Amazon Ads has announced a series of innovations across the Amazon Demand-side Platform (Amazon DSP) to drive full-funnel audience reach and better streamline campaign planning and optimisation. This includes the launch of a new user experience, an enhancement to interoperability across Amazon ad tech via an ads data manager, and enhancements to Amazon DSP’s Performance+ automated optimisation capability. Amazon has also introduced new solutions to its Marketing Cloud (AMC), launching no-code capabilities including high value audience analysis and an optimal frequency solution. Finally, Amazon has launched conversion path reporting to show brands their top-converting paths to purchase from the previous 30 days, and long-term sales insights to estimate the sales a brand can expect over the next year.
Fundably, Myomaster and Wellahealth have won a joint initiative between the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund and JCDecaux UK. The initiative awards innovative Black entrepreneurs the prize of out-of-home media funded by JCDecaux, with additional support provided for campaign planning, targeting and delivery. The $4 million Google for Startups Black Founders Fund is awarded to Black-led tech startups to help tackle racial inequality of venture capital funding. The fund provides businesses with up to $100,000 in non-dilutive cash awards. The founders also take part in Google’s acceleration programme that includes leadership training, workshops, mentoring and access to a community of fellow founders.
Research from LinkedIn has found that the content influencing buying decisions in B2B is evolving. ‘The Business of Influence,’ which surveyed over 1,700 B2B tech buyers in the US, UK, and India, revealed that video is the most compelling and trusted form of content influencing buying decisions in B2B. Sixty-three percent of B2B buyers say that short-form social video content helps inform buying decisions, and the majority (80%) of those who consume video content say that video-focused influencer content is one of the most trusted forms of content in B2B. The research finds that 67% of surveyed buyers, who consume B2B influencer content, say that B2B influencer content helps build brand trust, and creates awareness of different products and solutions. More than two-thirds (67%) of B2B buyers, who are aware of B2B influencer marketing, say that influencer content plays a critical role in the consideration stage of the IT buying process. Nearly 50% of all B2B buyers surveyed say their use of B2B subject-matter experts in the tech buying process will increase over the next three years. As Gen Z joins the buyer group, influencer marketing is becoming more important, with 90% of Gen Z buyers, who are aware of B2B influencer marketing, saying they engage with B2B influencer content on a monthly basis, which is 11% higher compared to all other buyers.
Outvertising, a volunteer-run LGBTQIA+ advocacy group and lead organisation in the All In LGBTQIA+ Working Group, celebrated International Pronoun Dy by launching the ‘Pronouns in Adland’ resource. As part of the industry’s All In Action Plan, led by the Advertising Association, ISBA, and the IPA, the new guide has been designed to help industry organisations create safer and more welcoming environments where people can readily share their pronouns. The guide has been designed to remedy confusion over the usage of pronouns by exploring their importance, unpacking commonly used terms and pronouns associated with gender-identity, and guiding readers on tips to overcome challenging or awkward conversations.
DoubleVerify (DV), a digital media measurement platform, has announced an integration with Spotify to authenticate media quality on the platform. This release enables advertisers to measure fraud/invalid traffic (IVT) and viewability on video campaigns delivered through Spotify’s self-serve advertising platform, Spotify Ads Manager. Brands using Spotify Ads Manager can unlock DV’s fraud and viewability insights across desktop and mobile in-app placements.
The Independent and Refuge have announced that their ‘Brick by Brick’ campaign has reached its target more quickly than expected and, as such, has extended the appeal to build a second home for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Thanks to a £150,000 donation from Nationwide, the campaign’s initial £300,000 target was quickly met. The second house will again be constructed by Persimmon, and be equipped with the same safety features as the first house.
Content studio and digital media network Little Dot Studios has announced that its sports-specialist label, Little Dot Sport, has been awarded the YouTube channel management contract for PFL, Bellator MMA and PFL Europe. Under this agreement, Little Dot Sport will provide YouTube channel management and digital copyright management (DCM) to claim user-generated content (UGC) featuring official MMA material, all aimed at enhancing the digital presence of PFL and Bellator MMA and driving monetisation. Little Dot Studios will also provide a targeted campaign, including digital sponsorship, across all YouTube inventory and manage content publishing and optimisation during fight nights.
Publishing company Future has launched the Future Content Hub. For the first time, Future has made its expert features, images and articles available to search, browse and purchase instantly for editorial and commercial use worldwide. The Future Content Hub launches with half a million articles, full editorial features and images from Future’s editors, journalists, and photographers. New and archive content will be added weekly from across Future’s specialist media brands including PC Gamer, Wallpaper*, Woman & Home, FourFourTwo, TV Times, Country Life, and Guitar World.
Shopify’s Holiday Retail Report has found that the UK is the only market internationally where consumers plan to spend significantly more this year. Spending amongst UK consumers around Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024 is set to increase 21% from last year. However, the research – which surveyed 18,000 consumers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK and the US – offered caution to retailers that any increased spending is unlikely to be frivolous. Indeed, savvy shopping is still the order of the day with 83% comparing prices in order to find the best discounts and 65% planning to shop during sales to save money.
Haymarket Media Group has selected Amperity, an AI-powered customer data platform (CDP), to unify, manage, and activate all of its subscriber and events data. Through Amperity’s insights into Haymarket’s online and offline data sources, the publisher aims to enrich customer interactions, drive revenue growth, and improve acquisition and retention through targeted engagements.
Asda has announced a partnership with Virtualstock, a dropshipping and curated marketplace platform, to support the supermarket’s mission to expand its online product range across multiple categories. Decathlon is the first seller to go live with a selection of sporting equipment on Asda’s site, having integrated with Asda via Virtualstock’s API.
A global study released by Checkout.com has found that children aged 8-15 years old (Generation Alpha) are driving over a quarter (27%) of their household’s monthly spend, rising to nearly a third of monthly spend for digital purchases, as 29% of Millennial parents take responsibility for purchasing digital products each month for their children. This comes as digital products and services make up over a fifth (21%) of the average global household spend. Generation Alpha’s purchase influence is greatest in online educational resources, which nearly half (47%) of parents purchase for their children, followed by entertainment streaming, purchased by a third (30%) of parents globally.
Native ad platform Taboola has introduced Abby, a generative AI technology that advertisers can use to start and manage campaigns. Abby is an AI assistant for advertisers that offers a conversational approach to building and launching campaigns.
Programmatic ad tech business PubMatic has announced a partnership with Illuma, a contextual AI firm, to bring advanced contextual recommendation capabilities to advertisers for the holiday season. PubMatic buyers will be able to activate Illuma Reacts, a contextual recommendation engine, across the web, CTV, and apps. They will also be able to leverage Illuma Precision to hone-in on particular contextual topics via Illuma’s 400+ categories and/or bespoke categories for targeting or brand safety avoidance.
Martech platform Mapp has debuted Mapp AI Chat. The tool is designed to transform how marketers analyse their data and extract actionable insights to optimise marketing campaigns. Mapp AI Chat is powered by ChatGPT4o algorithms and enables marketers to ‘talk with their data.’
Carbon intelligence platform Cedara has launched compliance tools aimed at helping media businesses streamline both regulatory and media measurement requirements within a unified platform. The platform addresses the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol.
Digital experience software Sitecore has launched Sitecore Stream to address the challenges and opportunities faced by enterprise marketing teams today. Stream aims to help marketers to provide customers with personalised digital content and experiences. The solution leverages generative AI in a bid to simplify marketing workflows and enhance productivity.
Axis, a programmatic platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Gravite, a mobile ad tech company. Through this partnership, Axis will leverage its DSP in a bid to better monetise Gravite’s inventory, leading to increased ad revenue for publishers and better audience targeting for advertisers.
Nectar360, which owns and operates loyalty programme Nectar, has partnered with Severn Trent to reward customers for adopting smart meters and reducing water consumption. The trial Severn Trent Nectar programme – a first for the utility sector – is being rolled out with support and funding from the water regulator Ofwat’s Innovation Fund. Nectar account holders will be able to accumulate extra points when they adopt and demonstrate usage of a smart water meter. Points will also be awarded for reaching water usage reduction targets. The incentive pilot, scheduled to run for at least a year, will launch in November 2024 and is expected to eventually reach up to 25,000 customers in selected smart meter areas.
Ecommerce platform Luzern and marketplace brand protection business Potoo Solutions have announced a strategic partnership which will provide brands with a joint solution to protect their Amazon presence, optimise performance, and scale their ecommerce business.
Antavo, a loyalty platform, has announced the launch of Timi AI, an AI agent based on the company’s senior business analyst, Timi Garai. The agent supports loyalty programme development via an on-demand video chat between the avatar and Antavo’s clients. The agent is part of Antavo’s new Loyalty Planner, which provides a shared framework for brands, agencies, system integrators, and tech providers to build loyalty programmes.
Nahdi Medical Company has chosen Fluent Commerce’s distributed order management system (OMS), Fluent Order Management, to support its continued growth and expansion. Nadhi has replaced its existing OMS with Fluent’s solution.
Customer insights hub Dovetail has expanded its platform with Dovetail 3.0, introducing a series of AI-first products and features to its offering. Dovetail 3.0 provides a single platform for qualitative customers insights. The business has also renamed its core product as ‘Projects,’ and added new features to automatically centralise, analyse, and share customer insights from qualitative data like video calls and documents.
