Deep thinkers in the advertising world recognize that a single ad is rarely the only reason someone makes a purchase. But one-touch attribution is irresistibly simple. Sam’s Club has just announced it will link in-store purchases to online search ads within its retail ad network, giving many marketers what they want even if they know better.
When it comes to bad ideas, letting ChatGPT loose to read the entire Internet could rank with the worst. OpenAI has so far avoided that one, but they are offering controlled extensions of the system’s knowledge base by adding third-party plugins for data from selected partners. Initial sources include Expedia, FiscalNote, Instacart, KAYAK, Klarna, Milo, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Speak, Wolfram, and Zapier, which all sound pretty benign although Zapier could be a gateway to pretty much anything.
Sam’s Club parent Walmart is expanding its own retail media offerings through a deal with Innovid, which specializes in delivering connected TV ads. Innovid technology will power Walmart DSP, which helps people buy ads on the Walmart Connect retail media network. The deal covers ads targeted at Walmart customers but delivered outside of Walmart’s own website.
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.