Third-party sellers sold $3.5 billion worth of goods on Amazon marketplace over the two-day Prime Day event last week. Amazon said that’s up nearly 60% over last year when the event had its typical July timing. 

The company didn’t disclose total Prime Day sales but said third-party outpaced Amazon-sold goods and that the top-selling categories for third-party sellers included bedding, wireless accessories, nutrition & wellness, arts, crafts & sewing, and health care.

Why we care. The October timing of Prime Day makes it the unofficial kick off to the holiday shopping season. One-third of consumers plan to complete their holiday shopping much earlier this year versus last year, according to a Feedvisor survey. That means marketers should be front-loading their promotions and budgets earlier than prior holiday seasons. 

Change has come to define the past year, and it will probably define the next one, too. Some marketers are exhausted from pivoting from one surprising development to the next. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Operating with agility can help you succeed today, stay ready for anything, and even save both time and money. Join this webinar to learn more.

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A group of companies that includes Mozilla (Firefox) and DuckDuckGo have launched a privacy initiative called Global Privacy Control (GPC). A new browser specification, it’s intended to simplify and expedite consumer privacy requests under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Publishers that have signed on include the New York Times, Washington Post and the Financial Times. 

Based on user settings, the browser or extension will send a signal to publisher sites. According to GPC, “This signal communicates a Do Not Sell request as outlined in CCPA regulations and conveys a general request that data controllers limit the sale or sharing of the user’s personal data, as outlined in the GDPR.”

If it reminds you of the ill-fated “do not track” (DNT) initiative that’s because it’s quite similar in many respects. It was largely ignored by big publishers and ad-tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft. GPC is totally voluntary. And just like DNT publishers can choose to disregard it.

Abine CEO Rob Shavell, whose software company sells privacy solutions, offered a reason publishers might comply: “By complying with this standard, they can avoid some compliance costs and burdens [of CCPA and GDPR].” While not compliance in itself, he added that participation would potentially be helpful in making the case they’re compliant with CCPA.

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Video’s importance as a channel is set to increase, especially in a 5G environment. For brands, it’s important both as an advertising channel and as a content marketing opportunity. But there’s still plenty of opportunity to discuss best practices and metrics for video.

On the one hand, for brands with deep pockets, ambitious immersive video experiences can draw massive engagement. On the other hand, expensive productions are not always a good route to ROI, especially when many audiences value immediacy and authenticity. TikTok videos rarely have high production values, but they’re immensely popular with some demographics.

In a presentation at MarTech, Merkle VP of CX Strategy Rocco Albano talks about the challenges of planning  integrated, effective and easy-to-use video experiences, while in an Adtaxi/MarTech Today webinar, Bob Batchelor, director of CX at Adtaxi, urges a simple approach: “The video does not have to be high quality. Authentic videos are more real and are received better by the public. And the video does not have to cost a lot or be time consuming either.”

Read more here »

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“For those in the investment community, I encourage you to make diversity a priority — diversity of gender as well as ethnicity, cultural background and perspective — both on your team and in your investment pipeline. Given the disparities in the industry today, this is not something that will happen by accident. You need to be deliberate in making diversity a consideration in everything you do.” Rana el Kaliouby, co-founder and CEO, Affectiva.