Epic Games is garnering support in its antitrust battle with Apple from a wide variety of outside parties, including online dating company Match Group, attorneys general from 35 states, and the digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation.

They are urging 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the bulk of a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who ruled last year that Epic failed to prove Apple violated federal or state antitrust laws.

“Apple’s anticompetitive policies increase consumer costs; reduce consumer choice; reduce the quality of the consumer experience; and reduce innovation,” Consumer Federation of America, along with online dating company Match Group, software company Basecamp and knitting app developer Knitrino, write in a friend-of-the-court brief filed late last week with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“All of these harms to the billion-plus consumers who use Apple’s iPhone are equally harmful to app developers, who are prevented from using more, better, and cheaper options to distribute and facilitate payment within their apps,” they add.

Their papers come in a battle dating to last year, when Epic filed a lawsuit accusing Apple of monopolizing the iPhone and iPad app distribution market, forcing developers to use its payment processing system, and charging a commission on sales. (Apple requires game developers to use its payment platform for in-app purchases, and charges a 30% commission to developers that take in more than $1 million in revenue. Smaller developers pay only a 15% commission.)

Apple CEO Tim Cook testified during the trial that the company's App store policies boost privacy and safety for iPhone and iPad users.

He testified that the app marketplace “would become a toxic kind of mess,” if the company didn't vet apps, and that its policies benefit developers because they rely on “the store being a safe and trusted place.”

Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over a 16-day trial, ruled in September that Epic failed to prove that Apple's App store policies violated federal or state laws against monopolies.

Epic recently appealed that decision to the 9th Circuit, arguing that Apple's policies amount to an anti-competitive trade restraint.

An Utah-led coalition of 35 state attorneys general backing Epic contends that Gonzalez Rogers' approach “could frustrate future enforcement actions.”

They say she did not adequately balance Apple's reasons for its policies against potential harms to the market.

“Apple amassed billions in supracompetitive profits from one billion iPhone users,” the law enforcement officials argue. “Without balancing, this type of immense harm to consumers can go unanswered with just the slightest showing of procompetitive benefit.”

The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation makes a similar argument, writing in its friend-of-the-court brief that Gonzalez Rogers didn't weigh Apple's rationale -- that tight control over apps promotes privacy and security -- against potential anticompetitive consequences.

“The court erred by treating Apple’s security rationale as conclusive, instead of recognizing that a dominant firm’s supplanting market forces with its own security and privacy decisions is anticompetitive -- not procompetitive -- and forecloses innovation,” they argue.

The organization adds that a finding against Apple “will unlock innovation across the mobile app world, including innovations in app distribution, payments, security, and privacy.”

Gonzalez Rogers ruled against Apple on one point: She said the company's anti-steering policies (which prohibit developers from offering in-app links to outside payment platforms) violated California's unfair competition law, and ordered Apple to allow developers to point users to outside payment platforms.

Apple appealed that portion of the decision to the 9th Circuit, which lifted that order in December.

Email marketing remains a leading tactic for B2B brands. But social has knocked it from the top slot, according to 2022 B2B Marketing Mix, a study by Sagefrog Marketing Group. 

Last year, email was utilized by 83%, versus 75% for social. This year’s list is as follows: 

• Social Media & Social Media Advertising — 83%
• Email Marketing — 75% 
• Search Engine Optimization (SE0) — 61%
• Blogging and Content Marketing — 57%
• Virtual Events & Webinars — 44%
• Public Relations — 44%
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) — 40% 
• Tradeshows & Events — 38% 
• Print Advertising — 27%
• Video Marketing — 26%
• Telemarketing — 14% 
• Other — 2%

The stakes are growing because 58% of B2B marketers plan to increase their marketing budgets this year, while 38% will hold steady. Only 4% foresee a decrease. This continues the steady rise seen over the past two years.  

Here are the areas in which they are increasing their spend: 

• Website Development — 41%
• Digital Marketing — 37%
• Social Media — 34% 
• Branding — 27%
• Content Marketing — 26%
• Advertising (e.g., Google) — 22% 
• Trade show & Events — 21% 
• Email Marketing — 18%
• Marketing Automation & CRM Software — 17% 
• Public Relations — 14% 
• Marketing & Sales Collateral — 12%
• Direct Marketing & Print Advertising — 11%
• Marketing Planning & Strategy — 9%
• Video Marketing — 8%

Yes, email ranks near the button, but it still went up by 3% over last year. In contrast, digital marketing fell from 44% in 2021 to 37% this time around. Social media went from 22% to 34%. And brand marketing remained flat at 27%. 

But email remains high as a source of sales and marketing leads:

• Referrals — 54% 
• Social Media — 43% 
• Email Marketing — 35% 
• Inbound & Content Marketing — 31% 
• Tradeshows & Events — 28% 
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) — 26% 
• Public Relations — 13%
• Telemarketing — 11%
• Direct Mail — 10%
• Other — 7%
• Print Advertising — 6% 
• Email has dropped 3% from 2021. 

(Note: Other includes network events, clutch reviews and outbound sales). 

What tools are they using? Of those polled, 61% are deploying some type of marketing automation software, and these are the most popular platforms among this group:

• HubSpot — 47% 
• Other — 25% 
• Marketo — 17% 
• Pardot by Salesforce — 15% 
• ActiveCampaign — 11%
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud — 10%
• Adobe — 7%
• Oracle — 4% 

HubSpot remains at the top, and has grown by 7% over last year. Marketo is up by 1%, Pardot by Salesforce by 2% and the other category by 9%.  

These are the most-used social media channels:

• LinkedIn—85%
• Facebook—71%
• Twitter—61% 
• Instagram—49%
• YouTube—45%
• Pinterest—8% 
• TikTok—7%
• Vimeo—7%
• Snapchat—2%
• Other—2%
• Do not use Social Media—2%

What’s next for B2B marketers? The respondents are adding these marketing & sales strategies in 2022:

• Social media marketing — 41%
• Personalization — 41%
• Video marketing — 39%
• Digital Marketing — 35%
• Account-Based Marketing — 33%
• Brand Storytelling —33% 
• Influencer Marketing — 26%
• Podcasting & Livestreaming—25% 
• Retargeting — 24%
• Inbound Marketing — 23%
• Artificial Intelligence — (AI) & Automation — 23% 
• Virtual Events — 21%
• Conversational Marketing (Chatbots)— 19% 
• CRM Software — 19%
• Mobile-First Strategy —11% 
• Other — 4% 

B2B brands are well-organized—70% have a formal marketing plan. And, of those polled, 51% use both in-house and outsourced resources, while 41% do everything in-house and 8% rely totally on outsourcing. 

The top objectives for 2022 are: 

1. Increasing Brand Awareness 
2. Increasing Sales Leads
3. Increasing Website Traffic
4. Converting Leads to Customers
5. Producing Thought Leadership

For this, the 15^th annual report in this series, Sagefrog surveyed managers or directors (46%), coordinators or specialists (21%), C-Level executives (17%), vice presidents (9%) and assistants (7%).  

Of those, 33% were in marketing & advertising, 24% in professional & Business Services, 23% in Software & Technology, 18% in Healthcare & Life Sciences, 12% in Industrial & Manufacturing, 12% in Other and 7% in Financial & Insurance. 

Today, Pinterest announced the U.S. rollout of Try On for Home Decor, a shopping technology and experience that allows users to virtually “try before they buy” various home-based items via augmented reality (AR).

Major retailers are already on board, including Crate & Barrel, CB2, Macy’s, Target, West Elm, and Wayfair. 

Pinners browsing for home-decor products in the iOS or Android app will now be able to click on the three dots appearing in the top right corner of “Try On enabled” Pins.

By selecting “Try in your space,” they will see a virtual version of a sofa or chair they are interested in, for example, through their camera lens. From there, they can situate the item in their home, browse product information, and check out via the linked retailer’s site. 

This is Pinterest’s third installment of “Try On” over the past two years.

Try On Lipstick launched in 2020 and Try On Eyeshadow followed in 2021. Try On for Home Decor is launching live across over 80,000 shoppable Pins while the beauty experience is currently available across 14,000 shoppable Pins. 

According to a recent statement, Pinterest has created these virtual shopping experiences in a company-wide move toward preparing for the metaverse –– a term related to the uncertain future of the internet, recently made popular by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 

AR and virtual reality (VR) technologies have gained momentum in the mobile ecommerce market, with other social platforms creating similar one-stop shopping experiences. Just last week, Snapchat –– a leader in the AR space –– launched try-on lenses that connect users directly to a company’s product catalog.   

Fashion and home decor are among the most translatable and popular ecommerce industries for mobile AR technologies of this kind. According to Pinterest data, 9 in 10 weekly Pinners say AR enhances their shopping experiences, and 6 in 10 say they use it to finalize purchase decisions. 

According to consumer trends agency Foresight Factory, mobile is the preferred channel for 34% of global consumers, with 40% having shopped more on mobile since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Forty-six percent of consumers reported that their mobile device was integral to their shopping process, while for millennials and Gen Z, this number increased to 50%. 

These findings suggest that “Try On” AR models may already be a consumer expectation. And they are effective, as they have the ability to bring consumers seamlessly through their decision -- making process all in one place. 

More than three quarters of online shopping transactions end with shoppers running away. Plenty of marketing efforts, from email to mobile retargeting, are focused on capturing the missed revenue from cart abandonment. This past year, a new tactic was increasingly added to marketers’ revenue capture strategy: the explosive adoption of buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions.

The number of consumers using BNPL increased 81.2% year-over-year in 2021 (according to eMarketer).  BNPL only represents about 2% of ecommerce sales in the U.S. but continues to grow in both user and retailer adoption, even expanding into brick-and-mortar checkout.

A typical transaction is a four-part, zero-interest installment loan. For example, a shopper with more fashion motivation than discretionary income that week may covet a $200 coat. Using a BNPL service (like Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm or Paypal), she could pay 25% of the purchase price up front and pay the balance in three installments -- an additional $50 would be debited from her account every two weeks.  In this scenario (and provided she does not miss any payments), there is no cost to the consumer because the retailer is footing the bill.

What is the cost of that customer acquisition? For online retailers, credit card fees hover around 2% (according to Credit Donkey), but that cost to merchants more than doubles with BNPL firms, with variable fees ranging from 3.29% to 5.99% (per Merchant Maverick).  These services can charge more because they can show that consumers will spend more.

BNPL is now credited in earnings calls for bringing in more customers and higher average order values.  Brands from American Eagle to Southwest Airlines are pointing to BNPL for their increased sales, according to Bloomberg.

Moffett Nathanson estimates that implementing BNPL led to a 15% to 20% increase in sales for most retailers last year. Many retailers, such as Walmart, list BNPL options as early in the purchase journey as the product page to help push along the purchase decision-making process.  Klarna claims that retailers can expect a 45% increase in average order value by offering its product.

Consumers have always bought big purchases they see as needs over wants on credit: appliances, auto-related purchases, furniture and special event travel. However, BNPL has a new crop of products that move well with delayed payments. Impulse and discretionary spend, especially apparel, are seeing more success with this method 

With lending access more easily available, the credit consumer has also changed.  The new customers brought in by BNPL have one big thing in common — they probably skew younger than your customer base. Gen Z is the biggest adopter of BNPL services. 36.8% of Gen Z digital shoppers made a payment last year, with credit-averse millennials not far behind at 30.3% usage, according to eMarketer.   Contributing factors for this skew could be credit card distrust, light credit history or bad credit history. Consumer watchdogs are taking notice and putting more pressure on regulation for the BNPL industry.

For brands looking to recapture revenue and get younger consumers in their mix, BNPL service fees can be considered an acquisition cost that recaptures and grows revenue at checkout. But it needs to deliver more customers or a higher order value to justify the deep cut into your margin.

YouTube on Monday kicked off AdBlitz, its digital destination for sports fans to watch their favorite Super Bowl ads.

AdBlitz, in its sixteenth year, is the Super Bowl ads hub. Blake Stuchin, vice president of NFL Digital Media Business Development, believes partnering with YouTube on AdBlitz provides fans with great advertising from the game, including direct access to the NFL spot, teasers and behind-the-scenes content.

And while the destination provides fans with highlights, game recaps, and original series, it also gives advertisers the ability to reach consumers who tune into the game to see the ads, rather than watch the sport, Sadie Thoma, director of U.S. Creative Works, wrote in a blog post.

When excluding those who don't care about sports or don't plan to watch the Big Game, 72% rewatch at least some football commercials before or after the game, according to a Kantar survey.

NBC's top 30-second spot ad inventory for this year’s game, going for a record $6.5 million, are pretty much sold out.

YouTube also highlights ad teasers, which are in this year. Lay’s created two teasers for its Super Bowl LVI commercial, as did Rakuten.

Viewers can go to AdBlitz to watch all of the Big Game ads and check out playlists for the most comedic, dramatic, action-packed, and inspirational spots. There’s also a list of featured AdBlitz partners, including Turbo Tax, Disney Plus, Toyota USA and Lexus.

There’s a shift in how people enjoy content and entertainment. As digital consumption rises to record highs, sports fans turn to YouTube to find their favorite highlight reels, and in-depth game day analysis, especially around the Super Bowl.

NFL Media and YouTube also partnered to bring audiences the “wackiest plays, biggest bloopers, and laugh-out-loud moments” of the season with the comedic highlights, NFL Follies.

Season One is now streaming exclusively on the NFL YouTube channel.

Some of the favorites from last year include Amazon’s spot featuring Michael B. Jordan as Alexa’s body. Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski showed the importance of a strong network with T-Mobile, the "GOAT in 5G," and Old Spice inspired people to get off of the couch with a ad for its Old Spice Dynasty scent.

SXM Media, a SiriusXM company, on Monday introduced AudioID powered by AdsWizz, a digital audio programmatic advertising platform that gives marketers new avenues to reach, target and connect with consumers. 

AdsWizz was acquired by SiriusXM in 2018 for $145 million.

Coming off of a record year, John Trimble, Chief Revenue Officer, SiriusXM, believes the company’s taking another “giant leap forward” with the introduction of AudioID.

“With this new identity solution from AdsWizz, we’ll be able to create better experiences for listeners, greater value for creators and publishers, and even more impact for marketers,” he said.

AudioID is SiriusXM’s most recent investment in audio ad technology and solutions to make advertising across satellite radio, streaming music, and podcasts as simple as pressing play or turning the dial. 

Podcast ad spend reached $160 million in Q4 2021, according to data from MediaRadar, which estimates 104 million Americans now listen to podcasts regularly.

AudioID for marketers looking to expand beyond television, supporting all types of audio media, like podcasts. From in-car to at home to mobile, the company said its committed to making premium audio advertising intelligent, accessible, and impactful for listeners and marketers. 

The data will enable advertisers to gain a better understanding of the media they should buy.

The technology supports an algorithm that accepts and matches a variety of consented listener signals and inputs, then weighs them accordingly. The “identity solution” responds to ad requests by finding or creating unique, anonymized AudioIDs. These IDs can then be tapped into for everything from reach and forecasting to frequency capping, advanced first-party targeting, enhanced measurement, and more.

AudioID’s U.S.-based identity offering lives within SXM Media. The product leverages datasets across the tens of millions of known Pandora, SiriusXM, and Stitcher listeners, matching them to create AudioIDs.

It relies on zero-party data, data from choices that listeners and subscribers make across the company’s platforms. The goal is to provide a better ad experience for consumers, marketers, and publishers, tapping into listener behavior and preferences in a way that supports the future of identity safety while helping marketers achieve their goals.

AudioID will extend SXM Media’s first-party audience targeting to opted-in, off-platform parties across AdsWizz beginning later in 2022, giving marketers and publishers in the U.S. access to better data and targeting across their audio investment.

The company said the technology is based on an anonymized identity solution that protects consumer privacy. Publishers and marketers maintain control of their data resources.

Most major news about email concerned Apple MPP and vendor consolidation in 2021. But there were developments in other areas — for example, design, according to 2021: The Year In Retrospect, a quarterly report from Essence of Email.

Consider these advances: 

AMP for Email — This may surprise observers who recall that web developer Jeremy Keith resigned from the AMP Advisory Committee, saying that “AMP remains a Google product, with only a subset of pieces that could even be considered open source.”

It must also come as news to experts who say EMP for Email just isn’t being adopted. So what’s the truth?

“Many people think that AMP is another side-project made by Google and that it’s not very useful and it will be cut off by Google, as many projects have been so far,” writes Vladimir Bosheski, deliverability expert at Essence for Email. 

Not so. “The truth is that Google has set this one free and it’s now an open-source project,” Bosheski says. “Even though it’s not supported by Apple, it’s supported by Google, Yahoo, and Mail.Ru and that’s still a big part of the market.”

3D Imagery  —  Online shopping has become an “almost-real” experience thanks to 3D techniques like photorealism, 3D and isometric illustration, and clever shading.

What did this do for email? It helped email designers “make different email elements pop out, highlight important sections, and make the overall experience enjoyable and interactive,” the study states. 

Typography and 3D Typography — Typography is a great tool for brands that “don’t rely on photography that much. It looks fun, it helps build a hierarchy, it emphasizes copy over design, and it’s great for storytelling in emails.” 3D typography, meanwhile, is “realistic and provides texture and pattern,” it continues.  

Design aside, there also were improvements in SMS, a tool that Essence of Email encourages based on the fact that “74% of consumers prefer texting with businesses if they know that a real person is on the other end. 

For instance, Klaviyo released two-way conversation and “the ability to subscribe at checkout in order to make communication more personal and the process of gathering consent easier and cheaper.”  

And Remarkety launched Multimedia Messaging Services to “help them incorporate pictures, GIFs, videos, or audio into their mobile efforts to grab even more attention and capitalize on mobile marketing.”

But back to the big news: Some users reacted to Apple MPP by “stepping up their own first-party data and prioritizing opt-in messaging,” the study notes. “This meant users could choose if they’d like to receive emails from advertisers and therefore, advertisers can personalize messages so users are more likely to interact. From there, the focus should be on clicks and conversions.”