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Rani Molla

Meta: GenAI ad tools are good for small businesses while ad agencies continue working with large brands

Every time a Big Tech company like Meta announces a new generative-AI ad tool, the stocks of the biggest ad agencies — Omnicom, WPP, Interpublic, Publicis — fall.

But on Meta’s latest earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg poured some water on the idea that such tools will spell the end of ad agencies — much like our article from a few weeks ago.

On Meta’s suite of generative-AI ad creation tools, he said:

“This is going to be especially valuable for smaller advertisers with limited budgets, while agencies will continue the important work to help larger brands apply these tools strategically.”

Later, CFO Susan Li said:

“We’re also continuing to see strong adoption of image expansion among small- and medium-sized advertisers, which speaks to how these tools help businesses who have fewer resources to develop creative. With larger advertisers, we expect agencies will continue to be valuable partners in helping apply these new tools to drive performance.”

There ya go!

But on Meta’s latest earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg poured some water on the idea that such tools will spell the end of ad agencies — much like our article from a few weeks ago.

On Meta’s suite of generative-AI ad creation tools, he said:

“This is going to be especially valuable for smaller advertisers with limited budgets, while agencies will continue the important work to help larger brands apply these tools strategically.”

Later, CFO Susan Li said:

“We’re also continuing to see strong adoption of image expansion among small- and medium-sized advertisers, which speaks to how these tools help businesses who have fewer resources to develop creative. With larger advertisers, we expect agencies will continue to be valuable partners in helping apply these new tools to drive performance.”

There ya go!

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Salesforce falls as Anthropic debuts Cowork tool

Salesforce is on track for its worst trading day in nearly two years, with shares down more than 6% Tuesday afternoon. One potential contributor: Anthropic’s release of Cowork, an autonomous digital assistant for completing office tasks. Essentially, Cowork is an agent-based version of Anthropic’s Claude chatbot that can access and manipulate files, automate workflows, and execute tasks on a user’s behalf.

Salesforce watchers will recall that the SaaS giant has thrown its weight behind its own agent-based workplace AI, Agentforce, which CEO Marc Benioff recently described as one of the company’s two main “momentum drivers.” In December, Benioff said he would consider renaming the company "Agenforce."

tech

Google reaches record high and crosses $4 trillion market cap after major wins for Gemini

Google parent Alphabet closed yesterday at a record-high stock price of $331.86, giving the company a market capitalization just above $4 trillion, as investors reward a string of wins for its Gemini AI model, including high-profile partnerships with Apple and Walmart.

After months of speculation, Apple announced a multiyear partnership to use Gemini to power its AI assistant, Siri, a major endorsement of Google’s AI prowess. That same day, Walmart said it would partner with Google to let customers purchase products directly through the Gemini chatbot, a move that would put Gemini in front of millions of Walmart shoppers and test whether AI chatbots can drive real commerce at scale rather than isolated queries. (Amazon, OpenAI, and Microsoft are experimenting with similar AI shopping tools.)

The stock is up nearly 1% again in premarket trading today. While Microsoft and Apple have both crossed $4 trillion in the past, they’ve since dipped below it, leaving Google and Nvidia as the only companies currently valued above the threshold.

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