Sorrell On Programmatic In-House; Google Strikes Back

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

In-House Grouse

The trend of marketers managing programmatic spend in-house is “a temporary phenomenon,” according to WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell. In the wake of an AdExchanger Research report tracking momentum for self-sufficient media buying, Sorrell told WSJ, “Our view is after a year or two it will change. I question whether [clients] will be able to apply technology successfully.” AdExchanger Director of Research Joanna O’Connell sees it differently: “Marketers’ hands are being forced because of the way holding companies and agencies are behaving.” Read it.

Empire Strikes Back

Shortly after Tim Cook posted updates to Apple’s privacy policy on Thursday, which read like a dig at Google, the search company issued some privacy updates of its own. “For over three years, Android has offered encryption, and keys are not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement,” said Google spokeswoman Niki Christoff. Default encryption on smartphones will block advertisers’ access to data, but also boxes out the government. The tech giants’ relationship with big brother: “It’s complicated.” More.

Blurring Lines

The relationship between marketing and sales is changing, due in large part to tech and quantifiable metrics, says Cisco CMO Blair Christie. “Now, there’s information about the customer going on all around us. Over two-thirds of the process for a customer happens before they ever talk to the company. And all that information, the marketing organization has,” Christie told Ad Age, adding that “marketing and sales can be more complementary than ever before.” CMO rising.

Automate The Image

In-image ad company GumGum is automating its inventory offerings, Adweek reported Friday, and Xaxis is a demand-side partner. “Advertisers can develop [our] rich-media units according to our specifications, or we can build them using an agency’s creative assets,” explained GumGum CEO Per Ophir Tanz. “We’ll also be able to develop custom creative internally that can be used for in-image campaigns,” added Xaxis NA Managing Director Brian Gleason. “We’ll then be able to apply third-party tracking to capture standard [performance] metrics.” Read it.

Marchex Falling

Shares of Marchex took a sizable hit late last week, falling nearly 46% following a revised agreement with Allstate. Allstate uses Marchex’s call analytics tech, which gives advertisers insights into which formats, keywords and channels drive phone calls. Allstate purportedly wanted to move to a fixed payment plan, but Marchex was not down with that. “Marchex doesn’t believe it’s in our best long-term interests to work under such an arrangement,” Marchex CEO Russell Horowitz said. The Seattle Times has more.

Tracking Pin-tent

Pinterest shared that starting Oct. 19, the scrapbooking site will start serving “more relevant” posts. “We want to help advertisers better understand how their Promoted Pins are doing,” the company explained. “For example, an advertiser may want to know how often their ads are showing on Pinterest or how many people bought a product after clicking on a Promoted Pin. In the future, we’ll report that info to them.” To do so, Pinterest will be collecting and logging cookie data and device information. How scrappy. The Drum has more.

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