CDP Institute

Just over one-third of marketers plan to either buy a new CDP (21%) or replace an existing one (13%) this year, according to this Optimove survey. Unfortunately, it doesn’t report how many have a CDP already in place, which would put the other values in perspective. It does seem that CDPs are a relatively low priority: they rank sixth on the list of new systems and eighth on the list of systems to replace.

You might think that AI-generated creative would pose a classic innovator’s dilemma to big ad agencies, whose business is based on selling expensive, high-quality work by humans. But WPP is avoiding the trap by treating AI as a tool to expand the volume of content produced by its creatives. They just announced an agreement with Nvidia to develop a content engine that will integrate 3D content with generative AI.

Tech budgets are tighter now than last year, although 46% of firms still plan an increase, reports Battery Ventures. Top priorities for budget cuts are vendor consolidation and SaaS license optimization, suggesting a new focus on efficiency. But 65% of respondents still plan to increase their budget for experimental tech.

Snowflake is always looking for ways to add value to its core cloud database product.  Its latest step is to purchase Neeva, which offers generative AI-based search technology.  It will be applied to help companies search their own databases, a.k.a. enterprise search.

Platforms like Snowflake keep expanding their features, but there are still plenty of independent vendors offering data-related tools.  Elementl is one of those; they offer Dagster, a “fundamental reinvention of data orchestration” based on “unique abstractions and asset-first approach”.  I don’t know exactly what that means, but I do know they just raised a $33 million Series B, raising total funding to $48.8 million.

When Oracle bought consumer data collection vendor AddThis in January 2016, GDPR was barely a cloud on the horizon and Facebook’s Cambridge Analytics deal was still a well-kept secret.  Times have changed and Oracle’s once-grand consumer data ambitions have shriveled.  Oracle pulled AddThis from Europe in 2019 and will discontinue all remaining AddThis services starting tomorrow.