Click Through Reads #39: Privacy Sandbox and Political Ads

Welcome to another edition of the news Click-Through-Readers! While this might not be as thrilling as scrolling through meme after meme about the Harry Meghan interview, we will try to keep this educational. Our header image is a puppy which has nothing to do with the news but we find typically sparks interest.

This week we have some updates from Google surrounding their plan for the Privacy Sandbox, some positive news from Lyft and how they are supporting essential workers, an end to the ban on Facebook political ads, Microsoft Ads March updates, new Pinterest Premier video ads, Snapchat resources to help navigate the iOS 14 updates, and an awesome Google charitable initiative for women and girls to turn their economic potential into power. 

Google Plans on Sticking to FLoC in Place of Third-Party Cookies

Google is staying committed to its Privacy Sandbox, choosing to prioritize user privacy over attribution and cross-channel data. The company is pushing for an Internet where users can stay anonymous but still receive targeted advertising and “effectively monetize web publishers.”

The timeline for the Privacy Sandbox implementation is as follows:

• January 2022 - Google plans on ending support for third-party cookies in the Chrome browser.
• Google expects to begin testing FLoC-based cohorts with advertisers by Q2 of 2021. Initial testing has shown “at least 95% of conversions per dollar spent compared to cookie-based advertising.”

Lyft’s Marketing Strategy Help Support Essential Workers

As the world changed and the pandemic happened, Lyft saw new opportunities in their marketing strategy to help support people who were still working in a public facing role, such as healthcare workers and people in retail for example, during COVID. They used Salesforce account-based marketing strategy to identify organizations that they could help. From looking at the data, they were able to see that many of their Lyft riders were essential workers using Lyft as a way to get to work. The data also showed how each organization operates and what they’re interested in. Lyft is able to see what they can do to support these organizations and their employees during a pandemic. In 2020, Lyft launched Lyft Pass, where organizations can set up a commuting program that helps benefit not just essential workers, but employees & customers as well while making sure they prioritize being safe & being able to adjust during the pandemic

Facebook Ends Ban on Political Ads

On March 3, Facebook announced on their blog an end to the ban on political ads that went into place during the election in November 2020. Political advertisers were allowed to resume ads on March 4th. The blog also states, “Unlike other platforms, we require authorization and transparency not just for political and electoral ads, but also for social issue ads, and our systems do not distinguish between these categories.” stating that they have received much feedback about this. The blog update follows with, “As a result, we plan to use the coming months to take a closer look at how these ads work on our service to see where further changes may be merited.”

Google Launches a Global “Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls”

Through their global challenge, Google.org partnered with Vital Voices and The Global Goals to commit $25 million to support organizations that are creating pathways to prosperity for women and girls to turn their economic potential into power.

To be considered, applicants must show the impact, innovation, feasibility and scalability of their proposed projects. The deadline to apply is April 9. 

Selected charitable initiatives will receive:

• $2 million in funding;
• Opportunities for mentorship; 
• Additional support from Google. 

Google.org and Vital Voices will be hosting a series of workshops to provide guidance for the challenge. Those interested can join the live stream and Q&A on March 15, 16 and 17. For those who are unable to attend, there will be a pre-recorded version of the workshop.

Snapchat Launches New iOS 14 Resource Hub to Help with Upcoming Changes

Snapchat recently launched a iOS 14 resource hub to help advertisers navigate the changes that will come with the upcoming update. While Snapchat supports increased privacy, they will be announcing new product capabilities in order to navigate around this. 

In the resource hub, Snapchat outlines the changes its making to policies, including the removal of 28-day and hourly attribution windows.

On March 11 at 11am PST, Snapchat will be hosting a webinar on How to Prepare for iOS 14 Changes-- which you can register for here.

Microsoft Ads March Product Updates

• Account level performance insights will make it easier for you to see why a spike or dip in performance may have occurred and how you can take action. Insights are available in the Overview and the Account Summary, currently for Search campaigns only.
• Responsive Search Ads are now default. RSAs are proven to drive superior performance - a 14% increase in conversions and clicks, with a 2% increase in conversion rate. Advertisers still have the option to create Expanded Text Ads, Microsoft recommends including RSAs in the mix.

• Build a free website Small businesses currently can create one by importing information from Facebook or a current advertising campaign. You can then start advertising with Digital Marketing Center.

• Enhanced Manual Bidding Microsoft Ads is currently infusing more automation into bidding going into April. This will allow more real-time responsiveness and help boost performance.

• Average Position The Average Position metric will be removed as of March 31st. Advertisers will now be able to focus on prominence metrics that matter most.

• Static Headlines Microsoft Ads is currently rolling out the ability to use static headlines on Dynamic Search Ads. This will give advertisers more creative control over messaging while still having the discovery power of matching to new queries. Currently the only way to add static headlines in DSAs is through a page feed. More updates coming soon.

Pinterest Announces New Marketing Tools, Including 'Pinterest Premiere' Video Ads

At Pinterest’s Pinterest Presents marketing and advertising summit, they announced helpful new tools that provide more insight into campaign performance, as well as enhanced targeting and placement options. One of the new additions is a new and improved video ad option called “Pinterest Premier” which will allow advertisers to purchase exclusive placement of their video in the home feed while targeting the specific demographic, interest or category they choose for a specific time frame.

Pinterest described the new ad format as "Pinterest Premiere gives you the option to align video ad targeting with either a specific demographic, or a specific category (combining demographics and interests). These packages are set up to help you drive broader reach and scale for moments like launches, brand events or even ongoing campaigns."