What You Need to Know Today: January 11
Good afternoon, Early Risers!
Here’s what you need to know
TECH
Swipe Yes/No music discovery. “The dark ages are over. No more algorithms. No more divine curators. Music is personal again. You are back in control.” There’s a new music discovery app that’s taking Tinder’s swipe yes/no interface and helping you curate new Spotify playlists. Here is what using the Enso app is like.
Uber’s biggest fear should not be Lyft or the government. “The biggest threat to dominant tech companies is innovation on the horizon,” says Fortune. This is how Google and Apple beat Microsoft.
CAREER
How to get 2.3 million app downloads without spending a cent on marketing. You’ve probably heard of the 7-Minute Workout. It was popularized by The New York Times back in 2013. After seeing the popularity of the workout, Stuart Hall decided to take a Ready. Fire. Aim. approach and turn this workout into an app. He built the app in 6 hours (version 1.0) and 6 days later had it up on the iTunes app store. Before building the app, Stuart had to Google search what a Plank was… Since launching version 1.0 of the 7-Minute Workout app, Stuart has made over $72,000 in profit from the app, had over 2.3 million app downloads, and just recently sold his app to a larger tech-wearables company. Here’s how Stuart accomplished all this in so little time.
Millennial side gig. “What if user-generated content platforms paid their creators? That’s the premise behind Slant News, which is attracting millennial writers by giving them 70% of the advertising revenue they generate,” says AdExchanger. Writers are being paid $40- $50 for a good story. But here’s the catch, “Every writer on Slant is a salesman of his own creation,” says editorial director Amanda Gutterman. “Writers learn how to utilize their own social networks to distribute the content… Sometimes the largest distribution comes not from us but the writer,” says Gutterman. If you’re a millennial who knows how to sell and have a large social network, this could be a good opportunity to make some extra cash.
No BS approach to producing elite work. This is a must read for any professional looking to excel this year.
+ How to have the #PerfectYear. Formula revealed.
LIFESTYLE
Mad Men leadership toolkit. Keith Reinhard is a real-life Mad Man. He’s the brains behind McDonald’s, “You Deserve a Break Today” and State Farm’s “Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm Is There,” ad campaigns. He recently published a video detailing all the tools (metaphorically) he uses to lead his creative team. You can read the video transcript here.
“I want to do this monologue, and then go into hiding. Okay. Not even Sean Penn will find me.” Last night, Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes. As everyone waited on pins and needles to find out who Gervais was going to lampoon first, Sean Penn got the first laugh. Saturday Sean Penn shocked the world with an exclusive interview with the escaped Mexican drug lord El Chapo. Here’s the most exclusive interview in 2016.
#NOWYOUKNOW
David Bowie: A Creative Life Remembered
By AdAge.com
Yesterday, we lost one of our most influential musical legends with the passing of David Bowie, who, at the age of 69 years succumbed to cancer, as reported on his social media accounts. On Facebook, the statement noted, “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”
He did not go quietly, and has received a plethora of accolades from publications including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Guardian and the L.A. Times for his most recent album, “Blackstar,” described as his first jazz collection.
While we have yet to savor his latest work, here, we take a look back at how his creative spirit and music inspired many worlds, including advertising. Read more.
Did you like today’s Daily Brief? Share it with a friend. Hit Forward on this email and tell your friends about us. We’d greatly appreciate it 🙂
Did your friend just take our advice? Get your own copy of The Daily Brief sent straight to your inbox every weekday. Click here.
Are you enjoying The Daily Brief? Drop us a line telling us what you like and want more of at daily@earlytorise.com.
Check out what you missed in the last Daily Brief here.