Doodle Inspirations – January 29, 2021
With the first real snowfall of the season hitting Richmond in the past 5 days, here are some stories that got us talking this past week:
While NDP has reported on upcoming iPhone updates recently, Google has caused a new twist in the story recently with the announcement that their iPhone apps will no longer use a tool from Apple that previously allowed tracking. This means that Google has found a way to circumvent Apple’s data opt-in requirement for apps to inform users (through a 1x consent pop-up) that their data was being collected and utilized for marketing. This is clearly a complex and evolving story as app developers and digital business are scrambling to figure out how to connect user activity and purchases across apps with Apple’s new data privacy measures – one of the largest being Facebook who has already started warning businesses that they aren’t sure what the holistic impact could be as they fear when consumers are posed the question outright, they will be more likely to opt-out. We’re interested to see how apps adjust and the real impact on digital commerce with this loss in data, but are happy to see companies taking data privacy seriously.
We are continuing the data privacy conversation around “the dying cookie” and Google’s establishment of the Privacy Sandbox to find a new alternative for the antiquated digital cookie. Roughly a year after its creation, it seems the Privacy Sandbox may have the first viable alternative to the cookie called FLoC. The ad targeting technology specifically for Chrome users is said to provide advertisers roughly 95% of conversions per dollar spent and could be a strong alternative to cookies while maintaining CPRA/CCPA/GDPR compliance by grouping browsing behavior into interest groups versus on an individual level (which is what the cookie did). While still in early stages, we are excited to see how the industry has worked to innovate in a proactive fashion and look forward to seeing it in action once it enters testing in Q2 with advertisers in Google Ads.
Meat alternatives’ popularity rose in 2019 and PepsiCo is pushing it Beyond Meat (totally pun intended). In a new partnership, the two companies (PepsiCo and Beyond Meat) are working in a joint venture to develop new plant-based snack and drinks. Dubbed the PLANeT Partnership, this will help Beyond further expand their market share in the popular meat-alternative field as well as adding another food partner to their long list of recent partnerships including Pizza Hut, Dunkin’, KFC, Taco Bell and McDonald’s. We’re interested to see what products are developed and how they fare in the non-pre-prepared grocery store shelves.
We love people and brands with a good sense of humor and we got both from Bernie Sanders. After his likeness from the Inauguration became a viral meme, Bernie’s team decided to use it for some good. With 24-hours of the meme taking flight, Bernie’s team had developed a crewneck sweatshirt to be sold on his campaign store where 100% of the proceeds would go toward the Vermont chapter of Meals-on-Wheels. As of 8am on the 22nd – just two days after the event and roughly 24-hours after the $45 sweatshirt being posted – all sizes of the sweatshirt were sold out and over $1.8 million were raised for the charity.