What happened in marketing: Amazon dethrones Walmart, NikeSKIMS & Big Tech vs EU

This week: Amazon's ad business vs Walmart, Instagram's new plan for influencers, Nike's plan to win new business and BigTech vs EU.

Germany smells of Weimar.

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Top 5 Updates of the Week

• Amazon just dethroned Walmart in quarterly revenue for the first time ever with a bombshell $187.8 billion in sales.

  • Walmart shares fall upon disappointing forecast, fueling US spending worries.

• NIKE, Inc. and SKIMS introduce new brand for women: NikeSKIMS.

• X hinted at possible deal trouble in talks with Interpublic to increase spending, other agencies are also in negotiations. (read)

• LinkedIn launches its own Conversion API.

• Apple removes advanced data protection tool in face of UK government request.

Trending 🗞️

• Microsoft claims quantum-computing breakthrough — but some physicists are sceptical. (read)

• How Deep Is Your Lore? (read)

• FTC 'Click-to-Cancel' rule overstepped authority, Industry says.

• Meta, X approved ads containing violent anti-Muslim, antisemitic hate speech ahead of German election, study finds.

• US consumer sentiment plunges in February on tariff worries. (AK)

  • Japan's inflation accelerates to 4% in January as food prices surge.

• Spotify and ElevenLabs partner to bring library of AI-narrated audiobooks to streaming. (read)

• Reddit CEO confirms plans to introduce paywalls for exclusive content later this year.

• Patreon’s “State of Create” report is a must-read for everyone: 60% of creators say Instagram does not always show fans their most important work. 81% of creators want a direct channel of communication with their fans.

• Google confirms Gmail To ditch SMS code authentication. (read)

• Prosus to acquire Just Eat Takeaway in €4bn deal. (read)

• ChatGPT referrals to top publishers up eight times in six months but still negligible. (read)

• Kevin Love, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant share Hooters farewell post, the company is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy.

• Saks Global’s new payment terms trigger strong industry reaction.

sammicohentalks

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• Amazon spent $21 billion on ads and promotions in 2024.

  • Streaming TV ad rates are falling and Amazon’s the anchor.

  • Amazon Ads to offer page-level reporting after CSAM scandal.

• Reddit has recovered from another outage. (Thursday)

• The Getty Museum acquires its first A.I.-Generated Artwork. (TC)

• Hackers steal $1.5bn from crypto exchange in ‘biggest digital heist ever’.

• Aldi to invest £67m in store upgrades over coming year. (UK)

• Tubi brand refresh brings new logo, colors and sound. (BP)

• U.S. State Department orders cancellation of news subscriptions.

  • Elon Musk’s DOGE seeks access to Americans’ data, alarming government employees

• Celsius to buy energy drink brand Alani Nutrition in $1.8 billion deal.

• Forever 21 plans hundreds of store closures in second bankruptcy.

• 'Loophole' in law on messaging apps leaves children vulnerable to sexual abuse, says NSPCC.

• Adobe secures data collaborations between brands, publishers with new tool.

• Trump seeks greater control over government agencies, including the FCC.

Also, Trending

• Starbucks to lay off more than 1,000 workers. (TR)

• Top 20 Werbespender: So beflügeln Rewe, Penny und Edeka den Werbemarkt. (DE)

  • Germany’s recorded-music business grew by 7.8% in 2024.

• Substack is now going after Youtube, allowing creators to monetise video content.

• Walmart wants to be something for everyone in a divided America.

  • Walmart’s ad business grows to $4.4 billion.

• Jake from State Farm entered the world of 'Severance' in Post-Super Bowl Insurance ad campaign. (watch)

• The German billionaire, Axel Springer wants the Wall Street Journal.

• Ikea slid into Canadians’ DMs with a classic ‘u up?’ text. Yes, really. (AD)

• What’s up with these Californian influencers moving to Tennessee to live on a farm?

• Megan Thee Stallion launches Tequila brand, Chicas Divertidas.

• U.S. Federal workers launch a new site to share inside information about DOGE. (read)

• Amazon paid more than $1bn to take creative control of James Bond.

• Major League Soccer kicks off 30th season with new campaign and partnerships.

• The NBA’s push to reach Gen Alpha. (read)

• Wildstone secures £80 million deal for TfL’s iconic Digital Billboards.

• KFC is leaving its ancestral home as parent company moves its corporate office to Texas.

• How male lust found its way back into fiction. (read)

• A Signal App update fends off a phishing technique used in Russian Espionage.

• Reporters launch new TikTok-like news platform. (Noosphere)

• Dick's Sporting Goods is putting creators at the front of its social campaigns.

• America is about to enter an apartment crunch. The supply of new apartments is drying up — and that's going to drive up your rent. (read)

• The hottest thing in fashion advertising? Books.

• Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to invest $1 billion in DAZN.

• Lowe's relaunches Pro Loyalty program, simplifying its value offering under "MyLowe's Rewards”.

• Kai Cenat plans to launch a ‘streaming university’ to teach aspiring creators.

• Donald Trump considers tariffs to counter digital services taxes on Big Tech. (read)

  • Google, Meta execs blast Europe over strict AI regulation as Big Tech ups the ante.

  • Google to be hit with EU charges of breaching Big Tech rules, sources say.

TikTok 🎶

• TikTok restructures trust and safety team, lays off staff in unit, sources say.

• TikTok launches Automotive ads: Video + Product Card and Multi-link Carousel.

• Study of TikTok, X ‘For You’ feeds in Germany finds far-right political bias ahead of federal elections.

• TikTok shares new report highlighting Short and Long-Term ROI of TikTok Advertising.

• Gen Z teens tell us why they stopped trusting experts in favor of influencers on TikTok. (read)

• UK parents suing TikTok over children’s deaths ‘suspicious’ about data claims. (read)

• TikTok & Blossom launch SME empowerment program to support Saudi’s next generation of entrepreneurs. (MB)

• TikTok expands STEM feed to Kenya, boosting fact-checked learning. (RD)

• TikTok downloads surge following return to US App Store.

• TikTok to expand e-commerce in more countries as US business remains in limbo.

• TikTok celebrates livestream creators and content.

• Ole Obermann leaving TikTok for major role at Apple; Tracy Gardner moves into new role at ByteDance.

• 18 Malaysian news’ TikTok accounts suddenly disappear.

• TikTok reportedly lays off staff in Singapore as part of global restructure.

• Amazon scraps its TikTok-style Inspire feed.

• TikTok & Tate McRae launch exclusive In-App experience and shoppable global livestream for So Close To What.

• The typical TikTok (median) creator with 1 million or more followers has produced 777 posts over the life of their account. 39 seconds videos on average for the most popular accounts, compared with 21 seconds for the least popular. Meanwhile Four-in-ten posts from the most popular creators contain speech, compared with 20% from the least popular creators. (PEW)

• TikTok implements strict RTO conditions on U.S. staff.

• TikTok (with Douyin) becomes first app to reach $6B in annual consumer spending.

Instagram

• Instagram upgrades DMs feature with new updates: message translation, music stickers, scheduled messages, pinned content and more.

• Instagram testing new fonts for stories.

• Instagram is launching “Testimonial ads” - Creators can write paid endorsements to a brand and their text will be visible on the desired ad. (TR)

• E.l.f. Cosmetics channels telenovelas for TikTok, Instagram series.

• Instagram tests AI-based Tasks via DMs.

Meta 😅

• You can now sign up to be a contributor to Meta's Community Notes feature.

• Meta hiring Engineers in India: Is a Data Center on the anvil?

• Meta reduces stock options for staff despite trading at record highs, FT reports.

• Meta offering 200% bonuses to execs after laying off thousands.

• Court filings show Meta staffers discussed using copyrighted content for AI training. (FB)

• Meta hires Former RealReal CEO to help sell its Smart Glasses.

• Meta inviting advertisers to connect Google Analytics to get EARLY access to campaign updates. (CT)

• Meta announces dates for Connect 2025 & Inaugural LlamaCon.

• WhatsApp is now a Very Large platform in the EU, and will face tougher regulation.

• Facebook livestreams will now get removed after 30 days.

• Meta woos creators in bid to Make Facebook Cool Again. (read)

• South Africa penalizes Google, Meta for Antitrust moves.

• Meta AI launches in the Middle East.

• Meta introduces LLM-powered tool for Software Testing.

• WhatsApp Beta feature lets you customize voice message transcriptions. (view)

• How Meta's concessions to the right may have backfired. (read)

X & Elon Musk

• X rolls out AI-Generated ads in push to win advertisers back.

• Elon Musk wants to 'fix' Community Notes on X, but why?

• Grok blocked results saying Musk and Trump ‘spread misinformation’. (DS)

• Did xAI lie about Grok 3’s benchmarks?

• Grok 3 AI is now free to all X users – here's how it works.

• Elon Musk demands federal workers explain their jobs or be sacked.

• X gets German judge removed in battle over election data.

• Brazil's top court orders Elon Musk's X platform to pay fine. (ST)

• X doubles its Premium+ plan prices after xAI releases Grok 3. (TC)

• SuperGrok will cost $30 a month or $300 a year if bought via the iOS app.

• US says it will drop immigration case against SpaceX.

Youtube & Snapchat 🕹️

• Google may be close to launching YouTube Premium Lite. (VB)

• Snapchat and Tinuiti shares AR marketing report: 81% agree that AR can be a fun way to learn about new products and are 1.6x more likely than other app users to use it to invite others to shop with them, creating a key opportunity for brands who haven’t engaged in AR.

• YouTube testing voice replies to comments. (SJ)

• Youtube has issued a warning about a new phishing scam that's making the rounds.

• How a computer that 'drunk dials' videos is exposing YouTube's secrets.

• YouTube on TVs adding music ‘Display’ with live lyrics, artwork.

• YouTube launches Promote Button for Shorts and SIMS Immersive Shorts Effect. (view)

Google

• Google is giving buyers thousands in ad credits to spend on AI-powered Demand Gen.

• Google’s new AI video model Veo 2 will cost 50 cents per second.

• Google Ads launch new creative tools to generate lifestyle imagery.

• Google finalising locations for first Indian retail stores.

• Google brings Circle to Search alternative to iPhone. (SJ)

• Google Ads to remove parked domain placements by default.

• Google Ads updates Responsive Search Ads to improve asset pairing and messaging consistency. (ST)

• Posts in Google Business Profile get AI image enhancing feature. (SL)

• Google just lifted its 2019 ban on fingerprinting for advertisers.

• Google’s AI Overviews are coming to more Lens results.

• Google Ads tests ‘Advanced Plans’ feature for budget optimization.

• Google Display & Video 360 API gets major update.

• Google wins Salesforce Cloud deal in bid to counter Microsoft. (SL)

• Google to pay $340 million to settle Italian tax case.

• Google shares updates on new digital protections for kids, teens and parents. (ST)

AI 🤨

• OpenAI’s Operator feature is now rolling out in more countries. (read)

• Alibaba commits US$53 billion for AI infrastructure in largest private computing project. (MG)

• Nvidia launching AI platform to make learning sign language easier. (TC)

• OpenAI forecast shows shift from Microsoft to SoftBank.

• Trump wants America to shine on AI. But DOGE is blundering it. (KH)

• Apple may be preparing Gemini integration in Apple Intelligence. (SR)

• The Robotics and AI Institute is teaching robot dogs to run and bicycles to jump.

• Google launches AI co-scientist, a multi-agent AI system built with Gemini 2.0 as a virtual scientific collaborator. (TV)

• What's behind OpenAI's recent growth spurt to 400M weekly users? (NT)

• OpenAI’s Former Chief Technology Officer starts her own Company, Thinking Machine Lab.

• Perplexity AI open sources R1 1776, a version of DeepSeek-R1 Model. (view)

• AI tool diagnoses diabetes, HIV and COVID from a blood sample. (read)

• HP $116 Million deal for Humane includes IP but no AI Pin Device.

• OpenAI introduces SWE-Lancer, a benchmark of over 1,400 freelance software engineering tasks from Upwork, valued at $1 million USD total in real-world payouts. (VB)

• OpenAI bans Chinese accounts using ChatGPT to edit code for social media surveillance. (TC)

• Chinese universities launch DeepSeek courses to capitalise on AI boom.

Microsoft & LinkedIn

• Microsoft builds AI that creates ‘impressive’ video-game worlds.

• LinkedIn quietly launches email analytics for newsletters. (SL)

• Microsoft cancels leases for AI data centers, analyst says.

• LinkedIn launches new advertising and CRM features for marketers.

• LinkedIn shares new Live Event Marketing guide.

• Microsoft will automatically keep you signed in to your account starting in February.

• LinkedIn “Authenticity in the age of algorithm” report is available to read.

Marketing &….

• Twitch caps users' uploads and highlights at 100 Hours.

• ESPN, MLB agree to end TV Deal.

• WordPress offers new 100-Year Domain name registrations.

• Twitch community guideline violations will now disappear from accounts after a set time.

• Discord introduces a feature to ignore rather than block users. (TV)

• Live Nation confirms ‘super-premium ticketing talks with Spotify, Apple and Amazon.

• Australia fines Telegram for delay in answering child abuse, terror questions.

• Gallery Media Group has built $50m a year social-first publishing business.

• Axeptio acquires AdOpt to strengthen global expansion.

• SmartSuite raises $38M to be the final word on enterprise collaboration. (RT)

• Apple boosts MLS Season Pass with expanded content, programming.

• Shares of Hims & Hers tumble 26% after FDA says semaglutide is no longer in shortage.

• Tapestry to sell Stuart Weitzman for $105M. (read)

• Hightouch announces $80M Series C at $1.2B valuation to bring AI decisioning to Marketers.

• Amazon shuts down Chime, its Zoom alternative. (TC)

• European digital ad industry ramps up carbon measurement but softens on offsetting.

• Asda launches hot cross bun bum bags for Easter. (read)

• A Q&A with Roku’s Sarah Harms about streaming ad measurement.

• Fiverr unveils Fiverr Go, a visionary AI platform that puts creators front and center.

• Little Dot Studios extends partnership with Women’s Super League.

• New DOOH network Abode Media targets luxury developments.

• Saronic raises $600M Series C to take on Autonomous Shipbuilding.

• UK healthcare giant HCRG confirms hack after ransomware gang claims theft of sensitive data. (NG)

• Stellantis reorganizes marketing unit as part of broader reforms, the search for new CEO continues.

• DIRECTV Advertising and Magnite enhance live streaming programmatic demand during peak viewing events.

MarTech Releases & Finds

• Enzyme – The web3 community building the future.

• Amplitude - The product analytics and event tracking platform.

• Inuvo - The AI-powered audience modeling platform for digital advertising.

• Valuecase - The customer onboarding platform for agencies and service businesses.

• Groundhogg - The CRM for WordPress that doesn’t suck.

The Pulped; Market Data & Studies of the week

• 27% of CMOs remain reluctant to adopt generative AI. 21% of surveyed marketing organizations are only tapping into the tech in a very limited capacity while 6% are making no use of generative AI at all. (read)

• Just over half of U.S. adults (54%) say they have an unfavorable view of Musk, including 36% who have a very unfavorable opinion of him. Seven-in-ten adults under 30 and 72% of those ages 30 to 49 have an unfavorable opinion of Zuckerberg. This compares with 62% of those 50 and older. (PEW)

• 57% people hold AI legally accountable for incorrect outputs, with 39% ready to sue over harmful content. 47% of people would feel more confident if AI answers were validated by actual humans. (read)

• 79% of telco executives surveyed prioritize network performance above all else, with network modernization as their second priority. Over the next three years, surveyed executives expect to increase network investments in cloud implementation by almost 20%, traditional AI by 16%, and generative AI by almost 19%.

• For every website published using GoDaddy Airo, 20 jobs were created per county, with rural counties seeing an average of 4.2 jobs and urban counties experiencing a boost of 22 jobs. (read)

• 49 per cent of paid video streaming users cite cost as the most important factor when choosing a service trumping factors like audio visual quality, content type, amount of content and the availability of original content. Ad acceptance by streaming viewers is particularly high in North America (65 percent) and APAC (66 percent), compared with just 23 percent in the Nordics. (read)

• Younger consumers are even more likely to be natural and organic shoppers, with 89% of Gen Z and 85% of Millennials reporting they have shopped for natural and organic products in the prior six months. The "food as medicine" movement is expected to gain traction. (read)

• 72% of B2B marketers feel overwhelmed by the speed at which AI is reshaping their roles. Plus, Plagiarism risks (34%) and inaccuracies (32%) remain hurdles. (read)

• 77% of Gen Z and 61% of millennials are turning to social media for financial advice. 39% of Gen Z and one-third (33%) of millennials say they will never take financial advice from social media or online ever again, and doing so has negatively impacted their lives.

• 45% of Gen Zers said that filing taxes causes more stress than actually paying a tax bill.

• 42% of a brand's Amazon sales are driven by non-Amazon media. Unified ROAS (which measures the revenue generated by an ad channel across multiple sales channels) is on average 45% higher than DTC-only ROAS for upper-funnel campaigns. (read)

• Companies that ax their DEI programs now could destroy their reputation for years to come, according to a new study. (read)

• 27% of respondents in the US use AI tools instead of search engines. Uptake is lower in the UK, where 13% of consumers favor AI tools. (read)

• Unemployment by degrees - New data shows that the more education you have, the longer you'll be out of work. (US)

• Panda Express, Whataburger, and Chick-Fil-A earn top spots in Ipsos’ 2024 QSR/Fast Casual Restaurant Digital Ordering Performance Study. (read)

• 42% of US Consumers prefer Digital Wallets for International Payments. (read)

Will be back with Agency and Brand news on Saturday or earlier.