Maximizing Holiday eCommerce Conversions (cohereOne.com)

Dotdash Meredith (DDM) has launched an ad targeting tool that it says provides intent-based targeting without cookies. The new product, D/Cipher, connects advertisers and consumers in key moments of intent across DDM’s 40+ brands, on all devices and platforms, the company claims. In addition, D/Cipher provides access to Apple (iOS) audiences. This group, which comprises more than 50% of U.S. digital users, has been unreachable by advertising cookies for the past two years.

Sears perfected the direct-to-consumer (DTC) model, long before DTC was widely known. Macy’s continued it with its legendary Christmas catalogs, as did many others, but the Sears catalog was the Gold Standard. While the catalog fell out of favor over the past 15 years or so, it is making a comeback. According to eMarketer, DTC revenues grew about 24% in 2020, and the marketing push by brands is driving much of that. DTC is the promotion and sale of products to consumers directly by the brands or manufacturers, effectively eliminating the in-store experience. While brands often do have physical retail stores, they are increasingly marketing their products directly to consumers. One of the ways they are doing that in 2021 is through catalogs mailed directly to homes. “We are seeing a huge resurgence in direct mail,” Polly Wong, president of Belardi Wong, a direct mail company for top brands such as Parachute, Levi’s, Untuckit, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and more. much more at source: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/brands-turn-the-page-back-to-catalogs-as-powerful-dtc-marketing-tool

Google researchers warn in a report that "mass production of low quality, spam-like and nefarious synthetic content" created by AI may promote distrust of all digital information. The paper presents tactics in generative AI (GAI) misuse. The researchers observed and analyzed approximately 200 incidents of misuse reported between January 2023 and March 2024. The group identifies patterns such as potential motivations, strategies, and how attackers leverage and abuse system capabilities across images, text, audio, and video.