Tech Talk: WPP, Spotify, Smaato, Facebook, MediaMath and more

WPP’s Data Alliance and Spotify connect

WPP’s Data Alliance and Spotify have signed global partnership for collaboration in data, insights, creative, technology, innovation, programmatic solutions, and new growth markets.

Under the multi-year deal, the company has access to the unique listening preferences and behaviours of Spotify’s 100 million users in 60 countries—enabling WPP to harnessing insights from the connection between music and audiences’ moods and activities.

Specific benefits to WPP include: 

• WPP operating companies get first-mover access to Spotify’s mood data via Wunderman’s Zipline Data Management Platform. By connecting WPP operating companies’ own data elements to Spotify’s insights on their users’ mood, listening and playlist behavior, activity and location, WPP operating companies can enhance targeting to consumers across channels;
• WPP operating companies get unique access to Spotify’s data on connected device usage which also supports targeting and the delivery of the right message at the right time;
• GroupM gets an exclusive infusion of Spotify data into LIVE Panel via Lightspeed Research; this includes Spotify’s internal audience segmentation study;
• Kantar is conducting media research in 12 markets to help measure the quantity and quality of the Spotify audience compared to radio listeners;
• WPP operating companies will be launch partners for audio programmatic marketing platforms (PMPs) through AppNexus’ audio programmatic platform;
• WPP operating companies will be the premier launch partner to Spotify in select new launch markets; and
• WPP operating companies will enjoy visibility into Spotify’s product roadmap and access to beta testing.

Nick Nyhan, CEO, WPP’s Data Alliance:

WPP and Spotify are humanizing ‘quant’ data by harmonizing it with music preferences as a new window into the mood and emotion of global audiences during daily moments. It’s not about ‘just’ having data anymore, it’s about finding new ways to create connections through emotion.

Smaato rolls out two new video formats

Smaato is adding support for two new, innovative video ad formats: Outstream and Rewarded video. The additions are aimed at strengthening the company’s standing as an integrated, “one-stop shop” for all programmatic video advertising solutions, which allows mobile publishers and advertisers to drive engagement and revenue through diversified, high value video inventory.

As of today, mobile publishers, app developers and demand partners using Smaato’s mobile monetization platform have access to a wide range of mobile video formats, including:

• Outstream – (New) Video ad that plays in non-video content (for example, between text on a web page)
• Rewarded – (New) Opt-in video ad that offers rewards to users in exchange for watching
• Instream – Video ad that plays within video content; full screen ads that appear before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll) or after (post-roll) video content
• MRAID Video – In-app rich media display ads that include video

Ragnar Kruse, CEO and co-founder, Smaato:

We are moving quickly toward a world where content is ‘watched’ more often than it is ‘read.’ Outstream and Rewarded video are two important ways we continue to invest in areas with the biggest revenue potential for both the supply and demand side of our global advertising marketplace.

Virtual concierge chatbot Sparkle debuts

Powerupcloud Technologies has partnered with Microsoft to develop Sparkle, CapitaLand’s virtual concierge chatbot aimed at transforming the shopper’s journey.

Sparkle is built on IRA.AI, Powerupcloud’s adaptive artificial intelligence (AI) platform and is designed to decipher local linguistic cues while understanding and remembering context. The context mapping and context switching capability illustrated is enabled by deep learning algorithms and natural language processing modules built upon Microsoft Azure as well as the Microsoft Bot Framework, which helps developers build and connect intelligent bots that interacts with users wherever they are from – from text/SMS to Skype, to Office 365 mail and other popular services.

Today, Sparkle is able to deliver the following information and services to CapitaLand mall shoppers via CapitaStar app through a chat-like service:

• Listing of all CapitaLand malls in Singapore
• Directions to CapitaLand malls
• Queries on stores within the malls
• Book Grab rides to users’ preferred CapitaLand malls
• Make reservations via Chope for any restaurant located in a CapitaLand mall
• View the latest products of retailers such as Charles & Keith and Capitol Optical

MediaMath launches adaptive segments

MediaMath has released adaptive segments, a product which allows agencies and marketers to create, reach and understand their best customers, in real time, at the scale and sophistication required by the market today. 

Features of adaptive segments include:

• Instant segmentation: Audience size can be determined in seconds, enabling smart planning and budget allocation. Segments can be redefined and iterated over time without having to start from scratch. Spend starts instantly and segment membership is always accurate.
• Granular testing and reporting: Conduct “what if” scenarios without spending a cent of budget to test new segments to understand how they would have performed in past campaigns. Then maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS) by targeting only the segments shown to have the best performance, and don’t waste spend on segments unlikely to perform.
• Direct integration into MediaMath’s DSP: Native integration with MediaMath’s omnichannel DSP enables instant-on audiences for maximum scale and reach. Standalone audience creation tools create a problem for marketers—whenever data is pushed into the buying platform, a large amount of addressable audience is lost. Using an integrated solution, marketers can reach 100 percent of their audience, and do it more simply, in one system.

Rahul Vasudev, MD, Asia Pacific at MediaMath:

One of the biggest issues facing the more advanced programmatic marketers today is the inherent latency that arises from trying to stitch together an ad tech stack with multiple parties”, commented. There is a meaningful amount of data lost in transit. At the same time, marketers are losing their most important customers, the ones who have just put a product in their shopping cart in the past hour or so. While MediaMath has always had data management capabilities, Adaptive Segments heralds the beginning of a new era of data management technology that is already delivering performance improvements in orders of magnitude.

Facebook updates inbox for businesses

Facebook has launched an updated inbox, allowing businesses to link their Facebook, Messenger and Instagram accounts so they can manage communications across all three channels in a single place.

Features include:

• A single inbox: Respond to Facebook comments, visitor posts, reviews, messages and Instagram comments all within a single app.
• More personalized service: See basic information about the people who interact with your business. Tap the person's name to see their publicly available profile, as well as their previous interactions with your business.