Weekly martech review: BrandTotal $6m funding, Salesforce's Customer 360, AT&T ad business Xandr.
We review the top news in martech from the week of September 24–October 1, 2018.
We review the top news in martech from the week of September 24–October 1, 2018.
In our review of last week’s martech news, we highlight BrandTotal closing $6m Series A funding, Salesforce launching Customer 360, and AT&T launching new advertising business Xandr.
What it is
BrandTotal is an agile marketing platform that uses AI, cyber security techniques, and data science to — get this — reveal to brand marketers the digital marketing activities of their top competitors. They’re originally based in Tel Aviv, with a second office in New York.
Why it matters
This brings their total funding amount to $8m. BrandTotal has a partnership with Microsoft via Microsoft’s Dynamics 365, they’ve been selected to Oracle’s Startup Cloud Accelerator, and have presented at Morgan Stanley’s prestigious Innovation Summit.
Their technology collects both public and targeted “dark” posts from paid media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon, display banners, etc), in order to give a more transparent view of what’s happening, and reveal a brand’s opportunities and threats in real time. They report that 85% of sponsored posts on Facebook are ‘dark posts,’ i.e. targeted to specific users. They’re trying to shed some light on that “dark marketing.”
What it is
The new Customer 360 aims to provide a 360-degree view of the customer. It will unify data for both admins and customers themselves, featuring an admin interface to manage customer data across Salesforce apps, as well as a Customer 360 ID to give customers up-to-date, relevant profiles across apps.
Why it matters
This is yet another step to cross-channel / omnichannel customer experiences. More and more businesses are waking up to the fact that just because consumers interact with a brand across a dozen different channels and platforms doesn’t change the fact that the end consumer is one unified person. PSA: they generally like to be treated as such. But as with everything, “omnichannel” is much easier talked about than done, so Salesforce’s announcement is worth paying attention to.
What it is
Xandr will basically be existing components of AT&T advertising & analytics businesses, but under one name and one centralized place. It will include AT&T AdWorks (advanced TV business), ATT.net (data and analytics business), and AppNexus, and will continue to support its US and global customers under the Xandr umbrella.
Why it matters
This is another example of how big brands — even ones who aren’t fundamentally advertising agencies — are needing to create uniquely advertising arms. Advertising and adtech are becoming more complex, combining data, technology, premium content, and distribution, as well as more necessary to stay competitive.
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