The Week in Data Marketing, MarTech and AI: November 22, 2024 edition

Welcome to The Week in Data Marketing, MarTech and AI, a weekly roundup from Quad Insights that sums up the latest news surrounding the technology-driven transformation of marketing.

“The Department of Justice says that Google must divest the Chrome web browser to restore competition to the online search market,” The Verge’s Lauren Feiner reports of an “initial proposed final judgement” filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Dave Michaels and Miles Kruppa of The Wall Street Journal note that the proposal is “part of a court-ordered fix to Google’s monopolization of the online search market.” Predictably, Google’s stock was “hammered,” as Fortune put it, in the wake of the news. Meanwhile, Business Insider’s Hugh Langley and Lara O’Reilly note that “Google will get to suggest its own remedies, likely in December.”

More data and MarTech news

• “Queries mount as The Trade Desk takes an unprecedented step into TV’s adland” (Digiday)
• “Max Launches New AI-Powered Shoppable Ads Ahead of Black Friday” (Adweek)
• “25% discount proven most effective for shoppers’ next purchase” (MarketingTech)
• “IAB Tech Lab Has New Guidance On ‘ID-Less’ Solutions And It Wants Your Feedback” (AdExchanger)

Self-described “AI-powered answer engine” Perplexity just announced the launch of a purpose-built AI assistant that’s designed to streamline online shopping. Available to paid subscribers, Buy with Pro offers a number of features including one-click checkout within the Perplexity app or website, and “Snap to Shop,” which allows users to search with an image. The company is also introducing the Perplexity Merchant Program to leverage the new tool. Buy with Pro may face headwinds, Allison Smith of Modern Retail notes, “as the startup faces stiff competition from retail stalwarts who are racing to release AI-powered tools of their own.”

More on AI shopping

• “Gartner report predicts B2B ecommerce’s future will be led by AI and digital transformation” (Digital Commerce 360)
• ICYMI: “OpenAI Readies ‘Operator’ Agent With eCommerce” (PYMNTS)

Seeking to “reshape the advertising economy,” The New York Times has deployed a generative AI tool that matches advertising campaigns with audiences that are most likely to respond, AdExchanger’s Allison Schiff reports. The Times’ BrandMatch system relies on a large language model to identify customer personas relevant to an advertiser’s objectives, then finds content it believes aligns to that audience and its interests. “We want to help marketers… by connecting them to the most valuable impressions we can find,” Executive Director of Ad Product Marketing Valerio Poce tells Schiff.

More on audience targeting

• “Early adopters are snapping up attention-based inventory before everyone else drives up the costs” (AdExchanger)
• “Personalized marketing with AI: Targeting customers more accurately in your online store” (Dataconomy)
• “Bridging the divide: challenges in cross-platform advertising” (IBC 365)

The marketing and creative communities have much to say about Coca-Cola’s AI-generated holiday ads. (ICYMI: The brand created a stir earlier this month when it released three new spots, patterned after its 1995 “The Holidays are Coming” campaign, that were made with AI; see: “Inside Coca-Cola’s first AI-generated TV ads,” from Ad Age, Nov. 14. Coke later issued a statement clarifying that the ads were a “collaboration of human storytellers and the power of generative AI.”) Conversations about the campaign continue to ripple through the advertising world. Among the reactions published this week:

Michael Grothaus, Fast Company: “The ad’s visuals were birthed from nothing by nothing: non-sentient digital code that does not know that it, or the holidays for that matter, exist. This ad had no power to make me wonder, because there was no humanity in it.”

Jay Pattisall, Forrester Research: “Predictably, the commercials have sparked some controversy among creators, who criticize the ‘AI sheen’ and lack of realism with the AI-generated people and objects. Creator criticism is understandable given fear of job loss and frustration for impact on their craft. Yet these commercials and a growing list of others — including Dove, Under Armour, and Toys ‘R’ Us — move the marketing industry closer to the point where AI content and advertising production becomes normalized. This means complex choices beset brands and executives looking for the best ways to leverage AI.”

See also

• “Future of TV Briefing: A Q&A with Coca-Cola’s generative AI head about that holiday ad” (Digiday)

More on AI in marketing

• “Warner Bros. Discovery Taps A.I. to Create Ads That Ask Viewers to Shop for Products Similar to Ones in Their Favorites Shows” (Variety)
• “How Mattel, the NFL and Cetaphil are using AI, synthetic data and virtual worlds” (Ad Age)
• “TikTok launches AI-powered video platform to advertisers globally” (Reuters via MSN)
• “Nine & Salesforce CMOs On How Generative AI Can Redefine Human-Centric Marketing” (B&T Australia)

More than three million cats enter U.S. animal shelters each year, according to the ASPCA — and Arm & Hammer believes that generative AI can help more of them find their forever homes. The company, which makes cat litter and other pet products, just announced its “Personality Pics” social media sweepstakes. Arm & Hammer plans to provide three winning shelters with AI-enhanced portraits for up to 10 cats to better capture their personalities. As seen in this @armandhammercat Instagram post, an AI-enhanced portrait can take a gloomy photo of a shelter-caged cat and turn it into a shot of the same cat lounging luxuriously on a cozy bed in a loving home. In addition to the portraits, the winning shelters will also each receive $10,000 grants.

More AI applications

• “Data-driven startup Aggie uses AI to manage small business social media” (Fast Company)
• “Microsoft Places launches to make it easy to plan office days” (The Verge)
• “Switzerland’s AI Jesus answers questions of faith” (DW)