Ad Bacon launched Audience Kitchen, an tool designed to help advertisers identify a broader selection of Facebook and Instagram audiences than those typically uncovered via Facebook Ads Manager. Ad Bacon CEO Ty Martin called the tool, which integrates both Ad Bacon's recommendation algorithm and the Facebook API, "a better mousetrap to uncover audience targeting for Facebook and Instagram."

Snap's advancing technology during the pandemic propelled its augmented reality capabilities from an entertainment tool to a revenue generator for brands such as Estee Lauder and Gucci Beauty. Snap's latest hand-tracking technology is expected to expand its appeal among vertical businesses with applications such as clothing and jewelry try-ons, and Manning Gottlieb OMD's Phaedra Poulimenou says the "possibilities are endless when brands think creatively."

Pinterest has launched a Content Claiming Portal, its version of Facebook's Rights Manager platform, to enable creators to better protect their content. To participate, creators have to apply and, once approved, are able to upload content and specify where it can be used: only with Pins from the creators, only with Pins that link to the creators' websites or not on Pinterest at all.

Large technology companies are being challenged by governments that are concerned that the companies' size and power threaten consumer privacy and healthy marketplace competition while helping spread misinformation. President Joe Biden's administration is working to rein in Amazon, Facebook, Google and other companies, while lawmakers in China, Europe and Australia also are taking aim at tech giants.

Discord's monthly active user base has grown to 140 million individuals who participate in communities focused on everything from gaming and coding to cars, beauty, fashion and music. The platform hasn't yet launched dedicated ad tools but is enticing brands with a customizable interface, a partner program and newer resources, including a Moderator Academy and transparency reports.

Apple is planning to release its new operating system, iOS 14.5, next week along with its AppTrackingTransparency framework, which will require individual apps to obtain users' permission to track them to offer tailored ads and prohibits workarounds. Major ad industry organizations have voiced opposition regarding the opt-in tracking policies citing revenue-generating constraints, and Facebook said the policy would "change the internet as we know it -- for the worse."

The most compelling case for putting age and sex demographics happily in the rearview mirror is the lukewarm sales and profit results from hundreds of US marketers over the last 10 years that fully flung their brands at any and every consumer under 36 years of age -- you know, the "cool kids." They missed out on the explosion of decades of "older" audiences -- scads of (missed) customers, who spent scads of money.

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