📰 Google Ads Manager Gets A Big Update

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In today’s edition:

• A Google Ads Manager Update

• TikTok’s Monthly Trends Digest

• A New Campaign Monitor

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Hey everyone,

As you may have noticed, there was no edition last week as I was out sick. Thank you for your patience! That said, there’s a ton to catch up on, so prepare for a packed edition! Hold tight.

Newsletter aside, I shared a thread last week about the shift in social commerce and what that means for the future of consumer psychology. There are a lot of changes coming to social platforms as they push towards social commerce, and while this is exciting, I think there are relatively unforeseen downsides. If you’d like to learn more about my perspective, check out my thread below. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Alright, enough blabbering. Let’s get into it!

Happy learning,
Cory Dobbin

THE GOOGLE ADS 2.6 UPDATE

The February 2024 release of Google Ads Editor version 2.6 introduces several new features and updates. Highlights include support for migrating Google Display ads to Performance Max campaigns, the ability to create and manage Performance Max experiments, and new suggested fields for the "Add Responsive Display ad" recommendation. Additionally, it introduces Reserve CPM bidding strategy, multi-asset responsive video ads, enhanced system pause reasons filtering, inline audiences, and third-party measurement settings adjustments. Deprecated features include the removal of Local campaigns and legacy image assets, focusing on upgraded assets and functionalities. Many new things are happening here, so check out Google’s blog below for more details.

META DISCONTINUES NEWS IN US & AUS

In April 2024, Facebook News will be discontinued in the US and Australia, following its earlier deprecation in the UK, France, and Germany. This decision is part of an effort to align investments with services users (reportedly) value most, such as short-form video, reflecting the decreased usage of Facebook News in these regions. Users can still access news content through their feeds, and publishers can continue posting on Facebook Pages. This change does not affect existing agreements with news publishers in Australia, France, and Germany for now. Will this end up following the same path as Canada? Time will tell. Learn more on Meta’s blog below.

TIKTOK’S NEW MONTHLY TRENDS DIGEST

TikTok's Trends Digest is a new monthly series aimed at helping brands create engaging content by leveraging current trends. The guide differentiates between "Trend Moments" and "Trend Signals," providing a methodology for brands to engage effectively with trending content. It showcases examples and tools for brands to adapt and innovate within their content strategies. They feature the Maddie Knew, Of Course, and Comparison Slideshow trends this month. Check out the digest below!

REDDIT’S IPO WOES

As you may have heard, Reddit has planned its IPO with a price of ~$32 per share, asking for a $6.5B valuation. With this comes the release of their balance sheets, revealing some troubling information. For example, Reddit earned $800M in revenue last year but spent nearly $1B on various expenses. For a platform built on customer-generated content, you have to wonder where this money is going. The platform hasn’t meaningfully changed in functionality or appearance in years, so you’d expect workforce expenses to be lower than normal. Have you ever seen a Reddit ad in the wild? Me neither. Either way, the IPO appears to be moving forward, which represents the first major tech IPO of the year and the first social media IPO since Pinterest’s Wall Street debut in 2019. Check out CNBC’s article below for more details on the IPO.

INFLUENCERS ARE IN TROUBLE

A recent study examining 576 European influencers found that only 20% disclosed ads in their posts, violating EU consumer law. The sweep, led by the Belgian Directorate-General for Economic Inspection across multiple EU countries and platforms, revealed widespread non-compliance with regulations requiring transparency in commercial communications. Further investigations and enforcement actions are expected for those not adhering to the rules, highlighting a significant gap in ethical marketing practices among social media influencers in Europe. When the hammer falls, we should expect dramatic changes to the influencer marketing landscape. Check out AdWeek’s breakdown of this study below.

PINTEREST’S NEW GROOVES

1️⃣ First, Pinterest has launched an updated Business Manager, enhancing collaboration capabilities for brands and agencies. This upgrade allows users to create and share assets, invite and manage employees and partners, and customize permissions. Aligning Pinterest's features with those of Meta and TikTok, the new Business Manager simplifies collaboration and is expected to boost paid media amplification of creator content on the platform. Check out some screenshots from Lindsey Gamble on Threads below.

2️⃣ Second, Pinterest has introduced its annual colour palette for the first time, named the Pinterest Palette, inspired by the platform's trend predictions for 2024. This palette includes colour predictions based on a combination of trending search terms and an analysis of broader cultural and industry trends. The palette aims to guide creative assets, product assortments, and seasonal colour selections, reflecting the platform's insights into what hues will be prominent in the coming year. Check it out below (PDF downloaded and pasted as well!)

• BOTS THRIVE ON X: A study shows that over 75% of all ad traffic from X during the weekend of the Super Bowl was fake. This is a staggering amount of fraud.

• GOOGLE ANALYTICS GETS A COOL NEW FEATURE: Google Analytics just added a new trend detection feature to detect long-term metric changes and call them out. Crazy this was never there before.

• LUXURY LOVES OOH: Luxury brands are increasingly opting into OOH advertising opportunities. Is OOH hot again?

• X ADDS A GREAT NEW ALGO FEATURE: One pinned post every 48 hours will now be guaranteed to be shown to all your followers. This is huge news for users, however it would be nice if your followers could see your posts normally - you know, the reason people follow one another in the first place. That aside, they’ve also increased video upload length to 4 hours in an effort to move more into video content.

• THREADS API INCOMING: The Threads API is finally coming, meaning you will soon be able to schedule posts from third-party platforms and more! Finally!

• INSTAGRAM INTRODUCES SCAM WARNINGS: In an effort to help people become more scam-conscious, Instagram has added new functionality that will warn people when suspicious DMs are received.

I’m trying a new format for this Campaign Monitor that I think will become more sustainable. Instead of sharing one or two posts with my thoughts (boring!), I will share a handful of campaigns that I liked with less added context. I will leave the interpretation up to you! Let me know what you think of this format!

DUTCH BARN VODKA — RICKY GERVAIS & THE WORST ADVERT

REFORMATION — MONICA LEWINSKY

GAP — BACK ON 74

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