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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Seeing is No Longer Believing
| A picture was once worth a thousands words. There was a time when we knew we could believe what we saw with our own eyes.
Not so much anymore. Technology has gotten advanced enough that pictures and videos can be dummied up to appear to show something that isn’t accurate. AI tools can replicate voices to a high degree of accuracy. In some cases, “deep fakes” look and sound awfully real. Then there’s social media. The good news is these tools are available to all of us. The bad news is anyone and everyone can be an expert—creating attractive graphics and charts, and sometimes misinterpreting or misconstruing data. Add in foreign agents, like Russia, China, or Iran, who are supposedly pouring their own misinformation into our daily feeds, and you have, as the British would say, a bloody mess. How do you figure out what’s for real amidst all of this? This is where critical thinking skills are, well, critical:
We may never be able to go back to the good ole days when seeing something always meant it was real. But, if we try, we might just be able to see a more comprehensive picture of reality than the latest Tweet or TikTok video leads you to believe.
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Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
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Top of Mind Thursday – April 11, 2024: Eclipsing Reason
On Monday, we had the first total solar eclipse visible in North America in 50 years.
It was estimated several million people traveled to spots along the path of totality to see this event. Except Mother Nature didn’t necessarily help the cause. Clouds blocked visibility in a number of spots along what was expected to be the optimum route to view this event.
Here in the Bay Area, I looked out my window a couple of times during what was supposed to be the prime viewing time—only to see what looked like the same sunny day we had the day before and the day after.
In ancient times, many people felt an eclipse foretold the end of the world. That makes sense—total darkness during the day at what appeared to be a random time would be pretty scary. Today, there are still those who believe all kind of strange occurrences are tied to a solar eclipse. I suspect they may have been disappointed when the sun came back full strength a little later and the world went on like normal.
This does make you wonder, though, why so many people dropped everything on Monday to possibly watch something so elusive. Some of them are devoted astronomy fans or eclipse chasers. Some just thought it would be fun to wear dark-colored cardboard glasses.
Yet there are miracles of science around us everyday that we totally ignore—from incredible breakthroughs in medical treatments, to next generation technological advances, to the advances we take for granted as we use them (such as vaccines and the Internet). And we don’t need special glasses to see them safely!
Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
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Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – March 28, 2024: A Bridge Too Far Gone
This week, a large container ship hit a pier in Baltimore Harbor, totally demolishing the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Sadly, six people—all construction employees—perished in this event. While their deaths are tragic, this could have been a much larger disaster if the pilot for the ship had not sent out a Mayday signal that he’d lost control of the vessel and warned law enforcement to get people off of the bridge quickly. Emergency personnel stopped traffic, cleared the bridge as much as they could, and were quickly in position to help.
Beyond the loss of human life, the costs of this accident are expected to be in the billions. The debris needs to be removed and the bridge replaced. In the meantime, shipping up and down the East Coast is impacted, and thousands of people may be out of work.
What’s notable is how quickly state, local, and federal government officials moved to take the necessary actions to begin the recovery and repair process. Just down the road in the District of Columbia, Congress has spent months arguing about whether or not they should fund the federal government, and many members voted against the 2021 infrastructure bill that will likely pay for much of the reconstruction work. The NTSB (a federal agency) will investigate the cause of the accidents and make recommendations for the future.
It’s critical that we learn what happened in Baltimore and make the necessary upgrades to other structures so this doesn’t happen again. Over 200,000 bridges in the US—more than 35% of the total—are estimated to need major repair work. Of that number, 43,000 are believed to be in poor condition and structurally deficient. How many of those bridges could survive a collision like this one?
What critical deficiencies could be hiding in your infrastructure? What changes and upgrades do you need to make now—before disaster strikes and your business sinks?
Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – March 14, 2024: Overcomplication
I’m in the middle of a big remodeling project which involves purchasing new appliances.
It used to be if you needed a washer and dryer, or a refrigerator, or a dishwasher, you had a few different options to choose from. Perhaps you could get extra settings for very dirty dishes, an ice maker for the fridge, or a delicate setting on the washer.
Now, not only can you get a myriad of features, but almost every manufacturer offers the ability to include Wifi with their equipment. I even was shown a kitchen faucet that responded to voice commands.
Me: Why do I need to talk to my faucet?
Sales Rep: You can tell it to turn on and off.
Me: Can’t I just turn it on and off myself?
Sales Rep: Yes, but you can also tell it to fill up a 5 gallon pot and it will know how much water to put in.
Me: I don’t even know the gallon size of any of my pots. I’d have to figure that out. By the time I did that, I could have turned on the water, filled the pot, and turned it off.
Then there’s the dryer with Wifi. . .
Me: Why do I need Wifi in my dryer?
Sales Rep: Well, some people like it.
Me: Will it take my wet clothes from the washer and put them in the dryer?
Sales Rep: Umm, no.
Me: Will it fold the clothes once they’re done?
Sales Rep: Nope.
Me: Well, then why do I need Wifi?
Sales Rep: It will notify you when the clothes are dry.
Me: Doesn’t the buzzer on the non-Wifi dryer do that for $200 less?
Sales Rep: Umm, yes.
There are times when technology really improves our lives. Then there are times when we take something simple and over-complicate it just because we can.
Are you offering your customers real value? Or, are you actually making their lives more complicated? Wait, you can get Wifi with that.
Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com