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Sounds like Google is kicking the tires on an acquisition of HubSpot.

This is a really interesting listen on how it fits into their plans:

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Audio. Always.

Podcasting deserves a larger role in media plans as opposed to “test and learn” experimental buys. 135 million Americans, 47% of persons 12+, are reached monthly.
…
Adopt agency media legend Arnie Semsky’s “5% solution” to podcasts: Allocate 5% of digital ad budgets to podcasts.

Why?

Among 18-34s, podcast reach is now as big as TV

&

Podcast 18-49 weekly reach is 80% of linear TV

&

Podcast female audience growth has been explosive

&

via Westwood One

Table showing podcastings steady growth since 2017 across familiarity, listening, and frequency. Including a 127% increase in weekly listening.
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retail media networks could be a driver for programmatic audio as the next essential advertising channel
…
A Million Ads global CRO Paul Kelly says audio enables retailers to deliver an audience-centric experience, focusing not just on who the audience is but also where they are in the life cycle of the purchase.

One of my rules for the year: audio always.

via Sounds Profitable

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Good reminder: Ads Optimization is Literal

When you select a performance goal in the ad set, the algorithm’s entire focus is getting you as many of that thing as possible.

It’s not trying to get you a certain type of link click or landing page view or ThruPlay. The only goal is to get you that thing and make you happy.

Because Meta is literal, and when you optimize for those things, the assumption is that you are satisfied with that surface-level action.

This is how algorithms work. They don’t make qualitative judgements. It’s a binary “did the action occur?” switch. Yes = success.

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🚨 Meta Is Broken

For the second time in just over a month, Meta’s apps, including WhatsApp, and to some extent, Messenger and Instagram, faced outages and intermittent issues.

Meta’s status page detailed disruptions to key business services, including its Ads Manager, Messenger Platform, WhatsApp Business API and others.

via TechCrunch

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There has been a lot of talk on Twitter/X about Meta Ads being “broken”. This has happened before, but it’s never lasted longer than a few weeks. This time, many brands have seen soft performance for all of Q1.

there is no obvious cause/effect relationship between poor performance and a specific code push or platform outage on Meta’s side.

only some brands are seeing poor performance.

via No Best Practices (a must read for Meta advertisers)

Something is fundamentally broken at Meta (more than usual). Which means it’s a time to experiment freely, on and off the platform.

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Anyone trying to garner attention these days is essentially a media entity. This means owned media channels are important (and I think will only become more important over the next few years).

One way to grow this capability is to Acquire media assets to grow your brand.

The marketing function of a company today demands the same or more of a media company.

Editorial blogs, professional-grade podcasts, YouTube channels, curated newsletters, pop culture social media.

Marketing today demands brand.

Build your brand on assets you control, distribute it via channels you don’t.

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The AI search engine Perplexity is going to start testing ads

Related questions, which include links to sources, account for 40% of Perplexity’s queries. So Perplexity plans to add relevant, related brand-sponsored questions along with organic questions.

Since ads in AI engines hasn’t been cracked yet, it’ll be interesting to see how these fare. 🔮?

Plus it gives me an excuse to share this quote from the founder:

Ads are not evil. When ads are done right it’s amazing, and generative AI is going to help us build even better targeting.

Make better ads.

via Search Engine Land

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A Brand is Empty, then Full

A new brand is an empty vessel.

The meaning doesn’t come from the name or the logo, but from what you fill it up with.

Your drive. Your reason for existing. Your core belief. Your brand experience.

“Just Do It” means more than the strict definition those words when Nike is attached. Red Bull doesn’t literally give you wings. Buying an Apple doesn’t magically make you Think Different.

When we bring a brand to the world, it’s rare indeed that people are okay with it having nothing inside. The wrapper matters, but so does the experience within.

-Seth Godin

Your brand may be hollow when it lives only as a final design file, but it better not be when you launch. Just make sure to leave room for what your fans want to fill it with too.

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Looking forward to playing with this new reporting feature from Meta (because I’m a data nerd).

With the Engaged Customers Audience Segment, you can define your engaged customers using custom audiences, which provides reporting breakdowns specifically for this audience.

Meta now offers a new segment to analyze results in Ads Manager. Just go to the Breakdown menu and choose “Demographics by Audience Segments.” From there, you’ll see separate rows for New Customers, Existing Customers, and Engaged Customers

Cracking open the lid of the black box ever so slightly.

I’m a believer in the AI/algorithm-driven targeting but learning more about what audiences it finds success with can be helpful to fold back into other efforts.

via Search Engine Land

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The premise is that creators make content for a brand, but instead of living solely on social media channels, that content lives in 15- and 30-second spots on ad-supported streaming platforms.

Interesting concept. Creators scale up their reach, brands scale down their production.

Creators and AI (and their ethos) will increasingly become studios.

Ad meets word of mouth meets social proof meets celebrity endorsement.

And social media eats the world.

via Digiday