Strands of Genius: Prime Day, Time To Turn Off Cookies, A New Way To Search

Guest curated by Darren Herman, Managing Director, Bain Capital & Chairman, Silicon Alley Sports

Aug 01, 2024

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, DARREN HERMAN ::

LOCATION: Boston, MA

Hi, I'm Darren Herman.

That opening might remind some of Faris, and it should—our paths crossed at the marketing agency KBS+ (fka kirshenbaum bond), where we were colleagues. These days, I've traded Varick Street for Clarendon Street, having spent the past eight years at Bain Capital. Although I've moved from Madison Avenue, my roots in marketing and advertising remain strong.

At Bain Capital, I have the privilege of working with dozens of portfolio companies around the world. My role involves driving growth and value creation. Whether through marketing, advertising, omnichannel experiences, innovation, or a variety of other strategies, I’m deeply engaged in helping these companies thrive.

Editor’s Note (Genius Steals): When I encountered Darren I was very impressed with his thinking, wisdom beyond my years, and that he is very nice. Already a succesful entrepreneur he not only founded the first agency trading desk (VMM) 15 years ago, he built on his deep understanding of advertising and and media and start-ups to go to Bain. He is always stimulating and yet somehow very calm (which I envy and admire) and I always find lots of things of value in his newsletter (sign up below). He is more engaged and connected to what’s going on that almost anyone I know. Thanks so much Darren for this excellent edition of Strands! Thank you so much for sharing your insights and experiences with us today. Hope to see you again somewhere, sometime.

:: THE LINKS ::

PRIME DAY

Amazon Prime Day Drives US Online Sales to Record $14.2 billion. U.S. shoppers spent a record $14.2 billion online during Amazon’s two-day Prime event, up 11% year over year, according to Adobe Analytics data. It's amazing to see Amazon continuing to drive growth; though much of the growth comes at a cost to its' suppliers as discounting is highly prevalent. The question that I'd raise is how profitable is Prime Day for it's suppliers and/or does Prime Day stimulate trial which eventually turns into profitable growth down the road for the suppliers who participate. (CNBC)

TIME TO TURN OFF COOKIES?

Having had a front row seat to the cookie debate for over a decade of my career, it was not a shocker to see Google backtrack on cookies; though it took them quite some time to make a formal announcement. Cookies are a lifeblood of how the internet transacts, today, and will eventually see this shift. With that said, Apple has done fairly well turning on privacy preserving agency for its users and Google will look to follow along. (WSJ)

A NEW WAY TO SEARCH

Search is the lifeblood of the internet and Google has long dominated that in the United States and much (not all) of the world. Perplexity was the new kid on the scene in recent year bringing AI-forward interfaces and experiences. OpenAI just announced SearchGPT which all eyes around the world will be on; and have to imagine Google and others are not taking them lightly. (Open AI)

Looking for more from Darren? Coming Friday, look for an interview from him in your inbox!

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Watching NBA basketball (Go Knicks) or playing tennis.

:: City :: New York.

:: Book :: Catcher in the Rye (JD Salinger) or Startup (Jerry Kaplan)

:: Podcast :: The Roommates Show with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.

:: Song :: Don't Look Back in Anger (Oasis)

:: THE OPERATING PARTNER ::

One of my passion projects is writing a newsletter, although it might not be as cool as what Faris and Rosie put together. Mine is called The Operating Partner. In it, I focus on my daily work activities such as value creation, investing, and similar topics, while also sprinkling in a bit of my New York Knicks fanaticism and other fun subjects. I use it as a testing ground to think in public and receive feedback from thousands of readers on a weekly basis. What began as a blog in 2004 has now evolved into this newsletter. You can check out past issues and sign up for free here.

Darren Herman
Opletter | Darren Herman | Silicon Alley

Strands of Genius is currently read by more than 15,000 subscribers. Support us by sponsoring an issue, encouraging friends or colleagues to subscribe.

It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius