The hottest thing in ad tech is also the best gift a 10-year-old can give their parents: a clean room.

It’s one of the industry’s favorite buzzwords, a technological solution that claims to allow advertisers, publishers, and platforms the ability to securely share their own aggregated data without giving too much away to partners.

But don’t take our word for it—ask the market:

• In early November, Permutive, a clean-room provider, raised $75 million.
• Last week, Habu, a clean-room software company, raised $25 million.
• Disney is piloting a clean room alongside Omnicom Media Group, Habu, InfoSum, and Snowflake.

What does a clean room do? Well, if fictional brand Ryan’s Lemonade wanted to share insights with Target, each would be able to put their aggregated data into a clean room to see what the other knows about audiences they have in common—what else they might buy, how often they buy, their demographics, and interests (like what else is in their shopping cart).

• Clean rooms can be used to both gain insights into audiences and as a tool to measure campaign performance, depending on the partners involved.
• Instead of proxies and guesses to estimate audience insights, a brand would literally be able to look under a retailer’s first-party-data hood, all while being privacy compliant.

It’s Switzerland for data, a neutral intermediary where all sides can set parameters as to what information is actually seen. Clean rooms allow advertisers to “expose certain data aspects that they are comfortable sharing” explained Matt Kilmartin, Habu’s cofounder and CEO, to Marketing Brew. “You can determine what you actually want to do with different partners, and what your partners are comfortable doing as well.”

Right now, there are primarily two different kinds: Walled gardens, like Google and Amazon, operate clean rooms that give brands a look inside their own ecosystem. Software companies and data managers like Habu, InfoSum, and Permutive operate the second kind, acting as a conduit between parties that want to share their data.

When a brand partners with a publisher (Google, Amazon, a retailer with a media network, for example), a clean room can give both parties a closer look at campaign performance data like reach and frequency figures without giving away that sweet, sweet personal first-party customer data they often can’t share. In return, advertisers get an “aggregated output” without individual audience identifiers, explained Therran Oliphant, executive director of marketing technology consulting at media agency PHD.

This “output” can reveal audience segments, campaign insights, and look-alike audiences, which can then be shared with a publisher, a demand-side platform, or an ad network to inform a campaign. Or, if you’re a retailer with an ad network, brands can leverage this output when buying ads.

Click here to read more about the rise of clean rooms, including why they face scaling challenges.—RB

On Wednesday, the MTA updated its advertising guidelines, following its settlement with NYC–based sex-tech and wellness company Dame.

• ICYMI, in 2019, the MTA and Outfront Media (the company that handles its ad placements) rejected Dame’s ad placements, reportedly due to their sexual nature.
• Dame then filed a lawsuit against the NYC transportation authority, alleging that the ban was discriminatory, since ads for erectile dysfunction medication had been allowed to run.
• The MTA and Dame settled earlier last week, allowing the brand to run an updated, watered-down version of its campaign on the subway through January (Dame couldn’t run its original creative).

So what’s new? The new guidelines not only provide more explicit rules around sex-related advertising, but also prohibit cannabis advertising outright for the first time.

Stand clear of the closing doors, please

The sex part…before: The previous version of the guidelines stated that ads containing “sexually explicit material that appeals to the prurient interest in sex” were prohibited, as well as ones that promote “an escort service or sexually oriented business.”

...and after: However, the old guidelines did not provide a definition for “a sexually oriented business.” The new ones do—and the definition is rather extensive. It includes “sex toys” as well as “sexual enhancement products.”

The cannabis part: Cannabis wasn’t mentioned in the past iteration of the MTA’s advertising guidelines, but now, advertising cannabis or any cannabis-related product—or hallucinogenic mushrooms or hallucinogenic-mushroom-related products—is prohibited.

Why it matters: Brian Rappaport, CEO of boutique OOH media shop Quan Media Group, estimates that the MTA could lose around 10% to 15% of its revenue because of these new guidelines.

Read the full story on-site here.—PB

In honor of Marketing Brew’s sustainability month and Planet Earth dying “faster than we thought,” November’s edition of our CTA event series attempted to answer the question: ​​How can brands—especially ones that have a clear impact on the environment—market their sustainability efforts in a way that’ll spur interest, not eye rolls?

Marketing Brew reporter Ryan Barwick sat down with senior manager of ESG strategy for Delta Air Lines, Ashley Sherman, to figure it out. Watch the full event recording here, or read our biggest takeaways on our site. We’ve posted a few of them below.

On greenwashing

Less is more: “When you lead with communications, you get into this space of greenwashing and people feeling like, ‘Are you really being sustainable?’ So we really try to lead with action, which means we talk a lot less than what we do,” Sherman said.

Bottom line: The easiest way to avoid being criticized for greenwashing, according to Sherman? Not doing it. “If you get into a space where you’re trying to over communicate to customers every little action you’re taking…[people] would look at that and say, ‘Is that greenwashing?’” she shared.—PB

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

Events: If your brand is taking part in Small Business Saturday this year, here’s how you can make the most of it.

Branding: Find out how to use design templates like someone who doesn’t need design templates.

Instagram: Later shared 14 ways to get more followers (the right way) on the platform, detailing why each one works.

Mobile is a must: Iterable’s Mobile Marketing e-book can help you identify how to make the most of mobile to stand out and build strong relationships with customers. Get your copy today.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Vintage Ad Browser

A 1982 ad picturing a rare wild turkey that escapes Thanksgiving only to end up in a men’s holiday gift guide.

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

• Post-lockdown, some agencies are creating more sustainable travel policies
• Away and Zola hire new CMOs ahead of new year
• Musical chairs: This week’s agency moves and promotions