Ad tech’s optimistic posturing against Google’s renewed war against user-level tracking belies an uncertain outlook. More than anything, the rebuke has ad tech vendors wondering who takes the pain, and can there be gain from the ensuing fallout. Naturally, they’re playing it safe until there’s a clearer answer. Meanwhile, companies that were bullish on one or two user-level identifiers spread their bets across a larger range of solutions if they weren’t already doing so. The smartest approach, it seems, is to hedge your near term bets. Read more below.

• Ad tech's defiant optimism following Google’s rebuttal of user-level identifiers is less about the sector being in denial, and more an acknowledgment that there are few options on the table.
• For Digiday+ members, some themes emerged from the Digiday Media Buying Summit last week, including tectonic shifts associated with data, privacy and social media.
• Cheat sheet: Lifestyle, business and finance publishers are flocking to Clubhouse to meet audiences there and test ways to potentially monetize the platform in the near future.
• Distributed work is rapidly creating fresh opportunities to collaborate across borders, timezones and cultures.
• Brands have varying ways of showing up at this year's virtual SXSW. The festival is working with brands to determine what that looks like on a case-by-case basis.