CDP Institute

Customer support is emerging as a primary use case for artificial intelligence, sometimes to replace human agents but more often to help them.  Zendesk just bought AI startup Cleverly for that application.  We also just saw Level AI launch its own AI-based conversational support app with $15 million in funding. Next door in the customer success department, involve.ai just raised a $16 million Series A for AI to predict customer churn.

Walmart has opened two more fronts in its siege of Amazon’s walled garden. They announced a program to provide home delivery for other retailers, leveraging the infrastructure they developed for their own use. The deal adds scale economies and strengthens Amazon competitors. Walmart also teamed with The Trade Desk to provide a demand side platform (DSP) that makes it easier to target ads at Walmart customers via in-store, Walmart digital properties, and third party publishers. One big advantage: advertisers can look at Walmart sales to measure ad results.

At the start of 2021, brands, publishers, and ad agencies were all about equally worried about losing third-party cookies.  That changed in a follow-up survey, which found that publishers and agencies are less worried than before while brands’ concern has grown.    An optimist might think agencies and publishers have developed plans that brand marketers don’t understand yet.  A cynic might suspect agencies and publishers have realized they’ll make money no matter what.

Plenty of companies are eager to help marketers replace cookie data.  Big 3 credit bureau TransUnion has joined the crowd with TruAudience, a trio of products that include identity resolution, advertising audiences based on third party data, and look-alike audiences based on a client’s own customers.  TransUnion says the services don’t use any protected financial data.

Data compiler Neustar is also working to fill consumer data gaps.  They’ve just added 62 million survey-based consumer profiles from Dynata to their Second-Party Data Marketplace.  The profiles will help Neustar enrich clients’ existing customer profiles and create new segments to target.