VRJAM and Agora partnership aims to provide sleek – and sustainable – VR event experience

The events industry in the UK is worth somewhere in the £40 billion area today. 2014 figures from BVEP put it just below that figure, while an AV Technology piece from last year spiked it at £42.3bn. 

This includes everything from the events themselves to travel costs - many readers will understand the 'on the road' mentality that comes with frequent executive international travel. But with climate awareness continuing to gain traction - Greta Thunberg...

26 August 2019 | Customer Experience

Consumers are understanding the risks of social media addiction – but taking the next step is hard

Another week, and another example of how consumers are trying to fight for their privacy rights in a world of social snooping and data overload.

According to recent research from Kaspersky, which polled almost 12,000 consumers across 21 countries, one in three (32.3%) admitted they did not know how to fully protect their privacy online. More than half (56%) agreed that total privacy was not possible in the ‘modern digital world’, as the research put it.

A small...

27 June 2019 | Customer Experience

Salesforce to acquire Tableau for $15.7 billion to combine Einstein’s AI with BI bulk

Salesforce is to acquire business intelligence (BI) visualisation software provider Tableau in a $15.7 billion (£12.4bn) all-stock deal – with the aim to improve customer journeys through the fusion of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data.

The acquisition, which was announced by both companies earlier today (June 10), will see Tableau’s data visualisation tools baked into Salesforce in order to further the latter’s mission to ‘deliver customer...

10 June 2019 | Automation

How Sage is using employee advocacy to create a strong voice on social

Last week, Kim Kardashian West - perhaps the ultimate influencer - put digital ink to silicon and tweeted forth. Yet this wasn't quite a case of affirmation-brought-to-you-by-X. The socialite had visited Jack in the Box and wished for a discussion about the experience "pronto." Underneath, rival fast food brands, from Burger King, to Wendy's, to Steak-umm, were queuing up to throw shade.

For some, this may be seen as light relief on the increasingly divisive social...

24 May 2019 | Campaigns

Personalisation strategies analysed: Potent brand messages found – if not 100% hit rate

To personalise, or not to personalise? Even though it's phrased as a question, personalisation may seem more of a proclamation today - and while only half of consumers are actively signing up for a personalised experience right now, the numbers are only going to go up.

The latest study from Periscope By McKinsey, which polled more than 2000 consumers spread across France, Germany, the UK and the US, found brands who were already trusted by users were more likely to be given...

22 May 2019 | Customer Experience

How Brandwatch is stepping up from social monitoring – to find a much greater opportunity

Social media monitoring provider Brandwatch has been busier than ever of late. The company continues its regular research studies, from the serious, examining fake news in March, to the more frivolous, exploring the social conversation around Game of Thrones (spoiler alert). Yet two recent acquisitions have sharpened Brandwatch’s vision and pushed the company forward in different ways.

In October, it was announced that Brandwatch would merge with Crimson Hexagon, a long-time...

8 May 2019 | Attribution

How Dynamic Yield’s success was predicated on foreshadowing personalisation as a strategic priority

At the end of March, it was announced that McDonald's had acquired Dynamic Yield, an Israel-based provider of personalisation software. The move made for a fascinating exploration of how brands were not just exploring the martech stack but committing M&A to it. Take Walmart buying adtech firm Polymorph last month, for instance, or Accenture acquiring Adaptly at the end of last year,

Speaking to this publication, Grad Conn, chief experience and marketing officer at Sprinklr,...

3 May 2019 | Customer Experience

Getting big data with your Big Mac: McDonald’s acquires personalisation firm Dynamic Yield

McDonald’s is moving into greater personalised customer experiences and automation with the acquisition of Tel Aviv-based Dynamic Yield.

The company, which offers a platform analysing data around recommendations, personalisation and targeting and behavioural messaging among others, said it was ‘thrilled’ to join McDonald’s and play a ‘critical role’ in the fast food chain’s digital transformation initiative.

“When [CTO] Omni...

27 March 2019 | Advertising Technology

Google slapped with €1.49bn EU fine for antitrust in advertising

Google has been fined €1.49 billion (£1.28bn) by the European Commission for breaching antitrust rules for its online advertising services.

The Commission concluded that the search giant had abused its market dominance – exceeding 85% for most of the analysed time period – for favouring its own price comparison results for searches through its AdSense for Search platform.

“Market dominance is not illegal under EU antitrust rules. However,...

20 March 2019 | Advertising

The best of MarketingTech in 2018 – and what 2019 has in store for digital marketing

2018 has certainly been an interesting year both for the digital marketing industry and those at the front line. The exciting part – or terrifying, depending on where you stand – is that it is only going to get bigger, with WARC estimating in September that martech spend was at $100 billion globally.

Here, we take a look at the most popular stories featured on MarketingTech over the past 12 months – as well as talking with industry leaders on what they expect to...

2 January 2019 | Advertising Technology