The Full Monty: Dark Skies – September 17, 2018

If you only knew the power of Dark Social; humanity is unprepared for A.I.; health and wearables; shared vehicles need an emergency plan; the Weather Channel's impressive work under stressful conditions; social media accounts for 1 in every 8 marketing dollars; the negatives of negative and positive reviews; Walmart continues its e-commerce push; what's killing Sears; the restaurant industry under threat; Zuckerberg needs to step up; Google employees resign in protest; Roku's unfair advantage; iHeartMedia hearts stuff; authentication via phone and reputation; the sharing economy is hollowing out cities; Uber gets its first CMO; personalization is okay, with some limitations; data quality is job #1; energizers have three things in common; the story behind Two Buck Chuck; creepy Victorian advertising; plus the podcast pick of the week and more in the Dark Skies edition of The Full Monty for the week of September 17, 2018.

The Full Monty saves you time and makes you smarter 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. And check out The Full Monty on Flipboard.

Announcements

A couple of years ago, I experimented with Facebook's Live Video feature when they gave me beta access. I hosted Sundays with Scott, where I covered a few topics from the newsletter each Sunday night.

That became a little too much – partly because of prepping the newsletter for the next day, the competition of TV shows (sports, awards shows, and content that fans couldn't wait to binge), and the family routine.

So, I've decided to relaunch on a different day and time, with a slightly different twist.

Each Monday at 1:00 pm ET, I'll be hosting The Weekly Tease, a 5-minute preview of what you'll hear in The Full Monty podcast and what I'll write about on ScottMonty.com. I hope you'll tune in.

Top Story

Have you heard of Dark Social? It's not the seedy underbelly of the Internet (there are other places for that). It's the term used for the social sharing of content that can't be measured by traditional methods. Think WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter DMs, etc.

This is the reality we face today. Businesses and even news organizations are seeing more traffic thanks to private messaging apps. It's likely to become even more rampant, as teens prefer texting over other forms of communication. And they recognize the danger inherent in spending too much time online. More than ever, young people must be taught to develop their concentration, self-control and critical-thinking skills.

Businesses need to be respectful of these decisions and make their digital and social efforts less intrusive, in terms of interruption and of data requirements. Enabling more private conversations may be a way into the hearts of the young.

Thanks this week to these fine folks who poked around in the darkness to find some of the links in this week's edition: Ryan O. Emge, Jeremiah Owyang, Tory Starr, David Armano, Kris Hoet, and Chris Poterala.

I hand-curate all of the content you see below (plus other stories on Flipboard that don't make the newsletter). If you've got something you think I should see, @ me on Twitter, Facebook, or email.

Speaking Engagements

Always looking for recommendations for speaking engagements – including executive briefings / workshops and keynotes. I'd be glad to speak to your organization or at your event. Feel free to contact me to discuss it.

Brandemonium in Cincinnati, October 3-4. BR18FRIEND gets you $100 off.
Pubcon in Las Vegas, October 16-18.
Now booking for 2019. Can I include your event?

Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous

The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, and blockchain, mobility, and autonomous everything.

Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ

Average citizens see a revolution coming in the workplace, and they are concerned. Many fear robots and computers will eliminate jobs and increase inequality. (Pew Research Center)
Philosophically, intellectually—in every way—human society is unprepared for the rise of artificial intelligence. An essay by Henry Kissinger. (The Atlantic)
This map shows everything that powers Amazon Echo. (The Verge)
Facebook has developed an A.I. tool that can read the text that appears in memes, images, and frames of video. The tool, called Rosetta, uses machine learning to recognize and identify text and can process more than a billion images a day in a variety of languages. (Mashable) Now if we could only get humans of the Internet to understand the sarcasm, subtlety and sub-context of such content.
Apple announced a number of new products last week, including its new watch with health features. In one study the Apple Watch Series 4 was nearly flawless in flagging healthy vs. irregular heart rates. (BGR)

While you might thumb your nose at your wrist, A.I. is actually better than humans at predicting deaths from heart disease. (Digital Trends)

Kaleido Insights introduces a framework for organizational preparedness in artificial intelligence—not only of data and infrastructure, but of people, ethics, strategy, and practicality needed to deploy effective and sustainable machine learning programs. (Kaleido Insights) A report worth checking out.

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ

UberpocaLyft Now: In a world of shared and autonomous vehicles, who gets priority when we have to evacuate millions because of a natural disaster such as a hurricane or a forest fire? Even if the evangelists are right, self-driving cars work perfectly, cost-per-mile plummets, and pollution, traffic and safety are solved, steering wheels and car ownership will survive, and deserve to. Why? Because history repeats itself, cultural memory is long, modern society is brittle, and the survival instinct doesn't care about efficiency or cost. (The Drive) An important longread on mobility, particularly as North Carolina experiences the effects of Hurricane Florence. And another vote for remembering what's past is prologue.
Google Street View cars will be driving with air quality sensors to determine how the planet is doing. (Techcrunch) Hey, as long as you're covering the Earth's roads, may as well, right? Now take a picture of all of the potholes that need fixing too.
Chevrolet has developed an Android app 'Call Me Out' that allows users to invite friends and family to record positive messages to help drivers keep their hands off their phones and on the wheel. (The Drum)
Boeing is investing in artificial intelligence and products that will help manage our overcrowded skies and take the pressure off human pilots. (MIT Technology Review) Who says autonomous is just for cars?

Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy

Industry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ

The Weather Channel made headlines with its use of IMR (immersive mixed reality) in showing what 3, 6 and 9 feet of flood surges would look like for residents of North Carolina threatened by Hurricane Florence. (Wired)

Websites, blogs and social media are perceived to be effective channels through which to market content to prospective customers, but none are quite as effective as email. (MarketingCharts)
As your team thinks about developing an app, keep this statistic in mind: on average, most apps get deleted only 5.8 days after their last use. (eMarketer) Keep your users engaged and make your app useful and valuable if you want to maintain phone real estate.
Social media is now estimated to account for more than 1 in every 8 dollars spent on marketing. (MarketingCharts, the CMO Survey)

Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ

Most Americans continue to get news on social media, even though many have concerns about its accuracy. Reddit, Facebook and Twitter stand out as the sites with the most news-focused users. (Pew Research Center)
We're painfully aware that brands pay influencers to hawk their products. But did you know that some brands will pay influencers for a negative review of their competition? (The Outline)
A man was jailed for nine months and fined £8,000 because he tried to sell more than 1,000 positive reviews on TripAdvisor to hundreds of businesses across Italy. (Euronews) Just as for negative reviews, you can also get in trouble for positive reviews.
Pedialyte arrived on Instagram in 2017, inviting people to join #TeamPedialyte and post photos of themselves with its branded swag. #TeamPedialyte wasn't staffed with your typical 10,000-follower Instagrammers, but real fans with fewer than 1,000 followers who genuinely liked the brand. Why? It turns out that Pedialyte is a pretty effective hangover remedy. (Vox)

Retail Apocalypse

Humans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.

Walmart relaunched Jet.com with 3-hour delivery in major cities and voice integration for iOS users. (The Verge) Walmart is determined to keep pace with Amazon, its biggest competitor.
Walmart continues to expand its digital commerce business by buying the Latin American grocery delivery service known as Cornershop for $225 million. (WSJ)
Amazon will be selling live Christmas trees. Get a seven-foot Fraser fir delivered to your door. For just $115. (The Verge) Or head to Costco and get one for about $30.
Why do CPG brands need an Amazon strategy? According to several executives in the space, it's not just about sales—it's about testing, learning and prepping for the day when e-commerce becomes a significant source of retail sales. (eMarketer)
What's killing Sears? According to their CEO, it's the pension fund. (CNN Money) Let's not forget selling off Craftsman. And Kenmore. And failure to innovate. And being completely mediocre.
Apps vs. mobile sites has been the subject of debate since the dawn of smartphones. For a period it seemed like apps fell out of favor, but there is proof that trend is reversing in the retail industry. (eMarketer)
Speaking of apps, Instagram is building a standalone app for shopping. (The Verge) It's not clear how likely IGers will be to download another app versus the building of a commerce function within Instagram (cf. WeChat).
The restaurant industry has a Netflix-like problem. Restaurants are hurting from a combination of online grocery delivery, pre-made meals, meal kits and the rise of streaming services that keep more people at home. While restaurant sales may have increased, the rise is due to increased prices rather than more foot traffic. Expenses like rent and the cost of food and labor have forced restaurants, including cheaper fast food options, to raise prices, which makes eating at home even more financially friendly. (Bloomberg) Casserole and chill, anyone?

The 2018 Retail Forecast for Women's Footwear is here and moving quickly. If you want to be prepared in advance of the retail holiday season, now's the time to grab it and get all of the insights to make a measurable impact on sales.

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Platforms

News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.

Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ

"These are not technical puzzles to be cracked in the middle of the night but some of the subtlest aspects of human affairs, including the meaning of truth, the limits of free speech, and the origins of violence." Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook Before it Breaks Democracy? (The New Yorker) Help us, Pale and Wan, you're our only hope.
Facebook has launched a range of holiday features for advertisers, including dynamic ad overlays that can be customized, as well as new holiday-related stickers and templates for mobile video ads. (Marketing Land)
Facebook is delivering on better transparency for marketers who want to see how their ads are performing. (Marketing Dive) Transparency. It's how you build trust.
Facebook advertisers can now manage where Instant Article, in-stream video ads appear. Advertisers are getting a more complete view of where their ads may be placed before a campaign, as well as more thorough publisher delivery reports. (MarketingLand)

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sat with with NYU's Jay Rosen and discussed how the company has been gamed by bad actors and what it plans to do. The full transcript of the conversation covers news, impartiality, abuse, misinformation, bad actors, and hiring an ombudsman. (Recode) Great frank conversation.
If you haven't checked the app recently, Twitter now puts live broadcasts started by accounts that you follow at the top of your feed – including breaking news, personalities, and sports. (Techcrunch)

Oᴛʜᴇʀ

With virtually no attention paid to it and zero human support, Slideshare may just be past it. R.I.P. Slideshare. It was good while it lasted. (MarketingProfs) What do you use as an alternative? Personally, I think it may be like Flickr: still useful as a repository and sharing mechanism, but not so much as a community or a platform with ever-developing features any more.
Pinterest announced that it passed 250 million monthly active users, a growth point that seems in line with its booming sales, up 58% year over year. (VentureBeat) Don't count Pinterest out any time soon.
CNN, NBC and Cosmopolitan are all going to start curating more content inside Snapchat. (Recode)
YouTube is getting vertical ads. (The Drum)
A Senior Google scientist resigned over plan to launch censored search engine in China. He said, "I view our intent to capitulate to censorship and surveillance demands in exchange for access to the Chinese market as a forfeiture of our values." (The Intercept)

Kara Swisher looks at the role of China – and at Google's hypocrisy. (The New York Times)

Media

The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.

Vɪᴅᴇᴏ

Roku isn't afraid of competition from Apple, Google, or Amazon. Why not? Because Roku is focused on one thing: television. (Recode)
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson wants to use customer data to help WarnerMedia pick projects and challenge the tech giants like Netflix and Amazon. (WSJ)
If HBO plans to become more Netflix-like, they're doomed to fail, according to Scott Galloway. In short: there's no succeeding in the middle – shoot for the extremes. (L2)

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ

iHeartMedia is acquiring How Stuff Works for $55 million, including its network of 25 shows. (Variety) That's how selling your podcast works.
Panoply is getting out of the content creation business, instead focusing on hosting, monetization and analytics. Slate will pick up the shows Panoply is dumping. (HotPod) Perhaps an interesting commentary on the high cost of quality content creation.
Serial is launching Season 3 that looks at the Cleveland criminal court system. And it will be exclusively sponsored by ZipRecruiter. (Hollywood Reporter) Get ready to hear about ZipRecruiter everywhere this fall.
Program of the Week: Our pick this week is The Oval Office Tapes. What if that soccer ball that Putin gave Trump was covered in microscopic listening devices? The result is this comedy podcast. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet: smonty.co/yourpodcasts.

And don't forget about The Full Monty, our own brief weekly bit of business commentary.

Privacy / Security / Regulatory

Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.

Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ

The new version of Google Chrome is here. It's a good time to read up on how Chrome spent a decade making the Web more secure. (Wired)
The Federal Trade Commission kicked off the first broad examination of competition in the technology industry in more than two decades — a sign that the tech giants could be in for stronger public oversight. (Axios)
The four major U.S. wireless carriers detailed a new initiative that may soon let Web sites eschew passwords and instead authenticate visitors by leveraging data elements unique to each customer's phone and mobile subscriber account, such as location, customer reputation, and physical attributes of the device. (Krebs on Security)
Hackers can steal a Tesla Model S in just eight seconds by cloning its key fob. (Wired) Be careful out there.

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ

While you may be getting a good deal on your Airbnb, one side-effect of the sharing economy: it's hollowing out our cities. Transient residents and occasionally vacant apartments mean less frequent customers at local shops and restaurants. (Guardian)
Uber hired former Beam-Suntory and Coca-Cola executive Rebecca Messina as its first CMO. (AdWeek) Fun Fact: Rebecca and I were on the board of the American Marketing Association together.
Uber launched new safety features and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wants to remind you that no other company has them. (Recode)
What's the real commission Uber takes from its drivers? (The Rideshare Guy) It's probably a lot more than you think.
Lyft is offering free rides to cancer patients in major U.S. cities. (Fortune)
Yellow, a Brazilian e-scooter and bike company, raised $63 million in a Series A funding round led by GGV Capital. (Axios)

Measurement / Analytics / Data

The future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.

Fast, connected and personalized is how younger generations want their online experiences. Baby Boomers? Not so much. (MarTech Today) And once again, transparency is the key to trust.
Many consumers understand how companies use their personal data, but according to a recent study, not everyone is comfortable with it. (eMarketer) Let me guess: Baby Boomers?
Adobe is in talks to buy Marketo, a marketing automation company. (Reuters) This would be a strategic asset as Adobe comes up against Microsoft and Oracle.
The key to success for B2B marketers is the quality of their data. Yet only 11% of survey respondents were extremely confident of their company's data quality. (CMO.com)

Mental Nourishment

Other links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.

These three things characterize leaders who are energizers. (Harvard Business Review)
Want to be as successful as Jeff Bezos? Try getting eight hours of sleep a night and holding all meetings until 10:00 a.m. (WSJ) And taking over every possible industry.
There's a fascinating story behind Trader Joe's famous "Two Buck Chuck" and the wine brand and genius behind it. (The Hustle) You may recognize the wine brand for another kind of wine altogether.
From This Side of Paradise to The Last Tycoon, a look back at the first reviews of every F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. (BookMarks) Sometimes the present isn't as kind as history.

That Full Monty episode that incorporated The Great Gatsby. (SoundCloud)

Advertisers have jumped on the bandwagon since the industry's earliest days. A creepy Victorian adverting trend. (The Ephemera Society) Surprise and...delight?
Just for fun: a man comes up with punderful roadside signs to make people laugh. (My Modern Met) I entered 10 puns into a pun contest, hoping one would win. No pun in ten did.
Volkswagen announced they're discontinuing the iconic Beetle in 2019. Here's a classic Volkswagen ad that commemorates another passing:

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Top image credit: Hurricane by Winslow Homer, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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