Category: Tech News
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Blippar launches AR ad units
From AdWeek: To help brands better reach consumers, augmented reality tech company Blippar launched its web-based AR ad units called AR Units. People can interact with these AR ad units without leaving a webpage or downloading an application. The ads can use both the front- and rear-facing cameras on a device and can feature a…
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The Age of Virtual Influencers Is Coming, Bringing a Range of New Considerations for Brands
From Social Media Today … While the current spate of generative AI tools are interesting, and are already changing discovery behaviors and interactive processes, they’re really only scratching the surface of what’s possible, and are far from actual “intelligence” as the AI name suggests. Indeed, most of these initial models are data matching tools, able…
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Amazon expands social commerce ambitions with Snap and Meta
The retail giant announced separate deals (less than a week apart), enabling users to buy products from Amazon directly from ads on the social platforms. See the Meta news here on CNBC and Snap via The Information.
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AdAge Creativity AI roundup
The latest roundup from one of the leading trade publications … Generative AI is getting upgraded this month, as DALL-E, Adobe and Meta released next-generation versions of their text- and image-based AI tools. And the creative community is taking them for a spin. AI was also a hot topic at this week’s Advertising Week in New York,…
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TikTok launches new “out of phone” offering
The mobile-social platform continues to seek ways to expand reach to different screens. From AdAge: TikTok has been paving the way for growth outside of mobile screens, with partnerships inside movie theaters and airports. Now, it is formalizing the ability for brands to also monetize out-of-home on TikTok. At Advertising Week New York today (Oct…
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Microsoft and Activision Blizzard merger sets the stage for a mobile game advertising giant
Having cleared the last regulatory hurdle, MSFT has finalized its acquisition of Activision Blizzard – creating a powerful gaming giant with established titles across both console and mobile games. From Insider Intelligence: The news: Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is now finalized after receiving approval from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority last…
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Metaverse roundup, September 2023
AdAge is out with their latest roundup, featuring news and examples from … Meta layoffs, reportedly focused on custom chip development team Jack Daniels Vitamin Water (which we covered here) Roblox platform news Walmart Check out the full roundup here.
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Getty launches GenAI platform trained ONLY on its licensed images
Ethically sourced training data, IP and copyright concerns are perhaps amongst the most common challenges for brands and agencies when it comes to leveraging the full power of Generative AI. Systems from Microsoft, Adobe, and others offer to indemnify users against potential future claims, and now Getty has stepped up to the plate as well,…
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YouTube introduces GenerativeAI tools for creators
YouTube aims to further democratize video production by equipping creators with GenAI tools for video creation, background creation, and more. The feature will be in beta with select creators and is planned to roll out in full next year. YouTube today announced a new feature coming to its short-form video platform Shorts that will allow…
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Meta’s “Horizon Worlds” breaks free from HMD
VR experiences are often inherently limited in their reach due to the need for specific hardware like Meta Quest. Meta is looking to break that barrier by expanding Horizon Worlds to mobile and web. It’s kinda like the reverse of what Apple is trying to do with VisionOS. From the Meta blog post: We’re excited…
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YouTube Launches AI-Powered Creative Guidance
YouTube is aiming to help agencies and advertisers deliver more effective campaigns powered by AI recommendations trained on the platform’s published best practices, dubbed ABCDs or attention, branding, connection and direction. The tool will also recommend adjustments if the video does not adhere to those best practices. YouTube has developed a new creative guidance tool that uses…
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New Roblox feature uses GenAI to help creators build on the platform
This is really interesting. Generative AI has been shaking up content creation across a wide variety of channels, including 3D and immersive technologies. In a recent announcement, gaming / metaverse-lite platform Roblox introduced a new Generative AI feature that enables creators to use a chatbot to build in-world experiences. We first saw the news on…
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Apple teases VisionOS App Store plans
It was clear during the Vision Pro announcement back in June that Apple planned to empower existing iPhone / iPad developers to easily transition their apps to Vision Pro. Normally – at least with advertising – it can be challenging to take a thing created for one channel and force it into another one. In…
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IPG Mediabrands partners with Google Cloud to accelerate brand AI adoption
As the agency community wrestles with the wide-ranging implications of AI, more and more agencies are announcing deals with tech companies to support operational efficiencies and new capabilities. IPG Mediabrands struck a deal with Google to speed up brands’ use of AI by using Google Cloud to develop applications that use generative AI to “codify the essence…
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How major agencies are using AI
AI has quickly becoming pervasive in the advertising industry. You can always browse our curated examples for artificial intelligence broadly or more specifically generative AI, but AdAge has launched a great roundup of plans and announcements from agencies. As major marketers consider capitalizing on new forms of artificial intelligence, ad agencies see a rich opportunity…
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Amazon taps generative AI to enhance product reviews
Once a critical input into purchase decisions, e-commerce ratings and reviews have become hit or miss at best. Amazon has been fighting this battle for years, trying to eliminate fake or misleading reviews. And now the retail giant has announced it is testing a generative AI tool to extract insights and generally make ratings and…
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Profitero Launches AI-Powered Retail Analytics
The platform, part of Publicis Groupe, aims to open its vast collection of commerce data to simple text queries via a chatbot-like interface. Per AdAge, the new release aims to solve two key problems: managing a wide range of data, including sales, supply chain and media spending, in a way that a wide range of…
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Dentsu Partners with Microsoft to Unleash AI-powered Innovation for Brands
From a Dentsu press release… Dentsu Group Inc. today announced it has partnered with Microsoft to launch enterprise-wide access to advanced Azure OpenAI technologies, empowering employees to develop client-ready solutions to drive growth and efficiency from the safety of a private and legally compliant development environment. This latest milestone in dentsu’s longstanding partnership with Microsoft…
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Should we fear AI?
There has been a lot of swirl on this topic over the last few months, fueled by sensationalist media coverage, agency groups joining watchdog organizations, high-profile execs expressing concern and/or leaving their prominent AI roles to sound alarm bells. The power of AI is already impressive, and advancing at breakneck pace. This combination can be…
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Google and Omnicom team up on Generative AI for advertising
The generative AI arms race was on full display last week in Cannes, with Omnicom touting a new partnership with Google as the first commercial use of the platform’s generative AI models for both text and image creation. Google is apparently also offering copyright protections, which should in theory make the assets more readily available…
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L’Oreal previews upcoming beauty tech
Revealed at Viva Tech in Paris, the brand showcased a bunch of new innovations that include new products and promotions powered by AR, NFC, AI and more… L’Oréal Group delivered some groundbreaking innovations across the beauty spectrum which leveraged augmented reality and artificial intelligence, driving utility, diversity and inclusion — both for real life and…
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Google unveils “virtual try on” shopping tool
Customers in the United States can virtually “try on” women’s tops. The company uses images of real models ranging from XXS to 3XL to wear AI-generated versions of clothes from hundreds of brands sold across Google, like Anthropologie, Everlane, and H&M. You can scroll through and select different body types or skin tones and see…
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Publishers Have One Year To Test And Raise Red Flags On Google’s Privacy Sandbox
After delaying cookie deprecation twice, Google reaffirmed it’s 2024 commitment at an AdMonsters event last week in NYC… From the AdExchanger story – Publishers could be forgiven for dragging their heels on testing the cookie alternatives in the Chrome Privacy Sandbox. There’s been a delay or two on the phaseout of third-party cookies, after all.…
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Should agencies using AI seek client permission first?
The ANA has issued new guidelines to that effect, which is pretty consistent with an increasing call for transparency across agency services… Image Credit: iStock via AdAge An agency that plans to use artificial intelligence tools in its work for a client must first receive consent from that client to do so, the Association of…
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Clothing retailers want QR codes to replace bulky tags
If the apparel industry gets its way, small labels with QR codes on them would replace the bulky clothing tags that offer washing instructions and other information. Why it matters: Digital product labels — which brands like Ralph Lauren are already starting to use — could provide a lot more information to consumers, who could…
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WPP partners with NVIDIA to build generative AI-enabled content engine for digital advertising
Groundbreaking engine built on NVIDIA Omniverse™ and AI connects creative 3D and AI tools from leading software makers to revolutionise brand content, experiences at scale NVIDIA and WPP today announced they are developing a content engine that harnesses NVIDIA Omniverse™ and AI to enable creative teams to produce high-quality commercial content faster, more efficiently and…
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Google to turn off 3rd party cookies for 1% of Chrome users early next year
After delaying 3rd party cookie deprecation (twice), Google is preparing the ecosystem for a new round of tests – and will be turning off 1% of cookies in Chrome early next year. Will the tech giant stick to the mid 2024 deadline this time?? Google is taking portions of its Privacy Sandbox into the next…
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Beyond Cookies And Identifiers, Advertisers Have Limited Awareness Of Options
Some 60% of participants to a recent survey agreed that user tracking will soon become obsolete, but more than 40% are not familiar with targeting technologies other than advertising identifiers. Ogury, a company focused on personified advertising, commissioned market research firm IDC to conduct a global survey from November 2022 to January 2023 in the…
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Congress wants to regulate AI, but it has a lot of catching up to do
Great piece at NPR covering the current state of AI regulation. The EU is perhaps farther along in exploring, though there has been some pushback on the current EU proposal from smart futurists like Shelly Palmer. For the past several weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has met with at least 100 experts in artificial…
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Web3 Retail Accelerator and Awards News
This interesting piece at Forbes covers off on a couple of retail metaverse announcements: Dream Assembly Base Camp, the Web3 fashion accelerator program created by Farfetch and global Web3 accelerator-meets-investor Outlier Ventures, which launched in 2022, has just announced its second cohort of start-up talent. The seven startups: Decommerce, Me Protocol, Nettle, Solaire, SPIN by…
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EU Regulators Propose AI Guardrails
Like many new technologies, AI is moving faster than regulators, but the Europeans are trying to get there – introducing legislation that will classify AI systems across four levels of risk. LONDON (AP) — Authorities around the world are racing to draw up rules for artificial intelligence, including in the European Union, where draft legislation…
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‘Amazon Anywhere’ brings shopping experience inside new AR game from makers of ‘Pokèmon Go’
This one is super interesting both for a new distribution channel for Amazon and a new revenue/monetization model for game developers, including AR leader Niantic … The so-called “everything store” is looking to go “anywhere.” Amazon announced the launch Tuesday of “Amazon Anywhere,” an immersive shopping experience intended to allow customers to buy physical products,…
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Amazon Plans to Generate Photos and Videos for Advertisers Using AI
According to a paywalled report at The Information, Amazon is building a team to work on artificial intelligence tools that will generate photos and videos for merchants to use in advertising campaigns on its platform, a company spokesperson confirmed, efforts that could help diversify its ad business. You can get 25% off of a subscription…
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Meta pitches augmented reality to advertisers with new AR Reels Ads and Facebook Stories
Augmented reality is coming to Reels Ads and Facebook Stories, Meta announced … at the IAB’s NewFronts as part of its pitch to advertisers. The update allows brands like Sephora, Tiffany & Co. and others to offer more immersive experiences and AR filters when marketing to Meta’s audience, including its younger Gen Z users. The…
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Snap announces tests of sponsored links in My AI, new ad products for Spotlight and Stories
After Snap’s stock took a hit from its weak first-quarter earnings, the company today made its pitch to advertisers at IAB’s NewFronts where it introduced new ad products and opportunities. Here, Snap’s new President of Americas Rob Wilk, previously Microsoft’s head of Advertising, and Chief Creative Officer Colleen DeCourcy, spoke about a test that allowed…
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Big Tech mentioned ‘AI’ nearly 50 times on recent earnings calls. Should we care?
Tech giants Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta all reported robust revenue growth in their first-quarter earnings calls this week, highlighting their ambitions and investments in artificial intelligence. The term “AI” was repeated dozens of times by the executives and analysts on the calls, reflecting the industry’s belief that AI is the key to innovation and competitive…