Amazon advertising update from George Tarnopolsky, VP, Programmatic: In an anticipated move, Amazon on Friday announced that it is acquiring the Sizmek ad server as it ramps up its advertising efforts. In the recent years, Amazon made big inroads with the Amazon DSP, powered with Amazon’s shopping intent and purchase data. While the Amazon DSP has restricted buying for pharma campaigns, it has been popular with Direct Response and especially Retail brands. The acquisition of an ad server further builds out the Amazon ad stack, and mirrors Google’s DV360 DSP and Campaign Manager ad server value proposition. An in-house ad server will help direct some buyers to go “all-in” on the Amazon ad platform, with both ad server and DSP components. It will be interesting to watch whether Amazon succeeds at integrating Sizmek into its stack—and whether it continues to add to the platform, for example building or buying an SEM offering.
NYC taxi ads are going programmatic, thanks to Alphabet-funded Firefly. They started this weekend with 300 screens but their aim is to reach 3,500.
Verizon is running a new campaign showing how 5G will impact medicine, and the ad itself is pretty cool – if you’re reading this on your phone, click this link and see the AR feature as well as videos. For more on how 5G will impact our industry, see our recent POV.
Mole-rats, which fall into the category of rodents I didn’t know about but am now scared of since seeing photos, don’t feel pain and are being studied by scientists who would like to try to manage pain in humans.
This article offers a good overview of a few different scientific studies related to gut microbiomes, which are being explored for diabetes, IBD and pregnancy health.
New studies indicate that body parts react to night/day circadian rhythms independently from the brain, which could be one reason that significantly changing your sleep schedule or not getting enough sleep can really impact health.