News

Marketing's adtech and personalisation obsession is blowing out brands' carbon emissions while accelerating generative AI use risks 10x increases. Relying on the renewable energy promises of SaaS vendors and hyperscalers like Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Google who host them or provide their LLMs won't solve the problem – because their own emissions are running out of control for precisely the same reason. But renewable generation means there is a new meaning to 'right ad, right place, right time' – and some agencies are starting to match digital ad buys to within-day periods of high solar and wind power.

Experienced talent has borne the brunt of cost cutting over the last 12 months as economic weakness translates into job cuts. For those in their mid-forties and upwards, getting another job is increasingly difficult. They are perceived as too expensive, and by younger managers, a threat. But new research by the Experience Advocacy Taskforce (EAT) and Advertising Industry Careers (AIC), as well as insight from specialist recruiters and in-house talent execs, suggests many senior staff are genuinely happy with lower pressure, mid-ranking jobs – and don’t want the stress or bucks that comes with them. Retired WPP veteran Jon Steedman, his former right hand man, Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham, plus specialist creative recruiter Lea Walker, UM’s talent heads Monique Black and Shilpa Jayakumar and AIC’s Adam Elliot weigh-in on the ad industry’s “obsession with youth” and the missed opportunity.

Sensitive personal information regarding Australian defence personnel and political leaders is being leaked via ad exchanges and the digital advertising supply chain – and potentially accessed by foreign states and non-state actors, raising grave national security concerns.

Seven Network confirmed former Amazon Media ANZ and holdco agency CEO Henry Tajer has been engaged to advise the broadcaster on building out its commercial strategy following a sweeping cost-out and redundancy program in June that included the exit of long serving Chief Revenue Officer Kurt Burnette. Tajer has been meeting with media agency group executives in recent weeks.   

Two years go juniors were asking for $90k and getting it. Digital guns with all of 24 months experience were seeking $150k. Agency perk wars were running hot. But the talent pendulum has swung. Job cuts have been coming thick and fast and the power balance shift has left those on the wrong end of the shakeout short on optimism. Recruiters say it’s a return to the mean following the pandemic era’s artificial inflation, though exacerbated by “recession-y” macros and ongoing agency consolidation at the big end of town – and it’s hit senior talent hard. But there are still four key areas where jobs are to be had, and proactive, no-lose steps to take. Here’s part one of Mi3’s two-part adland jobs series.

Stealth layoffs among marketing teams and media and agency groups since March were all signals for the crunch now hitting the advertising market with SMI reporting a 6.3 per cent decline in spending from the media agency sector and its largely blue chip and mid market clients. The restaurant sector led the retreat with a 24.2 per cent cut in spending in July – even the mighty McDonald’s and the powering KFC are said to be facing a material tightening in customer spend. But a digital ad decline of 10.6 per cent in August has been questioned by agency groups – a revised figure is expected.

Pinterest aims to put clear air between itself and rival platforms under pressure globally over mental health and algorithm-induced anxiety and the prospect of teen bans locally. It’s simultaneously making a play for more full-funnel ad dollars as performance media acquisition costs soar, doubling in the last four years and threatening unit economics, especially for ecom pureplays. The platform called out rivals at this week’s annual showcase, with global CEO Bill Ready talking up a “positive business model centred on emotional wellbeing rather than engagement via enragement”, and throwing down the gauntlet to Meta, Twitter and TikTok to use its third party-developed tools to gauge negative impacts on users. Local MD Melinda Petrunoff said it’s been private by default for under-16s for more than a year “before this was a discussion”, and advertisers are buying the positive vibe. Now it’s pushing performance and commerce capability – and the likes of Mecca, Pandora, Adidas and Walgreens are converts.

Google's fast-tracked legal battle with the Justice Department has ended faster than anticipated, just three weeks in, with Google putting up a remarkably weak fight, according to some observers. Tactical? Maybe. Whether it decides to appeal a guilty judgement – if given – will be telling. 

Responsive rates upwards of 45 per cent against single digit email results, 100:1 ROI on spend, 37 per cent conversion rates on fast cart abandonment – the figures for why retailers say they’re increasingly leaning into SMS as a strategic alternative channel to email are stacking up. Even better: The money invested is not going into Google’s coffers and instead being used to build up the strength of their first-party data sets and insights. During the recent Attentive event in Sydney, marketing and business leaders from Lounge Lovers, Designstuff and Hey Bud spoke to Mi3 about the surprisingly full-funnel ways they’re now tapping SMS – many in increasingly personalised ways, but some even with the odd dose of spray and pray. But given the spam and email abuses of the past, will marketers be able to stop themselves from overusing SMS?