7% of You May Own a Mouse Jiggler

Garrett King

Jul 5, 2024 — 6 min read

Welcome to Friday Business #3. Hope everybody in the US had a lovely holiday, let's get to the headlines.

🗂️1/ Headline Roundup:

The Jiggle Is Up: Bosses Bust Workers Who Fake Computer Activity

The basics:

It''s not new news that as a result of how much remote work has grown, employees are in front of their peers and leaders less.
Companies are putting in greater effort to spot, and crack down on, employees using tools to pretend they're working remotely when they're not at their computers. In a recent regulatory filing from Wells Fargo, the bank said it had fired more than a dozen employees in its wealth and investment management unit for allegedly simulating keyboard activity to create the “impression of active work.”
A tool called a Mouse Jiggler appears to be one way to do it: You can get one for around twenty bucks on Amazon, and they claim to be "undetectable."
Teramind, one of the companies that makes software to track employee productivity, examined an anonymized sample of 1,000,000 workers last year, and estimated that 7% of employees appeared to be faking work activity on their machines.

My two cents: First, picture if you will, being a person that's typing “Can IT detect my mouse jiggler?”into Reddit. What a time to be alive. Ultimately, my feelings are mixed on this one. Initially, I think it's a real bummer to think that 7% of employees could be actively doing this. Just doesn't sit right. But I recognize that every job is different, every person is different, and there are some really terrible jobs out there. Ultimately, it's a no for me, dawg.

Axios: Gen Z, millennials' spending habits fuel dependence on 'Bank of Mom and Dad'

The basics:

One third of millennials and 60%+ of Gen Z consumers say they rely on their parents for at least some financial support.
Why? The number one reason for reliance on parents is "overspending on non-essentials."
Good for retail, bad for savings accounts: more than half agree it's better to treat themselves now rather than hold off for a future "that feels like it could change at any moment."

My two cents: I am a two-marshmallow guy by nature, but I'm really trying to live less in the future and more in the present. So this, this is scary. What really catches my eye here is the last bullet. Nihilism is a big word to throw around, but the perspective that "let's buy this ticket to Ibiza right now, YOLO" feels a little bit like that. On one hand, I applaud and appreciate the ability to live in the present, to recognize that you can't just put life off forever. But on the other hand, it feels so risky for so many young people. It's hard, like really hard, to get to economic security, I'm chasing it every day and have been for nearly fifteen years. What happens when big swaths of a couple generations just decide "no"? Fascinating.

💵 2/ Cheap Strategy

Each week, I'll write up a short business strategy recommendation for a firm, brand, or startup I've got no connection to and very little experience with. I'll make two promises each time - it'll cost them nothing and may be worth the same.

✈️ This week: We're looking at a big change in the carbonated beverage category, as Dr. Pepper has tied Pepsi as America's No. 2 soda, and two ideas on how they might accelerate their growth.

📝Background:

Check this trend chart out. Two big things I see here. First off, yes, Dr. Pepper has steadily eked out a bit of market share most years since the 90's. But the more surprising thing is that that blue Pepsi line - it's been in steady decline for decades.
Part of the reason Dr. Pepper has been able to gain this ground is a Switzerland approach to soda fountains: They have alliances with both Coke and Pepsi, so it's perfectly normal to see them alongside either at a Taco Bell, McDonalds, 7-Eleven, whatever. Neither Coke nor Pepsi will give the other no such freedom.
They continue to get viral hits: Bizarre concoctions on TikTok like a Dr. Pepper with pickles in it, or one with coconut cream, give the brand some "I gotta try that" cache.

@drpepper
shoutout to @Mississippi Memaw for the inspo 🥒🥤
♬ original sound - Dr Pepper

My recommendation:

Sparkling: The hard seltzer category is no longer seeing the rapid growth of a few years ago but if my peer group is any indication, sparkling water is doing quite well. We are on a complete runaway train (in a good way) of flavors, brands, and options. The great minds at Kroger even offer "The Dr. Flavored Seltzer Water", which legitimately tastes like Dr. Pepper took all the sugar out of it. Surprisingly good. Additionally, all these other upstart beverage companies like Poppi, Olipop, and more are offering a Dr. Pepper copy. Check out the search results below, it ain't gonna get less competitive. So my recommendation would be for them to launch their own unsweetened, zero calorie, sparkling water with the original 23 flavors. They've got to have a prototype for it in the test kitchens. Plano, if you're reading this, bring it to market.

Glass bottles: Coca-Cola's glass bottle offering from Mexico is a real treat, not only because it tastes best out of a glass bottle, but also because of the formulation: That version has real cane sugar instead of corn syrup, and it's better. Dr. Pepper has a history of doing something similar, and it appears they're now distributing it more widely. If I'm them, I'm working to make inroads in taquerias from Texas to California. Most have a small fridge case with various carbonated beverages - a Topo Chico or Mineragua, various Jarritos sodas, and often a glass bottle Coke. I rarely, if ever, see Dr. Pepper. Put this formulation in a glass bottle, go chase the distribution, it's bound to work.

Last word: As a Texan, it's fun to see this brand that's always felt like not only a challenger to the two big titans, but a piece of home, having this much success. Also, get a look at this tagline they're using in the UK for their zero-calorie soda Dr. Pepper Zerooo": "Try More Weird."

🍫 3/ An Andes Mint Before You Go

At Tex-Mex restaurants in Dallas, it's very common to be presented with one Andes Mint per person when paying your tab at the end of a meal. I think it's a lovely touch after I've housed five bowls of tortilla chips, and this is my attempt each week to round this thing out the same way.

This is an Instagram post from an account called @filmlights, and they do what you might expect: They deconstruct how big films are lit. You want to know how they shot the X in X? They’ll show you how.

The top half is how Chris Williamson lit his podcast Modern Wisdom four or five years ago. At the bottom, that’s his current setup. What I love about this is it’s a good reminder how far you can go if you just stay busy, stay working. I look at the problems in business that used to vex me, they’re not so vexing anymore. I look at what I can do with a camera, it ain’t world class but it’s a heck of a lot better than what I could do five years ago. As cliche as it sounds, this post to me is a perfect visual metaphor to just keep going.

Go get 'em, y'all. We'll do this again next Friday.