Weekly Digest of Must-Read Articles (23.08)

Every week we read tons of articles, browse through a variety of editorials and long reads to find the 10 most interesting pieces you can’t miss on any occasion. This week you’ll find out why AV as a service matters and why you should pay attention to it. How cinema advertising outpaces all other traditional media. You’ll learn the truth about the devastating Amazon fires and find out about the net worth of your digital identity. Read all of this and more in our new weekly digest of 10 articles we’d like you to like.

More Than 100 Vapers Have Contracted a Severe Lung Disease, per CDC. – The Verge

“The illness seems to start out gradually with symptoms that include difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, and / or chest pain. Some cases also involve mild to moderate gastrointestinal illness, including vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. No one has died of the still-unnamed illness. The CDC and impacted states haven’t identified a cause, but in all reported cases, affected people had used vapes. In multiple cases, these people also said they had recently used tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing products. THC is found in marijuana, so it could be possible that people are vaping weed products.” Read the article. 

How Will the U.S. Tariffs on Chinese Imports Affect the LED Market? – rAVe Pubs

“The global LED videowall market achieved revenues of $5.7 billion last year, with year-on-year double digit growth expected out to 2023, according to a new worldwide industry report from Futuresource Consulting. As the U.S.-China trade war intensifies and political indications suggest a continuing period of punitive tariffs, Chinese companies are exploring ways to accelerate their expansion into Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.” Read the article.

Who Gets to Own Your Digital Identity? – TechCrunch

“Banking is one of the areas where the ability to verify one’s identity in a secure and compliant manner is a prerequisite to access basic services. Looking at the unbanked population of the world today, it is estimated that as many as 1.5 billion people lack access to everyday banking services due to their inability to prove their identity through a valid birth certificate, passport, proof of residency through utility bill or some other means to fulfill traditional KYC procedures.

In addition to accessing digital banking, most of us also have verified our identity through a plethora of services like Google, Facebook,  Blizzard and the list goes on, through various means of identity verification that make up an interlinked web of interdependencies, where one of your identities vouch for your eligibility to access another service.” Read the article.

OOH Ad Revenues Reach Post-Recession High After 7.7% Rise in Q2. – Marketing Dive

“A key factor in the growth of OOH is the adoption of digital signage, which brings a variety of advantages over static media placements. On top of different ad serving technology, including programmatic bidding capabilities, digital outdoor signage can adjust more dynamically based on elements like daypart, mobile location data and weather. 

These factors helped to make out-of-home ads one of the more powerful marketing tools for getting shoppers into physical stores, according to a recent study by brand intelligence firm Cuebiq. More companies are trying to capitalize on marketers' growing investments in leading-edge outdoor offerings.” Read the article.

Why You Should Pay Attention to AV as a Service. – Commercial Integrator

“Research for the 2019 CI State of the Industry report showed that more than one-quarter of survey respondents earn nothing from service and about 60% of those who took the survey bring in less than 5% of their overall revenue from service.

Only 4% of survey respondents say they generate more than one-third of their revenue from service and about 45% haven’t sold any managed services contracts. That’s a lot of the industry missing out on important recurring monthly revenue (RMR).

About half of the CI State of the Industry survey respondents say support is their biggest obstacle when it comes to launching a managed services arm to their businesses and about 20% said sales training is holding them back from adding such services.” Read the article.

Cinema Advertising Outpacing All Other Traditional Media. – DailyDOOH

“In Europe, advertisers spend 1.6 times more on cinema per admission than in the US. The UK leads the way, with spend per admission rising from £0.18 in 1980 to £1.43 last year, when 177m admissions were recorded – the highest on record. This despite 46% of UK consumers stating that Netflix is their first choice for watching movies, according to GlobalWebIndex.

China is the largest cinema ad market globally, with RMB11.9bn (US$1.8bn) expected to be spent this year. This equates to a 47.3% share of global cinema adspend when measured in Purchasing Power Parity terms. Further, China has accounted for three quarters (74.9%) of global growth in cinema adspend since 2015, on average, and is expected to contribute 87.4% towards global cinema growth this year. IHS figures suggest that the number of cinema screens in China increased by 9,303 in 2018 alone, or 26 per day on average.” Read the article.

The Fires in the Amazon Were Likely Set Intentionally. – The Quartz

“The Amazon rainforest is burning at an unprecedented rate, and the fires are unlikely starting themselves. Rather they may be set by people in an attempt to clear land for cattle ranching. Cattle ranching is responsible for as much as 80% of the ongoing deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. A significant portion of the global beef supply, including much of the UK’s corned beef supply, originates on land that was once Amazon rainforest and is now denuded.” Read the article.

How Asian Americans Use Kitchen Gardens To Reclaim Their Heritage. – HuffPost

“The way we eat is intrinsically linked to the way we define ourselves. Arriving in a new place, thrown into unfamiliar situations and faced with constant pressure to assimilate, members of Asian communities have had to learn to adapt quickly. Growing food we don’t often see in larger grocery chains and then cooking familiar dishes is a radical act of cultural preservation. One avid kitchen gardener, Fu Shing, decided to start growing his own backyard garden in 1993, three years after moving from Hong Kong into the home he purchased outside Houston. He started his garden for practical reasons: He wanted ‘to block the morning sun.’ He also made sure that he ‘planted only fruit trees because ... we can enjoy the fruits but also the fragrance of flowers before they bear fruit.’” Read the article. 

The Lasting Lesson of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. – The Atlantic

“Thirty years ago this week, on August 23, 1989, more than 2 million citizens of the Baltic republics of the U.S.S.R. engineered one of the most dramatic and successful mass protests in Soviet history. Men, women, and children linked hands in a continuous human chain more than 400 miles long that they called the “Baltic Way,” connecting the Estonian capital of Tallinn in the north with the Latvian capital of Riga in the center and the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in the south.” Read the article.

Brand Slam: 7Up vs Coca-Cola. – Campaign

“Soft-drinks brands go head to head, tempting consumers with music, football and TV-themed activations. 

7Up took over a London Routemaster bus to promote sugar-free variant 7Up Free as part of its wider global "Feels good to be you" campaign. The bus featured the work of urban knitter Magda Sayeg, with a woolly cover going over the bus from top to bottom. The bus travelled around London providing shoppers with samples of the drink. 

Coca-Cola Great Britain brought its partnership with the Premier League to life with a trophy tour, which kicked off in April. It offered fans the opportunity to have their photograph taken with the Premier League trophy and take part in football-themed experiences. The tour took place on a purpose-built double-decker bus kitted out with a stage and DJ booth, as well as a Fifa gaming floor.” Read the article.