The MarTech Minute: Salesforce wraps up Tableau acquisition, Nike acquires predictive analytics platform

MarTech Minute briefs always appear first in our daily newsletter throughout the week. Click here to subscribe. The following is our compilation of the past week’s briefs from those newsletters.

Salesforce completes acquisition of Tableau Software. The $15.7 billion all-stock deal was completed last week. Tableau’s headquarters will remain in Seattle, and Salesforce’s CEO has hinted that the location will become somewhat of a second headquarters for the company. “Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Tableau, one where we will be able to accelerate our mission and help more people than ever see and understand data,” Tableau President and CEO Adam Selipsky said in the statement, “As part of Salesforce we will deliver more value to customers faster with a broader and deeper analytics platform, fueled by Salesforce’s customer intelligence platform.”

Nike acquires predictive analytics provider. In hopes of bolstering its direct-to-consumer strategy, Nike has acquired cloud-based predictive analytics platform Celect. The platform provides data to help retailers optimize their inventories with hyper-local demand predictions. The integration into Nike’s existing mobile apps and site, which will happen immediately, is expected to help Nike forecast how and when consumers will buy certain styles. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Bidstack acquires Pubguard. Bidstack Group, an in-game advertising company, acquired ad fraud prevention platform Minimised Media Limited, also known as Pubguard. “As custodians of studio directors’ artwork the prevention of fraudulent advertising is a priority for us. Pubguard brings a number of technical and commercial upsides to Bidstack. First, we are protecting gamers against fake adverts that, for example, could redirect them to adult content. Second, Pubguard brings the group technology and a brand that is respected in the gaming and digital media space,” said Bidstack CEO James Draper.

Edelman and Cision announce agency partnership. The exclusive partnership is expected to enhance Edelman’s earned channel planning and advances its advocacy and sales growth attribution services. Edelman is also introducing the integration of earned audiences with performance and account-based marketing. “Our partnership with Cision is designed to accelerate the adoption of technology and techniques that prove the multiplier effect of earned attention,” said Russell Dubner, U.S. president and CEO of Edelman. “Now we can apply real-life behavior – not hypothesis and correlation – to hone strategy and stay connected to earned audiences. The blend of earned-instinct and marketing precision is a powerful combination.”

Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquires MapR business assets. The assets included are expected to bring improvements to HPE’s intelligent data platform capabilities. MapR’s file system tech will enable HPE to offer a complete portfolio of products to drive artificial intelligence and analytics applications. “At HPE, we are working to simplify our customers’ and partners’ adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning,” said Phil Davis, president, Hybrid IT, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, “MapR’s enterprise-grade file system and cloud-native storage services complement HPE’s BlueData container platform strategy and will allow us to provide a unique value proposition for customers. We are pleased to welcome MapR’s world-class team to the HPE family.”

Vonage to acquire AI technologies. The cloud communications provider will acquire assets from Over.ai, a Tel-Aviv-based communications firm. Vonage will incorporate the Over.ai technology, including its proprietary speech to text and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) algorithms, adding to the company’s capabilities for flagship applications including the Vonage Business Cloud (VBC)  “As a communications market leader, we believe we are best positioned and set on a mission to lead the revolution from Voice over IP to Voice over AI. With the Over.ai talent and technology on board, we intend to make every conversation smarter,” said Omar Javaid, president of Vonage’s API Platform Group. 

Zendesk launches WhatsApp for Zendesk. The new WhatsApp BusinessAPI connector allows businesses to communicate with and respond to their customers and prospects using WhatsApp. WhatsApp for Zendesk is built on technology from Zendesk’s recent acquisition of Smooch. “WhatsApp for Zendesk marks the next phase of our integration with the WhatsApp Business API as a business solution provider and reinforces our commitment to bringing brands and their customers’ modern messaging experiences on the apps of their choice,” said Warren Levitan, vice president, Conversational Business at Zendesk. “Ultimately, we’re making it easier for companies and customers to communicate in a way that is faster, more convenient and more natural.”

SiteLock extends web monitoring and scanning support. The cybersecurity provider announced new enhancements to its SMART Database, extending support to Joomla! and other MySQL database web platforms. The new features will help small and medium-sized businesses protect their website databases from hackers seeking customer data.

Kenshoo releases local marketing solution for agencies and SMBs. The martech provider’s tool, Kenshoo Local, is a new marketing solution for Facebook that seeks to help local brands with physical locations manage search campaigns. The new feature is now generally available and allows marketers to manage campaigns on Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Messenger. Cross-channel capabilities have also been added to help marketers optimize marketing investments by reallocating ad spend to the best performing segments. 

Marketers on the Move

Kathryn Frederick has been named chief marketing officer at Ticketmaster, leading the company’s performance marketing, brand, partnership, insights, growth and digital marketing teams. Ticketmaster has also added David Eisenberg as Vice President of Partnership Marketing and Andrew Samson as vice president of brand marketing.

Centro has named David Gensler its SVP of client development. Prior to joining Centro, Gensler has led and scaled sales teams for Millennial Media and AOL. He will now lead Centro’s technology sales team in the Midwest region. Gensler previously operated GSD Consulting and was also senior vice president of the food beverage spirits category for Time, Inc., overseeing the group’s advertising sales. Prior to that, he was EVP and head of ad sales for LiveIntent, an email marketing technology pioneer.