Third of ad spend growth to be driven by paid search and social by 2020

One third of all global ad spend growth will be driven by paid search and social media spend within the next two years, according to the latest report by Publicis-owned industry forecaster Zenith.

Annual global ad spend is on track to hit $581bn (£442bn) by the end of 2018, while Zenith raised its predictions for global ad spend growth from 4.1% to 4.5% until 2020, 67% of which will come from investments in paid search and social media ads.

Within that time, paid search...

24 September 2018 | Advertising

Global martech spend is estimated at $100bn, according to WARC

Global marketing spend is booming, according to a new study by marketing intelligence firm Warc, and traditional media is “paying the price”.

According to the group’s Martech: 2019 and Beyond survey based on responses from more than 800 brands and agencies in the UK, North America, Asia Pacific (APAC) and continental Europe, spend on martech is now worth an estimated $99.9bn (£76bn).

In the UK and North America, brands upped their budgets on marketing...

24 September 2018 | Advertising Technology

Adobe’s purchase of Marketo’s B2B martech ‘resets the playing field’

Adobe has confirmed that it will be acquiring the privately-held cloud marketing software group Marketo from Vista Equity Partners for $4.75bn (£3.6bn). The sale price is a near $3bn (£2.3bn) mark-up on Vista’s 2016 purchase price of $1.8bn (£1.4bn).

The announcement yesterday followed rumours of an impending deal last week as reported by Marketing Tech, and speculation around the impact the purchase would have on the fiercely-competitive marketing software...

21 September 2018 | Advertising Technology

#DMWF Europe: Three observations from Digital Marketing World Forum

A former 19th century-commodity exchange standing bold, brick-red, but very much at home in the dead centre of Amsterdam, the Beurs van Berlage seemed a fitting home for #DMWF Europe (Digital Marketing World Forum) 2018.

It was a conference that held a pervasive frankness around industry shortcomings, a respect for tradition and legacy, and a crucial but measured awareness of how the digital world is evolving around us. If there was one lesson to be learned from #DMWF given the...

20 September 2018 | Advertising Technology

#DMWF Europe: Crimson Hexagon on the endless possibilities of social data for marketing

There’s a galactic amount of data being produced on social media, but the ability to categorise it into meaningful information is “near impossible” without Artificial Intelligence (AI). This is the challenge that Crimson Hexagon is taking on, and a brief demo of its abilities at #DMWF by senior sales executive Yugen Moodley shows the “deep insights” platform is doing a scarily good job.

Crimson uses a combination of Natural Language Processing, image...

19 September 2018 | Big Data

#DMWF Europe: How are we really handling GDPR?

Like it or not, consumers are waking up to their right to privacy online. The implementation of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) was a catalyst compounded by the high-profile case of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal.

But four months into GDPR and marketers are still struggling with complex, often ambiguous, guidelines. At the same time, a new wave of uncertainty looms over markets outside of Europe, with the United States and Brazil beginning to weigh up similar...

19 September 2018 | Best Practice

#DMWF Europe: 10 tips from TomTom on thought leadership strategies

Think of TomTom and you’ll probably think navigation systems but, according to Nicoleta Anton, that sole association is hampering its lesser known work with autonomous vehicles and smart transportation. The company’s global content marketing specialist, Anton has turned to content marketing - more specifically, thought leadership - in order to promote TomTom’s growing authority with emerging technology.

Defined as “a type of content marketing where you tap...

19 September 2018 | Commerce

Adobe could be gearing up for a multi-billion dollar bid for Marketo

The multinational computer software company Adobe, which carved out its name with image-editing programme PhotoShop, is rumoured to be in talks to acquire Marketo, a privately-held cloud marketing software group.

If the murmurings come to fruition - which were originally reported by Reuters and are so far unconfirmed by each company - Marketo’s purchase price would likely be in the multi-billions. Vista Equity Partners paid $1.8bn for the company in 2016 and a new deal on the...

14 September 2018 | Advertising Technology

Privacy-browser Brave launches GDPR ad tech ‘test case’ against Google

Brave, a privacy-focused web browser built by a Mozilla co-founder and the creator of JavaScript, Brendan Eich, has filed privacy complaints against Google in what could become a GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) “test case” against ad tech data use.

According to a report by Reuters, Brave - which blocks ads by default in place of its own - has filed privacy complaints against the search giant in Britain and Ireland in efforts to trigger a GDPR article requiring...

13 September 2018 | Advertising Technology

Deloitte buys Magnetic Media’s AI platform, bolstering martech offering

Multinational professional services firm Deloitte is buying Magnetic Media’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform in a bid to secure a firm grasp on the advertising and marketing technology space. The acquisition of the New-York based martech service signals the “strategic importance” of investing in AI, machine learning and audience data analytics, according to Deloitte.

Wrapping the service into its Digital Experiences Services Platform, the deal will offer...

12 September 2018 | Advertising