Tell me something good.

I have a new favorite column in Sunday's New York Times.  It's called "The Week in Good News."  These days I can use all the good news I can get.  They should make it a daily feature. :-)

Not to worry though, voice assistants are on the case.  Google just released a new feature for its voice assistant called "Tell Me Something Good."  (Gottsegen, 2018)

Before long we'll all be having conversations with our voice assistants.  And then, we'll be happy to let them make our decisions for us. 

Decision-making is hard work.  What makes it even harder is having too many choices.  And the Internet is all about infinite choices.  So we find plenty of short cuts to make decisions easier.  For instance we may look at only one element - say price, or we could only consider items with a 5 star rating - which indicates that others like the product.  It's what we do.

So, I wasn't surprised to read that 85% of voice assistant users have purchased the item suggested by smart speakers despite the fact that it may have differed from their initial intent.  And, 37% of voice purchasers 18-34 "always" or "often" purchase the first option selected for them by voice assistants. (Faw, 2018)

It's just so much easier to let someone else decide.  Marketers take note.

https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/the-week-in-good-news

Gottsegen, G. (2018, August 21)  Need some good news? Ask Google: 'Tell Me Something Good' cnet.com Retrieved August 29, 2018, from

https://www.cnet.com/news/need-some-good-news-ask-google-tell-me-something-good/

Faw, L. (2018, August 8) How Brands Can Avoid The Dreaded Voice Assistant 'Dismissal' mediapost.com  Retrieved August 29, 2018, from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/323358/how-brands-can-avoid-the-dreaded-voice-assistant.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline&utm_campaign=110385&hashid=ybq2buULrntyGS6NfbELk0afrrI

Behold the Power of the Boycott.

Last week was a big week. After  3 out of the 5 honorees for the Kennedy Center Honors announced that they would not be attending , and the other 2 indicated they were likely to follow their lead, President Trump announced that he would not attend.  Wow. 

So it seems to be a good time to look again at the power of @grabyourwallet and @slpng_ giants.

1. As of the beginning of June, Sharon Coulter founder of grabyourwallet, reports that 22 companies on the list have dropped Trump products, and the grabyourwallet website has 2 million unique visitors each month. (Kramer, 2017)

2. Breitbart, the favorite target of sleeping giants, has lost 90% of its advertisers in two months, and visitors have declined by 53% since November.  Click-through rates on the site are a dismal 15%.  (vs. 32% for the New York Times)   (Bhattarai, 2017)

3. The exodus from the Manufacturing Council started with Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier and quickly escalated, so by the next morning 6 CEOs had resigned.  Then Sleeping Giants took up the cause, and tweeted the names and contact information for the remaining CEOs. By the next morning the group announced they were disbanding.  And the Strategy & Policy Forum followed suit.  The Infastructure Council was abandoned before it was even started. (Paletta & McGregor, 2017)

The Council for the Arts, which was comprised of Obama appointees, quit the next day too.  (Hipes, 2017)

4. Then Sleeping Giants began tweeting the names of charities who intended to hold their fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago, and singling out their directors, with names and photos. It's a moving target at the moment, but as of yesterday, 16 charities had canceled.  Since Mar-a-Lago makes $100K - $275K per event that has to hurt.  (Dangremond, 2017)

5. On Monday a New Jersey chapter of the United Way canceled its scheduled event at Trump's New Jersey golf club.  One imagines they will not be the last to do so. (Shelbourne, 2017)

6. Meanwhile, Trumps' attacks on CNN have really done wonders for the network.  Their ratings in second quarter 2017 were their best since 2003.  (Kruzel, 2017)

7. And the "failing New York Times," clearly isn't, as they gained 93,000 subscribers in 2Q, and revenues were up 9% versus year ago. (Ember, 2017)

Money talks. And boycotts work.  Expect to see more.

Kramer, M. (2017, June 4) Grab your wallet, boycott Trump and participate in “A sprawling landscape of resistance” salon.com  Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://www.salon.com/2017/06/04/boycott-trump_partner/

Bhattarai, A. (2017, June 8)  Breitbart lost 90 percent of its advertisers in two months: Who's still there?  chicagotribune.com  retrieved August 19, 2017, from

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/national/ct-breitbart-advertisers-20170608-story.html

Paletta, D. & McGregor, J. (2017, August 16)  Trump’s business advisory councils disband as CEOs abandon president over Charlottesville views. washingtonpost.com  Retrieved August 19, 2017, from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2017/08/16/after-wave-of-ceo-departures-trump-ends-business-and-manufacturing-councils/?utm_term=.5a27053930d9

Hipes, P. (2017, August 18) Another Presidential Council, This One Focused On The Arts, Quits On Donald Trump.  deadline.com.  Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://deadline.com/2017/08/donald-trump-presidential-committee-on-the-arts-and-humanities-quits-1202151717/

Dangremond, S. (2017, August 18)  Eight Charities Have Canceled Their Mar-a-Lago Galas This Week.  townandcountry.com.  Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a12033310/mar-a-lago-charity-fundraisers-canceled/

Shelbourne, M. (2017, August 22) New Jersey charity pulls out of event at Trump golf club. thehill.com. Retrieved August 22, 2017, from http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/347419-new-jersey-organization-pulls-out-of-event-at-trump-golf-club

Kruzel, J. (2017, July 3)  Trump’s Pants on Fire claim that CNN ratings are ‘way down’.  politifact.com retrieved August 19, 2017, from  http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jul/03/donald-trump/trumps-pants-fire-claim-cnn-ratings-are-way-down/

Ember, S. (2017, July 27)  New York Times Reports Strong Quarter on Digital Revenue Growth.  nytimes.com.  Retrieved August 19, from  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/business/new-york-times-company-2q-earnings.html?_r=0

All boycotts and bumps are not created equal.

According to @grabyourwallet, @resistance controls 2/3 of the wealth in this country.  I'm not sure where that figure came from, but given the success of both the @grabyourwallet and @slpng_giants boycotts it certainly appears that this group has the financial strength to back up their promises.

Thanks to an ill thought out bullying attempt, Nordstrom's released data that indicated sales of Ivanka Trump products dropped 70% in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of October.  Wow.  Overall the brand was down 32% for the year.  (Gottfried, 2017)

LL Bean had flat sales in 2016 and is currently seeking a 10% headcount reduction.  (Anderson, 2017)  Uber and Under Armour are tripping over themselves to try to back track on their earlier support of  Trump.

On the other hand, Hamilton is still sold out, and Starbucks doesn't seem to have lost any momentum.  I guess you can't boycott something you never bought in the first place.

Fox News, up 35% in January 2017, (Katz, 2017)  is benefiting from Trump support, but CNN's audience is up 38%.  (Katz, 2017) and the "failing" New York Times, added more subscribers in the last three months of 2016 than all of 2015  (Rodriguez, 2017)  Saturday Night Live is having its best year since 1995, and Colbert is now beating Fallon in the late night wars.

In terms of the "Trump Bump," i.e. the effect of his tweets and comments on brands, it's a mixed bag.  Early comments negatively affected various industries, but Nordstrom's stock rose 4% on the news that they would no longer carry Ivanka Trump products. (Calfas, 2017)

I am reminded of the expression - "May you live in interesting times."  It's actually a curse you know.

Gootfired, M. & Kapner, S. (2017, February 11)  Internal Nordstrom Data Show Sales Decline for Ivanka Trump Brand.  wsj.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/sales-of-ivanka-trump-footwear-apparel-fell-32-at-nordstrom-last-year-1486814580

Anderson, C. (2017, February 9)  L.L. Bean offers retirement buyouts to trim workforce by 10%.  pressherald.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.pressherald.com/2017/02/09/l-l-bean-offers-retirement-buyout-to-trim-workforce-by-10-percent/

Katz, A.J. (2017, January 31)  January 2017 Ratings: Fox News is No. 1. For 15 Consecutive Years.  adweek.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from  http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/january-2017-ratings-fox-news-is-no-1-for-15-consecutive-years/319139

Katz, A.J. (2017, January 31)  January 2017 Ratings: CNN Ranks No. 2 Across Cable News.  adweek.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from

http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/january-2017-ratings-cnn-ranks-no-2-across-cable-news/319141

Rodriguez, A. & Mejia, Z. (2017, February 3)  Thanks to Trump, the New York Times added more subscribers in three months than all of 2015. qz.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from https://qz.com/901684/thanks-to-trump-the-new-york-times-added-more-subscribers-in-three-months-than-in-all-of-2015/

Calfas, J. (2017, February 8)  Nordstrom stock gains over 4 percent after Trump tweet.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from

 http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/318597-nordstrom-stock-gains-over-4-for-the-day-after-trump-tweet

Twitter just made me want to buy something.

Despite the President's constant use of Twitter, the platform is not doing well.  It just reported its 10th consecutive quarter of lower revenue, and its stock price declined by 12%. (Poletti, 2017)

But I can't help wondering if there's an opportunity here that the company is missing.

Back in 2013, Pew Research noted that the typical Twitter user was an 18-29 year-old educated minority in a well-paying job, slightly more likely to be male than female.  (Bennett, 2013)

But a discussion with my NYU students last fall indicated that few of them were on it. 

Here's a blog with their comments...

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2016/10/will-excedrins-debate-tweets-increase.html

It seems pretty clear these days that the most active Twitter users appear to be those engaged with politics -- in all likelihood a different audience.  And if indeed the platform is now attracting an older, more educated, wealthier target, that should be even easier for them to monetize. 

Which gets back to me.  Reading tweets on news sites got me interested enough to reengage with the platform.  When I did, they served me ads for The New York Times.  How appropriate.  And effective.  I am now a new subscriber.  Apparently I am not alone.  The Times has experienced a ten-fold increase in subscribers since the election.

Now if Twitter can just figure out how to make it work for them, they might survive.

Poletti, T. (2017, February 10)  Twitter tanks and becomes fodder for M&A chatter again.  marketwatch.com.  retrieved February 10, from

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-tanks-and-becomes-fodder-for-ma-chatter-again-2017-02-09/print

Bennett, S. (2013, August 6)  Who Uses Twitter?  Young, Affluent, Educated Non-White Males, Suggests Data.  adweek.com.  Retrieved February 10, from

http://www.adweek.com/digital/twitter-users-2013/