Survey: 63% of Marketers Have No Plan for “Cookieless” Personalization

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Less than a couple weeks away from the start of Google’s plan to phase out support for third-party cookies, almost two-thirds of marketers still lack a clear plan for how to personalize their campaigns in the new environment.

HERE’S TODAY’S ACTIONABLE AI MARKETING AGENDA:

• Top news of the day: Endrock Acquired by Power Digital,

• Startup News: Yalo Raises $20M of VC

• Today’s top AI marketing trend: Survey: 63% of Marketers Lack Clear Plan for “Cookieless” Personalization

• Today’s Master Marketing Tip: Mark Cuban, Owner of Dallas Mavericks

TOP NEWS

Four Years After Launch, Endrock Acquired by Power Digital

Endrock Growth and Analytics, a provider of conversion rate optimization and data analytics, has been acquired by Power Digital, a venture capital-backed firm that offers tech-enabled growth marketing services.

Founded by Ned MacPherson in Miami four years ago, Endrock has scaled to nearly 100 employees with satellite offices in Medellín, Cartagena and Quito. The company’s clients include some major brands such as Blue Bottle Coffee, Calpak, and True Classic Tees. MacPherson will now step into a new role as Chief Growth Officer of Power Digital.

“We were looking for a company like Endrock for years and are thrilled to have finally found the perfect match,” said Grayson Lafrenz, founder and chairman of Power Digital.

“Businesses need data intelligence and analytics, now more than ever, and when we combine Endrock with Power Digital’s incredible existing data and nova teams, we are going to be unstoppable,” Lafrenz said.

This is Power Digital’s sixth acquisition since the company’s launch in 2012. The firm is backed by venture capital from Court Square Capital Partners and Periscope Equity.

Power Digital was recently ranked in Inc. 5000’s list for “companies winning in a challenging and unpredictable global landscape.” The company was also named one of Adweek’s Fastest Growing Companies in 2022, as well Ad Age Best Places to Work in 2023.

STARTUP NEWS

Yalo Raises $20M of VC for AI-Driven Conversational Commerce Biz

Yalo, the provider of an AI-driven conversational commerce platform for messaging apps, has raised a $20 million round of venture capital from Glisco Partners.

Conversational commerce means transactions that occur within messaging apps such as WhatsApp — a market that’s projected to total $130 billion in emerging markets by 2025, according to Yalo.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Brazil, the company describes its mission as “democratizing generative AI in Latin America and other emerging markets.”

Yalo says it already serves over 2.6 million merchants and 100 million customers. The company’s client portfolio includes major brands such as Coca-Cola and Nestle.

Yalo’s AI-based expert sales agent facilitates automated selling. Its model includes historical data, top-performing sales representatives’ behaviors and predictive recommendation algorithms that advise customers on what to buy and how to get the most out of products they purchase.

Yalo also offers a creator suite, enabling users to train and easily deploy their own custom AI agents for specific use cases.

TODAY’S TOP AI MARKETING TREND

Survey: 63% of Marketers Lack Clear Plan for “Cookieless” Personalization

Less than a couple weeks away from the start of Google’s plan to phase out support for third-party cookies, almost two-thirds of marketers still lack a clear plan for how to personalize their campaigns in the new environment.

That’s according to a new survey done by Optimizely, the UK-based provider of a marketing platform for optimizing customers’ digital experiences across all channels.

The survey included 100 marketing professionals and found that more than half (54%) also lack a clearly defined strategy for personalization in campaigns that use first-party data collected from sources such as newsletter subscribers, online chat, social media and surveys.

“This indicates a critical gap in preparation for the post-cookie era, where personalized experiences will rely heavily on direct user interactions,” according to the survey report.

“With Google set to abandon cookies next year, now is the time for marketers to stop thinking in terms of third-party data, and start building campaigns and strategies around the data that consumers are open to sharing,” Shafqat Islam, CMO at Optimizely said.

“Making these changes now will ensure brands are prepared for a cookieless future and are able to deliver the digital experiences that customers have come to expect,” Islam said.

TODAY’S MARKETING MASTER TIP:

Mark Cuban, billionaire businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, also serves as one of the main "sharks" on the TV series Shark Tank that pits aspiring entrepreneurs against one another.

In an interview with GQ, Cuban offered this as the key to successful sales and marketing, “You’re not trying to convince people. You’re trying to help them.”

Cuban’s advice aligns with the findings of researchers who have identified an “empathy approach” as the most effective path to success.

His advice for entrepreneurs in general is to prioritize sales first and foremost, and to realize that “selling is helping,” as he once said during an Amazon Insights for Entrepreneurs event.

“You have to be able to sell,” Cuban said. “And do you know who the biggest salesperson in your company has to be? You.”

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THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY, FOLKS!