Volume 005: Xbox, Pepsi, ad frauds and honest Uber.

1. How many X’s does it take to name an Xbox?

Tl;dr: Microsoft remains reassuringly bad at naming.

Microsoft has become so good at so many things lately, like leadership, increasing their stock price, designing computers, winning government cloud contracts, and shifting everyone to SaaS.

So, it comes as some relief to see that some old bad habits remain, like being really bad at naming things. 

Last week saw the launch of the new Xbox, essentially a super-powerful gaming PC in an imposing obelisk-like form that’s utterly let down by being called the X Box Series X. 

With the current Xbox, the Xbox One X, I foresee a future full of confused parents buying the wrong product for their soon-to-be-very-disappointed children.

2. Without irony, Pepsi is now listening to consumers.

Tl;dr: Culture in, brand out is a new way of thinking. Apparently.

Last week the folks in charge at Pepsi touted their completely new and original approach to brand thinking. They call it culture in, brand out. It starts with listening to consumers, finding cultural insights and figuring out how to make the brand connect. And it requires them to have a point of view.

While it’s nice to see Pepsi finally embrace marketing 101, I was mostly left wondering what on earth they were doing before. Certainly, they’ve had more than their fair share of mistakes and setbacks, including attempts to make Coca-Cola a breakfast food. Oh wait, it looks like they’re trying that one again.

Hopefully this time they’ll at least stick to a tagline long enough for people to associate them with it and remember them for it. Although, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard “for the love of it” somewhere before.

3. Ad fraud and the mar-tech industrial complex rightfully under fire.

Tl;dr: Digital ad-fraud is rampant. What’s the real impact?

I’m far from a media expert, but I find the spate of recent ad-fraud cases working their way through the courts fascinating. According to Dr. Fou, there have been seven major cases in the past 4 months, and I’m sure there are more to come. 

With Uber suing ad networks for $70m, some serious numbers are going on here, with varying estimates of the true scale of what is a vast problem. (Not to mention Chinese click farms)

It makes me wonder how many brands have moved budgets because of too-good-to-be-true fraudulent data? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time lying moved media. And how much might ad fraud be connected to brands moving budgets back to brand-building because the performance ads aren’t working?

4. Uber admirably honest. More friction a theme for 2020?

Tl;dr: Some things can only be fixed by adding friction to the experience.

In an admirable act of transparency, Uber announced that in 2018, there were 3,045 sexual assaults in their vehicles in the US. A huge and disturbing number, even if it only represents 0.0002% of rides taken.

This is not an Uber-specific problem, but because they’re telling us, the clock is now ticking on their response. Almost certainly, it’ll require a trade-off between convenience and security, increasing friction in the experience. This will be interesting because we’ve become so used to friction being removed that accepting a movement in the opposite direction will require a really, really good reason, like not being assaulted. 

A shift like this won’t be unique to Uber either. While removing friction has created billions of dollars worth of value, unintended consequences happen. In response, we’re already seeing people adding friction back into their own lives, like only using debit cards to avoid going into debt, listening to vinyl to stop distractedly skipping tracks, or avoiding social media altogether. 

To avoid unintended consequences and be better corporate citizens, look for more companies to follow.