Today in Digital Marketing - Why Google Analytics is on Europe's Naughty List

Episode Date: February 12, 2022

Europe keeps fighting big data — now, it's going after Google Analytics. Behind the TikTok trend of food mashups. Is paper the next big thing in advertising? Performance Max campaigns might force you to use computer-generated videos. Instagram plays catchup with livestreamed commerce.Go Premium! No ads, more stories, audio chapters, and extended weekend episodes — https://todayindigital.com/premiumADVERTISING as low as $20: https://todayindigital.com/ads JOIN OUR SLACK! https://todayindigital.com/slackFOLLOW US: https://todayindigital.com/socialmedia (TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit) ENJOYING THE SHOW?- Please tweet about us! https://b.link/pod-tweet- Rate and review us: https://todayindigital.com/rateus- Leave a voicemail: https://b.link/pod-voicemail FOLLOW TOD:- TikTok: https://b.link/pod-tiktok- Twitter: https://b.link/pod-twitter- LinkedIn: https://b.link/pod-linkedin Today in Digital Marketing is hosted by Tod Maffin (https://b.link/pod-todsite) and produced by engageQ digital (https://b.link/pod-engageq). Subscribe at https://TodayInDigital.com or wherever you get your podcasts. (Theme music by Mark Blevis. All other music licensed by Source Audio.)Does your brand need a podcast? Let us help: https://engageQ.com/podcastsOur Sponsors:* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Today, Europe keeps fighting big data. Be protected. Be Zen. Instagram plays catch up with live streamed commerce. And on the premium podcast with no ads, more stories and extended weekend episodes. Tap the link in the show notes for more. Three signs that it is time to fire your SEO agency. It's Friday, February 11th. I'm Todd Maffin.

Here is what you missed today in digital marketing. Google's privacy sandbox ad tracking overhaul just cleared a major hurdle. Today, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority announced that it has accepted a revised offer from Google relating to its proposed removal of third-party cookies from the Chrome browser. While Google's plans are underway, it is still unclear what technologies Privacy Sandbox will use to replace third-party cookies. The decision today was based on Google's approach rather than a specific technology. Following the regulator's formal acceptance, Google's commitments become legally binding, and it has stated that it will apply them globally. Those commitments include the CMA will be involved in the development and testing of privacy sandbox proposals, that Google will transparently develop the proposals and publish

all their test results, that it won't remove third-party cookies until the CMA is satisfied that its competition concerns have been addressed, and restrictions on the sharing of data to ensure that it doesn't gain an advantage over competitors when third-party cookies are eventually removed. Well, as Google clears one hurdle, it faces another. Data transfer by Google Analytics has now been deemed unsafe and illegal by France's data privacy regulator, the CNIL. Concerns about U.S. surveillance of EU citizens could lead the regulators to the US cease using Google Analytics if necessary, or to use tools that do not transfer data outside the EU.

Site operators have one month to comply. In spite of extra measures adopted by Google to regulate data transfer, the French watchdog believes it is not enough to protect EU citizens from potential US surveillance. In 2018, Spotify had an interesting marketing campaign. It offered its users the ability to upload their genetic data, which Spotify would then turn into custom playlists that matched their genetic ancestry.

A few months later, Mexico's national air carrier, Aeromexico, launched a DNA discounts campaign, offering discounted flights to the country. The more Mexican you were, genetically speaking, the more of a discount you would get. Welcome to the scary world of genetics marketing, one where we might soon see genetic predisposition listed in Facebook's ads manager as a targeting criteria. It's a topic Rami Davia has studied. He's an assistant professor of marketing at the Wisconsin School of Business. He and some colleagues recently published a paper called Genetic Data, Potential Uses and Misuses in

Marketing. I spoke with him recently and asked him exactly what we can target by genetics now. Everything related to your circadian rhythm. So as I mentioned, if you wake up early, if you like to do sports, if you study a lot, if you're more of an outdoor person, if you like gathering, or if you prefer to stay by yourself. I can go on forever because almost any behavior we have data on, we could predict it to some extent with genetic data. Our full conversation will be coming out tomorrow morning on the Premium Feed. This is a fascinating interview.

And if you are frustrated by the continued removal of interests and targeting options out there, you are not going to want to miss it. Tap the link in the show notes for the premium feed or go to todayindigital.com slash premium feed. Well, McDonald's new marketing campaign is capitalizing on just how gross this next generation of consumers can be. The new promotion pays tribute to TikTok, YouTube and mukbang videos where a host eats various quantities of food while interacting with the audience. We pulled that from Wikipedia, by the way. The campaign includes four new menu hacks that a customer can order. Surf and Turf, Crunchy Double, Hash Brown McMuffin, and Land, Air, and Sea. In the case of Surf and Turf, if you order that at a McDonald's,

or at least one that's participating in all this craziness, you will receive a Filet-O-Fish and a Double Cheeseburger, which you then assemble yourself to make one very disturbing sandwich. Along with the new menu items, the Fast Food Giants campaign strategy includes all four of the hacks being promoted by viral TikTok influencers. It also encourages customers to buy two or three different meals

at full price rather than one. It also provides a new brand experience as consumers are encouraged to take a picture or it didn't happen, or video while eating their mic creation. So what can brands learn from this marketing campaign? A great piece in Media Post today breaks it down. First, pay attention to how consumers are using your products on social media and then reflect that in your marketing. Feature their hacks, creative mashups, or new ways that

they're using your product. The weirder, the better. Traditionally, food and beverage brands avoid depicting nauseating use cases. Not anymore, apparently. And for today's consumers, especially the younger generation, the more extreme, the better. And product development doesn't have to cost a fortune. And you might not even need to reinvent the wheel with your next marketing campaign. Should marketers and media buyers reconsider where they're spending their money? Some new research out has found that, not surprisingly, marketers are planning to invest more into digital channels this year. Near three-quarters of respondents say they intend to spend more on online video. Seventy percent say they plan to invest in influencer videos and 70% in social media stories. The brunt of the cutbacks are expected to fall on older media.

Only one fifth of marketers said they plan to spend on TV ads this year, which is a much more modest rate than last year. The study also warns marketers against prioritizing digital, though, over all else and cautions that some traditional media is being overlooked. For example, print ads are still among the top 10 touch points globally. The analysis also emphasizes the importance of both paid and non-paid channel. Word of mouth and personal experiences are still very powerful for brand building. Recommendations from families and friends is the second most influential touchpoint globally, followed by consumers' own product experience.

Finally, the study measures the cost-effectiveness of paid channels by comparing the share of investment made in that channel with the brand strength contribution each channel made. YouTube, Point of Sale, Facebook, and Cinema ads top the list as the most cost-effective brand-building media globally and rank high in every region. The study was done by Cantor Studies Media Reactions

and Power of Connection 3.0. Attention Google advertisers. If you have any Performance Max campaigns, you are going to want to upload your own videos, or Google will just do it for you. Some people are reporting that Google Ads now creates its own videos for their Performance Max campaigns.

These are 19-second videos that are very generic, and you cannot delete them. The company confirmed today the allegations of that are actually true. A Google employee tweeted, Performance Max creates videos from the text and images you upload to the campaign. If you want more customization, we do recommend uploading your own videos, but we know that's not always possible, and auto-generation offers an easy way to access additional YouTube inventory. Unquote. So yes, auto-generated videos will stop serving if you upload your own video assets to the Performance Max campaign. Instagram is taking another step toward live stream shopping with a Valentine's Day event.

The event includes special guests ranging from viral influencers to dating experts. Featured brands include jewelry, home and beauty retailers. They'll also have some discount codes that users can use while they're watching the shopping stream. On top of live stream shopping, the platform will promote individual collections from each of its featured influencers on the shop tab. Well, sign me up for this. LinkedIn is testing a new way for users to switch off all politics related posts and updates in their feed. It's mildly amusing that LinkedIn has become enough of a political cesspool now to offer this option. Using keywords and signals from users, as well as input from LinkedIn's

editorial team, the feature will detect political posts and remove them from your feed. The ability to block posts on certain topics will also soon be available. Some U.S. users now have that option to turn off political posts. If you have access, it can be found in your settings. And finally, a 30-second spot for a brand at this year's Super Bowl is reportedly costing $6.5 million. In case you're curious what that would get you in digital media, Digiday did the math. For $6.5 million, you can instead get 650 million impressions on a Facebook ad,

4.2 million Google search clicks, 1.7 million clicks on Amazon sponsored display videos, 843 million impressions on a TikTok ad, and three clicks on LinkedIn. Okay, I might be exaggerating that. Finally, advertisers can buy 30 days of TikTok branded hashtag challenges for the cost of one Super Bowl spot. So my apologies for the first couple of minutes of this podcast. I know it was crackly or, as we say in the business, over-modulated.

I don't know what this Shure microphone software is doing, but every time I start a new recording session, it jacks up the levels to literally the max, as high a level as you can do. And then I have to remember each time to switch it from 36 dB to 28.5 dB. And sometimes I forget, and, time to switch it from 36 dB to 28.5 dB. And sometimes I forget.

And, well, that's what happens. And that will put paid to another week. Today in digital marketing is produced by EngageQ Digital on the traditional territories of the Tsunamic First Nation on Vancouver Island. Scripting and promotional support by Steph Gunn. Podcast music licensing by Source Audio. And our theme composer, Mark Levis, is sucking on a chili dog outside the tasty freeze. I'm Todd Maffin. Have a restful weekend, friends. Premium members, I'll see you tomorrow. The rest of you, I will see you on Monday.

Tomorrow is just yesterday's today