The Scoop: 9.14.21

After an exciting end to the US Open (Hi Emma and Daniil! 👋 🏆) and the official start of football season, it’s safe to say that summer is over. While in-person workdays may still be up in the air for many, we’re enjoying our pumpkin spiced everything as we dig into the long-awaited ruling in Epic Games' legal battle with Apple over its App Store policies. Did we mention it’s 185 pages?! But what we’re really interested in is the rise of mobile gaming in esports in Asia and beyond and what that could mean for advertising.

Brands Salivate Over First-Party Data as Cookie-less Future Looms

Brands are realizing how valuable (i.e., 💰 💰) their customer data has become as tech companies push closer to a future with less reliance on cookie data. Walmart, one of the first major brands to flex its first-party muscle, announced its new demand-side platform (DSP), which will go live in October, allowing advertisers to reach Walmart customers outside of its own e-commerce platform. Walmart touts its ability to connect in-store and online sales as a differentiator from other DSPs. Each of its more than 150 million customers has a unique identifier, and Walmart has LOTS of data on them. As third-party cookies disappear, Walmart and other retailers are filling the gap with first-party consumer data. Marketers can leverage this data to create personalized, relevant messaging for their target audiences. In addition to Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, Target and CVS have been expanding their advertising platform features to make customer data more easily accessible to advertisers.

Sources: ADAGE, MARKETING BREW, MARKETING DIVE

Digital Platforms Strengthen Privacy Protections for Teens in Response to New Regulations

Late last month, Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida introduced a bill to update the existing Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), expanding its coverage to include
teenagers under age 18 (the current bill covers those under 13) and all sites that children and teens use, including social media. Here’s how a few major digital and social players are rolling out better protection to comply with these legislative changes:

• Google announced it will be expanding safeguards preventing age-sensitive ad categories from being shown to teens by blocking ad targeting on the age, gender and interests of people under 18.

• TikTok announced similar rollouts, limiting when teens can receive push notifications to help users under 18 develop healthier digital habits (e.g., users ages 13 to 15 will not receive notifications after 9 p.m. and those ages 16 to 17 will have notifications disabled starting at 10 p.m.). The platform is also adding a pop-up that appears when users 16 or younger are ready to publish their first video, asking them to choose who can watch the video. Lastly, users ages 16 to 17 will need to opt in to its direct messaging feature.

• Instagram will require users to enter their birth date as a step toward better protecting younger users. If the prompt is ignored, users will be blocked from the app until they add in the required information. Last month, the platform along with Facebook, implemented new restrictions on ad targeting for users under 18, with the removal of interest targeting for this segment.

Sources: WASHINGTON POST, TECHCRUNCH, GOOGLE BLOG, TIKTOK, SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY

Facebook Joins the AR Trend with Ray-Ban Stories

Last week, Facebook launched its first generation of smart glasses: Ray-Ban Stories. The glasses give users the ability to capture photos and video and add 3D effects once uploaded to the app, as well as listen to music or take phone calls. While this may seem like a throwback to the 2010s, when Google Glass and Snapchat Spectacles were popular, it’s actually the latest in social networks doubling down on augmented reality. Facebook has alluded to this being the start of its AR ambitions, as it’s a move to compete with Snapchat, which this year rolled out its fourth installment of Spectacles that have built-in AR displays. Other tech giants, including Apple with a rumored VR/AR headset, are also committed to evolving users’ experiences by bringing the social and tech worlds we live in “to life.”

Sources: TECHCRUNCH, THE VERGE, SEEKING ALPHA

In Other News… 

Following Twitter’s decision to abandon its social stories project “Fleets” last month, LinkedIn is also moving away from its LinkedIn Stories experiment.

Is D2A (direct to avatar) the new DTC (direct to consumer)? Why the “metaverse” will prove to be more than a buzzword.

Contributing Writers & Editors: Tiffany Bullock, Ricki Kahn, Stephen O’Neil, Elaina Quade, Jennie Szink and Bre Thomlison

Real Chemistry’s The Scoop is brought to you by an editorial collective, featuring industry updates and insights from subject matter experts across social media, digital and influencer activation teams. 

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