Google has doubled down on its Privacy Sandbox with the announcement this week that it will not participate in the development of alternative identifiers, and will not use them. Alternative identifiers, such as Unified ID 2.0 (developed by The Trade Desk) and LiveRamp’s ATS typically work by attempting to associate online behavior with a piece of first-party data like an email address, making addressable advertising possible — at least for those individuals who have somehow made themselves known.

Google said that “People shouldn’t have to accept being tracked across the web in order to get the benefits of relevant advertising.” But the main development emerging from the Privacy Sandbox, known as FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) does precisely that. It just doesn’t store the tracking data in a way which associates it with an individual (even an anonymized individual), but aggregates it into a behavioral cohort (a large group of individuals) stored at the browser level. In other words, advertisers will be able to target not an individual who has been researching a certain kind of shoe purchase, say, but a large group of individuals who have been exhibiting that behavior.

Many questions remain to be answered about FLoC — in particular, whether Google will have any privileged insight into the users grouped into a cohort. It might also be hard to convince consumers why this particular kind of tracking is no threat to privacy. But for now, Google has made its opposition to competing methods of tracking identities clear.

Why we care. With the battle between Facebook and Apple over the IDFA opt-in, and now the spectacle of Google’s outright opposition to alternative identifiers being developed by the adtech industry, disruption rather than collaboration within the adtech space continues to be the order of the day.

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With all of the options available for online learning today, choosing the right program can be overwhelming. To help you decide which program is right for you, here’s a list of some of the best digital marketing courses in the U.S.

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Have you been submitting session pitches but haven’t been selected to speak? Or maybe you’re just now considering applying to speak at an industry or local event and don’t know where to start. Here are some tips to consider.

1. Start with your own goals. Think about why you want to speak and what types of events are a good fit with your expertise.
2. Once you identify those events, learn everything you can about them. Determine if there is a theme, if they are looking for specific types of sessions or topics, look at past programs. Talk to other people who may have spoken at that event. It’s even better if they can make an introduction or recommend you.
3. Now it’s time to submit your idea. Succinctly describe what you will talk about, but more importantly focus on what the audience will be able to do as a result of attending your presentation. Be as specific as possible and include any real-life examples and case studies you have to share.
4. Be realistic about what you can present in the time allotted. Going in-depth on a narrow topic is often more valuable than going too broad and not providing actionable takeaways.
5. When submitting your bio keep it short and include any relevant work experience that shows your expertise on the topic. If you have spoken at other events or have speaking videos include them.
6. Hit submit and good luck!

Marketing automation platforms form the backbone of marketing operations, increasingly serving as sophisticated marketing orchestration platforms. MarTech Today’s “B2B Marketing Automation Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide” examines the market for B2B marketing automation software platforms. This report includes profiles of 13 leading B2B marketing automation vendors, capabilities comparisons, pricing information, and recommended steps for evaluating and purchasing.

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Scott Brinker shared this on LinkedIn this week and it’s notable for two reasons:

1. You can see how much growth and competition there exists in the all-in-one space
2. All of the components are available if you choose to skip those all-in-one providers and compile your events stack yourself.

Here’s why we went with the stack approach

Join us online, April 13, for SMX Create — a brand-new learning journey devoted to content marketing, ad copywriting, landing page optimization, and more. Grab your pass now for just $99!

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With today’s announcement that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Dublin-based Boxever, Sitecore will become the latest ecommerce and CMS provider to include an integrated CDP as part of its offering. As part of the same announcement, Sitecore will also acquire Minneapolis-based ecommerce platform Four51. Four51’s API-driven, headless solution delivers customer experience directly to a range of channels and devices. Sitecore is describing this as complementary to their existing solutions.

These acquisitions follow on the heels of Sitecore’s attention-grabbing $1.2 billion funding round in January, which suggests that CEO Steve Tzikakis had a wish-list clearly in mind. The cost of the acquisitions, which are expected to close by the end of March, has not been disclosed.

Why we care. As we’ve said before, with adoption of digital commerce expanding, even among verticals never considered digital-first, the race between ecommerce vendors is white hot, with Episerver acquiring (and then re-branding as) Optimizely, and now these moves by Sitecore. 

Read More here.

“The mute button on Zoom is broken. I keep stabbing it and other people keep talking.” Mitch Wagner, Senior Writer, Content Central, Oracle.