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Sundar's Day Out in Washington |
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Hello CMOs. If you run a small shop, the sign on your storefront is a crucial weapon in your marketing arsenal.
But store signs up and down New York are being unceremoniously ripped down, leaving ugly concrete patches behind them. The reason? A torrent of complaints to 311, citing a New York City statute that requires a special permit for businesses to hang signs or awnings larger than six square feet, the New York Times reports. As a result, some businesses have been preemptively removing their signs for fear of being slapped with a fine of $6,000 or more.
So who made the complaints? A sign-maker using the threat of violations to make hay? Real-estate developers hoping to push hard-up small businesses out of their premises? A classic case of nimbyism? It remains a mystery.
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| Sundar's Trip to Washington |
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Google CEO Sundar Pichai. PHOTO: J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Sundar Pichai became the latest Silicon Valley exec to take the hot seat in Washington on Tuesday, as lawmakers grilled the Google CEO on topics ranging from allegations of anti-conservative bias to the search giant’s plans for China, data-privacy practices and market power.
A cool-headed Mr. Pichai responded to a question about Google’s dominance by pointing out that the majority of product searches start on Amazon. (Somewhat distractingly, a man dressed as the guy from Monopoly—complete with comedy mustache and top hat—nodded behind him throughout the proceedings.)
It was a timely day for Google to be answering questions on privacy—a day after the company disclosed a bug had exposed the personal data of 52.5 million users on Google+, the second software glitch involving the social network this year. Yet Mr. Pichai managed to deflect the toughest questions, particularly those surrounding location-data collection and Google’s ambitions in China.
And here’s a take-away for marketers to keep an eye out for. Mr. Pichai said Google has work to do to make it easier for users to fine-tune their privacy controls. Let’s see how far Google decides to go.
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PHOTO: RICHARD B. LEVINE/ZUMA PRESS
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It turns out that mashing together two legacy internet businesses isn’t a route to challenging the Facebook-Google duopoly. Who saw that coming?
Verizon said Tuesday it is booking a $4.5 billion accounting charge related to its Oath media business. The company spent more than $9 billion to create Oath—the combination of its AOL and Yahoo acquisitions. But integrating the two companies’ ad tech took longer than expected, and competition in the digital-ad market is fierce. Plus Verizon executives were unwilling to share data on some of its wireless users—something that might have made the new company's ad targeting a unique proposition for marketers.
What now? Verizon executives are exploring ways to supplement Oath’s ad revenue, such as subscriptions, and they’re considering potentially winding down some AOL or Yahoo brands.
Still, look on the bright side. As WSJ media and marketing bureau chief Amol Sharma tweeted, AOL Time Warner made accounting history with a monstrous $54 billion write-down back in the early years of this century. It could be worse…
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| Lisa Says That It's All Right |
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Lisa Utzschneider is joining Integral Ad Science as its CEO. PHOTO MICHAEL NAGLE/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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On the subject of Yahoo...Lisa Utzschneider is a prominent figure on Madison Avenue, having led ad sales for Amazon, run various ad initiatives Microsoft and, most recently, serving as chief revenue officer for Yahoo. So when she left Yahoo around the time of its sale to Verizon last year, there was a fair level of interest in where she may end up next.
CMO Today’s Alexandra Bruell has the answer: In January, Ms. Utzschneider will become CEO of ad-verification company Integral Ad Science, replacing Scott Knoll, who is moving to an advisory role. The appointment comes hot on the heels of private-equity firm Vista taking a majority stake in the business in June.
The company says Ms. Utzschneider will be charged with expanding IAS’s global services and adding new capabilities around advanced television and audio as more ad dollars shift in that direction.
All the latest news has got me thinking: I wonder how long it'll be until we find out about former Oath CEO Tim Armstrong’s next move?
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| Search for the Hero Inside Yourself |
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PHOTO: MLADEN ANTONOV/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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Back in 2013, Facebook killed off its “sponsored results” search ads unit as part of an effort to streamline its ad products. But with Facebook’s revenue growth slowing, and the company seeking to make more money from features outside the news feed, sponsored results are making a comeback!
TechCrunch reports Facebook is letting “a small set of automotive, retail and e-commerce industry advertisers” place ads on its search results on mobile in the U.S. and Canada.
Will they be a hit? Well, the format is a little different from before. To begin with, marketers won’t be able to target specific keywords (such as their competitors’ brand names), but instead they can extend their News Feeds ads to search via Facebook Ads Manager. It’s a bit like how you can select an Instagram or Facebook Audience Network option.
Facebook searches aren’t intrinsically linked to purchase intent in the way that Amazon or Google searches are. But the new ads will be easy to buy, at the very least.
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“Digital is a word that has been banned from WPP. That artificial distinction between analog and digital is not helpful.”
| — WPP CEO Mark Read speaking at the company’s investor day in London on Tuesday |
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$2 Million - $3 Million |
The amount ABC is seeking for ad slots during its Feb. 24 broadcast of the Oscars, according to Variety.
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Variety profiles Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and how his turnaround plan, “Project New Day,” was set in motion. [Variety]
Now that Alexa can read emails out loud, email marketers will need to think about how their messages sound. [Marketing Land]
Hulu plans to open up a private marketplace in January that will let advertisers and agencies to programmatically purchase video ads across its on-demand and live TV inventory. [Digiday]
Sky is to end its investment in professional cycling and Team Sky at the end of 2019. [Sky News]
Facebook is opening up a pop-up kiosk on Dec. 13 in Manhattan to teach users about data privacy. Don’t all rush at once, now! [New York Post]
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