In his latest contribution to MarTech, Tony Byrne of the Real Story Group points out some illuminating parallels between the growth of web content management solutions in the early aughts and the more recent rise of CDPs. There was little consolidation in the space, with independent start-ups outperforming the bigger vendors, and almost two dozen of them dominate the market today.

Similarly, independent CDPs generally have a multi-year lead over the big vendors — Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce and SAP — all of which have been playing catch-up. Consolidation in the category is unlikely, as there’s a challenge and not much value in integrating independent CDPs. The independents are likely to continue to be more sophisticated and more agile than CDP offerings built into larger martech suites.

“As with the early stages of the WCM market,” says Byrne, who is presenting a workshop on buying marketing technology at MarTech in the fall.  “CDP vendors appear to be differentiating primarily on scope, and secondarily on cost/complexity. Over time, I’d expect the latter dimension to become more important as enterprise capabilities shake out and the market elongates as it matures.” 

Read more here.

Brands that have been successful at creating sustained customer relationships realized a new approach was needed, one steeped in content focused on demonstrating value and building trust by serving up helpful content at the right moment.

This embrace of content is precisely what news publishers have been doing for decades and why more and more brands are approaching their content marketing like publishers.

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Have you noticed a better ad experience when streaming the Olympics this year? CTV ad company Innovid is serving as the official ad management partner for NBC’s streaming coverage of the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Through the Olympics Ad Manager, powered by Innovid, third-party ads are being managed across NBC’s CTV apps.

What this means is that behind the scenes, advertisers have been experiencing a more streamlined and up-to-date adtech process that was previously unavailable for advertisers of Olympics programming on the web.

The effects of this partnership are subtler for the viewer, but likely result in more current, relevant ads over CTV because those advertisers didn’t have to finalize their creative as far in advance of showtime. The biggest change, though, is felt through the CTV ad supply chain for sponsors.

“The Olympics, even as, historically, a user experience above everything else, didn’t allow dynamic ad serving, which is a core capability in digital media to do measurement, creative rotation and things like that,” said Tal Chalozin, CTO and Co-founder of Innovid.

For big-ticket live events like the Olympics and the Super Bowl, digital advertisers (or their agencies) previously had to manage those placements separately from the rest of their CTV spend. Adtech capabilities for serving up dynamic creative had sped up in the rest of the ecosphere causing a notable difference in user experience for ad partners.

“A big part of the story is that live TV is extremely hard to accomplish at scale, and that makes sports a unique entity,” Chalozin said. “The nature of live is that the vast majority of viewers pressure test the system by watching at the same time.”

Read more here.

The B2B sales process is notorious for its length and the “hiccups” that can occur when it’s time for prospective customers to get internal buy-in. ABM solves this problem by putting the right messages in front of key decision-makers at target accounts. MarTech’s “Account-Based Marketing Tools: A Marketer’s Guide” examines the market for these tools and the considerations involved in implementation. This 46-page report looks at why B2B companies use ABM software and describes the key elements of successful ABM strategies and the capabilities ABM tools provide. It also compares 13 top vendors.

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After just over a year as Global CMO at worldwide comms and PR firm Cision, Maggie Lower is joining Hootsuite as CMO. In the role, she will be responsible for global brand strategy, demand gen, communications and events.

Lower has held a series of senior marketing positions at financial services, staffing and technology brands. She faces the challenge of maintaining Hootsuite’s high brand recognition while delivering on the company’s promise of accelerated growth.

Why we care. For a number of years, Penny Wilson was the familiar face of Hootsuite’s marketing organization. With the brand building its offering as a for-business social media management solution, they will be looking to Lower to take growth to the next level.

Join thousands of senior marketers online — September 14-15 — at MarTech! This two-day training experience will equip you with actionable tactics and proven strategies for meeting the challenges and opportunities data presents.

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“Sure, streaming subscriptions are just as expensive as cable, but you also get to remember 18 different passwords.” Conan O’Brien, comedian