Today in Digital Marketing - Is This the Right Zoom for an Argument?

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Friday, September 27th. Today, a trademark dispute escalates and thousands of brand websites are caught in the middle. The one gift recipient your marketing isn't accounting for, a warning for anyone who manages their company's Google business profile, and don't worry, Instagram Reels hasn't crashed. Their latest edition is actually on purpose. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in digital marketing. A legal dispute over a trademark has crippled thousands of WordPress sites around the world. WordPress has blocked WP Engine, that's a company that hosts WordPress

Starting point is 00:00:40 sites, from accessing its repository. This means any website that uses WP Engine as its hosting provider can no longer add plugins or themes. And worse, it means they can't update them either in case there's a security patch. The decision was made by Matt Mullenweg, co-creator of WordPress, who accused WP Engine of trademark infringement and demanded tens of millions of dollars in licensing fees.

Starting point is 00:01:07 Earlier this month, he penned a sharply worded blog post pointing out that WP Engine disables some features that come standard with WordPress only to charge for their own versions of essentially the same feature. He called WP Engine, quote, a cancer to WordPress, unquote. For its part, WP Engine has posted a workaround for its customers, allowing them to manually install and update plugins and themes. The company is also trying to develop a fix for the issue.

Starting point is 00:01:36 But if Mullenweg thought the WordPress community, with its longstanding culture of open source code andced code and community involvement would back his move, it was a grave miscalculation. Core contributors, volunteer programmers essentially, are speaking out against Mullenweg's action, saying they weren't consulted and don't support the ban. Many in the tech community are also criticizing Mullenweg's decision, calling it an abuse of power. Technology writer Robert Scoble called the decision, quote, universally hated in tech, unquote, and many others have echoed his sentiment. The ban has also raised concerns about the precedent it may set for trademark infringement.

Starting point is 00:02:15 This is a fast-moving story. We will update it next week. But if you are caught up in this and use WP Engine as your brand's hosting provider. We have a link to how to manage your plugins and themes manually in today's email newsletter, which you can sign up to for free by tapping the link at the top of the show notes or going to todayindigital.com slash newsletter. More data about how people plan to shop this holiday season to help you in your planning. According to a new JLL forecast, most people who shop during the holidays plan to buy a gift for themselves this year. In fact, 83% of shoppers say they'll do that.

Starting point is 00:02:53 That's up from 76% last year. The top items on their lists are shoes and clothing, electronics, and accessories. On average, shoppers expect to spend $1,261 on gifts, food, decorations, and experiences this year. That is an increase of almost 32% from last year. But less of their budget will go to gifts, 46% compared to 55% in 2023. Most shoppers will use more than one way to shop this holiday season. 71% will buy online for home delivery.

Starting point is 00:03:27 58% will shop at stores outside of malls. And nearly 60% will shop at stores in enclosed malls. Many large retailers are introducing deals earlier than usual. Amazon, Target, and Walmart are all having sales events in early October. This likely a response to consumers starting their holiday shopping early, with 65% of shoppers between 30 and 44 beginning by Halloween. The data comes from JLL's holiday shopping report, which polled more than 1,000 American consumers.

Starting point is 00:04:02 This is why we can't have nice things. Last year, LinkedIn introduced something it called This is why we can't have nice things. Last year, LinkedIn introduced something it called top voice badges for collaborative articles. These were articles posted by other members, which LinkedIn would then elevate to the feed and ask other people to add their own thoughts to it. If your thoughts got a lot of engagement, you'd get a little top voice badge added to your profile. But now they're dropping the badge and AI is likely to blame. The problem is that AI selected which article to push out as the invitation for the comments. Then, others were using AI to write their comments.

Starting point is 00:04:45 Trained on its own platform engagement data, the code likely knew how to write comments that would generate lots of feedback. And at some point you have to wonder, are humans even involved here? So now LinkedIn has announced it is getting rid of those top voice badges. Those badges will start disappearing on October 8th. They'll be completely gone by December 7th. LinkedIn says it still wants you to contribute to collaborative articles,

Starting point is 00:05:02 saying it can help you show your expertise, expand your network and help others. But without the badges, users might not be as interested in responding. Amazon is basking in success with its decision to introduce ads to Prime Video. The company says it has exceeded its goal of $1.8 billion in ad spending commitments for the coming year. This is a big deal for a company that only started showing ads on Prime Video nine months ago. For comparison, Netflix only got a few hundred million dollars in ad spending commitments after introducing ads in 2022. Amazon is betting on streaming TV to keep its ad revenue growth going. The company wants to capture a bigger share

Starting point is 00:05:48 of TV ad budgets as they shift to streaming services. To do this, Amazon is investing heavily in sports rights, including a $1 billion per year deal to broadcast Thursday night football. Ad executives say their company is appealing because it offers a one-stop shop for advertisers. Amazon services, including Prime Video, Twitch, and FreeVee, reach a huge audience of 175 million monthly viewers in the U.S. The company's data on its own users is also

Starting point is 00:06:18 a big selling point, letting marketers target ads to viewers who can then buy products on Amazon. Google business profiles are getting stricter. Some marketers reported this week that even small changes to your profile can now trigger a re-verification process. This includes changes to your business categories or even just your phone number. And it doesn't seem to matter if you make those changes manually or through the API. Either way, you might have to go through the verification process again. This can be a hassle, especially if you're just trying to keep your profile up to date.

Starting point is 00:06:58 So make those edits carefully. Meta has been fined $101 million for storing hundreds of millions of its users' passwords unencrypted in plain text. The company first discovered the mistake in 2019. At the time, Meta said it would notify affected users and said the passwords were only exposed internally. Online services typically store passwords in an encrypted format to prevent misuse if those files are taken. Normally, Meta uses industry standard techniques like hashing and salting to protect passwords. It's not clear why this didn't happen for many Facebook and Instagram users. The Irish Data Protection Commission, the DPC, led a five-year investigation into the incident.

Starting point is 00:07:44 The DPC found that Meta broke European Union data protection laws by failing to notify them of the breach and not taking proper steps to protect user passwords. The DPC shared its decision with other EU authorities who did not object to the fine. Meta has not commented on the decision. McDonald's has this. T-Mobile has this. And now, Instagram Reels is getting a sonic signature of its own. Soon, at the end of every reel which is downloaded from the app,

Starting point is 00:08:22 you'll get a brief credit screen and this sound. No, I'm kidding. Actually, this sound. Here it is again. Instagram's creative audio and brand team said they tested lots of different sounds to find one that fits with Every Reel. They said they were looking for a sound that was punctuated but imperfect to reflect the idea that everyday creativity doesn't have to be perfect. It also apparently doesn't have to be unique. Honoring Reel's long-living tradition

Starting point is 00:08:53 of stealing ideas from TikTok, this whole sonic signature at the end of a downloaded video is ripped right out of TikTok's playbook. Their version sounds like this. The only real question is, why did it take Instagram so long? Guys, I've been doing so much adulting lately. I told you about the shoes, my new shoes to replace the ones that I've been using for 14 years.

Starting point is 00:09:20 Still getting used to how those feel. But the other day I went and bought new socks also to replace socks that are probably 15 or 20 years old. And I was so excited by the new socks. I don't know why. Like my old are just, you know, they were ratty and so on. So I got the kind I liked and kind of like Mark Zuckerberg used to, you know, only wear the same the same gray sweatshirt. He's changed that now. But I just bought like 15 pairs of the exact same sock because I like it. Is that, you know, I feel like I'm an adult. I can make those kinds of decisions if I want to. Right.

Starting point is 00:09:51 On Monday, it is a stat holiday here in Canada. It is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. So we will be out of the office. I know many of you don't have a stat on Monday, so we will still be in your feed. I'll be speaking to the author of a new marketing science research paper on the politics of search, how people from different political stripes treat search engine ads, and how your campaigns should change to take advantage of this fascinating new data. That is Monday on the show. And that will do it for the week. Today in digital marketing is produced by EngageQ Digital on the traditional territories of the Stunamik First Nation on Vancouver Island. Our associate producer is the intrepid Steph Gunn. Our production coordinator is Sarah Guild.

Starting point is 00:10:34 Ad coordination by Red Circle. And Mark Blevis is that moment just before Basil smacks Manuel on the forehead with a spoon. Come here. You're a waste of space. I'm Todd Maffin. Have a restful weekend. I'll see you on Monday for that interview and on Tuesday for our regular show. 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,

Starting point is 00:11:12 and more. It's super easy. 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.

Today in Digital Marketing - Is This the Right Zoom for an Argument?

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