Two LiveRamp items today: they’ve entered the B2B identity data market place and added Experian audience segments to their B2C data. They were in the news last week for offering free use of their Person ID to ad buyers and sellers. Seems their split from Acxiom last September has freed up some animal spirits.

Don’t get too cocky: most firms still struggle with data activation, according to this study by Forrester for Tealium. Indeed just 6% activate their customer data across core functions in a coordinated manner. I don’t understand what that means, either, but it doesn’t sound good. Worth a look.

Martech keeps taking larger bites out of marketing budgets: 17.3% last year, 19.9% this year, 23.5% next year, and 30.9% five years from now, according to the latest CMO Survey. This despite barely more than half (56.4%) of current tools being used and nearly half (48.8%) of the survey respondents reporting worse-than-expected results. Oddly enough, marketers rate selecting marketing technologies as the thing they do best.