conversant

Inside Publicis’ play to be both an agency and an ad tech company. Plus: the dissolution of GARM and what it means for the future of brand safety.

Many of Publicis’ fastest-growing and most strategic business units – including CitrusAd, Profitero, Epsilon and Conversant – earn a large chunk of their revenue from other agencies. Is that a problem?

Ashlen Cherry, Epsilon’s chief privacy officer, would bet on federal privacy legislation happening – just not before the end of the year. “This can be a bipartisan issue, and there’s an appetite for it on the hill,” said Cherry, who joined Epsilon last October after almost a decade as the global privacy program manager at […]

With its $4.4 billion acquisition of Epsilon/Conversant, Publicis Groupe becomes a data controller – and that ups the regulatory ante under the General Data Protection Regulation and, likely, any other privacy legislation that comes down the pike. Controllers, in GDPR parlance, determine how and why personal data is processed. Controllers are also required to establish a […]

When Epsilon parent Alliance Data reported full-year 2016 earnings last Thursday, CFO Charles Horn said “the old ValueClick business” was “a three-point drag on Epsilon’s revenue growth.” Horn was referring to Conversant’s ad network business before it rebranded to pivot toward ad tech in 2014, said Epsilon and Conversant CEO Bryan Kennedy. “It’s probably 4% […]

After being acquired by Epsilon, Conversant had two big challenges. First, continue combining its own disparate technologies into a single stack. Second, get the whole caboodle working smoothly with Epsilon. Conversant claims it has accomplished the former, as it’s rolled its CRM assets into CORE (Conversant One-to-One Relationship Engine). “CORE takes advantage of our match, […]

As the CMO role has evolved, so too has Epsilon’s selling strategy. “We were trying to sell everything to every customer,” said Stacey Hawes, president of Epsilon’s data practice. “We want to step back and ask, ‘Where does methodical selling make sense, rather than being everything to everyone?’” In September, Epsilon reorganized into six practices […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Nancy Hall, senior vice president at Conversant. Whether it’s a phone, laptop or tablet, cross-device matching accuracy is essential to overall marketing success. The largest obstacle of optimal accuracy is […]

Cross-device recognition is often the difference between a sale and a fail for Land of Nod, a national retailer of high-end, trendy children’s furniture, bedding and toys. “The question I always ask my team is, ‘Would we really want to show a bunk bed to a new mom?’” said Joe Orlando, Land of Nod’s marketing […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Raju Malhotra, senior vice president of of products at Conversant. Apple’s big news a few weeks ago was its small news. That is, the smaller screen size of its upcoming […]

It’s been a transitional year for Conversant, the ad technology solution that’s now a part of data marketing services company Epsilon. Integrating Conversant “caused a fair amount of angst for the first half of the year,” acknowledged Ed Heffernan, CEO and president of parent company Alliance Data Systems, during its Q3 earnings call Thursday. The […]

After hinting it would bring more video inventory to market, Conversant acted on that promise Tuesday with the launch of a Personalized Video suite. With Personalized Video, the company aims to link desktop and mobile video messages with both online behavioral attributes and offline sales data. Because of its roots with display retargeter Dotomi, a […]

When Google revealed plans Thursday to exile YouTube ad inventory from the DoubleClick Ad Exchange (AdX) by the year’s end, many in the ad industry felt betrayed. Google’s reasoning for this change isn’t clear, even to its partners. Its stated motivation is that it wants to devote more resources to developing other video ad products. […]

Alliance Data Systems CEO Ed Heffernan isn’t thrilled with data marketing unit Epsilon’s 5% top-line performance, he said during Alliance Data’s Q2 earnings call Thursday. “That isn’t an acceptable long-term number,” he said, adding he thinks its potential is 7% or 8%. Getting to that potential will require double-digit growth in Epsilon’s tech offering – […]

Facebook made waves two weeks ago when it delisted more than 15 companies from its Facebook Exchange (AdExchanger story). Going forward, only 12 companies will be allowed to trumpet their access to the desktop news feed and right rail ad space that comprises the FBX inventory pool. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Even […]

Conversant (formerly ad net ValueClick and now owned by Epsilon, for those who haven’t updated their M&A scorecard) uncorked a private exchange Wednesday, designed to hook up programmatic buyers with 6,000 publishers via Deal ID. The ad tech company will build Deal IDs for advertisers working with a trading desk or using a demand-side platform […]

One week after completing its $2.3 billion acquisition of ad tech company Conversant on behalf of its Epsilon subsidiary, Alliance Data Systems has made some C-level org changes. Epsilon President Andy Frawley has become Epsilon’s CEO, reporting to Bryan Kennedy, the former Epsilon CEO who has been placed in charge of a joint Conversant-Epsilon unit. His title? That’s right. […]

Is the old ad network model truly dead? When Apple’s ad platform iAd went programmatic, some executives hinted it might be time to start shoveling dirt onto its carcass. “If there weren’t enough nails in the old ad network model, having Apple make the switch to programmatic is one more,” said Michael Collins, CEO of […]

Alliance Data Systems (ADS) reported Q3 2014 revenue of $1.3 billion, a 20% YoY change, mostly driven by the company’s private-label credit card services division, which saw 17% YoY revenue growth to $622 million. ADS has steadily increased its outlook with each earnings call, and it did so again in its Q3, raising its core […]

Data juggernaut Alliance Data Systems (ADS) might keep a relatively low profile, but the multibillion-dollar company has its fingers in quite a few data pies. What it needs now is to connect the dots. And as ADS’ recently announced $2.3 billion acquisition of ad tech company Conversant (née ValueClick/Dotomi) for subsidiary Epsilon denotes, that’s exactly […]

Wondering about Conversant’s future? Wonder no more, as the ad network turned ad tech company will be acquired by Alliance Data for $2.3 billion in cash and stock. Conversant (formerly known as ValueClick/Dotomi) will be folded into Alliance’s marketing services division Epsilon. Alliance hopes to close the deal by the end of the year. From the release: […]

Citi is aiming smaller to get bigger results with its digital marketing campaigns. The bank enlisted the help of CJ Affiliate, the affiliate marketing network formerly known as Commission Junction and part of Conversant (formerly ValueClick), to target ads beyond aggregators of credit card offers. Those aggregators are a staple of credit card marketing campaigns, […]

Since Conversant rebranded from ValueClick and redefined itself from an ad network to an ad tech company, the choppy waters it once rode have calmed. But last quarter, CEO John Guiliani warned Q2 2014 wouldn’t be as great, particularly due to the possibility of losing – or getting reduced business from – two of its […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Kurt Hawks, general manager of mobile at Conversant. If I had a dollar for every time a brand asked what percentage of its budget should go to mobile, I’d be […]

If the message in ad tech company Conversant’s year-end quarterly was one of renewal following a rough 2013, its Q1 was about stability and sustainability as the company beat the guidance it provided in its Q4 2013 call. This was largely due to improvements in the company’s display business as well as its work in […]

Palo Alto and Paris-based startup Ifeelgoods is betting consumers will gravitate toward personalized offers over traditional loyalty concepts like deep discounts. The digital rewards network founded in 2010 has launched a Personalized Offers Platform for marketers and established a strategic partnership with VivaKi for an initial rollout to Publicis Groupe agencies Razorfish, Digitas and Performics. […]

Following a rough year, Conversant – the ad-tech company formerly known as ad network ValueClick – had what CEO John Giuliani described in the company’s quarterly call as a “solid Q4 to close out the year.” Read the release. The company on Tuesday announced 2013 Q4 revenue of $176.4 million, a 6% increase from the same period […]

Digital Generation Inc. (DG) will officially rebrand as digital marketing solutions provider Sizmek on Friday. The shakeup follows the $485 million sale of DG’s television ads distribution business to competitor Extreme Reach, announced last August, approved by DG shareholders Monday and which CEO Neil Nguyen expects to close Friday morning. The sale is important because it […]

ValueClick’s gradual transformation from an ad network 15 years ago to an ad-tech provider  – focused on ad personalization and decisioning – entered a new phase Monday when it rebranded as Conversant. The name, said CEO John Giuliani, represents the consolidation of the different technological components the company has assembled over the last several years. […]