Ad Networks

Facebook’s entry into VR advertising isn’t going too well

Facebook’s efforts to bring advertising to the Oculus virtual reality platform it has spent billions of dollars building out doesn’t seem to be off to a great start.

The company announced last week that they were planning to roll out their first in-game ads inside the title “Blaston” from the prolific VR game developer Resolution Games, and just days later the game studio has shared that after hearing an earful from users they’ve decided to abandon the ad rollout.

“After listening to player feedback, we realize that Blaston isn’t the best fit for this type of advertising test,” a tweet from the Blaston account read. “Therefore, we no longer plan to implement the test. We look forward to seeing you in the arena and hope you try the Crackdown Update that went live today!”

This potential ad rollout had been particularly noteworthy because the ads were being tested inside a title from a third-party developer. Facebook has purchased a handful of VR studios in recent months and owns a number of the most popular Quest titles inside its marketplace, so the opportunity to roll out advertising with a third-party partner gave Facebook a chance to frame the advertising rollout as a way for other developers to open up their monetization channels, rather than for Facebook to do so.

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Gupshup brings Vertex AI-powered AI chatbots into RCS conversations

PR Newswire | February 26, 2024

Gupshup, the world's leading Conversation Cloud platform today announced that brands on its platform can now offer AI chatbots for RCS conversations, opening up a whole new advanced and interactive experience for their users. Gupshup's Conversational AI product suite, spanning Auto Bot Builder and ACE LLM, are now using Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform to bring the benefits of Google's large language models (LLMs) to Gupshup's customers globally. The integration will enable businesses to deliver more precise and human-like interactions with speed and scale and offer a more personalized and responsive experience. Further, AI assistants on RCS will be able to intelligently respond to unstructured queries, assisting customers across various stages–from product discovery, lead generation to troubleshooting and customer support. "Generative AI is transforming the RCS industry, and we're thrilled that Gupshup is utilizing our latest LLMs on Vertex AI to further personalize and enhance how businesses engage with customers through AI-driven conversations," said Warren Barkley, Senior Director of Product Management, Vertex AI at Google Cloud. "Vertex AI provides partners like Gupshup with a unified AI platform to leverage state-of-the-art foundational models, and we look forward to seeing the ways Gupshup continues to innovate with this technology." "We've always leveraged the latest cutting-edge AI technologies to offer a superior customer engagement platform to our brands. With our Auto Bot Builder and domain-specific ACE LLM now leveraging Google's LLMs, business messages on RCS are set to get a massive facelift, leading to better ROI for enterprises. We are excited to work with Google Cloud to help our brands bring intelligent conversations on RCS that will redefine customer engagement," said Beerud Sheth, Founder and CEO, Gupshup. Gupshup is a pioneer in leveraging domain-specific, fine-tuned large language models (LLMs) to automate the creation of enterprise-grade chatbots with appropriate guardrails. In January 2023, it launched Auto Bot Builder, a tool that leverages LLMs to automatically and effortlessly build advanced chatbots for enterprises. Gupshup's Conversational AI solutions are already live with several clients in India and abroad. The advanced chatbot for Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) - Dubai's largest utility, is powered by Gupshup. In India, several brands such as Tata Capital and Chaayos are using it for brand engagement, product discovery, employee training, and consultative selling.

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Ad Tech and Martech, Advertiser Platforms

Jasper Expands by Acquiring Image Platform Clipdrop from Stability AI

PR Newswire | February 23, 2024

Jasper, one of the world's biggest generative AI app companies, has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Clipdrop, an AI image creation and editing platform, from Stability AI. This acquisition signifies a significant step forward in Jasper's capacity to deliver the most comprehensive, multimodal copilot for enterprise marketing teams. Clipdrop is an image creation and editing platform used by millions of creative designers and brands worldwide. Founded in 2020 by Google alumni Cyril Diagne, Damien Henry, and Jonathan Blanchet, Clipdrop enables users to edit existing images, create new ones, and develop an expansive number of variations in size, detail, and style. For marketers and brand leaders, this technology can be a catalyst for accelerating their ad strategies and developing on-brand creative. "Marketing is visual," said Timothy Young, CEO of Jasper. "The addition of Clipdrop to Jasper will advance our vision to be the most comprehensive end-to-end marketing copilot in the industry, powering all the formats, channels, and functions enterprise marketing teams need. A copilot this robust will enable the enterprises we serve to go beyond simple AI prompts to achieve more personalized marketing, better informed automation, and improved optimization across their entire strategy." The Clipdrop team will join Jasper effective immediately and continue to lead research and innovation on multimodality in Jasper from their headquarters in Paris, which has become a hub of AI innovation in Europe. With this acquisition, Jasper expands its footprint to Europe and plans to continue to invest there from both a talent and customer acquisition standpoint. The company is eager to contribute to Paris's vibrant AI community. "Jasper has been a valued partner, leveraging Stability AI models for many years," said Emad Mostaque, CEO of Stability AI. "We're thrilled to see Clipdrop expand their offering by joining forces with Jasper. We will continue to partner with Clipdrop on research and deliver our cutting-edge models to their platform." "We are excited about what Clipdrop technology can do inside Jasper's copilot for marketing teams," said Damien Henry, Clipdrop co-founder. "There are natural synergies between the two companies and a clear focus on creating the best multimodal platform for marketers. We can't wait to get started." In addition to leading further development of AI-assisted image creation and editing, Damien Henry will play a larger leadership role in research and innovation for the entire Jasper product. The acquisition of Clipdrop closed on February 20, 2024. Business customers will be able to access it through the Jasper API immediately, over time the functionality will be more deeply integrated into the copilot. Individuals can still purchase Clipdrop as a standalone product via Clipdrop.co

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