Is This the Right Zoom for an Argument?

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: It is Friday, September 27th. Today, a trademark dispute escalates and thousands of brand websites

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_00]: are caught in the middle. The one gift recipient your marketing isn't accounting for, a warning

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: for anyone who manages their company's Google Business profile, and don't worry, Instagram

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Reels hasn't crashed, their latest addition is actually on purpose.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Tod Maffin, that's ahead, today in Digital Marketing.

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_00]: A legal dispute over a trademark has crippled thousands of WordPress sites around the world.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: WordPress has blocked WP Engine, that's a company that hosts WordPress sites,

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: from accessing its repository. This means any website that uses WP Engine as its hosting provider

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: can no longer add plugins or themes. And worse, it means they can't update them either

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: in case there's a security patch. The decision was made by Matt Mullenweg,

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: co-creator of WordPress, who accused WP Engine of trademark infringement and demanded tens of

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: millions of dollars in licensing fees. Earlier this month, he penned a sharply worded blog post

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: pointing out that WP Engine disables some features that come standard with WordPress,

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: only to charge for their own versions of essentially the same feature. He called

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: WP Engine, quote, a cancer to WordPress, unquote. For its part, WP Engine has posted a workaround

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_00]: for its customers, allowing them to manually install and update plugins and themes. The

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_00]: company's also trying to develop a fix for the issue. But if Mullenweg thought the WordPress

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: community with its long-standing culture of open-sourced code and community involvement

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: would back his move, it was a grave miscalculation. Core contributors, volunteer programmers,

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: essentially, are speaking out against Mullenweg's action, saying they weren't consulted and don't

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: support the ban. Many in the tech community are also criticizing Mullenweg's decision,

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: calling it an abuse of power. Technology writer Robert Scoble called the decision, quote,

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_00]: universally hated in tech, unquote, and many others have echoed his sentiment. The ban

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: has also raised concerns about the precedent in May set for trademark infringement. This is a

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: fast-moving story, we will update it next week. But if you are caught up in this and use WP Engine

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: as your brand's hosting provider, we have a link to how to manage your plugins and themes

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: manually in today's email newsletter, which you can sign up to for free by tapping the link at

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: the top of the show notes or going to todayindigital.com slash newsletter. More data about how

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: people plan to shop this holiday season to help you in your planning. According to a new

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: JLL forecast, most people who shop during the holidays plan to buy a gift for themselves this year.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, 83% of shoppers say they'll do that. That's up from 76% last year. The top items on

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: their lists are shoes and clothing, electronics, and accessories. On average, shoppers expect to

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: spend $1,261 on gifts, food, decorations, and experiences this year. That is an increase

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: of almost 32% from last year. But less of their budget will go to gifts, 46% compared to 55% in 2023.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Most shoppers will use more than one way to shop this holiday season. 71% will buy online for

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: home delivery, 58% will shop at stores outside of malls, and nearly 60% will shop at stores

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: in enclosed malls. Many large retailers are introducing deals earlier than usual. Amazon,

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Target, and Walmart are all having sales events in early October. This likely a response to

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: consumers starting their holiday shopping early with 65% of shoppers between 30 and 44 beginning

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: by Halloween. The data comes from JLL's holiday shopping report which polled more than 1,000 American consumers.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: This is why we can't have nice things. Last year, LinkedIn introduced something

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: at called Top Voice Badges for collaborative articles. These were articles posted by other

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: members which LinkedIn would then elevate to the feed and ask other people to add their

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_00]: own thoughts to it. If your thoughts got a lot of engagement, you'd get a little

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: top voice badge added to your profile. But now, they're dropping the badge

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: and AI is likely to blame. The problem is that AI selected which article to push out as the invitation

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: for the comments. Then others were using AI to write their comments. Trained on its own

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: platform engagement data, the code likely knew how to write comments that would

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: generate lots of feedback and at some point you have to wonder, are humans even involved here?

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So now, LinkedIn has announced it is getting rid of those top voice badges.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Those badges will start disappearing on October 8th. They'll be completely gone by December 7th.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: LinkedIn says it still wants you to contribute to collaborative articles saying it can help

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: you show your expertise, expand your network and help others. But without the badges,

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: users might not be as interested in responding.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Amazon is basking in success with its decision to introduce ads to Prime Video.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: The company says it has exceeded its goal of $1.8 billion in ad spending commitments

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: for the coming year. This is a big deal for a company that only started showing ads on Prime

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Video nine months ago. For comparison, Netflix only got a few hundred million dollars in

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: ad spending commitments after introducing ads in 2022. Amazon is betting on streaming TV to

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: keep its ad revenue growth going. The company wants to capture a bigger share of TV ad budgets

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: as they shift to streaming services. To do this, Amazon is investing heavily in sports rights,

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: including a $1 billion per year deal to broadcast Thursday night football.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Ad executives say their company is appealing because it offers a one-stop shop for advertisers.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Amazon's services, including Prime Video, Twitch and Free V, reach a huge audience of

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: 175 million monthly viewers in the US. The company's data on its own users is also a

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_00]: selling point, letting marketers target ads to viewers who can then buy products on Amazon.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Google business profiles are getting stricter. Some marketers reported this week that even small

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: changes to your profile can now trigger a re-verification process. This includes changes

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: to your business categories or even just your phone number. And it doesn't seem to matter

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_00]: if you make those changes manually or through the API. Either way, you might have to go through

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_00]: the verification process again. This can be a hassle, especially if you're just trying to

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: keep your profile up to date. So make those edits carefully.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Meta has been fined $101 million for storing hundreds of millions of its users' passwords

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: unencrypted in plain text. The company first discovered the mistake in 2019.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: At the time, Meta said it would notify affected users and said the passwords were only exposed

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: internally. Online services typically store passwords in an encrypted format to prevent

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: misuse if those files are taken. Normally, Meta uses industry standard techniques like

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_00]: hashing and salting to protect passwords. It's not clear why this didn't happen for many Facebook

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and Instagram users. The Irish Data Protection Commission, the DPC, led a five-year investigation

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: into the incident. The DPC found that Meta broke European Union data protection laws

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: by failing to notify them of the breach and not taking proper steps to protect user passwords.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: The DPC shared its decision with other EU authorities who did not object to the fine.

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Meta has not commented on the decision. This episode is brought to you by popular pays

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: by LightTricks. Discover the power of popular pays, where top-tier influencers and creators

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: meet unparalleled white-glove service. Popular pays is not just a platform,

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: the customer reps become an extension of your team, driving exceptional ROI and brand growth.

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Their team's expertise ranges from seamless campaign management to creating content,

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: whether for viral TikToks or highly performing reels and posts. Popular pays streamlines

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_00]: every step from finding the perfect creators to measuring success. Ready to take your

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: influencer marketing to the next level? Visit popularpays.com slash podcast to get an exclusive

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: 20% discount. That's popularpays.com slash podcast, where brands and creators meet to collaborate.

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't just do influencer marketing, do it right with popular pays. McDonald's has this.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_00]: T-Mobile has this. And now Instagram Reels is getting a sonic signature of its own.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Soon at the end of every reel which is downloaded from the app,

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll get a brief credit screen and this sound.

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_00]: No I'm kidding, actually this sound. Here it is again. Instagram's creative audio and brand

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_00]: team said they tested lots of different sounds to find one that fits with every reel.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_00]: They said they were looking for a sound that was punctuated but imperfect to reflect the idea that

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_00]: everyday creativity doesn't have to be perfect. It also apparently doesn't have to be unique.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Honoring Reels long living tradition of stealing ideas from TikTok,

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_00]: this whole sonic signature at the end of a downloaded video is ripped right out of

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_00]: TikTok's playbook. Their version sounds like this. The only real question is,

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: why did it take Instagram so long? Guys I've been doing so much adulting lately.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I told you about the shoes, my new shoes to replace the ones that I've been using for 14 years.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Still getting used to how those feel but the other day I went and bought new socks

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: also to replace socks that are probably 15 or 20 years old and

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I was so excited by the new socks. I don't know why like I my old are just you know

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_00]: they were ratty and so on so I got the kind I liked and kind of like Mark Zuckerberg used to

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_00]: you know only wear the same the same gray sweatshirt he's changed that now but I just bought like 15 pairs

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_00]: of the exact same sock because I like it. Is that you know I feel like I'm an adult I can make those

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_00]: kinds of decisions if I want to right? On Monday it is a stat holiday here in Canada it is the

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_00]: national day for truth and reconciliation so we will be out of the office. I know many of

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_00]: you don't have a stat on Monday so we will still be in your feed. I'll be speaking

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_00]: to the author of a new marketing science research paper on the politics of search how people from

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_00]: different political stripes treat search engine ads and how your campaigns should change to take

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: advantage of this fascinating new data that is Monday on the show. And that will do it for the

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: week today in digital marketing is produced by EngageQ Digital on the traditional territories

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_00]: of this new namek first nation on Vancouver Island our associate producer is the intrepid

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Steph Gunn our production coordinator is Sarah Guild ad coordination by Red Circle and Mark

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Blevis is that moment just before Basil smacked Manuel on the forehead with a spoon. Come here

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_00]: you're a waste of space oh and Bob Maffin have a restful weekend I'll see you on Monday

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: for that interview and on Tuesday for our regular show