So many robots, so little time. Dynamic content generator Wylei has launched an AI-powered, SaaS-based “Optimization Cloud” that uses automated testing to optimize personalized email, Facebook, video, and display ads. Marketers upload their assets and the system automatically tests which combinations work best for which customer micro-segments. The company says it has improved conversion rates by 35% to 200%.
June is the gateway to summer romance. Pairing up seems to be in fashion for marketing vendors too. Account Based Marketing vendor ZenIQ announced a $4.6 million investment by investors including Salesforce Ventures. ZenIQ combines first and third party data into something like a Customer Data Platform. It then applies artificial intelligence to recommend and help execute Account Based Marketing projects. Salesforce apparently sees ZenIQ as complementing the AI-powered ABM offering, it launched last week.
If subscription services replace retailers and consumers shop mostly within closed systems like Amazon and Facebook, it gets really hard for advertising to have an impact. But until that happens, Dentsu Aegis Network hopes to target all ads at specific (though anonymized) individuals. It has just launched M1, a “people-based marketing platform” that assigns a persistent anonymized ID to every adult in the U.S. and can synch that ID with publishers’ own IDs. It currently has 242 million anonymized profiles based on actual name, address, and/or email address.
Salesforce has reversed course on its bid to acquire data management and integration platform Informatica a source has told Reuters. Informatica itself said that it is not in talks to be acquired. Salesforce stocks rose on this latest news while Informatica’s fell.