WATCHTIME

5 New Rules of Etiquette for Your New Normal World

September 02, 2020 Aleksandra King, Elliott King, MintTwist Season 3 Episode 1
WATCHTIME
5 New Rules of Etiquette for Your New Normal World
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

What are the new normal etiquette rules that will govern our post-lockdown society?

What are Google doing about the Digital Services tax being imposed on them by UK and European Governments?

Is it true that Apple is worth more than all of the FTSE 100 combined? (hint: Yes).

The WATCHTIME Show is hosted by Aleksandra King and Elliott King, produced and sponsored by Digital Agency, MintTwist.

Aleksandra King (00:03):
The WATCHTIME Show sponsored by digital agency MintTwist.

Elliott King (00:13):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the watch time series. My name is Elliot King.

New Speaker (00:17):
And I'm Alexandra King.

New Speaker (00:18):
This show is brought to you by MintTwist the digital agency, check us out at minttwist.com.

Aleksandra King (00:23):
Okay. So we're back with another episode of watch time. And as we're both very analytical, he's on he's into all the techie stuff and I'm into knowing what the numbers say, number crunching. We found actually that the format where we discuss the latest news and trends and all that works by far the best, and it's what people want. So we are going to give the people what the people want. Is that right?

Elliott King (00:48):
That's right. That's the way to do it.

Aleksandra King (00:50):
So kicking off, what do you have?

Elliott King (00:54):
I've got a bunch of, of new stories that are relevant to the digital marketing communications industry. And I, and as you know, I like my digital stuff, so there's, there's a bunch of business news output. One, one of them that's I want to start with is Google is set to pass on the cost of European digital taxes. So as a lot of people will, will know Google. And a lot of the other big tech companies are sometimes accused by European governments and governments around the world of avoiding taxes. Legally, you know, we hasten to add, and it, and as a result of that, the UK government, along with some other European governments have proposed an additional fixed 2% tax charge that they are going to place on Google and the other. And that's referred to as the digital services tax, this came into place last April and Google are passing that levy on directly to advertisers. Okay. So how do you feel about that? Well, so MintTwist, the digital agency has been written to by Google and that Google have said they will be adding a fixed 2% charge onto all advertising bills that they send us. So essentially they're saying to us, we have to pass it on to our customers who are advertising

Aleksandra King (02:16):
As if advertisers don't have a hard enough time already with COVID and everything else to be slept with an extra 2% in bills! I feel so sorry for all the companies out there that have to bear the brunt of this tax when Google should just absorb it.

Elliott King (02:30):
Well, I feel sorry for the advertisers, but I also feel sorry for the agencies, because so often we, the agencies are the middlemen in this, in this scenario having to be the bearer of bad news,

Aleksandra King (02:43):
But it's not just you, it's all your competitors as well. And everyone else

Elliott King (02:46):
It's a bit annoying, but you know, apparently it was inevitable that Google were going to pass on this tax Google's argument is that airlines, which have green levy taxes and airport taxes pass taxes directly onto customers. And they're just doing the same.

Aleksandra King (03:02):
Okay. Can we pause? Are we live?

Elliott King (03:05):
No. We're live. :) ... So let's continue.

Aleksandra King (03:09):
I was going to tell you, don't forget to look at the camera.

Elliott King (03:11):
Okay. I'll keep looking at the camera.

Aleksandra King (03:13):
I think I always forget ... Let's move on to something a little bit more lighthearted from the times. So let's see if you can actually see that. Are we allowed to hug again? All we don't think we are .... Well, WE are, but I mean, I wouldn't go out there and hug someone. I don't know. I haven't touched anyone else in such a long time. Like literally!

Elliott King (03:38):
The two metre rules turned into the 'one metre plus' rule, but I'm pretty sure it's still there.

Aleksandra King (03:43):
Right. So we're not allowed. So why it's Oh, okay. Well it says here, go ahead and hug, but do not post a picture about it. I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure. And then it says also the, the new norms. So face masks, apparently wearing a face mask is in, but what's out is wearing a face mask, but leaving your nose uncovered. Or actually I noticed my teenager doing that when we were flying recently to Poland and she just wore her mask up today and people were giving her the evil eye and I was thinking, what is it? And then I quickly told it to put it up. And everyone was like,

Elliott King (04:24):
Well, it's a no, no, isn't it. You're not, not doing it properly. If you don't cover the yeah.

Aleksandra King (04:28):
Also in is a cotton face mask. Not one of those. Yeah. Fancy cotton, one little pictures and things. Yeah.

Elliott King (04:36):
So is that cool because it's more stylish.

Aleksandra King (04:39):
I think it's well, you know, for all of those, I'm speaking for the ladies that care about their skin and do all the skin care. You don't want anything plasticky and toxic on your face and like soft cotton marks. You can wash it and it's gentle on the skin. And also you can look stylish and Metro patterns to your outfit. No,

Elliott King (04:56):
That's all right. I think there's going to be a whole host of stylish mosques coming.

Aleksandra King (05:01):
Right. And what do you do at the school run at the school gate? What's the conversation going to look like? How's it going back tomorrow? So I'm interested in this one, but apparently what's in is making a point of stating that your child's safety is more important than the education. And what's out is not mentioning that they'd been doing 40 hours of private tuition over zoom each week. Right.

Elliott King (05:27):
So what do you think, do you think parents have been secretly tutoring deck?

Aleksandra King (05:32):
I can tell you in our area, parents have been secretly tutoring their kids big time and they will never tell you, but we know, we know you have.

Elliott King (05:44):
So why are, why are parents so competitive about the ability of their kids? You know,

Aleksandra King (05:50):
Not all parents, but these are yours. These are your sweetie pies, you know? And there they are reflection on you where you come from your whole family. So, you know, it's important, it's your babies. So you want them to do really well. And I think when it comes to competition, once you have kids, it is all about the kids. So yeah, unfortunately the kids become little tools in it.

Elliott King (06:09):
So secret tutoring has been a thing then hundred percent. What else, what else is there?

Aleksandra King (06:15):
Well, you're going back into London. You're going back into London. So what's in, is going to the pub after work and then boasting about how you are propping up the economy.

Elliott King (06:27):
It's a great excuse to visit the pub. Isn't it

Aleksandra King (06:30):
Do not touch any glosses bottles, seats or tables while you're up there, because that is a definite no, no.

Elliott King (06:39):
Right. It's kind of a known name in general. You kind of avoid overly touching anything when you're out and about in public. I guess it's common sense.

Aleksandra King (06:47):
I mean, I've, I've always been the sort of person that is, you know, I dunno, ultra ultra hygienic. I've never touched the rails in the tube or anything like that. So this kind of is like my life, but I I've sort of been enjoying the fact that everything is disinfected and people are using all these hand sanitizers and things, but it can get a bit much concert.

Elliott King (07:07):
Well, you were mentioning the other day, you were quite happy with the new normal, because it's,

Aleksandra King (07:13):
I know, but it's, it's just going to feed into the ones that are already a bit paranoid. It's going to make them like really hyper paranoid. I think we need to. Yeah. Which is why the hugging, the next time you hug someone will be like, want it.

Elliott King (07:27):
It's strange. I find myself sort of brushing up against someone in the seat pocket accidentally. I accidentally pushed up against someone as I was stepping back from the apples. And it was like, I almost jumped up. It's it's a bizarre thing. Isn't it lovely. It is on record. So any more etiquettes or can we return to, what have you got? So there's just some more technology in use. So Tesla has the owner of Tesla, Elon Musk is selling $5 billion worth of his own shares in the company. And the reason he's doing that is because the value of the company has increased by six fold in just the last nine months alone. That doesn't surprise me. Why, how did you know? I don't know. I don't want to get too technical, but the valuation of Tesla as a company is 300 times the value of their annual earnings. What's normal for a company that's publicly traded is for it to be 27 times the value of that annual earnings. So by some measure, it's overvalued overvalued by a factor of 10 and so rightfully valued. I mean, it, it, you have to believe that the future of electric cars is so huge that it justifies the current value. I mean, what do you think

Aleksandra King (09:00):
Is the future of electric cars, Tesla, or is the future of electric cars, BMW that are electric Mercedes electric range Rover electric. I'm not sure. That's actually quite a, quite a good question. Yeah. I mean, we've, we've recently tried to buy a car, so we've test driven lots and the best customer experience by a mile that we've had. And I have to be honest and say it was Tesla.

Elliott King (09:22):
Yeah. Do you agree with that? I think Tesla, Tesla, as a company, when they're competing suddenly with other car companies are just completely different in their culture and approach the sales experience that you had was yes,

Aleksandra King (09:35):
The sales experience we had was young was fresh or so non-sales sales. So information driven, so relaxing, I have to say the worst and I am going to say this and on record, you know, which one, my worst one was D

Elliott King (09:50):
I think, I think I can guess

Aleksandra King (09:52):
BMW and I I'm so sad to say that because you had a BMW and I love BMW and all that, but the lady at BMW was so rude and snobby to us because we walked in there with our children from just off to taking a dog for a really muddy run. And, you know, we didn't look particularly parsh and she thought we were just there, you know, judging us by the way we look that we were there just to mess around and sit in their car. And I don't know what play and her tone and her just her whole attitude just wanted to get rid of us was thinking that we're time-wasters. And then, you know, when we started saying, well, actually, yeah, we're really serious. And then suddenly the sucking up and the, Of course I'll get the key and all that. And I thought, right, that's too late. That is too late.

Elliott King (10:43):
First impressions count. I mean, we digressed slightly, but it's relevant to the site. The experience we had with sales people varied quite a lot. And, but most were pretty poor experiences.

Aleksandra King (10:57):
Yeah. They went great. Tesla was good. Young guys informative, you know, very chilled art experience. It didn't make you feel like awkward. They didn't judge you. We still walked in and flip flops, you know, a messy hair, no problem. Treat everyone equally BMW, not so much. There's a snob factor. You have to come in or like he dressed up and everything. Sorry. I'm not always going to be dressed up

Elliott King (11:19):
As a sales person as anything, particularly if you're selling a high value item, like a car, I just think it's really important that you give the consumers, the customers, you know, the space they need you, you're there to ask if you're there to provide information, you're, you're there to help out. Yeah.

Aleksandra King (11:40):
And don't judge a person by the way they look, how do you know? And even if they were poor, still don't treat them like that. No one deserves to be treated badly because of the way they look. I mean, no one is just such a basic that's right. What else have you got?

Elliott King (11:57):
So it's more technology new. So Apple actually a couple of weeks ago became a $2 trillion valued company. You know, it's the most valuable company traded company in the entire,

Aleksandra King (12:14):
I wonder what Steve jobs would say about that.

Elliott King (12:16):
Steve jobs in shore would be very proud of his, you know, his baby, but the Valley of the Apple business alone is worth the entire combined value of the footsie 100. So this is the 150 largest companies in the UK. The entire value of all of them combined is lower than, than Apple. And so it's, it's really a reflection of the, of particularly in this year, the growth of technology companies has just, it's just completely left traditional old fashioned companies, banks, industrial companies, oil companies, they're just being left behind by these high growth States.

Aleksandra King (12:57):
Let's hope that these high growth tech businesses keep growing in a stable fashion because what they do like doing tech boom is going up and then come crashing down. Whereas the oils and the golds, they're just quietly turned on out, add water to that and land.

Elliott King (13:13):
Yeah. They can arguably arguably safe. Do you know the other tech company that's growing incredibly quickly gone? Which one? Zoom, zoom, zoom, and amazing results just the other day. And their share prices has hit a new as hits a new high. And that company is very incredibly quickly as well. Do you want to know a little in and out? Yes, please.

Aleksandra King (13:38):
Right in zoom, sticking to audio only as a power move method.

Elliott King (13:45):
Ah, audio only. So you don't show the video.

Aleksandra King (13:49):
No. So that means we're out, out indulging in 39 minutes of mindless talk before trying to cram in all the big stuff into the final 60 seconds.

Elliott King (14:02):
Wow. So is that so that that's so zoom calls out is the informal small talk. Yes. And in audio

Aleksandra King (14:12):
Only, although I have to say, I am going to disagree on that. I love video. I love it. I think audio is all right. When you're running, you can put the little headphones, listen to a podcast, but it's so nice seeing someone's face. I dunno.

Elliott King (14:24):
I think if it, if we're talking about a meeting, we're trying to replicate a face to face meeting and having the [inaudible].

Aleksandra King (14:30):
I definitely do. Yeah. I just think I've never been a fan of telephone calls anyway, you can't really get your message across it's quite tricky texts, terrible and email the worst, I think. Yeah. Emails only a summary. That's it?

Elliott King (14:44):
What do you think about zoom? Video calls versus face to face is other video calls going to, going to fully replace face to face meetings? What do you think?

Aleksandra King (14:55):
Never, ever, never because a person's atmosphere in the room, even their smell, you suck consciously smelling them, their pheromones that they give up. It's true. Their pheromones, their atmosphere, their everything. When you're in the, in a room with someone that is that you will never, ever replace that with a video. Never.

Elliott King (15:17):
Okay. Well, on that note, I hope you've enjoyed this this show.

Aleksandra King (15:23):
Thank you for joining us. And if you think this, this, a new format that we have going through headlines is working and you like it, then please send us a comment and let us know. Or if you have any other ideas and you'd like us to chat about some other things equally, let us know.

Elliott King (15:39):
Please do. And of course, remember if you do like the show and you think there's someone else you might like it to remember to share it with them, they'll be happy when they, and don't forget to have a nice day. Bye bye.

Aleksandra King (15:50):
Thank you for listening to the WATCHTIME podcast brought to you by digital agency MintTwist.

Google and the Digital Services Tax in the UK
Post Covid Social Etiquette
Elon Musk Sells $5B in Tesla Shares
Apple is valued at $2 Trillion