New Media takes a few lumps, GDPR is finally here, and storytelling tips from a creator of Toy Story and WALL-E.
Marketing Trends, 11/20/17
Quote of the Day
You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something. Your gut. Destiny. Life. Karma. Whatever. Because believing the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads off the well worth path. - Steve Jobs to Stanford in 2005
Marketing Trends is a daily curated report of industry news designed to help executives in marketing, advertising and branding create ROI producing media, stories, and campaigns that deliver long term results.
News that Matters
Last week was tough for the “new media” companies. As you probably saw all over the news…
- WSJ reports that Buzzfeed is going to miss revenue targets by 15–20%
- WSJ also reported that Vice will miss their revenue target, although reports vary on the amount
- Ziff Davis bought Mashable for 50 million which is about 20% of their previous valuation (his others properties include IGN, PCMag, AskMen, Speedtest, ExtremeTech, and Everyday Health)
- A tough day for NerdWallet as they are laying off 11% of staff after missing profit targets
- Oath laid off over 500 people as part of the Verizon acquisition
Lessons Learned
- What is rules based personalization and how does it work?
- [eBook]: 12 Main Areas of RTB & Programmatic, including challenges and opportunities.
- Good read on podcasting (admittedly I’m a fan of Nate and Danny): very long, super nerdy NBA podcast is making money.
- 64% of publishers say video production cost is their biggest challenge.
- WTF is Identify [report]
Original Content, Series, and Shows
Meanwhile, Apple is curious, what is a computer?
Storytelling
“The audience actually wants to work for their meal. They just don’t know that they are doing that. That’s your job as the storyteller, to hide the fact that you are making them work for their meal. We are born problem solvers. We are born to deduce, to deduct, because that’s what we do in real life. It’s this well organized absence of information that draws us in.” — Andrew Stanton
That excellent quote is from this TED talk from filmmaker Andrew Stanton (“Toy Story,” “WALL-E”) where he shares what he knows about storytelling.
“Storytelling is joke telling” — Andrew Stanton
Also, here is a sweet infographic about clues to a great story:
Marketing Q&A
Q: Have most marketers prepared for GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)?
A: Yes, surprisingly!
Q: What are the biggest barriers to GDPR compliance?
A: Legal complexity and budget.
Q: Do UK consumers even know about this personal data stuff?
A: They do, and many of them would actually request companies to hand over their data. That means even if you don’t comply because you don’t think it will be enforced by the government, you could have brand perception and customer sat problems if you don’t comply to individual requests.
Spotlights
This is interesting piece about Hiring a CMO by Jeff Jordan of Andreessen Horowitz. Great look into the CEOs perspective.
Opportunities
AirBnB’s CMO stepped down about a month ago after 3 years in the gig to start his own consultancy. Open req, y’all!
Today’s Story
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