Month: December 2019

  • China Inc. + more things

    China Inc. goes global. Transnational and national networks of China’s globalizing business elite: Review of International Political Economy: Vol 0, No 0 – The article finds substantial transnational linkages between the globalizing Chinese business elite and the corporate elite networks of Western globalized capitalism – through corporate affiliations and policy-planning affiliations. At the same time…

  • Machines for emoting

    Machines for emoting Machines for emoting, is the problem of our internet in the palm of our hands? Over the past few years the sentiment towards the internet has changed dramatically. Before the internet Going back to the 1960s, my parents told me about the ‘No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs’ signs. These were found…

  • Open source 5G + more things

    Pentagon wants open-source 5G plan in campaign against Huawei – ok in theory only. Open source 5G including OpenRAN doesn’t provide the flexibility in installation that vendor solutions do. More related content here. It Seemed Like a Popular Chat App. It’s Secretly a Spy Tool. – The New York Times – Emirati’s do with Totok…

  • Mariah Carey & other things that caught my eye this week

    Mariah Carey, media changes in 2020, coming shortages on rare earth metals, China and Russia’s threat to the west and the power of China. I found it relatively easy this year to avoid a lot of the Christmas ads. Maybe because there are much bigger things to think about like the new UK government, protests…

  • Matured digital strategy + more

    Mediatel: Newsline: Vodafone’s ‘matured’ digital strategy reappraises adspend – “Many advertisers, including Vodafone, have come to realise that a lot of the social platforms are high frequency but very, very low attention,” she said. “When you are launching a new brand or proposition you can’t communicate it in one and half seconds.” – stating the…

  • Lovemarks

    A decade and a half ago Kevin Roberts wrote his book Lovemarks. In reality, Roberts reiterated the factors needed for a successful (consumer) brand. Though much of it would benefit a business-to-business brand as well. Indeed someone like Snap-On are are a great example of this. I took the piss out of Roberts book after…

  • K pop idol conscription + more

    K pop idol military service K Pop: idol speculation | Financial Times – how Korea’s military service impacts the country’s talent management companies. There have been numerous K pop idol military scandals. K pop idol Rain was punished for going AWOL whilst on military business to meet a fellow celebrity. Big Bang’s T.O.P. was discharged…

  • Prejudice & other things that caught my eye this week

    The problem with pattern matching or prejudice by another name. Prejudice is a hot button topic in society. Racial prejudice, ageism, systemic racism. Embedding prejudice into technology through pattern matching will be the new frontier for social justice campaigns. Singaporean telecoms firm SingTel does adverts that focus on traditional family roles and often run into…

  • Gartner Predicts 2020

    Gartner’s ‘Predicts 2020’ report has started to get pick-up across the marketing media. The reports top-line predictions of most interest to me in the report are: Let’s break down these predictions one by one.  Behavioural scientists and ethnographers It’s no surprise to us that marketing organisations will incorporate behavioural science expertise into their teams. At…