OfficeLink, Shared Office Concepts, a professional co-working and private executive office suite in Quincy, MA, has opened The Studio at OfficeLink, a full audio and video production studio at its Quincy location. The studio will be available at a discounted rate to tenants and members of OfficeLink and will be a resource for local businesses to create professional video content for their own use.
“Our production company, Real Estate 360 Productions, was already producing locally and nationally distributed content, from interviews with local stakeholders in the Commercial Real Estate space and discussions about real estate trends in the region and beyond, to Real Estate Talk Boston, a show hosted by Chris Devin of Cross Country Mortgage, and distributed on Boston.com. It made sense to build out our capacity to create professional content in a new studio, and offer it to other businesses, especially with the rise of video consumption online,” said Stephen Vazza, President, Vazza Real Estate Group, Co-Owner, OfficeLink.
OfficeLink co-working spaces in Quincy and Chelmsford offer modern design, welcoming common areas, and a collaborative atmosphere. Their flexible office solutions include both traditional professional private office space and coworking options for small teams, entrepreneurs, individual contributors, and remote workers.
OfficeLink’s unique locations outside of the city allow their tenants and members to connect with like-minded professionals closer to home and enjoy the energy and atmosphere of downtown Boston, without the hassle and associated costs of additional traffic and parking.
OfficeLink is a division of the Vazza Real Estate Group, a real estate development firm in Quincy, MA, which has been actively developing and investing private and institutional capital into real estate in major US markets for over 30 years. They opened their first two OfficeLink locations in 2016 and 2017.
Audience and Brands Can Use Volley to Instantly Capture, Curate, Edit and Distribute Videos Captured
Volley Media, the leading innovator of event video capture and sharing technology, announced Volley, its groundbreaking, patent-pending platform for curating and sharing video moments of any live or pre-recorded event broadcast.
Steve Jones
“Volley represents a huge advance for event audiences and organizers. It’s the first app to effectively marry live events, video broadcasts and social media for the benefit of brands, audiences, and their extended networks. Volley delivers on the promise of brands’ number-one experiential content focus: capturing, leveraging and sharing more video at their live events,” said Steve Jones, Co-Founder, Volley Media.
With Volley, audiences can easily and instantly capture, edit, curate, and distribute custom moments from brands’ high-quality, brand-compliant, HD AV broadcasts. Because Volley captures and captions footage both before and after the instant a user clicks the Volley button, audiences can relax and enjoy the show. The simple and intuitive user interface makes it easy to immediately edit, save and share a Volley. And with Volley’s unique and scalable cloud architecture, there’s no file to save or send, just a link, which eliminates bandwidth or storage issues.
No other video capture and sharing app offer the amplification power of Volley. Any HD video broadcast can be Volley-enabled in less than 24 hours, making it easy for brands to share high-value video content with audiences who then share that content with their own extended networks. With Volley, audiences become curators and distributors, enabling them to grow their own social networks and brands to greatly extend the reach of their content. Volley’s robust analytics dashboards help brands and audiences track performance and reach. And the ability to include customizable sponsorship headers further extends the value of Volley to brands.
New Click and Open Automation for Broadcasts Enable Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs to Build Stronger Relationships with Subscribers and Customers
These new broadcast automation give small businesses and entrepreneurs more flexibility in how they segment and communicate with their subscribers, enabling them to send more relevant and valuable emails based on subscribers’ behaviors, leading to an increase in engagement, sales and revenue.
Chris Vasquez
“You can now automate your email and segment your subscribers like never before, without the incredibly high costs and confusing interfaces that other marketing automation tools offer. Our new automation tools not only give businesses the flexibility to communicate with their subscribers in new and exciting ways but also the ability to power their email marketing from a single email list,” said Chris Vasquez, Director Product, AWeber.
With broadcast automation, AWeber customers can now automatically tag subscribers when they either open a broadcast email or click a link within the email. Customers can then send emails based on subscriber behavior using an automated email campaign or one-time broadcasts based on those tags.
These new broadcast automation and tagging features give AWeber customers the ability to manage their subscribers using a single list, eliminating the need for subscribers to opt-in again or join a new email list.
AWeber customers can now develop even stronger relationships with their audience, as well as transform interested prospects into paying customers and paying customers into loyal advocates.
The announcement of click and open automation for broadcasts comes on the heels of several feature releases and updates to the platform that saves AWeber customers time and allows them to connect more easily with their subscribers.
“For me, this is going to be hugely beneficial. Being able to tag my subscribers based on their interests, I can better focus my marketing towards them, and sell the specific products they are likely interested in,” said Donielle B, AWeber customer.
Setting up automated emails is easily accomplished using AWeber’s drag-and-drop automation builder, Campaigns. Users can also choose from over 700 mobile-responsive HTML email templates to craft the perfect messages.
Geopath’s Program Will Develop a Location-based Data Solution For OOH Advertisers
Conventionally, marketers and advertisers have been heavily reliant on cookie-based models to capture behavioral and demographic data of audiences. In the modern tech space, that model has ceased to exist with 75% of cookies being deleted per month and almost 67% of devices connected through IPs not accepting cookies anymore. This is where people-based advertising has come to the foray allowing brands to capture data from multiple devices in a much more definitive, consolidated manner. It thus allows brands to deliver enhanced and customized CXs across print, digital, and TV.
Geopath, an audience location measurement company for OOH providers, is bringing a pilot program for location-based advertising measurement. According to their latest announcement, Geopath will invest a significant time to build partnerships with its members in the OOH space. Geopath would also work with geolocation data enablement solutions provider, Intermx, to offer an extensive tool for audience measurement for its location-based OOH members by December 2018.
Kym Frank, President, Geopath, stated that there has been tremendous growth in the OOH industry over the last few years on grounds of creating and establishing transit and roadside audience measurement. She said, “With advertisers demanding greater transparency and visibility, the time has come for us to extend that measurement capability to the place-based inventories that comprise the broader OOH marketplace. As a result of this pilot, the OOH community will be able to provide to brand marketers and their agencies an even clearer and truer understanding of the value received for their OOH investments.”
In this pilot program, Geopath member participants would identify the introductory locations for initial analytics across the US. Eventually, the pilot members would gain access to a platform featuring web-based insights with details of data like audience demographic, impression, screen, and venue. The cost associated with the pilot program hasn’t been revealed to the press yet.
Jeff Gunderman, President and CEO, Eye Corp, ascertained that the overall OOH ecosystem comprising cinema, bars, health clubs, airports, malls, street furniture, billboards, and the likes was in need of a currency that was universal and trustworthy. Jeff added, “Geopath’s forward thinking in pushing for the entire ecosystem to have trusted third-party generated metrics will provide confidence to our buyers and will make transactions easier. Without this, the industry will have a difficult time staying competitive against emerging digital and mobile media options.”
Another Geopath member, Rapport’s CEO and Global President, Mike Cooper, expressed the criticality of the location-based data of Geopath for its medium. He went on to add that a universal, comprehensive system of measurement enables Rapport to determine the right impact of its OOH campaigns throughout the provider and format ecosystems.
For now, not just the Geopath member companies and the pilot participants, but the whole OOH or rather DOOH world, would be keen on the outcomes of this Geopath initiative. And, if it delivers the goods, the year 2019 can be touted as the next phase of personalized OOH advertising.
Blis Explores the Meaning of A "Conscious Consumer" in a New Report
In Their Latest Study, Blis Examines Consumer Research Married with Their Own Location-Based Data to Construct a New Framework for Conscious Consumer
The dynamic relationship between the consumers, brands, and retailers continue to drive marketers into exploring new definitions of customer experience and engagements. The fragmented retail and B2B marketing engagement strategies could finally be set on a sane path. In their recent report, Blis, a leading provider of advanced location data technology, has unvieled a report, titled, Unlocking the New Consumer Hierarchy of Needs. The research identifies a new, post-recession ‘Conscious Consumer’ and shares data-informed insights and recommendations about how to build loyalty with them.
According to the latest Blis report, a ‘Conscious Consumer’ is the “survivor of the last recession – a period which fundamentally altered their behavior.” Characterized by a no-nonsense relationship with brands, the ‘Conscious Consumer’ has a sophisticated understanding of their value to the brands with which they engage and take a more active role as a result.
Over half (55%) report a ‘one strike and you’re out’ rule and almost three quarters (69%) can be swayed by a well-timed price drop, personal coupon, or product ad all the way to the checkout.
Quick to judge and slow to forgive, they are motivated by the rational over the emotional when making purchasing decisions – a third of consumers will switch to a cheaper product if it’s of comparable quality, regardless of brand loyalty.
At the time of this announcement, Gil Larsen, VP Americas at Blis, said, “The retail landscape over the past decade has been turned on its head and the retailers who are thriving have adapted to these changes quickly. They understand that what was true of pre-2008 consumers is no longer so and have thrown out the old retail playbook.”
Gil added, “Our study examines consumer research married with our own location-based data to construct a new framework for retail brands who aren’t clear on how best to foster a relationship with this new Conscious Consumer.”
The Conscious Consumer has a much clearer sense of their value to brands — from personal data and peer influence to financial import–with 65% willing to share data only if it provides them tangible benefits such as money saving or exclusive access. Combined with the wealth of information they are now used to having at their fingertips, the conclusion is that brands have to work much harder not just to earn their attention, but also to keep and convert it into sales.
Gil said, “For those able to navigate the new rules, there are a number of positive takeaways.”
Gil concluded, “Not least the fact that, while they research and compare on larger financial investments, these new consumers are spontaneous when it comes to lower cost, in-the-moment buys. Almost three quarters (83%) spend up to $50 per week this way, while the remaining 17% admit to spending $50+ on ad hoc items. This represents a significant amount of revenue on the table for brands that get it right.”
With brands still coming to terms with the new retail landscape–as seen by the multitude of store closures–the research paper provides clarity for what these new Conscious Consumers want and offer guidance on how brands can best interact with them, especially through the use of location insights.
Methodology
Blis conducted market research through AYTM, surveying 2000 consumers across the United States at every socio-economic level, to uncover shopper preferences and how they like to best interact with brands, creating a new hierarchy of needs for brands to address.
Currently, Blis offers a proprietary technology and platform for location data that helps agencies and brands use location data to better understand consumer behavior, allowing for effective targeted advertising to drive business outcomes.
Salesforce to Host Second-Annual Salesforce Equality Awards in San Francisco
Stevie Wonder, Evan Rachel Wood, Emily Chang, among Others to Be Honored as Equality Trailblazers Transforming Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Beyond
Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, announced the recipients of its second-annual Equality Awards at TrailheaDX, the company’s annual developer conference in San Francisco. The Salesforce Equality Awards recognize individuals across industries for leveraging their platforms to create an equal world for all.
The 2018 Salesforce Equality Award honorees are:
Emily Chang: Emily is an anchor and executive producer at Bloomberg TV, and the author of BROTOPIA, the acclaimed new book which put a spotlight on the staggering gender inequality in the tech industry — addressing how it got there and how to foster real change.
Shonnah Hughes: Shonnah is the co-founder of PepupTech, a nonprofit helping underserved students learn the skills and gain the confidence needed to begin careers in tech. She is also a Salesforce MVP who has been working with the Salesforce Platform for more than 10 years.
Mayor Ed Lee (posthumously): The late Mayor Lee devoted his career to expanding STEM education, among other important causes. Under his leadership, San Francisco Unified School District became the first district nationwide to require computer science for all grades. His vision and leadership will be remembered for generations to come.
Stevie Wonder: Multi-Grammy award winner and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Stevie is a philanthropist and humanitarian who has used his music to support a number of social causes. He is a designated UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on persons with disabilities.
Evan Rachel Wood: The award-winning actress and Westworld star bravely shared her own #MeToo story on Capitol Hill, standing up for legislation protecting sexual assault survivors and advocating for other victims of abuse.
Marc Benioff
“There is no finish line when it comes to equality. I am grateful to the Salesforce Equality Award winners who have dedicated their work and their lives to make the world a more equal place and lift us all up,” said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce.
At Salesforce, Equality is a core value, along with Trust, Growth and Innovation. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do. Research has shown that companies that invest in Equality, and lead with values have a competitive advantage over those who do not. As part of this commitment to Equality, Salesforce is working together with its customers, partners, developers and communities to create a world where everyone has equal rights, equal pay for equal work, equal access to education, and equal opportunities to succeed.
TrailheaDX: Two Days of Learning, Fun and Giving Back
TrailheaDX, Salesforce’s third annual developer conference, will take place March 28-29 in San Francisco, with more than 250 viewing parties scheduled across 37 countries. The sold-out event is a celebration of diversity, inclusion and equality, empowering a new generation of developers to learn the skills needed to land a top job in the workforce of the future. Register for the TrailheaDX Live broadcast here.
Free GDPR Compliance Tool Enables Advertisers and Publishers to Gain Unambiguous Consumer Consent Ahead of the Upcoming GDPR
In a recent announcement, Conversant and CJ Affiliate have launched a new tool for advertisers and publishers to gain GDPR and ePrivacy Directive (ePD) compliant consent from consumers. With this new lightweight application, visitors to advertiser and publisher websites are asked for both GDPR and ePD compliant consent, before the processing of cookie IDs or other personal data.
Now, advertisers and publishers gain straightforward, unambiguous consent which is then stored within the IAB EU’s Transparency and Consent Framework.
Kevin Hartleben
At the time of this announcement, Kevin Hartleben, Director of Platform Solutions, Conversant, said, “There’s been so much focus on consent with the upcoming GDPR, but discussions have too-often revolved around notions such as legitimate interest. If we really want to handle consumer data properly, advertisers need to go further and ensure they have true ‘unambiguous’ consent. That’s why we’ve developed this tool and why we’re offering it for free – we want to improve the industry as a whole and, more importantly, offer consumers the best user experience.”
The new consent tool for GDPR compliance is free and publicly available for all advertisers and publishers to use for their digital advertising activity.
This new GDPR Compliance tool plugs into publisher websites, appearing as a popup when users first arrive on the site. It appears with a dynamic list of vendors – compiled by the site – who are eligible to gather consent from the site visitor. Vendors that already have consent, however, will not appear, and nor will those with an active no-consent flag.
Kevin added, “We’re always striving to offer new, data-driven solutions and looking for ways to resolve the issues facing our industry. Data privacy and conforming to the new regulations brought about by the GDPR is the big challenge currently confronting advertisers and publishers. Consumer-friendly data-privacy is a long-held principle throughout Conversant – our services have been built from the ground-up with ‘privacy by design’ as a fundamental approach – and we wholeheartedly support giving consumers greater transparency and choice around what happens with their data. This new consent tool is a real testament to this, as well as our commitment to continued innovation and the industry as a whole.”
The GDPR Compliance tool is also part of Conversant and CJ Affiliate’s continued collaboration with IAB EU, with the tool acting as a Consent Management Provider (CMP), affirming that it complies to the same technical standards as the IAB EU framework. This relationship with the IAB EU also provides a standardized approach for the whole digital supply chain, checking where consumers have already given specific consent so that they do not have to be bothered multiple times.
As SVP Marketing, Henry Bruce Would Report to CEO Joe Coleman
Henry Bruce
Contently, today announced the appointment of Henry Bruce as SVP Marketing. Reporting to company CEO and co-founder Joe Coleman, Henry Bruce takes responsibility for driving Contently’s go-to-market strategy and brand promise to empower marketers with solutions to create engaging, accountable content at scale. The world’s most valuable brands and global enterprises employ Contently’s unified content marketing solution to drive business growth across their organizations.
“Content is the fuel that drives digital marketing success.” – Henry Bruce, SVP Marketing, Contently
New Leaders Take Charge at Contently
Henry Bruce’s appointment coincides with a strong mix of success across the company —
In addition to Henry Bruce, the company has also appointed a number of other experienced leaders to key roles, including SVP Sales Marc Schraer, VP Product Jonathan Bartlett, and VP Revenue Marketing John Fernandez. Contently remains as a top choice for enterprise B2B marketing teams in the Forrester report, “Explore Content Marketing for B2B Marketing”
At the time of this announcement, CEO Joe Coleman, said, “We are thrilled Henry has stepped into the role of SVP of Marketing. Henry is a rare kind of leader with unrivaled experience. His expertise has driven significant results for our sales and marketing team, and we’re excited to share his wisdom and insights with our clients as they build superior content programs.”
Henry Bruce’s Key Objectives Is to Elevate Contently’s Brand and Positioning in the Marketplace
Henry Bruce is a seasoned B2B sales and marketing veteran. He also has substantial experience as a buyer and user of SaaS-based marketing platforms. In his new role, Henry leads Contently’s go-to-market strategy and positioning, revenue and product marketing, marketing communications and analyst relations. One of Henry’s key objectives is to elevate Contently’s brand and positioning in the marketplace by leveraging Contently’s unparalleled thought leadership and client success.
Contently won SiriusDecisions’ Brand and Communications Strategies Program of the Year Award.
Recently, a Marketing Profs study found only six percent of respondents considered their content marketing to be sophisticated, while 22 percent said they were finding success, though still encountering challenges. The majority of respondents (71 percent), said their content marketing efforts were either adolescent, young or simply taking their first steps.
Henry Bruce said, “Content is the fuel that drives digital marketing success.”
Henry added, “However, most marketers suffer from content chaos and lack the tools, methodology, and expertise needed to create high-performing content for winning programs. The Contently Suite is the only market solution that fuses art with science, integrating technology, talent, and strategy into one unified approach to achieve content mastery.”
Since Contently’s inception, it has been the choice of blue-chip brands who recognize that quality content drives superior audience engagement and business performance.Now, a growing number of Contently’s clients have adopted a content center of excellence at their organizations following Contently’s proven methodology. Henry Bruce adds, “This approach is enabling our clients to create greater cross-channel and cross-team visibility and interaction. The result is brand and market leadership.”
Before his role at Contently, Henry Bruce served in key executive leadership roles at ComplySci, Centro, Industri-Matematik and Optum, Inc.
The company’s latest success complements a growing list of top content marketing platform and company awards Contently has earned, including top rankings and inclusions recognition by Crain’s Best Places to Work in New York City, Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500TM, the Digiday Signal Award (#1 Content Marketing Platform), the Inc. 5000 America’s fastest-growing company list and Entrepreneur magazine’s Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America’s list.
Reflect and BrightSign Bring Ad-Trafficking Solution to Growing Digital Signage Market
Reflect AdLogic Now Compatible with BrightSign Media Players
AdLogic from Reflect Systems is a powerful ad-trafficking platform that allows for complete campaign management with more intuitive ad scheduling and delivery. It is a unique ad-trafficking platform that runs on widely-used BrightSign media players. This powerful differentiator makes the AdLogic platform an easy choice for many businesses deploying digital signage solutions today.
Using AdLogic, clients can set objectives based on target metrics such as frequency of plays and audience impressions for a particular advertisement. The algorithmic engine at the center of AdLogic balances ad playback to ensure clients achieve particular goals. AdLogic ad deployments on BrightSign media players mean content managers no longer have to worry about a given advertisement’s delivery. Content is displayed automatically based on a store’s location, time of day, or even the types of visitors a location generally gets.
AdLogic, paired up with BrightSign is a money-saver, a risk-eliminator, and a game-changer.
Matt Schmitt
“When we see an opportunity to make our products better,” says Matt Schmitt, President and Chief Innovation Officer with Reflect, adding, “We invent a solution, improve the process, and our clients enjoy the results.”
With this powerful combination of technologies, digital signage networks can now effectively deliver advertising based on impressions, frequency, and intended audiences. Packaged with an easy-to-interpret, easy-to-use report with verified playback data, AdLogic running on BrightSign media players is an extremely powerful platform.
Jeff Hastings
“BrightSign is pleased to support this proven ad-trafficking solution from Reflect. We are always supportive of partner integrations that deliver a better experience for the end-user,” noted Jeff Hastings, CEO of BrightSign.
Conversocial Integrates WeChat Messaging as a Digital Customer Care Channel
Digital Customer Service Platform Helps Large Brands Scale Their Engagement with over 1 Billion Customers on WeChat
Conversocial, the leading digital customer service platform, announced the addition of WeChat support–powering digital customer service capabilities for the massive Chinese social messaging network. The integration enables digital customer care teams to leverage intelligent agent routing, conversational filtering and prioritization, robust workflows, and real-time analytics to deliver digital care over WeChat.
WeChat represents an audience of over 1 Billion users in China, whom many use as their sole access to news, information and social networking. However, for many international brands, the Mainland Chinese market has been a challenging region to engage customers. With this integration, Western brands can now leverage WeChat as a digital customer service channel directly into China, eliminating the friction between U.S. and Chinese markets.
Joshua March
“Messaging is already transforming the digital care strategy for thousands of major brands by enabling customers to effortlessly get help on the same platforms they already use to communicate with friends and family. We are proud to be among the first digital customer service platforms to integrate directly with WeChat, allowing our clients to extend messaging-based support to their customers throughout China and the rest of Asia,” said Joshua March, CEO & Founder of Conversocial.
Cathay Pacific Social Media Manager, Priscilla Chok, added, “Conversocial’s addition of WeChat has been imperative for a large brand like us to engage with our massive foreign customer base, ultimately enhancing their overall experience with us. For the first time, our social customer care team can filter through the noise and prioritize conversations that truly need a response from a live agent, allowing our agents and managers to engage in WeChat messaging conversations at scale.”
Conversocial is making use of several unique WeChat features such as transcribing voice notes sent by users, while also offering direct Mainland Chinese implementation—providing higher availability and reliability of messaging content and data access. WeChat support will be coming out of beta and available to all Conversocial customers in April.
ZaiLab shares its highlights from Enterprise Connect
Enterprise Connect took place from 12–15 March 2018 at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, Florida. It’s was a must-attend event for global telecommunications and cloud-solution decision makers.
Contact center software company ZaiLab chose Enterprise Connect as the launchpad for introducing its cloud-based solution to the US. The global software developer turned heads with its innovative stand, which was dominated by the massive ZaiTruck, a working sci-fi-inspired vehicle from which the team delivered presentations to crowds.
Team ZaiLab Offer Highlights Of Their Expo Experience:
“The only way I can easily sum it up is that those who are not following the pack and doing it the same way are standing out as the next disruptors and innovators. And this is exactly what we did. Our culture, solution, and stand were definitely the showstoppers. People came, they saw and they liked. We had interest not just from our prospective customers, but competitors who saw how we operated and want to join us. What was also interesting is that no one saw us coming and we took many people by surprise,” said Fokion Natsis, Chief Sales Officer.
“Enterprise Connect was an eye-opener of what one can expect in the jungle! We realized that in order for us to stand out from the crowd we needed to showcase our authenticity, creativity, and our DNA through our booth, the team and the solution. We didn’t conform to the norm and that made people look and listen. My top takeaways? Don’t try to be like everyone else. Be true and unique to your story – people love an authentic, feel-good tech-related story. Don’t be scared to position yourself amongst the big names,” said Asonele Kotu, PR Manager.
“For me, the biggest highlight was that the truck did exactly what we wanted it to do: capture people’s interest and draw them to the stand, where we turned the truck conversation into our software conversation. Great guerrilla marketing at work! Our software was met with enthusiasm, which clearly shows we are on the ball with our company’s product and that our competitors had better keep an eye on us,” said Lize Loftie-Eaton, industrial designer.
“Enterprise Connect is a truly professional event that is attended by a host of international businesses and clients alike. I spoke to people from Japan, Australia, Canada, India and the USA. It provides a great opportunity to understand what the market is offering from a helicopter perspective,” said Mushfiq Hopkins, Sales Executive.
Pegasystems Appoints Pat Dwyer as North American Vice President of Sales for Communications, Media, and Consumer Services
Pegasystems Inc., the software company empowering customer engagement at the world’s leading enterprises, recently announced that it has appointed Pat Dwyer as vice president of sales for communications, media, and consumer services in North America. Dwyer will focus on driving growth for some of Pega’s key and rapidly expanding industries.
With more than 20 years of sales experience in the technology sector, Dwyer most recently joins Pega from Microsoft, where he was a general manager of Microsoft Dynamics Business Applications sales, specifically focused on meeting growth goals within the customer relationship management (CRM) solutions segment. Prior to that, Dwyer was vice president of sales at Salesforce.com leading a team of sellers for enterprise accounts. He previously held sales and sales leadership roles at technology companies including IBM and HP.
“Pega’s unique, AI-powered solutions enable communications, media, and consumer services organizations to meet their strategic business goals while providing optimal customer experiences. I look forward to being part of such a successful business and bringing Pega’s innovative solutions to more clients in these industries,” said Dwyer.
Dwyer holds an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Iowa State University. He received his master’s in business administration from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Leon Trefler, senior vice president, global customer success, Pegasystems, added, “Pat’s deep experience in B-to-B tech and customer engagement will make him an invaluable member of our team as we continue to grow our presence in the communications, media, and consumer services markets. We are excited to welcome Pat to our team and look forward to continued success in these markets.”
Last month, Pegasystems appointed Jeff Taylor as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Go-to-market Operations. In this newly formed senior role, Taylor oversees all aspects of Pega’s go-to-market strategy to meet its growth goals and drive leadership in software for digital transformation. He reports to Alan Trefler, Pega’s founder and CEO, and be based out of the company’s Cambridge headquarters.
comScore Seals Long-term Agreement as Exclusive Sales Currency for Lockwood Broadcast Group Station KAKE in Wichita
Lockwood Broadcast Group Will Now Use comScore’s Massive and Passive Television Currency for More Stable, Accurate and Representative Audience Viewership Insights for Its Wichita ABC Affiliate
comScore announced a long-term agreement with Lockwood Broadcast Group, granting the company access to comScore’s massive and passive television measurement services for its KAKE station in Wichita, KS. Lockwood Broadcast Group will use comScore as its exclusive sales currency in this market, leveraging comScore’s highly stable television data for greater and more reliable audience viewership insights.
Dave Hanna
“We are really pleased to expand our partnership with comScore Local to our newest station, KAKE in Wichita,” stated Dave Hanna, president of Lockwood Broadcast Group, adding, “The quality, depth and reliability of comScore’s local TV ratings data are unsurpassed in the industry, and their client service is passionate, knowledgeable and second-to-none. They’re a terrific team to work with. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with comScore as we continue to grow our business into other markets.”
Lockwood Broadcast Group has leveraged comScore TV measurement services since 2011 for its Sherman, TX-Ada, OK TV market, where comScore ratings information is used as the exclusive sales, news, programming and promotions currency for Lockwood stations KTEN (NBC), KTEN2 (CW) and KTEN3 (ABC).
Steve Walsh
Steve Walsh, executive vice president of Local Markets at comScore, added, “Lockwood was one of comScore’s earliest and most passionate station group clients, first signing with us in Sherman-Ada in 2011. As our measurement footprint, our services, our marketplace adoption and our currency have grown rapidly over the last seven years, so has our relationship with Lockwood. We are delighted to expand with them into the Wichita market.”
With more than a decade of experience measuring television viewership from return path devices across tens of millions of households in all 210 local markets, comScore is committed to being the industry’s trusted source for passively-collected television viewing data. comScore is also a leader in Advanced Audiences, which allow the industry to go beyond age and gender to transact on consumer behaviors, interests and lifestyles. This enables TV stations, networks, advertisers, agencies and media companies at the local and national levels to effectively find and reach their ideal audiences to maximize their success.
New Springbot Exchange Empowers eCommerce SMBs to Compete Against Large Retailers
Data Cooperative and New Platform Feature Democratize Data for Small to Medium-Sized Retailers
Springbot, a data-driven marketing platform for eCommerce merchants, launched Springbot Exchange, the first data cooperative for eCommerce SMBs. Springbot Exchange provides retailers access to data and resources typically only available to large retailers. Audience Expander, the first available feature of Springbot Exchange, helps marketers access new audiences and expand the reach of their existing marketing efforts.
Audience Expander algorithmically matches a retailer’s anonymized customer data to identify look-alike prospects in Springbot Exchange. Automated email marketing campaigns are then sent to the consumers most likely to engage with the retailer’s brand. Privacy and security are enabled by managing the retailer’s access to the look-alike audience information. Retailers are only provided the prospect’s details when the consumer engages with the campaign. In addition, any Springbot Exchange participating retailer’s information is anonymized.
With Springbot Exchange, retailers now have access to data from participating Springbot retailers, as well as a significant data pool provided through Springbot’s partner connections. The power of the data cooperative is the identity, location and transactional data across a broad set of retail verticals.
“Larger retailers have been sharing anonymized data and insights for decades, but this valuable information has not been easily accessible to small and mid-sized retailers because of cost and complexity. Springbot Exchange helps SMB retailers unlock that valuable data and levels the playing field for all eCommerce businesses,” said Brooks Robinson, co-founder and CEO of Springbot.
In early 2017, Springbot recruited a board of advisors focused on the development of Springbot Exchange. The Springbot Exchange Advisory Board includes executives with experiences at Epsilon, LiveRamp, Ogilvy and Adobe. Since Q4 2017, beta customers have been testing Springbot Exchange with strong results and positive feedback.
“As an independent retailer, finding new and effective methods for attracting new customers is critical for growth. Having access to Springbot Exchange and Audience Expander has helped us step up our marketing. When applying look-alike audiences to our campaigns, we have been reaching prospects who were previously unavailable to us,” said Kathleen Plate, founder & CEO of Smart Glass Jewelry.
Throughout 2018, Springbot plans to roll out additional Springbot Exchange features to help retailers identify and reach new audiences.
Salesforce Integration Cloud Will Surface Data Regardless of Where It Resides to Connect Every System, Customer, and Device in a Whole New Way
Within days of their deal to acquire Mulesoft, the global leader in CRM, Salesforce, has announced the Salesforce Integration Cloud for connected customer experiences. The company welcomed Trailblazers from more than 43 countries and 265 global viewing gatherings to its iconic annual TrailheaDX conference. This is Salesforce’s third annual developer conference — for two days of learning, networking, fun, and giving back.
Salesforce will showcase its latest innovations across the Salesforce Platform — empowering anyone to create connected customer experiences with Lightning, Einstein, Trailhead and its newest offering, the Salesforce Integration Cloud.
Bret Taylor, President and Chief Product Officer, Salesforce, said, “Companies of every size and industry need to transform how they operate in the digital era—and that transformation starts and ends with the customer. The Salesforce Platform empowers our entire Trailblazer community, regardless of skill levels, to harness the latest advancements in technology and deliver the connected customer experiences that will take their companies and careers to new heights.”
New Einstein Analytics Developer Experience and Third-Party Quip Live Apps Make Any App Smarter and More Collaborative with Just a Few Clicks
Salesforce Integration Cloud Deliver Intelligent-Connected Customer Experiences Across All Channels and Touchpoints
Connecting systems and disparate data sources to build customer experiences remains one of the biggest developer challenges. The new Salesforce Integration Cloud includes a set of services and tools that make it easy for customers to surface their data — regardless of where it resides — and deliver intelligent-connected customer experiences across all channels and touchpoints.
The Salesforce Integration Cloud will have three layers —
Integration Platform
Salesforce has signed a definitive agreement to acquire MuleSoft, one of the leading platforms for building application networks that connect enterprise apps, data and devices, across any cloud and on-premises. MuleSoft will continue to build toward its vision of the application network with its Anypoint Platform, which is already being used by the world’s most innovative brands, and will also power the new Integration Cloud. All references to MuleSoft and its products are subject to the closing of the transaction.
Admins can build a single view of the customer across all of their Salesforce deployments as well as their entire network of business systems — all with clicks, not code. In addition, admins can manage all of these connections through a unified admin console.
By automatically bringing together Salesforce customer data in entirely new ways, admins can create truly seamless and personalized end-to-end customer experiences across sales, service, marketing, commerce and more. For example, an admin can easily use the Lightning App Builder to bring in commerce order history data into the Lightning service console, enabling service reps to transform service interactions into cross-selling and upselling opportunities — without ever leaving their console.
Freshsales CRM Launches FREE Web Forms to Put Your Sales Team on the Fast Track
Web Forms from Freshsales Enable Sales Teams to Create, Customize, and Easily Deploy Web Forms on Websites and Start Collecting Lead Information Instantly
Freshworks, the leading provider of cloud-based business software, announced the launch of Free Web Forms for Freshsales — their successful CRM product launched in 2016.
With the advent of inbound marketing, websites are no longer limited to being mere informational portals, they’re a gateway to building long-lasting relationships. There are many aspects of your website that contribute to the overall user experience. And a web form is one of the best ways to get input from website visitors. From contact forms to subscription forms, each one is an opportunity for visitors to reach out and hand you their information.
“This fact, however, is often ignored by many businesses. For any business, finding hot leads are like mining gold, and website signups are your best source of such signups. Imagine that your website is like a hallway. You wouldn’t want to keep such leads waiting in the hallway, you would want them to walk up to you through the door. How would you that?” said Srivatsan Venkatesan, Head of Product, Freshsales.
That’s where Web Forms come in.
Web Forms from Freshsales allows you to create, and customize forms according to your business and brand requirements and then embed them within your website or emails to capture high-intent leads. Details filled into these forms are automatically captured in your Freshsales CRM, all without a single line of code.
These Web Forms are of two types:
Classic Forms: Use classic forms if you are starting from scratch. Classic Forms allows you to build, customize, and embed a form on your website.
Smart Forms: Use Smart Forms if you already have a form on your website. With Smart Forms, you can automatically receive form data in your Freshsales CRM.
Freshsales CRM has garnered a loyal user base of over 10,000 customers since launching by virtue of its powerful yet user-friendly features, simple and highly intuitive UI, and its ability to scale with growing sales teams. Features like AI-based lead scoring, built-in phone and email, visual sales pipeline, activity capture and powerful reporting have helped businesses scale and optimize their sales processes. In 2017, the product also added powerful features such as Intelligent Workflows and Sales campaigns. Freshsales CRM is also ranked as one of the top CRMs for Small Business by G2 Crowd.
“We integrated Web Forms into our site and it immediately improved our lead generation. Now each lead appears immediately in Freshsales and we can start working on it right away! If you have a form on your website make it a Web Form,” said Erik Endress, CEO, GetShare911.
Availability
Web Forms in Freshsales is available immediately, and new users can sign up for a free, 30-day trial to evaluate the software. Sales Campaigns is available across all plans.
Lucidchart Unveils Lucidchart Live App for the Quip Platform
Lucidchart Live App is Now Available on the Salesforce AppExchange
Customers Can Now Benefit from the Ability to Embed Elegant Visuals and Diagrams into Any Quip Document
Lucidchart is empowering companies to embed visuals in any Quip document. The visual productivity platform has unveiled Lucidchart Live App for the Quip Platform, available immediately on the Salesforce AppExchange, the world’s leading enterprise cloud marketplace. With the Lucidchart Live App, users can ensure clarity, speed up collaboration, and propel execution on any team, at any company.
Quip, a Salesforce company and cloud-based collaboration platform, enables teams to create and deliver work together, faster. Combining documents, spreadsheets, apps and chat with live CRM data in a modern way.
Lucidchart Live App Simplifies Complex Processes, Solutions, and Information with Elegant Visuals and Diagrams
Karl Sun, CEO, Lucidchart
At the time of this announcement, Karl Sun, co-founder and CEO of Lucidchart, said, “This collaboration is another step in achieving our goal to work where our users work. We’re excited to further our relationship with Salesforce and provide an integrated experience where users and teams can collaborate quicker and with more clarity.”
When building innovative solutions, carrying out complicated processes, or describing something complex, a visual can often be stronger than words. Lucidchart Live App will let users convey complex processes, solutions, and information with elegant visuals and diagrams that can be embedded into any Quip document. And with an embedded Lucidchart editor available inside the Quip document, users will be able to create and edit diagrams without having to leave Quip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0gkwvV3gYw
Patrick Moran, CSO, Quip: Salesforce
“Teams need the right apps and tools embedded where they work,” said Patrick Moran, Chief Customer Officer, Quip.
Patrick added, “Opening up Quip to our partner ecosystem through the Salesforce AppExchange delivers an enormous opportunity for our partners to extend their expertise into the Quip Platform, creating a customized solution for every Quip customer.”
Currently, Lucidchart is recognized as an essential visual productivity platform that helps anyone understand and share ideas, information, and processes with clarity. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, anyone can learn to work visually and collaborate in real time while building flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, and more.
Introducing Salesforce Lightning Flow: The Power of CRM Process Automation for Every CX
Customers Could Use Salesforce Lightning Flow to Build Automated Processes That Improve Data Entry and Accuracy of Form-Filling Processes
At the Salesforce’s annual TrailheaDX conference, the company has announced the launch of Salesforce Lightning. With Salesforce Lightning, Trailblazers can work even better, and faster, together to build apps and components via clicks or code. With a complete spectrum of tools and services — from the no-code App Builder to fully programmatic environments like Heroku — developers of all skill levels are free to choose the right tool for their team across the entire development lifecycle on Salesforce.
Salesforce Lightning Flow Allows Embedded Einstein Analytics and Live Updates Within Custom Apps
Zac Otero
At the time of this announcement, Zac Otero, Salesforce Lead, BKD CPAs & Advisors, said, “Trailhead is the front door to a new career that’ll change your life. I’m living proof that you can go from the factory floor to dealing with the most advanced technologies in the world. Through Salesforce and Trailhead, there’s a place for anyone in the new economy—you just have to reach for it.”
Trailhead Empowers Anyone to Skill up for the Fourth Industrial Revolution with New Learning Trails from Google and Personalized Learning Journeys.
Salesforce Lightning Flow Allows Trailblazer to Bring the Power of Process Automation to CRM
Lightning Flow is the latest platform service that gives any Trailblazer the tools to bring the power of process automation to CRM. Many businesses continue to manage customer processes with legacy tools disconnected from customer data, resulting in costly delays and lost opportunities. With Lightning Flow Components, developers and business users are now building processes with guided, visual tools integrated with customer data and embedded into any touchpoint, resulting in reduced wait times for customers and improved productivity.
Make Every App Smarter with the Einstein Analytics and Quip Live Apps
With advances in AI and app integration, business users can now embed intelligence directly into their apps and gain instant access to additional capabilities that keep their business moving forward in just a few clicks.
Einstein Analytics Developer Experience
Now, developers can use Lightning components to embed Einstein Analytics and live updates within custom apps to make smarter decisions, all with clicks, not code.
Third-party Quip Live Apps
These interactive, customizable apps can be used right inside Quip, and are now available directly in the Salesforce AppExchange from partners including Altify, draw.io, and Vidyard. Now customers can quickly and easily navigate deals, design infographics, embed videos and more – all within a single Quip document.
Trailhead Accelerates the Next Generation of Developer Learning and Career Growth
Trailhead is Salesforce’s gamified online learning platform that takes users on free, guided learning paths to gain skills needed to thrive in the workforce of the future. Since launching in 2014, Trailblazers have earned more than 6.5 million badges, which directly relate to in-demand job skills.
Also announced at the ongoing TrailheaDX conference, Salesforce is expanding Trailhead to include —
Google Trailhead Content
New content from Google Analytics and Google Cloud. The Google Analytics trail helps Trailblazers understand how to gain key insights into their website, with out-of-the-box Google Analytics Reports & Dashboards. The Google Cloud trail teaches users how to run powerful data queries with BigQuery, a low-cost, fully managed enterprise data warehouse for analytics at scale.
Trail Guides
Personalized learning journeys empower anyone to learn the skills of the future. Trail Guides map the right journey for any role or any experience level with recommended content, emails and notifications along the way—giving everyone a direct path to land their dream job.
Digital Marketers Will Devote More Resources to Online Reputation Management in 2018
New Survey by Clutch Finds That More Than Half of Businesses (54%) Believe Online Reputation Management Is “Very Necessary”
Nearly 40% of businesses will increase their investment in online reputation management (ORM) this year, according to a new survey from Clutch, a B2B research, ratings, and reviews company. Businesses’ plans to allot more time and money to ORM are a result of the popularity of social media and third-party reviews sites, which impact businesses’ control over their online reputation.
Clutch surveyed 224 digital marketers in the US and found that more than half of businesses (54%) consider ORM “very necessary” to success. As a result, 34% said they allocated more resources to ORM in 2018, and an additional 43% said they plan to hire a professional public relations or ORM agency in 2018.
How often do businesses monitor their online reputation
Businesses already invest a significant amount of time observing their online reputation, Clutch found. More than 40% of digital marketers (42%) monitor their companies’ brand online daily, while 21% monitor their online reputation hourly.
According to public relations experts, businesses frequently monitor how their brand is portrayed online because they know even one negative media mention can quickly damage the public’s perception of their company.
“When people search for brands online, they tend to search for stamps of credibility. If potential customers find anything negative, that could end up being a significant amount of leads the business won’t get from people who are put off from using the service,” explained Simon Wadsworth, managing partner at Igniyte, an online reputation management agency in the UK.
Online platforms where businesses monitor their online reputation
Social media also has shifted the ORM landscape because it gives consumers free-reign to share their opinions and experiences quickly and frequently: 46% of businesses look to social media most often to monitor their online reputation.
By using professional agencies that have expertise in online reputation management, businesses can minimize losing new customers who may be dissuaded from purchasing their product or service.
IRIS.TV Hires Daniel Harrison as New Chief Revenue Officer
Daniel Harrison, an Advanced Television Leader, Will Support Growth and Global Demand for Video Personalization and Programming Platform
IRIS.TV, an AI video personalization, and programming pioneer announced the appointment of Daniel Harrison as Chief Revenue Officer.
Harrison will lead the global sales, marketing, and accounts teams, responsible for driving revenue growth and expanding strategic relationships with digital and advanced TV publishers, as well as deepening engagement with brands and agencies. IRIS.TV’s rapidly growing client base includes Fox+, CBS, Time Inc., among others. He will be based in the New York office.
Harrison joins the company from Oracle, where he was Head of Advanced TV Solutions for Oracle Data Cloud. He crafted the strategy and operating plan to take Oracle’s data and measurement assets into Linear, Addressable, and Connected TV, delivering the first deals and revenue in a fast-growing new line of business for the company.
Field Garthwaite
“Daniel is a forward-thinking and innovative leader. We welcome him to IRIS.TV at an important moment in our company’s growth. Daniel’s experience leading global teams in dynamic markets will be central to our success as we scale our business as the personalization and programming platform of choice for TV and digital video publishers. I am delighted to have Daniel as part of our IRIS.TV family, and look forward to his leadership,” said Field Garthwaite, CEO, IRIS.TV.
“We are at a pivotal time, where marketers and media companies are investing in growing and developing known audiences at scale. Content and context matter when seeking to influence, engage, and monetize relationships with consumers. And a video is the medium where it’s happening,” said Daniel Harrison, Chief Revenue Officer, IRIS.TV.
Prior to Oracle, he led the national team for Brand, Agency, and Trading Desk sales for AddThis, the No. 1 comScore-ranked behavioral interest data company deployed on 15 million+ web and mobile domains globally, transforming the team into expert Data and Insights sellers, exceeding revenue goals and audience demand, assisting the company in its acquisition by Oracle. Harrison also held executive management positions with e-commerce personalization company AdExtent, and over seven years in the technology division of Conversant Inc.
Daniel Harrison
“IRIS.TV has a leading-edge video personalization platform with growing business momentum to help media companies drive faster business decisions. They’re helping close the gap from simple data insights to action across programming and marketing. There’s also a shift towards a more intricate balance of human and machine when deploying algorithms, and IRIS.TV is well ahead of the pack – delivering actionable insights through its augmented intelligence solution. Publishers are seeing increases in video consumption by over 70 percent and are unlocking new revenue opportunities through our branded content marketplace. I am excited to be a part of this important wave of change,” added Harrison.
Harrison is also a speaker and active member of marketing organizations such as Advertising Week, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, Digiday, and iMedia. He has also served as an advisor to the NYU Innovation Venture Fund and a founding member of a New York City Urban Sciences Innovation Committee.
