Groupon coupon codes for dining and entertainment discounts took many iterations as the model matured from paper printouts to digital. Now Valpak, a direct marketing company, has consolidated its offerings and magazines to rebrand Clipper Magazine into Clipp.com. Technology and data support the model.

Ten magazines and one website created a confusing customer experience, said Mandy Febus, CMO for Valpak and Clipp, so all were consolidated and renamed under the rebranded website, Clipp.com.

My Blue Insights, a foundational data platform, helps the company understand audiences to help B2B advertisers target households based on specific advertising and marketing objectives.

Growing the Clipp brand includes expanding into digital wallets, Febus said. A QR code in the print publications directs consumers to Clipp.com offer page, so they can take advantage of the deal.

“We have enabled consumers to come to the site and purchase a deal, and then checkout and pay by adding the coupon to their mobile wallet,” Febus said. “It’s easy for the merchant to redeem the coupon when the consumer presents it in the store or restaurant.”

Consumers are looking for deals. Still, many expect to spend more this year on holiday gifts compared with last. Emarketer reported that inflation was cited as the top reason among the 36% of consumers who expect to spend more this year on holiday gifts.

Emarketer’s forecast also indicates that the fastest-growing categories for holiday retail and ecommerce will become food and beverage, health and personal care, and apparel, footwear and accessories.

Prices in these categories are largely flat or declining, so the increases in these categories can be attributed more to unit sales.

While Clipp’s executives call the company a publisher, its focus is on technology to provide businesses and advertisers the ability to connect and provide consumers targeted local offers.

About 40,000 businesses advertise with Clipp. Some 80% of readers use coupons at least once a month, and the company estimates there are 20,000 monthly adds to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, with 92% of recipients setting aside between one and five Clipp offers to use or share.

Advertisers are changing their messages and looking for different ways to improve performance. Television, radio and digital ad costs have risen this year as consumers look for more value for the money they spend on items.

Valpak's structural changes for its Clipp business include a response-driven direct-mail magazine and Clipp.com, a digital destination that rewards subscribers with local offers and connects businesses with their ideal audiences.

It also includes Prestigious Living, a lifestyle magazine, which targets homeowners looking fo reputable local service providers, home decor ideas, and high-quality products.

Meta launched its highly anticipated Llama 3.1 AI model just over a month ago. Now, the tech giant is set on letting the public know how its large language models are performing and how various companies that have integrated Llama into their day-to-day operations are utilizing the evolving technology.

In its new update on Llama models, Meta says that they are “approaching 350 million downloads to date” -- 10 times more downloads Meta's Llama models amassed at the same time last year. Over 20 million of those downloads took place in the past month, directly after the company released Llama 3.1.

Created in partnership with computing-chip distributor Nvidia, Llama 3.1 marks Meta's biggest open-source AI model to date, keeping the company in direct competition with tech giants and startups like Google, Amazon, OpenAI and Anthropic.

Compared to the Llama 3 models, Llama 3.1 is much larger, and it has 405 billion parameters trained with over 16,000 of Nvidia's H100 GPU chips (one of which costs between $30K and $40K), which can carry out a variety of tasks including coding, answering basic math questions and summarizing documents in eight languages.

“Meta AI is on track to reach our goal of becoming the most used AI assistant in the world by the end of the year,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an Instagram post last month, adding that Llama 3.1 is “smarter, supports more languages,” has “better reasoning” and will now become available in more countries.

Zuckerberg's prediction may come true, according to these new numbers, which show Llama usage growing ten times between January and July this year for some of Meta’s largest cloud-service providers including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Databricks, Dell, Google Cloud, Groq, Nvidia, IBM watsonx, Scale AI and Snowflake.

Meta sees its open-source strategy as a way to deliver a diverse AI ecosystem to developers, giving them more choice and capability than closed models. Zuckerberg has been vocal about wanting to make open-source models commonplace as the technology continues to grow.

As for companies currently utilizing Llama 3.1, Meta says AT&T uses the AI model to fine-tune customer searches, DoorDash uses the technology to make tasks easier for its software engineers, and Niantic uses Llama to create real-time reactions of the creators called Dots in its AR mobile game, “Peridot.”

In addition, Zoom says it powers its AI Companion meeting summarizing tool with Llama and other large language models. 

AI has been used to create fake reviews in app stores, according to recent data. And while many anticipated this twist, it artificially inflates an app's credibility and gets people to download potentially harmful or deceptive content.

Media measurement company DoubleVerify found that among apps with thousands of five-star ratings, many have been generated with AI across mobile to streaming apps found in stores. Some use subtle, coordinated AI deception, while others are more obvious.

DoubleVerify reported that AI-generated app reviews occur across all types of app stores, from mobile to streaming services. Analysis of a streaming app on a popular smart TV platform revealed that 50% of its reviews were fake, for example. The company used a combination of proprietary technology and human analysis to identify manipulation signals.

DoubleVerify’s Fraud Lab has seen a significant increase in apps with AI-powered fake reviews in 2024, identifying more than three times the number compared with the same period in 2023. This trend could dramatically impact advertisers, especially in streaming, where the cost per thousand impressions often ranges between $35 and $65.

Spammy ads inside these apps can affect machines even after uninstalling the content. Code in the AI-generated reviews can hijack devices and run ads nonstop, even when devices appear to be turned off.

The study suggests that users who download these apps often get bombarded with an overwhelming number of out-of-context ads. It disrupts the user experience and diminishes the app’s long-term viability. The apps oven gets uninstall, but even then, the coding can affect a machine.

They can drain batteries, make the device overheat, cause device malfunctions or shutdowns, and can be difficult to remove.

DoubleVerify first identified the surge in mobile in-app ad fraud in 2023. Now the company has found reviews with similar wording, which suggests fake comments generated by AI.

The app, characterized as “a breeze” to find or install in some reviews, per DoubleVerify, exhibited high levels of CycloneBot traffic -- a fraud scheme that hit connected television earlier this year. It shows how fraudulent apps act as a cover for fake CTV traffic, the company reported. The counterfeit reviews help make the fraudulent traffic seem more legitimate.

The most popular mobile app for programmatic advertising in both the Apple AppStore and Google Play Store is Weatherbug, according to Pixalate’s July 2024 Global Mobile Publisher Trust Index.

The Trust Index provides a view of the quality of mobile apps that support programmatic advertising across popular mobile platforms.

Pixalate’s data science team analyzed over 26.8 billion global open programmatic ad impressions across 12.1 million mobile apps from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The leaders, many of which are weather-related or games, include:
WeatherBug

• Jigsaw Puzzle
• Flow Free
• Parking Jam 3D
• Text Plus Text
• Paper.io2
• FreeCell 
• Western Union
• Word Collect
• Clime NOAA

Sales results at Best Buy aren’t sending anyone out for champagne or confetti, with second-quarter revenue dropping 3% to $9.29 billion. But those numbers are better than expected, as were profits. Observers cheered the news and the company’s pronouncement that the declines that have troubled it in recent quarters are stabilizing.

Demand for laptops and tablets picked up, with computing sales rising 6% compared to last quarter. The Minneapolis-based retailer says that may auger well for the still-ongoing back-to-school season.

“With our market position, expert sales associates and compelling merchandising, we capitalized on the demand driven by customers’ desire to replace or upgrade their products combined with new innovation,” says Corie Barry, Best Buy’s chief executive officer, in the announcement.

“We see a consumer who is seeking value and sales events, and one who is also willing to spend on high price point products when they need to or when there is new compelling technology. We are balancing our optimism in both the industry and our positioning with a pragmatic approach to likely uneven customer behavior going forward.”

As a result of that stabilization, Best Buy is raising its financial forecasts for the full fiscal year.

However, the company continues to face two familiar challenges. First, many consumers are still cautious, making them less likely to shop for electronics unless they feel they are either essential -- or substantially marked down. That’s made sales events and promotional activity more important, cutting into profits.

Second, the pandemic-fueled spending spree that drove intense gains in 2020 and 2021 means replacement cycles are still out of whack: People are unlikely to replace the TVs, appliances and smart devices they purchased until they break, or until innovations make products more compelling.

However, that trend looks to be easing. “Strong progress in its computing and mobile phones segment, which returned to 4% annual growth, suggests that the firm is finally seeing replacement cycles take hold for products purchased during Covid-19-induced lockdowns,” writes Sean Dunlop, an analyst who follows the company for Morningstar. “We continue to project a modest return to growth in 2025.”

Meanwhile, Best Buy’s investments and initiatives to improve customer experience are paying off, with the company managing to earn higher customer satisfaction scores even as it pares back expenses.

On a conference call webcast for investors, Barry said that more than 40% of digital sales are picked up in stores by customers and that 90% of those orders were available in just 30 minutes.

Membership in its paid loyalty program continues to grow, delivering better-than-expected profitability.

She said the company is encouraged by shoppers' responses to its investments in customer experience through its app. “Increasingly personalized, relevant and motivational content is driving increased engagement with our customers,” she says. “Testing has shown that customers receiving our personalized homepage are engaging in content, products and tools in our app, almost 70% more than customers who didn't receive it.”

In-store experiences improvements include updates to vendor partner offers, including GoPro, Tesla and Lovesac.

Computing is the one area the company expects to grow in the months ahead. Sales of Copilot + PCs, the company’s closely watched partnership with Microsoft’s AI technology, performed as expected. “We believe we are just at the beginning of the impact of AI on tech innovation and customer demand,” she said.

Barry also called out the company’s new branding efforts, which are focused on creating customer experiences that inspire curiosity and enable discovery. With the new “Imagine That” tagline, the company is focused on helping consumers along in their research and purchase journey.

Advertisers talk about customization, but few deliver on the promise. Likewise, a startup backed by Bill Gates, figured out how to truly customize newsletters and app content to the individual that feeds into connected devices such as TVs.

“I don’t know any other newsletter that delivers billions of newsletters, each one unique, because I’m seeing different recommendations than you,” said Likewise CEO Ian Morris.

Morris said Gates is passionate about the company’s vision to provide each consumer with their own personal entertainment companion.

Through custom recommendations, Likewise grew its newsletter subscriptions 300% in the past 18 months, driven by the launch and integration of Pix, the company's AI-powered personal entertainment companion.

Morris said the company will continue to build out out automation and connected content discovery across devices. If someone recommends a movie while out to lunch with friends, he simply takes out his mobile phone and sends a text to Pix as a reminder to watch the movie. The app adds it to a watch list, and serve up the next time he turns on Apple TV. No searches are required, he said, but the option is available.

“Our vision is to make this a seamless experience to find and share entertainment,” he said.

Likewise supports connections to television through several TV apps, such as Apple TV, Google TV, and Amazon Firestick.

Brand safety also is a consideration to protect where ads serve up.

Advertising based on a CPM ad model for the newsletter and content are built on the consumer's likes and dislikes. AI models and a virtual assistant through its app support recommendations across mobile, television, PCs, and other devices.

Morris, along with Microsoft alumni Larry Cohen, and Michael Dix, founded the company.

She’s everything, you’re just a smartphone.

HMD (Human Mobile Devices) Global --  the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer that also licenses the Nokia brand -- is introducing a new phone with few features but big star power, partnering with Mattel to release the HMD Barbie Flip Phone.

As implied by its name, the Barbie-branded device is something of a throwback to a prior era. The phone intentionally strips away common smartphone features like easy access to the Internet and social media, to create a “feature phone” more akin to the devices makers like Blackberry and Nokia were producing before Apple disrupted the industry with the launch of the iPhone.

That lack of connectivity to online culture is kind of the whole point. The phone is being promoted as a retro-inspired way for consumers to take a digital detox break from their smartphones, with help from Barbie.

The Barbie Flip Phone will launch in the U.S. for the price of $129 on Oct. 1, with functionality across AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks. HMD will begin taking pre-orders for the products on its website on September 23.

In a statement, Mattel EMEA head of licensing Ruth Henriquez said the product tapped into “important insights into how people want to limit their screen time,” while incorporating “amazing Easter eggs” and other elements designed to appeal to Barbie fans.

In fact, the phone even powers on with a “Hi, Barbie!” voice greeting. Its features include a a beach-themed “Malibu Snake” game – a nostalgic nod to the classic game “Snake” that Nokia included preloaded on its flip phones, beginning in the late 1990s. It also has “hidden designs featuring palm trees, hearts, and flamingos that light up in the dark” within its (Barbie pink, naturally) keyboard ,according to HMD. The phone’s customizable user interface comes equipped with Barbie-themed wallpapers and app icons.

There are also accessories, of course, this being a Barbie product. It comes with two alternative cases (in addition to its default Barbie pink cover): one featuring a  brightly colored swirl pattern referencing 1992’s “Totally Hair Barbie,” and another sporting a vintage Barbie “shooting heart” design.  There's also a Barbie-inspired beaded phone strap in pastel shades of pink, yellow, and blue adorned with phone charm accessories, including Barbie’s iconic sunglasses from her 1959 debut.

The idea of a digital detox has caught on amid increased awareness of the potential negative mental health impacts of too much screen time, particularly with younger consumers. According to a recent from global research company Sago, 75% of Gen Z actively monitor their screen time – more than any other age group. Other trends among younger consumers related to the digital detox concept, include forgoing smart phone cameras in favor of digital “point and shoot” cameras from the 90s and early 2000s, and “silent walking” without distractions.

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Google has begun to allow users to access Gemini’s ability to create human images with its AI chatbot technology.

The feature is available to those who pay for the English-language version, Gemini Advanced, the company announced Wednesday in a blog post. 

The version with improvements in Gemini Advanced, Business, and Enterprise include technical improvements, as well as product principles.

After spending years building up its subscription services to support the iPhone and tablets, Apple reportedly is laying off around 100 employees in its digital services group across books and news apps.

The layoffs are a “shift in priorities” but not a change in focus for the division, reports Bloomberg, and the majority of those affected worked in the team that runs the app for Apple Books and Apple Bookstore, as well as engineering and Apple News. It’s not clear whether other services have been impacted.

The division also includes Apple TV Plus, Apple News, and Apple Music — services that drive revenue for the company.

Services accounted for more than 22% of sales in the most recent fiscal year, up from less than 10% a decade ago, but the layoffs just provide space for other companies and apps to move in a take a piece of revenue.

Likewise, a social recommendation engine and app for television shows, movies, podcasts and books backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, reported Wednesday that it now supports more than 7 million registered users. The company does not sell content, but does make recommendations. 

The company says it has reached more than 8 million subscriptions to its entertainment newsletters, suggesting the number makes it the largest newsletter in entertainment.

Subscriptions to Likewise newsletters rose 300% -- tripling in the past year. These were driven by the launch and integration of Pix, the company's AI-powered personal entertainment companion.

The company offers Likewise mobile and connected TV apps, its website, and Pix, a personal entertainment companion available to users via email, text, and WhatsApp.