The Mix Tape, Vol. 76

Welcome to this week’s Mix:

The power of indirect social proof
Apple’s potential disruption of the food industry
Systems over goals
Childhood obesity and lockdowns

A quick note: In the wake of COVID and lockdowns, I feel more compelled than ever to share ideas around health and fitness, particularly for those in Gen X and older.

You can expect more of that. And a continutation of ideas on writing, marketing, and wholly unnecessary classic rock references. Onward …

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The power of indirect social proof

“Social proof” is a critical component of any marketing messaging stack. Businesses create social proof using:

• Customer testimonials

• The personal credentials of the product creator

• A transformational story about the product creator

• Celebrity or authoritative endorsements

• Scientific studies

But social proof can also be indirect. And it’s nearly as powerful as it’s direct sibling.  

The ad above, seemingly a run-of-the-mill C-list celebrity endorsement for a weight-gain supplement, masterfully created indirect endorsements from Frank Sinatra, Warner Bros., pharmacists across the U.S., and more.

You can read my ad breakdown to see how Wate-On turned a C-list endorsement into mounds of social proof here.

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Big Food’s day of reckoning

Apple may be about to disrupt the food industry, in an awesome way:

The Apple Watch Series 7 will reportedly feature blood glucose monitoring via an optical sensor

[…]

Normally, measuring blood glucose requires testing a drop of blood in a blood sugar meter or using an implanted continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

Once people have instant feedback on how processed foods impact blood glucose—and why that is awful for our health—it could change the way America eats.

I sure hope so.

Good luck to fake “health food” maunfacters like Oatley.

Good luck to cereal manufacturers.

Good luck to fast food.

Good luck, Coca-Cola.

Blood glucose spikes cause the body to release insulin to compensate. Over time, we can become resistant to that insulin, which can cause Type-2 diabetes.

Insulin resistance is linked to all kinds of negative health conditions, like heart disease, excess weight, inflammation, cancer, etc.

If you’re interested in learning more about blood glucose and insulin resistance, here’s a great discussion.

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Systems over goals

David Perell, on Amazon’s algorithm:

This is the best description of Amazon I've seen, from Stedi CEO Zack Kanter:

"Amazon is a perpetual motion machine. The company doesn’t have to rely on willpower to get things done. 

Instead, as a platform, it has internal compounding loops that keep the business moving. Amazon works by seeding new business ventures, discovering what works, and amplifying the highest leverage experiments. It’s evolution in real life. 

And as a result the company doesn’t rely on willpower or any single individual."

Goals are great. But a systemized approach is required to get there. True for companies and people. Any endeavor with compounding returns requires a system to sustain itself.

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Lockdowns driving up childhood obesity

A worsening trend—childhood obesity—accelerated due to school lockdowns:

Angela Goepferd, a pediatrician at Children’s Minnesota, a hospital in Minneapolis, says children at her outpatient clinic frequently weigh 10 or 20 pounds more than they did in March. Lisa Denike, the chief of pediatrics at Northwest Permanente in Portland, Oregon, estimates that one-third of her patients have become overweight or obese over the same period.

There are lots of reasons why. Remote learning can lead to a more sedentary lifestyle. Many lower income kids eat worse at home than at school. Gym class and school sports disappeared.

Closing schools and cancelling youth sports programs has had a catastrophic impact on kids’ physical and mental heath. Just last week, Las Vegas schools reopened in response to a rash of youth suicides.

We ignored the second order effects of lockdowns.

And we failed our kids.

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Thank you for reading and sharing.

Please hit reply if you have questions, comments, or open rebuttals. (Or just want to say hi.)