Holy smokes, Batman.
Holy smokes, Batman. Week two of the world’s best newsletter.
A special welcome to all my new friends who have doubled the size of the list since last week, due largely in part to LinkedIn pimping out my post on going solo. (Maybe I shouldn’t have sworn so much.)
Things I received in response to that post:
A job offer in Amsterdam
Hundreds of amazing comments full of similar stories (something you should rarely read on the internet)
Oodles of private notes, my favorite one saying “For the first time i felt it was God talking to me through you!”
So, seeing as I’m now an oracle, here are some divinely inspired ideas that were on my radar this week:
We don’t need more branding…
Screw being nice, it’s about being respected.
Call the vendors, listen cautiously
Trump: “an existence unmolested by the rumbling of a soul.”
The abuse of geo fencing to target women at abortion clinics
Influencer marketing is a sham
Quote of the week
One more thing
1. The Future of Branding is Rebranding
This piece in FastCo Design was shared by one of my favorite people in the world.
It calls out branded content as what it often is - a camouflage for advertising - and asks us as marketers to reprioritize the role of branding, urging companies to focus on product quality over brand superficiality.
“We don’t need more branding; we need fewer, better-quality products.”
It urges us to recognize where consumers are on the spectrum of suffocation. “We’ve reached the saturation point - we are unhappy, we are stuffocated”
(Like, suffocated with stuff, get it?)
2. Stop Peeing Apologies Down Your Leg
You know the “I’m sorry” thing that we do? My spirit animal Ash Ambirge recommends saying thank you instead.
“I’m sorry for the delay” transforms into “Thanks for your patience!” “I’m sorry to make you work late” turns into “Thanks for working so hard on this project.”
Ah, yes. That’s better. After all, it’s “not about being nice. It’s about being respected.”
3. You may not actually need that marketing tool.
I was quoted alongside some friends of mine in a new eBook from DMNews, Marketing Tech: From Audit to Implementation in which I basically tell you not to buy marketing technology. Oops.
I think we’re all trying to understand what we’re seeing here and make sense of the insane spectacle that is Donald Trump. This Atlantic article is one of my favorites so far, with this brilliant line, “Trump’s achieved an existence unmolested by the rumbling of a soul.”
Read on for a look at narcissism, disagreeableness, grandiosity, and the perspective of a psychologist.
PS: I am totally behind the theory that this is all a ruse to build up momentum to launch Trump's own news network once he loses. Totally. Euuuuuyyyggeee.
5. Intrusive & ethically wrong use of geo fencing
Ugh, to all of this. “Anti-Choice Groups Use Smartphone Surveillance to Target ‘Abortion-Minded Women’ During Clinic Visits”
Like so much in the media this week, it made me simultaneously roll my eyes and want to run for office. It’s centered on a case of geo fencing being abused to send anti-choice bullshit to the smartphones of women literally sitting IN THE WAITING ROOM of an abortion clinic (and one idiot profiting from it.)
“Advertising is a system of surveillance now,” Hoofnagle said. “It used to be billboards and television. Now it’s surveillance.”
This stuff is legal in our our weak and patchwork laws governing privacy and data collection but is intrusive and ethically wrong.
“Privacy law in the U.S. is technology- and context-dependent,” Hoofnagle said. “As an example, the medical information you relay to your physician is very highly protected, but if you go to a medical website and search for ‘HIV’ or ‘abortion,’ that information is not protected at all.”
6. Influencer Marketing is a Sham
I’m loving the recent #SponCon (sponsored content) fails of celebrities copy and pasting the promotional copy emailed by some eager “social media executive” into the description on their awkward Instagram photo posed with whatever product they’re shilling.
Hey, if anyone wants to pay me to hold up their product and smile with whatever hashtag you want, just reply to this email. But the ecosystem of social media "influencers" has led to a sour definition of “influencer marketing." Read a confessional here about the ways in which it’s totally broken.
7. Quote of the week:
this week comes from a man too wise for his own good. I’ll leave his identity a mystery to increase the intrigue here but let’s just say he is a well known marketer with his own agency an affinity for ribs and a disdain for hair.
We exchanged emails about a project and I asked how he’s managed to do this whole marketer-for-hire thing so well for so long. His response:
“We do it like everyone else does. Make it up as we go! =)"
=)
One more thing…
I want to address the Orlando hate crime. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to marry my fiancé later this year in a legally recognized ceremony in front of hundreds of family and friends. I am aware of the sanctity of, and grateful for, this privilege.
That privilege is the result of slow change brought about by decades of suffering, a crisis of systematic attacks on the LGBT community that was unsympathetically ignored by our government and the media for years. As someone who works in media, I am aware of the shift in narrative. The support of corporations and politicians you see defending LGBT rights today is in stark contrast to their predecessors’ silence.
June is Pride month for many cities including Boston and Orlando. I’ve often heard “why on earth do you need a parade? I don’t get a parade.” The need for Pride parades emerged from a LONG list of murder, persecution, and hate. We can not understand Orlando until we understand this history.
Rachel Maddow illustrates that pattern with fact and clarity in a video clip that I recommend: The gay community in the US is forged in fire.
Best,
Katie