This Week in Digital Advertising: Holiday Content Roundup, Festive Cocktails, Google Gets Sued (Again), and Latest News

This Week in Digital Advertising: Holiday Content Roundup, Festive Cocktails, Google Gets Sued (Again), and Latest News

Hello Bidtellectuals!

Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa to all those who celebrate! Here’s to a brighter 2021!

Congratulations to our Bidtellectual of the Week: a shoutout to Rob, Ashley, Cory, Vicky, Nick, TJ, and Katie who epitomized the meaning of teamwork to go above and beyond for a client!

Holiday Cocktail Recipes? Yes, Please

The holidays may look a little different this year, but wherever you are, you could probably use a cocktail. Our last Quarantine Cocktail Recipes post was a hit, so we slapped on a Santa hat, sprinkled a little magic, and found some new ones. Who knows, maybe one of these will become a new holiday tradition? 

Read it here:

Yeah, We Had To: Holiday Cocktail Recipes That’ll Make Santa Smile

 

Last Call for Holiday Campaigns!!!!!! Here’s a Roundup of Content to Help:

 

The Latest: Beeswax, Google, Washington Post, and Best Ads of 2020

  • FreeWheel Buys Beeswax: Comcasts’s video ad tech company has been increasing its buy-side capabilities over the last couple of years. Beeswax is known for its bidder-as-a-service and customizability. It remains to be seen how the partnership will look re: branding, exclusivity, technological integration, and more.

  • 38 States And Territories Sue Google Over Its Alleged Search Monopoly: Less than 24 hours after Google was hit with an antitrust lawsuit re: its ad tech business, 38 states and territories served up another suit focused on Google’s monopoly over the search market. BOOM.

  • WashPost Becomes The First Publisher To Join Unified ID 2.0 . Well, hello there!

  • Adweek released its 25 Best Ads of 2020. Obvi Satan is on there. Which is your favorite?

  • ICYMI: Adexchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list is live. We are on this list. It make us proud. We’re in good company, so check it out.

Bidtellect Ugly Sweater Happy Hour Zoom Screen Grab 2020

Good News: COVID Vaccine, Cookies & Castles, Ugly Sweater Happy Hour

  • Have you listened to Dolly Parton’s Holly Dolly Christmas Album yet? It features duets with artists like Michael Bublé, Miley Cyrus, and Willie Nelson.

  • The Pfizer COVID vaccine is now being administered to healthcare workers and others, and Vice President Mike Pence will receive it live on television today to build public trust. Moderna’s is on now track to be approved soon. Is the end in sight? My hopes are high for 2021.

  • Cookies & Castles went off without a hitch! Congratulations to Bidtellectual Katie Broussard. Read more about her amazing work here.

  • Cheers to a fun Ugly Sweater Happy Hour! See photo above!

Happy Holidays!

Charlotte

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Charlotte Otremba is Sr. Manager of Communications and Marketing at Bidtellect.

Why You Should Factor Diversity Into Your Strategy This Black History Month

How and why you should make diversity your advertising priority.

Behind the Platform: Using Peer39 For Brand Safety & Keyword Targeting

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the three key uses for the Peer39 integration in Bidtellect’s DSP, while offering helpful tips for traders and advertisers to get the most out of Bidtellect’s product.

Behind the Platform: Tracking Emissions With Bidtellect Scope3 Integration, Plus What to Know About Supply Path Emissions

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the new Scope3 integration in Bidtellect’s platform, how you can take actionable steps to reduce carbon waste, and the current state of the industry’s wasteful supply path emissions.

This Week in Digital Advertising: SPO, Programmatic Power Players, and Taylor Swift Saves 2020?

This Week in Digital Advertising: SPO, Programmatic Power Players, and Taylor Swift Saves 2020?

Hello Bidtellectuals!

The celebration of Hanukkah is underway! Sending a Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate!

Congratulations to Bidtellectual of the Week Carolina Escobar, who fights for the very best user experience on our platform each day!

SPO: The Future Is Already Here. What’s Holding Us Back?

These days, there are more hops in the programmatic supply chain than a well-crafted IPA.  In one PwC study, 15 advertisers had nearly 300 distinct supply chains to reach 12 publishers. Craig Aron, Bidtellect SVP of Growth and Strategic Business Development, dives into the issue on Adexchanger: the answer is already here, but there’s one thing holding the industry back. Read the piece here.

 

On 2021: Colors of the Year and eMarketer Predictions (and Facebook)

  • eMarketer released its 10 Key Digital Trends for 2021 and there’s nothing too surprising: privacy will still be on everyone’s minds, with an emphasis on first-party data and new targeting techniques. It’s also stark reminder that things won’t be “bouncing back to normal” anytime soon. Digital events will reign, as will streaming and social entertainment.

  • We’ll still all be talking about Facebook in 2021, since the FTC just sued the social media giant for monopolization and years-long anticompetitive practices to maintain its dominance.

  • And Pantone announced 2021’s colors of the year: “Ultimate Gray” and “Illuminating” Yellow. Apparently they signal natural strength and positivity.  We’ll take it.

 

Adexchanger’s Programmatic Power Players

It’s the the digital marketing industry’s first searchable guide to the best agencies, tech providers and partners in the business. Bidtellect earned a spot on the coveted list and we’re in great company! Check it out here.

Bidtellectual Spotlight: 

Katie Broussard Makes a Difference for Dallas Children This Holiday Season

As Chair of the hugely popular annual Cookies & Castles fundraiser, Katie Broussard would usually be gearing up for a big day of decorating. Instead, the event benefitting Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic hospital in Dallas, TX has had to adapt to the pandemic with a whole new operation.

Read more about her amazing work here.

Katie Broussard and Co-Chair Cookies & Castles Event Scottish Rite

Good News: Taylor Swift, Secret Santa, Workouts on Us 

Everyone: 2020 can’t get any worse
Taylor Swift: Hold my drink

  • Taylor Swift dropped a second surprise album at midnight and it’s giving us all the feels.

  • Elfster is the coolest virtual Secret Santa and its underway here at Bidtellect! We highly recommend it for teams big or small. We also loved Holiday Trivia yesterday on Kahoot! Thanks to Courtney for organizing!

  • Bidtellect is offering a free workout class this Wednesday at 12pm EST! (See below!) It’s been a hit – don’t miss out!

 

Stay safe, friends,

Charlotte

Get this right to your inbox every Friday! Add your email below:


Charlotte Otremba is Sr. Manager of Communications and Marketing at Bidtellect.

Why You Should Factor Diversity Into Your Strategy This Black History Month

How and why you should make diversity your advertising priority.

Behind the Platform: Using Peer39 For Brand Safety & Keyword Targeting

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the three key uses for the Peer39 integration in Bidtellect’s DSP, while offering helpful tips for traders and advertisers to get the most out of Bidtellect’s product.

Behind the Platform: Tracking Emissions With Bidtellect Scope3 Integration, Plus What to Know About Supply Path Emissions

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the new Scope3 integration in Bidtellect’s platform, how you can take actionable steps to reduce carbon waste, and the current state of the industry’s wasteful supply path emissions.

This Week in Digital Advertising: Santa Brought Gen 5.0, Black Friday Breakdown, Satan

This Week in Digital Advertising: Santa Brought Gen 5.0, Black Friday Breakdown, Satan <3 2020, and more.

Hello Bidtellectuals!

Congratulations to Bidtellectual of the Week John Allen!

The Latest: Generation 5.0

ICYMI: Just in time for the holidays, Bidtellect gifted the world/announced Generation 5.0 of its nDSP! To offer more insight into the advancements, we chatted with Santa himself/Bidtellect Chief Technology Officer Mike Conway. Mike explains in his own words how the advancements benefit advertisers, from optimization to insights to usability and privacy. We cover why its important to continue innovating and what he’s proudest of. Don’t miss it. 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday: What Happened?

Sales on Black Friday fell short, while Cyber Monday broke records. While experts projected massive growth this holiday season, it looks like it will be slightly lower but still an increase from last year. Let’s not forget it’s only December 4th. With a shift to online ordering, expect shopping to continue right until the end of the month.

  • Shoppers spent an average of $312 on Black Friday weekend, a 14% drop from $362 in 2019 (NRF)

  • Americans spent a record $10.8 billion online on Cyber Monday, up 15% from last year, making it the largest online shopping day in U.S. history (Adobe Analytics)

  • Amazon on Tuesday said this holiday season was the biggest of its 26-year history.

  • Adobe Analytics revised down its online holiday sales forecast by $5 billion, to $184 billion. Last year, Americans spent $142 billion online.

Some rationale: expectations for Black Friday were high. But holiday sales started back in October, plus consumers turned primarily to online shopping, still wary of in-store browsing. It’s no surprise Black Friday – typically an in-store frenzy – fell short. Meanwhile, even with the stock market crushing it, unemployment benefits are running out for many Americans; uncertainty about the coronavirus and economic hardship puts a damper on shopping.

⇨ Holiday Advertising 2020: Top 3 Best Practices for Digital Advertisers

⇨ Holiday Creative Assets: The Naughty and Nice List

Salesforce, Podcasting, and Clicks as the Original Sin

  • Salesforce bought Slack for a whopping $27.7 in a “match made in heaven” according to Salesforce CEO. Some even predict the move might render email obsolete in five years (yeah, ok).

  • Amazon is dipping its foot in the podcast game, reportedly in talks to buy podcast production network Wondery. Amazon is everywhere!

  • Meanwhile, the IAB Tech Lab has released a new set of Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines (2.1) for public review, which offers standard metrics for both podcast content and podcast ads.

  • This op-ed talks Digital Advertising Sector’s Original Sin: making clicks the holy grail of engagement metrics. While it certainly hinders privacy, clicks also don’t give a true measure of engagement.

Good News!

  • Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift gave us all a much-needed laugh with this “Match Made in Hell” commercial of Satan and 2020.

  • No-kill, lab-grown meat is about to go on sale for the first time.

  • Sales are rockin’!! Keep shopping!! Here are some of the best deals.

  • Bidtellect is offering a free workout class this Wednesday! (See below!)

 

Stay safe, friends,

Charlotte

Get this right to your inbox every Friday! Add your email below:


Charlotte Otremba is Sr. Manager of Communications and Marketing at Bidtellect.

Why You Should Factor Diversity Into Your Strategy This Black History Month

How and why you should make diversity your advertising priority.

Behind the Platform: Using Peer39 For Brand Safety & Keyword Targeting

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the three key uses for the Peer39 integration in Bidtellect’s DSP, while offering helpful tips for traders and advertisers to get the most out of Bidtellect’s product.

Behind the Platform: Tracking Emissions With Bidtellect Scope3 Integration, Plus What to Know About Supply Path Emissions

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the new Scope3 integration in Bidtellect’s platform, how you can take actionable steps to reduce carbon waste, and the current state of the industry’s wasteful supply path emissions.

This Week in Digital Advertising: Google Faces Senate Heat and the Political AdSpend Breakdown

This Week in Digital Advertising: Google Faces Senate Heat and the Political AdSpend Breakdown

Hello, Bidtellectuals!

Congratulations to Bidtellectual of the Week Lindsey Morgenthaler, whose clients and colleagues alike sing her praises!

The Senate is Cracking Down on Google, Who Still Says It Doesn’t Monopolize the Digital Ad Market

“Do you know of any other company that exercises this kind of concentration and dominance across every layer of the ad stack?” asked Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, at the Senate on Tuesday. According to NPR, Donald Harrison, Google’s president of global partnerships and corporate development, faced a bipartisan grilling in the Senate on Tuesday over the company’s dominance in digital advertising. Findings from the United Kingdom’s antitrust regulator show that Google has dominant positions in various parts of the ad technology market, ranging from 40% to more than 90%. the Justice Department is reportedly getting ready to le a lawsuit against the company in the coming weeks.

Politics and Digital Advertising Spend

Each election cycle in recent years has seen a greater shift towards digital ad spend. So here’s how the respective parties are planning to spend, so far:

Last month the Biden Campaign announced a $280 million ad buy covering 15states of which 20% would be devoted to digital spending, Business Insider reported. The Biden campaign has spent more than $9 million a week on Facebook and Google since the middle of August. Before that, the campaign had not spent more than $6 million in a week, according to The Hill. In addition, outside groups such as StopRepublicans and Priorities USA have spent tens of millions of dollars on Facebook and Google this cycle. Priorities USA tracked its digital ads in Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and claims that the ads decreased Trump’s net approval rating in those states by 2.5 points between April and July.

The Trump Campaign is focusing on mobilizing its current support network and is currently spending more on digital ads. Since the beginning of August, the Trump campaign has outspent the Biden campaign by $20 million on Facebook and Google, according to The Hill. Other data says they’ve poured more than $170 million into aggressive marketing on Facebook and Google ads, compared to just $90 million from the Biden campaign. Around 20 percent of the Trump campaign’s digital spending, depending on the time frame, has been concentrated in Texas, California and New York, where many donors live.

While we’re focusing on digital, there’s also television: the Biden campaign has outpaced the Trump campaign by $30 million on the television airwaves, according to The Hill. And Mike Bloomberg’s $100 million television ad campaign to help JoeBiden win Florida – a key swing state – will show up on TV screens throughout the state on Friday, according to Sun Sentinel.

5 Ways B2Bs Can Adjust Digital Strategy & Brand Messaging Based on Coronavirus Impact

Facebook Cracks Down on Hate Speech in Groups

Meanwhile, ahead of the election, Facebook is attempting to clean up its reputation. Facebook will shut down all political ads on the site one week before the election to calm fears of nefarious outside meddling and the spread of hate speech and misinformation. The company announced yesterday that they removed more than 1million groups and 13.5 million pieces of content in groups for hate speech in the past year. These figures were released alongside new policies meant to “keep groups safe,” including a new commitment to limit the spread of health advice on the platform, according to Adweek.

Download our One Sheet on Social Media and Native Ads.

B2B Sales Is Still Going Strong, With a Golden Opportunity in Digital Advertising

In the US, B2B digital ad spending is growing 22.6% year over year amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to new data by eMarketer. Adapting to work-from-home, digital events, and ecommerce is key.

Download our one sheet on B2B trends and how to adjust messaging.

Good News: Fall Foliage

Leaves are changing soon?! Check out this Fall Foliage Prediction Map to plan your leaf-peeping trip! It’s the perfect social-distance activity. Bidtellectuals are counting down to our annual All-Hands gathering next week. It will be virtual this year, of course, but we’re pretty excited for some awesome bonding activities and pajama day!

Stay safe, friends,

Charlotte

Want more need-to-know info? Subscribe to our monthly Bidtellectual newsletter!


Charlotte Otremba is Sr. Manager of Communications and Marketing at Bidtellect.

Why You Should Factor Diversity Into Your Strategy This Black History Month

How and why you should make diversity your advertising priority.

Behind the Platform: Using Peer39 For Brand Safety & Keyword Targeting

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the three key uses for the Peer39 integration in Bidtellect’s DSP, while offering helpful tips for traders and advertisers to get the most out of Bidtellect’s product.

Behind the Platform: Tracking Emissions With Bidtellect Scope3 Integration, Plus What to Know About Supply Path Emissions

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the new Scope3 integration in Bidtellect’s platform, how you can take actionable steps to reduce carbon waste, and the current state of the industry’s wasteful supply path emissions.

This Week in Digital Advertising: September 11th, 2020

This Week in Digital Advertising: September 11th, 2020

Hello, Bidtellectuals!

Today is September 11th. We remember the men, women, firefighters, and rescue workers who lost their lives on this day in 2001. Tell someone how much you love them today.

Congratulations to Bidtellectual TEAM of the Week Kendra, Ashley, Kevin and Shannon! The client wrote an unprompted note praising the team for their personal attention to the campaigns along with withBidtellect’s platform technology. If this doesn’t make your heart glow…

Pharma’s COVID Recovery (And Then Some)

Health, healthcare, medicine: nothing like a global pandemic to revamp a vertical’s popularity. SO we dove into COVID-19’s impact on the health and pharma industry. While there was a brief dip in ad spend in March, by May medical and pharma ad spending was up 56% year over year. Trends to note: higher adoptions of telehealth, filling prescriptions from home, and a shift in spend to programmatic –especially video.

For this week’s Bidtellect Beat: Digital Edition, I spoke with Bidtellect Director of Sales Phil Marth on the unique challenges pharma marketers face, trends in the industry, and how native programmatic can deliver on the shift to more conscious, hopeful and helpful messaging. Give it a watch here.

PHARMA Marketing Challenges & Industry Changes Since COVID

 

 

 

Google States Obvious: Keyword Blocking of ‘Coronavirus’ Was Too Broad

Nice, Google. If you’ll recall, the industry made a major effort (see IAB) to call out the harm of such broad block brush strokes to news and publishers. Google’s marketing team conceded that it had been “too conservative” in including “coronavirus” on its list of blocked terms earlier this year, and pledged to spend $100 million in advertising to support news organizations this year. Feels a little late to me? Adweek interviewed VP of Marketing Joshua Spanier. Read it here.

eMarketer: CPG Crushing It

eMarketer’s latest report: Thanks to a boost in digital sales of essential goods and personal care products (purchased more frequently online during the pandemic) digital ad spending in the US consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry will increase 5.2% to $19.40 billion this year, making it the third-largest spender behind retail and financial services. Mobile spending will grow 11.4% and account for 73.2% of all CPGdigital ad spend – WOW. Competition with direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, along with an uptick in ecommerce sales, has led to a higher focus on performance marketing. Hit us up.

Good News, Maybe: Pro Sports Are Coming Back

Tennis is underway at the U.S. Open sans fans. Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Tsvetana Pironkova made history on Labor Day at the USTA Billie Jean KingNational Tennis Center by becoming the first trio of mothers to reach the quarter finals of the same Grand Slam. Go Moms! One of them will face 2018 U.S.Open winner Naomi Osaka who reached the nal with her win over Jennifer Brady yesterday. The N.F.L. opened its season Thursday night with a game between the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans.

Stay safe, friends,

Charlotte

Want more need-to-know info? Subscribe to our monthly Bidtellectual newsletter!


Charlotte Otremba is Sr. Manager of Communications and Marketing at Bidtellect.

Why You Should Factor Diversity Into Your Strategy This Black History Month

How and why you should make diversity your advertising priority.

Behind the Platform: Using Peer39 For Brand Safety & Keyword Targeting

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the three key uses for the Peer39 integration in Bidtellect’s DSP, while offering helpful tips for traders and advertisers to get the most out of Bidtellect’s product.

Behind the Platform: Tracking Emissions With Bidtellect Scope3 Integration, Plus What to Know About Supply Path Emissions

Bidtellect VP of Product Arthur Hainline demonstrates the new Scope3 integration in Bidtellect’s platform, how you can take actionable steps to reduce carbon waste, and the current state of the industry’s wasteful supply path emissions.