∞

From Bloomberg: Supreme Court Upholds Law That Threatens US TikTok Ban

I wrote a lot of words about it here.

∞

the organizing principle of digital advertising, which is the individual consumer. What Facebook — now Meta — is better at than anyone in the world is understanding consumers not as members of a cohort or demographic group but rather as individuals, and serving them ads that are uniquely interesting to them.

brands are created for cohorts or demographic groups, because they need to be manufactured at scale;

thus the opportunity for an entirely new wave of companies that were built around digital advertising and its deep personalization from the get-go.

from Ben Thompson

∞

[YouTube] has officially begun rolling out three-minute Shorts to all users

any vertical or square VODs up to three minutes long will now automatically count as Shorts, meaning they’ll appear on the Shorts tabs of creators’ channels and will pop up on the Shorts feed

The race to replace The Clock is on.

via TubeFilter

∞

2025: rise of the smartglasses?

Halliday Glasses have boarded the smart spectacles hype train, featuring “proactive” AI assistance and a near-eye display that shows information directly in the user’s field of view.

The display appears as a 3.5-inch screen in the upper-right corner of the user’s view with minimal obstruction

The near-eye display is supported on both prescription lenses and if no lens is used at all. The displayed information isn’t visible to other people and can be controlled using either voice commands, frame interface controls, or a ring that features a built-in trackpad.

The number of in-optics display announcements is accelerating.

∞

Soliddd’s scientifically formulated and user-tested virtual reality smartglasses are lightweight and feel like normal eyeglasses. SolidddVision provides the first true vision correction—and, indeed, sight restoration for those living with vision loss due to macular degeneration.

The smartglasses use Soliddd’s unique and proprietary lens arrays, which resemble a fly’s eye, to project multiple separate images to the areas of the retina that are not damaged. This allows the brain to naturally construct stereopsis (the making of a 3D image in the brain) and a single full-field image with good acuity that feels like normal, in-focus sight.

We’ve already hit the point of wearable-tech-as-health-improvement-device with glasses.

∞

Rory Sutherland with a truth bomb:

People don’t necessarily know what they want.

Economists certainly don’t know what’s good for people.

Marker research isn’t a reliable way to discover unmet or untapped needs. Because the unmet needs are often unthought and therefore unspoken.

Looking at people’s past behavior is naturally constraining because it only shows what people do under situation and choice frame X. Not what they might do under choice architecture Y.

All 3 of the means we use to predict the future in terms of human behavior are deeply incomplete and therefore what we need to do is hypothesize more and experiment more.

The customer is always right. They just don’t necessarily know what the question is.

Test & improve.

∞

We’re about a week out from a potential TikTok ban taking effect in the US and it seems like there’s still a lot of fuzziness about how that actually gets implemented.

App stores will have to remove it.

But will ISPs have to block it?

Does the company turn off the computers and lock the doors?

∞

NBC News—part of the network that was home to late night hosts from Johnny Carson to David Letterman—have a story on how podcasts are becoming the new talk show.

YouTube, which has become a leading destination for podcast consumers in recent years, said that viewers watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts per month on their TVs in 2024.

Why do podcasts work so well?

They’re free from the restraints of the linear commercial break and TV Guide schedule. And digital platforms allow for community.

“What video podcasts give you is a comment section, and you can plant a flag for a community there in a way that’s sort of disappeared from TV,”

∞

Amazon’s retail business is basically just an R&D lab for the company’s real business: being a platform company for others to build on.

Amazon’s new Retail Ad Service is making retail media networks available to everyone. The service lets retailers use Amazon’s powerful advertising technology to sell ads on their websites.

via MarTech

∞

Unpacked an order with multiple items and noticed each one had been checked off by hand on the packing list.

Not as impactful as the handwritten note from an artisan or small business…

But still a small touch that adds a dash of human connection to an otherwise faceless transaction.

∞

I think both brands and work relationships—with employers, coworkers, peers, clients, customers, etc—move through three phases:

  1. Prove you’re competent
  2. Prove you’re reliable
  3. Prove you’re human

(They don’t always progress in that order.)

No. 3 is the one most often missed. And the most valuable one.

∞

The markets are betting on inflation not just being so 2024.

the US government’s monthly auction of 10-year notes on Tuesday...landed the highest yield for newly auctioned securities since 2007.

The overall yield on the US 10-Year Treasury Bond also touched its highest intraday point, 4.699%, since last spring. That’s thanks to an extended selloff emboldened by new economic data suggesting more interest rate cuts are less likely in the short term thanks to economic growth coupled with more stubborn inflation.

Yields on the 10-year note have been rising since December as markets have bet that President-elect Donald Trump’s economic plans, like tariffs, and all-around animal spirits could push up inflation and the deficit, further reducing the probability of rate cuts.

Wouldn’t be surprised by a purchasing bump in the near term to stock up before the expected tariff impact makes things more expensive.

∞

This is a good reminder from this year’s Seth Godin daily calendar, curated and illustrated by Debbie Millman.

It is easy to get caught up in our own tastes and aesthetics when making marketing decisions.

But they’re a distraction.

The tastes and preferences that matter are those of the customer.

∞

From the abstract of the paper Do Influencers Influence? A Meta-Analytic Comparison of Celebrities and Social Media Influencers Effects 📝

Findings reveal that social media influencers (SMIs) are more effective than brand-only advertising and that there is no significant difference between SMIs and celebrity endorsers. Taking these factors into consideration, the effects are moderated by perceived credibility and influencer types, indicating that mega-influencers are relatively more persuasive, while nano-influencers are less persuasive compared to celebrities, respectively. Findings imply that there is a “sweet spot” wherein SMIs are most effective and distinct from celebrity endorsers, providing support for more nuanced conceptualizations of SMIs and calling for future research to explore additional enhancing and attenuating factors.

∞

You can obsess about your customers or you can obsess about your competition. Both work, but of the two, obsessing about your customers will take you further.

from Excellent Advice for Living by Kevin Kelly 📚

I’d argue obsessing about customers takes care of the competition.

Everything is customer service.

∞

This post on social doubt has a great nugget to use in your messaging:

define who your product isn’t for to weed out buyers who will likely cause you a headache (and loss of profits).

Wait, what’s social doubt?

Your buyers are constantly looking for reasons not to buy from you.

Sometimes it’s easier to find your path by closing doors. Rather than trying to figure out what’s similar about the open doors or which you like the most.

∞

Google Ads in 2025

One of Google’s ad leads (title is ridiculous) sat down for an interview with MediaPost with some nuggets worth sharing.

2025 product focus will be on Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Search.

Also, AI!

His prediction:

we’re going to continue seeing seismic shifts in consumer search behavior. The lines between actively seeking information and passively discovering it will blur, driven by AI’s increasing ability to understand intent and deliver immersive experiences.

This means moving beyond simple keywords and embracing a multimodal search landscape where visuals, context, and even our surroundings play a crucial role in how we find what we need

2025: the year where multiple recent trends will collide

∞

Misconception: Brands should be casting a wide net when marketing

Reality: Niche microcommunities are on the rise, and brands are underutilizing them because they underestimate their value.

Scale as a strategy is dead.

Find your people.

∞

A circular flowchart illustrates the process of improvement by repeatedly asking “Does it work?” and “Can it work better?

Inspired by Seth Godin’s post: “Does it work?”

∞

After Gemini said it couldn’t write marketing content, I asked ChatGPT. Here’s what it gave me:

🔥 In a world where AI can generate content in seconds, what sets your brand apart?

Soul. Perspective. Personality.

AI can write. AI can design. But AI can’t connect like you can.

The future belongs to brands with a voice that feels real—brands that tell stories only they can tell.

👉 Do what the bots can’t. Inject your brand with humanity.

What’s one thing you do to keep your brand feeling alive? Let’s hear it 👇