Alexa Is Laughing…All the Way to the Bank

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Amazon’s Alexa was in the news again this week, but this time for creepily laughing at its owners without any provocation.  Imagine being home alone, after watching a scary movie, and hearing that laugh out of nowhere.

The “always listening” feature of these smart speakers does bring a variety of privacy concerns to mind, and as more homes become voice-enabled it inevitably will lead to the beginning of Skynet.  However, that has not stopped the rapid adoption of the virtual assistant in the US (including by me!).  In fact, Juniper Research predicts that by 2022 over 55% of US Households will have a smart speaker.

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Procter & Gamble Reduces Digital Spend – Emphasizes Measurement

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For those of you currently attending the ANA Media Conference in Florida, you probably had a chance to catch the presentation on Thursday, March 1st.  For those that didn’t, there was a fantastic article in the WSJ by Suzanne Vranica published on Thursday that outlined the most recent stance taken by Marc Pritchard of Procter & Gamble.

Marc has been very vocal about cleaning up the digital landscape and has continued to provide amazing insights and detail into the approach he and his team have taken thus far.  Some of the highlights from this most recent headline include:

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