The MarTech Minute: Adobe extends support to mid-market and SMBs, Microsoft acquires Mover

MarTech Minute briefs always appear first in our daily newsletter throughout the week. Click here to subscribe. The following is our compilation of the past week’s briefs from those newsletters.

Adobe launches product portfolio geared towards mid-market and SMBs. The product portfolio includes Magento Commerce, Marketo Engage, Adobe Analytics Foundation, Adobe Sign for Small Business and Creative Cloud for Teams. “Rapidly growing brands — regardless of a company’s size or budget — are increasingly making technology investments that level the playing field in terms of the experience they deliver to customers,” said Gary Specter, vice president, global head of GTM, commercial business at Adobe. “The acquisitions of Magento and Marketo helped Adobe gain a deeper understanding of the unique needs of commercial businesses, allowing us to extend our enterprise-grade applications down market and bring the modern infrastructure to run a digital business to companies of any size.”

Target Data acquires Social Fulcrum. Social Fulcrum, a social media agency specializing in Facebook and Instagram advertising will become a business unit of performance marketing agency Target Data. “Social Fulcrum is a market leader in paid social. Their ability to utilize data and technology to drive ROAS for their clients is unmatched. Adding their expertise further strengthens Target Data’s data-driven approach to Facebook and Instagram. We could not be more excited to welcome their team and clients to the Target Data family,” said Ross Shelleman, founder and CEO of Target Data.

NitroSell launches WebSell. Ecommerce solutions provider NitroSell has announced the launch of its new AI-driven ecommerce system WebSell. The product can be used in a standalone capacity or can be integrated with a number of cloud-based point-of-sale systems. The technology can be used by online retailers to manage product inventory and provide recommendations to retailers, among other capabilities. “WebSell is our commitment to responding to the needs of today’s retailers and shoppers by delivering a next-generation, intuitive ecommerce platform,” said Donogh Roche, CEO of NitroSell. “Using machine learning and artificial intelligence, WebSell will enable online retailers to list products with minimal data entry, predict current and future demands on inventory, provide smart recommendations to both retailers and shoppers, and much more. WebSell is a cloud-based solution that brings the future of ecommerce to life.”

Centro and FreeWheel integration allows for end-to-end automation. Advertising technology provider Centro has announced that a two-way API integration with FreeWheel is now available. Centro’s digital media management platform can now be synced with FreeWheel’s finance management platform, Strata, to manage cash flow by streamlining reconciliation, billing and collection services.  “Organizations using Strata are well-positioned to protect their bottom line. Agencies gain Basis’s programmatic advertising and digital media capabilities that seamlessly integrate with our financial systems and cross-media stewardship solutions for a holistic view of a client’s entire media plan,” said Joy Baer, general manager, FreeWheel Advertisers. “FreeWheel is putting in action our vision to give customers a wide array of technology choices, deep flexibility and media automation, made possible by our platform’s open architecture.”

Teradata launches Vantage Customer Experience. The cloud analytics company’s latest product is said to help brands deliver relevant, personalized experiences. Teradata also launched Vantage Analyst, providing business analysts with a number of new capabilities to perform machine learning, including advanced analytics through a point-and-click interface. “Delivering optimized experiences, at the speed customers expect, is a top priority for CMOs across every industry. But with the ever-increasing complexity of a fractured digital landscape – proliferating martech stacks, new customer data sources, multiple customer touchpoints – this has become progressively challenging,” said Martyn Etherington, chief marketing officer at Teradata. “Vantage CX addresses this by putting more data, powerful analytics and the ability to take timely action in the hands of marketers.”

Microsoft buys Mover. The company’s purchase of the Canadian startup is expected to help Microsoft’s customers migrate to Microsoft 365. Mover currently supports migration from over a dozen cloud service providers, including Box, Dropbox, Egnyte and Google Drive, into OneDrive and Sharepoint. “The Mover team also brings deep expertise and migration technology, which advances Microsoft’s commitment to providing organizations of all sizes with the right tools, people and partners to successfully migrate to the Microsoft Cloud,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post.

Product cloud company Pendo valued at $1 billion. Pendo raised $100 million in a Series E round, valuing the company at $1 billion. This round was led by Sapphire Ventures and new investors General Atlantic and Tiger Global, along with numerous existing investors. “Product experience is how companies compete today, yet most digital products are still really hard to use,” said Pendo CEO and co-founder Todd Olson. “Many product teams still lack the basic tools they need to understand what their customers want, why customers come back, or what drives them away. Companies can’t deliver great digital products if they can’t answer those basic questions. Pendo has built the most comprehensive platform available today to help any company that interacts with customers digitally to drive growth through better product experiences.”

Magento announces new integrations with Adobe. Adobe’s Sensei is expected to be used in conjunction with Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target to collect more data and offer better, more personalized recommendations via Magento’s platform. “This will provide a fuller end-to-end analysis of what kinds of content and experiences will take people from clicks to conversions to subscriptions. And having a clearer understanding of the digital customer journey provides more opportunities to automate personalized ‘next best actions’ that improve the journey experience,” Brent Leary, founder at CRM Essentials, told TechCrunch. Integrations with Adobe Stock will grant customers access to Adobe’s massive content library.

Accenture expands innovation with acquisition. Accenture has acquired privately-owned innovation firm Happen. Headquartered in London, Happen has additional offices in Amsterdam and New Jersey and is supported by a team with a range of innovative skills including strategy, design, ideation, insight and research. Established in 2007, Happen has primarily served companies in the consumer goods, food and beverage, retail and life sciences industries. “Bringing data-driven intelligence to clients’ decision-making, Happen helps companies tailor innovative products, services and experiences to create customer-centric businesses,” said Eric Schaeffer, senior managing director at Accenture’s Products and Supply Chain & Operations consulting practice. “The acquisition further enhances the analytics, design and engineering capabilities we use to help clients deliver relevance at scale to a marketplace of millions of individuals.” 

Adobe announces a series of updates to Adobe Experience Platform.  The platform’s Data Science Workspace, which was announced earlier this year, allows brands to use Adobe Sensei, the company’s AI and machine learning technology, to improve personalization methods and allow marketers to understand their audiences. Product recommendations and retail sales forecasting are just two new features coming to Adobe Experience Platform. Adobe Audience Manager, Adobe’s data management platform, announced the addition of People-Based Destinations, which will improve audience targeting, personalization and suppression based on hashed identifiers.

HubSpot launched LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms via ads tool. Following the addition of a variety of digital marketing tools, including email capabilities, to its free HubSpot CRM, the company has announced that users can now create LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms from within the free HubSpot ads tool. The ads tool gives users the ability to manage their digital advertising from one connected system in order to provide a more complete view of the overall customer experience.

Marketers on the Move

Digital advertising and analytics provider Yieldmo has appointed Mari Kim Novak as chief marketing officer. Novak previously served as the global head of marketing for Microsoft Advertising and as CMO of Rubicon Project. Yieldmo has also named Lisa Bradner as general manager of its data analytics business. Lisa was previously president of OMD Midwest and held senior roles at Publicis, IPG, Forrester, and Acco Brands.

Tealium is expanding its leadership team with the hiring of Heidi Bullock as chief marketing officer. Bullock joins from Engagio where she served as chief marketing officer, and previously held the role of group vice president of global marketing at Marketo. “We are thrilled to have Heidi joining the executive team at Tealium,” said Jeff Lunsford, chief executive officer of Tealium. “She is a fantastic addition, not only due to her extensive knowledge in marketing but also her impressive leadership experience in building and scaling high-performance marketing teams. Heidi will undoubtedly help us expand our market position in a high growth market and continue to solidify us as a global leader in the industry.”