CDP Institute

With all the excitement about AI taking over from humans, using no-code systems to make human work easier seems a bit old-fashioned. But people are here to stay, at least for a while. So let’s note that Tealium has just introduced Data Connect, which lets users build batch data import processes from over 1,000 sources without coding.

Don’t get me started on misuse of the term “composable” by some software vendors. But the label does apply properly Rally, whose ecommerce checkout component offers direct integrations with major ecommerce platforms and true “headless” components for other products.  They just raised a $12 million Series A.

APIs are the “A” in MACH, the architecture checklist that defines true composable systems.  This Nylas survey shows why APIs matter: half (53%) of the developers who responded said they could build an email integration in one to five months to build without using APIs, but Nylas’ own experience shows it really takes one year with three developers working on the project. It goes a lot quicker if an API is used instead.

Third-party cookie deprecation lets Google please privacy advocates while harming competitors.  Lest the competitive benefits become too clear, the company is eager to show that advertisers can get acceptable results from alternatives like contextual targeting, interest-based cohorts, and publishers’ first-party data.  It just released a test concluding exactly that: ad campaigns without third party cookies performed only a little worse than those using cookies. (Details here.) They mention but don’t stress that the test doesn’t consider lost measurement or retargeting.

Google has a lot on its collective mind, from renaming its FLEDGE ad targeting API (now Protected Audience API) to watching another nine states join the anti-trust lawsuit   filed by eight other states and federal Department of Justice.   But they still had time to join the verification parade with a new, blue badge for advertisers.  The spread of verification seems to reflect a broad social worry about knowing who to trust, but maybe I’m over-thinking.

What must worry Google above all is the decline in search marketing itself.  You’ll recall we reported last week that search’s share of U.S. Internet ad spend has been falling.  Today I’ll add this Jungle Scout report that people are starting their online shopping searches less with “search engines” (presumably mostly Google) and Amazon, and more with Walmart and TikTok.  Yikes!

Have you been wondering when Amazon Web Services would join Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure in offering generative AI tools? Wonder no more: they announced a collection of services last week that will let developers build AI chatbots and other tools using pretrained models from Anthropic, AI21, Stability AI, and Amazon’s very own Titan family.

Blue badges are the new black: LinkedIn has joined the verification party with a so-far free and voluntary program that offers several ways for members to prove their identity and employer. With programs like this and growing demands for social media to verify young users’ ages and identities, get ready to master the intricacies of identify verification. And start wondering what happens to people who can’t or don’t want to participate.

Here’s the latest twist in the media measurement saga: Nielsen’s flagship National TV Audience Measurement service has been re-accredited by the Media Ratings Council. The service was de-accredited in September 2021, in a move that seemed inconceivable until it happened.

Software companies often have consulting arms, but it’s relatively rare for consultancies to launch a packaged software product. Today’s exception to the rule is Predictable, a suite of plug-and-play predictive models from customer data consultancy Actable. It connects with existing CDPs or cloud data warehouses.

The freedom-at-any-price Republican Party has once again clarified that its concern extends only to freedoms it likes. Since watching TikTok isn’t on the list, the GOP-led Montana legislature just passed a law forbidding residents from using TikTok. The governor is expected to sign shortly.

Fear of TikTok keeping you up at night? Run this list of identity verification stats through a text-to-speech converter and play the output while you’re in bed. The good news: you’ll be snoring in minutes. The bad news: you’ll probably have nightmares.