Drip Sequence💧

In case you missed it:

I sent out a report detailing the comp survey, if you missed the first newsletter the URL for the LookerBI Dashboard can be found right here.

Also I am always open to suggestions to evolve this newsletter, feel free to either DM me on IG or reply back to this email with feedback or with stuff you would want to see in here.

Headline Overviews

• OpenAI announces SearchGPT, its AI-powered search engine OpenAI has introduced SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine that provides real-time information from the internet. Unlike traditional search engines, SearchGPT organizes and summarizes search results, offering detailed explanations and follow-up options. This prototype, available to 10,000 test users, aims to integrate these features into ChatGPT, potentially challenging Google's dominance in the search market.

• TikTok Fined $2.4M by U.K. Media Regulator Over Inaccurate Safety Data TikTok was fined £1.875 million ($2.4 million) by the U.K.'s media regulator, Ofcom, for providing inaccurate data on its parental controls feature, "Family Pairing." The fine reflects TikTok's delayed and inaccurate response to a statutory demand for information, which hampered Ofcom's ability to assess the platform's safety measures for protecting children from harmful content.

• Marketing Briefing: How the Democratic presidential election upheaval will impact the political ad market With President Biden stepping aside and endorsing Kamala Harris, the Democratic campaign's advertising focus is expected to shift toward engaging the youth vote through digital and social media channels. This strategy will likely include increased use of memes, influencer marketing, and a culturally relevant approach, as Harris's campaign capitalizes on her stronger connection to pop culture compared to Biden.

• 6 Ad Companies Accuse Pluto TV of Exploiting Programmatic Auctions Six ad firms have accused Pluto TV of exploiting programmatic auctions by using a practice called bid duplication, where multiple opportunities to buy a single ad are sent out, artificially inflating the perceived audience size and driving up ad prices. This practice has led to a disproportionate amount of advertising spend being allocated to Pluto TV compared to its actual viewer base, raising concerns among ad buyers and leading some to limit their exposure to Pluto TV ads. The controversy highlights broader issues of transparency and fair practices in the programmatic advertising market.

• Google will ‘soon’ test search, shopping ads in AI Overviews Google is set to begin testing search and shopping ads in AI Overviews in the U.S., a new format that will feature ads clearly labeled as sponsored when relevant to user queries. This move aims to enhance engagement, especially among younger users, and follows improvements to the quality of AI Overviews after earlier issues. Google Search and other ad revenues grew by 14% year-on-year in Q2 2024, driven primarily by retail and financial services.

• Colgate-Palmolive hires WPP to handle its Amazon business in Europe Colgate-Palmolive has appointed WPP as its "Amazon agency of record" for its European business, marking an unusual move in agency designations. WPP will handle Amazon-related services, including retail, advertising, and data solutions, for Colgate-Palmolive's oral, personal, and home care products. This decision reflects a broader trend of consolidating commerce and media responsibilities under a single holding company, as seen with other large consumer goods companies like Unilever and Kimberly-Clark.

• OMNICOM MEDIA GROUP AGENCIES OUTPERFORM FOR GROWTH ACROSS ALL FOUR REGIONS Omnicom Media Group (OMG) has been recognized as the top global media group for growth in LATAM and EMEA, with its agencies OMD and Hearts & Science leading in their respective regions. The 2023 Global & Regional Rankings report highlighted OMG's dominance in digital ad spending, with over 50% of billings across all its agencies coming from digital channels. OMD maintained its position as the top media agency in North America, while Hearts & Science achieved the highest growth in APAC, EMEA, and LATAM.

• IPG reports organic revenue growth of 1.7% for Q2 but net profit down 19% Interpublic Group (IPG) reported a 1.7% organic revenue growth for Q2 2024, reaching $2.71 billion in total revenue, slightly up from the previous year. However, net revenue decreased by 0.1% to $2.33 billion, and net profit fell by 19.2% to $214.5 million. IPG's creative agencies, including McCann, MullenLowe, and FCB, led growth with a 3% increase in net revenue. The U.S. market showed the least growth among regions, while Asia Pacific experienced a decline. IPG projects a full-year organic growth of approximately 1% with a target adjusted EBITA margin of 16.6%.

• Arthur Sadoun Explains Why Publicis Groupe Raised Its 2024 Guidance Publicis Groupe has raised its 2024 growth forecast to 5% to 6%, up from an initial 4% to 5%, driven by strong performances in its media and marketing technology sectors, especially with firms like Epsilon. The company reported 5.4% organic revenue growth in the first half of 2024, with notable gains in the U.S. and China. CEO Arthur Sadoun attributes the growth to strategic investments in data, technology, and AI, along with successful new business acquisitions, positioning Publicis ahead of its peers who are still undergoing transformations.

The Industry’s Reaction

The last two weeks without a doubt has had the most insane news cycle I have ever seen, with Monday having the biggest impact for all of us. On July 22nd, Google announced that it will maintain support for third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, a reversal from its earlier decision to eliminate them. This change was influenced by feedback from advertisers and regulatory concerns about market competition.

Google reportedly will continue developing its Privacy Sandbox, which aims to provide privacy-preserving advertising solutions, and plans to introduce new privacy features, such as enhanced IP protection in Incognito mode. This approach seeks to balance user privacy needs with the functionality required by advertisers and publishers.

But essentially cookies are staying. I don’t need to go into depth on what this means since most of you have spent years writing POVs on this, instead here are some of the reactions I have aggregated through my DMs across multiple corners of our industry:

Agency Side

“We had a specific team for this. not sure what will happen with them, specifically because the news hit during summer holiday season. But I can tell you they are panicking. from being the most important in org to not so :(“

“Don't give a shit. It's a Christmas miracle if anything works at all. It's rare for clients on our end to care about user data. Most looking for fast cash conversions.”

“Curious what happens on YouTube now? They sunset 3p data there years ago, do they change course to match what they're doing with chrome in the future or just let bygones be bygones?”

“We have put SO much into developing good ol’ Group Identity!!!!!! can’t tell you how many times I've had to talk to my clients about it 🙄”

“EU Agency here: nothing new under the sun. We're still implementing CAPI, EC, Customer Match... and we don't want to lose those budgets. So we're pushing the narrative that 1PD is still the way to go”

“Agency in LATAM: everyone is suspiciously cautions about the news, no official reply has been sent from google and in the old 90s fashion of the x files: trust no one u Tim there is official announcement from out google reps. Unofficially, most of us thought it wasn't happening when the rollout didn't go beyond the 1% in January. So is like the end of the world, we're just waiting to see if it happens.”

“Agency side Europe based(one of the big ones globally) - no fucks given. People didn’t care before, people don't care now. Too little has been done and will be done, local teams are way below the international level knowledge wise. As someone else said it before, it's a miracle if anything works at all so I guess this sums it up well.”

“I worked for a small boutique agency out of LA and this is on point— attribution was the biggest concern, especially since partners like TTD had no answer (or were dragging their feet), leaving us in limbo but now a bit more relieved. Colossal waste of time and effort for our task force that was assembled to tackle it all.”

“Agency side. It went over smooth. No one had fully left cookies because we had a feeling this would happen. We ran some cookieless too and probably still will where it works, but no major disruptions. Just celebrations. We feel bad for Tombras.”

“I work in paid search. Annoyed that they announced right as I had perfected our client POV template, I'd been working on for several years. Ultimately happy though that they abandoned silly venture that was doomed to fail from day one. PMAX will probably continue to MAYBE suck shit (scholars still debate it to this day But at least our trust remarking audiences are no longer headed for the hangman.”

“Programmatic agency person here - completely agree with this take. Google will continue forward. The cynic in me thinks that this means an even greater loss of transparency into what they're doing internally to make themselves a standout in the system they've created.”

“I've seen people crowing that the post-cookie scramble to leverage 1PD was/is a win for privacy and consent. Hard disagree. Tying your online behavior to your real world email/ phone number, stored in external servers outside of your control seems infinitely worse than an easily deleted browser setting.”

“Prog agency/former DSP- It’s really just skipping an unnecessarily painful step in moving towards copying apple, but they'll collect no credit from the consumers like they initially hoped it would. The alternatives to cookies are either more invasive or completely incompatible and/or ineffectual in practice. In terms of ux, it would be best to end up in a place where things like fcaps caps can be respected but users can opt out of behavioral signals. The ad experience on the podcast app multi-burning the same spot for something completely irrelevant to me in a single ad pod, is no more ideal than Roundel data being used to relentlessly hit my household with textured hair products on CTV. Free delivery on the target app is nice though 👌”

AdTech Side

“Data company- quiet relief because UID, ramp ID et al, were nowhere near scalability without cookies. Regardless of what they tell you. Fear of open web collapse was not because cookie targeting was going away, but because nobody would be able to measure anything at all. Even if it was a small sliver, you could model off that and stay relevant. The persistent IDs had very little cross site tracking without cookies.”

“I personally don’t think it will be an industry-wide slide back into a 3P Cookies landscape. Many companies have already transitioned toward cookieless and it would be pointless to engineer a move backwards when Google have said they're going to essentially implement a system of choice. So cookieless will still be a major player.”

“Ad server take: It's gonna be interesting how other regulator bodies answer (FTC, EU) because Google is using UK's as a blocker. I think they will create an opt-in solution like Apple IDFA, on browser will look like the horrendous "Do you allow push notifications" from sites. Cookies are still dead I think. Apple/ Safari dont support 3rd party cookies (that's 20% browser and 40% mobile market share). More interesting will be which parts of Privacy Sandbox are they still launching. I don't think anyone in AdTech should feel safe, probably a lot of CEOs will take it easier and then see they gobsmacked. Industry should know more that on iOS they still have no signal right now nor in the future, why noone has shat himself by that.”

“1. IMO people clearly don't understand that without the need for imposing full cookie removal, Google can move faster and the end result will look very similar.

2. Definitely many will grow complacent, deprioritize work and Sandbox. Eventually Google pushes a prompt that might look like Apple's ATT. Over 50% of users opt-out, businesses die for sure.

3. Google has not changed anything to Sandbox scope, resources, plans. Thinking it's a relief and people can move on perpetuating the old ways will definitely get many people fired (cf. the above)”

“DSP: IMO this doesn't really change anything. Chrome is the biggest browser but still is only just over 50% which means that literally half of the market is still cookieless. We'll have a better sense of the scale implications once we understand if Chrome's consent plan is default opt-in or default opt-out (which will make big a difference). Overall, if you don't have your 1PD right, don't have a contextual strategy, don't shift your measurement to be more incrementality focused, don't have an SPO/inventory strategy, you're going to have a bad time.”

“CCRA - Most of adtech had "priced in" this decision either way. Advanced attribution and contextual shops aren't going anywhere. 1P identity strategies will still be mission critical. Server side analytics still essential.”

Client Side

Internal Brand Media team - Relationship with the consumer is still important. Capture the 1P data and your brand will ultimately be better for it because of an easier ability to personalize the experience across all touch points including ads.

None of this mattered anyway because 1st party cookies are the most valuable. Programmatic ads are terrible for the most part

Publisher Side

“Accelerate our move towards walled garden and scrap our DMP plans for now. (CBA to deal with it if we don't have to).”

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