Retail media is another favorite topic around here (we’re VERY popular at parties). Instacart just launched Instacart Platform, which includes Carrot Ads, which run on retail websites that use Instacart technology; Carrot Warehouses fulfillment services, and Carrot Insights for analytics. Kudos to Instacart for addressing the long-ignored shortage of vegetable-themed martech.
Industry-specific CDPs are one of the trends we’re tracking. Informatica just added another to the list with its Intelligent Data Management Cloud for Retail. It includes unified customer profiles to enable personalized digital shopping experiences, support for privacy compliance including customer data access requests , and help with operational chores including supplier and inventory management.
No topic inspires as much discussion as cookieless advertising. NBCUniversal added to the chatter with news about its One Platform, which includes a proprietary ID graph of 150 million individuals. The latest developments let advertisers append external data to the NBCU ID. Other news includes a partnership with Salesforce and Mediaocean to automate programmatic TV buying workflows, use of contextual signals to personalize ad creative, and certification of new measurement partners that are not Nielsen.
It’s tough to get brand safety right, but the industry keeps trying. IPG Mediabrands announced a new set of tools to find and block inappropriate ad placements, while IAS expanded its suitability measurements to include standards from the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). Meanwhile, DoubleVerify admitted a mistake made brand safety on X/Twitter look worse than it really was in October 2023 and March 2024.