The Full Monty — April 25, 2016

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This week: brands get clumsy over Prince tributes; global advertising trends and strategic marketing priorities for 2020; to cut or not to cut cable; social media and org charts; a PR pro's guide to Facebook news; live 360-degree videos from YouTube; Google and Facebook aim to take on the TV industry; the fallout from Uber's $100 million lawsuit settlement; China gets into the autonomous vehicle race; being craft-driven versus numbers-driven; measuring influence effectively; why authenticity matters; the most important company you've never heard of; Einstein takes on trolls; our weekly trivia challenge, podcast pick and more.

Virtually everything you need in business intelligence. If you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links — and additional ones — by subscribing to The Full Monty Magazine at smonty.co/fullmontymag.

If you're around at 9:30 pm ET on Sunday evenings, you can get a preview of a couple of topics from the week's via the live video on Facebook. If not, you can always catch the replay here:

Join me

• Did you catch the announcement that I'm teaming up with Christopher Barger?
• I'm headed to Sydney, Australia on Thursday and giving a speech at CeBIT Black on April 28 and a keynote at CeBIT Australia on May 3. If you're Down Under on the days around this time, let me know — maybe we can meet up.

Industry

• Digital ad spending in the US grew 20% in 2015, to $59.6 billion, driven mostly by mobile, which had a 66% increase.
• Global spending on advertising will climb 5.7% in 2016 to $542.55 billion. Annual growth will continue at 5-6% through 2020, according to eMarketer

• According to an academic study, the PR industry will grow to $20 billion by 2020. Industry leaders—both in agencies and in-house—believe future growth will be driven by content creation and social media, as well as more traditional activities such as brand reputation, followed by measurement and evaluation.
• Online publishers have faced numerous financial challenges in recent years, including automated advertising and ad-blocking tools. But now, there is a realization that something more profound has happened: The transition from an internet of websites to an internet of mobile apps and social platforms is no longer coming — it is here.
• The Economist Intelligence Unit has identified the strategic programs that will define marketing in 2020. They include customer loyalty and acquisition, and new and emerging technologies to engage the audience.
• No need to worry about too much technology. Bots and programmatic advertising are giving way to a very different practice: people-based targeting.
• Nor do you need to concern yourself with bots replacing apps; better apps will replace apps. Chat apps succeed when they streamline high-friction processes like app installation, login, and payment, not when they rely on conversational UI.
• New data shows that Americans are increasingly abandoning wired home internet for their mobile data plans.
• Another point of frustration: data caps from some broadband providers that are forcing some customers to ration their use.
• And Comcast is making an end run around the FCC's set-top box proposal [allowing consumers to pick their own device] by making its programming available on Smart TVs, Rokus and via its app.
• Organization of digital and social efforts needs some consideration.
• Social media is too important to be left to the marketing department. It's about sharing responsibilities with other business units, because this powerful function is multifaceted and beyond the ken of only marketers.
• The C-suite needs to be restructured for digital business. Is it time to bring the CMO and CCO together? Digital doesn't follow traditional silos; it transcends them. It's time to stop forcing a fit and time to start rethinking the org chart.
• 64% of Americans want CEOs on social media, but 46% equate a senior business leader’s active presence on social media with keeping others informed on their company’s business activities, rather than personal anecdotes.
• With the death of Prince last week, brands immediately jumped into action, expressing their own, sometimes awkward, tributes. Many missed the point that their local connections didn't make sense on a global stage.

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Platforms

• Facebook
• ICYMI in last week's newsletter, here's how Facebook plans to take over the world.
• Gini Dietrich with a PR pro's guide to Facebook news and new features.
• If you'd like to get your own site up to snuff on Instant Articles, here's a quick guide.
• Changes to Facebook's Feed Quality Program mean that the News Feed will look a little different, giving users more visibility into the categories of stories they're seeing. It will also help prioritize the sites you read.
• Tips on mobile video ads for Facebook: capture attention quickly, design for sound off, frame your visual story, and play more. 
• Facebook Messenger launches Group Calling to become your phone. Can group video be far behind?
• You can now turn off notifications for Live Video. If you do, make sure you subscribe to mine so you can tune in every Sunday evening.
• As live video rolls out to more broadcasters and publishers, Facebook is looking to take on the television industry. Their business model seems to be predicated on the television model. Just please don't make us sit through interruptive ads.
• Facebook may implement a tip jar for users to make money from posts. Hmm. Sounds intriguing. Then again, I've got Patreon.

• Alphabet
• Accelerated mobile pages (AMP) will now be featured in Google's News section. This is Google's version of Facebook's Instant Articles.
• YouTube debuted live 360-degree videos at Coachella. Take that, Facebook!
• Google claims that YouTube ads are 80% better at driving sales than TV ads. Take that, television!
• And they're backing it up with products such as DoubleClick Dynamic Ad Insertion – a product that places Google in direct competition with video ad platform FreeWheel, which Comcast acquired in 2014. 

• Snapchat
• The Food Network is turning to Snapchat influencers to grow its presence on Snapchat Discovery.
• Now you can use the face-swap lens on photos on your camera roll, and can no longer purchase additional replays. 
• But just in case it's for you, my username is wsmonty. I'm still getting the hang of it and need to post more frequently, but give it a shot.

• LinkedIn has an updated Recruiter app with new insights to find the right candidates. This should make hiring managers happy. HR people do use social media, don't they?
• Instagram will triple in value by the end of 2016, according to analysts. Proof that Facebook's purchase of Instagram Inc. continues to look smarter and smarter. And that visual communications continue to be an important part of the mix.
• Pinterest is about to unveil a major product overhaul meant to make the social bookmarking company’s mobile app sleeker, faster and smarter and ultimately to attract more users and advertisers to justify the company’s $11 billion valuation. Pin that!

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Trivia question: The best job posting in social media this week is for what position? *

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Collaborative / Autonomous Economy 

• Transportation
• Uber is paying $100 million to settle lawsuits to keep drivers as independent contractors. Additionally, Uber can neither deactivate drivers at will nor deactivate drivers for not accepting a minimum percentage of ride requests they receive.
• Additionally, there will be a "driver association" (not a union, please) and an appeals panel to address both issues. Certainly the sign of a maturing industry.
• But now expect your driver to ask you for a tip. Looks like Lyft just got another boost, as their tipping system is built into the app and fewer people carry cash these days.

• Lodging
•  Airbnb has user-generated guidebooks to help guests have better experiences.

• Autonomous Vehicles
• Chinese search giant Baidu is building a 100-person autonomous car team in Silicon Valley. Or, as one headline put it: Look, Mao! No hands! While the US and Europe lead in technology developments, China has been focusing on the regulatory aspects, which are considered by many to be the most difficult part of autonomous vehicle planning. 
• Apple has hired Tesla's former VP of vehicle engineering for a "special project."
• That "special project" may involve Canadian-Austrian firm Magna. Because it certainly won't involve BMW and Daimler, who rejected the so-called "iCar" project.

Audio

• The IFPI Global Music Report shows that music revenues increased 3.2% as digital revenues overtook physical for the first time. It also reported a 10.2% rise in digital revenues to $6.7 billion, with a 45.2% increase in streaming revenue more than offsetting the decline in downloads and physical formats.
• Program of the Week. This week's recommendation is Stride and Saunter, via Thomas Cox. The show covers a variety of topics pertaining to humanity. The hosts talk about various issues and themes each week in a thoughtful, open and contemplative manner. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet: smonty.co/yourpodcasts

Content / Customer Experience

• Almost every successful company recognizes that it is in the customer-experience business. Some considerations on developing a customer experience vision from McKinsey.
• Most people want shortcuts to get results; marketing wants scale at the expense of the craft. "Content is a thing to produce in a factory. They don't want the touch of human hands or even human minds. Get me the piece...the click...the sale... If you want better numbers, get better at the THING that produces the numbers." What does it mean to be craft-driven?
• How storytelling pioneers are experimenting with GoPros, 3-D printers, and homemade camera rigs to invent a new medium: cinematic VR.
• You probably don't have a VR headset to play with just yet. While you're waiting, here are five exercises to improve your storytelling skills.
• Bad news / worse news: Last week, we discussed how more people are getting their news content from social media sites. It turns out, most people don't trust social media as a source for news stories. Wait, are you telling me that I won't be getting a check from Bill Gates for sharing this?
• Authenticity matters. The Cohn & Wolfe Global Authentic 100 looks at the top brands that are rated as authentic by the public. Globally, about 20% of people find brands authentic; in the US it's 23%, while in Western Europe, it's only 7%. What is authenticity? People look for brands to be reliable, respectful and real. This ties into a brand's reputation, as nearly nine out of 10 consumers are willing to take action to reward a brand for its authenticity, including recommending the brand or pledging loyalty to it. The question is whether brands can manage to be authentic. As George Burns said, "If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made."

Privacy / Security / Legal

• The European Commission has informed Google of its preliminary view that the company has abused its dominant position by imposing restrictions on Android device manufacturers and mobile network operators, in breach of EU antitrust rules.
• The FBI has given up on another instance of compelling Apple to unlock an iPhone. #Nevermind
• If Ashley Madison plaintiffs would like to pursue with their lawsuits against the cheating site for breaching their data, a judge ruled that they must disclose their identities. Now there's an ethical dilemma for you.

Measurement / Metrics / Data 

• Build your own simple, flexible and efficient dashboard with supermetrics to communicate data and detect insights to solve business problems. With a tutorial!
• In a controversial post, Gary Vaynerchuk headlined that numbers don't matter, influence does. Not that measurement doesn't matter, but that you shouldn't be misled by the wrong thing. Don't chase followers. Measure what matters.
• Going further, Christopher Penn delves into the measurement behind influence.
• Marriott's CMO Karin Timpone is interested in understanding the magic and the metrics behind content. Since joining the company in 2013, she’s led Marriott’s content marketing evolution, embracing different types of media like print magazines, short films, virtual reality content, and even a TV show. The goal? To measure true loyalty.
• In a new survey from McKinsey, executives say senior-leader involvement and the right organizational structure are critical factors in how successful a company‘s analytics efforts are, even more important than its technical capabilities or tools.

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* Answer to the trivia question above: 

• If can tweet with a stiff upper lip and like Corgis, then you might be interested in handling social media for Queen Elizabeth II. The 50,000 a year position includes managing and editing high profile websites, driving content strategy, and overseeing a small team, all while finding new ways to maintain The Queen's presence in the public eye and on the world stage. Just don't make eye contact with her. Gin o'clock!

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When You Have the Time: Essential Watching / Listening / Reading 

• With more algorithms and fewer humans at work on major news sites, humans are losing the battle against Kardashian-loving algorithms for the soul of new media.
• Even a remote North Dakota town with a population of 1,000 can't withstand the effects of the internet. Hard to tell whether fracking or the Kardashians have had a greater impact on the region.
• The future is here — meet Magic Leap. While virtual reality gets all of the hype, it's augmented or mixed reality that is more utilitarian in the immediate future. Pretty incredible stuff.
• For the public speakers out there:
• How to write a speaking proposal that gets chosen every time.
• If you really want to, you can take a big data approach to public speaking. "Unlike Cicero and Aristotle, we now have big data tools and machine-learning techniques to examine the core characteristics of effective communicators." Yeah, we also have intuition and emotion to help guide things. Cicero and Aristotle managed pretty well without data.
• Einstein knew a thing or two about trolls, as he told Marie Curie to ignore the haters: “If the rabble continues to occupy itself with you, then simply don’t read that hogwash, but rather leave it to the reptile for whom it has been fabricated.”
• Maybe you should do like my friend Jay Baer and Hug Your Haters.
• What do FOMO, revenge porn, and Bitcoin have in common? They've all been added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Trigger warning: it's a hella big list.

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I speak to groups and advise brands and agencies to help them embrace the fundamentals of human communication in the digital age. Please get in touch if you'd like to put my experience and digital smarts to work on a project, to consult with your group, or to address an audience at your next corporate or industry event.

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