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Gucci’s $10,000 Virtual Dress, the Return of the NFL and the Entertaining Future of Fundraising | Non-Obvious Insights #234
Dear Newsletterest,

It is the start of a new season, and I'm grateful for dedicated teachers (as both of our boys restart school) and nostalgic content. This weekend I'll be watching the cast reunion table read of The Princess Bride. Yesterday I watched a 25th anniversary reunion panel of the cast of Star Trek Voyager. And today the NFL starts again. Aside from the entertainment, though, stories this week ranged from the strange (Gucci's virtual dress) to the profound (what happens to entertainment in a world without live audiences?). There are lots of interesting stories to share this week so let's get started!

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Want to See the Future of Fundraising? As You Wish. 
At the start of the pandemic, one of the bright spots that helped many of us cope was watching gifted creators share original content on YouTube. Whether inspired by optimism or boredom, these short bursts of creativity quickly turned into powerful fundraising tools. Now the fundraising is getting political. On September 13th, the entire cast of the cult classic film The Princess Bride are gathering for a table read and all proceeds will support the Wisconsin Democratic Party. It's a bold move, but as the US Presidential election comes closer, it looks like the future of political fundraising is going to be a lot more entertaining. If it works, it will quickly become a template that non-profits, higher education and just about anyone else who needs to raise money will try to duplicate.  
 
5 Reasons The Return of NFL Football This Week Is A Big Deal 
The NFL is probably the most popular sport in America and the new season starts today. Despite mostly empty stadiums (except the ones in Ohio and Florida), the pent up demand for ANY live entertainment and the popularity of the sport seem poised to drive some record profits this year for the league and team owners ... if the entire season happens, of course. To further break down the excitement, I wrote a longer article this week on why the return of the NFL is such a big deal. Read the full article here >>
 
Microsoft Launches Analyzer Tool To Help Spot Manipulated Videos + Photos
Most deep fake videos and photos can be analyzed by experts and eventually authenticated as real or fake. The problem is, doing this after a video ciip or image goes viral is too late. The damage has already been done. Instead, we need a way to assess this content in real time, which is exactly what Microsoft's latest innovation might help us do. If it works, this will become a critical tool in our collective fight to prevent manipulated media from influencing our beliefs or actions, and will help us to make the world a lot more trustworthy in the process. 
How To Take Media Back From The Algorithms: Trust Editors Instead
"Algorithms that tell us which topics are trending don’t merely reflect trends; they can also help create them. In winnowing out the slightly obscure or difficult, algorithms ensure it can never be popular." - Russell Smith

In this thoughtful article, journalist Russell Smith warns of a world where algorithms increasingly make our editorial decisions for us. Netflix offers a "Top Ten" every week that always seems to include a heavy dose of their own original programming. Social media platforms predict what we may enjoy. Both try to make discovery easier, but also have the worrying side effect of burying the content they don't recommend.The solution to the problem seems clear: put the task of recommendation back into the hands of human editors. Of course, that's getting harder and harder to do. 
 
Gucci's Vision for the Future of Luxury Fashion: A $10,000 Virtual Dress
Are you frustrated by all of your extra money and looking for a way to spend it unnecessarily? Gucci has a solution for you, in the form of a $10,000 virtual dress that you can buy for your next Zoom meeting or to dress up your avatar. Joking aside, this may become a more popular strategy specifically among desperate luxury fashion retailers who are struggling to maintain their relevance in our increasingly virtual lives.
 
What Happens To Live Entertainment In A World Without Live Audiences?
"The pretense of the crowd always provided the true audience a bit of cover; we could vicariously ride its emotions, feeding off its energy, absorbing its delight and its outrage, even as we sat quietly alone at home. But now we are directly implicated in the show itself." - Amanda Hess

As the Fall season of sports and entertainment starts, a NY Times article this weekend posed the question of what happens to the communal experience in a world without live audiences? For theater and sports, the audience adds something important and magical. Those experiences mostly aren't the same without the live audience to experience it with you. 

Reading this article, though, I couldn't help but disagree when it comes to music. The truth is, since the pandemic, I enjoyed listening to live music MUCH more. I never enjoyed being around other people when listening to music. For me, they are a distraction that the pandemic has allowed me to leave behind. Now I can watch videos of artists that I love (and new ones I discover every week) performing in what seems like a private show. That feels magical to me. 
 
Book Release of the Week:
Book Review:

If you are reading this for a short burst of the signature comedic wit that Cleese is known for, you will be disappointed. This isn't your typical celebrity memoir from perhaps one of the funniest humans on the planet. Instead, it's a short and practical guide to developing your own creative mindset and then actually using it to create something brilliant. I am already certain that several of his insights will help me be more creative when writing my next book. For me, this is reason enough to pick up and read this delightfully useful book.

Buy on Bookshop >>
Watch the Non-Obvious Insights Show - Episode #234 Today at Noon!
If you want to dig further into these stories, join me on YouTube or LinkedIn (New!) for another edition of the Non-Obvious Insights Show at noon EST today (Thursday, September 10).

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How are these stories curated?
Every week I go through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Your attention is important to me and I always do my best to share only "non-obvious" ideas with you to help you be more interesting. 

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