Ad agencies are increasingly investing in technology and analytics to comb through reams of data and serve precise messages to specific groups of consumers.

But mostly that push has been about hitting the right people at the right time, and less about the art of making a great ad.

That may be changing.

AI may be able to make better ads by figuring out what colors and images people like

On Thursday, Omnicom Group, one of the world's biggest ad agency groups, unveiled Omni, a platform that allows for all its agencies globally to access data from third parties like The Trade Desk, Liveramp and Salesforce. The tool also includes tools for planning, buying and tracking media.

In an interview with Business Insider, Omnicom Digital CEO Jonathan Nelson said that he's particularly interested in how creatives will be able to use the tool. Omnicom's roster of creative shops includes BBDO, DDB and TBWA.

Artificial intelligence has been a buzzword in the advertising industry f or a few years but its uses have mostly been limited to media buying with souped-up programmatic algorithms that are able to set pricing and determine the best time to run a campaign.

The creative side of the industry has been notoriously slower to embrace the technology, partly due to fear that AI will replace roles like creative directors that come up with ideas for clients.

In one example, Omni can create "mood boards," said Nelson. A telecom advertiser, for example, will able to zero in on digital audiences of people who show characteristics of wanting to switch to a new service. Omni can also dive into what those people are specifically looking for in a new service—like the cost or features of a telecom package.

From there, artificial intelligence can surface 30 videos that an audience is interested in and pick apart the individual colors, words and images featured in the video. A video with a lot of blue in it can spark a creative agency's idea to create a campaign for the telecom brand, Nelson said.

"Each of these things starts to trigger ideas for the creatives," he said. "I'm really trying to figure out how to bridge the left and right brain."

TV advertisers can also finally figure out how many people are looking for their brand online

Omni also claims to have a feature that allows for brands to see how many people searched for a brand after viewing a commercial for the brand on TV.

Nelson was mum on details on how the integration works but said "you've never been able to do that before."

For brands that spend hefty amounts of money on TV ads, the feature could potentially open up troves of insights about the impact of TV ads on digital media.

TV-to-digital tracking is limited to inventory purchased via advanced TV like over-the-top platforms and addressable TV tactics that serve targeted ads from set-top boxes.

While advanced TV only makes up a sliver of total spend today, Nelson expects for the digital ad-buying options to become more mainstream in the coming years.

"We're going to get there," he said.

Apple made a really annoying change to the way you send photos to people in iOS 12.

Currently, in iOS 11, clicking the camera icon next to the Messages field lets you either take a picture, or select a photo from your Camera Roll, as you can see below:

Dave Smith/Business Insider

In iOS 12, clicking the camera icon only lets you take a picture. To get to your Camera Roll, you need to visit the App Store icon next to the Messages field, and then select the Photos icon.

It's an extra, unnecessary step for users.

The tweet below shows how sharing photos will work in iOS 12:

People who have already accessed the feature using a beta version of iOS 12 do not seem happy about the change:

The only plausible excuse for the move of the Camera Roll in iOS 12 is to encourage more users to visit the App Store for Messages, where you can buy and download features for your Messages like stickers, emoji, and special effects.

Since so many people use the Camera Roll when using the Messages app — I know I do — Apple probably figured that would be the best way to expose users to the App Store for Messages.

But moving the Camera Roll to the App Store, and adding that extra step, doesn't feel intuitive at all. One would think clicking the camera icon would bring up the camera-related functions.

Hopefully Apple rolls back this change by the time iOS 12 is released to the public later this year.

The battle for advertising agencies to get their hands on consumer data and use it in intriguing ways continues. On Thursday, ad giant Omnicom Group revealed Omni, a data platform that allows the company's shops — which include BBDO, OMD Worldwide and DDB — to access gobs of third-party data.

The tool allows any of its agencies to search for creative images, create audiences for ad targeting, buy media, and track campaign results. According to Jonathan Nelson, CEO of Omnicom Digital, the tool has been in the works for several years and was developed by Annalect, Omnicom's data marketing group.

"This is the first time that we've stitched it all together," he said. "Think of it as being audience-first [with] insights going out to two primary audiences — one is media and the other is creative."

About 100 third-party vendors that Omnicom works with are part of Omni, including Google, Neustar, The Trade Desk, LiveRamp, Adobe and Salesforce, he added.

Agencies are under increasing pressure to beef up their data capabilities and expertise as more advertisers demand results and face new competition from consultancies like Accenture Interactive and Deloitte. Last week, Interpublic Group announced plans to acquire Acxiom's data-marketing group for $2.3 billion in cash while Dentsu owns Merkle. And WPP assembled an initiative called mPlatform in 2016.

Unlike IPG's decision to go all-in on data through the acquisition of Acxiom, Omnicom's strategy is to build expertise in-house and set up deals with multiple vendors. Those relationships keep Omnicom a neutral player for agencies, according to Nelson.

"We don't make investments at all in our data providers — we think it de-risks our business," he said. "If a technology isn't working, we swap it out. There's no conflict there."

Up until now, Omnicom clients have either leaned on its Precision Marketing Group — the agency's digital and CRM arm — or Annalect to handle such work, Nelson said.

Omni is designed to be an "open architecture" that can supply many types of data that clients want to use. And with new privacy regulations like Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) going into place, Nelson said that third parties are responsible for supplying it with clean data.

"We're trying to understand what it is and how to comply," he said. "We try to figure out where the 'fuzzy' line ends and then back up a few steps."

Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz said that video can't properly capture his startup's much-hyped technology after a livestreamed demo drew mixed reviews.

Magic Leap is building a pair of smartglasses that merge computer graphics and games into the real world, and Wednesday's livestream showed off some of the first public footage captured through the device.

"For the creator/dev community: we use video to teach a feature or capability. Any video or 2d medium (photos) is completely inadequate to actually deliver the experience of a digital lightfield on ML1," he tweeted on Thursday.

He was likely referencing the mixed response to Thursday's livestream from journalists and some competitors in the augmented reality field. Thursday's livestream was geared for developers, who will need to build games and other content for the system before it's launched to the public, but the demos were eagerly watched by enthusiasts as well.

The full session is available on YouTube, but here's one of the demos, featuring a new rock character:

The reaction was mostly critical:

There were some defenders, though:

This is the context in which Abovitz issued a long tweetstorm in which he argued that the demo may be underwhelming because it's hard to experience Magic Leap without actually putting the headset on.

"You could never experience TV on the radio (but you could try and explain the theory of TV to those interested)" Abovitz tweeted. "Most people just got it once they first saw TV."

Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz. Asa Mathat for Vox Media He also said that the company has given over 10,000 live demos to future partners and customers. Magic Leap has had many celebrities come through its Miami-area headquarters to try the headset, Business Insider previously reported, including Beyonce. Most of those people signed an NDA before they were able to try it, though.

On Wednesday, Magic Leap announced an investment from AT&T and a partnership with the telecom giant, along with an update about the availability of its smart glasses, committing to ship its hardware to some developers this summer. A price tag and ship date have yet to be announced.

The startup has raised $2.3 billion in funding from investors, including Google, Alibaba, Singapore's Temasek Holdings, and Saudi Arabia's sovereign investment arm, valuing the company at over $6 billion. Business Insider parent company Axel Springer is an investor, too.

Here's the full tweetstorm:

Here's that tweetstorm in paragraph form, lightly edited:

"For the creator/dev community: we use video to teach a feature or capability. Any video or 2d medium (photos) is completely inadequate to actually deliver the experience of a digital lightfield on ML1. We spend our time and R and D tuning our Digital Lightfield Signal to the eye-brain system, not electronic camera sensors. We spend our time and R and D tuning our Digital Lightfield Signal to the eye-brain system, not electronic camera sensors.

Video capture can not differentiate between phone AR, VR, MR - the relevant differentiating information is lost. That said, a direct Digital Lightfield signal that allows your eye-brain system to do its thing, that is where all the magic happens. Reality has an amazing sense of presence and space - that is the result of incredibly complex interactions with the world's analog lightfield signal and your brain.Our work at Magic Leap has been to approximate that experience with a digital signal designed to fit into, and mimic, that interaction we all have daily.

An actual ML1 experience fundamentally needs you, does not function well without you, and was designed to unveil its technical magic with you and to you. Anyone who has already had an ML experience on a shipping grade unit already knows this. And hopefully anyone curious or interested will have the opportunity soon to try for themselves.

You could never experience TV on the radio (but you could try and explain the theory of TV to those interested). Most people just got it once they first saw TV. Same with Magic Leap."

Watch the entire Magic Leap demo for yourself below:

Know anything about Magic Leap? Email the author at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

"Fortnite: Battle Royale's" Season 5 is finally here, with a ton of new cosmetics, challenges, and even a new vehicle.

However, if you open up Fortnite right now, the first things you'll notice are the changes and additions to the game's map. The rifts have brought landmarks from entirely separate time periods, and even new biomes, to the island, and players are still uncovering all the latest additions.

Here are all the new points of interest and other changes to the island:

Grant Verstandig

Grant Verstandig, the chief digital officer of UnitedHealth Group and CEO of Rally Health, doesn't look like your typical buttoned-up, gray-haired healthcare executive. 

Verstandig, 29, is a former Brown University lacrosse player who dropped out of college following his sophomore year after blowing out his knee.  

After surgery, he asked his doctor when he might be able to play again. The doctor, Verstandig recalled, did a double take and told him, "Grant, you can’t walk for six months, let alone play again." While the surgery had gone well, Verstandig and his doctor had different ideas about what a successful result looked like. 

That experience with the healthcare system led him to leave Brown at age 21 and start Rally Health.

"To me, that sounded like industry ripe for disruption," Verstandig said. 

Based in Washington, DC, Rally has two businesses to it. The first is a product that focuses on engaging people when they're not in the doctor's office to keep them on the right track toward goals like weight loss, stress management, or better eating and sleeping habits. As an incentive for the work the members are putting in, Rally lowers their healthcare premiums.  Rally is about to cross $1 billion in member-earned incentives, Verstandig said in June. 

The second component, called Rally Care, works with insurance companies to help their members better use their benefits. Say someone needs a knee replacement. Through Rally Care, that person can figure out which doctors are in their network and how much the procedure might cost at different hospitals. 

In 2014, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth acquired a majority stake in Rally.

Three years later, Verstandig stepped into the newly created role of chief digital officer at UnitedHealth, a position he holds in addition to his responsibilities as chief executive of Rally.

Verstandig is now helping to build the digital tools UnitedHealth can use with its nearly 50 million members. That includes a big push to getting members onto UnitedHealth's mobile app to help them manage their healthcare benefits. 

"We're now just beginning to unleash the data," Verstandig said. Between the reach UnitedHealth has and the consumer experience he's built at Rally, Verstandig is optimistic about what can be accomplished.

"I think you can have an Amazon-like effect for consumers," he said.

The largest music labels are unhappy that Spotify isn't providing them with more access to an important part of the streaming music service, according to a report published Thursday by Deutsche Bank.

These curated playlists are put together by a combination of algorithm and hand-picked choices by Spotify employees, and represent an important way for users to find new music, especially from smaller artists. In late 2017, Vulture called Spotify's RapCaviar "the most influential playlist in music," reporting that its millions of listeners help turn unknown artists into mainstream successes.

According to Deutsche's report, the three top labels are unhappy that not enough of their music is being included in these lists. The bank cited as the source of the info an unnamed 25-year music industry veteran, who sat with the analysts and tried to help them understand Spotify's economic position.

"Algotorial playlists on Spotify have a lower share of major label content," the bank's analysts quoted their source. "As this grows in the listening mix the major labels stand to marginally lose share. Our featured speaker noted this as a major thorn in labels' sides."

Razor-thin margins

The US Justice Department is set to appeal the $85 billion merger between AT&T and Time Warner, Bloomberg says, citing a court filing.

The deal, which has been nearly two years in the making, was approved by Judge Richard Leon just one month ago. It closed days later, but the Justice Department was given 60 days to appeal the ruling. And that is what it has done.

During the trial, the DOJ argued the vertical merger, a merger between two companies in the same industry but at different stages of the business, would reduce competition and hurt consumers by allowing the company to have greater control in negotiations with progammers. That could cause consumers to have to pay higher prices for content.

Judge Leon ruled, "Ultimately, I conclude that the Government has failed to meet its burden to establish that the proposed 'transaction is likely to lessen competition substantially." He did say that AT&T would have to temporarily opertate Time Warner's Turner networks separately from DirecTV.

A combination of the two companies was closely watched by an industry in the midst of consolidation. The vertical merger led to Comcast making a $65 billion bid for 21st Century Fox's assets. That bid was later topped by Disney, which offered $71.3 billion.

AT&T shares are down 1.5% in after-hours trading on Thursday.

Woah. This is cool. A Bitcoin ransom with using what I think is passwords from a big leak. Pretty neat since people would be legit scared when they see their password. The concealed part is actually an old password I used to use. pic.twitter.com/clEYiFqvHY

— can (@can) July 11, 2018

Over the past 25 years, I’ve invested in many startups that sell products to large enterprises. Many of these companies end up either creating or helping to create a new category. As the startups (or the category) become visible, they inevitably attract the attention of industry analysts, who write reports on the categories and the startups as part of the industry analysts’ business.

Engaging with analysts can result in significant investments of time, effort, and capital on the part of the startup. The choice is a complicated one since startups are often challenging the status quo and industry analysts, while well-intentioned, don’t necessarily have a full grasp of the underlying industry changes taking place until well past the point that changes – and resulting trends – become obvious.

One of our portfolio companies recently engaged with an industry analyst for the first time with a very disappointing outcome. In this case, the company has created and is leading a new category. As a result of growing their customer base quickly, they were invited to participate in an analyst evaluation. Having invested little in relationships with this specific industry analyst, the company was hesitant, but the study was directly relevant and the industry analyst conducting the evaluation was prestigious, so the company decided to participate.

Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that the analyst conducting the review simply didn’t understand the problem being solved or why this company’s solution was so disruptive to the other vendors. The outcome was a deeply flawed report. In retrospect, the company would have been better off if they had never gotten involved.

While it’s easy to say “oops” and move on, this company will now have to deal with this report for a while in competitive situations. Rather than be pissed off about it, our feedback was to use this as a learning moment in the development of the company, figure out why this happened, and determine what could be done differently in the future.

Several of the issues were exogenous to the company, but one big one was under the startup’s control. And, in all cases, the startup should have been much more forceful about their perspective on each issue. The specific issues follow:

The terminology was loosely defined by the analyst. Big shifts in technology are often interpreted at first as evolutionary, not revolutionary. It was notable that several of the “leading” companies in the report introduced their products over a decade ago, well before the category being addressed in the report was even invented. As a result, the younger companies approaching the problem in a completely new way were ranked poorly because the analyst missed the real value to the customer.

The analyst didn’t behave like a customer. In this product category, most customers perform an in-depth analysis of vendor capabilities through a thorough review based on their customer’s buying criteria before deciding on the solution. This analyst didn’t feel like the study warranted a deep look and used vendor demos instead. This eliminated the opportunity for the analyst to understand the customer’s perspective and to compare and contrast the different solutions being evaluated. All decisions and scoring were left to vendor claims (also known as “marketing”) while operational aspects of the customer, and how the various products addressed them, were ignored.

The analyst went wide instead of deep. The magic of this company’s product and the new category they have helped pioneer is a result of focusing on a very specific, yet critically important aspect of a broader problem. The analyst either didn’t understand this or didn’t focus on it and included a wide range of product capabilities, many of them irrelevant to the problem being addressed, in the evaluation. As a result, the study favored broad tools that covered more surface area (mainly from very large, established technology vendors), but had less specific capabilities, especially in the new product category being addressed.

The company failed to fully engage the analyst. Since the company didn’t have a fee-based relationship with the industry analyst firm, there was no long-term relationship. To young companies, paying analyst fees can feel like extortion, but it’s an essential part of engaging with and helping the analysts to better understand your product and how it’s different, especially when you are leading the creation of a new category. In this case (as in many others), the established vendors of broad products had spent years shaping analyst opinions. Even though these broad products didn’t compete effectively in the new category, their relationship with the analyst, who in this case relied on marketing information rather than real product engagement, won the day.

If you sell a product to large enterprises, neglect analyst relations at your peril. I generally categorize this activity in the same bucket as PR, even though they are different functions and often driven by different leaders in the company. Don’t assume that the industry analysts are all-knowing. Instead, start early and feed them regularly or risk having large, established companies win at this game.

Also published on Medium.