Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
The Work Behind The Patchwork
Big Tech has long railed against the US adopting a patchwork of state privacy laws instead of a single national standard. But, oh the irony, tech companies lobbying at the state level is actually helping create that dreaded patchwork, Politico reports.
The battle for influence over state laws started in 2018 when California passed the CCPA. Pundits predicted that the CCPA (and the updated version, CPRA) would become a template for other liberal-leaning states to follow.
But Big Tech made sure that didn’t happen by deploying lobbyists to shape state privacy laws that are more favorable to advertisers, such as Virginia’s VCDPA, which then went on to inspire similar laws in 11 states.
The strategy has also proven effective in watering down strict consumer protections. For example, Oregon’s law originally allowed consumers to sue tech companies for privacy violations, but lobbyists got that provision stripped from the final bill.
Those successes, however, have come at the expense of lobbyists reallocating resources from Congress to statehouses. One group, NetChoice, no longer lists a national privacy standard among its priorities. And even groups that are still pushing for one see state-level action as their best bet for influencing an eventual federal law.
You May Also Like This Ad
Amazon is expanding one of its signature offerings – sponsored product ads – to third-party sites.
The company announced Wednesday that shoppable ads promoting Amazon’s product recommendations will start rolling out on Pinterest, BuzzFeed, Mashable and Lifehacker, as well as sites managed by Hearst Newspapers, Ziff Davis and Raptive, Ad Age reports.
The new ad placements will be sold on a cost-per-click basis, which will send users to Amazon’s site to complete their purchases.
Amazon’s move is the latest example of a Big Tech company using third-party sites for audience extension, such as YouTube’s (controversial) Google Video Partners program. Third-party inventory will be automatically included in campaigns conducted through Amazon’s ad platform going forward.
Sponsored product inventory will be sold through Amazon’s DSP, which also serves display, banner and video ads across all of the publishers named above.
Guess Amazon really is all in on going end to end. It’s also reportedly planning to build and launch a supply-side service for publishers.
Hello, Kids
Today, social media platforms copy each other’s features as a matter of course in a bid to court engagement. But advertisers are left reeling. (That’s not a Reels joke … or maybe it is.)
The challenge is that social apps now all have similar features, but deliver very different results for brands – and that’s because marketers use each platform for different reasons.
TikTok is known for getting organic traction, Instagram responds better to paid media spend and YouTube is trying to be a streaming service. Yet all three insist on taking the short-form video route.
What’s a marketer to do? Call for help, according to Digiday.
Marketers are increasingly asking for guidance from services that claim to specialize in managing campaigns catered to driving likes and shares on specific platforms. One such service tells Digiday they’re seeing an uptick in requests from brands for help transitioning away from text-based social media. (No offense, Threads and X.)
Brands are even hiring creators to run their social teams in their desperation to figure out what the heck “authenticity” means.
Take luxury retail brand Ridge Wallet, which is offering a $1 million contract to a creator willing to join as the company’s in-house creative director.
Ya gotta do what you gotta do.
But Wait, There’s More!
Ecommerce startup MikMak acquires its rival ChannelAdvisor’s shoppable media and brand analytics divisions. [Insider]
The FTC updated its endorsement guidelines for the first time since 2009. [Marketing Brew]
X (formerly Twitter) makes X Pro (formerly TweetDeck) subscription only. [TechCrunch]
Tracing Twitter’s drop in the Apple App Store charts since its rebrand to X. [Mobile Dev Memo]
In more bad news for X, the platform has been serving ads alongside posts by a verified pro-Hitler account. [Media Matters]
A lawsuit alleging Google overcharged pay-per-click advertisers will move forward to trial. [MediaPost]
You’re Hired!
IAB adds former Mindshare and Wavemaker CEO Amanda Richman to its executive-in-residence program and names Piya Mehra as chief of staff. [release]
Performance marketing agency BMG360 hires former Dentsu US COO Lucas Cridland as CEO. [MediaPost]
The Muscular Dystrophy Association promotes Morgan Roth to CMO. [release]
