According to a Gartner survey, 98% of marketers no longer see digital as a distinct approach from other marketing practices. Digital marketing is now the context for all marketing. Consequently, last week saw a spate of deals in the digital space, including IBM acquiring Bluewolf Group, one of the biggest independent services firms specializing in Salesforce’s cloud services. Read on to know the latest in the MarTech Space.
Why IBM Is Buying One of Salesforce’s Biggest Consulting Partners – Fortune
IBM’s services division disclosed its intention this week to snap up Bluewolf Group, one of the biggest independent services firms specializing in Salesforce’s cloud services with more than 9,500 projects under its belt over the past 15 years. Bluewolf’s 500-strong team will add predictive analytics capabilities to IBM’s Interactive Experience (iX) division. This is the fourth acquisition this year for IBM iX, already one of the world’s largest digital agencies with over 10,000 people providing marketing, creative, analytics, applications, and UX design services.
Rocket Fuel and Eyeota partner on data – Mobile Marketing Magazine
Ad tech players, Rocket Fuel and Eyeota, have inked a new global partnership that sees Eyeota’s local audience data segments available in Rocket Fuel’s programmatic marketing platform. The new capabilities will allow advertisers to target specific audiences for online advertising through Rocket Fuel’s SaaS-based data management platform (DMP) and demand-side platform (DSP). The vendor’s platform uses artificial intelligence to undertake real-time calculations of each ad opportunity based on goals established by the marketer around consumer engagement. Eyeota claims to have 1.8 billion unique profiles globally.
Facebook is reportedly bringing video ads to Instant Articles – Business Insider
Facebook Instant Articles has been a hit with publishers, and the social media giant is making another adjustment to the service. According to Wall Street Journal reports, Facebook will soon let publishers insert video ads (both autoplay and click-to-play) to Instant Articles. The platform would also support pre-roll ads that typically play before video content. Furthermore, Facebook will let publishers sell more ad units at the bottom of Instant Articles. This advertising expansion should increase monetization potential for both Facebook and the publishers, and should also secure Facebook’s role in video going forward.
Starbucks plans to spend even more to improve its mobile app – Business Insider
Starbucks has put significant effort into its mobile app, and that strategy has paid off in spades. The company plans to increase spending on mobile in 2016 after great success with its app in 2015, according to Bloomberg. By the end of last year, 21% of all transactions at Starbucks in the U.S. occurred through the mobile app. This has positioned the app as one of Starbucks’ core business strategies, according to chief digital officer Adam Brotman.
10 myths marketing technology vendors want you to believe – CIO
Real Story Group analyst Theresa Regli busts the most common myths marketing technology vendors tell customers and prospects, and other martech experts share insight on how marketing pros can navigate the dynamic digital landscape.
MarTech Landscape: What is a demand-side platform (DSP)? – Marketing Land
Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) are used by digital advertising buyers — advertisers, agencies, ad networks — to help them manage programmatic ad buying across ad exchanges. In this installment of Marketing Land’s MarTech Landscape Series, we explain what DSPs are and why ad buyers use them.
Mission Statement for MarTech: If You Don’t Have One You’re Screwed – MarTech Advisor
Madeline Rich, global client ambassador at Lotame, discusses the benefits of using a mission statement for organizations implementing MarTech. According to Madeline with a clear mission statement, it becomes a lot easier for companies to filter out irrelevant pitches and only spend time vetting the technology vendors they need.