Must Reads 276 🛒

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Must Reads 276 — This Weeks Newsletter Focus Themes Are

  • AI Ups & Downs

  • Productivity Pros And Cons

  • Question Of The Week: Grafitti = Art Vs Vandalism

  • Spotlight On In Person Shopping Experiences

» Stop Allowing 💩 Company Wide Feedback 🎯 - Don’t let old and poor feedback requests from companies take away from the good that feedback can be and should be. And importantly, how to make the quarterly or annual company-wide feedback actually useful.

» Netflix AI Mess Up 🙄- Job listings are my favourite way of spying on my competitors. It seems Netflix showed its hand and took a shot at the talent that was on strike by suggesting it would be creating AI-generated content instead. This is common to want to post a role leaning into the future but its timing and misunderstanding of the writers and now actors strike might be a warning shot of how they see the future.

» Productivity Vs Morality 💔 - Are some of us obsessed with productivity to put off the thought of death, as social scientists believe it could be? As someone who has a specialist tool or a framework for everything it might be deep-rooted but some of us are engineered to not waste time.

++ Trivia ++ How much did OnlyFans payout to creators in 2022?
(A) $6billion // (B) $8billion // (C) $10billion // (D) $20billion 
…Just let these numbers sink in

» LinkedIn & AI 📝- LinkedIn has the most obvious use case for AI, to help its members to improve their career chances and stand out above other candidates and remove logo and resume hires. I hope LinkedIn do use their data and hiring data to improve its platform and the hiring process for many with biases and issues. Imagine being a candidate and understanding company culture before applying…

Social Media Usage Numbers

Here’s a snapshot of the most important social media platforms, how they work and why there is a shift in the existing platforms for deeper time & better not more engagement

» Google Search Improvement ⏯️- Many Marketers and businesses who rely on Google organic results will say about time as Google hints at a brand new search experience with AI improvements. The problem is Google is doing this to remove clicks and serve answers with their results pages not driving clicks to other sites and can be generated by their content. The famous Larry Page quote is now being rewritten by his company “On the Internet, competition is one click away.” is now: On Google, competition is hidden away.

» Is Graffiti Art Or Vandalism? 🧑‍🎨 - As someone who loves Kaws, Banksy and many other street artists, it has always begged the question is graffiti ephemeral art or is it just vandalism with better marketing? Towns and cities are fighting with this question specifically since 2020 and how will it determine what is or is not.

» Trend Products & Secrets 🥣- Trend products have sold incredibly well, creating a product based on trend demand isn’t as easy but Belgium boys managed to do it and give away their secret while doing it. It’s a great read on how to be agile and how to go against all of the industry no-nos to take a win in the moment. We might see this work in the side hustle industry (Etsy etc) but the mainstream isn’t going to be able to adopt especially in tightly regulated markets. It’s well worth keeping on top of trends but your shot has to be perfect.

» Nasa+ 🚀 Premium Space Content 👽- One of the more surprising streaming services to be announced is Nasa+, the ability to stream the take-offs, landing and space missions online and via streaming sticks and devices. I like the idea but will astronauts have the chance to show off their personalities to build affinity and stop the churn of subscribers? Streaming is the future until they bundle with a larger player.

Spotlight: How Our Shopping Experience Is About To Change ⬇️

» Self Checkout Ads 😏 - Yes you read it right, we are about to see an influx of ads throughout real-life experiences including the self check out. Walmart's media company has hyper-growth and they have identified better in-store ads and personalised ads. Tesco’s came under fire previously but will a stable in the US come under fire or are we so used to ads we will suffer them too? Huge opportunity for smaller brands and the likes of Coca-Cola to increase their brand frequency.

» AI checkout & Scan & GO 🛒- With so much tech and AI being developed in-store shopping experiences, will palm payments from Amazon become widespread? Will ‘scan and go’ without going through the checkouts become something we choose over the checkout clerk? If you believe over 58% are actively selecting self check out we are in for an interesting experiment of payment options and removing the friction of checking out might long-term win loyalty.

» F1 Power 🏎️ - Partnerships have been an essential part of the branding and creating buzz around sports wanting to become a status symbol, F1’s popularity has never been so high and it is capitalising with brand partnerships and driving more interest. We will continue to see this happening and it will become global, especially with more races and more investment (and the Netflix show and spin-off shows). Wearing what the drivers wear might not be assessable for many but wearing their team’s logos or being connected is enough for most.

"Yeah, you had a few idiots on the Internet chatting shit. Who cares? The real supporters have your back."

There is something about when professional athletes write, the written word is often not used and some of this letter is powerful and hope it lands with some of the fans that can be so ignorant!

Struggling With AI - This video by the co-president at Spotify will help you

++ Trivia Answer ++ The answer is C $10b with the CEO recently stepping down it is on course for more growth and SFW expansion into TV and personalities.

A breakdown of how much creators have made on onlyfans.

Have a great weekend,

Thanks,

Danny Denhard

» Come and connect with me on Twitter/X // LinkedIn // Threads // dannydenhard.com