Citing improving macroeconomic indicators, IPG Mediabrands' Magna unit this morning released a new quarterly update to its U.S. ad-spending forecast, revising both 2023's final estimate, and 2024's outlook upward. Magna's revised estimate for 2023 U.S. ad spending jumps more than two percentage points -- from the 3.6% growth it forecast in its last update in December to 5.7% now. Magna's 2024 outlook increases nearly a point from +8.4% in December to +9.2% now. Magna's revisions boost the Big 4 holding company ad forecast consensus up half a point to 3.6% for 2023 and up three-tenths of a point to 7.1% for 2024 (see above). "Macroeconomists are more optimistic about the economy in 2024 than they were a few months ago," Magna Executive Vice President-Global Market Intelligence Vincent Létang writes in the new report, adding: "In the Philadelphia Fed’s latest report, released in February, economists increased 2024 real GDP growth expectations from +1.7% (November update) to +2.4%. "In fact, the economic consensus on 2024 GDP growth has now increased in the last three updates, from a mere +1% back in May 2023. Other macro indicators are generally encouraging too. Economists expect consumer price inflation to slow down to 2.5% (incl. food & energy) from 9% mid 2022 and still 3% and 4% in January and February. Slower inflation contributed to a significant improvement in consumer sentiment in the last three months. The University of Michigan index stood at 77 in March 2024, compared to 50 in mid-2022 (when inflation peaked) and only 61 in November 2023. The report does note that within the ad industry, some key categories continue to lag, especially entertainment (-4% estimated growth for 2024) and technology (-1%), but the overall mix is a net positive for U.S. advertising expansion. Magna's update follows several other recent positive secular indicators, including this week's release of Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker index, which reported that U.S. ad spending expanded 10.4% in February, the first double-digit growth since March 2022. And former Magna -- and GroupM -- forecaster Brian Wieser, now publisher of Madison and Wall, on Monday upgraded his U.S. ad-spending outlook for 2024 for the second time since benchmarking it in December.
Just months after joining Horizon Media in the new role of "human intelligence" within its vaunted WHY cultural intelligence division, Scott Lukas has been put in charge, succeeding the unit's founder Sheri Roder, who is leaving the agency as part of a planned transition. In his new role as executive vice president-Chief of WHY Group, Lukas will focus on driving innovation and revenue via "thought leadership, cutting-edge research and new product development," the agency said in a statement. Lukas -- who joined the group in September from Boston-based MMB, where he was head of strategy for the Gulf State Toyota account -- has held a variety of agency, speaking and writing roles since starting out in the ad industry as an account planner at Chiat/Day in 1991.
The Acceptable Ads Committee (AAC), an independent non-profit, is calling for the advertising industry to raise awareness among consumers related to the impact of digital ads. It will require a broad, collaboration among ad industry organizations. About 59% of the 14,000 surveyed respondents acknowledge having some level of knowledge about the carbon footprint of digital ads, but 61% underestimate the actual impact, according to a study released Thursday. The AAC released the report Thursday, complete with insights into consumer attitudes toward the environmental impact of digital advertising and potential benefits of implementing sustainable industry practices. When learning about the true environmental effects of digital ads, 67% of consumers expressed a desired increase in control, and 66% expressed a heightened willingness to engage in proactive measures to reduce carbon. “There are numerous ways the digital advertising industry can reduce carbon emissions,” said Terry Taouss, president of the Acceptable Ads Committee. “There are bigger initiatives, like switching to energy-efficient technologies or choosing green hosting solutions.” Taouss also said there are more immediate initiatives, like lower ad loads or optimizing supply paths and reducing unnecessary third parties on pages. And there is no shortage of opportunities to reduce carbon emissions in digital advertising, but what is necessary is an industry consensus on where to focus the efforts. Taouss isn't sure who will create the standard, but said it’s clear the creation of sustainability standards for the digital advertising industry requires widespread buy-in across the sector. The AAC is the non-profit that governs Acceptable Ads Standards, a set of criteria that ads must meet before serving up to users who block ads. The study, Empowering User Choice for Sustainable Online Advertising, combines findings from users in 14 countries. This research marks the first step for the non-profit in addressing sustainability in digital advertising. Key insights from the study reveal a strong consumer demand for an industry-wide focus on sustainable online advertising, with 84% of consumers saying they believe that independent regulation of sustainability standards in advertising could effectively reduce carbon emissions from online ads. Some 94% of consumers expressed their willingness to support publishers who display a badge or label from an independent organization verifying adherence to sustainable ad standards. And 62% of consumers would be more inclined to engage with ads labeled as sustainable or carbon-friendly by a credible, independent organization. The study also suggests the adoption of sustainable advertising practices by brands will not go unnoticed by consumers, with 60% of consumers saying they would view brands negatively if their ads are not carbon-friendly. Some 77% of ad-blocking users might not block ads if they met clear sustainable advertising criteria set by an independent governing body, or if the revenue generated was donated to a good cause. Taouss said “there are several organizations focused on reducing the digital advertising industry's carbon footprint, such as Ad Net Zero and the World Federation of Advertisers' Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).” Tackling an industry-wide problem, however, requires broad, collaborative efforts beyond the capacity of any single company or even group. “Our hope is that the Acceptable Ads Committee can contribute to this dialogue through our research,” he said. “For instance, our findings in this study reveal that globally, and especially in the U.S., there is significant support for establishing an independent governing body that sets sustainability standards. This insight underscores a critical, perhaps under-recognized, pathway for industry action.”
Google has prompted a slew of new innovations across the industry as the company continues to implement privacy tracking measures without cookies. One such feature that will be implemented by LinkedIn Ads is UTMs -- Urchin Tracking Modules -- which has snippets of code attached to the end of an ad's URL that are automated and dynamic, intended to improve tracking without browser cookies yet still focused on privacy. UTMs are automated and dynamic, and meant to improve tracking without browser cookies. LinkedIn's solution monitors campaign performance without third-party cookies. The company plans to roll out the tool this week. Marketers previously had to manually create UTM parameters for campaigns, but with Dynamic UTMs, this process is automated. Now they can add static and dynamic URL parameters to campaigns. The post explains how. With the change in privacy regulations and the use of first-party data, companies are cozying up to some unlikely partners. Adobe on Monday announced a new offering — Adobe Real-Time CDP Collaboration — that also links to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Clean Rooms so marketers can securely collaborate without having to share, reveal, or copy their underlying first-party data with partners. An Amazon spokesperson said the partnership comes at a time when advertising and marketing continue to change with the phaseout of cookies and as regulatory pressures continue for more secure data practices. Earlier this week, Samba TV announced an integration with Meta that allows advertisers to measure the lift from campaigns across its properties such as Facebook and Instagram. Samba TV's measurement tools provide insights into the effectiveness of media strategies in driving new viewers as a result of exposure to ads on Meta. The company says that the integration helps brands understand campaign effectiveness and make data-driven decisions when allocating marketing spend. Others are debating over Google Privacy Sandbox and its impact on the industry. In an emailed statement, Grant Simmons, vice president of Kochava Foundry, underscores the industry's shift toward privacy-first approaches and the need for collaboration with leaders, including IAB Tech Lab.
Lauren Wetzel, COO at data collaboration platform InfoSum looks at the implementation of data clouds for advertising in a completely different way. In a partnership with Experian, she focuses on speed. Experian is helping to support clients get there faster -- meaning adherence to data-privacy standards that regulations and the industry are implementing. This week, the two companies will announce a partnership that allows automotive brands to securely access insights about in-market or current vehicle owners, extend match rates, and improve targeting. The partnership aims to give businesses a way to connect directly to consumers with a high propensity to purchase a vehicle in a secure and privacy-safe way. Wetzel said solutions need to have the ability to get things up and running quickly without a data-science background. "Everyone wants to talk about 99 problems in the cleanroom," she said, "but I don't see anything about how fast some partners who adopt the technology can start collaborating and get performance." Brands can be up and running within 24 hours, and collaborate with a partner within 48 hours, using the collaboration platform. The importance of privacy-first collaboration platforms has never been greater, with third-party cookie deprecation underway. Built around Experian’s identity graph and InfoSum's data cleanroom technology, auto brands can access Experian’s more than 750 off-the-shelf syndicated audience segments covering 900 million registered vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. The importance of privacy-first collaboration platforms has never been greater, with third-party cookie deprecation underway. The predictive data related to the ownership of a car centers on a variety of data points such as fuel type, make and model, and vehicle price. All of these provide insights on consumers planning to buy in the next six months, enabling brands to enrich and extend their first-party data to generate greater reach, scale, and relevancy. The two companies have been working together for the past four years, but began building this cleanroom strategy for the automotive industry in 2023. The tools are drag-and-drop and what the company calls “error-proof features.” That means the person does not need an expertise to build, execute, and optimize campaigns with speed. All data remains fully obfuscated, aggregated, and protected -- enabling advertisers, agencies, and measurement partners to leverage this intelligence to continually optimize audience segmentation and improve accuracy with protection.
A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit by iPhone users who said they lost money after downloading the fake cryptocurrency app Toast Plus from Apple's app store. In an unsigned opinion issued Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Section 230 of the Communications Decency App didn't protect Apple from consumer protection claims regarding its representations about the the safety of its app store. That law generally immunizes interactive services from liability for material posted by third parties. The ruling comes in a dispute dating to 2021, when Hadona Diep and Ryumei Nagao alleged in a class-action complaint that they incurred losses after downloading Toast Plus -- a phishing app disguised as a cryptocurrency wallet. The pair contended that they thought the app was legitimate based on Apple's representations that its app store was “a safe and trusted place.” U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton dismissed the complaint in 2022, ruling that Apple was protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency App. That dismissal was with prejudice, which prevented the duo from revising their claims and bringing them again. Diep and Nagao appealed to the 9th Circuit, arguing that their case centered on Apple's own statements about the safety of its app store. Apple countered the claims “inextricably depend” on the app's content -- and were therefore covered by Section 230. The appellate panel ruled that Section 230 barred some claims in the lawsuit, but didn't apply to Apple's own statements about the app store and its process for reviewing apps. Section 230 would not "bar a well-pleaded consumer protection claim," the judges wrote. At the same time, the panel ruled that the complaint brought by Diep and Nagao wasn't adequately fleshed, but said Hamilton should have allowed the pair to amend their allegations. The ruling issued Wednesday allows Diep and Nagao to beef up their claims that Apple violated state consumer protection laws and bring those claims again. It's not clear whether they will be able to do so. Last year, a coalition including the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, business organization Chamber of Commerce and tech-industry groups NetChoice and Chamber of Progress urged the appellate court to rule in Apple's favor. Those groups warned that a decision against Apple could lead app stores to remove many third-party apps. “The real thrust of plaintiffs’ claims is that they were harmed by third-party content published on an app store,” the organizations wrote. “The only way Apple could have met its alleged duties would be to monitor and remove third-party content.” The groups added that consumers, app developers and the “broader internet ecosystem” will be harmed if companies like Apple are effectively forced to “meticulously review” apps in advance. Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman, who closely follows litigation involving Section 230, predicts that plaintiffs in other lawsuits against tech companies will leverage Wednesday's decision. “This ruling basically gives plaintiffs a way to get around 230,” he says, adding that plaintiffs might now “pick through every on-site disclosure” made by tech companies in hopes of arguing that they violated their representations by allowing harmful material on their platforms. Jess Miers, senior counsel at the Chamber of Progress, adds that the ruling could pave the way for plaintiffs to sue tech companies over content moderation decisions. For instance, if a tech company fails to remove posts that arguably violate its content moderation policies, that company might now be more vulnerable to lawsuits claiming it misrepresented its policies.
Siding with Apple, a federal judge has dismissed an antitrust complaint alleging that the company conspired with Venmo, Cash App, and Google Pay to block decentralized cryptocurrency apps from the app store. In an order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California ruled that the allegations in the complaint, even if true, wouldn't prove an antitrust violation. The dismissal order allows the plaintiffs to amend their allegations and bring the complaint again, but Chhabria expressed skepticism that a new effort would be successful. “It is difficult to see how amendment could salvage this case,” he wrote. The decision comes in a lawsuit brought last year by users of Venmo and Cash App who claimed that they paid higher fees to use those apps due to Apple's rules regarding cryptocurrency apps. The plaintiffs specifically pointed to App Store Guideline 3.1.5, which says: “Apps may facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange, provided they are offered only in countries or regions where the app has appropriate licensing and permissions to provide a cryptocurrency exchange.” Apple urged Chhabria to throw out the lawsuit at an early stage, arguing that the claims were too speculative. “The complaint rests on an implausible theory that an alleged agreement restricting decentralized cryptocurrency technology results in higher Venmo and Cash App transaction and service fees,” the company argued in a motion filed last month. Apple also said the central allegation against it was false. “There are apps in the App Store that facilitate decentralized cryptocurrency transactions,” the company wrote. The company added that its guideline regarding crypto apps “does not prohibit apps that facilitate decentralized cryptocurrency transactions,” but merely requires “proof-of-licensing criteria for apps that facilitate cryptocurrency transactions on an exchange.”
Amazon has increased its investment in Anthropic, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup focused on building systems, adding an additional $2.75 billion in funding. This brings the company’s total financial infusion to $4 billion. The funds give Amazon a minority ownership position in the company. The initial collaboration was announced in September 2023. New Street Research estimates that generative AI (GAI) will represent 21% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue in 2025. The analyst firm compared GAI with non-GAI revenue. After breaking out GAI revenue, New Street Research estimates GAI revenue will amount to $18.2 billion in 2024 and $26.9 billion in 2025, for a total of $45.1 billion during the next two years. During the past year, Anthropic closed five funding deals worth about $7.3 billion. The company's product competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT in enterprise and consumer markets. A former OpenAI research executive founded the company. Amazon's investment comes weeks after Anthropic debuted Claude 3, which it refers to as its most powerful chatbot and suite of AI models. Claude 3 is available on Amazon Bedrock, which is the first managed service to offer Sonnet and Haiku in general availability, with Opus coming soon. The availability is part of the Amazon's and Anthropic's strategic collaboration. Amazon Bedrock supports a choice of high-performing foundation models from leading AI companies like AI21 Labs, Anthropic, Cohere, Meta, Mistral AI, Stability AI, and Amazon via a single API, along with a set of capabilities companies use to build generative AI applications with security, privacy, and responsible AI. Google also backs Anthropic. Google Cloud made the Claude models available in Vertex AI Model Garden, a collection of pre-trained machine-learning models and tools. Similar to Google and Microsoft, Amazon continues to integration GAI across all parts of its business. And despite Google's agreement with Anthropic to host its models in Google Cloud, as part of the collaborative agreement with Amazon, Anthropic uses AWS as its primary cloud provider for workloads, including safety research and future foundation model development. Microsoft has been making its own investments in AI companies other than OpenAI. The Financial Times reports Microsoft invested in European AI startup Mistral and last week struck a $650 million deal to hire the leadership team and researchers from AI company Inflection, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
Demonstrating how artificial intelligence (AI) can benefit all types of businesses, former Google executive and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who co-founded the startup technology company Sunshine, has launched a photo-sharing and event-planning app, which has some people across the internet scratching their heads. Mayer says she wants to automate mundane tasks, and that photo sharing is broken. It's not clear how the app will generate revenue or whether it will offer brands advertising in the service, but one thing is certain -- it's targeted at creators, professional and amateur photographers to immortalize events, trips and other experiences, and, most importantly, to share. The app, however, has met with mixed reviews and criticism for an engineer who has had a very successful career. Nick Braun on X responded to Mayer’s announcement of the app on X, commenting that iMessage works pretty well. In response, Mayer wrote that “unfortunately, iMessage requires each person to share with every other person. It also means that everyone needs everyone else's contact,” adding in a post on X: “For group photo sharing, it works much better to have contacts pooled in an album - allows you to share with a slightly bigger group 5-20+ people. Also means that you can share with friends or friends who may not have your contact info.” When Braun asked “How would I share with someone if I didn’t have their contact info?” Mayer did not respond. But Nico Garcia did, writing: “Having worked at WhatsApp this is a common issue. They were not designed originally to share as albums and Google Photos requires a lot of friction.” Some like the app, but do not like the user interface. One X user asked Mayer to hire a designer. “The app serves a great purpose but its visual design is shockingly bad and outdated.” Mayer was Google's first female engineer and twentieth employee. She spent 13 years at the technology company before becoming CEO of Yahoo. The AI-driven app is based on technology that analyzes photos to determine where and when it was taken, identify who and what’s in the photo, how many times the photo was taken. All of those signals tell the user when the photographer might want to share it with someone else. Part of the website revolves around photo albums that are based on formal and informal events, from weddings to conferences. The website creates invitations and R.S.V.P.’s with help from AI. Once someone responds to an invitation for an event, they are joined to that shared album. It's a similar process to creating a SMS messaging group, and every time a photo is taken, the people in the group can automatically receive or share related photographs. There is a plan to add video sharing in the future, but for now, the app is free.. The company -- which is primarily self-funded by Mayer -- started with focusing on content management, offering a subscription service.
In a column I published here one year ago (“When Is A JIC Not A JIC? When It’s A M-CCC!”) I highlighted a comment made by Publicis Media's Sam Armando at Paramount Advertising's “Measurement Now” conference. Speaking about the burgeoning alternative currency marketplace -- and the new U.S. JIC's role in certifying them -- Armando advised: “Be scared!” Based on a statement released this week by the deceptively labeled U.S. "JIC," I imagine Armando revising his comment to, “Don’t be fooled!” The JIC's statement reveals a wide array of red flags beyond the basic ignorance of -- and utter disrespect for -- the concept of JICs that have operated globally for many media for more than 20 years. The statement focuses on “transparency around transactional readiness.” While both valuable concerns these have nothing to do with the quality, validity or relevance of a proposed currency metric. “Transactional readiness” refers to the suitability and flexibility with which data can be easily or readily used and applied. Whether across the various research vendors or by the buyer/planner/seller systems for their required analyses. Transparency is only as good as the diligence of ongoing audits of the databases/metrics and the research specification they are supposed to meet. The absence of the Association of National Advertisers -- or for that matter, any individual advertiser -- in the U.S. JIC's statement is noteworthy and reflects an insightful comment made by retired Ted McConnell (ex-P&G) to my column last year: “It's beyond me why big advertisers are not fighting for a real JIC. They have been begging for simplicity for years. Agencies benefit from the complexity because a) it makes customers more dependent on them, and b) it creates a need for more people. It's a perfect stalemate." Advertisers want simplicity, but they want agencies to do the work. Industry associations could play a role, but they are afraid of the legal implications. The Media Rating Council (MRC) could do something, but the council benefits from complexity. In the end, advertisers -- afraid of their own shadow and unwilling to take responsibility -- are inadvertently letting the fox rule the henhouse. Who loses?? Consumers and advertisers. Ed Papazian has consistently and continually reminded the industry of the core issue in this currency chaos. He also commented last year: “Meanwhile the real question -- which I fear is already decided -- is will commercial attentiveness be part of the standard design for our national TV rating service? At this point, the answer seems to be, definitely not. That means that all we will get is "impressions" based on millions of screens-not thousands-but still no information about who-if anybody-was watching. To fix this we need a real JIC.” These fundamental points and many of the red flags have been skillfully captured in a recent American Association of Advertising Agencies' Media Measurement Committee report. Under the direction of 4A's Executive Vice President-Media, Tech & Data Ashwini Karandikar, the report concludes multi-currency national TV demo-based ratings are, "not ready for prime-time." Sadly, it is apparent that the U.S. JIC has everything to do with permitting multiples-currencies from multiple vendors to continue the “convenient” chaos for the sellers along with the deliberate misinformation and misrepresentation of meaningful media metrics that obfuscate the established general success of authentic JICs in the rest of the world. Crucial points to consider:
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped up in the American flag, carrying a Bible, and heralded as a plea for liberty and preservation of the U.S. Constitution." That quotation was long attributed to American novelist and satirist Sinclair Lewis. But apparently, he never said those words in that combination, although he said a lot of similar things. In "Gideon Planish," Lewis wrote, "I just wish people wouldn’t quote ...the Bible, or hang out the flag or the cross, to cover up something that belongs more to the bankbook.” Satirist Lewis couldn’t have been more prescient or horrifyingly on the money, especially in creating the character Elmer Gantry, an orator/evangelist who rises to power within his church while living a secret life of debauchery. This Tuesday, it turned out that during his latest four courtroom entanglements, one of them involving a payoff to a porn star as he first ran for president, Donald Trump took a minute out to promote a new Holy Bible. Really. It’s “the only Bible endorsed by me!” he said as he read from a teleprompter standing in front of two gigantic American flags for the sales video that he posted on Truth Social. It was self-parody as sad reality. He held the slimmish $59.99 volume in his hands, this time right side up. “Happy Holy Week!” he actually said. “Let’s make America pray again,” while rolling out the “God Bless the USA Bible,” named after the ballad written and sung by Lee Greenwood, which the former “Apprentice” host plays to energize the base at rallies. “All Americans need a Bible in their home right now, and I have [takes a breath] many. It’s my favorite book,” Trump said. Of course, we’ve been around this assertion before. When asked to cite a favorite verse, one of his go-to non-responses, besides “all of them” is “the Bible means a lot to me, but I don’t want to get into specifics. “ When he was running in 2016, Trump surprised some Christians by referencing “Two Corinthians” instead of the standard “Second Corinthians.” But this new national Christian patriots’ edition includes a King James Bible, a handwritten version of the chorus of Greenwood’s song, and copies of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance. These are not necessarily things that go together, given the First Amendment specifically mentions separation of church and state. Plus it’s safe to say that the former president has yet to crack open most of the content. This is such obvious hypocrisy, after the ill-fated attempts to sell Trump-branded water, steaks, vodka, a university, casinos, airline, and golden sneakers, that it’s too on-the-nose as self-satire to satirize. Especially since what he’s doing is not clueless, but blasphemous. But in the opportunism department, I’ve always had a bad feeling about country singer/songwriter Lee Greenwood, his latest business partner, whom Trump mentioned as “very special” and who was also on hand for the announcement. I remember that a few days after 9/11, Greenwood, or his publicist, bombarded entertainment outposts -- including the office I was working in at the time -- with faxes that noted how personally afflicted he was by the invasion and that as a result, he was making his signature song “God Bless the USA” immediately available for licensing. So Greenwood's proud to be shame-free as well. But it turns out that this Bible has been on the market since 2021 as a Lee Greenwood solo venture. As soon as it was published, according to The Tennessean, “Critics saw it as a symbol of Christian nationalism, a right-wing movement that believes the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation.” Then a petition came out in 2021 calling Greenwood’s Bible “a toxic mix that will exacerbate the challenges to American evangelicalism.” Its original publisher, Harper Collins Christian Publishing, suddenly dropped the Book. Around that time, unhappy customers who had ordered and paid for it and had yet to receive it due to delays, made their voices known in social media.. This got to be such a problem that Greenwood himself made a video in response, showing hundreds of books on a table as he signed each and promised that they’d be shipped. Now, it’s unclear who the publisher and licensor of this version is, although the holding company for the licensor is the same one that Trump owns, through which he licenses his “Never Surrender” sneakers, which seem to also be on shipping hold. Of course, the bigger picture is that Trump’s latest statements make non-Christians feel like second-class citizens. And as his candidacy continues, his Christian nation language will only grow stronger. But the reality is that while Trump pretty much has a lock on evangelicals, he needs to bring a broader constellation to his voter base. Maybe the former president can kill two birds with one stone, and come out with a “King James” version of “Never Surrender,” sneakers that will come with a pamphlet of light Bible readings. Just as he hoped to do with the original promotion for the kicks, (though there’s radio silence on whether any purchaser has received them) perhaps this way he can reach urban (aka Black) evangelical sneaker wearers, as offensive as that sounds. Or maybe that’s only secondary to finding a new revenue stream to pay his lawyer bills. Sinclair Lewis wrote about preachers who took on the techniques of salesmen and con men, to show how power, money, and ambition corrupt religion. Let’s see how this new religious venture goes.
Meijer may be a grocery name everyone in Michigan knows. But thanks to enhanced measurement tools, the Grand Rapids-based regional chain thinks it should be on the lips of national brands looking to better connect with Midwestern shoppers. And like the hundreds of retailers rolling out ad networks, the company is carefully balancing retail media's revenue potential against fickle shoppers' brand expectations. Derek Steele, group vice president of customer strategy and marketing, and Jeff Leitch, director of Meijer Media and category marketing, tells Retail Insider how the company is trying to stand out from larger competitors. Retail Insider: Retail media is dominated by vast companies like Amazon and Walmart+. Why is a retail media network a good idea for a regional grocer? Jeff Leitch: I've been in media for my entire career, 18 years, most on the media sales side. Digital media specializes in identifying the right people, serving the message and measuring the results -- and retail media brings all that together very effectively. We first started in 2019, and have been asking ourselves since: How does retail media integrate with what we do, and how does it best serve our customers? They don't see shopper marketing or retail media. They don't see traditional or digital. They just see how we work with brands to create their shopping experience. So we’re outsourcing less. And we’re focused on delivering industry-leading premium solutions. It’s what our customers would expect, so it’s what our brand partners should expect. Retail Insider: So what does a customer-first experience look like? Derek Steele: Right from the get-go, we wanted to make sure people didn’t face what I call the NASCAR experience, where they’d land on a page and get hit with a mishmash of stuff. We are trying to drive this idea of relevancy from a customer’s experience. If a person is searching for Bush’s Baked Beans and we steer them into Oreos, that person will say, "Hang on, what’s going on here?" So, we took some time to develop a strategy to connect the data. One of the advantages a retailer like Meijer has is that customers interact with us frequently, giving us a rich data perspective. And our customers give us a lot of credit. Relative to some of our competitors, our customers give us a unique right to win because of that relationship. Retail Insider: Does that mean you reject ads if you feel the content isn’t relevant or up to your standards? Leitch: Our partners appreciate our flexibility. But if the creative does not match the experience we provide and expect for our customers, I wouldn’t say we reject them. We come back with recommendations. And we have the capabilities to help our partners. Steele: It helps that we have so much experience in shopper marketing. We know what people expect to see in Meijer and what it should look and feel like. And retail media is just a digital extension of that. Retail Insider: You’ve just announced some enhancements, including expanding the ability to measure closed-loop marketing performance through onsite display, Google Advertising Manager, and off-site display with DV360. As a result, partner activations rose 53% this quarter, with campaign volume up 76%. Why is this important? Leitch: Closed-loop measurement is a highly sought-after capability. Part of our challenge is to catch up with others and leap ahead. This kind of measurement reporting on both display advertising and off-site advertising, in essence, helps provide better omnichannel performance. Retail Insider: Some in the industry are already discussing an inevitable shakeout -- that there likely isn’t room for hundreds of these networks. Do you agree? Steele: We are still a year or two away from consolidation. Our strength is that we are an established 90-year-old brand. We have a foothold in the lives of people in the Upper Midwest. We’re trusted. And we’re making sure that any brands we partner with will bring us up and not drag us down. Leitch: We’re learning from other retail media networks in all industries. There are also large technology companies that want to have some influence that will shape the future. Retail Insider: I understand why regional brands are a great fit for you, but what’s the sales pitch for a national advertiser? Steele: This just happened. A national brand came to us and said, "We’re great on the East and West Coast but lagging in the Midwest." What they were doing on other networks wasn’t working. Are there bigger networks they could use? Sure. But the Midwest customer still matters, and we’re a great partner to help brands figure them out. It's not about a mass audience, but trying to move the sales needle. And we’re nimble, with a long history of helping brands innovate.
AMC’s new series “Parish” contains a new wrinkle never before seen by the TV Blog in any organized crime TV show or movie. Not that the TV Blog has seen every gangster movie and TV show ever made over the last 100 years or so, but in “Parish,” the “mob” making its presence known on the streets of New Orleans is made up of Zimbabweans. They can now take their place in the celluloid pantheon alongside the Italians, Jews, African Americans, Russians, Albanians, Mexicans, Venezuelans, Arabs and presumably others. Why the Zimbabweans have come to southern Louisiana instead of, say, anywhere else is not explained in Episode One of “Parish,” which the TV Blog previewed on Wednesday. “Parish” is about a one-time criminal named Parish who lives in the land of parishes. Played by Giancarlo Esposito (pictured above), Parish owns a limo company and also happens to be a retired driver whose skills were once highly prized in the criminal underworld. But wouldn’t you know it? He thought he was out, but now they want to pull him back in. Or to be more specific, he is pulling himself back in because the limo service is not profitable and he owes money on the business and on his home. And so, he falls in with the Zimbabweans. But wait, there’s more. This show contains layer upon layer of subplots, one of which has to do with the violent death of Parish’s teenage son. Is Parish hatching a revenge plot of some sort? Stay tuned, as they used to say. AMC is promoting the six-part “Parish” as a “high-octane” thriller, which makes sense given the show’s emphasis on driving skills. The phrase also raises expectations for “high-octane” action, which Episode One delivers in at least two suspenseful sequences. Esposito gained fame for the role of Gus Fring in “Breaking Bad” and its prequel, “Better Call Saul.” His relationship with AMC Networks continues with “Parish,” on which he is credited as an executive producer. Also appearing in “Parish”: Paula Malcomson as Parish’s wife, Rose; and Skeet Ulrich as a friend from Parish’s criminal past who connects him with the Zimbabweans. “Parish” premieres Sunday, March 31, at 10 p.m. Eastern on AMC, and streaming on AMC+.
S4 Capital chief Martin Sorrell told analysts today on an earnings call that the company has received no buyout offers worthy of consideration. “We have received no credible offer for the board to consider,” Sorrell said on the call, which followed the firm’s release of its full-year 2023 results. Earlier this month The Wall Street Journal reported that S4 Capital had turned down recent approaches by private equity firms and Stagwell because they undervalued the company. Asked about the viability of S4 Capital’s offering as a “stand alone asset” in the marketplace, Sorrell responded that “our offer is effective and competitive and can compete with more scaled competitors,” as well as specialists and consultants. He added that the firm’s three-tiered offering of content, data/digital and technology services “integrates well in both pitches and relationships.” The biggest hit to its numbers for 2023 was the loss of one of its so-called “whopper” clients—Mondelez. It accounted for 30 million GBP, or about 3.3% of the company’s 4.5% organic revenue decline last year said Scott Spirit, S4’s Chief Growth Officer who was also on the call. The company’s goal is to reel in 20 “whoppers”--defined as clients that generate at least $20 million in net revenue annually. Last year the firm lost two and added two to keep the total at ten, the same as in 2022. In addition to Mondelez it lost an undisclosed tech company while adding a telecommunications firm and fast-moving consumer goods company. S4 is taking steps to improve its sales efforts and it is further tweaking its “land and expand” approach to landing clients and upselling with additional services. “We need to get our house in order” said Sorrell, referring to top-line and margin improvement. The firm imposed strict cost measures and cut its staff from 9,000 to 7,700 last year. Company officials are confident that the tech sector will resume historically normal spending levels on advertising and marketing. The question, for now unanswered, is when that will occur.
If you are focused on any of NBC Television Network's news programs or the MSNBC 24-hour news network, ask your senior TV marketing executive how to promote your network now. NBC News made a quick turnaround -- first in hiring Ronna McDaniel, former chair for the Republican National Committee, as an on-air commentator. Then four days later, NBC thought better of it and put the kibosh on the deal after a massive outcry from MSNBC on-air anchors. McDaniel had been discrediting many journalists or their media publications as “fake news” and calling those operations “corrupt.” So why was she hired? To expand the base of viewers, especially on MSNBC, it seems. But wait....Doesn't MSNBC have former GOP operatives and politicians as on-air analysts? There's Nicolle Wallace, anchor of “Deadline: White House,” who worked for President George W. Bush. There's Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee, now co-hosting a show on the weekends, called “The Weekend.” There are also paid contributors such as David Jolly, formerly a Republican in the House of Representatives from Florida. There are once active GOP political operatives: Stuart Stevens and Tim Miller, as well as Charlie Sykes, who for two-and-a-half decades was a conservative radio talk host in Wisconsin, and most recently the founder/editor of The Bulwark. The difference is that these on-air conservatives did not engage in trashing journalists or promoting the idea of fake electors to overturn a Presidential election. So why would they need more? Because NBC News wants what all TV networks want: To find new ways to grow its audience, especially those conservative-leaning, GOP-voting viewers who might be a little tired of other networks' shills. Mea culpa might go a long way. But the situation with McDaniel did not last long, and was not that complete. On the “Meet The Press” show last Sunday, she would only allude to “taking one for the whole team.” Why? Because there was a reported $300,000-a-year salary on the line. What should we make of this, and what effect has this had on devoted viewers of MSNBC and other news networks? Does the potential hire of McDaniel change their view of the network? Four days of this activity -- especially with regard to on-air MSNBC and NBC moderators and hosts -- provided insight into the inner workings of a TV news network, and had some impact. A memo from Cesar Conde, chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, to employees talked up NBCU's “deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints and experiences.” Should NBC News now address this -- the spillage, the mistake -- and take it to potential viewers? On Joy Reid’s “The ReidOut,” MSNBC-er Rachel Maddow said on air: “Acknowledging that you might have got something wrong is a real sign of strength.” It is already out there.
Former Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek doesn't think ESPN needs any minority partners -- like the NFL. The league has been rumored to possibly be in the mix for such a deal. While Chapek believes extra cash from a minority deal would be a good thing, he says it’s better for ESPN to grow into a one-stop navigation for all things sports. That would dramatically increase its value. Chapek made these comments as part of a CNBC documentary. Currently ESPN has a lot going on: Big multi-level streaming plans for the sports network and transitioning and distribution issues for the big sport TV network, as well as a complicated proxy fight Walt Disney is having with Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management. Nine months ago, current CEO Bob Iger said he would consider selling a minority stake in ESPN to bolster resources and operational needs, which also include a new direct-to-consumer (D2C) offering tentatively slated to launch in the fall of 2025. Currently, Disney owns an 80% interest in ESPN with a minority stake of 20% owned by Hearst -- an arrangement that has been in place for nearly 30 years. Although Chapek doesn’t feel that any major changes -- such as another minority investor -- are needed, the analysis from the former senior Disney executives now begs another question. How do potential sports leagues feel about the complications of a potential major streaming platform “hub” launch -- one co-owned among Disney (ESPN), Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery, which some insiders are calling “Spulu?” It seems that the NFL was a bit miffed about not getting a heads up about those discussions. In response, Brian Rolapp, chief media and business officer of the NFL, said he believed consumers could get all of the NFL linear TV-network based franchises -- around $20 per month more -- with YouTube TV, a virtual pay TV network seller, priced at around $73/month. Analysts and TV network executives believe the Disney-Fox-Warner Bros. Spulu platform would cost $40 to $50 a month. Analysts and Chapek also believe potential ESPN partners --like the NFL -- could complicate things -- especially when certain high-profile sports games/content from each major sport including Major League Baseball, the NBA, and the NHL run opposite each other’s content at times, or demand higher on- and off-air promotional considerations. Would ESPN be better with a technology/broadband/communications company such as Apple or Verizon -- to better help its future streaming/digital needs that presumably keep evolving? Yes. But perhaps program “discovery” -- including the ability for ESPN to be a “central clearinghouse” -- would be better. The NFL then, as a ESPN partner, would also need to be sold that when it comes to all TV sports programming -- the powerful, and the less so-- they are in this together. Well then, look out for some kumbaya TV-streaming business deals.
According to a report I saw published last week, the advertising industry is forecast to grow more than 5% next year. That’s a lot of growth for an already enormous business, but what I find most interesting is that the growth is happening despite us not listening to our most important customers. It’s all happening without reading the signals and the data from the audience. The audience doesn’t really like how we do things. Look at the data. Click-through rates are at an all-time low. Social media ad engagement is down. People skip video ads by as much as +90% when given the chance. It even costs more to make an impact with search than it ever did before because people click less and there’s more competition, driving up prices. All this info provides a clear signal that consumers don’t appreciate the way we deliver messages in their current format. And yet the industry dramatically over-indexes on talking about itself and how much we rely on data and insights to prove performance. My suggestion to the ad industry is to follow our own advice. Let’s stop navel-gazing and talking about ourselves long enough to hear what the audience is saying, so we can come up with some new ways to reach the audience in a more likeable format. When I was an agency guy, the first rule was, never lead with your credentials or start a conversation by talking about yourself or your company. You always listen first, ask good questions, and formulate a hypothesis that meets the needs of your customer. The same should go for our industry. Our primary consumers are clear they will do anything to avoid or ignore our ad formats, and yet we ignore that feedback. Why are we not pursuing ways to be more effective with the money we spend rather than simply throwing more money at the problem? Brands and agencies should be looking to innovate on new ways to deliver a message in a format that is less interruptive and more relevant -- and has the potential to be appreciated by the audience we are trying to speak to. Interruption is the easy way to speak to them, but we can’t lean in on interruption forever, and also give them control over the experience in a way that allows them to skip or ignore it. Search is one of the biggest formats that needs a change, because of generative search. Results will be spoon-fed to the audience in a more easily consumable format with no need to click to see numerous pages. That creates an opportunity for new real estate alongside the generative results where a message can be delivered, and that message is highly targetable. In video, pre-roll and post-roll are probably going to survive, but product placement and in-screen advertising or overlays are a fast-growing area (in full disclosure, this is where I focus my time). These can’t be skipped or ignored, and in-game has proven its value. Shoppable video is a hugely innovative area as well, turning video into a commerce engine that can generate activity immediately, whether in social media or beyond. AI-customized display ads can be created and delivered in real time and baked into a campaign, working off IP address and not cookies, enabling display to be more effective in the coming years. I also think we could see a return for things like interstitials as more sites simply become knowledge bases to be scraped by AI. Experience in apps and video could become more reliant on an interstitial experience, and although interruptive, it could be used sparingly and with high a CPM to command engagement. Innovation is where these additional ad dollars should be going -- innovation in creative delivery rather than simply data and efficiency. The question should be, how do you make a splash -- versus, how do we continue to refine the target to a narrow point? This is something we should be focusing on, don’t you think?