Brilig Swallowed By CRM Agency Merkle; Evidon Eyes Tags

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

Monday’s Consolidation

Audience data platform Brilig has been acquired by CRM agency Merkle. Terms were not announced. Ad tech consolidation continues to propel forward as “early” players (AdExchanger ripple dissolve: See Brilig’s 2009 Q&A) who were a part of the demand-side platform world craze either grow larger and sustainable on their own – or are quietly gobbled up by larger platform players who at the very least may be looking to “acquihire.” Read the release. Merkle EVP and CMO Craig Dempster noted his company’s acquisitive predilections in the release: “The addition of Brilig (data), 5th Finger (mobile), Social Amp (social), IMPAQT (search) and IMPAQT Trading (media) enhances our established online and offline marketing assets.”

Auction And The Agency

The agency of record is being dragged into the world of e-auctions according to Ad Age’s Alexandra Bruell. Procurement’s steely hand is at work as they look to drive down agency prices on behalf of the marketer (maybe). There’s nuance to the auction, too, as Bruell writes, “Depending on the model, agencies might be able to see only how they’re ranked on a scale of the highest and lowest bids. In other cases, they might be able to view all competing bids. The results provide the client with a way to benchmark the cost of different agencies. In some cases only the lowest bidders can win the business or make it to the next round.” There’s more.

When Tags Collide

On the Evidon blog, CEO Scott Meyer announced a new product called “Evidon Encompass Revenue Protection” – part of its suite of “website control platform” solutions. Meyer explains, “The new Revenue Protection module, which clients will have free access to through the end of the year, brings new value—gaining unprecedented insight into ‘the redirect chain’ to see how all trackers are getting onto your site. When you know, you can start to create business rules that stop problems before they start.” Read more. Evidon appears to be getting increasingly into the tag management business that companies like Krux, BrightTag, Tagman and Ensighten are already slicing and dicing to differing degrees.

Amazon Opt-Out

Even as Amazon works slowly to build out its own advertising capabilities, the e-tailer will let Kindle Fire users pay a $15 fee to opt out of ads, the WSJ’s Greg Bensinger reported. Read it. “We know from our Kindle reader line that customers love our special offers and very few people choose to opt out,” Amazon said in a statement. “We’re happy to offer customers the choice.”

Scoring Brands

Can facebook fan data disrupt an old, marketing stalwart? “Too soon to tell” says the AdExchanger Magic 8 ball. But, brand rankings like those provided annually by companies like Interbrand may need to get more real-time. Social ad company Optim.al provides its version of brand rankings for August and reports that Coca-Cola, Reese’s, Monster Energy, Pepsi, Cover Girl, NFL, Coupon Cabin, Aeropostale, Cheez-It and Hollister Co are on the rise. (Suddenly) see more.

So Long adCenter

Microsoft is tweaking the nomenclature for its search ad products. Let it be known: adCenter will henceforth be called Bing Ads, while the search network encompassing Bing, Yahoo and some partner sites has been re-christened Yahoo! Bing Network. Read a blog post.

Improving on the DMA

Designated Market Areas are getting a run for their money, as local media researcher Borrell Associates proposes a more granular array of DMRs (Digital Marketing Regions). As ClickZ’s Kate Kaye notes, regional ad sellers would be the beneficiaries: “Most local media outlets can reach 28 percent share of their DMAs at the most, with many hitting only in the single digits, said Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell. But that can change drastically when looking at the more hyper-local DMRs.” Read more and see the map.

Testing Targeting’s Efficacy

The “ad effectiveness” lawsuit brought by comScore in May isn’t slowing one of the DoubleVerify, one of the defendants in the case, down. The company has spent the past 10 months working with WPP analytics provider Kantar Media Compete on determining how well ad targeting actually works. “The big difference is that the entire basis for our measurement is based down to the user,” said Mark Pearlstein, DoubleVerify svp of sales and marketing, telling Adweek’s Tim Peterson that it represents a “building-block level” for digital marketers. Read more. And, here’s the release.

Web Stats

Citi analyst Mark Mahaney remarks on the comScore traffic stats just released to clients for August, “Unique Visitors to Facebook declined 6% Y/Y in August, down 5 pts from July’s 1% Y/Y decline. This marks the first material decline in traffic to FB that we’ve seen to-date, a negative trend in our opinion.”

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