Born Digital, Raised Brand-Savvy

Today In Digital Marketing is a daily podcast and daily newsletter showcasing the latest in marketing trends and updates. This week, Tod touches on:

• Insights into marketing strategies for the emerging Gen Alpha demographic.
• TikTok is testing "PrivacyGo" in an attempt to align ad targeting with data privacy shifts.
• TikTok plans to make its algorithm optional in Europe.
• Amazon's online advertising unit reports over $10 billion in Q2 earnings.
• X updates ad formats to make ad disclosure a much less obvious.
• Google Ads experienced outages yesterday, but it’s fixed now.
• Threads sees a decline, losing over 80% of its daily active users.
• TikTok competitor Triller takes steps to go public.
• Apple patent suggests Siri could soon read lips for improved interaction.

Gen Alpha: Preparing Brands for the Next Consumer Generation

Bye-bye Big Bird.

A new study from marketing agency Razorfish has found that Generation Alpha — thats kids aged up to 13 years old right now — favours adult-focused brands over "kiddie brands" even before they reach their teens.

The internet has played a big role in speeding up the generation's brand maturity compared to previous generations. Before the age of six, more than 40% of Alphas have already used a tablet, and more than half have used video game consoles before they turn seven.

Gen Alpha's Mindful Pursuit

According to the study, three-quarters of 8- to 10-year-olds are already thinking about mental health, which will likely become a major driving force behind brand affinity and purchase consideration.

And, though this might surprise you, nearly three-quarters of Alphas say they prefer spending time outdoors and reducing tech usage to manage their mental well-being.

For marketers looking to target this demographic, the study advises recognizing Gen Alpha's accelerated brand maturity.

"Don’t think of Alphas as younger Gen Zs. They’re already more Gen Z than Gen Z, at a younger age."

TikTok: Ad Targeting in the Privacy Era

TikTok is developing a new privacy-aware ad targeting tool for marketers called PrivacyGo, which the company says will let advertisers match their CRM data with TikTok's audience insights in a secure way.

This week, Business Insider reported that the process will function like a data clean room, where two parties share data, like email addresses and sales information, in a protected digital space. This ensures that the information can be used for ad targeting without compromising privacy regulations, as neither party gains access to the other's data.

According to TikTok, the process will use the same method the U.S. Government uses to analyze census data.

TikTok is currently testing PrivacyGo and plans to make it widely available soon.

TikTok To Let EU Users Opt-Out of Algorithmic Feeds

So while TikTok is taking a step towards privacy-focused ad targeting, it's also giving users in Europe the option to step away from personalized content — which could impact your brand's reach.

In response to the European Union's Digital Services Act, the platform announced today that it will soon let users turn off the personalized algorithm behind its For You and Live feeds.

• Users on those feeds will see popular videos from their region and worldwide, rather than content targeting their interests.
• But the "Following" and "Friends" feeds will appear in reverse-chronological order.

These changes align with the legislation's rules that require large online platforms to provide opt-out options for personalized content, which usually involves tracking and profiling user activity, when viewing content recommendations.

Changes to Ads for Teens

TikTok will also start excluding European users aged 13 to 17 from ad campaigns that target them based on their online activities, eliminating the need for manual opt-out.

Amazon’s Ad Business Brings in $10B

Amazon's earnings have been released, and its ad business is thriving as the digital ad market continues to show signs of improvement.

Yesterday, the e-commerce giant reported that its online ad division brought in more than $10 billion in sales in the second quarter, a 22% increase from the previous year. Overall sales for the quarter grew 10% year-over-year.

Amazon's online advertising now represents about 7% of the global digital ad market, according to Insider Intelligence. Alphabet and Meta continue to lead with 30% and 20% market share, respectively.

Shifting Ad Budgets

During the past year, however, CNBC notes that while Amazon’s advertising business has experienced growth, Meta’s core digital ad business has declined due to Apple’s privacy updates still affecting its ad platform. As a result, some companies, especially retailers, shifted ad budgets from Facebook and Instagram to Amazon's platform to boost sales.

Images: Canva / Amazon / CNBC

X Ads Going For More Camouflage Lewk

X has changed the way it presents ads on this platform by making them look more like regular posts in your feed... which I'm sure won't sound any alarms with the FTC.

The previous "Promoted" tag, which was prominently displayed at the bottom left of ads, has been replaced with a much smaller "Ad" label located at the top right of the post.

The platform is also experimenting with an updated ad display format that makes the main image look much more like a regular visual attachment, with a subtle in-image URL marker indicating the ad link, instead of a separate CTA bar.

Current FTC regulations state that all ads must be “clearly and conspicuously” signaled in-app. The updated “Ad” tag could still be prominent enough in this respect. But, as Social Media Today points out today, the combined changes might not pass the FTC sniff test.

Images: X / X News Daily

A couple of small updates…

It’s Not You, It’s Google

First, Google confirmed an issue with its Ads platform yesterday that was affecting most advertisers all day. Advertisers were getting notices saying "Google Ads can't complete your request right now. Please reload this page to try again."

The issue is now fixed.

The Start of the Threadocalypse?

Next, Meta's Twitter rival, Threads, has seen a staggering decline in daily active users, dropping more than 80% since its release a month ago, according to new reports from two different data analysis firms.

Engagement has also plummeted, with data indicating time spent on the app in all available markets peaked on July 6 at about 14 minutes a day. By Aug. 1, that time had been cut to 2 minutes.

Triller Files To Go Public

Last but not least, TikTok competitor Triller has teased its plans to go public for quite some time, and now, the short-form video platform seems to be on its way.

The company filed an S-1 this week, looking to directly list on the New York Stock Exchange.

And finally…

Siri might soon be able to read your lips.

A new patent application from Apple yesterday outlines a system for determining whether “motion data” matches a word or phrase to fix the woeful voice recognition issues plaguing Siri. Instead of using the device's camera, it would use motion sensors to track your every mouth twitch, neck, or head movement to decode your speech.

The system could potentially be integrated into iPhones, AirPods, or even "smart glasses," using motion-sensing technology to capture users' facial cues.

This means Apple might need a lot of data on how humans use their mouth parts... Pucker up.

Credit to Tod Maffin and the Today In Digital Marketing podcast, Produced by engageQ.com

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