In the post-iOS 14 era, Meta has been trying to recapture its dominance in digital advertising.
Its UK and USA political roles tarnished Meta’s reputation. Helping the Russians with Brexit and Trump’s win as President has done Meta no favours with lawmakers on either side of the pond.
As a result, Governments worldwide have been lifting privacy and other laws to mitigate a future repeat of political interference – by any bad-faith actors. The EU has been the boldest legislator to date.
New privacy legislation worldwide and Apple’s increased privacy controls have cost Meta billions in lost revenue.
Meta’s is entering the Retail Media Network space.
- A retail media network is an advertising platform hosted on a retailer’s website, app, or digital channels.
- The host retailer allows other brands to advertise to the host retailers’ customers as they browse their site – for a fee.
- Retail Media Networks enable physical in-store advertising to transition to digital-online to create the same effect for online customers.
- Retail media networks can be highly profitable for host retailers.
- Managed Partner Advertising from Meta enables advertisers to connect with the host retailers’ customers through Meta ad placements, including Facebook and Instagram News Feeds, Stories, and Reels.
Amazon – the world’s largest retailer,
Amazon offers brands multi-channel advertising opportunities from sponsored products and sponsored brand placements to shoppable live streams and audio and video ads.
Last month, Meta said it is testing two new advertising tools to lift performance for retailers and e-commerce advertisers.
- Managed Partner Ads Lite, Meta is attempting to break out of Apple’s walled garden by tapping retail media networks to help brands run personalised advertising.
- Local inventory ads enable businesses to dynamically target Meta users near their physical stores with relevant campaigns via mobility tracking their phones.
Managed Partner Ads Lite,
- Meta helps retailers extend their media networks, create ads on Meta’s platforms and, in turn, drive sales for individual brand partners or product SKUs.
- Managed Partner Ads Lite allows matching to selected retail networks using the host retailers’ CRM data to increase volume and use their first-party data more innovatively.
The problem Meta is trying to solve is how to replace the lost intelligence data due to privacy and Apple changes.
The loss of quality data has reduced the platform targeting performance and cost it a significant loss of revenue and profits.
Now – the Meta algorithm has a larger audience pool from host retailers’ intelligence capture, which allows for better inventory targeting.
Meta said early results from Managed Partner Ads Lite testing shows that the ad unit is “driving incremental, omnichannel performance for brands.”
- Walgreens Advertising Group, a retail media network, partnered with Meta and a large national CPG brand to activate a campaign, optimising for online sales of 75 SKUs. The company said this drove a 3.9% lift in Health Remedies and a 2.5% lift in Skin Care products sold.
- Managed Partner Ads adds a level of scale and efficiency that is a significant plus business for advertisers (and Meta) as privacy laws continue to cut into its business model.
Local inventory ads
Lifts advertiser’s revenue by targeting people nearby physical stores to highlight local in-store campaigns. The advertiser selects a distance radius from their store(s) to target Facebook users. The service will help retailers drive local demand for their in-stock products.
Advantage+ shopping campaigns (ASC)
Meta launched an AI-powered Advantage+ shopping campaign tool last year to help e-commerce and retail advertisers improve high-conversion campaigns.
ASC uses AI to test up to 150 creative advertising combinations, unlocking new customers and helping marketers understand what resonates with those most interested in their products.
The results – Home Chef, a US-based meal kit and food delivery company, saw a 23% lift in conversions, a 22% lift in sales and a 10% increase in reach after incorporating Advantage+ shopping campaigns into its advertising strategy.
The push to ban Tik Tok (Chinese based) as a security risk rolls across most Five Eyes countries – USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – has led to some financial advantages for Meta.
The significant risk for Meta is the multi-country and multi-decade planned legislative changes to privacy protection that ultimately removes any advantage for Meta.
Regards
David
