Tag: Technology

Australia – UM Australia has partnered with MMM provider Mutinex to launch a first-of-its-kind real-time media data integration in Australia.

This initiative automates the data sharing between UM’s systems and Mutinex’s GrowthOS platform, offering significant time savings and improved data accuracy for UM’s clients, starting with foundation client Optus.

Adam Krass, chief digital, data, and tech officer at UM, said, “As we move towards a future dominated by data-driven strategies, this collaboration underscores UM’s commitment to innovation, privacy, and security. The seamless and secure data transfer process aligns with the highest standards of data protection, ensuring client information is handled in compliance with government regulation and leading encryption solutions.”

The media data integration is set to greatly benefit UM’s foundational client Optus by facilitating faster and more precise data-driven decision-making. Automating data transfer enhances efficiency, allowing UM’s team to focus on creativity and strategic growth. Real-time updates improve data accuracy for Optus’ MMM, ensuring better channel optimisation and more frequent tactical reviews. The integration also accelerates decision-making with immediate access to updated data and adheres to strict security standards to protect Optus’ information.

Mutinex and UM’s integration will be extended to other shared clients, with the partnership committed to delivering exceptional value and enhanced marketing and business outcomes.

Commenting on the integration, Mat Baxter, CEO for APAC at Mutinex, shared, “UM and Optus deserve congratulations for pioneering the way media data is supplied for MMM. Let’s be frank: the more fluid the data supply, the more valuable the insight. It’s as simple as that.”

Meanwhile, Cam Luby, head of consumer marketing at Optus, said, “This collaboration marks a significant leap forward in how we leverage data to drive growth and innovation at Optus. By automating the flow of data between UM and Optus technology, we are not just improving our decision-making speed but also elevating the precision and impact of our marketing strategy.” 

Canada – Advertising platform StackAdapt has partnered with DoubleVerify, a digital media measurement, data, and analytics software platform. The collaboration aims to improve post-impression measurement tracking of StackAdapt, enabling its clients to access accurate viewability and traffic authenticity.

DoubleVerify will replace the external viewability metrics of MOAT, an analytics platform set to shut down on Sept. 30. While ensuring user continuity, DoubleVerify also leverages its technology to boost StackAdapt’s internal tools for invalid traffic and brand safety protection. 

“At StackAdapt, our priority has always been to stay ahead of the curve and provide our customers with the best tools and technologies available,” Michael Shang, StackAdapt senior vice president of advertising technologies, said.

“We knew we had to align with a partner that not only matches but exceeds our high standards for reliability and accuracy in post-impression measurement. DoubleVerify was the clear choice, given their proven track record and market leadership,” Shang added.

“We’re excited to partner with StackAdapt to enhance their post-impression measurement capabilities,”  Steve Woolway, executive vice president of business development at DoubleVerify, said.

“As the digital advertising landscape becomes increasingly complex, it’s crucial that advertisers have access to reliable, real-time metrics that ensure transparency and drive better outcomes. Our collaboration with StackAdapt underscores our shared commitment to delivering the highest standards of measurement, helping advertisers confidently navigate challenges and optimize their campaign performance,” Woolway said. 

StackAdapt’s integration with DoubleVerify ensures that its clients continue to benefit from advanced measurement tools that adapt to the needs of advertisers amid the dynamic industry.

Australia – Perceptive, Australasia’s technology-driven customer insights agency, has announced a strategic partnership with Qualtrics. This collaboration will empower Perceptive’s clients with advanced experience management solutions. 

Through this new partnership, Perceptive will standardise its existing programs using Qualtrics’ platform. This integration will provide Perceptive’s clients with direct access to Qualtrics’ advanced market research and experience management technologies, services, and expertise, empowering them to gain reliable insights into market trends, customer behaviour, and brand performance.

Perceptive will also join the global Qualtrics Partner Network, enhancing its capacity to support clients in managing their market research, customer experience, and brand experience programs. This partnership will enable Perceptive to offer a comprehensive, end-to-end technology platform optimised with expert program support and consulting services.

Dan Shaw, managing director of Perceptive, said, “Perceptive’s partnership with Qualtrics has been met with huge enthusiasm among our clients. It will take our industry capabilities to the next level to deliver more value and innovation to the 150+ clients we support while unlocking significant efficiencies across our business.” 

Meanwhile, Zoe Nicholson, head of ecosystems for Asia Pacific and Japan at Qualtrics, commented, “Qualtrics is at the centre of the experience management ecosystem, and key to this is our deep focus and investment to continually build and cultivate a community of trusted, expert partners—including Perceptive—that help organisations unlock significant value and drive meaningful innovation with experience management.”

Hong Kong – SAP has officially launched its ‘Business AI Experience Center’ at its Hong Kong office, aimed at empowering enterprises to capitalise on AI opportunities and drive innovation.

The centre is designed to highlight the advanced capabilities of integrated Business AI, demonstrating its role in driving innovation, improving efficiency, and accelerating business growth through live use cases and success stories. It aims to guide enterprises from initial AI understanding to practical implementation, facilitating their digital transformation and helping them unlock the full potential of Business AI.

The Business AI Experience Center features four live demonstrations showcasing SAP Business AI technology across key functions. These include: Joule in ERP, which automates sales orders to boost performance; Just Ask, a conversational AI for deep sales insights; Talent Writing Assistant, which streamlines HR tasks like performance reviews; and Joule in Customer Experience, enhancing engagement and brand visibility through social media and interactive queries.

Esmond Tong, managing director of SAP Hong Kong and Macau, said, ” With the Business AI Experience Center, SAP aims to create a platform for enterprises and partners to exchange ideas and gain valuable insights that will enhance their agility and creativity. Enterprises can harness SAP’s cloud platform to unlock AI’s potential and achieve business benefits. With over 50 years of extensive expertise, SAP offers cloud solutions tailored to meet the diverse needs of businesses across industries, regardless of size or development stage, helping them accelerate business growth and development.”

Earlier this year, SAP fully integrated business AI into its cloud portfolios and began rolling out the generative AI copilot, Joule, which will handle 80% of common tasks. SAP is also strengthening partnerships with Microsoft, AWS, Google Cloud, and NVIDIA to advance generative AI in enterprises.

Singapore – Web advertising company Taboola has announced the launch of its ‘Taboola for Audience’, a new AI-powered technology that empowers publishers to drive significantly more traffic. 

Taboola for Audience enables publishers to future-proof their audience development goals and navigate significant changes impacting referral traffic from search and social media. This industry-first offering empowers publishers with advanced personalisation and insights from Taboola’s nearly 600 million daily active users and extensive distribution network, including top mobile device manufacturers worldwide.

As a unified audience development platform, Taboola for Audience features exclusive acquisition channels like Android OEM relationships, news aggregators, and personalised notifications to reach users. 

The platform also offers personalised reader experiences, blending editorial voice and AI across the site. It also provides real-time audience insights for editorial and commercial teams to enhance content strategies and attract loyal audiences.

Adam Singolda, CEO at Taboola, explained, “Publishers are facing a new era in which sudden decisions by big tech and changes in consumer behaviour are making it harder to survive. Industry giants like Google are changing rules for search, making it harder for publishers to surface content through organic rankings while adding another barrier to site traffic in the form of generative AI search.”

“Social platforms like Meta have closed dedicated ‘news’ portals from their apps. Today, publishers need the right technologies to adapt to these changes and to find, grow, and keep audiences. Taboola for Audience gives publishers a single solution, with AI built  from years of our successful publisher relationships to thrive in this new era,” he added. 

Mike Braun, senior managing VP and chief digital officer at Gray Media, also shared, “Delivering more personalised and relevant experiences across all of our sites is critical. With Taboola, we have been able to take a truly reader-first approach to personalising our sites, delivering more of what resonates with readers, thereby increasing engagement. Taboola’s audience technologies are allowing us to connect with readers in a more meaningful way.” 

Meanwhile, Christian Broughton, CEO of The Independent, said, “Taboola has been a true strategic partner in helping us grow. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to audience engagement, and Taboola’s ability to power key areas of our homepage, recirculation from within articles, and other sections of our site, their huge amounts of readership data that provide actionable insights, and their valued partnership in working side-by-side with our own editorial team are the unique building blocks of our shared success.”

Sydney, Australia – KINESSO Commerce, IPG Mediabrands’ technology-driven commerce subsidiary, announced a global partnership with Vudoo, a technology company and content commerce expert. As part of this partnership, KINESSO Commerce’s activated media and Vudoo’s innovative shoppable ad technology have joined forces to offer an always-on commerce media solution that makes content shoppable 24/7 on the open web. 

KINESSO Commerce has created an end-to-end solution called “ShopNow,” which includes Vudoo technology, KINESSO’s activation and performance capabilities, and creative solutions from IPG Mediabrands. 

The partnership offers KINESSO clients increased transparency and visibility into the consumer journey, including whether or not a customer completes a purchase after adding items to their basket. It is a first-to-market worldwide solution across commerce partners, including Amazon. With a number of Australian retailers, the worldwide alliance will debut in the Australian market. Additional rollouts are planned for the UK, US, and APAC, as well as a wider range of clients. 

The combination of Vudoo’s real-time first-party data capture and KINESSO Commerce’s measurement and analytics expertise will improve KINESSO Commerce’s optimization capabilities and increase conversions for the agency’s clients. For the benefit of the larger IPG Mediabrands network, KINESSO Commerce will now be able to improve its off-retailer website and content creation services. Vudoo’s interactive video capabilities will allow digital advertisers to access customer intent signals that are now unavailable in traditional video formats, providing consumers the ability to choose what they want to view and how their user journey unfolds.

Speaking about the partnership, Hope Williams, KINESSO Australia’s head of Commerce, said, “Vudoo’s vision aligns perfectly with ours at KINESSO Commerce—we believe every story we tell needs a ‘buy button’ to ensure a seamless consumer experience, which has become a fundamental expectation for brands today, especially with younger digital-native audiences. We are confident this partnership will redefine how our global brands engage with consumers on the open web.” 

He added, “Our commitment to providing a globally scalable, end-to-end solution—including creative production, activation and insights, paired with Vudoo’s world-class commerce technology —is a testament to our dedication to client growth and success in the face of digital disruption.” 

Meanwhile, Nick Morgan, Vudoo’s CEO and Founder, commented, “We’re thrilled to announce our alliance with KINESSO Commerce, enabling consumers to shop directly from ads and content, and helping retailers achieve greater reach. This partnership is a testament to Vudoo’s commitment to innovation and our vision for a future where shopping everywhere becomes a seamless reality for consumers worldwide. Together, we hope to set a global precedent of transforming traditional advertising by making every piece of content shoppable directly on the open web.” 

Lastly, Amie Owen, KINESSO Commerce’s global chief growth officer, said, “The content commerce space is rapidly evolving and expectations from consumers online are high, particularly when it comes to the checkout process. We’re excited to partner with the team at Vudoo to make content shoppable and streamline the user experience as we believe that everything should be shoppable all the time. The 360-degree view of customer purchasing journeys and real-time analytics available on Vudoo’s platform will enable our marketers to enhance customer engagement and drive actionable insights for brands.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Local telco player CelcomDigi has recently launched its CelcomDigi AI Experience Centre (AiX) – a one-stop immersive innovation and collaboration hub to lead, inspire, and advance the creation of world-class digital solutions across a range of sectors and verticals.

Supported by a wide ecosystem of leading global technology players and local partners, AiX will serve as a focal point for cross-industry collaborations, leveraging emerging technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), extended reality (XR), robotics, analytics and metaverse. 

Moreover, this collaborative facility is designed to spur rapid technology advancements and growth of new digital start-ups, enterprises, and future skills to build a flourishing innovation ecosystem and fuel Malaysia’s digital transformation.

Build on a partnership model, AiX is powered by a strong, extensive and growing ecosystem of 40 global technology leaders, local partners and solution providers, from core partners Huawei and ZTE, to other collaborative partners AWS, Digital Nasional Berhad, Ericsson, Microsoft, SK Telecom, Softbank, Sumitomo, and Yinson, amongst others.

Launched by the Minister of Communications YB Fahmi Fadzil, AiX provides an immersive experience combining sight, sound, and touch, and features real-world solutions ready for immediate deployment. 

Built on a model of constant evolution and partnership, the technology and showcases will be refreshed periodically to bring new experiences to visitors and is set to be the epicentre of co-creation to enable rapid experimentation and development of new technology solutions for the market.

For Datuk Idham Nawawi, CEO at CelcomDigi, emerging technologies such as AI are revolutionising the world, and Malaysia must keep pace with this progress to build a flourishing digital nation. He also added that over 1.5 years ago, they have made a strong commitment to play a pivotal role to realise this ambition, leveraging their greater combined capabilities as a merged company to invest and drive digitalisation, innovation and sustainable growth for the nation.

“The AI Experience Centre is a realisation of the national benefit of the merger, where CelcomDigi’s scale and capabilities are able to attract and partner global and regional digital tech giants to accelerate the development of cutting-edge digital solutions – positioning us a strong ally to the nation’s digital aspirations,” Nawawi said.

He also added that AiX emphasises the significance of a thriving innovation ecosystem to develop a robust digital society. For him, in the fast-paced era of digital everything, speed and ferocity of innovation is essential, and therefore have designed AiX on a model of strong partnerships and constant evolution, enabling them to co-create use cases with great potential at an accelerated speed for Malaysia.

“Building with some of the most notable global tech and local ecosystem players, together we have invested RM55 million to support this ambition. We will continue to invest in the infrastructure, partnerships, and competencies needed to support Malaysia through the rapid tech changes around us. We are determined to spur digital transformations across industries and ensure the benefits of 5G, AI, and emerging technologies are realised for all Malaysians,” he concluded.

Australia – Amperity, an AI-powered Lakehouse customer data platform (CDP), and Microsoft Azure collaborate to help businesses change customer interactions via data-driven insights and personalisation. 

Retailers may use first-party data to develop loyalty, reduce turnover, and maximise lifetime value, while also shaping future omnichannel experiences and fostering pre- and post-purchase interaction and brand advocacy.

The innovative cooperation recently received recognition at the Microsoft Retail & Consumer Goods 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award, where Amperity was named a finalist. The organisation was named to a global list of notable Microsoft partners for its achievements in designing and executing customer solutions using Microsoft technology.

The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards honour Microsoft partners who, during the course of the previous year, have excelled in the creation and delivery of Microsoft Cloud apps, services, hardware, and artificial intelligence advancements. These are multi-category awards, and the winners are chosen from more than 4,700 nominations that come from more than 100 different countries.

Speaking about the partnership, Curt Lockton, SVP of strategic partnerships at Amperity, said, “The synergy between Amperity and Microsoft is pushing the boundaries of AI-driven customer experiences, and empowering brands to harness the full potential of their data to understand their customers, deliver personalised experiences and drive revenue. We are incredibly honoured and grateful to be named a finalist for the Retail & Consumer Goods Partner of the Year by Microsoft. This award is a reflection of the transformative impact our partnership has had on our mutual customers.” 

Meanwhile, Nicole Dezen, chief partner officer and corporate vice president at Microsoft, said, “Congratulations to the winners and finalists of the 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards! The momentum generated by numerous AI & Copilot announcements this year fueled innovation from our partners, enabling groundbreaking services and solutions to customers. I am inspired by the capability and creativity in our partner ecosystem and this year’s winners beautifully demonstrate the best of what’s possible with AI and the Microsoft Cloud.” 

If you’re reading this article, you’ve surely already Googled or ChatGPTed, ‘What’s a composable technology architecture?’. You’ve no doubt also been researching SaaS platforms to integrate with the dream of creating an ideal architecture that will solve all your problems and convert all your customers.

While this might sound too good to be true, it’s now within reach with proper planning, thorough research and some common sense. (I’ve spent years both buying and selling software, so I believe I’m qualified to express an opinion on the issue.)

Before diving into the nitty gritty of composing a martech stack, let’s sketch out what ‘composable’ means and how it relates to things such as MACH and Event-driven martech.

What is MACH?
MACH stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless. These four principles can guide organisations in selecting and implementing technology in a way that facilitates flexibility and scalability.

Microservices: Microservices architecture means breaking down applications into smaller, independent services that can be developed, deployed and scaled independently. This approach allows businesses to add or update features without disrupting the entire system.

For instance, if you’re a loyalty platform provider, you might need a system that allows you to add new loyalty programs or features as your business evolves – without overhauling the entire platform.

API-first: An API-first approach means designing software so that APIs are the primary way of interacting with the system. This promotes integration and modularity, allowing different systems to communicate and work together seamlessly. APIs enable you to call on specific components and services as needed, supporting a staged approach to building your tech stack.

Cloud-native: Cloud-native technologies leverage cloud computing frameworks to ensure scalability, flexibility and resilience. Whether you use AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud, the key is that your services are always accessible and can scale according to demand. Cloud-native applications are designed to take advantage of the cloud’s capabilities, offering enhanced performance and reliability.

Headless: Headless architecture separates the back end from the front end, allowing developers to manage content and functionalities independently of the user interface. This means you can update back-end services without affecting the customer-facing parts of your application. In a martech context, headless systems enable you to deliver personalised experiences to customers while maintaining the flexibility to adapt and evolve your back-end systems.

How to go about your due diligence
Now that we’ve defined the MACH principles, let’s cover how to research, assess and buy the most appropriate martech solutions for your organisation.

Step 1: Research
You’ve built a strategy, pitched it to your senior leadership team (SLT), and received approval and a budget. Your first step is, of course, to thoroughly research potential vendors and platforms. You may wish to consult reports from the likes of Forrester and Gartner. Such reports are usually of some value, but you should keep in mind the companies behind these reports may have conflicting financial incentives.

Focus on the four pillars of lifecycle marketing: Acquisition, Data/Analytics, Activation and Retention. For each pillar, identify 3-5 top vendors. Look for vendors that align with your organisation’s strategy and that can deliver the capabilities it needs.

When evaluating vendors, consider the following:

  • API library: Does the vendor provide a comprehensive API library that allows easy integration with your existing systems?
  • Event-driven: Can the platform respond to real-time events and trigger actions based on customer behaviour?
  • Composable: Can the platform be easily integrated and adapted to fit into your overall architecture?
  • Customer references: Ask for references from customers in your region who have used the platform. This will give you a better understanding of its real-world applications and performance.

Step 2: Assess
Once you have whittled down your shortlist, the next step is to assess vendors’ suitability based on your specific needs and user journeys. Instead of jumping straight into demos, focus on defining the customer experiences you want to achieve. Outline the user journeys critical to your strategy and provide these to the vendors. Ask them to showcase how their solutions can support and enhance these journeys.

A trustworthy vendor will be able to demonstrate their capabilities in the context of your specific use cases. They should be able to provide case studies and examples that show how their technology can solve for each step in the customer journey.

Step 3: Buy
One of the most common mistakes organisations make during the buying process is focusing solely on price without considering the long-term value and alignment with their strategy. Price is important, but it should not be the sole determining factor.

When negotiating with vendors, consider the following:

  • Scalability: Does the vendor’s pricing model scale with your success? Ensure that the cost structure supports growth and doesn’t become a burden as you expand.
  • Budget: Does the pricing model fit within your budget constraints? Understand this early in the process to avoid surprises later.
  • Procurement involvement: Involve your procurement team early in the process. They bring a neutral perspective and can help ensure that the terms of the deal are fair and beneficial for both parties.
  • IT involvement: Involve your IT team heavily when assessing the technical integrity of the vendor’s solution. In-house staff can help identify potential issues and ensure that the technology aligns with your IT strategy.

Key takeaways
To summarise, here’s the five-step process I recommend if you are planning on buying any martech this financial year:

  1. Define your strategy based on customer journeys: Start with a clear understanding of the customer experiences you want to create and use this to guide your decisions.
  2. Adhere to a set of clear principles: Whether it’s a lifecycle marketing lens or a MACH architecture lens, apply clear principles to your strategy to ensure coherence and alignment.
  3. Take your time: Building a successful martech stack is a long-term investment, so it’s worth investing time and effort in researching, assessing and buying the right solutions. The more you rush the process, the more risk there is you’ll make a suboptimal choice.
  4. Be transparent: Share your vision and requirements with potential vendors. Transparency helps build trust and ensures that both parties are aligned in their goals.
  5. Don’t hesitate to get guidance: If you’re out of your depth, seek guidance from the experts who specialise in this kind of thing. (You’ve undoubtedly got enough on your plate without needing to do a deep dive into the latest developments in martech solutions.) 

It’s really not as hard as you think
By following the principles of the MACH architecture and focusing on customer journeys, your organisation can build a martech stack that’s flexible, scalable and future-proof. (Or at least as future-proofed as is feasible.)

Always remember that the goal is to compose a well-orchestrated system that enhances your ability to engage and retain customers. With the right approach, you could well reach a state of ‘martech stack nirvana’ and drive long-term success for your business. 

This thought leadership is written by Miles Toolin, Leading Enterprise Solutions APAC at Eagle Eye

Hong Kong – Omnicom Media Group Hong Kong (OMG HK) has created a proprietary and unique dashboard with enhanced functionality by incorporating Google’s Generative AI technology into its social listening framework. This connection helps brands to quickly and effectively evaluate massive amounts of social media interactions, identifying various nuances, settings, and consumer mood. 

The customised dashboard also distinguishes OMG HK and its agencies as more than just traditional media agencies, allowing them to broaden their capabilities and become more agile in an era where marketers seek to consolidate agency resources. 

This is a change from keyword-based social listening, as the first brand in the network to use this feature is Mead Johnson Nutrition, a client of PHD Hong Kong. Mead Johnson Nutrition can prioritise their media buys to reach particular demographics and maintain flexibility in their marketing endeavours by utilising the dashboard. 

OMG HK’s social listening dashboard has natural language processing capabilities through advanced language understanding provided by GenAI models. This makes it more adept than a keyword-based method in understanding the subtleties, context, and sentiment of social media posts and comments.

OMG HK’s proprietary dashboard can process ambiguity, sarcasm, complicated sentence structures, and colloquial idioms more precisely through the use of GenAI, which improves sentiment analysis and insights. Additionally, it has the ability to decipher and evaluate the meaning behind emojis and other non-textual components frequently found in social media messages. 

The improved social listening dashboard from OMG HK provides customizable sentiment analysis across several brands. It has the ability to effectively detect the mood conveyed towards each unique brand by screening comments that mention several companies. It ascertains whether the attitude is favourable, unfavourable, or neutral for each brand mentioned by examining the larger context. Even in intricate conversations involving multiple brands, this flexibility allows for more detailed and accurate brand-specific insights. 

Large volumes of social media data can be quickly processed by the improved dashboard created by OMG HK, and it can produce succinct, insightful reports. It finds the most important themes, subjects, and opinions that are present in the data and presents them in a way that is simple to understand. The generation of insights is accelerated and made more agile by this capacity. 

OMG HK’s dashboard can be adjusted and tailored to unique domains, industries, or scenarios that are pertinent to a given brand or market by using GenAI. With the use of this capacity, the GenAI model is better able to comprehend and interpret the lingo, subtleties, and vocabulary unique to that field, producing more precise and pertinent insights. 

OMG HK’s dashboard is scalable with its interface with Google BigQuery, which enables it to manage enormous volumes of social media data in real-time. The dashboard can track and examine social media streams in real-time, giving users the most recent information and facilitating fast reactions to new trends.

Chris Kwok, head of data, Omnicom Media Group Hong Kong, said, “Our proprietary proposition offers clients like Mead Johnson Nutrition with insights into customer sentiments and conversations. By leveraging advanced language understanding and analytics, we empower brands to make data-driven decisions and drive their social media strategies forward.” 

Meanwhile, Chloe Ko, marketing and acquisition director and business co-head at Mead Johnson Nutrition, commented, “With unparalleled insights and analysis of social media conversations, we can better understand our consumers and their sentiments. This empowers us to drive our marketing initiatives forward, making data-driven decisions that resonate with our target audience.”