Today in Digital Marketing - The Bill That Would Break Up Google

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today, American lawmakers want to change the face of advertising as we know it. MasterCard lets consumers pay with a smile. Amazon pays consumers for their data. TikTok launches a new tool to give your brand some credit. And warning, YouTube now allows users to skip the boring parts of your brand's videos. It's Thursday, May 19th. I'm Todd Maffin. Here is what you missed today in digital marketing.

Starting point is 00:00:25 And we start today with some breaking news. A bombshell this morning, an aggressive bill aimed at reining in the conflicts of interest of digital advertising platforms was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act, backed by both Republicans and Democrats, could have the biggest impact on Google and force the tech giant to break up its ad business, according to the Wall Street Journal. Under the bill, companies that process more than $20 billion in digital advertising transactions annually would be prohibited from participating in more than one part of the digital ad ecosystem. Through Google's labyrinth of business tools,

Starting point is 00:01:08 companies are able to buy and sell ads, as well as auction houses or exchanges where transactions happen in split seconds. This legislation would prohibit Google from remaining in all of those businesses. For more on this, I'm joined by our Google Ads whisperer, Jill Saskin-Gales. Jill spent six years at Google Ads and now runs a busy ads training business. And Jill, the legislation, as I read it, targets companies who are on basically more than one side of the digital ad ecosystem. I get that Google sells ads. How are they involved on the buying side too? Google is on both sides of this marketplace in a variety of areas of their business. The best way

Starting point is 00:01:49 to think about it is as it relates to publishers and the AdSense network, as well as advertisers with Google Ads. So if you as a business want to buy display ads, you do that within your Google Ads manager. And those ads get placed on millions of websites around the world that use a different product called Google AdSense to monetize. So if you're a news organization and you want to have banner ads on your websites that you can make income, you can do that using one of Google's products. So that's one way in which Google feeds kind of services both sides of the marketplace. Why do you think media today, when they've been reporting this, have focused on the way this would impact Google?

Starting point is 00:02:30 Does Facebook's ad marketplace, and I'm thinking in particular audience network, not operate in the same way? Facebook does operate in the same way. All the large tech companies you think of operate in the same way. And then there are point players as well who specifically, Criteo comes to mind, for example, AdRoll, who are these remarketing networks do the exact same thing. But of course, the larger companies that are more household names like Google or Meta will get the most attention here. Overall, what are your thoughts on the impact of this on both the companies and on we digital marketers? I agree with Google's public statements on this issue.

Starting point is 00:03:09 I think this is going to hurt advertisers and specifically small business owners. And the reason I think that is by Google and other companies having access to all this data on both sides of the marketplace, they're able to create really valuable audiences and really great targeting capabilities for business owners. And we know that we're moving more and more into a world where the amount of data you have, the more machine learning you can do, the more effective your ads can be. And so if these capabilities are taken away, larger companies with big budgets can afford to find their own workarounds, but small businesses really can't. So I think small businesses especially would be most hurt by this legislation.

Starting point is 00:03:50 Jill is on Twitter as Jill Saskengales. By the way, that's J-Y-L-L-S-A-S-K-I-N-G-A-L-E-S. This public statement that Jill referred to is this, which came from a Google spokesperson today. Quote, advertising tools from Google and many competitors help American websites and apps fund their content, help businesses grow and help protect users from privacy risks and misleading ads. Breaking those tools would hurt publishers and advertisers, lower ad quality and create new privacy risks. And at a time of heightened inflation, it would handicap small businesses looking for easy and effective ways to grow online. The real issue is low quality data brokers who threaten Americans' privacy and flood them with spammy ads, unquote. Yeah, it just seems like senators are just out for, you know, big tech.

Starting point is 00:04:40 Tony Christensen is co-founder of the BRIC social agency. He has handled more than $100 million in digital ad spend. He spoke to me this morning from his office in Arizona. Our future is already challenging as is with all the iOS updates and whatnot that have happened. And I see stuff like this and I just see like they're obviously trying to bring down some of these big tech companies. They've had horrible PR. You know, these tech companies have had horrible PR in the past and data issues and whatnot. So I think they're trying to clean that up. But I don't see this being sort of the answer. It seems sort of like a rush bill they're trying to do. And I just I'm not looking forward to if this ends up going through or whatnot.

Starting point is 00:05:15 I just see it's it's going to be something that impacts agencies. It impacts the small brands and it impacts, you know, the big brands. So a lot going on with it. Let me ask you an unfair hypothetical. So as you know, because you're in the weeds, Meta, Google, all the major platforms, and for some reason, Meta especially, is just bad at customer service.

Starting point is 00:05:37 You know, accounts get banned kind of at random. Things stop working. Every time you go to the ads manager, it's asking you to call a marketing expert, which is really a salesperson. Like, theoretically, if this proposal breaks up somehow these big companies into four different companies that compete with each other, what is the net gain or net loss for marketers? Do you think it'll be better in a world where they're competing against each other and therefore customer service might be better for us? Or is it a net loss for us because we'll lose access to the larger pools of data that is

Starting point is 00:06:10 increasingly being used for machine learning? To me, I think it's going to be more of a net loss than a net gain in the most parts. Because what I see is there's already issues. We know us advertisers and agencies, there's already tons of issues in the back end. There's issues with a new business owner trying to get into the advertising game and making things work. And now I just envision that being like five, six more steps for everyone and five, six more integrations and things that can break. With Facebook, we're getting data fed back from Shopify and we're connecting third party tools now. I'm just imagining that times five now with something like this rolling out and even more things that are breaking. And for the small business owner who I love to think

Starting point is 00:06:50 about, like I already am at a point where I'm like, you need a consultant or you need to talk to an agency or someone to help you out. This is going to make it 10 times harder for that smaller business owner to make things work and to grow a business, you know, from from point A to point B. Tony, too, is on Twitter at Tony does ads. Definitely worth a follow, you know, from point A to point B. Tony Tu is on Twitter at TonyDoesAds. Definitely worth a follow, as is Jill. Indeed, the legislation may also require Meta to divest significant portions of its ads business. For its part, Meta declined to comment. Also required under the proposed bill are smaller companies,

Starting point is 00:07:18 those processing around $5 billion in digital ad transactions annually and up, which will be required to follow new guidelines, including acting in customers' best interests and providing transparency about ad prices. According to the Wall Street Journal, antitrust experts indicated the legislation would be the most significant change to antitrust law in a generation if it's passed.

Starting point is 00:07:44 Well, certainly don't expect there to be any mention of this legislation at Google's Marketing Live Day next week. That's their annual event that reveals new ad products, maps out their offerings for the next year for us digital marketers. And you are invited to a live event with me and Jill, who you heard in the last segment. We'll be watching, having an in-depth discussion about what matters, what it means for digital marketers, how the changes they are showing us will affect your campaigns. So be sure to put the following event in your calendar for May 24th. That's next Tuesday at 8 a.m. Pacific. That's 11 a.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. London time.

Starting point is 00:08:19 We are calling it the unofficial Google Marketing Tailgate. Here is the URL. B, that's the letter B, dot link slash Google tailgate. That link works now. It will take you to the YouTube event where you can get a notification when we go live. Again, the URL is B dot link slash Google tailgate. 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 profession is risk-free.

Starting point is 00:08:51 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. Well, the next generation of pointed sale is here, paying with your face. MasterCard announced this week that it is introducing a biometric digital checkout service that uses facial

Starting point is 00:09:16 recognition. The credit card company noted that it's working with several tech giants to deploy the tool internationally, maintain safety standards, protect the data collected, blah, blah, blah. The pilot program begins this week in Brazil, and it will also be tested in the Middle East and Asia. When a customer reviews their bill, they can either smile into a camera or wave their hand over a reader to pay. In order to secure data and keep customer information private,

Starting point is 00:09:41 the program outlines standards that financial institutions and tech companies must follow. You may be wondering how security-conscious consumers feel about giving their fingerprints and facial recognition data to the credit card giant. Well, and this data, mind you, is coming from MasterCard, so, you know, grain of salt, etc. But MasterCard says three out of four consumers

Starting point is 00:10:01 have a positive attitude toward biometric technology, 60% feel safer using biometrics versus a PIN. And more than 90% are considering using an emerging payment method this year. Businesses participating in the program can offer consumers biometric checkout services either in-store or online through the merchant's app or the app of an identity provider. This could make the conversion process for your online customers even easier. While MasterCard is gaining consumer biometric data, Amazon is offering its customers coupons in exchange for their personal data. The company recently launching a new campaign called Alexa Shopping List Savings

Starting point is 00:10:46 that will allow users to get paid for uploading receipts from their local grocery stores. Here's how it works. First, customers add items to their grocery lists using their voice-enabled devices or in the Alexa app, and applicable coupons will appear alongside each item in the app. Customers then shop the offers at their go-to grocery store. Shoppers then scan their receipt or product barcodes to redeem offers. Then Amazon compensates consumers by sending them an Amazon gift card. So basically, it's a reward for grocery shopping data tied to individuals. The e-commerce giant clearly states in its terms and conditions that the data consumers provide via their purchases will be used, quote,

Starting point is 00:11:30 to improve Amazon's customer shopping experiences, unquote, which I assume is code word for to try to entice you away from your current grocery store. Your brand might finally be getting the credit it deserves on TikTok. Yesterday, the platform introduced new tools to encourage users to credit and attribute creators for their work. Using a new button in the publishing process, users will be able to directly tag, mention, and credit a video in their description. The platform will also prompt users to credit throughout the posting process, show them an educational pop-up that encourages and explains the importance of crediting. In the event that your brand would like to give credit to another creator's video, here's how you do it. First, on the posting page, tap the new video icon. Once on the video tag page, select the video that you've liked, favorited, posted, or has used the same sound.

Starting point is 00:12:24 Then, once selected, the video or has used the same sound. Then, once selected, the video tag will be added as a mention in the caption. A notification will be sent to users whose videos were tagged by another creator through the TikTok app inbox. TikTok plans to roll out the new features to more users over the next few weeks. Well, WhatsApp really wants your brand to get on board. Today, Mark Zuckerberg announced that WhatsApp is introducing free cloud-based API services in a push to get more businesses using WhatsApp. The company already has an API that lets businesses connect their systems

Starting point is 00:12:59 and engage in customer service chats using the service, which of course generates revenue for Meta. However, the company claims that the cloud-based version is designed to appeal to smaller businesses, reduce integration time from weeks to minutes, and it's free. As part of today's announcement, Meta is also launching new features for its WhatsApp Business app. Those will be available for a fee, such as the ability to manage chats across up to 10 devices.

Starting point is 00:13:24 It will also provide companies with customized WhatsApp click-to-chat links that help them attract customers across their online presence, including Facebook and Instagram. YouTube is adding a new feature that might get you more views. The platform will now highlight the most replayed parts of long-form videos in its web play and mobile apps. Previously, only YouTube Premium subscribers were able to see this feature, but it was launched to all users yesterday. With the update, users can identify the most popular parts of your brand's video from a graph that appears behind its progress bar. YouTube explains, quote, if the graph is high, then that part of the video

Starting point is 00:14:05 has been replayed often. You can use the graph to quickly find and watch those moments, unquote. So, nice little feature. Could be helpful to understand what content your audience wants to see.

Starting point is 00:14:15 Then again, think about it. It could actually backfire. It could divert their attention. But is anyone doing long-form video? We're all doing short-form, right? Aren't we? Aren't we? Aren't we?

Starting point is 00:14:29 A little bit of more legal news before we wrap up for the day. Incidentally, last week, there was some other proposed legislation in the U.S. This would call for the formation of a new five-person commission that would protect people against platforms like Facebook and Twitter. It's called the Digital Platform Commission Act. It would establish new rules regarding how transparent tech giants are when it comes to content moderation on their platforms, while also having the authority to interrogate and cut back algorithmic processes that are deemed to be unsafe.

Starting point is 00:15:00 Under the legislation, social media platforms would be required to conduct regular risk assessments of hateful or violent content that circulates on their platforms. Violations could result in fines of up to 15% of the company's global annual revenue. So I have a question about TikTok algorithm here. Does anyone else seeing a whole bunch of pro Johnny Depp stuff out there? Maybe it's just because I've watched a couple of trial TikTok videos, but I'm seeing like, here's Johnny Depp at the Children's Hospital talking to a cancer patient. Here's Johnny Depp surprising tourists at Disneyland. OK, fair, fair point.

Starting point is 00:15:40 I actually do follow some Disneyland accounts as well. So am I the only one seeing all this pro Johnny Depp stuff while he's in the middle of a trial with his ex-wife? Or do they somehow just have an incredible PR person? Don't forget the premium version of this podcast. It's just like this one, but with no ads, access to deep dive weekend episodes, replays of our live events, better audio quality, story links in the show notes, audio chapters that let you jump between stories and more. Get $30 off by going to todayindigital.com slash premium feed or tap the link in the show notes. See you tomorrow. Too late, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, it's just the runaway.

Starting point is 00:16:32 No need to get your hopes up. Just the runaway.

Today in Digital Marketing - The Bill That Would Break Up Google

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