June Marketing Chatter: OpenAI joins Apple, TikTok steps up, and The Trade Desk throws down with Yahoo
Marketing never stops moving. Wpromote's monthly Marketing Industry Chatter newsletter will keep you up-to-date on the biggest headlines, updates, and trends in the wide world of marketing and media—with the expert insights you need to take action.
June is bustin' out all over and summer is officially in full swing. While you contemplate your next vacation spot or relax on the beach, there's no time like the present to brush up on some of the hottest marketing news from the last month.
From Apple's partnership with OpenAI and Tiktok's latest image offerings to The Trade Desk's "beef" with Yahoo, here's the breakdown of the most important industry updates from June.
Apple partners with OpenAI on a new integrated AI system
What you need to know: After announcing partnerships with Reddit and Dotdash Meredith last month, OpenAI has announced yet another partnership: this time with tech giant Apple.
Apple is integrating ChatGPT into experiences within iOS, iPadOS, and macOS so users can access ChatGPT’s capabilities—including image and document understanding—without needing to jump between tools.
ChatGPT will also be available through Apple’s system-wide Writing Tools to help users generate content for anything they’re writing about. Users can also tap into ChatGPT image tools to generate images in a wide variety of styles.
What you need to do:
By partnering with one of the AI industry’s leading players, Apple is officially setting itself to go toe-to-toe in the race to harness the power of AI. But it faces stiff competition against competitors like Google, Microsoft, and Meta. Keep an eye on the way partnerships and integrations are opening up new opportunities and options in many areas, from AI to social search to CTV, and keep testing!
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The Trade Desk disables access to all of Yahoo’s video inventory
What you need to know: The Trade Desk (TTD) and Yahoo recently came to blows over how the latter labeled its media inventory with TTD. The DSP threatened to block Yahoo’s video ads if they couldn’t come to an agreement.
The conflict came from Yahoo labeling its video advertising inventory as in-stream, despite being sold via open marketplaces. TTD says this mislabeling goes against the latest industry standards.
TTD eventually made good on its threat to block Yahoo’s video ads, disabling access to all of Yahoo’s video inventory for open-auction bidding as of June 21. Yahoo and TTD are currently working on a solution, but these ads are currently unavailable.
What you need to do: Beyond the immediate concerns for advertisers buying on TTD, this might not be the only company affected by mislabeling. The IAB Tech Lab published new standards for classifying in-stream video last March, and others could lose access to ad inventory due to rampant mislabeling of inventory as in-stream. Stay up to date to make sure your brand isn’t impacted by inventory issues.
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TikTok ups its image game with new sharing and search options
What you need to know: TikTok is taking swings at Google and Meta with its latest offerings: an image search feature for TikTok Shop and an image sharing app called Whee.
Users will now be able to upload images to search for similar products in TikTok shops, similar to offerings from Google and Amazon. The social platform is leaning into the growing social search trend: 67% of respondents in an April IZEA survey said they were “somewhat likely,” “likely,” or “very likely” to search for products on social platforms before making a purchase.
Whee is TikTok’s second attempt at an image sharing app after launching Notes back in April. It’s comparable to BeReal or Snapchat, where the focus is friends-only sharing, while Notes was built for sharing images with a broader audience.
What you need to do: TikTok continues to innovate as it looks to bring more in-platform commerce to the app and capture more audiences from competitors like Instagram. Marketers should take note of how their customers are using different social platforms for education, recommendations, and product discovery. Brands also need to lean into testing opportunities in social search as functionality expands across platforms.
Recommended by LinkedIn
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Amazon reveals cookieless ad solution at Cannes Lions
What you need to know: During Cannes Lions 2024, Amazon announced Ad Relevance, a new ad targeting product that will work without third-party cookies and other online identifiers.
The move comes as Google plans to shut down third-party cookies on Chrome by 2025, which will affect how ads are targeted and measured in programmatic markets.
Early results from Amazon showed that Ad Relevance can “extend addressability” on up to 65% of impressions that were previously anonymous under different targeting tactics.
What you need to do: Although Google continues to delay cookie deprecation in Chrome, ad tech giants like Amazon are working on ways to succeed in a post-cookie marketing landscape. Make sure you’re experimenting with different targeting solutions in advance of cookie deprecation to see which one works best for your brand.
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Target plans to roll out gen AI chatbot called “Store Companion”
What you need to know: Target is taking its employees along for the AI ride by launching an AI-powered chatbot tool, Store Companion, as an app on store associates’ handheld devices.
The app is designed to help store associates answer process and procedure-related questions. It’s currently in pilot testing at about 400 locations ahead of a planned nationwide rollout.
Target is also using generative AI to enhance product display pages to provide personalized customer search results and summaries of product reviews.
What you need to do: Target’s use of generative AI to support its employees is part of a larger trend among retail giants, including Walmart. While it’s still early days for the technology, generative AI could prove to be a valuable tool to quickly train (and assist) workers to better serve customers and give a better experience to customers buying products online.
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June Featured Content
Mind the Gap: New Data Reveals Brand/Agency Partnership Changes & Challenges
The relationship between brand and agency has always been important. But these partnerships are more critical than ever as the media landscape evolves.
That’s why we surveyed 500+ agency and brand decision-makers about their partnerships to see what’s working, what isn’t, and how they’ve evolved over time. Our experts break down that data to help you maximize the impact of your agency relationships.