From Gartner:
In a crisis situation subject to rapid change, CMOs need a proactive plan to adjust and adapt how they lead their teams, speak to their customers, and manage their brands.
Customers may never know how a company’s finance or HR department responds to a major unpredicted event, but marketing sits center stage, its moves reflected in every ad campaign, message and channel. You set the tone for how customers perceive the brand during a difficult time.
Taking the right actions and finding the right message can be challenging, especially in a fast-changing situation. All companies should operate with integrity and trust even as they come under pressure from a swiftly evolving situation. Those with a product or service well-suited for difficult times must, meanwhile, tread lightly, lest customers think they’re exploiting tragedy.
“Long before the coronavirus emerged, consumer trust in both government and large brands had eroded.”
“Among marketing’s greatest challenges is foreseeing how customer wants, needs, expectations and purchasing decisions will evolve,” says Augie Ray, VP Analyst, Gartner. “Customers themselves won’t know until COVID-19 infections, fears and restrictions occur in their workplaces, locales and lives.”Marketers shouldn’t wait for problems to develop or the market to point in a clear direction before making plans and taking action. Instead, follow a four-step action plan to define scenarios, monitor customers and plan for marketing changes.
— Read on www.gartner.com/en/marketing/insights/articles/adapt-the-marketing-strategy-for-covid-19
Monthly Archives: May 2020
Funerals in space: The people who send their ashes into orbit
Services such as Celestis and Aura Flights send remains to the skies in an epic final journey.
Even in the freezing cold, Steven Schnider would often drag his wife Christine outside to look up at the night sky. He’d point out everything from planets to comets to satellites he’d tracked down using an app called Heavens Above.
“He’d say, ‘Do you see it?’ It’s right there. And it would be the faintest little piece of light going across the sky,” Christine recalls. “He was just so excited about it.”
When Steven was close to death in 2017, there was a consensus among family members that a space burial would be the best way to send him off. Their daughter took out her phone, did a quick search and pulled up a company called Celestis.
See More (CNET)
www.cnet.com/features/space-funerals-the-people-who-want-their-ashes-scattered-into-orbit/
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Apple Watch, Fitbit as first line of defense? Tests expand on whether wearables could predict coronavirus
Hackers Release a New Jailbreak that Unlocks Every iPhone
A renowned iPhone hacking team has released a new “jailbreak” tool that unlocks every iPhone, even the most recent models running the latest iOS 13.5.
For as long as Apple has kept up its “walled garden” approach to iPhones by only allowing apps and customizations that it approves, hackers have tried to break free from what they call the “jail,” hence the name “jailbreak.” Hackers do this by finding a previously undisclosed vulnerability in iOS that break through some of the many restrictions that Apple puts in place to prevent access to the underlying software. Apple says it does this for security. But jailbreakers say breaking through those restrictions allows them to customize their iPhones more than they would otherwise, in a way that most Android users are already accustomed to.
The jailbreak, released by the unc0ver team, supports all iPhones that run iOS 11 and above, including up to iOS 13.5, which Apple released this week.
Details of the vulnerability that the hackers used to build the jailbreak aren’t known, but it’s not expected to last forever. Just as jailbreakers work to find a way in, Apple works fast to patch the flaws and close the jailbreak.
Inside the NSA’s Secret Tool for Mapping Your Social Network | WIRED
Edward Snowden revealed the agency’s phone-record tracking program. But thanks to “precomputed contact chaining,” that database was much more powerful than anyone knew.
— Read on www.wired.com/story/inside-the-nsas-secret-tool-for-mapping-your-social-network/
Smartphone data shows America’s cautious comeback
Data from millions of mobile phones shows varying behavior across the United States in May as people responded to the loosening of stay-at-home orders, a Reuters analysis shows.
Americans returned to parks, restaurants and gas stations first. In most of the country, though, people continued to stay away from bars, fitness centers and religious institutions, which remain closed in many areas, according to the analysis of anonymized smartphone data from SafeGraph.
— Read on www.oann.com/smartphone-data-shows-americas-cautious-comeback/
Contact Tracing Explained
The most complete article @Forbes I’ve seen on #ContactTracing. Balanced, includes history, technology, future. Great job @JoeHarpaz @ModMed!

Apple i OS 13.5 Is Ready For Covid-19 Contact Tracing —Are You?
Agencies Need to View Working Moms Differently – Adweek
The Pandemic Is Showing Just How Much Working Moms Have to Juggle
The greatest gift this Mother’s Day would be to eliminate the bias against working mothers.
— Read on www-adweek-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.adweek.com/agencies/the-pandemic-is-showing-just-how-much-working-moms-have-to-juggle/amp/
Satellite Images Show Armadas Of Vacant Cruise Ships Huddling Together Out At Sea – The Drive
With the cruise industry on life support, fleets have put to sea for an indefinite stay with many of their crewmen trapped on board.
— Read on www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/33338/satellite-images-show-armadas-of-vacant-cruise-ships-huddling-together-out-at-sea
Human Fallibility and the Case for Robot Baseball Umpires | WIRED
How the ‘gambler’s fallacy’ and anchoring bias influence strike zones.
— Read on www.wired.com/story/human-fallibility-case-robot-baseball-umpires/