney general is cracking down on selling fake social media activity in the state. (CNN Business) Say goodbye to the practice of buying and selling fake followers, likes, and views*.

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
Uber is leaving Barcelona (again) after new regulations make it illegal to compete with taxis. (TechCrunch) * Recharge is adding homes to its supply of on-demand spaces. Since its 2015 founding, Recharge says it's had 50,000 bookings with an average stay of two hours. (TechCrunch) Hmm. What could people be doing for 2 hours in a private space?*

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
A team of experts used big data to analyze which words are best to use with customers. (Harvard Business Review) In short, be human, speak as an individual, and share their words. * Investing in marketing automation* has benefits that go beyond lead generation – in particular, with helping marketing and sales to work more effectively together. (CleverTouch)

Speaking How can you energize your team and give them actionable ideas for boosting customer engagement? It's all about applying Timeless Wisdom to your process — practical and relatable lessons drawn from historical and literary contexts. Combine this with Fortune 10 executive experience and some great stories, and you'll be happy that you spent a fraction of what it costs to send your team to a major conference. I'll spend anywhere from an hour to a whole day with your team and give them the power to develop trusted, lasting relationships with your customers.Let's chat and see if I can customize a session for you.

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
An expert on human blind spots gives advice on how to think. It helps that it's psychologist David Dunning. (Vox) The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club. * Your life choices aren’t just about what you want to do; they’re about who you want to be. The Art of Decision-Making. (The New Yorker) * For anyone that does creative work, Gabrielle Bellot’s poetic piece is a salve for the times when we’re plagued by artistic self-doubt. (LitHub) * If you'd like something to do, browse these 55 places where you can download tens of thousands of books, plays, and other literary texts for free. (nothingintherulebook) * A report of a pothole in Florida led a public works crew to discover a tunnel under the road. The tunnel was leading straight toward a bank in the strip mall on the other side of the road. (Miami Herald) Anyone who's read "The Red-Headed League" saw this one coming a mile away. The police? Let's just say they aren't that wide-read, remarking, “I’ve only seen something like this in the movies." * Let’s hear it for the Font Detective, who demonstrated in court that the documents provided by defendants in a recent case were in fact forged by identifying the typefaces. Calibri and Cambria, developed in 2002 but not available for public use until 2007, were the typefaces used on documents allegedly created in 1995. (Naked Security via Rebecca Romney*'s Book Curious newsletter).

Top image credit: Nocturne of Grey and Gold - Picadilly (public domain, Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, Massachusetts)

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As we advance technologically, it's imperative to pause and reflect on what keeps us together emotionally.

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Who can you trust these days? Is Alexa dangerous? What happens when new mobility meets the U.S. legal system? What concerns CEOs most in 2019? Why aren't DTC brands saying yes to Amazon? What 10 social media trends will matter most? What's the secret sauce of podcast advertising? How is streaming turning into cable's business model? Should you be able to monetize your own data? Is it time to regulate influencers? How are marketers changing their TV attribution strategies? Are digital detoxes solutions looking for problems? When can I come speak to your team? The answer to these questions and more await in the Believe Me edition of The Full Monty for the week of January 28, 2019.

The Full Monty makes you smarter faster, by curating the essential business intelligence every week. Links are below with commentary in italics. Please sign up for our email updates to make sure you don't miss a thing.

Top Story"Can I be honest with you?"

That question should spark immediate suspicion. Because it connotes that the person asking the question (a) isn't usually honest with you, and (b) is about to bring down a hammer of sorts.

Here's the thing: we have a problem right now with the truth and trust. The #3 issue keeping CMOs up at night is establishing trust.

It's apt then that the latest edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer came out last week. Also ironic that Mark Zuckerberg's opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal ("The Facts About Facebook") was the same untrustworthy stuff we've heard from him — such as the old canard "We don't sell people's data." No, you sell access to people by using their data. Semantics.

And entirely transparent that Zuckerberg used the WSJ as the medium for his message. Facebook has systematically weakened the news industry, and its CEO can't publish this on his own page? Oh, right: regulators don't necessarily follow him on Facebook, but they do read the WSJ opinion pages.

Ever since getting caught up in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook has said that its #1 mission is to establish trust (I won't say "restore," because that implies they had it in the first place). But gaffe after gaffe has seemingly obliterated that platitude.

As you read though the links this week, take a good look at how many of them have to do with a lack or breach or trust, or an absence of honesty.

It's an epidemic. And the brand that figure out how to be authentic, believable, and trustworthy stand to win.

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About this week's image:
The Procession of the Trojan Horse into Troy by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1760) illustrates a famous passage from Virgil's Aeneid (Book 2). After a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse—the horse being the emblem of Troy—and hid a select force of men inside including Ulysses (Odysseus). The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, ending the war.

Artificial Intelligence / AutonomousThe latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
We're just at the beginning of voice assistants. Soon, they may be much more than humble servants. Which leads some to ask: is Alexa dangerous? Which really stems from a wider question of trust. (The Atlantic) Alexa, are you dangerous? * Alexa is now delivering headlines in a "newscaster" voice. When U.S. users ask "what's the latest?" the device will use direct waveform modeling to respond in the tone used by anchorpeople. (TechCrunch) I wonder if we'll be able to pick the newscaster voice that's the most trustworthy to us? Imagine if Walter Cronkite or Sean Hannity answered. * Hey, if you don't trust your voice assistant, just do with this designer did: build a device to keep your home voice assistant from spying on you. (FlowingData) * Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing unit is open-sourcing Neo-AI for machine learning. This will serve as a framework for optimizing A.I. models on other platforms, such as Google's TensorFlow, Nvidia, and others. (VentureBeat) * The technology behind Libratus, the A.I. bot that defeated human poker champions in 2017, has been contracted by the Pentagon for $10 million. The technology will be used for military strategy, planning, and simulations. (Outer Places) But not for shutdown negotiations, obvs*.

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ What happens when a new mobility mode meets the American legal system? The anatomy of an electric scooter crash. (CitiLab) * Waymo will be assembling self-driving vehicles in Michigan. (Medium) Note: assembling, not building. Waymo relies on other auto manufacturers to integrate its own hardware and software. * Automakers may have overestimated how many people actually want electric cars. (Quartz) From the department of 'duh.' It's likely rooted in low gas prices and automakers' need to have a higher price point than consumers want. * Driver-assistance systems have too many different names. AAA* found that there are 40 different brand names used to describe automatic emergency braking, 20 different names for adaptive cruise control and 19 terms of lane-keeping assistance. (Roadshow)

Communications / Marketing / Business StrategyIndustry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ Ad budgets in the U.K. are beginning to flow away from Facebook and to addressable TV. (Digiday) More on data-driven TV investments in the Measurement/Data section below. * For 2019, B2B tech marketers are most focused on lead generation, by a margin of almost 2:1 over brand awareness and product education and awareness. (Marketing Charts) * Under a threat of potential jail time, a group of British online influencers have agreed to change how they post online after their social media profiles were investigated by the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority. (CNN Business) Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer is out, and as you can imagine, there are huge drops of trust in every segment. (Edelman) + Notably, people said they trust their own employer to do what's right. + But major gaps of trust exist between the informed and uninformed public. + There was a massive rise in news engagement — to the tune of 22 percent.

Journalism took a major hit last week with over 1,000 layoffs in media jobs in one day, including from BuzzFeed, Gannett, and Verizon Media. (Axios) This comes amidst a battle for supremacy from tech giants like Facebook and Google, an already eviscerated local news landscape, and the ubiquitous availability of free content everywhere.
Here'a a great tweetstorm chronicling the decline of newspaper advertising from journalism professor Jeremy Littau. (Twitter)
Here's what concerns CEOs the most in 2019, including recession fears (external) and talent quality and leadership development (internal). (The Conference Board)
The top 10 public relations research insights of 2018. (Institute for PR)

Retail ApocalypseHumans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.
Amazon knows that direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands own the relationships with their customers (and the rich data that results from it). And Amazon wants a piece of it. But the DTC brands aren't falling for it. (Digiday) * Amazon will begin testing its robot Scout, for delivery of one- and two-day shipping. (Wired) We'll see how long it takes for thieves go from grabbing packages off porches to simply loading Scout into the back of a van. * Mall-based retailer Things Remembered is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and close most of its 400 stores. (Reuters) ♫ You must remember this...♪ * IKEA gets you to impulsively buy more because it has mastered the “Gruen effect.” (YouTube) * Millennials have been credited with upending entire industries, and retail is no exception. Here's what retailers need to know about attracting and retaining consumers from a maturing generation of digital shoppers. (eMarketer) And technically, it's not just Millennials; it's anyone from any generation who is doing more online. * Did you ever send a package back to Amazon*? Here's exactly where Amazon returns go to be resold by hucksters. (The Atlantic)

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Platforms News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.
How a Vermont social network became a model for online communities. (The Verge) The bad news for large players like Facebook is that it takes human curation, approvals, and interaction, and that it seems to work well in manageable numbers (Vermont's is about 160,000 members). The good news is that it serves as a model for brand- or interest-based communities. * Related: the 10 social media trends that will matter most this year. (Search Engine Journal) Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ
The biggest news about Facebook dropped on Friday, with the announcement that the back ends of WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger would be integrated, allowing users of any of those Facebook-owned platforms to be able to message each other across platforms. (The New York Times) This is widely seen as an effort to leapfrog regulators, to make it more difficult to break Facebook up. * Unsealed court records show Facebook encouraged game developers to let children spend money without their parents permission—what they called 'friendly fraud'—and Facebook knew some kids didn't know they were even spending money. (Reveal) Maybe they'll be hit with an exceedingly large 'friendly fine.' * Roger McNamee mentored Mark Zuckerberg, but can't stay silent any longer about what he calls the power, privilege, and abuse of trust going on there. (Time) *

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ
Twitter is beginning to roll out a redesigned interface for web users, including the addition of an emoji button and an update to its trending section. (The Verge) I've been using it for the last couple of weeks; it's very similar to the mobile app*.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ
Google was fined $57 million* for violating Europe's new privacy laws. (Recode) A drop in the bucket, but a message that the EU isn't kidding around.

MediaThe latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ
How the success of Netflix's Bird Box, which was watched by 58% of its user base in its first month, drives Netflix's virtuous cycle as an aggregator. (Stratechery) * Hulu is lowering the price for its least expensive subscription plan while raising the cost of its live TV offering, a move that aims to bolster its subscriber numbers while increasing the margins on its most expensive plan. (The Wall Street Journal) * Internet video stream cord-cutting services started as cheap alternatives to cable television, but now they are duplicating cable's business models with similar costs. (ZDNet) What's past is prologue. The media industry has little imagination or variation on its models*.

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ An infographic that demonstrates why 2018 was the year that podcasting went mainstream. (Fast Company) * Tom Webster of Edison Research has the answer for what everyone is wondering about: the secret sauce of podcast advertising. (Medium) * Listen Real-Time is like Google Analytics Real-Time, but for podcast episodes. These are the podcast episodes being listened right now. (Listen Notes) * Related: the best podcast search engine. (Lifehacker) * Program of the Week:* Mo Rocca hosts Mobituaries, an irreverent but deeply researched appreciation of the people (and things) of the past who have long intrigued him.

Please subscribe to The Full Monty podcast, our own 5-minute weekly business commentary. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

Do try this at home: "Alexa, play the latest episode of The Full Monty."

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Privacy / Security / RegulatoryBusiness disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more. Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ
Will.i.am argues that consumers should own their data and be able to monetize it. (The Economist) * How to protect yourself from getting your Nest device hacked. (Tom's Guide) It's a simple matter of self-education that's necessary when you buy with connected devices. * Facebook may be facing a record fine from the FTC over its role in the Cambridge Analytica* scandal. (Recode)

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ
With so much money flooding into a largely unregulated, still-developing market, all sorts of ethical lapses are bound to ensue, and indeed they have. Is It Time to Regulate Influencers? (NY Mag) * The rise of Uber and Lyft caused a decline in public transit use, to the tune of -1.29 percent for rail use and -1.7 percent for bus use. Americans prefer more individualized transportation and being able to exercise more control over it. (StreetsBlog) * Didi says its global ride-hailing network had 550 million users, over 31 million drivers, and covered more than 1,000 cities around the world in 2018. (South China Morning Post) * A look inside Uber's Special Investigations Unit, a 60+ team handling severe reported incidents, nearly 1,200/week, often leading to stress and emotional trauma. (CNN Business) * Instacart admits that it uses tips to calculate how it pays workers. In other words, if a customer leaves a large tip, Instacart figures it doesn't have to add much in, so the tip becomes the wage. (Working Washington) Possibly illegal? Certainly unconscionable*.

Measurement / Analytics / DataThe future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.
With an increase in programmatic spending and more targeting, marketers are changing their TV attribution strategies. (eMarketer) * Amazon is adding customer acquisition metrics for display, video, and Sponsored Brands campaigns. The "new-to-brand" set of metrics are aimed at helping brands understand how well their campaigns convert first-time buyers. (MarketingLand) * If you use marketing automation*, you're better positioned to be able to prove ROI. (Marketing Charts)

Speaking How can you energize your team and give them actionable ideas for boosting customer engagement? It's all about applying Timeless Wisdom to your process — practical and relatable lessons drawn from historical and literary contexts. Combine this with Fortune 10 executive experience and some great stories, and you'll be happy that you spent a fraction of what it costs to send your team to a major conference. I'll spend anywhere from an hour to a whole day with your team and give them the power to develop trusted, lasting relationships with your customers.Let's chat and see if I can customize a session for you.

Mental NourishmentOther links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.
The company that bought Necco, Round Hill Investments LLC, shut down the plant that produced Sweethearts last year. As a result, this will be the first year since 1866 that you won't be able to buy those candy hearts imprinted with messages. (The Guardian) Do they make one that says "TOO BAD"? + Fear not! Krispy Kreme* will be selling conversation heart donuts. (Detroit Free Press)

Digital detoxes: are these well-meaning practices just solutions looking for problems? Technology isn't inherently bad, so detoxing isn't inherently good either. (Quartz) "Why, then, ’tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison." —Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2.
The secrets of the Harvard library that protects the world's rarest pigments. (Fast Company)
Wisdom doesn't automatically come with age, but being able to see patterns based on experience and having a willingness to learn can help older people thrive. (Knowledge @ Wharton)
Get uncomfortable. (Timeless Wisdom)
If you've been to New York, you've undoubtedly gone past the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue. Perhaps you've even gone inside for a bit. But have you really seen it? This video tour has the hidden details of the New York Public Library. (Architectural Digest)

Top image credit: (public domain, Wikimedia Commons)

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Whether you're succeeding or not, determination makes all the difference.

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Even the most successful of us has had failures; together, honest reflection and better planning can help us succeed.

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Think of more than two senses at a time when you're creating experiences for customers.

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Why is "surprise and delight" an acceptable strategy? What about treating customers and employees like gold consistently?

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Why bother trying to surprise and delight when you can just change the way you treat people all the time?

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Life presents us with many challenges. Some of us are met with those challenges from birth. Others find obstacles later in life in jobs or relationships. Regardless of your status in this world, there will be roadblocks before you.

What we'll be judged on is how we met those challenges, facing them head-on. Sometimes it's alone. Other times, it's with those we've gathered around us. One young man followed that path and years later, was met with the ultimate irony.

"Success comes to the lowly and to the poorly talented, but the special characteristic of a great person is to triumph over the disasters and panics of human life." – Seneca

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Saying "thank you" just seems like a given. Or it used to. Someone bestows a gift of some sort on us, and we reply with our gratitude. But did you ever consider that expressing gratitude is a gift itself?

We have the opportunity to impact those closest to us with respect and consideration, connecting with them on a deeper level. And it is partly through gratitude that we can deepen those relationships.

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We've all been subject to the personality of certain charming people. It's kind of disconcerting, as you feel like you're on the string end of some Svengali.

What is it about charm that gets people to take action without putting up a fight? How can we learn to be more charming in our daily lives? And what is charm, anyway?

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt said "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." But when it comes to the fear of failure, what's the source of the dread? Even George Washington had to deal with this.

Understanding what's at the root of that fear will allow us to overcome what's holding us back at work and at home. And may lead to a boost of self-confidence.

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While some of us find ourselves rooting for the little guy, it's more likely that we're secretly (or in some cases not-so-secretly) wishing for big companies to fail. Are they actually too big to fail? Sears (and others along the way) have taught us that failure can happen to anyone.

What makes us take sides like this? And what can big companies do to inure themselves against the inevitable envy-based wishes for their demise?

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We think we're so smart. We see other people who get taken in by scams, con artists, and smooth talkers and we think, "That could never happen to me."

And we're wrong.

It's human nature to want to believe, to want to trust. And for that reason, half-truths can be much more dangerous than outright lies. Because of our desire for hope.

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One of the most popular American poems seemingly celebrates individuality. The benefits of going your own way and forging your own path are the takeaways that most people read into it.

But they would be wrong.

The poem has deeper meaning that ties to the importance of storytelling and the narrative we create around ourselves and the brands we represent.

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Every leader is concerned with leaving a legacy. That legacy not only defines how they'll be remembered, but it helps to steer the future of an organization or a society.

The way we portray ourselves and our brands today will leave a lasting mark on how we'll be regarded tomorrow. When we betray trust, the years to come will find us struggling to gain it back. And when we lead boldly and consistently, the future will be kinder.

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We fool ourselves into thinking that our time on this earth is unique. That every challenge we face is new and different, and that no one else can possibly understand the pressures we face.

But the simple truth is there are numerous examples of similar circumstances throughout recorded history, whether analogous or identical. It just takes a bit of work to find them and understand the historical context that will prepare us for the future.

In this episode, it's on to the second of the third sculptures at the National Archives as we determine what the future looks like.

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A.I. this. Blockchain that. The latest in the tech wars. You'd think we're living in the future. In some ways we are, but our route here is an interesting and essential one to understand. Rooted in so much of what we need to address today – in marketing, business, and technology – is where we came from.

You've often heard the saying "those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it." It's not quite as bleak as that. But if you stop to observe, history has lessons that can actually provide a roadmap for us as we forge through the wilderness of the future.

In this episode, I'll take you to the steps of the National Archives in Washington, DC for a history lesson and a preview of things to come.

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"You have the grand gift of silence, Watson. It makes you invaluable as a companion." So said Sherlock Holmes said in "The Adventure of the Man with the Twisted Lip." The emotionally intelligent leader knows when to be silent as well. Yet we often forget that, in the heat of the moment.

Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and FDR were all tested by adversity, which informed their empathy, self-awareness, humility, and ability to reflect. Leaders of all stripes should heed the same advice as those leaders, and also recall some wise words from Cicero and John Calvin.

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Everyone makes stupid decisions. Uninformed decisions, hasty decisions, misguided decisions. But the worst example is when someone doesn't make a decision at all.

We all fear something. Rejection. Humiliation. Defeat. But should that be enough to hold us back? When we avoid putting ourselves out there – doing nothing rather than doing something counter-cultural or counter-intuitive – that sense of safety may be more damaging than the risk itself.

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Why define yourself by the constraints of typical topical titles? There's much more to the work that you do and why you do it: your motivation, your fulfillment, your service to others.

Instead of asking people what they do, ask more probing questions that get at the heart of what makes them tick. And always remember that there's someone far more powerful than executives or boards in charge.

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With a world full of complexities like GDPR, social media algorithms, artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop*, simplicity is your friend.

There's a unmet need for people who are able to take the complex and make it simple. And there's great talent in people who can make you feel like you've known it all along, without making you feel stupid.

This episode is a look inside the human mind – what causes us reflexively make things more complicated than they are, and why we're wistful for the past.

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There's one attribute that will set you apart as a professional. It separates the creative from the dull, the leaders from the followers. It can't be taught, and it can't be learned. It's innate.

And if you have it, you'll find that you'll be inspired on almost a daily basis. You'll ask questions and absorb information. And through that process, you'll find that you can reach your greatest potential.

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Brands are spending more money than ever on influencer marketing, and it's poised to go even higher in the next two years. But are they getting their money's worth?

In some cases, influencer marketing has devolved into a transactional numbers game. It's time to change that, recognizing the universal truth that drives interaction.

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When you spend so much time to get your messaging right, honing it to the perfect phrase that's repeatable and understandable, it can be a complete waste of time if employees treat customers in a way that negates it.

A century-old company provides a perfect example of how culture is communicated and demonstrate to and through every customer. And it serves as a reminder as to how far certain companies still need to go today.

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The answer is, of course, your stock tanks. Seems rather perverse. Perhaps a little integrity is needed upfront so investors know exactly what they're in for.

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In the last episode of The Full Monty we talked about ways to gain loyalty. Price was certainly a strong contender, as was doing something to make them feel special.

This time, we talk about a secret to customer loyalty that goes beyond convenience. It draws on your childhood (or possibly your experience as a parent): how we remove resistance.

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One of the most sought-after aspects of branding is loyalty. How can we create more and deeper loyalty from customers?

There are a number of ways, but I've outlined five that make the most sense, given the constraints we all deal with and the ever-changing demands of the marketplace. Seneca provides some sound advice along the way, and Delta provides a shining example of aiming for feelings.

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How would you rate the impact of technology in your life? Note there's no judgement there – not how it has improved your life or how it may have harmed you.

The Pew Research Center asked 55 technology experts to weigh in on that, and their answers were wide-ranging. Perhaps more varied than expected. And that's okay, because it's a very personal thing.

And I've got a personal story about how I've come to think about technology, as guided by William Shakespeare.

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There seems to be more activism than ever now: political activism, social activism, and of course, corporate activism. Executives are right to be on guard against shareholder activists, who can turn the opinion of boards and of other shareholders alike, changing business practices and governance alike.

But there's another kind of activist out there now that probably requires even more attention. Because if this kind of activist is ignored, the effects to the organization can be much deeper and severe.

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While we're constantly thrown into situations in which we try to discern what's coming next – or simply trying to keep up with what's happening now – it can be difficult to feel like we've got our head above the water.

Yet taking the time to look at the past can help chart a course to the present and future. In this case, we look at the past through that great American novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. What can the behaviors of Tom and Daisy Buchanan and of the narrator Nick Carraway, teach us about brands and influencers?

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It's never fun being the butt of a joke, is it? If you feel like someone is having fun at your expense, it doesn't quite seem as funny to you as it does to the perpetrator.

When brands try to get cute, when then pull a stunt with seemingly nothing more than the stunt itself being the object, it feels tiresome. Is anyone measuring what matters and what it will take to turn their business around?

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It's never easy to lose someone we know and like. Whether we "know" them from seeing them on television, interacting with them online, or actually being in their presence. Particularly when they're creators.

See, the creators leave us with more than just themselves. They leave pieces of themselves with everything they do throughout their lives. And that's the way Darryl Ohrt lived. My own experience in Darryl's gifts spanned from plaid-wrapped vehicles to a questionable inflatable doll that haunted my office.

Get the stories behind these bizarre tales, how the optimism and joy of creativity should inspire us all, and Darryl's own words on what matters in this episode of The Full Monty.

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Anticipation is killing us. Even for the smallest things, it doesn't seem like we can handle waiting more than a few minutes.

Technology has sped things up, but it has also ruined our ability to think about other things and slow our minds. What qualities do we need in order to make things a little more enjoyable? And what lessons does the New York Public Library hold for us?

The answers are ahead in The Full Monty.

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Apologies are strange things. Either you don't get enough of them or you're overwhelmed with them, making them virtually meaningless.

There have been all too many apologies lately. But do they really do anything? What goes into a good one, and why it's so important. We explore this and a little more in the latest episode of The Full Monty.

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While the furor of Yanny vs. Laurel is wearing off, the debate that captured the Internet's attention (for at least a few minutes) got us thinking about how often humans pick sides and dig their heels in.

Conflict is inherent in the human condition. Since our earliest days of walking upright, we've warred with each other, built resources to protect ourselves from others, and marveled in tales about rivalry and competition. Indeed, it's what ancient sport was founded upon and what makes modern sports such a huge industry.

But in many cases, it's not about one side versus the other, or just two choices. The world is more nuanced than a white dress or blue dress would have us believe. And we explore a bit of that in the latest episode of The Full Monty.

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I was recently in for a medical test and it gave me time to reflect (don't we all need that every now and then?). In doing so, I realized that there's a certain feeling that we probably hold inside - a feeling that if we shared it with others, it could lead to better outcomes for everyone involved.

Along the way, I decided to take a different approach to tell this story, and share something very personal with you that I haven't been able to express previously. I hope you can appreciate it.

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There will be challenges in life. What matters is how you choose to deal with them.

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Saying thank you is more than just uttering a phrase; we're giving a gift to someone each time we express our gratitude.

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What effect does charm have on those around us? And what does it take to be charming?

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Fear of failure is real. But the cause of that fear is essential if we're to overcome it.

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Why are we predisposed to dislike 'Big'? And how can big companies prepare for the inevitable?

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Who's the more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him?

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Robert Frost's iconic poem is often misread. Within is a secret that marketers and communicators can unlock.

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The heritage of the past is the seed that brings forth the harvest of the future.

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By taking the time to understand those who have trodden the ground before us, we can lay out a smoother path to the future.

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A story on the steps of the National Archives to help prepare for the future.

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What did Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Cicero, and Andy Ferrara have in common? One trait that defines the emotionally intelligent leader.

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Success isn't just about the avoidance of risk; there are consequences either way. Are you prepared to be judged for not doing enough?

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Why define yourself by what you do?

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Why the human mind gets caught up in the complex when it really wants simplicity: a lesson from Alan Mulally at Ford Motor Company.

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Look for inspiration everywhere you can. But do it with a sense of curiosity and wonder.

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Why focus on the transaction when there's so much more value in the relationship?

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This 112 year-old company was head of its time. It had a secret weapon that can still be used today.

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What happens when the market knows you for one thing, and you don't deliver on that one thing? Or even worse, when you take your attention off of that one thing and instead focus on doing the right thing?Â Â The answer is, of course, your stock tanks. Seems rather perverse. Perhaps a little integrity is needed upfront so investors know exactly what they're in for.Â Â Other updates/commentary: ScottMonty.comÂ Â I'd be honored if you'd leave a rating or review for the show. You'd be surprised at how much weight it pulls. Â Links: This episode:Â smonty.co/fullmonty40 Facebook's financial facade develops cracks Twitter warns fake account purge to keep erasing users, shares drop 19 percent Other commentary and updates atÂ ScottMonty.com Credits Theme song:Â Heroes UnitedÂ by ScoreStudio is on a royalty-free license fromÂ Pond5.com. Incidental music: Prelude No. 1Â by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under aÂ Creative Commons Attribution licenseÂ Source:Â http://chriszabriskie.com/preludes/ Artist:Â http://chriszabriskie.com/ Â Subscribe onÂ Apple Podcasts,Â Google Podcasts,Â SoundCloud,Â Spotify,Â orÂ Stitcher. Also, try theÂ RadioPublicÂ interface. Â If you find this program valuable, please consider supporting it onÂ Patreon. It covers the cost of hosting, email, music and more. Â

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It's all about taking the resistance out of the experience.

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Loyalty can't be bought. Because if it is. it can be purchased away by someone else. You have to gain trust first, and we have a handful of ways to get there.

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Whether you want to or not, you're living a digital life. Is that a good thing? The answer lies with Shakespeare.

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There are more activists than ever, and your company is at risk of becoming a victim to them. Here's how to consider creating a bridge to the stakeholder activists closest to you.

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What can Tom and Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby tell us about brands and influencers today? A brief look at lessons from the Great American novel.

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It's never easy to turn the fortunes around on a brand that is experiencing apathy. But is trickery the way to do it?

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The loss of a friend spurs a thought on what we can do to create joy for others on a regular basis.

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It's time to reclaim our brains. One of the Seven Virtues holds the answer - as does the New York Public Library.

The Full Monty: Recent Episodes

Scott Monty