Ad Tech Execs Weigh in on Coronavirus Ads, Google and Twitter, and Misinformation
I turned to a number of ad tech execs for their expert perspectives on the risks and rewards of digital advertising on this extraordinarily high-stakes issue. While expectedly optimistic about the benefits of coronavirus-related messaging for savvy brands, the business leaders diverged on the responsibility and capability of Google and Twitter to monitor the veracity of the content they host. They also made distinct cases for advertising at a time when brand messaging requires extra sensitivity, arguing that both brands and their customers have something to gain if businesses provide accurate information, focus on customers’ needs, and showcase the ways they are adapting in a time of crisis.
3 Things You Need to Know about Marketing on Reddit
Reddit refers to itself as the front page of the Internet. It’s a veritable goldmine for a marketer who knows how to leverage it. The trouble is, most don’t. They treat Reddit as no different from Facebook or Twitter. Here’s how to avoid making the same mistake.
Marijuana Advertisers Chart Uncertain Territory with Laws in Flux
Could running ads for cannabis products put digital publishers in the crosshairs of federal regulators? It’s a question that more and more publishers are asking, even as marijuana legalization continues to spread across the U.S.
In a bid to help businesses in the cannabis industry understand what is, and isn’t, legal from an advertising perspective, Dash Two released its own guide to marijuana advertising laws. The company says it will keep its guide updated as the laws continue to evolve.
Tim Cook Demands New Commitment to Responsibility from Big Tech
With the moral and commercial high ground in clear sight, Tim Cook used the spotlight at Stanford University’s commencement ceremony Saturday to slam Big Tech peers Google, Facebook, and Twitter for failing to take responsibility for the hateful content and disinformation on their platforms.
Twitter Time: Responsible Writing in Today’s Media Landscape
If criticism of Twitter and the news media is ubiquitous, it is largely because content on those platforms so often fails to rise to the challenge of responsibility. It aims to produce outrage and push partisan narratives without interrogating its assumptions and all the facts in play. It lacks thought at a time when the endless and rapid reproduction of content in digital space demands we be more thoughtful than ever because we never know where and in how many places our words will reappear.
Retailers Use Visual Channels to Attract Last-Minute Mother’s Day Shoppers
Spending on Mother’s Day is expected to reach $25 billion this year, with consumers flocking to department stores and florists in search of the perfect gifts for Mom. The bulk of that spending will happen in the next few days, as foot traffic data from the location platform GroundTruth reveals that Americans tend to wait until the very last minute to shop for Mother’s Day gifts.
What are retailers around the country doing to prepare for the onslaught of last-minute shoppers? More than ever before, retailers are leaning on visual marketing opportunities to drive last-minute sales.
Within 24 Hours, Further Signs That HUD’s Facebook Probe Could Upend Digital Ad Industry
What’s at stake in the Facebook housing discrimination probe and related investigations into Google and Twitter is whether the dissemination of online content—the news, product recommendations, advertising campaigns of all kinds, and entertainment—can and should be permitted on the basis of data collected on users’ personal characteristics and past behaviors. Should organizations, in industries as varied as entertainment, apparel, tech, and education, be permitted to use evolving technology to predict whom ads should target and thus who should see the content promoting Berkeley’s MBA program, the new housing development in Long Island City, or the hip sunglasses Warby Parker will never get me to buy? How does past human behavior and long-term inequality in various groups’ access to privileged resources shape ad targeting and the technology that automates it, and can the tech industry reach beyond those limitations to open up new futures instead of capitalizing on and reinforcing historical distinctions?
The news this week of the Trump administration’s first charges filed against a major tech company is the first step on our path to finding out.
Street Fight Daily: Google Misses Self-Imposed Transparency Deadline, Retail’s Apparent Comeback
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Google Misses Self-Imposed Deadline to Implement IAB Consent Framework… How to Build a Quality SMS Subscriber List, Bridging the Gap Between Text and CRM… Hard Lessons Breathe New Life into Retail Stores—But Few Reap the Benefits…
Civil’s Bold Plan for the News Crisis: ‘Flip the Business Model on Its Head’
In this Q&A, Matt Coolidge, head of marketing and a co-founder at Civil, explains how a “new economy for journalism” oriented around unifying publishers and their audiences is working to flip the business model for news through such innovative approaches as blockchain technology.
Street Fight Daily: Uber Cash Burn Narrowing En Route to IPO, CallRail Engages User Base to Drive Product Dev
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… Uber’s Losses Continue, But Narrow, In Its March Toward an IPO… At CallRail, Community Forums Prove Valuable for Product Development… How Yelp’s Revamped Ad Biz Powered a Great Quarter…
Street Fight Daily: Agencies Adapt to Amazon, Local News Sites Awash With Ad Fraud
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… Hacking Amazon: Agencies Create Workarounds for an Emerging Ad Giant… Local News Publishers Still Mired in Ad Fraud, New Pixalate Data Shows… More than 1,000 U.S. News Sites Are Still Unavailable in Europe Post-GDPR…
Street Fight Daily: Google Is Disrupting Local Event Discovery; Amazon Teams with Yext to Empower Local Businesses
TOP STORIES IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… Google Updates Search to Recommend Local Events Based on User Interests… Amazon Expands Alexa’s Brain With Yext Business Services… Advertising Helps Push Amazon’s Quarterly Profit to $2.5 Billion…
Street Fight Daily: How to Target Customers Without Being Creepy, Keys to Brand Success with Voice
TOP LOCAL TIPS AND STORIES… The Line Between Cool and Creepy: How Much Personalization is Too Much?… IBM Says Data and Utility Are the Keys to Brand Success in Voice… Google Has Asked Ad Tech Firms to Guarantee Broad GDPR Consent, Assume Liability…
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Puts Itself on the Market, Google Demoting All Slow Sites
The latest in local and hot takes on tech & marketing… Groupon Reportedly Puts Itself on the Market… Google Speed Update Is Now Being Released to All Users… Some of London’s Top Retailers Call for a Sales Tax on ‘Largely Online’ Rivals…
Street Fight Daily: Voice Disrupts Local News Delivery, Grocers Partner with Meal Kits
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Listen Up! Voice Makes Itself Heard in Delivery of Local News… As Grocery Shopping Evolves, Supermarkets Partner with Meal Kit Services… Apple’s App Store Privacy Crackdown May Hurt Facebook’s Onavo…
Street Fight Daily: Snap Wins With Programmatic AR Ads, How Cousins Subs Keeps It Local
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Snapchat’s Programmatic AR Ads Are Gaining Traction… Whole Foods Will Give Amazon Prime Customers 10% Off on Sale Items… Another Ad Tech Firm Reduces European Operations Ahead of GDPR…
Street Fight Daily: Ad Tech Facing Day of Judgment in GDPR, Who’s Using Local AR?
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Publishers Say They’ll Use GDPR to Shed Ad Tech Vendors… Smart Speakers Top Phones for Voice Assistance… Cisco Is Acquiring Business Intelligence Startup Accompany for $270M…
Street Fight Daily: Blaze Pizza Innovates in Local, The State of In-App Mobile Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Blaze Pizza Leverages Mobile App, Instagram, Events to Entice and Keep Customers… Is There Hope for In-App Mobile Advertising?… Buyers Warm Up to Amazon’s Ad Biz…
Openings and New Hires at Mono Solutions and Twitter
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest openings and new hires in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Emerging Insider Communications and MoviePass.
Pay to Get Rid of Ads on Social Media? Consumers Say Maybe, Maybe Not
Nearly 60% of respondents overall said they’d be at least somewhat willing to pay for social media, and that figure could likely climb if a small monthly subscription fee were added. Twingate contends that Facebook/Instagram would only need to charge users $2.07/month, and Twitter $1.61/month, to earn via subscription fees what they earn via ad revenue. Respondents said they would pay $5.24 and $4.75/month, respectively.
But inertia and apathy are strong, money is even tighter outside the US market, and surveillance advertising, and the size of its audience, are the X-factors that catapulted Facebook to the top of the global corporate order. I’d bet Google, Facebook, and, increasingly, Amazon, will be slow to give up the surveillance revenues and walled-garden ecosystems that have made them this century’s most powerful corporate actors.