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- Must Reads 257
Must Reads 257
Long Enough But Short Enough
Good Morning Must Readers, the themes in Must Reads 257 are:
Driverless Cars - Replacing drivers in next 5 years? Not for me
Career Care - How to go above just being a manager (it will help colleagues and your career)
New PR - Is traditional PR dead? Long live new PR, can Marketing & Comms leads really make PR work with events and inviting people to attend events anymore? PR is becoming so blurred that many Marketing leads are struggling to communicate its importance to their bosses and their business. Watch this space on how it is going to evolve
New Media - If you notice not everything is saved for exclusive interviews with big media companies or local outlets anymore. Sports clubs are leading the way and started to create quality video content and share directly with their fans. We saw this in B2B marketing ~2019, I predict this media theme is going to continue, its not about the reach its about the audience seeing the right and best content being served directly
New Work Schedules - How the 5-day working week is being rethought, from 4-day work week, the 40-hour working week and hybrid is being repositioned to 9-day fortnights.
>> Last week Must Reads was a record breaker, it was the most opened and most shared Must Reads Newsletter ever - so thank you. Remember to hit share or copy and paste to help others become informed and improve their content diets.
>> The 9 Actions To Take For Career Care π - So many people struggle with being a good manager, let alone helping someone navigate their career, especially for the long term when they leave. Here is what career care is and how to be a better boss.
>> Can You Care At Scale π - Seth Godin's simple language and way of words really does sum up what a lot of people are worried to think. Being a boss and caring is hard to scale...
>> The Business Lessons From Taylor Swift π - We all love simple comparisons and lessons from superstars, this blog is a great example of lessons to learn from Taylor and her brilliance especially when others are playing the system against you.
Great thought starter for Friday by one of my favourite sites
>> Will Driverless Cars Really Replace Drivers In The Next 5 Years? π€ - I shared the cruise driverless cars a few times and how driverless cabs in China are being seen and used, well the Cruise CEO has an interesting PR piece predicting driverless will replace drivers in the next 5 years and why they are at the centre of the movement (Read this story with reader view/mode)
>> 9 Days Not 10 πββοΈ- Here we go, another company rethinking how to reshape the work week, Otta is introducing 9 days with every other Friday off for all staff. Trial and error is key here with working styles and structure is proven to be critical for success. I like this approach but the issue still remains, when someone breaks this how do other people react? And if the boss works, what is the etiquette then? Flex Fridays (Front launched this in 2021) worked out well, will a more flex style work better for other companies? Let's see... if hybrid is a struggle then many who are older and used to 5 days a week will likely struggle to adapt. FWIW Otta are known for their stunts, so let's see how staff react when there is something less than perfect that happens.
>> Game Time - Which sports brand hit $5.3 billion in direct sales revenue in their last quarter? Was it (A) Nike (B) Adidas (C) Under Armour (D) Castore?
>> What's The Point Of Traditional PR In 2023? βοΈ - Here is a brutally honest piece of the point of traditional PR in 2023 and why it can have absolutely no impact (but important to know often it is the frequency and being seen everywhere that makes an impact, even if you can't track it)
This Kid Is Going To Be A VP In No Time π
The 13-year-old has, no word of a lie, made a 23-slide PowerPoint presentation on why we should let her have a tortoise, and exactly what it would involve.
β Matthew Horton (@matthewjh)
6:07 PM β’ Mar 18, 2023
>> Why Slack Is Removing Full Funnel Marketing π¬ - Slack has been on a journey ever since selling to Salesforce, their focus has been startups and scale-ups, now they are concentrating on a different approach to marketing to bigger events and sponsorship as it goes fully embraces its new b2b home. Every company gets to a certain size and has to work out its new customer acquisition plan, Slack has entered the post-acquisition phase of making marketing more efficient and likely less creative. With (MS) teams so dominant Slack might have to find a new wedge in the market and re-focus on better integration and zig when everyone under the sun rushes towards AI .
>> Quality Bubbles To The Top (Video Below) - Prime example of how professional sporting clubs are investing in their own content creation while investing into their talent (and letting them know they are part of the future) - I have suggested the loan system could be applicable into the office environment, so could following one person's journey.
>> Weird America πΊπΈ - The college wrestlers going out of their way to wrestle bears...
>> World Photography Winners 2023 πΈ - Something we take for granted is the power of photos, especially with the cameras we have on our smartphones. 17 of the best photos taken π (including the flying dog image at the top of the email).
>> Answer Time: It was (A) Nike, Nike had a 17% increase in the last quarter, with strong sneaker sales, Super Saturday, Christmas and strength in the Chinese market. When their competitor aren't doing so well, especially Adidas, it's important to understand how they have been stronger and where they have doubled down in promoting their house of brands.
Thanks, Danny Denhard >> Get coached by me