As of tomorrow, we’re officially half way through 2018 and seemingly to mark the occasion the sun has certainly had his hat on in the UK, but the digital marketing industry shows no sign of slowing up. We take a look at the top news stories of the week below.
John Lewis Is Rebranding To John Lewis & Partners
This week it has been revealed that both John Lewis and Waitrose will add ‘& Partner’’ to their names in a bid to make more of its key points of difference during a challenging period for the retail industry. The change will be implemented from September 2018, however no further details have been revealed yet.
A spokesperson told the press:
“The new brand is a really clear statement about the core of our business – our partners at the heart of everything we do. We speak about partners as our clearest and most valuable point of difference, the thing that makes us special, enabling us to offer truly personalised experiences for customers.”
Google Rebrands Its Adtech Suite
John Lewis isn’t the only organisation that has announced that they’re rebranding this week. Google is rebranding its adtech range and unifying its DoubleClick products and Google Analytics 360 Suite under the Google Marketing Platform. This platform will debut ‘Display & Video 360’ which will unify features from DoubleClick Bid Manager, Campaign Manager, Studio, and Audience Center to enable better ‘end-to-end execution’.
After 18 years, the ‘Google AdWords’ will now be known by a new name ‘Google Ads’, and there will also be a new ad offering which aims to simplify advertising.
In a blog post, Google’s Vice President of Ads and Commerce, Sridhar Ramaswamy, said:
“These new brands will help advertisers and publishers of all sizes choose the right solutions for their businesses, making it even easier for them to deliver valuable, trustworthy ads and the right experiences for consumers across devices and channels. […]
For small businesses specifically, we’re introducing a new campaign type in Google Ads that makes it easier than ever to get started with online advertising. It brings the machine learning technology of Google Ads to small businesses and helps them get results without any heavy lifting.”
YouTube Announces Channel Membership Paid Subscription Option
This week YouTube announced it would be rolling out a ‘channel membership’ paid subscription scheme for its top creators. This comes off the back of much criticism from users after its latest ad policy changes had made it difficult for publishers to earn money from the platform.
In a similar format offered by streaming channel Twitch, YouTube will soon allow publishers with more than 100,000 fans charge $4.99 a month for access to exclusive content. Those with more than 10,000 followers won’t be able to charge, however they will be given the option to host live-stream premieres and to advertise their merchandise beneath their videos.
The HTTPS Deadline Is Almost Upon Us
For some time now, Google has been encouraging brands to take online security more seriously and has announced a July 2018 deadline for websites to upgrade from HTTP to HTTPS. After this date, Google Chrome will explicitly warn visitors to your site that it is insecure which could very well encourage bounces.
For more news updates, guides and opinion pieces, take a look at a few more of our articles.