Adweek

“Would you like to share your location?” The question is a pesky roadblock for people looking to buy groceries, get to work or date using their phones. But the answer is of great value for advertisers, helping them pinpoint potential customers and learn more about existing ones. Location data is one of the most controversial signals advertisers collect, as user privacy comes under increased scrutiny from tech companies and regulators. As brands try to locate users, sensitive information can leak into the web, to be found by domestic abusers, vigilantes and others we’d like not to know our whereabouts. Meanwhile, the laws regulating the sale of this data aren’t always clear, and tech giants like Amazon and Google collect it by default and will surrender it if subpoenaed. “[Location data] remains very valuable;…

Soy is a vital ingredient, but its cultivation often has a heavy ecological impact. So Upfield’s Country Crock teamed with agency Ogilvy to raise awareness about the Cover Crop Project and the environmental benefits of planting unharvested crops. They did so through a whiskey from Kansas City distillery J. Rieger & Co., made with cereal rye cover crops. “Not a lot of folks talk about cover crops, but they do love talking about whiskey,” an accompanying ad acknowledges. “The more people talk, the more farmers will convert to cover crops.”…

The beauty and fashion industries have faced intense pressure from the public about digitally manipulating images. Now, politicians are getting involved. In the U.K., 77 members of Parliament from across parties have signed an open letter calling on businesses to stop creating a “warped sense of reality” by photoshopping models. Kim Kardashian’s Skims body-shaping line and Vanity Fair are just some of the brands recently accused of misleading audiences through digital techniques. The MPs want brands to sign on to the Body Image Pledge, promising to represent people as they are in real life with alterations limited to technical corrections.…

After a “relentless” eight years as the chief executive of budget airline EasyJet, Carolyn McCall was approached about potentially leading Britain’s largest commercial public broadcaster, ITV. Initially, she wasn’t keen on the idea. “I wanted a rest after EasyJet,” McCall said. “There’s rarely a quiet moment at ITV, but you get peaks and then it goes quiet. But with airliners, it’s peaks all of the time.” McCall is no stranger to a pivot. After earning a degree in education, she spent time as a teacher before going back to school for a master’s in politics. Her second career began at The Guardian Media Group in advertising sales in 1986, where she stayed for almost a quarter century. McCall helped launch Wired magazine, then The Guardian’s website in 1996, and ultimately rose to…

Meta has long sold itself as a magic advertising machine. It brings brand marketers billions of eyeballs and features advanced tech that powers lower-funnel conversions. The company is a priority in every advertiser’s media budget, even as scandals have damaged its reputation. But in its fourth-quarter earnings call in February, its pedestal atop the media ecosystem seemed a little less stable. The company projected on the call that Apple’s 2021 privacy update, which lets users opt out of mobile tracking, would contribute a $10 billion hit to revenue in 2022 (less than 10% of the platform’s total in 2021). Meta previously used mobile tracking data to learn who consumed ads on Facebook and Instagram, and without it, the platforms are less reliable when it comes to targeting ads and measuring their…

There was a time when the popup shop was considered a niche outreach approach for traveling indie merchants. Now, it’s a tried-and-true marketing strategy employed by major and burgeoning brands alike. Pop-up retail has grown since the early 2000s into a go-to outreach tactic for brands looking to establish a presence outside of their more permanent storefronts. As 60% of younger consumers continue to crave more authentic and engaging experiences, according to an IBM report, brands like Nike and Glossier have shifted their focus from more traditional forms of advertising, like digital and OOH, to brand activations, which foster a more personal connection. But as larger brands reap the benefits of this flexible option, smaller Latinx brands and the communities they serve have a far deeper connection with the pop-up shop. Over…