Mike's Industry View - Issue #102
Creativity
RIP asimo: a look back at the life of Honda’s famed humanoid robot — www.designboom.com
As Honda announces it will cease production of its famed humanoid robot, asimo, we look back at the twenty year career that gave it such iconic status.
From Muji to Ikea: Why the best retailers think like UX designers — www.fastcodesign.com The most successful brands treat their customers as users, not buyers. Here’s how.
Business/Marketing/Adv
As Facebook joins the growing brand print club, when is a magazine not a magazine? — www.thedrum.com
Facebook has joined a swelling band of digital brands in launching its own print publication. But is it marketing or magazine?
'The whole industry has to think about quality': Hearst UK introduces new metric to prove branded content works — digiday.com
Hearst UK has introduced a branded content metric combining dwell time and scroll depth.
Interestingness
Spotify users request refunds after over-the-top Drake promotion — www.engadget.com
Last week, Drake smashed the single-day record for total number of album streams on Spotify with the release of his new record Scorpion, but....
Video
Facebook nets first Premier League rights in UK £200m deal — www.sportspromedia.com
Facebook has outbid BeIN Sports and Fox Sports Asia to secure coverage of English soccer’s top flight in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos for the three-year period covering 2019 to 2022.
Platform News
How National Geographic uses Instagram to stay relevant — www.recode.net
When National Geographic started publishing photographs in the early 1900s, two of the National Geographic Society’s board members resigned in disgust, saying the magazine was dumbing itself down by becoming more visual. Now, it is the most popular non-celebrity on Instagram with 89m followers.
The Guardian finds less polished video works better on Instagram — digiday.com
"We want to crack how we can use Instagram to drive membership at some point." It’s about building relevance with an audience and helping them understand why good journalism should be paid for.