Multinational professional services firm Deloitte is buying Magnetic Media’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform in a bid to secure a firm grasp on the advertising and marketing technology space. The acquisition of the New-York based martech service signals the “strategic importance” of investing in AI, machine learning and audience data analytics, according to Deloitte.
Wrapping the service into its Digital Experiences Services Platform, the deal will offer Deloitte clients more detailed consumer insights and improved data management. According to Scott Mager, leader of Deloitte Digital’s advertising, marketing and commerce practice, the purchase comes with the consumer expecting comms across multiple channels that are both “personalised and have real-time relevancy”.
"We're helping our clients make the shift from siloed advertising and marketing to real-time cross-channel experiences that are consistent across media, web, mobile, social and in the call center, with a store associate, or at the register," commented Mager.
The decade-old Magnetic is a privately-owned ad tech and targeting business which uses machine learning technology to determine the optimal channel, timing, message and content for each consumer interaction. Its AI platform analyses attributes of more than 350m live user profiles alongside real-time inventory supply and bid opportunities to deliver high-performing marketing campaigns.
"To enable an end-to-end experience, our clients need to collect, analyse, and integrate their audience and customer interaction data across the enterprise,” said Angel Hollus Vaccaro, leader of the company’s Experience Services platform.
“By combining Magnetic's audience data capabilities with Deloitte Digital's customer data experience, we can help our clients do just this inside their own environment, designed to give them full control and transparency. Add on Magnetic's AI/ML capabilities alongside Deloitte's software alliances, and you have real-time decisioning that can deliver the right content, to the right person, at the right time – across any channel."
The acquisition is part of a growing movement of global consultancy giants competing in the ad tech arena, speaking to AdWeek, however, Vaccaro said the purchase was “an experience play rather than a marketing play”.
“What we’re seeing more and more in the market today is that CMOs [can no longer] look at marketing in a silo. Marketing is becoming all-on every channel every touchpoint across the entire journey. That’s one of the reasons we’re doubling down in the space.”
Last month, the professional services firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announced it launching an emerging technology training scheme for 1000 of its employees, aimed at equipping its teams with improved digital skills need to remain “competitive and to be responsive for what our clients are also going through”, according to a PwC spokesperson.
