Today in Digital Marketing - I Saw Fauci Kissing Santa Claus 🎅

Starting point is 00:00:01 Today, LinkedIn has some new ad placements, Salesforce and Twilio roll out their AI tools, new research finds consumers expect more from you than you think, and the dangerous age of generative AI in political ads has arrived. It's Thursday, June 8th. I'm Todd Matheny. That's ahead today in digital marketing. LinkedIn introduced several new ad options for B2B marketers this week, including pre-roll and mid-roll video ads in audience network videos.

Starting point is 00:00:33 These videos will appear on mobile or desktop apps and sites playing during long form video content on trusted sites within the LinkedIn audience network. The company already offers in-feed video ads, but now it gives marketers a new option to expand their reach via longer content as it plays on partner sites. Starting next month, LinkedIn will also make thought leader ads and conversation ads more widely available. Thought leader ads let businesses promote content from verified employees showcasing their expertise, while conversation ads prompt users to initiate a chat directly from an ad. And on that front, LinkedIn also launched a new messaging option yesterday, which lets company pages send and receive direct messages.

Starting point is 00:01:19 It's called Pages Messaging. Members can now reach out to brands through DMs about topics like products and services, business opportunities, you know, that kind of stuff. Previously, this messaging feature was limited to member-to-member interactions. Company page messaging is being rolled out right now. And following in Meta's footsteps, LinkedIn is also launching its own generative AI tool to write ad copy. Their tool is called AI Copy Suggestions. It lets users generate introductory text and headlines for ads. It uses data from a marketer's LinkedIn page and campaign manager settings to suggest different text for the ad.

Starting point is 00:01:56 To use the feature, marketers can input their copy into the introductory text box within campaign manager. By enabling the Generate Copy Suggestions toggle, they can receive alternate suggestions for that text. The tool is currently in testing and available to select customers in North America with plans for expansion in the coming months. Tough times call for exceptional experiences. New research from Adobe reveals that consumers expect brands to level up customer experiences when the economy slumps. Half of the consumers surveyed said they expect even better experiences from brands when economic conditions become more challenging. Only 15% said their expectations decline in such situations. Gen Z and millennial consumers were found to be

Starting point is 00:02:46 even more demanding, with two-thirds reporting higher customer expectations during tough economic times. But consumers don't just want lower prices. When asked about maintaining their loyalty, consumers ranked a balanced approach that considers profitability, customer experience, and corporate responsibility as the most favorable approach. The second-ranked strategy focused on prioritizing customer experience above all else, while the third involved offering absolutely the lowest possible price. When asked about their views regarding the use of AI to enhance customer experience, one-third said brands should prioritize implementing safeguards.

Starting point is 00:03:31 WhatsApp introduced a new feature today called Channels, signaling yet another move toward a more social media-like experience rather than just being a messaging app. Unlike traditional messaging conversations, though, Channels are designed for one-to-many broadcasts. The tool also lets users share text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls with an audience. Users will be able to find channels through search or by browsing a dedicated directory and view the latest updates in the status section of the app. WhatsApp also plans to build payment and other monetization services into the feature. Channel admin information will be kept private, and the company says the app

Starting point is 00:04:09 only stores 30 days' worth of a channel's history. Admins also have control over features like blocking screenshots and forwarding to make sure that content stays within the channel. The feature is in testing in Colombia and Singapore to start with plans for expansion in the future. 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. More software platforms are bringing AI tools to marketers. Salesforce, the customer relationship management platform, unveiled Marketing GPT and Commerce GPT yesterday, two new products that combine its

Starting point is 00:05:06 first-party data with generative AI. MarketingGPT lets you automate personalized emails, create audience segments, and so on. With CommerceGPT, the company says you'll be able to generate personalized shopping experiences and offers customized to the customers. These tools are not available right away, though. They will be rolling out gradually between this year and next. Meanwhile, Twilio introduced Customer AI yesterday that combines large language models with customer data. Twilio says their new tech can infer traits about a customer in real time based on conversations like messages,

Starting point is 00:05:39 and then automatically update customer profiles with these learned attributes. Some of the insights they say they'll be able to predict include propensity to purchase, estimated lifetime value, and even churn risk. This kind of AI could offer marketers guidance on the most effective journey for each customer. For example, whether they prefer to see a paid ad or a custom email. It can also optimize the optimal send time, though, to be fair, that is something we've all had for a while now. And finally, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is running for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination, and his campaign seems to have used AI-generated

Starting point is 00:06:21 deepfakes in an attack ad targeting rival Donald Trump. Earlier this week, the DeSantis War Room Twitter account shared a video highlighting Trump's support for Anthony Fauci, who, of course, has become a hated figure in right-wing politics, particularly the U.S. anti-vax movement. The video includes real clips of Trump talking with Fauci, and then a collage of six pictures of them together. But three of them are fake. One shows Trump hugging Fauci. Another shows Trump giving Fauci a kiss on the cheek.

Starting point is 00:06:55 One hint that they're AI. They're not showing up in reverse image searches. The poses look really awkward. Not to mention the White House sign behind the press room podium in these pictures has nonsense letters that don't actually spell any words. In case you're curious, no, there was no disclaimer, no notice that the images were fake. In April, the Republican National Committee used deep fakes for an ad depicting a dystopian future if President Joe Biden is reelected. Boy, I love WKRP in Cincinnati. What a great sitcom that was. I was, I think, I don't know, maybe I was 11 or something. And I very much identified with Les Nesman, winner of the Buckeye News Hawk Award. This kind of weirdo news reporter guy which I aspire desperately to be.

Starting point is 00:07:47 Anyway, this was the closing theme song. I'm going to play it here. See if you can guess the lyrics. It's tough. We'll have the answer tomorrow. Thanks for listening. See you then. I'm out.

Today in Digital Marketing - I Saw Fauci Kissing Santa Claus 🎅

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.