Web ads are still important but just a bit passé, don’t you think? In-game ads much more cutting edge. Anzu.io certainly hopes so: they’ve just raised a $6.5 million Series A from backers including agency giant WPP, publisher Axel Springer, and BITKRAFT Esports Ventures. Anzu’s ads show up as billboards within the game landscape so they don’t disrupt the user experience.
Salesforce has signed a $1.35 billion deal to buy ClickSoftware, which helps schedule field service workers. Not very related to customer data but relevant if marketing is responsible for all customer experiences. Your head of field service might not agree.
The Customer Data Platform Industry continued its rapid growth in the first half of 2019, according to the CDP Institute's semi-annual Industry Update. The industry added nineteen vendors and raised $317 million in new capital during the period while employment was up 71% over the previous year.
It’s tough to get brand safety right, but the industry keeps trying. IPG Mediabrands announced a new set of tools to find and block inappropriate ad placements, while IAS expanded its suitability measurements to include standards from the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). Meanwhile, DoubleVerify admitted a mistake made brand safety on X/Twitter look worse than it really was in October 2023 and March 2024.