Google's copying Facebook, Microsoft's trying to steal ad dollars from Amazon, and WPP's big loss

Welcome to the Advertising and Media Insider newsletter. I'm Tanya Dua, a senior advertising reporter filling in for Lucia this week. If you got this email forwarded, sign up for your own here. Send tips or feedback to me at tdua@businessinsider.com.

The platforms all seem to want to be like one another. Google wants to dent Facebook's advertising business, while Microsoft wants to steal ad budgets from Amazon and Google. Confused? Read on for more details.

Google has been pitching advertisers on an ad format called Discovery Ads since May that looks like social media posts. My colleague Lauren Johnson reported how Google is encouraging advertisers to repurpose creative from Facebook campaigns to use in its own ads as it takes aim at social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Google is promoting an ad format that looks like a social post. Here's the presentation Google is using to steal Facebook's advertisers.

Speaking of Facebook, I reported that Rob Goldman, one of the company's biggest advertising execs - and staunchest defenders - is leaving the company. Goldman's departure follows Facebook overhauling its Ads and Business Platform (ABP) team this summer, and Dan Levy taking over as its VP of product on ads.

One of Facebook's biggest advertising execs is leaving the company

I also got my hands on the pitch deck that Microsoft has been circulating to snatch a bigger share of marketers' search and e-commerce budgets from Amazon and Google. Microsoft is pitching Sponsored Products as an alternative to Amazon, saying it can plug into the Microsoft Search Network, including AOL and Yahoo properties.

Microsoft wants to challenge Amazon and Google's dominance in search and e-commerce advertising. Read the pitch deck it's using to snatch a bigger share of marketers' budgets.

Elsewhere, Patrick Coffee reported WPP lost a big hunk of the US business of one of its oldest and most valuable clients, Johnson & Johnson. The marketer chose the much smaller MDC Partners agency Doner to handle advertising for its Tylenol, Listerine, and Zyrtec brands.

WPP just lost a huge chunk of one of its oldest, most valuable accounts, Johnson & Johnson

And Lucia looked at the situation facing digital media employees who once had dreams about getting rich off stock options from their companies that are now troubled. "We were all misguided about how these companies would turn out," said one.

Employees at digital media companies like Vice and BuzzFeed are griping over dashed stock dreams

Here are other great stories from media, marketing, and advertising. (You can read most of the articles here by subscribing to BI Prime; use promo code AD2PRIME2018 for a free month.)

The company that took control of Sports Illustrated just raised $20 million after 'substantial doubts' that it would continue to stay afloat

Buzzy startup VidMob grew by making social video for brands, and now it's starting to do the same for agencies

Direct-to-consumer brands that have tested Snapchat's latest ad format say it's helping drive returns while bringing their cost-per-purchase down

Meet the company that turned YouTube's Ryan ToysReview into a business empire making tens of millions per year

A top Whistle exec breaks down how 24-hour OTT channels are helping digital-video companies grab more ad dollars

Mozilla's CMO reveals the biggest mistake marketers make with their data, why it's still boycotting Facebook, and how it plans to grab share from Chrome and Safari