Daily Archives: March 30, 2020

April Fools Day is one of the most annoying internet traditions, but this year Google infamous for its numerous elaborate pranks that typically touch on nearly every major product the company makes wont be participating due to the serious threat of the coronavirus that continues to impact the entire world.

According to an internal email obtained by Business Insider, Google will take the year off from that tradition out of respect for all those fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Our highest goal right now is to be helpful to people, so lets save the jokes for next April, which will undoubtedly be a whole lot brighter than this one.

Weve already stopped any centralized April Fools efforts but realize there may be smaller projects within teams that we dont know about, the email from Googles head of marketing Lorraine Twohill continues. Please suss out those efforts and make sure your teams pause on any jokes they may have planned internally or externally.

Like or loathe internet April Fools jokes, its hard to argue that Googles decision here isnt a wise one. With the seriousness of the health crisis gripping the United States and the world, dedicating a day to misleading people and adding extraneous, misinforming features to critical products like Google search, YouTube, Gmail, or Maps just seems like a bad idea.

Hopefully other companies will take note of Googles lead here and adjust their own April Fools plans accordingly. Theres a time and a place for a good joke but this probably isnt it.

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Google cancels its infamous April Fools jokes this year - The Verge

Googles Ads Data Hub (ADH) started as a pure analytics and measurement service. But Google has been testing audience activation with a beta program for the past six months, according to AdExchanger sources who are in the program.

The beta program includes large brands and agencies, and is currently only open to select clients that have invested heavily in ADH. Display and Video 360, Googles DSP, is the only ad-buying platform that can be connected with ADH audiences for campaigns.

The ADH-based ad campaigns only include non-Google properties. So the beta customers can buy on the open web, but not YouTube or Google Search.

Audience buying is a natural evolution of ADH, according to one brand marketer who is part of the beta.

Youre creating segments within the platform that are ideal for targeting, he said. Instead of only having cookie info a users device, perhaps their location and a limited sense of previous sites theyve visited ADH segments are grounded with stronger audience data, since the segments are informed by a brands CRM or other first-party data and Googles identity graph.

Right now, the ADH ad-buying tests only work well for companies with large first-party data sets in Google Cloud and integrated with ADH, so the marketer first-party data can sync with Googles data set, said another agency exec involved in the beta.

One of the primary use cases for ADH audience activations is frequency management, said Hugo Loriot, managing director of the ad analytics consultancy 55, whos been briefed on the beta program.

Cookies are far from a sure-fire tool for frequency capping, since people use different devices, different internet services and delete cookies, each of which can throw off frequency caps for an individual.

Deepening the Google relationship

Taking advantage of the beta means committing more deeply to the Google platform, said one agency exec.

Since Googles identity data set informs the audience packages, the data can never leave ADH, or advertisers would be able to retarget individuals without consent. The ADH audience segments arent transferred from ADH to DV360 it all happens within the platform.

Thats also why third-party DSPs are not part of the beta program. Ad servers like Sizmek and Flashtalking are ADH partners, because they integrate for analytics and measurement. But no outside DSPs are connected with ADH.

There arent specific policy or privacy restrictions that prohibit Google from syncing ADH campaigns with outside DSPs down the road, according to agency execs. And the same goes for media. YouTube and Search could theoretically be available for ADH-based campaigns,though Google hasn't stated if this will happen.

DV360 is the only DSP I expect ADH will ever integrate with, according to an agency exec whos tested the ADH and DV360 ad campaigns. If exposing cookie-based IDs outside the walls is a nonstarter, Google certainly isnt going to let other DSPs traffic campaigns informed by logged-in user data.

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Google Tests Audience Buying In ADH, A Big Step From Analytics To Activation - AdExchanger

In just a few weeks, the coronavirus crisis has turned Zoom into a household name.

As people increasingly stay home to help stop the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, they're turning to Zoom to collaborate with colleagues, attend school, keep in touch with family and friends, and even attend yoga classes.

And Zoom is seeing the benefits: The company's stock has just about doubled since January 31, even as it told investors that it had to increase its cloud-computing spending to keep pace with its rapid growth. While Zoom isn't sharing user numbers, it hinted earlier this month that it has seen a dramatic increase in usage, and its smartphone apps have rocketed to the tops of the download charts.

In short: Zoom's popularity as a business tool is turning it into a widely used consumer tool, which is in turn making it a household name among both types of customers and driving up the value of the company.

Amid this rapid rise, the big question has been: How did Zoom, a relative upstart that focuses mainly on corporate customers, find itself in the spotlight when there are so many other options out there, including Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Cisco's Webex?

Experts told Business Insider that the answer to that question was a combination of Zoom's ease of use, quick and decisive action from the company amid the crisis, and a healthy amount of good luck being in the right place at the right time.

"I don't know of any other tool that started as an enterprise-software product that became a consumer product so quickly or heavily," Alex Zukin, an analyst at RBC, said.

Ultimately, the analysts said, Zoom couldn't be a success among consumers without first being a hit in the workplace.

Rishi Jaluria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, told Business Insider that Zoom benefited from a certain dynamic: People are now using Zoom for hours every day at work or to attend classes virtually. So when those same people go looking for ways to socialize virtually, they turn to Zoom because it's the system with which they're most familiar.

That said, Zoom also came up with a business-grade videoconferencing system so simple and easy that people still want to use it in their free time, Jaluriasaid and that, in turn, has given Zoom plenty of positive word of mouth and attracted new users into the fold.

"That's the brand they know. It's known to be easy to set up and run, and I think there is a brand association, not only is this is the way things are done, but Zoom is seen as the cooler or hotter brand," Jaluria said.

Jaluria said even at his own firm, employees use Cisco Webex for official purposes. But the hype around Zoom is such that the younger employees use it to organize virtual happy hours after work, he added.

The analysts also praised several of Zoom's choices as contributing to its success in terms of product decisions and its response to the coronavirus crisis.

Beyond flashy, popular features like its custom video backgrounds, Zoom invested from its early days in ensuring compatibility with all types of devices, new and old. That's paying off now because it means that Zoom can reach a wider net of users, regardless of whether they have a cutting-edge PC or smartphone. That gave it an edge in the workplace and again with consumers.

"Particularly in the enterprise, the ability for Zoom to basically work with all of your existing legacy hardware from a videoconferencing perspective was a huge boost and benefit," Zukin said.

Some of Zoom's popularity right now also stems from its quick reaction to the coronavirus crisis and decision to offer up its tools during the crisis, Dan Newman, an analyst at Futurum Research, said.

At the end of February, Zoom lifted the 40-minute limit on conference calls in China when CEO Eric Yuan said he wanted to do something to help those affected. It has also made the product free for schools. After that, companies like Slack, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, and others started following suit.

That gave Zoom a head start to make itself known as a way to help people connect during even the earlier stages of the pandemic, Newman said.

Becoming a consumer-friendly app also comes with added responsibility, particularly around privacy and security, several analysts said. The fact that it's so easy to join and participate in Zoom calls is a big part of its appeal, but it also raises questions about its privacy and security controls.

"I think people look at Zoom as an enterprise application that would have the same stringent data-privacy rules as a Microsoft or a Cisco, but they don't," Newman said.

That's why Zoom may need to be proactive about upping its privacy and security features as its usage grows outside business needs, Jaluria said. Like Facebook or Twitter, the company has to start getting serious about protecting consumer users. That's going to be a learning process for Zoom, which previously mainly dealt with customers who were using it in a professional context.

"Zoom, I think proactively, may need to be in a position where people can better monitor their own content, or Zoom can better find people who are irresponsibly using the product, and a way of kind of policing content," Jaluria said.

Security experts have highlighted concerns about a lack of clarity over the firm's privacy policy. Internet trolls have also recently been infiltrating Zoom calls to share indecent images or other spam. That prompted Zoom to address the issue and show people how to prevent that from happening in a blog post.

Zoom said it "only collects user data to the extent it is absolutely necessary to provide technical and operational support, and to improve our services" and "does not sell user data of any kind to anyone."

One thing that analysts agree on is that Zoom will change the way we work forever, even if people stop using it for happy hours and college classes after the crisis ends. And all those college kids who are using Zoom for class now will likely continue using it even after they graduate, Jaluria said.

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Why Zoom is winning so much hype over Microsoft and Google - Business Insider

On Thursday morning, Chuck Robbins, the chief executive of Cisco, signed on to an companywide video conference from his home office in Silicon Valley. The connection was stable, but the quality was not great.

I tell you, he said in an earlier interview, this whole teleworking thing as much as we sell it to our customers, Im not sure I want to do it 100 percent of the time.

In addition to Mr. Robbins, the video conference featured several mental health professionals, who spent an hour answering questions from Cisco employees grappling with the stress of working from home during the coronavirus outbreak. Nobody prepares for this, he said.

Cisco, which makes networking equipment, has seen demand for its Webex video conferencing system spike. In response, it has redeployed teams to focus on making sure big customers can conduct everyday chats and board meetings remotely.

Still, it is a stretch. None of this technology was designed to support the entire world working from home, Mr. Robbins said. The Webex teams havent slept in days.

As the coronavirus sweeps the globe, even chief executives who normally flit from meetings to conferences in chauffeured SUVs and private jets have been confined to spare rooms.

From there, they are working to keep their business afloat as the stock market plummets; managing supply chains upended by travel restrictions and labor shortages; and trying to keep their employees healthy and sane. For this installment of Corner Office our biweekly C.E.O. interview column I talked to the leaders of several prominent companies about what the experience has been like.

Its a Miracle You Can Run a Company This Way: Sundar Pichai of Alphabet

At an undisclosed location in Silicon Valley, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, has a very nice home office. Soaring ceilings. Artfully decorated two-tone bookshelves. A seating area. A really big plant. Its the kind of home office you would expect the wealthy chief executive of one of the worlds most powerful technology companys to have.

From there, Mr. Pichai is monitoring the myriad ways that Alphabet which includes Google, YouTube and more is responding to the coronavirus crisis. Paramount among his concerns, he said, is ensuring that disinformation is kept in check.

Were making sure that most of the information is coming from expert organizations and journalistic organizations, and are trying to surface them higher across all our products, he said via a Hangouts video call.

At the same time, Google is seeing a spike in demand for its G-Suite and Hangouts products, and has most of its employees working from home as well. Its a miracle you can run a company this way, he said.

Mr. Pichai, like so many, is also having to navigate the home front. The day-to-day juggling of all this stretches all of us, he said. It was not easy to help my teenage daughter to understand what is going on.

Adena Friedman, the chief executive of Nasdaq, made the decision weeks ago: Key personnel at the stock exchange would be split into two teams.

Each week, one team would work from home and the other would work from the office. Over the weekend, the office would be cleaned. In the event that one team got sick, the other team could run the company.

During her rotations away from the office, Ms. Friedman has been working from her primary residence in Chevy Chase, Md. along with her husband and two sons, both in their 20s, all of whom are also working from home.

Ms. Friedman follows the same routine each workday. She wakes up at 5:30 a.m., rides on her Peloton, eats breakfast and gets to work. During the day, she is monitoring the steady decline in the markets, trying to ensure that banks which also have most employees working remotely are clearing trades, and taking meetings with executives who are also at home.

Whats been really fun is to peer into the personal lives of your colleagues, she said in a telephone interview. Sometimes a kid will walk into the room. My dog has been barking all day.

When Ms. Friedman gets hungry, she runs downstairs and makes herself a peanut butter and honey sandwich, then races back to her office for more calls. It is a high stress environment right now, she said.

For Stewart Butterfield, the chief executive of Slack, it was bad time to have spotty internet service. He was stuck at home in San Francisco amid the shelter-in-place orders last week, and had an all-company video conference to host. But with his home internet wonky because of construction, there was just one room that had a decent connection. I did the all-hands from the laundry room, he said in a telephone interview.

Slack, the messaging company, has experienced a sharp spike in usage in recent weeks, as much as 30 percent above previous highs of messages sent per day. Weve seen an incredible surge in new sign-ups that has tracked pretty closely to the countries that have been affected, he said.

Mr. Butterfield contends the new demand has galvanized the team. It was probably the most productive week of work in the companys history, he said.

But Mr. Butterfield said he was aware that it might not last. The adrenaline rush eventually wears off, he said. We dont want people to burn out.

Albert Bourla, the chief executive of drugmaker Pfizer, was happy when the bickering began. His college-aged daughter had moved back home to Scarsdale, N.Y., after the coronavirus closed schools around the country, and she was already at it with her mother.

I had missed the fights between my wife and my daughter, he said in a telephone interview. Im happy to see it once more. The day starts with a fight and ends with a fight.

When not delighting in his reunited family, Mr. Bourla is grappling with the immensity of the challenges confronting Pfizer, a global company that is also a critical cog in the health care system. My mind right now is spinning a thousand times, he said. Its not only that I feel responsible for the 90,000 people of Pfizer. I feel a responsibility to bring a solution to this crisis.

Pfizer is ramping up production of medicines that might be needed to treat patients suffering from Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. It has also begun aggressive research into a vaccine for the virus, as well as antiviral treatments.

Mr. Bourla saw the crisis coming somewhat earlier than others. Pfizers offices in Asia were affected by the coronavirus months ago, and Mr. Bourla said the novelty of remote working quickly wore thin for workers there. After a couple of weeks there was a fatigue of working from home, he said. It feels very strange.

Gregg Renfrew, the chief executive of Beautycounter, was trying to work from an apartment in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, but her husband kept interrupting her video calls.

Beautycounter, a private company that makes makeup and shampoos, doesnt sell through stores. Instead, it does most of its business through a network of consultants mostly women who sell to their friends and associates.

Ms. Renfrew has been trying her best to manage the disruption wrought by the coronavirus fortifying her supply chain, increasing the production of some essential items and postponing some product launches. But the pressure to keep the company running is intense at a time when many small business owners are facing an existential crisis.

I have 50,000 people whose livelihood depends on us, she said in an interview via Zoom. And I have to acknowledge that I dont have all the answers.

Last week, in recognition that everyone was feeling a bit frazzled, Ms. Renfrew told company employees to take Friday off. We all need to figure out how to manage everything, she said. Then we can come back and get to work.

On a conference call the other day, Marc Benioff, the Salesforce chief executive and co-founder, made an insensitive remark. Describing how the company was meeting customer demand during the coronavirus crisis, he said, We have a full Chinese menu of options for our customers. The blowback was swift, with employees around the country reprimanding him via email. Mr. Benioff apologized.

I am learning new levels of sensitivity, Mr. Benioff said via FaceTime from his home office in San Francisco, where he is holed up amid the regions shelter-in-place order.

Like most of his 50,000 employees, he is juggling professional demands and personal life from home.

Mr. Benioff, already a rampant networker, said the volume of inbound communication he is receiving surpasses anything he has experienced before. Its everything from working with our management team to planning the fiscal year, he said. Im having to adjust what my priorities are.

Also: His father-in-law is staying with him, and his mother comes over for dinner every night. To cope, Mr. Benioff, a Buddhist, has been meditating more.

Salesforce employees are also feeling the strain. Mr. Benioff said an internal survey revealed that 36 percent of his work force was experiencing mental health challenges these days. And those are the ones who are willing to admit it, he said. Were starting a daily mental health call, to encourage daily prayer meditation and mindfulness.

We All Have to Make Trade-Offs: Giovanni Caforio of Bristol Myers Squibb

Giovanni Caforio, the chief executive of the drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb, was monitoring the coronavirus long before most Americans. Mr. Caforio is Italian, and his brother, who works in a hospital in Rome, told him weeks ago that the virus was serious. I know firsthand three people in the I.C.U., Mr. Caforio said in a telephone interview. Two in Milan and one in Rome.

Now Mr. Caforio is running the company from his home in Princeton, N.J., where his wife and two children are also trying to keep up with their responsibilities. His wife manages a nonprofit that provides food to the underprivileged. His college-aged son came back from Scotland after school was canceled. And his daughter is a senior in high school. She is not getting a prom or a graduation ceremony, he said. Were adapting to a new reality.

Mr. Caforio said Bristol Myers Squibbs supply chain, which is sourced from the United States and Europe more than China, was holding up well so far. But he acknowledged that new disruptions were possible as the virus spreads around the globe. Some hospitals in Europe have already started stockpiling Bristol Myers Squibbs products in anticipation of supply constraints.

Mr. Caforio knows it is a stressful time, and is trying to be empathetic with his work force. Some of our employees working from home were feeling almost guilty, he said. They were struggling about how to balance their personal needs with how to help the company. Its OK. Right now we all have to make trade-offs.

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Logged On From the Laundry Room: How the C.E.O.s of Google, Pfizer and Slack Work From Home - The New York Times

Sorry, folks. Google isnt going to extend the deadline for the phase out of third-party cookies in Chrome.

In an email sent Thursday afternoon to members of the W3Cs Improving Web Advertising Business Group, Marshall Vale, a Chrome product manager and a member of the group himself, wrote that a discussion around adjusting timelines is premature.

The full email is reprinted below.

Some in the group are taking this as Googles official response. Google did not respond to a request from AdExchanger for comment.

The group had been planning to discuss approaching Google formally to ask for an extension, all COVID-19 things considered. The discussion was earmarked as an item on the draft agenda for the groups most recent meeting, which took place on Thursday. But Vales message makes it clear that a formal approach would not be considered at the moment.

Earlier this year, Google announced that it would nix third-party cookies in Chrome by 2022.

And that plan stands, at least for now. Although Vale did not rule out revisiting the topic as the situation evolves.

The following is Vales email in full:

Hi all--

We appreciate you raising this issue. Were closely monitoring developments around COVID-19 and the impact its having on our partners in the web ecosystem. These are uncertain and challenging times for everyone, and we're committed to supporting the larger web community throughout this.

We believe that at this point, a discussion around adjusting timelines is premature. We are confident that with continued iteration and feedback, privacy-preserving and open-standard mechanisms like the Privacy Sandbox can sustain a healthy, ad-supported web in a way that will render third-party cookies obsolete. As you know, we've committed to only phasing out support for third party cookies once the needs of users and sites (including publishers and advertisers) are addressed. Weve said that we cant reach this point alone, and need the entire ecosystem to engage on these proposals, and that plan hasnt changed.

At this time, we can't know in what ways or for how long COVID-19 will impact the web ecosystem's ability to experiment with these new mechanisms, test whether they work well in various situations, and develop supporting implementations. We will of course continue to revisit this topic as the situation evolves.

Regards,Marshall

--

Marshall Vale[email address redacted by AdExchanger]Product Manager, Chrome Browser

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Google Has No Plans To Postpone Killing Third-Party Cookies In Chrome - AdExchanger

Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are among the leading tech digital platforms to partner with the Ad Council and US government agencies to extend the reach and impact of Covid-19 response messaging.

The platforms working with the White House, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) include Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, SiriusXM and Pandora, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and Verizon Media, among others, to create messaging to help in communications about the coronavirus.

From custom filters to emojis to influencer content, the digital and technology partners are leveraging their tools to connect their audiences with potentially life-saving messages to help slow the spread of the virus.

"We have seen the media industry come together time and time again to address the most critical issues facing our country, and the Covid-19 pandemic is no exception," said Lisa Sherman, president and chief executive of the Ad Council. "These digital and technology platforms have generously donated their talents and reach to empower millions of Americans to stay safe, informed and connected."

This is part of the Ad Council's ongoing response to the Covid-19 crisis, working with the country's largest digital platforms and broadcast media networks to ensure the American public is receiving crucial and vetted information.

While each platform is providing customized support, the common goal is to drive audiences to coronavirus.gov, a centralized resource from HHS and the CDC.

Donated media also includes Cadreon, EMX (a division of Engine Group), and The Trade Desk, which are building private marketplaces for publishers to donate media inventory. Acxiom, Crossix and Fluent are donating audience targeting segments through LiveRamp to help reach millennials and those who are at higher risk for Covid-19. Plus, DoubleVerify and IAS are leveraging their ad blocking technologies to serve campaign messages across a breadth of publisher sites.

An influencer segment of the campaign will find popular talent including Noah Cyrus, Taylor Bennet, Michelle Williams, Giannina Gibelli, Shubham Goel and Joey Sasso who are starring in an upcoming PSA around social distancing. Created in partnership with Pereira O'Dell, the PSA will be supported by donated media from Facebook and Google/YouTube.

"We are always at our best when we respond to challenges as a community," said Tara Walpert Levy, vice-president, agency and brand solutions, Google and YouTube. "Right now, helping people get the right information to stay healthy is more important than ever."

Custom content creation will come from Pandora, who will make custom audio assets for media partners, an interactive campaign from Reddit, including a front page takeover, and a custom emoji from Twitter for the #AloneTogether hashtag. In addition, Snapchat will feature content on its app and Verizon Media is creating #AloneTogether content to be shared across its ecosystem of brands.

"Public health officials have made clear how important it is that young people take this seriously - and that they have a key role to play in helping stop the spread," said Jennifer Stout, vice-president of global public policy at Snap Inc. "We are committed to helping Snapchatters do their part, by providing fact-based news and information from trusted sources on our content platform, along with creative tools and experiences that help raise awareness for our community to protect themselves, their loved ones and the greater public."

Link:

Apple, Google and others partner with Ad Council and US govt to expand coronavirus messaging - The Drum