AI to Adverts

One of the earliest things we attempted with AI.  Too early to work then, but got the right elements. Here again.   

Why artificial intelligence is being used to write adverts  By Michael Dempsey

Technology of Business reporter    BBC

What springs to mind when you think of advertising? Don Draper in the TV show Mad Men sipping a cocktail? Or perhaps trendy people swapping catch phrases in a converted warehouse?'

Well, more of the creative work these days is not being done by humans at all.

When Dixons Carphone wanted to push shoppers towards its Black Friday sale, the company turned to Artificial Intelligence (AI) software and got the winning line "The time is now".

Saul Lopes, head of customer marketing at Dixons Carphone, thinks it worked because it didn't have the words Black Friday in it.

His human copywriters had produced dozens of potentially successful sentences but they all mentioned Black Friday. It was technology that broke this chain of thought.  ... ' 

Facebook Research Allocates Ad Funding (without AI)

Struck me because we did something similar and also quite different for advertising fund allocation very early on.    We the results of integer optimization models with montecarlo simulation, constrained to advertising agreements.   I like the fact that AI is never mentioned!  But in much later spins on this,  what could be called AI was used to check for accuracy and regulatory compliance to contractual agreements.  Nice.

Auto-placement of ad campaigns using multi-armed bandits  in Facebook Research

By: Vashist Avadhanula, Riccardo Colini Baldeschi, Stefano Leonardi, Karthik Abinav Sankararaman, Okke Schrijvers

What the research is:

We look at the problem of allocating the budget of an advertiser across multiple surfaces optimally when both the demand and the value are unknown. Consider an advertiser who uses the Facebook platform to advertise a product. They have a daily budget that they would like to spend on our platform. Advertisers want to reach users where they spend time, so they spread their budget over multiple platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and others. They want an algorithm to help bid on their behalf on the different platforms and are increasingly relying on automation products to help them achieve it.

In this research, we model the problem of placement optimization as a stochastic bandit problem. In this problem, the algorithm is participating in k different auctions, one for each platform, and needs to decide the correct bid for each of the auctions. The algorithm is given a total budget B (e.g., the daily budget) and a time horizon T over which this budget should be spent. At each time-step, the algorithm should decide the bid it will associate with each of the k platform, which will be input into the auctions for the next set of requests on each of the platforms. At the end of a round (i.e., a sequence of requests), the algorithm sees the total reward it obtained (e.g., number of clicks) and the total budget that was consumed in the process, on each of the different platforms. Based on just this history, the algorithm should decide the next set of bid multipliers it needs to place. The goal of the algorithm is to maximize the total advertiser value with the given budget across the k platforms.   ... "    

Full paper:  https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.10246 

Cybersickness in VR Solved by AI?

 Recall we looked at this issue when thinking about how ads might be presented universally in space.  Here now closer to being solved?    For other applications we examined, like machine maintenance, we never had this as a problem.

AI Can Stop the Cybersickness Some People Get When Using VR Headsets

By New Scientist, March 18, 2021

Researchers at U.K. startup Kagenova have developed a system that can reduce nausea or cybersickness induced by virtual reality (VR).

Three-dimensional videos used in VR headsets are filmed from a static point, and most VR systems use three degrees of movement but fail to account for translational movement of the head, which can cause nausea.  Kagenova's software uses artificial intelligence to morph VR images slightly in order to add movement from one spot to another, creating six degrees of freedom.  Scientists at the Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL) compared a standard VR setup with one using Kagenova's software, and participants reported 33% less nausea with the latter.

RHUL's Elisa Ferrè thinks this effect would be even more pronounced in scenarios incorporating more movement.  ... ' 

Shopping with YouTube?

 Though have used YouTube since its inception, only in the last month have been using all of its capabilities.   Have been thinking about how it was  a powerful engagement model, and how ads were interspersed.   Thinking the paths within different classes of content.  Here more:

Is YouTube a shopping powerhouse waiting to happen?   by Tom Ryan in Retailwire

YouTube is asking creators to tag and track products featured in their videos as part of an “experiment” in what is potentially a major step toward fulfilling the platform’s e-commerce ambitions.

Creators have largely monetized their YouTube content from advertisements served on their videos and from YouTube Premium subscribers watching their content. Some videos include links in their descriptions to Amazon or other retailers designed to drive affiliate sales.

The video tags that YouTube is now testing are linked to analytics and sales through Google, YouTube’s parent. A Shopify integration is also being explored, according to Bloomberg. The report stated, “The goal is to convert YouTube’s bounty of videos into a vast catalog of items that viewers can peruse, click on and buy directly.”   ... "

Cross-Platform Ad Measurement

In AdWeek

P&G’s Marc Pritchard Demands Cross-Platform Ad Measurement by September 2021

The chief brand officer called out the industry’s history of failed promises on transparency during an ANA conference ...  P&G's chief brand officer compared the industry's history of failed promises to the film Groundhog Day. ... ' 

On the End of Tracking Cookies?

Quite a considerable change?  We analytically examined the use of Cookies early on.  Is this the end, and what are the implications?

R.I.P. Cookies. Why customer experience matters more than ever
Jean Belanger in CustomerThink

Marketing in the Internet age has seen several assumptions cast in stone:

1. Cookies: targeting and attribution has been fuelled by cookies, which were invented 25 years ago in 1994.
2. Ads: total US digital ad spending in 2019 was $130B, versus $110 billion for traditional ads.
3. Data: it was cool for brands to take the approach that ‘we have your data, and we can do what we want with it, as and when we see fit.’

Brands can track you, they can follow you across the web, they can target you with ads, if they are relevant – awesome. Therefore it comes as no surprise that traditional channels of communications – TV, radio, newspapers – are all giving way in our increasingly to digital lifestyles.

Meanwhile the Internet and smartphones are making us pickier and more informed than ever. But the natives are restless. We do not want to be tracked like animals in the jungle. We value our privacy more than we ever have done. My data and personal profile is mine, not yours. Where are our private property rights when we need them?

Google dropped its “cookie apocalypse” on the marketing industry earlier this month, when it announced that they will be phasing out the use of cross-website cookies, which have underpinned digital advertising for 25 years. They will also “obsolete” third-party cookies that follow internet users from site to site, and can trace their browsing for months and months.

Google’s move will drastically curb the ability of brands to extract private and sensitive insights about us. While the advertising industry has known for some time that third-party cookies are being consigned to history, slowly eliminating the basic concept of an open web that has dominated marketing matters for decades, Google’s news will totally disrupt the global digital advertising supply chain. ... "

Google Goes More Local Yet

 In a recent Google Blog entry, about local ads:

The holidays are a critical time of year for your stores, as shoppers stop in to get an item quickly or see it in person. Online research to find local stores continues to surge—search interest in local shops hit a record high last year, and we’re seeing 350 times more search interest in "local" + "near me" than there was 10 years ago. 

When holiday shoppers are deciding where to shop–to buy items for multiple people or for last-minute gifts after shipping cutoffs have passed–how can you help them find your store?  .... " 

And discussed in Retailwire with expert comments:

Will Google take ‘going local’ to another level?    by Tom Ryan

Noting that it’s seeing 350 times more search interest in “local” and “near me” than there was 10 years ago, Google recently updated its localization tools available for retailers.

In a blog entry, Google noted that it offers two ways for merchants to drive traffic to stores: Local and Shopping campaigns.

Local campaigns drive traffic to stores through ads that appear on Google Search, Google Display Network, Google Maps and YouTube. Google writes, “You provide us with store locations, campaign budget, and ad assets. Using these inputs, Google’s machine learning technology will automatically optimize bids, ad placements, and asset combinations. The result aims to maximize store visits and promote your locations across Google properties and networks.”   .... "

More more at the links.

(Update) Comments on: Echo Auto Gets an Unexpected Ad Stream (Update): Free with a Buick

( Update:  I was mistaken below. the music and station formats you get depends upon the name of the subscriber.    So you can ensure your get a full subscription by installing the device in the same name.   Also Ads are then also gone.   The installation and maintenance of Alexa Smart Home is still too obscure,   for something that claims to border on intelligence.     A very astute and friendly Amazon call center person led me through the process )  ....

Been now using the Auto Echo for several months, this lets you connect with the Echo infrastructure cheaply from most cars.  The capability was advertised as providing the same Alexa environment you got at home, including smart home connections.    It works fairly well via a smartphone Echo App.

In just the last few days Amazon has started to insert amazon Advertising into the requested music stream, even for unlimited music subscribers.    Most requests for genre or even more specific music are converted into a 'station' request.   So the channel then includes advertising, fairly often in my estimation.   This is quite annoying, especially if you are paying for and expecting advertising-free streaming music, as I am.

In some cases I can buy directly by voice, adding more interaction delay.   Even Playlist requests convert into Stations, sometimes stretching the 'radio'  definition.    At home requests for music than come from Prime or Unlimited music come advertising-free as they always have been.   Station requested from Tunein or IHeartRadio seem to be working as before, with no additional ads.

I assume this addition of ads pays for the new auto infrastructure.  But the overall impression is negative.   I  pay extra for advertising-free, but now I get ads.    Its obvious that playlists and genres are being reinterpreted to get more ads to me.   The experience with Echo Auto is good, but not completely seamless.   This additional intrusion into the channel will not help sell it. 

I'd like to see Amazon's view of this.

Update:  I see that Echo Auto devices are being given out free with Buick automobiles in a promotion now.    Assuming these are being used to promote the use of Alexa infrastructure.  Again the way they work, interspersing Amazon ads,  would cheapen the gift,  if the promotion devices work the same way.

What Makes an Image Usefully Memorable?

Asked this question as early as the 80s, hoping to capture the value for advertisers.  With very large Ad databases.   But with very different methods.    Not overly successful, but did provide some deeper thinking about measures.  It led to measurable results, but not useful ones.   Using Generative  Adversarial Networks is interesting here.   Paper referenced: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1906.10112.pdf

What makes an image memorable? Ask a computer scientist
An artificial intelligence model co-developed at MIT shows in striking detail what makes some images stick in our minds.

Kim Martineau | MIT Quest for Intelligence

From the "Mona Lisa" to the "Girl with a Pearl Earring," some images linger in the mind long after others have faded. Ask an artist why, and you might hear some generally-accepted principles for making memorable art. Now there’s an easier way to learn: ask an artificial intelligence model to draw an example. 

A new study using machine learning to generate images ranging from a memorable cheeseburger to a forgettable cup of coffee shows in close detail what makes a portrait or scene stand out. The images that human subjects in the study remembered best featured bright colors, simple backgrounds, and subjects that were centered prominently in the frame. Results were presented this week at the International Conference on Computer Vision. 

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” says the study’s co-senior author Phillip Isola, the Bonnie and Marty (1964) Tenenbaum CD Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. “A lot has been written about memorability, but this method lets us actually visualize what memorability looks like. It gives us a visual definition for something that’s hard to put into words."

The work builds on an earlier model, MemNet, which rates the memorability of an image and highlights the features in the picture influencing its decision. MemNet’s predictions are based on the results of an online study in which 60,000 images were shown to human subjects and ranked by how easily they were remembered.

The model in the current study, GANalyze, uses a machine learning technique called generative adversarial networks, or GANs, to visualize a single image as it inches its way from "meh" to memorable. GANalyze lets viewers visualize the incremental transformation of, say, a blurry panda lost in the bamboo into a panda that dominates the frame, its black eyes, ears, and paws contrasting sharply and adorably with its white mug.  ... " 

Models of Social Contagion

During our earliest looks at word-of-mouth interactions, aimed at things like advertising, we examined the structure of customer interaction. Also that context drives this kind of interaction.   This overall is a very technical paper,  but it has some embedded gems.   Explanatory diagrams at the link.

Simplicial models of social contagion
Iacopo Iacopini, Giovanni Petri, Alain Barrat & Vito Latora 
Nature Communications 10, Article number: 2485 (2019) | Download Citation

Abstract
Complex networks have been successfully used to describe the spread of diseases in populations of interacting individuals. Conversely, pairwise interactions are often not enough to characterize social contagion processes such as opinion formation or the adoption of novelties, where complex mechanisms of influence and reinforcement are at work. Here we introduce a higher-order model of social contagion in which a social system is represented by a simplicial complex and contagion can occur through interactions in groups of different sizes. Numerical simulations of the model on both empirical and synthetic simplicial complexes highlight the emergence of novel phenomena such as a discontinuous transition induced by higher-order interactions. We show analytically that the transition is discontinuous and that a bistable region appears where healthy and endemic states co-exist. Our results help explain why critical masses are required to initiate social changes and contribute to the understanding of higher-order interactions in complex systems.

Introduction
Complex networks describe well the connectivity of systems of various nature1,2 and are widely used as the underlying—and possibly multilayered3—social structure on which dynamical processes4,5, such as disease spreading6, diffusion and adoption of innovation7,8,9, and opinion formation10 occur. For example, when modeling an epidemic spreading in a population6, the transmission between infectious and healthy individuals is typically assumed: (i) to occur through pairwise interactions between infectious and healthy individuals, and (ii) to be caused even by a single exposure of a healthy individual to an infectious one. Such processes of simple contagion can be conveniently represented by transmission mechanisms along the links of the network of contacts between individuals.

When dealing instead with social contagion phenomena, such as the adoption of norms, behaviors or new products, or the diffusion of rumors or fads, the situation is more complex. Simple epidemic-like contagion can suffice to describe some cases, such as easily convincing rumors or domino effects11. In other situations, however, they do not provide a satisfactory description, especially in those cases where more complex dynamics of peer influence and reinforcement mechanisms are at work12. Complex contagion mechanisms have been proposed to account for these effects. As defined by Centola and Macy11: “a contagion is complex if its transmission requires an individual to have contact with two or more sources of activation”, i.e. if a “contact with a single active neighbor is not enough to trigger adoption”. Complex contagion can hence be broadly defined as a process in which exposure to multiple sources presenting the same stimulus is needed for the contagion to occur. Empirical evidence that contagion processes including multiple exposure can be needed to describe social contagion has been provided in various contexts and experiments13,14,15,16,17.  ... ' 

Wal-Mart Builds Ads from Customer Data

In FMIDailyLead:

Walmart works to build up its Ad platform in Adage

Walmart is hoping to sign on CPG brands like Kellogg's, Procter & Gamble and Unilever to its new ad platform, which is built around customer data. "If you want to show an ad to a customer digitally and know if it's driving online or offline sales, this is the platform to do it on," said Walmart Media Group's Stefanie Jay. .... " 

Wal-Mart Vudu Competes with Shoppable Ads

Had actually forgotten about the Wal-Mart streaming service Vudu.  Interesting experiment to understand what evokes interaction and get related data.  Buying directly from integrated product in video has long been a holy grail, is that what this is?  Also competes with Youtube.

Will shoppable ads help Walmart’s Vudu compete with Amazon and Netflix? in Retailwire  by George Anderson with further expert opinion.

Walmart’s Vudu video streaming service is following Amazon and Netflix in creating original programming to attract viewers. Unlike its rivals, however, Walmart will continue to offer Vudu as a free, ad-supported service rather than seeking subscription income. Management believes it can do this because of “new advertising technology” that will enable viewers of the shows to buy the products they see on the screen.

Bloomberg reports that Walmart has already lined up “tens of millions of dollars in upfront advertising” as brands look to cash in on the shoppable content opportunity.   .... " 

Can a Computer Write a Script? Or an Ad? Or Manage a Marketing plan?

A writer of ads, or a manager of marketing plans learns what works based on results in context.  So why not?      The idea of 'a script' was used in the earliest days of AI to create directions and goals to forge results.  We did parts of what is described here to efficiently fit ads into TV and radio slots.  The idea is not far away.  And a marketing plan is a known process based on data, so use it to deliver.

Can a Computer Write a Script? Machine Learning Goes Hollywood   By Los Angeles Times 

The idea of using machine learning programs to help write scripts and other tasks is becoming increasingly popular in Hollywood.

Entertainment companies are using the technology to color-correct scenes, identify popular themes in book adaptations, and craft successful marketing campaigns.

In addition, talent agencies are using the technology for suggestions on how to market actors and actresses.

Machine learning can provide vast amounts of data on why certain movies or TV shows work and why others fail.

Last year, the Entertainment Technology Center presented analysis showing correlations between a movie's story structure and how well it performed worldwide at the box office.

For example, films that led with action sequences did more than 13 times better at the box office on average than films that started with memory sequences.

Machine learning can also identify which stories are resonating online, pinpointing specific scenes or characters about which viewers are most passionate. .... " 

New Visual Shopping Design from Google

In the Google Blog,  new ways to visually shop, with a number of impressive visual examples:

Connecting you to visual shoppers with new ad formats on Google Images
By Surojit Chatterjee  Vice President, Product Management, Shopping

A recent study shows that Google is the first place US shoppers go to discover or find a new brand or product. But shoppers aren’t just doing their searches on Google.com. We’ve seen that 50 percent of online shoppers said images of the product inspired them to purchase, and increasingly, they’re turning to Google Images. 

That’s why we’re investing in shopping solutions across more of our properties, like Google Images. When we launched Shopping ads on Google Images, we wanted to provide advertisers with a new way to reach shoppers where they’re looking for more visual inspiration. Now, we’re introducing shoppable ads on Google Images as another way we’re helping you connect with consumers. This new format enables you to highlight multiple products available for sale within your sponsored ad among Google Images results. We’re currently testing this on a small percentage of traffic with select retailers, surfacing on broad queries like “home office ideas”, “shower tile designs”, and “abstract art”.  ... "

Blockchain in the Ad World

Don't quite get this,  but intrigued by the advantages claimed and involved, beyond classic IT. 

The Blockchain Will Tear Through The Ad Market Like A Tornado

The blockchain will restore balance to a market that desperately needs it — the ad market. There is an unusually large number of blockchain companies desperate to get involved. When I last took a look, I counted nineteen. This is the list: Algebraix, Adbank, Adchain, Adcoin, AdEx, AdsCash, Adshares, AHOOLEE, ATMChain, BAT, Bitclave, Kind Ads, Mass, Nexus, Papyrus, Presearch, Qchain, Rebel AI and XCHNG.

I keep an eye on them, because I do the competitive analysis work for Algebraix. But it’s probably not an exhaustive list, as I’ve not done a web sweep for a few weeks now.

The Dark Secret of the Digital Ad World
Ok, it’s clear that web users hate digital adverts, especially pop-ups and anything animated. We install ad blockers, and if anything gets through, we focus away from the ad noise in search of the signal we seek. It’s an awful environment ruined, in my opinion not by the technology but by the lack of it.

When the Internet emerged, in theory, there were two possibilities for magazines and newspapers if they wished to earn a living in the digital world. Either readers would have to pay for content or publishers would gather revenue from advertisers. .... "

Toyota and Ad Buys using Blockchain

Novel application is would seem.

Toyota says it Gets a Boost when Applying Blockchain to Digital Ad Buys
By George P. Slefo. Published on October 16, 2018.

Toyota is accelerating its plans to use blockchain technology to root out fraud when buying digital ads.

The automaker recently piloted a campaign after inking a deal with blockchain analytics outfit Lucidity, with hopes of making sure its ad dollars weren't going to waste. The end result was a 21 percent uptick in visits to Toyota's website when compared to similar ad buys it made without Lucidity tech, says Nancy Inouye, media director at Toyota Motor North America. Now the company plans to extend its deal with Lucidity beyond the originally planned three-week test.  .... "

Alexa on the Facebook Portal

I had initially missed this.  Don't like Facebook being involved, but according to below the information from Alexa transcripts are not shared with Facebook.  Short excerpt below,   read the rest for other aspects of the Facebook use of data.

Here in Adage:

Amazon connection ... 

" ... Amazon's voice-assistant Alexa is also on Portal and it works much like it does on Amazon's own in-home gadgets. People can sign into their Amazon accounts and add products to their shopping lists or control smart home devices by asking Alexa. Facebook does not get to capture what people are doing through Alexa: those voice commands are kept on record through Amazon, not Facebook.

"When you say the wake word, 'Alexa,' you're connected directly to Alexa," an Amazon spokesman said by email. "Voice recordings are sent directly to Amazon, and you can review and delete these voice recordings in the Alexa app."

Amazon and third-party developers like Spotify can collect the same data from signed-in consumers through Portal that they would from any device. All that information they soak up does go into their own advertising and marketing on Facebook and beyond online.  ... "