Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Instacart Exit
Seth Dallaire, out! Instacart’s ad chief is jumping over to Walmart as chief revenue officer amid a shakeup in the grocery delivery service’s executive ranks, Business Insider reports. Dallaire will work to scale Walmart Connect, the retail giant’s ad platform unit – which is expected to launch its own self-serve DSP this month – as well as Walmart+ and “data monetization and business partnerships.” Dallaire’s exit comes after Instacart recently poached former Facebook execs Carolyn Everson as president and Fidji Simo as CEO. Dallaire is a former Amazon exec who helped grow Instacart’s ads business. While it may seem as if Instacart keeps plucking most of its talent from Facebook, The Information reports that Instacart has poached nearly 30 ad execs from Amazon over the past few years – among a slew of other hires, including developers and engineers – to fuel its aspirations to build a $10 billion to $20 billion ad business.
Olá Data
You & Mr. Jones is accelerating its expansion into Latin America with the acquisition of DP6, a marketing technology and data company based in Brazil. DP6 is a Google and Salesforce partner whose clients include large regional and global brands, such as Nubank, Carrefour, CNN and Whirlpool. You & Mr. Jones already has offices in São Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Panama City, but the DP6 deal solidifies its presence. “Brazil is one of the largest and most advanced marketing technology markets in the world,” said David Jones, founder of You & Mr. Jones. “This move gives us the ability to further expand our global data capabilities in one of the world’s most important and fast-growing digital markets.” You & Mr. Jones, which also owns data agency fifty-five, in-housing agency Oliver and data-driven influencer platform Collectively, has seen its organic revenue grow by more than 50% this year. Read the release.
Power Wash?
And over at Facebook … although the social media giant has recently seen the departure of top-level ad execs, the size of its legal team has ballooned 60% under the company’s No. 2, COO Sheryl Sandberg, amid intense antitrust scrutiny, lawsuits and a host of legal challenges, according to the Wall Street Journal. But as eye popping as that growth might be, it’s nothing compared to other departments. The journal reviewed a decade’s worth of employee data at Facebook and found that the number of staffers who work under Javier Olivan, for example, Facebook’s VP of central product services, leapt more than 900% in the five years since the 2016 presidential election. (You know, in response to Russian interference, fake news and rampant misinformation.) Overall, though, the number of employees who report to Sandberg actually dropped from 43% in 2014 to 31% today, not including contractors tapped to identify harmful content. Does that mean Sandberg’s power is waning? Joe Osborne, a spokesman for Facebook, blasted the Journal’s data. “Imputing Facebook’s priorities based on the company’s org chart is flawed and irresponsible,” Osborne said. “Many of our initiatives and projects run across different teams and functions, such as our work on privacy or the 40,000 people working on safety and security.”
But Wait, There’s More!
Clubhouse, DoubleVerify, Vimeo and others will sign a more robust version of the EU’s disinformation code. [TechCrunch]
Millions of Android users were hit with hefty wireless charges thanks to hundreds of scam apps. [BI]
Nielsen and Comscore aren’t advancing fast enough for media buyers. [Digiday]
How Uber’s move to hire former Amazon exec Mark Grether could boost its advertising ambitions. [Ad Age]
Snap teams up with WPP to launch an AR lab for brands. [Campaign]
You’re Hired
McCann brings on Alex Lopez as president and global chief creative officer. [WSJ]
Chewy hires Mark Eamer as CMO. [Adweek]
DDB Chicago taps Milo Chao as chief strategy officer. [Campaign]
Adobe appoints Dan Durn as CFO. [release]
ABM provider RollWorks names Mihir Nanavati as president. [release]
