http://www.buddymedia.com/newsroom/2010/10/buddy-media-announces-23-million-series-c-funding/
Buddy Media, the Facebook management system of choice for seven of the ten world’s largest advertisers, today announced it has raised $23 million in Series C funding to fuel its continued growth.
Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), which has funded many of the best known digital brands like Netflix, Twitter and Zynga, led the new round and was joined by existing Buddy Media investors, including Softbank Capital, Greycroft Partners and Bay Partners.
Buddy Media’s Facebook management system, The Buddy Media Platform, is web-based marketing software that provides companies global scale, secure architecture and straightforward administrative tools to connect with their current and future customers using the power of Facebook’s 550-million strong and growing social network.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
R.R. Donnelley buys online real estate marketing company
http://www.btobonline.com/article/20110104/FREE/110109983/r-r-donnelley-buys-online-real-estate-marketing-company
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. has acquired 8touches.com, a provider of online marketing solutions for the real estate industry.
Donnelley said the acquisition would expand its portfolio of Internet-based solutions, in particular its software development and distribution services, as well as add targeted applications for additional industries and vertical segments. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. has acquired 8touches.com, a provider of online marketing solutions for the real estate industry.
Donnelley said the acquisition would expand its portfolio of Internet-based solutions, in particular its software development and distribution services, as well as add targeted applications for additional industries and vertical segments. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Display in 2011: The Future Belongs to Google
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1934048/display-2011-future-belongs-google
After three years of intense R&D -- and even more intense M&A -- the company now owns large swaths of display media's plumbing. It's on pace to capture $2.5 billion in display ad revenue in 2010, making short work of CEO Eric Schmidt's 2009 pledge to turn display into Google's "next billion-dollar business." But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Agency groups ZenithOptimedia and GroupM both predict online ad spending will grow significantly next year, and researcher eMarketer projects display spending will expand from $8.9 billion this year to $15.9 billion in 2014 (though it will still trail search spending). As that tide surges, it's evident to many that Google has rigged its boat to rise more swiftly than its rivals.
Google's product stack includes ad management leader DoubleClick; a year-old ad exchange that is already dominant in real-time bidding; demand-side platform Invite Media; creative optimization platform Teracent; and incubated products like Display Ad Builder, which lets small search advertisers roll out display media campaigns in minutes. Its ad network now exceeds the reach of previous ad network leaders AOL and Yahoo, according to comScore.
One likely area of investment is data aggregation, a potentially large revenue source but also a sensitive category in light of Federal regulators' current interest in online ad targeting. Another is ad verification, which helps advertisers guarantee their campaigns meet campaign specifications and honor website block lists.
After three years of intense R&D -- and even more intense M&A -- the company now owns large swaths of display media's plumbing. It's on pace to capture $2.5 billion in display ad revenue in 2010, making short work of CEO Eric Schmidt's 2009 pledge to turn display into Google's "next billion-dollar business." But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Agency groups ZenithOptimedia and GroupM both predict online ad spending will grow significantly next year, and researcher eMarketer projects display spending will expand from $8.9 billion this year to $15.9 billion in 2014 (though it will still trail search spending). As that tide surges, it's evident to many that Google has rigged its boat to rise more swiftly than its rivals.
Google's product stack includes ad management leader DoubleClick; a year-old ad exchange that is already dominant in real-time bidding; demand-side platform Invite Media; creative optimization platform Teracent; and incubated products like Display Ad Builder, which lets small search advertisers roll out display media campaigns in minutes. Its ad network now exceeds the reach of previous ad network leaders AOL and Yahoo, according to comScore.
One likely area of investment is data aggregation, a potentially large revenue source but also a sensitive category in light of Federal regulators' current interest in online ad targeting. Another is ad verification, which helps advertisers guarantee their campaigns meet campaign specifications and honor website block lists.
Dachis Group gets $30M to advance social consulting
http://venturebeat.com/2011/01/03/dachis-group-gets-30m-to-advance-social-consulting/#
The world’s largest social consultancy, Dachis Group, got a late Christmas present today, receiving $30 million in second round funding from previous backers Austin Ventures, CEO Jeff Dachis told VentureBeat.
Dachis Group sells software to corporations looking to better use social networking to advance their brands.
It was founded in 2008 by Silicon Valley and “new media” guru Dachis, who is best known for co-founding the then-white hot Web shop Razorfish in 1995.
Dachis has been adamant in the past that his new company is not just a consultancy but instead focuses on three key themes: social business strategy, social business engagement and social business intelligence, to help businesses navigate an “increasingly connected social world” to become “social businesses.”
The two-year-old shop has parlayed that “everything that can be social, will be” philosophy into building a stable of marquee-name clients at a scorching pace.
Dachis Group has been snapping up social-business consultancies along the way, including acquiring Portland, Ore.-based Xplane, an information-design consultancy in April, after its first, $50 million round of funding from Austin Ventures in June of 2008.
It also put some of that money to work last month when it grabbed Austin-based Powered, which creates social marketing programs for more than 200 customers, its seventh acquisition since its founding.
The company currently has 300 clients, including Microsoft, American Express, AOL, AT&T, Bud Light, Calvin Klein, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Cisco, Citibank, The Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s, HBO and Procter and Gamble.
It also estimates it services 15 percent of the Fortune 500 and operates the largest Facebook Preferred Developer services group in the world through its subsidiaries.
Dachis said it would use the money to grow most areas of its business, including attracting new talent and investing in process development, knowledge sharing systems and quality control.
It will also be aiming to expand its international presence: Dachis Group has 220 employees in offices in 10 cities across five countries, including New York, Philadelphia, Portland, London, Sydney, Amsterdam and Madrid.
The world’s largest social consultancy, Dachis Group, got a late Christmas present today, receiving $30 million in second round funding from previous backers Austin Ventures, CEO Jeff Dachis told VentureBeat.
Dachis Group sells software to corporations looking to better use social networking to advance their brands.
It was founded in 2008 by Silicon Valley and “new media” guru Dachis, who is best known for co-founding the then-white hot Web shop Razorfish in 1995.
Dachis has been adamant in the past that his new company is not just a consultancy but instead focuses on three key themes: social business strategy, social business engagement and social business intelligence, to help businesses navigate an “increasingly connected social world” to become “social businesses.”
The two-year-old shop has parlayed that “everything that can be social, will be” philosophy into building a stable of marquee-name clients at a scorching pace.
Dachis Group has been snapping up social-business consultancies along the way, including acquiring Portland, Ore.-based Xplane, an information-design consultancy in April, after its first, $50 million round of funding from Austin Ventures in June of 2008.
It also put some of that money to work last month when it grabbed Austin-based Powered, which creates social marketing programs for more than 200 customers, its seventh acquisition since its founding.
The company currently has 300 clients, including Microsoft, American Express, AOL, AT&T, Bud Light, Calvin Klein, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Cisco, Citibank, The Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s, HBO and Procter and Gamble.
It also estimates it services 15 percent of the Fortune 500 and operates the largest Facebook Preferred Developer services group in the world through its subsidiaries.
Dachis said it would use the money to grow most areas of its business, including attracting new talent and investing in process development, knowledge sharing systems and quality control.
It will also be aiming to expand its international presence: Dachis Group has 220 employees in offices in 10 cities across five countries, including New York, Philadelphia, Portland, London, Sydney, Amsterdam and Madrid.
Teradata to acquire Aprimo for $525 million
Data warehousing company Teradata Corp. announced plans to buy marketing software and services company Aprimo Inc. for $525 million.
The acquisition of Aprimo's suite of cloud-based marketing solutions is expected to bolster Teradata's analytics and business intelligence insights culled from stored data.
The deal also will help position Teradata against a key competitor, IBM Corp., which bought marketing management company Unica in August for $480 million.
The Aprimo acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011, Teradata said.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/teradata-buys-aprimo-for-525-million/42992
WPP Buys Obama’s Campaign Agency Blue State Digital
http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/30/wpp-buys-obamas-campaign-agency-blue-state-digital/
Blue State Digital, the communications firm responsible for coordinating President Barack Obama’s online fundraising and social networking campaigns in the 2008 election, has been acquired by advertising giant WPP. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Blue State Digital is a digital agency that helps form online strategy, and advocacy, membership and fundraising campaigns for nonprofits, educational and cultural institutions, political campaigns and corporate brands. According to a release, Blue State Digital’s revenue has grown more than 30% per year since its founding in 2004 (and the company’s strategy and technology has helped raise $800 million to date).
Blue State Digital’s clients include HBO, The American Red Cross, Harvard University and AT&T. One factor that made BSD appealing to WPP is its proprietary technology suite that integrates tools for online fundraising, advocacy, social networking, constituency development, email marketing and content management. The company also consults on web design and strategic communications.
Blue State Digital, the communications firm responsible for coordinating President Barack Obama’s online fundraising and social networking campaigns in the 2008 election, has been acquired by advertising giant WPP. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Blue State Digital is a digital agency that helps form online strategy, and advocacy, membership and fundraising campaigns for nonprofits, educational and cultural institutions, political campaigns and corporate brands. According to a release, Blue State Digital’s revenue has grown more than 30% per year since its founding in 2004 (and the company’s strategy and technology has helped raise $800 million to date).
Blue State Digital’s clients include HBO, The American Red Cross, Harvard University and AT&T. One factor that made BSD appealing to WPP is its proprietary technology suite that integrates tools for online fundraising, advocacy, social networking, constituency development, email marketing and content management. The company also consults on web design and strategic communications.
After Two Slow Years, an Industry Rebound Begins
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/business/media/03adco.html?_r=1&ref=business
Television advertising, whether through integrated-brand campaigns like Microsoft’s or otherwise, has been one of the bright spots as the advertising industry begins to recover from the devastating effects of the recession and marketers experiment with a variety of new ways to reach the audience.
During the financial crisis and its aftermath, most advertisers reduced spending in virtually all forms of media, even those that had been enjoying strong growth in ad revenue. Now, a recovery seems to be taking hold on Madison Avenue and conditions are widely perceived as improving.
According to data from Kantar Media, advertising expenditures for all media for the first half of 2010 increased 5.7 percent from 2009 to about $63.6 billion. Television advertising led the pack in spending because of an increase in demand from the automotive and retail markets, and political advertising.
Spending on advertising in local newspapers showed a significant decline over the last 19 quarters, with a 4.6 percent decrease for the first half of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009, according to data from Kantar Media.
For the first time, advertisers are projected to have spent more on online ads than on newspaper ads in 2010, according to data by eMarketer.
“The bad economy has actually accelerated the shift to digital advertising,” Geoff Ramsey, the chief executive of eMarketer, said in a statement. “Online ads, especially search ads, are increasingly seen by many marketers as a more reliable bet than print ads, which are often difficult to tie to a measurable financial result.”
For brands like Microsoft, Web analytics and research are driving much of the investment into digital media.
Television advertising, whether through integrated-brand campaigns like Microsoft’s or otherwise, has been one of the bright spots as the advertising industry begins to recover from the devastating effects of the recession and marketers experiment with a variety of new ways to reach the audience.
During the financial crisis and its aftermath, most advertisers reduced spending in virtually all forms of media, even those that had been enjoying strong growth in ad revenue. Now, a recovery seems to be taking hold on Madison Avenue and conditions are widely perceived as improving.
According to data from Kantar Media, advertising expenditures for all media for the first half of 2010 increased 5.7 percent from 2009 to about $63.6 billion. Television advertising led the pack in spending because of an increase in demand from the automotive and retail markets, and political advertising.
Spending on advertising in local newspapers showed a significant decline over the last 19 quarters, with a 4.6 percent decrease for the first half of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009, according to data from Kantar Media.
For the first time, advertisers are projected to have spent more on online ads than on newspaper ads in 2010, according to data by eMarketer.
“The bad economy has actually accelerated the shift to digital advertising,” Geoff Ramsey, the chief executive of eMarketer, said in a statement. “Online ads, especially search ads, are increasingly seen by many marketers as a more reliable bet than print ads, which are often difficult to tie to a measurable financial result.”
For brands like Microsoft, Web analytics and research are driving much of the investment into digital media.
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