AI story of the week
Salesforce, the consumer relationship management platform, debuted two new products, Marketing GPT and Commerce GPT, per a press release. The new offerings pair the company’s first-party data from Data Cloud with generative AI. With Marketing GPT, marketers will be able to automatically generate personalized emails and create audience segments, among other tools. With Commerce GPT, marketers will be able to generate personalized shopping experiences and offers customized to the consumer. Each of the new tools under Marketing GPT and Commerce GPT will become available through the course of 2023 and 2024.
VOD story of the week
Amazon is in early discussions to launch an ad-supported tier of its Prime Video streaming service, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal. Ads could take a variety of forms, including bringing more advertising to existing Prime subscribers but providing an option to pay more for an ad-free service. Ad breaks would be short, per the report. The possible introduction of an ad-supported tier on Prime Video follows similar moves by competing streaming services.
Digital Story of the week
Crew launched a virtual store through a collaboration with experiential e-commerce company Obsess. In celebration of J. Crew’s 40th anniversary, the virtual store is styled after a beach house with six themed rooms and a separate boathouse. As shoppers visit each room, they can browse the brand’s clothing, shoes and accessories, and view historical context and other information. The virtual experience also features images from J. Crew’s catalogues, a catalogue cover pop quiz and a scavenger hunt game.
Industry Story of the Week
Group M is forecasting the UK’s adspend to grow by 4.8% in 2023, a marked increase on the figure set out by the Advertising Association (AA) and WARC in April. The ad business is predicting UK ad revenues to reach £39.3m this year, with growth of 5.3% in 2024. It expects retail media to represent 14.4% of total advertising revenue. Elsewhere globally, digital channels are expected to grow 8.4% alongside audio (0.3%) and a 12.7% increase in OOH.
