Google

Nov 22, 2024 ∞
Regulators have submitted their Google punishment wishlist to the judge, and it rivals many a kid’s Christmas list.
The Justice Department wants:
• Chrome sold off
• no playing favorites on Android (& maybe sold)
• can’t buy default status
• no favoring Google services in other Google services
• license search index data to others
• ad cost transparency
• blah blah AI training access blah
No. 3 is the most obvious one on the list. The others range from 🤷 to 😮
Not sure this is the obvious outcome:
A sale of Chrome “will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet”
How much better does Google Search get if $20B a year gets reinvested instead of paid to Apple?
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Also on Bluesky
Nov 20, 2024 ∞
Google Analytics 4 adds benchmarking data
reference metrics that help you compare your business performance against the performance of other businesses in your industry.
in percentiles (median, 25th, and 75th) based on peer groups of businesses for a wide range of industry categories. The businesses that form the peer groups are determined by an industry category assigned to each property. This industry category is determined by a combination of factors including the broad industry category provided in setup and signals from things like a property’s URLs and App attributes.
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Also on Bluesky
Nov 20, 2024 ∞
Google’s getting ready for shopping szn
Google Lens
Google Lens can quickly show you product insights tailored to the store you’re in. Just snap a photo to find product information, similar products in-stock, whether a store’s price is competitive and shopper reviews.
Shop Via Maps
search for products in Maps and find nearby stores selling them
As the moat around Google’s Knowledge Graph erodes in a post-AI world, the “Shopping Graph” may be the next fulcrum for revenue growth.
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Also on Bluesky
Nov 19, 2024 ∞
Samsung and Google are working on smart glasses to rival Meta’s Ray Bans to be released late next year.
Gemini would handle AI tasks alongside support for “payment,” QR code recognition, “gesture recognition,” and “human recognition functions.”
I think we’ve found the most probable next consumer computing platform.
AI needs a computer, but not necessarily a screen.
The era of ambient computing is upon us.
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Also on Bluesky
Nov 9, 2024 ∞
Apple continues its services push:
Any verified business can now create a consistent brand and location presence across apps that customers use every day, including Apple Maps, Wallet, and Mail.

Now more than just a Google Business Profile clone, Business Connect adds:
• Branded email: name and logo in Mail
• Branded payments: logo in Tap to Pay
• Branded incoming call screen with Business Caller ID (coming soon)
Apple is turning its hardware network into an integrated marketing platform.
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Also on Bluesky
Nov 9, 2024 ∞

Google giving us more control?

With brand guidelines, you can control how your brand is represented in your Performance Max campaign automated assets or formats.





Your Performance Max campaigns use Google AI to infer key brand elements using your final URL. You’ll be able to review the brand information Google infers, then can fine-tune your brand guidelines based on your brand and campaign goals.


Guidelines help control generated videos and responsive display and include font, color, name, and logo(s).

Brand marketers rejoice!

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Nov 7, 2024 ∞

It seems Google is testing adding if there was a change to that score because of "competitive pressure" and might even list the competitor that is causing such pressure.


Might we be getting more helpful info from Google to help with ads management?

More context, more better.

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Nov 6, 2024 ∞

Now you can ignore everything I put in the big election spending post from yesterday.

We will pause ads relating to US elections from serving in the US after the last polls close on election day, November 5th, 2024. This will include US Election Ads as well as ads that refer to US elections, their processes or outcomes.

The restriction period for ads about social issues, elections or politics is being extended until later this week.

Pressure released.

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Nov 5, 2024 ∞

Election Campaign Spending Crowds Out Your Messaging

I’ve been harping about election campaign spending and its impact on marketing expectations this year for a bit now. So here’s an Election Day post running through it all again. Go vote!

2024 is projected to be a record-breaking year, surpassing $12 billion in political ad spend.

Seventy percent of that windfall will be spent after Labor Day

The Harris campaign has instead focused its digital spending on larger platforms like Google and Meta, where it has spent over $280mn this year. The vast amount of political spending on those platforms — already more than $1.5bn

For context, in the second half of October, political parties spent well over $2.5 million per day on YouTube. For Meta, it’s closer to $1 million per day.


Why won’t I shut up about this?

Because this level of spend puts intense pressure on the ad auctions and inventories of the utilized platforms. These are mostly net-new dollars flowing in at a rapid clip. For most brands this means higher ad costs and lower return reducing the efficiency of their spend.

Emarketer curated some reporting that includes:

• brands reporting ad costs increasing 2-3x in the final weeks of the election
• surging TV ad costs, especially in swing states

Of course, the impact on marketing budgets is just the beginning.

This messaging overload overwhelms consumers, raises anxiety levels, and increases ad fatigue (who else is sick of all the election messaging you get bombarded with?). Which can all lead to a “pre-election slump” in consumer spending. Of course, this theoretical slump is not universal—I bet alcohol sales and the like are doing just fine.

But the bigger the price tag, the bigger the impact.

In times of uncertainty, people sit on their cash. They purchase discount or off-brand. They hold off on large luxury purchases made in celebration or confidence.

Election Day itself is no exception, more the final culmination of the building gravitational pull. A black hole that will collapse into itself tomorrow (right? please?!).

the election is fraying the nerves of the electorate, with nearly 70% of US adults calling it a significant source of stress




According to a recent Ipsos poll of roughly 1,000 US adults, 47% said election stress is causing them to spend less and save more




Meanwhile, the scale of an Election Day productivity slowdown could be staggering. An analysis by Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates that productivity losses could reach $3.5 billion per hour

Your marketing and messaging is like a fire, it needs a steady source of fuel to keep burning—to act as a beacon to the people it's for. The election is a vacuum, it sucks all the oxygen (and attention) out, making it all but impossible for that fire to keep burning without any changes.

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Nov 2, 2024 ∞

Perplexity (AI) is adding to its competition with Google (and most major tech platforms), trying to carve itself a slice of that sweet e-commerce pie.

The Pro Shop feature promises free shipping on items bought through Perplexity, enabling customers to complete transactions without leaving the platform. While browsing for products, users will notice a “Buy with Pro” option for eligible items. After selecting it, they will need to enter their billing and shipping details to finalize their purchase.




Perplexity will estimate taxes and purchase the product on behalf of the users on Pro Shop, and users can track purchase status on the platform.

If successful, I imagine this feature will evolve over time and become less manual/personal shopper style on the Perplexity side.

Or maybe it leans into that AI-as-assistant approach to create a new angle on a competitive feature set.

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