Though we try our best to explain it, the ad-tech industry can be about as digestible as a steel anvil.

Insert Shiv Gupta, founder of the ad-tech education and training company U of Digital, which offers courses for those looking to figure out what the heck a DMP does. U of Digital’s customers include a broad mix of media and ad-tech companies, including TikTok, Google, GumGum, Criteo, and A+E Networks.

Given his perspective as an entrepreneurial educator, Marketing Brew spoke to Gupta, the former VP of sales at Criteo, about what his clients are asking him about and the trends he’s watching in 2023. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Marketing Brew: What do your clients ask about the most?

Shiv Gupta: Strategically speaking, our clients are asking us to help upskill their teams on what is specifically relevant to their sector and the things that are really important adjacent to their sector. For example, if we’re working with a DSP, that DSP wants to get really, really dialed in on something relevant to a DSP, like programmatic buying or all the different channels in the DSP landscape—CTV, audio, streaming, etc.—but also adjacent categories, right?

Like, “Hey, help us understand clean rooms in depth. Help us understand what’s going on with data management platforms and how they’re evolving toward becoming customer data platforms.” They’re asking us to help them understand how marketers are thinking about in-housing versus working with an agency.

Continue reading here.—RB

The privacy landscape is changing swiftly, but don’t take our word for it. Ask the IAB, which recently called privacy legislation a more immediate danger for advertisers than the death of the third-party cookie.

In 2018, only two comprehensive state privacy laws were proposed. By the end of 2022, roughly 59 bills will have been proposed in 29 states (!!!), according to the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Still, the number of states that have actually enacted comprehensive consumer-privacy legislation could field a basketball team.

• They are California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, and Utah. All have new laws going into effect next year. This is the second piece of comprehensive consumer-privacy legislation in California; the first went into effect in 2020.
• In Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, privacy legislation is “in committee,” according to the IAPP’s State Privacy Legislation Tracker.

Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing the digital advertising industry, signaling a willingness to consider new regulations intended to target what it considers “harmful commercial surveillance and lax data security.” It also sued the data broker Kochava earlier this year, alleging that it sold location data that could be used to track people “to and from sensitive locations.”

Keep reading here.—RB

We just hit the six-month anniversary of Future Social! Man, that went fast. I’m so thankful for all 40,000 of ya who wanna know more about social media, content, and creators—I love talking about this stuff. Planning’s well underway for 2023, and I’m so excited to bring you more social examples from best-in-class brands, more free strategy approaches, and more analysis on influencer marketing.

You can read everything I’ve written here, and I’d love it if you subscribed! Here’s a few of my favorites from the year:

• How to use social media to find a job after a layoff
• How to define your social media brand voice
• The easiest, most positive way to build a personal brand

Thanks again for reading, and I’ll see you next year!—JA

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

Loud and clear: Some 2022 podcast trends, including new advertiser categories, from Megaphone by Spotify.

Overhyped: The customer-experience “non-trends” you can probably ignore in 2023, according to a Gartner analyst.

Hyped: The case for why AI in advertising might actually have legs.

Read some of our favorite Brew stories from the year:

• IT Brew interviewed John Wills, field CTO at data management company Alation, about data-privacy laws across states.
• Retail Brew covered the recent introduction of the first biodegradable water bottle.
• HR Brew spoke with Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown about his DE&I course.
• Emerging Tech Brew explored a startup that’s working to create an AI assistant that can collaborate with humans on projects.

Morning Consult conducted a couple surveys of Gen Z Americans (ages 13–25) last month, asking them about their relationships with media, sports, and brands. Here are a few key takeaways for marketers.

Surprise, surprise: More than half (54%) of Gen Zers polled reported spending four or more hours a day on social media.

• Gen Z uses YouTube “significantly more than any other platform,” wrote Morning Consult Data Reporter Ellyn Briggs.
• Instagram followed, while Snapchat was tied with TikTok for third place.

Target practice: Gen Z had “mixed feelings” about targeted ads on social. Fifty-six percent said they can “sometimes” feel invasive, compared to 42% of US adults overall who said the same.

• More than one in four (28%) of all adults said targeted ads are “always” an invasion of privacy. Just 17% of Gen Z said the same.

To rebrand, or not to rebrand: It can be a big undertaking for marketing teams, and Gen Z was split on whether or not they liked rebrands.

• Half said they like when brands refresh their look, but the other half said they prefer to see branding stay the same.
• Adults overall were decidedly less excited about brand updates, with 60% in favor of keeping branding the same, and 40% supporting new looks.

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

• On TikTok, where audio is integral, brands can be limited by licensing. Here’s how they operate on the platform without risking potential trouble
• Can brands talk to you via voice assistant while respecting data privacy?
• Pickleball brands and organizations are using modern marketing moves to expand the sport beyond boomers