Ad agencies pressure Facebook and Google on payment terms

Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for August 26. I'm Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at ljohnson@businessinsider.com

Today's news: Agencies put pressure on Facebook and Google to loosen payment terms, Away gets into pet products, and Instagram Reels' revenue potential.

Indie ad agencies are pressing Facebook and Google to change payment terms they call unfair, as the pandemic raises fears that clients will fail to pay

• Patrick Coffee reported that some independent ad agencies including WPromote have asked Facebook and Google for more favorable payment terms recently due to the pandemic but the platforms haven't budged.
• At the center of the agencies' asks is sequential liability, a clause that would prevent agencies from being responsible to Google or Facebook if a client doesn't pay. Sources said that large holding companies negotiated such terms years ago.
• Spokespeople for Facebook and Google each said they were working to help ad agencies and other vendors during the crisis. Both said payment terms are confidential and may vary on a case-by-case basis.

Read the full story here.

Away's revenue plummeted 90% at the start of the pandemic. The luggage startup is trying to bounce back by appealing to pet owners.

• Luggage brand Away's revenue dried up as travel has ground to a halt from the coronavirus, so the brand is rolling out pet products, reports Tanya Dua.
• Away's first pet product is a $225 pet carrier and the startup is marketing it with an out-of-home campaign that places scented posters where dogs can smell them. An ad featuring an image of Yosemite National Park encourages dogs to imagine peeing on a Sequoia tree.
• "Travel is a highly sensory experience, and smell in particular is linked to nostalgia and positive feelings of places you've been to," said Away's SVP of marketing Selena Kalvaria. "We wanted to highlight the emotional benefits of what the pet carrier can bring to you by appealing to the pets' sense of smell."

Read the full story here.

Instagram Reels could drive $2.5 billion in yearly ad revenue by 2022, according to Jefferies analysts. Here are 5 key takeaways from their report on the TikTok rival.

• Analysts at Jefferies expect that Instagram's recently launched feature Reels will boost Facebook's ad revenue by $2.5 billion in the next two years, Sydney Bradley reported.
• According to a research note, 80% of survey respondents who had used Reels said that they were likely to continue using the feature.
• Reels are also driving big audiences. The research note said that Reels posts have views that are five to 10 times bigger than other video content on Instagram.

Read the full story here.

More stories we're reading:

• Nike is expected to cut ties with Zappos, Belk, Dillards and 6 other retailers as the footwear giant doubles down on digital (Business Insider)
• Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs are hiring journalists from the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg to repair their own images. Here's a look at their strategies. (Business Insider)
• QR codes 'will become the new normal well beyond COVID,' says CEO of retail startup Thanx. Here's how restaurants are using the tech to help save in-person dining. (Business Insider)
• 'It's worth testing': GQ is moving from recommending products to selling its own (Digiday)
• A media pioneer tries again with a new journalism cooperative (New York Times)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at ljohnson@businessinsider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.

— Lauren