#98: That Gillette ad, the 10 year challenge, how to stop scaring the B2B whales, molasses, and Mary Oliver
Happy Friday to you, my friend.
I'm in NYC this weekend accompanying a good friend who is auditioning for The Voice! Send us all your good luck vibes and most soulful Xtina riffs.
In this edition of The World's Best Newsletter:
1. Pay Attention, Be Astonished: Thoughts On That Gillette Ad
2. Facebook's 10 Year Challenge is Just a Harmless Meme - Right?
3. The Age of Tech is Over; Long Live the Age of Tech
4. Why The Boston Molasses Flood is Worth Taking Seriously
5. One ticket for you, one ticket for me
6. Stop Scaring the Whales
7. Quotes of the week: Mary Oliver
Let's do this.
1. Pay Attention, Be Astonished: Thoughts On That Gillette Ad
If you've followed the controversy this week, you know that Gillette's campaign was a bold move from a brand that needed to create a bold, emotional reaction - and with 20M views on Youtube and a slew of press coverage, that’s exactly what was created.
But, how should we respond?
Here, I wrote a reaction piece. Would love your thoughts in the comments.
2. Facebook's 10 Year Challenge is Just a Harmless Meme - Right?
I had the pleasure of meeting Kate O'Neill late last year when I introduced her on-stage at the Women in Digital conference. I have been a fervent fan ever since.
This week, her admittedly flippant tweet about the 10 Year Challenge went viral, and led to a slew of press appearances.
I suggest reading her WIRED op-ed, notably:
Humans are the connective link between the physical and digital worlds. Human interactions are the majority of what makes the Internet of Things interesting. Our data is the fuel that makes businesses smarter and more profitable.
We should demand that businesses treat our data with due respect, by all means. But we also need to treat our own data with respect.
3. The Age of Tech is Over; Long Live the Age of Tech
"Malthusian trap" or population trap is a condition whereby excess population would stop growing due to shortage of food supply leading to starvation.
From The Atlantic's "The Attention Economy Is a Malthusian Trap," author Derek Thompson defines "death..."
In news reports, death has several definitions. When it applies to a person, it means the end of life. When it applies to a company or industry, it means the end of growth. Print is dead, live TV is dead, and Millennials killed American cheese; but you can still read a print newspaper with the TV on while eating a cheeseburger...
And explains why big tech companies now trade at one of the smallest premiums in history.
...Now the largest tech companies aren’t standing at a pinnacle; they’re plotting on a plateau. The challenge of owning the entire life cycle of our spending habits—that’s the real summit. And it’s just up ahead.
PS: He has a great take on the shutdown timing on Twitter.
4. Why The Boston Molasses Flood is Worth Taking Seriously
100 years ago, in 1919, a viscous 40-foot wave slammed into the city’s North End, killing 21 people.
In this piece by Cara Giaimo (h/t Tamsen Webster) we're encouraged to take such a ridiculous story seriously. As she argues:
The Great Molasses Flood has plenty of lessons to offer at all levels: about corporate responsibility and negligence, about immigration and disenfranchisement, and about human bravery and suffering.
It's a great read.
5. One ticket for you, one ticket for me
Events are hard. Done well, events are growth-drivers.
The amazing Britta Schellenberg (the mastermind behind Brightcove's annual PLAY conference) penned a series of tips on raising awareness and ticket sales for any event.
My favorite advice is to be crystal clear about the attendees you seek to attract with an attendee priority list.
"Am I creating this event for existing customers, or prospects, or people who are generally interested in our content? Do I want one person from each company that I am targeting, because I have limited space, or do I want a whole department to attend, because I have unlimited space?"
Read them all, here.
6. Stop Scaring the Whales
In her excellent post for Sales Hacker, Barbara Weaver Smith illustrates four things that buyers and influencers in big companies fear.
Change
Conflict and political posturing
Work
Risk/Failure
She quotes Gord Hotchkiss, who says:
“Contrary to our common assumptions, B2B buying is not a rational process. It’s a decision process driven by human emotions, and the primary emotion is fear. The degree of risk involved is the single most important variable in B2B purchase decisions.”
It's an important read for B2B, check it out here.
7. Quotes of the week: Mary Oliver
The beloved poet Mary Oliver died this week at 83.
Some of my favorites from her:
From "Sometimes:"
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
From "Wild Geese:"
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
So poignant was her elegy to her partner:
I did think, let’s go about this slowly.
This is important. This should take
some really deep thought.
We should take
small thoughtful steps.
But, bless us, we didn’t.
And, truly one of my favorite quotes of all time:
And that is just the point... how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That's the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. "Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?”
RIP, Mary Oliver.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead, and thanks for reading.
Best,
Katie
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I'm headed abroad February 6 2019 to speak with the Stockholm Marketing Association at their CMO of the Year event. Their theme is "the unfiltered truth..." enough said ;)
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