CCPA Locked And Loaded; State AGs Zero In On Google's Ad Tech Dominance

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CCPA Crunch Time

Lobbyists, cool your jets. The California Consumer Protection Act is nearing its mostly final form. The legislative session closes on Friday the 13th (that’s not ominous), which is also the deadline for lawmakers to pass any outstanding bills. Hail Mary lobbying efforts by Google and other industry parties to defang the law appear to have stalled. And so don’t expect any substantive changes at this point. Although there are still a few amendments in committee, and the governor still needs to sign the amendments that did pass into law, there are “no major amendments to the CCPA currently in print, so the law will go into effect largely unchanged Jan. 1, 2020,” tweeted Justin Brookman, director of consumer privacy and tech policy for Consumer Reports and a former FTC staffer. Now it’s up to the California attorney general’s office to draft implementation regulations to help businesses comply with the law.

What-opoly?

A multistate probe into Google’s business practices is homing in on its ad tech holdings, The Wall Street Journal reports. A subpoena sent by the Texas attorney general, in partnership with other state AGs, has 200-plus questions and information demands. “Many of the questions appear designed to solicit evidence that Google engaged in anticompetitive conduct in building up its powerful position,” according to the story. More. Earlier this week, Reuters touched a nerve with a separate report that alleged Google unfairly stifles ad tech competition, prompting a rare Google blog post in return. The ad tech industry is “famously crowded,” writes Google VP of product management Sissie Hsiao. Aside from other global giants, such as Amazon, Adobe and AT&T, Google competes with successful ad tech companies that are “less familiar to consumers but are publicly traded leaders.” Hsiao cites an AdExchanger story about businesses like The Trade Desk, Rubicon Project and Telaria that have gone through a recent growth spurt.

Disruption Insurance

Truman’s, an ecommerce cleaning solutions manufacturer, announced a $5 million investment Thursday led by the German brand holding company Henkel, which owns popular household cleaning brands. Truman’s only launched this year, but picked up early traction with a viral LinkedIn video – an unusual corporate-first spin on the DTC playbook. Truman’s, like many other DTC startups, ties its appeal to social issues. Truman’s ships concentrated cleaning solutions that plug into spray bottles filled with water, saving on water and plastic compared to bottles sold at a store. The startup initially turned down meeting offers from Henkel, not envisioning the business working with a major industry player, co-founder and CMO Alex Reed tells Ad Age. “They really believed this disruption in product is coming, and it was going to come from the outside,” he said. More.

Stutz On The Move

Salesforce Marketing Cloud chief Bob Stutz has been promoted to VP of strategic partners at the company, Inside Indiana Business reported. Under Stutz, Salesforce Marketing Cloud set its positioning around data integration with acquisitions like Datorama and MuleSoft, as peers in the marketing cloud space set their sights on data sales and online advertising. (AdExchanger has more on that.) It’s unclear who will replace Stutz as CEO of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. More.

But Wait, There’s More