We’re currently looking for people to do some audience testing of B2B short videos. We’ll need you to watch 6 very short videos, and then answer a few questions. it’s all done in a google form, and should take you no longer than 15 mins. If you’re interested, hit reply and I’ll send you the link! And if you want help making B2B video, let’s set up a call!

💻 DATA POINT: We’re big fans of Ev Shapiro’s youtube interviews and newsletter, and I loved this week’s interview with research agency Bango, who have released new audience research about our behaviours and attitudes to subscriptions. There’s really good data on US vs UK behaviours, and the stat that jumped out to me is that most subscribers would be ok with twice as many ads if it meant they didn’t have to pay for a subscription.

BUNDLE OR GET BUNDLED (5-min read and youtube interviews)

A Roadmap To Ensure AI Serves Humanity (Downloadable report)

How To Add Personality To Your Newsletter (10-min read)

What’s The Point Of Hardbacks? (12-min read)

How Gambling Changes Public Spaces (15-min read)

Really Bad Photographer Wanted (classified ad)

Worse On Purpose (10 min read)

The Last Quiet Thing (scrolly-telling read)

A Symphony of Bureaucracy (4.5-min watch)

📣 How To Bank Ethically (11-min read) 📣

BUNDLE OR GET BUNDLED (5-min read and youtube interviews)
First of all, I thought ‘bundle or get bundled’ was the law of break time when I was at school in the 1980s. But actually, it’s a very useful and insightful interview and report about audience subscription attitudes and behaviours. I did not expect ‘retail’ to be the biggest subscription category after SVOD.

A Roadmap To Ensure AI Serves Humanity (Downloadable report)
This is great from the Center for Humane Technology - a report on how we can make sure AI is ethical and humane, based on seven core principles. It’s only slightly worrying that they remind me a bit of Asimov’s Three Laws Of Robotics.

How To Add Personality To Your Newsletter (10-min read)
Inbox Collective providing, again, a really useful and practical set of tips to make your newsletters more human. You don’t have to do all these (we don’t) but there’s some great ideas in here, particularly if you’re struggling to make a corporate newsletter more interesting (if you, are come talk to us!)

What’s The Point Of Hardbacks? (12-min read)
I love this post about the economic viability of hardbacks, partly because it’s got lots of nerdy publishing data in it, but also because it’s a reminder that paperbacks and hardbacks are formats themselves. They were invented for specific reasons, and we should challenge them when the context around them changes.

How Gambling Changes Public Spaces (15-min read)
We’ve posted Lauren Leek’s brilliant data journalism before, and this is another incredible bit of research and storytelling. It starts by looking at how changes to gambling laws preserved some ‘third spaces’ in Australian towns and cities, pulls the data to see the effect this had on their communities, and then finishes by showing how that problem is now moving to our phones.

Really Bad Photographer Wanted (classified ad)
This has been doing the rounds in the last few weeks, but it’s a lovely example of how a brilliant creative idea can be simply executed. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it, but it’s really lovely. I can’t wait to see the photos!

Worse On Purpose (10 min read)
Ensh*ttification isn’t just for digital tools! This new publication is revealing the stories about how companies are buying up brands and making the products worse, on purpose. The linked story here about backpacks is really eye-opening.

The Last Quiet Thing (scrolly-telling read)
On the subject of products getting worse, this is a really beautifully produced scrolly-telling story from Terry Godier about how all our digital devices got so, well, needy. I’ve resisted internet connected home devices as much as I can, and this post makes me relieved I did.

A Symphony of Bureaucracy (4.5-min watch)
This is brilliant from friend of Storythings Duncan Geere - an installation of modular synthesisers that play harmonies based on data from the history of EU law generation. It’s EU Law - The Musical!

📣 How To Bank Ethically (11-min read) 📣
If you’re looking at changing your financial services for the new tax year, this is a great place to start - a guide from our new Futures In Draft project that helps you choose the most ethical ways to save and invest.

Thanks to Ash Mann for sharing this great post by Jamie Bell, the CMO of internal comms platform Workshop. It’s a great short list of ideas for your own internal comms projects. I really like the first one - ‘behind the decision’ pages that explains the new thing you’ve just announced to your team.

READ JAMIE’S POST HERE →

Drop us a line if you have anything you’d like us to share in a future edition of this newsletter, or of course if you have any comments or suggestions for us!

Have a great weekend!

Matt, Anjali, Hugh, and the team