CRMomentum; Big Data Boss

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

CRMomentum

CRM agency/consulting firm Merkle has tapped the “momentum release” format and delivered, well, some revenue momentum numbers yesterday. “In the first half of 2013, Merkle’s net revenue was 20% higher than the same period in 2012, with corresponding EBITDA growth of 76%. The company’s top-25 accounts experienced a 35% increase over the first 6 months of last year. In the second quarter analysis, Merkle posted a 27% growth rate for net revenue, with organic growth of 23% and EBITDA growth of 119%.” No exact dollar figures were released. Read more.

Big Data Boss

Ogilvy has hired former Acxiom exec Todd Cullen as chief data officer, an agency job title we’re likely to see more of, AdAge reports. His job description is to “advise clients on their strategies for gathering and acquiring data and standardizing collection, and [he] will also assist them in securing data from outside sources” and “develop advanced analytics, approaches to predictive modeling and cross-channel data applications to be disseminated across the Ogilvy universe.” Read more.

Premium Defined

Ratko Vidakovic, director of marketing at SiteScout, takes on the task of defining premium inventory for MarketingLand. Vidakovic looks at the definition from both the publisher’s and advertiser’s perspective, as well as the impact session depth has on inventory. He writes, “Even though I agree that ‘premium’ is a highly subjective label for describing ad inventory, there does exist a degree to which inventory can be intrinsically, or objectively, valuable: namely session depth, which is a byproduct of ad serving priority … For advertisers, the ultimate determination of inventory value is performance.” Read more.

QR Audience Dwindles

Microsoft’s barcode service, called Microsoft Tag, didn’t last long, as The Next Web reports the service will be terminated in 2015. Scanbuy, the company which runs ScanLife and is the largest provider of QR codes, plans to license the software. Read more.

Publishers. Clearing. Inventory.

Publishers Clearing House has rolled out an affiliate program to cut out third parties in its demand referral chain, according to MediaPost. “A lot of publishers will only work with you on affiliate programs if they can go direct, so we were eliminating opportunities,” senior digital media manager Jason Zeller said. Read more. Groupon isn’t the only one to unveil a new affiliate program (AdExchanger story).

But Wait, There’s More!