This week in martech (??)

Cardlytics finalizes partnership with Wells Fargo

Cardlytics may not be the best known name in digital advertising, but with their reach boosted to 150 million monthly active users, it says it has become the fourth largest player in the U.S. digital ad space, just behind Google, Facebook and Amazon. 

The reason Cardlytics’ reach just increased is the launch of its long-anticipated partnership with Wells Fargo, adding another major bank to a list that includes Bank of America and Chase. Cardlytics delivers native ads to customers within the banks’ own digital channels. It allows brands to reach customers in secure environments, and to reach them with relevant offers based on transaction data. Cardlytics claims visibility into half the card swipes in the U.S.

Why we care. Cardlytics seems to be having success with a digital ad strategy completely different to those of other major platforms. It makes us wonder if there are yet more novel ad channels to be discovered out there.

Microsoft and Pepsico announce five-year partnership to enhance agility and operations

Microsoft Corp. and PepsiCo have entered into a five-year partnership agreement to establish Microsoft as PepsiCo’s preferred provider of cloud computing, in order to expedite PepsiCo’s infrastructure, ERP and data estate consolidation and modernization. 

 “Through our partnership with Microsoft, we aim to improve service delivery capabilities to meet rising demand for essential goods while driving new innovations to make our operations and workforce stronger and more resilient for the future,” said PepsiCo CIO Seth Cohen. 

All of PepsiCo’s 270,000 employees will be on the Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams platforms, and they will use Microsoft Azure to increase agility and consumer data analysis to improve product innovations and sustainability efforts.  

Why we care. As the cloud wars continue between Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud Platform, PepsiCo’s wholehearted embrace of Azure is a significant endorsement of that product.

Adobe Target rolls out AI-powered enhanced analytics

To boost personalization and optimized digital experiences, Adobe Target customers now have access to reporting featuring Adobe Analytics with AI-powered testing and personalization capabilities:

• Auto-Allocate for testing in low traffic areas or to quickly identify best journey in time-sensitive campaigns;
• Auto-Target to dynamically rank the most qualified offers or creative to show to individual customers at next visit;
• Recommendations, which provides a wide variety of customizable algorithms to generate personalized options based on browsing history.

All three capabilities utilize Adobe Sensei AI.

Why we care. Adobe adding value to their Target offering increased value to marketers. It continues to be a major player among the big CX suites.

Industry Dive acquires major parts of NewsCred

Since 2008, NewsCred has built its offering around content as much as software. It provided not only a content marketing platform, but content creation and licensing services. This week, business publisher Industry Dive acquired the entirety of NewsCred’s Content Marketing studio and services businesses, including staff and clients. 

NewsCred retains its software business, including workflow, project and asset management, a marketing calendar and collaboration tools. “Over the years, NewsCred has established itself as a clear leader for content marketing, and this acquisition is the right next step to continue providing best-in-class service to those customers,” said Shafqat Islam, NewsCred co-founder and CEO in a release.

Why we care. NewsCred was strongly identified as a content hub as much as a marketing software provider, so this signals a major change in direction for the company.

This story first appeared on Search Engine Land.

About The Author

Kim Davis

Kim Davis is the Editorial Director of MarTech Today. Born in London, but a New Yorker for over two decades, Kim started covering enterprise software ten years ago. His experience encompasses SaaS for the enterprise, digital- ad data-driven urban planning, and applications of SaaS, digital technology, and data in the marketing space. He first wrote about marketing technology as editor of Haymarket’s The Hub, a dedicated marketing tech website, which subsequently became a channel on the established direct marketing brand DMN. Kim joined DMN proper in 2016, as a senior editor, becoming Executive Editor, then Editor-in-Chief a position he held until January 2020. Prior to working in tech journalism, Kim was Associate Editor at a New York Times hyper-local news site, The Local: East Village, and has previously worked as an editor of an academic publication, and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog, and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.