In November 2019, Christine Meehan, with Google Consumer Insights reported that “Holiday shoppers may have different approaches to where, how and when they buy, but they also have something in common: their shopping journeys usually start online.”

I’ve included highlights of Christine’s article below (in italics) as well as her recommendations which, if you read them carefully, reminds you that there’s far more to advertising + sales success than utilizing more of Google’s marketing tools to optimize your marketing funnel (using Google's myopic, self centered business model).

The setup of Christine's article is a no brainer: before you buy, people talk to other people, look at ads on and offline (think newspapers, magazines, flyers, out of home ads, transit ads, as well as radio and TV). But the recommendations that Christine leaves you with should get you thinking long and hard because they are misleading 1/2 truths.

100% TRUE: you need a broad  (traditional and online) multi-media advertising campaign based marketing funnel that drives prospects to your (open) store doors and e-commerce website.

100% TRUE: involve all stakeholders in the mobilization of your marketing and advertising plan. To effectively model your brand's unique marketing funnel, lots of heads are better than one.

100% FALSE: your marketing plan should NOT start or end with Google. Despite what Google would like you to think, Google is not a proxy for reality.

Google is just another media option.

Putting that much faith in Google is just plain stupid.

“Last year, a joint holiday report between Google and Ipsos found most Canadian holiday shoppers are omnichannel. They use multiple sources while shopping (such as visiting a website or heading to a store) and split their time almost equally between online and offline channels.

“The holiday season is an opportunity for teams to unite — to think about the reasons why these channels work together, and what holiday shoppers are looking for in an omnichannel experience.

“Holiday shoppers are heading online to decide where to shop. Canadian holiday shoppers are choosing which stores to visit based on their online research. Today’s omnichannel shopper is more informed and intentional.

“The report found that 39% of holiday shoppers were looking up local store information, and 31% were searching for nearby stores.

Of the shoppers using search, millennials are the generation least likely to choose a physical store over an online one, with most of their purchases happening online. However, when they do shop in-store, 82% of millennials are searching online first.

“Omnichannel customers head online to help inform their purchase decision, whether they end up making their purchase (there) or not. 

“Shoppers want to feel more confident. 

“Shoppers are looking for convenience.

“Customers are hunting for deals. 

“With so many Canadians turning to more than one shopping source during the holidays, companies should plan for ways to reach customers online and offline. Although the holiday season has begun, there’s still time to execute omnichannel plans now. Encourage data-sharing between teams — and share success: Facilitate the conversation between online and store teams early, and encourage data sharing to measure success together. Prepare your website and open the doors to your store: Think of your digital ads and online presence as the doors to your online store. Make sure your store product inventory is available online, and holiday hours are updated and accurate on your website and on Google Maps through Google My Business. Keep reviews front-and-centre to greet shoppers, and make sure your mobile site is working and ready to handle the increased load. You can test your website speed with Google tool Test My Site. Drive campaigns to your store: Online advertising doesn’t just drive online sales — it drives omnichannel sales. Adding drive-to-store campaign types and strategies that achieve both online and offline goals will allow you to capture holiday shoppers as they engage with your brand across multiple channels.

Imagine if I sent you a report that included the following intimate and highly detailed information about you for the past month - or year.

• All of your personal and professional online activity – web & social media.
• Where, when and to whom you made a call, text or e-mail message.
• Where, when and from whom you received a call, text or e-mail message.
• Where you went and with whom, for how long, and how each of you went home. 
• The route(s) you took from home to and from work.
• Where you shopped, or stopped for a break along the way.
• When you walked, biked, used transit or personal transport, where you went.
• The amount of time it took you to get from point A to B and the calories you burned to get there.
• The amount of time you spent in your home last month broken down to minute.
• How many hours you spent at work, at home, sitting, standing, exercising, relaxing, sleeping (including REM and non-REM sleep).  

I then suggest you pay me a fee – lets say $40.00 per month – and I’ll optimize:

• your home’s lighting and temperature.
• when and how you should go to work.
• how to improve the quality and length of your sleep.
• how to improve your fitness (passively and actively).
• how to improve your online web and social presence + scores.    

Now I’ll remind you again – you have never met me. 

Well . . . that's exactly what Google™ will do in the very near future. 

Here’s the latest reason why I predict you’ll see reports like the above soon.   

Google has just announced that it’s buying wearable company Fitbit™. 

In a blog post announcing the news, Google SVP of devices and services Rick Osterloh said that the Fitbit purchase is “an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market.” Under the deal, Fitbit will be joining Google itself. It’s similar to the current situation with Nest, which is wholly under Google now, compared to when Alphabet had originally acquired the smart home company but left it as a separate division under the corporate structure.

According to a separate press release issued by Fitbit, the company will still take privacy for health and fitness data seriously, noting that “Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.” . . . for now.

Fitbit’s hardware chops have always been great, giving Google a much stronger foundation to build on for future Android-integrated wearables devices. On the flip side, Google’s software skills and wide developer support could help Fitbit’s smartwatches like the Versa get a little smarter, alongside the deeper software integration with Android that a closer relationship could offer. 

Jameson Lopp was the chief technology officer of the crypto startup casa. He is most notable for his decision to live off-the-grid, which has been written about in The New York Times by Nathaniel Popper and reprinted in the Toronto Star on April 27, 2019.

Apparently “You can disappear in 15 steps, but it won’t be easy”.

Mr. Lopp's strategy highlights are as follows:

1. create a new corporate identity,
2. set up new bank accounts and payment cards,
3. carry cash,
4. get a new phone number,
5. stop using your (cell) phone for directions,
6. move,
7. make up a fake name for casual interactions,
8. create a VPN for home internet use,
9. buy a boring car,
10. buy a decoy house,
11. set up a private mailbox and re-mailing service,
12. master the art of disguise,
13. work remotely,
14. encrypt devices when traveling remotely, and
15. hire a private investigator to “check your work”.  

Bye-bye now.

This is the back of a cookie bag from Subway IP Inc., telling me in 35 languages that my cookie may contain peanuts.

This page is from a typical IKEA furniture assembly brochure.

While there are five pages, also in 35 languages, warning of a possible tipping hazard, the other 30 pages get the assembly instructions across without any words at all.

IKEA is the conservation conscious global flat-pack furniture design + distribution leader. Had IKEA not made a serious, long-term commitment to illustration-driven-assembly-instructions over 50 years ago, they would probably be one of the world’s largest publishers + polluters today. 

I love to read. I also love looking for and discovering new authors whose work takes me down new planes of thinking.

I also love meeting and surrounding myself with people, places and things that are different. They nudge me out of my habitual thought-ruts and encourage me to entertain and embrace lots of different perspectives.

While I can see why this landing page from bookbub.com might be attractive to some, I see another flight feather being pulled from the wings of independent thought and free will. 

It tells “readers” that their editorial team will find great books for you at very low prices. A classic “appeal to the head and the heart” copy-writing tactic. 

It tells “readers” that “Book lovers have now become practically obsessed with this concept. In many cases, they’ve downloaded hundreds of books and saved hundreds of dollars. 

Translation:

• Booklovers, like others, are obsessed with “cheap”, not "good" goods.
• The more you buy the more you save.

Bing-book*-buying, reduces each book’s economic and intrinsic value. Each treasure becomes devalued to little more than cheap commodity status.

Over time this commoditization brings down the “value” of the entire book* category as well as the “book reading experience”.  

Sadly most of those books* will never be intensely read. Do the math. 

Of greatest concern is how this kind of social media content curating affects the choices groups and individuals make – including the value of free will and independent thought.   

*or anything else.