“Media buyers have a difficult job, whether it’s the hours, heavy workload, or demanding clients – being inundated with choices when it comes to martech vendors doesn’t make things any easier. Working in adtech over the past 10 years, I’ve seen just about every tactic there is to demonstrate uniqueness, create value and bury margin,” explains James Moore of Simpli.fi. “Navigating through the noise is complicated and can lead to brands and agencies investing in the wrong technology, which is not easily undone.”

“For instance, everyone has a different definition of self-service. Make sure your definition matches that of the vendor, and at the very least ensure that you have some level of access to see, inspect and monitor the actions of campaigns. Nobody is going to provide the same level of oversight as those within your company.”

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Getting buy-in from leadership for “yet-another-three-letter acronym” marketing platform is challenging, especially when it feels like you aren’t making the most of your existing martech stack. This eBook from BlueConic will help you establish the organizational impact of a CDP and understand how a CDP increases the value of your martech stack.

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Facebook to shut down Audience Network for mobile web. Facebook is planning to shut down the mobile web arm of its Audience Network starting on April 11, the company confirmed on Wednesday. The exact rationale for the move is unclear, but sources said the decision was likely fueled by browser companies’ recent changes to throttle cookies in the mobile web environment, plus the internal resources required to keep on top of potential negative impacts from new data regulations and brand safety issues. A Facebook spokesperson said mobile web placements represented only a marginal piece of Facebook’s Audience Network business, and their removal will not have a material impact.

VSCO adds video publishing. Photo-sharing app VSCO is expanding further into video, giving users on iOS the ability to post videos. In December, VSCO moved further into the video market with the acquisition of video technology company Rylo. The company already supported video editing via its app, but users couldn’t publish and share directly to the VSCO feed the results of their long-form video content. VSCO’s current video editing tools are focused on photo-like edits, including the use of presets and adjustments like exposure or contrast. With the launch of the new video posting feature, VSCO said more advanced video capabilities will soon be rolling out, thanks to Rylo.

New Instagram story reply feature. It’s a small thing, but a fun one. Instagram users can now reply to a friend’s story using GIPHY GIFs, the platform announced Tuesday. To apply a GIF, users can run a search by keyword in the reply text box. 

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5 Signs Your Analytics Dashboard Needs an Update – CMS Wire

Data Shows Consumers Want Diversity In Marketing—Why Many Brands Struggle To Get It Right And How To Fix – Forbes

‘It’s a prodigious problem’: How Google’s Jigsaw is sniffing out faked images – Fast Company

Spotify is buying The Ringer to boost its sports podcast content – TechCrunch

Macy’s to close 125 stores, cut 2,000 corporate jobs, in hunt for growth – CNBC

EMarketer: Voice shopping is growing more slowly than expected  – Mobile Marketer

YouTube demands Clearview AI stop scraping its videos for facial recognition database – The Verge

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner to step down – Reuters