DIAL: Digital Innovations Awesome List (October)

At Centro, we know that keeping up with the trade pubs and latest trends can be tough and time consuming. To make that easier, we've compiled all the articles, reports, and other bits of awesomeness you may have missed, but should definitely read. Enjoy our latest list below!

Why Amazon Is The New Google For Buying
Amazon Prime customers start their search for purchases at Amazon 100% of the time. With over 85 million Amazon Prime account holders, Amazon is hard at work creating products to reach buyers who are actively demonstrating high purchase intent. Amazon already offers a wide range of ad products from mobile and desktop display banners to dynamic ads and coupon ads, but there are big expectations for the growth of their global ads segment, which is already on track to generate close to $2B by end of 2017. What will this mean for the Google and Facebook duopoly?

The Digital Ad Industry is Officially Out of Ideas
What's old is new again, and the new push is for more display banner ads -- and bigger ones to boot. As we flashback to the last decade, how will creativity be saved in our increasingly data-driven, programmatic ecosystem?

Apple's Move to Kill Cookies Brings Plea From Six Major Trade Associations
Apple plans to limit cookies on the newest version of Safari through a feature called Intelligent Tracking Prevention. While cookies will still exist, they will be wiped of data after 24 hours instead of the standard 30. It should come as no surprise, but digital advertising regulative bodies are asking Apple to rethink the rule that is expected to go into effect later this month.

What Marketers Need to Know About Location-Based Advertising and Where It's Headed
Grab a seat and read this round table discussion about how some industry leaders think about the current state of location-based marketing, and, more importantly, what the future looks like for them and the industry.

Data Feeds Can Bridge The Digital Divide
It's easy to focus on the new and shiny objects in digital marketing when it feels like there's something new every day. However, customers want personalization, and that can be found by connecting offline data to online data.

Programmatic is Finally Figuring out the Basic Flaw in Ad Audiences
An unfortunate reality of programmatic is that buyers are often left in the dark about what type of auction they are bidding on. But now there is a shift for more programmatic platforms to step up and offer more transparency around auction mechanics

Spotify Launches Self-Serve Ad Studio, Enables Long-Tail To Create Three-Figure Professional Audio Campaigns 
Just as they helped music fans rethink the concept of a playlist, Spotify is helping advertisers of all sizes rethink the way their media can be bought. The release of their new self-serve audio advertising platform includes a tool to create audio ads with a professional voiceover. Self-serve has been all the rage with Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, and now Pinterest, not to be outdone by their social peers, has launched their self-serve platform for Promoted Pins. So much power, so many new platforms to manage.

Pinterest Is Offering Brands Its Visual Search Technology to Score Large Ad Deals
Target, one of Pinterest's earliest advertisers, has deepened the partnership with plans to leverage the platform's visual search tech in their sites and app. In exchange, and in an effort to get smarter about how they merchandise their products, the retailer will gain access to insights about how consumers use Pinterest.

Infographic: Shoppable Media Is Transforming How Consumers Find and Then Buy Products
As the traditional path-to-purchase collapses the active and passive stages, shoppable media has made it not only about finding the right person at the right time, but also in the right experience.

Nearly Half of Millennials and Gen Xers Don't Watch Traditional TV: Study
Did you know that half of adults between the ages 22-45 are not watching TV in traditional platforms? They are watching TV content, but they're streaming it on their tablets or through OTT devices like Apple TV.

Smart Speakers: Why Marketers Need to Listen Now 
According to a recent report from NPR and Edison Research, only 7% of the U.S. population owns a smart speaker. This number is expected to rise, and according to the research, folks who do have a smart speaker are using them in ways that marketers should start to consider.

October's DIAL is also available as a PDF. Download it here.