3 Media Predictions For Biden's First Term - The Neal Ungerleider Newsletter
+ Amazon's email marketing secrets + Reggae & comic books + More!
So! It looks like Joe Biden will be our 46th president.
Biden faces formidable challenges on January 20. We’re on the verge of a nightmare COVID winter with skyrocketing illness and death rates nationwide, the US economy is still a mess, political partisanship is a nightmare and the Democratic Party is divided by infighting.
But let’s talk media.
The Trump presidency was great for the media world and its partners in advertising, marketing and public relations. As a president, Trump has a preternaturally singular ability to get eyes watching cable news and customers opening their wallets and subscribing to newspapers. A well-documented “Trump Bump” has boosted subscriptions to legacy publications like the New York Times and Washington Post, and a Trump presidency has been steady ratings fodder for cable news. Cynically put, the more the Trump presidency became a shitshow the better the pageviews got.
Biden’s presidency, it’s safe to say, will be a different beast.
Three predictions.
#1: The Return-To-Normal Narrative Backfires.
There’s nothing that media outlets and advertisers like more than a simple storyline. After the chaos of Trump’s presidency, I fully expect lots of discussion of a “return to normal” and “politics as usual.” Except… we’re in the middle of a pandemic and millions of Americans are still out of work. When Biden’s honeymoon period ends, expect a quick and brutal reversal of narratives.
#2: A Splintering Right Wing Media Ecosystem.
During Trump’s presidency, the already large right wing media ecosystem—that is to say, everything from conservative talk radio to Fox News to fellow travelers like Ben Shapiro and Alex Jones—rapidly grew… and grew in a remarkably cohesive ways. There were always ideological differences between different outlets, but similarities outnumbered differences. Without the binding glue of a Trump presidency, expect right wing media outlets to embrace the narcissism of small differences—lots of cultivating micro-audiences and picking fights with other factions.
#3: Social Media As Public Square
Facebook, Twitter and Reddit were already part of our offline lives before the Biden presidency. As in-person gathering continues to be difficult in many parts of the United States this winter and spring, expect conversations between friends and family that would normally take place IRL to migrate online… with ad dollars quickly following as Biden makes his first major post-inaguation news stories.
With that, on to the links.
New Futures:
In one old new future, Aztec kings’ rules for pandemics included “don’t be a fool.”
Making contemporary sense of the CIA’s mind control experiments during the Cold War. TLDR: They didn’t go well and ruined lives in the process.
Skyrocketing chicken wing prices are inspiring Wingstop to sell chicken thighs. Buffalo thighs just… don’t have the same ring to them.
Citizenship for sale! Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is applying for Cyprus citizenship; the Mediterranean nation offers passport opportunities in exchange for $2 million+ investments in the local economy.
Some real good news: Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine appears to be 90%+ effective.
Advertising/Marketing/PR:
Reverse engineering Amazon’s email marketing template.
Inside VidCon’s (fascinating!) pivot to Discord and small cohort building for event networking.
How celebrities differentiate their digital selves and social media presences from their actual IRL selves.
Emily Farra at Vogue argues influencers are the retailers of the 2020s.
Hot sellers for the pandemic era = Peloton, pizza and video games.
An argument by AIGA Eye on Design on what it means to decolonize design.
Supermarket chain Stop & Shop launched a retro 1990s foods site.
Opportunities in the shitshow: AdWeek survey reports 40% of brands may seek new agencies in 2021.
Strategically parsing why the hell Trump tweets like that. (Hint: There’s strategy to the chaos).
Media:
Uzabase is selling Quartz to its cofounder and editor-in-chief.
The Disney Game of Thrones continues with ESPN laying off 300 employees and freezing hiring for 200 vacant jobs.
Everything old is new again, and Spotify is now letting advertisers promote tracks in user recommendations. Payola 2020s edition? (I kid! Maybe! Kinda sorta! Somewhat!)
Synergies in smart TV: Comcast and Walmart are in talks for partnering on smart TV sets. Wall Street Journal says “Under the terms the companies are discussing, retail giant Walmart would promote TV sets running Comcast software, and would get a share of recurring revenue from Comcast in return.” All about the rev sharing and data collection, kids. All about the rev sharing and data collection.
Proposition 24 passed in California, strengthening privacy rights in the state and creating new opportunities for startups to help established firms with compliance.
PayPal, which had a remarkably good 2020, is going all-in on integrating Honey and Venmo into PayPal’s infrastructure.
Amazon is going all-in on turning vacant retail stores into Amazon distribution mini-centers.
In the 1990s, the creators of The Oregon Trail launched a game called Freedom! where players escape slavery in the south. Things didn’t go as expected, Vice’s Robert Whitaker writes.
Tech:
Alison Gopnik on the similarities and differences between parenting and training AIs.
Oldie but goodie from Jesse Childs on the racial implications of UX & AI.
The US government’s trying to confiscate over a billion dollars in bitcoins they allege are connected to the Silk Road case.
Reference publisher O’Reilly is launching Online Learning Answers, a NLP search engine-based Stack Overflow and Quora competitor.
Terence Eden on Gmail’s localization problem.
Fun:
A 17th-century Moroccan sultan built a prison that’s a literal labyrinth, the Prison de Kara—despite having no doors or bars, noone is ever believed to have escaped.
Finn McKenty explains the history of pop-punk. Hint: It’s all about the Descendents.
Dan Ozzi and Kevin Devine on Staten Island’s 1990s hardcore punk scene and carving out creative spaces in unlikely places, a subject very close to my heart:
Gensler’s new Atari Hotel in Las Vegas is going to be amazing.
A deep-dive into reggae LP covers and comic book art.
Things I’ve Enjoyed Lately:
Hiking at Kankakee River State Park, a quick 90 minute drive from downtown Chicago.
This banana bread recipe.
Karen O and Willie Nelson covering Under Pressure.
Anyway, that’s it for this issue. Email me here and don’t hesitate to contact if I can be of assistance. Thank you for taking the time to read this damned thing. And donate to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Love and coffee,
Neal
About This Newsletter: My name is Neal Ungerleider, and I’m a strategic communications consultant working with brands and agencies on marketing/advertising/PR projects. I worked as a journalist in a previous life and now write this weekly newsletter about the comms industry and adjacent things. Thanks for taking the time to read it. For more, here's my bio, my portfolio, and current projects.
Connect on Twitter or LinkedIn and learn more about my services at nealungerleider.com. Contact me by replying to this newsletter or emailing neal@nealungerleider.com.