News and Analysis
Brands Look to Maximize Ad Spend Ahead of Recession
As brands struggle to deal with restrictions on data-driven ad targeting and an economic slowdown since the second quarter, ad budgets are on the chopping block. Brand marketers and agencies are being asked to do more with less. Expectations on return on investment are at an all-time high, even while ad budgets stagnate or decrease. What’s the solution?
Commentary
SMB Resellers and Agencies: How to Make the Most of the Conversions Objective
ROI is, of course, the ultimate goal of any advertising effort, so one might naturally ask, “Why would I ever choose an objective that’s not conversion optimized?”, or even “Why would I choose to optimize towards anything but purchase conversions?” It turns out the latter is the more complicated question, but one you can answer when armed with the right information.
It all has to do with how Facebook’s ad bidding works, which involves a combination of factors: your advertiser bid, estimated action rates (i.e. how your target audience responds to the ad), and overall ad quality. As Facebook notes, “together, estimated action rates and ad quality measure ad relevance. In fact, we subsidize relevant ads in auctions, so more relevant ads often cost less and see more results.”
Amazon’s Just Walk Out Cashierless Solution Is an Antitrust Signal
It’s well established that Amazon dominates at dominating industries adjacent to retail. But that’s what makes its Just Walk Out solution more suspect. By doubling down on retail as a service, Amazon is courting enterprise customers in the very industry — brick-and-mortar retail — that its main e-commerce business gutted. The Seattle behemoth is asking firms like Walmart and Macy’s to pay it for the chance to meet the same Amazon-driven standards that put some of the retail champions of yesteryear out of business.
CCPA and Beyond: Where Privacy Will Take Us in 5 Years
Although the language of CCPA leaves a lot open for interpretation, one thing is clear: The consumer data and privacy landscape has fundamentally shifted beneath the feet of today’s enterprises, and privacy compliance will forever be an important requirement for sustainable business going forward. But where exactly do we go from here? In a regulatory environment where there are currently more questions than answers, what do consumer privacy requirements look like in five years? Here are a few likely outcomes of current initiatives and momentum.
Latest Posts
Captivate Partners with Location Tech Companies to Deliver Geo-Targeted OOH Ads
Captivate is getting more sophisticated, collaborating with tech-savvy partners to deliver OOH ads based on its audiences’ interests and locations. This year, Captivate announced its “Places” platform, which centralizes its planning and data analytic tools and “puts them in one place for the marketplace,” Shapiro said.
Will AR Bring Together the Best of Online and Offline Shopping?
Mike Boland: We know about the advantages of e-commerce. There’s more supply, transparency, cost efficiency, inventory (a.k.a “endless aisle”), and the ability to dynamically search and filter product attributes. AR can engender a sort of hybrid UX that brings these features to store aisles. The losers in the next era of retail will be those who try to fight this experiential innovation.
Publishers, Advertisers Turn Focus to In-App Mobile Video
Mobile video ad spend may capture more than half of all digital video dollars in 2018 and is projected to grow 54% year over year, according to PubMatic’s Quarter Three Quarterly Mobile Index. The popularity of mobile video ads is in large part driven by consumer behavior, said Osbaldo Franco, PubMatic’s director of marketing research.
Beyond Likes: Win Hearts with Emotional Marketing