CDP Institute

You’re probably heard about IAB CEO David Cohen’s blistering attack on privacy advocates.  Here’s why he cares: 64% of advertisers told Wpromote their campaigns were less successful after Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency, which requires user permission to track their behaviors.  Lots more here on alternatives to third party cookies (Google’s Topics API is leading the horse race), data clean rooms, state privacy regulations, and using CDPs for advertising.

Privacy is just one front in the Big Tech wars.  The U.S. government opened another yesterday with a report charging that Apple and Google use their app stores to stifle competition.  No, it wasn’t written by Jamie from our Department of the Obvious.

The Turing Test for artificial intelligence relied on humans to judge whether they were talking to a computer.  The shoe is now on the other foot, or would be if computers had feet: OpenAI has released a tool that uses AI to judge whether an article was written by a human.  Paging Philip K. Dick.

Is something missing in your life? If it’s news about Data Clean Rooms, we can fix that. LiveRamp and Neustar  have both launched identity resolution solutions for the AWS Clean Rooms service. You’re welcome.

Et tu, HubSpot? One of martech shining stars, Boston-based CRM-and-everything-else platform HubSpot, has followed the latest industry trend by cutting staff. The company announced it yesterday that it is firing 7% of its workforce. That would be about 500 ex-HubSpotters pursuing new opportunities.

Not every tech vendor is cutting back. Customer engagement platform OneSignal announced a new investment from ServiceNow Ventures of undisclosed size. The funding extends OneSignal’s previously-announced $50 million Series C, which brought its total raise to $82 million.

The rise of retail media networks continues to fascinate. This ANA study is less enthusiastic than most, reporting that 85% of current advertisers feel pressured by retail partners to use their network and only 31% see it as a valuable marketing tool. Just 11% of non-users have plans to join the party.

Media agency professionals had a more positive attitude towards retail media in this Criteo survey, ranking it first in return on ad spend compared with Connected TV, audio, search, social media, and metaverse ads, although the differences are small. They particularly liked being able to tie retail media ads directly to sales results.

Return on investment is important but what about sustainability? Well, 95% of IT leaders said it’s high priority for their own companies and when picking suppliers. But 87% said they’d ultimately prioritize commercial objectives over sustainability when faced with economic challenges. Are you surprised?

Retailers are super-excited about “composable” architectures, with 91% considering it important, according to this MACH Alliance survey.  (MACH stands for Micro-Services, API-First, Cloud Native, and Headless, which is a good tech checklist for true composability.)  But just 2% say their systems are fully composable today.  The focus here is largely on in-store technology; Customer Data Platforms don’t show up in the discussion.  

The National Auto Dealers Association trade show wrapped up yesterday, leaving behind more evidence that industry-focused CDPs are growing.  Announcements included a “full-scale customer data platform” called Audience IQ from Force Marketing, and new features for the “Customer Data and Experience Platform” from DAS Technology.  DAS just changed its name from Digital Air Strike, which was so much cooler.

Raise your hand if your company’s Chief Information Officer is a “changemaker”.  Now, lower your hand if you’re a CIO yourself.  I thought so.  This Foundry report says 85% of CIOs think they’re becoming changemakers and 68% say they are leading revenue-generating initiatives.  They have a more realistic view of current priorities, listing operational efficiency and cybersecurity at the top.