The digital advertising swindle has finally been rumbled

January 31, 2017

P&G’s Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard told agencies and media on Sunday at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual “leadership” conference that the digital ad jig is up.

According to a story in Ad Age, Pritchard told the group:

“The days of giving digital a pass are over… It’s time to grow up. It’s time for action.”

Pritchard laid out 3 criteria for publishers and agencies before they’ll get any of his money.

1. A standard “viewability” metric.
2. Fraud protection
3. Third party verification of metrics.

“Mr. Pritchard said the company has vowed to no longer pay for any digital media, ad tech companies, agencies or other suppliers for services that don’t comply with its new rules,” according to Ad Age.

Pritchard called online media practices, “murky at best and fraudulent at worst.”

Are they really going to require Facebook and Google – the companies that now completely dominate online ads –  to open the kimono and let us see what’s going on through 3rd party verification?

“That would be big,” says the Ad Contrarian.

 

 

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Burn your iPad. 2017 is the year of Voice

January 30, 2017

This is the year you will start screaming at your fridge.

No, not because of Donald Trump or Brexit – although who could blame you if you did? – but because this is the year of Voice.

2017 will be the year you switch from tapping and typing on touch-screens to simply shouting commands at any electrical appliance within earshot. Before you can say “Where’s the remote?” you’ll be changing channels on your DVR by yelling at it.

That’s the word, at least, from CES, the Las Vegas get together for all things Tech-y held earlier this month.

 

Read more in my column for Campaign

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Automation, not immigration, is the greatest threat to unskilled US workers

January 27, 2017

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The ratio of robots to workers in Amazon warehouses increased 50% in 2016.

Amazon employs enough robots to fill Madison Square Garden twice.

People making less than $20 an hour now have an 83% chance of being replaced by automation.

With the announcement of Amazon Go retailers are now laser-focussed on eliminating the check-out process.

2.6% of the US workforce are employed as cashiers. (That is 3.5m people, the same number of primary and secondary school teachers in the US.)

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Music is back back back

January 27, 2017

It’s been a rough decade for music. But things are looking brighter.

Music consumption was up 5% in 2016. Audio streaming was up 83% year on year. Subscription revenues were up 65%.

Now it looks like Spotify might turn a profit for the first time in 2017.

Yay music.

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In five years Amazon’s search function may be as valuable as Google’s

January 26, 2017

When it comes to product searches, Amazon’s share of the market is growing rapidly.

In 2o15 it was 44%. One year later it was 55%. And these are high value searches as they may lead to sales.

The stock market has begun to assume that what is good for Amazon is bad for the rest of retail.

Or put another way, Amazon is taking their growth directly out of the sales of other retailers.

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Apple’s winning streak is coming to an end

January 26, 2017

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This is the first year Apple have had negative year on year revenue growth.

Put simply, Apple are not putting out good enough products to remain the world’s number one company.

The Apple Watch was a limited success, their wireless headphones are falling flat.

Last week Apple just declared war on Amazon and Netflix and announced they are getting into the original content game.

Will it work? Perhaps. But to me it looks as if the world’s most innovative company is floundering.

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