Must Reads 258

Good Morning Must Readers, Must Reads 258 is packed full of informed content this week, this weeks themes are:  

• Future Of Work: How the workplace has evolved and perks were used for staff but also against. We will see this dynamic continue, its how informed you are of what mechanic the perk is being used for will help you win

• How Cool Becomes Uncool: How the cool tools and platforms loss their cool, usually by attempting to control creators and restrict their monetisation

• Ad Relevancy: The future of the web is unfolding in front of our eyes, with ads still powering the "free web" its how we are now being targeted with hyper relevant (non creepy) content that will determine whether we accept them or reject them (and the content creators and curators)

• BNPL: Buy now pay later has come to food and its exploding in usage, unsurprisingly, unfortunately the literacy of how much more it will cost is low. Companies need to do more and help customers understand the impact of new credit offerings

• Women's Sports: Is finally getting the distribution and investment it needs to gain more interest. From women's mixed martial arts, to increasing investments in soccer (Angel City is a great example with investments from Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Mia Hamm, & Serena Williams) in the US, to cricket and Rugby in the UK. Women’s football aka soccer is booming in the U.K. and had record gates and viewership since 2021s active push.

🌞 This is what collaboration looks like - Redditors came together to create a 14-megapixel image of the sun and a solar tornado. 

>> Why The Expert Should Be Fully Seen At Work 👌 - I have two bug bearers with the way work 'works', (1) many larger businesses say you are an individual contributor or on the management track (which is BS) and (2) the expert is often dismissed and never rightly invited into management meetings and to present on their core topics and embraced as the expert.  

>> The Curse Of The Knowledgeable 🧠 - An interesting look at how "experts" can become more approachable. I wonder how often this would be forwarded or sent on if it wasn't for repercussions ;-)  

>> Here's a free cheatsheet I created to help CMOs and CGOs explain impact and build relationship on top of 

>> Which Perks Will Get You Back In the Office? 😮 - Will dog hotels, car charging or wellness zones going to get you back into your office? Perks are common tactics to make the office more appealing and were a tool to make some tech workers work longer hours. The question some companies are asking is: Will big perks be enough? Or have people worked out that proximity bias to still key for many to progress and perks are part of the game many have to play... 

>> & Here is another great alternative view on perks 💯 - by friends of Must Reads Beth (hint, sign up to her newsletter and masterclasses are great resources)

>> How Twitch Lost "It" 📉 - Twitch was the powerhouse in live streaming, at one point it was the place to be, the place to become the creator on and ultimately created a generation of stars. Over the past two years, it's lost its way, cutting creator rates, reclassifying content and attempting to reshape what audiences want. Twitch is another example of an up-and-coming business sold to a huge business, seeing traction and then losing its way on answering the company's problem not the consumer's problem. Yes, their monetisation was lower than they'd like but unless you are really thinking about the customers and creators in 2023+ your business is going to become uncool.  

>> Book Vending Machine 📚- Spotted on LinkedIn this week, my favourite marketing outlet, a book vending machine was spotted. Penguin has been super smart in recognising people read on trains/planes and something we all know book shops inflate the price at train and airports, so why not control this and offer your best books for a placement fee? I love this. So many more companies have the opportunity to use a mechanic like this to rethink how to sell more and promote more in simple and effective ways. 

>> Are Newsletters The Ad Answer ✅ - The marketing landscape is ever-changing, and getting in front of the right audience can be tricky and expensive, and getting your message to land in the right way is the hardest it's ever been. A smart trend is getting in front of the right audience rather than spraying and praying and with the newsletter boom continuing can newsletter ads be the smartest way to get in front of the best 100 or 1000 people than the wrong 200000 people (hint yes). Podcasts are in the same boat here but will creators want to make some money and add a little friction to their free (or add another slot in front of their ad-supported) audience - it's the question they will have to answer to make it sustainable.

>>> Coaching Moment: Today, the web is powered in 4 ways, (1) Completely Free (you the user are the product and have to consume anything shown to you), (2) Ad-Supported (you the user are targeted with ads to use for free) (3) Subscription (you pay to consume the content or play with the information) (4) Hybrid (Small subscription fees + lite ads to make it sustainable for the creator)

>> Why Women's Rugby Is Booming 🏉 - I always look for positive stories and this BBC article is great to see, after a successful world cup and 6 nations, women's rugby is booming and now finally players are being recognised. Women's cricket has had a step change in recent years too, hopefully, other sports will get the same opportunity to grow. 

>> How The New York Times Kept Wordle, Wordle 🎯 - Remember the craze that was wordle and sharing your scores? Millions still do this which is unheard of once big companies in this case (The NYT brought wordle). A good look at how they tweaked the system and kept the game true and kept players interested. Would be fascinating to see how many subs wordle drove, NYT have said in earning calls how engaged the media companies user base is based on their game + plan. 

>> BNPL Hitting The Food Aisles 😮 - Long-time readers of Must Reads will know how I don't support the buy now pay later model in most cases, anything that is credit based is often misunderstood, especially in the younger generations. In the most obvious use case, BNPL is exploding in usage in food and this shouldn't surprise anyone. What is a surprise is how long it took to be reported in this macroeconomic environment. Something we should all understand is why so many have had to turn to aggressive credit to afford food and drink. I hope in the data it is food and groceries not alcohol. 

>> Struggling With "Gen Z" Slang? Then here's a video for you no 🧢 

Thanks for reading today and have a great weekend, 

Danny Denhard (want to say thanks, buy me a thank you coffee)