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 […]
Matt Mobley has spent more than 14 years tinkering with databases. He served as Acxiom’s VP of European consulting, followed by a stint as SVP of solutions consulting at Epsilon, and is now chief marketing technology officer (CMTO) for CRM and database marketing agency Merkle. Under CEO David Williams, Merkle has moved in on search, mobile and […]
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 […]
Alliance Data Systems’ (ADS) intent to acquire Conversant (formerly ValueClick) for its Epsilon subsidiary might seem like a change in direction. R Ray Wang, principal analyst and founder at Constellation Research, described the intent to acquire as “the right move” to make Epsilon “a legit…tech company.” On a first gloss that seems like a pivot. Epsilon […]
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: […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) welcomed direct marketers and data companies back from the holiday weekend with a 100-plus page report (called “Data Brokers: A Call for Transparency and Accountability”) and a recommendation that Congress enact legislation to ensure industry transparency and customer control over how their data is used. The report singled out nine […]
Just a few years ago, brands needed to be educated around the messaging and measurement technologies available in the digital age. That imperative has since shifted as marketing departments try to figure out how they take that technology and maximize results. As a side effect, the line between data and marketing services providers like Experian […]
Matching offline data with online data is a key element to getting what marketers like to call “the 360-degree view of the customer.” That’s the core component of LiveRamp’s business, which is why it had such close relationships with data marketing companies. The sponsor list for its 2014 RampUp conference is a who’s who of data […]
Of the three legacy data-marketing services companies, Epsilon has been the quietest in media and advertising services. By contrast, its competitor Acxiom has rumbled along with its data-management platform (DMP) product, Audience Operating System, and its flashy partnership with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG). Experian Marketing Services recently incorporated its AdTruth product into its marketing tech […]
A week after teaming up with Google, comScore unveiled Tuesday three new partnerships with data brokers Acxiom and Epsilon and digital media company Batanga Media. While comScore’s collaboration with Google involved adding real-time metrics to its validated Campaign Essentials (vCE) platform via Google’s DoubleClick platform, comScore intends for its latest partnerships to expand its data […]
Senators John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation Wednesday that would require data brokers to be accountable and transparent about the information they collect and sell about consumers, but the direct marketing industry is already pushing back hard. “Consumers deserve to know what information about their personal lives is being […]
Edit 12/20: Experian’s SVP of government affairs and public policy Tony Hadley (who also testified during the hearing) has written in with his observations. In the wake of Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-WV) hearing on the practices of data marketers, AdExchanger reached out to the three data marketing solutions companies he accused of not complying with […]
A Wednesday hearing held by the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the operations of so-called “data brokers” highlighted the disconnect between data marketers and consumer advocates. The hearing followed the release of a report detailing the findings of a yearlong investigation into data marketers. The core disagreement revolves around the extent to which businesses […]
The convergence of creativity and technology is shifting the dialog between consumers, agencies and brands. An on-stage discussion at the DMA 2013 conference in Chicago attempted to chart that shift by answering the question, “Does data drive the big idea or vice versa?” On the panel were Doug Bryan, a principal engineer at RichRelevance; Ben […]
LiveRamp, a company that takes offline marketing data and matches it with online advertising, continues to find ways to blend in customer relationship management into the digital mix. The company is releasing a CRM data onboarding software product, called GetOnboard, that helps tie online and offline, as well as CRM and advertising, more closely together. […]
The use of data tied to a consumer’s brand loyalty remains data-driven “gold” to marketers. And as addressability propagates across digital and offline channels, the importance of a loyalty strategy only strengthens. In early July, Alliance Data’s data-management and marketing company, Epsilon, announced (see the release) that it had been chosen as the technology platform for Dunkin’ […]
Epsilon, a data-focused direct marketing company, is seeing continued growth not from its data or technology businesses but from its agency side, after acquiring digital ad agency Hyper Marketing Inc. (HMI) in late 2012. The companies focused on integration during the first quarter, said Charles Horn, CFO and EVP of Alliance Data Systems Corporation, Epsilon’s […]
Here at AdExchanger, we love data. We tell you how brands are using it to target consumers and leverage programmatic buying. But beyond that, it can often be confusing just how marketers use all of the data collected throughout their entire marketing strategies. So we decided to ask the data, analytics, and insights companies this […]
Eric Stein is Executive Vice President, Online Solutions, of Epsilon, a database marketing company. AdExchanger.com: Can you give a quick background on the latest with Epsilon? ES: We have a platform, assets and client relationships with which we’re building an online business. Online Audience Central and other things that we’ve done over the past two […]
