SajitonTech: July 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Apple Could Soon Be Worth $1 Trillion as Profits Pour In Technology

By JACK NICAS from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2LISkms
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Argentina's Mendoza Province Becomes First to Pass Law Allowing Uber Technology

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Facebook Bans Multiple Pages To Combat Fake News, Russian Interference Suspected

Facebook Bans Multiple Pages To Combat Fake News, Russian Interference Suspected

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Still very much a battleground for geopolitical warfare, Facebook says it just shut down a coordinated campaign to sow misinformation and discord among U.S. voters.

As of Tuesday, Facebook said it still didn’t have firm evidence to identify who was behind the effort, which spanned 32 Pages and accounts, and dates back to March of last year.

That said, some of the campaign’s activity was consistent with what Facebook has previously seen from the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which has well-known ties to the Kremlin.

Having completed its initial investigation into the effort, Facebook said it has shared its findings with U.S. law enforcement agencies, Congress, other technology companies, and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab -- a research organization it recently enlisted to help identify and analyze such abuses.

Putting the offenders’ potential reach and influence into perspective, Facebook said that just one of the implicated accounts had roughly 290,000 followers, while the network of accounts generated more than 9,500 organic posts since last March.

Along with an image of President Trump, one such post read: “If Trump wants to beat Barack Obama’s Twitter record for most liked tweet he only needs to tweet 2 words ‘I resign.’”

Together, the network also ran about 150 ads on Facebook and Instagram, for which it paid roughly $11,000.

Facebook also noted that the individuals responsible for this latest campaign used more sophisticated techniques than those of earlier offenders.

“These bad actors have been more careful to cover their tracks, in part, due to the actions we’ve taken to prevent abuse over the past year,” Nathaniel Gleicher, head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook, notes in a new blog post.

“For example, they used VPNs and internet phone services, and paid third parties to run ads on their behalf,” Gleicher pointed out.

Facing immense pressure from Capitol Hill, Facebook is determined not to let foreign powers use its platform to manipulate another domestic election.

Shedding more light on Russia’s efforts to divide Americans before and after the 2016 presidential election, Democrats on the House intelligence committee recently published more than 3,000 politically provocative Facebook ads produced by the IRA.

In April, Facebook removed 70 Facebook and 65 Instagram accounts -- as well as 138 Facebook Pages -- controlled by the IRA, targeted to people living in Russia or Russian-speakers in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

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July 31, 2018 at 06:02PM

San Francisco Officials to Tech Workers: Buy Your Lunch Technology

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Facebook Fights Users' Attempt To Revive Suit Over Tracking

Facebook Fights Users' Attempt To Revive Suit Over Tracking

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Facebook is asking a federal appellate court to refuse to revive a lawsuit accusing the company of tracking logged-out users throughout the web via the "Like" button.

The company argues in new court papers that the consumers who filed suit shouldn't be able to proceed because didn't allege that they were harmed by Facebook, or that Facebook broke any promises to them.

"They have not identified a single specific piece of data that Facebook supposedly received while they were logged out," Facebook writes in a brief submitted Monday to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. "Plaintiffs fail to allege that Facebook made or breached any promise regarding the receipt of data from logged-out users during the relevant period."

The legal battle dates to 2011, when several users alleged in a class-action complaint that Facebook violated federal and state privacy laws, as well as its own privacy policy, by collecting data about people through its social widget. The consumers said Facebook gathered data about its users whenever they visited sites with a "Like" button, even if the users were logged out of the service.

The lawsuit came after Australian developer Nic Cubrilovic reported that Facebook was able to identify users whenever they visited sites with the "Like" button. At the time, Facebook said that a "bug" allowed the company to receive data about logged-out users. The company also promised to fix the bug, and said it never retained data that tied users' IDs to the sites they visited. (Facebook's practices subsequently changed. Currently, the company intentionally collects some information from logged-out users.)

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, Calif. dismissed the lawsuit last year. He said in the ruling that Facebook didn't violate the federal wiretap law because it didn't "intercept" communications. The wiretap law prohibits companies from intercepting electronic transmissions, without the consent of at least one party.

He also ruled last year that the users couldn't proceed with claims that Facebook violated its own policies, or that it violated a California privacy law. Davila also said in his ruling that the users hadn't shown that they suffered an economic injury as a result of the alleged privacy violations. The judge added that Facebook's users could have taken steps to prevent the tracking, such as by blocking cookies, using ""incognito mode" browser settings, or installing plug-in "browser enhancements."

The users recently asked the 9th Circuit to reverse Davila's ruling and reinstate the case. The advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center is backing that request.

"Users expect that their web browsing history will remain private -- no one imagines a marketing executive standing over their shoulder and taking notes as they use the Internet," EPIC wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief filed recently with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Facebook is asking the 9th Circuit to reject requests to revive the case. The social networking service raises several arguments, including that the users who sued didn't establish that they had a "reasonable expectation of privacy" in the identities of the sites they visited.

Facebook writes that California's privacy law only protects people against the spread of "sensitive and confidential" information. In this case, the consumers didn't specify which sites they visited while logged out, and therefore "failed to allege that the fact that they visited those sites is 'sensitive,' 'confidential,' or even personal," Facebook argues.

The social networking service is also facing another privacy battle in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. That matter stems from allegations that Facebook tracked users at health sites -- including ones operated by the American Cancer Society, Melanoma Research Foundation and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center -- via the "Like" widget.

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July 31, 2018 at 04:04PM

Amazon Taking Marketers' Budgets, CPCs In Flux Globally

Amazon Taking Marketers' Budgets, CPCs In Flux Globally

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Marketers spent 13% more in the second quarter of 2018, driven by click volumes and higher cost per clicks (CPCs). When broken down into regions, the U.S. came in at 12%, followed by the UK at 14%, and Europe at 19%, according to recent data.

Digital marketing company Marin Software’s research from its global Q2 2018 Digital Advertising Benchmark Report found that the uptick in the amount spent was driven almost equally by increased click volume and rising CPCs, with the average global CPC increasing from $0.80 in the second quarter of 2017 to $0.85 in the second quarter of 2018.

CPCs varied by region and industry. For example, the average CPC in the U.S. and the UK was $0.92, but it was much lower in Europe at $0.42.

Amazon captured 24% of digital budgets for Marin clients that were active on that channel for total budgets.

Sponsored Product Ads represented 79% of that spend, with Headline Shopping Ads representing the remaining 21%.

Shopping Ads from Google represented 32% of the ad spend by retailers. Shopping took the biggest share in the UK at 48%, followed by 37% in European countries and 27% in the U.S.

Instagram proved popular with Marin’s advertisers, taking 20% of their total Facebook ad budgets. While the cost per click (CPC) rose 3% since the first quarter of 2017, averaging $0.184, the CPMs at $3.07 and click-through rates (CTR) at 1.67% dropped slightly from the first quarter of the year.

“This difference may relate to recently enacted privacy regulations and increased consumer awareness of highly publicized data breaches — each potentially reducing overall consumer ad engagement on social channels,” according to the report.

Overall, among Marin’s clients, Education spent the most in the quarter, followed by Technology, Healthcare, B2B, Healthcare, Finance, Manufacturing, Automotive, retail, and travel.

Mobile search ads took 40% share in the quarter. Europe took the highest share 46.4%, whereas the U.S. at 38.4% took the lowest.

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July 31, 2018 at 03:31PM

McKinney, Corian Bring Moodboard Maker To New York's Grand Central

McKinney, Corian Bring Moodboard Maker To New York's Grand Central

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Last month McKinney and client DuPont Corian Design unveiled a new app—the Moodboard Maker--intended to help the firm’s designers and customers collaborate quickly and efficiently.

Now the companies are bringing the design tool to New York’s Grand Central Terminal in the form of an interactive exhibit to let thousands of passersby check it out for themselves.

The exhibit will be at the Terminal Aug. 1-2 (8 a.m.-8 p.m. ET).

An estimated 750,000 people pass through the transit hub daily. In addition to that potential audience, the firms are linking the exhibit to social media so that users everywhere can create their own Moodboards that may appear on display in GST.

A live stream of the exhibit can be accessed via the #corianmoodboardmaker hashtag on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and WeChat.

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July 31, 2018 at 03:31PM

Drifting Alone On The Social Network

Drifting Alone On The Social Network

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This was not your ordinary Facebook post -- if there is such a thing.

For one thing, it was long -- almost 1,600 words. That’s longer than this column. Secondly, it was raw. It was written by somebody in deep pain who laid their soul bare for their entire network to see.

I barely knew this person, and I was given a look into the deepest and darkest part of their lives. The post told the story of the breakup of a marriage and a struggle with depression. It was a disturbing blow-by-blow chronicle of someone hitting the bottom.

A strange thing happened while I was reading the post. At one level, I responded as I hope any decent human would. I felt the pain of this person -- even though we were barely acquaintances -- and wanted to help in some way.

Still, in a sort of meta-awareness, I monitored myself as a sample of one to see what the longer-term impact was. This plea through social media seemed extraordinary in a number of ways. What were the possible unintended consequences of this online confessional?

I should add an additional, traumatic, context to this story. This post was catalyzed by the recent suicide of a well-known member of the industry I used to work in. Again, I was made aware of the tragedy through several posts on Facebook. And again, I barely knew the person involved -- but somewhere along the line, we had connected through Facebook. In the last two days of his life, he had updated his status.

He was young. He had a family. He should have had everything to live for. But then again, I really didn’t know him or his circumstances. I certainly didn’t know his pain. Judging by the shock in the comments on Facebook, I don’t think any of us knew.

And that’s what prompted this post I’m writing about. Obviously, this person wanted us to know his pain. He was asking for help. But he was also offering it to anyone who needed it. And he chose to do it through Facebook.

This should be social media at its finest -- a moving example of people connecting when it counts most. The post certainly touched those who read it. Eighty comments, all supportive, followed the post. Many contained their own abbreviated confessions of going through similar pain.

All this seemed cathartic. I would even call it inspirational.

So why was I so troubled? Something seemed wrong.

Social Networks are Built on Weak Ties

Perhaps the problem is in the nature of our online social networks. In the 1990s, British anthropologist Robin Dunbar suggested our brains had a cognitive limit on the number of stable social relationships we could maintain. The number was 150, which has since become known as Dunbar's Number.

In follow-up research released in the last few years, Dunbar has found that within this circle of 150 acquaintances, there are smaller circles of increasingly more intimate friends. The next layer in is what we would probably call “friends”: people we chose to spend time with. That’s about 50 people. Then we have “close friends,” people we tend to socialize with more frequently. On average, we would have 15 of these. And finally, we have our closest friends – those we are intimately connected to. Dunbar puts our cognitive limit at five for these most precious connections.

I have about 450 “Friends” on Facebook. If Dunbar’s Number is correct, this is three times the number of social connections I can mentally coordinate. By necessity, they’re almost all what Mark Granovetter would refer to as “weak ties”: social connections that are not actively maintained.

And my network is relatively small. Others in the online industry typically have social networks numbering well over 1,000 connections. Yet, with all these thousands of connections, the person who committed suicide -- and the one who wrote that intimate post -- seemingly didn't have one of those very close friends they could reach out to in person. Perhaps they did, but the personal investment might have been too high.

The Psychology of the Online Confessional

We all need to be heard. And sometimes, it seems easier to confide in a stranger than a friend. We can talk without worrying about all the baggage we are carrying. Our closest friends know all about that baggage. I think, subconsciously, we sometimes tend to gravitate towards “weak ties” when things are at their worst. It’s the reason psychotherapists and confessional booths exist.

Also, a confession is easier when it’s physically detached from the feedback. We can craft the language before we post. We are not sitting across from someone who might judge us. We are posting alone, and this can bring its own sense of comfort. Unfortunately, that comfort can be short-lived.

The Half-Life of Online Empathy

Eventually, the empathy dies away and the social shaming begins. I wish this wasn’t the case -- I wish humans were better than this -- but we’re not. We’re just human.

If you’re not an absolute sociopath, you can’t help but be empathetic when someone lays their grieving soul bare for you. And the investment required to post a supportive comment is minimal. It is determined by the same cognitive algorithm I talked about last week regarding “slacktivism.” It’s a few seconds of our life and a handful of carefully selected words.

At the time, we are probably sincere in our offer of help, but then we move on. This is a weak tie, a person we hardly know. We have no skin in the game.

If that seems callous and cruel on my part, there are previous examples to point to. Over and over again, we pour out our support when the pain is fresh, only to move on to the next thing more and more quickly.

This is true when the tragedies are global in nature. I suspect the same is true when they’re more localized, with people we are passingly acquainted with.

And these people have now gone public with their pain. It is now part of their digital footprint. Today, we may feel nothing but empathy. But how will we feel six weeks hence? Or six months? I would like to think we would remain noble, kind and gracious in our thoughts, but most of the evidence points to the contrary.

I didn’t want to be negative in writing this. I sincerely hope that such online pleas for help bring aid and comfort to the person in question. As I said, this was all sparked by someone who never got the help he needed at the right time.

Perhaps a weak tie online is better than no tie at all. But I will remain a strong believer in the power of a true person-to-person connection, with all its messiness and organic imperfection. We need more of those connections.

And the more time we spend alone, keying in our thoughts in front of the light-blue glow of a monitor, the less likely that is to happen.

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July 31, 2018 at 01:22PM

BAM Wins Product Sourcing Business

BAM Wins Product Sourcing Business

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One year after merging, the B2B companies Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing (ECRM), a provider of product sourcing and category planning solutions, and RangeMe, an online platform that connects product suppliers with retailers are appointing The BAM Connection as AOR. The two companies serve as an end-to-end category sourcing platform.

The Brooklyn-based agency will handle creative, strategy and social media work for the two companies that operate under one umbrella message. There was no incumbent and there was no formal review.

The agency’s first work will debut in September.

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July 31, 2018 at 12:21PM

How to Stop Facebook From Bringing Up Bad Memories Technology

By J. D. BIERSDORFER from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2ApKskx
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U.S. CMOs Prioritize Innovation

U.S. CMOs Prioritize Innovation

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U.S. CMOs are more confident than their peers in other regions, and they believe that a primary role of marketing is to embrace and lead disruptive innovation, according to a global survey.

These marketing leaders see emerging technologies as the top opportunity for marketing in the next two to three years, according to Dentsu Aegis Network’s first annual CMO Survey. Additionally, U.S. CMOs report that their role is increasingly tied to the strategic drivers of the business.

Advertisers are not seeking innovation for innovation’s sake, but rather innovation that drives ROI, says Jon Kovalcik, executive vice president, Dentsu Aegis Network, global business lead for General Motors’ Maven.

“That lowers cost-per-acquisition, reaches a new segment, and ultimately makes their marketing more effective,” Kovalcik tells Marketing Daily. “We are seeing this across many successful brands, including Maven, where innovative thinking is embedded in the brand’s culture.”

Despite rumors to the contrary, U.S. CMOs stand out as having a much more positive view of their agency partners than CMOs in many other markets. Admitting challenges, 42% of U.S. CMOs agree that their agencies are “strong” at delivering integrated solutions across the marketing mix — four times higher than non-U.S. CMOs. And one-third of U.S. CMOs say their agencies are “strong” at delivering performance pricing, efficiency and partnering to drive long-term execution, which is up to three times higher than non-U.S. CMOs.

The survey highlights the key challenges of 1,000 chief marketing officers across 10 top global markets. It dives into a variety of issues facing marketers such as difficulties connecting with consumers, the dynamics of working with agencies, data regulation fears and new barriers for growth.

CMOs indicate budgets are growing steadily. In fact, 69% of U.S. CMOs say they expect their budgets to rise this year, compared to 61% of CMOs in other markets. Only 16% say they expect their budgets to fall.

The survey findings also show that a rising profile and responsibilities can bring the potential for tension in the C-suite. Forty-eight percent of U.S. CMOs say that competition with other leaders in their organization is one of their key internal challenges — much higher than the 34% of non-U.S. CMOs who report facing the same problem.

Growing budgets put pressure on CMOs to deliver results. Fifty-eight percent say the “primary role” of marketing is to deliver growth. This mandate is rated more highly than other important roles, such as developing customer experiences (55%) and effective brand management (51%). Non-U.S. CMOs are even more adamant about marketing’s role in delivering growth. Sixty-five percent of non-U.S. CMOs cite it, as do 64% of Eurozone CMOs (Germany, France, Italy and Spain) and 63% in the U.K.

U.S. respondents have a greater appetite for people-based marketing initiatives than other regions.

For example, 83% agree that in order to maximize consumer engagement in the next two to three years they need to be able to use data to reach real people — higher than quality content (71%) or social purpose (69%).

Overall, U.S. CMOs are most confident in their approach to data — 85% agree that they have a “clear data strategy.”

CMOs all over the world are more inclined to see big platforms, such as Facebook and WeChat, as frenemies rather than opportunities. In the U.S. market, a greater percentage of CMOs say they see such platforms as a risk (65%), rather than as an opportunity for partnership (49%). Indeed, U.S. CMOs are most alarmed by the dominance of large platforms of all markets surveyed. Among non-U.S. CMOs, only 44% see them as a critical risk.

“There’s a clear shift, as senior marketers adapt to a digital economy characterized by customer-led demand, near-perfect competition and where competitive advantage rests in how well you know your customers,” says Nigel Morris, chief strategy and innovation officer at Dentsu Aegis Network.

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July 31, 2018 at 07:53AM

The Fight To Capture Younger Viewers: $1B Cash Infusion, $50M Acquisition

The Fight To Capture Younger Viewers: $1B Cash Infusion, $50M Acquisition

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A pair of notable news stories over the past week have raised new questions about what video content will look like for younger viewers, and exactly who will control that ecosystem.

The rise of mobile video, social video and streaming have already dramatically shifted the way we consume video, but both legacy media companies and new upstarts are betting that these technologies will forge a new set of winners and losers.

Younger consumers are not as committed to legacy media channels as baby boomers and Gen-Xers, so the race is on to become the content provider for the next generation.

Among the upstarts, few are as flashy or high-profile as NewTV, a project being developed by mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo.

Last week, WndrCo confirmed that it had closed its first $1 billion (yes, with a “B”) round of funding for NewTV, with institutional investors joining companies like Disney and Warner Bros. in the round.

NewTV named former Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman as its CEO in January, suggesting that Katzenberg had grand ambitions. The billion-dollar funding round backs up that notion.

Still, very little is known about NewTV. So far, Katzenberg has really only said that the plan is to produce ultra-premium content (think “Game of Thrones” quality) only short-form and delivered in a mobile-first environment.

Exactly where that content will be available remains unclear, and it also isn’t clear whether it will be free and ad-supported, subscription-supported, or both.

On the other side of the coin, last week Viacom confirmed it had acquired AwesomenessTV, a company that sought to produce premium content for young viewers. At one point, AwesomenessTV was valued at $650 million. Viacom reportedly acquired the company for $50 million and the assumption of debt.

Rather than serving as a warning to NewTV, AwesomenessTV is something of an alternative take on the same idea. While it failed to succeed as a standalone company, Viacom is betting that the pieces it has built will be able to thrive within its Digital Studios unit.

WndrCo is betting that a massive influx of cash will give it the runway to turn NewTV into the content hub of the future, while Viacom is betting that its programming smarts combined with AwesomenessTV’s digital savviness can accomplish the same goal.

Tomorrow’s video viewer may not be that interested in the brands of MTV or Comedy Central, but both companies are betting they can create something that is sticky, and will resonate with that generation in the same way as Gen-Xers saying “I want my MTV!” 30+ years ago.

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July 31, 2018 at 07:53AM

Facebook and YouTube Dominate Social Use

Facebook and YouTube Dominate Social Use

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A new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults, by Aaron Smith and Monica Anderson, finds that the social media landscape in early 2018 is defined by a mix of long-standing trends and newly emerging narratives.

According to the report, Facebook and YouTube dominate this landscape, as notable majorities of U.S. adults use each of these sites. At the same time, younger Americans (especially those ages 18 to 24) stand out for embracing a variety of platforms and using them frequently. 78% of 18- to 24-year-olds use Snapchat, and a sizeable majority of these users (71%) visit the platform multiple times per day. Similarly, 71% of Americans in this age group now use Instagram and 45% are Twitter users.

As has been the case since the Center began surveying about the use of different social media in 2012, Facebook remains the primary platform for most Americans. 68% of U.S. adults now report that they are Facebook users, and roughly three-quarters of those users access Facebook on a daily basis. With the exception of those 65 and older, a majority of Americans across a wide range of demographic groups now use Facebook.

The video-sharing site YouTube is now used by nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults and 94% of 18- to 24-year-olds. And the median American reports that they use three of the eight major platforms that the Center measured in this survey.

Different social media platforms show varied growth. Facebook remains the most widely used social media platform by a relatively healthy margin. 68% of U.S. adults are now Facebook users. Other than the video-sharing platform YouTube, none of the other sites or apps measured in this survey are used by more than 40% of Americans.

As was true in previous Pew Research Center surveys of social media use, there are substantial differences in social media use by age. 88% of 18- to 29-year-olds indicate that they use any form of social media. That share falls to 78% among those ages 30 to 49, to 64% among those ages 50 to 64 and to 37% among Americans 65 and older.

At the same time, there are pronounced differences in the use of various social media platforms withinthe young adult population as well. Americans ages 18 to 24 are substantially more likely to use platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter even when compared with those in their mid- to late-20s.

These differences are especially notable when it comes to Snapchat: 78% of 18- to 24-year-olds are Snapchat users, but that share falls to 54% among those ages 25 to 29.

With the exception of those 65 and older, Facebook is used by a majority of Americans across a wide range of demographic groups. But other platforms appeal more strongly to certain subsets of the population. In addition to the age-related differences in the use of sites such as Instagram and Snapchat noted above, these are some of the more prominent examples:

Pinterest remains substantially more popular with women (41% of whom say they use the site) than with men (16%).
LinkedIn remains especially popular among college graduates and those in high-income households. Some 50% of Americans with a college degree use LinkedIn, compared with just 9% of those with a high school diploma or less.
The messaging service WhatsApp is popular in Latin America, and this popularity also extends to Latinos in the United States. 49% of Hispanics report that they are WhatsApp users, compared with 14% of whites and 21% of blacks.
For more details on social media platform use by different demographic groups, see here.

For additional information, please visit here.

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July 31, 2018 at 06:27AM

Monday, July 30, 2018

How to Get a Weekly View in Apple’s Calendar Technology

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Mint Advertising Wins New Accounts

Mint Advertising Wins New Accounts

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Clinton, NJ-based Mint Advertising has been retained by Italian non-dairy gelato maker Valsoia to increase brand awareness in the U.S.

The remit includes branding development, social media and web design.

The agency has also been hired to develop branding, messaging and creative for the gift card program Hotels.com.

And Columbia Sportswear has also retained the agency to redesign its gift card program.

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July 30, 2018 at 05:23PM

Tech Platforms Should Beef Up Privacy Disclosures, Senate Democrat Suggests

Tech Platforms Should Beef Up Privacy Disclosures, Senate Democrat Suggests

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Tech platforms should improve disclosures about the information they collect and the ways they use that data, a Democratic Senator suggests in a new policy paper.

"User tracking can have important consumer benefits, for instance by showing users more relevant ads and helping to optimize user experience across different apps," Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) writes in a new paper exploring proposals for regulating social media and tech platforms. "At the same time, these user profiles could provide opportunities for consumer harm -- and in surreptitious, undetectable ways."

He adds that "pervasive" tracking can be used to affect decisions about matters like consumers' credit-worthiness.

"Users have no reason to expect that certain browsing behavior could determine the interest they pay on an auto-loan, much less that what their friends post could be used to determine that," Warner writes. "Important policy mechanisms include requiring greater disclosure by platforms – and in clear, concise ways -- about the types of information they collect, and the specific ways they are utilizing it."

The white paper, released Monday, calls for increased scrutiny of tech platforms, but doesn't recommend any specific laws. Instead, Warner floats suggestions aimed at addressing what he calls "the dark underbelly of an entire ecosystem."

The paper grows out of recent hearings about Russia's interference in the 2016 election, including the country's attempt to spread propaganda through social media.

"More than illuminating the capacity of these technologies to be exploited by bad actors, the revelations of the last year have revealed the dark underbelly of an entire ecosystem," the paper states. "Government has failed to adapt and has been incapable or unwilling to adequately address the impacts of these trends on privacy, competition, and public discourse."

Warner floats a broad range of proposals addressing a host of topics, ranging from online privacy to defamatory speech to "information warfare."

Among other suggestions, Warner says the Federal Trade Commission needs "significantly more funding" in order to "develop tools necessary to evaluate complex algorithmic systems for unfairness, deception, or competition concerns."

He notes that the FTC has generally lacked authority to enact regulations since 1980. "If the FTC had genuine rulemaking authority, many claim, it would be able to respond to changes in technology and business practices," he writes.

Warner also recommends that the government "spell out a deterrence doctrine, so that our adversaries don’t see information warfare or cyberattacks against us as a 'free lunch.'"

He writes: "We need to make clear to Russia and other nations, that if you go after us in the cyber realm, we’re going to punch back using our own cyber capabilities. And we need to increase the costs of this activity with robust sanctions and other tools."

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July 30, 2018 at 04:53PM

Bob Evans Taps Buckeyes' Urban Meyer As 'Head Breakfast Coach'

Bob Evans Taps Buckeyes' Urban Meyer As 'Head Breakfast Coach'

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Bob Evans Restaurants has recruited Ohio State Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer as its new brand representative, dubbing him its “Head Breakfast Coach.”

The family dining restaurant chain, which was founded and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, says it selected Meyer because he was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, is a fan of the restaurant chain, and “embodies the same values the family dining restaurant was founded on — a down-to-earth, generous, hardworking way of life that is 'The Ohio Way.'”

He’s also extremely popular with Ohioans, having led the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2014.

The rep deal includes TV, radio, digital, social and in-restaurant advertising, as well as a dedicated landing page.

Urban will help the chain promote its new “Everything Breakfast” (three scrambled eggs, sausage, ham, bacon, hash browns and other ingredients).

He will also be featured in a football-season campaign for Bob Evans’ introduction of biscuit bowls (biscuits filled with toppings). Starting in October, that marketing will include social media and a sweepstakes.

After closing 27 underperforming restaurants in 2016, Bob Evans Farms Inc. last year sold its restaurant division for $565 million to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, which also owns the Red Lobster and California Pizza Kitchen chains. Bob Evans Inc. opted to focus on the faster-growing, more profitable Bob Evans Foods packaged food business.

According to Restaurant Business’s 2018 Top 500 restaurant rankings, based on Technomic data,

Bob Evans Restaurants was ranked #51 in Restaurant Business’s 2018 Top 500 restaurant rankings, based on Technomic data. Its estimated 2017 sales of $910 million were down 4.3% versus 2016, and its units were down 2.3%.

According to the chain, it currently has 495 locations in 18 U.S. states, primarily in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions.

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July 30, 2018 at 03:23PM

Eight Surprising Insights About Right-Wing Websites

Eight Surprising Insights About Right-Wing Websites

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There was no news fatigue among leading ad-supported right-wing websites in the first half of 2018, according to my analysis of six month’s worth of data from SimilarWeb. And for news consumers looking for opinions and insights from the right -- and far right -- there were no shortage of options.

I should know. I spend the first part of every weekday morning surveying right-wing digital outlets for my website TheRighting, where I pluck the 12-15 juiciest headlines of the day.

Analyzing traffic trends and audience composition is often as important as dissecting the content coming from the right. It’s not just what right-wing websites are saying. Who are they talking to? And is this audience growing or shrinking?

So long, story short: the audience is huge and cuts across a wide swatch of America. These news consumers on the right can’t be dismissed as fringe elements with no ability to make an impact in elections (see November 2016, America).

So, what happened in the first half of 2018? What conservative websites did audiences flock to -- or flee? Here are eight surprising insights:

The biggest got bigger: Foxnews.com is the 8,000-pound gorilla of conservative websites. It records four to five times the number of audience visits compared to the next largest site, Breitbart. That’s a massive lead. And Fox News got bigger this year. It began 2018 with 303 million audience visits in January and ended in June with 346 million. Even more impressive: Its June audience visits exceeded those of The New York Times, which had 320 million audience visits.

The Daily Wire is wired for success: While audience visits to this three-year-old site remained steady throughout through the year, take a second to consider the astonishing strength of this relatively new conservative media brand. In less than 36 months, The Daily Wire has consistently become a top-five website – far exceeding well established news brands on the right like The National Review, The Weekly Standard and The Washington Times. And its founder and editor in chief Ben Shapiro has become a leading voice on the right (author, journalist, podcaster, web video presence, etc.). If you’re tracking the strength of right-wing media, keep an eye on this influential website.

Breitbart is down but not out: Cue the violin music: Breitbart is slumping. TheRighting’s analysis shows audience visits dropped for six of the past seven months. Citing Comscore numbers, Politico wrote in June that Breitbart’s traffic dropped for the seventh straight month. CNN threw more shade on Breitbart by posting a story in late July saying that the media’s fascination with Breitbart is fading. Ouch.

Breitbart is getting worse press than Steve Bannon’s barber. But don’t call the undertaker. There was nothing in the numbers for the first half of this year suggesting in any way that Breitbart will lose its ranking as the second-most-visited conservative website. It has about twice as many audience visits as The Daily Caller, the number-three-ranked conservative website.

TheBlaze is also down but not out: Downsized staff. Newsroom grumbling. Failed sale to a prospective buyer. Bad press. Yep, Glenn Beck’s trailblazing conservative website has had a rough 2018. But audience visits have basically held up this year (although down from 2017).

Infowars is also trending downward: First half audience visits to Infowars peaked in January at 21 million. Since then, traffic has tailed off. Guiding spirit and controversy magnet Alex Jones has been temporarily banned from Facebook. The notorious site ended the first half with “just” 16.96 million audience visits. It’s worth noting that Infowars consistently ranks as a top-10 conservative news website. What happens to the site in the second half of the year is an open question.

Fastest growing conservative website you’ve never heard of: The Western Journal. Audience visits have almost tripled since the beginning of the year and now stand at almost 15 million, which makes it a top-10 conservative website. The site places a lot of emphasis on Facebook traffic, and more than 80% of its social visits came from the social media giant.

Sinclair’s news website stuck in neutral: While there’s been considerable speculation about Sinclair mounting a challenge to Fox News in the TV game with another conservative-leaning news network, Sinclair’s efforts with its news website Circa seem stalled. Each month, Circa attracts a little more than one million audience visits. It’s not even a top-20 conservative website -- not impressive considering Circa’s corporate backing.

Millions love to visit a hate site: Traffic remains steady for the hate-spewing neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer. It generated more than two million audience visits for each of the last three months. Or, to put it another way, more than twice as many as the Sinclair-backed Circa. And some months this year, it came close to surpassing the audience visits to Sean Hannity’s website.

If there’s any saving grace in these numbers, it’s that audience visits from the United States accounted for only 40% of The Daily Stormer’s traffic, followed by Spain at 10% and then United Kingdom at 9%.

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July 30, 2018 at 03:23PM

Cheetah Digital Acquires Stellar Loyalty

Cheetah Digital Acquires Stellar Loyalty

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Cheetah Digital, a global provider of cross-channel marketing software, has acquired Stellar Loyalty, a specialist in cloud-based B2C engagement software. Terms were not disclosed.

Peter Lim, CTO and co-founder of Stellar Loyalty, will serve as Cheetah Digital’s SVP of engineering innovation and will continue to run Stellar’s services, support and product teams.

Stellar Loyalty handles digital messaging via email, mobile, web, social and point-of-sale, utilizing demographic, behavioral transactional and contextual data, Cheetah says. The objective is to help brands deliver “relevant and personalized experiences,” Lim states.

The company’s first-party data platform uses batch and streaming capabilities to incorporate consumer engagement data, according to Cheetah Digital.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Europe and Asia, Stellar Loyalty serves such clients as Yankee Candle, Cayman Airways, CraftWorks, and Harlequin. Its team includes veterans from Siebel Systems, Oracle, SAP, and Marketo.

Cheetah Digital works with such brands as Williams-Sonoma, American Express and Hilton. It has 25 offices in 13 countries.

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July 30, 2018 at 02:28PM

For The Love Of Email: Trusted Old Channel Ranks First In Survey

For The Love Of Email: Trusted Old Channel Ranks First In Survey

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Maybe it’s GDPR and the recent privacy scandals. But consumers prefer the trusted old channels when receiving direct marketing communications. A survey by the UK DMA shows that 73% cite email as their first or second choice, and that 90% place in their top four. The second most popular channel—selected by 41%--is the post (i.e., direct mail).

In contrast, social is rated first by 22%, although a third of millennials rank it above email. Messaging apps and phone are at the bottom.

Email also is seen as the most relevant channel, with 64% putting it in that category. It is followed by Instagram (50%), post (49%), Facebook (45%), face-to-face (43%), banner advertisements 943%), text (40%) and massager app (33%).

However, email is way down the list when it comes to informing people about new products and services TV and in-store rate highest, followed by search, online shopping sites and family and friends. GenXers are most likely to hear of new offerings by email.

The DMA surveyed 2,016 consumers. Of those, 90% are aware of GDPR and 86% knew that they had received privacy policy updates from brands within the last three months. And72% recalled receiving messages from companies about consenting and opting in to allow them to continue messaging them.

Whatever the channel, email marketers can’t afford to be complacent. Consumers agree they will switch retail brands if:

Products/services were cheaper compared to my current company—76%
Their products/service were higher quality than my current company—76%
Their products/serves were discounted—72%
It would save me time compared to my current company—60%

What do they rely on when deciding to trust marketing messages

Brand/company reputation—42%
Simple to understand information—38%
Ratings by independent bodies/experts—35%
Expert opinions—30%
Addressed to me personally—19%
A link to what people were saying about the brand company on social media—12%
A link to a chatbot/chat messenger service so I could ask questions—8%
Celebrity endorsement—6%

However, 20% are swayed by none of these.

Granted, these are UK consumers—people might differ in some ways in the U.S. But they probably reflect similar attitudes.

Only 23% have smart home assistants, and a minority in the UK have the ability to use voice commands. But 41% resist smart assistants because they do not want to share data with the firms providing the technology.

The study also found that:

73% avoid services that tie them into long contracts
25% have used chatbots, and 27% are interested in using them
77% of parents and 83% of families with household incomes of 75k or more use at least one subscription service. Such services are most popular among millennials.

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July 30, 2018 at 02:00PM

25% Of Marketers Lack Skills To Measure Success Of Data

25% Of Marketers Lack Skills To Measure Success Of Data

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Implementing transparency, consistency and universal standards are the top three actions that marketers would like from data providers to improve data quality, according to a recent study commissioned by data management platform Lotame.

Of the 300 brand marketers polled, 90% said they would buy more data if companies could guarantee its accuracy.

Nearly all marketers view audience data as valuable, but only 20% are “very confident” of its accuracy, and 68% are “somewhat confident.” Only 12% are either “slightly confident” or “not confident at all” in the accuracy of the data they purchase.

Marketers are concerned with the frequency in which data gets updated, but the biggest challenge remains with the 25% of marketers who are not sure how to measure the success of their audience data purchases, and 53% who don’t measure demographic data quality at all.

When marketers do measure success, 67% say the click-through rate is the top metric. Awareness came in at 45%, followed by cost per acquisition at 43%, sales lift at 42%, video views at 33%, viewability at 33%, brand lift at 22%, brand recall at 17%, and other at 2%.

And 55% of marketers don’t measure demographic data for accuracy. Those that do, measure mostly against Nielsen DAR at 36%, followed by comScore vCE at 12%.

Marketers are also concerned with bot fraud and non-human traffic because ad fraud not only impacts data accuracy, but campaign performance. The study also mention the misattribution of values and motivations that lead to broad or inaccurate categorization.

When marketers do buy data, 42% look for age and gender, which is the most popular data type, followed by geographic data at 34%.

Advanced demographics such as household income, education, children, along with interest come in at 28% each. Third-party data and behavioral data, each take 25%, and social influencer and second-party data each take 24%.

When the study asked for marketers to rank their use of demographic audiences, 76% said they “always” or “usually” target by age, 61% said by gender, 50% said by household income, 40% said by education level, and 32% say by the number of children in the household.

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July 30, 2018 at 02:00PM

Real Recognizes Real: Why Brands Aren't Relying On Stock Photography

Real Recognizes Real: Why Brands Aren't Relying On Stock Photography

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There is a reason why brands like Nivea, Pernod Ricard, Heineken, and Coca-Cola are killing it on social media and building stronger connections with consumers. They aren’t relying on stock imagery. Rather, they are crowdsourcing authentic images that align with their brand message and values.

Authentic imagery is a necessary element in sending brand messaging to today’s savvy consumers. We know that consumers can pick up a brand’s messaging within seconds of seeing a single image. This is why it’s so important to create authentic, local, and real images for brands, as imagery speaks faster than words alone.

Here are a few things to consider when creating imagery for your next campaign:

Don’t create a library of generic images. It’s important to create a library of custom photographs that showcase your brand guidelines. When you create these images with your company’s vision in mind, your brand awareness and engagement will increase. Plus, you’ll have easy access to a library of relatable images that can then be used for your marketing strategies.

Don’t pass off someone’s product as your own. It’s very hard to get the perfect image with stock photography. For example, if you own an ice cream shop and use a generic photo of someone eating your ice cream, this image will not capture your exact atmosphere, true brand messaging, and product you are looking to feature.

Don’t Photoshop your product / logo into an image. Successful brands leverage authentic images with their products being used IRL (in real life). Consumers know when a product is photo-shopped into a scene. It’s more authentic to have your brand or company in a picture that feels relevant and relatable to your brand ethos.

Don’t rely on models. Use real people. If a woman sees a supermodel wearing a dress, she may think it is unattainable. Consumers relate better to real people. They can then imagine themselves traveling to your location, wearing your clothes, or eating at your restaurant.

Outdoors > indoors. If it aligns with your brand, taking photos with unique backgrounds outdoors can have a stronger impact than indoors. Consumers want to see content that they can connect with – outdoors tends to portray real moments, while indoors can sometimes look staged and inauthentic.

Crowdsource images. Diversity matters. Share your brand guidelines, core values and messaging with multiple photographers (professional and amateur), and let them do their magic. Remember multiple heads and creative POVs can be better than one.

Rethinking the process and content of your brand imagery can create stronger consumer connections. The right image can speak volumes to your consumer. Consumers will immediately increase their interest in your brand, expand their user engagement with you, and ultimately purchase your product. This simple and cost-efficient switch will create a lasting impression and you’ll stand out against the competition.

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July 30, 2018 at 01:31PM

How Robot Hands Are Evolving to Do What Ours Can Technology

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Why Is The Right Dominating Web Video?

Why Is The Right Dominating Web Video?

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Last week, both YouTube and Facebook gave the web video channel InfoWars and its editor Alex Jones a long overdue time-out, but it's important to put those actions in perspective.

Back in March of 2017, Paul Joseph Watson — then InfoWars editor — tweeted, "I'm not sure the left understand the monumental ass-whupping being dished out to them on YouTube."

Writing on Vice at the time, Tom Whyman agreed, saying: "On YouTube...left-wing voices are seemingly non-existent – apart from that communist child – while right-wing voices dominate. But it's not just InfoWars – there is a whole ecosystem of right-wing YouTubers, a vast horde of unloved grown-up boys droning on and on about why we need to halt immigration; why we need to ban toilets; why we need to kill all girl-children at birth."

“Where YouTube is effective is, it provides a vehicle for this pseudo-intellectualized bigotry,” Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, at California State University, told The Guardian. “It’s marketed to a young white male audience that feels disenfranchised and feels a sense of unease at things going on at universities and workplaces.”

Central to the criticism of YouTube, and to some extent Facebook, is the recommended content, which tends to amplify elements of extremism within a right-wing filter bubble.

“It drags you further and further,” Keegan Hankes, research analyst with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in The Guardian. “The more you watch it, the more indoctrinated you get.”

“The reach that a platform like YouTube gives you is phenomenal compared to how these groups used to recruit, which is in their local towns,” said Hany Farid, senior adviser to the Counter Extremism Project.

Media Matters, a media watchdog and progressive standard-bearer, released a study last week examining 463 prominent Facebook pages that regularly posted political content. One key finding was that images (memes) posted by right-leaning pages were the best-performing content. On average, right-leaning meme pages had almost twice the interaction rates of right-leaning and left-leaning pages, with more than four times the interaction rates of politically unaligned pages.

How can Democrats respond to the rise of a meme war? “Democrats, progressives, never-Trumpers, and others should post more aggressive ‘anti-Trump’ memes,” said Alan Rosenblatt, social media researcher and strategist at Lake Research Partners and turner4D.

But it’s not that simple. Rosenblatt explains: “A mix of anti-Trump memes and memes that speak to the damage caused by his policies (health care, income inequality, economic uncertainty, human rights abuses at the border, immigrant labor, etc.), along with positive memes about how to fix his damage, are warranted."

So, is the suspension of InfoWars the start of a new, more aggressive platform attempt to dial down dangerous and provably false hate speech and vitriol?

Facebook suspended Infowars founder Alex Jones but did not suspend the actual Infowars Page, or any pages where the InfoWars videos that violated policy were posted. Wait, what? Jones continues to maintain that the Sandy Hook shooting tragedy was a hoax, and while he's got a 30-day time-out, those theories remain posted.

Recode, trying to figure out exactly what the current Facebook policy is, and how it works, posted: "The reason Jones was suspended, but his Pages are still up, is that Jones posted the same bad content to multiple pages, drawing multiple strikes against his record. So if Jones shared three bad videos to three different pages, for example, he would receive nine total strikes, whereas each Page would receive just three."

So, it appears, nine strikes, you're out (for 30 days).

Back in the good old days of human editors, people made judgments about what should and what shouldn't end up on-air, or in the pages of print newspapers. But the speed and volume of content on the internet swamps human review. And so technology-driven companies like Twitter are trying to outrun bots and trolls with smarter algorithms.

“In May, we started using behavioral signals and machine learning to reduce people’s ability to detract from healthy public conversation on Twitter,” explained Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter's product lead. "This approach looks at account behavior and interactions with other accounts that violate our rules.”

But this machine-learning approach, shockingly, downgraded some "prominent conservative names" by not auto-filing their names in the Twitter search bar. Conservatives said they'd been "shadow banned" after Vice reported their digital demotion. But Twitter responded that the downgrade was not related to the conservatives' political views, but instead was based on “behavioral signals” used to downgrade accounts that were not “healthy” to the public discourse.

And yet, tweets from President Trump attacking fellow Republicans, Democrats, Mexicans, LGBTQ, reporters, #MeToo advocates — the list goes on and on — somehow don't trigger Twitter's "healthy" algorithm? It certainly calls the objectivity of the social technology into question.

It's easy to simply dismiss extreme right-wing social media as "amateurish" and driven primarily largely by the unexamined prejudices and anxieties of angry white men. But responding in kind isn't the answer. The solo rant to camera is an inherently autocratic voice.

Still, the future of the web is VIDEO. And reasonable progressive voices urgently need to find a way to use it — and fast.

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July 30, 2018 at 01:01PM

Barker Tells 'Different' Stories Of Recovery For Health System

Barker Tells 'Different' Stories Of Recovery For Health System

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Holy Name Medical Center and agency Barker are attempting to pivot away from more somber-toned healthcare marketing ads by highlighting individuals’ real-life stories. This is the first work for the 361-bed acute care facility by the New York-based ad agency.

The creative retells actual cases, including a cancer survivor and new mother, as a platform to showcase the institution's ability to provide positive experiences.

“Healthcare should be about the patients, and the level of care they receive, so we are happy to help showcase these amazing real life stories of people overcoming their health obstacles thanks to Holy Name in a positive, emotional and vibrant way," says John Barker, Chief Idea Officer, Barker.

The "This Place is Different" creative, which features lines like “This is What a New Lease on Life Looks Like,” and “This is What Three Years Cancer Free Looks Like,” runs across social, digital, local billboards and print in New Jersey, as well as on the Holy Name microsite. Barker also handled media buying and planning.

"It was time to revive our image, an idea completely embraced by the medical center's administration," says a Holy Name spokesperson. "We know the care we provide differentiates us in this market and we now have a campaign that speaks to that without using the same tired, stale language and images hospitals and health systems have been clinging to for years."

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July 30, 2018 at 11:27AM

MoviePass Flickers As 'Fallout' Lights Up The Weekend Box Office

MoviePass Flickers As 'Fallout' Lights Up The Weekend Box Office

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MoviePass borrowed $5 million on Friday to keep the lights on and the servers running but some are suggesting that it may be playing a game of “Mission Impossible.”

The Washington Post’s Rachel Podnar cites one all-too-apt tweet by @hansoleaux, the self-described brand ambassador for “SOLO: A Star Wars Story!”: “movie pass is the family that just left candy in a bowl on their porch on halloween that just said ‘please take one!’ and are horrified when it’s empty 30 seconds later.”

Indeed, “the all-you-can-watch subscription service, which first crashed on Thursday night after its parent company ran out of cash, never fully got back up to speed over the weekend and thus left many subscribers unable to buy tickets to the weekend’s hottest movie, according to frustrated subscribers, many of whom took to social media to vent their frustrations,” Nicolas Vega reports for the New York Post.

MoviePass, which claims more than three million subscribers, “is a service that allows subscribers to pay a flat fee every month to see multiple movies. For $9.95 a month, the service promises that movie fans can see a movie a day,” Dalvin Brown reminds us for USA Today.

Parent company Helios and Matheson “said that it had a service outage on Thursday because it couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets. The company borrowed $5 million in cash Friday to pay its merchant and fulfillment processors, according to a regulatory filing,” writes Jill Disis for CNN Money.

The fulfillment processor had temporarily refused to process payments for MoviePass.

“Some customers complained on social media Thursday that they couldn't use their MoviePass accounts to purchase movie tickets at theaters. By Friday afternoon, MoviePass said that its app was ‘now up-and-running with stability at 100%,’” Disis adds.

Michael Pachter, a research analyst at Wedbush Securities, “predicted last week’s outage will not be the last to affect MoviePass,” writes Mihir Zaveri for the New York Times.

“The $5 million was that last breath of oxygen,” Pachter tells Zaveri. “And now we’re deciding if we’re going to cut off their oxygen.”

But who knows? Maybe it’ll not only pull off another stunt, it will also make a virtue of its daring-do. Just like “Mission: Impossible Fallout” has.

In some ways, Paramount/Viacom’s marketing for the movie is as notable for what it doesn’t do as it is for for it does. When seven posters for “Mission: Impossible Fallout” rolled out in May, Forbes’ Scott Mendelson observed: “A) there are three women featured among the nine posters (1/3 almost counts as progress these days) and B) the Vanessa Kirby, Rebecca Ferguson or Angela Bassett posters feature no conventionally salacious imagery. Sure, Vanessa Kirby looks dressed-to-kill, but she is literally dressed-to-kill as she looks about ready to slash a throat or two.

“It's a minor detail, but if you remember the slight disapproval over ‘Rogue Nation’s’ marketing (where Ferguson’s character poster was a conventional ‘boobs and butt’ pose image), it’s nice to see that sometimes folks take notice the next time out.”

Less-blatant sex sells, too, it appears.

“The sixth installment in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ action films starring Tom Cruise posted the biggest debut … collecting an estimated $61.5 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, researcher comScore Inc. estimated in a email Sunday,” Anousha Sakoui writes for Bloomberg.

Marketing for “Fallout” instead “Banks on Daredevil Action Scenes,” according to the hed for Chris Thilk’s detailed analysis for the The Hollywood Reporter.

“There’s a bit in one of the final featurettes released by Paramount, a 360-degree video focusing once again on the stunts of the movie, where Cruise says ‘Obviously, Mission is about practical action’ that really sums up the campaign. Not only is the emphasis on the incredible sequences being shot and the star’s willingness to put himself in danger, but the dedication to practical effects instead of green-screened stunts offers the audience a more genuine, visceral thrill.

“The campaign as a whole shows the evolution of the franchise, which started out as mostly espionage in 1996 but has evolved into a showcase for daredevil action sequences,” Thilk continues.

It also, kinda sorta, proves the veracity of an old showbiz adage: “break a leg.”

“Paramount was strategically perfect in their marketing and publicity game,” says comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian,” writes the AP’s Lindsey Bahr. “They showed how important a star's presence is in marketing the movie early on. Tom Cruise broke his ankle, and they made that into a positive for the movie — it fed the mystique.”

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July 30, 2018 at 07:55AM

What Ad Tech Means For Publishers

What Ad Tech Means For Publishers

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Historically, ad tech has been a dirty word for publishers, translating to lower CPM’s, lack of control and fraud among other things. Instead, publishers have been more focused on the marketing-technology stack, or martech, and the ability to message one-on-one with “known” audiences and engage with existing users.

Ad tech’s focus has been on finding new ones.

But the publishing industry is now beginning to see these two universes converge. More advertisers are mandating that spend must be run programmatically, meaning that publishers have to embrace AdTech to remain competitive.

Ad tech vs. Martech

Ad tech has traditionally been associated with prospecting unknown users and deployed in channels that are reserved for unauthenticated visitors. You don’t log into video. You don’t always log into publishers when you click through a Google result to an article. Ad tech uses cookies, cross-device methods, machine learning and AI.

There’s a massive amount of data, and there is ample computing power spent to say: “I think this is Joe Smith, and I want to put an impression in front of him that matches what he likes” (right place, right time, right message).

Martech leverages marketers’ one-to-one relationship with a known person in channels where people log in, like email or social. Accuracy is paramount. There is high fidelity and low fraud. Unlike ad tech, the technology is battle-tested, enterprise-grade and in authenticated environments.

Coming Together

Bringing the two together means that advertisers and publishers can do one-to-one marketing in all of those environments, including the open web. The opportunities are limitless between ad tech and publishers. Much has been made about reaching quality audiences in well-lit, brand-safe areas.

Publishers can implement technology that allows their partners to reach and engage with audiences across their own properties wherever they go. Publishers have so much data about what their audiences do offline, the content they consume, the purchases they make. Harnessing that data to give advertisers the ability to insert themselves in the conversation with prospects is exciting.

Benefits For Publishers

Implementing ad tech has never been easier or more effective in helping them monetize inventory. It also gives them new ways to engage with agency partners and clients. One of the biggest advantages is giving publishers the ability to ingest advertiser data and utilize it for targeting known users across their inventory. This has the advantage of reducing waste, increasing performance and personalization of advertising.

According to eMarketer, 45% of B2B marketers said data targeting reach into specific audience segments was important in deciding which media partner publisher to choose. Another advantage for publishers is the ability to increase CPMs for their inventory.

Many publishers are implementing header-bidding solutions in an effort to give advertisers more access to better inventory across their sites. eMarketer also found the top two reasons publisher have implemented header solutions include: increased CPMs (48%) and increased yield (31%).

What Is The Downside?

There are also reasons to be cautious for publishers. Ad tech is built on a fee structure that does not always benefit the publisher. Ad tech needs to make its margin, and that means removing budget from working media dollars.

Both sides need to grow their business while doing what is best for their clients. The more transparency both publisher and ad tech vendors can offer their clients, the more likely the clients will be willing to pay for media that is truly valuable.

For publishers, implementing ad tech platforms can also be expensive. It can involve huge upfront costs, ongoing maintenance fees, minimums involved in working with partners and hiring the right personnel to make the platforms work well.

The more information a publisher is given about who the advertiser is trying to reach, the better able they will be to identify and deliver impressions against those audiences. Advertisers need to be comfortable paying a premium to have a one-on-one conversation with that audience in relevant contextual environments.

While scale is important, it’s more about reaching the right audience within the right context.

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July 30, 2018 at 07:28AM

Facebook Outdoes Dating Apps

Facebook Outdoes Dating Apps

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According to a new report from Deloite “A Bluprint for Digital Success,” by Connie Hwong, and reported verbatim, “succeeding in the digital era isn’t about becoming the Uber or the Amazon of an industry. Instead, it involves establishing the companies’ own digital ambitions, taking a hard look at the necessary traits the enterprise has and lacks and creating a plan to achieve that singular vision

This month’s Verto Index looks at the most popular social media apps, websites, and services, from Facebook to Tumblr, based on monthly unique users (among U.S. adults, ages 18 and above). Data provided in this report was revised and updated on November 21.

Facebook’s flagship property far outranks any other property in the list of the top ten social media properties in nearly every metric, with nearly 200 million monthly unique users who spend an average of almost 18.5 hours per month using Facebook”, says the report. “That’s more than quadruple the amount of time spent on any other social media property on our Verto Index. Here are some other highlights:

The second-ranking property is Facebook-owned Instagram, which claims 144 million monthly users who spend just two hours per month on the property.
Despite a troubled year for Twitter, it’s still the third-most popular social media property, with 111 million users who spend just over three hours per month on their Twitter timelines.
Snapchat, even with its flashy IPO earlier this year, still lags at position number nine in our rankings, with 44 million monthly users who spend four hours per month on the ephemeral video chat platform.

According to Verto Analytics’ data, with the exception of Facebook, these major social media players aren’t the social networks where consumers are spending the most time. Instead, dating properties such as Grindr and POF (Plenty of Fish), as well as niche social media properties like Kik and Discord (a network for gamers), garner the largest amount of time from their users on a monthly basis. Following in Facebook’s footsteps, Grindr users spent 14.5 hours per month using the platform, while Kik users spent more than 8 hours on the relatively small social network.

Stickiness is how Verto identifies which properties are most engaging, by comparing daily users to monthly users. The latest look at the stickiest properties on our Index shows that, unsurprisingly, Facebook is the most engaging social media property, with a rating of 70%. This still places the company well above some of its biggest rivals: Snapchat has just a 47% stickiness and Twitter ranks at just 27%.

Dating apps and websites have emerged as some of the stickiest properties on our Index, with relatively large amounts of time spent per user and number of monthly sessions per user. Besides Grindr, which has a stickiness score that outranks Twitter and Snapchat, dating properties like Tinder, Bumble, and OkCupid attract more monthly user time than bigger properties like Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and even Reddit.” says the report.

“And while dating apps and sites form a niche group within the great social media landscape (and have comparatively tiny monthly user numbers when compared to the likes of Facebook or Twitter), it’s not surprising to see several dating properties expand into more fully-fledged social media (or even career networking) platforms: Bumble recently launched both Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz, while Tinder Social has experimented with group dates and social activity matchmaking. “

The post, by Connie Hwong,the global content marketing director at Verto Analytics.

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July 30, 2018 at 07:28AM

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Bosch-Backed Home Robot Kuri Shut Down

Bosch-Backed Home Robot Kuri Shut Down

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A household robot can’t catch a break these days.

First it was Boston-based Jibo, the family robot, which scaled back to somewhere around a dozen employees after raising some $70 million. The robot maker was even featured in a “Time” cover story as one of the best inventions of 2017.

I saw Jibo demonstrated a couple of years back here in Boston, and what it intended to do was impressive. Jibo was born back in 2012 and used natural language, facial recognition and various other slick technologies. Of course, that was before the explosion in voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. They do something like Jibo did, though without any movement, at least at the moment.

Another killer issue: the selling price for Jibo is $899, compared to say, an Echo Dot or Google Mini for about $50.

Now another social robot named Kuri is hanging it up.

“To all of our Kuri fans, we are crushed to let you know that effective today, Mayfield Robotics will pause operations as we evaluate the company’s path forward,” the company announced late last week. “Sadly, our Kuri manufacturing will cease, and the Kuri robots that have been made will not ship to customers. All pre-order deposits will be refunded to our customers.”

Mayfield was launched in 2015 as an entity of the Bosch Startup Platform. Bosch is a major player in the Internet of Things, as is seen in the company’s major presentations at CES over the last few years.

The award-winning Kuri was launched at CES 2017. The idea behind Mayfield was to make robots that were useful, joyful and inspiring. Kuri the home robot was priced at $699.

There are plenty of successful uses of robots today, just check any Amazon mega center or some fast-food outlets in China.

When the market is ready to welcome robots into the home, especially in the home robot-lagging U.S. market, look for companies like Amazon and Google to transform Alexa and Assistant into them.

Consumers already are getting used to interacting with robotic devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home. They just don’t yet have movement. Watch that space.

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July 30, 2018 at 12:00AM

Have a Cryptocurrency Company? Bermuda, Malta or Gibraltar Wants You Technology

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Saturday, July 28, 2018

When You Want to Be Disturbed During ‘Do Not Disturb’ Time Technology

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Friday, July 27, 2018

The Week in Tech: Inequality Rising Technology

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Sex Scandal Toppled a Silicon Valley Chief. Investors Say, So What? Technology

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Facebook and YouTube Give Alex Jones a Wrist Slap Technology

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It's AOP Season: An Agency Survival Guide

It's AOP Season: An Agency Survival Guide

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It’s the most hectic time of the year for CPG companies: Time to develop the Annual Operating Plan (AOP), also known as Joint Business Planning (JBP). And agencies play a big role.

This period centers around CPG companies developing programs for different retailers — think Walmart, Target, Kroger, etc.

Ideas are then presented to the retailers and sold, which in turn mirrors their sales goals for the following fiscal year. No pressure: dollars will either be increased or decreased.

CPG companies handle the bulk of AOP season with the onus falling heavily upon agencies to help them meet projections, make the sell to the retailer and guarantee that volume is met.

Agencies bring ideas to life that will be introduced to a retailer that will be picked up and appear in-store.

Adding to the challenge, retailers are now asking brands to not only invest dollars in-store but also on their digital properties (.com, social media, mobile, apps) vs. buying media from other companies. For the retailers, it has become an additional revenue stream. This positions them to sell propriety information (both on and off their platform) on their shoppers’ behavior and purchases.

With the right strategic partner, here are some tips to survive.

Start listening: Instead of telling companies what they need, listen to what they need and how to solve their problems. The old days of approaching retailers with just sales figures and big brand programs are gone. Today, retailers want CPG companies to help solve their problems with new products, services, innovations, and customized solutions.

Be quicker to market: Launch new products and innovations in a quarterly vs. yearly manner. This could mean changing deadlines and altering previous plans.

Be nimble: Once you know what the company needs, be prepared to quickly change course or build upon their vision. There is an opportunity for an agency to drive better collaboration between all partners during the AOP process. Remember that agencies are often the connective tissue between AOP sessions as marketers move in and out of role/rotations on annual basis.

Be a partner by being supportive: Clients could get more out of their agencies if they trusted their agency’s intuition with salient insights to inform direction of planning. Embrace the creative process.

AOP is an overwhelming period that can be lightened with a little help from the right agency. Lean on them.

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July 27, 2018 at 06:07PM

Marketers Are High On Email, But Have Other Tasks, Research Shows

Marketers Are High On Email, But Have Other Tasks, Research Shows

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SendGrid reports that email is rated as the second-most integral channel, behind websites.

Email is the second-most important channel for marketers. And most say it helps them reach their goals. But many of those who manage it have other tasks, and few think of themselves as email marketing experts, according to a study released Friday by SendGrid.

Of those polled, only 14% rate themselves as email marketing experts. On average, they are directly involved in seven different activities or tasks that may include strategy/positioning, CRM management, email marketing, paid search, social media and event marketing.

Yet 34% say email is “an integral part of my job responsibilities.” Only 24% say the same about social media and a mere f14% agree that SEO is integral (among those involved with each channel).

In addition, 57% rank email as very or extremely effective in helping them accomplish their objectives.

Cited by 81%, email ranks behind websites (86%) in overall importance. But it beats SEO/paid search (72%).

One-to-many email blasts are the most common type of communication — 71% send them, and 42% claim they make up 42% of their total email volume.

Meanwhile, 74% percent say that business metrics (e.g., how they contribute to revenue) are very or extremely important to their performance reviews. But 38% add that "difficulty attributing my work to revenue impact" is challenging.

Still 51% say they are able to measure the revenue created by email marketing. And 74% feel they can link email to business results more than they can with other channels they have…

When evaluating an email service provider, 86% focus on reliability, followed by deliverability (83%) and scalability (80%).

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July 27, 2018 at 04:42PM