Adtech God’s Post

Criteo has succeeded at something that almost always fails: reinventing itself. How? By doing something that most companies are afraid to: going all in on a new identity. Four years ago, Criteo's stock was at an all-time low of $7. They were known for one thing, retargeting, which was threatened by looming third-party cookie deprecation. They were written off. An r/adops post from three years ago asks, "Are Criteo managing to reinvent themselves?" Someone replied, “Two years ago, I would have put the chance of a Criteo turnaround lower than Trump admitting a flaw in his decisions / policy. Now I have to eat dirt — because they are turning around. And yes, because of retail media." That focus persists. On the company's last earnings call, CEO Megan Clarken said, "Our vision is quickly coming to life as we continue to transform our company into a commerce media powerhouse." Criteo's DSP allows advertisers to buy media from 225 retailers. The company isn't pitching seven different initiatives and a hodgepodge of disconnected financial results. It's pitching one thing: commerce media — and itself as the company to solve that space's most oft-cited problem (fragmentation). Obviously, stock price isn't everything. But most adtech stocks have tanked since 2021. Criteo's was $7 four years ago. Today it's $48, 10% off its all-time high. There are certainly many reasons for this. But from a marketing perspective, there's one: focus. It’s hard enough to get known for one thing; changing that one thing is even harder. You have to choose — and shout it in the public square over and over. Whatever its faults, Criteo has done that decisively, and it’s been rewarded.

The ad tech ecosystem is undergoing a tectonic shift in response to changes in global privacy consciousness and policy initiatives. These policy measures have ushered in the following changes in the ad tech industry: -Deprecation of third-party cookies: Implemented by Firefox and Safari, Chrome has also started implementing the same. -App Tracking Transparency (ATT): A privacy framework implemented by Apple for iOS devices. -Privacy sandbox on Android: Introduced to limit tracking across apps on Android devices. All the above changes will make the collection of third-party data difficult and are likely to negatively impact the ROI of behavioral targeting campaigns that rely heavily on third-party data for accurate targeting. Stakeholders in the ad tech ecosystem have responded by coming up with alternative approaches to balance marketing objectives and individual privacy. Some of the major alternatives that have emerged are: -Contextual Targeting: Targeting users based on their context (roughly the content of the web page where the user is) vs. the past behavior of the user. -Digital Retail Media (Amazon, Walmart, Target, eBay, Flipkart, Myntra, etc.). -Walled Gardens/Closed Ad Ecosystem: Publishers have access to first-party data and control over all the operations in the ad tech stack. Examples include Meta, Amazon, and Google-owned and operated properties. -First-party data and Data Clean Rooms: It is paramount for advertisers to collect first-party data of their users and leverage this to improve ROI on marketing spend. -Google’s Privacy Sandbox: An ecosystem being developed by Google to balance user privacy and serve relevant ads. In sum, the role played by third-party data in the ad tech system will be replaced by first-party and zero-party data, and brands should build the required technical infrastructure to collect and leverage this data to improve business performance across the board. If you are an ecommerce brand and looking to implement a first party data strategy for your business please reach out. #ecommerce #d2c #digitalamarketing #firstpartydata #personalization #shopify https://lnkd.in/g-3T4Djv

"What's commerce media?" jokes Stephen Yap, Managing Director, Google Marketing Platform, Americas, Google. The crowd laughs, before Yap agrees that #CTV and #CommerceMedia are the biggest drivers of programmatic at the moment; often used in tandem. Signal loss? Nope, these channels are durable—no cookies on CTV, commerce media uses first-party identifiers. CTV and commerce media also share fragmentation challenges: fragmentation is also on the customer side—budget silos remain. Promise of digital marketing: we'll give you one view of the customer. But the only person who can give that view... is the advertisers. They have the data, they can piece it together (through tech!). AdTech interoperability is essential for meeting advertisers where they're at. "Let's work better together—It's that simple... Building a connected ecosystem eludes us as an industry." Each solution has its owns measurement system, counting method... AdTech used to be an out-of-the-box solution. No longer the case—innovation has us all offering different tech, different methods of meeting goals. So advertisers just want something simpler—if we remove the friction and let the dollars flow, the ecosystem will be healthier. Commerce media—everyone is standing up their own versions of how it should work. I'm preoccupied with making it easier for advertisers to buy. Integrations with Albertsons, Instacart... Criteo may not look like an obvious match because they compete, but I need to push there because my buyers want to meet their commerce media networks. In 25 years of development, the main signal didn't evolve: the cookie. Cookie depreciation drove an evolution in examining signals and consumer privacy. First-party data has always been high-fidelity and high-performing; cookie depreciation has driven innovation, particularly in data-sharing/clean rooms. Is Yap excited that cookies aren't being deprecated? Yeah. We're a 3rd-party company—we had to reevaluate signals and innovate. Cookies provide an option, another signal—but because of what we went through, we better understand the other signals out there. Is Google a black box? Yap switches to focusing on the customer's needs, and how that has driven transparency and partnerships. No surprise, Yap can't comment on the Google anti-trust trial, but does mention Google has helped out a lot of businesses big and small. Yes, customers are curious, but not much he can say about the whole deal...

Want to learn more about how OpenX can help with Privacy Sandbox and maintain addressability in a cookieless world? Don't take my word for it, listen to what our partner and incredibly respected industry brand Mediavine has shared!

𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝘆 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗼? The most interesting media announcement in media in the last month was the Microsoft & Criteo partnership. 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝘆: first, I used to be a Partner Manager in a software firm and used to have to try and make partnerships work with the likes of HP, Symantec etc How these deals were structured in the background was eye-popping in terms of complexity. What was the most interesting aspect of these deals is that they only go 2 ways (for the most part): 1. They break up in tears. 2. They lead to a closer partnership & often end up in an acquisition. So, could 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝘆 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗼? Let's have a quick look at the evidence: 1. Microsoft have "got religion" on advertising in the last few years, having previously not had much of a story there. They bought PromoteIQ in 2019, which had a few key clients (one of which - Kroger - has now moved on) but nothing like the 200+ footprint of Criteo in retail media (see p.4 / p5 of attached). 2. The recent announcement said they would "bring Microsoft Advertising’s extensive demand to Criteo’s global network of 225 retailers" 𝘈𝘒𝘈 𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 & 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴. - MSoft have 500k+ active advertiser clients. 3 "Microsoft Advertising intends to work with Criteo as its preferred onsite media partner extending Criteo to Microsoft Advertising’s retailer clients". 𝘚𝘢𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘐𝘘 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩, 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘰 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴. 4. Microsoft are killing it with AI integrations & their cloud capabilities. They have AI-powered Retail Media Creative Studio, which makes it easier for advertisers to create and optimise their ad creatives at scale with the power of gen AI. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲? -> Microsoft are among the best partner-first organisation business in the world (compared to, say, Oracle, who have just closed their ad network). ->    Retail media represents 16% of global advertising spending,growing rapidly & is a new 'game' that Google/Meta have no real foothold in. -> The only other big kahuna to care about is Amazon, who coincidentally have an advertising networks and a cloud business. -> The Retail Media business for Criteo is only $50m in Q1 2024, growing 20% YOY, but the performance business is flat. Given that the Criteo is based on a series of acquisitions e.g Hooklogic, the performance business could be sold off. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗼? 𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙟𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜. Microsoft could buy WPP and Criteo for about $11bn at today's prices (see slide 6) Microsoft valuation today: $3.33 trillion. That is 12 zeros! Nick Manning

Are you working with a trusted partner to navigate the deprecation of the third-party cookie? We're innovating with partners like Mediavine to ensure our advertisers can access efficient cookieless solutions and publishers can continue to monetize their content without disruption. Read more about the first successful server-to-server integration in the Privacy Sandbox:

Third-party cookie deprecation means a new era of programmatic advertising, and buyers need a streamlined way to assess cookieless offerings. We partnered with OpenX to achieve the first successful server-to-server integration in the Privacy Sandbox.

Google is removing the 0 Priority Level for PMAX 🚨 So what’s changing? Previously, PMAX campaigns were automatically prioritized over Standard Shopping when targeting the same products. Now, the highest Ad Rank will win, allowing more direct competition between campaigns. This change comes with several complications for advertisers and retailers: 1️⃣ Google indirectly admits to limited control over Shopping Auctions or that the current auction activity is too conservative when using PMAX. This raises concerns about how well performance and budgets will be managed moving forward. 2️⃣ Brand campaigns will now compete directly with generic terms. If you're running a separate brand campaign on Standard Shopping and using negative keywords on PMAX, these campaigns will now compete equally. This means generic terms could start triggering in your brand campaigns, affecting targeting. 3️⃣ Lack of clarity from Google on how Standard Shopping priority levels will be affected. Google is not being direct about how this update will impact Standard Shopping campaigns that rely on priority settings. 4️⃣ The timing of this update, just before the holiday season, feels like a sign that Google is panicking. Are they anticipating slower growth or even declines for retailers? Or is this about increasing auction pressure to boost shareholder value? Either way, it’s scary. 😱 Advertisers, stay alert—this change could have a major impact on your campaigns, especially during the critical Q4 period. What are your thoughts on this update? #GoogleAds #PMax

This eCommerce brand started Google ads for the first time and generated more revenue than Facebook ads. So, most eCommerce businesses emphasize Meta ads. One D2C fashion brand was doing Meta ads for several years but recently they were experiencing losses. We insisted the founders try Google ads only for three months. Because after detailed market research, we found out 50,000 people were actively searching for the product every single month. As we were not in Google we were losing that traffic. From the second month only we achieved more revenue than facebook ads. And we found more prepaid orders and less cancellations in Google ads compared to Meta (Facebook) ads. So never assume, which ad platform will be best for you. Only data will tell you the truth. #Googleads #shopify #d2c

Temu spent US$2 billion on Meta ads in 2023. Temu was Meta’s top-spending advertiser in 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, spending nearly US$2 billion on the platform as part of a marketing blitz fueling the two-year-old shopping app’s explosive growth. Temu also was a top five spender on Google ads, according to the report. Meta and Google executives have previously highlighted Asian advertisers as a key source of ad revenue growth, without disclosing specifics. And Temu’s heavy spending has roiled other online sellers like Etsy, whose CEO told analysts late last year that Temu and fellow Asian e-commerce giant Shein were “single handedly” impacting online ad prices. A Temu spokesperson disputed the $2 billion figure to the Journal, but didn’t provide additional figures. Temu has rapidly grown since its launch in September 2022 and had more than 51 million U.S. users on its app in January according to Sensor Tower data. But some U.S. lawmakers are pushing for a ban on imports of goods sold on Temu, The Information previously reported, arguing that the company doesn’t do enough to prevent forced labor in its supply chain. https://lnkd.in/gxzrvjn2