Author Archives: Chris Broussard

In yet another example of “Revenge of the Nerds”, the gamers of the world are starting to see a payoff for the thousands of hours spent playing video games. While still rare, the world of eSports is gaining enough momentum that the so-called “real sports” teams are seeing how they can get involved by actually signing “players” to contracts.

From a thematic investing perspective, the clear connection around this is the Connected Society thematic. But where we’ve placed many of the gaming companies are in the Content is King thematic because after all, even though the internet and the ability to connect online with other players is required, these games are taking share of wallet from cable companies, movies, and other entertainment outlets.

Sure, the professional sports leagues and gaming industry have been intertwined for decades. But when professional sports teams are starting to recruit and sign the actual players of the games to professional contracts, then that’s when this kind of development from our perspective moves into the mainstream and becomes an investible idea.

eSports is an umbrella term for competitive video-gaming, an industry that has mushroomed thanks to the spread of high-speed internet and the development of streaming platforms, such as Twitch.tv. . . .

Football clubs are exploring the opportunities of eSports in two ways.

Source: The Economist explains: Why sports teams are recruiting video gamers | The Economist

This article in the Wall Street Journal talks about the new mall, one driven by our need and desire for an experience, even when shopping. It’s no longer about price or selection when you head the mall, it’s about the experience when you’re there. In our thematic world, this is an extension of the Content is King thematic that shows those experiences that engage us a consumers we will pay for.

After all, with literally everything you need at the push a button thanks to Amazon Prime and other online retailers, it takes more to get us off the couch and trek over and search for a marketing space than a 50% off coupon at Macy’s.

Landlords are nudging out the once-coveted big box chains in favor of sporting-goods retailers, fast-fashion chains, supermarkets, gyms, restaurants, movies theaters and other types of entertainment as they seek to keep their properties relevant in an age increasingly dominated by online shopping.

Source: Mall Owners Push Out Department Stores – WSJ

We all want more and more of the comforts of home when we’re in the skies, including the ability to connect with work and friends, or continue to consume content at blistering paces — drivers of our Content is King and Connected Society thematics . Unfortunately, those connections in today’s world can also be an open door for those up to no good — best case unleashing viruses and hacks into our devices, or worst used to actually harm the plane.  The airline industry is responding to this Safety & Security thematic playing out in the skies:

As aircrafts become ‘smarter’ and more connected, the chances of them being hacked increases, so it’s right that IT bosses are focusing on cybersecurity.

Source: Security the Winner as Airlines Plan Big Investments – Infosecurity Magazine

The realities of the Connected Society and Content is King thematics are that consumers are ignoring the ads that are essentially funding the content they are consuming on their phones, tablets, laptops and TV’s around the world.  As made famous in the 1976 movie All the President’s Men, when you really want to know what’s going on “Follow the Money”:

As the global marketing industry gathers on the French Riviera for the Cannes advertising festival this week, there is an awareness that grabbing consumers’ attention is getting harder and more frustrating across nearly all types of media. People are avoiding print ads, skipping through TV ads and cutting cable subscriptions. Reaching them online is getting tougher, too, between the rising use of ad blockers and the many scams in which fake, computer-generated web traffic lures in ad dollars.

As a result, companies are rewriting their marketing playbooks. Some are blurring the line between advertising and content, in the hopes of passing through the filter of what consumers actually see and read. Others are diving deeper into data and location targeting on the theory that consumers will embrace ads that they find relevant.

Source: Advertisers Try New Tactics to Break Through to Consumers – WSJ

At over 6,000 words, this piece by Joe Nocera of the New York Times isn’t a quick read . . . but it’s worth taking the time!  The Content is King thematic we use at Tematica focuses on the epic battle being fought from all angles — from Disney (DIS) to Netflix (NFLX) to Amazon Prime (AMZN) and dozens of others — each hoping to grasp a moment of our attention in our hyper-stimulated world. Throughout this article you get a sense of just what’s at stake and who the players are:

Just because Netflix had essentially created this new world of internet TV was no guarantee that it could continue to dominate it. Hulu, a streaming service jointly owned by 21st Century Fox, Disney and NBC Universal, had become more assertive in licensing and developing shows, vying with Netflix for deals. And there was other competition as well: small companies like Vimeo and giants like Amazon, an aggressive buyer of original series. Even the networks, which long considered Netflix an ally, had begun to fight back by developing their own streaming apps.

Source: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created? – The New York Times

We’ve written a lot about how the Content is King and Connected Society thematics are creating the drive towards an experience-driven economy. Consumers are moving away from the American shopping mall to entertainment centers, while buying the stuff they need online through the Amazon’s of the world and the like. This article from the Wall Street Journal shows that the same phenomenon is starting to appear at the most local of all shopping experiences, the local grocery store.

Under growing pressure from discounters and online rivals, some grocery stores are offering Zumba classes or peppermint foot scrubs to transform themselves into places where customers might want to hang out rather than just grabbing groceries and heading home.

Source: Attention Shoppers: Yoga in Aisle 3 – WSJ