“19–12” Marketing, Media & Tech Raven Round-up — 29th September
Captured by @mattketing
The Raven delivers 10 talking points across #media, #tech #marketing and #environment… What’s sparkled in the week Google turned 21:
Moviepass finally wraps, Volkswagen reparks Abbey Road, Piracy spies a way back in, a potted history of the CIA, London’s FinTech victory, Guinness wins with Japan, teletext’s greatest pun reaches the end of the road, has the digital age cost us innocence, will Facebook cost us books, and is Britain’s environmental problem class-based?
I’d say Ride’s sparkling return to public consciousness brought a pang of nostalgia, but I was well and truly glued to Thundercats at their height. Bask in the shoegazing delight of Repetition.
Find every intro song on the Raven Playlist.
AdBeak: Beatles; Liberty Fields Guinness campaign
Yesterday the Rugby World Cup hosts rose to the occasion, beating Ireland in the kind of shock that makes a tournament. Guinness pitched their tie-in campaign well, picking up the story of these Japanese pioneers of female rugby in 1989, with a matching five-minute documentary featuring first-hand insights from the Liberty Fields rugby team.
It’s also been a big week for one of the greatest hours of the greatest bands (yep). Volkswagen weren’t going to miss the opportunity for Abbey Road Reparked.
1. Media. BBC: initiative disruption, and poor judgement.
An interesting week for the BBC as they managed to jostle into news schedules already jam-packed with UK politics. First, the DG took the initiative by proclaiming a new age of streaming disruption. We haven’t seen anything yet…
Although, some may think they should be looking a little closer to home. As BBC Sounds finally introduced a download filter (only too 11 months!), the Corporation’s rushed attempt to dominate the podcast and digital streaming space was exposed.
But Auntie’s week was really defined by the BBC upholding of a complaint that many thought missed public sentiment and did wholly unnecessary damage. The crucial distinctions the Corp drew when finding BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty in breach of editorial guidelines clearly missed the point. By the letter of the decision, co-host Dan Walker should have been censured as well — he wasn’t and of course, neither should have been. A visible, telling, powerful moment of raw journalistic opinion that was even retweeted by the network at the time has met a tone deaf decision and it’s escalating as BBC employees are warned not to join protests.
2. Tech. On the big screen, Moviepass finally wraps.
Veteren readers of Raven Series 1, travellers from a very different time, may remember that Movepass and Kalanick-era Uber kept this column very entertained. How time moves on, especially and fatally for Moviepass: it’s finally wrapped. The idea fed into cinephiles’ desires but it was impossible, the business model unsustainable, the handling of the situation shambolic.
Netflix was very much in Moviepass’ sights, but the VoD giant’s revolution on the small screen couldn’t be translated to the big screen — something that’s presented the streamer with a paradox of its own. In bolstering its ambitious film plans Netflix may be introducing an incentivisation program that further highlight’s Hollywood’s archaic structure. How many studio staples will grab that Netflix spin?
Netflix is target number one for many VoD pretenders. The new battlefield of streaming is fascinating on many levels, here’s an unspoken truth: The retreat from streaming homogeneity may set digital viewing habits back a decade, as digital piracy roars back.
3. Media. The End of Teletext.
BBC Part 2: As the final curtain falls on what began as Ceefax — one of broadcasting’s great puns — 45 years ago. This may have been hidden in gradual erosion, but still a landmark step and a sign of the Corporation’s growing digital ambitions:
4. Tech. AI and the Campaign to stop killer robots.
(In lieu of a Musk Zone this week). From Musk and Ma’s stunt of an AI debate in Shanghai to Boris Johnson’s appeal against “pink-eyed Terminators” to the UN to, well, Terminator Dark Fate’s imminent release: are we taking AI seriously enough? A former Google employee thinks not!
Or perhaps… We’re just being too human about it ? Personally, I was shocked at the human-centric disrespect for all the AI that have and will read this BBC article: Fortnite: Why you might not be playing real people anymore.
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5. Advertising. Marathon’s short-term return.
Make no bones about it, these are times both of unprecedented danger and opportunity in Britain. While politics and social pressures mount, there’s some respite in the opportunism of the brands tapping into our febrile, progressive-nostalgic vibe. How else can you explain Marathon’s surprise reappearance when hardly any consumers of the UK’s second most popular chocolate bar remember its original name...
6. Media. The loss of innocence.
Sweet sorrow — nostalgically. But is this kind of romanticism desirable, helpful or responsible?
7. Tech. What’s in a book?
Sweet sorrow — philosophically. Yes, we can all poke fun at Taylor Swift attempting to trademark “1989”, but it’s movement of language through te actions of big business that we should really be keeping an eye on.
8. Media. What the CIA did.
A fascinating article, presented as a follow up to the ‘One last THING’ history of the ‘THING’ article that rounded out the Raven before last (are you keeping up?
9. Green. The UK’s £1bn climate fund; supermarkets’ plastic battleground.
In the clamour to get to the UN last week, UK Prime Minister Brois Johnson unveiled a climate funding package that stood little chance of outshining his domestic woes or Greta Thunberg’s powerful appeal to the UN.
A neat line was drawn under issue marketing when Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat handed all G20 heads of state these pointed utensils…
Moving away from the international, supermarket’s seized environmental headlines this week.
Iceland boss Richard Walker shone a light on Big Plastic’s push back against green initiatives.
He also highlighted the class dimension to the issue that really, only Britain can serve up so well (or is obsessed with serving up). Equality? Some might say the ‘working class’ care more.
Meanwhile, Morrisons have been busy tapping nostalgia while jabbing at Instagram, thanks to their reintroduction of the string bag.
10. Tech. There’s a new Fintech No 1.
Andrew Neil brought this to my attention. Much of Brexit remains unclear at time of writing — uncertainty is the only thing we can be certain of. But should we jump this muddle, the opportunity promised by a multitude of scenarios remains undimmed. The first eight months of 2019 saw London jump ahead of New York to become the world’s No 1 in the period. London attracted 114 investments with a record-breaking value of more than $2bn.
London now the top spot for total number of deals secured, although San Francisco still nudges ahead in terms of value. It’s a fascinating stat, and why’s it on my side? It coincides with a new project I’ve started in the Fintech space. There’s exciting stuff on the horizon, get ready for more details soon.
Resources: http://www.mattketing.com
That’s it for this Raven — see you next time! While you wait, keep up-to-date and join the conversation @mattketing.
One last thing…
Sometimes OMG says it all. A special mention to perhaps the worst (read eye-catching) campaign you’re likely to see this year.
