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They Both Reached for the Gun
X isn't the only one with brand safety issues. A study finds major brands are appearing beside hateful content on YouTube.
by Tod Maffin and Steph Gunn
Today's News
YouTube Ads Appearing Beside Racist Falsehoods
It looks like X isn’t the only platform struggling with brand safety issues.
The New York Times reported this week that ads for major brands have been appearing on YouTube videos that spread racist falsehoods about Haitian migrants.
On YouTube, an ad for the car company Mazda appeared before a video that repeated the racist falsehood that Haitian migrants in Ohio were “eating ducks on the side of the road.”
An ad for the software giant Adobe showed up alongside another video that claimed “people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”
Even an ad for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, was placed ahead of a video that spread the unsupported statement that migrants were “going to parks, grabbing ducks, cutting their heads off and eating them.”
An Adobe ad appeared beside a video claiming “people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.” / via Eko
This is despite efforts by YouTube to provide brand safety tools designed to keep advertisers away from hate speech and misinformation.
Researchers found that ads for over a dozen large organizations and consumer brands monetized xenophobic claims on YouTube.
The videos garnered nearly 1.6 million views in a 72-hour period, earning the commentators a few thousand dollars collectively from the advertisements.
“Information Disorder”
Check My Ads, a digital advertising watchdog, said that tech platforms are infested with conspiracy theories, false narratives, and misinformation.
We are dealing with information disorder, and advertisers can't trust it.
Blocking: Not Good Enough?
Brands are trying to regain more control by dictating specifically where their ads can be placed and demanding more manual audits.
YouTube allows companies to block ads from appearing alongside certain creators or sensitive content, but clearly more needs to be done to protect brands.
Having an advertisement land next to misinformation can be financially damaging — the share of people who click on such ads is 46 percent lower than for ads that avoid being twinned with toxic content, according to Integral Ad Science, a company focusing on brand safety.
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Reddit Adds Ad Tools for Marketers
Reddit this week launched a new "ads inspiration library" that shows the best-performing ads in different categories.
Meta's library focuses on transparency
Reddit's is more like TikTok's, highlighting top ad examples for marketers to learn from
Filtering Ads
The library lets users filter search results by keyword, category, ad budget, format, placement, and objective. This can help you see how others in your sector are using Reddit ads.
One interesting twist is when you click on an ad example, Reddit shows the top three creative best practices used in that campaign, as identified by its AI system.
AI-Generated Ad Copy
Reddit also launched a beta version of its "AI Copywriter" tool, which generates ad copy. It can make headlines you can refine using various toggles.
Amazon Rolls Out New AI Tools
Amazon has updated its platform with some AI tools.
Truly Personalized Recommendations?
The site will now use customers' shopping habits to create personalized product recommendations on its homepage.
Instead of suggesting similar items, the new feature will recommend larger categories based on what customers like to buy.
For example, if a customer often shops for holiday decorations, Amazon will suggest more products in that category.
Better Product Descriptions
The new feature will also make product descriptions more relevant to customers' interests.
If a customer often searches for gluten-free products, terms like "gluten-free" will appear more prominently in product descriptions.
New Tools for Sellers
Amazon is also releasing new tools for third-party sellers.
A free video generator that uses a product's image and features to create AI-generated clips.
A live image feature that allows users to partially animate still images.
Both tools are available now in beta to select US advertisers.
Project Amelia
Amazon is also launching a chatbot called Project Amelia. The chatbot provides personalized recommendations, insights, and troubleshooting assistance to help sellers improve their business performance.
Project Amelia is currently available in beta to a small group of US retailers
It will expand to more sellers later this year
Gen Z to Spend More on Holidays
Gen Z shoppers are planning to spend more money this holiday season.
A report by Fiverr found that 43% of Gen Z shoppers will increase their holiday spending, compared to only 37% of millennials.
Where Gen Z Finds Gifts
Gen Z shoppers are turning to social media to find gifts.
In the US, more than half of that generation will find gifts on TikTok Shop.
Compare that to a third of US respondents who will shop for gifts seen on Facebook and Instagram ads.
Influencer recommendations will drive purchases for 24% of US Gen Zers.
How Retailers Are Responding
Retailers are investing more in digital marketing to attract Gen Z shoppers.
In the US, 57% of retailers are using social media ads.
Globally, 40% of retailers are investing in social media ads, followed by influencer marketing and email marketing.
Nearly 70% of businesses plan to use AI this holiday season to connect with younger shoppers.
What Matters to Shoppers
With inflation a concern, 80% of businesses are offering discounts, up from 55% in 2023.
For holiday shoppers, their priorities (in order) are:
Good deals
Free shipping
High-quality products
Roku Unveils Self-Service Ad Solution
The streaming TV network Roku just launched a new self-service ad platform that lets brands of all sizes buy video ads directly.
Roku says it offers better data and ad formats than other self-service solutions.
One notable feature is its integration with Shopify, which lets merchants launch shoppable ads that allow consumers to checkout on-screen.
“Action Ads”
It also introduced Action Ads, which let marketers create interactive video overlays that allow viewers to send a text message to themselves while watching a video ad.
What's Next
The new platform is part of Roku's effort to simplify its ad process. The company has been growing its streaming hours and platform revenue.
TikTok's Marketing Head to Leave
TikTok is losing its global head of marketing. Kate Jhaveri will exit the company at the end of September. Zenia Mucha, who currently runs global brand and communications, will take over the marketing role.
The company spun this as more of a restructuring than the loss of a key person.
Mucha told employees that she and Jhaveri had been talking about how to make the marketing team work better.
They decided to get rid of the head of global marketing job and put everyone under one leader.
TikTok laid off many marketing employees this spring as part of a bigger restructuring.
Jhaveri's Background
Jhaveri started at TikTok in November 2022. Before that, she was the chief marketing officer at the National Basketball Association.
Mucha's Background
Mucha joined TikTok in June 2023 after working at Disney for a long time.
She reorganized the communications team last fall and hired a former Disney colleague to run media relations.
Ikea Turns Windows into Ads
Ikea wants to help people sleep better. It also wants to sell more of its sleep products. To do both, Ikea came up with a clever idea.
The retailer gave away free window roller blinds to people who applied for them.
But these weren't just any blinds.
They had ads for Ikea's sleep products on the outside. When people closed their blinds at night, they were showing Ikea's ads to the world.
Creative and Functional
Ikea's ad agency, Åkestam Holst NoA, came up with the idea.
They wanted to find a way to advertise Ikea's products in a way that was both creative and functional.
The agency released a film to recruit people for the campaign and got a huge response. They then chose the recipients of the free blinds at random.
The campaign was only in Sweden, but Ikea thinks it could work globally.
Click to visit article with embedded video
A California law passed this summer is now having dramatic effects on marketers: One is being sued just for having a TikTok pixel on their site.
We’ll have all the details, along with an interview with that brand, on Monday.
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