Between a potential—but unlikely—national privacy bill and both state and federal regulators beginning to crack down on the use of personal data, the privacy landscape has shifted underneath the feet of marketers.

• In August, Sephora agreed to pay a $1.2 million fine for allegedly violating the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
• Separately, the data broker Kochava is in a legal tussle with the FTC over a disagreement around selling location data to advertisers.
• And several states have enacted privacy legislation.

Slowly but surely, targeted advertising is going from a largely unregulated industry to one that’s in the crosshairs of legislators. And last month, the IAB warned that few in the ad industry “seemed truly prepared for ongoing data-privacy legislation changes.”

So, what’s a chief marketing officer to do? “There’s no question that the whole operation of marketing is changing under the weight of these new privacy restrictions,” said Andrew Frank, VP distinguished analyst at Gartner. “Whether it’s changing the fundamental job function of a marketing leader strikes me as a more difficult question.”

Nobody is expecting a CMO to replace a company’s legal team or to become a chief privacy officer. But at the heart of privacy laws are the mechanisms that power targeted advertising.

• With regards to Sephora, California’s attorney general accused it of sharing data through commonly used web-analytics tools, which enabled it to see a customer’s precise location, what device they were using, and what they had in their shopping cart.

“That was like the first shot over the bow—like, you guys better pay attention,” said Laurel Rossi, CMO of the digital advertising company Infillion, who said she was surprised at how small the fine was.

Read how other CMOs are grappling with privacy legislation and concerns here.—RB

Red and auburn leaves serve many reminders—that Walgreens is probably selling candy corn, that loved ones are trying to plot holiday gifts for difficult parents, and that corporate America is trying to size up their budgets heading into the new year.

So far, advertisers are split as to whether they’ll spend more in 2023 than they did in 2022, according to a survey released by the World Federation of Advertisers and the media research company Ebiquity.

While 41% of advertisers expect to maintain their 2022 budgets, everyone else is split—29% said they expect a decrease in their budget. The remaining 29% said they expect to see an increase.

The 43 advertisers surveyed account for more than $44 billion in advertising spend. The findings are relevant as advertisers (and uh, everyone else) face a choppy and uncertain economy. Even the International Monetary Fund anticipates that the “worst is yet to come.” Cool!

Other findings:

• 28% of respondents said they’ll increase their share of performance advertising, while 21% said they’ll increase their share of brand advertising.
• When asked about specific channels, 63% said they expect to decrease their spend in print, 59% said they’d decrease spend in linear TV and 46% said they expect to decrease spend in radio. 🪦
• Meanwhile, 67% said they’d increase spending on CTV, and roughly half said they’d up spend on paid social and retail media.

And advertisers want flexibility: 40% of respondents suggested that they would up their share of flexible or biddable buys. Only 9% said they plan to increase their share of upfront commitments.

“With uncertain times ahead, it’s clear that brand advertisers seek more tactical agility in terms of trading and shifting budgets throughout the year, versus annual upfront commitments,” Ruben Schreurs, chief product officer at Ebiquity, wrote to Marketing Brew.—RB

Morning Brew’s Ashwin Rodrigues recently broke down one of the latest diet trends: avoiding seed oils. Read a clip of the story below, or click here for the full piece.

“Seed oils” refers to a variety of popular cooking oils, including canola, soybean, sunflower, and corn oils. The public decrying of seed oils began as a fringe fitness forum quibble, dating to the paleo diet craze of the early 2000s. But it’s slowly leaked into mainstream conversations on TikTok and even Joe Rogan’s podcast, where the host recently called cooking with grapeseed oil a “crime against nature.” The common kitchen ingredient is now vilified as “industrial,” and its detractors have linked it to everything from inflammation to sunburns and Alzheimer’s disease, to the frustration of some health and nutrition experts.

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Explainer: What the heck are dark patterns? Let AdExchanger explain.

Take a look: Bookmark this infographic that outlines five optimization tips for image SEO.

Learn from the best: TikTok best practices the easy way—no dancing required.

Calling all retail marketers: The SKU: A Retail Brew Summit is coming to NYC in just two weeks! In just one day away from your desk, you can expand your professional network, gain perspective from leaders at top retail brands such as Crocs and Kroger, and head home with strategic insights that could help reduce your brand’s carbon footprint, increase brand awareness and affinity, and much more. Tickets are only $599 for a limited time!

Stat: About 290 million people worldwide are using ad blockers each month, according to the 2022 PageFair Adblock Report.

Watch: RIP to sleuthing queen Angela Lansbury, famous for many things, including this commercial for Mastercard.

Quote: “Your House Is More than Just the Place You Spend Most of Your Time. It’s Your House.” Apparently, Google Ads suggested this copy to marketing instructor Amalia Fowler.

Listen: Steve Jobs finally sat down for the Joe Rogan Experience, thanks to AI.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• For influencer marketing, Instagram isn’t the only show in town anymore
• TikToks could become the new music videos when it comes to product placement
• DTC advertisers are looking at different marketing platforms