AOC On Ads; Election’s Over, But It’s Still A Dicey Time For Brands

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AOC On Ads

That didn’t take long. Just two days after candidate Biden became President-elect Biden, tensions among Dem factions have already spilled out into the open. Some centrist Democrats have blamed their left-leaning colleagues for surprise losses in the party’s House majority. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who embodies the progressive agenda, is having none of it. “I’ve looked through a lot of these campaigns that lost,” she said in an interview with The New York Times. “If you’re not spending $200,000 on Facebook with fundraising, persuasion, volunteer recruitment, get-out-the-vote the week before the election, you are not firing on all cylinders. And not a single one of these campaigns were firing on all cylinders.” She cites one house campaign that spent just $2,000 on Facebook in the week prior to the election. “Our party isn’t even online, not in a real way that exhibits competence.” Read it.

Sit Tight

With the election over, it’s time for marketing as usual right? Wrong. Writing for Digiday, Lara O’Reilly examines the continued polarization of the electorate and the risks inherent in taking any stance whatsoever. A handful of certifiably progressive brands (think Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s) should let ’er rip, but everyone else should continue to sit on their hands. “When the heat and stress is so intense, people can’t even think straight,” according to You & Mr Jones partner Emma Cookson. “Even somewhat logical positions about ‘we have always been about bringing people together’ [aren’t appropriate for this environment]. Emotions are so heightened.’” More.

When Apple Sneezes

Motivated by Apple’s plan to get rid of IDFA, Kochava has acquired Thalamus, a database of ad buyers and sellers/vendors. Speaking with VentureBeat, Kochava CEO Charles Manning says the tool will come in handy as a way to facilitate ad deals in the post-IDFA age. “We were planning to do this acquisition anyway,” Manning said. “And the IDFA change really just was an extra kicker on why this kind of thing is important in the ecosystem. Increasingly, we believe advertisers are having a harder time finding the inventory that moves the needle for them. We will roll this into a larger platform story that we’ve been on over the last several years.” Thalamus has been rebranded Kochava Media Index. Read the whole thing. Terms weren’t disclosed.

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