Predictions: 10 Headlines To Watch 👀 For This Fall
Let’s face it, Summer is over (basically) and if you’re like me you are ready to rid your Instagram feed of Ibiza sunsets and get back to biz :)
Here are 10 headlines I’ll be looking out for this Fall
1 Alexa’s holiday domination: Alexa dominated Amazon’s prime day earlier this summer which I believe will be a pre-cursor to an avalanche of Alexa sales this holiday season. Alexa’s entry level product, Echo Dot, at only $50 (which was discounted to $35 on prime day) is the perfect stocking stuffer for a tech obsessed culture clamoring for the shiny new toy.
2 Must See TV Is No Longer TV: As the demise of the traditional TV model becomes more into focus, tomorrow’s winner’s will be the ones that can consistently procure and create original content that becomes binge-watch bait for the new generation of cord cutters (at the expense of traditional broadcast networks). Netflix, Amazon, Apple, XBox, and now Facebook with it’s new product “Watch” announced this week will all get into the game in the battle for eyeballs.
3 NFL’s Ratings Resurgence: During last season much was made about the NFL’s ratings dip in 2016. I don’t buy it and attribute last year’s slip to the election obsession and not a sudden change of heart for America’s new pastime. The NFL is an obsession in this country fueled by gaming, fantasy sports and cultural gamed traditions at the fabric of this great nation.
4 SnapChat’s continued descent: SnapChat’s descent continued this week with its latest earnings miss and its shares falling way below its IPO price. To some this comes as no surprise and unfortunately there is not much to stop this one-time tech darling from continuing to drop in popularity and value for the remainder of the year. Brands have not gravitated to the platform in a meaningful way and users see little differentiated value in using it besides 1:1 messaging a tough use case to monetize
5 The Great 8: newest iPhone sizzles : The latest edition of the iPhone is set to debut in September and its a safe bet to say this will be Apple’s most successful launch ever. Samsung’s um explosive issues with product performance and Apple’s continued push to broaden its ecosystem with original content, ApplePay, Apple Watch, AirPlay, Siri, iTunes, etc makes this launch a sure thing. Im curious to see if Apple’s will indeed proceed with moving the home button elsewhere to allow for the potential of an end-to end screen and what advancements it makes in augmented reality.
6 The Stock Market’s Trump Thump: The stock market has shot up like a rocket at all-time highs ever since Trump was inaugurated in January and many including myself believe that it is due for a major correction. When you remove the tech behemoths of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google there is little to be excited about with many of America’s blue chip companies. Many sectors including retail, apparel, and auto face many negative headwinds that are destined to rear their ugly head.
7 Cryptocurrency’s coming of age: The wild swings of CryptoCurrency like Bitcoin and Ehtereum have many running for the hills, but in this unpredictable geopolitical climate I predict that many progressive investors will invest in this emerging and speculative currency platform as a safe haven. With signs of government cooperation around the world I believe cryptocurrency is here to stay and there will be meaningful price growth for the remainder of the year
8 Amazon Basics and “the brand’s” last stand: As Alexa continues to make it’s way into U.S. households at rapid scale the notion of brand equity in low involvement categories could very quickly erode. Currently if you try to buy batteries on Alexa your only option is Amazon Basics batteries essentially making a statement that billions of investment in brand equity towards household brands like Duracell and Energizer ultimately don’t matter to consumers. Is Amazon right? It could be as consumers become more educated and price sensitive. Is this the beginning of the end of brand loyalty? For some categories the answer may be yes.
9 Uber moves out of neutral: Many jumped on the “End Of Uber” bandwagon as former CEO Travis Kalanick was ousted this Summer (& for good reason) but I believe that the power of this magical platform transcends any one individual. I believe Uber will right it’s ship this Fall with a non-controversial (and hopefully female) CEO hire and re-establish it’s dominance in silicon valley and major cities around the world en route to a 2018 IPO.
10 Instagram says “slow your role” to influencers: The now infamous Fyre Festival disaster shined a less than flattering light on the emerging industry of Influencer marketing. This debacle was followed by the FTC sending letters to over 90 celebrities who failed to disclose their paid insta-endorsements to consumers; essentially claiming that consumers are being increasingly misled. Most recently reports have surfaced that Instagram will be requiring influencers to indicate via a new product feature that a post is sponsored. My prediction? Said sponsored posts will be throttled in the newsfeed by Instagram meaning very few people will see them unless there is paid advertising behind it … thus making influencer marketing a paid media activation… kind of like buying a billboard (far less exciting). The insta-model scene may need to start looking for other lines of work.
What are your thoughts on these predictions?