Today in Digital Marketing - Beta Late Than Clever

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Thursday, July 20th. Today, Microsoft takes a page and a name from Google. Will Amazon's latest announcement change how companies ship products? More payments coming from the palm of your hand. And Reddit's open source art project is going about as well as you would think it is. And a quick warning to parents, there are a couple of bad words in our final story. In our defense, the story is about Reddit. I'm Steph Gunn, sitting in for Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in digital marketing. Since I guess everyone is copying everyone now,

Starting point is 00:00:38 should we really be surprised that there is another Performance Max out there now? That's the name of Google's mostly automated ad campaign format, and now That's the name of Google's mostly automated ad campaign format, and now is also the name of Microsoft's new and mostly automated ad campaign format. The company this week announced that its Performance Max platform is now in beta testing with a small group of hand-picked brands. Those marketers can now access its inventory and serve ads across its network, including Bing, Outlook, Edge, and

Starting point is 00:01:05 Yahoo. Like Google's version, the automated platform pulls together different media in one campaign to target the best audiences. It lets advertisers access all Google Ads channels from one campaign using Merchant Center. As more advertisers adopted Google's PMAX product, Microsoft wanted to get in on the action. Microsoft's Performance Max features include responsive search ads, product ads, automated bidding, audience signals, predictive targeting, and dynamic search ads. To cut back on packaging waste, the biggest e-commerce company in the world has committed to stop sending products in plastic bags. Eventually. Amazon says it's phasing out plastic-padded mailers, but hasn't set a specific deadline for the transition,

Starting point is 00:01:54 according to the company's sustainability report published this week. The Verge reports that the company likely uses more plastic packaging than any other company in the world. Since municipal recycling programs in the U.S. and Canada at least typically don't take plastic bags or films, most consumers would need to take their Amazon mailers to designated drop-off locations to avoid the landfill. After packages reach customers' doorsteps, the report notes that most plastic winds up in landfills or the ocean as it is not accepted by most curbside recycling programs. Advocates suggest Amazon ditching its blue and white padded packaging could have a significant impact on curbing plastic pollution.

Starting point is 00:02:38 Move over, crystal balls. Palm reading isn't just for fortune tellers. Amazon's palm payment tech is coming to every Whole Foods in the U.S. Today, the company announced that it will roll out Amazon One in more than 500 Whole Foods locations by the end of 2023. Amazon's technology connects a consumer's credit card or other payment information to their palm print. Beyond Whole Foods, the e-commerce giant also uses the tech in its Amazon Go convenience stores and has licensed it to other businesses like Panera Bread. The payment system is already in about 200 Whole Foods stores. Customers who link their

Starting point is 00:03:15 Amazon One account with their Prime details will also get discounts when using the payment method. Last month, we reported that Google faced serious accusations of misleading advertisers by not meeting promised standards when placing video ads on third-party sites. This week, Google responded to the allegations, saying that the analytics report used irresponsible and faulty methodology, grossly misleading advertisers and the public. The specific claim was regarding TrueView's skippable in-stream video ads, and faulty methodology, grossly misleading advertisers and the public. The specific claim was regarding TrueView skippable in-stream video ads.

Starting point is 00:03:55 According to Google's policies, these ads must be skippable, audible, and initiated by active user interaction. The report alleged that numerous TrueView ads were displayed on sites and apps that did not meet those quality standards. Quoting Google, just because an ad is served doesn't mean we charged the advertiser. The report ignores or is unaware of this distinction and incorrectly assumes that a served impression is automatically billed. We actively monitor the Google Video Partners network using a combination of automated filters and human reviews, and if our systems detect invalid traffic, we don't bill an advertiser. Even when invalid traffic is detected after the fact, Google marks this traffic as invalid and we issue credits to the affected buyers when appropriate and possible, unquote. Performance Marketing World

Starting point is 00:04:44 reports that industry experts, however, continue to express concerns about Google's dominant position. Some of those experts suggest brands consider moving campaign measurement in-house to maintain greater control and transparency. It's the season for new styles and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten. And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy.

Starting point is 00:05:20 And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at Rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at Rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or

Starting point is 00:05:45 profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. This is for everyone who has tried jimmy rigging a computer mouse to an oscillating fan to keep their online status active. Definitely not speaking from experience. A new survey from Slack has found that three out of five workers say they try to keep their status actively online, even when they are not working. Survey respondents also said that they spend a third of their time on tasks that don't contribute to company and team goals. But does it work?

Starting point is 00:06:29 Employees may feel burdened by this to keep up appearances, but bosses do seem to value the busy work, or at least the appearance of busy work. a quarter of leaders prioritize visibility and activity metrics as the primary gauge of productivity, surpassing other factors like cost and achieving KPIs and goals. Reddit this morning launched its annual Our Place collaborative art project. So far, it's already riddled with messages protesting the platform. The project lets users place a single pixel of color every five minutes on a virtual canvas, including overriding other pixels to claim territory on the ever-changing collaborative piece of art. But in response to protests about the company's massive API price changes, conflicts with

Starting point is 00:07:20 moderators, the sudden removal of chat history, and the impending demise of Reddit Gold, many users are using the canvas as a billboard for airing their grievances. Here are some examples. Several messages say, Fuck Speds, which refers to the username of Reddit's CEO. Another area advertised the Save Third Party Apps community with a message that said, never forget what was stolen from us. There's also a lot of art not protesting Reddit, like the section that features the word dicks spelled out in a rainbow of colors. And hey, if you are curious to know what Reddit's canvas of protests looks like, don't forget that you can get this podcast as a daily email newsletter too.

Starting point is 00:08:10 It's complete with images like Reddit's Spicy Art Project, videos, and links to dive deeper. There's also a free tier where you will get an issue every Friday at no cost. You can head to todayindigital.com slash newsletter to sign up or even tap the link in the show notes. I apologize for the delay in today's podcast episode. So a huge storm whirled through pretty much as soon as I started recording the show today. And I'm not even kidding, as soon as I was finishing up the show, the power went out. We were without power for about three hours and I'm actually kind of surprised it came back on. I was checking socials for the hydro company and it said it wasn't going to be restored

Starting point is 00:08:50 until 6 a.m. tomorrow so I am very thankful it's back on. Thanks for listening. I'm Steph Gunn. Todd is on vacation so I will talk to you tomorrow. Just like a loaded gun I know we've only just begun To write a song of love these days It's hard enough to trust What you cannot trust

Today in Digital Marketing - Beta Late Than Clever

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