IAB Finds Second-Half Ad Spending Better Than Planned, Full-Year Significantly Worse (mediapost.com)

Brands preparing for the end of the third-party cookie see one possible solution in email, judging by “Life after the third-party cookie,” a study by Lytics, done in conjunction with Sapio. Of the companies polled, 51% plan to spend more on email, and many see first-party data as critical to this effort. In general, 92% say first-party data is more important than ever. The most popular ways of using first-party data are to: *Create personalized content on websites — 56% *Predict customer behavior — 54% *Create more personalized emails — 48%. Almost half believe the end of third-party cookies will have a great impact on their marketing ROI. This includes 55% of financial-services marketers; 46% of beauty brands, 54% of media companies and 57%. of advertisers with budgets between $10 and $20 million.

We’ve just wrapped up our 8-part blog series on “Breakthrough Creative.” Hopefully, we’ve given you ideas and examples of how to improve your brand’s creative efforts—from storytelling techniques, to tips on photography and copywriting, to research, to better use of data. I understand all too well that the hardest part is yet to come—actually putting these ideas into action. Actually doing the work and investing the time, energy and money to get it right are easier said than done. So, now that we’ve armed you with some pointers on the things to do, I thought I’d give you some advice on what NOT to do. Here are three traps to avoid which will ultimately affect a healthy ROI. Learn what NOT to do at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/breakthrough-creative-creative-killers/

In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind boast, Cox Media Group claimed in marketing materials that it can use microphones in smartphones and other web connected devices to listen in on people's conversations, and then target ads to people based on those conversations. “It's True. Your Devices Are Listening to You,” the Cox Media Group (CMG) Local Solutions division wrote on a website (now archived) touting “active listening” technology. “With Active Listening, CMG can now use voice data to target your advertising to the EXACT people you are looking for.”