Armani on back to the office + more stuff

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Armani and work from home trend

Armani, the eponymous luxury fashion label of Giorgio Armani posted advertisements in the Financial Times this week. The advertisements harked back to Armani’s looks of the 1980s and 1990s. But what I thought was most notable about the advertisements was their promotion of made-to-measure menswear.

Armani channeling the 1980s &  1990s hoping for a return to the office from hybrid working
Armani via the FT

Armani is clearly putting its weight behind a return to the office. Presumably Armani think that this move back to the office will also mean a move to formal business dress. This doesn’t seem to be supported by what I have been seeing and is in a stark contrast to the current approach of rival Zegna. Armani have called a lot of past trends right. They were one of the first brands setting up a retail network in China. They were early to putting their catwalk shows on the web to gain a wider audience. Armani were clever in the way they approached licensing of their brand. During the 1990s Armani expanded into sportswear, watches, eyeglasses, cosmetics and home which looked prescient in retrospect.

We’ll see if Armani’s views on a return to the office pan out, I am not so sure it will be.

Business

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Startups – by Rex Woodbury 

Degree inflation: Why requiring college degrees for jobs that don’t need them is a mistake – Vox  – businesses signalling that there is a large amount of potential workers out there. Arbitrary way of filtering down applications. The Philippines is much worse, where working in a retail job would require a college degree of some sort

China

SVB’s First Failure – The Wire ChinaSVB’s Board had asked me to found a brand-new bank: the Shanghai Pudong Development Silicon Valley Bank (SPD SVB), a joint venture between SVB and the state-owned Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. The board had committed $100 million to establishing SVB’s operations in China, and I was filled with goodwill and optimism about the endeavor.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed my time in China and the many friends I met there, from today’s vantage point, I firmly believe we were (and are still) being played.

For female journalists, covering China comes at a cost — Radio Free AsiaThe sheer volume of vitriol targeting reporters given China’s size and the nationalistic fervor of many of its citizens can set the abuse apart. Compounding their anxiety is a fear that the intimidation is sanctioned, if not coordinated, by the Chinese Communist Party itself.  “When, for example, an American female journalist gets trolled, it’s probably coming from right-wing crazies or some fringe corner of society,” said Vicky Xu, a journalist in Australia, whose reporting on abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang brought a flood of death threats. “The kind of role and voice they have is very, very limited.

Opinion | Xi’s visit to Putin should worry the West – The Washington PostIf you were looking for another reason why it’s important that Ukraine succeeds against Russia, consider the photos from Moscow. “The President of Eurasia” — I fear that’s the invisible caption of the pictures of Xi that we’re seeing amid the Kremlin’s golden doors and red carpets. The idea that a vast swath of the world is dominated by a China that stands so resolutely against freedom and democracy is chilling. If this alliance succeeds, we will live in a darker world

Culture

A Documentary About the Hasidic Jews of Brooklyn 

Design

A Campaign to Remind Us That We Love New York (City) – The New York TimesThe people who came up with We ♥ NYC say it is a mark for a different time. But they see parallels to the troubled era that gave rise to I ♥ NY. “We’re hopefully going to be able to cut through divisiveness and negativity” that accompanied the pandemic, said Kathryn Wylde, the president and chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, a consortium of corporations and business executives that is leading the We ♥ NYC campaign. She said that besides rejuvenating people’s spirits, “we want to remind them they can make a difference, whether it’s on the block or in the city as a whole.” She added: “We want to remind them we don’t have to maintain these divisions that have grown up between business and labor and rich and poor.” She cited surveys her group had conducted during the pandemic. “The results we’ve gotten back are people in New York want to be part of fixing what they see as broken in the city,” – Interesting choices in this. Curious to know why they didn’t rally around the previous campaign? It was atemporal in design and a personal commitment, the NY aspect of it implying inclusion? The new one has a lot of challenges: it lacks visual symmetry & balance. Ironically the original works better in digital contexts (for instance as an app logo) than the new version. The emoji heart will date very fast. The font choice I don’t understand. And what about the exclusive nature of NYC rather than the inclusive aspect of NY – even a DE&I fail. ‘Tunnel people’ are a key part of NYC too.

FMCG

Nestlé says less than half of its mainstream food and drinks are considered ‘healthy’ | Financial Times 

IPSOS noted that global inflation likely peaked in 2022 (according to IMF), and negotiations are happening at the moment between retailers and FMCG companies. Consumers will still grapple with high prices for a good while yet. Ipsos posit that the inflation creates opportunities for growing market share via innovation, with a view to eventual revenue growth.

Gen Z: How beauty, food and drink brands can support their unique needs | Mintel – new generation, same as the old generation. These are longitudinal trends rather than ‘gen Z’ specific

Germany

The commentary about collusion between Huawei and Deutsche Telekom is particularly illuminating: Germany could ban China’s Huawei, ZTE from parts of 5G networks -source | Reuters 

Health

Will Ozempic Change How We Think About Being Fat and Being Thin? | The New Yorker 

Are We Going Into An #Ozempic Epidemic? | Hypebae – interesting that this is being covered by their beauty team

Cognito’s Experimental Headset to Treat Alzheimer’s Disease | Business Insider 

Hong Kong

Hong Kong theft cases spike 40 per cent in first 2 months of year, but ‘no close link’ to border reopening with mainland China, police say | South China Morning Post – hmmm

Hong Kong’s state-sponsored national anthem SEO is working • The Register 

Ideas

Innovation Culture & Business Portfolio Assessment Program | Strategyzer 

How Chinese Companies Are Reinventing ManagementIf a team splits up and some members form a new team, the leader of the new team must pay a fee to the original team for its previous training of the acquired staff. Moreover, the company’s financial system automatically transfers 10% of an acquired staffer’s bonus to the original team leader every month for one year. This system encourages each team to reorganize and generate new autonomous teams

Indonesia

The rise of performance politics in Indonesia? – New Mandala 

Japan

Japan’s biggest defence fair raises questions about military expansion | Financial Times 

Korea

Kakao Mobility picks up ‘super app’ startup Splyt, once backed by SoftBank and Grab | TechCrunch 

Luxury

Here’s How Big and Profitable Watch Collections Are Around the Globe – Robb Report 

Marketing

Need to trim advertising spend? Kantar research suggests what you can’t afford to cut – ThinkTV 

Materials

Europe Balks at Strategic Stockpile for Critical Green Metals – Bloomberg 

Idaho and Montana Rest Atop Incredible Mineral Riches 

Media

This makes sense, particularly after Bytedance tried to use the app to track journalists: BBC advises staff to delete TikTok from work phones – BBC News 

Online

Google opens early access to Bard, its AI chatbot | TechCrunch 

Yes, of course we should ban TikTok – by Noah Smith 

TikTok Showdown Reaches Fever Pitch: CEO’s Congressional Testimony | National Review 

Quality

HDD Average Life Span Misses 3-Year Mark In Study of 2,007 Defective Drives – Slashdot 

Retailing

WPP acquires data-driven influencer marketing agency Goat | WPP – from memory Goat were about affiliate marketing via social media for brands

Security

CIA’s CTO and deputy director explain the future of high-tech spying | Fast Company 

Ferrari Has Been Hit by a Cyberattack That Exposed Customer Data – Robb Report 

Singapore

Singapore and Hong Kong vie to be the Caymans of Asia | Financial Times 

Software

OpenAI Research Says 80% of U.S. Workers’ Jobs Will Be Impacted by GPT – its already there to a certain extent with the likes of Grammarly and Nuance Communications

Amazon Faces Moment of Truth on Alexa as ChatGPT Steals Its Thunder — The InformationToyota doesn’t seem to need Alexa anymore. The automaker has dropped support for an app that allowed users to operate Alexa in their cars via smartphones in 2023 editions of several of its most popular models, including the RAV4, Prius and Corolla. And according to a person close to the automaker, Toyota plans to phase out Alexa integration from the rest of its lineup in the coming years. The automaker is now focused on improving an in-house voice assistant it launched last year and is considering integrating ChatGPT, the chatbot created by OpenAI, into it

Style

The influence of cyberpunk on tech wear and functional fashion. William Gibson’s Zero History talks explicitly about the function and tech wear nature of military clothing. They are a central part of the plot line.

Technology

Amazon Faces Moment of Truth on Alexa as ChatGPT Steals Its Thunder — The InformationToyota doesn’t seem to need Alexa anymore. The automaker has dropped support for an app that allowed users to operate Alexa in their cars via smartphones in 2023 editions of several of its most popular models, including the RAV4, Prius and Corolla. And according to a person close to the automaker, Toyota plans to phase out Alexa integration from the rest of its lineup in the coming years. The automaker is now focused on improving an in-house voice assistant it launched last year and is considering integrating ChatGPT, the chatbot created by OpenAI, into it

Taiwan

I am currently reading Chris Miller’s book Chip War. This is a great talk by Chris about many of the areas covered in the book

Wireless

Satellite operator enables 3GPP device interoperability | EE Times