Passwordless?

Hey, Must Readers 👋!    

This weeks newsletter has 11 must-read stories & a social media microblog for you to enjoy and share with friends and colleagues.  

Barcelona is one of my favourite cities, here is a mesmerising picture from above the city at night (image source)

Must Read Articles Of The Week

• Why The First & Last Ten Seconds Are So Important 💯 Why in so many areas of life the first or last ten seconds is so important, especially when you are a manager or a leader - Read the full article

• How To Win Hybrid Office Politics 🧠 Each week I answer anonymous advice via Focus, this week I was asked how to win politics when hybrid. Interesting one for anyone worried about work in the future - Read the full advice (Well worth pairing with the hybrid guide & Worrying About Imposter Syndrome Going Back To The Office? 😒- Here is the article for you)

• Apple Slack Problem 💬 Apple has come under fire internally, Apple is notoriously secretive and uses the Apple brand and status to hire and retain staff. Until recently all seemed to go to plan, and then slack happened which enabled groups to form, internal issues to be raised, leaked & then openly discussed. Slack & Teams have been great for many but can cause huge issues, particularly when boundaries aren’t set on usage and what is acceptable behaviours. - Read the fired engineers takes and how slack changed Apple’s culture. FWIW 🗣iOS15 is coming on Monday, so if you are in Marketing, Product or Growth, you will want to start taking a look at your ad and email delivery efficiency. 

• The Anti Cancel Company 🤞 Are you a CEO who is worried about being cancelled? Well, there is a firm (well dozens) that are working to help stop you from being cancelled by creating a team around you so you aren’t just window dressing. I personally don’t think you can stop from being cancelled if you have done something significant however building a team around you that tackles this is smart. C-Suites aren’t best placed to make all of the best decisions… - Read the full story

• Passwordless World 🌍 Microsoft has entered the next phase of computing, the passwordless world. If you have ever worked at a big company you will hate resetting passwords every 30 days, having to use authenticators and taking numerous email and password related tests. MSN is offering a way to go passwordless. This is important because the way we interact with our devices is about to change and we will see marketing campaigns around this, new scams and people resisting change again - Read the article

• Data-Driven Design Decisions For 3D Printed 👟 Adidas have dived into partnerships recently (famously with allbirds) & importantly into environmental improvements, although this is partnership content (aka paid content with Wired), this is a good article showing you how sports brands are using data and pairing with design to create environmentally friendly shoes and could apply the same to clothing and apparel. - Read the article

• Vegan Brands 🍃 Many people are attempting to go Vegan (only 1% of people are actually vegan) but many do not change their clothing or consumption habits associated. If you cannot go Vegan, maybe these brands will be your way to help - Read the full vegan brands article

• WTF is a litfluencer 📚 Brands leveraging books, brands leveraging book readers, brands leveraging TikTok & Instagram, why books are the new branding tool & easy for PR’s to push. (Not convinced? It’s more than word of mouth, a bright cover & driving pre-releases sales that help books sell) - Read about the litfluencer 

• Apple Product Placement Power 📲 In and around marketing? Here is a good video of the power of product placement and the use of the 9 grid to show products within a frame. Apple with breakout hits to mostly Apple fans with Apple TV+ is a smart retention strategy (particularly with vilians not being allowed to use Apple products in shows and movies)

• Celebrity YouTube Channels Aren’t Going Anywhere 👩‍🍳  Smart use of YouTube by the Ottolenghi team, who needs a TV deal when you are a living legend with so many fans, you simply give the fans an inside look. Particularly smart showing the full team behind the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen

Micro Blog: The Next Phase Of Social Media 

This week saw the return of the future state podcast, Nick and I dive into the future of social media.

The first social network was email and it was released before the world wide web was in 1990. Some of us lived through forums, instant messaging to Friendster, second life and myspace, through to Reddit, Twitter, Pinterest & more recently Twitch and Discord, our dating apps are now social by default.  Jumping forward to today: (The old guard) Facebook’s dominance is under threat, with over 50% of the world’s adult population using Facebook monthly we have experienced their influence on culture and how we stay in touch with people and are gravitated to people who like the same stuff we do. We have heard this week about the muting of reports that Instagram is creating negative social comparison (here is a great pod to listen to grilling/interviewing Head of Instagram) and Instagram not being proactive enough being under pressure for high growth targets. A bigger shift: We are experiencing YouTube switching their business model and the way their core product works to serve you more content away from what you subscribed to. Social-tainment giant TikTok has influenced all of the major social networks to serve better more relevant entertaining content over surfacing more content from people you have actively decided to follow. If you do not see the TikTok power, look through your social media groups and the links that are being shared in your messenger apps and how mainstream media are embedding TikTok content over social content. This equals a fundamental shift to how social media works and how social networks are less reliant on your friends (aka the friends’ graph) and more reliant on knowing more about you and then your sharing habits. I suggest everyone should learn & really have the knowledge of how social networks work under the bonnet to understand how you are the product and soon about to pay for the privilege of being said product with investment into subscriptions and supporting creators. The future in TLDR format: smaller networks, with more niche conversation based around core talking points and content created by others.

BTW I took a look at why Greggs is so successful in 🇬🇧 …here’s my thread

🚨 More Than Just Another Newsletter  

Contact me…

• For marketing executive coaching

• To grow your business contact me for growth advisory

• For newsletter sponsorship opportunities 

• For newsletter advertising opportunities

• To post a job listing to super smart people subscribed to Must Reads 

Don’t Forget The Podcasts: 

• The fixing the broken world of work podcast - helping you to improve work!  

• The future state of podcast - where Nick Walter and I discuss the future of industries, verticals and businesses. The Future State Of Social Media Is Now Live

Care To Share?

Thanks for reading Must Reads today. It would be great for you to forward it to someone smart who might like it. 

Or share it on Twitter or LinkedIn - it’s the main way to help Must Reads grows & make more people informed. 

If you like to discuss any articles, have questions or an article recommendation, I’m always free for Must Readers - just hit reply.

Until next week’s Must Reads,

Danny Denhard