How badly have marketers been hit by the pandemic? More than half – 55% — reported a budget cut, according to this Chief Marketer study. The marketing mix is also changing, with growth in social media, content marketing, influencer marketing, and email. Losers include search marketing, referrals, and, of course, live events.

The other side of customer tracking by advertisers is identity management by customers. Blockchain platform Dragonchain has just spun off a new company called MyFii to develop its decentralized identity solution, which splits customer information into pieces that can be stored separately. Companies can then verify identities based on the fragments, thus avoiding the risk of storing personal identifiers. Clever.

Customer engagement platform Twilio has announced new platform capabilities, including the general availability of Twilio Segment’s Event-Triggered Journeys, supporting personalization based on customer intent signals in real time. In addition, Data Residency (EU) will ensure that email sending and event data are managed within the EU region, both for compliancy and customer trust. WhatsApp Business Calling will enable conversations with customers in another important channel using Twilio’s Programmable Voice Platform.