3rd September 2017
From Digiday – The growth of Amazon as an advertising platform.’The prospect of Amazon emerging as the main rival to Google and Facebook’s duopoly over digital media seems increasingly plausible, now that some of the world’s biggest brands are starting to consider it for their budgets. This is how Amazon is seeking to grow it’s programmatic income – ‘Amazon is growing its ad business, most recently making two big moves that will bring it more revenue‘.
From @wired. ‘While I’m looking forward to the upcoming announcement of the iPhone 8 (or iPhone X… or just iPhone), as a potential customer I’ve become more and more dissatisfied with the iPhone’s lack of real character or differentiation, despite its engineering excellence and technological prowess. Though there’s promise of technological advancements… I fear we’re on an inevitable race to what I call the ‘zero product’.
Grayson Perry on creativity in the Creative Review. Contrary to popular myth, Grayson Perry says, most successful artists are pragmatic and work-obsessed. ‘All the talent in the world can go to waste if it is not allied to punctuality, the ability to build relationships and hard work. He explores his own working methods and how he is influenced by ‘the two artists living in my head: the obsessive, meticulous Hobbit and the bold, mischievous, provocative Punk’.
The phenomenon of ‘Finsta’s’ (fake instagram accounts) exist against a backdrop of social media’s conflict with the world of work. ‘Young people have long created multiple social media accounts or used online pseudonyms. A constant refrain about social media is that a boozy photo or an offhand comment can cost you career opportunities. So college students have internalised this fear by staging an employable social media front.
What a wonderful idea, the RSA plans to create a ’21st Century Enlightenment Coffee House’. ‘Imagine a coffeehouse like no other: one that is a catalyst for progressive change; the engine room for a global network; a place where great ideas are born.
And here is a great TED talk on the lost world of the London coffeehouse. ‘Would you go up to a stranger in a coffee shop and ask them for the latest news? Dr Matthew Green takes us back to the 17th and 18th centuries when London’s original fleet of coffeehouses were very different from the current crop of branded cafes.’
Nice article from friends of the Filter, Tony Franco and Adam Morgan of @eatbigfish – ‘The Creativity of Constraints’ . ‘Restrictions are a common challenge for business today and come in all shapes and sizes – smaller budgets, fewer people and shorter time frames. Adam and Tony argue that working with constraints shouldn’t be seen as a problem, but a new capability for a new era of marketing that we all need to master.‘
Patagonia is a great example of a brand with a clear proposition and a compelling, engaging message. Interesting that in 45 years they had not created a TV commercial. Well now they have – it is uncompromisingly political and has a message that could not be much clearer.
Spotify’s new ‘Upstream’ podcast taps top brand execs for culture forecasting. Contributors include the New York Times, Refinery 29, IBM and activist and songwriter Madame Ghandi.
First public footage of Hyperloop One’s Pod test. Everything starts moving at around two minutes and twenty five seconds in.