👋Hello! Welcome to the 3 new subs this week, pleasure having you here.👋In the news this week; A busy week for lawmakers after an international warrant has been issued for war crimes (Putin), a warrant for hush money in the US (Trump), and a warrant for celebrating too much (Arsenal).

👀Things you may have missed👀

• Was the TV series you’re binging cut short? Check here📺

• Guess the word! A fun/PAINFUL word guessing game😣

• Google Bard is open to the public (in the UK & US)🤖

• Microsoft launches AI-powered copilot for 365🧠

🤯The BIG stories🤯

SHORT FORM VIDEO IS BACK BABY! We’re going to get those not watching BVOD to watch in-feed videos across our network of sites that are popular with an audience that rhymes with bloomers. AND then, we’ll embed our TikTok videos that they love!

Lots to unpack here…One of the big focuses is integrating Westpac Data - smart until you remember the Privacy Act landing soon. Another is shoppable video, again smart but the age-old viewability debate rears its ugly head and not to mention the numbers of people who convert in an ad format, alongside the audience they’re reaching & their likelihood to convert. Finally, a remarkable take to round it out.

Similar to your doctor turning around to you and saying - “Hey, we know that hayfever medicine doesn’t work for broken legs, but we’re going to try it anyway!” Does anyone have a copy of ‘How Brands Grow’ to lend Mark?

“We need to grow our social presence on TikTok, but we also need you to delete the app from your phones”…Eh, right okay. How do we do our job? This story has been rumbling for a while now & the UK government (plus the BBC) has banned the app on government-used devices.

Following the presidential order in the US, the UK and even Australia are going to follow suit soon - that AUKUS partnership already paying off hey? With the upcoming congressional hearing in the US, it could be curtains for the Chinese-owned app - unless it spins off to a US-based entity. (This was written on Weds, so news may have come in before you’ve read this). TikTok has responded here

😎Cool & Creative😎

Following archrivals Hellman’s success with the adorable spoilt turnip activation in Animal Crossing, Heinz has landed in Fortnite where players can kill one another, do a dance, and then learn all about soil degradation. Ace.

Targeting 18-34 audiences, they’re taking a similar tactic as before where they create activations in virtual worlds with real outcomes and all without the hard sell. Let’s just wait for the web3 maximalists to jump all over this - “iTs A mEtAvErSe AcTiVaTiOn!”

💸Commerce Corner💸

Instagram wants to monetise your skincare routine. For themselves… with… you guessed it… ads! Look out for 2 new ad formats: sponsored search result posts and opt-in Reminder Ads (push notifications) for upcoming events from businesses.

Meta’s 2022 Q4 earnings posted a loss of a whole billion dollarydoos, so these new ad formats are clearly designed to boost revenue and cop a fresh batch of consumer annoyance. Predictably, the “uncertain and volatile macroeconomic landscape” has been blamed, which will now replace my “supply chain shortage” rationale back to my grandmother as to why I'm still single.

🤓Technology & Tracking🤓

Can I get a ruh-roh? This could spell disaster for Meta, as the Austrian Data Protection Authority has found the much-loved pixel directly violates the GDPR. While there is no information on whether a penalty was or will be issued, the GDPR foresees penalties of up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover in such cases.

YEAR OF EFFICIENCY! Gosh, it’s been a while since we had GDPR infringements, it’s almost like everyone stopped caring about it for a while in the pop-up apocalypse that is the European Internet.

📱Best of the Net📱

• Shake that thing!💀

• WOW! MAGIC😲

• SO cute😍