Page 5203 – SalesTech Star

Varazo Announces Release of Varazo Engage, Digital Marketing Management Platform

Sales & Marketing

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August 13, 2019

Varazo Announces Release of Varazo Engage, Digital Marketing Management Platform

Marketers Playground is renamed & upgraded to Varazo Engage, Digital Marketing Management Platform

Varazo announced the worldwide release of Varazo Engage, software that streamlines task flow for digital marketing by providing all the tools you need to manage digital marketing teams & projects of multi-site business such as franchise and marketing agency.

Whether it’s monitoring data trends, communicating with team members, or managing projects—marketers have to juggle through a variety of tasks in order to manage and optimize their campaigns smoothly. Varazo Engage was designed to eliminate the hassle of juggling through multiple platforms to utilize the tools you need for digital marketing by integrating all the tools you need into a single platform. Marketers can access task management, marketing dashboards, file & document hosting, website management, and conversion management tools all in one place, at an affordable price.

Regarding the product, James Lee, CEO of Varazo, stated, “As a long-time digital marketer, I’ve observed that outsourced marketers and clients had difficulty communicating and collaborating on marketing tasks. I believe that this product will eliminate those challenges and improve the workflow for digital marketers.”

Varazo Engage provides solutions for franchise business, marketing agencies, and corporations.

Survey Finds Brand Safety Crisis Can Prompt Consumer Backlash Against Brand

Native & Programmatic Advertising

STS News Desk

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August 13, 2019

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More than 80% of Consumers Say They Would Reduce/Stop Purchases of Products That Advertised Near Extreme or Dangerous Content

A new survey of US consumers highlights the significant financial risk to brands from a potential brand safety crisis involving their advertising. Conducted among 1,017 respondents via SurveyMonkey by the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) and Brand Safety Institute (BSI), the survey found more than 80 percent of consumers said they would reduce or stop buying a product they regularly purchase if it advertised in a range of hypothetical situations involving extreme or dangerous content.

“This survey drives home the real and measurable risk to a company’s bottom line from a preventable brand safety crisis,” said Mike Zaneis, CEO of TAG and co-founder of BSI. “While reputational harm can be hard to measure, consumers said that they plan to vote with their wallets if brands fail to take the necessary steps to protect their supply chain from risks such as hate speech, malware, and piracy.”

The survey also discovered that consumers define brand safety broadly, including issues such as ad-related piracy and malware, as well as those involving ad placement around inappropriate content. Among potential topics of brand-unsafe content, consumers expressed the strongest concern about ads running near hate speech, pornographic content, violent content, and illegal drug-related content.

“We were surprised at the nuanced understanding of brand safety risks shown by respondents in this survey,” said Neal Thurman, co-founder of BSI. “While accidental ad placement around criminal activity has been widely covered in the media, consumers recognized that brand safety concerns extends to a full spectrum of more subjective topics. They also assigned responsibility for brand safety across the supply chain, including not only the advertisers, but also agencies, publishers, and ad tech providers.”

Notable results from the survey included:

Large majorities of respondents said advertisers should prevent their ads from running near hate speech (73 percent), pornographic content (73 percent), violent content (70 percent), and illegal drug-related content (69 percent).
More than half of respondents said that advertisers should prevent their ads from running near stolen/pirated movies or TV shows (53 percent) and unsafe or hacked websites (73 percent).
Less than half of respondents said advertisers should prevent their ads from running near gambling-related content (43 percent) or controversial political views (41 percent).
The overwhelming majority of respondents (90 percent) said it was very or somewhat important for advertisers to make sure their ads don’t appear near dangerous, offensive, or inappropriate content.
If respondents discovered ads for a product they regularly buy had appeared next to racist Neo-Nazi propaganda, 87 percent said they would reduce their spending on that product, and 58 percent said they would stop buying it altogether.
If respondents discovered such ads next to terrorist recruiting videos, 90 percent would reduce their spending on the product advertised, and 67 percent would stop buying it altogether.
If respondents discovered such ads on a website promoting illegal activities such as stolen videos and other content, 82 percent would reduce their spending on the product advertised, and 45 percent would stop buying it altogether.
If respondents discovered such an ad had infected their computer or mobile device with malware, 93 percent would reduce their spending on the product advertised, and 73 percent would stop buying it altogether.
When asked who should be responsible for ensuring ads do not run with dangerous, offensive, or inappropriate content, respondents assigned responsibility broadly, with 70 percent naming the advertiser, 68 percent the ad agency, 61 percent the website owner, and 46 percent the technology provider.

TAG and BSI have partnered on several other research projects around brand safety topics, including white papers on defining brand safety and related execution challenges, based on extensive interviews with brand safety executives in the digital advertising industry.

GumGum Names New CFO and Announces Organizational and Leadership Restructuring to Advance Growth Strategy

Native & Programmatic Advertising

STS News Desk

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August 13, 2019

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GumGum Names New CFO and Announces Organizational and Leadership Restructuring to Advance Growth Strategy

Patrick Gildea joins as Chief Financial Officer; Ben Plomion appointed Chief Growth Officer; Adam Schenkel & Travis O’Neill promoted to Senior Vice President roles

GumGum, Inc., an artificial intelligence company specializing in solutions for advertising and media, announced both that it has named tech veteran Patrick Gildea to lead as Chief Financial Officer and that it has revamped its organizational and leadership structures to serve the company’s renewed strategic focus. Gildea’s hiring, new leadership roles and expanded responsibilities for key executives are among the changes aimed to drive growth and enhance GumGum’s core advertising business, domestically and overseas.

“A few months ago, we resolved to refocus our corporate strategy on the lines of business on which we were built––serving the advertising ecosystem,” said GumGum CEO Phil Schraeder. “Today’s announcements––Patrick Gildea’s addition to our executive team in particular–– mark our commitment to that strategy. Patrick is a widely respected, high caliber executive, who knows what it takes to get the build on the success of global, tech-enabled businesses like GumGum. We’re all extremely pleased to have him on board.”

Gildea, who fills the CFO position previously held by Schraeder, joins GumGum with extensive experience leading finance and strategy departments at a number of retail, e-commerce and media businesses, including Incentium, M-GO/Technicolor, Gracenote and, most recently, Joybird, which he led to a successful exit as acting CFO.

Along with Gildea’s hiring, GumGum also announced several promotions and role expansions.

“The leadership moves we’re making are aimed at aligning our sales and marketing efforts, leveraging our leaders’ talents by expanding their responsibilities, and bringing perspectives to the executive table that reflect expertise in segments like programmatic and supply side technologies whose importance is surging,” Schraeder explained. “They will allow us to accelerate our pace of innovation, increase our client focus, and multiply our profitable growth now and into the future.”

The announced changes to GumGum’s leadership and organizational structure are as follows:

Ben Plomion has been named Chief Growth Officer, a newly created executive role responsible for creating value for clients, ensuring product-market fit, developing go-to-market strategy, and elevating customer experience. Plomion will now lead GumGum’s Planning and Sales teams in addition to the award-winning Marketing team that he has led for the past several years as Chief Marketing Officer.

Commenting on his new role, Plomion said, “GumGum has grown exceptionally quickly and to maintain our growth we need to create a unified client experience and blend our sales, marketing and client solutions teams. I’m honored to make that my responsibility and I’m eager to take on the challenge.”

“Ben’s rigorous understanding of our customer journey and his focus on client experience insights and measurement will now be unleashed across our business from product development through client delivery,” added Schraeder. “He understands how planning, sales, marketing, product and finance intersect to deliver growth. That makes him the ideal person to formalize our cross-functional capabilities as our business becomes more complex.”

Adam Schenkel has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Commercial Development, a new leadership role responsible for maintaining and growing global advertising partnerships and integrations. In his previous role as Vice President of Programmatic, Schenkel successfully established and grew GumGum’s overseas programmatic business. The advent of this new role answers the need for additional executive level support for GumGum’s growing international business.

“Adam has always been able to establish business partnerships with key industry players and then bring technical integrations to operational fruition,” said Schraeder. “Those qualities, along with his programmatic experience, made him instrumental in our pivot toward programmatic focus in Australia, and they will serve him well as he leads our international programmatic and managed services.”

Travis O’Neil has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations, where he will continue to lead GumGum’s Account Management, AdOps, Design, and Business Intelligence team as he did during tenure as Vice President of Operations.

“Travis has a real gift when it comes to assimilating cross-channel insights and delivering efficient single-point interactions,” Schraeder explained. “With his addition to the leadership team, we’ll be able to accelerate our success in elevating client experience and campaign outcomes across the full scope of clients’ GumGum business.”

Ken Weiner, GumGum’s Chief Technology Officer, will now oversee Publisher Development in addition to his Engineering and Product team leadership functions. Weiner has worked to develop products with publishers in mind since he joined GumGum as its first employee in 2008 and GumGum is now placing increased emphasis on productizing solutions for publishers. This role expansion formalizes GumGum’s commitment to bringing the best of GumGum’s engineering and product capabilities to its publisher partners.

UK Becomes a Nation of Streamers… but Traditional Broadcast TV Leads the Way on UK Content

Native & Programmatic Advertising

STS News Desk

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August 13, 2019

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UK Becomes a Nation of Streamers… but Traditional Broadcast TV Leads the Way on UK Content

Around half of all UK homes now subscribe to TV streaming services, according to a major Ofcom report revealing rapid shifts in the nation’s viewing habits

The number of UK households signed up to the most popular streaming platforms – Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV and Disney Life – increased from 11.2m (39%) in 2018 to 13.3m (47%) in 2019.

With many homes using more than one service, the total number of UK streaming subscriptions rose by a quarter in 2018 – from 15.6m to 19.1m.

And while traditional TV viewing continued to decline in 2018, the UK’s public service broadcasters – BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and S4C – showed more than 100 times more original, homegrown shows than the overseas streaming platforms.

The findings are from Ofcom’s Media Nations report, a comprehensive study of major trends in UK television, radio and audio, published today.

Traditional channels still form 70% of TV time

Traditional TV viewing is falling at a slightly accelerating rate, driven by the changing habits and preferences of UK viewers.

While traditional viewing still accounts for most TV time (69% – or 3 hours 12 minutes, on average, per day), this fell by nine minutes in 2017, and by 11 minutes last year.

Viewers now watch 50 minutes less traditional TV each day than in 2010. The shift is most pronounced among younger people (16-24s), whose viewing of traditional TV has halved in that time.

The equivalent of 34 extra series of the BBC’s Bodyguard would need to have been broadcast and watched in 2018 to cancel out the decline in traditional TV viewing.

Young now spend hour on YouTube each day

In contrast, average daily viewing to streaming services rose by seven minutes last year, to 26 minutes; while viewing to YouTube rose by six minutes, to 34 minutes. For the first time, young people now spend more than an hour on YouTube every day (64 minutes, up from 59 minutes).

Two in five UK adults (2019 42%, 2018 37%) now consider online video services to be their main way of watching TV and film. Such is the attraction to online viewing, a similar proportion of people who use subscription streaming services (2019 38%, 2018 35%) could envisage not watching traditional broadcast television at all in five years’ time.

Best of British

Despite the overall decline in traditional broadcast TV viewing, the five main public service broadcasters’ (PSB) channels^[4] held their share of viewing – at 52% in 2018 compared to 51% in 2017. And three-quarters of viewers to the PSBs’ main and portfolio channels (74%) claim to be either very or fairly satisfied.

The PSBs are also critical in meeting viewers’ appetite for original programmes, made and produced in the UK, that reflect their lives.^[5] They delivered more than 32,000 hours of original, homegrown productions across their channels in 2018.

That is around 125 times more than was shown on paid streaming services (221 hours). The vast majority of programmes available on streaming platforms are US-made productions, created to play out in multiple countries.

While PSBs’ spending on first-run, UK made programmes was 5% lower in 2018 than in 2016^[6], they have found new ways of financing content which has offset this decrease. Third-party funding for programmes, including co-productions, has more than doubled over 10 years to £455m in 2018.

Small Screen: Big Debate

Today’s findings underpin Ofcom’s recently-launched national debate on the future of public service broadcasting – Small Screen: Small Screen: Big Debate logo Big Debate.

This broad debate will involve broadcasters, production companies, governments, Parliaments, industry bodies, viewers’ groups and national and regional representatives in the wider questions around the future of public service media. Ofcom is playing a central role in driving this debate, drawing on a range of views, evidence and research.

By the end of the year, we will publish our assessment of the state of public service broadcasting, identifying areas of risk and potential opportunities.

Yih-Choung Teh, Strategy and Research Group Director at Ofcom, said: “The way we watch TV is changing faster than ever before. In the space of seven years, streaming services have grown from nothing to reach nearly half of British homes.

“But traditional broadcasters still have a vital role to play, producing the kind of brilliant UK programmes that overseas tech giants struggle to match. We want to sustain that content for future generations, so we’re leading a nationwide debate on the future of public service broadcasting.”

Lucidworks Raises $100 Million From Francisco Partners, TPG Sixth Street Partners, and Top Tier Capital Partners

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

STS News Desk

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August 13, 2019

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Lucidworks Raises $100 Million From Francisco Partners, TPG Sixth Street Partners, and Top Tier Capital Partners

Silicon Valley firm quietly becoming de facto standard for enterprise and commerce search, delivering personalized experiences for Fortune 1000 customers and employees

Lucidworks, a leader in AI-powered search solutions, announced a $100 million investment from investors including Francisco Partners, a global technology-focused private equity fund, and TPG Sixth Street Partners, a global finance and investment firm. With the investment, Francisco Partners and TPG Sixth Street Partners join Top Tier Capital Partners, Shasta Ventures, Granite Ventures, and Allegis Cyber. No existing investors sold shares as part of this financing and all proceeds will be used to fund Lucidworks’ continued growth and expansion.

“Search is the best way to unlock value from the world’s data,” explains Will Hayes, Lucidworks CEO. “Francisco Partners and TPG Sixth Street Partners understand that getting from question to answer when you’re dealing with thousands of employees, millions of customers, and a mountain of data is still a headache for large corporations. Our team has worked tirelessly to develop AI-powered solutions that augment human intelligence by automating tedious, time-consuming tasks to provide richer insights and real-time recommendations. With the investment, we can continue to advance the enterprise standard for personalization and AI.”

Lucidworks’ flagship product Fusion has doubled revenue year over year for the last three years and is now servicing 400 of the Fortune 1000 with global expansions into APAC and EMEA. Lucidworks was also recognized by Forrester, leading independent analyst and research firm, as a leader in the Forrester Wave: Cognitive Search, Q2 2019.

“We are excited to be partnering with Will and the rest of the management team for the next phase of Lucidworks’ growth. The feedback from customers and analysts has been excellent and we believe Lucidworks is well-positioned to capitalize on the huge market opportunity ahead of them,” said Jonathan Murphy at Francisco Partners. “Lucidworks’ powerful Fusion product enables its customers to deliver highly relevant and personalized search results to the end-user across a broad range of verticals and we believe we are in the early phases of adoption of next-generation search; our goal is for our customers to be able to leverage Lucidworks’ technology to quickly create tailored applications to search specific data sources within the enterprise.”

“Lucidworks’ impressive management team and market-leading position in the enterprise search space makes it a compelling growth story,” said Bo Stanley, Partner and Co-Head of the Capital Solutions business at TPG Sixth Street Partners. “Their investment in this market over many years has made Fusion the best product in the space, which is evidenced by its high quality and extremely loyal customer base. We are thrilled to partner with them on their journey.”

The world’s largest organizations, including AT&T, Honeywell, Morgan Stanley, Red Hat, Reddit, Staples, Uber, and the U.S. Census Bureau, rely on Fusion. Under the strategic guidance of CEO Will Hayes since 2015, Lucidworks has created a new standard in digital experience, delivering personalized customer journeys and valuable business insights to billions of people around the globe.

Higher Levels of Automation Expand Revenue Potential for Analytical Instrumentation Manufacturers

Price Optimization & Revenue Management

STS News Desk

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August 13, 2019

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Higher Levels of Automation Expand Revenue Potential for Analytical Instrumentation Manufacturers

Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and academics emerge major adopters of analytical equipment, finds Frost & Sullivan

The rise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has given a significant boost to the global analytical instrumentation market, making it more automated, data centric, and production oriented. This trend, along with customer demand for efficient analyzers, are prompting analytical equipment manufacturers to offer new solutions that simplify the analytical process, improve automation, store data, and enable access to this data for common use cases. Driven by clients’ high throughput and efficiency needs, the total market is expected to grow from $19.58 billion in 2018 to $20.81 in 2019.

“Analytical equipment, including liquid chromatographs and mass spectrometers, will be increasingly used as diagnostic equipment due to the sensitivity and efficiency requirements of diagnostic applications,” said Janani Balasundar Research Analyst Measurement & Instrumentation. “Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, academics, and food testing will be the primary end users of analytical instrumentation. However, there will be a dip in demand for gas chromatographs and gas analyzers due to the slowdown in the chemicals & petrochemicals and oil & gas markets because of fluctuating oil prices and resource scarcity.”

Frost & Sullivan‘s recent analysis, Outlook of Global Analytical Instrumentation Market, 2019, is segmented by the product sectors of chromatography, molecular analysis spectroscopy, elemental analysis spectroscopy, mass spectrometry (MS), analytical microscopes, gas analyzers, liquid analyzers, and analytical x-ray instrumentation. It covers the geographic regions of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest-of-World.

“The market will be bolstered by the strong demand from Asia-Pacific, particularly, India and China,” noted Balasundar. “Analytical equipment manufacturers providing training, awareness, and application knowledge will experience considerable expansion in the emerging markets.”

For additional revenue opportunities in the global market, instrumentation manufacturers will look to:

Develop a common data platform that can store and retrieve data in a common format for complex analytical processes.
Simplify the user interface and functionality of the equipment to make them easy-to-use for laboratory technicians.
Offer predefined templates and method documentation solutions.
Provide a simple push and play operation for operators with inadequate training or skills.

Outlook of Global Analytical Instrumentation Market, 2019 is part of Frost & Sullivan’s global Test & Measurement Growth Partnership Service program.

National Survey Reveals Dramatic Shift From Cable to Streaming Services; Substantial Interest in Disney+

Buyer Insights

STS News Desk

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August 13, 2019

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National Survey Reveals Dramatic Shift From Cable to Streaming Services; Substantial Interest in Disney+

Colling Media Study Underlines Urgency in Changing Traditional Advertising Approaches

The market research team at Colling Media, a top-ranked national digital advertising and marketing agency, has conducted a nationwide survey about cable-cutting and subscribing to streaming services.

Key findings include:

Migration away from cable is picking up speed—20% of respondents canceled their cable television subscription within the past two months.
There’s a corresponding move toward streaming services—39% of consumers have subscribed to a streaming service in the past two months (such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video).
87% of consumers have watched a program, movie or video on a desktop or laptop computer, tablet, smartphone, or other mobile device within the past two months.
39% of consumers say they are likely or very likely to subscribe to The Disney Company’s bundling of Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu.
73% of consumers say they are annoyed when an ad interrupts a YouTube video. Off those, 58% are most annoyed by the advertiser, by YouTube.

“It’s easy to think the cord-cutting trend might have slowed down, but our research shows an incredible number of consumers continue to move on from cable and dish services,” says Brian Colling, CEO of Colling Media. “People are choosing streaming entertainment services for the same reason they swapped out home phones for cell phones. Mobile, on-demand, and customized choices triumph every time. One way to ensure that cord-cutting customers see a brand’s advertising is by incorporating OTT (over-the-top) into the marketing mix. Many advertisers are buying OTT directly from Hulu and other platforms, and our advanced system can increase the lift substantially by also targeting an advertiser’s first-party data and leads, retargeting site visitors, and adding data that indicates purchasing intent.”

Colling Media’s early adoption of the most reasonable alternative for traditional TV commercials has provided the agency unique OTT insights and capabilities. Connecting OTT data to sales (as other more recognized digital channels like Facebook and Google) is routine. Advanced audience data combined with targeted messages on mobile, desktop, and tablet devices, provides online and offline conversion tracking. Colling Media has identified the most effective OTT networks and regularly produces better pricing than direct buying. OTT advertising is the latest addition to Colling Media’s programmatic capabilities; using technology to buy and sell ad inventory through an automated and data-driven procedure.

Uniphore Seeing Momentum: Raises $51 Million in Series C Funding Led by March Capital Partners

Buyer Insights

STS News Desk

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August 13, 2019

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Uniphore Seeing Momentum: Raises $51 Million in Series C Funding Led by March Capital Partners

New round is Uniphore’s largest to-date; one of the biggest in conversational AI in recent months

Uniphore, the global conversational AI technology company, is gaining momentum and announced it raised $51M in Series C funding led by March Capital Partners, with participation from Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures), Sistema Asia, CXO Fund, ITP, Iron Pillar, Patni Family, plus other investors. The new round of funding is Uniphore’s largest to date and marks one of the most substantial funding rounds in the conversational AI sector.

Uniphore will use the funds to accelerate its go-to-market in North America, invest in research and development for the next wave of innovation on its platform and grow its talented employee base globally.

“Today’s announcement of our Series C funding represents a major milestone for Uniphore and the Conversational AI market as a whole. This funding will accelerate our vision to redefine customer service through AI-enabled Conversational Service Automation (CSA). We have always been strong innovators, and our global customers continue to rely on our solutions to help them deliver exceptional customer service. With this new round of funding, we will be able to accelerate our global expansion and better serve our customers by developing and delivering innovative CSA solutions to more organizations around the world,” said Umesh Sachdev, CEO and Cofounder, Uniphore.

Sumant Mandal, Managing Director of March Capital Partners, added: “Uniphore recognized early on that the customer service industry had fundamental limitations which were not being addressed. Brands were not building meaningful relationships with their customers because they were simply reacting, rather than being proactive. Uniphore’s conversational AI technology is changing the way brands are serving and engaging with their customers. Uniphore’s unique technology enables a proactive approach by recognizing the true intent of customer calls and predicting what is coming next. Uniphore is not only anticipating what the future of customer service will be – they are leading the charge, and we look forward to working closely with them as they continue to innovate. We are excited to be part of the journey of a world-class team building globally competitive products at Uniphore.”

John Chambers, CEO and founder of JC2 Ventures, and an active advisor to Uniphore who picked up a 10% stake in Uniphore in 2017, welcomed the funding: “Uniphore’s continued success is a testament to the company’s ability to foresee the next market transition and evolve the business model based on that insight promptly. Uniphore’s innovative conversational AI solutions address the growing needs of businesses to provide personalized customer experiences more efficiently and effectively. I believe Umesh and his team are well positioned to revolutionize the customer service industry while continuing to expand the market share. I echo March Capital’s sentiment that the future is extremely bright for Uniphore.”

Most recently, Uniphore CEO Umesh Sachdev moved to Silicon Valley to expand the company’s reach in North America. The move has paved the way for several strategic new hires. Annie Weckesser, veteran of Cisco and NIO, joined as Chief Marketing and People Officer in April. Additionally, in May, Jafar Syed, joined as Chief Strategy & Growth Officer from NTT Data, and in June, Karen Smith, former executive at Directly and Convergys, started with Uniphore as Chief Revenue Officer. Additionally, Mary Ann Bianco joined as Chief Customer Officer after leading customer success for Oracle’s Cloud SaaS applications business. In July, Ashwin Chalapathy joined as Managing Director in India and Senior Vice President, Services, Asia Pacific. In 2018, the company experienced 300% year-over-year growth and the year prior, Uniphore had an exciting Series B round with participation by various existing and new investors including IDG Ventures, IIFL and JC2 Ventures. Some of Uniphore’s customers include BNP Paribas, NTT Data, and PNB MetLife.

Shift to Technology Platforms and Social Commerce Transforms the Digital Commerce M&A Deal Mix, Reveals Hampleton Partners’ Research Reports

Native & Programmatic Advertising

STS News Desk

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August 13, 2019

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Shift to Technology Platforms and Social Commerce Transforms the Digital Commerce M&A Deal Mix, Reveals Hampleton Partners’ Research Reports

Agency M&A is down, as media groups curb acquisition rate and face competition from professional services firms

The growth of M&A activity in the ‘platform economy’ and in social commerce are two of the biggest trends identified in the latest E-Commerce and Digital Marketing M&A Market Reports fromHampleton Partners, the international technology mergers and acquisitions advisor.

Transaction volume for the digital marketing sector has remained stable since 2011, but in the first half of 2019, marketing application software received more M&A attention, with 95 deals inked and disclosed deal value of $2.06bn, versus 67 deals and deal value of $1.4bn for digital agencies & marketing services providers.

The top two acquirers so far this year are Dentsu Aegis and Accenture, with four agency acquisitions apiece. The ‘big four’ media agencies – WPP, Omnicom, IPG and Publicis – made no acquisitions in the first-half of 2019.

Instead, two of the most important digital marketing deals were in the software subsector, as risk advisory and brokerage firm Wills Towers Watson acquired TRANZACT for $1.2bn, and McDonald’s purchased personalisation platform, Dynamic Yield, for $325m.

Ralph Hübner, sector principal, Hampleton Partners, said: “2019 has begun with a total rebalance of the deal mix: agency M&A is down, while digital marketing software M&A is up. Where agencies are concerned, today’s acquirers are just as likely to be IT consultancies or corporates as they are media networks.

“Meanwhile, marketing software providers are caught up in a new hype cycle which includes buyers from a range of sectors.”

Rise of platform economy M&A

The first half of 2019 saw the IPOs of three later-stage e-commerce platforms – Pinterest, Revolve and Jumia – rank in the top 10 most successful VC exits so far this year.

Investors are keen to capitalise on the growth of the platform economy, particularly given the exceptional performance on stock markets of companies such as Alibaba or Etsy.

Stock market momentum and the potential for higher returns is translating into high levels of M&A activity, as illustrated by Etsy’s acquisition of vintage music gear marketplace Reverb for $275m in July.

Social commerce M&A

Ralph Hübner, sector principal, Hampleton Partners, said: “Given the number of users scrolling through Instagram during any given minute is expected to more than double to 372,000 during 2019, the proliferation and adoption of social media has hardly reached its peak.”

Legacy brands have paid hefty sums for microbrands which leverage social media and quickly penetrate niche market segments, as shown by Edgewell Personal Care’s acquisition of razor start-up Harry’s for $1.4 billion.

The future of e-commerce and digital marketing M&A

Ralph Hübner concluded: “The rise of platforms, marketplaces and social commerce will lead to more exits in the marketing application software segment, as all types of buyers attempt to navigate the marketing landscape of these new business models.

“As for agencies, they need their own tech or unique skillset in areas such as CRM, big data, social commerce or retail media, to avoid being sandwiched between nearshored competitors or the client’s in-housing of marketing and advertising.”

SalesTech Star Interview with Dailius Wilson, VP of Sales and Growth Marketing at GetAccept

Interviews

Sudipto Ghosh

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August 13, 2019

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SalesTech Star Interview with Dailius Wilson, VP of Sales and Growth Marketing at GetAccept

Tell us about the journey into Sales. What attracted you to join GetAccept?

I found my way into an early Sales role at the Australian equivalent of Best Buy, Harvey Norman. Despite being 17 at the time and with no job experience, I encouraged the store owner to hire me on a commission-only capacity, and within three months became the number five rep in the nation amongst thousands of sellers.

After this, I spent time as a consultant and at an institutional bank. I decided to return to Sales as it appeared the career progression was the most rapid. The fact promotions were also based on results and not just experience also excited me at an early age.

What is GetAccept and how do you fit into the sales engagement category?

Most Sales teams today complain about using too many tools. At GetAccept, we typically replace 1-5 tools that are commonly in use with our unified deal management platform for Sales.

We support reps full cycle — from 1st meeting set to final contract signed. In addition, we provide more Personalized features for teams to turn periods of silence into two-way communications to ensure deals stay on track.

The most unique thing about GetAccept is that we do not sit across one category. G2.com has us listed as a leader in Contract Management, Sales Enablement, Proposal Creation and Electronic Signature. Similarly, Gartner Peer Insights has featured us in both electronic signature and digital content management for Sales.

How does GetAccept fit into a company’s SalesTech stack?

Reps are able to create experiences to build relationships in the early stages of the deal through video voicemails, meeting agendas, meeting summaries and support materials. These have helpful analytics, live chat and multi-recipient tracking to provide insight if the deal is getting internal traction amongst stakeholders.

Mid-cycle, we assist with proposal generation and contract negotiation — with reps able to send interactive quotes and actively edit terms with clients, avoiding the issue of multiple versions. Additionally, we feel personal video messages throughout the deal cycle add an element of Personalization that is missing in most platforms.

At the end of the deal process, we support electronic signature and payment, helping to circumvent the troubles of closing out a deal and not receiving compensation for up to 90 days after the terms are agreed to. In addition, our automated and manual reminders, including SMS, video and chat, help us to convert deals which may typically be ignored.

I think we also create a positive working relationship between Sales Enablement, Sales Operations and Sales Leadership who all have a vested interest in the platforms success.

How is GetAccept helping salespeople close more deals?

Amongst our growing portfolio of 10,000 customers globally, the benefits are experienced differently based on department and stakeholders involved.

For front-line sellers, reps mention they feel they have more opportunities to interact with customers when they are live on sent materials via chat. They also receive positive feedback on using personal video and the time savings from the ability to live edit materials.

For Sales Enablement, sellers are able to go to market by accessing a library of permissioned content and can see which materials are working best by monitoring adoption.

For Sale Operations, they have less workload managing one unified platform instead of multiple tools and enjoy the extra level of analytics to increase forecasting accuracy.

For Sales Management, there is greater visibility on which deals are most likely to close based on account penetration and engagement. Furthermore, it has been difficult in the past to isolate specifically “what” the top reps are doing to close deals. Given the GetAccept platform showcases much more than meeting recordings or CRM notes, Sales Leaders can finally see how top reps win more business and spread these lessons to other team members.

Also Read: SalesTech Interview With Sam Nazari, VP Of Customer Success At Evolv Technologies

Who is the target user for your product?

Typically, we work with firms who have a considered purchase, which requires multiple meetings, who need to get deals done quickly and easily in a price sensitive market. We work with multiple industries including finance, real estate, recruitment, hospitality, technology, finance and HVAC

What is the biggest challenge you’re seeing in Sales today?

I am seeing that, in a world where we are happy to communicate transactionally and sacrifice real world relationships with digital ones, sellers are having increasing difficulty building rapport in Sales cycles. That is why we are seeking to disrupt this trend by winning customers back with a hyperpersonal approach

What are some of the cutting-edge advances you’re seeing in advertising today?

I am enjoying seeing personalized email which dynamically replicates human research through interactive visuals (GIFs, images and videos). These kinds of emails get my attention

What advice do you have for CROs /Sales Leaders today?

The modern Sales Leader needs to have a firm command of three things: metrics, methods and processes.

You should know which metrics are the benchmarks in your chosen field of selling and commit yourself as an organization to overperform against those standards. You also are dead in the water if you can’t measure or derive these numbers, so invest in Sales operations/finance to assist you on your quest.

Master a single method for Sales and make each employee own it — for our account executive team we have a version of MEDDIC that we really enjoy. Once you receive momentum and reps achieve a level of mastery, introduce learnings from other methodologies in the same way you teach literature (a study of key texts) after a pupil has mastered a language

Tag a person whose answers to these questions you would like to read from the industry.

David Skok, General Partner at Matrix Partners or Mark Roberge, Managing Director at Stage 2 Capital

Thank You, Dailius, for answering all our questions. We hope to see you again, soon.

About GetAccept
About Dailius

About GetAccept

GetAccept is the solution you need to reach the full potential of sales process. They are reinventing the Document and eSigning Workflow through intelligent automation, personalized recipient engagement, and the easiest digital signature on the market. GetAccept helps you create and send documents that stand out against competition.

GetAccept is an electronic signature and document tracking platform, but for the closing stages of sales cycle. Combine document tracking with eSigning and use machine learning to predict the next action needed to get the document signed.

Enterprise features include video-introduction, automated live-chat, connected calls, and deal based display remarketing.

About Dailius

Dailius Wilson is currently VP of Sales and Growth Marketing at GetAccept. Dailius has previously held leadership positions at companies like Oneflare ($19.4 million) and TrustRadius ($12.6 million) in funding. He was worked with companies like Anaplan, Marketo, Zuora and Gainsight.

He has been named in the Australian 30under30 list, was the top Linkedin writer across all topics in 2017 and was previously a guest on the Ellen Degeneres show.

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Tell us about the journey into Sales. What attracted you to join GetAccept?

What is GetAccept and how do you fit into the sales engagement category?

How does GetAccept fit into a company’s SalesTech stack?

How is GetAccept helping salespeople close more deals?

Who is the target user for your product?

What is the biggest challenge you’re seeing in Sales today?

What are some of the cutting-edge advances you’re seeing in advertising today?

What advice do you have for CROs /Sales Leaders today?

Tag a person whose answers to these questions you would like to read from the industry.

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