Who should be worried about IoT security? It turns out, everybody.

A recent article on Wired.Com sounded only the latest alarm in the Internet of Things/botnets security crisis. Whether you are a user, developer, digital marketer, or corporation, everybody should look carefully what they connect onto their networks and into their lives with a mind to how they could be hacked.

Truly, connected devices offer an exciting new frontier to digital marketers: enhanced experiences for customers, new levels of data granularity for marketers, and new ways for products and brands to connect into peoples' everyday lives. From geofencing for targeted marketing and sales attribution, to automation of mundane tasks (why should I walk all the way to my thermostat to change the temperature?) to new modes of search through voice-connected devices, the possibilities seem endless.

So what could be the problem? Apparently, a lot. The billions of connected devices (yes, that's billions with a "b", and we are on track for 20 billion connected devices by 2023) work on a patchwork of unique, propriety operating systems. Unlike more widespread systems like Windows, Android, or iOS, it is very difficult to anticipate, write, or update antivirus software for every device in circulation. Even with the increased standardization and security improvements in recent devices, the Wired.Com article estimates that extant flawed devices will remain in circulation for decades before they are gradually replaced.

This means that as a part of your data security management, any device that you (or your company) connect to should be regularly monitored for vulnerabilities, and should receive regular security updates. Anything could be suspect, from refrigerators, to smart bulbs, to my personal hellish nightmare, a German doll named Cayla with cameras and microphones designed to spy on you and your family.

Don't think that your customers will blame you for a hacked third-party device?
They will. (Target's massive 2013 credit card breach came in via a connected air conditioning system).

Long story short: IoT is here to stay, and is growing, but we need to be careful and vigilant as we adopt it.

Mobile Banking and Its Application


https://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-banking-market-trends


I just read this article on the business insider website on mobile banking.  I was extremely shocked to see that Chase was not one of the top mobile app cited in the article.  I have worked at Chase for over 17 years in the banking retail space and one of the things we speak about the most is our mobile application.  Time and time again, we get recognized for having one of the best in the industry and helping our clients with it.  This makes me think about where is business insider getting their information.  Are they trying to get Citibank and Wells more clients by talking about their applications?  I recently took a course at Columbia Business School called Qualitative Intuition and it was all about looking at data and asking deeper questions.  Well, I have a lot of deep questions about this data?  Who is it really for?

From Idreamof  aka Jeannie

Conductor

As I see in the syllabus that we are going to learn about search engine optimization (SEO), I thought it was appropriate to write about my experience with working at an SEO company.

My previous job was at WeWork, which is not an SEO company but it acquired one in 2018.  The company is called Conductor, which provides a variety of services using its technology to assist customers in making a higher ranking in the organic search results according to the users search words.

As I assisted with the acquisition of Conductor, I had the opportunity to work very closely with the company and learn about the types of services they provide.

The basics of their technology called 'Searchlight,' collects data to determine the stage of the users are at prior to making a purchase at the customers' website, the types of words that they used to get there, and how many times the users that used certain key words clicked on their site.  This data is generally used by Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) in making decisions on how they can optimize their websites to reach higher ranks in the search results.

They also provide other services, with collaboration with other technology company, such as scoping through the companies' websites and identifying the key words that are currently on their websites.  With this data, companies can then determine if they are appropriate for users to find their way to their sites.

Consulting services are also offered for smaller companies that do not have CMOs or any other persons that do not have the capabilities of utilizing the data collected by Searchlight.  This type of service involves making changes to the company's websites, inserting key words that may be most appropriate, and even monitoring and reading the data to provide the company's management on recommendations on how to best make use of their websites.

I thought this was a very interesting company, especially when WeWork acquired it and how they were going to utilize the data collecting ability of Conductor's products and identify the needs for a office sharing space, and open new locations accordingly.

For more information on Conductor, visit www.conductor.com, or alternatively, it's quite amusing when you search conductor in Google and you'll find that the first 5 or 6 organic search results are related to the company.  Why wouldn't they use the technology for their own use right?

VSCO girls

This week I discovered a new expression, a new app, and that 90s fashion is back (!), all in one article, which led me to another, and to another. This is the one I believe summarizes all you need to know best:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/style/vsco-girls.html?searchResultPosition=1

VSCO is a new app, similar to Instagram, but with more editing features that Gen Z's use (from wikipedia: Generation Z (often abbreviated as Gen Z) is the demographic cohort after the Millennials. Demographers and researchers typically use the mid-1990s to early-2000s as starting birth years). There are no likes in VSCO or stats.

Women in their teens that use the app have started calling themselves VSCO girls and have a particular look that reminds me closely of the 90s:
-shell necklaces and bracelets
-checkered vans
-scrunchies
-oversized tshirts

Some brands associated with this new look are Vans, Birkenstocks, Fjällräven, Crocs. This asthetic is not as new as the article suggests, I've lived it!

What's new is how these brands are reacting to their unrequited attention. They will likely have to learn first (like me) what VSCO is and how to use it.

The rise of TikTok

TikTok is a platform where people post short form edited videos that places a premium on users who can generate highly curated videos with solid production value. This has resulted in younger users who are more involved in specific sub cultures or memes reposting content within their networks that has allowed newer users to become influencers and since followers arent as relevant has decreased the barriers to entry for new content creators.

Article:

https://www.emarketer.com/content/what-s-behind-the-sudden-growth-of-tiktok

We’ve seen plenty of social apps rise and fall (Vine, Yik Yak, Meerkat, to name a few). But the short-form video app TikTok has a powerful owner and a concept that’s catching on not only with young people, but also older generations in the US. Can it take on Facebook and the other big names of social media?

What Is TikTok?

TikTok is the international version of Douyin, a popular short-form video app in China. Users can upload short, quirky videos of themselves to the app and share them with followers. ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns both apps, acquired US short-video app Musical.ly in 2017 and merged it with TikTok in August.

TikTok has been on a growth tear around the world, but its US performance has been especially notable. TikTok's US monthly active user audience grew by 30 million in the three months since the merger, and downloads were up 25% in the US and 20% worldwide, according to app tracker Apptopia.

Tracking by App Annie found that TikTok was the second most-downloaded app in the Apple App Store and Google Play as of November, among social, communication, photo and video apps. In June it ranked No. 7.

Some of the uptick seen in the Apptopia and App Annie data can be attributed to the fact that Musical.ly users were automatically switched over to TikTok once that app shut down. But there are other factors, such as a promotional push by late-night host Jimmy Fallon, who used TikTok for a series of viewer challenges, including one where users could make a video of themselves rolling like a tumbleweed and then upload the video to the app.

Worldwide, TikTok rose to the No. 2 spot in app downloads in November 2018, according to SensorTower, behind WhatsApp and ahead of Messenger, Facebook and Instagram.

Though the app has natural appeal with teens, it’s also catching on with people older than that. A recent article from The Washington Postdetailed how nurses and members of the military have taken to the app, creating their own TikTok groups to share videos.

What Do We Know About TikTok's Chinese Version?

In China, Douyin is very popular. In July it had 300 million monthly active users and 150 million daily active users, according to China Daily.

Parent company ByteDance has deep pockets and big ambitions to grow. In October, SoftBank and other investors poured $3 billion in the company, according to Bloomberg. Subsequently ByteDance was reported to be raising over $1 billion for its own investments in media and artificial intelligence (AI).

What About Advertising?

TikTok has no paid advertising yet, but some brands have used it for influencer marketing campaigns or to publish their own videos. In the meantime, the app is making money in other ways—user spending on in-app purchases increased 275% between October 2017 and October 2018, to $3.5 million, according to Sensor Tower. Users can purchase emoji and digital gifts to share with TikTok users during live streams.

Douyin does contain paid video ads and is part of a growing economy of short-form video apps that were expected to bring in an estimated RMB14 billion ($2 billion) in marketing and advertising revenues in 2018, according to a forecast published by iResearch Consulting Group.

In another sign that TikTok may be on to something, Facebook recently launched a TikTok competitor called Lasso. Facebook’s track record with me-too apps has been uneven, so it wouldn’t be wise to read too much into Lasso. But it’s definitely going to make sense to pay attention to TikTok in 2019.

Why Facebook Should Volunteer for Government Regulation

Facebook in Crisis

Facebook, as a product, is in a moment of crisis. The scandals and negative press that have besieged the company since the 2016 election show little signs of abating.  Further, there is healthy evidence to support the claim that young American’s are less likely to use Facebook. A recent Pew study reported that, in 2018, the percentage of teens who use Facebook as their primary social media application is 10 percent, compared with 51 percent of teens who said Facebook was their primary social media application in 2015. Further, in 2018 only 51 percent of teens report having a Facebook account at all vs. 71 percent in 2015.

While the recent trends in teenage social media behavior coupled with the negative stories surrounding user privacy and sentiment manipulation might raise alarms for Facebook the reality is that the company, both through its primary Facebook product and the brands it owns (Instagram and WhatsApp), isn’t going anywhere. 68 percent of American adults still use Facebook, and 75 percent of those users are daily users, according to that same Pew study. Further, Facebook remains the social media app of choice across many emerging economies.

Facebook – Moment of Truth

Despite Facebook’s seemingly unassailable position as one of the world’s most dominate internet companies, the company does face a definitive moment of reckoning. It’s position as an ultimate provider of news, information, and general content makes the public and lawmakers nervous, especially after it was proven that the company has the power to manipulate our sentiment. Further, its experimentation with pushing voter turnout and the company’s willingness to sell its services to questionable partners, such as Cambridge Analytica, only compounds concern. Facebook, at its core, is an attention harvesting and selling company. Facebook’s inability, or unwillingness, to implement any type of moral code around how they maximize that efficacy of both the harvesting and the selling components of its business, has led to significant and almost intractable problems for the company.

Facebook is a public company and has a fiduciary obligation to maximize profits for its shareholders. Instituting strict moral standards around attention harvesting and selling could dampen short-term profits. While Facebook could argue this move as a long-term strategy to correct public opinion and attract the next generation of users, there’s no guarantee its shareholders or the market will react favorably. Further, no action from Facebook could incite further public outcry, which in turn could jeopardize the company’s economic health. The company has already experienced considerable volatility in its stock price over the past year, while at the same time recording record profits.

Volunteer for Regulation

The inability to effectively manage the world’s content, protect user privacy, and maintain impartiality while suppressing the spread of fake information is both jeopardizing Facebook’s economic value and eroding public trust in the company. Working with instead of against government when it comes to building regulatory frameworks around these core issues would be a shrewd move for Facebook.

Why would Facebook want to assume the responsibility of managing the world’s content? A recent journalistic investigation into the lives of Facebook’s content moderators paints a bleak picture illustrating that the experience of these employees is more comparable to government drone operators than to happy and thriving silicon valley employees. If Facebook had the regulatory framework to manage content, it would not be responsible, for example, for the propagation of Nazi sentiment or for catalyzing violence – it would be in the position to point to conformity to regulation.

Facebook should also seek government partnership when determining the future of user privacy. Facebook’s recent claims to pursue a “privacy focused internet” by encrypting the messages of private user conversations across its three main platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, is merely a Pyrrhic victory for privacy advocates. This is a ‘have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too’ moment, since the further integration of those three platforms will create an abundance of new capabilities, and opportunities, to mine and sell macro data, even if Facebook doesn’t monitor private conversations. If Facebook, and other large data collecting technology companies, worked with the Federal Government to get ahead of data privacy regulation and help establish the US version of Europe’s GDPR, not only would it be a public relations victory but also Facebook’s compliance cost would be dramatically reduced. Compare that with Facebook’s experience in Europe, where it’s being investigated for several GDPR related infractions.

Facebook’s selling of its customer data and targeting services to unsavory clients, such as politically motivated interest groups, also incites considerable backlash. Transparency is the key to ameliorating this issue and Facebook has, since 2016, taken measurable steps to increase visibility into where political advertisements originate, even after lobbying against such rules prior to 2016. Currently, limited regulation exists in the US for disclosing online political advertisements. Facebook should work with regulators to construct transparency laws related to digital political advertising or else face potentially less favorable regulation.

Across these instances, working with government has the potential to be vastly beneficial to Facebook. If Facebook ‘got ahead’ of many regulatory debates by partnering with lawmakers, it would enable the company to have a voice in regulatory proceedings. This is more favorable than having to ascribe to laws after they were written (thereby avoiding a potentially exorbitant compliance price tag).  Further, from a public relations angle, Facebook would be void of responsibility for spreading injudicious or unsavory content or influencing elections if it was operating under new regulatory guidelines.

Bird and Government Regulation

What is the most pressing obstacle facing the success of Bird and other scooter companies?

The ability of Bird to work with municipal and state governments to gain access to new markets should be seen at the ultimate challenge facing the long-term success of Bird. Launching a new mobility company requires delivering a product that operates in the public arena. Operating in the public arena requires government approval, approval that is hard won, ongoing, and susceptible to the whims of political as well as civic priorities.

To say that bird is operating differently in the arena of seeking government approval versus its ride sharing cousins Uber and Lyft (and to some extend Airbnb) should be discredited. Hiring Tusk Ventures, a firm made famous from its actions in helping Uber enter the New York market, and other lobbying groups, is not an innovative strategy to secure regulatory approval, it’s rather a tried and tested method. Further, the company launched in Santa Monica without the approval of local officials, proving that it has no problem with a ‘launch first apologize later’ modus operandi. Bird’s government affairs strategy should be viewed as akin to Uber and Airbnb vs. being distinct and more government friendly. This should give pause to any forecaster, investor, or potential partner that views Bird’s upcoming, and eventually ongoing, adversarial dance with government to be any less intense and costly than that of Uber, Lyft or Airbnb.

For example, Airbnb, after years of being in the New York is still facing considerable pressure to change it’s business model, share its data, and ultimately curb its expansionary efforts in the City. To think Bird won’t face similar challenges across markets for the long term is shortsighted.

Ultimately, it is the government that controls when, how and under what circumstances a product can enter and operate in the public arena. It is the biggest wild card for a startup that operates in a regulatory grey zone due to both the expensive nature of winning regulatory approval on a market-by-market basis, and two because sound policy might not always comport with political realities. It can be argued that Uber’s ascent in New York City was slowed by crony ‘medallion politics’ that pitted politicians that received substantial political contributions from medallion owners against a company that threatened the economic bounty of a core fundraising group. The recent driver cap is the fruition of such efforts by politicians sympathetic to medallion holders. In the future, Bird may face mobilization and opposition from its own flavor of special interest groups.

Other obstacles

Unit Economics

Beyond government approval, other challenges still face Bird. For instance, some calculations say that Bird scooters need to be utilized for 258 rides before breaking even and generating profit. While this seems to necessitate a significant life span for an asset that can be easily damage, and sometimes purposefully destroyed, these unit economics are ultimately controlled by the company. Bird could raise the price of its rides after it captures significant market share. Further, Bird could invest in more durable scooters and allocate the necessary R&D to improve the longevity and minimize the maintenance needs of its vehicles.

Safety Concerns

While safety concerns are real, the company, after it receives regulatory approval, can transfer a lot of the liability to the customer. There’s no reason why Bird cannot require that customers read and sign a type of indemnification contract, stating that users use Bird at their own risk. This would leave Bird susceptible to lawsuits only when its product malfunctions or due to other abhorrent circumstances.

Weather

While it may be hard pressed for Bird to generate significant utilization during winter months in seasonal climates this seems to be accounted for in the company’s forecasting plan. As David Sacks, an investor states, while it is a reduction of ‘total addressable market, it’s still a huge market’. There are enough seasonally friendly markets, and weather abiding months in seasonal cities to make the economic opportunity vast.

Government is still the biggest obstacle

While other logistical and operational challenges face Bird and other scooter companies, the most challenging obstacle remains securing broad regulatory approval. Bird will need to build a vast national staff of government affairs experts, including lobbyists and consultants, to secure approval in a city by city context, a significant financial burden. Further, if approval is ultimately achieved the concessions that cities will require – such as data sharing, speed limits, docking restrictions, may further impact Bird’s bottom line. Since working with government, in many ways, remains unpredictable and because government ultimately controls access to markets, securing regulatory approval should be the seen as the most prominent challenge facing Bird.

How Unilever uses AI in Marketing

How Unilever is using AI in marketing: 

-Process data and derive insights. Unilever has 26 data centers across the world where scientists are using AI to synthesize insights from a range of sources including social listening, CRM and traditional marketing research. It is working with startups from the U.K., China, the U.S., Israel, Finland and Singapore. 

-Search influencers. Through AI-powered influencer marketing platform Popular Chips, Unilever has been able to use the technology to detect influencers with fake followers and pair Unilever up with the right ones based on demongraphics such as country, age and gender. It found the startup via its accelerator program the Unilever Foundry. 

-Help recruit executives including marketers. 

Source: https://digiday.com/marketing/artificial-intelligence-influencing-unilevers-marketing/

Digital Marketing for Startups/Growth Companies

Where to start and what to do with digital marketing is a common question for startups. How to effectively acquire and convert customers is critical for most businesses. I came across this article on TechCruch and found it interesting: 

https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/13/how-do-startups-actually-get-their-content-marketing-to-work/

One counterintuitive takeaway from this artcile is that startup/growth companies should focus less on their Google Analytics data but more on their readers' full customer journey--Where are the readers in the funnel? Blogs and email newsletters (without discounts) sometimes don't directly convert readers to customers but might nudge them into the next phase in the customer journey. 

The same author also wrote a handbook here: https://www.julian.com/guide/growth/intro. 

Everlane x The New York Times Earth Day Marketing

This year, Everlane and The New York Times launched a new product and marketing campaign for Earth Day with the theme of recognizing Climate Change. For each Climate Collection product sold, nine public school students will receive access to The New York Times through its subscription sponsorship program for one year. (More info: https://www.everlane.com/nytimes)

The partnership is interesting. Everlane, famous for its radical transparency, is a Digital Native Vertical Brand (DNVB). The New York Times is a traditional media company that transitioned (or is still transitioning) to the digital world. For both companies, it is good PR and consistent with each company's values. Everlane charges a premium price for this collection, which sells very well. It is unclear about the additional subscriptions The New York Times can drive from this campaign (besides the subscriptions for the schools) but people wearing the clothes are definitely walking advertisement for the paper.

KFC Creates Social Influencer

With the rise of influencers on social channels like Instagram, KFC is taking a page out of their book to engage with consumers in new ways. As reported by AdAge, KFC recently launched a social media campaign on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram that features "Virtual Influencer Colonel," a computer-generated character that looks like a suave-looking social media influencer. The social media campaign is a spoof on the fame that social influencers have gained on platforms like Instagram, which brands currently seek and pay for to increase the engagement with their products and services. The character is planning to promote KFC through April 22 by posting influencer-like posts. The character also plans to promote "collabs" with other brands such as TurboTax and Old Spice.

This intiative is right in line with what we learned from a social perspective. It allows the brand to engage its followers in meaningful ways, and creates buzz that is shareable to drive increased awareness throughout the internet.

Game of Thrones Partners with Snapchat

One of the most popular shows on the planet, Game of Thrones, will begin its last season on April 14, creating a lot of excitement and anticipation among fanatics and casual TV watchers alike. One of the ways that HBO is planning on continuing to drive interest and excitement for the show is through a partnership with Snapchat. Using Snapchat's augmented reality technology, people in New York City will be able to turn the famous Flatiron building in Gramercy Park into a chilling scene where the undead dragon will appear on top of the building.

While Snapchat has had some challenges from a competitive standpoint, they continue to leverage their unique platform to create compelling social experiences that continue to delight its users. Augmented reality is one of the many tools that Snapchat continues to offer to advertisers and partners to drive engagement with brands and products. I think if Snapchat can continue to find ways to differentiate its platform, they will be able to attract ad dollars and partnerships from brands who want to reach audiences on the platform. Partnerships with HBO are of particular importance as well given that it will likely drive users to continue to use the platform.

Disney's New Streaming Service

On April 11, Disney announced that its new streaming service, Disney+, will launch on November 12, a move that will likely shakeup the streaming service industry. As reported by Variety, the new service will be priced at $6.99 per month, and will allow consumers to stream their favorite Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and National Geographic movies and TV shows. The streaming service will also be propped up by a variety of dedicated movies and TV shows that will be launched exclusively on the platform.

As more and more consumers cut the cord and move toward more digital options, traditional media and entertainment companies are being tasked with finding ways to reach consumer directly. Streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon have completely disrupted the entertainment industry, which prompted incumbents like Disney to find alternate solutions to reach and engage audiences in the future.

I think that this new streaming service will likely be a big competitor for other streaming providers such as Netflix, given the strong arsenal of intellectual property that Disney has with its characters and stories. Time will only tell how successful this new streaming service will be, but I'm sure there are many consumers who just circled November 12 on their calendar to be among the first to subscribe for this new service.

Dominoes Adds In-Car Touchscreen Ordering

Dominoes announced a partnership with automotive commerce platform Xevo Market to create an app that lives on the infotainment touchscreens of connected cars. It will allow consumers to tap a few selections to order a Domino's pizza for pick-up at their nearest store or for home delivery while they're driving.

The feature will begin rolling out to "millions" of vehicles beginning in the second quarter of 2019, says Brian Woods, chief marketing officer of Xevo. The company's technology is currently in about 25 million cars.

It'll be interesting to see the capacity of richness of data that comes in with tracking exactly when and where customers make an order, and optimize operations to ensure deliveries are on time. 

"The app is a way to glean insight into where customers are when they make an order, making sure a delivery is timelier," said Chris Roeser, director of digital experience at Domino's. "We have a long history of finding ways to minimize friction and make the access to pizza much easier for our customers," he said. "We view this as another entry point."

"It leverages vehicle data combined with what Domino's already knows about its customers," says Woods. "With just a couple of touches of the screen, we can place the order at the right Domino's, estimating the time of arrival, so that the pizza is hot and waiting for them when they arrive."

Connected cars offer advertisers an abundance of opportunity when it comes to location data. According to a 2016 McKinsey & Co. study, 55 percent of 3,000 people surveyed said they would be open to exchanging their connected car data for better car services and experiences. The same study found that monetizing car data could grow to $450 billion by 2030.

What you need to know about Pinterest Marketing

When it comes to social media marketing, the first site that comes to mind is obviously Facebook, followed by Twitter, Instagram, etc. The reason these social media sites are popular amongst marketers is because they work.

However, if you can think out of the box and use a dash of creativity, your business can benefit from one of the most underrated social media platforms available for marketing – Pinterest.

First, take a look at the demography users of Pinterest:
- 250 Million monthly active users; around 50% are international users, left only 125 Million US users
- 81% female users, but surprisingly, 40% of new signup are men and 60% new signup are women
- Millennial use Pinterest as much as Instagram.
- 50% of Pinterest users earned 50K or greater per year

Pinterest, as of today, is the fifth most used social media platform. Since the site is visually appealing, it also has a high engagement rate. Making it perfect for businesses that want to reach their target audience and funnel targeted traffic back to their site.

In fact, Pinterest only comes second to Facebook in terms of generating social media referral traffic to websites linked from it. The best thing about Pinterest is that it allows you to share ideas and inspire others like no other social platform.

Also, since every pinner is busy pinning visuals of their own interest and organizing them, they have no problem with other pinners seeing their activity. Which makes Pinterest marketing a highly effective way to get the word out about your products/services.

Digital Marketing Key Takeaway

I learned a lot about digital marketing throughout the semester. In my opinion, the most important key takeaway is that the digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving. As new technology is adopted and as consumer demands evolve, marketers must work diligently to stay ahead of the curve. Google Analytics has proved to be an important tool to measure the marketing effectiveness, and it provides a lot of functionality for free. I plan to keep the changing landscape in mind and use free tools like Google Analytics to ensure that I am keeping up with the trends.

Online regulation for Big Tech

The Congress and all current legislation was badly equipped to deal with challenges posed by the current tech giants like Facebook or Facebook with the old rules aimed to regulate traditional media. But the landscape is finally changing where the FTC efforts to get more resources and funds for digital policing and bigger budget maybe finally coming to fruition. The issue of the privacy is probably the biggest issues where both parties are aligned and agreeable to more oversight and legislation.
The big step indicating a shift and focus of the government role is the creation of the task force by FTC to assess how whether or not consumers are treated fairly by the large tech companies. Finally, the Congress is proposing a bill to regulate privacy rules in the digital world and it would be interesting to see what impact it can/will have on the Google and Facebook business models, where the heart of those business is based on the tailored and targeted advertising for their users.

Take a look at Pinterest

Working on the final project we realised that not that many competitors do utilise Pinterest well enough. However, the platform does have many ads options and just recently introduced some new features. If you know what Pinterest is, you should have noticed that main content consists of pictures, which can be added to a personal board and inspire its' owner. Brands do try utilise this channel and do provide branded content. 73% users admit that they find companies' generated content really useful and 98% have tried items that they found on Pinterest versus 71% of those, who use other social media platforms. It is proven that Pinterest is extremely useful at the beginning of the purchase path and helps people to get aware about a product or brand. 

On April 11 company introduced new conversion features, which do accompany the clicks driving option. Now campaigns might be tailored to some other specific goals such as motivating more signups, having better leads, or driving checkouts. According to the early results of Gravity Blankets that experienced 200% increase in sales and lowered cost per acquisition by 58%, these addition of these options was a smart move and should definitely be used by other brands.

eBay Shuts Its Third Party Ad Network

On Tuesday, eBay notified merchants and publishers that it will be closing down its third-party ad network, the eBay Commerce Network (ECN), as of May 1.

After five years of not as much success as they would've hoped, ECN will shut down. eBay says it is turning attention to advertising solutions for the core marketplace. 

“As a result, we are focusing on business that complements our core marketplace and discontinuing eBay Commerce Network effective May 1st, 2019,” the company said in a statement. "For the health of the core marketplace, eBay is making a concerted effort to shift its reliance from third-party advertising to first-party advertising.” 

eBay merchants are now told to consider promoted listings and other premium ad formats on the eBay marketplace - or the eBay Partner Network, an affiliate proposition in which content creators share links to eBay listings and get paid when they generate sales.

Connected TV Advertising - more things change, the more they stay the same

Millennials are everyone's target customers, but figuring out how to reach them, engage them and convert them has been a thorn in every companies side.  In the era of "cord cutting," and targeted ads - companies are complimenting their traditional linear TV ad spots with ones purchased on Connected TV (CTV).

According to AdWeek, direct to consumer shoppers spend 70% more time streaming content on services like Netflix and Hulu than on social media and 20% more time on streaming television than traditional television.    The best part is that the streaming services have a wide age range in their audiences and the service knows the demographic and psychographic information about each of their subscribers.  It's a marketers dream to be able to micro-target their audience.

Although all that seems really great and on-trend, what does this mean in the constantly moving landscape of Connected TV?  As the cord cutter trend increases, one would suspect that CTV subscriptions increase too.  However, there's a trend in sharing subscriptions and log-in information.  One subscription can be used in multiple households in completely different geographic locations - so what does this mean for targeted ads and curated content by profile or persona?  Advertisers run the risk sending messages to someone logged in that is not the targeted audience, but using the subscription of the targeted audience - so then how realistically effective is it really to reach your audience?

Another trend is subscription fatigue.  Connected TV subscribers tend to have multiple subscriptions to "piece together" the content they want from various platforms.  The subscribers are also realizing that keeping track and paying for multiple subscriptions also adds up and can undermine the seamless/easy experience and some are beginning to downsize or rationalize their subscriptions all together.

It seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same.  In an effort to cut costs and move to connected TV services, the digital generation accidentally increased their cost or kept it the same and also created friction in the overall experience.  Once cable companies catch up and create solely streaming services, what will happen to CTV and the targeted audience for ads?   Well, I hope the Direct to Consumer advertisers enjoy and monetize the wave while it's here!!