WebProNews

Category: AdvertisingDay

Learn how advertising strategies are rapidly evolving as companies immerse themselves in digital transformation.

  • AT&T Will Drop Misleading ‘5G Evolution’ Branding—Under Protest

    AT&T Will Drop Misleading ‘5G Evolution’ Branding—Under Protest

    AT&T will stop using its “5G Evolution” branding after the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) found it misleading.

    The NARB and the National Advertising Division (NAD) are divisions of the BBB National Programs. T-Mobile had challenged AT&T’s marketing claims, bringing its complaint to the NAD.

    At the heart of the issue was AT&T’s use of the label “5G Evolution” to describe souped up 4G LTE. The company tried to further clarify/muddy the issue by calling it “The First Step in 5G.” In fact a blog post in 2018 by Andre Fuetsch, president of AT&T Labs and Chief Technology Officer, is filled with back-and-forth marketing speak to give the impression that “5G Evolution” is 5G, without actually crossing the line and saying something that would be a blatant lie.

    For example, Fuetsch writes: “We’re laying the 5G network foundation with 5G Evolution and LTE-LAA. In technology terms, that means we’re upgrading cell towers with LTE Advanced features like 256 QAM, 4×4 MIMO, and 3-way carrier aggregation. These technologies serve as the runway to 5G by boosting the existing LTE network and priming it for the future of connectivity. We can enable faster speeds now, and upgrade to 5G when it’s ready.”

    As can be seen by that paragraph, Fuetsch practically writes himself into the verbal equivalent of a pretzel in an effort to tout “5G Evolution” as 5G; all the while technically acknowledging it’s really 4G LTE; all while, at the same time, pointing out it’s the runway to 5G.

    Unfortunately, this kind of semantic gymnastics is nothing new for AT&T. In 2019, the company agreed to a $60 million settlement over misleading claims it made about its unlimited data plans. Similarly, in 2014, the company settled to the tune of $105 million for deceptive billing practices.

    In this latest instance, the NAD had recommended AT&T stop using the branding, a decision that the wireless carrier appealed to the NARB. In its decision the NARB has upheld the NAB’s previous decision:

    Agreeing with NAD’s findings and recommendations, the NARB panel determined that both claims will mislead reasonable consumers into believing that AT&T is offering a 5G network and recommended that the claims be discontinued. At NAD and on appeal, it was not disputed that the AT&T network is not a 5G network. The NARB Panel agreed with NAD’s analysis and concluded that the term “Evolution” is not likely to alert consumers to the fact that the service is not 5G. The Panel noted that the current prevalent technology in wireless is 4G LTE, and LTE stands for “evolution.” Thus, consumers may well interpret “Evolution” in the challenged claims as signifying that AT&T’s technology has already evolved into 5G.

    Further, the Panel agreed with NAD’s conclusion that the addition of “The First Step in 5G” does not cure the concern that consumers could reasonably take away the message that beginning 5G technology is delivered. The Panel noted that a reasonable consumer could conclude that the reference to “The First Step to 5G” was the advertiser’s way of promoting a 5G network, while promising an even more robust 5G network at a later time, especially since the slogan is being used in conjunction with “5G Evolution.”

    To no one’s surprise, AT&T disagreed with the findings, but has indicated it will comply with them.

  • Chrome Will Start Blocking Resource Heavy Ads

    Chrome Will Start Blocking Resource Heavy Ads

    Google has announced that Chrome will soon start blocking resource intensive ads.

    Internet ads may be a fact of life, but not all ads are created equal. Some, such as poorly programmed ones, can consume a disproportionate amount of resources, draining a laptop’s battery and slowing down a network. Google is working to address the problem, experimenting with ways of identifying those ads and blocking them.

    “We have recently discovered that a fraction of a percent of ads consume a disproportionate share of device resources, such as battery and network data, without the user knowing about it,” writes Marshall Vale, Chrome Product Manager. “These ads (such as those that mine cryptocurrency, are poorly programmed, or are unoptimized for network usage) can drain battery life, saturate already strained networks, and cost money.

    “In order to save our users’ batteries and data plans, and provide them with a good experience on the web, Chrome will limit the resources a display ad can use before the user interacts with the ad. When an ad reaches its limit, the ad’s frame will navigate to an error page, informing the user that the ad has used too many resources.”

    This is good news for Chrome users, especially those who primarily use a notebook. Google will continue working on the solution for the next few months, with rollout planned for August.

  • Google Expands Advertiser Identity Verification Policy

    Google Expands Advertiser Identity Verification Policy

    Google has announced it is expanding its advertising identification policy in an effort to improve transparency.

    The company initially rolled out its identify verification policy in 2018, although it applied primarily to political advertisers. In recent years, however, Google and other tech companies have been fighting an increase in misinformation, including misleading and fraudulent ads. As a result, Google wants to help shine a light on the companies behind ads that customers see, adding a degree of accountability and transparency. The feature will begin rolling out this summer, with an “About the advertiser” disclosure, similar to the current “Why this ad?” information.

    “This change will make it easier for people to understand who the advertiser is behind the ads they see from Google and help them make more informed decisions when using our advertising controls,” writes John Canfield, Director of Product Management, Ads Integrity. “It will also help support the health of the digital advertising ecosystem by detecting bad actors and limiting their attempts to misrepresent themselves.

    “We will start by verifying advertisers in phases in the U.S. and continue to expand globally. Because we are working closely with our advertising partners to scale the program while continuing to ensure we are surfacing helpful information to our users, we expect that this process will take a few years to complete. Advertisers can learn more about the identity verification program here.”

    This is good news for customers and will hopefully help cut down on misleading and fraudulent ads.

    Image Credit: Google

  • Without AI, Real-Time Personalization Would Not Be Possible

    Without AI, Real-Time Personalization Would Not Be Possible

    “How do we shorten the space between a signal that we get, say in behavioral data that we see show up either in an app or on a website, and then churn through all of the possibilities of what we could present, apply algorithms to determine what is the next best offer and next best experience?” asks Adam Justis, Director of Marketing at Adobe Experience Cloud. “Then how do we present that in a way that actually feels if not real-time pretty close to it? That would not be possible without artificial intelligence.”

    Adam Justis, Director of Marketing at Adobe Experience Cloud, discusses how AI and machine learning are enabling near real-time shopping personalization in an interview with theCUBE at Adobe Imagine 2019 in Las Vegas:

    Role of AI in Offering a Personalized Shopping Experience is Core

    You definitely have the data piece and then the content piece. I would also add how the complexity of all that has certainly exceeded the capacity to manage this in a singular sort of engagement with a customer, let alone at scale millions of times a day. So the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning now is so core. It’s sort of the gearbox that’s turning at the center of the data on one hand and the content and elements, the assets, the offers, on the other that allows for ultimately the coalescing of those things and then the delivery of an experience worth having.

    That’s the component pieces that we’re seeing at play and Adobe’s motivation in going into that space. At Adobe when we announced our intent to acquire Magento, we were talking about how does Adobe facilitate or help every experience become shoppable and every moment personal? Really that was a claim we couldn’t make without the Magento piece. It is absolutely a hand in glove relationship especially as we’ve all evolved as consumers.

    Advancements in AI Are Going From the Absurd to the Very Real

    To imagine that we would be subscribing to socks or that we could one-click purchase just about anything, you need the technology that can keep pace with the expectations. That’s what it’s all about. So many of those experiences that Adobe is intent on enabling our customers to present culminate in a transaction of some sort. Magento is absolutely not only the icing on the cake but it’s also so integral. It’s becoming a fundamental or elemental part of what we’re trying to accomplish.

    That (personalized experience) is one of the things that I absolutely love about customer experience management or CXM. In a way I kind of love the absurdity of it. When you think of the scale, to say something like we’re going to make every experience shoppable and every moment personal, to imagine that that’s possible is almost absurd. But when you introduce the advancements that we’re seeing in artificial intelligence and machine learning now it’s literally going from the absurd or the realm of science fiction into very real. That’s what Adobe is looking at.

    Without AI Real-Time Personalization Would Not Be Possible

    How can we literally take some sort of statement like we’re going to personalize experiences across the customer journey and we’re going to do it at scale and in real-time? Really, unless you’re considering how we’re going to meet the needs of the customer in the moment that they’re expressing that need then it’s really moot. It is absolutely artificial intelligence and machine learning that we’re seeing expressed now across the Adobe Experience Cloud that is making that happen in multiple ways. One of the ways would be simply by shortening that span between the latent genius that marketers are walking around in their heads and actual execution. How can we take some of the friction out of the workflows that allow them to translate their ideas into offers?

    How do we shorten the space between a signal that we get, say in behavioral data that we see show up either in an app or on a website, and then churn through all of the possibilities of what we could present, apply algorithms to determine what is the next best offer and next best experience? Then how do we present that in a way that actually feels if not real-time pretty close to it? That would not be possible without artificial intelligence. At Adobe we do that through a product called Adobe Sensei.

    Adobe: Without AI Real-Time Personalization Would Not Be Possible
  • TrafficGuard Launches Free PPC Fraud Protection

    TrafficGuard Launches Free PPC Fraud Protection

    Advertising fraud protection firm TrafficGuard has announced the launch of free PPC fraud protection, as well as a pay-as-you-go Pro option.

    According to founder and COO Luke Taylor, the company sees “ad fraud draining almost 30% of every new clients’ advertising spend.” Unfortunately, in times past, advertising fraud protection was outside the means of many small startups. TrafficGuard is working to change that.

    “Our mission is to drive trust and transparency in the digital advertising ecosystem,” continues Tayler. “A reflection of this mission is our effort to democratise transparency. With our free PPC protection, transparency isn’t just the purview of big brand advertisers and agencies – Businesses of all sizes can get the visibility they need to fight ad fraud.

    “We believe that if every business takes steps to protect their own ad spend from fraud, the cumulative effect is a strengthened industry and less funds flowing through to the perpetrators of ad fraud. Most fraud prevention tools are aimed at the big advertisers. By offering a free version of TrafficGuard, small and medium businesses also have the tools they need to protect their own spend.”

    TrafficGuard’s announcement is good news for companies looking to maximize their advertising budget.

  • Online Ads Gaining Traction Amid Pandemic

    Online Ads Gaining Traction Amid Pandemic

    Research shows that ads are gaining traction as more people are working online and relying on the internet for all aspects of life.

    As the coronavirus pandemic continues spreading around the globe, an untold number of individuals are working from home. For many, e-commerce has suddenly become a lifeline, providing a steady supply of food and essentials. Zoom, Slack, Skype, Teams, and other videoconferencing applications are keeping employees connected to work, and families connected to loved ones. Mobile apps are serving as a welcome distraction for people struggling to maintain some semblance of normalcy.

    Amid such conditions, many companies have pulled back on their advertising efforts and budgets. According to Playground XYZ, however, there are a number of advertising categories that are experiencing greater engagement during the pandemic. Specifically, Playground XYZ found that consumer attention on ads was up 7% for February and 6% for March, compared to the previous six months. Home & Garden, Personal Finance and Food & Drink saw the largest gains, at 21%, 23% and 21% respectively. Another significant finding is that users paid more attention to ads the longer they looked at a site. For example, users who spend approximately 300 seconds on a site had a 250% higher attention index over the baseline, emphasizing the need for companies to focus on long-form and editorial content.

    Similarly, Global Web Index (GWI) found that 27% of individuals are reading Business & Finance articles online. Similarly, “87% of U.S. consumers and 80% of UK consumers say they’re consuming more content.” While video and streaming take the top spots, the point remains that people are craving more information now than ever before. Just as important, “68% of millennial podcast listeners say they intend to keep consuming just as much after the outbreak, indicating potential areas of revenue for digital content providers in the aftermath of the crisis.” Again the point is clear: patterns of behavior and content consumption that are created now will likely continue long-term.

    While the coronavirus pandemic is creating challenges and hardships for businesses of all size, there is also a tremendous opportunity to deliver the content users are looking for—and gain lifelong customers as a result.

  • Apple Will Allow Push Notification Advertising

    Apple Will Allow Push Notification Advertising

    iPhone and iPad users may soon be receiving advertising via push notifications, according to Apple’s latest App Store review guidelines.

    First reported by AppleInsider, the new guidelines will allow developers to push advertisements using push notifications, as long as the user has opted to allow it. The move comes as Apple is facing increasing scrutiny over what is perceived as an unfair advantage its own apps have over third-party developers.

    Previously, third-party apps could be banned for pushing ads via notifications, but some of Apple’s own push notifications blur the line between information and advertising. As The Verge points out, there were also ambiguous cases, such as whether a retailer can push a notification to inform an existing user about an upcoming sale.

    Opening the door to push notification ads at least provides a way for everyone to be on a level playing field, and ensures that the practice is fairly regulated. It will open up new avenues of communication between developers and customers, and help Apple answer critics regarding how it manages the App Store. Overall, it will likely end up being a win-win for everyone involved.

  • The Disruption In Our Industry, It’s Manic, Says Ogilvy CEO

    The Disruption In Our Industry, It’s Manic, Says Ogilvy CEO

    “The pace of change, the disruption in our industry, it’s manic,” says  Ogilvy Global CEO John Seifert. “We’re all trying to get our arms around it. The hope I have for convening moments like Cannes is the clients and their partners in tech and creative communications and data start to come together and work harder as partners to design the models of the future.”

    John Seifert, Global CEO of Ogilvy, discusses how technology such as AI is disrupting the advertising industry in an interview on CNBC International on location in Cannes:

    The Disruption In Our Industry, It’s Manic

    The pace of change, the disruption in our industry, it’s manic. We’re all trying to get our arms around it. The hope I have for convening moments like Cannes is the clients and their partners in tech and creative communications and data start to come together and work harder as partners to design the models of the future. 

    Some have predicted AI will eliminate jobs or reframe jobs that require intense new levels of training. So far that is not the challenge we’ve had. It’s really about how do we think about the impact AI can make in making work and doing better work and getting insights that we can translate throughout marketing and communications. It’s additive at the moment, at least for us and for our business. I think it’s like everything else in life. These things are changing, they’re very dynamic, and how we apply and learn them in real time with clients on everyday big important challenges is going to be critical.

    Generation of People In Our Company Who Are Thirsty For the Change

    We’re just trying to get everybody very externally focused. We’ve had a couple of years in our transformation. We did a lot of change on the inside that was obviously disruptive for people, unsettling sometimes and makes you insecure. But there is a generation of people in our company now who are thirsty for the change and want to apply it. We’re at that moment of transition now where a lot of the what I call, rewiring the company, is done. Now it’s about how do we work together differently? How do we execute to a new level of ambition that our clients are asking for? Then frankly, how do we show the accountability of that work through better results?

    I’ve said to everyone in the company, in fact, I just came from talking to someone who’s reinvented a service model in Singapore for one of our largest clients, that you just have to get to the coalface of experiencing what people who are driving change are going through every day. Then frankly, my job is to just take the noise and the pain out of the process, the more that I can be serving them, making it easier for them to get what they need in the company. We’re a global company of 14,000 people. We have tremendous assets but sometimes people find that hard to navigate. My job is to make sure that they can navigate it easily, get the tools they need and feel the support that they have from me to just get on with it.

    We’ve Got To Prove That What We Do Matters

    We have to get back to revenue growth in the range of two to five percent. We’re a big company, we’re a $1.7 billion business. We’ve got to get out of the flat era and get back to sustainable growth. We’re going to do that I think fundamentally by reinventing our model to serve clients more effectively and efficiently so they want to spend more and do more things that the marketing environment right now calls for. I’m hugely optimistic about the future but we’ve got to continue to prove that what we do matters to clients and building their brands.

    The Disruption In Our Industry, It’s Manic, Says Ogilvy CEO John Seifert
  • OTT is the Next Step in the Digital Revolution for Media Buyers

    OTT is the Next Step in the Digital Revolution for Media Buyers

    OTT is increasingly being tested by advertisers as more inventory becomes available, says Nicole Whitesel, SVP of Enterprise Strategy at Publicis Media. “In the past, OTT was seen as a nascent channel with limited reach,” said Whitesel. “I think now you’re seeing a lot more inventory there available to them to buy. I think their willingness to test things where they’re unsure of outcomes has been increased more than ever before.”

    Nicole Whitesel, SVP of Enterprise Strategy at Publicis Media recently discussed the increased experimentation with OTT by agencies and their clients in an interview with BeetTV:

    OTT is the Next Step in the Digital Revolution for Ad Buyers

    One of the things we’re seeing is clients appetites being larger than ever before to explore. In the past, OTT was seen as a nascent channel with limited reach. I think now you’re seeing a lot more inventory there available to them to buy. I think their willingness to test things where they’re unsure of outcomes has been increased more than ever before.

    We’re really talking about kind of the next step, the digital revolution maybe seven years ago and people were early movers in that space and they had an advantage.

    We’re thinking about the space in a similar way. There’s an opportunity to get in early and test things, build operational muscle between teams that maybe haven’t worked together as closely before. We really see that as an opportunity this year to do a lot of that work.

    Agency Teams Working Together to Buy OTT Inventory

    You have teams where historically broadcast teams and national teams have bought broadcast. Then you have teams that are more precision or audience driven that buy programmatic. You’re seeing a lot of work between those teams now to think about the way we’re buying connected TV, inventory if you will, or OTT.

    You have a broadcast team that might be negotiating as part of an upfront and then you have an activation team who’s actually activating within a quarter against a specific audience, buying that inventory in-quarter.

    Those are teams that historically don’t work as closely together on an ongoing basis outside of upfront. We’re seeing that that’s an opportunity to bring those teams closer together and working more closely with clients who learn these new channels and understand that. That goes as well to analytics and measurement. How are we measuring them? What’s the contribution when compared to historically traditional channels like linear TV?

    Opportunity for Direct to Consumer Companies

    I think there’s an opportunity for direct to consumer companies (DTC) to enter the space through these new channels that didn’t exist before from a linear broadcast perspective. A lot of inventory was sold in the upfront and there was limited inventory available on an ongoing basis. That’s changing with these new channels in inventory that’s available through connected TV or FEP inventory.

    They have an opportunity to buy that in a way that benefits their business model and works with the way that their business has set up to run with retail quarters, seasonality, the things that make sense for them. They don’t have to make a commitment a year in advance. They can do it when it makes sense for their business.

    Getting Smarter With Broadcast Partners

    I think there’s an opportunity for us to get smarter about the way we partner with our broadcast partners. Historically we’ve gone in and we say we want this CPM and this flexibility and this is the programming or dayparts we want to buy.

    I think there’s an opportunity for us to say, hey, we want to buy this from an upfront perspective, but here’s all the other inventory that you manage that we also want to think about buying. We can collectively leverage dollars and get things that are valuable for our brands and our clients that allows them the flexibility to test these new channels.

    TV Attribution – A Big Next Step for Ad Buyers

    I think TV attribution is one of the big next steps for our industry. Being able to understand a contribution of a specific channel and its cost and associated with an outcome the brand’s care about is I think the next big opportunity for us. Then we’ll understand investment in media mix across those different video channels.

    OTT is the Next Step in the Digital Revolution for Ad Buyers


  • Twitter Disables User Control of Advertising Data

    Twitter Disables User Control of Advertising Data

    Twitter took a big step backward in its efforts to protect user privacy, eliminating user control over data used for advertising.

    In an announcement that started showing up when users logged on, Twitter said the goal of the change was to help it continue as a free service. The announcement read:

    An update to your data-sharing settings

    The control you have over what information Twitter shares with its business partners has changed. Specifically, your ability to control mobile app advertising measurements has been removed, but you can control whether to share some non-public data to improve Twitter’s marketing activities on other sites and apps. These changes, which help Twitter to continue operating as a free service, are reflected now in your settings.

    The move is disappointing for users who value their privacy, although users in the European Union are unaffected by the change. Thanks to the EU’s GDPR, companies are required by law to give users control over their own data and how it is used.

    After Twitter’s announcement, it won’t be surprising if there are renewed calls for GDPR-style legislation in the U.S.

  • Facebook Financials ‘Adversely Affected’ By Coronavirus

    Facebook Financials ‘Adversely Affected’ By Coronavirus

    Facebook is warning that its business is being “adversely affected” by the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping the globe.

    In a blog post, Alex Schultz, VP of Analytics, and Jay Parikh, VP of Engineering, lay out the challenges the company is facing. With unprecedented numbers of people quarantined, sheltering in place or practicing social distancing the company is experiencing a major uptick in usage. In many countries, especially the hardest hit, “total messaging has increased more than 50% over the last month.” Similarly, in those places “voice and video calling have more than doubled on Messenger and WhatsApp.” Italy has likewise “seen up to 70% more time spent across our apps since the crisis arrived in the country.”

    Facebook previously warned its ad business was likely to take a hit, but today’s post highlights the additional issues the company is facing. Because the increased usage is on services that are free, Facebook is not benefiting monetarily by the uptick. At the same time, the company’s infrastructure still has to bear the burden of the increased load. The two executives laid out the challenges:

    “We have received questions about revenue, so want to provide some context here too: Much of the increased traffic is happening on our messaging services, but we’ve also seen more people using our feed and stories products to get updates from their family and friends. At the same time, our business is being adversely affected like so many others around the world. We don’t monetize many of the services where we’re seeing increased engagement, and we’ve seen a weakening in our ads business in countries taking aggressive actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19.”

    The executives did provide assurances Facebook is doing everything possible to make sure their infrastructure can deal with the days ahead.

    “Maintaining stability throughout these spikes in usage is more challenging than usual now that most of our employees are working from home. We are working to keep our apps running smoothly while also prioritizing features such as our COVID-19 Information Center on Facebook as well as the World Health Organization’s Health Alert on WhatsApp. We’re monitoring usage patterns carefully, making our systems more efficient, and adding capacity as required. To help alleviate potential network congestion, we are temporarily reducing bit rates for videos on Facebook and Instagram in certain regions. Lastly, we’re conducting testing and further preparing so we can quickly respond to any problems that might arise with our services.”

    Facebook is just the latest example of how companies, even those without traditional supply chains, are being negatively impacted by the pandemic.

  • Google Donating $800 Million to Small Businesses Amid Crisis

    Google Donating $800 Million to Small Businesses Amid Crisis

    With the fate of many small businesses on the line, Google is donating some $800 million to assist small businesses during the economic crisis.

    As the global health crisis worsens, companies around the world are closing shop or drastically changing how they conduct business. Many are facing uncertain futures, leading governments and companies to take measures to assist. Google is one of the latest to step up, pledging some $800 million to the effort.

    In a blog post, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company will be donating “$250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information.” This should help combat the spread of misinformation that is plaguing social media.

    In addition, the company is also setting aside “a $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital. As one example, we’re working with the Opportunity Finance Network in the U.S. to help fill gaps in financing for people and communities underserved by mainstream financial institutions. This is in addition to the $15 million in cash grants Google.org is already providing to nonprofits to help bridge these gaps for SMBs.”

    Google is also providing “$340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year. Credit notifications will appear in their Google Ads accounts and can be used at any point until the end of 2020 across our advertising platforms.” The company is also providing $20 million in Google Cloud credits that researchers can use to access Google’s computing resources.

    Overall, this is a significant effort on the part of Google to stimulate small businesses and help them weather the storm. By making Google Ad credits available, it should provide a relatively risk-free way for small businesses to keep advertising, despite the economic challenges.

  • Google Sued For Collecting Children’s Personal Data

    Google Sued For Collecting Children’s Personal Data

    Google is facing yet another privacy-related issue, with New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas suing the company for collecting children’s personal data.

    The suit stems from Google’s sale of its Chromebook devices to schools for their students’ use, along with the company’s G Suite of office software and email. According to the lawsuit, the company collects vast amounts of personal information, via the services, from students under 13 years-old and without parental consent.

    “Student safety should be the number one priority of any company providing services to our children, particularly in schools,” said Attorney General Balderas. “Tracking student data without parental consent is not only illegal, it is dangerous; and my office will hold any company accountable who compromises the safety of New Mexican children.”

    In a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Balderas expresses his concern about the dangers associated with the alleged data collection:

    “Because the data Google has illegally collected can then be spread across the globe through both legitimate and illegitimate means, I am bringing a lawsuit to immediately stop this practice. Data brokers and marketing technology firms that do business with Google have been credibly accused of targeting children under the age of 13 with age-inappropriate advertising. Worse yet, some of these same firms have suffered significant data breaches, causing personal information to end up for sale on the dark web, hosted in countries well beyond the reach of law enforcement. As Attorney General, I must take swift legal action in order to protect our children.”

    According to Reuters, Google has denied the allegations, calling them “factually wrong,” although they did not elaborate. We will continue to monitor the story and provide updates.

  • Coronavirus: Facebook Ad Revenue Likely to Suffer

    Coronavirus: Facebook Ad Revenue Likely to Suffer

    Analysts are warning that Facebook’s ad revenue business may be impacted as a result of the spread of the coronavirus.

    The coronavirus has been having significant impact on a number of industries, especially those that rely on Chinese manufacturing. Apple has warned it will miss its quarterly guidance as a result of delays to iPhone production, and Microsoft has similarly warned its Windows unit would miss expectations, likely because of delays to PC manufacturing.

    Needham analysts are now saying the coronavirus will hit even digital businesses, such as Facebook’s ad revenue. According to CNBC, “in a research note Friday, analysts Laura Martin and Dan Medina wrote that channel checks show lower spending in travel, retail, consumer packaged goods and entertainment, which together represent 30% to 45% of Facebook’s total revenue. They also wrote that six of the largest 10 advertising countries are ‘currently COVID-19 hotspots.’”

    As a result, the analysts have lowered their estimates for Facebook’s revenue for the first part of 2020, although they expect the crisis to calm by mid-June.

  • Google’s Troubles Mount As DOJ Focuses On Ad Tools

    Google’s Troubles Mount As DOJ Focuses On Ad Tools

    According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department is ramping up its investigation into Google, focusing heavily on the company’s ad tools.

    According to the report, the DOJ has increasingly been directing its questions—both of competitors and Google executives—toward “how Google’s third-party advertising business interacts with publishers and advertisers.”

    At the heart of the issue is the fact that Google essentially controls the entire process, resulting in its ad software being the dominant player at every stage of the relationship between online publishers and advertisers. Google reinforced that even more in recent years with two key decisions, according to the WSJ. The first was when it integrated “its ad server, the leading tool for websites to put ad space up for sale, with its ad exchange, the industry’s largest digital ad marketplace. The second move was Google’s decision to require advertisers to use its own tools to buy ad space on YouTube.”

    Competitors have alleged that Google’s tying their services together gives the company an unfair and anticompetitive edge, making it impossible to compete with Google on merit alone.

    At least one rival is pleased with the direction the questioning is going. Michael Nevins, chief marketing officer of Smart AdServer told the WSJ: “They are zooming in on the right topics, and that’s a good thing.”

  • Not Enough Resources For Instagram iPad App

    Not Enough Resources For Instagram iPad App

    Despite it being one of the most wanted Instagram options, an iPad app is not in the works according to CEO Adam Mosseri.

    Verge editor Chris Welch reported that Mosseri said the company wants to make an iPad app, but evidently lacks the resources to do it.

    He also said Instagram “would like to build an iPad app.”

    “But we only have so many people, and lots to do, and it hasn’t bubbled up as the next best thing to do yet.”

    The iPad is 10 years old. Maybe by the time it’s 20, then?

    — Chris Welch (@chriswelch) February 15, 2020

    An iPad app has been a long-requested feature and is a glaring omission for a service designed to show off photos. As smartphone cameras have become more capable, rivaling professional equipment, an iPad app would provide the perfect platform to display such photos and videos in all their glory. In spite of that, and in spite of the number of professionals who use Instagram to showcase their work, it’s somehow still not considered the “next best thing to do yet.”

    The statement that “we only have so many people” is also confusing. According to Bloomberg, Instagram accounted for more than a quarter of Facebook’s sales in 2019, coming it at $20 billion. It begs the question: How many billions does the company need to make before it can afford to hire a few more developers?

  • How Wendy’s Innovated the Digital Journey To Improve the Customer Experience

    How Wendy’s Innovated the Digital Journey To Improve the Customer Experience

    “Speed and convenience and really driving consistency of operations are core themes,” says Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor. “You think about how you can continue to drive speed. The digital journey is a big one. How do we drive folks into mobile ordering? How do we drive awareness on mobile ordering? What we do see is when folks mobile order the check size is about 20 percent higher. Those are just great opportunities to continue to connect to that next generation of consumer and create a better experience and gather even more data to connect with them into the future.”

    Todd Penegor, CEO of Wendy’s, discusses how their innovative improvements in the digital journey are improving speed and the customer experience in an interview by Jim Cramer on CNBC:

    Wendy’s Innovated the Digital Journey For a Better CX

    We are connecting to that next generation of consumer through social media and having a lot of fun doing it. It is driving folks into our restaurant. Chance the Rapper tweeted that he would love to have his spicy nuggets back. We challenged him to see how many likes he could get. We said that if you get two million likes we will bring spicy nuggets back. He did that and we brought spicy nuggets back. Immediately, and you see that in our third-quarter results, from day one, even before we turned on national advertising, people showed up in our restaurants to buy those spicy chicken nuggets. They wanted them back and they learned about it through social.

    There’s a ton of good things happening. We’re still working on speed, so speed and convenience and really driving consistency of operations are core themes. You think about how you can continue to drive speed. The digital journey is a big one. How do we drive folks into mobile ordering? How do we drive awareness on mobile ordering? What we do see is when folks mobile order the check size is about 20 percent higher. Those are just great opportunities to continue to connect to that next generation of consumer and create a better experience and gather even more data to connect with them into the future.

    Delivery Innovation Continues To Be a Great Growth Engine

    Delivery continues to be a great growth engine for us. We’ve got over 85 percent of the system supported by delivery. We announced today that we will have all of our ordering integrated on delivery into our point-of-sale system. That’ll allow us to get the food to the customers even faster. We’re one of the fastest today at 30 minutes from the time you order to the time you get the food. Now that it’s going to be integrated into our POS we can probably shave another three to five minutes. It could also open us up to use other delivery providers beyond just DoorDash which will be another great opportunity to expand access to our brand.

    We talked a lot today about our brand and really doing fast food done right. Fast food done right can resonate across the globe and fresh is what a consumer is really looking for. It is a true point of differentiation (with competitors). We talked about making a move into Europe over the next 12 to 18 months and really starting in the UK and really front-running some of that with company restaurants. We talked about up to 20 company restaurants over the next couple of years. We will bring franchisees into to play that out in the UK, but it will create a beachhead for us to really start to drive some growth into all of Europe. It’s a big burger-eating area of the world. The category has been growing and we have the right to play and can be differentiated on fresh.

    Wendy’s Reintroducing the Black Bean Veggie Burger

    We’ve talked about plant-based probably four years ago. We are way ahead of the curve when we had a black bean burger that we were working on. Unfortunately, at the time it was operationally complex and it took additional equipment in the restaurant. Today, we figured out how to solve for that. We’re looking for that flexitarian customer. We’re trying to do it the Wendy’s way. We’re trying to do it with Wendy’s quality. Whether you’re a flexitarian or a vegetarian the black bean burger can solve for that. We have that in tests in one market now and we’re looking to bring that to market sometime during the course of 2020.

    Flexitarian is one of those millennial terms and in folks are looking to have a lot of beef but and traditional proteins but also flip into more vegetable and and other proteins. We’re real fresh never frozen North American beef. We are about having great quality food and we always want to do things the Wendy’s way. We think a black bean burger, something that’s natural in a square to make sure that it follows along the lines of our square hamburgers, is a great fit for our brand will allow folks to continue to come into our restaurant to drive frequency.

    We talked a lot about frequency. Our average customer comes to a Wendy’s five and a half times a year. We have a huge opportunity to drive frequency. Whether it’s the offerings like a plant-based burger, whether it’s entering breakfast, or driving our digital journey going forward.

    How Wendy’s Innovated the Digital Journey To Improve the Customer Experience – CEO Todd Penegor
  • Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to Open NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to Open NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show

    In a press release issued today, the National Retail Federation (NRF) announced that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote at the federation’s 109th annual convention.

    Microsoft has supported the NRF’s annual convention for over 20 years, leveraging their IoT, cloud, data, AI, modern workplace and mixed reality solutions to help retailers digitally transform and embrace intelligent retail.

    “At NRF 2020, we’re bringing together the brightest and most influential leaders from around the world who have a clear vision for the retail industry’s future,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Satya Nadella will kick us off with an inspiring session on how Microsoft’s success is built around a purpose-led culture and business model.”

    Other notable speakers include:

    Mastercard President and CEO Ajay Banga

    Hudson’s Bay Company CEO Helena Foulkes

    Sam’s Club President and CEO John Furner

    Crate and Barrel CEO Neela Montgomery

    Nordstrom Co-President Erik Nordstrom

    Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2015-2019) Paul Ryan

    Additional details for sessions and speakers at NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show can be accessed here.

    Complimentary registration is available to editorial members of the news media and discounted registration is available to accredited retail analysts. For more information, visit the NRF 2020: Retail’s Big Show media registration page.

    About NRF
    The National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, passionately advocates for the people, brands, policies and ideas that help retail thrive. From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., NRF empowers the industry that powers the economy. Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP and supporting one in four U.S. jobs — 42 million working Americans. For over a century, NRF has been a voice for every retailer and every retail job, educating, inspiring and communicating the powerful impact retail has on local communities and global economies.

  • Levi’s Is a Brand That Can Drive Traffic, Says CEO

    Levi’s Is a Brand That Can Drive Traffic, Says CEO

    “I think this world is coming down to winners and losers,” says Levi’s CEO Charles Bergh. “The Levi’s brand is incredibly strong and so we’re in a position with all of our customers to be asking for more, to be asking for more floor space and more open-to-buy budget. They need us. They need strong brands today and Levi’s is a brand that can drive traffic for them. We’ve got some really strong collaborations happening and that brings a lot of heat to the business.”

    Chip Bergh, CEO of Levi’s, discusses the strength of the Levi’s brand and how they are appealing to millennials through innovation, personalization, and collaborations with Netflix, in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:

    Charles Bergh, President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co

    Levi’s Is a Brand That Can Drive Traffic

    I am a big believer in winners and losers. I think this world is coming down to winners and losers. The Levi’s brand is incredibly strong and so we’re in a position with all of our customers to be asking for more, to be asking for more floor space and more open-to-buy budget. They need us. They need strong brands today and Levi’s is a brand that can drive traffic for them. Our fall-winter season just took the stores, literally this week. We’ve got some really strong collaborations happening and that brings a lot of heat to the business. 

    We’ve got a collaboration with Hello Kitty. We’ve got a very successful collaboration right now with Stranger Things, the hit Netflix show. All that’s on floor now. We’ve also introduced this laser technology where consumers can customize their own jeans online. A consumer can go online and literally design their own jeans finished by a laser. We can finish a pair of jeans for the consumer and ship it to them in less than a week. 

    Customization and personalization are a huge part of what we’re doing. In fact, in all of our mainline doors around the world, we’ve got tailor shops. We are really catering to the consumer. We’re letting consumers personalize and customize their own t-shirts. Our t-shirt business is on fire. I’m very optimistic about the future here in the US and also globally. 

    Levi’s laser-powered personalization technology lets you customize denim with rips, fades, patterns to patches.

    Sustainability Is Really Important To Us

    Sustainability is really important. We’re a company that really is all about our values. We talk about value and values. One of the things when we did the IPO I said we’re not going to change how we run the company. We’re going to continue to stand for things that are important. This company has a track record of not being afraid to take a stand on important issues of the day. Sustainability is really important to us. We use it as a constraint and innovation. In fact, this laser technology is just one example. 

    We developed this technology primarily to eliminate a lot of the chemicals that are in the supply chain. Finishing a pair of jeans requires dozens and dozens of chemicals and we’ve eliminated over a thousand chemicals by being able to finish our jeans with a laser. This shirt that I’m wearing is a combination of cotton and hemp. Now hemp historically has been like burlap. It’s a very tough fiber. We’ve worked with a supplier that creates cottonized hemp. This product feels as if it’s cotton but it’s also woven with hemp. Hemp is a lot more sustainable. It takes less water to grow than cotton and you can grow a lot more per acre of land. It’s a lot more sustainable as a fiber and it’s cheaper as a fiber too.

    Levi’s Is a Brand That Can Drive Traffic, Says Levi’s CEO Charles Bergh
  • We Want To Make It Easier For People To Go From Inspiration To Purchase, Says Pinterest CEO

    We Want To Make It Easier For People To Go From Inspiration To Purchase, Says Pinterest CEO

    “I don’t know about social commerce overall but I definitely know that our users often want to buy the things they find on Pinterest,” said Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann while discussing going public on the NYSE. “A lot of people say they discovered a product or service while browsing Pinterest,” says Silbermann. “We just want to make it easier for them to go from that inspiration all the way to reality, which in this case would be a purchase.”

    Pinterest was initially priced at $19 per share, which gave it a value of $10 billion on Wednesday morning. The company closed Friday up 28% at $24.40, which vaulted Pinterest to a value of just under $13 billion.

    Pinterest Goes Public on the NYSE!

    Ben Silbermann, co-founder and CEO of Pinterest, discusses on Bloomberg how Pinterest is unique both in how consumers use the product and how advertisements have simply become part of the experience:

    The Ads On Pinterest Can Actually Be Really Additive

    We really talked with investors about how regular people use the product every day. People use it to get inspiration for a whole range of things, everything from the food they cook to the clothes they wear to their homes. It’s really more about your personal inspiration and it’s less about your friends. It’s not really about following celebrities in the news. We wanted to make sure that everyone understood that because that’s how our users see the product every day.

    The thing that makes it really special is that the reason people are on Pinterest is to get inspiration and do things with their life. It’s really lined up with what advertisers want which is to inspire new customers and get them to buy products and services they really love. What that means is that the ads on Pinterest can actually be really additive as long as we do a good job of making sure they’re highly relevant. I think that’s just really different from a lot of media companies where ads are candidly a little bit of a tax. That difference in alignment I think is the biggest difference between us and some other media properties.

    My Eye Is On What’s Going to Make Pinterest Great 10 Years From Now

    I still think there’s a real opportunity to grow over time and increase engagement. A lot of people might use Pinterest for one thing or two things but they don’t know the wide range of different ways people all over the world use the product. I also got to say that we’re super proud that we’re growing globally. If it (IPO) was just a few years ago the story would have been primarily a US-based service. It’s just really fulfilling for the company to know that the product works all over the world.

    We’re in the very first chapter of that story (selling internationally) so we’re just hiring our first local sales teams in places like Canada, Western Europe, Germany, and France. We’re just at the beginning of the journey but I think there’s going to be a real opportunity to show the same great results we’ve seen in the United States to advertisers all over the world. We’re going to continue to invest for the long term. We’ve shown really good margin improvement over the last few years but my eye is always on what’s going to make Pinterest great three years, five years, and even ten years from now. That’s going to be how we continue to run the business and we’re really excited to see it keep growing.

    We Want To Make It Easier For People To Go From Inspiration To Purchase

    We’re always working to make sure people can bridge that gap between seeing something inspiring and doing it. One area that we’re investing in is making sure that we match inspirational images with more and more products that are at a price point that matters for people and for retailers they really trust. We just enabled people who are retailers to upload all of their catalogs into Pinterest. We’re investing a lot into computer vision technology to match those products with images and we’re not just doing it with shopping, we’re also doing it with all the different use cases. If you have a recipe on Pinterest now you’ll see the ingredients and people can write reviews. If you have a DIY project you can see other people’s experiences, whether it was easy or whether it was a little harder than they expected.

    I don’t know about social commerce overall but I definitely know that our users often want to buy the things they find on Pinterest. A lot of people say they discovered a product or service while browsing Pinterest. We just want to make it easier for them to go from that inspiration all the way to reality, which in this case would be a purchase.

    Making It Easier For People To Go From Inspiration To Purchase – Pinterest CEO


  • Advertisers Balk At Google’s Plan To Kill Third-Party Cookies

    Advertisers Balk At Google’s Plan To Kill Third-Party Cookies

    In what is a surprise to no one, advertisers are begging Google not to kill third-party cookies in Chrome, according to CNBC.

    Google announced earlier this week its plans to phase out third-party cookies within two years. The company is trying to improve user privacy, while at the same time addressing the needs of advertisers, something it does not believe other browser makers do. While Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox both include the ability to block third-party cookies, Google believes those solutions leave advertisers in the cold and encourage them to use more drastic and invasive methods to track users and make money.

    In their post announcing the plans, Google was light on details, promising to continue working with the web and advertising community to deliver a solution that was beneficial to all parties. That doesn’t seem to be enough for advertisers, however, as Dan Jaffe, EVP of government relations at the Association of National Advertisers, and Dick O’Brien, EVP of government relations at the American Association of Advertising Agencies, issued a statement protesting Google’s decision.

    According CNBC, the statement said Google’s plans“may choke off the economic oxygen from advertising that startups and emerging companies need to survive.”

    The advertising groups acknowledged Google’s efforts to implement an alternative to the current cookie-based methods, but urged caution so as not to disrupt the web’s ecosystem with a half-baked solution.

    “In the interim, we strongly urge Google to publicly and quickly commit to not imposing this moratorium on third party cookies until effective and meaningful alternatives are available,” the statement said.

    As CNBC highlights, these same groups have expressed opposition to California’s CCPA privacy law, so it should be no surprise they aren’t happy with anything that impedes their ability to advertise—not even in the name of protecting user privacy.