Let Us Read All Your Emails Because Reasons: [YES] [NO]

Today In Digital Marketing is a daily podcast and daily newsletter showcasing the latest in marketing trends and updates.

This week, Tod touches on:

• Shein's influencer marketing misstep triggers industry-wide repercussions.
• FTC's updated endorsement guides for creators and brands emphasize the need for clear and conspicuous disclosures in influencer marketing.
• Pinterest's test of a system that scans users' emails to understand their interests raises privacy concerns.
• MediaMath, one of the oldest ad tech companies, files for bankruptcy protection after unsuccessful negotiations with potential buyers.
• Microsoft's introduction of Predictive Targeting for ads promises to find new audiences more likely to convert.
• A YouTube scammer who stole over $23 million in royalties is sentenced to five years, marking a significant case in digital copyright infringement.

How a Bad PR Campaign Could Change Influencer Marketing

It seemed like such a great idea.

Shein, the Chinese fast fashion brand which got insanely popular on TikTok and Instagram, invited a bunch of influencers to tour some of its factories, in an apparent move to counter labor exploitation accusations that plague the company.

Flew them to China, put them up in swanky accommodations, paid them.

So, little surprise when the Shein video had clips like this in it:

But when the influencers came home, and Shein's videos started rolling out, the backlash started. And many of those influencers, who seemed so impressed by the brand and its apparently ethical practices, changed their tune.

The creators' explanations were not well received. Some of the comments on that video included:

Users even started sharing parody videos about the whole thing.

When brand trips turn into brand slips — especially as big of a slip as this one — it has a bigger impact than just this campaign.

Industry Watches for Rippling Effect

Indeed, Digiday reports today that Shein's influencer controversy could change how brands work with creators across the entire industry.

Quoting the report:

The whole kerfuffle has agency executives questioning the benefits of using creators and influencers to restore brand image and it remains to be seen what ripple effects, if any, will take hold of the influencer marketing space after the dust has settled.
For the most part, consumers trust influencers... However, consumers are more savvy than they’ve ever been, scoffing at inauthentic partnerships in which influencers are accused of selling out for ad dollars.

Analysis: A More Human Approach

Marcus Collins is a marketing professor, former head of strategy at a large New York agency, and author of the book For the Culture, which looks at how influencer marketing is shaping our world.

I spoke with him this afternoon:

It's not good to manufacture truth.
However, as marketers, we often find the nice silver shiny part of the object to highlight that. Even though it also means obfuscating the five other things that may not be so good.
I think that to be much more human about our marketing communications about the products we bring to market requires us to say, "Hey, how would I want a human being to talk to me about this? Not me as a customer or consumer, but real life human beings. How would I want someone to tell me about this thing?"
That requires us being much more human to think about interacting with humans, not companies communicating with customers.
TOD: I think what you're describing is an ideal world, but is ideal something that marketers can realistically do when they're also dealing with sales targets and market pressures?
We've seen marketers do it.
Patagonia is a great example of this. Patagonia used to do a good and bad project where they would show the good they were doing to live up to the precepts of their brand about minimizing the invasiveness of humans on the earth. They also show "these are the parts we're not doing so well, and these are the parts we need to get better at. This is where we have issues."
And it's that level of transparency that people [think]: I trust Patagonia. I trust them.

The FTC Has New Rules for Brands and Creators

So while the marketing industry this week grapples with shifting reception to influencers, the American trade regulator is taking steps to get ahead of the discussion, this week updating its Endorsement Guides, which govern how brands and creators disclose connections.

There are a lot of new rules, so let's go through them.

• A hashtag '#ad' or similar disclosure in a TikTok caption is no longer sufficient; it must be overlaid on the video itself.
• "De-influencing" campaigns require disclosure if an influencer criticizes a competitor they endorse.
• Tagging a brand is not enough to disclose a relationship.
• Specific disclosure is required for sponsored content on blogs or social pages, a blanket disclosure won't suffice.
• Disclosures cannot be hidden behind links, even if labeled as "DISCLOSURE".
• For Facebook posts, including a disclosure in the comments is not enough.
• "Thank you" or "Thanks Brand" is not enough to communicate that an endorser got something for free.
• "Gifted," by itself, is also not a sufficient disclosure for a free product.
• Unsolicited gift products must be clearly disclosed by influencers, and they should be instructed on how to disclose and tag the brand.
• Disclosing sponsored content only at the bottom of a blog or ad is not enough. It must be placed where it easily catches consumers' attention and is difficult to miss.

The FTC says that foreign creators making content that will be seen by U.S. consumers must also comply with their rules, though I think the jury is still out on how an American regulator would have legal jurisdiction in another country.

The new policies also apply to some retail spaces as well. For instance:

• Review links can no longer be sent exclusively to satisfied customers.
• Brands can not ask customers who left negative reviews to change or delete their reviews.

Image: Canva

Pinterest Wants To Scan Users' Emails

Looking to improve ad targeting? Perhaps you should consider asking customers for their email passwords.

That's essentially what Pinterest is thinking about. The company has applied for a patent to scan users' email inboxes for things they like.

Don't Be Suspicious... Don't Be Suspicious... Don't Be Suspicious

According to Patent Drop, a newsletter that tracks registered patents, Pinterest described how the concept would work. First, users would somehow be convinced to connect their email account to their Pinterest account.

Then, the engine would essentially scrape their inbox looking for topic information to personalize that person's Pinterest experience, making boards and posts more personalized. And maybe provide advertisers with some first-party data to be used for interest targeting.

The system could find new topics of interest, update existing topics, or 'simply record the information as user data.'

Quoting Social Media Today:

… I’m not sure that this is going to pass the GDPR test - but conceptually, if you were to gain user permission, and ensure that their personal info was not misused after being accessed, it could be another way to better understand user preferences, then show them related content according to their interests.

Though I can’t see many people giving Pinterest the go-ahead to scan their private messages.

Image: Canva

MediaMath To File For Bankruptcy

Another loss for the ad tech industry today, as MediaMath is reportedly filing for bankruptcy protection after failing to secure a buyer in recent weeks.

Earlier today, employees were told the company would shut down operations in the coming months, according to AdExchanger.

MediaMath is known for launching one of the first-ever DSPs, but the company has been plagued by financial issues.

Digiday notes that this development will have serious repercussions throughout the digital media landscape, resulting in financial losses for several sell-side ad tech companies, mostly publishers, with debts amounting to tens of millions.

Image: Canva

Microsoft Launches Predictive Targeting

More automation is coming to Microsoft Ads. The company rolled out predictive targeting to all advertisers this week.

How it Works

The AI-based ad tool uses data advertisers provide, like existing ads and landing pages, combined with Microsoft’s audience data to deliver the ad to a relevant audience.

The tool automatically targets ads to the audiences most likely to convert without requiring marketers to build an audience-targeting strategy manually. The company claims that the new ad tool can increase conversion rates by almost 50%.

Set it Up

In order to integrate the feature into your marketing campaigns, you need to toggle on an ad group setting in audience campaigns.

Predictive Targeting will now be the default targeting option for your audience campaigns. Meaning you won't specify a target audience, Microsoft will automatically select one for your ads.

If you don’t want to use the feature, you can add an audience target and switch off the Predictive Targeting toggle from the ad group settings in your campaign.

Images: Microsoft

YouTube: The Sound of Swindling

A man involved in one of the largest music-royalty frauds in history has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for stealing more than $23 million in YouTube song royalties.

Jose Teran was sentenced to 70 months by a U.S. federal judge this week. The Register reports that Teran and his accomplice orchestrated an elaborate scheme where they falsely claimed ownership of about 50,000 songs to collect royalty payments. Teran pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in January.

From YouTube Scam to Slammer

The operation involved searching YouTube to find non-monetized songs. The two men then set up a company to falsely claim ownership of these tracks and collect royalties from Google. Their company profited each time one of the songs was played on YouTube. Teran personally pocketed more than $6.2 million from the scam.

Even after being indicted, he continued to receive royalty fees through the shell company. Just twelve days after receiving a summons, he opened a bank account and transferred more than $190,000 of YouTube royalties to himself. He also expressed interest to remain in the music industry.

Image: Canva

Twitter Turns Off Logged-Out Browsing

And finally, Twitter appears to have quietly rolled out a significant change to its platform. Now, you must be logged in to see any tweet.

Previously, if you had a link to a tweet you could read it, but had to log in to like it, reply to it, retweet it, and so on. Now, on the web site, you can't even see it. Platformer reports the plan is to implement this on its mobile apps as well.

The move may be designed to stop screen scrapers from using the free content to bulk up large language models.

What's weird about this, as SocialMediaToday.com noted today, is that Twitter relies on logged-out browsing to prop up its argument that it's a good corporate citizen.

Their European disclosure site reads:

Twitter makes most of its content accessible to non-authenticated users. Persons without a Twitter account, or logged-out Twitter users, are able to access most content on Twitter.com without being required to log in. This accessibility is fundamental to Twitter’s mission to serve the public conversation and help ensure the freedom of expression and access to information of its users.

Oops.

When that started making the rounds today, Elon Musk — internationally recognized for his ability to make a decision and stick to it — has apparently changed his mind, and now says this was a temporary measure all along.

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

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