Facebook Reportedly Weighs Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple https://ift.tt/2NLaqWV Facebook reportedly is considering bringing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple over its recent privacy moves, including a new requirement that outside developers state how their apps collect and use data. News of the potential lawsuit, first reported Thursday by The Information, comes one day after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an earnings call that Apple “regularly” uses its platform to preference its own apps and interfere with Facebook's. Zuckerberg specifically accused Apple of giving preference to its messaging app, iMessage, which competes with Facebook's Messenger and WhatsApp. Apple's new privacy “nutrition label” system requires outside companies, including Facebook, to inform people who want to download apps like Messenger or WhatsApp about data collection. advertisement advertisement By contrast, Apple's iMessage comes bundled with mobile devices, so people need not view a nutrition label before using it. (Apple has said it plans to place a privacy label for iMessage online.) Last month, WhatsApp publicly criticized Apple's nutrition labels, arguing they gave iMessage an unfair advantage. “While providing people with easy to read information is a good start, we believe it’s important people can compare these Privacy Nutrition labels from apps they download with apps that come pre-installed, like iMessage,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in December. “We think labels should be consistent across first and thirty party apps as well as reflect the strong measures apps may take to protect people’s private information.” A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment on the potential lawsuit, but stated: “As we have said repeatedly, we believe Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of app developers and small businesses.” Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 28, 2021 at 06:22PM
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AWeber Adds Landing Page Tool For SMBs https://ift.tt/36jOk46 AWeber, a provider of email marketing software for small businesses, has unveiled a web landing page builder that it says is an extension of its email product The AWeber Landing Page Builder is designed to help users easily create a visually appealing landing page and "promote it to the world more effectively without having to be a web development or design expert,” states Chris Vasquez, director of product at AWeber. The tool relies on the same drag-and-drop technology that the firm’s email clients use, AWeber says, adding that users can create custom, mobile friendly pages at no additional charge. In addition, SMBs can use the Landing Page Builder to promote products or events, establish an online presence and save money on third-party landing page applications, even if they don’t have a web site, the firm claims. AWeber’s email software features sign-up forms, over 700 email templates, tag support & automation, a pre-stocked image library and analytics. The company recently announced that it was increasing its support for AMP (accelerated mobile pages), by incorporating AMP-driven drag-and-drop features into its message editor. And last year, it also introduced an intelligent design assistant that it says can generate customized email templates from a website or social media profile for use by small businesses.
advertisement advertisement Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 28, 2021 at 02:46PM Apple CEO Calls For Reform To 'Data Exploitation' Industry https://ift.tt/2YmoQ1w The online ad industry has repeatedly called on Apple to abandon planned privacy settings that will require app developers to seek people's permission before tracking them. On Thursday, Apple made clear it has no intention of doing so. “Isn't it odd that some people don't want users to have the choice over whether or not they are tracked?” Apple's Senior Director For Privacy Jane Horvath said, during a video panel at the EU's Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference. CEO Tim Cook added that Apple views “privacy-centric features and innovations,” such as the new mobile settings, as a “core responsibility” of the company. “If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform,” he said. “Technology does not need vast troves of personal data, stitched together across dozens of websites and apps, in order to succeed,” Cook added. “Advertising existed and thrived for decades without it.” advertisement advertisement Apple's upcoming privacy settings, announced last year, involve changes to a key feature of its mobile operating system -- the Identifier for Advertising. That identifier, a unique alphanumeric string, allows developers to track mobile users across different apps. Currently, developers can access the identifier by default. But starting this year, Apple will require developers to ask users' permission before accessing the identifier. The ad industry -- obviously afraid that consumers will decline to be tracked-- hasn't been shy about criticizing this plan. Last year, ad organizations sought an “urgent meeting” with Apple over the planned changes, while the Interactive Advertising Bureau France brought an antitrust complaint against the company in the EU. Thursday, immediately after Cook's remarks, the self-regulatory group Network Advertising Initiative complained that Apple “has not engaged with the broader industry in a meaningful way to balance privacy protections and consumer benefits from ad-supported media.” The organization stated: “There are hundreds of ad-tech companies bringing competition to the marketplace and innovation in consumer privacy.” Facebook, which has spoken out more forcefully against Apple's plan than any other single company, claims in an ad campaign that Apple's new privacy settings will harm small businesses. Facebook also reportedly is mulling an antitrust lawsuit against Apple over some privacy-related changes. This isn't the first time the ad industry has fought planned privacy changes. Years ago, when Mozilla first said Firefox would block third-party tracking cookies by default, the Interactive Advertising Bureau issued a sweeping condemnation of the initiative. "The disruption will disenfranchise every single internet user," the head of the Interactive Advertising Bureau AB said IAB's Randall Rothenberg said back in 2013. "All of us will lose the freedom to choose our own online experiences; we will lose the opportunity to monitor and protect our privacy; and we will lose the chance to benefit from independent sites ... because thousands of small businesses that make up the diversity of content and services online will be forced to close their doors." Firefox held off on the cookie-blocking plan for several years, but moved forward with the initiative in 2019. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 28, 2021 at 02:18PM Too Much TV Choice And Viewers Freeze Up. Netflix Helps Them Thaw https://ift.tt/3pFu3xP With Netflix new "Shuffle Play" experiment, you have an immediate option. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 28, 2021 at 12:43PM Mobile Apps Facing More Bad Actor Disruptions? https://ift.tt/3cigNLC
Those thrown off Zello (and other platforms) now see bad actors moving to encrypted messaging apps like Signal and Telegram, according to reports. This can protect user chats from being eavesdropped on by law enforcement/government agencies. Modern media technology always seem to offer alternatives -- to all comers, sometimes unfortunately. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 27, 2021 at 06:14PM
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Coors Says It Will Help You Dream Ad It Can't Show You During SB https://ift.tt/3r422jL
Molson Coors will tweak rival Anheuser-Busch at this year’s Super Bowl with what it says will be the first Super Bowl commercial “you can only see the night before game day, in your dreams.”
Is “The Big Commercial Of Your Dreams” a crazy idea? Or crazy like a fox?
Using something called targeted dream incubation -- “the science of guiding dreams” -- Coors Light and Coors Seltzer says it can shape and compel your subconscious so you can “see” the commercial when you’re catching your zzzs.
Potential dreamers will be instructed to watch a 90-second stimulus film three times and then sleep with a soundscape playing for eight hours, to trigger the imagery from a Coors Super Bowl ad.
The whole thing is also a jab at Anheuser-Busch, which has had exclusive beer commercial rights to the Super Bowl for several years. Or, as the Molson Coors release says, “A certain other beer brand seemingly controls the ad space.”
The history around the Super Bowl seems painful for Molson Coors. Two years ago, on the evening before Michelle St. Jacques officially began as the company’s chief marketing officer, she saw the Super Bowl ad in which Bud Light’s “dilly-dilly” king tweaked Coors Light and Molson Coors brand Miller Lite for using corn syrup to make their beer.
That claim seemingly took advantage of the confusion between corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup, a no-no to health-conscious consumers – and led to lawsuits and what were labeled The Corn Syrup Wars between AB and Molson Coors.
Time passed. Molson Coors, which moved from Denver to Chicago, based in Chicago, enlisted Dr. Deidre Barrett, an author and psychologist known for her work on dreams and imagery. Among other credits, she’s done research on using incubating dreams to get PTSD victims to calm their nightmares.
“I’ve studied dreams and methods to influence them throughout my career, but working with the artists of the Coors Dream Project was a novel opportunity to craft audio and visual stimuli that viewers could use to trigger specific dream content,” says Dr. Barrett, in a statement the beer maker provided.
“We saw the results come to life in the Dream Lab trial run when participants reported similar dream experiences including refreshing streams, mountains, waterfalls and even Coors itself.”
Consumers can now see a behind-the-scenes video of the Big Game Dream on CoorsBigGameDream.com. The full length eight-hour stimulus soundscape and film will be available on Feb. 3 for fans to dream on. Short ads will start showing up on digital platforms leading up to the game on Feb. 6.
A Molson Coors blog says the idea, from the DDB agency, was a reaction to consumer’s developing attitudes during the pandemic that has led to bad dreams over the last 10 months. Coors, with its “Made to Chill” tagline, is the antidote to that.
Beyond all that though, the “Big Commercial of Your Dreams” could be an ironic dig at the aura of the Super Bowl spectacle itself. With so many millions watching the game on mobile devices, the Super Bowl is not the singular event it once was.
This year, because the pandemic, protests, the election controversy and Capitol insurrection and uncertainty if the game would actually be played has reportedly left sponsors trying to find the appropriate message and tone for their ads or drop out altogether.
Though brands like Bud Light and Michelob Ultra still scheduled ads, Anheuser-Busch’s flagship brand, Budweiser, will be a no-show this year, for the first time in 37 years. That means those crowd-favorite Clydesdales may not be seen.
Then again…Though they’re not called Clydesdales, a proud team of beer-toting horses are showing up in an ad for Samuel Adams Wicked Hazy beer that will be shown on local TV during the game in Boston and New York. It’s not quite the same, however. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 27, 2021 at 05:51PM Happy Friday: That Day Pulled Highest Email Open, Click Rates https://ift.tt/3t1F0vA Email volume jumped by 7% in 2020, but there were marked changes in engagement, according to "The Ultimate Email Benchmarks For 2021," a report by Campaign Monitor. For one, the percentage of emails opened on mobile devices dropped from 63% to 54% as people spent less time commuting and waiting on lines at Starbucks for coffee. For another, Friday saw the highest open and click-through rates: 18.90% and 2.70%. Conventional wisdom had been that Tuesday to Thursday were the top days. And Friday was tied with Wednesday for the highest click-to-open. Why was Friday suddenly the leader? “While we can’t say exactly why this is, we can say that the way people have historically engaged with email has been significantly disrupted,” the study notes. Whatever the day, email metrics surged last year, with open rates rising by over 13%.. The average benchmarks were:
advertisement advertisement Note: The click-to-open rate fell slightly YoY. Among verticals, the Government and Politics sector enjoyed the highest average open rate: 26.70%, followed by nonprofits, with 25.50%. Government & Politics also drew the highest click-through rate, a 50% increase over the prior year, and best click-to-open rate 22.40%) -- all this despite seeing a decrease in open rates. Of course, 2020 was an election year. We will see if those metrics hold up in 2021. This report is based on an analysis of 100 billion emails sent globally by CM Group’s brands, including Campaign Monitor, Delivra, Emma, Liveclicker, Sailthru, Selligent, and Vuture. The company tracked an extra 1 billion emails per month, and 1.5 billion from March to July. The overall growth in volume was in contrast with 2.5% from 2018 to 2019. In another positive indicator, unsubscribe rate rates were flat. In fact, the Retail and Media, Entertainment & Publishing sectors saw 0% rates. “While no list will truly experience a 0% unsubscribe rate, this average proves that Retail and Media, Entertainment, & Publishing are doing something right when it comes to keeping their audiences engaged,” the study notes. At the opposite end, the Wellness & Fitness area suffered a .40% unsubscribe rate, and the Healthcare Services and Logistics & Wholesale categories each saw .30%. The Real Estate, Design & Construction Activities sector achieve a 17.70% click-to-open ratio. The Media, Entertainment & Publishing area achieved a 17.50% rate; Education, 17.30% rate; and Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting 17%. The major takeaway from all this? “Not only was email a trustworthy and reliable communication channel for businesses to connect with customers throughout the pandemic, but there was also increased importance for sales, engagement and content marketing,” concludes Lane Harbin, director of marketing at Campaign Monitor. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 27, 2021 at 02:27PM Google Details What Apple's App Tracking Transparency Policy Means For Advertisers https://ift.tt/3a8567A Google released a statement Wednesday alerting developers and brands to Apple’s upcoming App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy. It said the company is working to understand and comply with Apple’s guidelines for all apps in its App Store. Apple rescheduled the rollout date from late 2020 until early 2021 to provide developers time to adjust and make changes. ATT will require developers to ask for permission when they use certain information from other companies’ apps and websites for advertising purposes, even if they already have user consent. As developers and advertisers working with iOS adapt to the new policy, Google also is attempting to help them prepare. Apple's ATT changes will reduce visibility into Google's key metrics that show how ads drive conversions, such as app installs and sales. It will also affect how advertisers value and bid on ad impressions, Christophe Combette, group product manager, at Google Ads, wrote in a blog post. advertisement advertisement He explains app publishers may see a significant impact to their Google ad revenue on iOS after Apple’s ATT policies take effect. To help improve iOS monetization rates, Google will encourage developers to upgrade to version 7.64 of the Google Mobile Ads SDK for new features, such as SKAdNetwork support. Google and the industry are working to give Apple feedback on how to further improve SKAdNetwork, so advertisers can increase measurement accurate rates for campaign on iOS 14. As Apple’s ATT policies go into effect, advertisers running display, video and other campaigns promoting web-based conversion goals may see performance fluctuations. During this time, Google plans to expand modeled conversions to more iOS 14 traffic. Google will no longer use information such as IDFA, which falls under ATT, for the handful of its iOS apps that use it for advertising purposes. Google will not show the ATT prompt on those apps, in line with Apple’s guidance. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 27, 2021 at 01:53PM SparkPost Snares $180 Million In New Funding https://ift.tt/2MsesTl Email platform SparkPost has raised $180 million in new investment from LLR Partners, NewSpring Capital and PNC Bank. SparkPost, which says it sends over 5 trillion emails a year for clients, plans to invest in growth and product development as COVID-19 accelerates the use of email. “We achieved the Rule of 40 in the third quarter of 2020 and we continue to perform at this level into the new year,” states SparkPost CEO Rich Harris. The company’s client base includes such brands as Zillow, The New York Times, Booking.com, Adobe, Rakuten, and Zynga. In 2019, SparkPost acquired eDataSource, bolstering its data analytics capabilities. In addition, the firm has expanded its workforce by over 35% within the last three years. Among those who joined the team in that time have bee Harris, Chief Commercial Officer Hal Muchnick, Chief Technology Officer Charlie Reverte and Vice President/Head of Marketing Natalia Dykyj. The firm has also embraced AMP (accelerated mobile pages) for Email, making its announcement at the same time as Google in 2019.
advertisement advertisement Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 27, 2021 at 10:14AM Roku Adds Competitor Amazon's IMDb TV App https://ift.tt/3aaM8wW Connected TV media player/smart TV platform competitors -- Amazon Fire TV and Roku -- struck a deal allowing Amazon’s ad-supported, free IMDb TV streaming app to run on Roku. Roku claims 51.2 million monthly active users; Amazon Fire TV touts 50 million. The IMDb TV app offers library product, including movies and TV shows -- much like the Roku Channel offers on the Roku service. Both IMDb and the Roku Channel are free, advertising-supported channels. Though terms weren’t disclosed, Roku typically takes a 30% share of advertising impressions — which translates into revenues — from a content owner's app for carriage on the Roku platform. In addition, Roku takes a standard 20% share of an app’s subscriber fees — if one is charged to users. In turn, Roku made a deal back in October for its Roku Channel to be carried on Amazon Fire TV. In addition to free, ad-supported movies and TV episodes, Roku Channel offers access to more than 115 live, linear channels. Now, in addition to being carried on Roku and Amazon Fire TV, IMDb TV is also available on Apple TV, Android TV/Google TV, Xbox and PlayStation via the Amazon Prime Video app. advertisement advertisement Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 27, 2021 at 09:25AM |
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