Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Follow Your Intuition, I Guess
Intuit, which owns Mailchimp and accounting software like TurboTax and QuickBooks, is launching an ad network called SMB MediaLabs, Adweek reports.
As the name implies, Intuit’s media business is a “small business-focused media network.”
But it’s focused on them, not for them.
Want small business owners? Target the people using SMB accounting software.
With its 7.1 million users, QuickBooks is the backbone of the MediaLabs group right now. Eventually, the Mailchimp customer base will similarly be targetable for advertising, says Dave Raggio, Intuit’s VP of US acquisition marketing.
To start, it will be a managed service on a white-label DSP, with Intuit placing the buys. LiveRamp is part of the identity infrastructure, while Vizio is the data-matching partner for CTV.
Programmatic revenue can be tantalizingly low-hanging fruit, sitting there for any business with lucrative first-party data at scale.
“I just looked at what we had and noticed that we could provide a lot of value for other advertisers that were trying to reach this audience,” Raggio says of the idea to target SMB accounting customers.
But there are always counterbalancing cons. This time, from customers who will be targeted by their accounting software.
Down To Clown
Cirque du Soleil, the Montreal-based circus, went bankrupt one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, but was resurrected by a Canadian private equity group last year.
Ticket sales and in-person revenues are back up to pre-pandemic levels, but the company is trying to attract new and younger audiences, The New York Times reports. Which is to say, it’s doing everything that any super-online business or influencer might be trying to make a buck off their followings.
There will be home goods, like rugs and curtains, or fashion lines and signature fragrances. Tote bags? Pottery? Sunglasses? Pantsuits? Check, check, check, check.
Cirque is also pitching a TV docuseries called “Down to Clown,” launching corporate tie-ins with the likes of Motorola. Next week, the Cirque du Soleil Tycoon game will be released on Roblox.
“Last month, the question was raised: How do we get more of our TikTok fans to buy tickets to shows?” according to Nickole Tara, Cirque’s chief growth officer, who was hired a year ago. “I don’t know if that’s the point.”
Bye Bye, Birdie
Twitter rebranded to X, The Verge reports, and the bird logo has flown the coop to be replaced by an X on the app and office building.
It’s unclear whether the rebrand will help Twitter regain users or improve its standing with advertisers.
Twitter’s blue bird is ubiquitous (practically every site and app has buttons for embedding posts). “Retweet,” “subtweet” and even just “tweet” are well-established terms, to say the least. So it will be interesting to see if the company preserves the Twitter name and terminology or pushes something new related to the X rebrand.
Elon Musk has a longstanding obsession with the letter X. See: SpaceX, Tesla’s Model X, PayPal (originally X.com under his leadership), his son X Æ A-12 and new AI venture xAI. He bought the X.com domain in 2017 and formed holding company X Corp in March of this year.
When he acquired Twitter, Musk voiced his ambition to create an everything app, unifying social media, ecommerce, booking services, entertainment and more.
People and advertisers have fled the app since Musk’s takeover and deep personal involvement in the company.
But that was Twitter.
This is X.
But Wait, There’s More!
Instagram head Adam Mosseri says Android is “now better” than Apple’s iOS. [Insider]
NBCU wraps its 2023 upfronts, says cash commitments are in line with last year. [Adweek]
YouTube Shorts tests letting users turn comments into TikTok-style videos. [Android Central]
Simon Owens: How to drive paid subscriptions without a paywall. [Media Newsletter]
Amazon, Walmart, Instacart compete as agencies add commerce media dollars. [Digiday]
Flip phones are having a moment, which could mean Samsung is having a moment. [The Verge]
You’re Hired!
Doceree, a healthcare and pharma ad tech startup, adds Kate Miller as EVP, strategy. [release]
Apple and WarnerMedia vet Jean-Paul Colaco joins T-Mobile as SVP and “chief T-Ads officer.” [LinkedIn]
