Monthly brandtech blend – November 2019

Highlights from Advertising Week and ANA’s Masters of Marketing

Last month was ANA’s annual Masters of Marketing conference, which followed the New York Advertising week. Between the recent announcement of California’s CCPA privacy act and the shifting role of the CMO, there was much to discuss at this year’s edition of the famous ANA marketing rendezvous. The continued growth of the in-housing trend was a hot topic, as was the rise of audio and data privacy as a way to rebuild trust with the consumer. Last but not least, the increasing necessity for brands to have a defined purpose was a key takeaway. While D2C companies have a natural talent for the latter, which could explain their absence at these conferences, legacy brands are still struggling to keep up.

Read more about Masters of Marketing Week in Digiday and about Advertising Week in Forbes.

California’s new privacy act is (almost) here

Last month, the first draft of California’s new privacy act was published. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will take effect on January 1st, 2020, after which point companies will have six months to comply. Their compliance seems to have a cost – estimated at an average of $2 million in initial costs for companies with more than 500 employees, according to a report released by the state’s Department of Finance. The good news is that the act borrows some elements from Europe’s GDPR, which many companies based in California have had to comply with since last year, reducing the global compliance cost of this new state law.

Learn more from CNBC.

Edelman’s report “In Brands We Trust” finds trust is fundamental to brand performance

Only one third of consumers say that they trust most of the brands they buy from on a regular basis. Among 16,000 respondents from 8 different countries, 81% believe that trusting a brand is a key factor when considering a purchase. This report shows the growing importance of trusting brands: if consumers trust a brand’s product, societal impact, and customer service, they are 21% more likely to stay loyal to and advocate for that brand. However, the report also underlines how brands are widely failing this trust test, as 56% of the respondents say that too many brands are using social issues as a marketing ploy.

Learn more with this AdNews summary or download the full report here.

Taboola and Outbrain to merge

Last month, the two native advertising giants announced their merger. Taboola and Outbrain will unite under the name Taboola and the shareholders of Outbrain will receive a total of 30% of the two companies combined. The two companies, both considered unicorns, announced that their combination will lead to $2 billion in annual gross revenue. The companies say that the merger will present advertisers with a solid alternative to Google and Facebook, even though they have both been facing ad fraud and brand safety concerns.

Learn more in Digiday.

Fallout for Facebook as it loses Libra members

The Libra project is off to a rough start… A week after PayPal announced its plan to leave the project, it was closely followed by eBay, Visa, Mastercard and Stripe. All founding partners of the Association – which was aimed at regulating the Libra Cryptocurrency project – seem to have yielded to government pressure, realizing the project might be unable to meet all regulatory requirements. Many users have also been critical of the project, which could be another reason why companies have gotten cold feet.

Read more in TechCrunch.