https://simpleflying.com/biggest-aviation-stories-2018/
Andrew: A series of interesting and well-written aviation “quick hits.” Here’s a nugget, “IAG CEO Willie Walsh has given Norwegian a year to decide on a takeover.” Fascinating stuff.
Is This The End Of Blockchain?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/12/10/is-this-the-end-of-blockchain/
“However, a recent study into 43 initiatives reported that despite a great number of promises and convincing arguments, none of the projects have been able to show that they have been able to use blockchain technology to achieve their objectives.”
Andrew: This is not the end, but the end of the beginning. Welcome to the trough of disillusionment, blockchain.
A new report bursts the blockchain bubble
The report from research firm GlobalData, “Blockchain – Thematic Research” [fee required], argues that the new technology’s bubble “will burst in the next two years [and] will have lost much of its gloss by 2025.” Summarizing blockchain as “awash with hype, but with a powerful core value proposition” of distributed ledger tech, the report was researched over the last 18 months and involved interviews with about a hundred organizations.
Andrew: Amen. So few people understand the power and potential of blockchain. It is a “game changer” in a series of narrow and deep use cases and corresponding applications. The marketing-driven hype (100x!) overwhelms the blockchain reality. Blockchain is a poster child for Gartner’s Hype Cycle and will find its level and value (water, meet gravity). This is similar to what happened with RFID. Remember the hype when EVERYTHING was going to have RFID chips in it?
Early on in the blockchain hype cycle, for my understanding, I created a 14-point attribute set that clarified how well qualified a use case/application is for blockchain. Against this test, few use cases get to critical mass (solid fit for blockchain), but, those that do will benefit significantly from blockchain. The rest (and vast majority) need standard IT system and application development to achieve higher levels of productivity, integration, participation, etc.
There’s Another Jumbo-Sized Argument Brewing in Aviation
“If you want to start a bitter debate among people in the aviation industry, don’t ask them about Brexit, or Donald Trump, or Aziz Ansari’s sex life. To really watch the sparks fly, talk aircraft sizes.”
Andrew: Fascinating data.
In the hunt for consumer revenue, publishers are hiring e-commerce marketing veterans
https://digiday.com/media/hunt-consumer-revenue-publishers-hiring-e-commerce-marketing-veterans/
Karl Wells, gm of WSJ Membership: “The shift away from being a department focused on circulation to a department driven by digital subscription growth fundamentally changed the way we worked, including the variety of skill sets we sought out,” he said. “The team we’ve built is a combination of marketers who are data-curious, data-literate, digital-first and can balance the need for art and science.”
Andrew: “data-curious, data-literate, digital-first and can balance the need for art and science” filters down the pool to about five people globally.
‘We’re giving the business away to consultants’: Agencies brace for new competition
https://digiday.com/marketing/giving-business-away-consultants-agencies-brace-new-competition/
“Agencies of all shapes and sizes gathered in Charleston, South Carolina, this week to discuss what’s ailing the agency world and how to build the next great modern agency. Over town halls and working group sessions, they discussed everything from consultancies to transparency. Here are the highlights.”
Andrew: A quick must-read. If it is this bad in the digital consulting and agency space (which it is), imagine what clients experience. Change is rarely pain-free. Add rapid growth to the mix and you have a digital wild west.
For $1,000, Anyone Can Purchase Online Ads to Track Your Location and App Use
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-10/uow-fa101817.php
“The researchers discovered that an individual ad purchaser can, under certain circumstances, see when a person visits a predetermined sensitive location — a suspected rendezvous spot for an affair, the office of a company that a venture capitalist might be interested in or a hospital where someone might be receiving treatment — within 10 minutes of that person’s arrival. They were also able to track a person’s movements across the city during a morning commute by serving location-based ads to the target’s phone.”
Andrew: This is a scary and fascinating use of technology. Further, it is but a glimpse into the digital advertising underworld. Thumbs up to the team at the University of Washington for the impressive work.
Against All Odds, San Juan’s FBOs Shine
“‘We went from an electrical economy to a diesel economy overnight,’ said Frances Ryan, Jet Aviation San Juan’s marketing and communications director. The facility immediately became a linchpin in the relief and humanitarian operations to the island, handling 1,000 humanitarian flights through the middle of October, and relying on water from underground cisterns installed when the facility was built.”
Andrew: +1 for the aviation community.
Outsourcing Giant Wipro has a $450 Million Agency
https://digiday.com/marketing/outsourcing-giant-wipro-450-million-agency/
“Count one more new agency entrant that can boast serious scale. Over the last few years, Wipro, the software and outsourcing giant based out of India, has slowly put muscle behind Wipro Digital, its agency and design services arm.”
Andrew: the agency-consultancy-outsourcer convergence marches forward. Expect even greater upheaval on this front.
Delta Air Lines Scraps Check-In for Users of Its iPhone App
https://skift.com/2017/10/12/delta-air-lines-scraps-check-in-for-users-of-its-iphone-app/
“From a customer standpoint, Delta’s decision makes sense. It seems anachronistic that customers still check in, considering the process was created decades ago, well before today’s technological innovations. Not long ago, a passenger had to check in with an agent at the gate, or in the airport lobby. It could be a time-consuming process.
But for the most part, auto check-in has not caught on, and while Continental’s successor, United Airlines, adopted the technology after the two airlines merged, it no longer uses it. Another airline, FlyDubai, once scrapped check-in completely only to bring it back after it realized its automated system wasn’t perfect.”
Andrew: Here is more proof that we remain in the early days of the long-running technological revolution. Software + tinkering/applying/try-and-learn + Aviation = happiness in my core 😉