That might seem a crazy question. After all, here at MarTech Today, we write about marketing operations (or marketing ops, or MOPs) all the time. If marketing is martech, as we like to say, then marketing ops is surely just what makes martech — and therefore marketing — work.

But it’s not as simple as that, as Steve Petersen reveals in a searching examination of how the phrase is used in practice. “If asked,” he writes, “I’ll usually tell someone most of the time when I hear people speak about marketing ops, they’re essentially talking about marketing automation.” But: “If marketing ops is concerned with the broad expanse of marketing, as some would claim, then using it synonymously with marketing automation is problematic.” For example, when Steve set out to write the job description for his current marketing operations role at Western Governors University, he couldn’t base it on marketing automation — the responsibility of a different team.

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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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Taboola, the content discovery and native advertising platform which uses machine learning to deliver native ads alongside related web content, announced yesterday that it plans to go public with an implied valuation of $2.6 billion.

Unlike ON24, which filed for an initial public offering earlier this month, Taboola will not be using the IPO mechanism. Instead, it will go public by being acquired by ION Acquisition Corp, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company.  After the transaction closes (anticipated in Q2 2021), Taboola will trade on the NYSE as “TBLA.”

Taboola was founded in 2007 by Adam Singolda, who remains CEO today. 

Why we care. It’s possible to have mixed feelings about native advertising as a reader, but relevant native ads are surely better than irrelevant, and Taboola stands to be rewarded for its ability to deliver them at scale.

Join search marketing experts from Adobe, Microsoft, and more at SMX Report, February 23, to get specific answers to your most critical analytics questions. Grab your All Access pass now for just $99!

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Google will begin testing its third-party cookie replacement, Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), with advertisers in the second quarter of this year, the company announced yesterday.

This new method essentially groups people with similar interests into cohorts and allows advertisers to serve relevant ads while still keeping each person’s browsing private. “Our tests show that advertisers can expect to see at least 95% of the conversions per dollar spent when compared to cookie-based advertising,” Google said, but of course, advertisers should expect something of an adjustment period before reaching that level of efficiency.

Read more here.

With major brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Budweiser and Hyundai suspending their Super Bowl LV advertising plans, the food delivery service DoorDash chose to purchase its first-ever Super Bowl spot, featuring Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind “Sesame Street.”

While Budweiser plans to divert some of its ad spend to supporting a public awareness campaign for the COVID-19 vaccine, the DoorDash Super Bowl spot will be part of a new campaign, “The Neighborhood,” supporting and celebrating local businesses as part of the fabric of the local community. This also reflects DoorDash’s evolution from food delivery to general local delivery services. Starting on February 7, DoorDash will donate $1 for every order up to $1 Million to Sesame Workshop.

Why we care. There are different ways brands can use marketing and advertising to make a social impact — from not advertising at all and spending elsewhere — to using high profile ad opportunities to shine a spotlight on good works. The important thing is that they’re thinking about it.

“The need for speed in our organizations is undeniable. Learn to lead by tapping the brakes and slowing down at the right times. You’ll move much faster this way.” Don Hornsby, Social Media Specialist, Vision Media Publishing.