CDP Institute

It’s no longer news when a platform applies AI to behavioral data to select the best message for individual customers. But Wunderkind’s new AI Experiences throws identity resolution into the mix, which is more special. Their proprietary identity graph makes more data available about individuals and enables targeted messages across multiple channels.

Centerfield provides companies with new prospects by finding in-market shoppers via newsletters and websites. They just acquired ConsumerVoice, a digital commerce platform that promotes products on its ConsumerVoice and BuyersReport websites. It’s Centerfield’s sixth acquisition since being acquired by Platinum Equity in 2020.

Sometimes the challenge is to use less data, not more. Transcend specializes in “data permissioning infrastructure”, which ensures that companies apply data only in permitted ways. They’ve just expanded their “Do Not Train” and “Deep Deletion” capabilities to control how data is used for AI training and to remove data in response to customer requests.

Ninety-five percent of AI projects fail, shouted headlines about this MIT report. But the story is more subtle: embedded or task-specific enterprise AI projects reported a 5% pilot-to-production rate but 83% of projects using generic LLM chatbots were a success. It seems that AI tools users choose for themselves are great for personal productivity, but larger projects flounder on the lack of persistence and contextual awareness.

It’s nearly one year to the day since retail analytics vendor Circana announced it was buying NCSolutions and Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Modeling business. The NCS deal closed this past June and the Nielsen MMM acquisition was completed yesterday. Circana was formed in 2022 from the merger of The NPD Group and IRI; the company adopted the Circana name in 2023.

We’ve had an unusual amount of Out-of-Home ad news this week. Continuing the fun, let’s report that programmatic digital out-of-home and video advertising platform AdOmni has added self-service DOOH campaigns. Small and mid-size advertisers can set up a campaign in five minutes, pay by credit card, and pick from over 1,600 audience segments.

Customer management platform (and CDP) Klaviyo has purchased Gatsby, which captures email and SMS identifiers by auto-responding to social media interactions. The system also tracks user generated content on Instagram and TikTok. Price was not announced; Gatsby had 32 employees (per LinkedIn) and $3.85 million in funding (per Tracxn).

“AI marketing suite” Bluefish announced a $20 million Series A, bringing total funding to $24 million. Bluefish earns the “marketing suite” label by going beyond AI search result tracking to also push training data to large language models, build custom AI agents to interact with consumers in AI media, and run paid AI marketing campaigns.

Yesterday we wrote about Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising being under-bought by marketers (at least according to the people who sell it). This report from OOH ad company Vistar Media argues that consumers really like in-store OOH ads. Or at least a minority do: 37% find the ads “entertaining” and 23% describe them as “fun”. They don’t share how everyone else felt.

Salesforce this week continued its AI acquisition spree, announcing the purchase of Regrello, AI-based agentic process automation vendor specializing in manufacturing and supply chain operations. The product will be integrated with Agentforce and Slack. Price was not announced; Regrello has 94 employees and raised $25 million.

Another day, another AI survey. One recurring theme is the need for better employee training. LogMeIn reports that 82% of employees say they aren’t well-versed in AI applications, although just 49% of IT leaders feel that way. Similarly, General Assembly found​ that 51% of sales and marketing professionals use AI at work while just 17% have received comprehensive, job-specific AI training.

Speaking of gaps between belief and reality, a new Kantar study with Clear Channel Outdoor finds that Out-of-Home advertising and linear TV both outperform CTV and digital channels for ad awareness, brand favorability, and purchase intent. Yet Mediaocean reports that marketers more than half of marketers plan to increase CTV, social, and digital investment, while just one-third plan more spending on Out-of-Home and a scant 15% expect higher TV budgets.