This week, Google and Facebook are under pressure yet again and the TikTok saga continues.
Here are our five to watch this week in digital.
Google and Facebook pressured to stop targeting ads at teens
Once again, Facebook and Google are flooding our newsfeeds. Both companies are being put under pressure to stop the targeting of ads to teens. The campaign is being led and coordinated by the Global Action Plan (Gap) who is accusing the companies of profiling and targeting teenagers to sell products. This, they say, is in breach of their privacy rights. The campaign comes after Google was served a £2.5bn lawsuit for illegally mining data of 5 million YouTuber users in the UK who are under the age of 13 for advertising purposes. You can read more here.
ByteDance claims it will have 80% stake in new US-based TikTok
Just last week we discussed that ByteDance had rejected the US purchase bid from Microsoft and software firm Oracle was next in line. While this is true, ByteDance claims it will still own 80% of the global TikTok brand. Oracle and Walmart will both have minority stakes in the company. The reason this is controversial is that ByteDance’s majority ownership goes against claims from President Trump that the new deal will have ‘nothing to do with China’. Read more here.
Google says it doesn’t monopolise digital ads market, senators in the case disagree
Google is currently under investigation by the Justice Department over concerns that the firm has dominance over digital advertising. Of course, Google denies these claims saying that advertisers have choices other than Google. Antitrust regulators in the UK found that Google is in very high positions in various areas of the ad technology market. This ranges from 40% to more than 90%. The Justice Department is said to be close to filing a lawsuit against the company. You can read more here.
Why we should all be using brand funnelling
Mark Ritson of Marketing Week has written an article on why ‘funnel juggling’ could be key to marketing success. Ritson highlights that funnels, while incredibly effective, can be very limiting. Instead, brands should be working with multiple funnels that use different strategies to maximise their effectiveness. In his article, he discusses three ways companies can use funnel juggling including sequential, simultaneous and single methods. You can read more here.
Lack of brand unity causes small problems to multiply
Marketing Tech has put together an article looking into why the lack of brand unity can cause small problems to multiply. With the growth of social media, getting your brand message right across different platforms can be tricky. This is where problems can occur and the poor communication between teams can mean messages aren’t delivered. According to Shannon Healey of brand management software provider Frontify, problems ‘start small and multiply’. You can read more here.
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