BRotD Entry 0267 - Major League Baseball and AI

Best Reading of the Day

 Data is the currency of sports in the modern era. 

We have seen the major leagues transformed over the last two decades--moneyball in baseball--and the effort is ongoing and continuous.

The latest is AI-driven analysis of extreme video footage of baseball players: both pitchers and hitters.

This story is eye-opening:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/10/op-moneyballai/

Here is a snippet from the piece.

Boddy [the owner of the data company] and his engineering team now rely on AI to blend dozens of data streams to create customized coaching regimens. I cannot emphasize enough how little this is like your weekly personal training session. Video analysis breaks down individual muscles and movements by the inch. Hardware (bats and balls) is equipped with software (sensors) that tracks every baseball action and renders them into equations that measure force and torque. Like all data-gobbling AI software, the process gets smarter as it goes; Driveline has collected enough historical performance data that it can correlate five non-baseball related physical tests into dead solid predictions of fastball velocity and bat speed.

Even in its infancy, Driveline helped Bauer become one of baseball’s best pitchers. 

The most shocking part of the story? This is coming for all of our jobs yet almost none of us will be able to afford to protect our data from our employers. The conclusion of this piece is telling:

“I have friends who are lawyers and prop traders, and it’s shocking to me how far ahead sports is when it comes to these technologies,” says Boddy. “A lot of them don’t see what’s coming.” 

Got your attention yet?

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD Entry 0266 - AI Deepfake Scam for Twenty Five Million Dollars

 Best Reading of the Day

Oh boy.

A sophisticated phishing scam hit a Hong Kong company - as yet undisclosed - and convinced an employee to move HK$200 Million, or about $25 USD Million, to a variety of banks.

Deep fake technology, including accurate voices, on a video conference call simulated the Chief Financial Officer and a number of other employees and convinced the real life employee to make the transfer.

Phew!

The days of shootouts in banks are way behind us.

Here's the story:

arstechnica.com -first-of-its-kind-ai-heist/

And here is a snippet from that piece:

The scam was initially uncovered following a phishing attempt, when an employee in the finance department of the company's Hong Kong branch received what seemed to be a phishing message, purportedly from the company’s UK-based chief financial officer, instructing them to execute a secret transaction. 

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0262 Digital Dashboards

Best Reading of the Day

Data driven is the way.

Right?

Yes.  Of course.

How we do it is very important though.  Data can tell you anything you want if you try.

Take a look at this read:

https://econsultancy.com/what-are-digital-dashboards-challenges-best-practice/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

There are two factors that have driven the recent meteoric rise of digital dashboards.

Firstly, the concept of data democratisation; wherein all data is available to everyone within an organisation. In a data democracy, there are no gatekeepers, and everyone has the tools to understand and act on what the data is telling them. This idea and its potential benefits are now well established. And the technology to power it is evolving fast – complex machine analysis and processing of big data is giving users the power to draw insights automatically, in ways that were never possible before.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0261 Google Report on Omnichannel Shopping

Best Reading of the Day

As I started to read this I was struck initially by how pedestrian the article was.  It gets better though and is well worth your time.

What bogey are you chasing today in your marketing strategy?  AOV?  CR?  Looking at your mobile traffic suddenly over 50%?

Read this little article to give you some help:

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/omnichannel-shopping-journey/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

In other words, people feel that online shopping makes it easier for them to find the right item at the right price.
...
Ultimately, people are looking to meet their needs in the most efficient way possible, whether that means shopping online only or researching online before heading to the store.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0260 Product Development Hubris

Best Reading of the Day

The following read is about video games, one specifically, and the design & development process it has been going through.  However, it is really a story of project scope creep, hubris, arrogance, and the problems of unlimited resources.

This is not a new story and is applicable to any project you encounter (that link I provided leads to one of the best stories of this kind you'll ever find).

The game in question is titled Star Citizen and its development efforts launched with great fanfare to a Kickstarter campaign that quickly became the most successful of its kind ever.

Years later the "game" has received over $300 million in funding and ... still hasn't launched anything out of alpha stage development.

I was initially intrigued having enjoyed founder Chris Robert's other efforts so I watched and waited.  What I kept seeing alarmed me.  Usually a Kickstarter campaign includes a goal that will result in "full funding" so a project will result in a product in your hands, and includes stretch goals that will get included if enough people pony up money.  This campaign, however, had no limit. As the funding increased the scope increased, seemingly endlessly.  I saw scope creep beyond belief and concluded I would have no part in the project until scope, and release dates, became solid.  7 years later I am still waiting.

Read more in this snippet:

Rough playable modes—alphas, not betas—are used to raise hopes and illustrate work being done. And Roberts has enticed gamers with a steady stream of hype, including promising a vast, playable universe with “100 star systems.” But most of the money is gone, and the game is still far from finished. At the end of 2017, for example, Roberts was down to just $14 million in the bank. He has since raised more money. Those 100 star systems? He has not completed a single one. So far he has two mostly finished planets, nine moons and an asteroid.

This is not fraud—Roberts really is working on a game—but it is incompetence and mismanagement on a galactic scale.

Here is the full story:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2019/05/01/exclusive-the-saga-of-star-citizen-a-video-game-that-raised-300-millionbut-may-never-be-ready-to-play/#3e2d26c75ac9

Let this serve as a warning.  Managers, always provide resource constraints beyond what you actually have.  Developers, always listen to marketing to identify need.  Leaders, get out of the weeds to provide vision and let your people work.

And on

and on

...

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0259 The TV Bundle

Best Reading of the Day

One of the more interesting ongoing stories in the Age of the Customer is the ongoing revolution in "Television".

Can we call it TV if we watch a streaming video on our phone?

Anyway ...

This great read tell the history, the current situation, and where we are headed.  Well worth your time.

https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/2/18518666/bundle-tv-hbo-disney-netflix-apple-amazon-war

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Now you have more TV than you could possibly watch, for less than $50 a month, and we haven’t even gotten to the free stuff yet. The only people who will feel truly left out here — besides people who work in the Television Industrial Complex — are the ones who want to watch live major league sports or live news from traditional TV networks.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0258 Facebook's Next Move

Best Reading of the Day

The wonderful narration of the opening paragraphs had me completely drawn in.

Do you love Facebook?

Or hate it?

Read this piece:

https://www.vox.com/2019/4/29/18511534/facebook-mobile-phone-f8

Here is a snippet from it:

Facebook’s core social network isn’t going away anytime soon, but there’s a good chance — probably a great chance — that the way you use Facebook’s products in 10 years will look and feel very different from the way you use them today. The device you use it on? That may change too.

Zuckerberg isn’t just thinking about that reality, he’s already betting on it.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0257 What Happened to the Wearables?

Best Reading of the Day

This is a great article over on The New York Times.

There's is quite a bit of history there for context.

There is quite a bit about the full-on Apple push in to luxury brands, etc. with the Apple Watch.

There is the current state and directional expectation.

Well worth reading.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

A sudden, striking influx of glamorous non-techies at a tech hub in California. Grumbles about NDAs. Excited, surreptitious glances. Gossip about disruption. A drumroll for a hitherto hush-hush, industry-upsetting announcement.

Sound familiar?

This is not a description of what is happening today at the Apple event in Cupertino, as the company unveils its new video service and television shows (among other things). It is a description of what happened on Sept. 9, 2014, at the Apple event in Cupertino, where the Apple watch was unveiled. For those of us who remember that day, the run-up to this week has provided an eerie sense of déjà vu.

Not to mention a question: What’s the deal with wearables and fashion?

Here is the full article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/fashion/apple-wearables-fashion

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry - 0256 Future of Retail

... is digital.

Best Reading of the Day

This is a great little article over at Forbes.com.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/12/27/four-keys-to-the-future-of-retail-in-2019/#5c1ed11b4d54

Here is a snippet from the piece:

There have always been two retail seasons in my mind: the holiday season and everything else. In fact, nearly 20% of all retail sales happen during the holiday season. That condensed period of sales is unique and often sheds some light on much larger consumer trends.

Taking into consideration this year’s holiday shopping data collected by my company, Salesforce, here’s a look at some of the major trends we might see play out in 2019.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0265 Physician Computer Systems

Best Reading of the Day

There is something for everyone in here if you have a passion for digital.  Systems. Platforms. Medical.  Product Management. Professional. Whatever your flavor this is a must read.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

The next time I saw Cameron was on the day of his operation. He lay on a stretcher outside the operating room, waiting to be wheeled in. A computer screen on a boom loomed over the bed, showing the safety checks I still had to do.

I shook Cameron’s hand and was introduced to his wife, who was in a chair beside him. They smiled nervously. It was his first time going under anesthesia. I told them about who would be on the surgical team with me and what was going to happen. I reached for the computer. But then I hesitated. I remembered when I’d turned my back on Cameron at our last encounter.

“Let’s go through these checks together,” I said.

I angled the screen toward the couple. Side by side, we confirmed that his medical history was up to date, that the correct surgical site was marked on his body, that I’d reviewed his medication allergies. His shoulders began to relax. His wife’s did, too.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

Here is the full story on the New Yorker (paywall enabled if you read more than a few articles each month):

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/12/why-doctors-hate-their-computers

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0264 Grocery App Usage Increase

Best Reading of the Day

Forbes.com has a great piece out about mobile apps and supermarkets.  That's something I know a little bit about as I led an effort for 3 years in that space.  They predict the apps will see a 50% increase in usage.  That is something else I know a little about having written a few papers on the subject.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

When the fridge is empty, and you are too tired to put on real clothes to go shopping, reaching for the phone to use a grocery app is an easy solution. You are not alone when you do this. According to a study from eMarketer, grocery app usage will grow by 50% this year, and 18 million Americans will order food this way. However, brick-and-mortar grocery stores are not going away and can take advantage of this industry shift.

Here is the whole story:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanabandoim/2018/09/11/grocery-app-usage-will-grow-by-50-what-this-means-for-the-industry/#752a389164dd

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0263 AI over A/B Testing for Advertising

Best Reading of the Day

I am working to get my head around the impact Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, will have on our world so I'm pulling in any interesting article I see on the subject.

If you've watched even one episode of the landmark television series 'Mad Men' you'll have an appreciation of the work that goes in to creative decision making for advertising.  Now let the machines do a big chunk of the work.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Even though one of the main goals of digital marketing is to serve customers the right message at the right time, we all know what it’s like to be chased around the internet by an ad that’s completely irrelevant or just plain annoying. And that’s because deciding when and where to deliver that message, not to mention the labor that goes into creating the message in the first place, has long involved human guesswork. Granted, those guesses often come after rigorous testing, but those best tests are limited to the often slow-moving process human analysis. Until now.

Artificial intelligence has already transformed everything from the IT department to the customer service experience, and now, machine learning is on track to completely change the ways we think about ad creative.

Here is the full article, another excellent one from ClickZ:

https://www.clickz.com/how-ai-could-make-a-b-testing-a-thing-of-the-past/216302/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0262 Social Media's Growing Pains

Best Reading of the Day

This is a really fine article over on the New York Times.

What has Facebook, and other technologies, done to us?  What has the impact been on humanity?  How did we get here?  What can be done?

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Let me first state that I actually like Mark Zuckerberg and have since the day I met him more than a dozen years ago.

But let me also say that he and Facebook, the huge social network that he started in college, have been working humanity’s last nerve for far too long now.

Every week, it’s something, and that something is never good.

This week, it was the revelation that the Russians — or, more precisely, a group of geek thugs who are acting the exact same way that a group of Russians acted when they messed with the 2016 United States elections on Facebook — are still skulking around the platform and making trouble for the midterms.

Here is the full article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/opinion/the-expensive-education-of-mark-zuckerberg-and-silicon-valley.html

I use Facebook for one thing really.  I have a couple small groups I'm in where we discuss particular topics.  Movies mostly.  I enjoy the folks there.  We are quite collegial and regularly have respectful disagreements.  We stay on topic and share our thoughts and experiences.

Beyond that the platform doesn't do hardly anything for me any more.

Twitter is a great place for instant news, though dangerous as the possibility of inaccurate news is very real.

Troubling times as we've seen our hopes and dreams for technology dashed by bad actors.  As if we've never seen this before in history (oh, yes, we have says Mr. Nobel). 

Happy Disturbing Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0261 Storytelling

The highest achievement in brand management and advertising for a brand is to tell a story that relates the product to the people who might spend money on that product.

The art of storytelling.

As someone who has always loved storytelling in its many forms and has now joined that with my first book I am keenly aware of the power of the form.  Leveraging that for marketing is a masterful achievement.

Here is CMO.com with 6 brands that have done so:

https://www.cmo.com/features/articles/2018/6/29/6-brands-that-have-mastered-the-art-of-storytelling

Here is number 1 on their list:

Grey Goose
When most people think of Grey Goose, they think cocktails. But that’s not the only place where the global spirits connoisseur excels. Its content marketing efforts are vast, but the highlight is the brand’s video strategy, in which it shows that it is also a content creator.

In March, Grey Goose partnered with Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx to launch “Off Script,” a nine-part digital series in which he has one-on-one conversations with Hollywood darlings, such as Jeremy Renner, Vince Vaughn, Denzel Washington, and Gabrielle Union.

I know what you are thinking.  Sure.  That works fine for the big players who can afford to hire an Academy-Award winning actor.  What about me?

Just tell a story and a compelling one that your audience cares about. That's all.  You can do it.  Be creative in the media you use but be consistent for your brand.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0260 Strategy of Apple Pay

Best Reading of the Day

Mobile payments has been something very close to my professional activities for many years now. I've competed directly against Apple and their Apple Pay product.  Where are they headed now?

Here is a snippet from the piece:

There’s a reason everyone seems to be getting into mobile payments. Thanks to increasing smartphone usage and a push for faster, simpler, more secure financial transactions, mobile payments could become a $3.4 trillion industry by 2022. In the U.S. last year, eMarketer estimated it to be a $49 billion market already.

The consumer options are sundry: There’s Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay; PayPal, Venmo, Square, and Square Cash; bank-backed alternatives like Zelle and Chase Pay; and in-app options through things like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. As consumers abandon cash, checks, and even credit cards, everyone is jumping into mobile payments—but perhaps none with the zeal of Apple.

Here is the full story:

https://slate.com/technology/2018/07/apple-pay-can-apple-beat-paypal-venmo-in-mobile-payments-war.html

What do retailers think?

From the start the response was mixed.  Some feel any place their customer is at they want to be as well.  Another, however, stated their mix of credit to debit was such that if mobile pay, primarily funded with credit cards, caused that mix to flip it would be billions of dollars a year lost.  That is big time incentive to work in the space right (they are)?

This is one space with entrenched, well funded and organized interests, and tons of money at stake.  Apple won't see the players in this space fold like the music industry did.  I see this space continuing to be hyper-competitive for the foreseeable future.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0259 Regulating Technology

Best Reading of the Day

"Robber Barons"

That's what they were called.

In the late 1800s they industrialists who used questionable methods to get rich came to be known as robbers. 

Here is a bit more on that subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robber_baron_(industrialist)

That is the language now in use to describe Google, Facebook, Amazon and more who have convinced the masses of the population to hand over their valuable personal data for free.  Time for regulations of these giants in technology?  There is an argument to be made.

Read more here:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611425/its-time-to-rein-in-the-data-barons/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

When Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress earlier this year to discuss how the now-defunct political-data company Cambridge Analytica acquired data of up to 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge or consent, one of the few pointed questions came from Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina. “Who’s your biggest competitor?” Graham demanded. After Zuckerberg replied that Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft all had some overlap with various Facebook products, Graham chafed at the answer.

“If I buy a Ford and it doesn’t work well and I don’t like it,” pressed the senator, “I can buy a Chevy. If I’m upset with Facebook, what’s the equivalent product I can go sign up for?”

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0258 Retail and the Startup Competitors

Best Reading of the Day

The ultimate goal for the creators of goods, manufacturers and brand owners, is the direct to consumer relationship disinter-mediating the retailer that has gained so much power and leverage the last 40 odd years.  I've been very interested in this for a few years now and new stories on the subject catch my eye.

Similarly you see pure digital retail companies starting up as well. Think Amazon.com as it started out, not the behemoth it has become.

Here is a great little write-up that intends to help retailers understand the "digital native" company and what can be learned from the approach.

https://www.mytotalretail.com/post/digital-native-brands-the-almost-new-face-of-modern-marketers/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

There's lots of buzz surrounding digital-native brands and what's making them so disruptive and relevant today. While the definition of digital native is evolving, they are companies that launch as web-only retailers with the belief that superior technology can be a differentiator. They often engender loyalty by projecting authenticity and effectively leveraging social media. More importantly, they believe in a few core operational traits that can serve as a template for larger companies to try to emulate.

The modern retailer has a whole new series of competitors and threats to it. The savvy management group will be looking at all of these and determining the firewalls to place, the areas to compete directly, and the technology investments to make (once the best people are in place) to remain competitive and give customers what they want.

Call it 'Bricks & Mobile' or all it 'Omnicommerce' or anything else you want just be where the customer wants and needs you to be.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0257 Modern Retail and Technology

Best Reading of the Day

This is a fine piece that attempts to explain how the best, tier 1, retailers are handling the challenges of the new connected world.

Retail in the Information Age would also be a fine title for this article.

I'm certain we will see all flavors of players.  Pure mobile, pure brick & mortar, pure eCommerce, and many combinations.  The top retailers must be all things to their customers and that's what we are seeing.  The very top is pulling away from the rest, almost creating a new top tier.  The Walmarts and Amazons of the world do it all very well.

Here is the story:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2018/05/08/taps-clicks-bricks-how-retail-giants-are-reinventing-commerce-via-mobile-desktop-stores/#7d921323c5ca

Here is a snippet from the piece:

“Customers move seamlessly between our stores, online, and mobile,” Home Depot's vice president of Online Pratt Vemana told me. “They’re using mobile within the store, and texting aisle location from their desktops to their phones.”

Home Depot is not the only one.

The term previously coined for this, maybe by folks at Forrester (?), is "Bricks & Mobile".  The author's "Taps, Clicks, Bricks" is also evocative of what is happening.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0256 Smart Clothing

Best Reading of the Day

This fine little write-up is well worth your time.

Smart Clothes.

Okay, okay, yes it sounds ridiculous and probably will be for a while yet but crazier things have happened.

What is the utility?  That's the key.  Do we find some in this article?  Judge for yourself.

Here is the full article:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/levis-smart-jacket-changed-how-i-use-my-phone/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

The cuff on the left arm is woven with a conductive fiber, as well as a special-grade polyester that allows it to act as a touch sensor; the rest of the jacket is traditional Levi’s cotton-based denim. You can feel a slight difference in material when you touch the denim part of the jacket, and then touch the cuff. It’s not easily noticeable, though, which is important to maintaining a traditional look.

I've seen a bit on smart clothing and when it comes to these, even the classic electric blanket, I have to admit I have visions of being enmeshed in electronic clothing that catches fire.  Ugh.  Not a pretty picture.  People, well, most people, got over that for the electric blanket lines.  If there's sufficient benefit to this line of connected clothing then people will buy them.

This prototype takes the same basic approach as the smart watch.  It isn't a replacement for your smart phone, it complements it so you don't have to reach for your phone.  Yes, that right there might be enough to sell units. Not bad.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0255 Shopping Online Using What Device?

Best Reading of the Day

Forbes has a fantastic article for all of the holiday shoppers out there looking to browse online stores for their shopping needs.

Quick.  What device are you reading this on?  Desktop computer?  Is your smartphone nearby?

If you wanted to grab something off of eBay real quick which device should you use?

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Since the dawn of Cyber Monday, when consumers would come home from shopping in stores all Black Friday weekend, only to turn around and use high-speed connections at work on Monday to finish up their shopping lists, retailers have observed that consumers are using different digital channels for different objectives.

Over the past few years, holiday shopping has reflected some of these shifts. Online sales are growing far faster than store sales, and within online, mobile is capturing a larger share of traffic – but mobile still drags far behind desktop and even tablet experiences when it comes to sales.

Retailers also have not invested evenly across their digital channels. Just because a retailer's desktop website is a great experience, it doesn’t mean its mobile site – or app – has kept up.

Here is the whole story:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikkibaird/2017/11/21/mobile-or-desktop-site-or-app-which-is-the-best-way-to-shop-this-holiday-season/#3be564c7214a

I wrote about these things a couple times here regarding retailer's digital strategies and here regarding the question of what is actually "mobile" and what isn't.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant