It’s been a really long time since I haven’t published one of these “My Favorites of…” blog posts, right? Well, when starting a new position, you need to be 100% dedicated and settle in your job, which is what I have been doing since my last post here.

Yet if you follow me on Twitter, you’ve noticed that I have been actively reading and watching stuff anyway. Here’s a digest of what inspired me most since the beginning of July.

At Ogury we’re all-in on privacy and transparency. We believe that consumers want to make an informed choice about the collection & usage of their data, and our entire offering is built around that logic. The walled gardens are also starting to understand that, and they build an increasing number of features to ensure people are informed about the way their data is handled.

I think it’s a move in the right direction, even if Buzzfeed says in its article about Facebook that “looking at it may end up just making you feel worse about how your data is passed around by third-party data brokers […] like Halloween candy.” Consumers have been lied to for years when it comes to digital marketing, so now it’s time for an awakening. Even at Halloween.

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In this short documentary from 2016, mobile security communications firm Silent Circle and The Guardian commissioned the psychologist and journalist Aleks Krotoski to explore the challenges of digital privacy in the 21st century. A great video! I watched it as part of my Ogury immersion.

Curious about this collaboration and how it tied into their marketing strategy, I only found an article with commonplace quotes from the CMO, as well as this page which mentions Silent Circle’s Blackphone, “the world’s most secure smartphone.” Turns out that later that year, the company had major financial difficulties. You can still buy it today, but I guess with Apple’s move towards privacy, they’ll face even stiffer competition…

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Now this is 100% branded content, from pro cycling team EF (sponsored by Education First, the education company) and cycling apparel brand Rapha. Like the above, it’s just half-an-hour long, and like the above, it’s a great piece of video.

Alternative racing is a trend in cycling at the moment, and this short documentary will take you right into the heart of it! An interview of the Australian athlete, who’s also winning pro races but doesn’t enjoy it as much, can also be found on Rouleur.

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This is an interview of Rapha’s – mentioned above, “the world’s coolest cycling brand” as the intro says – Marketing Director James Fairbank, who has been within the company for 8 years and has not only seen its ascent to cult brand, but actually overseen much of it.

A great (short) read about internal culture and good content. It’s a shame it doesn’t go deeper into the specifics of the marketing aspect (budgets, sponsorship, innovation, design…), which would make it useful for professionals like me.

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I’m not a minimalist, but I like to keep things simple and organized. I also believe that minimalism has the virtue of making us realize that we ought to make the most out of our time and money.

I liked watching this documentary about minimalists across the US who explain their way of life. It’s certainly based on a very Western worldview, but it’s based on a universal human truth: people want to be free and unhindered to enjoy their lives.

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My brilliant brother shared this with me: a short and stunning video, part of the “The Atlantic Selects” series, an online showcase of short documentaries from independent creators curated by The Atlantic.

It’s a beautiful contemplation about the sense of endurance efforts: “I have to do it. My body needs it, or my soul, or my mind. It’s something almost magical” says the Faroe Islands native, son of a shepherd on an island where there are more sheep than people. Take the 8 minutes to watch it!

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Timberland is trying to become like Patagonia, Veja, Faguo and the likes. That’s how I interpret this news about the brand’s announcement of committing to planting 50 million trees by 2025 as part of the “Nature Needs Heroes” campaign, covered by Marketing Week in September.

Of course, it’s opportunistic, but I think it’s perfectly legitimate for brands to “use” sustainability in a way to boost brand awareness or improve perception. As long as the effort is real, honest and long-term, I think that it can only benefit any brand’s equity! I hope that there will be a time where any company that does NOT act sustainably is doomed to disappear.

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This is another Netflix documentary, and as its title says, it’s about the perception that modern medicine – based on science – may not be the only cure for all of our problems. I am very cautious when I saw the “spiritual leaders” words in the synopsis, but the testimonials are actually really interesting.

Seeing the modern, science-based traditional medicine as the only source of health tends to make us forget that we have a lot of other, complementary healing methods, from prevention to meditation or visualization. I have never really tested alternative medicine myself, but since I read Eat & Run, I remember Hippocrates: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

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Thanks for reading!