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The Linux Foundation has partnered with some of the world’s biggest technology companies to develop interoperable and open map data, in what is a clear move to counter Google’s dominance in the mapping realm.

The Overture Maps Foundation, as the new effort is called, is officially hosted by the Linux Foundation, but the program is driven by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Facebook’s parent company Meta, Microsoft, and Dutch mapping company TomTom.

The ultimate mission of the Overture Maps Foundation to power new map products through openly available datasets that can be used and reused across applications and businesses, with each member throwing their own data and resources into the mix.

“Mapping the physical environment and every community in the world, even as they grow and change, is a massively complex challenge that no one organization can manage,” noted the Linux Foundation’s executive director Jim Zemlin in a press release. “Industry needs to come together to do this for the benefit of all.”

Map and location data plays such a fundamental role across society today, powering everything from IoT (internet of things) devices and self-driving cars, to logistics and big data visualization tools. Having all that data under the auspices of just one or two mega-firms can be hugely restrictive in terms of what companies can do with the data and what features they have at their disposal, not to mention the costs involved in licensing it.

Spatial mapping will also be vital to emerging technologies such as those required for the Metaverse, which Meta is heavily invested in.

“Immersive experiences, which understand and blend into your physical environment, are critical to the embodied internet of the future,” added Jan Erik Solem, engineering director for Maps at Meta. “By delivering interoperable open map data, Overture provides the foundation for an open metaverse built by creators, developers, and businesses alike.”

The anti-Google?

Google is a notable omission from the Overture Maps Foundation’s founding members. Indeed, that such big names and rivals from the technology sphere are coming together in partnership is probably testament to the stranglehold Google has on the world of mapping, a position it has slowly garnered since launching its Android mobile operating system nearly fifteen years ago.

Moreover, with the iPhone arriving around the same time, a combination that brought maps and navigation into the pockets of millions of people globally, this had a monumental impact on incumbents such as TomTom, which had built a substantial business off the back of physical navigation devices plastered to car windshields.

This graph shows how TomTom’s shares plummeted with the advent of the modern smartphone era.

In the intervening years, TomTom has tried to evolve, striking map and data partnerships with the likes of Uber and Microsoft, while it has also targeted developers with SDKs and hit the acquisition trail to bolster its autonomous vehicle ambitions. But the fact remains, Google and its mapping empire still rule the roost for the most part, something that this new collaboration will go some way toward addressing.

“Collaborative mapmaking is central to TomTom’s strategy — the Overture Maps Foundation provides the framework to accelerate our goals,” TomTom CEO Harold Goddijn noted in a press release. “TomTom’s Maps Platform will leverage the combination of the Overture base map, a broad range of other data, and TomTom’s proprietary data in a continuously integrated and quality-controlled product that serves a broad range of use cases, including the most demanding applications like advanced navigation, search, and automated driving.”

Open sesame

The emergence of this new foundation jibes with trends elsewhere across the technology spectrum, with a growing push toward decentralized and interoperable social networks driven by regulatory and societal pressures. Elsewhere, the Linux Foundation also recently announced the OpenWallet Foundation to develop interoperable digital wallets, pushing back against the closed payment ecosystems fostered by tech juggernauts including Google and Apple.

Today’s announcement very much fits into that broader trend.

The founding companies are planning to engage in collaborative map-building programs, meshing data from myriad open data sources and knocking it into a format that’s consistent, standardized, and fit for use in production systems and applications. This will include channeling data from long-established projects such as OpenStreetMap, in addition to open data provided by municipalities.

While there are only four member companies at launch, there are plans to expand things in the future to include any company with a direct vested interest in open map data.

For now, the Overture Maps Foundation said that it’s working toward releasing its first datasets in the first half of 2023, and will include “basic” layers such as roads, buildings, and administrative information. Over time, this will expand to include more places, routing and navigation, and 3D building data.

Meta, Microsoft, AWS and TomTom launch the Overture Maps Foundation to develop interoperable open map data by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

It’s time to reconsider how you use Instagram’s advertising tools for your business. With the platform’s continuing development, new ad placements and algorithm changes, the creatives, captions and CTA that worked in the past might not deliver the same CPC, reach and engagement in the near future.

Brands are growing concerned about where to spend their main social media marketing budgets. Over 50% of social media marketing budgets are spent inefficiently because of poor creatives, mixed messaging, limited ad types and unfortunate ad captions.

With this article, I want to explore how we optimized ad strategies on Instagram for GLAM LAB London, which allows freelance beauty professionals in the U.K. to register and list their services, which clients can book. The purpose of the marketing campaign on Instagram was to raise awareness about the service and generate leads.

Test 1

Image or video ad creatives?

At first, I was hesitant about testing image ads just to see how they performed and comparing them with the performance of our video ads.

Quick research showed that video ads generate three times more engagement than other formats. I still ran a quick campaign for a couple of days with an image ad, among other formats, and found that Instagram’s algorithms were reluctant to push image ads:

I therefore decided to instead use video ads. I started with two video creatives that went viral on Instagram Reels (generating 21,000 and 5,000 views) to test the algorithms and targets. We ran one six-second video of a girl that first showed her without any makeup and then transitioned to her post-makeup to music, and a 13-second video showing a client struggling with makeup and ordering our service in the end.

I used a general ad description with a CTA to book the service on our website, targeting a generic audience — women from London, aged 18-55. I chose all three Instagram ad placements (Reels, Stories and Feed Posts) and the average results were:

I had already heard that Instagram Reels could be more expensive than other placements but didn’t expect such a big difference. The same creatives can perform at almost half the cost if used on different ad placements.

Test 2

Which Instagram ad placement is more cost-effective: Reels, Feed Posts or Stories? by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch

Trendio, a new video shopping app co-founded by a former Amazon Prime Video executive, is aiming to enhance the beauty shopping experience. The shopping app enables customers to engage with personalized content and seamlessly purchase beauty products through live and recorded videos.

The app is the brainchild of Alex Perez-Tenessa, the former vice president of Prime Video U.S. and Head of Beauty at CVS, and startup veteran David Olmos. The pair enlisted Amazon Live alum, Julie Novak and former Glossier Head of Make-up Category Management, Leah Grubb with the goal of creating a platform that reimagines the future of beauty e-commerce by delivering the personalized advice traditionally only found in-store with the efficiency of digital shopping.

“I had the privilege of running Prime Video and I saw a number of new technologies related to content creation,” Perez-Tenessa told TechCrunch in an interview. “I saw changes in expectations and behaviors of audiences around the world and that made me see there was an opportunity to leverage all of those technologies to solve a problem I’d seen when I was running beauty at CVS, which was that beauty products are complex. They need to be demoed in order for customers to truly understand their value. And the way that the digital retail environment has evolved has not gone in the direction of making that easier, for both brands and consumers. So I saw an opportunity to leverage video technologies to create a much better way to discover and shop beauty products.”

Trendio provides both live and pre-recorded content from creators to help users make informed decisions about products and brands. Among Trendio’s growing roster of beauty brands are Merit, Philosophy, Fig1, Ursa Major, Nudestix, Kjaer Weis, Joanna Vargas, Coola and Avene.

The app features a TikTok-like feed where you can swipe through short previews of different products. If you come across a product that you’re interested in, you can tap to watch the full video. You can also watch a live video where you can chat with a creator and other viewers about specific products. Users can browse Trendio’s catalog of videos to see new items or featured brands, along with creator channels and brand stores. When you find a product that you like, you can check out directly in the app. Trendio then makes a commission on every product that is sold on the platform.

At launch, Trendio is available in the U.S on iOS, Android and Roku. Perez-Tenessa says one of the insights that he took from his time at Amazon Prime Video was that consumers are moving toward connected TV, which is why it was so important for Trendio to be available on both mobile and Roku. Although Trendio is initially only available in the U.S., the company plans to launch the app in additional countries in the future.

All of the content on Trendio is currently manually edited, but in the future the company says the content will be automatically edited using AI. Trendio is currently training and building AI models that will be able to ensure that the app surfaces content that is interesting for each specific user.

The idea of live video shopping has taken off in Asia, but it’s still a fairly new and experimental concept in the U.S. Perez-Tenessa believes that in order for the concept to take off in the U.S, it needs to be different from the model in Asia.

“I think the expectation regarding the content that people come across is very high in the U.S.,” Perez-Tenessa said. “It also has to be a combination of live and recorded content. I think that is true to some extent in Asia, but it has to be even more the case in the U.S. People have just tried to just copy the Asian model and copy paste it into the U.S. I don’t that’s going to work because the relationship to video in the U.S. and and in Asia has alway been different. You have to be there for the customers the way they want to consume the content. We think we can give customers that quality and experience that they expect.”

In terms of funding, Trendio closed a $3 million funding round in May that was led by Madrona. Half of the investment went toward product development and creating business relationships. The company will use the other half of the investment next year for continued product development and marketing. Trendio is also planning to raise a Series A in 2023.

Although Trendio is launching in the beauty e-commerce space, the company plans to expand beyond that category in the future. Perez-Tenessa says there is potential for the company to naturally expand into wellness and accessories e-commerce, and beyond.

Former Prime Video exec launches Trendio, a video shopping app aiming to reimagine beauty e-commerce by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch