CMO’s top 8 martech stories for the week – 29 June 2017

Author: Nadia Cameron / Source: CMO

Global digital adtech company, RhythmOne, has acquired the assets of data-driven marketing platform, RadiumOne, in a deal worth approximately US$22 million.

Founded in 2004 in the UK and now headquartered in San Francisco, RhythmOne’s recent acquisition is pitched as fortifying the vendor’s unified programmatic offering, which will now incorporate curated, high-quality audiences from publishers across devices and formats on the supply side, integrated with greater media buying capability to enable advertisers to maximise campaign effectiveness. RhythmOne is paying US$5.5 million upfront in cash for RadiumOne’s assets, with a further US$16.5 million to be paid in shares at a future date. The company has reportedly assumed about US$4m in net liabilities.

“One of the biggest challenges facing advertisers today is how to leverage the rich data they get from customers throughout the buying cycle,” RhythmOne’s CRO, Richard Nunn, said. “RadiumOne’s powerful data-driven marketing platform combined with RhythmOne’s massive, high-quality supply footprint will truly enable brands to develop and activate segmentation and targeting strategies based on unique consumer insights.”

For our full report on the acquisition, read more here.

New consortium looks to blockchain for ad supply improvements

A new consortium has launched to investigate the use of blockchain in driving new transparency and data security across the digital advertising supply chain.

AdLedger is backed by blockchain adtech startup, MadHive, along with IBM, Integral Ad Science and Tegna’s OTT ad subsidiary, Premion. Its ambition is to bring together advertising industry players to collaborate on how blockchain could be employed as a technology to transform the advertising industry, and create a programmatic supply chain where intermediaries and stakeholders that contribute data to a campaign are transparent to buyers and sellers.

“The network will aim to remove layers of inefficiency in technology stacks to address the issue of the disappearing ad dollar, introduce cross-network identity management and attribution reporting, and establish a protocol around a decentralised peer-to-peer data sharing solution,” the group stated. “Based on existing industry standards, AdLedger will also determine rules and standards for the protocol that would apply to audience segments, regulatory compliance, data uploads, encryption via keys, and a universal language for smart contracts.”

According to a report on AdExchanger, the working group specifically plans to take on issues such as technical standards, regulatory concerns and the language of ‘smart contracts’, one of the key capabilities within blockchain. It’s also working on open source code for what it calls ‘the blind trust’, or a method to upload and transact first-party data.

You can read the full AdExchanger report on AdLedger’s plans here.

Hootsuite aims to amplify sales

Social media management vendor, Hootsuite, has extended its platform to sales, launching a new mobile-first solution to help sales teams with lead management across social channels.

Amplify for Selling aims to help sales teams be more successful on social by generating leads and fostering relationships. Key features of the mobile application include integration with CRM, allowing teams to directly import contacts into Amplify for Selling to follow on Twitter, as well as social signal functionality, allowing them to reach out in real time.

The tool also allows sales people to share and curate content across multiple social channels in real time, as well as view and report on how leads engaged with content by use, social network and category.

“Sales reps are constantly under pressure to find and develop qualified leads in order to meet quota. Hootsuite’s Amplify for Selling solution empowers reps to leverage social to nurture and build rewarding relationships that…

Click here to read more