🆘 WTF do we do now?

This week has been another busy one for everyone, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp going down alongside Twitter DM’s - the world got a glimpse of 15 years ago. Wimbledon started this week and here are three good reads, Wimbledon’s marketing strategy, Snapchat’s released a brand new game to celebrate, the powerful Petra Kvitova come back story.

🤩 Your Five For Friday 🤩

1. 🌯Grubhub came under fire last week for having websites similar to their restaurants, turns out they aren’t doing anything wrong

2. 🍕Why CBD is taking over food products

3. 🎧The reason why music is all sounding the same (blame tech)

4. 🎒This article did the rounds this week and made me chuckle - why grown ups need to lose the backpacks (I couldn’t agree more btw)

5. 💏Why social media and advertising laws are making it difficult for adult products 

❝Quote that resonated with me this week❞

❤️ Marketing / Growth / Advertising ❤️

• Is LinkedIn unique? Well for couples breaking up, it’s one they don’t have to worry about - LinkedIn is dividing a lot of opinion, yes we all hate those company connection requests but as a network it’s really come into it’s own and the product evolves so quickly that others would love their velocity and tactical enhancements

• QR Codes made a come back last year and McDonalds really rolled out this smart idea 

• How Sephoria and WeChat teamed up and why it’s so important

• Growth 101 - why chat sticker is going to key to Instagram’s success and you spending more time on Insta - and more importantly for Insta, they can learn who your close group of friends and connections are based on content classifiers to tweak your newsfeeds and likely serve you more diverse content directly into your inbox

• This is probably why Facebook groups are marmite, you either love them or you uncover craziness

• Nice ad from Three mobile (thanks for sharing @theldndiaries)

💵 Business 💵

• Amazon is going to go on a hiring spree in Edinburgh, Cambridge and London

• Uber Eats have gone away from delivery and testing dining in options - Uber have stepped up their evolution recently and bringing experience to the heart of the app, as long as you are connected to Uber not in a car or through a delivery you’ll have the emotional connection with them and use more regularly

• Girlboss has launched a LinkedIn competitor for women and networking - Sophia Amoruso is super impressive & brutally honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if this alongside her other ventures really takes off in coming months

• Kim Kardashian has folded to pressure and changed her brand shapewear name

🚀 Product 🚀

• Visiting China soon? It might be worth checking out how the Chinese government are forcing app installs to track you

• How Walmart is letting people order from Mexico via WhatsApp - In Europe WhatsApp is used for a number of different commerce cases and it’s compelling to see brands go in on the other Facebook platforms, clearly didn’t read my final thought from last week 

• Is this worth it? Shiseido’s beauty as a subscription for $92 per month - submitted by the super smart Simon Kemp 

🎧 Must Listen Of The Week 🎧

I’ve taken a punt on audible so I’ve been in listening to books mode, so podcasts have taken a backseat this week, I do however have a couple of recommendations for podcasts which i’ll binge on this weekend, Recommendations: Courier magazine workshop is fascinating from inside the business world. Inside intercom is a front line look at product and product development. Lastly, if you are into talented DJ’s and multi genre mixes check out DJ City podcast.

🤔Final Thought 🤔

There are many moments now where brands mess ups and missteps are forgotten about, Samsung’s catching fire, Pepsi and that Jenner Pepsi Max ad and most recently both adidas (with my team Arsenal) and Nike have made mistakes. Mistakes happen, we are human after all. Another company Superhuman (*the* pay for email client of the moment) turned on email tracking as standard (read receipts are normal in instant messenger and in corporate emails so surprising this got as much attention) and had to reverse their decisions after much uproar, they did receive incredible funding recently. Question to ponder: Is it the constant news cycle that would have made huge impact previously or the filter bubbles we live in or is it press and PR goes hand in hand in crafting and creating brand moment and controlling messages? Seems to me recently, brands are given many chances or it is forgotten about more quickly? Answers on a postcard or a tweet.

Thanks - Danny Denhard (and of course all views are my own)

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