Category: Tech News
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4A’s Noteworthy News – 19th Edition
NOTE: this post first appeared on LinkedIn here. THE BIG STORY: How AI, AR and Wearables Will Transform Brand Experiences Meta Connect 2024 unleashed a whirlwind of announcements, showcasing Meta’s next steps in AI, AR and wearables—highlighting developments that could dramatically impact how consumers interact with brands, unlocking potential new advertising formats, and further blurring…
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4A’s Noteworthy News – 18th Edition
Note this post first appeared on LinkedIn. THE BIG STORY: Big tech platforms make text-to-video available to the masses It’s been another week of rapid AI advancements, with several major platforms launching new text-to-video tools. Amazon, YouTube, and Snapchat have all joined the race to make video creation accessible to the masses. What was once…
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4A’s Noteworthy News – 17th Edition
NOTE: this post originally appeared on LinkedIn here. Apple kicked off the week with its annual iPhone reveal, announcing new hardware including Apple Watch Series 10, new airpods, and the iPhone 16 lineup. Apple Intelligence featured prominently throughout the event, including a new “Visual Intelligence” feature, which is one of several features leveraging 3rd party…
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Dentsu launches “House of Creators” project to support next gen content creation
Dentsu has launched “House of Creators,” a program designed to support next-generation content creators, starting on Roblox. This initiative focuses on accelerating creative talent, integrating intellectual property (IP) into creator projects, and fostering collaborations between brands and creators. With Roblox as a key partner, Dentsu aims to empower about 30 creators by the end 2024,…
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4A’s Noteworthy News – 16th Edition
NOTE: this post originally appeared on LinkedIn here. AI at Work: Transforming Tasks, Not Taking Over The debate around AI and the future of jobs has been buzzing for years now, and it’s enough to make any professional wonder if their next meeting will be with an algorithm instead of a colleague. The latest research…
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4A’s Noteworthy News – 15th Edition
NOTE: this post originally appeared on LinkedIn here. THE BIG STORY:Human-Minded Creativity in a World of AI In an age where AI permeates our creative processes, it’s crucial for brands and agencies to understand the line between what will.i.am called “imagination regurgitation” and true creativity. A recent study from 4A’s member agency Digitas and Vox…
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4A’s Noteworthy News – 14th Edition
THE BIG STORY: Google beats OpenAI to voice punch, launches new Pixel phones and Gemini Live This week, Google made significant waves with its latest announcements, revealing new AI-driven features and the launch of the Pixel 9 lineup. Gemini AI will power an expanded suite of capabilities across the new Pixel devices. With Apple announcing…
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4A’s Noteworthy News – 13th Edition
THE BIG STORY: The AI sector is beginning to show signs of a maturing market, as recent developments suggest a wave of consolidation is underway. Once the darling of venture capital, some AI startups are struggling to keep up with the hefty demands of research, talent, and infrastructure. A recent WSJ article highlights how a…
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AdAge Top 5 Metaverse Moments July
McDonald’s and Meta are among the brands in this month’s roundup of metaverse marketing moments… Top 5 for July: Ikea hiring metaverse employees Google’s new gaming strategy Restructuring at Meta Reality Labs McDonald’s returns to the metaverse Walmart’s metaverse commerce experiment Full details at Adage.
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Top5 AI activations late May 2024
AdAge is out with the latest summary of important AI news and brand examples, including a great activation from nonprofit Girls, Inc. It’s been a busy month for AI and developers, with big advertising implications. Last week, Google and Open AI presented parallel showcases to reveal next-gen chatbots. And Google launched a new AI search…
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Warner Bros Discovery adds interactive and shoppable ads
WBD joins the parade of streamers offering more interactive and shoppable ad units to its ad offerings. The company has introduced a new suite of advertising products for its streaming platform, Max, including shoppable ads and advanced contextual targeting tools. These innovations, announced at the Warner Bros Upfront in New York, aim to enhance viewer…
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Top 5 Metaverse Moments May ’24
AdAge’s latest roundup of metaverse news and examples features TurboTax in Fortnite, platform news from Snap, Meta and Roblox plus more. This month, tax filing comes to the metaverse, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gets a metaverse “glow up” and Roblox revs up its ad program. No. 5: Snapchat makes augmented reality more accessible to brands Snap has…
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IAB and MRC finalize AR ad measurement guidelines
Adoption of Augmented Reality by marketers continues to grow and is moving beyond the gimmick phase. IAB and MRC opened public comments for AR ad measurement standards back in February, and have now published the final guidelines. In collaboration, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Media Rating Council (MRC) have released their Augmented Reality (AR) Measurement…
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Snap plans to add watermarks to AI-generated images
Snap Inc. is adding watermarks to images created with its AI tools on Snapchat, which will feature a translucent Snap logo with a sparkle emoji. This watermark aims to indicate that an image is AI-generated, enhancing transparency for users and aligning with actions by other tech giants like Microsoft, Meta, and Google. Snap emphasizes the…
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Rumor mill: TikTok working on ad deals for virtual influencers
While a potential ban or divest ultimatum looms, TikTok continues to innovate. The Information reports that the platform has been speaking with advertisers and agencies about AI-powered virtual influencers who may wind up competing with human influencers for ad deals. TikTok touts itself as a platform where creators can stand out and build a following.…
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YouTube enhances streaming commerce capabilities
“Everywhere commerce” continues to grow as streaming and social platforms continue to experiment with various ways to drive incremental revenue by making it easier for users to purchase products featured in video. The traditional marketing funnel continues to collapse as more and more platforms shorten the distance between awareness and purchase. Approaching spring shopping trends,…
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Roblox to enable programmatic ad sales via PubMatic
The popular gaming / metaverse platform looks to bring scale to its advertising offerings later this year… Roblox has announced a partnership with supply-side platform (SSP) PubMatic, which will enable programmatic media buying of the popular metaverse gaming platform’s video advertising inventory when it becomes available later this year. According to Stephanie Latham, Roblox’s vice…
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Dentsu launches post-cookie solution
Dentsu has rebranded and enhanced its M1 platform, now calling it Merkury for Media and bringing a complete identity platform to the table to enable addressable media and AI-powered decisioning and optimization. The company said it is the only live platform where every dollar of media placed is using first-party data. “As the industry looks for…
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Adobe adds new AI features and APIs
At its annual Summit event, the software giant announced new Generative AI capabilities including GenStudio and a set of more than 20 APIs for developers. From TechCrunch on GenStudio… Brands want to use generative AI to personalize their marketing efforts — but they are also deathly afraid of AI going off message and ruining their…
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NBCU partners with Trade Desk to make Olympic inventory biddable
NBCUniversal will make Olympic inventory available programmatically for the first time this summer. The media giant also unveiled a stoppable TV offering called Virtual Concessions that will officially launch during the Games. To do it, the broadcaster is partnering with The Trade Desk, which will build a private marketplace that’ll let advertisers bid on everything…
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Media.Monks launches Persona.Flow
S4Capital’s Media.Monks has enhanced its existing Monks.Flow service with additional AI-powered features that transform owned customer data into customer personas that the agency and its clients can interact with via a chatbot interface. Persona.Flow offers a user-friendly interface to help brands streamline strategy workflows, increase their precision, and democratize deep data insights. Its core technology…
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IPG Unveils “Engine,” an AI-powered platform created in partnership with Adobe
Advertising holding companies are investing heavily in AI-enhanced solutions for automation and to improve the effectiveness of their work for clients. IPG is the latest to weigh in with their “Engine” announcement. IPG has unveiled a first-to-market partnership with Adobe through which the holding company is restructuring how all of its agencies and other units…
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IPG’s Huge Unveils AI-powered Subscription Product
As the marketing ecosystem continues to wrestle with the impact of generative AI, Huge has launched a new subscription product called “Culture Decoder”. Huge, the IPG agency that pivoted last year to become a creative consultancy is unveiling today a new product for clients — an AI-powered tool designed to help brands better understand the…
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Publicis Groupe announces CoreAI platform and €300 million AI investment
The French advertising giant is doubling down on its early investments in AI platforms like Marcel. The proprietary CoreAI platform will focus on 5 areas: Insights and strategy, media planning, creative and production, software development and operations. In addition, the Groupe disclosed that it will invest €300 in AI over the next three years, with…
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Dentsu adds Amazon GenAI tools to its growing suite of technology
From AdAge… Dentsu has struck a deal with Amazon Web Services that will bring more generative AI tools into the holding company’s growing technology arsenal. Two key platforms developed by AWS will now be accessible to Dentsu employees, for both client-facing and internal operations. Bedrock is a hub of AI models sourced from numerous providers,…
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Stagwell demos “SmartAssets” AI Platform at CES
The marketing world started paying serious attention to CES nearly 20 years ago, and most major holding companies send a contingent of folks to Las Vegas to help guide (and schmooze) clients through the chaos of one of the world’s biggest trade shows. But it is rare that an agency or a holding company actually…
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GroupM Teams With Developers To Create New Ad-Supported Streaming Formats
From MediaPost… GroupM this morning announced it is teaming with a group of advanced TV/video programmers and developers to research and develop new video advertising formats “designed to be ubiquitous across ad-supported streaming environments.” The initiative, dubbed the “Ad Innovation Accelerator,” includes streaming programmers such as Disney, Peacock, Roku, Telly and YouTube, as well as…
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OpenAI’s GPT store launching soon
Rumors suggest the launch was delayed due to the leadership soap opera that unfolded shortly after the announcement, but the AI giant now has an opportunity to build buzz during CES, despite not having an official presence on the show floor… OpenAI plans to launch a store for GPTs, custom apps based on its text-generating…
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Airbnb Taps AI to Block Unauthorized New Year’s Eve Parties
From AI Business … Holiday rental platform Airbnb is set to use AI yet again this holiday season to predict which bookings will lead to illicit New Year’s Eve parties and reduce the risk of “unauthorized and disruptive parties in local neighborhoods.” The eagle-eyed AI system will take effect in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico),…
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DTC Brands Test GenAI with Mixed Results
Interesting story from AdAge on some of the ongoing challenges with GenAI powered image generators … Using ChatGPT to write ad copy became increasingly popular in 2023, with brands such as Sephora and Mint Mobile using the AI tool to create campaigns. And while direct-to-consumer brands have been using ChatGPT to write marketing copy too,…
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AdAge Ranks 2023’s best Web3 moments
The trade publication weighs in on 2023’s top Web3 moments – including some campaigns, some platform news and some employment shifts… We’ll come right out and say it: Web3 did not have the year it had in 2022. The fledgling space entered 2023 like a battered race car heaving into a pit stop, hardly two…
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Cox Media says it can target ads based on conversations
If true, this seems like a non-sequitur in an increasingly privacy-first advertising world. To be fair, the posts have now been archived. In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind boast, Cox Media Group claimed in marketing materials that it can use microphones in smartphones and other web connected devices to listen in on people’s conversations,…
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Meta’s Ray Ban shades add AI vision
Augmented reality seems poised to really hit its stride once we get to a wearable device that doesn’t look like a crazy pair of ski goggles or worse. It’s going to be a long road to get there, but Meta’s collaboration with Ray Ban gives us a glimpse of that future, having recently added computer…
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OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft Chase Wearable AI
Excellent roundup from the Information on the current state of wearable AI pursuits amongst big tech and AI startups alike. The next major era of computing is on the horizon and perhaps one of these devices will be the one that starts the revolution. Expect CES in a few weeks to provide additional glimpses of…
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Amazon AWS rolls out new GenAI platforms
Like many big tech providers, Amazon has been playing a bit of catch up to AI upstarts like OpenAI and Midjourney. But the Seattle company has been quickly rolling out new features and platforms to help it keep pace. Most recent are a business-focused chatbot and image generator, both capable of being trained on a…
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Apple’s App Store names GenAI trend of the year
From the App Store … App Store Trend of the Year Generative AI captured our collective imagination this year—and on the App Store, we saw its evolution unfold in real time. Apps started integrating AI at an unprecedented clip—chatbots gave us surprisingly thoughtful answers, while creator tools helped us brainstorm ideas, generate original images, and…