The world keeps moving faster and faster. It’s increasingly hard to filter out the most important signals from the noise with the time we have available.
I'll be creating a post summarizing the most important and relevant topics for marketers, advertisers and business leaders that have passed through my signal filter in the past week. Take a look at what's I've found most interesting, and don’t forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter.
“It’s almost like a prank that was played by the technology industry on the media industry 20 years ago”.
This quote from Chris Dixon perfectly sums up the banner ad, which had its twenty year anniversary on October 27th. Thankfully this web destroyer is on the decline, but what does this mean going forward?
The growth of app unbundling (or in some cases re-bundling) is a potential first step in the death of the traditional web as we know it. What should we start to be thinking about? - Cards (includes a great explanation and some interesting questions).
Des Trainer did one of the best talks on how Product Strategy has evolved in the tech world, and the most important frameworks to think about right now. I’m going to turn this into a mental model at some stage, but for now it is mandatory watching for anyone involved in creating products or strategy.
The Amazon / Hachette war is a lot murkier than it appears on paper. Vanity Fair do a great job of diving deep on the story, exploring both sides. Is Amazon the death of publishing, or are they merely bringing books into the future?
Why does Silicon Valley work so well (but other tech hubs have failed to create the same level of success)? Sam Altman makes a great case for now and the future.
If we want to create big moon shot ideas, we need to stop letting backbenchers and schadenfreude take centre stage. An argument for optimism by Mark Suster.
Marc Andreessen sounds off on diversity in Silicon Valley, and the other side of the coin with the disruption argument (are the robots really coming to take our jobs, and is that really a bad thing?).
Speaking of robots taking our jobs, Larry Page, the guy helping build them talks about his new role spending time tackling the big issues facing society. We can’t fight the future - but it might not be as bad as a lot of people make out.
Amazon just released Echo, an always-on speaker that is voice activated and answers your questions. With the proliferation of Smart TV’s with always on speakers built in, and the desire of to capture data, are we about to hit a new round of privacy concerns?
Podcasts are so hot right now. What is the secret on their renaissance? It just might be the proliferation of cars connected to the Internet (say goodbye to traditional radio).
Speaking of Podcasts, I highly recommend you check out Serial (it is heavily mentioned in the article above). If you need a true crime fix before the next season of True Detective, this modern day Rashomon is an utterly fascinating and addictive exploration of a murder trial from 1999. Give it a listen.
Finally, the Advertising industry luckily can poke a bit of fun at itself. The Canadian AOTY awards ran recently, and a few agencies made some fantastic parody content. You will laugh (and then cry), and then laugh again.
From Zulu Alpha Kilo, what if a Mad Man was around in today’s ad world?
From Union, it’s important to reward your employees for their hard work.
Lastly, from Rethink Communication, a new award… for the best award videos.