Publishings Digital Citizen

This proposed deal raises major challenges for consumers, subscribers and competitors. It reflects the “Big Data” and digitally data-driven imperatives that are reshaping the U.S. media system. Giant broadband ISP networks, such as AT&Ts, and content providers as Time Warner, want to join together to both deliver programming and continually gather a host of information about each and every consumer. A new stranglehold is being placed on our communications landscape, as already dominant cable and telephone monopolies devour former partners or competitors (Verizon/AOL/and now Yahoo!, for example). This is all about tracking and targeting us regardless of whether we use a mobile device, PC or TV. Through the growing capability of mobile phones to follow and geo-target us everywhere we go—the supermarket, while in a car, or even on the street, these new broadband ISP/mobile/TV giants are extending their powerful digital tentacles further into our lives. While some programmers and large advertisers will benefit, the deal raises a host of consumer concerns, including about privacy. It’s no surprise that AT&T is bitterly opposed to the privacy safeguards up for a vote this coming Thursday at the FCC. They don’t want any potential new rules that empower consumers to control what they hope will be a massive influx of data they plan to monetize. Today’s announcement underscores why the FCC should pass Chairman Wheeler’s plan. Antitrust and consumer protection regulators must use a 21st Century framework that ensures that the public has a fair, diverse and equitable digital media system. Those companies that control our data--as well as the devices and applications we rely on (especially mobile)--will be formidable gatekeepers. They will be able to influence the content and communications we both receive and send. It's not to far out to see the next deal be Google/Comcast or AT&T/Time Warner/Facebook. AT&T's recent buying spree, including DirecTV (link is external), gives it a formidable cross-screen presence. As one of the handful of dominant broadband Internet Service Providers, it provides critical network connections to millions of Americans, as well as multichannel video service. It is investing to expand this empire, including video streaming (link is external) and the Internet of Things (link is external). Now it will have both Big Data and Bug Bunny, as well as HBO, CNN and a myrid of other properties. All to lure us to sit back, subscribe, view, interact with the ads on all our devices, engage with branded experiences and--yes--for this even bigger digital giant to gather and sell off our data on behalf of big brands and vested interests. statement of Jeff Chester, executive director

Turner Broadcasting [Time Warner] (link is external) is partnering with Epsilon, Krux and Oracle to enable advertisers and their agencies to connect to the Turner Data Cloud (TDC), the company’s advanced data management platform (DMP) originally announced at the company’s Upfront last month. Through these advanced third-party targeting capabilities along with Turner’s own proprietary data sources, TDC will aggregate and analyze first-and third-party data to provide advertisers, agencies and Turner itself more effective methods to reach and engage target audiences. “We are joining forces with industry-leading data and technology companies to power the Turner Premium Marketplace powered by an unrivaled central repository of data,” said Stephano Kim, Chief Data Strategist, Turner Broadcasting. “Fueling multi-screen ecosystems, Turner Premium Marketplace will enable our sales divisions to take their client conversations to a new level of insight and strategy to more effectively execute advertising campaigns across Turner’s portfolio. Brands advertising on Turner properties now have the enhanced ability to reach the most appropriate and desirable audiences across all user experiences wrapped in our premium content.” The Turner Premium Marketplace includes both digital and linear advertising campaigns across the company’s portfolio of entertainment, news, sports and kids brands. Advertisers and their agencies can choose to transact directly and programmatically depending on their unique campaign goals and business objectives. Through the Turner Data Cloud, advertisers can harness the power of their first party data in addition to third party data to effectively engage consumers and reach the right audience across Turner – a portfolio spanning television, digital and mobile platforms that reaches approximately 75% of all Americans. In addition to providing stronger advertising solutions, TDC will allow for better personalized consumer experiences across Turner’s own multiscreen brand destinations. “Turner Broadcasting is at the forefront of the evolution of content distribution,” said Andy Frawley, chief executive officer of Epsilon. “To enable the strongest possible brand experience for a consumer, it is imperative to leverage the power and value of data to drive marketing, advertising and programming to better connect the consumer’s experience and engagement. We look forward to leveraging our full suite of Big Data capabilities to support the Turner Data Cloud.” "The Turner Data Cloud is another industry-leading move by Turner, and we're proud that Krux's real-time DMP is at the center of this solution,” said Krux CEO Tom Chavez. "Through Krux, Turner is unifying people data across all channels and employing unparalleled identity management to activate highly specific audiences across linear and digital campaigns. What’s more, with Krux’s iterative learning capabilities, Turner advertisers can apply real-time campaign optimizations to drive higher conversions.” "Oracle Data Cloud is thrilled to collaborate with Turner to help their clients understand more about consumers based on what they do, say, and buy, enabling them to personalize and measure every customer interaction in order to maximize the value of their digital marketing,” said Omar Tawakol, GM of Oracle Data Cloud. "Our relationship with Turner will allow their clients to spend confidently knowing that their ads can be reliably delivered to the right consumer across screens." About Epsilon and Alliance Data About Epsilon Epsilon is the global leader in creating connections between people and brands. An all-encompassing global marketing company, we harness the power of rich data, groundbreaking technologies, engaging creative and transformative ideas to get the results our clients require. Recognized by Ad Age as the #1 World CRM/Direct Marketing Network, #1 U.S. Digital Agency Network and #1 U.S. Agency from All Disciplines, Epsilon employs over 7,000 associates in 70 offices worldwide. Epsilon is an Alliance Data (link is external) company. For more information, visit www.epsilon.com (link is external), follow us on Twitter @ (link is external)EpsilonMktg (link is external) or call 1.800.309.0505. About Alliance Data Alliance Data (link is external)® (NYSE: ADS) is a leading global provider of data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions serving large, consumer-based industries. The Company creates and deploys customized solutions, enhancing the critical customer marketing experience; the result is measurably changing consumer behavior while driving business growth and profitability for some of today's most recognizable brands. Alliance Data helps its clients create and increase customer loyalty through solutions that engage millions of customers each day across multiple touch points using traditional, digital, mobile and emerging technologies. An S&P 500 company headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alliance Data consists of three businesses that together employ more than 15,000 associates at approximately 100 locations worldwide. Alliance Data’s Card Services (link is external) business is a leading provider of marketing-driven branded credit card programs. Epsilon (link is external)® is a leading provider of multichannel, data-driven technologies and marketing services, and also includes Conversant (link is external), the leader in personalized digital marketing. LoyaltyOne (link is external)® owns and operates the AIR MILES (link is external)® Reward Program, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program, and holds a majority interest in Netherlands-based BrandLoyalty (link is external), a global provider of tailor-made loyalty programs for grocers.

The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and Public Citizen filed a complaint at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today asking for an investigation and enforcement action against Google (a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc.), Disney’s Maker Studios, DreamWorks-owned AwesomenessTV, and two other companies for the unfair and deceptive practice of targeting “influencer” marketing toward children. The complaint documents how several marketing companies—Collab Creators, Wild Brain, Maker Studios, and AwesomenessTV—produce and distribute ads and other commercial material targeting children that masquerade as content. It also details how Google encourages and benefits from the production of child-directed influencer videos and distributes these ads to children on its YouTube and YouTube Kids platforms. These “influencer” ads take unfair advantage of kids, who do not have the ability to recognize that companies use social media and YouTube celebrities to pitch toys, junk food, and other products. The groups also called on the FTC to release policy guidance that makes clear that using influencers to persuade children to buy a product or urge their parents to buy a product is unfair and deceptive. “Child-directed influencer marketing is misleading to children because their developing brains do not process or understand advertisements the way adults do—especially advertisements disguised as content,” said Laura Moy, Director at the Institute for Public Representation (IPR) at Georgetown University Law Center, which represents the groups. Existing FTC regulations require that advertisements be disclosed as such—which many influencer ads fail to do—but the complaint also makes clear that better disclosure alone is not a sufficient remedy because it “would not negate the inherent deceptiveness of child-directed influencer marketing.” As a result of the FTC’s inaction, marketing companies—backed by Google and others—are increasing investments in their influencer marketing practices with harmful results. “In many cases these advertisements cause children to want unhealthy and costly products,” Moy pointed out. “As this marketing practice expands even while evidence mounts that it is harmful to children, it becomes increasingly urgent for the FTC to make clear that the practice is unfair and deceptive under the law.” According to the complaint, the FTC can reverse the trend of harmful influencer marketing directed toward children by issuing policy guidance that makes clear that existing laws serve as a safeguard to protect children from these advertisements. The complaint analyzes the influencer marketing apparatus, and the role that Google and so-called Multi-Channel Networks (MCNs) such as Disney’s Maker Studios play in orchestrating the growing use of this tactic. It highlights how these companies use “influencers” who are young or popular with kids to sell junk food, toys, and more. The complaint identifies highly-popular YouTube channels like EvanTubeHD, Baby Ariel, Meghan McCarthy, the Eh Bee Family, and Bratayley, each with millions of subscribers, and how they present videos of child stars unboxing toys, playing games, and enthusiastically sampling junk food. The complaint provides several examples of such videos, including one where Baby Ariel and her family sample Jelly Belly brand jelly beans as part of a game called “BeanBoozled.” In another video, on EvanTubeHD, the child influencer is seen unboxing a Lego Police Patrol Boat. Neither video indicates that it is an advertisement, and both videos can be found intermingled with non-sponsored content on YouTube Kids. Google facilitates, promotes, and solicits these videos because they are popular with children, which increases the company’s ad revenues. “It’s time for the FTC put a stop to child-directed influencer marketing,” explained CDD’s Executive Director Jeff Chester. “Companies like Google are knowingly taking advantage of children and their parents by unleashing a torrent of stealth digital ads disguised as programming supposedly suitable for kids. As the country’s leading consumer protection agency, the FTC has a mandate to protect the public—including our children—from practices we know are both unfair and deceptive.” “Parents have no idea that the adorable ‘friends’ their children like to watch unbox toys are really stealth marketers,” said CCFC’s Executive Director Josh Golin. “It’s time for the FTC to take swift and decisive action and protect children from a practice that has long been prohibited on children’s television.” “Corporate predators are using young Internet influencers, admired by kids, to hawk their wares to children, even to young children,” explained President of Public Citizen, Rob Weissman. “The marketers and the advertising platforms enabling and promoting this activity should be ashamed. But since they’re not, we need the FTC to act to end their outrageous practice.” CCFC and CDD have also previously filed complaints with the FTC concerning child-directed marketing practices on YouTube Kids and YouTube. Todays’ complaint can be found at: http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/sites/default/files/FTCInfluencerComplaint.pdf (link is external)

COLOGNE-To the world at large, the fate of Yahoo had been a long-running saga that seemed like it would never end. But to AOL CMO Allie Kline, the deal joining AOL and Yahoo is a big momentum boost for the “flywheel” of data-driven advertising and content under the Verizon umbrella. With Verizon (link is external) already having scooped up some of the biggest and most powerful content brands, “The potential acquisition of Yahoo that only increases our footprint on the brand side,” Kline said in an interview with Beet.TV in mid September at the annual DMEXCO (link is external) conference and exposition. Combining content capabilities with data-driven technology platforms, “you really start to think about the possibility of data-driven content, data-driven advertising and that ecosystem just continuing. We call it the flywheel,” Kline (link is external) said. AOL, which considers mobile to be “a horizontal layer underneath both content and technology,” sees vast potential in the enlarged company’s ability to have technology inform decisions on which content to show on which devices. The personalization that can happen on mobile is optimized by the “unprecedented” Verizon subscriber base, according to Kline. “So we really see that as a strong competitive advantage going forward, particularly in areas like location-based data, which we see as an untapped frontier,” said Kline. On the content side, Kline cites the reach and engagement of properties like Huffington Post and Engadget (link is external). The addition of Yahoo’s news, finance, sports and other brands will add more spin to the freewheel. Once the Yahoo merger is done, the challenge will be “To be able to figure out how to put this combination of assets together and how to tap into the network of publishers and brands that we partner with in order to achieve great scale without compromising premium content,” Klein said.

Apple’s Siri analyzes thousands of movie showings and surfaces recommendations for the best times and theaters based on my location within seconds. Spotify knows my music preferences and curates personalized playlists for me. Facebook instantly recognizes my friends in photos and suggests tags with nearly 98 percent accuracy (link is external). All of this is made possible by artificial intelligence (AI)–complex and highly technical solutions such as natural language processing, deep learning and machine learning that when applied to everyday actions in our personal lives make us smarter and more productive. Today, Salesforce is delivering Salesforce Einstein–artificial intelligence for everyone. For many companies, the technical expertise, infrastructure and other resources required to deliver AI solutions is too significant to leverage in their enterprise applications. But in keeping with Albert Einstein's dictum that the definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple, Salesforce Einstein is removing the complexity of AI, enabling any company to deliver smarter, personalized and more predictive customer experiences. Salesforce Einstein is a set of best-in-class platform services that bring advanced AI capabilities into the core of the Customer Success Platform, making Salesforce the world’s smartest CRM. Powered by advanced machine learning, deep learning, predictive analytics, natural language processing and smart data discovery, Einstein’s models will be automatically customized for every single customer, and it will learn, self-tune, and get smarter with every interaction and additional piece of data. Most importantly, Einstein’s intelligence will be embedded within the context of business, automatically discovering relevant insights, predicting future behavior, proactively recommending best next actions and even automating tasks. With Einstein, the world’s #1 CRM is now the world’s smartest CRM and we’re bringing intelligence to all of our clouds. But don’t take my word for it. See below to hear from our Cloud GMs about what Einstein (link is external)means for all our clouds. Sales Cloud Einstein (link is external) Service Cloud Einstein (link is external) Marketing and Analytics Cloud Einstein (link is external) Community Cloud Einstein (link is external) IoT Cloud Einstein (link is external) App Cloud Einstein (link is external) We couldn’t be more excited to finally unveil Salesforce Einstein after two years of hard work and targeted acquisitions. As we continue to build out AI for CRM, we are committed to understanding the next generation of AI technology and how it can best be applied to Salesforce. This effort will be led by Salesforce Research, a new research group focused on the future of AI, under the leadership of Dr. Richard Socher, our Chief Scientist.