DIAL: Digital Innovations Awesome List (November 2019)

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!

5 Adtech Predictions For 2020 [:04]

With 2020 around the corner, here are 5 predictions and how they may affect companies next year and beyond : 1) privacy regulations will make first-party data even more important 2) creative will displace user acquisition as top priority 3) technology will increasingly connect teams – not just channels 4) most companies will use automation technologies to get the most from data and 5) vendors will start trying to bring CDPs and CMPs together.

Youth in Focus Report [:20]

Pegged as “Not Another Report About Millennials and Gen Z,” this report by UK based agency The People provides some great takeaways for marketers looking to target younger consumers / users, mainly that they are people and not a marketing segment. Some great nuggets to remember throughout that help reiterate what probably you think is cool and important isn’t really. Dig in to see where equality and inclusivity, mental health, and sustainability can play a role in how we look to communicate and connect with younger people.

How Brands are Preparing as the California Consumer Privacy Act Becomes a Reality in 2020 [:11]

The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, takes effect Jan. 1, bringing a host of new regulations to the nation’s largest state that will significantly restrict how brands collect and manage the consumer data that has fueled digital advertising for years. And California is not alone, there are 27 states at least in the early stages of setting some sort of privacy laws – from Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island to Washington who are each pushing for a bill similar to CCPA.

Can Contextual Targeting Replace Third-Party Cookies? [:05]

As the California Consumer Privacy Act goes into effect in January of 2020, companies are preparing for advertisers to use more contextual targeting. While some agencies believe that contextual targeting is only a band-aid, others believe that the level of contextual targeting will become more sophisticated. For example, advertisers can create dynamic keyword targeting lists in 33 different languages that automatically get updated based on what’s likely to achieve higher performance and reach.

Netflix Partnerships Could Become More Attractive to Marketers in a Down Economy [:03]

CNBC coverage of a new report from Forrester, which predicts that marketers will double their spend on marketing partnerships with Netflix, like product placement and “other creative marketing integrations with brands.” See the plethora of brands prominently showcased in the most recent season of Stranger Things, and the complementary promotion and merchandising by those brands.

Disney Is New To Streaming, But Its Marketing Is Unmatched [:07]

Disney Plus, a new streaming service, will be arriving on November 12. Nobody is doubting Disney Plus anymore as the company has started to exercise its unrivaled marketing power. Disney Cruise line ships carries more than 12,000 passengers at any given moment, and sneak-peek screenings are being offered onboard. Disney Store locations are also hosting “pep rallies” for the High School Musical series. With the traditional cable business in decline and with competition with tech giants, Disney will have an opportunity to make or break it.

The Drum: Roku to Buy Dataxu, Accelerating the Push to Expand its Presence OTT [:03]

Roku announced it will acquire adtech company Dataxu for $150m, a deal that will see Roku take on more ad inventory outside of its own platform. Roku says that Dataxu’s existing tech and partnerships should further their capabilities to sell and measure OTT inventory outside of its platform. Dataxu had raised $87.5m over seven rounds since 2009.

The MRC Standards For TV Ad Measurement Will Force Technical Upgrades For All [:04]

The MRC recently released final standards for cross-media audience measurement of TV and Video. These standards will require work for all players in the market to get a passing grade, including technology upgrades from several members of the supply chain. At this point, online video is best off, connected TV (CTV) must grapple with some challenges, and linear faces the biggest uphill climb of all. For media buyers and publishers with multichannel strategies, getting to a fair apples-to-apples comparison won’t happen until these issues are addressed.

eMarketer: Advertisers on Why WhatsApp’s Status is a Good Testing Ground for Ads [:02]

Ads on WhatsApp are to be expected sometime in 2020. eMarketer spoke to advertisers for their new report on global messaging apps. The expectation is that Status—WhatsApp’s version of Stories—will be a logical testing ground for ads (PDF of article attached).

Solving OOH's Attribution Problem Takes On New Urgency Amid a Renaissance [:06]

With OOH being one of the few non-digital categories growing (4.5% in 2018 over 2017, upwards of $8 billion), the challenge around attribution remains one of the channel’s biggest challenges, with brands are unsure how to measure how many people actually saw an ad and what, if any, impact it had on the viewer. As lines continue to blur between traditional and digital ad buying and execution, new innovations in measurement are offering ways for savvy marketers to more deeply understand the impact of OOH.