WARC (January 4)
“Quite simply, most advertisers just aren’t ready for the world that comes next.” Google has begun its six-month phase out of tracking cookies. “Nearly three-quarters (73%) of UK marketers are not well prepared for the withdrawal of third-party cookies, while a majority (58%) of global marketing leaders lack a working understanding of how changing privacy regulations will affect their work.” Google’s move “will fire the starting gun on a deep process of adaptation across the online ecosystem.”
Tags: Adaptation, Advertisers, Google, Marketers, Online ecosystem, Prepared, Privacy regulations, Process, Tracking cookies, UK, Withdrawal
New York Times (July 11)
“A deal to ensure that data from Meta, Google and scores of other companies can continue flowing between the United States and the European Union was completed on Monday, after the digital transfer of personal information between the two jurisdictions had been thrown into doubt because of privacy concerns.” It may ultimately prove a temporary patch, but the E.U.-U.S. Data Privacy Framework marks “the final step in a yearslong process,” resolving “a dispute about American intelligence agencies’ ability to gain access to data about European Union residents.” Guard rails will now allow some data collection, but the subjects will be able to object and challenge the collection.
Tags: Collection, Data, Deal, Digital transfer, Dispute, E.U.-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, Google, Guard rails, Intelligence agencies, Jurisdictions, Meta, Object, Personal information, Privacy
WARC (April 13)
“Search marketing is on the cusp of its most consequential transformation since Google first introduced its sponsored keyword search auction over 20 years ago, and the more recent introduction of the use of data and algorithms to provide greater personalisation in search results.” As we move into the Search 3.0 era, it will be “defined as much by image or video as text, and by artificial intelligence and natural language processing, in which marketers shift from targeting keywords to targeting intent and context.”
Tags: AI, Algorithms, Auction, Consequential, Data, Google, Image, Intent, Keywords, Marketing, Natural language processing, Personalisation, Search 3.0, Transformation, Video
TechCrunch (February 11)
“Google is flailing” as it now tries to rush its AI strategy. In contrast, Microsoft seems to be nearing a break-away moment. “The move to integrate the latest GPT model… with Bing and Edge is a kind of forced hail mary, its last and best play in the search engine world.” This move has “clearly rattled” Google, causing its “leadership to swiftly transition from anxiety to full-on flop sweat.”
Tags: AI, Anxiety, Bing, Edge, Flailing, Google, GPT model, Hail mary, Integrate, Leadership, Microsoft, Rattled, Rush, Search engine, Strategy
IR Magazine (November 11)
“It was a bad few weeks for tech companies with the Twitter and Meta layoffs, and then Amazon lost $1 tn in market value….For perspective, that’s almost like losing what Google’s parent Alphabet is worth, which is now around $1.13 tn. The loss makes Amazon the first public company ever to lose $1 tn.”
Tags: $1 tn, Alphabet, Amazon, Bad, Google, Layoffs, Loss, Market value, Meta, Tech companies, Twitter
The Economist (September 18)
For years, digital advertising has been “largely impervious to the business cycle” and “dominated” by Google and Meta. These “verities” may be falling as companies tighten marketing budgets. “Until recently, that would have meant cutting non-digital ads but maintaining, or even raising, online spending. With most ad dollars now going online, that strategy is running out of road. Last quarter Meta reported its first-ever year-on-year decline in revenues. Snap, a smaller rival, is laying off a fifth of its workforce.”
Tags: Business cycle, Decline, Digital advertising, Dominated, Google, Impervious, Marketing budgets, Meta, Non-digital ads, Online spending, Revenues, Rival, Snap, Strategy
Financial Times (May 9)
To increase market access and streamline operations, “many of the world’s largest financial exchanges are transforming the way they run global capital markets” by adopting cloud computing technologies. CME Group “will move its IT infrastructure and markets to the cloud” through a partnership with Google while “Nasdaq and Amazon Web Services announced a similar collaboration” to transfer Nasdaq’s “North America-based markets to a cloud computing environment.” As the transition progresses, AI and quantum computing look poised to play more integral roles.
Tags: AI, AWS, Capital markets, Cloud computing, CME Group, Collaboration, Financial exchanges, Global, Google, IT infrastructure, Market access, Markets, Nasdaq, Operations, Streamline, Transforming
San Francisco Chronicle (February 23)
“For American tech companies seeking talent, Ukraine’s highly educated population, with heavy emphasis on sought-after STEM specialties, is appealing, as is the fact that salaries there are about one-third to one-quarter of those for comparable jobs in the Bay Area.” Now these tech companies (including Google, Snap, Oracle, Grammarly, Ring, and JustAnswer) are urgently “revising contingency plans to protect their workers and businesses.”
Tags: Bay Area, Contingency plans, Educated, Google, JustAnswer, Oracle, Protect, Salaries, Snap, STEM, Talent, Tech companies, Ukraine
Seattle Times (August 4)
“In a sign of growing momentum for vaccine mandates, Microsoft has reversed course and will now require employees to be fully vaccinated to enter the company’s U.S. offices and other worksites.” The revised policy “follows similar moves last week by other employers including tech rivals Google and Facebook, along with Disney and Walmart.”
Tags: Disney, Employees, Employers, Facebook, Google, Mandates, Microsoft, Momentum, Offices, Policy, U.S., Vaccine, Walmart, Worksites
Bloomberg (January 25)
Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is “ridiculous” on many fronts, but France’s recent $57 million fine of Google suggest much worse. If they are merely making “an example of Google,” this suggests “Europe intends to wield these rules — as it does so many others — to punish Silicon Valley giants and protect local rivals.” If on the other hand, they are planning to hit every company with crushing fines, that suggests even worse.
Tags: Crushing fines, Europe, France, GDPR, Google, Local rivals, Protect, Punish, Ridiculous, Silicon Valley
